My website’s new banner image is a detail from my latest painting “The Calling”. It’s a take on the Virgin Mary frescoes of old. I’ve placed the sitter in a “Marian” blue carer’s uniform, fresh from work.
This is part of my ongoing experiments with new painting surfaces in an effort to bring the viewer closer to my paintings by doing away with the glass barrier.
Bath Society Exhibition
Bath Society of Artists big and beautiful exhibition is on now until 12 May. Two of my watercolour portraits hang at Bath’s Victoria Art Gallery with the eclectic mix of colourful 3D and 2D work. Follow the link for more details:
http://www.bsartists.co.uk/exhibitions.html
Last spaces @ Stourhead painting retreat
There are just two spaces remaining on Monday 21st May and Tuesday 22nd May and one on Wednesday 23rd May. (I am offering a discount of £140 for two days painting.)
Our painting sessions will be in the much-in-demand Studio at First-View Gallery, deep in the National Trust’s Stourhead Estate and right outside the entrance to Stourhead’s world-famous gardens. It is such a lovely venue and the wonderful atmosphere of the gardens should inspire some fantastic images.
Entrance to the gardens is included and we will follow the pathways around the lake, taking in the temples and structures inspired by the mythical Greek journey of Aeneas.
You will collect images of shadows, colours and reflections in your own sketch book or ipad/electronic tablet and return to the studio to commit our ideas to paper.
There you will have access to luscious tube paints, watercolour pastels, salt and cling-film for additional texture. Watercolour pens are available to create line and lino-cut printing can be introduced to add mixed-media buildings.
Please email for a booking form and payment details…
The National Trust writes: “Stourhead was described as ‘a living work of art’ when first opened in the 1740s. Meandering paths offer vistas through trees to classical temples and surprises at every turn. Stourhead is breathtaking in any season but on sunny spring and autumn days, the flowering spring shrubs and the flaming autumnal colours of the trees reflected in the magnificent lake are breathtaking.”
Blogs recommence!
I am reinstating my website blogs after a bit of a gap. Here you can find out about latest workshop and exhibition news etc. You can also follow me on Twitter @catherinebeale_ , Facebook @BathPortraitArtist and Instagram catherinebealepainter.
Contemporary watercolour workshop 5th April
Have fun experiencing the joy of contemporary watercolour in a small group. Expert tuition, all materials plus lunch are provided, so you can develop your painting skills with the beautiful landscapes of Bath to inspire your imagination.
Venue: Ralph Allen Cornerstone, Combe Down, Bath
Wednesday 5th April 2017 10.30-3
Cost: £80
Painting the National Trust Stourhead Gardens
May Workshop @ Capability Brown’s gardens – Thursday 18th and/or Friday 19th May* at First-View Gallery, Stourhead near Mere/Warminster (details below)
*discount for 2 days.
Email me for details and a booking form, Best wishes, Catherine
Cascading landscapes
What excites me as a painter is the gorgeous behaviour of flowing watercolour pigments. By experimenting freely with rich, running paint, I have developed a technique I call “gravity painting”. This cascading method of applying paint directly to the paper without prior mixing, preserves the paths of mingling pigments in your painting. It’s a sure way to create subtle passages on paper as paint flows and reacts within generous amounts of water.
To free up your own watercolour painting style, why not try thoroughly wetting your support and then dropping in tube paints (diluted to a thick, single-cream consistency). Using deep colours, insures against watercolours paling during the drying process. It also allows you to thoroughly focus on the behaviour of the paint on the paper, rather than concentrating energies on mixing within the palette.
I share my painting techniques with art groups and hold Watercolour Workshops in Bath: Trees & Landscapes (Thursday 9th March 10.30-3) and Beautiful Bath Slopes (Wednesday 5th April 10.30-3) Stourhead Landscape Gardens (Thursday 18th & Friday 19th May).
New workshop schedule
chose to improve in 2017?
Wanting to improve or kick-start your painting skills in 2017? Let me help you with a broad choice of adult watercolour workshops this spring, including ever popular “Beautiful Bath Slopes” from a heritage building in Bath and painting the landscape at First View Gallery in Stourhead Gardens.
Click here for all the dates: spring-2017-a5-workshop-flier
and Email me for a booking form.
Catherine
New workshop dates!
Improve or kick-start your painting skills in 2017 with these watercolour workshops:
“Beautiful Bath Slopes” Wednesday 5th April (10.30-3) – ever popular, this fantastic subject celebrates Bath’s stunning buildings whilst allowing you to escape into your imagination. Learn how to protect whites whilst embracing fully flowing watercolours to create hillsides studded with fairytale architecture.
“Capturing water” Tuesday 16th May (10.30-3) – one of watercolour’s most successful subjects which can also be one of the most tricky to pull off. Control pigments to match the quality of water – from the mirrored surface of Bath’s canals to waves breaking over Cornish rocks.
Full schedule of workshops: spring-2017-pdf-a5-workshop-flier
Email me for further details and a booking form.
Landscape workhops