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How to... paint
LIKE most children, I used to spend hours on end drawing and painting when I was a youngster, much to the consternation of my primary school teacher, Miss Gaffney, who felt my time would be better spent addressing my woeful command of mathematics.
LIKE most children, I used to spend hours on end drawing and painting when I was a youngster, much to the consternation of my primary school teacher, Miss Gaffney, who felt my time would be better spent addressing my woeful command of mathematics.Most of us, however, tend to leave our artistic tendencies behind as we enter adulthood, to concentrate on the things that seem more important at the time.
Across the country, there are people either returning to art later in life, or are lucky enough to have continued their hobby.
I met some of these people at Peterborough College of Adult Education, where watercolour classes are on offer for absolute beginners, alongside still life drawing, and even abstract art for those of you feeling a little more adventurous.
My class was a watercolour group of 15 people, who were all at different stages of experience; as I was there, two people new to the class were arriving.
Having turned up at a number of different groups over my year or so of doing these How Tos, it's easy to forget that it can be a little intimidating for people turning up to try their hand at something new, but the class were a friendly bunch and tutor Eddie Butterworth was an encouraging class leader.
"You don't have to have any experience at all to come along," she said.
"Absolutely anyone can learn to paint and draw."
My first exercise was a spot of colour mixing, experimenting with warmer colours to get a feel for the way the paint behaves. The joy of watercolour is that it's fairly straightforward to get going, but Eddie said every kind of artistic work needs a certain amount of discipline to get to a decent standard.
"There are pitfalls in any medium, and you can take and medium as far as you like," she said.
My next project was to take one of the photographs of natural greenery Eddie had brought in and use the reds, purples and oranges I'd been experimenting with to give it a bit of sparkle.
I managed to fall at the first hurdle by choosing a particularly tricky subject in the shape of group of cacti. The photo had looked simple enough from a distance, but when I started to sketch the outlines of these strange plants it soon became apparent that I'd bitten off a little more than I could chew.
I gave it a good bash, nevertheless, and soon learned the most fundamental rule of watercolour – that one must have patience – the hard way. As I hurried to add another layer of paint to my masterpiece without first letting the previous layer dry, I managed to completely destroy the careful layering of colour I'd worked hard to achieve.
It felt as if I'd been sat at the desk for all of half an hour when I realised I'd actually been at the class for hours, and it was time to go.
Why do it...
To free your inner creative.
You will need...
Patience and perseverance – no one can be brilliant straight away.
It will cost...
Saturday courses cost 28 and weekday courses from 80. Concessions may apply.
Where to go...
Peterborough College of Adult Education, Brook Street, Peterborough.
More info...
Call 01733 761361, e-mail admin@pcae.ac.uk, visit www.pals.ac.uk or call into the college in Brook Street.
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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