March 2020: Bethany Duthie
I had an enquiry last week from Stacey, who was looking for an art class for her daughter. It’s not something I do but as I’m running a watercolour class throughout March in the St Combs Community Hall, I suggested that she come along to it as long as she is accompanied by an adult. However the class which is on Thursday nights was the wrong night for Bethany who had other school commitments so I asked her mum on the off-chance if she’d like to come out to my studio to paint for an hour or so. She did and Bethany, her daughter was really excited about it.
Bethany arrived with everything she had in paint, brushes and paper and also her sketch books from school. She is already a very good artist as you can see from the images here and I was really impressed with her drawings and paintings on a wide variety of subjects. However she said she wasn’t as confident with watercolours as with the other mediums she’d tried at school like acrylics.
Best to practise with your own equipment to get used to it so we tested out her supplies and started off with some easy ways to think about simplifying what we were about to paint. Bethany took to the watercolours like a duck to water. She tried painting a pear first which went very well and the carrot people, a simple way to draw figures, which by the way I was first introduced to at an Amanda Brett watercolour painting holiday a few years back also easily picked up. Most of all I loved her little Scottie dog – she managed to get real character into it by changing the tilt of the head. I am amazed that Bethany is only in P 7 of St Fergus primary school!
Everything she had taken with her to paint was good especially the watercolour paint from W.H.Smith which has very rich clear colours and worth considering if you’re thinking of starting out. Bethany is all set to carry on painting with watercolour, she only needs to get a few bigger brushes and is looking for a class to join. The only one I know in the Peterhead area is the Peterhead Informal Art Group but I’m not sure if it’s open to children. If you know of any more please let me know and I’ll pass it on.
Find more info here about the watercolour class on Thursday nights in March.
I’m looking for someone to be in this column for April. If you are interested or know anyone who might be contact me here.
February 2020: Glen Bruce
We had the painters and decorators in this week and as I hadn’t found a volunteer to try painting with watercolours this month I thought I’d ask Glen Bruce if he fancied swopping his 6” brush and tin of emulsion for a smaller version and some watercolour paints. He actually did! I thought he’d say no chance, not for him but he actually had never thought about any other kind of painting and was willing to give it a go.
In his day job Glen works in his fathers business Fred Bruce Ships Painters in the home decorating side. You may have seen pictures in the press of the multicoloured expanding walls of the company paint store in Fraserburgh as it has become a fascinating tourist attraction and all because of the workforce cleaning their brushes onto the outer walls.
Glen took to the watercolour paint very easily and painted with fluidity something a lot of people find difficult and I was most impressed with his Lowry-like figures and his quickness to see situations to develop the figures just by the shapes he’d made i.e the parachutist. He also managed to get a nice furry texture into his scottie dog.
Glen says he would never have known how to start painting with watercolours and he really enjoyed the cleanness of the paint and was surprised at how little was needed with virtually no mess to clear up afterwards. At one point he seemed very engrossed. He didn’t do art at school so was a total beginner and he said it was a completely unexpected way to fill in his tea break which he really enjoyed.
If you’d like to try out watercolour painting yourself or know anyone who might like to please let me know on the contact page.
January 2020: Fran Williamson St. Combs
Art in the community
Every month I’m hoping to coax someone local to come and try out watercolour painting. Painting makes a very good pastime and is suggested as one of the things to take up to keep your brain active like doing puzzles, learning a new language or playing a musical instrument.
January’s participant is Fran Williamson who works the early shift at Buchan’s Ices in a varied job which includes serving in the post office and selling newspapers, groceries, chips and ice-cream. Best ice-cream around by the way! Fran lost her husband Alan quite recently so likes to keep busy and is open to trying new things.
When she knew I was looking for someone to kick off this page on my website she jumped at the chance to come down and get some tips on how to paint in watercolour. She said she was a complete novice i.e. couldn’t paint and couldn’t draw she just liked playing with paint in making shapes and taking pleasure from seeing the different colours. She already had some watercolour paints and paper given to her by her son but they hadn’t been touched although she does dabble with acrylic paints painting shells and stones with her granddaughter.
For around an hour we used all the supplies that Fran had arrived with to test them out and I started off showing her how to approach a watercolour and what to think about first. It turned out that Fran can draw very accurately and she quickly drew a hen with a few flicks of a pencil. For a complete beginner she also used the watercolours very well getting them to flow on the paper which is something that others find difficult. I was also impressed how she got some texture into the feathers of her hen. Although she had taken out books on how to paint she said it was much better actually seeing how to use it and how to approach a painting. And she found it very relaxing.
Apart from buying a few more brushes Fran has everything she needs to start painting in watercolour. You never know she might even take it a bit further!
If you know anyone who you think would like to try out watercolours in the Aberdeenshire area or if you’d like to try yourself then let me know on the contact page.
