'Pick up a Paint Brush' at Norwich Maker's Festival

Hello and welcome to my fourth art blog. I haven’t blogged at all this year and so this is actually my first blog of the year due to such a horrible January for me. And to tell you the truth there wasn’t anything positive or creative to blog about!

However there is now… Last week I had the opportunity to be a contributor at the Norfolk Maker’s Market 13th-14th Feb, at the Forum in Norwich, where I had a painting area for people to ‘pick up a paintbrush’ and get creative with me, using watercolours and acrylics. The Festival is still on until 23rd Feb if you are interested. For more information go to http://norfolkmakersfestival.co.uk

The activities are free so go and learn a new skill and learn something new from the many artists and craftspeople all creating there.

I was so impressed. The Festival was wonderfully organised by the Forum and a great place to meet people and a great place for people to meet and get creative.

I encouraged individuals to paint whatever they liked. Some did, some painted my artworks on the boards in front of them, and some painted seascapes which I created as a demo (see below).

I guided the session and so much creativity was born it was magical! So many people came to paint with me, my tables were never empty. Also so many different artworks were created, all beautiful and unique. It was amazing.

I had spent the previous week working on paintings that would be fairly easy to teach in a short amount of time; skies, beach, sea, simple flower shapes and monochrome landscapes.

A few painted the beach scene but most just went with their own creativity which was awesome!

I’m going to try to do it next year, as I’ve enjoyed helping people to get their creative sides out there. I’m encouraging people to do more art; anything creative, as it’s so good on so many levels of well being and health. As I have previously mentioned in my second blog, I’ve had social anxiety for years and being creative has certainly helped me to overcome many issues and symptoms of it.

The Demo

Here is the watercolour guide that I prepared for the festival. It’s easy! Pick up a paintbrush and have a go…

You will need;

watercolour paper, watercolour paints, flat wash brush, palette, water pot and clean water.

N.B. Watercolour paper is usually white or cream which allows light to reflect all it’s surface. When thin layers of watercolour are applied the luminosity of the paper shines through giving the painting a magical sparkle.

Next mix a blue/ green colour, clean your brush and wet the next third of your paper. Apply much the same way as the sky perhaps a bit more randomly as it’s the sea. If you can leave white areas on the paper, this will become wave crests and highlights and will give your painting a magical sparkle. You can leave a crisp white line after your sea for some sea foam. Allow to dry.

For the last third put some yellow ochre and lemon yellow onto your palette, with a clean brush wet the last third and brush the ochre and touches of the lemon here and there for patches of sunlight on the sand. Again you can leave white areas on the sand for highlights which also add interest to your work instead of total flat colour. Allow to dry.

Finally put some red, brown, black and grey on your palette. Cover your dry sky and sea with paper or kitchen towel, and then with one watery colour on your brush, hold your brush over the sand and tap your brush handle to make pebbles and small rocks on the sand. Experiment with all the colours if you wish it’s fun! Wait for each colour to dry before the next.

That’s it, easy! That’s just a simple painting exercise but you can go further and put a boat or sunset on the horizon, birds or clouds in the sky and more rocks of driftwood on the sand. The possibilities are endless so get creating, it’s amazing.

P.s don’t forget to sign your artwork, it’s yours.

I loved the whole experience and it has inspired me so much to perhaps consider doing workshops in the future. Watch this space…

Go to my website for more pictures and inspiration to get painting at

https://www.suemobbsartrealms.com/

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