Shells on a beach...and more besides!

Hi everyone, Professional artist and regular contributor to 'The Artist' magazine here> Just wanted to share a bit of Summer with you all - my 'Shells on a beach' painting that's in progress. So far this is it.  Created with mixed media alongside another for 'ShopKeepArty' in a live Zoom art class alongside several other artists in a fun packed 'The Great Artist Paint Off' event that took place on 1 September '20.  Shown are still shots from the live event of my two paintings in progress. I'd love to know what you think of them, and the zoom idea and the painting challenge we did.  Free to watch and it's here> The Great Artists paint Off We were all given the same photo (shells up close) and only had 45 minutes to create our paintings - I decided to do two! For the first I initially started with both water soluble and non water soluble graphite sticks from Lyra, Derwent (Graphitone) and quickly added Nitram liquid and Charcoal sticks, Wolff Carbon charcoal and Quink Ink to build a framework on which to work on beautiful Canson moulin du Roy 'not' 300gsm (140lb) 100% cotton watercolour paper. Next came big brushes loaded with diluted watercolour to build sumptuous washes. As everything dried I began with the next - a photo montage of the photo given and my own to build another mixed media collage, this time incorporating photo transfer techniques.  The subject was Saltburn Pier on the East coast of Yorkshire. The strong thick 640gsm Canson Heritage 'NOT' watercolour allowed all the media I used to work brilliantly to create a wonderful layered effect.  The techniques for this I wrote about in 'The Artist' magazine earlier this year and are a way of exploring a subject much deeper by incorporating printing, photography and creative painting techniques in paintings with emotional response.  It was an exciting event and wont be my last. In fact, on 9 September I'm having a Masterclass and return to the beach again to create a seascape with and for you all who attend to follow in live easy to follow steps as we all paint together using zoom. It's so easy and from the comfort of your own home too! Laptop, mobile phone, computer, iPad etc is all you need and your painting gear of course! To find out more visit  Seascape Masterclass I do want to here what you think of these paintings though which I created in the 45 min painters challenge and see your own paintings of the beach you've created too! LLets share and engage our creativity together!

Thanks Alan. Much appreciated. have you seen latest issue of 'The Artist' magazine? Well, the first image in my article uses photo transfer techniques that has been build and build upon. So. the 45 min. starter of Saltburn Pier has some way to go yet in certain areas. Great to do it live for everyone. The next is pure painting. Be great to have you onboard.