Wednesday 13 March 2024

Spring & Summer workshops at BARA, in Comber or ZOOM.

I have lots of lovely things going on in the studio all the time, from weekly classes (6 to choose from, mornings, evenings, drawing, watercolour and oils) to weekend one-offs. The atmosphere is very friendly but you will be challenged! All sessions are fully tutored so you understand the aims and how to achieve them. Often the session starts with a slide show before my demonstration, which can sometimes lead to an interesting discussion. Questions are encouraged! 

March:

Saturday 30th Children's drawing and painting class 2.30 - 4.30 pm £35 includes materials

                                                                    April:

Figure Drawing (clothed figure) April 6th 10.30 - 4.30 including long poses and 20 minute poses, in any dry media. Fully tutored £110

Portrait Drawing April 7th 10.30 - 4.30 graphite pencil and charcoal £110

Drawing in the National Gallery, Dublin Sunday 21 April


Figure drawing in progress



                                                                      May 

Cottage garden Flowers - make a beautiful contemporary table design with Fiona Campbell using fresh seasonal flowers. All materials provided plus refreshments. A lovely way to spend the afternoon. 2.30 - around 4.30pm £65

                                                                       July

17th & 18th Wonderful Watercolours! Understand the process and techniques to create lovely paintings from washes to pen using paint alone with graphite pencil and pen. Skies, landscape and still life. £220

20th Figure Drawing (clothed model), including Lon and shorter poses in any dry media. Fully tutored. £110

22- 24th Colour pencil. All things animal! Looking at texture, tonal variations, hair, fur and how to creat believable lovely colour pencil drawings. 10.30 - 4pm. £330

27 Portrait in pencil. 2.30 - 6.20 £100 Intensive, concept-changing workshop which changes your perception and improves your skills. 

Dog portrait, oils, Julie Douglas 



August : 
7th & 8th  Portrait drawing including graphite and colour pencil. 

12th - 14th Portrait in oils - includes colour mixing and how to work with a limited palette. Thes can be extended for an extra day students need more time. £350


Student work in progress

16th - 17th Birds. Drawing and on to colour using ether water colour or colour pencils. £220 

Please note, courses are added regularly so please email if you'd like to be kept updated. Please also get in touch if you'd like to do something which is not listed here OR if you'd like to do something but can't make the date, and I will do my best to accommodate you. 

Finally, if you would like to make a booking for a group - family or friends, a work bonding session or 'Paint and Prosecco' please get in touch. 

julie@juliedouglas.co.uk 

Students at work!

To get in touch - julie@juliedouglas.co.uk

www.juliedouglas.co.uk 


Cats & dogs! Coloured pencil

 

The full set of 14 pets
It was my pleasure to create a set of artworks of lots of the pets from my son and his girlfriend's lives, to use for table settings at their wedding.  As it was a Christmas wedding (23rd December!) I was asked to make sure every pet was wearing a Santa hat, with a bow tie and leaves underneath. 

I used coloured pencil, and worked very small - each animal was around 7cm in height. 

Coincidentally, I had more pet portrait commissions around the same time, and I thoroughly enjoyed working on so many lovely animals! 

Lulu - such a lovely little minx, who adored Minnie the dog


Daisy


Dougie - never without ball
Leroy

Bertie - so bashful

Belle - Bertie's sister
Ronnie Barker



Amber

Minnie 

Molly 

Jack
Alfie

Ruby

Pip



For workshop info, commission details etc please email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk


Tuesday 5 March 2024

Oil class - working our way around the fruit bowl! Student work

The projects in my weekly classes usually run for three sessions at a time. This gives enough time to draw, transfer, under-paint and top-coat the artwork. It has the great advantage of limiting students - so they can't overwork something, and are regularly starting the whole process again. Regular, controlled, mindful repetition helps consolidate the learning experience. 



I had some new students join the class recently and they enjoyed their compressed charcoal study of apples, followed by a grisaille in oil, and the following two sessions they worked in colour. 

Above and below - lovely studies by Karolyn. Above is compressed charcoal..


Above -  oil study
Of course, an important part of learning is the composition - lighting and cropping influence the drama and atmosphere of the artwork every time (over and above whatever the subject matter is). 

Peggy's orange

A hoard of oranges, awaiting completion

Julie B's work in progress

Karolyn, work in progress

Diana at work!

Above - Diana and Karolyn, with their first colour oil studies. 

Brigid, work in progress


Upcoming workshops include portrait, figure drawing, pen and watercolour and much more. For info email: julie@juliedouglas.co.uk 

Small classes, lots of attention, refreshments and good fun. Not to mention massive support. 

 

Saturday 24 February 2024

Never judge a painting by its subject... Brussel Sprouts, watercolour

 I really enjoy using one than one medium at a time in class. It helps students try lots of different ways of working, and takes the pressure off any one thing being 'perfect'. When I saw a lovely field of cabbages recently, I decided that Brussel Sprouts would be a good way to cover a similar subject, quickly. 

Although at first the humble sprout may not appear to be all that attractive, in fact everyone enjoyed this exercise and became rather fond of their little green veg-ball. 

We worked in graphite, as well as watercolour, coloured pencil, pen and wash, and wet-on-wet. 


There is something satisfying about seeing a table full of sprouts!!





a row of lovely sprouts by Maggie

Clodagh, on the right, is a Tuesday student, and she brought her sister Sheila along for a class as a birthday treat. That's Max on the far right, working hard!

Kittens, coloured pencil. And a new studio space!


Recently I have been working on a large number of pet portrait commissions in coloured pencil, mostly cats and dogs. Cocker Spaniels, Springer Spaniels, a curly haired Cockapoo and a gorgeous greyhound called Lulu. I will share some with you. First up, kitten siblings Belle and Bertie. At the bottom of this post I have added progress shots, in reverse order, so you can see the process. 

In other news, I've moved to a bright, more spacious studio, just around the corner from my last one, and I LOVE it! It was a trouble-free move, and I was surprised that I only had two bags of rubbish and a few jam jars to dispose of, so I had somehow managed not to hoard! So, onwards and upwards in the new space.

Below. progress shots in reverse order of the kittens. Caran d'Ache pencils on Bristol paper. This is a smooth, grain-free surface which loves coloured pencil, though it takes a while to get used to the slippery qualities. And also, you can't rub out! 





For upcoming workshops please email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk Courses include figure drawing (clothed model), portrait drawing, water colour magic, location drawing and oils. 





Tuesday 29 August 2023

Pastel Workshop of Seascapes - student works

I love a new workshop, and this one was created because someone asked for it. We worked over two days and everyone produced two artworks each day, which is very good going. Lots of elbow grease! 

Karen's

The results were incredible atmospheric and dramatic. 
Some were from my photographs (below is at the beach in Lahinch, County Clare, on a dark and grey July day) and another of a sunset over Belfast Lough.  The calmest reference photo was looking out at a jetty at Lake Garda (see Christine's artwork, below).

Karen's

Linda's

Christine's



Christine, herself! 

Siobhan's - soft and lovely

Below - Karen came back a couple of weeks later to finish off this seascape. I think it's magnificent!


For info on workshops and terms classes, email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk 


Botanical workshop, pen and watercolour, Summer 2023

This two day workshop was a gorgeous flower-fest of summer colour. The best fun was working out composition - how would we compose our page to not only get lots of drawing studies on there, but also to entertain the viewer and lead the eye around the page. 



We did this by working out several possible combinations before going on to watercolour paper, going straight to pen for the 'thumbnails'. In the photos below, all the pen drawings on the left-side are the compositional designs. This 'working out' time pays off by getting the brain into Planning mode, and postponing the 'jump in' factor! 










My demo sheet


Each plant had its own attractions as well as difficulties.
The Sea Holly has beautiful architectural spikes with complex clusters of seeds in the middle. 
The Sunflower has the density of petals and thousands of dark seeds in the centre... 





Heather examining the subject

Clodagh's lovely studies 
This was Clodagh's first ever class, and she did a lovely page of studies. 


Stokesia Laevis 'Klaus Jelitto'

 But the most tricky of all was the magnificently blue Stokesia (or Stoke's Aster). I bought it from a farmers market in lovely Dungarvan in July. The tricky part was deciding on the colour. This is where Nature wins every time! 

For info on classes email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk