COMPLETING THE PEN AND WATERCOLOUR MODULE IN THE ONLINE ART COURSE
I can’t believe I have completed yet another module in the course – the fifth of eleven, so nearly half way through! The next one, coloured pencils, is the last one concentrating on a particular medium. The remaining modules are subject-based, where we presumably consolidate what we have learnt in the handling of the different media, and are directed into more complicated challenges. The structure of the course is great – Phil, our teacher, takes us through step by step, and many of us on the forum are commenting that we cannot believe that we can actually DO this! The way the course is structured means that you learn, and practice, hardly without even realising that this is what you are doing.
Our sitting room is now adorned with various bits of art propped up on the mantlepiece, and the room is cluttered with art materials! (One day I am going to have to get back in my studio and have a blitz and get it tidied up, because I can scarcely move in there these days.)
Self-directed challenge
As always, the final project in the module was the self-directed challenge, where we are given a project to work on but this time without Phil to hold our hand and tell us what to do. This is where we really grow in confidence as we launch out on our own, taking with us the skills we have learnt over the past three weeks.
In this case, it was a repeat of the selection of small sketchy ink drawings with watercolour, with one difference: this time we had to go out and draw from real life and not from a photograph!
Phil acknowledged that for some people, drawing in public can be very intimidating, and he had a few suggestions to get round this – either go in the garden and draw your own house, or go somewhere where there aren’t crowds milling around (a quiet village), or even sit in the car and draw from there. This is what we opted to do.
This afternoon was a beautiful bright sunny spring day, and it was a delight to have an outing in the car. We drove around looking for interesting subjects. We found a little bungalow just around the corner from our house as a starting point, and this was nice because it had not one, but two palm trees in the front – Torquay is famous for its palm trees, being the “English Riviera” with its mild climate.
Then we drove out into the country to a neighbouring village and found a thatched house to draw.
We then drove back into town and entered the posh area (not where we live!) and my hubby suggested sketching one of Torquay’s beautiful villas. I drew a small portion of the front of one of these as it had a very attractive and grand entrance. After this we went to the retirement village shere my hubby’s 96-year-old friend has an apartment, and did our drawings of the Victorian Gothic Revival manor house at the centre of the community. My hubby chose a view of the main part of the house, and I chose to draw the magnificent and totally over-the-top entrance with its Gothic arches and pinnacles! Such a gorgeous place.
My mum spent her final years in the nursing home at the top of the hill overlooking the manor house. This is a modern building with roof-top terraces with splendid views of the house, and of the sea beyond.
After completing our drawings, we went to the apartment block below the manor house and visited my hubby’s friend and had a lovely cup of tea and a chat with him. My hubby sees him regularly and usually eats his lunch with him on Wednesdays and takes him out, but I don’t get to see him very often, so it was a lovely end of our outing, to spend some time with him. His apartment has a balcony with a direct view to the sea, which is absolutely stunning. Such a beautiful place.
We had such a lovely afternoon, enhanced by the beautiful spring weather. I don’t get out much and it was so uplifting to drive through the countryside a little, and see the blossoms and the leaves of the trees beginning to shoot and give that delightful green haze over the woodlands. The wildflowers are beginning to grow in the hedgerows and the birds are singing. Absolutely idyllic.
Later, back home, I added the watercolour to my ink sketches.
