The drop-in sessions finished the season today with a lovely group of nature lovers enjoying capturing their observations in the mini concertina sketchbooks that I provide. This month we had some returners who continued with their journals started a month ago. It is so lovely to see how far these journals are progressing and how each artist is developing their own style. It is so important not to force this and just focus on recording nature - not just what you have seen but how you felt when you saw it. One lady recorded the wildlife she saw while playing golf - nature is all around if you look! Many others have dogs - as I do - and have so many wildlife encounters that they want to record in their journals.
These drop-in sessions are free and typically last a couple of hours. This was a very busy session and while it is always better to do a little nature walk first it isn’t really possible for these sessions so we look at reference books and concentrate on drawing and looking at techniques in making marks and how to apply watercolour. Sometimes it just needs a little bit of tickling around the edges of a drawing to change it for the better and sometimes you just need to leave things alone and not overwork your drawing.
These workshops work in partnership with the more organised workshops which been taking place on Saturdays every month this summer. We are currently looking at the Autumn programme so watch this space or check on the Queens Hall Arts Centre website.
