Monday, May 11, 2009

England!

Watercolour painting everyday

Training a shaggy Beardie

Daily walks in the gorgeous countryside

An adorable thatched cottage

Pub meals

Huge breakfasts

Delicious cheeses

Wonderful dinners

Stonehenge

Visiting with old friends and meeting new friends

Seeing the Mall Gallery's Royal Society of Portrait Painters Exhibition

Double-decker buses

Talking to all hours

Laughing at all hours

A magical, wonder-filled, inspiring visit

I can’t even begin to describe the wonder of this time in England. I had high hopes for this week, and it far exceeded my hopes and dreams.

Some of my greatest passions are dog training, art, teaching, and learning, and this week was built around and permeated with all of those. It was a new situation for me to be sharing talents as Jean and I did, with her teaching me her magical way of using watercolour and me training her and Bailey, who are both apt and quick students. Teaching and learning woven together throughout every day, as even our tea breaks were filled with discussion and discovery of the similarities in how we each approach our teaching, even using almost identical metaphors to explain and encourage the learning process.

Here is a sampling of my washes, experiments, and paintings as we progressed through the week, generally following a plan Jean had for helping me learn and grow and loosen up as an artist. Her plan worked, and I am thrilled every time I pick up a paintbrush and look at a white piece of paper.

Quail eggs—the first thing we painted together. I tried to splatter the eggs with a toothbrush and ended up splattering everything BUT the eggs.












Cowslip Washes—not attempting to paint the cowslips but rather just get the feel and color --painting flowers CAN be exciting!















Snowdrops—how to get the whiteness of the snowdrop along with the cold feeling of early spring








Resting Beardie









Happy Wash—a flow of colour to capture movement and light













Sheep

















Duck

(reference photos-- Duck, Sheep, & Beardie by Jean Haines)

4 comments:

Terri said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful time! I was wondering when you would be back. I'll give you a call in the next few days and perhaps we can set up a lunch!

Joanna said...

I loved reading you blog Melissa, it really shows in your paintings you had a great time.

hugs
Joanna.

Melissa Fischer said...

I did have the most wonderful week ever, Terri! Would love to have lunch sometime.

Joanna, thanks for reading my blog! You're always so encouraging. I have your flowers right here by my desk.

Jonathan said...

I -love- the dog! ("Beardie?") Great character in the painting :-)

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