Art class

I got the result of the x-ray I had last week, by the way! I have mild osteo-arthritis in my hip joints - but I kind of knew that would be the case! They've been sore for a while and sometimes I can't put my weight on one or the other!

However, today I thought I would tell you about the painting course I have started going to! Joe, who painted that lovely picture of Peebles I got some months ago, is our tutor and his medium is watercolour! I got some paints and brushes in Melrose the other day, so was pretty well equipped for the first class on Monday. It was actually rather good and I quite enjoyed it! Joe talked a bit about paints and brushes, weights of paper, all the equipment we might need, etc. and demonstrated painting a landscape with a river running through it, from sketch to finished painting,

I photographed him painting as he talked us through colour washes, colour mixing and the depth of colour, the sky, the river with its reflections of the sky, the progression and order of work from the background to the foreground, then the detail.

After that we all had a go at doing our own sketch and painting while Joe came round suggesting ideas and showing different techniques to those of us who hadn't done much painting before! I last painted at school and that wasn't yesterday! I MIGHT reveal my painting, eventually, but then again I might not! In fact I plan on doing it again actually, just to see if I can improve on it, now that I've a better idea of what I'm doing!! I think we learned quite a lot in our first lesson, and I'm looking forward to the next one!

Talk again soon.