Painting at Beamish Museum with the Monday Lanchester Art Group

    A 9.00 am start and after being kitted out at the costume department with the ladies in long skirts and shawls and the men in blue smock shirts and khaki coats  it was then off to the Band Hall in the mining village. All the group painted in the hall with Lee being provided as a period model.

    I opted to draw in the village on to a previously prepared collage made from brochures from the Durham Heritage Centre on the Palace Green using trains from Tanfield Railway and characters from Norman Cornish with some of the Beamish brochure. The subject I chose was the pit buildings and shaft headgear.

Kitted out in period costume  - photo from Jean

Lee posing for John

Group photo - I'm missing- off sketching

Morning drawing done resting the canvas board on the upright sleepers ( tar marks on the back for authenticity )
Had to leave for a doctors appointment so I completed the colour work in the afternoon on my return working in the Band Hall. 

Finished drawing on 20x16 inch canvas board.

 
       Spent some of the afternoon exploring the village for future subjects. 3.00 pm finish- it was getting dark- and back to hand in our uniforms at the Resource Centre. 

Cold day but everyone enjoyed the experience which we hope to repeat next year when its warmer.

Tony Montague workshop with Chester-le-st Friendly Art Group

 Tonys workshop involved painting tissue then cutting out shapes and sticking them on to watercolour paper. He also was developing the style of the American artist Gerald Brommer. These are examples of Geralds work.

Tony shares a joke with Maureen

 

My paintings using tissue paper on watercolour paper :-

 Lindisfarne Castle

 

Tissue added with PVA glue to rocks below the castle then sky painted. After drying the castle added and continuing into the rock. Some lines  where lifted on the rocks as the paint is sitting on the glue and will easily move.

 Tissue added in ramdon lines from a focal point and White Knight watercolours added and cling film for texture.

 Nchanga 'C' Shaft

   This was developed later at home with the shaft drawn freehand with grey markers sitting on a lounge chair looking at the image on the laptop and trying to keep the drawing loose. This is one of the two hoisting shafts at Nchanga Mine in Chingola Zambia where we spent almost 20 years at the start of our marriage.