Hello again.
One Saturday during the summer months of this unusual year, I took part with roughly a dozen others in a one day acrylic portrait painting workshop held by the renowned Manchester based artist David Hancock, held at my local art centre - the 20/21 in North Lincs.
David has an Internationally held reputation for very detailed portraits, often taking anonymous young people and putting them into fantasy come futuristic scenarios, but always with a meaning that the subject and the viewer can both relate to. His art is held in very high esteem by many people, and once you take in the amount of work and attention to detail he puts into each and every one of his works - then it's easy to see and understand why.
Before he arrived, you should have seen the faces on everyone when they took stock of their equipment supplied by 20/21 from David's instructions; no pun intended, but they were 'a picture'! (Tiny brushes No4 & No6 small rounds, and a large 20" x 28" canvass.) After introducing himself and setting out his background and aims, we all had our photograph taken, then printed off and covered with a pre-printed grid before David showed us how to grid up our large canvasses and use that method to get our photograph down onto it. Surprisingly, not everyone knew this way of working, and to those who did, then it is always good practice.
As you can see from the picture on the right, everyone's efforts were plenty and varied. David kept wandering round behind us all, keeping up a nice barrage of hints and tips; he was there for a purpose, and no-one would escape! This was taken during a quick break for a well earned brew, and a chance to catch up on each others work. As is usual in these circumstances, some work far faster than others, but I think only a couple had got close to anything like finishing come the end of the session.
That, of course, is not the whole point of the exercise. Learning, but above all enjoyment is the main aim, and we all agreed with that. Once we had 'finished' timewise, David photographed each of our work for his own records, and then stayed for quite a while answering a wide range of questions from those who wanted to ask. I think the biggest difference is that he takes up to 4 days to complete a work - we had around 4 hours!
A very enjoyable workshop, with many thanks to 20/21 for their help, to the other students for their banter and friendship, and of course to David Hancock himself. I for one will be looking forward to his next workshop visit this side of the Pennines.
Whatever you art - enjoy it.
Paul
One Saturday during the summer months of this unusual year, I took part with roughly a dozen others in a one day acrylic portrait painting workshop held by the renowned Manchester based artist David Hancock, held at my local art centre - the 20/21 in North Lincs.
David has an Internationally held reputation for very detailed portraits, often taking anonymous young people and putting them into fantasy come futuristic scenarios, but always with a meaning that the subject and the viewer can both relate to. His art is held in very high esteem by many people, and once you take in the amount of work and attention to detail he puts into each and every one of his works - then it's easy to see and understand why.
Before he arrived, you should have seen the faces on everyone when they took stock of their equipment supplied by 20/21 from David's instructions; no pun intended, but they were 'a picture'! (Tiny brushes No4 & No6 small rounds, and a large 20" x 28" canvass.) After introducing himself and setting out his background and aims, we all had our photograph taken, then printed off and covered with a pre-printed grid before David showed us how to grid up our large canvasses and use that method to get our photograph down onto it. Surprisingly, not everyone knew this way of working, and to those who did, then it is always good practice.
That, of course, is not the whole point of the exercise. Learning, but above all enjoyment is the main aim, and we all agreed with that. Once we had 'finished' timewise, David photographed each of our work for his own records, and then stayed for quite a while answering a wide range of questions from those who wanted to ask. I think the biggest difference is that he takes up to 4 days to complete a work - we had around 4 hours!
A very enjoyable workshop, with many thanks to 20/21 for their help, to the other students for their banter and friendship, and of course to David Hancock himself. I for one will be looking forward to his next workshop visit this side of the Pennines.
Whatever you art - enjoy it.
Paul
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