On Saturday twenty one members enjoyed an ink and workshop with artist and tutor Victoria Wainwright. We learned about different types of inks, including acrylic and Indian inks and used several colours in different paintings. It was the first time we have done four paintings at one workshop and we all went home having learned a lot and appreciated her knowledge, inspiration and encouragement.

Victoria’s website is here… https://www.victoriawainwright.com

As art group subs covers the hall hire, members not attending the workshop are welcome to come along and create pictures to their own theme.

We started the workshop by doodling with a pen on a sheet of paper, filling in some or all of the shapes, choosing 3 different coloured inks from a large selection and painting the shapes. After this exercise we placed all the pictures on the floor to view them.

For the next exercise Victoria showed us some examples of paintings of everyday household kitchen items. We chose items from a selection for a little still life. We drew the objects in pencil, used inks to paint outside the lines then drew loose lines in pen for the outlines and details of the objects. Having painted within the lines for many years we were encouraged to paint outside the lines, add splashes of ink and it was quite liberating!

After lunch we moved on to watercolours to paint birch trees with a coloured background. Victoria drew vertical lines for the tree trunks, put clean water between the trees then added watercolours wet in wet to create mixed colours. Whilst the paint was wet we added large salt granules to the colours which made interesting patterns when dry. Once the dry salt was brushed off we used Quink ink in black or blue with a cocktail stick to add the lines and details on the birch trees. By adding more Quink to one side of a tree trunk and using a brush with water to create a darker side it made the trunks become rounded and not flat. We added more paint to the bottom of the picture by using sponges and a bunch of elastic bands loaded with paint. It makes a difference to the atmosphere of the woods by the paint colours used.

The first three birch tree paintings are Victoria’s and the rest are ours.

For the last painting we had a reference photo of a fishing boat. We loosely drew the shape of the boat and used watercolours for the sky, land and boat, emphasising the rusty areas. When the painting was dry we used Quink ink or a black pen to outline the boat and pick out areas of interest.

The first photo is the reference picture, then Victoria’s painting, then ours.

We all really enjoyed the workshop, learning about and trying different types of ink, using cocktail sticks with Quink, drawing with a pen and taking home four paintings. Thank you, Victoria, for a tiring but inspiring day!

Look out for the next newsletter on 1st May and our next session is on Wednesday 13th May from 7-9pm.