Friday 14 August 2009

Mixing Green in watercolour

Finished the August course, it was a delight to teach, everyone was so keen to be painting on location even though the weather was quite mixed. Some of the students had never been outside with paints and paper but they took to it ' like a duck to water'. Wednesday found us in the tiny hamlet of Millbeck with pretty cottages like the one below, a quaint post box in a dry stone wall and farm buildings with the magnificent Borrowdale valley stretching out below. We watched the milk float arrive, the post man came and the farmer was back and forth all day watching I'm sure how the paintings were coming on.

The view from Millbeck, showing a slither of Lake sparkling in the sunshine.
A glimse of heaven through dappled light
Thursday found us back in Portinscale, some decided to paint in the hotel grounds while others could not resist been drawn to the lake edge! Unknown to us happy artists painting madly away Gordon Brown was holidaying and spending his time on the shores of Derwentwater, maybe he had cast an appreciated eye over our work, but we were to busy getting the correct shade of green to notice the prime minister!