paintings prints and stuff

High Tide, Sunset. 24in sq oil on canvas. Vivien Blackburn this one underwent a few changes :>) - I decided to have the tide in, rather than having a beach with pools - the waves made for a better composition and I like the perspective of being in the air, hovering somewhere over the waves. I also sorted that sky that I hated. You can see the very early stages here http://vivienb.blogspot.com/2008/01/work-in-progress-seascapes-stage-3.html (it's the third image down in this post) and at a later ugly underpainting stage here http://vivienb.blogspot.com/2008/01/seascapes-update-work-in-progress-16th.html when I was planning to keep the foreground as sand and pools. Lots of that underpainting still shines through in the final version. I wasn't at all happy about it until I sorted the sky out and made that decision about the high tide, then it came together, at last. Do you work in series? Do you like to look at the same scene or small area in different lights and seasons? ...

class website: Welland Park students, tutor: Vivien Blackburn This is a website I set up for the classes to show off their work - you'll see the wide range of subjects, media, styles and experience - the differentiation I talked about in my last post on teaching styles. website address: http://sitekreator.com/wellandpark it's worth a look - there are some talented students in my classes :>) previous posts on teaching in this series: http://vivienb.blogspot.com/search/label/teaching (2 posts) and http://vivienb.blogspot.com/search/label/teachers where I talk about the good teachers I've studied with . Core elements in painting and drawing Teaching I believe is being a catalyst. You are aiming to bring out and develop the talents and increase the understanding of students. Core elements for me are: encouraging an open minded exploratory attitude from the very beginning (a relaxed atmosphere as explained in the first post, enables students to do this without fear of...

Midnight, High Tide. 11-12 ins square, acrylic and coloured pencil painting. Vivien Blackburn So far all the paintings I've done of this subject have been daytime or evening - I wanted to catch a nightime view and also do a painting with the tide high. I underpainted in a mix of ultramarine and raw umber and white. Ultramarine or indigo and burnt umber are what Paynes Gray is made up with - so that's a colour you really don't need to buy. If you mix your own you can tip it slightly bluer or slightly browner and have a little variety, which I think is more interesting than a flat colour. I then added touches of colour on the cliffs, in the clouds and the sea in purple, blues, green, ochre and brown coloured pencils. The underlying acrylics create a unity of colour and help with the night time feeling. The long thin drawing I did earlier I decided I wasn't happy with - I've cropped a square out of the middle. which I like better: Evening beach: charcoal and c...

Following some good advice I've lightened his nostrils from the last post - I think it's much better now. Do you think so? Sam, 5 months old, mechanical pencil in moleskine sketchbook, Vivien Blackburn Crit from friends with a clear fresh eye is so useful. .

Sam, 5 months old. Pencil sketch. Vivien Blackburn Drawing babies isn't the easiest thing to do - but now Sam is developing a distinct character and personality of his own it's getting easier. This is in my moleskine sketchbook - I do wish they would make a larger size of these because I like them for drawing in but even this 'large' size is in fact small. He was absolutely delighted with this stuffed toy that jingled and made noises and he's very sociable, loving the interaction with those around him. He has very dark eyes. It made a change from the beaches :>) .

Across the beach, late afternoon, cool day, charcoal and coloured pencil, 18 ins sq. Vivien Blackburn Another experiment with the charcoal and coloured pencil combination on grey paper - this time I did something I rarely do and included figures and a dog - it helps give the scale of those cliffs and rocks - the figures should actually be slightly smaller but the pencils wouldn't cooperate any smaller than this :>) Done using willow charcoal, polychromos and Lyra coloured pencils and a battery operated eraser on grey rough paper (which eats the pencils). The curve in the horizon is the paper not lying flat - not me tipping the sea up! detail enlarged - on the drawing this is less than half an inch high the figures are just very loosely suggested, with their dog playing in the water. detail from dark reflection - there are lots of hazy subtle colour changes in these that don't show up well onscreen :>( I ended up working all day and evening yesterday, covering for ano...

Blue Day. Oil on canvas. 24 ins. Vivien Blackburn A new seascape finished, it's oil on a 24 inch canvas. Started with free calligraphic marks and finished off with glazes to get the subtle changes in the colour of the sand. Really quiet, calm and simplified, trying to get that lovely feeling of walking down to the waters edge on a blue blue sunny day. I thought after all the rain and cool weather paintings it was time to do a warm and sunny day :>) . and ......... Teaching Part 2: Differentiation Differentiation: teaching allowing for different skill levels and interests and developing the individuals skills and addressing individual needs and projects - not a one-size-fits all method :>) ........... nor one subject, one medium, one learning style, one ................ At all the classes I teach I'm working with mixed ability students - some are total beginners and some very accomplished and every ability level between The comfort zone I talked about in the last teach...