A huge success!

The May Bank Holidays Plein-Air Painting Workshop was a huge success, with absolutely glorious weather and a rewarding experience for all the students who took part, as well as for myself. They say the best tutors learn from their students, so I was pleased to understand more acutely the difficulties artists face when going outdoors to paint ‘en plein-‘air’—many for the first time ever! I was particularly pleased to see students following the instruction I had demonstrated in the morning session with some astonishing results, and furthermore, those who had never painted out doors reported back that the experience had changed their view on painting on location and would do it again without hesitation.
Plein Air Painting Class with Nick Grove RSMA

Plein Air Painting Class with Nick Grove RSMA

Fundamentals of Painting

The process I teach is fundamentally the same painting process that I believe can be applied to all forms of painting; however, it is the application of that process that changes depending on your subject matter, your experience, and your personal designs on the finished painting. For example, water colour painting and oil painting have very different approaches, but the fundamental considerations of composition, blocking in tonal values, and refining are the same. So whether your preference is for portraits, still-life, or landscapes created using oils, acrylics, or watercolour, you can benefit from taking part in my fine art classes at Stamford Arts Centre.

Demonstrating the process

The Plein-Air Workshop starts with a demonstration at the beginning of the day, where I show the attendees the process I follow when painting ‘en plein-air’. Which begins with an easy-to-follow demonstration of the sight-size technique, which I predominantly use to compose my paintings, and maps out where everything will be in the painting. The beauty of the sight-size measuring technique is that once mastered, it is accurate and fast, and you can check and double-check your measurements at any time throughout the painting. Following on from that, I discuss tone and value, which are extremely important aspects of any figurative painting, and how to block in large areas of tonal value to begin to capture the light effect of the scene you are painting.

Plein-Air Painting Demonstration

Plein-Air Painting Demonstration painting by Nick Grove RSMA

Above is the actual demonstration painting from the plein-air painting workshop. It has been created from a reference photograph that shows a wet morning in Red Lion Square, the heart of Stamford. Although it is a long way from being a complete block-in, you can begin to see the essence of the painting emerging.

To find out more about the next plein-air painting workshop, please contact me directly or sign up for my newsletter. Current Fine Art Classes and Workshops can be found on my tutoring page.