Life Drawing in Margate - Roy Eastland - 19th June 2010

Local Artist Roy Eastland is holding a one-day Life Drawing class on Saturday 19th June, 10 - 4pm. Don't miss out!

Roy is very good at what he does, and I wanted to tell you all about him and this fantastic opportunity to learn from him through his classes, as I really love his work. Amongst his successes so far, he has shown work in the BP Portrait award at the National Portrait Gallery, London, and the Jerwood Drawing Prize. One of his regular galleries, Caxton Contemporary in Whitstable, has some more information available to view: http://www.caxtoncontemporary.co.uk/artists/roy_eastland.php

You can sign up to his one-day class at any Kent Adult Education Office: www.kentadulteducation.co.uk (course code 4161 MAR 09 B) or by phoning 0845 605606

Only £25!

See you there!

Roberson & Co - Glaze Medium

Product Review by John W (our resident fountain of knowledge on all things related to painting!)

- Glaze Medium is very effective for 'realist' styles of painting. Essentially, it is a fast drying (overnight), clear varnish, to which oil paint is added in order to make a glaze. (It is not used on its own).

- A little paint, added to the glaze medium and brushed over a passage of painting, will tint the background colour, whilst still allowing the background to show through clearly.

- Glazes can be built up, layer after layer, over a fairly monochromatic ground to achieve an 'Old Master' finish, which allows light to refract through the layers to the white ground and back.

- This would have been the technique as used by Van Eyck, Leonardo and countless painters from the 16th century onwards.

- Alternatively, glazes can be used over thicker impastoed paint to subtly change the colour values. For instance, to deepen and add life to shadows, or to vary the colour around highlights and half-tones. This would have been the way glazes were used by Rembrandt, Titan and Caravaggio.

'Conversion of St. Paul' - Caravaggio - 1600 (approx.)

- Oil glazes are best carried out with transparent (non-opaque) oil colours, and really are a versatile way to add another dimension to a painting.

- Glaze medium is available in a Matt or Gloss finish, and is sold at Chromos in 60ml, 250ml, 500ml or 1 litre bottles.

Glaze medium is also a well-known favourite with many contemporary painters and translates well to modern styles of painting, for examlpe one of my personal favourites, Justin Mortimer: http://justinmortimer.co.uk/Portraits.htm
Please send us YOUR photos of your own work done using this product, and we will post it up here....

Meet the Chromos Team! Jane Ford

Jane works part-time in our Chromos shop in Canterbury. The rest of her time is spent working hard in her studio creating wonderful paintings for her two regular galleries - Galeria San Maurizio, Venice, and the Val Gould Gallery, Sandwich, Kent - as well as new work for various upcoming exhibitions throughout the year.
Jane was born in Staffordshire and studied fine art at the Newcastle, Longton and Stoke Schools of Art.
The folloing two paintings are from a new series of work, titled 'Big Apple Dreaming'. Images of New York as reflected in Skyscrapers. All are oil colour on canvas.

Series on British Wildlife. Charcoal images of the more mysterious of our wildlife.

Venetian portraits in the old Venetian style of paintings. These are what Jane is really well known for:

Upcoming shows:
May:
- The Opus Gallery Ashbourne, Derbyshire. Venetain Portraits - Hares.
- Pilgrims Way Artists Lenham, Kent. Big Apple Dreaming Series.

June:

- Untitled Gallery Art fair Chelsea Town Hall, London. Big Apple Dreaming Series.

Sept:

- The Blackheath Gallery Blackheath, London. Venetian Portraits.

- Brighton Art Fair Big Apple Dreaming Series.

Nov:

- The Blackheath Gallery Blackheath, London. Hares.

To find out more about Jane Ford and her work please visit her site: www.janefordart.com
Well done Jane - how do you manage to find the time to fit everything in, thats what I am wondering!

Next time we hear from Jane I will make sure I ask her more about her techniques and the materials she uses.

Kent Artists - Dawlton Barn

Thank you to Rod McIntosh, Kent and London based artist, for sending us details of his latest artwork and upcoming exhibitions.
Having just featured in the South East Open Studios and an Art Auction evening at The Art Room in Ashford, http://theartroomashford.com/.
Rod is now busy working hard to get ready for Fulham Palace Art Fair in October. He has recently purchased some small square Pebeo 3D linen canvases, available online here: http://www.chromosart.co.uk/catalog/pebeo-natural-linen-canvas-p-6045.html and is now in the process of applying to his canvas the many layers of gesso that form the foundations of his paintings. Find out more about Rod's work, his methods and techniques, and his studio at Dawlton Barn, by visiting his website: http://www.dawltonbarn.co.uk/pcolour.html

P.S. Just a quick note for those of you who would like to know more about GESSO - I will be posting a blog soon with more info about this - so watch this space... and feel free to send us your questions!

Kent Artists - Exhibition in Ramsgate

"Confessions of a Starving Artist"

@ the Belgian Cafe, Ramsgate

May 15th - June 4th 2010

Local Artist Anthony Giles has kindly got in touch to tell us about his current exhibition of paintings. The Belgian Cafe is a popular venue, situated right on the harbour sea front, and is well known for its involvement in the local arts and support of local artists. Come and visit Ramsgate for the day to enjoy some fantastic art and some classic British seaside fun! (with any luck there might even be some sunshine...!) All visitors welcome. Free entry.

You can find the belgian cafe (and find out more about the venue) by clicking this link: http://www.belgiancafe.co.uk/page.asp?PageID=5

or to view more of Anthony Giles' artwork please see his website:

http://anthonygiles.vpweb.co.uk/

www.acolartgroup.org/gallery/anthony-giles/

Dr. Ph.Martin's Hydrus Watercolour Inks

Dr.Ph. Martin's Hydrus Watercolour Inks (15ml bottles) are lightfast transparent liquid watercolour at its best.
This product delivers the same brilliance and permanency of traditional watercolour. Made from the finest artists pigments to give luminosity - these colours can also be used in technical pens for calligraphy and as an airbrush colour. The opaque Titanium White can also be mixed with colours to produce a fine gouache.

To view the colour chart you can click on this link:

http://www.globalartsupplies.co.uk/Resources/p90.pdf

Chromos customer Sue Mears, from Croyden, bought a set of Hydrus inks from us just before Christmas (they retail on our website as individual bottles, or in sets of 12). Sue has been kind enough to send us her verdict, along with a photograph of her recent painting made with the inks:

"What a revelation! I am slowly grasping the different ways in which this paint works and producing quite a different look to my work. I am a botanical artist who uses the 'normal' watercolours to produce very detailed work, so these new paints are making me think! Hope you like my sunflower. I have now started a new sunflower and I am trying to dilute the paint to produce a more delicate appearance. Great fun!"

Here is a picture of Sue's beautiful Sunflower painting:

Welcome to Chromos!

Hello to all our lovely readers, and welcome to Chromos Art and Craft blog! We hope that this blog will grow into a vital resource for artists of all disciplines, and provide an exciting forum for all sorts of Art and Crafts information, product reviews, local and national exhibitions, and even a feature or two on our Chromos customers. We would love to hear from you, so if you have anything you feel you would like to contribute, please do get in touch at shop@chromosart.co.uk.



You can find our Chromos store in Canterbury, Kent:



http://www.multimap.com/maps/?qs=ct1+2nr&countryCode=GB



or visit our online shop at: http://www.chromosart.co.uk/



We hope to hear from you soon!


From the Chromos team