Love and Blue

Love and Blue was the first live Guided Painting class I ran at The Art Train, so I will always be fond of it. The image originates in the whimsical practice of my early career. I used to draw little birds endlessly, they would be on branches, in trees, balancing on top of one another, in birdhouses. My early sketchbooks are filled with drawings of these little birds, which have so much character. The slightest change in the shape or position of a beak, eye, tail or wing can alter the personality radically. Little birds and leaves were imagery I used constantly in my embroidery work too. 

I ran this class in 2014 and was so nervous. Fortunately, the students were lovely and they all did a fabulous job. I painted the image simultaneously while teaching the class, which was a disaster. However, by the time this class ran, I had trialled "Hydrangeas" with two students, realised written instructions with step by step progress photos were the way to go. So this class ran with a booklet, which worked perfectly. After this class, I never painted simultaneously with students again.

 I had a full house for "Love and Blue" and the images produced were lovely. As this was the first big class it amazed me to see how a group with the same instructions could all produce quite different images, every bird had its unique personality.

I sold the original to one of the students. She had taken her painting to work and her colleague wanted to buy it. She couldn't bear to part with hers so bought my painting to give to the colleague instead. A great result all round.