Impressionism in Constable Country

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1 FM I Aug Mon-Fri Centre Level Impressionism in Constable Country Date Days Sole occupancy cost Shared occupancy cost Non-Residential cost The location of many of John Constable s paintings, Flatford Mill runs over 120 Natural History and Arts courses in a unique and tranquil learning environment. Course Overview Without doubt John Constable and the Impressionists belong together, they were both moved by the same spirit of truth to reality and they were both inspired by the wonderment of colours and textures of the everyday scene. In this course we will explore the special relationship of Constable and the Impressionists and make our own paintings in their spirit. See also 01 Aug-04 Aug if you would like to join Pat for a full week and enjoy a 10% discount on the fees. Course Description Of all the art movements the most popular has to be impressionism, it is still an influential movement and contemporary artists are still reinventing impressionism with many wonderful new works. What better location to be a part of this tradition than Flatford Mill where it all began. This course takes its inspiration from contemporary impressionist painters like Edward Seago, Trevor Chamberlaine, Arnesby Brown, John Yardley, Ken Howard and Ivon Hitchens and the influence of Constable and the Impressionists on their work is the theme for this course.

2 In the evening sessions Pat will be painting a Seago-ish oil to demonstrate how the techniques of Constable and the Impressionists have been absorbed and redefined by later artists. Drawing exercises to evaluate our accuracy of eye and how we can correct any unwanted inaccuracies will be a daily part of the course. We will develop the ability to draw and paint our subjects in a kind of short hand, a typical impressionist painting and Constable oil sketch rely on suggestion rather than a photographic attention to detail. We will be exploring ways of saying more with less. Colour accuracy and mixing based on the colour wheel and pallet management is an essential part of impressionism. We will look at a simple strategy to keep our colours clean and our palettes organised. We will look at the practicalities of pre-mixing colours as well as colour mixing on site. Impressionist paintings, because they are about the ordinary and every day, apparently seem to be randomly organised rather like their subjects, but composition and design in impressionist painting is as important as with the Old Masters. We will look at the use of classical composition and how the impressionists were also influenced by the design of the Japanese print. The above applies to oils, acrylics and watercolours.

3 About the Tutor Pat Gavin studied Painting, Illustration, History of Art and Interior Design at Hornsey College of Art. Painting has always been central to his work during his career as an illustrator, graphic designer and animator, in television, film and advertising. He took the art and skill of painting on canvas into the technology of computer generated images and now brings this knowledge back to the canvas as a full time painter and teacher. Starting work at Rediffusion he went to Thames Television and designed the identity of the children's show 'Magpie'. Moving to LWT Pat continued to work on titles for light entertainment and sports programmes, such as Poirot and 'The Big Match'; at the same time developing ideas and designs for art and religious shows. Pat's interest in classical music proved advantageous for many design projects. He collaborated with the composer Leonard Bernstein on his opera 'Trouble in Tahiti', designing and animating three special sequences and contributing on the set design with Eileen Diss. He wrote and directed, for the Aquarius arts programme, an animated film about the composer Erik Satie 'Mr Satie Passing Through'. He assisted the art historian E H Gombrich with a lecture on 'The History of Art' for The South Bank Show. For twenty-five years Pat has worked on this well known arts show and the titles, along with many of his other designs, have won various awards, including: four 'BAFTA's; 'The Design and Art Directors Gold award; 'The Design and Art Directors' Silver Award, six times; the 'Prix Italia - the only designer to win this coveted award; Hero of the Smithsonian Institution', Washington, for his work on digital set design. Having lectured widely Pat was made Honorary Professor for animation at Duncan of Jordanstone University in Dundee. He has contributed various articles to publications on drawing and design. What to Bring I'm sure you all have your preferred paints and brushes and painting surfaces but as a general guide the following suggestions might come in handy. OILS: Paints should be pigment rich and have a firm consistency, Michael Hardin, Gamblin, Roberson and Winsor & Newton are all good. Try to avoid student quality paints as they have no real colour strength or body. BRUSHES: Large (about 0.5 of an inch) hog bristles for moving stiff paint about and smaller nylon brushes for any over painting and detail work. Palette knives are a quick clean way of applying and moving paint.

4 MEDIUMS: Linseed oil is the quickest of the drying oils but should be used sparingly. A non toxic, non smelly solvent should be used for diluting any of the paint layers and for cleaning brushes. PAINTING SURFACES: Stretched canvas or boards will be fine, no bigger than 16"x12". AND LOTS AND LOTS OF RAGS! ACRYLICS: Any of the acrylic manufacturers are good.there are some new ones on the market, Pip Seymour have a particularly nice surface and colour range and LASCAUX are very good but weak at the red end of the colour range, you will need to augment the reds with a good Cadmium red from another manufacturer. Gold, Winsor&Newton and Rowney are all good. BRUSHES: The same as for oils MEDIUMS: A slow drying (retarder) medium. A transparent glaze medium. A small water atomiser spray. A stay wet palette. If you like thick chunky paintings acrylics are good for adding thickener gels and aggregate mediums. PAINTING SURFACES: The same as oils. WATERCOLOUR: Artist quality paints. Gum Arabic and a good quality paper. BRUSHES: Your brushes should be of the finest quality. A couple of different shapes of brush according to taste and style. Have a main medium sized sable as your general work horse, it will have enough bristles to act as a good reservoir, enabling you to make large gestural marks and also make fine detailed marks all with the one brushes. Have a couple of small ones as a support. Start and finish times Afternoon tea is available from 1600 on Monday, but the first formal activity is dinner at 1830 (with the bar open from 1815!). Residents: Please aim to arrive between 1600 and 1800 on Monday to allow us sufficient time to show you to your accommodation and around the communal areas. Non-residents: You do not need to arrive quite so early but please can you be here by 1800 as we need to show you the communal areas as well. The course will end at 1200 on Friday.

5 How to book Bookings can be made by telephoning the Centre; we are open weekdays and most weekends. Alternatively, bookings can be made via our website: