Autumn Watercolour Dates 2013

Claire and I have put together a great mix of art classes next term, we hope there are some subjects that interest you:

Wednesday 18 September

Vibrant Flowers

Thursday 26 September

A Constable Country Landscape

Tuesday 1 October
An Autumn Harvest

Wednesday 13 November

An Autumn Harvest

Tuesday 19 November

A Winter Scene

Wednesday 20 November
A Winter Scene

Tuesday 10 December

Acrylic Seascape

All our classes run from 9.30am - approx 3pm.

They cost £70 and this includes all of your materials, refreshments and a 2 course lunch with a glass of wine.

You will finish a painting to take home with you.

Please contact Treetops to book a place, as they do sell out very quickly.

emily @ treetops-newbury.co.uk

Green and Lush ...

The garden at Treetops is looking beautiful at the moment, it's very green thanks to the recent rain.

The Wisteria is just holding on after some very high winds over the last two days.

There are only two classes left this term at Treetops, I have some spaces on one of them:

Coastal Seascapes - Wednesday 3 July

A Watercolour class that runs from 9.30am - 3pm.

Lunch and all your materials included = £70.

Claire and I are putting together next term's dates, along with our Flower classes and Aga classes, our Autumn Term will have lots of great classes to choose from.

A Sunny Sunflowers Class

We started our class today, very leisurely in the morning sunshine!

It was lovely to have some sunny bright sunflowers to paint, with everyone choosing a variety of layouts.

We used an acrylic texture paste today for the petals and some glass beads in the centres, these were applied with palette knives and looked really effective.

Hard at work!

The lovely Wisteria hanging from the window ....

June's Beginner Watercolour Class

Today we had a lovely group of new artists at our Beginners Class.

Claire spends the morning talking about paints, brushes and paper.

Then there is time to play and experiment before starting the paintings.

Today's techniques included washes and glazing.

Watercolour Goodies for Sale

Claire in conjunction with the SAA, has produced this gorgeous Watercolour Pad.

Perfect for taking out and about with you, it is available from Treetops for £9.95

It contains 12 sheets of heavy 100% cotton, 200lbs Saunders Waterford watercolour paper.

*

Also available is this Wooden Art Box, that contains:

3 SAA brushes

 6 SAA watercolour paints

(lemon yellow, raw sienna, rose madder, burnt sienna, cobalt blue, french ultramarine blue)

a plastic palette

set of 3 pipettes

plastic eraser

fabel castell 9000 graphite lead pencil B

It contains over £80 worth of art materials, but the Treetops introductory price, whilst stocks last, is £49.50!

PLUS Claire will also add a sample paper pack from St Cuthbert's Mill and a free brush case.

To order please email me emily @ treetops-newbury.co.uk or call 01635 44850.

And to learn how to paint the beautiful poppies on the front of the pad, visit Claire's video:

Painting Poppies with Claire

A Country Walk - Watercolour Class

At today's Watercolour class with Claire, our subject was A Country Walk.

We looked at landscapes, perspective, background, middleground and foreground!

We talked about pathways leading into a picture to create interest, and how shadows can lift a painting and add an interesting dimension. 

Buttercup fields, woodlands and the Lake District were painted today.

We used a new paint today from the SAA (the Society for all Artists) called Neutral Tint in a green shade, it was lovely, either on its own, or mixed with some lemon yellow.

We have 1 place left on our Sunflowers class next week, on Wednesday, please contact me if you would like to come, any level of artist are welcome.

9.30am - 3pm.  All materials and lunch included.  £70.

* See the film of Claire demonstrating "Poppies in a Meadow" on her website:  www.saa.co.uk/art/claire

Get to know your Aga .....

Yesterday I had a lovely drive through West Berkshire and into Hampshire to visit someone who has recently moved into a house with a brand new 3 door electric Aga.

If you haven't owned an Aga before, they can be quite imposing and scary, and you can convince yourself (or well meaning friends do) that you won't ever be able to cook on the thing!

I've had an Aga for 10 years, my Mum and my Grandma also had Agas.  I could never not own an Aga now, I love how easy they are to use, how delicious the food is - particularly roasts and cakes and how they really do become the heart of the home.

I've put together a 1 hour introduction to Agas.

I visit you at home, and I show you how to use the Aga, talk you through the various ovens and hot plates, discuss how to look after and clean it, talk about which books are worth buying and look at equipment such as pans, trays and racks and advise you on any new items you need to buy.

I leave you with a booklet full of tips on how to cook the Aga way, how to master a variety of foods such as your root vegetables, roast potatoes, meringues, rice, roasts and even popcorn!

There is some more information on the Treetops website

here