Charity Online Daffodil Watercolour Workshop

 

We are very happy to launch our new Charity Online Daffodils Watercolour Workshop with Claire Warner in aid of Hospice UK.

£10 from each workshop bought goes directly to Hospice UK and support The National Garden Scheme and their Spring Flower Open Gardens.  Have a look at their website and see if there's a garden open near you.

The workshop is suitable for all levels of artist including Beginners, so if you'd like to have a go, this is perfect.  Claire teaches in an easy to follow step by step style.

(Professionally filmed and edited by the Storey brothers).

Learn how to mix and apply watercolour paint, master the wet in wet technique used, discover how to create the daffodils trumpet shape and find the contrast and shadows needed, but most of all just enjoy this happy and colourful subject whilst painting.

We also have a Daffodils Materials Box available in our Online Shop with everything in that you would need for this workshop.

Your Online Watercolour Workshop will be sent to your email as a PDF document.

The PDF will include:

A link to your online watercolour workshop video

A materials list of what you need

A paint chart of the colours used

Art tips from Claire

Images of all the stages of the drawing and painting

YOU MUST SAVE THE PDF TO YOUR DEVICE WITHIN 30 DAYS, IT IS THEN YOURS TO KEEP

Enjoy Spring and welcome the sunshine with these bright and beautiful flowers.

The Workshop and the Materials Box are both available to buy from the Treetops Website

HERE

Sunsets Watercolour - St Michael's Mount

Last week we had a great group in to paint Watercolour Sunsets.

Claire had chosen St Michael's Mount in Cornwall as the image.

After the drawing, everyone mixed up their paints before laying out their washes.

The finished paintings were full of glow and atmosphere

We had a delicious lunch of Fish & Fennel Stew served with home made sourdough bread and some summer fruit sundaes to finish.

It was a Bucks-Fizz celebratory lunch as it was Claire's birthday the following day and there were some beautifully painted cards given ...

I managed to get a photo of everyone with Claire before they went home.

Thank you everyone for coming, it was a great day.

Claire is now off to Marlborough College Summer School to teach for 4 weeks, classes will resume in October.

If you need any summer Art Materials don't forget to have a look in our Online Shop.  We have a Summer Sketch Kit Offer available at the moment.

Our popular Online Watercolour Workshops are also available, just £27 each, treat yourself to one for the summer and let me know what you think.

Treetops is now on You Tube!

 

This week we have set up a Treetops You Tube channel where we hope to share videos and all things arty with you!

To find us click here

We'd really appreciate you subscribing and clicking 'like' as we post videos, as it will help spread the word about Treetops, our classes, and our online workshops.

(It doesn't cost anything to subscribe, you just click on the red subscribe button below the video to join our channel).

Thank you

Emily & Claire

Find out more about our Online Workshops

We are so happy that many of you have been enjoying our Watercolour Workshops since they launched in the Autumn, but we know there are still some of you unsure what they involve and whether or not they are too 'technical' due to being online.

We have made sure that we have kept the spirit of a Claire's in-person class and have ensured that the sound and picture grade are of the highest quality by working with a great production team.

One of our unique advantages is that when you buy one of our Workshops it is yours to keep forever, it doesn't disappear after 3 months.

Firstly, you don't need amazing technical ability to start painting online with Claire.

You choose and buy the Workshop from our Website.

You then receive a LINK, which you press/click and this opens and downloads the Workshop onto your device..... and then you're ready to go!

YOU MUST DOWNLOAD IT WITHIN ONE MONTH THOUGH OR THE LINK WILL NO LONGER WORK.  THIS IS KEY!

(let me know if this has happened to you and I will resend it!)

Once it's downloaded onto your device you will always be able to find it and come back to it in your 'downloads' section.

If you have ANY technical questions, please, please, please let me know.

Along with your Workshop, you will receive some PDF attachments, if you click and open these you will find a paint chart like the one above, a materials list of paint colours, brushes and equipment you will need, and images of the stages of your picture which are incredibly helpful.  You can print all of these out on your printer and have alongside you whilst you work.

We have an Online Materials Shop, which is really useful for watercolour paper, Claire's watercolour paints, mounts and a fabulous Starter Box full of everything you need to get started.

The cameras have been positioned close to the paper, paints and Claire's hands so that you can see close up what she is doing, the technique she is using and the colours she is mixing.

Claire teaches the painting in stages, so you can press pause and have a rest and come back to your work.  You can rewind it easily and rewatch sections.  We use different angles and you get to see Claire's smiley face too!

Each Workshop is different so you can learn different techniques, for example our Croatian painting looks at reflections, techniques and small detail, our Porthmeor Beach looks at waves coming over the sand and how you keep your colours transparent, Winter Scene shows you that snow can be full of character and colour, and our Rhododendrons shows you how to be loose with your painting and keep the vibrancy in your glorious colours.

Click here to see our available Workshops

Our Beginners and Refreshers Workshop goes right back to basics and is a great one to watch through before you even start painting.  Claire shows you the difference between papers, brushes and paints.  She takes you through mixing the paints with some little exercises, followed by helping you create a masterpiece which includes several washes and results in a calm countryside scene.

If you don't fancy too much painting and would like to work on your drawing skills, we have Cyril the Squirrel, which is a Pen and Wash Workshop.

I'd like to share some feedback we've received to help you consider investing in one of our Workshops:

"Claire's so good at this, tell her to do more"

"Online delivery works really well and I loved the way the workshop was split into stages, it was certainly useful to be able to pause the recording, especially for drying time"

"Very user friendly, lots of useful and helpful information on the attached PDF sheets.  The actual video was great, I liked the angle, which made it easy to see which paints Claire was mixing up and what she was painting"

"I'm loving the sound of the sea on the Porthmeor Beach Workshop"

"Claire has a wonderful way of breaking down into easy to understand painting techniques, building confidence and her use of colours is gorgeous"

"The Cornish seascape workshop was my first online one and I was so pleased with what I'd managed to achieve thanks to Claire's tuition"

"The camera together with Claire's narrative captured the process of working very clearly"

"Well done to you and Claire, the workshops are a fantastic achievement, Online Workshops are a real bonus to have at the moment"

Any questions please ask away, and hopefully Claire will soon by on your tablet, ipad, computer or television in high definition!

For those of you who have recently joined our mailing list or started following us on Facebook, Claire and I have been working together since 2005 running small day Workshops in Newbury, we haven't yet reopened since Covid but hope to later in the Spring/early Summer.  Our days are very relaxing, they include a lovely lunch with a glass of wine, all of your materials are included and you will complete a finished painting to take home with you.

We put together these Workshops so everyone can continue to paint at home, practice their skills and continue to feel part of the lovely Treetops community.

Claire teaches on painting holidays throughout the year and at Marlborough Summer School.

Welcome to February

February is the month for Valentines Day and all things rosy and red.

We would like to offer you £5 off our online Autumn Berries Watercolour Workshop so that you can enjoy working with a lovely red paint.

If you haven't tried Claire's watercolour paints yet, we will post you a FREE Poppy Red tube, with every pair of paints bought from her range.  (value £8.40)

Mixed with a little transparent yellow you can highlight on top of the berries for glorious orangey tones, or mix it with a little blue for the underside of berries.

Claire chose to have this gorgeous rich colour made as she was finding other reds were producing a colour that was too dull for her taste, and needed a number of applications to give sufficient coverage.  Poppy Red has become one of the most popular colours in her watercolour range.

All of Claire's paints contains honey, an ingredient which has been used over the years by colour chemists to produce extra translucent and vibrant colours.

*******

In Yoga red represents the Root Chakra

The chakras are the points in our body where our energy flows.  The Root Chakra is located at the base of your spine and creates the foundation for all the chakras that lie above it.  It helps you to feel grounded and able to withstand challenges.

Rachel, our Yoga tutor, has created a lovely playlist on Spotify and the first four songs are specific to the Root Chakra, it is lovely to listen to whilst relaxing, meditating and during a gentle yoga flow.

We would like to offer you Rachel's online Woodland Yoga Workshop for just £12.50 this month, take some time for yourself and discover how relaxing and gentle Yoga can be.  Once you have bought the workshop you can watch it again and again.

******

In season this month, red and pink vegetables & fruit are beetroot, rhubarb, apples, red cabbage and purple sprouting broccoli.  But I thought, seeing as it's Valentines Day, and it's been a VERY long January I would share my Red Velvet Cupcakes recipe with you!  (Some of you may remember I used to run Colourful Cupcakes a few years ago, running classes and creating cupcakes for weddings and parties).

For the Cakes:

140g self raising flour

2 tablespoons Green & Blacks Cocoa

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

110ml buttermilk

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Christmas Red Colour Paste (needs to be paste not liquid colouring)

60g butter

170g caster sugar

1 large free range egg

Preheat your oven to 170c/325f/Gas3

Mix the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt.

In another bowl mix the buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla and red paste, mix well so the paste is blended well.

Beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy and pale.  Beat in the egg bit by bit.  Mix in a small amount of the flour mixture half of the liquid mixture and repeat.

Beat well.

This will fill 12 cupcake cases in a muffin tin. 

 Bake for 20 minutes.

  Leave them to cool slightly and then remove the cupcakes onto a wire baking rack.

For the Icing:

200g cold full fat Philadelphia cream cheese

75g unsalted butter at room temperature

450g icing sugar

1 tablespoon warm water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat the sugar, butter and water together.  Add the philadelphia, beat until the mix is smooth and shiny.  Add the vanilla.  Use a palette knife to decorate the cakes.  You can add red sprinkles or crumbled red velvet cake to decorate.

Have a great February!

💕

Our January Offers

 

Happy New Year Everyone

We would like to offer everyone £5 off an Online Watercolour Workshop this month.

January is time to try something new, we have a great Beginners workshop, and plenty of others to choose from if you have enjoyed Watercolour before.

Once you have bought a workshop, you will receive a code to download it onto your computer and you are ready to go!  Enjoy painting in your own time at home, you are able to press pause, rewind and can keep the workshop for ever.

Claire teaches in her usual step by step style and explains all the stages and is very encouraging with plenty of tips along the way.

You will also receive images to use of the stages, a sheet of tips from Claire and a materials list so that you can get everything together before your start.

Buy a Workshop

If you need to buy some new paints, paper or other materials, visit our online shop because for this month only we are offering free P&P.

Treetops Online Shop

A Winter Scene and December Prize Draw!

 

Announcing our latest Online Watercolour Workshop

A Winter Scene

Salisbury Cathedral

A perfect way to start December

In this workshop Claire will show you how to put colour and light into your work and bring some cheery sunshine into your snowy paintings.

The class is suitable for all levels of artist and Claire teaches in a step by step style.  The video has been divided into stages, so it's easy to follow, and you will receive a materials list along with painting information and a paint chart.

With our film, you can press pause, rewind and watch it as many times as you like.  You can also use the skills Claire is showing you to reference against other paintings you may be undertaking.

Buy Here

We have 7 other Online Art Workshops to choose from, once you have bought and downloaded them, they are yours to keep.

For the month of December we will be running a PRIZE DRAW to win a fantastic book called 

the artist's manual 

You will receive one free entry for every Online Art Workshop bought during the first 17 days of December, so that I can post it to the winner on Saturday 18 December.

It's a beautiful hardback book from Dorling Kindersley worth £25.  It would make a beautiful gift for either yourself or for an artist you know this Christmas.

Have a look at our Online Workshops here

(We also donate £1 for every Workshop bought to The Woodland Trust)

We also have Rachel's Autumn Woodland Yoga Online for you to buy.

It's a great Workshop, which we filmed in the woods at Treetops, a lovely flow of Hatha, Yin and Restorative Yoga, suitable for all levels.

(but not if you are pregnant)

Rachel also supplies a beautiful playlist on Spotify to play alongside, or you can just listen to the birds in the trees.

Once downloaded it is yours to keep and you can watch it again and again.  Perfect to keep you calm at this time of year.

Yes to the Yoga!

If you would like to buy any of the Art Materials from the shop as gifts this Christmas please let me know they are gifts, and I will gift wrap them for you at no extra charge.

Treetops Materials Shop

There are Gift Vouchers available on the website too

Gift Vouchers please

I think that is your December round up from Treetops, please let me know if you have any questions.

Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/TreetopsWellbeing

Instagram: treetopsemily 

Treetops in the snow last week!