What a happy way to spend a rainy Saturday in June! This workshop with Edward Hillier did exactly what it said on the tin – inspired us to paint more expressively.
We focused on landscape works by David Bomberg and Joan Eardley, beginning with short exercises using charcoal to make bold strokes to outline the structure of one of their paintings. Then we added some colour with pastels and finally used what we had learned to create a more sustained piece of work from our own photographs using acrylic paint and canvas. Edward provided just the right balance of instruction, demonstration and encouragement and it was interesting to see what satisfyingly different outcomes we produced from our common starting point.
I have long realised that I don’t possess the essential ability of an accomplished artist – to look and see, to sort out the jumble of a landscape and create an image that is arresting and comprehensible. Edward made us understand how two very different artists structured their work and thus helped us to look and see in a more purposeful way.
Ann Gittins
Friends of the Hatton 