I have long had an interest in canal art, both the history of it and the design aspect. Back in August of this year, we attended a charity auction, one of the lots was a two day Master Class with Phil Speight and Andy Russell to learn the basics of sign writing and canal art. Hubby was the successful bidder and said it was my Christmas/Birthday present. I was thrilled.
The course was held this weekend at the workshop at Overwater Marina, in Cheshire. There were around fifteen of us on the course, a real mix of ages, abilities and reason for being there. The first day we did sign writing, lead by Andy Russell. The second day we learnt the basics of the traditional roses.
I loved every minute of the course and am quite happy with what I have achieved. There are aspects that I struggled with, I've never worked in that medium of paint. I'm more used to water colours, inks and acrylic paints not these smelly ones that appeared to "go off" quite quickly.
The word "Talwrn" is the name of the village that I live in, the board is about one and half metres wide.
Now I am back home, I need to practice what I have learnt. I have a large galvanised old fashioned looking watering can that I want to paint, but I will leave it until I am better at the craft.
Well this is wonderful Sam, and you learnt a lot in two days, and the sign with the traditional roses is fabulous. We went on a canal boat holiday donkeys years ago and we always visit canals when we are out and about and away on holiday, and I have always admired the bright and pretty look of this type of artwork, and I think it won't be long before you are able to paint and decorate your watering can. x
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. I've done a little practice of roses this evening, using acrylic paint, but my brushes are not really suitable, so I've treated myself to two new (sadly expensive) brushes. Hopefully, as I gain confidence I'll share what I've been up to on here x
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