On the 3rd November, we had the pleasure of welcoming girls from St Mary’s Calne to the studios. The girls were in London to visit the school’s triennial exhibition, ‘Presence of Absence’, held at Mall Galleries, where several of our own alumni exhibited, including Phoebe Dickinson and Helena Boase.
Just under 60 in total, we managed to squeeze everyone in to the Sculpture studio while they rotated groups for tours!
All keen artists themselves, we gave the students a tour of the studios, outlining the atelier method we teach here and showing them examples in both charcoal and oil paint.
Whilst these tours were going on, Ann gave a live portrait painting demo. As a lot of the girls work from photos, many were intrigued to see how Ann was able to paint a likeness from life. Introducing concepts of composition, shape, lights and shadows, Ann also gave the students an insight into colour.
At London Fine Art Studios, we only ever work from life, whether from the plaster casts, still lifes, portrait and figure models or even landscapes. We believe it is crucial to work from life in the initial stages of your training, and only to resort to photography in your own private studios as an aid and not a sole resource.
Hopefully the girls will be able to put these ideas into practice with their own work, having seen how seeing and interpreting the world through your own eyes will always be the most inspiring and vivid way to draw and paint what you see.
We wish them well on their artistic endeavours, and hope to see them all again soon!
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