Owl portrait Painting Workshop – Melbourne
Owl Portrait Painting Workshop – Melbourne
Kicking off my final painting workshop for the year with Artable here in Melbourne, my thoughts are full of… where the heck did this year even go! November is upon us already and as our year draws to an ever rapid close… we are NOT done just yet! I have a beautiful group eagerly awaiting this three day face to face painting deep dive where we will be exploring realistic bird painting and realistic watercolour in a far more intimate and personal workshop, bringing a whole new depth of learning opportunity and guidance to my students.
In person workshops really allow us to dig deep, ask questions, gain that one on one personal guidance and to tackle levels of complexity in our painting challenges that are difficult in other forums. Our Owl Portrait workshop will definitely present us with plenty of challenge, but plenty of clarity with it, learning how to approach, improve and refine our knowledge and skills in this genre, and in our work.
So, I make my way south for the week expecting some classic Melbourne weather of 2 days in the high 30 degrees, then 2 days of 13 that ‘feel like 9’, ready to tuck my beautiful students under my wings once again, as we walk through the process and paintings together. Im not ready for the year to end by any means, but if it must, this feels like a pretty given and gifted way to bring the workshop calendar year to its close. Lets see what the week brings! Ill check back in with you from our classroom soon ✨
Well, we are at the end of day 2 of our 3 day event, and boy has Melbourne put on a classic day or so of weather variety for us! A wet, cool old day here, feels nothing but a perfect studio opportunity really. It has been lovely! Of course my students may disagree, for now, as I have put them through their paces from the start, pushing through so many facets of bird painting for our owl portraits. Certainly, its a truly lovely group of people indeed 💕
Drawing and our gorgeous eyes evolved today into the heart of the bird, exploring wash, layers, colour and in this piece, the incredible complexity of its textures. We hit, we miss, we pull it around, reset and keep learning, keep improving with every trick and turn. Tomorrow will bring fresh eyes and enthusiasm I am very sure, and with it refinements, our beak and completion of this very real and wonderful bird painting challenge.
Our owl subject comes to us with thanks to Andrew Haysom our wonderful photographer for this workshop. Our subject presents us with some truly unique opportunities to better understand tackle bird illustration and watercolour painting. Our focus here has very much been about how to approach and manage those very complex yet suggestive and highly textural stories we are often faced with in the craft. This forces you to let go a little, altering your mindset with your hand as you push and pull, stitch and weave a story like this together. So, with the Melbourne weather persisting, its time to rest, raise my semi broken leg, perhaps even legs at the minute! and enjoy a little chocolate and a cup of tea for the last hours of this lovely day. Ill be back with the conclusion of this workshop tomorrow, smiles back on my students faces for sure.
Our final day was all about refinement, learning to make those smaller stitch and weave changes to your work to a better conclusion. Textures, details, the fine touch… taking it as far as we want, exploring our balances and techniques more and more, pushing our abilities into new territory as we learn more about watercolour painting, bird illustration and so importantly… our own abilities! We were all worried we couldnt, but we did, and what wonderful results and growth was had in our 3 short days together!
Our last painting workshop for the year, I bring the year to a close feeling so inspired by my amazing students, who bring so much to every event and group. I am grateful to you all, thank you all for joining me, congratulations on your lovely work and I look forward to seeing you all again in 2026!
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