Studio Essentials
Our tutors share their Studio Essentials ~ art materials & creature comforts!
Oil painter Mark Fennell plays with light in his studio
My essentials, apart from the obvious paint and brushes are….
Two lamps fitted with daylight bulbs, one on stand and another one i can clip to my easel. I find two lamps useful when painting myself from life. I turn off the overhead fluorescent tubes and have one lamp to light one side of my face and the other lamp to cast a light on the canvas. Also a small angle lamp on my desk is useful to bounce a bit of soft light back onto myself.
I also find an iPad holder very useful when painting from photographic reference. I also have a mobile phone holder that i clip on a shelf behind me which i use for my Zoom demonstrations.
A paint tube wringer, so i can squeeze every bit of expensive oil paint out of the tubes!
A large brush washer pot, very useful when I’m working at speed and have half a dozen brushes on the go.
Mark likes to use good quality palette knives, Zest It products, long and short flat, small round and filbert hog brushes and a good size and quality palette.
Find out more about Mark Fennell by visiting his website here.
Mark will be teaching various workshops at Pegasus Art this year in a safe and socially distanced environment:
Expressive Portraits in oils or acrylics
6th March 2021 – £80
Zorn Palette Portraits in oils
2nd October 2021 – £85 – working from a head model
Palette Knife Portraits in oils
20th November 2021 – £80
Mark is also offering painting demonstrations via Zoom here
Watercolour painter Richard Callingham keeps it simple in his studio
Hi budding artists, although many of you will no doubt have already bloomed!
Lockdown does not mean you are locked out of enjoying yourself. I work from a small spare bedroom but over the 45 years of being an artist I have worked from a spare room, a large dedicated art studio with fellow artists, a purpose built studio at home and now back to a bedroom!
I have always worked in watercolours so there is no mess just lots of memorabilia dotted around the room that is important to me. Radio 2 is always on, the anglepoise trained on the drawing board and off I go immersed in another world.
Have fun and on emerging from lockdown take yourself into the glorious outdoors and start painting from nature, there is nothing like plein air paintings.
Richard likes to paint with Schmincke watercolours. He is a fan of good quality watercolour travel sets that last. Browse watercolour sketchbooks online here.
Richard normally teaches a regular class on Monday mornings at Pegasus Art, but for now he is teaching via Zoom. Find out more by visiting his website here or emailing him here.
John Scott Martin puts a log on the fire every hour….
My studio was a purpose modified garage in the garden. It has a new large double glazed window, down lighters and a wood burner. It had to be a ground floor building as my very heavy 1903 Albion printing press needed a solid floor.
Before going back to my first love painting and printmaking l had my own graphic design business. Therefore unlike many of my fellow artists my studio is kept clean and tidy. No messy palettes, or paint on floor.
Printmaking needs to clean. Prints need to be clean and tidy whilst drying.
So what for everyday company? Yes Radio 4 and 4 extra also Radio 3 and CD’S. What’s also a hourly necessity is another log in the wood burner. This is my studio at night without me making it look untidy.
John favours Cranfield Safewash printmaking inks and high quality printmaking paper.
John will be teaching two workshops at Pegasus Art later in the year:
Marine Scenes in watercolour & gouache
21st August – £80
Linocut & Collage Landscapes
Friday 6th & Saturday 7th August – £140
David Johnson zones out to music
One of the things I would describe as essential in my studio are sounds!
I’ve been a huge fan of music my whole life, and i spent a few years in my early twenties working in an independent music store. This opened my ears to the huge diversity of music out there, and helped to develop my varied and sometimes unusual tastes in Music.
I play everything from heavy metal, punk, drum n bass, techno and experimental electronic music through to classical, jazz, blues, folk and funk. In the cold winter months I love painting to ambient electronic soundscapes – especially at night. If I have nothing in mind to listen to, then my ‘go-to’ radio station is radio 6 – consistently surprising and inspiring.
My other studio essential is my paint storage rack. Before this my tubes of paint were strewn across the tables and floor, but now with my mobile paint rack always at hand it saves me lots of time and frustration – wish I’d discovered this year ago!
My absolute favourite brand of paint to use is Michael Harding Oils. The colours are quite simply delicious, the texture is a joy to work with, and the quality is outstanding.
Find out more about David ‘DJ’ Johnson online here.
DJ will be teaching the following workshops at Pegasus Art this year:
Dramatic Sunset Skyscapes in oil
1st May – £80 – book online here
Sunlit Seascapes in oils or acrylics
19th June – £80 – book online here
Winter Mountain landscapes in oils or acrylics
17th July – £80 – book online here