Summer Flower Works in Progress, Belinda Lindhardt, Acrylic on Canvas

Been a busy week here in the studio, last week i had another committee meeting for the CCAS, which always inspires me, so fantastic to be helping out my local community. As well as that i had my final Coloured Pencil Workshop which went really really well.

Not as many people as my initial workshop but it was great to have a smaller group and we working on some more advanced coloured pencil techniques for people who had attended my first workshop.  I am considering perhaps putting on some of these workshops myself if I have enough interest, i really enjoyed teaching it was great.

Afterwards, I managed to head over and have a look at the Gosford Art Prize 2009, some wonderful entrants in this years art prize. Next year i hope to be in there myself. Looking forward to the overflow, which is an exhibition for all the entrants that didn’t make it into the Art Prize, this is put on by the CCAS, details to follow for that.

I also got to working on a new painting last week, i have quite a few exhibitions coming up I would like to enter some works into so i am in production mode. I questioned myself as to whether i really wanted to publish a photo of myself in my pjamas on the internet but i often paint this way so i figured I would keep it authentic for you all. Enjoy ! LOL.

Painting: Summer Flower – still a work in progress
Medium: Acrylic
Size: 36 X 36 inches, 91.4 X 91.4 cm

Here is also a pic for my fellow artists who are interested which shows the progress

Well, i am back. Today was my first coloured pencil workshop which I was asked to do earlier in the year by the  Central Coast Art Society. I had such  a fantastic time really enjoyed it!

There were 12 participants in all, which is a fantastic turnout, and i feels so honored that some people had made a special trip from quite a distance to come. Thankyou all so much!

The workshop was an introduction workshop, I covered alot of information about supports, materials and well known coloured pencil artists etc. I questioned myself that i was planning to speak for such a period of time in a “workshop” but I felt it quite important to cover these things as coloured pencils are  a medium which is not so known in Australia and for those which are new it i thought it would be valuable to share the info to see what is possible with a humble pencil.

I also thought it important to cover information about materials, mentors for coloured pencil artists are overseas, so alot of the information artists will receive here in Australia is conflicting and confusing particularly in relation to supplies etc.  It is also limited further up here on the Central Coast as opposed as to range that you can get in Sydney so again i wanted to cover alot of that today to help artist alleviate some of the confusion and run around that you can get when trying to get into this form of art.

As well as all the info, i had some exercises for the artists to do on values, pressure, building layers, colours just to get the ball rolling for people to get the feel for themselves on the technique. If i was to have jumped straight in and tried to get people to work from a reference today i felt that i might have lost a few people or  when trying to do it themselves at home people may have become a bit frustrated if i hadnt taught them the “right” way to go about.  So hence the structure of todays workshop, i also covered a bit towards the end about mixing colours, blending lifting colour. All in all some good groundwork.

The next workshop is in a fortnight from today, so i am hoping in that one i may  expand a little bit more into  tips for creating an artwork and some of the more advanced techniques etc. Again tho, time will be a factor trying to do all of that in 3 hours is a tough call, but i hope to be able to give a good indication of what you can and cant do.

For all of you pencil fans, here is a photo that may interest you all, one of the ladies brought in these vintage pencils to use. Look at that packet! Fantastic!

At the moment i am busy preparing for my coloured pencil workshop coming up in October.

A lady called me about it today and after her phone call i realised that I had written a wrong date on one of the leaflets I had put out when holding a demo at Erina fair !! ekkk. I have no way of contacting her so i appologize if you have one of these leaflets, the Workshops for the Central Coast Art Society are held on the first and the third wednesday of each month.

Workshops will be on the 7th and the 21st of October.

At the studios (next to Gosford Regional Art Gallery- Web St Gosford)

I am still finalizing how i am going to structure the workshop but here is a brief explanation of my plan, i am really excited about it, hope to see any locals there!

This workshop will be covering an Introduction to creating coloured pencil artworks.
We will cover different coloured pencil materials, techniques, supports, skills and process used in creating coloured pencil artworks. Run in conjunction with the Central Coast Art Society by Belinda Lindhardt.

Materials List:
Please bring along whatever materials you have, the below are preferable:

Coloured pencils Brands either:
FaberCastell – Polychromos, Sanford  – Prismacolor, Derwents – Coloursoft.

Colours please bring whatever you have, as a guide you will need: White,  3 primary colours and at least 3 shades of 1 chosen colour ie. Light green, medium green and dark green.

Paper:
“Stonehenge” or Fabriano paper is best (bought as whole sheets so please cut into workable sizes) or your best cartridge paper.

Sharpener:
Battery operated sharpener preferable or handheld.

Working Board:
Foamcore Board or Smooth board or cardboard to place under your paper to workon.

You don’t have to be a member of the art society to come along, and you don’t have to book, just come along on the day.

I feel terrible about my date mix up i hope it doesn’t muck up anybody’s plans. Otherwise all is good looking forward to it.

Those of you who have been following me on facebook and twitter will know i was off at the Central Coast Art Society’s Winter Exhibition over the past week a couple of times rostering on the desk and demonstrating some coloured pencils.

I met some great people i had spoken with online it was fantastic to put some faces to names. I felt honoured that some people made a big journey to come and visit me. Thankyou.

Thanks also to my wonderful boyfriend Grant who took some great photos.

I have played around with taking a bit of video when working on this piece which i started just for the demo, i will have some WIP photos soon to, so stay tuned, hopefully post at least the photos in the next couple of days.

Aside from this, the past week i have been completely flat out getting some business side stuff sorted, things like accounts, reports tax stuff. Its hectic but i am almost at the end, its stuff that just has to be done. Back soon…

Well, my feet have barely touched the ground following the Business Mums Conference  attended last week.

My prints and cards were a success all of the recipients were pleased with them. One of the recipients was a fellow artist so that was nice that she received a print.

I had a fabulous time, met so many inspirational women and businesses. What was so fabulous about this conference is the professionalism of the women and the variety of businesses without all the (as someone else put it) “hoopla”. Everyone is genuine and willing to help one another and comes together in the spirit of learning and sharing their skills and experiences.

I learnt about getting more energy for myself, organising and getting rid of my piles of paperwork joining personal and business, importance of having a laugh and working on personal and client relationships, more information on passive income, working on getting a budget as well as many other inspirational stories.

The keynote speaker Di Padgett – You are Special was so inspirational, she talked about many of the same issues i have found myself dealing with over recent years, she talked about branding and relationships with your family and clients, we have walked a very similar path I found her to be a fantastic presenter as well as what she had to say.

Since being back been busy trying to get ontop of many things, but enjoying the quieter times with my boys. It was a real achievement for me personally given the journey i have been on to have some reflection time, everything was very uncertain this time last year, it is good for myself to have some distance and pat myself on the back for all that i have achieved in the past year.

Today I feel proud, i completed one of my goals for 2009, which was to complete a sketch book, (the goal was actually to complete multiple sketchbooks, but i am taking hold of this achievement because at least i have completed 1). The majority of the sketches have been from my life drawing classes which i have been attending each week, and i am glad i have achieved something i wanted to achieve.

In relation to my sketch group, I also actually feel:

1. Feel privileged that i have been able to actually go in the first place (thanks to having help with the kids from my mum – i know if you are on your own it is soo hard to be able to do these things), this is not something i could have done this time last year with no help around.

2. Feel so glad that i have MADE myself go (there were a few times where i almost didn’t like today as I have so much other STUFF to do), and by doing this i have  taken the time just for me, its 2 hours out of the week where i am totally absorbed in what i am doing, no interruptions, no stress, i come out of the session feeling relaxed which is actually a strange sensation for me these days, always running around trying to juggle so many things.
So REALLY glad i am doing it, and i encourage you if you can to get out and do something just for you, it gives you more energy to give back to your family and recharges you. You have to make the time

I am also very happy to report i am getting some enquiries and RSVP’s already for my Coloured Pencil Workshop that is happening in October, run by the Central Coast Art Society. I am really excited about it Interested to hear from anyone who has attended a workshop or wants to what you feel was good and bad about it, i am sure i will be a bit nervous I want to make it really good

Plan for the next few days is to get ontop of my piles and filing and work, at the moment my latest cp drawing is at the bottom of some of the piles which isnt where it should be. Hope to post some more soon.

I will be conducting a coloured pencil workshop for the  Central Coast Art Society in October 2009.

I am very excited and honored to have been asked to hold this workshop and I plan for it to be covering an introduction and general overview of working with coloured pencils. I will have examples of my work as well as other famous coloured pencil artists from around the world. I will be cover things like pencil brands, papers and supports, as well techniques such as burnishing, blending, solvents, strokes etc.

I am hoping  to introduce the versatility that can come with this wonderful medium and well as discussing breifly some of the more advance techniques  such as using underpaintings, complimentary colours etc.

Further information will be release via my blog, mailing list & my newsletter, some of which will also be published on the CCAS newsletter.

Held at: Gosford Art Gallery, Studios 1 or 2 (to be confirmed). If you wish to be notified of further information please email me: art@belindalindhardt.com.au