HAZEL SOAN AFRICAN WATERCOLOURS WORKSHOP 2013

Am I lucky, or am I extremely lucky, to be able to join Hazel Soan in her studio in London,  this weekend, along with other like minded people,  to learn from her and be inspired by her.  She is so generous in passing on her knowledge to mere mortals like myself, and so good at demonstrating her magical skills.  We watched her first and then attempted to do something similar!

In at the deep end to start with,  we painted lines of ostriches and a giraffe without drawing.  Yes, I said without drawing!

No drawing remember. Colours used were Prussian Blue, Indigo and a little Alizarin, trying to use the least number of strokes

Best lion I ever painted in my life.  The last one looked like the advert for The Lion King!

  I still can't believe I did this without drawing. I thought I would paint him again without drawing just the outline to see if I could do it a second time and a third!  I don't know why, but if I am on one of Hazel's courses my brush seems to behave itself!

This poor Masai chap has a tiny head, but I enjoyed painting him and it was done in a very short time.  Last  painting  of the workshop

This is an excellent exercise for getting to know your brush.  We drew roughly the outline of the Zebra and don't they have a big head, and then twisting and turning the brush we painted the lines in Inidigo. I thoroughly recommend this 

This is a lovely picture of an elephant with highlights.  This was painted with love and care as ephalumps are my very favourite animal.

Thanks to Hazel I now have some wonderful reference material and memories too.  I surprised myself with what I managed to paint.  It is amazing what we managed to do in a weekend workshop with the lovely Hazel.

I have put a link to her website at the top this post and also recommend her wonderful African Watercolours Book. Do have a look at her work if you haven't already come across it.

Do you think I am a fan of hers. Yes, absolutely.