Workshops

What to expect

Cherry shares and demonstrates her own unique method of making a large scale watercolour painting.

Each morning of the workshop, Cherry gives a new demonstration of part of the process she uses to make her paintings; she shares her simple scaling up technique which allows artists to overcome the foreshortening and distortion which can occur in larger paintings. While this is not a portrait painting workshop the scaling up part of this workshop can help students to get a very good likeness when they do wish to make a portrait. Scaling has been used by artists for many centuries, but the famous artist, Chuck Close is a great example of a contemporary artist who uses a grid to scale up to achieve his huge paintings of the human face.

As an art student, Cherry utilised the all over grid, however over time she has reduced and very much simplified her method of scaling. Her unique method enables painters to get the exact proportions of a face and the correct position the features of the face. This shortcut to drafting the face allows students much more time to enjoy learning Cherry’s very loose painting style with the beautiful medium of watercolour. Students are not overburdened with ‘drawing’ or copying the image of the face onto the paper. Students who use projectors are welcome to bring images which are already drafted onto their watercolour paper.

Cherry inspires students to really go for it with large brushes and very watery washes of paint to make their large paintings. She demonstrates and encourages each student to use loose painting techniques, the pouring of washes from containers, dripping and moving the paint around the paper by tilting manipulating it. The use of all kinds of methods other than the use of a paint brush.

Cherry assists each participant with their individual needs and problems. During the workshop, she does special short demonstrations of eyes, hair and other features as needed.

“To make a very good painting is a better goal than to make a great likeness.” Cherry wants each student to grow in experience so this is a workshop aimed at encouraging students to make a fantastic, interesting and unique painting.

Students of all levels usually achieve at least one very good painting by the second day of the workshop.

Workbook

Cherry Hood has produced a workbook which describes and illustrates her unique drafting technique. Being a workbook it is designed to be used during the workshop. Much of the process being difficult to grasp without Cherry’s demonstrations. (Her second workbook will be about painting.)

This photo is from the First Workbook showing how to organise your workspace, if you’re right-handed, and the opposite way around for left-handed people. The book lists all the materials needed and gives step by step written and photographic directions to Cherry’s unusual scaling technique.

Cherry will have her workbooks for sale at her workshops. Students can write notes in the workbook and use it to review the demonstrations. They’ll have the workbook at their workspace to remind them of the process they’ve watched in the demonstrations.

Projector

Cherry has recently introduced the use of projectors into her workshops and has acquired one so students can learn to use this most popular method of drafting.

Cherry has dozens of images available for students to use. Students are, of course, welcome to bring their own images on a USB or sent by email, as long as they’re very sharp and clear and printed out on A4 paper so that the face is at least 25 cm in height.