Fantastic news!

ROI catalogue 1997 

I have had the most wonderful news to end the year with. Last week the Royal Institute of Oil painters elected me an Associate member! It is hard for me to describe to you how much this means to me but if I tell you that membership of this prestigious society has been my biggest and longest held ambition (for the last 20 years) you may begin to get the idea!

The society hold an annual open exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London with a part of the show consisting of non member work which has made it through the competitive and rigorous selection procedure. In order to be even considered for membership you have to consistently have work accepted and hung in the annual exhibition year after year - which is tough enough!

I first had work accepted with the ROI in 1997, when I won a Young Artists Award.  My prize was £500 worth of Winsor & Newton materials, and a tour of the W & N manufacturing plant. It was my first major prize, and the year after I was awarded another Young Artists Award at the annual exhibition - so I had an early taste of success! 

Since then I have developed a hard work ethic, and buckets full of persistence. There have been years when I missed the annual deadline - when moving house or having my hands full with a new baby for example, but I never stopped thinking of the ROI and entered whenever I could. 

At the end of 2010 we were busy packing up ready to move to France and in 2011 living on the island of Bréhat so I missed the ROI exhibition during those two years. When I returned to the UK after the year away I had gained a much clearer perspective on what I wanted to achieve with my work and also what I had missed while being away from the UK. I determined to never miss the annual ROI exhibition deadline again, no matter what. I developed strategies for keeping good work back throughout the year so that I would be ready for submission and prioritising the important dates for the exhibition in my diary. 

The planning ahead paid off and I was extremely fortunate to have work accepted in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 and now have been rewarded for my perseverance and am very happy. I am looking forward to getting involved in the activities of the society and hope to prove myself worthy of being elected a full member in the not too distant future. For now I can proudly use the initials AROI after my name!

With Adebanji in September at A Brush with the Broads

It was a special double celebration as my friend Adebanji was promoted from Associate to full member of the ROI. Many congratulations Adebanji Alade ROI!

Read more about the Royal Institute of Oil painters here :-)

Channelling Olympia

I had a long and tiring day yesterday in London but it was great to have the opportunity to paint in the Winsor & Newton studio with members and friends of the Royal Institute of Oil painters. We had a lovely model called Jess, who posed for two sessions for us. I toned my panel and paper (this one is on Arches huile paper) the day before with a thin greenish grey, which worked really well underneath the skin tones. In fact it worked really well as the skin tones in a lot of places which I've exploited here.
This pose was very interesting for it's foreshortening on the legs, her feet coming out towards me. The model was lit by a lamp for this one as well as the natural daylight from the window. Notice the cool daylight on places such as her left hand and the warm light closest to the lamp on her face and left arm. Also there was some reflected light bouncing off the white wall behind her. I wish I had more opportunity to paint from the life model but there isn't anywhere locally where I can join in with a group. I'm just so grateful for all the years I was able to have weekly and twice weekly life sessions for four years while studying and several years more at the Nottingham Society of Artists studio.
This pose reminded us of Manet's Olympia!
I've barely had time to look at my Staithes paintings yet.

Lucky girl again!

My Winsor & Newton ROI prize :-)

Look what lovely treats arrived for me today! Prompted by my forthcoming trip I finally settled down with the Winsor and Newton catalogue to choose my prize goodies from winning the ROI event evening in December. 

I chose the compact artist's watercolour set because I really wanted to be able to keep part of my prize as a souvenir of the evening. I do actually love watercolours you might be surprised to hear, I just forget to use them! Anyway I thought this one would be great for 'on the go' with it's fourteen half pans of colour and mini sable brush. I now need to get in the habit of taking it around with me to add a little colour to my line drawings.

Yes I did order brushes too, even though I got my large Pro Arte prize haul only a few months ago. There are 'Monarch' and 'Galeria' brushes that I would hate to be without... and although I hardly ever ever throw a brush away I always seem to need new ones! In fact they just retire to a different jam jar...

Brand new brushes for Morocco! 

The other indulgence that you see here are a couple of tubes of paint I wouldn't usually buy as they're series 7 and retail at £27.50 a tube. I also thought they may come in handy in Morocco... cobalt blue deep and cobalt turquoise. Plus they are just heart-breakingly beautiful. 

Of course I run the risk that I might permanently add them to my palette and I'll be paying for them next time!  

Tomorrow I'm going over to the 'Spotted Dog' art group near Nottingham, to tutor a workshop in 'finding your style'. Hopefully everyone will take home lots of ideas to help them progress with their work.