On 17 October local artist and tutor Denise Cliffen will be our guest for a landscape workshop with a difference. Working on black A3 paper, the landscape scene is sketched on with chalk pastels then the acrylic paint applied in short brush strokes creating an almost mosaic effect.

Denise Cliffen was a semi-finalist in Sky Landscape Artist of the Year in 2022. She has exhibited with the Royal Society of British Artists and Royal Societiy of Marine Artists. She runs Easel Weasel Art Workshops in the Peak District.

Bring along your acrylic paints, apron, water pot, brushes and a sheet of black A3. Denise can supply the black A3 sheet for £1 and a tray of acrylic paints for £7 if you don’t already have these. Let us know please, well in advance so Denise knows what to bring.

Please note the earlier start for this event. To inspire you, here are some examples of Denise’s work using this technique:

On 9 October we took a Skills coach to Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum. Alongside their vast permanent collection, there were various free exhibitions including Hong Kong artist Cheung Yee, sculptures by Daphne Wright: Deep rooted Things’ and some incredible kimonos. The main exhibition ‘This Is What You Get’ featured art work from Stanley Donwood that was created at the same time and in the same space as the music of Radiohead and Thom Yorke. Unusual and inspiring.