The other day I got a message: “Look what we found in the local fish & chip restaurant.

“George” is a coloured pencil, pen & ink portrait, dated 1982.

I had zero recollection of “George” and no record.

But, the restaurant is fairly close at hand so a visit was in order. There was “George 1982” and companion “Angus & Lucy 1982”.

The former owner on retirement and selling up, had given the two works to the new owner. The new owner is delighted to discover she owns two original works by a well known artist. I’m delighted to rediscover the two works They were completed when I was very pregnant working on a 6’5” x 7’ drafting board space in our tiny unfinished house. The restaurant was in different place. It too less fancy.

On Wednesday November 20 Peter Marsh was the scheduled presenter at the Banbury Watercolour Workshop with the topic “Personal Expression” Unfortunately this was not to be the case. Nola stepped into his place with Subject, Style and Personal Expression”.

Subject is what we see, Style is how the artist interprets the subject . Substance is the physical pigments and surface they occupy.

Samples and the tools used to achieve the images were shown, explained and demonstrated. Nola used works from her files to illustrate the concepts. First was a pair of flowers. The same species, from two views and in two styles on the same paper and using the same sized brushes.

Fritilaria #1,a loose 20 minute sketch, detailed with ink.

Fritilaria #2 , stylized using a flat brushes in a variety of widths to create a similar image with a modern twist. This took longer as each glazed layer must dry as the image is developed. NB retitled Yellow Fritillaria, For Ukraine it was selected by FCA Federation Gallery as an invitation image

The next set of samples were all developed at the CanAm All Breed Equine Expo held on the first weekend of April at the Markham Fairgrounds. Over three days Nola demonstrates to a constantly changing international audience of horse lovers of all ages. The same Subject approached in a variety of Styles on a variety of Surfaces. Each image used a variety of brushes. Two added Pencil Crayon

It’s fun to play with paints, pencils papers and brushes

Exhibitions and other Stuff