Wales Painting Workshop 23-30 September 2013

Getting ready for my Paint Wales Workshop from 23 - 30 September. We will be centered in the North at Rhuddlan. From here we will paint en plein air these beautiful castles: Denbigh, Conway, Caernarfon, Beaumaris and Harlech. They were all built during the English conquest of Wales in the late 13th century and are now World Heritage sites. Some were badly damaged in the English Civil War of the 1640's and some have been partially restored. They were popular subjects in the 1800's for British artists such as John Cotman and J M W Turner.

Here's some current photos © UK Crown copyright of Caernarfon above and Conwy below.

And here is a pastel of a stream I did in the 1970's while on one of my many visits to Wales.

During this Workshop trip we'll also visit and paint the magnificent, and always dramatic, Snowdonia National Park, and maybe take a train ride up the spectacular mountains. Weather permitting, of course.

More information and itinerary, plus how to get to Wales Workshop, on my website: www.BernardFallon.com

Plein Air, Last Light

Here are four plein air painters working at Portuguese Bend today to capture the late afternoon light. From left to right that's Rodolfo Rivademer, Mark Fenton, Bridget Duffy, and me, the long shadow on the ground. A wonderful experience in this chilly January light.

Starting the Year

I painted with Jacques Valin last week near Steve Shriver's place. Various people stopped by and looked at the works in progress. A woman on horseback stopped and made various maneuvers to get a better look at what we were doing. Difficult on a horse. Then Steve Mirich and Margaret appeared. Having seen the William Wendt exhibition at the Laguna Art Museum with Robert Elliott the previous week, a discussion broke out about Wendt's use of sky tones over his landscapes, and how he incorporated upward or downward viewpoints into a painting. At this point, I could see the shadows were changing my composition. Then Dan Pinkham drove up and stopped. Well, a great chatter started.

Jacques was already finished and packed up. I was done for the day, and headed out to Utrecht Art Supply in Santa Monica.

Wednesday, 14th of Jan, I started teaching a new class at the Palos Verdes Art Center - beginning painting. I gave a talk and then we started some simple painting exercises in thinning out paint, and using color to create form. I'll photograph some of the work this week and we'll see how they progress over the next few months. Should be interesting!

Friday 16th, I went with my son Patrick to the USC Annenberg School of Journalism. They were hosting the World Press Photo 2008 exhibition and seminar. Tim Hetherington, also from Liverpool, who won the World Press Photo in 2007, gave a most dynamic presentation of his photos from West Africa and Afghanistan. He and other presenters later gave a guided tour of all the exhibited photos.

I have been asked by the British Film Institute to write a short essay to accompany their DVD release of the 2008 film documentary "Of Time and The City", which is director Terence Davies autobiographical love song to his home town of Liverpool. The film uses 3 of my photographs, and they're also used in the publicity.