Kids for Kids Charity Day with Artist Karen Pearson

Karen Pearson, an artist/teacher, was supporting a Kids for Kids charity by having a painting and sketching event. The day was held in Dorking and hosted by Juliet and Mark; their garden was open to artists of all abilities using any paint medium. The cost of the day was £15; a sum that would buy 3 hens and a rooster or a mosquito net to protect children from malaria. The charity founded by Patricia Parker MBE had a goal for the day to raise enough money to also buy goats which could be bred to provide milk and meat for hungry families.

The event was fantastic; you can tell a lot of preparation went into planning it and the weather was beautiful. Karen gave a short tutorial on drawing and painting en plein air; she also gave everyone a list of ideas with compositions organized throughout the garden.

The dog in the picture was not part of the arrangement but I couldn’t resist. Maybe I'll paint her in a '3xWeekly' pet portrait.

The composition I chose to draw was popular, so I also decided to draw an artist while she was drawing the shed. Karen and another artist, whose name I don’t remember…sorry, came around to help with any questions or in my case some drawing advice.  Later, I drew another setting, an apple tree with a wheel barrel; didn't like it but then proceeded to draw the person drawing the apple tree.  These drawings weren't very good and I'm not going to show them. The gardens were so beautiful I spent a lot of time walking around, taking in the scenery and talking with other artists.  It was a gorgeous day and if there is ever another opportunity to do this... I will in a heartbeat.

At home, I decided to tackle a drawing with watercolour pencils from a picture I took on the day. I really like pencils, you have so much more control than with a paint brush.

Top 5 Art Blogs

Lachri - If you’ve been reading my blog regularly you'll know I’m constantly writing about Lachri Fine Art. I absolutely admire Lisa who tirelessly draws, paints, teaches, critiques and helps with social media tips. Lisa must be working 24/7 because she has created copious amounts of beautiful artwork while keeping up to date with practically every social media platform... how does she get it all done? Along with her blog, you can subscribe to Lisa’s YouTube channel (Top 5 YouTube Subscriptions) and lets face it, sometimes it's easier to watch a video rather than read.

Carol Marine's Painting a Day is another favourite of mine. As I’ve said before…her book changed my attitude towards drawing and painting. Carol practices what she preaches and almost every day you can view her blog and see another wonderful painting. Her blog is a tremendous inspiration, as is her book ‘Daily Painting’ (Top 5 Art Books) and her 'DailyPaintWorks' website (Top 5 Websites).

Kimberley Santini's blog inspired me to paint dogs for my '3xWeekly' challenge. A painting of a dog painted by Kimberly was featured in Carol’s book ‘Daily Painting’ and it was absolutely gorgeous. When she started, in 2006, her dogs didn’t look as good as they do today. So, if Kimberly could improve...I could too. Thank you Kimberly for the inspiration :)

My Art Journal by Diane Salter is mostly for art journal craft and not painting but I love her beautiful artwork. Her colours are fabulous and imagination boundless. It’s worth reading just for the fun of it; even though she only posts around twice a month, it’s a nice distraction from my own artwork.

Art Biz Blog by Alyson Stanfield is for those interested in blogging and needing some help. Having not read most of the posts, I'm saving this blog for a rainy day. If anyone has any thoughts on Art Biz Blog blog, please let me know.