Hello lovely Skillshare gang, I have made a few new year resolutions and one of them is to connect more with the art world and share my creative ideas, inspiration and just stuff I think other creatives would be interested in.

So this is the start of my regular Skillshare news letters that I’m calling my “Creative Soup”

Each month I’ll tell you what I’m in to, who and what is inspiring me, what new art materials I’ve tried, my favourite Skillshare classes and what I want to try, visit and discover soon.

I’d love to connect with you all so if you have any creative tips, ideas, places you’ve loved visiting for inspiration then please share as a class discussion - I love hearing about you and I love finding new things to get my creative juices going!

Talking of connecting, don't forget to follow me on Instagram and on my web site where I plan to spend much more time sharing stuff with you. If you haven't tried my latest class on Skillshare where I mix painting with gouache and watercolour then you can find it here: The Gouache Files: How to mix Watercolour and Gouache Painting like a Pro!

This last month I have mostly been celebrating my husband’s 50th, doing Christmas, eating my own weight in cheese and mince pies and then spending the last couple of weeks trying to diet.

I’ve also been burying myself in my studio where I’ve been painting with acrylics….. NO! I hear you cry, you only paint in gouache! Well, that’s another new year’s resolution, to expand my paint horizons and spend more time using other mediums.

So, what’s been floating my boat so far this year, well I’ll tell you…..

The Artist I’m loving is an amazing man called Robert Kushner, have a look at his work, his vibrant use of colour and the way he incorporates pattern it really ticks all my boxes and makes me want to create like him, such an inspiring artist.

The Instagram account I’m following is another artist who is just the master of coloured pencils- Per Adolfsen. I think I’m especially in awe of him because I’m not a pencil person….I’ve tried to be but its too slow and laboured, however his use of the pencil, the marks he makes and the colour combinations just capture me and make me want to be a pencil person too.
The books I’m loving: “A Dictionary of color Combinations” produced by a Japanese publisher called Seigensha. Its full of interesting colour combos to inspire your palette and I find it so useful when I’m trying to decide what to choose for my colour schemes.
I’m also loving: “Go with the Flow Painting” by Ohn Mar Win, a fellow Skillshare teacher and friend, she has produced a brilliant book on step-by-step techniques in watercolour, she explains everything so clearly and she’s such a talented artist and teacher you can’t fail to improve your painting skills with the help of this book. There are loads of user-friendly exercises to get you painting everything from food and drink to boats and flowers.
The Skillshare classes I’ve watched are Urban Sketching: How to draw a street with Gouache and Colored Pencils by Julia Henze. I think I was looking for some classes using pencils (due to my obsession with Per Adolfsen) and came across Julia’s class, it’s a great combination and I love her use of colour and mark making. She’s a very accomplished illustrator and artist and I’m totally inspired by her and her technique.
I also loved Mel Rye’s class – Learn to Draw: A beginner’s Guide to Sketching Anything! It’s such a bright, clever and totally inspiring class, Mel has a brilliant way of explaining things and I love all her classes. If nothing else she will brighten up your day with her bold and colourful videos and engaging personality.
The Exhibitions I’ve seen: This month I visited one of my local galleries here on the south coast of the UK, Pallant House gallery in Chichester which has a fantastic reputation and has an awesome permanent collection of some incredible and renowned artist’s work. They have a temporary exhibition on called Sussex Landscape: Chalk, Wood and water which is a celebration of Sussex as a place of inspiration for many famous artists including work by Constable, Turner, Duncan Grant, William Nicholson and my personal favourite -John Piper. I’d recommend visiting if you are in the area.
Art materials I’m using: Recently I’ve been using a lot of acrylics and I’m especially loving using it to mono print with a gelli plate, here’s a little video to show you what I’ve been doing- Mono printing video.
I’ve used various types of acrylics and as with most paints you get what you pay for so I can honestly say that by far the best quality I’m finding is with the Liquitex acrylics, the colours are so much more intense. Having said that the cheaper Windsor and Newton Galería acrylic has worked well too. However, one of my obsessions, at the moment, is with fluorescent colours and I love the Daler Rowney System 3 Fluorescent Orange and pink- you gotta love a bit of neon!
My only frustration with these acrylics is the slightly shiny look they have, I’m missing my flat matt gouache, so I’ve taken the plunge at last and ordered some Acrylic gouache by Liquitex. I’ll let you know how I get on with it next month…..
What I’m looking forward too: Next week my husband and I are off to Spain, a few days in Barcelona and in the country near Gerona staying with friends who we haven’t seen for a several years, I can’t wait to soak up that Spanish vibe, the food, the wine, the art and hopefully it will be a bit warmer than here in the UK!
So that’s it for now, I hope some of the things I’ve shared help and inspire you on your creative journey and I look forward to sharing more with you next month.
Happy painting!
Kate

Kate Cooke

Textile Designer and Illustrator

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