Landscape Master Class:

In July 2007 the Usher Gallery, part of “The Collection” in Lincoln, organised a summer Master-Class on Landscape Painting. The tutor for the week was the distinguished painter Alan Parker.

Pictured right: In Usher Studio

The first two Days were spent painting a number of sketches on field trips to the ‘’real’’ part of Lincolnshire, i.e. the fens and a remote coastal area. The general theme chosen by Allan was painting Lincolnshire’s mountains – the clouds – of which we had an abundance!

Day one was spent on the banks of the River Slea, near South Kyme, and I selected a view looking across Heckington Fen towards Boston. The second day we were on the sea-bank at Frieston Shore, with spectacular views of clouds over the sea. Looking inland we had views over the lagoons and islands, recently produced by breaching the sea-wall to provide ideal breeding areas for our coastal birds.

Pictured left: Heckington Fen

The next three days were spent back at the workshop in the Usher Gallery where we were encouraged to use our sketches to produce finished paintings on large canvases. Towards the end of the week Alan persuaded me to “hide’’ all of my small brushes and to use larger ones with a new (for me) medium called Spectragel. The results were much simpler and more spontaneous paintings, which made quite a change from my usual detailed style.

Pictured right: Frieston Sea Banks

In summary, it was an excellent week which kick-started me back into painting full-time, after an enforced break of about three years, and I haven’t stopped since then! Other Master-Classes organised by the Usher Gallery, which I also attended in recent years, included colour theory, etching, portraits and printing. I can highly recommend these classes organised by the Usher Gallery.