Painting the town red.....

Our painting workshop has been a great success! The members enjoyed learning all about colour mixing, and they produced some great work through the exercises that our lead artist set them.

The final workshop was definitely a bit of good fun- painting cupcakes which the members were then able to eat. All of the painting workshops were centred around the use of acrylic paints, so we are hoping that in the future we could branch out into oils and water colours with another round of workshops.

Cupcakes painted by two of The Art Studio Members
Photo by Jo Howell Photography

Alongside the painting workshops, the guys have been continuing with their own works. Mick has been working very hard across a number of mediums- print, ceramics and photography. This man has so much energy!

Mick creating his wishing well with Cath
Photo by Jo Howell Photography

And, finally we are just starting our very ambitious project in response to our visit to the Oriental Museum in Durham. The members are very excited about the project which is inspired by the new Indian Exhibition space at the museum. The members can create their own responses but we have also devised a project that will involve everybody in the studio.

You'll have to watch this space for more information on that though!
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Painting Workshops in May...

Painting workshops in May 2014
Photo by Jo Howell

Painting workshops in May 2014
Photo by Jo Howell

Hi Everyone,

We have started running an evening course in painting for our members on a Thursday evening after our normal studio day.

A local artist is teaching our workshops, and its a great excuse to use The Art Studio building much more. At the moment these course are only for the members but we will be holding some workshops for the wider public in the near future, so watch this space!

Starting with basic colour mixing, today the members have been trying their hands at creating their own colours from the 3 primary colours.

(NB: For those who were not in the session the primary colours are RED, YELLOW and BLUE.)

Using a colour wheel to guide them the members used the primary colours to create the secondary colours- GREEN, ORANGE, PURPLE. Then after making the secondary colours they completed the colour wheel by creating two more secondary colours that were in-between the two.

This proved to be an interesting as well as challenging exercise for some and for others the evening served as an excellent refresher for basic colour.

Everyone came away having learned a lot about mixing colours. The course will run throughout May, and we are looking forward to learning new skills.

If you couldn't attend the evening course but don't want to miss out, you can have a go at home. Create your colour chart by drawing around a decent sized dinner plate, and then segment your circle into 12 sections. Start with YELLOW, RED and BLUE then try to build the rest of your colours in the wheel using only those 3. Good luck!

Painting workshops in May 2014
Photo by Jo Howell

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Eggsellent work and drawing classes....

The Art Studio Drawing workshop
Photo by Karen Dodsworth

The Art Studio Drawing workshop
Photo by Karen Dodsworth

Well, time has flown over and Easter is upon us. Our fantastic drawing classes have finished. Everyone had a great time and they learned so many new things with our local artist Michael.

They tried drawing with various materials and tried new ways of seeing or mark making.

Hopefully, we will get Michael back in to do more workshops in the future.

We have also had a fun little competition creating painted easter eggs. Some of them are very interesting but I will only post the winner here:

The winning egg!

Well done Andy!


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Flying the flag (kite) for The Art Studio

The Art Studio Kite Arch
Photo by Pauline Taylor

Infinite Arts Kite Project- Malaysia Tour

Pauline Taylor from Infinite Arts did a wonderful workshop with The Art Studio members about creating their own kites.

The kites created were beautiful and very varied, with the vast majority of the members taking part to create a kite. The kites were then taken on tour around Malaysia and displayed together in a floating arch alongside other schools and groups.

The members are very proud to have taken part and are excited to now be internationally displayed artists!

The Art Studio Kite Arch
Photo by Pauline Taylor

Pauline has now returned from Malaysia and we are very happy to be able to share her photographs of the work with you all here. The work looks wonderful floating so gracefully in the sky, and all of the people at the festival look like they are having an awful lot of fun!

If you would like more information on Pauline's international kite flying project or any of the workshops/projects that she is currently running or taking part in, then please click into this link for Studio Infinite website.

The Art Studio drawing workshop
Photo by Jo Howell

The Art Studio drawing workshop
Photo by Jo Howell

Ex Boxer gone a bit sketchy drawing
Photo by Jo Howell

               The Art Studio Drawing Workshop

                    Every Saturday in the month of March, The Art Studio has been running a fantastic drawing workshop for the members.

A local artist has been working with the guys to progress their skills and confidence in both mark making and drawing.

Each session has been learning something completely new. They have been running round the table, drawing with pencils, pens, charcoal and even with inks!

A member of staff even modelled for life drawing (not nude), and some really amazing drawings were created showing off the level of talent in The Art Studio. You can check out some of the other pictures that were made by clicking here.

Finally, the drawing workshops have encouraged the members to make their own drawings at home and to explore new techniques.

Everyone has been getting thoroughly into creating their own work using the new skills that that they have been learning through the various different workshops.

Oriental Museum

A couple of weeks ago we also had an outing to the Oriental Museum in Durham, where we got to handle a few of the artefacts from the museum collection. This was a rare opportunity and we were very happy to take part. We will now create our own responses to the objects that inspired us the most. Watch this space for more info!

Artefact from The Oriental Museum Durham
Photo by Jo Howell

Drawing on our experience...

The Art Studio Sunderland Drawing Workshop
Photo by Jo Howell

For the month of March we are holding workshops in drawing on each Saturday for the members. The first workshop is actually happening right now and there are some wonderful expressions both on paper and on faces!

The Art Studio Sunderland Drawing Workshop
Photo by Jo Howell

The workshops are being conducted by a local artist who lives and works in the Sunderland area.

Todays session has been tackling the subject of lines and looking. Our members have been challenged in a fun and interesting way to use new drawing materials to explore new ways of mark making. A lot of giggles have ensued with portraits of each other drawn without looking at the page you are drawing on. Some interesting egg-like head and squiffy eyes, but immensely entertaining and great for encouraging expression.

We look forward to the coming weeks and learning new skills!

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The Art Studio Sunderland Drawing Workshop
Photo by Jo Howell

Welcome Back!

Bowl by Polly Cotterel
Photo by Jo Howell 

St Bede by Sketchy Boxer
Photo by Jo Howell

Hi Everyone,

We are back in full swing at The Art Studio in Sunderland. I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and New Year!

Starting on Monday 3rd February 2014 you will be able to view a great selection of the Art Studio members works in an exhibition to be held at Bede's World, Jarrow. This exhibition is a great way for us to show what we can do in a new space with our new friends from Bede's World.

This is an open invitation for you all to come view our work in this beautiful historical setting.

We are also doing a Kite making project with Pauline Taylor from Studio Infinite. Pauline will be taking the kites designed by the Art Studio members on a tour of the Far East.

Skyline by Barry
Photo by Jo Howell

The kites will form part of a large arch and will be joining other kites as part of the tour. The guys have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the project and the designs that they have made are really ingenious.

Thats all for now folks, please get yourselves along to the exhibition if you can, and if you can't, please follow us on Facebook for more information about the daily activities that we are doing at The Art Studio.

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Mono Printing outreach session….

Mono printing outreach session 20/11/2013
Photo by Jo Howell

Mono Printing outreach session 20/11/2013
Photo by Jo Howell

On Wednesday 20th November 2013 between 1pm and 4pm we took The Art Studio up to the library.

The outreach session went really well in the library education room in Fawcett Street. Lots of wonderful Sunderland themed mono-prints were created.

Some of our studio members attended as well as a couple of people from Sunderland who really got stuck in to creating some fantastic prints.


The session was very simple allowing for people of all ages and skill sets to take part. You could create a mono print in multiple colours or stick to one.

There was some great experimentation which created works with a very interesting aesthetic.

If you missed the session on Wednesday, then don't worry we are having another one on Saturday afternoon, same bat place, same bat channel. Click here for more information.

So we look forward to seeing you all this coming Saturday, you can bring down your own resource images if you have something particular in mind, but otherwise all materials and resources will be provided.

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Mono prints created at the outreach session 20/11/2013
Photo by Jo Howell