Portrait painting demonstration
I recently did a Zoom portrait painting demonstration with a limited palette (the Zorn palette) for The Art events Group. It was another enjoyable Zoom experience, i was told afterwards that it was like watching the grand national towards the end as i was finishing up.
I tickled this painting up a bit after the demonstration!
"Great demo! I really enjoyed the excitement!" Linda Bywaters
Portrait painting workshop in Truro
Another very enjoyable and successful portrait painting workshop with Truro Arts Company.
It was so nice to be painting with a lovely group of artists in Cornwall again.
Thanks to Morgan for being such a good sitter!
Winner of Oxford Art Society Honorary Members Prize.
Really pleased to be awarded the Honorary members prize for ‘Paint splattered apron’ at this years Oxford art society members exhibition.
Visit the exhibition at https://Oxford art society.co.uk/oas-members-exhibition-2021/
Portrait painting in acrylics demonstration via Zoom
This is my first Acrylics portrait demonstration on Zoom, Usually i demonstrate in oils so i was under
a bit more pressure to produce something in 2 hours.
Ongar art society were let down by another artist so i jumped in at the last minute to help them out.
"Just wanted to tell you Barbara that Mark Fennell was a great demonstrator. All our members were so impressed with his ways of explaining what he was doing, talking about his colour palette, brushes, types of mark etc. So informative. A really good, easy style of chatting, that made the whole demo very interesting all the way through. Excellent painting also. "
Great choice, thank you very much
All the best
Loueen
Very pleased to be exhibiting at the Bucks Art Society 100th anniversary Exhibition at the county museum in Aylesbury, the town where I was born and grew up. Also very pleased that the Art curator Mel Czapski chose my portrait of ww2 veteran Len Nixey as one of her five favourite pieces. Unfortunately the museum is closed during lockdown but you can see the great work by all the members and the virtual tour - https://www.buckscountymuseum.org/.../bucks-art-society.../
Zoom portrait painting in acrylics workshop
Another very enjoyable and successful portrait painting workshop with Henley Arts & Craft Guild. This one had to be done on Zoom due to another Covid lockdown but i must say i'm getting to like Zoom, it works very well and i find it very sociable during these strange times.
Here are some of the impressive portraits that were completed during and after the workshop.
"Just to say thanks for a great portrait demo yesterday.
The members really appreciated it and more are watching the recording too. We've had some nice comments thanking us and you for the demo."
Janet Myall
“I thought the workshop went really well he is very engaging, has a very easy friendly manner, I’d certainly do another of his workshops as I like his style”
“ I really enjoyed it. I found it a useful and straightforward way to approach a portrait”
“ I thought the workshop was brilliant - thank you. I have been doing classes for five years and avoided painting people, portraits, hands - all of it”
“Thank you for a fabulous workshop, I enjoyed every minute of it”
“ I thoroughly enjoyed Mark demonstrate his portraiture skills, which I found extremely helpful. The time went too quick as I found his technique really absorbing”
“Really good morning painting along with Mark, who gave us some interesting and original ideas on how to construct a portrait - will definitely try that technique again”
Zorn palette portrait painting demonstration on Zoom
I recently did a Zoom portrait painting demonstration from my studio for 39 members of Henley Arts & Crafts Guild. It was another enjoyable Zoom experience and very well organised by the society.
I tickled this painting up a bit after the demonstration!
Here are a few quotes from the members
"Mark is a super duper painter and so skilled"
"A good demonstration and a good result. I noted the age-old problem of knowing when to stop"
"Thanks for another fascinating demo!"
" It was a wonderful demonstration and I was very sorry to have to leave early - so pleased I'll be able to watch the rest of it later" (As we offer a recording)
"Thank you to Mark - it was a very informative and interesting afternoon"
"Just to say thanks for a great portrait demo yesterday.
The members really appreciated it and more are watching the recording too. We've had some nice comments thanking us and you for the demo."
Janet Myall
https://henley-art-crafts-guild.org
Zoom portrait painting demonstration
Here's another one of my Zoom portrait painting demonstrations. This one was for Woking art society
in collaboration with Guildford art society.
"Thank you for a really enjoyable demo. Whilst I’ve only spoken to a couple of people, all of whom thoroughly enjoyed the session, the fact that all 55 viewers stayed for the duration (and some longer than the allotted two hours!) speaks for itself – that doesn’t always happen! It was fascinating to watch that beautiful face emerge and we learned quite a bit about technique along the way too."
Sue Hinton
Woking Art Society
Chairman and Exhibitions Secretary
Portraits for nhs heroes
My portrait of nurse Megan Woodman is featured in this beautiful book that was put together to showcase the remarkable project 'Portraits for NHS heroes', initiated by fellow artist Tom Croft.
Portrait painting workshop at Micklems Farm
I spent an enjoyable day running a portrait painting workshop in this lovely studio at Micklems Farm near Henley on Thames. All socially distanced of course!
https://www.micklemsfarm.com/
Oil painting workshop in Stroud
I spent an enjoyable day teaching a small socially distanced group alla prima oil painting techniques
at Pegasus Art in Stroud.
Unfortunately a few people that booked the course dropped out at the last minute due to the rise in covid-19 cases but we still had a fun day!
My next socially distanced workshop here is palette knife portrait painting on October 24th 2020.
https://www.pegasusart.co.uk/classes-workshops.irs
Portrait painting workshop in Cornwall
Spent an enjoyable couple of days running a portrait painting workshop for Truro arts company.
I painted Chris, the guy in the blue top over 3 demonstrations each lasting approx 30 minutes.
#portraitsfornhsheroes at Piccadilly Circus
Chuffed to have my portrait of nurse Megan up on the massive billboard at Piccadilly Circus with all the other artists on the cover of Artists Talk magazine.
Mall galleries Award Winning Artists exhibition
As one of this years award winning artists some of my work is up for sale on Mall galleries Award Winning Artists online exhibition. Also it was a nice surprise to see my painting - Knockout featured in the Mall Galleries email.
Artist talk magazine front cover
My portrait of nurse Megan for #portraitsfornhsheroes has made it onto the front cover of Artist talk magazine. Thanks to @Tomcroft
Zoom art demonstrations
This week i did my first painting demonstration for Maidenhead painting club via the Zoom video conferencing app. It was really easy to set up and went very well. Here are a couple of quotes from some of the participants.
Mavis Wing
' What a brilliant demo! I learnt so much this evening I can't wait to apply it. I think it was particularly good as we ALL had a close-up of what he was doing all the time, and he shared his thought processes with us. What a privilege. He did brilliantly especially as it was his first online demo.
Well done Maidenhead Painting Club. A superb evening with no hassle. I look forward to the next one. Something good has come out of the lockdown. Many thanks to the organisers.'
Tess Marsh
' I very much enjoyed Mark's demo and it was great to be able to have such a close-up view. Thank you for organising this.'
Sue Sepehri
' I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed Mark's Zoom demonstration yesterday evening. It was a nice way to spend a couple of hours and I think Mark did an excellent job.
I hope the Club might be able to arrange more.....'
http://www.maidenheadpaintingclub.co.uk/
#portraitsfornhsheroes
Here’s my second portrait for #portraitsfornhsheroes. I challenged myself by painting Katy just with palette knifes. I painted her portrait as part of the #portraitsfornhsheroes initiative created by fellow Oxford art society member and painter friend Tom Croft.
Katy's experience her own words.
“I’m a theatre recovery nurse. I qualified as a nurse in 2012 working first at Stoke Mandeville Hospital and later the BMI. During the full-on Covid period both NHS and private hospitals dedicated themselves to the common Covid struggle. The private sector was contracted to the NHS. I did a number of long shifts in an area designated for Covid patients with “hot and cold” areas - an off shoot of ITU. I also had informal caring responsibilities to my every father (recently widowed), whilst trying to socially distance.”
#portraitsfornhsheroes
My portrait for #portraitsfornhsheroes got a little feature in the Bucks Herald and Vale life magazine i was also intervied on Three Counties Radio.
Portrait of nurse Megan Woodman, painted as part of Oxford art society member Tom Croft’s brilliant idea #portraitsfornhsheroes.
Megan works at Chelsea and Westminster hospital in London and has been nursing for only a year and a half. She was transfered to the ITU unit during the Covid19 pandemic.
If you would like to nominate an NHS Hero to be painted, sign into Instagram and search the hashtag #portraitsfornhsheroes to find an artist.
#portraitsfornhsheroes
Megan works as a nurse at Chelsea and Westminster hospital in London and has been nursing for only a year and a half. She was transfered to the ITU unit during the Covid19 pandemic. I painted her portrait as part of the #portraitsfornhsheroes initiative created by fellow Oxford art society member and painter friend Tom Croft.
Megan’s experience her own words.
I felt very lucky that I had worked in a medical ward and had recent surgical experience before being transferred to ITU during the covid pandemic as both areas intertwined in the high level of care- but was still surprised by how different it felt to any experiences I’ve had through training and qualification.
As someone who enjoys chatting with patients it felt very strange to be looking after someone and not know what their voice sounded like. The dissonant sound of countless beeps, hums and drones from the equipment in the room almost became the patients voice whilst they couldn’t use their own- alerting to when something is wrong and reassuring when things improve.
My overwhelming feeling of working in ITU during the pandemic was gratitude for the nurses, doctors, physiotherapists and other fantastic members of the healthcare team. I continually saw colleagues support each other and help with not only the patient during and incredibly scary and difficult period of their life, but also fortifying and providing reassurance to ITU newcomers like myself.
I’m grateful for my ITU experience, and feel very lucky to have seen so many patients improve and to use their voices again. “
Artists life interview.
I occasionally run art courses at Pegasus art in Stroud and they recently interviewed me for their Artists life blog.
https://www.pegasusart.co.uk/blog/artist-interviews/artist-life-mark-fennell/