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I, like a great many others, always said that I would learn to paint when I retired. So, when I saw an advert from the Javea Art Centre in the local paper, saying, 'You know that you always said you would paint when you retired...' I replied like a shot!
Lorely and Glyn, who run the Art Centre, out in the wilds of the pine forests behind Javea, are a lovely couple! They can't do enough to make sure that all 'their' students and tutors have everything that they need to feel welcome, comfortable and able to pursue their various forms of art. There are all sorts of courses available, ranging through all forms of drawing and painting to Calligraphy, Pottery and Tile Making. Tea, biscuits and a chat are always available for anyone needing them—except on Thursdays when Lorely and Glyn go to their Spanish lessons. And on the social side, there are always the Arty Farty Garden Parties, where the members turn up for a convivial day, catching up with old friends and making new ones! Glyn and Lorely provide the drink and the members bring the buffet. And, if you are very lucky, the weather will be kind...although we have all enjoyed the occasions when the rain keeps you inside, as well.
In my first talk with Lorely I said that I had been told that it was a good idea to learn to draw before painting and she agreed, so I was signed up with the multi-talented Colin who just happened to have a beginners' Drawing Course starting that week with just a single spare place...it was obviously meant to be! I thoroughly enjoyed my drawing course and learned that, as Colin promised us, anyone can draw...it is a matter of observation and practice. Obviously, to draw well involves lots of both!
The drawing course finished in August and the Centre shut down for a few weeks while Lorely and Glyn visited family and friends in England. In September, there was a beginners' Watercolour Course, taught by the prolific Ted. As I had been told that watercolour was the most difficult to master, I decided that it would be a good idea to do that, on the basis that any subsequent media would seem easier! I started the course in September and continued with the Improvers' class after the first class had finished.
I have indeed found it difficult to transfer what you see with your eye or in your mind onto the paper, but I have had a few moments when I felt that something had turned out better than I expected.
After the Bob Ross workshop in January I decided it was time to move on from watercolours and try something different. Lorely said there was a place in the Mixed Media class in the middle of February and I joined them. The tutor was on the point of a two-week visit to the UK, so I had a session of getting a crayon picture ready to paint, and drawing it up on a canvas board, and then had two weeks off! I went back and started painting the picture—which is an exceedingly bright Mediterranean scene and not at all like a watercolour—and discovered that the tutor was actually leaving in three weeks! On his last day Lorely modestly announced that she had found another world-class artist prepared to teach in Javea—this one was Bill Zima, an American, who does international project work, holds exhibitions all over the world and has his own website at www.billzima.com. He ran the class for the rest of the session, and I found him very interesting in his explanations of how he saw his work.
Lorely then produced another rabbit out of her hat - sorry, Karen! - and arranged for Karen, who has been teaching art for most of her working life so far, to take over the Mixed Media class from September 2004. Karen has taught A-level Art in schools and has a wealth of knowledge and experience on countless techniques for producing works of all kinds. Under her tuition we have worked with paints, tissue paper, inks, non-waterproof pens, Brusho dyes, metal, printing and others...to the point where we are now introduced to visitors as 'the Nursery School'! But some of the results have been staggering, and it is really satisfying to learn a new technique and produce something that is much better than you thought it would be!
Everybody in all the classes has been doing so well that Lorely organised the first ever Members' Exhibition, which was held at the Marriott Hotel in La Xara over Easter 2005, and it was so good that the second one has already been booked for Easter 2006. I was particularly happy, as I sold one of my abstract tissue and ink works to some friends of ours! I don't think it quite qualifies me as a 'professional', but it certainly felt good.
I am very happy that I did take the plunge when I saw the advert, and I shall continue to try different things until I feel I have found something I want to stay with for a while. Even if I don't end up exhibited in the Royal Academy—and who knows?—I am still enjoying a very therapeutic activity.
In December 2006 I decided that I wanted to spend a bit more time concentrating on my photography, so I told the Art Centre that I would be taking a year off. Karen, our teacher, was happy for me to continue my connection with her class unofficially as we had been making early preparations for an exhibition in 2007, and she said I could enter photographic work if I wished. The art class was reborn as the MI Group for the purposes of the exhibition and you can read more about it and our continuing endeavours on that link.
I am returning to my classes in January 2008, which are no longer held at the Art Centre, but in Karen's house.
