Hello & Welcome to the Forum!
For those of you that are new to my work and website, thank you for subscribing and you are very welcome; I'm Olly, a British Landscape painter, based in Sussex. In addition to my day-job of painting for the five galleries that represent me, including my own in Dorset, and the work I am commissioned for by my clients, I enjoy sharing my experience and knowledge with those that also paint the landscape and and are prepared to grapple with the wonderful but capricious medium of watercolour. Till now, this has been through art group and society workshops, my blog, 'Our Landscape,' and my YouTube channel. The time was right to create this online members forum as a way of creating a space, a community hopefully, where those with the same interests can find each other easily and share experiences and knowledge together. It is a place to have fun and enjoy what we are doing, in a non-competitive environment, where we can distance ourselves from the noise and commercial vagaries of the social media platforms. For those that have already subscribed and have been following my work for a while, thanks so much for your continued and growing support, giving me a compelling reason to establish this forum for you.
When I started learning to paint, 30+ years ago, I purchased one book and used it to teach me the basics from which I could develop, what was at the time, my hobby. As I progressed, with no internet resources, I found that it was difficult to find answers to the questions that arose and discovered that writing to established artists was less than successful. The internet has helped with that to an extent, although I could make a case that the explosion of available advice has made things worse. Either way, I am hopeful that by being on the forum you will be able to find helpful and reliable answers to the questions you have.
Joining me in managing and contributing to the forum is my friend and fellow artist, Edo Hannema. Edo is a Dutch landscape painter, known to many of you already. I have written about his beautiful work previously on my blog and you will find his rich experience of both genre and medium to be a valuable resource and you may even pick up a single malt recommendation, or a sourdough recipe from him along the way! It goes without saying that it is simply not possible for both of us to respond to every post and comment as day-to-day pressures will dictate, but of course we will endeavour to participate as much as possible. The benefit of a well-curated forum of course, is that it is a space for all of us; we may be the hosts, but your involvement as participants is of equal importance.
Use it. Enjoy it. I look forward to hearing your experiences with either boots, brushes, or both.
Olly
Thannks for the information about your life and painting experience. My mother was a commercial artist and I knew I had a bit of talent. My life as a research scientist in neurobiology along with family, travel and running kept art on the backburner for many, many years. I took water color pencil drawing with a medical illustrator here in Woods Hole, MA. When she retired, I went to the Falmouth Art Center and took a watercolor painting class. That was.a year ago September, and my teacher P. Anthony Visco is good and far more an abstractionist than Ollie. I followed Ollie's videos on line and really feel they are the best for learning the approach. I took a three day course in Virginia. Last year and will be going back for another three days in a little over a week. I know the Dutch character first from a two year postdoc (1970-72) in Utrecht and in finding a Dutch wife on a ferry crossing to England when I was moving from Utrecht to Saint Andrews Scotland. From Edo's comments, which were powerful and made me worry about learning from two painters with very different approaches, I ralized .I will keep painting till I reach a point, where I have my own style. I am in no rush and love the challenge and all the painters who are contributing..