Varnishing your artwork
Blog – Alison G Saunders Art
by Alison G Saunders Art
4M ago
Last week I told you about why you should use an isolation coat on your acrylic paintings and how to go about applying one. This week I want to tell you about varnishing your artwork. I will try to address some of the confusion that seems to surround varnishing your work but please feel free to contact me if you need more information. First let me say that if you are an oil painter you do not add an acrylic isolation coat over your oil painting. Acrylic paints and varnishes are removable but the cleaning chemicals will also dissolve the paint, so it is essential that you use an isolation coat ..read more
Visit website
Why you need to use isolation coats on your artwork
Blog – Alison G Saunders Art
by Alison G Saunders Art
4M ago
If you are an acrylic painter, hopefully you are aware that it is necessary to apply an isolation coat to your artwork before you apply the varnish. If you are new to acrylic painting and have never heard of this, you are forgiven but you need to know this. An isolation coat is painted onto your finished artwork before you apply the varnish. Why? Because varnish will simply stick to your painting and if you need to remove it for cleaning your artwork will be damaged. This is important as varnish is not permanent. It is applied to protect your work from dust and pollutants, and you are advised ..read more
Visit website
Gold leaf work or gilding
Blog – Alison G Saunders Art
by Alison G Saunders Art
4M ago
Last month I was fortunate to go on a gold leafing course in Havant near Portsmouth on the south coast of England. Firstly, I cannot sing more highly the praises of the man teaching the class, Richard Walker. Apart from being a thoroughly nice person, he was incredibly generous with both his knowledge and his time. So, why did I take myself off on this course? Well those who have been following me for a while may have noticed that I have been quietly and, so far, sparingly, introducing gold into my artwork. I have bought all the equipment, watched a ton of videos on the university of Google an ..read more
Visit website
Apologies again
Blog – Alison G Saunders Art
by Alison G Saunders Art
5M ago
Due to unforeseen circumstances, it is not possible to deliver a blog to you this week. Normal service should resume next week. All the best ..read more
Visit website
A bit about the humble lead pencil (Part 2)
Blog – Alison G Saunders Art
by Alison G Saunders Art
5M ago
So, the graphite discovered near Keswick was, and still is, the only large-scale deposit ever found in this solid form. This deposit was extremely pure and also solid, which meant it was easy to cut up into sticks but still soft enough that in order to use it for writing or drawing it needed to be encased. To begin with the graphite was wrapped in string or sheepskins. England enjoyed the monopoly in producing pencils until the 1600s, when the Germans developed a method of reconstituting graphite powder to form pencils. In the 1560s, an Italian couple, Simonio and Lyndiana Bernacotti, made a ..read more
Visit website
A bit about the humble lead pencil
Blog – Alison G Saunders Art
by Alison G Saunders Art
5M ago
Who invented the pencil and what is its history? In researching this ordinary item which we probably never really consider and simply take for granted, I found conflicting information about its beginnings. So, I decided to go back even further to consider mark making as a starting point. We are all no doubt aware of the ‘paintings’ made by cave dwellers. In 2018, researchers announced that the oldest known cave paintings, which were made by Neanderthals, are at least 64,000 years old. Wow, I find that incredible! You can of course Google this yourself, but these paintings were discovered in ca ..read more
Visit website
Being selected for Surrey Artist of the Year
Blog – Alison G Saunders Art
by Alison G Saunders Art
5M ago
I am delighted that I have been selected as one of 18 finalists for the Surrey Artist of the Year. Did I get there by myself? No! How it works is that people – friends, family, and others unknown to you – visit your studio over the 16 days that Surrey Artists Open Studios (SAOS) is open. This annual event takes place in June and some of those visitors vote for you to be shortlisted as a finalist. I freely admit that I asked my friends if they would vote for me. One person said that was cheating. How? If I didn’t tell people that there was an opportunity for them to vote, with the possibility ..read more
Visit website
Apologies again.
Blog – Alison G Saunders Art
by Alison G Saunders Art
6M ago
Due to more computer problems, this time my editor’s computer, I am unable to deliver this week’s blog. If you want to catch up on what I am doing, head over to my website and see my newsletter, where I will be sharing some fabulous news about my art. The newsletter will be published tomorrow (2nd October) at 6pm, where you can sign up to receive it every month or simply read through the back issues. www.alisongsaunders.co.uk ..read more
Visit website
Teaching adults printmaking
Blog – Alison G Saunders Art
by Alison G Saunders Art
6M ago
Last week I told you about teaching children gel plate printing, which was great fun. This week I want to tell you about teaching adults the same techniques. I do really enjoy teaching, regardless of the age of the students, but clearly teaching adults is very different. The children I taught were all aged under ten; most of them were around six years old. At that age they have no fear, there are no expectations and seeing their faces light up when they realise they can make great work is really satisfying. Adults are not the same at all. Most are hesitant and they frequently want to make some ..read more
Visit website
Teaching children’s classes this summer
Blog – Alison G Saunders Art
by Alison G Saunders Art
6M ago
I really enjoy teaching. When someone told me the other day that they were frightened to even try and admired me for doing it, I simply said: “Teaching is just showing others how to do what you already know how to do. That isn’t scary.” If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you will have seen that I was teaching children to make gel prints last month. The opportunity to do this was presented to me through one of the many art groups I belong to. I was amazed and saddened to hear that I was the only person from that group who agreed to get involved. Are all the other members uncomfortable t ..read more
Visit website

Follow Blog – Alison G Saunders Art on FeedSpot

Continue with Google
Continue with Apple
OR