Thursday, October 29, 2015

Video of plein air painting demo by Julian Merrow-Smith of Postcard from Provence

Julian Merrow Smith of Postcard from Provence has many fans - but few have met him and few have seen him paint - until now.

A student perspective of Julian Merrow-Smith doing a plein air painting demonstration


One of Julian's recent students, Timothy Joseph Allen, has now posted on YouTube a 20 minute video on YouTube of a painting demonstration done during Julian's last painting workshop of 2015 at La Madelene (October 10th to the 17th).
Videos are a really great way of seeing what's on offer when a painter is also a tutor and offers painting workshops.  This one is a snapshot of what you might experience in a plein air workshop with Julian - you're getting the student perspective!

It's also very clear to me from this video 'that Julian is a communicative tutor who provides his students with a constant commentary on what he's doing during a demo - plus he explains the reasons behind the points he think are important.

The video appears to have been shot on mobile phone as it's tall and thin - however that means you get an excellent view of the palette on the pochade box and what he's mixing as well as the painting.

On the left is a still of the view he is painting.

Do remember to click the HD (bottom right) to get the best picture



Postcard from Provence - Painting Workshops


This is the page on Julian's blog which provides more information about the painting workshops .

The dates for 2016 are already published (see the left hand column):
  • May 15th-22nd
  • July 20th-28th
  • Oct 2nd-9th

Postcard from Provence
Painting Workshops - the website page

This is how Tim summed it up in his blog post Painting En Plein Air with Julian Merrow-Smith
I had the great pleasure to take part in Julian Merrow-Smith’s last plein air workshop of 2015 in Provence, France, from October 10th to the 17th.

The company was gracious, the lodgings impeccable, the cuisine exquisite and the landscapes a feast for the eyes: nothing more could have been better for what was, in essence, six days of plein air boot camp.

Julian’s method of teaching was direct and to the point; every morning and afternoon he did a demo. It was a very no nonsense approach of picking a good spot, getting comfortable, setting up the paints and then getting to work. His technical instruction was an excellent distillation of his experience, and was most helpful in dealing with very complex and fluid challenges like composition and color mixing.
Now that's what I call a satisfied customer!

Painting Workshops: two questions for students and tutors


  1. If you are a student, do you like to see videos like these BEFORE you book a painting workshop?
  2. If you are a tutor, do you provide videos of what you do - from the student perspective - on your website?

4 comments:

  1. Thank you for this post. I enjoyed watching Julian's demo and reading your insight. Looks like fun!

    ReplyDelete
  2. JMS is a favorite of mine...I receive his daily posting going on about eight years. I looked with anticipation to watching his video/demo. Unfortunately, perhaps because of my old ears, I found I couldn't understand what he said. Could/would you provide a transcript of the points he made as he painted?
    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sorry - no can do.

    The sound recording isn't perfect - however you could try using one of the software apps which transcribe the spoken word.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Absolutely love to see a video like this before booking; I've made mistakes in choosing the wrong workshop for my interest and experience--something like this makes a huge difference--I shall be sure to review this type of preview in the future. Many thanks for that--would love to go on this workshop.

    ReplyDelete

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