On Saturday 20 September, members of the public joined the Herefordshire Visual Artists Network for a Pigment to Paint workshop with artist Olivia Mabey.

Using a selection of earth pigments from Okhra, Ecomuseum of Ocher (Provence, France), participants created their own set of watercolours, learning about the process of making watercolours from pigment and explored the medium while making studies of their surroundings.

It was a pleasure to work alongside Olivia to help facilitate the Pigment to Paint workshop. It was so interesting to learn more about paint and some of the colours we used were beautiful! During the session, we were able to make our own paintings and drawings with the paint we had made, which was really rewarding. Olivia had such a wide collection of natural materials and items that we could draw inspiration from!

Gemma Moore, Herefordshire Visual Artists Network Coordinator

Olivia Mabey’s Pigment to Paint workshop was a delight. I learnt a lot about the process of taking dry pigment and making pans of watercolour paints. This was something I had always wanted to learn. Olivia has such a great way of delivering information in her workshop, making it interesting and fun, really well organised and generous with her materials. There was time to try out the paints and lots of enjoyable conversations around the table from all the participants. The rain lashed down outside and inside we made watercolours.

Participant

You can still join the Herefordshire Visual Artists Network by emailing Gemma: gemma@meadowarts.org

Thanks to funding support from Herefordshire Council via the UKSPF programme, the Herefordshire Visual Artists Network is a network of visual artists working across the county who come together to share news about their practice, ideas for forthcoming projects, network, and update their skills via bespoke CPD training. The network is led by Gemma Moore, a young artist from rural Herefordshire.