Barry John Raybould

Monthly Lesson for December - Color Notans

2011-12-08T08:09:00.001-08:00

I just wrote a lesson on color notans for the December Virtual Art Academy newsletter. You can get a free copy by signing up for the guest Virtual Art Academy newsletter here.

For members of the Virtual Art Academy, I updated my course notes on hue changes with atmospheric perspective.

and added a new page to take account of effects at sunset.

If you want to get the members' newsletter (with the course updates), and also access to the private Virtual Art Academy students Online Campus, you can sign up for membership here. There's a special offer running this month on a free 45-page sample course unit which will give you a good idea of what the course materials are like.

2012 Workshop Schedule in Tuscany, Italy

2011-11-19T14:22:00.000-08:00

My workshop schedule for Tuscany, Italy in 2012 is now set. For details see my Tuscany Workshop Blog

Master Critique: William Ritschel - Storm Lashed Coast

2011-11-19T11:04:00.000-08:00

Here's another critique I wrote for the second issue of Plein Air Magazine on one of my favorite painters, William Ritschel. One of the keys to capturing the iridescent light shimmering through the fog that is so characteristic of a coastline scene is representing the correct color relationships between the light and shade planes of the foam in the water. William Ritschel (1864-1949) was a master of painting that light with a high degree of both poetry and music, as I discovered when I painted part of the same California coastline where he worked for more than 30 years. In this critique I discussed one of his masterpieces, Storm Lashed Coast.

Read the full version of the critique

Workshop in the Palm Springs/Palm Desert Area California

2011-11-01T00:44:00.000-07:00

Where: Palm Springs/Palm Desert area of California
When: Four days, from Tuesday January 10 until Friday.

Several of my Virtual Art Academy students have been asking me to do a workshop in the US. I shall be in the United States at the beginning of January in the Palm Springs/Palm Desert area of California and so am going to do a 4-day workshop for those of you who like some live tuition. I will customize the workshop to the specific needs of the students who are attending. If anyone lives in this area and would like to suggest places to paint, please contact me from my website.

A key feature of the workshop will be a thorough review of your current work. Based on what I see, I will work out a detailed plan of study for you for the next 12 months to take your work to a higher level. If you'd like to get an idea of the way I analyze paintings you can take a look at some of the master critiques I have been writing recently for Plein Air Magazine.

Levels
All levels from absolute beginners to more experienced painters will be welcome. All Virtual Art Academy students will be able to get their Virtual Art Academy assignments critiqued in addition to a critique of their paintings during the workshop.

Cost
The cost of the workshop will be $750.

How To Register
If you are interested, please confirm your interest by paying a deposit to reserve your place on the workshop. The deposit is non-refundable, but may be applied to any other workshop in the following 12 months. The balance of the workshop fee is due 60 before start of the workshop (Nov 10th)

After you register your deposit, please send me an email so I can send you an invitation to join a private Google Group I have set up specifically for this workshop. I will use this Google Group to communicate with students attending the workshop to give more details, and for students to be able to communicate with each other, so it is important you get on the list.

Pay $100 deposit for workshop
Note: 2CheckOut.com Inc. (Ohio, USA) is an authorized retailer for services provided by Virtual Art Academy, so you will see that name on your credit card bill. 2CheckOut also charges a small fee for credit card processing.

Pay $650 balance of workshop fee
Note: 2CheckOut.com Inc. (Ohio, USA) is an authorized retailer for services provided by Virtual Art Academy, so you will see that name on your credit card bill. 2CheckOut also charges a $42 for credit card processing, so the total on your credit card will be $692.

Critiques of competition winners

2011-08-30T13:11:00.000-07:00

I was invited to judge a competition for RayMar Art this past month, and gave an objective critique based on my Visual Music and Poetry model. For anyone interested in seeing the critiques, you can view them on the Raymar website.

Here is the painting I selected and a few others I chose as finalists:

Master Critique: Joaquin Sorolla - Bajo el Toldo

2011-05-01T04:00:00.000-07:00

I recently reviewed this painting by Joaquin Sorolla for Plein Air Magazine. I started the article off with a discussion of how I critique master paintings. Here is an extract from the article:

"What are the qualities that make a painting a masterpiece and ultimately determine its long-term value? Why are some paintings so much more rewarding to look at than others? These are the important questions I asked on my artistic journey. As I learned from the teachings and writings of many great artists past and present, a picture emerged that now forms the basis of my own teaching and writing.

Master paintings share two key characteristics. First, they accurately represent a subject and are focused on communicating an idea or emotion. I refer to this aspect of a great painting as the “poetry” of a painting, or the content the artist is trying to convey to viewers. When you look at a master painting, you are moved in some way, and the memory of it stays with you. Master paintings of course demonstrate great drawing and color skills, but those expertly handled skills are focused on presenting an idea.

The second key characteristic of a master painting is a strong abstract design that is independent of the subject matter. I refer to this as the “music” of the painting, or the sensuous, non-intellectual part. It is created with rhythms and harmonies in shapes, lines, edges, and colors and is analogous to the rhythms in music and the harmonies between individual notes.

A master painting also has multiple repeating threads running through it. These hold the painting together and unify it in much the same way a great symphony is tied together by a repeated main theme. Variety in these repeated elements, as in music, adds interest to the painting. Repetition, variety, unity, harmony are characteristics of all great symphonies and of all great paintings."

... Continue reading the full critique as a pdf file here.

The new Plein Air Magazine is a great magazine by the way. I particularly like the articles on the historic painters who painted plein air. You can read a a sample of the magazine here. There is also an interview on the story of how the Virtual Art Academy painting lesson program came about in the same issue.

Workshops in Tuscany for 2011

2011-01-06T13:48:00.001-08:00

I've just finalized my workshop schedule for my European workshops this year. I will be running them in the northern part of Tuscany in a region called Lunigiana. This is a beautiful but relatively unknown part of Tuscany. The workshops will be in May, June and September. For full information see my Tuscany painting workshop blog.

A new year's message for 2011 to all my students:

2011-01-03T13:05:00.001-08:00

I would like to send you my best wishes for the holiday season and to thank you all for helping to create the online community we now have today. I started the Virtual Art Academy five years ago with the vision of sharing information I had been lucky enough in discovering during my endeavors to become a professional artist.

Just over a year ago I created an online campus environment structured around the learning assignments in the Virtual Art Academy course rather than a free-form discussion chat forum like so many other artist online communities you see on the internet. Those forums have their value, but without any structure I think it is difficult to really learn on those forums.

For those of you who have joined the online campus and who have been working on the assignments, although you may not have heard from me, I have been watching your progress and am happy that many of you have seen great developments in your own work and have shared your personal 'aha' moments with your artist colleagues as you have been working through the exercises.

For those of you who have been just watching, I hope you have enjoyed the discussions, and that you too will eventually contribute your assignments.

When I studied how people learn at various learning technology conferences in the United States that I used to attend many years ago when I was consulting in knowledge engineering and instructional design in a previous career，I discovered that you don't learn by reading, listening, or even watching videos, but the real learning takes place during the actual 'doing'. You also don't learn by doing things right the first time. You learn by making mistakes, and then after realizing your mistake, doing it again but doing it right the second time. That is where the real learning takes place. When you compare your work with other assignments that others have uploaded, you will soon find your mistakes and so be able to learn from them. That is why the assignments are very focused - each assignment covers just one skill. If the assignments were not so focused, a forum such as this with no formal instructor would not be so effective.

My vision when I started the Virtual Art Academy program was to provide you with a self-study learning experience that was 80% as effective as a three year university art course at a tiny fraction of the $30,000-$60,000 cost that such an instructor-led course would cost. I also wanted to share with you all of the learning that I have had in my career studying with some of the top living artists in their respective fields of expertise. I was extremely lucky in my own career to have met and studied with some very fine artists, and over the years have gained some extremely valuable knowledge from these individuals. Sometimes it can be a single idea, or method, something that might be a single bullet point on just one of the pages of my course materials. Yet at the right time, such a piece of information can be the thing that make the difference between a mediocre artist and a great artist. All of this information I have carefully captured over the years and put in the various building blocks of the Virtual Art Academy course.

It has been a great pleasure for me to be able to share this information with you because in many cases it was a real struggle for me to find the information. Sometimes one of these little 'bullets' of information was learned only after several years with one of the master painters I've studied with. Each one made a significant difference to my own work, and hopefully will make a difference to your work too. A few of you who have taken university art courses have realized the significance of some of these seemingly 'minor' points that I have documented and told me you appreciate the information that is here.

95% of the information is common to all painting courses whatever the source or author - it is just presented in different ways. But the thing that I have learned in my art career and through studying paintings by the great masters is that the thing that differentiates the really great master painters and the mediocre average painter, is not this 95% of information. It is two things: it is (1) that small 5% of information that somehow most art courses and books seem to omit, but that all great masters intuitively understand, (and what I have documented in this program), and (2) the simple fact that they do the 95% better than all the other artists. It is for this second reason that I have my experienced students continually work on improving the basic foundation skills - things that they already know. By continually refining these basics, and adding to it the missing information, you will really see your paintings improve.

Painting is a slow and steady journey. The only important thing is to steadily improve and enjoy this steady progress and your journey. By making lots of small and regular improvements, you will be able to achieve great things over time that you never thought you were capable of. I have been pleasantly surprised over the years by many students who have surpassed my skills and have gone on to develop successful artist careers. I am happy to have made a small contribution to their success.

As a result of this vision over the past twelve months or so I have seen our online campus grow to over 650 members in our first year. For those of you who have been members for several months now, I thank you for your participation in the forums. It is your contributions that have helped create the community we have today. I am still amazed when I see lively conversations about an assignment between members in Switzerland, Mauritania, Malta, Silicon Valley in California all discussing assignments as though you were in the same classroom, yet separated by thousands of miles and on entirely different continents! The power of the internet to bring people of like minds together is I think truly amazing.

So in summary, thank you all once again, it has been a pleasure meeting you on this forum and I wish you a continued and happy artistic journey in 2011!

Kind regards,
Barry John Raybould

Monthly Lesson for December - Triangulation

2010-12-06T13:58:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone and best wishes for the holiday season! There is an old saying that you can only paint as well as you can draw, and there is a lot of truth to that. Unfortunately many students have problems with drawing even if they have taken a lot of drawing lessons, and tend to give up on this important skill. However there is hope! I have found that there is one little taught technique that will help your drawing tremendously above all others. I have shown this technique to students in my workshops who have never drawn in their life before and after about 4-6 hours of practice, they have been able to draw the most complicated object of all – the human hand – something that students often take two years to learn. Like everything in drawing and painting, sometimes it is just a question of knowing the right technique or principle to apply.
Happy painting!
Barry John

If you would like me to send you my monthly lesson and artist's newsletter by email in a printable and more readable format, just click here and enter your email address in my Virtual Art Academy newsletter list.Then you will get the full version every month (you can unsubscribe at any time).
Barry

Monthly Lesson for November - Using Texture to Bring Your Subject Alive

2010-11-05T09:47:00.000-07:00

Monthly Lesson for October - Analyzing Values

2010-10-17T03:47:00.000-07:00

If you would like me to send you my monthly lesson and artist's newsletter by email in a printable and more readable format, you may click here and sign up for my guest Virtual Art Academy newsletter. You will then automatically be sent the newsletter and lesson each month.

Monthly Lesson for September - Contrast of Temperature

2010-09-07T15:36:00.001-07:00

Informalists Reunion Show

2010-05-08T00:55:00.000-07:00

This month in the Monterey Bay area of California I am participating in a reunion show for the group of Central Coast painters called "The Informalists", of which I was a part. If you would like to see the show, you can contact Cyndra at Galerie Plein Air or Johnny Apodaca

Painting Expedition to Guizhou

2010-04-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

I have just returned from a painting expedition to China. I started off by giving a workshop in Hong Kong, and then traveled to Guizhou province to paint in the villages of the ethnic minorities in that province. I ended up painting a fascinating people called the "Ge". Here is the Ge village I stayed in for a week, called Matang.

When I first went to the Ge village I came across this beautiful blossoming tree on the road leading up to the village. I just had to stop and paint it!

One of the characteristics of this landscape is the terraces of the oil rapeseed flower. This yellow flower fills terraces everywhere in the mountains and creates a beautiful effect. One of the challenges of painting it was to make sure you create depth in the landscape by gradually changing the color of the yellow as it recedes into the distance. My enthusiasm for the beautiful fields of this flower only dampened somewhat after eating it for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a whole week! Here is the final painting, followed by my compositional studies.

Above is my notan study and compositional sketch for the painting.

Near Matang was another village, but this was a different people with a different language (quite amazing that it was only about 2km away!). These were the Xi people. I did this little pen and ink sketch below of a firewood shed in the village. I liked the contrast between the angles of the roof and the logs that were used to make the shelter. The straw that was used for the roof made an interesting textural change.

Zoucheng Girl: "My First Painting"

2009-11-25T13:05:00.000-08:00

This is an earlier version: (I changed the bottom left corner a bit and the rendering of the corner of the building, and played with some of the edges.

"My First Painting" .Portrait of Zoucheng girl. 16"x20". Oil on linen.
这个油画是一位云南的女孩.
她很喜欢画画.在云南大理看了我跟我的学生一起画画.

Detail from "My First Painting"

Closeup of head from "My First Painting". If you click on this picture twice, you will be able to see how the paint layers were built up. The main idea was to keep the edges soft around the mouth and eyes.

This little girl watched me and my student friend Nancy painting plein air in a small village near Lake Erhai, Dali, in Yunnan China. She was fascinated by Nancy's oil paints and wanted to try them out. I have been working on this painting ever since (from before June 2009). I painted and repainted the head at least five times before I managed to capture something of the expression on her face that I was looking for, and at the same time keep a freshness to the paint application. She had a wonderful intelligent and earnest look on her face, that reflected her enthusiasm for painting. I think she would have watched us all day if she could have.

I only just finished this painting this week since I had been thinking about what to do with the background to complement the portrait from a design point of view and at the same time to tell a story. So I included the brush holder with the oil painting brushes sticking out of it, and the paper with her painting on it, and called the painting "My First Painting". The white and dark shapes complemented the notan structure of the painting, and help draw the viewers eye across the canvas, to take in the various textures I used in the background.

Anyway, in 30 years time, look out for a famous female plein air painter from Zoucheng village in China, and you'll know where her early inspiration might have come from!

Yangshuo Nocturne

2009-11-13T07:14:00.000-08:00

I just got back from a painting trip to China and Hong Kong where I taught a workshop. I painted this oil painting at dusk on a busy street in Yangshuo, Guilin. The red flags hanging outside the shops on the street created an interesting pattern of repeated red shapes, and a nice warm/cool contrast. I painted it very loosely to convey the hustle and bustle of the lively street.

Tuscany Painting Workshop : Jun 28- July 2, 2010

2009-08-21T00:45:00.000-07:00

Tuscany Painting Workshop
Tuscany, Italy: June 28 - July 2, 2010
A five-day workshop with Barry John Raybould in the heart of the Tuscan countryside.
For more information, see:
http://tuscany-painting-workshop.blogspot.com/

Hong Kong Workshop - October 3-7

2009-08-21T00:42:00.000-07:00

I am giving a one-week workshop in Hong Kong, from October 3-7 2009.

We will be painting and studying outdoors in various locations such as in the beautiful area of Aberdeen on Hong Kong Island.

Figure Study

2009-08-17T13:13:00.000-07:00

A study of Francesco at work during my workshop in Tuscany. This was painted near Chianciano in southern Tuscany late in the afternoon.

Sorolla Exhibition Workshop - Sep 3, 2009

2009-07-09T02:52:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: ONLY 2 PLACES LEFT.......

Overview

I am giving a mini one-day workshop on Thursday 3rd September in Madrid, to coincide with the Sorolla exhibition in Madrid . The two goals are to give you a review of your work (if you would like one) and to look at Sorolla's work critically to point out why he is such a master. In particular to show how he solved the problem of poetry and music in his painting. (You've heard me talk about that a lot in my newsletters). It is also a great opportunity to look first hand at Sorolla's work if you have not seen it before.

Later in the day we will also plan to visit the Sorolla Museum, and see Sorolla's house and studio. It will be a fantastic opportunity to see the work of this great master and promises to be a great day!

Schedule

I will be arriving the previous night, so if you plan to arrive then, we could perhaps arrange to meet in the evening before the visit. I will also be staying for the following few days too to spend some more time in the Prado and check out the Velasquez paintings for their brushwork, so if you are around then you are welcome to join me if I'm free.

I have booked the 9:00am entrance to give us the longest time in the exhibition before lunch. We will meet at 8:40am at the entrance to the museum.

Price

The cost for the day will be euro 125 plus the entrance fee to the exhibition (about 10 euros). (Limited to 6 students).

Hotel

I will be staying at the Hotel Lope de Vega. You can make your own arrangements here:
Tlf. 91 360 00 11. Fax. 91 429 23 91.
C. Lope de Vega 49.
28014 Madrid.
lopedevega@hotellopedevega.com

Contact me via the www.bjrgallery.com website for details if you would like to join me.

Color studies

2009-06-20T15:07:00.001-07:00

This is a study of light and hue changes across a form:

From Still Life

Yunnan Paintings

2009-03-06T04:13:00.000-08:00

Here are some sketches from Xizhou and Zhoucheng, near Dali in Yunnan, China. The Naxi outdoor color sketch of the woman in traditional costume, the male portrait, and the mountain scene at the bottom (Jade Dragon Mountain), were painted in Yuhu village near Lijiang.

From Yunnan 2009

Painting Workshop in Tuscany

2009-01-18T03:39:00.000-08:00

I am giving a painting workshop in Tuscany in June, and another painting workshop in Tuscany in Septembre. Click here for details.
Insegno un corso di dipingere in Toscana in Giugno, e un altro corso di dipingere in Toscana in Settembre.

The Visual Music and Poetry Model

2009-01-11T00:35:00.000-08:00

Analysis of Peder Kroeyer's "Hip, Hip, Hurra! Artists’ Party"

2008-11-03T03:15:00.001-08:00

This painting by Peder Kroeyer is an excellent example of a two-value notan structure. The painting has two major values, dark and light. The shapes of the lights have been simplified by linking the various light shapes in the painting into two basic light shapes: the face of the woman on the left, and the table cloth which is linked to the other figures.

There is also a careful use of transitions from light, to middle value, to dark. If you look at the lighter area in the top right corner (the light foliage and the light shapes of the drinking glasses), you can see it is not as light as the table cloth and the woman's face on the left. This creates a value transition from the bright white of the foreground items to the dark background.

There is also something else going on in this painting: note carefully the use of primary and secondary focal areas, as well as the manipulation of eye movement. For example the reason why the white shape of the face of the women at the left is not linked was probably to create a secondary focal point in the painting, using the principle of isolation (isolated objects or shapes attract attention).

Kroeyer uses many devices to direct the viewer's eye around the painting, the principle method being the orientation of the arms of the figures in the painting. All of the arms, including the large figure of the women on the left, lead to the area of the painting where the toast is being offered by the party guests.

Note also the techniques he uses for attracting attention to the focal areas:

for the primary focal area (the area of the drinking glasses to the top right), he has chosen to use directing lines and space division
for the secondary focal area (the woman's face on the left) he uses isolation and contrast of light and dark.

For reference: the following list contains some of the principle methods for creating focal areas (for full details see: Composition Building Block Course Unit 3)

contrast of shape and direction
contrast of saturation
contrast of light and dark
directing lines
isolation
space division
one-thirds
contrast of temperature

For a more comprehensive discussion of eye movement, see Composition Building Block Course Unit 4.
Peder Kroeyer is one of the the Skagen Painters and this painting: Hip, Hip, Hurra! Artists’ Party (1888) usually hangs in the Göteborg Museum of Art.

Notan sketch

2008-10-25T09:27:00.001-07:00

Here are some pages from one of my Notan sketchbooks showing how loose a notan painting can be. I typically try several compositions before I start to work in color. These notebooks are fairly small.

For a list of materials I use, see: Notan Supplies

Video on Notan for people who don't know the concept:

Strictly speaking the following are not notan paintings, but they serve a useful purpose in planning a painting. I use the term "color notan" to distinguish them from true notan sketches or paintings.

Sunset over St Mark's Basin, Venice

2008-09-23T03:04:00.000-07:00

From Landscapes

When there is some cloud in the west, the sunsets in Venice can be spectacular. In this small painting I captured the last moments of the sun setting over the lagoon. As it sets the sun changes from yellow to orange, to a fiery red just as it dips below the horizon.

Campo Giovanni e Paolo

2008-09-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

From Townscapes

In the morning the Ospedale is in the shadow, but as the morning progresses, the light gradually moves on to the facade of the building. At a certain point the diagonal slanting light creates a very interesting pattern of light on the building that creates a great composition. But you have to work fast to capture the feeling before the whole facade becomes bathed in light.

2009 Workshop in China with the Linden Center

2008-08-08T23:33:00.001-07:00

Yunnan, China: February 23 - March 6
This is a two week workshop I am running in partnership with the Linden Center, with the second week optional. The majority of the teaching will take place during the first week, with the second week planned for you to practice the skills you learned in the first week. The Linden Center will also help you arrange a third week of traveling if you would like to see more of Yunnan and explore this beautiful part of China.

Overview
Date: February 23-27, and March 2-6, 2009
Length of workshop: 10 days (5 days teaching during the first week and 5 days painting on your own in Xizhou on the second week with 2 critiques)
Focus: painting the figure in the landscape

Cost
Tuition: 700 Euros (575 first week, 125 second week) payable to Barry John Raybould. Full tuition fee is required upon sign up if less than three months before workshop. If student cancels the workshop, the workshop fee may be applied towards another workshop for the following 12 months only.

Linden Center: $100 per night payable to the Linden Center. Covers three meals a day at the center, and lodging in a double occupancy room. A deposit of $250 is required upon sign-up, the balance of your account will be charged 1 month before the workshop begins.

Other costs: You will need to pay all other costs directly:
- your own airfare to Kunming airport KMG, China
- overnight hotel in Kunming (the Linden Center will help you with booking this)
- transport from Kunming to the Linden Center (again, the Linden Center will help you with booking this). About $40.
- model fees (if you want to work from the model). About $4-$8 per day
- transport in and around Xizhou if you want to explore the area (very cheap)
- alcoholic beverages at the Linden Center
- your visa for China

Schedule
Sat Feb 21: Students arrive in Kunming, go to hotel in Kunming, and meet other students.
Sun Feb 22: Students travel from Kunming to the Linden Center by coach (4.5 hour coach ride, plus short taxi ride)
Mon Feb 23: Workshop starts in the Linden Center. Lectures and coaching in the morning, practice assignments in the afternoon.
Tues to Fri: Continue same activities as Monday (lectures and coaching in the morning, practice assignments in the afternoon.
Fri Feb 27: Last day of lectures and assignments
Mon Mar 2: Start of second week, when we will be working on finished paintings
Tue Mar 3: First checkpoint critique of Monday's and Tuesday's work (in evening)
Thu Mar 5: Second checkpoint critique of Wednesday's and Thursday's work
Fri Mar 6: Last day of painting together
Sat Mar 7: Students depart for Kunming (or do some sightseeing in Yunnan)

The purpose of the trip is to spend some time in an authentic village in China, with the special opportunity to work with the figure in the landscape. For beginners we will go through all the essential elements of painting, including notan, atmospheric perspective, color and brushwork. For advanced painters we will focus on figure techniques, and Barry will go over some of the new material on planes of the figure and portrait from an upcoming course on figure and portrait that Barry has been working on for the past couple of years. China is a fascinating destination and here you can still see traditional people living as they have done for thousands of years of human civilization and culture. We will be staying near the beautiful Lake Erhai, near Dali (more photos) in Yunnan province of China. Yunnan is one of the most beautiful provinces in China, with many authentic villages and lovely mountain scenery, and home to many of the various ethnic minorities in China. This makes it a very colorful place to stay and paint. Our village has many original homes built in the traditional historic architectural style of the region.

Lake Views
Here are some pictures taken this August of Lake Erhai. (These photographs were taken August this year, In March you will see a lot more sun).
Click the photo for a larger version and slide show.

Xizhou Village
Xizhou town, is about a half an hour from Dali, one of the top tourist attractions in Yunnan province. The small village of Dali has not been affected by tourism and retains its genuine charm and character. The local people are the Bai people and many of the women wear traditional Bai costume. Horse drawn carts are common, as well as tricyles and small three wheeler taxis. The village has remarkably well preserved traditional Bai architecture, including many intact buildings from the Qing and Ming dynasties, as well as many traditional Republican style houses, with walled courtyards and intricately carved gates.

The Bai People
The Bai people live around the Dali area and have a long history. We will hire models and paint them in the village and in the courtyard of the Republican era house we are staying in.

Temple
Less than half an hour from where we are staying is a large and historic temple complex which will provide a very interesting setting for us to paint.

Our location: The Linden Center
The place where we plan to stay is a renovated old Republican Period building. It has several private courtyards and some indoor spaces, where we can work on figure paintings.

Here are some photographs of the center. This slideshow shows the architecture of the center, and the accommodation. Click on the album to see larger photographs.

Optional travel in Yunnan
If you wish, we can help you see something of other places in Yunnan. A couple of very interesting places are Yuhu village, and Lijiang, and Zhongdian. Here's some more information on Zhongdian. Lijiang is about three hours bus ride away and Zhongdian is a further three to four hour bus ride away.

Lijiang and Yuhu Village
Lijiang is where most of the tourists go, and is worth about a day or two to visit since it is quite unique and beautiful. A very interesting place to visit that is very close to Lijiang is the village of Yuhu. There is a nice little guest house there, which is a traditional Naxi house, built around a courtyard, and a very friendly family who will cook all your meals for you. The village is small, and full of character. The scenery is magnificent since the village sits at the foot of the Snow Jade Dragon Mountain.

Zhongdian
Zhongdian is also known as Shangrila, and has a lovely little old town, and a temple nearby that is like a miniature version of the Potala Palace in Llasa. The old town is much smaller than Lijiang and has a much different character. It is much more like a Tibetan frontier town, with fascinating Tibetan architecture and many small guest houses with a lot of character and charm. The people are really friendly. Here you will see a Tibetan race, that is completely different race from the Naxi people of Lijiang. One of the interesting features of Yunnan is the wide variety of ethnic groups you meet in just one province. Every evening people all meet to dance together in the small town square. This is traditional Yunnan dancing, (and it is not put on for the tourists). All the locals join in (including my taxi driver Nungoo, who helped me a lot during my stay in August 2008).

Venice painting

2008-05-14T01:49:00.000-07:00

It is approaching summer now and there are a lot of people on the streets in the Castello region of Venice. Here I am trying to capture the feeling of the street, and the light atmosphere of the sky.

Venice Painting Workshop

2008-04-25T23:05:00.000-07:00

I have a painting workshop coming up soon in Venice, May 5-9. All levels are welcome, from beginners to more advanced students. I hope some of you can come and join us. For more information see: www.bjrgallery.com

Venice Workshop

Vegetable Boat

2008-04-25T06:23:00.000-07:00

Here is a painting I did recently in Venice. It is of the boat where they sell vegetables near my studio. It was quite difficult finding a place to stand because of the narrow walkways next to this canal, and the number of people with shopping carts buying vegetables! As always this is a challenge to paint outdoors because the people of course are constantly moving, and so you have to capture the gesture very quickly. The other difficulty is after you have planned your composition in a thumbnail sketch (I use notan sketches ), the groupings of people change, and you have to be careful you stick with your original conception of the design.

Townscapes

2008-03-26T03:16:00.000-07:00

A slideshow of townscapes by Barry John Raybould.

Figure & Portrait

2008-03-26T03:14:00.000-07:00

A slideshow of figure and portrait paintings by Barry John Raybould.

Still Life

2008-03-26T03:13:00.000-07:00

A slideshow of still life paintings by Barry John Raybould.

Landscapes

2008-03-26T03:00:00.000-07:00

A slideshow of landscapes by Barry John Raybould.