On two very wet and windy days over the long weekend, the Coach House was bursting at the seams with wall to wall papers, painters, paints, palettes and pours, and maybe a few things not starting with the letter P!  

It was pouring rain and we were pouring charcoal.  Thank goodness one of our participants had the foresight  to bring along a very large tarp which we draped over the balcony to allow us some respite from the wind and rain – thank you, Carole.  However, no matter how wet it was outside, it couldn’t dampen our enthusiasm and enjoyment of these two days. 

Under the tutorage of the talented Barbara Spence, we were given many methods and ideas to enable us to push the boundaries and enjoy a new dimension of art.  Going into the weekend, I had no idea of what a charcoal pour was but, by Sunday afternoon, we had produced six different grounds to develop.  Our charcoal pours were done on watercolour paper, gesso covered matt board (using the archival side of course) and a fabulous paper I was introduced to – tengucho – so fine and delicate yet full of possibilities.  We had to choose one of these grounds to paint on during the workshop, and the other five we took home to further practise our new- found skills on.

Due to slow drying times in the wet weather, we were unable to use the fibreglass tissue Barbara had intended to include in the workshop, but Barbara compensated by the inclusion and sharing of other methods and ideas – there are so many uses for release papers!  It was a steep learning curve for most of us, and Brian, our only male participant and who had never produced an abstract work before, embraced the challenge, as we all did.  We even enjoyed the task of making 
an abstract painting within a strict time limit of five minutes – perhaps not something to hang on the wall, but an interesting exercise in not being too precise, tight or precious.

Barbara brought along some of her art works completed using the methods shown to us in the workshop, as well as a large container of sample sheets produced using varied techniques.  This wonderful reference material was inspiring and very useful for us. 

They were two days packed full of knowledge, ideas, binder medium and powdered charcoal.  It was a great workshop – thank you Barbara.

-Colleen Behl