Following Kate’s courses at Coombe last year which were a huge success we are delighted to be inviting her back to Coombe in 2023 to teach two courses.
Both of Kate’s courses are suitable for painters of all abilities. It will be particularly useful if you have some painting experience and want to experiment with abstraction and how you use colour, or if you have more experience and want to free up from your current style and spend some time experimenting with a different approach.
During this three day course you will explore colour, working with feelings and moods, word, shape and symbol play and different surfaces, moving away from pre-conceptions or past experiences and exploring methods and surfaces on gessoed board, heavy paper and wood. Kate will talk about her own work and the emotive approach that leads to her choices in her works. As with all our tutors she will demonstrate and take you through exercises in mark making techniques, discuss colour theory and investigate composition – all from her own experience as a professional exhibiting artist, enabling you to get inspired and gain new skills.
Kate Trafeli is an American-British painter and curator currently based in London, UK. She makes her works in a north London studio held by arts charity Collage Arts. You can view a video of Kate in studio here and read a brief interview about her on Kate’s tutor page.
Colour synesthesia, symbols/shapes and visible brushstrokes evoke mood and narrative in Kate's works. The fragments visible in her paintings originate out of many avenues: literature and music, architecture, light’s effect on the picture plane. Her practice is grounded in moments and histories from her own and others’ lives, expressed through abstraction and mark making. Kate's paintings seem familiar and yet otherworldly, with the representational components providing touchstones for the viewer while evading definite answers. The resulting ‘story-pictures’ create an immersive environment, a resonance between the viewer and the work.
Kate shows her work in solo and group shows with well regarded galleries and agents, as well as at The London Art Fair, AAF and SaatchiArt 'The Other Art Fair' in London, Los Angeles and New York. Kate welcomes and has created numerous large-scale commissions.
“What drives me to paint are a lot of compelling factors, both internally and emotionally, it could be dreams or experiences, but often its memory and things I’m trying to work through in my own life that start to emerge in the paintings – a lot of the symbolic paintings have those elements in the them…things like home, distance, longing.”
MATERIALS LIST
I will mainly be using the ‘liquid’ paints to demonstrate but also heavy body paint occasionally.
It is essential to bring the following materials with you - if you have difficulty sourcing any items do let us know and we can advise you.
ACRYLIC PAINTS (Liquid or Heavy Body):
‘Any Artist Quality Brand of’:Titanium White
(note: buy any decent ‘white label’ brand such as Jackson or Cass Art’s own Titanium white acrylic paint, 60ml or larger
Golden “Liquid” (NOT high flow) acrylic paints (30ml bottles - these are quite small) or
Golden “Heavy Body” (60ml tubes) in the following colours are recommended
— please feel free to add any other colours you wish to work with, this is simply a guide:
Hansa yellow // Pyrrole Orange // Pyrrole Red Light (or Cadmium Red Light ) // Quinacridone Magenta // Light Magenta // Phtahlo Blue (red shade) // Cobalt Teal // Light Turquoise // Paynes Grey // Phthalo Blue (red shade) // Permanent Green Light // Bone Black
CRAYONS:
A small set of water-resistant (NOT ’water soluble’) wax crayons - a good basic set is “Caran D’ache Neocolor I Set of 10 Wax Oil Crayons Water Resistant”
VARNISH (Optional - for use sealing finished work at end of course):
Professional quality acrylic varnish - a good option is “Liquitex Professional Satin Varnish, 237 ml”
BRUSHES:
Brushes - a mix of 3-4 brushes is preferable and it is not necessary to buy new brushes for this course if you have some you are already comfortable with using on acrylic works. As a guide the following from Jackson’s Art Supplies are useful, a mix of flat, pointed round and filbert in some of these sizes:
-Jackson’s own brand Hog bristle brushes series 334 (long flat) in size 4,8,
-Jackson’s own brand hog bristle brushes series 333 pointed round in size 2 and 6
-Jackson’s own brand hog bristle brushes series 335 (filbert) in 10 and 12
A couple 20mm-40mm wide decorator’s brush or “mottler” brushes [a 5 pack of “Harris Essentials” synthetic brushes which go from 1/2” to 2” is a great option and very economical, available at Wilco etc].
PAINTING SURFACES:
-Sturdy Mixed media paper sheets for wet and dry materials in a pad (glue bound or spiral) - a good choice is “Strathmore 462-109 400 Series Mixed Media Pad, 9"x12" Glue Bound, 15 Sheets” — available online from many sellers
-Three or four work surfaces in size you are comfortable with (primed canvases or MDF boards or large sheets of paper)
MISCELLANEOUS SUPPLIES:
-A flat palette with a decent-sized mixing area in the middle — or a paper palette pad of tear off sheets (I will be using this and although considered ‘disposable’ will often use it cut into pieces and worked into larger mixed media works)
-A roll of masking tape - preferred is yellow “Frog” brand “delicate surfaces” tape
-Some kitchen roll
-If wanting to work outside a small sketching stool could be useful [I plan to teach this course mainly inside, but some may want to go outside for inspiration/space and if so this is useful]
BOOK ONLINE BELOW or CALL 01803 722 352
