In this painting I imagined myself as a Viking, landing on the beaches of Northumberland in search of gold and glory. Which is exactly what you get in this picture: A nine year old boy, dressed in Viking garb, looking really uncomfortable at the thought of marauding through the land of the Prince Bishops with a bunch of blood thirsty Odin-worshiping thugs.
Pastel on paper When we were kids my brother had a keen interest in railways. As well as messing about with electric model trains, making a layout with a station, sidings and landscape features, he also read avidly about the history of railways. Consequently days out were spent quite often at tourist railway sites then under construction. Wearing stout Wellingtons we would tramp around, muddy, sooty railway sites begging a ride on the footplate. York Railway Museum was not the clean smart site it is now outside the main sheds and the Tanfield railway was positively filthy. We also were lucky enough to have a Grandma who lived in Barmouth in Wales; this gave us a good excuse to ride on all the nearby narrow gauge railways that wind through the Welsh hills. I loved these days out and could understand my brothers enthusiasm and what drove the people who were helping to restore this part of our heritage with the gift of so much of their free time.
One of the high points of these days out was watching the Flying Scotsman speed past on its way to Scotland full of passengers in period costume waving at the crowds that stood cheering. Little wonder then that I produced this pastel drawing and the accompanying Stevenson’s Rocket for my brother to pin up in the bedroom.
STEPHENSON’S ROCKET
Pastel on paper It’s no wonder everyone was so impressed with how fast his engine could go, if it came down a hill like that on its show trial !
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian and The Dawn Treader were, when I was seven, my favourite books. Not that I read them myself; my teacher had read the first one to the class and I had talked my older brother into reading the others. They had made the stories come to life for me and this painting was my response to the CS Lewis tales of derring-do. I can remember painting it at school wearing a plastic apron, throwing the paint on with real abandon creating large puddles and multi-coloured shoes. It won a prize at a local fair. I don’t remember much about the art display, but the kazoo blowing juvenile jazz band with baton twirling teenyboppers all dressed in matching tasselled white outfits haunt me still. Sadly this is one of the few first pieces of work that have survived. I must have had a clear out aged about 10 and thrown out early stuff that I thought sub-standard. It’s a shame, since according to my parents I used to draw cowboys with hats with no brim, so effectively they had Sheriff’s stars nailed to their high foreheads.
Newcastle City learning: Tutor/mentor/moderator : 2008 – 2018 Gosforth Adult Association 1993 to 2008. Newcastle college 2002- 2005 Newcastle University 1990 -2002 Heaton Adult Association 1993-1999 West Denton Adult Association 1992- 1998
Art education
BA hons Fine Art Newcastle University 1984-88 Datec diploma in display and exhibition design 1981-83
Museums and Galleries: Workshops and Demonstrations.
Newcaste Arts Centre Laing art gallery, Newcastle Hatton gallery Hancock museum Shipley Art Gallery Sunderland Museum and Art Gallery Gateshead library gallery South Shields Museum and Art gallery
Teaching Qualification – PGCE
Demonstrator at trade fairs for:
ABS brushes – Daler Rowney
Faber Castel – Tollit and Harvey
Art club demonstrations Throughout North East of England. 1989-to date
Jasons is shortly starting the first of his new live courses on studio…
These will be based on his real-life classes of many years, and will allow you to interract with Jason in a ‘virtual class’, replay any lesson later and even ask questions after the Live, e.g. ask him to (re)cover sections or go into more detail in the next lesson.
Students will also be able to submit their work to Jason during the course and at the end he will hold a final Live session where these are put on screen & discussed
So what are the advantages of learning in this way compared to a ‘real life’ class ?
You’ll have the best seat in the class, with an unobstructed view of every aspect of the demonstration
You can watch the demonstration as many times as you like after the Live is over
You can ask Jason further questions after the Live session is over by using the web chat that Jason will monitor
You can upload photos of your work using the Chat, and gain feedback from Jason and the other members
Beyond the course you can be part of an online comunity of learners sharing ideas, reference material and observations or simply chatting about art.
You have access to a large library of photographs to work from without having to search for or take the images yourself
You can watch our prepared looped-video ‘moving pictures’ of scenes, so you can see the ‘dynamics’ of natural subjects to try and capture.
You can keep all your weekly appointments to watch Jason from anywhere you happen to be, on Mobile devices as well
So why do the course live… when you could watch the recordings* of it at your leisure when the course is over ?
The contents of all the Chat that takes place during a Live Course will be removed/reset when a new course starts, so only those doing the course live will truly gain from the web chat content created in the weeks the course is on.
So how do i get on the Course ?
To take part in the first lesson of any of these Live Courses you will need to first join studio ( or already be a member ).
To continue the rest of a course you would need to subscribe to full content. This costs around the same as the price of a cup of coffee a week.
( * some previous Live courses may be made available on Studio later on )
Jasons Palette
The best watercolour studio palette in the world ?
I designed this palette because of my years of frustration when using the many designs on the market, and I think i’ve succeeded in making a product that meets the real needs of watercolour painters..
Mix paint in the lid and the baseStrong and durablePlace the base in the lid to save spaceAngle the base in the lid so you can use gravity to help you mix washes quicklyRoom to place two generous dollops of colour in each wellSpace to manipulate paint away from the reservoir of diluted colourUse the lid as a space for wet brushes
£15.95 incl. UK delivery
( please note product is not Currently sold outside UK )