Mark Fennell RBSA

Portrait painting in acrylics demonstration via Zoom

This is my first Acrylics portrait demonstration on Zoom, Usually i demonstrate in oils so i was under
a bit more pressure to produce something in 2 hours.
Ongar art society were let down by another artist so i jumped in at the last minute to help them out.

"Just wanted to tell you Barbara that Mark Fennell was a great demonstrator.  All our members were so impressed with his ways of explaining what he was doing, talking about his colour palette, brushes, types of mark etc.  So informative.  A really good, easy style of chatting, that made the whole demo very interesting all the way through.  Excellent painting also. "
 
Great choice, thank you very much
 
All the best
Loueen

Very pleased to be exhibiting at the Bucks Art Society 100th anniversary Exhibition at the county museum in Aylesbury, the town where I was born and grew up. Also very pleased that the Art curator Mel Czapski chose my portrait of ww2 veteran Len Nixey as one of her five favourite pieces. Unfortunately the museum is closed during lockdown but you can see the great work by all the members and the virtual tour - https://www.buckscountymuseum.org/.../bucks-art-society.../

Zoom portrait painting in acrylics workshop

Another very enjoyable and successful portrait painting workshop with Henley Arts & Craft Guild. This one had to be done on Zoom due to another Covid lockdown but i must say i'm getting to like Zoom, it works very well and i find it very sociable during these strange times.
Here are some of the impressive portraits that were completed during and after the workshop.

"Just to say thanks for a great portrait demo yesterday.
The members really appreciated it and more are watching the recording too. We've had some nice comments thanking us and you for the demo."
Janet Myall

“I thought the workshop went really well he is very engaging, has a very easy friendly manner, I’d certainly do another of his workshops as I like his style”

“ I really enjoyed it. I found it a useful and straightforward way to approach a portrait”

“ I thought the workshop was brilliant - thank you. I have been doing classes for five years and avoided painting people, portraits, hands - all of it”

“Thank you for a fabulous workshop, I enjoyed every minute of it”

“ I thoroughly enjoyed Mark demonstrate his portraiture skills, which I found extremely helpful. The time went too quick as I found his technique really absorbing”

“Really good morning painting along with Mark, who gave us some interesting and original ideas on how to construct a portrait - will definitely try that technique again”

https://henley-art-crafts-guild.org/

Zorn palette portrait painting demonstration on Zoom

I recently did a Zoom portrait painting demonstration from my studio for 39 members of Henley Arts & Crafts Guild. It was another enjoyable Zoom experience and very well organised by the society.
I tickled this painting up a bit after the demonstration!

Here are a few quotes from the members

"Mark is a super duper painter and so skilled"
 "A good demonstration and a good result.  I noted the age-old problem of knowing when to stop"
 
"Thanks for another fascinating demo!"
 
" It was a wonderful demonstration and I was very sorry to have to leave early - so pleased I'll be able to watch the rest of it later"  (As we offer a recording)
 
"Thank you to Mark - it was a very informative and interesting afternoon"
 
"Just to say thanks for a great portrait demo yesterday.
The members really appreciated it and more are watching the recording too. We've had some nice comments thanking us and you for the demo."
Janet Myall
https://henley-art-crafts-guild.org

Zoom portrait painting demonstration

Here's another one of my Zoom portrait painting demonstrations. This one was for Woking art society
in collaboration with Guildford art society.

"Thank you for a really enjoyable demo. Whilst I’ve only spoken to a couple of people, all of whom thoroughly enjoyed the session, the fact that all 55 viewers stayed for the duration (and some longer than the allotted two hours!) speaks for itself – that doesn’t always happen! It was fascinating to watch that beautiful face emerge and we learned quite a bit about technique along the way too."
Sue Hinton
Woking Art Society
Chairman and Exhibitions Secretary

https://www.wokingartsociety.org/

Portraits for nhs heroes

My portrait of nurse Megan Woodman is featured in this beautiful book that was put together to showcase the remarkable project 'Portraits for NHS heroes', initiated by fellow artist Tom Croft.

#portraitsfornhsheroes at Piccadilly Circus

Chuffed to have my portrait of nurse Megan up on the massive billboard at Piccadilly Circus with all the other artists on the cover of Artists Talk magazine.

Mall galleries Award Winning Artists exhibition

As one of this years award winning artists some of my work is up for sale on Mall galleries Award Winning Artists online exhibition. Also it was a nice surprise to see my painting - Knockout featured in the Mall Galleries email.

Artist talk magazine front cover

My portrait of nurse Megan for #portraitsfornhsheroes has made it onto the front cover of Artist talk magazine. Thanks to @Tomcroft

#portraitsfornhsheroes

Here’s my second portrait for #portraitsfornhsheroes. I challenged myself by painting Katy just with palette knifes. I painted her portrait as part of the #portraitsfornhsheroes initiative created by fellow Oxford art society member and painter friend Tom Croft.

Katy's experience her own words.
“I’m a theatre recovery nurse. I qualified as a nurse in 2012 working first at Stoke Mandeville Hospital and later the BMI. During the full-on Covid period both NHS and private hospitals dedicated themselves to the common Covid struggle. The private sector was contracted to the NHS. I did a number of long shifts in an area designated for Covid patients with “hot and cold” areas - an off shoot of ITU. I also had informal caring responsibilities to my every father (recently widowed), whilst trying to socially distance.”

#portraitsfornhsheroes
My portrait for #portraitsfornhsheroes got a little feature in the Bucks Herald and Vale life magazine i was also intervied on Three Counties Radio.
Portrait of nurse Megan Woodman, painted as part of Oxford art society member Tom Croft’s brilliant idea #portraitsfornhsheroes.
Megan works at Chelsea and Westminster hospital in London and has been nursing for only a year and a half. She was transfered to the ITU unit during the Covid19 pandemic.
If you would like to nominate an NHS Hero to be painted, sign into Instagram and search the hashtag #portraitsfornhsheroes to find an artist.

#portraitsfornhsheroes  

Megan works as a nurse at Chelsea and Westminster hospital in London and has been nursing for only a year and a half. She was transfered to the ITU unit during the Covid19 pandemic. I painted her portrait as part of the #portraitsfornhsheroes initiative created by fellow Oxford art society member and painter friend Tom Croft.

Megan’s experience her own words.

I felt very lucky that I had worked in a medical ward and had recent surgical experience before being transferred to ITU during the covid pandemic as both areas intertwined in the high level of care- but was still surprised by how different it felt to any experiences I’ve had through training and qualification. 

As someone who enjoys chatting with patients it felt very strange to be looking after someone and not know what their voice sounded like. The dissonant sound of countless beeps, hums and drones from the equipment in the room almost became the patients voice whilst they couldn’t use their own- alerting to when something is wrong and reassuring when things improve. 

My overwhelming feeling of working in ITU during the pandemic was gratitude for the nurses, doctors, physiotherapists and other fantastic members of the healthcare team. I continually saw colleagues support each other and help with not only the patient during and incredibly scary and difficult period of their life, but also fortifying and providing reassurance to ITU newcomers like myself. 

I’m grateful for my ITU experience, and feel very lucky to have seen so many patients improve and to use their voices again. “

Artists life interview.
I occasionally run art courses at Pegasus art in Stroud and they recently interviewed me for their Artists life blog.
https://www.pegasusart.co.uk/blog/artist-interviews/artist-life-mark-fennell/

Winner of The Winsor and Newton Painting Award at the 2020 RBA annual exhibition.

Chuffed to bits to be awarded The Winsor and Newton Painting Award at the Royal Society of British Artists annual exhibition.
https://royalsocietyofbritishartists.org.uk/rba-annual-exhibition-2020/

Portrait painting demonstration.
I was very pleased to be invited back to Pinner sketch club again, this time demonstrating portrait painting in oils with painting knives. https://www.pinnersketchclub.co.uk/

The most voted for artist at Bucks art society autumn exhibition.
Very pleased to find that i was voted 1st as the most voted for artist and two of my paintings were jointly voted 2nd for the peoples choice, where the public vote for their favourite work in the Bucks
art society autumn exhibition. https://bucksart.co.uk/

Portrait painting course.
Had a lot of fun teaching a two day self portraiture in oils course at Pure Artwork Studio in Adderbury.
https://www.pureartworkstudio.co.uk

Portrait painting from life demonstration.
I had a fun evening painting Marilyn from life at Wendover art club, with less than 2 hrs to do the job i had work extremely fast.
http://www.wendoverartclub.co.uk/

Portrait painting workshop.
Had a fun day running a portrait painting workshop for Rickmansworth art society.

Oil painting course.
Another fun day teaching beginners oil painting at Pure artworks studio in Banbury.
https://www.pureartworkstudio.co.uk/

The Artist magazine.
Got a nice little feature in The summer edition of the Artist magazine this month.

The society for all artists.
Pleased to have a little tutorial in the July issue of The SAA Paint magazine.

My Chemo self portrait series in the news.
Found myself on another online news site i’ve never heard of!
https://www.real-fix.com/general/artist-diagnosed-with-cancer-produces-incredible-series-of-self-portraits-for-every-week-of-his-chemo/

Vale life magazine.
I’ve got a little a feature on me and my work in the June/July issue of Vale Life magazine.
http://www.vale-life.co.uk

Bucks Art Weeks.
I am delighted to be exhibiting some of my work at Delphine art studio in Thame for the Bucks Art Weeks, from June 9th – June 24th 2018.
Pictured – Roland Muldoon and Joey sat next to my portrait of Roland and Sid.

Art courses.
Had a fun and hard working weekend teaching oil painting at the Henley school of art. Got some great results from some students who had never painted before!

Art courses.
I did this 40 minute demonstration at Master Art Workshops
Painting Characters in Oil or Acrylics class, the eyes were put in later in a 15 minute demo.

April 21st 2018
www.masterartworkshops.com

Art demonstrator.
Had a fun evening demonstrating portrait painting from life in oils at Watford and Bushey art society.

Had a fun weekend teaching portrait painting at The Henley School of Art
www.thehenleyschoolofart.com