I have also been fortunate to have taught and mentored by Gareth Hawker, a British Portrait painter.Liz Balkwill graduated from Norwich School of Art in 1980. I have always been keen to improve my skills and have attended many workshops during my career including Daniel Greene, Nelson Shanks, Robert Liberace and Sally Strand who have all been a great source of inspiration. I am well known locally as a tutor and demonstrator.
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![robert liberace shadow robert liberace shadow](https://mongoose1.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/iphone-inport-1094.jpg)
The painting of still-life enabled me to move away from solely commissioned work and get gallery representation. I started working as a portrait painter 25 years ago working in both oil paint and pastels. I graduated from Norwich School of Art in1980. Although this sounds lengthy, it can ultimately save me a great deal of time on the finished piece. Sometimes, I do small poster studies to decide on the colour and value range to convey a mood. I might start with compositional studies/notans moving on to a detailed drawing. At other times, I do a lot more planning and preparatory work. Sometimes I just want to get going with little preparation. This can depend on how I feel at the time. With still-life, I like the way light can convey mood and can transform everyday objects from the mundane to the beautiful. No matter what my subject, I endeavour to achieve a good drawing followed by capturing the way that light and shadow fall over a face or figure to convey form. I enjoy painting both still-life and the figure and have recently started painting horses during this lockdown (they have become my new figure/portrait subject).