Painting The Derelict after JS Sargent | Watercolour Painting – Alan Reed
The Derelict after JS Sargent
A watercolour demonstration and talk about Junction 42 at the Northern Counties Club
featured a watercolour of The Derelict after Sargent. The event was titled “Art in Prisons”. I shared many of my experiences working with ex-offenders. I also spoke about those who are serving custodial sentences in prison.
JJ Sargent
John Singer Sargent was an American artist, considered the “leading portrait painter of his generation” for his evocations of Edwardian era luxury. During his career, he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings. His oeuvre documents worldwide travel, from Venice to the Tyrol, Corfu, the Middle East, Montana, Maine, and Florida. The Derelict is just one of my favourite paintings from this artist.
Job Coach Junction 42
Read more about the Derelict after JS Sargent demonstration on Alan Reed’s Painting Blog.
As you many of you will know I have been working as an artist since 1984. However, since March 2018, I have been working as a Job Coach Helping Ex-Offenders find employment. This has been on a part time basis with the charity Junction 42 in Newcastle. Junction 42 delivers faith and creative programmes in male and female prisons and young offender institutes across the north of England and in Scotland. It also leads community groups and runs employability mentoring schemes. I love to teach the guys how to paint, especially following the works of JJ Sargent.
1-2-1 mentoring involves helping ex-offenders who have been referred to us through the DWP, Prisons and Probation. We have worked with around 200 ex-offenders in the last year. In the last 12 months we have seen over 25% move into paid work. This percentage is way above Government programmes which achieve less than 10%. Over the last 4 years, only one of my clients have actually been convicted and returned to prison. I’ve had meaningful engagement with over 100 ex-offenders.
Northern Counties Club
I’ve held a number of watercolour demonstrations at Northern Counties in Newcastle. The last one was titled The Art of Prison. I spoke about my experiences of working with prisoners in some of the regions prisons for Junction 42. The guests were happy to ask a wide range of questions. Apart from watercolour techniques, they also asked about the challenges of working in a prison.The demonstration I did of The Derelict by JS Sargent was very well received by a participating audience.
Whether you are an experienced painter or just a beginner I’ve no doubt that you will gain some benefit from watching me paint. As a taster, why not watch this short video of me painting on location.
