Adele Wagstaff

Adele is a painter and printmaker, born in Yorkshire and trained at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and the Slade School of Fine Art London.
She is a tutor with over 20 years teaching experience with a focus on working from direct observation of the figure, portrait and still life subjects. Adele teaches at West Dean College,
Arte Umbria, Putney School of Art and Slade School of Fine Art, London.

Adele was Artist in Residence at Leighton Park School, Reading and she has undertaken a number of portrait commissions which have included Canon Geoffrey Brown, St Martin's in the Fields, London and Lord Alex Bernstein. Since 2006 she has made regular visits to Luxor, Egypt where she has continued to work on a series of portraits.

Adele has been shortlisted for the Jerwood Drawing Prize, the BP Portrait Award and her work has been exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery, Discerning Eye, Royal Society of Portrait Painters, Royal West of England Academy, the Canadian Portrait Academy and she continues to exhibit regularly in London and throughout the UK.

Her book Still Life Painting in Oils was published by the Crowood Press in 2012 and Painting the Nude also for the Crowood Press was published early in 2015.

Describe your approach to teaching.

All students will work individually from the same pose throughout the course. Individual tutor guidance will be given throughout each session. There will also be regular group discussions both during and at the end of the course. There will be a slide lecture on the tutors work/other artists work and artist dvd's during evening activities.
Students will gain a greater understanding of colour and tonal relationships through the study of the observed subject and will develop skills and knowledge in colour mixing and oil painting techniques when painting over an intensive period.

What inspires your own work?

The human form, portrait and everyday objects found around us are my inspiration.
As a violinist I have frequently returned to the theme of musicians rehearsing, including working alongside the Chilingirian Quartet while at West Dean and I continue to have a number of residencies with the Rehearsal Orchestra in both London and Edinburgh during orchestral courses.