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Workshops and demonstrations (both in person and online) are excellent ways of learning techniques and processes which can help you to build confidence and develop your own way of working, which is something I always encourage in my own teaching practice.
In person workshops are also a fantastic opportunity to try out materials before investing in anything yourself - art materials can be pricey, so having good quality pastels and papers to experiment with is invaluable.
But how often is any reference material considered and how important its it? 

The Pastel Society has recently updated it's rules for entry to their open exhibition to disallow anything that has been created in a workshop. This is also the case with The Pastel Society of America. This is in part because the copyright for original reference image and idea, remains with the Artist/ Tutor. 

Personally, I go to great lengths to find and create good reference material for workshops, as I know many tutors do.
There have been occasions when I have had to get up at 5am and drive for hours to catch a sunrise in a particular place - just to ensure the light and colour is right, for example. 
So getting that photograph not only incurs years of training and experience as an Artist, but real expense in terms of petrol costs and hours of time as well as printing costs. 
All of this ensures I work with my own photographs and do not have issues with copyright from anyone else. It also means I have experienced a location - a landscape, a time of day, what the temperature felt like, the wind on my face and the atmosphere of a place. All of this is important when I come to create a pastel version of a landscape or seascape. I understand the image I am looking at because I have experienced what it's like to be there.

There is also the issue of being shown how to work through creating a painting step-by-step, in that the whole process and colour choices are guided by someone else. Learning by doing is invaluable and all part of understanding the process of creating.
A workshop participant may have drawn/painted a picture by their hand, but if it has been done under instruction, from a composition someone else has given them, with colours specified or guided by someone else, the resulting artwork is not entirely theirs or original. 
It is for these reasons that my reference material used in workshops and demonstrations is only for personal learning and not for sale.

I recall another Artist telling me how devastated she felt when she turned up at a local art fair and was faced with a display of paintings which were almost exact replicas of her own, signed by someone that had attended her classes and up for sale. 
Cases of plagiarism are sadly very common and sometimes innocently done but the effects can be far reaching and detrimental to the Artist who has worked so hard to earn a living.

There are of course, instances where artwork may be created more independently during the course of a workshop and not use reference pictures at all but to be sure, artwork entered for exhibitions or to be sold should be created completely independently.
Judges of open exhibitions are always looking for originality and self expression as well as good technical execution.

They want to see something different - not a copy of what someone else has done.

I love teaching workshops and as well as supplying images myself, I give people attending the option to also bring along their own reference photos under the theme we are working on. I am happy to give advice on cropping photos and considering different viewpoints too - it’s all part of learning. 

Happily, there are many websites for Artists that photographers can upload photos for people to use copyright free, such as www.artistreferencephotos.com and www.pixabay.com .
There are also Facebook groups such as Artist Reference Photos and Landscape Reference Photos for Artists. 
And of course, the best solution is after your workshop, build up your own own reference photo collection or even better - draw from life.

 

Thankyou for reading 

 

Fiona Carvell PS PSA SGFA

www.fionacarvell.com