Demo Evening ReportsPosted by Maggie Goodsell Sat, July 07, 2018 09:49PMDemonstration
3rd July 2018 - Watercolour flowers by Lynn Norris
Report
by Maggie Goodsell
Lynn
said she would be demonstrating negative painting technique. She was
working on Saunders Waterford 140lb paper, using SAA Silver brushes &
Winsor & Newton watercolour paints. Lynn said she prefers to work
on a paper block rather than single sheets as she finds it suits her
wet in wet technique better. Her colours were mostly Gamboge,
Permanent Rose, Cobalt Blue, Quinacridone Gold, Winsor Blue Red
Shade, Perylene Violet & Perylene Green
As
she works flat Lynn uses a camera, projector & screen so everyone
can see what she is doing. Unfortunately this does mean that the
photos are mostly taken from the screen and the colour rendition
isn't always correct. The photos have been edited to give a truer
feel but there are limits to my editing ability !
The
initial drawing - Lynn was working from a photograph.
Lynn
started by wetting the whole sheet of paper .....
....
and painted some warm & cool colours in the flowers.
After
drying with a hairdryer Lynn then wet the background for the negative
painting.
As
it was such a warm day she worked in sections around the painting trying not
to get hard edges. She painted yellows ...
........
followed by greens, mostly mixing the paint on the paper - working
round the flowers to define their shapes.
This
was the view we had - it shows how the painting is building up as a
whole and the reference photo.
Defining
the flowers more by adding darker areas.
Lynn
hard at work !!
After
this stage Lynn dried the painting thoroughly. She said that it is
better to be left to dry naturally for at least 2 hours but 24 is
better. This allows the paint to settle and fix into the cotton
fibres of the paper - which means that the colours don't lift when
the painting is re-wetted.
Lynn
gradually built up areas of green, wetting an area at a time. She
used a natural fibre brush for the re-wetting as this doesn't lift
the grain of the paper as much as a synthetic would. Lynn also added
a few areas of salt to give texture.
Halfway
- time for a cup of tea.
The
next stage was to add some 'positive' leaves to the painting, always
following the 'rule' of odd numbers - in this case Lynn put in 7.
Working
on the background flowers & buds - making sure they don't stand
out too much.
Working
on the main flower - Lynn said to remember that it is a white flower
so don't overdo the colour.
You
can see the areas where salt was added quite clearly in this photo.
The
finished picture.
An
excellent demonstration from Lynn. I'm sure many of us were inspired
to go home & try the technique.
Demo Evening ReportsPosted by Maggie Goodsell Sat, April 28, 2018 10:35PMDemonstration
3rd April 2018 - Still Life in Oils By Jerome Hunt
Report
by Maggie Goodsell
An
interesting & informative evening with Jerome Hunt demonstrating
the techniques he uses when painting a Still Life.
Jerome
started by telling us a bit about himself & his techniques. He
said he usually works his Still Life fairly small often using mundane
objects like jars & plastic bottles as subject matter.
Jerome
had his subject in a well lit box - he said that the right lighting
is very important.
The
subject from Jerome's viewpoint. He chose tulips as he was in
Spalding and said it looks better if things are in odd numbers.
Jerome
did a rough initial drawing with paint.
Then,
using a cloth, applied Burnt Umber to the negative spaces.
He
added Payne's Grey to the mix for the darker areas and constantly
re-defined the subject.
Jerome
then used a flat hogs hair brush to paint in the highlights to give
himself a reference point.
Adding
colour and shadows. Jerome said to note that round objects give
elliptical shadows.
Jerome
constantly re-defined the subject either by adding paint to the
objects or tightening up the background.
Tackling
the water - Jerome said to remember that because of refraction stems
in the water appear to be offset to the stem above the water.
Jerome
adding highlights with a smaller brush.
The
finished painting.
Jerome
Hunt & his Still Life oil painting.
The
frame really shows it off well
Jerome
using one of his paintings to show a technique
A
selection of Jerome's Still Life paintings
Demo Evening ReportsPosted by Maggie Goodsell Sun, April 01, 2018 10:44PMDemonstration 6th
March 2018 - Cley Mill - watercolour by Stephen Martyn
Report by Maggie
Goodsell
Stephen told us that
he would be doing a watercolour tonal work of Cley Mill using just
two colours - Winsor & Newton French Ultramarine Blue & Brown
Madder. He said he would be working on half imperial Saunders
Waterford 300gsm (140lb) paper - this being his workaday paper - and
would use a range of brushes but mostly his preferred squirrel.
Stephen made a loose
drawing of the subject using a 2B pencil.
He said it is
difficult but important to get the proportions of the windmill right
- don't overdraw the sails & make sure everything is correct
before starting painting.
Working flat Stephen
wet the paper using a no 4 squirrel mop. He had the paper fixed to
the board with masking tape at the corners - as the paper cockled
slightly he gently lifted a corner at a time, making sure to only
take the tape off the board not the paper, and eased it out to
stretch it a bit. He did this several times whilst wetting the paper.
He said to re-wet
any bits that have dried too fast & then wait until it is just
damp.
Stephen made up a
range of mixes & tones and then, still working flat, he painted
the whole paper
Varying the tones
...
.... adding clouds
on the horizon,
using a drier mix
for the foreground.
Stephen said he
wasn't going to make the sky too busy as that would detract from the
main focal point of the windmill.
He was quite pleased
with how the paint had run giving the effect of grasses.
He then lifted out
paint from the windmill and started on the buildings.
After adding trees
to the village ....
..... Stephen
painted the mill and the distant bank.
He added the tail
fin & the cap before painting the sails with a drier mix.
In the finished
painting Stephen has strengthened the shadows & the middle trees
and removed some of the smudges in the sky - teasing them out with a
damp brush. Having struggled to lift enough paint from the windmill
to expose the white paper Stephen painted the highlights on the cap
with W&N Designers White Gouache.
An excellent
demonstration from Stephen - we could even hear him when his back was
towards us !! We look forward to his next visit.
Demo Evening ReportsPosted by Maggie Goodsell Sun, March 04, 2018 09:45AMDemonstration
report, 6th February 2018, Peter Wood - French Café,
acrylics
by
Maggie Goodsell
Peter
started the evening by giving us a rapid talk about himself &
what he does, his exhibitions & courses and an insight into all
the different media there are and how to best use them - we were
exhausted !!
Peter
came
with a ready prepared drawing on white canvas. He said that he starts
loose & finishes tight, working what he called his jigsaw method
- having the right colours & the right shapes.
Using
a ½” flat brush Peter started blocking in colour -
he said to paint shapes &
colours, rather than what is there.
Peter
said that when you have paint left on your brush, don't just wash it
off - look for somewhere else in the paintings you can use it.
Peter
likes to keep the whole painting going at once.
He
worked through the coffee break to get rid of the white background.
Once that was gone Peter said he would have a better idea of the
tonal values.
Peter
brought out the shapes by working darks around them.
Adding
highlights with a smaller
brush.
The
finished picture
A
couple of Peter's other paintings
An
interesting demonstration showing how to plan a painting & bring
it all together at the end.
Peter
filmed the demonstration - click on the link to see it on YouTube
Observations
on the demonstration
The
first half hour of the evening was, as I said, a rapid delivery of a
huge amount of facts that left us all a bit dazed. Peter seems to do
everything at the gallop but maybe it would be better to reduce the
amount of information so that the audience have some chance of
retaining any
of it.
In
common with many demonstrators Peter, when not facing the audience,
was much less audible.
I am not deaf but even sitting
on the front row I struggled to hear what was being said. I know that
others further back heard virtually nothing.
We
do have a microphone & although not perfect, I think this should
be used at all times.
Demo Evening ReportsPosted by Maggie Goodsell Thu, January 25, 2018 10:48AMDemonstration 5th
December 2018 - 'Howling Wolf' Wildlife Pastel by Vic Bearcroft
Report by Maggie
Goodsell
Vic said he would be
doing a pastel painting on black velour using a limited range of just
four colours - blue, sanguine, white & black. He said he prefers
a harder pastel as they are better on velour and that velour will
take many layers of pastel.
Vic took this
picture of a North American wolf called Nuka at the UK Wolf
Conservation Trust in Berkshire. He said that the black velour
background would give a more dramatic & atmospheric picture.
The initial sketch
using a white pastel. Vic did this freehand but said you could use
white Tracedown.
Starting a tonal
sketch
Blending into the
pile of the velour
Blocking in the fur
using the flat side of the pastel and blending. Vic said that you
need to be patient when working on black velour as it takes several
layers to make an impression.
Vic called this the
'Slapping on Stage' or Stage 3 in his process. Blocking in colour
without too much thought.
Vic blended in the
blue & added sanguine.
More blending
Stage 4 - More white
pastel to give shape & texture to the fur. Vic said that since
winning a competition with a looser style than his old almost
'photographic' style he now doesn't spend days painting individual
hairs on animals, preferring to give a general impression of texture
with just a few tweaks at the end.
Using black pastel
to tighten up areas & to strengthen shadows. Vic said that you
can blow excess dust off the velour but be very careful not to spit
on it as this will irreversibly damage the pile.
Adding some detail.
Vic said to note that when wolves howl they do not show their top
teeth.
Stage 5. Vic defined
the teeth & eye & added some atmospheric breath - it is after
all in the cold tundra.
Vic and the finished
painting.
An excellent &
entertaining demo from Vic who showed that less can be more.
Demo Evening ReportsPosted by Maggie Goodsell Thu, November 30, 2017 11:21PMDemonstration 7th
November 2017
A Runaway Horse
called Sebastian - Pencil & Acrylic by Jane Lazenby
Report by Maggie
Goodsell
Jane started by
telling us a bit about her background and how she likes to work -
apparently she usually paints sitting cross legged on the floor!
The subject of the
demo was to be a horse called Sebastian, who had decided that he had
had enough of performing at a show & took flight. Jane said she
was just in the right place to take the photo.
Jane said that
normally she would just draw the subject and make alterations as she
went. The time constraints of a demo make this impractical so she
used trace-down for the image.
Using Derwent
Coloursoft pencils on mountboard, Jane started to lay down an
underdrawing. She said she keeps turning the pencil to maintain it's
point.
Drawing complete
Using Atelier
Interactive Acrylics, Jane started blocking in the background with a
Burnt Umber / Winsor Blue mix ....
... using the same
colours on the horse.
Jane working on some
highlights
Colour was then
added to the horse using mixes of Cobalt, Cerulean & Pacific
blues with Magenta & White. Jane said Sebastian doesn't have a
deformed mane - it is tied up in braids as he has a very long flowing
mane which can get in the way.
Adding more detail &
colour in stages
Jane returned to
pencil for a bit to tighten up some areas but found the lack of tooth
on the mountboard a problem so switched back to acrylics & a
finer brush.
Using acrylics, Jane
extended the background area.
Jane, the finished
painting & the original photo.
An interesting &
enjoyable demonstration - Jane's love of horses came through very
strongly.
A selection of
Jane's paintings. She said that the more detailed ones were
commissions, the looser ones were how she likes to paint for herself
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