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2 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk

Incorporating Leisure Painter
and Craftsman
and Creative Crafts
VOLUME 52/9
ISSUE 577
www.leisurepainter.co.uk
Welcome
www.painters-online.co.uk
ISSN 0024-0710
from the editor
AUGUST 2018
Editor
Ingrid Lyon
Contributing Editor
I recently spent an illuminating
afternoon in London visiting two
exhibitions of the work of Cedric Morris:
Jane Stroud
Editorial Consultants ‘Beyond the Garden Wall’ at Philip Mould & Company and ‘Artist
Diana Armfield RA, NEAC (Hon), RWS
David Bellamy Plantsman’ at the Garden Museum (both until 22 July). I have
Tony Paul STP
Advertising Sales long admired Morris’s large paintings of flowers and plants in
Anna-Marie Brown 01778 392048
annamarieb@warnersgroup.co.uk print, and it was a joy to see them finally in real life. His love,
Advertising Copy
Sue Woodgates 01778 392062
interest and knowledge of plants and the countryside shone
suewoodgates@warnersgroup.co.uk
through the paintings, which really crackled with life. They
Accounts
creditcontrol@warnersgroup.co.uk reminded me of regular advice from LP tutors – paint what you
Events Manager
Caroline Griffiths love and it will show in your work. We notice paintings at times
Subscriptions & Marketing Manager that may not be technically brilliant, but are brought up to
Wendy Gregory
Subscriptions exhibition level by an indefinable quality that can only stem
Nicci Salmon & Liza Kitney
01580 763315/763673 from the painters’ authentic interest in the subject. Next time
subscriptions@tapc.co.uk
Online Editor
you can’t think of a subject to paint or you are bored with your
Dawn Farley
usual style, try working on a subject about which you are
Designers
Alison Renno genuinely passionate and that creates an interesting emotional
Sarah Poole
response in you – and compare the results.
Leisure Painter is published every
four weeks by: I hope this month’s tutorials and demonstrations inspire you
The Artists’ Publishing Company
Limited (TAPC), Caxton House, to try new ideas, media and subjects. If you are nervous of
63-65 High Street, Tenterden,
Kent TN30 6BD stepping outside to paint, follow Rodney Kingston’s advice to
01580 763315
www.painters-online.co.uk find yourself painting in the great outdoors this summer or use
Publisher his techniques to paint in a similar direct style in your own
Dr Sally Bulgin, Hon VPRBSA

Publication of an article or inclusion of

home. For those who want to learn how to adapt reference
an advertisement does not necessarily
imply that TAPC is in agreement with
material rather than simply to copy from it, Stephen Coates’s
the views expressed, or represents
endorsement of products, materials
demonstration shows how to transform a dull photograph into
or techniques. TAPC does not accept a vibrant sunset – with the added bonus of using just four
responsibility for errors, omissions
or images received in good faith popular colours.
Annual subscription rates (13 issues): Enjoy this month of painting and don’t forget to share your
UK £47.20; USA $80; Canada $92; EC
member countries €67; all other work with other readers by posting on our website,
countries (sterling rate) £57
PaintersOnline. We look forward to seeing your paintings.
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INGRID LYON Editor
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(Tel: 01778 391000) SEPTEMBER 2018 issue on sale 10 AUGUST

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 3

 Contents
IN EVERY ISSUE
7 Diary
Things to do this month
8 Exhibitions
Some of the best shows
around the country
On the cover
Paul Hopkinson Roe Deer,
watercolour, 12x8in. (30x21cm).
Complete your portrait of a roe
deer this month by painting the
nose and fur.
4 AUGUST 2018
AUGUST 2018
43
30
64
22 Painting project
71 Books Part 2 Finish your portrait of a roe deer in
The latest practical art books watercolour, with Paul Hopkinson
are reviewed
27 A beginner’s guide to Brusho
73 Art clubs Part 1 Have fun experimenting with colours
News, highlights, exhibition and techniques, by Carrie McKenzie
listings and ‘best in show’ gallery
30 Alice and Felix
78 Online gallery Linda Birch demonstrates how to bring your
Jane Stroud chooses an acrylic drawings of cats to life
painting from PaintersOnline
34 Girls of summer
Develop your oil-painting skills as you paint
figures on a sunny beach, with Elena Parashko
38 Sunshine and flowers
Part 1 Julie King explains how to turn a
FEATURES photograph of white agapanthus into a
watercolour painting
12 Plein-air practice
Build your confidence and skills as you 40 Informal is key
follow Rodney Kingston’s advice to paint Find inspiration in everyday objects as you
from life this summer sketch and paint still lifes with John Mitchell
16 Painting project 43 Watercolour basics and beyond
Part 1 Follow Paula Henchell as she Part 9 Practise mixing greens on the paper to
discusses how to paint from photographs paint natural textures and foliage among the
of poppies and peonies ruins at Christchurch, Dorset, with David Webb
18 Painting project 46 Know your edges
Part 2 How to paint a sunset in just four How to plan for and use soft and hard edges,
colours, by Stephen Coates with Jem Bowden
www.painters-online.co.uk
 Coming
next month
From coloured-pencil tutorials in portraits and
animals to step-by-step advice on how to paint in
watercolour, acrylics and oils, enjoy another
month of painting with Leisure Painter!
ON SALE 10 AUGUST
n NEW SERIES: Sketching
for pleasure
n Watercolour basics and
beyond: the lifting-out
technique
n Step-by-step acrylic
landscape, en plein air
style
n How to compose and
paint landscapes in
watercolour
n First steps to drawing t
Tim Hayward My Dad, coloured
a badger in coloured pencil on paper, 3x214⁄ in. (7.5x5.5cm).
50 pencil Practise five small steps to producing
a miniature portrait in coloured
n Paint flowers in pencil
watercolour and oils
OFFERS, NEWS AND COMPETITIONS n Add atmosphere to your

11 David Bellamy introduces your final sketchbook acrylic landscapes LEISURE PAINTER
challenge, in association with Jakar International n How to depict aerial
ON-SALE DATES
perspective in colour Issue On sale
33 Subscribe to Leisure Painter and save money and tone September 10 August
October 7 September
67 How to enter this year’s Art Club of the Year with n Tips & techniques for November 5 October
prizes sponsored by Jackson’s painting a rainy day
figure in Brusho
72 Special offers on Search Press practical art books t Chris Hughes Sunflowers,
n Try a coloured pencil watercolour, 12x15in. (30.5x38cm).
portrait in miniature Chris offers tips and techniques for
painting vibrant watercolours next
n AND LOTS MORE! month
50 Weather report
Part 4 How to capture the effects of bright summer sunshine in
acrylics, with Tim Fisher

54 View from the lake

Follow Murray Ince step by step to paint a scene including water,
foliage and a building in water-mixable oils

58 Inspired by nature
Part 5 Michelle Campbell completes her series with exercises and
ideas on how to imitate texture in nature with watercolour

61 The world in miniature

Part 4 Rosemary Bentley introduces her style of portrait painting,
watercolour on polymin

64 Small and often

Tips, inspiration and ideas for developing your skills and painting
regularly, with Steve Strode

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 5

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 Diary
Open studios
n Nidd Art Trail
Nidd Art encompasses
artists, artisans,
photographers, workshops
galleries, shops and clubs,
THINGS TO DO THIS MONTH showing, demonstrating
and selling their work in
and around Nidderdale in
the Yorkshire Dales during
Teresa Boast Duality, acrylic on
t
August. This year the 2018
canvas, 391⁄2x391⁄2in. (100x100cm) from
EVENTS Nidd Art Trail takes place the Nidd Art Trail. The acrylic, painted
Hornsea Art Festival between 17 and 27 August, at How Stean Gorge in Nidderdale,
and the theme is ‘water’ in was commissioned by a client who
The first Hornsea Art wanted a specific part of the gorge,
Festival, from 23 July to 4 all its forms, from lakes and which was very difficult to access.
August, coincides with waterfalls to wading birds, Teresa explains: “I found myself
plants and flowers. Full dangling from a rope abseiling into
Hornsea Art Society’s annual the gorge, swimming through the
summer exhibition at the details, brochure with maps pools and battling my way up
Masonic Hall, Alexandra and participating artists can waterfalls to get to the spot. It’s called
be found at Duality, because it was so beautiful
Road, Hornsea, from 24 July and peaceful, yet I’d endured a great
t
Meet artist, Catherine until 4 August. The festival www.niddart.org.uk deal to get there!”
E Inglis, at the Hornsea nWorcestershire
comprises a series of
Art Festival, 23 July to Open Studios
4 August workshops, which are open
to all and cater for all levels Eighty-one venues across
of ability. Many of the tutors will be known to Leisure Worcestershire will be
Painter readers, including Catherine E Inglis (above), opening their doors for the
who will lead an animal workshop in soft pastels on 2018 Worcestershire Open
Monday 23 July, 10am to 4pm; and Paul Talbot- Studios, from 25 to 27
Greaves who will tutor a watercolour workshop for all August. Watch artists and
levels on 31 July, 10am to 4pm. To download the full craftspeople at work, talk to
programme go to www.hornseaartsociety.co.uk or them about their art and
Anna Cumming at work in her
t

to book a place on any of the workshops, email Kate purchase one-off pieces. studio, which will be open for the
Gendle at kategendle@gmail.com Visit www.worcestershire Worcestershire Open Studios event,
openstudios.org 25 to 27 August

IN THE FRAME
Hesketh Hubbard Art Society
The annual exhibition of work by members
of the Hesketh Hubbard Art Society is at the
Mall Galleries, London, from 14 to 19 August.
The society, which has been running weekly
life-drawing classes since 1930, is open to
both amateur and professional artists.
Membership costs £225 per year, for which
there are 48 two-hour drawing sessions.
Around 100 artists come together at the Mall
Galleries to draw from four models. Sessions
include quick 15-minute poses, 30-minute
poses, two hour-long poses and one two-hour
clothed portrait pose. Prospective members
are encouraged to attend a session for free
before deciding to apply for membership. To
coincide with the annual exhibition a
number of events have been organised
including The Body Beautiful? – a panel 15 August, 12.30 to 1.30pm. There will also be two life- John Govett
t

discussion looking at the ways in which
artists, sitters and commissioners challenge
conceptions of conventional beauty. The
discussion will take place in the galleries on
drawing workshops on 24 and 25 August, 11am to 4pm. Tatiana, acrylic on
paper, 101⁄2x15in.
For full details about the exhibition, the society or to book (27x38cm)
your place on any of the events, contact the Mall Galleries
at 020 7930 6844, or visit www.mallgalleries.org.uk

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 7

 Exhibitions JANE STROUD RECOMMENDS

William Orpen To The Unknown British

t

Soldier in France, 1921, oil, 6034⁄ x503⁄ in. (154x129cm)

n National Gallery
Trafalgar Square WC2. 020 7747 2885;
www.nationalgallery.org.uk
‘Monet and Architecture’, until 29 July.
‘Thomas Cole: Eden to Empire’, until
7 October.
Wynne B Jones Great Central Nostalgia, oil on canvas, 23x27in. (58.5x69cm) n Royal Academy of Arts
t

Piccadilly W1. 020 7300 8000;

RailArt 2018 www.royalacademy.org.uk
Formed in the late 1970s, the Guild of Railway Artists is made up of ‘Tacita Dean: Landscape’, until 12 August.
professional, semi-professional and amateur artists working in a wide variety ‘250th Summer Exhibition’, until 19 August.
Also ‘The Great Spectacle: 250 Years of the
of media, but all passionate about depicting railways both past and present. Summer Exhibition’, until 19 August.
Since its first exhibition in 1979 the guild has staged over 50 exhibitions at
n Tate Britain
locations all over England. The next opportunity to see work by its members
is at the Kidderminster Railway Museum, Severn Valley Railway Station, Millbank SW1. 020 7887 8888;
www.tate.org.uk
from 25 August until 30 September, 10am to 6pm daily. For more
‘All Too Human: Bacon, Freud and a
information about the guild and exhibitions visit www.railart.co.uk Century of Painting Life’, until 27 August.
n Tate Modern
Bankside SE1. 020 7887 8888;
www.tate.org.uk
LONDON ‘The EY Exhibition: Picasso 1932 – Love,
Fame, Tragedy’, until 9 September.
n Bankside Gallery n Dulwich Picture Gallery
48 Hopton Street SE1. 020 7928 7521; Gallery Road SE21. 020 8693 5254; n William Morris Gallery
www.banksidegallery.com www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk Forest Road E17. 020 8496 4390;
‘Brexhibition’: paintings by Richard Sorrell ‘Edward Bawden’, continues until 9 www.wmgallery.org.uk
dedicated to the cause of ‘Exit from Brexit’, September. ‘Weaving New Worlds’: contemporary
24 to 29 July. ‘Off the Wall’: summer show tapestries by 16 artists from the UK, USA,
by members of the Royal Watercolour n Mall Galleries Canada, New Zealand, Norway and Japan,
Society and the Royal Society of Painter The Mall SW1. 020 7930 6844; until 23 September.
Printmakers, 9 August to 9 September. www.mallgalleries.org.uk
n Ben
‘The National Students’ Art Exhibition’:
Uri Gallery
featuring the best young artists aged 12 to
REGIONAL
n Barn
108a Boundary Road, off Abbey Road NW8. Gallery & Pavilion Gallery
18 selected from schools, colleges and
020 7604 3991; www.benuri.org.uk
academies across the country, 18 to 21 July. Patchings Art Centre, Oxton Road,
‘Bomberg’, until 16 September.
‘Creative Force: The Power of Creativity in Calverton, Nottingham. 0115 965 3479;
n Bernard Jacobson Gallery Recovery’: works by Help for Heroes www.patchingsartcentre.co.uk
28 Duke Street, St. James’s SW1. 020 7734 veterans, service personnel and their ‘The Artist & Leisure Painter Exhibitions’:
3431; www.jacobsongallery.com families, 8 to 19 August. ‘Hesketh Hubbard featuring selected work from this year’s
‘Matisse Prints’, until 15 September. Art Society’, 14 to 19 August. Open Art Competition, 12 July to 12 August.

8 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk

Aftermath
Aftermath: Art in the Wake of World
War One at Tate Britain until 23
September, explores the impact the
conflict had on British, German and
French art. In this period of tumult,
artists responded in a variety of
ways. Some, including Max Ernst and
Edward Burra, documented the
physical scaring of war; others, such
as Picasso, Christian Schad and
Winifred Knights, returned to
classicism and tradition; while a
group including Fernand Leger and
C.R.W. Nevinson looked towards the
future. The exhibition marks 100
years since the end of World War
One and can be seen at Tate Britain,
Millbank, London SW1, until 23
September. For more details visit
www.tate.org

n The Bowes Museum

Barnard Castle, Co. Durham. 01833 690606;
www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk
‘The BFG in Pictures’: originals by Quentin
Blake featuring his illustrations for Roald
Dahl’s The BFG, 14 July to 30 September.
n Buxton Museum and Art Gallery
Terrace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire.
01629 533540;
www.derbyshire.gov.uk/buxtonmuseum
‘The Derbyshire Open’, until 31August.
n Fairfax House
Castlegate, York. 01904 655543;
www.fairfaxhouse.co.uk
‘The Genius of Grinling Gibbons: From
Journeyman to King’s Carver’, until 14
September.
n Harbour House
The Promenade, Kingsbridge, Devon. 01548
854708; www.harbourhouse.org.uk
‘Island Artist’: seascapes and landscapes by
Emma Carter Bromfield, 7 to 19 August.
n Kettle’s Yard
Castle Street, Cambridge. 01223 748100;
www.kettlesyard.co.uk
‘Antony Gormley’, until 27 August.
n Locomotion
National Railway Museum, Dale Road,
Shildon. 01904 685780;
www.locomotion.org.uk
‘Railways on Canvas: The Art of Chris
Pulham’, 19 August to 30 September.
n National Gallery of Ireland
Merrion Square W, Dublin 2, Ireland. +353
1 661 5133; www.nationalgallery.ie
‘Roderic O’Connor & The Moderns: Between
Paris and Pont-Aven’, exploring Roderic’s
works across all media, 18 July to 28
October.
t
Frances Knight Ocean of Yellow, oil on canvas, 391⁄2x391⁄2in. (100x100cm)
Large landscapes
Working exclusively in oils and direct from nature, Frances Knight presents an
exhibition of large landscape paintings at the Oxmarket Gallery in Chichester this
July. On graduating from Camberwell School of Art, Frances won a
Commonwealth and British Council scholarship to complete her master of fine
arts in India, where she worked for more than 30 years. Her work explores the
interplay between abstraction and representation, focusing on colour, light and
structure on the landscape.
Large Landscapes goes on show at the Oxmarket Gallery, St. Andrew’s Court, off
East Street, Chichester, West Sussex from 17 to 29 July. Open Tuesday to Sunday,
10am to 4.30pm. For more details telephone 01243 779103 or visit
www.oxmarket.com
n Penlee House Gallery n Tate Liverpool
Morab Road, Penzance, Cornwall. 01736 Albert Dock, Liverpool Waterfront. 0151 702
363625; www.penleehouse.org.uk 7400; www.tate.org.uk
‘Entranced by a Special Place: The Art of S J ‘Life in Motion: Egon Schiele and Francesca
Lamorna Birch’, until 8 September. Woodman’, until 23 September.
n Scottish
National Gallery n Victoria Art Gallery
of Modern Art Bridge Street, Bath. 01225 477233;
73 Belford Road, Edinburgh.0131 6246 www.victoriagal.org.uk
6200; www.nationalgalleries.org ‘A Celebration of Flowers’: Kaffe Fassett with
‘Emil Nolde: Colour is Life, 14 July to 21 Candace Bahouth, until 2 September.
October. Contact the gallery for details of events.
All information given here is correct at the time of going to press, but you are
advised to check details and opening times with the galleries prior to your visit
in case of unavoidable alterations to their exhibition schedules

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGST 2018 9


SHARE YOUR TIPS, SUGGESTIONS, IDEAS
AND QUESTIONS WITH OTHER READERS
Framing question
I have a problem cutting mounts and
wondered if anyone can give
advice? Very occasionally I frame one
of my pictures and find that my
local charity shop usually has a
selection of good-quality inexpensive
frames. I discard the picture that
comes with them and also the mount,
as it’s rarely the correct size to use.
This means that I have to cut a
new mount, which is where my
problems arise.
As I do this so rarely, I purchased a
budget mount cutter. I mark the
dimensions on the back of the mount
and position the plastic rule in the
correct place and then clip the cutter
holder into the groove on the rule
with the blade inclined at the 45-
degree setting. When I slide the
cutter holder along the rule to make
the cut I find that the blade is
forced away from the cut line and I
end up with a curved cut instead of a
straight one. I use a sharp blade on
normal card mount (about 1.5mm
thick). Am I expecting too much for a
budget mount cutter on this
thickness of card or am I doing
something wrong?
Dennis Swainston
Anne Kerr
(www.annekerrartstudio.com) replies:
In answer to your question about
cutting picture mounts, I have
experienced the same problem. You say
that when cutting the mount with your
45-degree cutter, the blade is forced
away from the ruler and you end up
with a curved cut instead of a straight
one. When this happened to me, it was
almost without exception the fact that
the blade was blunt. Changing the
blade always solved the problem. I only
ever use each blade for cutting ten
mounts, that would be approximately
40 cuts.
If you find that changing the blade
does not solve the problem, these other
thoughts may help you. I have not used
10 AUGUST 2018
Letters
the cutter you mention in your letter
so I don’t know how it is set up.
However, make sure you are using the
recommended blades and also that the
blade is sitting properly in its holder. If
it is loose, it will move when you cut. I
know that sounds very obvious but it is
easy to miss. Also, check that the blade
is not protruding too far into the
mountboard and digging into the
cutting surface underneath. Try putting
a scrap piece of mountboard
underneath the one you are cutting.
This gives the blade a softer surface to
scrape against while it is cutting.
Another thought, because both your
cutter and your ruler are plastic, there
may be quite a bit of movement
between the two. I had a small hand
cutter and ruler for a while but wasted
a great deal of mountboard making bad
cuts. I eventually upgraded to a mount
cutter where most things are metal and
the ruler is attached to a base board
with hinges and can’t possibly slip. It
also has a squaring arm at 90 degrees
to the board. This allows you to butt
your mountboard up against the
squaring arm so fixing it firmly in place.
Not all mount cutters have squaring
arms, but they are really worth the extra
pound or two. Some have base boards
of 40in. and some are 60in. The
advantage of the 60in. one is that you
can put a full sheet of mountcard onto
the cutter in either orientation, so saving
on wasted card. However, I have
managed with the smaller one for many
years, the wasted card always comes in
useful for something. All the cutting
parts are metal so there is no possibility
of movement while cutting. I have to
say, it was the best investment I ever
made.
These hinged mount cutter sets are not
exactly cheap but you can pick up a
used one on eBay. They come up all the
time. I saw one only this week for under
£100. The cutter I have is a Logan
Simplex. There are several models of
Logan cutters and you can see them in
use if you look on YouTube.
Other companies also make hinged
mount cutters but I have only
experienced the Logan. These
mountboard cutter sets come with a
straight cutter, a 45-degree bevel cutter
and a glass cutter. I cut all my mounts
and glass on my cutter and rarely have
a problem. I know I sound a little like a
salesman for mount cutters, but believe
me I just know how much it helped me
to purchase a more professional cutter.
You will easily get your investment back
because once your art colleagues know
you cut mounts, you will be inundated
with requests. I paid for mine in only a
few months!
I do hope this has helped you. If you
would like any more information please
contact me via my website and I will
help if I can.
A response from Dennis: After many
attempts using some of the cheaper
mount cutters, I finally bit the bullet,
followed your advice and bought a
cutter that is sturdy enough to do the
job. It isn’t a cheap alternative, but my
advice to readers is: don’t bother with
the cheap brands, you’ll only be
disappointed.
As you say, Anne, once people know
you have a decent piece of kit, they’ll
bring you work and you can go a long
way towards recouping costs!
Send your letters to
Leisure Painter, 63-65 High Street,
Tenterden, Kent TN30 6BD.
Alternatively, email the editor at
leisurepainterletters@tapc.co.uk.
All letters published here win
Jaxell soft pastels courtesy of
GreatArt (www.greatart.co.uk)
www.painters-online.co.uk
 & David Bellamy present
Your Sketchbook Challenge
in association with Jakar International Ltd
Leisure Painter and artist/explorer, David Bellamy
invite you to participate in our sketchbook challenge.
This is your final task in our six-month challenge.
David has set you a drawing project to complete in
your journal/sketchbook and offers practical advice
on how to tackle it. Upload a scan of your best page
on our website, PaintersOnline (see below for
details), and David and LP editor, Ingrid Lyon, will
select this month’s winner.
Whether you want to go out and about to sketch
on-site or stay at home and work from your own
reference material and memories, we are looking
forward to seeing your work.
Leisure Painter will publish all the winning artwork at
the end of this year – and you can see all the entries
as they are uploaded on PaintersOnline each month.
Please
upload your
final entry by
12 noon on
3 September
The prizes
Sponsored by Jakar International Ltd
Each month we will send
the winning artist a
Caran d’Ache sketching pack
worth £50(rrp), comprising
12 water-soluble coloured pencils
and a book to illustrate
4 graphite pencils with sharpener
HOW TO ENTER
Only online entries can be accepted. Only original work will be considered and
sketches based on reference photographs must have been taken by the artist
or used with the permission of the photographer. Only one painting per artist
each month will be accepted.
1 Online digital entries must be sent via our website at www.painters-
online.co.uk. Click through the Current Painting Competition links to
Leisure Painter Sketchbook Competition. You must be registered and
logged in to PaintersOnline before you can upload an image.
2 Upload your August entry by the closing date of 3 September at 12 noon.
3 Entries will be judged after 3 September and the winning entrant will be
Lindisfarne Castle, Northumbria. I love using soft pencils
t
to render strong tones and with varied pressure on the
pencil have brought more character into the detail lines. In
a painting I would move the little rivulet on the left of the
foreground boat to position it more centrally to act as a
lead-in towards the castle.
TASK 6 The final task in this series involves
seeking out a grand building, perhaps a castle,
cathedral or stately home, or even a church or museum.
If you feel it is too complicated, move further away to
sketch it or find a simpler subject. You might wish to
try an interior study of an impressive building instead.
Remember that you may need to ask permission to
work inside or even within the grounds, and do take
care not to obstruct access.
A fine sketching pen or pen and wash works well for
studies of buildings and it’s fine to cheat by blocking
off the nasty bits – where there is too much detail –
by bringing in a tree or a bush to obscure part of the
structure. This can relieve the monotony of too many
hard lines in some subjects. Do several studies if you
can and include plenty of notes on your experience.
As usual I hope those of you who cannot get out
much will manage to involve yourselves with this
competition somehow. If everything else fails, try to
bring back memories of imposing buildings, whether
a fortress or a railway station, and work a little
imagination into the sketch.
I look forward to seeing your entries.
David Bellamy
informed later in the month.
4 You will be invited to send a high-resolution image of your winning entry to
Leisure Painter for publication in the magazine at the end of the year.
5 All work entered will be featured on our website at www.painters-online.co.uk.
6 All entries must be original. Submission of entry in this competition automatically
constitutes acceptance of all the competition rules and agreement to allow
Leisure Painter to publish, republish and repurpose entries in print and digital
formats, including but not limited to magazines, promotion materials, websites,
databases and as part of downloadable digital products.
7 The judges’ choice will be final. No correspondence will be entered into.
Oils

Plein-air practice
Part 2 Learn how to paint trees and mix greens before following a step-by-step
demonstration introducing oils to beginners, by Rodney Kingston

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
n Oil-painting techniques for
beginners
n Learn to paint in a looser,
freer style
n How to extract the essentials
from a landscape

H aving looked at painting

en plein air in the hustle
and bustle of the urban
environment last month, this time
I’m focusing on the quieter side of
outdoor life in the countryside. The
principles are similar to a certain
degree, such as using lightweight
kit and working quickly. The major
differences are the overall
composition and colour palette
needed.
When venturing to rural land you
will be faced with fields, trees and
big skies, but there will also be other
subjects to catch the eye and tell a
story. Farm buildings draw the eye
to a particular area of a picture and

Misty Spring Morning at the Thames, oil, 10x12in. (25.5x30.5cm) t Tooting Bec Common, oil, 8x14in. (20x35.5cm)
t

12 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk

 Oils

can provide a narrative. Rivers and

paths lead the eye through a scene.
If you’re new to painting outdoors,
you can use reference photos to
practise at home before venturing
outdoors, which I encourage you to
do. It’s a liberating experience to paint
outside, however, with the subject in
front of you and what you learn will
help improve your studio paintings.
At time of writing, the weather is not
doing what it should and I’ve forgotten
what sunshine looks like. I source
photographs from an online image
library, www.pixabay.com, where you
can register and download photos for
free. There is nothing quite like being
out and about painting or taking your
own photos, but Pixabay is a handy
alternative.

Trees
Trees are a brilliant source of
inspiration for artists. A tree on its
own in the middle of a field demands
attention and can be full of character.
Spend time sketching trees and decide
if they look happy, sad, proud, weary,
young or old. Perhaps visit the same
tree throughout the year to see how
the mood of a painting changes
during different seasons.
It is not only subject matter, but
also the variety of brushmarks,
harmony of shapes, contrast of tones
and convincing colours that make a
painting successful. Striving to ensure
all these elements work together at the
same time keeps me going back for
more even when I am tired, wet and
cold after a day of plein air painting –
and that’s during summer!
It is so important to dress
appropriately for the weather and
potential changes in weather. I wrote
about that last month and highlighted
the importance of wearing layers.
You’re likely to be even more exposed
to the elements and perhaps a long
way from shelter when in the middle
of a field so make sure you plan ahead
and be prepared. The last thing you
want is to ditch a painting halfway
through, because you’ve forgotten a
rain jacket or even hat and sun cream!

Choose your green

There is pretty much no getting away
from working with green in the
countryside. It’s not a colour I get on
well with and I’ve experimented with
a few greens straight from the tube
over the past few years, but have
struggled to find one I’m completely
satisfied with. They often look
unnatural to me, but for now I’ve
settled on sap green. It can be a good
starting point from which to make
adjustments with the help of different
blues and yellows, depending on how
the light is affecting the greens in
front of me.
I often have a couple of yellows on
my palette – yellow ochre and
t
Hidden Forest Lodge, oil, 10x6in. (25.5x15cm). I often add cadmium red to my green mixes
to make them look more natural. The only ready-made green in my palette is sap green.
blues – ultramarine blue and cerulean grey shadow in a cloud is perfectly
blue. Try mixing greens from these or use mixed using titanium white, ultramarine
them to adjust a green you have from a blue and a little cadmium orange.
tube. The complementary colour to green Next month I will encourage you to
is red and I often mix cadmium red into follow me step by step as I show you
my greens as it helps to dull the colour how I paint en plein air in the
and make it look more earthy and real. countryside using acrylics. In the
meantime, I hope you feel inspired to
Blue skies do a little painting outdoors yourself –
I use the same method for sky colours. or practise loosening up your style by
When I’m looking to de-saturate a bright following the demonstration of the sky
blue I mix in a little of the hue’s study over the page. If you are new to
complementary colour, orange. The result oil painting and would like to practise
is more convincing than if you were to a couple of techniques while producing
dull the blue with black, for example. The
t

cadmium yellow – and a couple of a simple study, this may well help. LP

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 13

Oils

Demonstration Sky Study

If you’re interested in using oils for the first time this step-by-step
guide is a good way to get to know them.

You will need

n Surface n Artists’ oils n Miscellaneous
l Aluminium l Ultramarine l Turpentine l Brushes
board blue (or an l Rags
113⁄4x113⁄4in. l Cerulean blue alternative, l Kitchen
(30x30cm) l Cadmium such as roll
orange Zest-It) l An old
l Titanium white l Palette hand towel

t Step 1
I like to experiment
with different surfaces
and haven’t settled on a
favourite yet. This demo is
on an aluminium board but
any regular surface, such as
stretched canvas or canvas
board, is perfectly suitable. t
Your reference photograph for the demonstration
I painted a thin wash of left
over oil paint to get rid of the white then
left the surface to dry. Look at the reference
photo and notice how the blue at the top
of the picture gradually becomes lighter at
the bottom. Mix your blues with a very small
amount of orange to dull the colour and
start painting the sky.

Step 2
t

Ignore the clouds at this stage. Add white to

the sky colour on your palette and continue
to paint the sky. Gradually add more and more
white to the mix on your palette until you have
a transition from deep blue to light blue. A
defining quality of oil paint is the drying time.
Take advantage of the wet paint and use a large
clean brush to blend the paint gently on the t
Step 3
surface of your picture. This will help the Use a rag (mine comes from an old pillow case)
smooth transition of colour. Wipe excess paint to wipe paint off the surface in the areas where
from your brushes onto kitchen roll, clean them the clouds will go. Just by doing this it already
in turps and dry using an old towel. Keeping begins to give the impression of clouds as the
brushes clean avoids muddying the colours. lighter surface below is revealed.

t
Step 4 t
Step 5
Block in the general cloud shapes using a mid-tone cloud Add the highlights of the clouds using white. Be loose with the mark
colour of white, ultramarine blue and orange. Don’t worry making by holding the brush lightly and mimic the fluffiness of the
about copying the photo exactly; just enjoy brushing the clouds. Around the edges of the clouds allow the blue from the sky
paint around. to mix with some of the white on your brush and gently paint soft edges.

14 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk

t
The finished painting Sky Study, oil on aluminium, 1134⁄ x1134⁄ in. (30x30cm)

PLEIN-AIR STYLE
I produced Tree Study (right) in my studio from a photograph
from www.pixabay.com, but in the style of painting en plein air.
I limited myself to just over one hour and painted it in one
session, which helped with the spontaneity of the brushstrokes.
Before I started painting plein air I was unable to paint in a
loose style, but now I have that experience of painting at speed
outside from life I’m able to transfer the style to studio painting
when necessary. Have I mentioned how enjoyable it is –
and how much you learn by painting outside from life?

t
Tree Study, oil, 6x8in. (15x20cm)

Rodney Kingston
Find out more about Rodney and his work
by visiting www.rodneykingston.com
t
Reference photograph for Tree Study (right)

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 15

Paint along with LP

t
Reference photograph 1: orange poppies t
Reference photograph 2: a bright pink peony

Painting project
Part 1 Paula Henchell introduces photographs of poppies
and peonies to set the task for this month’s painting project
Choose your medium
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
n Think about your
composition from camera
to thumbnail sketch
S ummer really makes you want
to paint all the beautiful flowers
found in your garden or along the
hedgerows, anywhere where you see
nature at its best. I had in mind to paint
For this painting I chose to paint with oils,
but you could just as easily use the same
techniques and wood panel to paint with
acrylic. Watercolour and other painting
n Decide on the format
some really bright colourful flowers so media would be fine also, but you would
I was looking for gardens with large have to frame the result.
to be used flowerbeds. In this painting I decided to use a narrow
n Work with photographs to Gardeners are always flattered when portrait-style format – 9x3in. (23x7.5cm) –
produce the best composition they see you photographing their flowers, gessoed panel with a smooth surface
and consistent lighting especially when they know that you are (I buy these panels by Da Vinci ready
an artist. Just be careful not to tread on to paint in Canada, but there are similar
the flowerbeds in available in the UK). It is also 3⁄4in. thick
your enthusiasm to so there is no need for a frame and you
COLOURS USED get the right angle! can hang it straight on the wall for a much
One thing about more modern look. All you have to do is
I always recommend the best quality oils that you can afford. nature though; it paint the sides of the panel to match the
If you are beginning and use Student quality paints then seldom gives you painting. If you prefer, you could choose
buy the best quality you can. the best composition. a plain pine wood panel and use at least
l Titanium white l Quinacridone n Medium As an artist, you are three coats of gesso, sanding in between
l Phthalo blue rose An alkyd therefore encouraged each coat for a smooth surface. You may
l Naples yellow l Phthalo green medium, such to use artist’s licence also be able to buy a ready-made canvas
l Cadmium orange l Burnt sienna as Liquin, to and combine two that is similar to the above proportions
l Cadmium yellow l Dioxazine encourage the or more photos which is prepared and ready to paint on.
light purple paint to dry faster to make the ideal Format refers to the shape or size of the
composition. canvas or panel that you choose.

16 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk


t
Here is a black-and-white tonal map of the reference photograph 2.
Working from black and white photographs will help you achieve good
tonal variation in your finished work.
Landscape or portrait shapes are the most
usual formats, but then there are also
a wide variety of other shapes and sizes
to choose from. The panel I chose is a
somewhat unusual shape, but makes for
a fantastic look if you have two or three
of them hanging together.
Working with thumbnails
I wanted nice bright colourful flowers
for this painting so I chose the orange
poppies and pink peony you see in the
photographs (above left). The best way
to make the most pleasing composition
is through thumbnails of different
arrangements of the flowers.
Odd numbers Having an odd number of
flowers works best: five poppies, one bud
and one peony perhaps. Variety in the
painting is important and uneven numbers on a large piece of white paper, it is easier
of flowers, and using different shapes and
sizes, are vital. Try also not to use the
same number of cool colours as warm
colours – pick one that will be dominant.
Consistent lighting The most important
thing is to make sure the light is coming
from the same direction. Bear this in mind
when you begin taking pictures of your
favourite flowers. Just be aware of where
the light is coming from and try to take
them from the same direction. This is
easier if you are taking pictures from
the same area, like an herbaceous
border, that offers you a variety of
flowers to choose from.
Focal point When drawing these
www.painters-online.co.uk
Value 2
Thumbnail
t
sketches are
a useful aid
to painting the
finished picture
thumbnails decide where your focal
point is going to be or what flower
will take the prominent position in the
painting. I decided that the peony would
be my focal point as there was just one
flower and I could also add more detail
in it. As the peony is facing towards the
left-hand side it invites the viewer in and
leads the eye in an S-shape throughout
the painting. It is always important to
produce eye flow throughout the painting.
Your best subjects I also spend a lot of
time cropping my reference photos. When
I am happy with the crop, I print them out
then move the pictures around to see what
works best. You could also cut out
individual flowers from the photographs
and move them around. If you print the
two photographs (above) and place them
to see what works and what doesn’t.
Values and contrast
One of the best ways to see where the
values of the painting are is to print a
black-and-white photograph from your
reference photo (above). We are dealing
with the two reference photos and from
my thumbnails I decided already that
I would keep the bottom part of the
painting a little darker so I subdued some
of the really bright highlights. I still had
enough contrast to draw the viewer’s eye
as this flower is the focal point. Most
paintings are in the mid-tone value but
they also need areas of contrast and this
Value 1
LIGHT
Value 4
Value 6
Value 8
is usually where your focal point is.
Contrast is what draws viewers to your
painting so without it they just move on
to the next painting on view. When taking
your photographs the best time to take
them is either earlier in the morning or
later in the afternoon, as this is when
you see the best shadows and the most
contrast. I also decided that when painting
this flower composition I would make the
lower part of the panel darker and have
more light in the top two thirds of the
painting. I also thought that the orange
poppies would look good in front of a
cooler blue sky (complementary colours).
Before I transfer my drawing on to
a panel I need to paint the background.
If you were doing two or three panels that
will hang together it would be best if you
painted all of the backgrounds together.
Don’t forget to send your finished
painting to dawn@tapc.co.uk for inclusion
on Leisure Painter’s painting project site
on PaintersOnline. This gives everyone an
opportunity to see and comment on your
work. Next month I will show you how
I painted the flowers in oils. LP
Paula Henchell
Born in the UK and now living
in Canada, find out more about
Paula and her work by visiting
www.paulahenchell.com
AUGUST 2018 17
Watercolour
Painting project
Part 2 How to produce a stunning sunset scene from a dull
photograph using just four well-chosen colours, with Stephen Coates
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
n Practise watercolour techniques
n How to paint a sunset, water
and reflections
n How to work with a limited
palette
I n last month’s issue I discussed
how it was possible to create an
effective painting from a rather insipid
photograph. This month you will see how
I converted the scene into a sunset, using
t
Your reference photograph, which was introduced last month
18 AUGUST 2018
warm tones of raw sienna, burnt sienna
and a purple mix of ultramarine and light
red. I used these three colours throughout
the painting and practised a tried-and-
tested method for creating realistic water.
This is the second stage of the painting
and, perhaps, the most challenging.
How to plan the picture
As ever, a watercolour painting requires
forward planning and this was no
exception. The limestone rocks in the
foreground needed to stand out against
a darker background so I wanted to
make the top of each rock white with
a sharp edge. I realised that I was going
to put quite a lot of paint, including
some splattering, onto the beach area
and that it was not possible to avoid the
rocks while doing this. You can lift paint
off afterwards by gently scrubbing with
a wet brush and dabbing off with
kitchen paper, but this is extremely time
consuming and it is difficult to achieve
clean sharp edges. It was necessary
therefore to use masking fluid to
protect some of the rocks.
Here was my plan:
1 Tape down the paper, sketch out a
brief line drawing of the horizon, the strip
of land on the left and the beach area.
2 Draw approximately 50 rocks with the
larger ones in the foreground and apply
masking fluid to those.
3 Paint the sky.
4 Apply the paint to the water area,
streaking vertical bands downwards
to create the shine.
5 Paint the distant strip of land keeping
it free of detail.
6 Paint the strip of land on the left
then the trees.
7 Paint the area of beach with two
colours, wet on wet.
8 Shield everything in the painting
apart from the beach and apply
several layers of splattered paint.
9 Remove the masking fluid and
paint each rock individually.
10 Add the finishing touches.
Prepare your palette
To create the purple, I squeezed out
a kidney bean-sized amount of ultramarine
and loosened it off with water until it was
a puddle the consistency of double cream.
I carefully stirred in a small amount of
light red. I then squeezed out pea-sized
amounts of raw sienna and burnt sienna,
but didn’t let them down with any water.
Don’t be hard on yourself if your work
doesn’t look exactly like mine. If you don’t
come anywhere close, remember this is
quite a challenge and, with watercolour,
it is perfectly normal to have a significant
failure rate. If it makes you feel any better,
I still have a failure rate to this day and
always put it down to the confounded
problems associated with watercolour
painting. It’s all about practice!
Please share your finished work with
other readers and me by sending it to
dawn@tapc.co.uk, who will put your
work on the Leisure Painter painting
project area of PaintersOnline.
It’s always good to see how other
readers have tackled the project. LP
www.painters-online.co.uk
 Watercolour

Demonstration Carsington Sunset

BEFORE YOU START
Step 1 Paint the sky

t
The sun is created by wrapping a piece of kitchen
paper around something circular and using it to lift 1 Thoroughly soak the hake, making sure
off the paint. I used the top of an 8ml tube of paint. it is not dry in the middle. Gently wet the area
I made sure this was ready before I began to paint. of the sky, ensuring you have a nice even film
of water across it then pick up raw sienna.
Run the hake horizontally from side to side,
beginning at the horizon, working slowly
You will need upwards, keeping the touch light at all times.
n Surface n Brushes 2 Return to the palette without washing the
l Bockingford 140lb l Pro Arte Series 101 brush and pick up burnt sienna. Apply this
NOT watercolour Nos. 2, 5 & 8 in the same way as the raw sienna but begin
paper 15x11in. l Pro Arte Series 106 1⁄2in. at the top and work slowly downwards,
(38x28cm) flat brush stopping before you reach the horizon.
l Small Stephen Coates
n Cotman 3 Pick up purple and whip it horizontally
Foliater brush across the top a few times to make it smooth
l Pro Arte large hake
watercolour
l Ultramarine
then ease the brush down, lifting it away from
l Light red n Miscellaneous the paper a third of the way down the sky.
l Raw sienna l Winsor & Newton
l Burnt sienna masking fluid
l Tracing paper TIP Once the paper has been wet
l Small sponge and the raw sienna applied, the brush
should not be washed before picking
up the other colours. This will bring
too much water to the sky and
cause a flood.

Step 2 Create the clouds and sun

t

1 Immediately pick up purple with the

No. 8 Round brush and swish a few clouds
in from the edges. Limit this to a short time
because once it begins to dry, it will go
streaky. I recommend a period of two
minutes to complete the entire sky area.
2 To create the sun, whilst the sky is still
wet, choose the position of the sun and
press down the kitchen paper on the
round lid then lift a small circle of paint.

Step 3 Paint the water

t

Hold the hake horizontally and pull

downwards in long brisk continuous strokes
to create a vertical streaking effect. Wet the
lower section completely with water then
use the hake to pull down raw sienna
either side of the position of the sun.

Step 4 Paint the reflections

t

1 Do the same with burnt sienna, followed by

the purple at the outer edges. This represents
the reflections of the dark clouds above.
2 If the white band begins to close up with the
wet paint, take the corner of a small sponge and
swiftly pull it down the line of the sun’s reflection.
3 Whilst this is still wet, use the No. 5 Round brush
loaded with purple to paint the tree reflections
loosely, which should result in a soft and fuzzy
effect. This is tricky, because the trees are not
yet in position. Don’t worry, because the
resulting reflections actually determine where
the trees should be painted later on.
4 Dry this whole section with a hair dryer.
t

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 19

Watercolour

Demonstration continued

t
Step 5 Distant land
Water down the purple and fill the No. 5 Round brush. Paint the distant
strip of land carefully beginning at one end and working across. Keep
filling the brush as you go along so it doesn’t dry out. More importantly,
keep going and don’t go back. Don’t be tempted to paint the top profile
first then fill in the rest. This will create a nasty watermark all the
way along the top edge.

Step 6 Middle distant land

t

1 Using the No. 8 Round brush, paint the strip of land

on the left with wet raw sienna then burnt sienna dabbed
into it whilst it is still wet.
2 Use strong purple with the 12⁄ in. flat brush to slice across
and create the line of the water’s edge. Sweep this purple
up into the lighter colours to blend away. I painted this
whole strip of land in one minute so that it was still wet
when I finished with the brushes.
3 To create the foreground beach pick up loose raw sienna
with the large hake and sweep it horizontally across,
holding it quite flat. Sweep in burnt sienna and purple
with the No. 8 Round brush whilst still wet.

t
Step 7 Trees
Once the land area is dry, use the Stephen Coates Foliater
brush loaded with purple to create the trees, finishing them
off along the top edge of the land with the No. 5 Round
brush. Position them directly above the reflections.

20 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk


t
Step 9 Paint the rocks
1 Use the No. 5 Round brush and paint each rock
individually. Wet each rock first with clear water then
drop purple in at the base allowing it to bleed upwards.
The idea is to make each rock look three-dimensional
with a white area at the top, which gradually becomes
darker towards the base.
2 Add dark rocks, followed by lots of dots here and
there, including some in the water.
3 Paint a soft reflection under the rocks in the water
and add shadows below each rock on the beach.
4 Complete the painting with a couple of soaring birds.
Stephen Coates
See more of Stephen’s work and find
details of courses, workshops and his new
brush by visiting www.coatesart.co.uk
www.painters-online.co.uk
Step 8 Splatter the beach area
t
1 To replicate this painting, you will
need a comprehensive covering of
paint speckles on the beach area to
represent gravel, but obviously you
need to restrict this so it doesn’t go
over the rest of the painting. Lay a
piece of tracing paper over the painting
and mark out the lines of the beach.
Cut out the profile of the beach area
and put back the tracing paper so
this is the only part exposed.
2 Load a toothbrush with wet burnt
sienna and pull back on the bristles
with a small ruler to create a spray.
Allow this to land all over the
beach area then let it dry.
t
The finished painting Carsington Sunset, watercolour on Bockingford 140lb
NOT watercolour paper, 15x11in. (38x28cm)
Watercolour
3 Load the toothbrush with purple
and do the same again several times,
allowing it to dry in between each
coat. This prevents the speckles from
building up into wet blobs.
4 Once the covering is complete,
remove the tracing paper.
5 Once this is completely dry, rub
off the masking fluid to expose
the white rocks.
TIP If you don’t have tracing
paper, you can cover the parts
you want to protect with strips
of card or paper instead.
AUGUST 2018 21
Watercolour

Painting project
Part 3 Paint the nose and layers of hair before adding the final
brushstrokes to your portrait of a roe deer, by Paul Hopkinson

LEARNING OBJECTIVES Demonstration Portrait of a roe deer

n Tips and ideas for using
your brushes
n How to create form and
You will need
texture in your portrait n Surface n Brushes n Miscellaneous
l Bockingford 300gsm l Detail brush No. 00 l Paper towel
n Colour-mixing advice NOT watercolour Rounds, Nos. l Two water pots
paper 113⁄4x81⁄4in. 1, 5 & 18 l Ceramic mixing palette

W e left the painting of the roe

deer (right) last month when we
completed the eyes (seen in Step
1, opposite). This month we will add the
(30x21cm)
n Artists’ watercolour
See colours,
below left
l An old brush for
mixing the paint
l Mop for the
background wash
l Masking tape
l Masking fluid
l Mechanical pencil
l Putty rubber
l Colour Shaper
fur and finish the portrait. LP

COLOURS USED

Phthalo Translucent Sepia Cadmium

blue grey orange

Burnt Burnt Indigo Cerulean

sienna umber blue

Scarlet Alizarin Lamp Opaque

lake crimson black white

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Make up the following mixes. Other
colours will be added as we go along,
but these are the main mixes:

+ +

Mix 1 Cadmium Mix 3 Burnt

orange + burnt umber + lamp
sienna (watery) black (single cream
consistency)

+ +

Mix 2 Burnt umber Mix 4 Cadmium

+ burnt sienna orange + burnt
(watery) sienna (watery)

+ +

Mix 5 Cadmium orange +

burnt sienna and alizarin crimson
(single cream consistency) t
Your reference photograph from last month: a roe deer (with thanks to Mandy West;
www.flickr.com/photos/51013318@N06)

22 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk

 2 Using the No. 5 brush, wet
the left ear with clean water
a couple of times and allow it
to soak in a little. Add Mix 4
around the edges of the ear,
adding a little more towards
the bottom (see photo).
3 Whilst this is still wet, drop
in burnt umber around the
left-hand edge and the top
of the ear. Leave to dry.
4 Do the same with the other ear.

Step 2 First washes

t
Step 1 Begin on the ears
1 Having completed the eyes, let’s make a start
on the first washes. Mix cadmium orange and
burnt sienna to a watery consistency (Mix 4)
then put burnt umber into your palette and add
a small amount of water to make a watery mix.
t
1 Continue with the rest of the
deer using the same method and
Mix 4. Ease off the mix when you
reach the bridge of the nose to keep this area
a little lighter. Be careful not
to disturb the eyes you spent so long painting.
2 Add a little scarlet lake to a duplicate of
Mix 4 for under the chin and the top of
the back. Leave to dry.

umber and lamp black) to map out

where all the lines go around the
nose. This will help you find your
way after applying the next wash.
3 Head back to Mix 3, lift a little
into a separate mixing well and
add a touch of water to thin it
down. Wet the nose around the
blue highlights and drop in this
pale mix, not forgetting the middle
of the mouth, again let it dry.

Step 4 Adding
realism to the nose
t

1 Using the thicker version of

t
Step 3 Begin on the nose
1 Time to work on the nose and add those
much needed layers to achieve a feeling of
shape and wetness. Use the No. 1 brush to
drop in the earlier mix of indigo and cerulean
blue to the top of the nose. Leave to dry.
2 Very lightly use a touch of Mix 3 (burnt
Mix 3 and the No. 00 brush, start working
on the fine hair around the sides of the nose
and inside the mouth. Think about shape and
especially the direction of the hairs, which
in turn will help the overall appearance.
2 For the nose use the same Mix 3 and add the
small bumps to the lower part of the nose then
the smaller details to the top of the nostrils.
3 Very lightly soften the nose, which blends
everything just a little.
4 Once dry, add little white highlights. Leave
painting the white of the upper and lower lips until
later, as we will need to paint these white hairs
over the top of the fur once that part is completed.

t
Step 5 Back to the ears
1 Work with Mix 4 to a single cream consistency and start on the ear
details using the No. 00 brush. Again think about direction all the
time and how dense the lines are in each area you are working in.
Keep the centre of the ear mostly clear with just the odd few lines
going though.
2 Do the same with the other ear.
BRUSH TIP
People ask how I paint so many lines; well, here is my little
secret. Most of us have a very old brush that we are about to
throw in the bin, but we just can’t convince ourselves to do this
with a much-loved but now useless tool. The brush you see in
the photo here is an old synthetic one and all I have done is
crush the metal ferrule to spread the bristles. I named this my
‘replicator brush’; I know, corny! This looks a bit rough, but
it works a treat. There are similar brushes on the market but
the beauty about making your own is the uniqueness of the
strokes each one makes.
t

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 23

Watercolour

Demonstration continued

t
Step 6 First layer of detail
1 Use your equivalent to my ‘replicator
brush’ to add the first layer of detail to
the entire body of the roe deer. If you don’t
have this brush carry on with your No. 00
or No. 1 brush.
2 Keep a constant check on the direction
of the fur. Again this is very important to help
create the shapes we need for the body. Once
you have this and the top layer of detail on
you should have a feeling of roundness.
3 Once completed, lightly wash the layer
down with a clean damp No. 5 brush.

Step 7 Ears, second layer

t

1 Go back to the ears with Mix 3 of burnt

umber and lamp black and the No. 00 brush.
First, work on the details around the tip and
very edge of the ears. If you start from just
inside the ear and lift off your brushstroke
towards the background, you will achieve a
nice tapered line. Keep these lines very short.
2 Add more of this colour in fine lines to the
rest of the ear, but ease off how much you
add; you don’t want to cover up all of the
lighter lines.
3 Fill in the centre of the ear with many lines
with varied directions towards the middle of
the ear. All this dark is needed for when we
add the highlights later. After all, you can’t
have light without dark, and we need
something to put it on.
4 Do the same with the other ear, keeping
a check on where the darks are needed.

Step 8 Body, second layer

t

Continue working these tiny lines down

the face of the deer, keeping your lines very
small and checking their directions. When
you look at the forehead of the deer you
will see the dark patch in the middle, note
how these tiny lines fan out. I tend to think
of this similar to a clock face, so when you
look at the bottom right of this section they
point in the direction of around 2 o’clock,
then heading anti-clockwise through 12 to
10 o’clock. If you apply the same idea to the
fine hairs on the nose you should be able
to work out the directions you need to paint
in. Try placing a few reference marks with
your mix in the directions needed, this will
help keep you on track as you paint.
t
Step 9 More detail
1 Work down the sides of the face and
add a few darks to the chest. Add the fine
whiskers to the side of the face. Start from
the deer and taper out into the background.
2 Make up Mix 5 with cadmium orange,
burnt sienna and alizarin crimson to
single cream consistency.
3 Head to just below the jaw and begin
the darker details; this is where the lines
are much longer. Again, keep an eye on the
directions you need to go. For example, the
chest is heading to a 5 or 6 o’clock direction.
Ease off this colour a little as you work your
way to the back and increase the lines
a little more to the top of the back.

24 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk

Step 10 White highlights

t
1 This is the part I love the most – adding
white watercolour or even white gouache
can make this painting come to life so let’s
get started. Add half a toothbrush worth of
opaque white into your palette and with this
being on a slight slope, add a small pool of
clean water just below the white paint.
2 Using your No. 00 brush drag a little water
up into the white and mix to a double cream
consistency. As a guide, if you can paint
a line without it breaking and it remains
nice and bright, this is just about right.
3 Start with the ears and check using the
photo how these lovely little white hairs float
over the ear. As usual check the direction of
the lines keeping them very thin as you go.
If you vary the consistency of the white paint
this will give you the option for some of the
lines to be a little transparent in places.
4 Use the white for the fine lines to the
lower edges of the ears.

t
Step 11 Finishing touches
1 Work your way down the forehead adding
tiny white lines (not too many) within the
dark fan marks we spoke of earlier. Add
small lines to the light areas both above
and below the eyes. Adding just a little is
far better than adding too much. It’s easier
to add more, but much more difficult to
take paint off.
2 When you reach the bridge of the nose
again remember the clock face idea. The
middle of the white areas on the nose are
around 12 o’clock then fan out both sides.
Reduce the number of lines as you work
down towards the sides of the face.
3 Now let’s work on the mouth but
carefully looking at the gentle curve that
both the top and bottom lips have. Think
of these similar to a rope in the sense of
the way the lines curve around. Pull a few
lines out and over the darker area just
underneath the chin. Now you can see why
we didn’t do this earlier with the white.
You have now finished the painting!

Paul Hopkinson
Paul is a professional artist,
working from his home in
Devon. He runs classes and
produces video tutorials.
See www.patreon.com/
TheDevonArtist for details.
t
The finished painting Roe Deer, watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm NOT watercolour paper,
12x8in. (30x21cm)

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 25

 Brusho

A beginner’s guide to Brusho

Part 1 Loosen up your style as you experiment with the bright
colours and easy techniques of Brusho, with Carrie McKenzie

LEARNING OBJECTIVES WELCOME TO BRUSHO

n What is Brusho?
t Dry-sprinkled Brusho
n Practise two techniques:
sprinkle and spritz on the
paper and mix in a well

I am a great fan of all water-based

media, and particularly love the sheer
radiance of watercolour. Imagine then
my delight a number of years ago when
I discovered another wonderful water-
based pigment called Brusho. I’ve been
hooked on it ever since!
Described as ‘little pots of magic’,
Brusho paints are great fun to use and
colour-rich. The medium can have rather
unpredictable results, but then that’s t The effect of spritzing Brusho crystals with a water sprayer from about 10in.
exactly what I have come to love about it.
It is particularly ideal for creating loose Spritzed once Spritzed twice Spritzed three times
impressionistic paintings.
Similar to watercolour, Brusho dilutes
with water, however, it has its own
unique and quirky properties that help
you to create some very different and
unusual effects. You can mix the pigment
with water in your palette and use it like
traditional watercolour or, because it is a
powder pigment, try sprinkling the dry
crystals onto paper then spray them with
a water sprayer for beautifully textured
and exciting effects – this is where
Brusho comes into its own.

Colour and technique

Sometimes, the thought of wasting
expensive paint to try out new painting
ideas can be a deterrent before you
even start. Not so with Brusho, as it is
extremely economical when compared
to many other media and, as it is such
an intense pigment, you need to use
very little of it. Made by Sheffield-based
company, Colourcraft (www.colour
craftltd.com), Brusho comes in 34 colours,
which the company advises are as
lightfast as watercolour and completely
safe and non-toxic; in fact, it is often
used in schools. You can buy the colours
individually for about £1.70 each, or
in several handy starter packs.
There is a removable seal around the
lids, which I advise you not to remove, as
the tiny crystals inside will fly everywhere.
It is better to pierce one or two tiny holes
in the lid with a pencil or bradawl, and
use them like a pepper pot. Simply turn
the pot upside down and gently shake
a small amount of the crystals into your
palette or directly on the paper. I write
in black waterproof pen so that I can
quickly select the right colour. It can also
be useful to use relevant coloured pens
on the lids to aid this visual check.
Each pot contains thousands of minute
specks of colour. Brusho is not combined
with a binding agent so these tiny crystal
colours are actually made up of many
different colours. For instance, you will
t
Brusho comes in small pots of vibrant
powder crystals that give glorious bursts of
see stray speckles of orange in the
dark brown, speckles of purple in the
ultramarine, and a whole mix of colours
in the black. That is what makes painting
with Brusho so interesting and exciting!
Before you start
The most common mistakes made with
Brusho occur when using the sprinkling
and spritzing method. There is a tendency
either to use too much pigment or spritz
with too much water so if you haven’t
used Brusho before, I suggest you
sprinkle two or three colours onto a piece
of paper in three separate areas. Using
your water sprayer, spritz the first set of
colours once, the second set twice and
the third set three times. Leave for five
o 10 minutes then take note of how much
distance the colours have travelled in the
water whilst the paper was drying.
I hope you enjoy experimenting with
Brusho and following my demonstration
over the page. Next month I’ll show
you how to use Brusho to create a rainy
t

the name of the colour on top of the pots colour when activated with water day painting. LP

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 27

Brusho

Demonstration Old Garden Gate You will need

The following demonstration is quite a simple exercise n Surface n Brusho n Miscellaneous
to familiarise you with using Brusho, particularly l Bockingford 200lb l Brilliant red l A palette with
the sprinkling and spritzing technique. watercolour paper l Leaf green separate mixing wells
15x11in. (38x28cm) l Purple l Pencil and rubber
l Ultramarine l Wax-resist stick
n Brushes
l Yellow
l A selection of watercolour (or chunk of clear
l Brown candle wax)
brushes: small, medium
l Terracotta l Water sprayer
and large
(optional) l Paper towel

t
Step 1
1 Draw the outline of an old gate and wall,
varying the shapes of the stones. Add bushes
and trees behind the wall and a path bordered
by foreground bushes in front of it. Just indicate
the foliage lightly as most of the drawing will
disappear beneath the Brusho when we apply
it at a later stage.
2 Use a wax resist stick or a chunk of clear
candle wax to skim a little clear wax over the
wall stones; this will resist the paint and add
texture to them. There can be a tendency to
overdo the wax as you can’t see where you’ve
place it, so be sparing. You could also dash
and dot wax amongst the foliage to preserve
some white highlights.
t
Step 2
1 Sprinkle yellow, ultramarine, terracotta
and brown in separate wells of your palette
and mix with water – you want a very runny,
pale consistency. Wash the colours randomly
across the stone wall with a large brush,
letting them mingle and blend on the paper.
Keep it simple at this stage so it doesn’t
compete with the busy foliage later.
Also keep it paler behind the areas where
there will be foliage growing. Let it dry.
t
Step 3
Mix a dark colour with ultramarine and
brown and use a small pointed brush to
indicate some of the mortar lines and
shapes between the stones. Use a damp
brush to blend and soften the lines into the
stonework. You don’t need to paint round
every single stone – leave a few lost edges –
and avoid the area where the foliage will
grow in front of the wall altogether.
Let it dry.

Step 4
t

1 Rub wax over the stone arch to

protect it. Use paper towel to mask
the paper below the arch. Pierce one
or more holes into the pot lids so you
can use them to sprinkle the Brusho.
2 Sprinkle lemon, leaf green and
ultramarine or cobalt blue in the
area above the wall to represent
trees and bushes.

Step 5
t

1 Use the water sprayer to spritz lightly.

Wait a few minutes to check the full
effect and re-spray if necessary.
2 Use the tip of your brush to drop
in small touches of the dark colour
you mixed earlier and paint the trunks
and branches.
4 Pick up local colour with the point
of a small brush and splatter paint
to fill in the gaps.
5 Remove the paper mask and tidy
the gaps along the top of the wall.
6 To make this area recede into the
distance, blot gently with paper towel
to remove some of the colour.

28 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk

t
Step 6
1 Sprinkle the same foliage colours in
the foreground at both sides of the gate,
and add a little brilliant red or scarlet for
the flowers. Spritz lightly.
2 Use the tip of a small pointed brush to
flick up grass shapes from the paint that
is already on the paper.
www.painters-online.co.uk
t
Step 7
Drop in a few touches of your dark colour
here and there to add depth. Leave to dry.
t
Step 8
1 Wet the paper across the path by dragging
brushstrokes from side to side between the
foliage shapes at either side of the path. Pick
up stray speckles of colour from the foliage, but
there will be no need to add more colour as you
want the path to be fairly pale in tone. If not,
mix watery pale brown paint in your palette and
brush it across the path using horizontal strokes.
2 Add dark colour to the edges of the path
where it meets the foliage and emphasise the
outlines of small stones strewn along the path.
3 Mix a pale, watery, blue colour in your
palette – I used cobalt blue. Paint the gate
with a pale underwash. Let it dry.
Step 9
t
1 Skim a little wax across parts of the gate
to preserve some of the underwash so that
it resembles peeling paint. Then use a Rigger
to paint the lines between the planks of
wood with a dark colour, again blending
and softening these in places.
2 Mix a dark purple shadow colour and apply
to the left side of the door where it meets
the stonework, immediately beneath the
horizontal planks of wood on the door and
behind the foliage in front of the wall.
3 Add a couple of shadow streaks across
the path and to the small stones and grasses.
4 When everything was dry, I used a piece
of white pastel to scumble a few white
highlights across the wall and gate.
The finished painting Old Garden Gate,
t
Brusho on Bockingford 200lb watercolour
paper, 15x11in. (38x28cm)
Carrie McKenzie
Find lots more exciting tips and
techniques, step-by-step demonstrations
and inspiring gallery paintings in Carrie’s
new book, The Art of Brusho. You can
also find more examples of her work
on: www.carriemckenzieart.co.uk
www.brusho.co.uk and www.facebook.com/
Carrie.McKenzie.Art
AUGUST 2018 29
Multi-media

Alice and Felix

From amusing illustrations and working drawings to a portrait in oil,
Linda Birch offers a variety of approaches to drawing and painting cats
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
n Learn different approaches
to drawing and painting
n Exercises to help you portray
form, texture and character

t
Figure 1 Use simple shapes to help you construct a cat’s body. The body is a box with
a leg at each corner. The face full on is hexagonal. The cat makes a circle when sleeping.
I am writing this article, because I have
two cats. I have also had a career
around cats, as I have been a painter
and an illustrator for 35 years. Illustrators
are like actors; they get typecast. I was
known in the genre of children’s books
for my cats – usually alongside witches.
So in this article I want to look at ways
of drawing and painting cats – that is,
what to look for and ways of working
that bring out character as well as
observation.
First, please don’t paint cats if you
don’t like them; it will show. Secondly,
if you want to draw and paint cats,
watch and observe them closely. It
is this careful looking that will render
valuable information. Here are some
of the things to look for…

How to reproduce form

Standing four-square, the shape of a
cat’s body is boxlike, with a leg at each
corner. The spine follows a mid-line
down the top of the box, leading to the
tail and the neck at either end. The angle
of the box will change as the cat changes
stance and on this frame you can build
the form of your cat (Figure 1, top left).
When curled up, a cat forms a circle,
which is a good way to start a pose.
Figure 2
t
When facing front, cats’ faces are
Remember that the hexagonal or triangular, depending
eye is a ball, which on the breed.
is overshadowed If you are serious about drawing and
slightly by the painting cats, find a book on animal
top lid. anatomy. By knowing what goes on
beneath the cat’s form, you will draw
and paint them more successfully.

Texture and marks

Stroke the cat and look at the way the
fur grows. It starts at the nose with fine
shorter hairs and progresses up and
over the face, moving outwards. The
fur continues back towards the tail and
down the legs. The belly fur moves
Figure 3 in the same general direction.
t

I drew Felix with At several points you will see ‘crowns’

a sinuous pencil where the fur changes direction. This
line to help portray you can see on the chest and loins
his fur and the between the belly and back legs. If
movement of you are rendering fur in any detail,
his body. you need to know this.

30 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk

 Multi-media

Figure 4 I captured Alice’s long fur with a controlled 2B pencil ‘scribble’ Figure 5 A photograph of Patrick was
t t

used as inspiration for George on page 32

The eyes have it subject before you. If you need

The eye is a round orb set in a socket.
When drawing an eye, begin with
a circle and shape the lids around it.
As the top lid overhangs the lower one,
it will often cause a slight shadow.
Adding a top shadow helps to bed the
eye in properly. The pupil of the eye
dilates and retracts according to light
or emotion – cats’ pupils dilate if
excited or threatened.
Any light on the pupils will be either
slightly cream, due to sunlight, or pale
blue if daylight is overcast. One of the
pitfalls in working from a photograph
is that the camera causes a bright white
light in the pupil. Better to go for pale
cream or blue to create a more natural
painting (Figure 2, left).
details about the animal’s features
then this form of drawing is referred
to as a ‘working’ drawing. I hope the
following will help you produce
successful sketches:
1 When sketching quickly I use a 2B
pencil, as it will render tone as well
as line. Using a rapid controlled
scribble will render movement as
well as tonal colour, as can be seen
in Figure 4, above.
2 Look for the rhythm of the cat’s
movement as much as possible.
Look closely at the cat’s stance, for
example as he or she crouches, sits
or runs, and try to memorise what
you see.
3 Use a large sketchpad if sketching
any animal. Your model will move Figure 6 The form is broken into
t

Ideas for sketching
When we first homed our rescue cat,
Felix, he was forever darting around
and exploring his new surroundings.
It was difficult to catch him still long
enough for a drawing. He was also very
lanky on account of his previous poor
care. I made this sketch as he stopped
for a few seconds (Figure 3, left).
Because he has short fur, I used a
broken sinuous line to capture him,
as he was just about to move off again.
On the other hand, our other cat,
Alice has long fur and a very distinctive
shape. Her fur appears to fly as she
runs and spreads out as she sits. I used
a controlled ‘scribble’ to render her
thick coat here (Figure 4, above).
What to look for when sketching
Sketching is mainly about trying to sum
up in a few lines some essence of the
constantly so you need to begin
another drawing then another. Sooner
or later your model will adopt a similar
position to the first drawing and
probably also the others, and this
way you will have recorded a number
of sketches successfully.
It is almost impossible to create
a finished painting from a sketch
unless you also make a working
drawing, usually completed when
the cat is resting, in order to record
details, such as eyes, nose and ears.
You can, however, take a few
photographs to remind you of details.
Remember, very few animals will pose
for you; that is not what they do!
Sum of parts
I once had a black and white cat,
and discovered that if I drew the black
parts of her while she was sleeping,
component parts with a slight gap
between them, joined back together
with a line. This works very successfully
if drawing an outline is difficult.
I created a cat without trying. It is all
about fitting shapes together. If you
don’t have a black and white cat try the
following, it works well for any animal.
On this illustration (Figure 6, above),
taken from the photograph (Figure 5,
top), I didn’t begin with an outline,
but drew the shapes of the component
parts, such as the head, neck, belly,
hindquarters and the tail. I left a slight
gap between the shapes then joined
everything up with an outline, although
normally I would rub out the initial
shapes afterwards. This method makes
a much more accurate and realistic
t

drawing.

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 31

Multi-media

Figure 7 This is George, a dishevelled character from a book. I used pen and ink and Figure 8 Here is a line and wash sketch
t t

inky fingerprints to portray his character. of Alice, imagined as a small dressed kitten.

Character forming
Without resorting to cartooning, try
giving your cat some character. When
illustrating I had a character, who was
a destructive reprobate of a witches’
cat, called George (Figure 7, above
left). He possessed the most atrocious
fur coat and was probably well
endowed with fleas. I used a dipping
pen and Indian ink together with
fingerprinted ink to add texture.
Based on the pose from the
photograph of Patrick at the top of
page 31, I changed the cat’s character
completely; he is now ‘George’.
Using watercolour and pen I created
another character, this time based on
Alice when she was younger (Figure
8, above).

Tell your own story

Portraits of cats can look boring as
they somehow lack character and
look like photographs of themselves.
I believe cats should also inhabit
their surroundings, doing things
like hunting, dozing or exploring.
I watched Felix experience snow
for the first time earlier this year, and
he made a dramatic shape against
a snowy garden (Figure 9, left).
If you want to draw and paint cats,
you have to like cats, observe and
record them, and see them as the
characters they are – then bring
this out in the work you do in
any medium. Enjoy! LP

Linda Birch
Find out more about Linda
t
Figure 9 Felix in Snow, oil on board, 12x10in. (30.5x25.5cm). Here is another way to portray and her work by visiting
a cat, as part of a larger scene. This painting commemorates Felix’s first foray into snow. www.theartistlindabirch.co.uk

32 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk

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Oils

Girls of summer
Ready for sea, sand and sun? Follow Elena Parashko
step by step and paint three figures on a summer beach

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
n How to paint three-dimensional
looking figures
n Techniques and colours for
painting sky, sea and sand

W hile enjoying a day at the

beach, three girls set up their
umbrella on the sand in front
of me and magically created the perfect
subject for a painting. I took a quick
photo (right) of this lovely arrangement
and used it as inspiration for a painting
in my studio. However, I did make some
changes to the reference photograph
to create a more successful painting.
First, I deleted the rocks in the
mid-ground as I felt they competed
with the main subject. I also stepped the
viewpoint back away from the girls to
give a bigger picture of the landscape.
I changed the colour of their clothing to
complement the blues and greens of the
scene and deleted some of their clutter
from the sand. As this was going to be
a smallish canvas, I decided to paint the
whole seascape first then paint the girls
and their umbrella on top later, rather
than fussing with painting the movement
of the wash and waves around them.
Amateur painters are often nervous
about painting figures into a scene.
This demonstration will show you how
easy it is to create the effect of three-
dimensional figures by simply using
shadows and highlights, and indicating
textures. LP

Demonstration
Girls of Summer t
Reference photograph for Girls of Summer

Step 1
t

Using willow charcoal, draw the

You will need main lines of the background
n Surface n Brushes scene onto the canvas. Use a
l Canvas panel 12x10in. l Flats Nos. 10 & 2 ruler to ensure the horizon line
(30x25cm) l Filbert No. 2 is level and straight then draw
l Liner No. 0
n Winsor & Newton the lines of breaking waves and
n
Artists’ oils Miscellaneous wash coming to shore. Don’t
l Titanium white l Ruler worry about drawing the girls
l Viridian or phthalo green l Willow charcoal
or the umbrella yet.
l French ultramarine l Masking tape
l Cerulean blue l Paper
l Raw umber l Graphite pencil TIP Stick masking tape
l Burnt sienna l Black transfer paper below the horizon line
l Burnt umber l Ballpoint pen to help you quickly paint
l Yellow ochre l A sheet of textured a perfectly level horizon.
l Alizarin crimson paper towel Peel off the tape after
l Cadmium red the sky is painted.

34 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk

 Oils

t
Step 2
Paint the sky with a mixture of
French ultramarine and cerulean blue,
lightened with titanium white. Add
more titanium white to the mix closer
to the horizon. Start at the top of the
canvas with sweeping horizontal strokes
using a large flat brush, and work your
way down to the horizon.
t
Step 3
1 For the distant ocean, make a mixture
of French ultramarine blue, viridian and
titanium white. Apply this with the chisel
edge of a small flat brush using short
horizontal strokes to create an illusion
of waves and movement.
2 As you work down the canvas, add more
viridian to the mix and, in some places,
use viridian alone to create the translucent
effect on the face of waves. Make choppier
brushstrokes to indicate the formation of waves.
3 As the sky is reflected in the sea, add a bit of
sky colour to this ocean colour and paint more
ripples over the whole ocean.
TIP Remember the rules of
perspective. Waves in the distance will
be flatter and closer together. Waves
that are closer to the viewer will be
choppier and spaced further apart.

Step 4
t

1 Paint the two lines of frothy breaking
waves with a purple made by adding alizarin
crimson to French ultramarine then
lightened with titanium white and greyed
off with a touch of yellow ochre. Make the
darker shade first then add more titanium
white to make a lighter shade.
2 As the sun is overhead and slightly to the
right, there are shadows visible on the
underside and left side of the foam. Use the
darker purple in these shadow areas and the
lighter purple in the opposite sunlit areas.
Apply the two colours with a small filbert
brush using a dabbing motion.
3 Add more yellow ochre to this mix to paint
the shallow water in between the two lines
of foam. Be careful not to add too much
yellow ochre to the purple mixture or
you will make grey.
4 Using a large flat brush, block in the darker
damp sand with a mixture of raw umber,
yellow ochre, burnt sienna and titanium white.
Add more titanium white to this mixture to
paint the area of light dry sand. Smudge the
line between the damp and dry sand to
create a softer look.

t Step 5
Highlight the top and right side of the foam
with titanium white using a dabbing motion
to indicate its frothy nature. Smudge a line
of titanium white thinly underneath the lines
of foam for their reflection in the shallow
water and on
the damp sand.

Step 6
t

1 Using the
fine liner brush,
apply a dark cast
shadow under the
bottom edge of
the foam with
a mixture of the
previously made
dark purple and
burnt umber.
2 Add ripples to
the shallow water
using the purple foam colour that has
been lightened with more titanium white.
3 Paint a few lacy foam patterns with this colour
just above the top line of foam on the left side. This
t

will integrate the foam with the rest of the water.

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 35

Oils

Demonstration continued
Step 7

t
1 When the sand area is dry, add
horizontal streaks of light purple
foam colour to the damp sand to
indicate a glisten.
2 Create a shallow foam wash on
the right side below the lower line
of foam using the same colours
as already mixed.
3 Dab a frothy perimeter of foam, apply
a darker cast shadow below it then a
smudge of white reflection below that
shadow. Use horizontal strokes to streak
white across this area of wash, leaving
some sand showing through.
4 Create the uneven texture of the dry
sand by lightening the original sand
colour with more titanium white. Use a
small filbert brush to flick random smiley face flatter and smaller in the distance and
shapes all over the sand. Again remembering larger and spaced further apart in the
the rules of perspective, make these marks foreground.

t Step 8
1 Once the seascape is finished and dry, it is time to paint the main
subjects. On a piece of paper, use a graphite pencil to draw the girls
under the umbrella in the exact size you would like them in the
painting. Work on your drawing until you are completely happy
with it then position the drawing on the painting and secure it with
a piece of masking tape. Place a sheet of black transfer paper face
down under the drawing. Use a ballpoint pen to trace the outline
of the drawing. Remove the drawing and transfer paper. The image
of the girls and umbrella will be transferred onto the painting.
2 Block in the underpainting of the umbrella with a mixture of
viridian and sky colour for the sunlit top. Add burnt umber to this
mix for the underside of the umbrella in shadow. Paint the
pole with the light purple foam colour.

Step 9
t

1 To create the illusion of patterned fabric on the crimson shirt of the

girl on the left, find a sheet of paper towel that has a slightly bumpy
textured surface. It doesn’t have to be the same as the one I used.
2 Paint the shirt
with alizarin
crimson darkened
with a touch of
burnt umber. While
the paint is still wet,
gently press the
textured side of the
paper towel onto
the paint and lift
off the excess
colour to leave an
interesting pattern.

36 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk


t
Step 10
1 Block in the underpainting colours of the
girls and towel. Make three different shades
of hair colour by mixing different ratios of
French ultramarine and burnt sienna. The
straw colour for the hats is made from yellow
ochre with a little purple foam colour. Paint
the swimming costume of the middle girl in
French ultramarine and the bikini with
cadmium red. For the sunlit areas of the
beach towel
use titanium
white, and for
the areas in
shadow use the
purple foam
colour. Use
the same cast
shadow colour
from Step 6 to
paint a thin
t
Step 11
line under the 1 Complete the girls’ hair by adding titanium
edges of the white to their original brown hair colour and
towel and hat. painting strands with a fine liner brush. Add
Lighten this yellow ochre to this lightened mix for the
colour to paint the shadow cast by the blonde hair.
umbrella over the sand and towel. 2 Lighten the skin colour with titanium white
2 Make two shades of skin colour, a darker for final highlights.
and a slightly lighter version using a mixture 3 Add titanium white to yellow ochre for the
of burnt sienna, cadmium red, burnt umber hat highlights and paint the hat ribbon with
and titanium white. Apply the darker version French ultramarine.
in the shadow areas and the lighter shade 4 Darken the blue swimming costume in
to develop the sunlit body contours. Blend the shadow areas by adding burnt umber
burnt umber into the darkest shadow to French ultramarine. The shadow on the
areas of the girls’ bodies. bikini is alizarin crimson.

TIP If you are nervous about painting

figures, a good way to overcome this
fear is to think only about the shapes
you are painting, their lightness or
darkness, and texture.

t
Step 12
Complete the umbrella with highlights to
the upper surface by simply lightening the
underpainting colour with titanium white.
Highlight the trim and pole with titanium white.

The finished painting Girls of Summer,

t

oil on canvas, 12x10in. (30x25cm)

Elena Parashko
Elena is the author of the empowering
book Survival Guide for Artists: How to
Thrive in the Creative Arts, available via
her website and Amazon. For more
information about her work, visit
www.elenaparashko.com or email
info@elenaparashko.com. Her blog
www.survivalguideforartists.com has
a wealth of information for artists.

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 37

Watercolour
Sunshine and flowers
Part 1 Paint white agapanthus in the Mediterranean sun,
with Julie King. This month we look at how to set the scene
t
Your reference photograph: white agapanthus in the Alameda Gardens, Gibraltar, capturing the brightness and heat of the day
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
n How to create the best
composition
n Work on contrast and drama
n Tips and techniques for drawing
and painting flowers
M any a time on a teaching cruise
to the Mediterranean we have
docked in Gibraltar for a morning.
Time is always limited but without fail
I like to take a brisk walk through the
town to the Alameda Gardens. Whatever
the time of year I am always inspired
by its lush foliage and colourful plants.
The garden was created in 1816 by
the British governor to give the soldiers
stationed in the fortress the opportunity
to enjoy the air, protected from the
extreme heat of the sun and, as the
garden continually flourishes, it provides
many of today’s visitors with an
opportunity to escape the hustle and
bustle of the town to absorb its beauty.
Armed with my digital camera and
sketchbook, I am always looking for
an attractive scene to paint.
38 AUGUST 2018
Your subject
These white agapanthus (above) were
particularly striking, contrasted against
a backdrop of blue sky and mixed foliage
in shades of green. The sun was shining
brightly, bleaching the detail from the
individual florets and pale shades of grey
flickered on each petal.
I made a couple of sketches (opposite)
both portrait and landscape in format and
decided to use the photograph as a
starting point for a painting with a few
adjustments shown in Sketch 3 (right). In
next month’s issue I will demonstrate step
by step how I interpreted this scene in
watercolour. In the meantime why not try
painting the scene yourself with the help
of these few tips:
1 Simplify the scene into shapes with
an indication of a graphite pencil.
2 Capture the essence of the individual
flower heads rather than copy every
detail as you would do if you were
painting in a garden from life.
3 Observe shape. When an individual
flower faces towards you, it appears like a
six-petal star within a circle.When viewed
from the side it appears bell shaped and
when flower heads are overlapping the
shapes are less discernable and need to
be suggested with simple brushstrokes.
4 Observe the direction of sunlight and
areas of shadow. Be sparing with shadow
on white flowers. A touch of grey is
sufficient here and there, leaving plenty
of white paper. Overdoing the shadow
can result in a dull grey flower.
5 Create background shapes with colour.
6 Consider whether the greens are warm
or cool. Yellow greens come forward
in a picture; blue greens recede.
8 Suggest the shape and textures of
foliage rather than painting every leaf.
9 Look how light areas contrast against
dark to give depth and perspective.
10 Decide on a colour palette that lends
itself to this scene. Minimise the amount
of colours used to unify the painting.
I plan to use four colours: ultramarine
blue, Winsor blue (green shade),
transparent yellow and permanent rose.
11 Use the reference photographs as a
guide to the end result.
12 Feel free to use artistic licence and
interpret as you wish, using a variety
of techniques to suggest the mood of
the painting. I hope you will join me
again next month! LP
www.painters-online.co.uk
 Watercolour

Sketch 1 t
Sketch 2
t

In the first sketch, Moving on to COMPOSITION

the upright long a landscape format
stems appeared to Composition is fundamental
this appeared
work well in this to creating a good painting
preferable.
format, but I felt so I began by making a few
I sketched it as
they conflicted with small sketches. I considered
I saw it, but
the distant trees, whether the composition
decided that a few
creating a winding would look better in
adjustments to the
line from the base to a landscape or portrait
composition were
the top of the picture. format.
still required.

t Sketch 3
This is the sketch I used to produce the leading the viewer out of the picture frame I felt that the scene needed to be simplified
painting you will see in next month’s issue of and finally shifted the mauve flower head on even more so I emphasised the pathway
Leisure Painter. The positioning of the white the left inwards so it was closer to the group leading the eye into the picture from the
flower heads was a little too central to the of white flower heads. foreground to the mid-ground.
picture frame. I liked the
shape of the tree in the
distance and did not want
to eliminate it completely.
I cropped some of its
height so there was
proportionally less of the
background above the
flower heads, making them
the focal point. By adding
more length to the stems
the flower heads appeared
closer to the top third
section of the picture,
which created a better
balance.
I also removed the tree
trunk on the far right of
the scene as it was leaning
in the same direction as
the agapanthus stems and
had the appearance of

Julie King
Find out more
about Julie, her
work, workshops
and books, visit
www.juliehking.co.uk

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 39

Still life
Informal is key
Forget the Dutch Masters! Focus on enjoying yourself as you follow
John Mitchell’s advice and paint informal still lifes that inspire you
t
Razor Shells, watercolour, 512⁄ x7in. (14x18cm). As you can see in this shell study, I did not use
any of my composition sketches (far right) as a basis for the final work. I decided to arrange them
in a row as if they were in a display case. To increase the impact I slightly exaggerated the colours.
Watercolour was a good medium for this subject. Try to choose a medium that suits your topic.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
n How to loosen up your style
n Arrange and compose successful
informal still lifes
n Where to look for good subjects
W e have all seen them – those
complicated Dutch still-life
paintings. We tried painting them
at school, too: nice shiny bottles, a couple
of apples, perhaps a flower or two. Make
sure the shine was right; ensure there
was polish in the apples. How boring!
When I was at art college we spent a
day a week on still life; I bet they don’t
do that now. It was a good discipline,
teaching us drawing, composition and
colour. I suppose our efforts were
relatively formal using subjects you could
well imagine: cloths, pots, bottles, fruit
and sometimes fish. We always worked
in oils – these were pre-acrylic days and
we never used watercolour or pastels.
What a shame.
40 AUGUST 2018
Go onto YouTube on the internet,
search for still-life painting and you
will find thousands of demonstrations
of traditional pictures. They are all good
and all quite difficult. Priority is set on
drawing, which is important, but can be
off putting to the amateur painter. Next,
serious focus is on painting the highlights,
and the textures of fabric, metal or
ceramics. It’s all very well, but why not
have a bit more fun while you’re painting?
Go on the hunt
Let’s try something more exciting and
a bit different. Informal still-life groups,
that’s what we need. Next time you are
out for a walk on a beach, collect shells,
stones and other found objects; from a
wood, look for leaves and twigs. Let
your imagination roam free.
You could begin by looking around the
house where you will find informal still
lifes everywhere: a half-open drawer in
the kitchen, shoes on the floor of the
wardrobe, clothing on a hanger, cutlery
or vegetables in a drawer, or a container
with cooking utensils in it. Fly free, use
your imagination and keep your eyes
open. Nothing is too humble; think of
Van Gogh’s boots.
Sketchbook studies
Start drawing in your sketchbook. You
have got one, haven’t you? If not, why
not? Yes, I know I have a thing about
them – but so should you! Just a few
quick sketches every day, using a variety
of subjects, if possible, will start you
on your way.
The great thing about still-life work is
that you are fully in control. You organise
the colour scheme, and control the
lighting, the composition and the subject
matter. In fact, you are the boss. Just
don’t be frightened to lose control a bit;
surprise yourself.
Your picture doesn’t have to be
complex. Look at the work of the painter
Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964), who spent
a lifetime painting the same few bottles,
constantly rearranging them. We can all
learn a lot from him about control.
Another artist to look out for is William
Scott (1913-1989), who used household
items to great effect.
Begin with a single object. Draw it from
different angles and with different
lighting. This is a really good drawing test
by the way. Add another object and the
drawing will become a bit more
interesting – and difficult. Gradually build
up a complex group that really tests you.
Arrangement and composition
Right, so we have limbered up in our
sketchbooks; what’s next? Find a corner
in your painting space or even outdoors
if you like and arrange the elements of
your group. As for composition, you
could arrange everything very carefully, or
you could arrange your items randomly;
whatever excites you. Sometimes
accidents can be exciting. Try different
arrangements. Experiment with different
lighting effects using a table lamp or work
against the light. Do you want to have
your group at eye level or below? Is there
a dominant colour or subject theme?
Once you have set up your group,
make a few quick sketches to familiarise
yourself with the subject. Now think
about what medium you want to use.
It doesn’t have to be oils, acrylics or
watercolour (ooh, difficult!). You could
begin by using charcoal, coloured pencils
or oil pencils, and move on to slightly
trickier media later.
Some media will almost choose
themselves depending on the subject
www.painters-online.co.uk
 t
Composition Sketches, felt-tip pen, 1134⁄ x8in.
(30x20cm). It is a good idea to explore different
arrangements of your subject matter settling
on the final composition. Here I tried a few
different layouts before moving onto the final
piece (Razor Shells, far left)

t Fruit, felt-tip pen, 8x614⁄ in. (20x16cm). My

subject was taken straight from a supermarket
shelf. Pre-packaged fruit can make interesting
t
Bits and Pieces, watercolour, 1134⁄ x812⁄ in. (30x22cm). This is one of my favourite informal subject matter. Here are pears, but also look at
still lifes. The objects were collected on a stroll on the beach and arranged on the simple packaged carrots and other vegetables. Broaden
shape of a garden wall. The drawing was important and the painting is full of subtle colour. your horizons; anything can make a subject.

t
Floats, Ropes and Nets, felt-tip pen, 614⁄ x614⁄ in. (16x16cm). Here
is a small section from a larger photograph taken at a harbour to
show that you can select areas from larger images and use them.
t

t was quite a complex subject, but made an interesting painting.

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 41

t
Table, oil, 912⁄ x1112⁄ in. (24x29cm). Here is another supermarket theme. I love the colours of this watermelon and chose to present the fruit in
a simple composition. Oils were the perfect medium for this subject.
matter. Don’t be too self-critical, and yourself: how have other artists made use
remember, you are meant to be enjoying of still life as subject matter? Can I learn
yourself and nobody else needs to see from them? Is it worth using one of their
the final result. works as a starting point? Whatever you
do, enjoy yourself. LP
Still life on the move
I often take my dog for a walk on the
beach. I carry a plastic bag with me and TEN QUICK TIPS
collect anything interesting that might 1 Forget about still lifes you did at school
make a picture. I keep my eyes open and 2 Make use of your sketchbook
pick up anything that takes my fancy.
3 Research still lifes: visit youtube.com
You could do the same thing. On the
other hand, you could just as easily 4 Surprise yourself
choose household objects. Think of the 5 Surprise other people
domestic still lifes John Bratby (1928- 6 Keep an open mind about your subject
1992) painted in the 1950s! matter
Next time you are in the supermarket, 7 Use a variety of media
look at the vegetables and fruits on 8 Use a variety of scale
display. Melons and pomegranites make 9 When you are out, keep your eyes open
good subjects. Take a look at packaged and collect subject matter
items – a tray of carrots, perhaps, or
10 Throw caution to the winds and have
a pack of lemons or limes.
a good time
Work with a restricted colour scheme
or a restricted range of similar objects.
Perhaps you could use objects of a similar
or dissimilar size or theme. Try anything
to inspire you to paint. John Mitchell
Make a point of visiting exhibitions or
borrowing books from the library. Ask John is a member of the Royal Scottish
Society of Painters in Watercolour
Study Wardrobe, felt-tip pen, 814⁄ x4in.
t

(www.rsw.org.uk) and a professional

(21x10cm). Take a look around the house, and member of the Society of Scottish
into wardrobes and drawers. This subject of Artists (www.s-s-a.org).
a hanging jacket makes an interesting image.

42 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk

 Watercolour

Watercolour basics
and beyond
Part 9: How to mix a variety of greens on your paper, with David Webb

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
n Build colour-mixing confidence
n How to mix colour on the paper
n Paint natural textures in
watercolour

T he colour green occurs everywhere

in nature. Looking out of my
window as I type, I would say
that about 60 to 70 per cent of what
I see comprises various hues of green –
and that’s just an average back garden.
You would think then that mixing a family
of colours as common as this would be
a relatively easy task? Well, strangely, no.
Greens actually cause more problems
among artists than any other range
of colours.
Why is this? Perhaps it is the fact
that greens occur so commonly within
the landscape that makes mixing them
difficult. The real challenge here is to
instil variety into a large area that
consists mostly of green.
When you buy a set of watercolour
paints, there is invariably Hooker’s
or viridian green in there somewhere. t
Summer Light in the Ariege, watercolour on 200lb (425gsm) Saunders Waterford NOT
Personally, I don’t like ready-made watercolour paper, 10x14in. (25x35cm)
greens; I find them quite harsh.
Obviously, they are meant to be mixed
with other colours, but I often see TECHNIQUE
paintings where people have relied too
heavily on them and it is easy to end To maintain variety in
up with a result that is quite acidic my greens I mix them
and unnatural. on the paper. In the
The colours in my palette, apart from three examples shown
a couple of browns and a violet, are all here I used cobalt blue.
primary colours (blue, reds and yellows). The yellows were, from
I have three blues and three yellows, the left, raw sienna,
allowing me to mix an infinite variety Indian yellow and
of greens (to find out more, read my aureolin. To try this
introduction to this series in Leisure technique:
Painter’s January 2018 issue). 1 Dilute separate
solutions of the above
Which green? colours in your mixing
Part of the problem, when painting the wells.
landscape is knowing what type of green 2 Pick up cobalt blue on
should occur in a particular area of the your brush and brush it onto the paper. it into the blue on the paper surface before
scene. The effects of aerial perspective Quickly rinse the brush then dry it on a it dries.
tend to make foreground colours warmer piece of kitchen towel. 4 Repeat this process with the remaining
in tone, gradually becoming cooler and 3 Now dip it into the raw sienna and mix two yellows.
paler as they recede into the background.
The painting Summer Light in the Ariege
(above) is dominated by greens. To subtly cool them down as they receded This effect is something that must be
ensure that the effect wasn’t too towards the horizon. The greens gradually taken into consideration when painting a
overpowering, I was careful to keep the gave way to cooler blues and purples landscape, although there are sometimes
t

warmer greens in the foreground and towards the misty hills. exceptions to this rule. LP

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 43

Watercolour

Demonstration
Ruins at Christchurch, Dorset You will need
n Surface n Brushes n Miscellaneous
BEFORE YOU BEGIN l Bockingford l One large Round l 3B-5B pencil
Prop your board up at an angle of 20 degrees to the horizontal. NOT 200lb l One small Round l Mixing palette
(425gsm) l One Rigger or swordliner with large
watercolour wells
n Watercolour
paper, 11x7½in. l Board
l Cobalt blue
(28x19cm), l Masking tape
Step 1 l Alizarin crimson
l Water

t
taped around
l Raw sienna
First draw the all four edges l Kitchen towel
outline as shown. l Indian yellow
to a board
l Burnt sienna

Step 2

t
1 In your mixing wells make separate
dilutions of all the five colours listed
above. Wet the surface of the paper
with your largest brush.
2 Dip your brush into the diluted
cobalt blue from your mixing well
and, while the paper is still wet,
brush it into the sky area.
3 Clean your brush then pick up
Indian yellow, brushing it into the
tree area.
4 Add blue to the tree area and blend
them together with your brush
to create the green.
5 Rinse out the brush then add
raw sienna to the stone wall.

Step 3
t

1 When you come to the base of

the wall, create the grass colour
with cobalt blue and Indian yellow.
2 With a damp brush, lift out the
two posts and the bare earth patch
in the left foreground. Allow this
first wash to dry.
3 On dry paper, brush Indian yellow
into the area. Add raw sienna to the
right-hand side of the canopy to
warm it up then pick cobalt blue
on your brush and mix this into the
yellows on the paper to create leaf
shapes. It’s important to leave some
gaps here and there to create light
in the tree canopy.
4 Carry this wash down to the
left of the ruin, adding more blue
into the shadows.

Step 4
t

1 Dip your brush into the burnt

sienna well, and start to create
stone shapes onto the surface of
the ruin. Here and there add a
little alizarin crimson. Be careful,
as alizarin can be quite powerful.
2 Use burnt sienna to paint the
bare earth patches in the
foreground.

44 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk

 Step 5

t
For the shadows you’ll need a cool
purple. Add a little alizarin crimson
to the cobalt blue (in the well) and use
this to create the shadow leaf shapes.

Step 6

t
Carry this on down the left-hand
side, making the shadows denser.
Paint around the two posts.

t Step 7
Use the same purple to create the cooler patches on the
stonework. Add a little raw sienna to the mix to create
the shadow inside the arch and the corner of the wall.

Step 8
t

Add a few final darks to the leaf shadows, and some on the
posts. Use a Rigger or a sword liner to add details such as
twigs and branches, and the cracks in the stonework.

David Webb
Find out about David’s work, workshops
and demonstrations by visiting
www.davidwebbart.co.uk. t
The finished painting Ruins at Christchurch, Dorset, watercolour on
Bockingford NOT 200lb (425gsm) watercolour paper, 11x712⁄ in. (28x19cm)

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 45

Watercolour

Know your edges

How to plan for and use soft and hard edges to take
your work to the next level, with Jem Bowden

LEARNING OBJECTIVES The uses of soft edges

Observe the work of various artists look, such as for animal fur, a blurred
n Why and how to use soft and you’ll see that soft edges have many look to suggest movement and more.
or hard edges uses, including creating vagueness in I’ve used quite a thick mix of sepia
n Practise pure watercolour backgrounds, misty weather, a ‘fluffy’ paint for a dark tone.
techniques

O ne of the key effects of

watercolour is that of soft
edges. This is often done
through wet-in-wet painting, where
we add paint onto already damp
t
A hard-edged brushstroke, painted on dry paper t
A soft-edged brushstroke, painted on wet paper
paper. The look is most effective
when used in conjunction with hard A half-hard and half-soft edged brushstroke,

t
edges, so that the two contrast with painted from a dry area of paper into a
one another. Just one soft edge within dampened area. It’s only a short step from the
an area of hard edges can create a big third stroke here to make this into something ….
impact on the eye, and vice versa.
Although one of the more
challenging techniques to master,
really it comes down to three things:
timing; dilution of paint; and getting to
know your paper. Soft edges obtained
when the paint is wet are more
attractive than when achieved by
lifting out from hard edges that have
dried. You’ll not be in total control,
especially at the beginning, but this
can be a good thing anyway.
Repeating small exercises is a good
way to come to grips with it so
I’ll show you a couple here.

You will need

n Surface
l Bockingford 200lb, NOT
watercolour paper (or a cotton
paper such as Saunders
Waterford can make soft-edged
painting easier)
n Tube paint (not pans)
l Sepia, or any other relatively
dark colour
n Brushes
l Round brushes, Nos. 10 to 14
(one with a good point for
painting and one for adding
clean water only)
n Miscellaneous
l Two water pots (one for
clean water, one for dirty)
l A larger wash brush may
be handy for exercise 2
l A soft pencil 2B to 8B

t
A Fluffy Gosling, watercolour, 812⁄ x612⁄ in. (22x16cm)

46 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk

 Watercolour

EXERCISE 1 A one-stroke chicken

Find a simple chicken shape to copy, or this effect we can pre-dampen the paper You might find it easier to draw your
work from my painting. You’ll observe that in the correct place then paint the chicken shape lightly in pencil so you can easily
chickens often have fluffy rear ends! To give so that its bottom touches into that area. see where you’re wetting the paper!

Here’s what you’re aiming for....

1 You can also try painting the chicken in one brushstroke.

t

The rule is, until you lift the brush totally from the paper it
counts as one stroke. This is good brush control practice.
2 Start with the very tip of the brush at the beak then gradually
press it down flat as you stroke through the body, into the
damp area and lift off at the tail. Simple, but not easy! t
Once the soft-edged area is dry you can add legs.

EXERCISE 2 Soft and hard edges

In this simple painting of a gosling I pre- background, beginning along the edge t The same technique was used in this
t

wetted over the left side of the bird’s body of the damp area then going across the painting, but being larger and more
and into the background area by a few top and down the right-hand side. Notice complicated I divided the bird up into sections
centimetres. I then defined the shape of the the contrast in look between the resulting to work on the process of pre-dampening
bird negatively, by painting the dark soft and hard-edged areas. and painting gradually, a step at a time.

t
Sparrow in the Dust, watercolour on Bockingford NOT 200lb paper, 1212⁄ x2012⁄ in. (32x52cm)
t

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 47

Watercolour
EXERCISE 3 Using edges to control focus
We’ll use a simple landscape composition
here and paint it twice, with the soft and
hard edges in different places each time.
This will create different emphasis, or
focus within the scene.
Our scene has distinct foreground and
distance and hence depth. In theory either
DEMONSTRATION 1
The timings and dilutions of paint for
these exercises will take practice to get
right, but once you’ve tried this, why
not apply the method to one of your
own compositions where the focus
could be changed or improved?
Step 1
t
Draw out the scene very lightly with
a soft pencil. (These may be rubbed out
at the end if you use Bockingford and
some other papers). Then, using quite
a pale tone of your chosen colour, paint
in the background area in one pass from
left to right. Although it’s not a large area
ensure you’ve got enough wash prepared,
so the whole will dry out evenly as a
silhouette. This, and the pale tone will
help it to look distant.
Step 2 t
1 Next make sure you have a generous-
sized blob of paint ready (perhaps
bean-sized), in a dry area of your palette.
To paint a soft-edged yet controlled shape
we need to use a thick mix, in fact almost
undiluted tube paint. Notice how it
becomes slightly diluted by the dampness
48 AUGUST 2018
TIP When painting onto wet or
of these areas could be our focal point damp paper you’ll often need less
and we can use the nature of the edges to water in your mix than when painting
help us draw the viewer’s eye as desired. onto dry. Tube paint makes it much
Try this at A5 size and again using just one easier to obtain a thick, less dilute
colour. This helps keep the exercise simple mix than pan paint. Always have
so you can focus on the technique. Read something absorbent with which to
through the whole process first. dry off your brush when needed!
on the paper. 3 With hardly any dampness in your
2 Now, gently dampen with clean water painting brush, load it up evenly from
the whole area where your foreground tree your blob of tube paint. A synthetic
and bank is to be painted, including where Round brush with a good tip may work
it overlaps the strip of background land. well for this. You want a lot of pigment
Using a large wash brush should make and very little water in your mix so it will
this quick and easy. be ‘stiff’. When the paper is damp, but
not too wet, paint the
tree and bank as swiftly
as possible. If you begin
and find the paint is
spreading too much,
pause for the paper
to dry slightly.
4 Once done as well as
possible put the brush
down. Don’t fiddle or
return to areas where
the paper is drying out!
If you haven’t got it all
done but the paper is
drying, stop and allow
it to dry completely.
Then re-wet the
remaining area before
resuming the process.
The result should look
as if the foreground is
out of focus, so the eye
is drawn further into the
scene to the hard-edged
windmill.
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 Watercolour

DEMONSTRATION 2
Step 1 t
If you feel able to, attempt this without
pre-drawing the scene in pencil. This
time we reverse the process somewhat.
1 Pre-dampen the whole general area
over the background land and windmill.
2 Next, fill your synthetic brush with
a fairly pale mix again, but without
very much water. Once you judge the
dampness of paper to be right, swiftly
paint the background area, again from
left to right. You won’t have time to
fiddle if it is all to dry out evenly
and soft-edged! Put the brush down
and allow to dry.

Step 2 t
1 This is more straightforward. Mix
enough paint then add your tree and
foreground bank onto dry paper. Ensure
your paint is a darker tone than the
background area, as this helps create
the sense of distance in the scene. TIP We can control Jem Bowden
2 Again, use virtually neat paint for where soft edges occur by Jem is a full-time painter and teacher of
the very darkest areas of your tree. pre-wetting areas of paper watercolour. He is available for art group
The resulting painting this time in a planned way, before demonstrations, private one-to-one tuition and
should have a subdued and out-of-focus painting into them. If we runs workshops and painting holidays around the
background, and the eye will be more paint from a dry area into UK. For details and examples of his paintings for
drawn to the foreground tree because a damp area (or vice versa) sale please visit www.jembowdenwatercolour.co.uk
of its hard edges and sharp focus by we will be combining hard Contact Jem at jembowdenwatercolour@gmail.com
comparison. Perhaps the background edges with soft. or telephone 0117 9711735
appears as if seen through haze?

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 49

Acrylics
Weather report
Part 4 This month we look at how to capture the effects of bright
summer sunshine when painting abroad, with Tim Fisher
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
n Tips and techniques for painting
impasto
n Colours and colour mixing for
bright sunshine
n How to reinvent elements of a
scene from a photograph
I hope this year has been better for
sunnier weather and you’ve been
able to get out and about painting
and sketching. Warm weather can be
extended by making a trip abroad. I like
travelling at the beginning or the end
of the summer when the weather is not
unbearably hot, but there are still
t
Cuitadella de Menorca, Sennelier Abstract acrylic, 15x14in. (38x35.5cm). Colours used for both
this and Fondamenta Ospedaleto (right): titanium white, Mars black, yellow ochre, light violet,
cadmium red light hue, primary yellow, purple, azure blue and cobalt blue hue
50 AUGUST 2018
opportunities for strong sunshine and
shadows. It is rare in sunny weather to
find subtlety in any subject. Shapes and
colours are strong and clear unless there
is a heat haze, which can dramatically
alter a scene.
Acrylics are an ideal medium to use
when travelling, and the robust pouches
of the Sennelier Abstract acrylics will
withstand the most aggressive baggage
handling systems. My Mijello Airtight
palette has a self-sealing lid, which not
only prevents paint leaking but also helps
the paint to remain moist and workable
over longer periods of time, especially if
the weather is warm. When subjects are
painted onto paper designed to take
acrylic, these can be safely rolled up and
packed into tubes for transporting home.
Impasto effect
My first painting is of the Menorcan town
of Ciutadella (below left), somewhere
I visited regularly in the spring or the
autumn. Many of its civil and religious
buildings are constructed in the Italian
style, which gives it historical and artistic
unity. I spotted this little scene on the
way to the harbour, when the strong
sunlight and shadows particularly
attracted me. The subject was first drawn
using a 2mm Montana refillable marker
containing black acrylic ink onto
mountcard. The pen leaves a thick dark
line, which needs to be left a little while
to dry, but which is then ideal for
creating a palette-knife painting over.
Adding acrylic with a palette knife adds
depth and texture to the applied paint.
I like to use the RGM No. 6 knife when
working. Before adding the sky, I turned
the painting upside down to make it
easier to operate the knife then, after
premixing white and cobalt blue, applied
it liberally to the painting surface. The
left-hand building and handrail were
painted over with a mix of yellow ochre
and white.
After painting all the buildings white at
the end of the street, I went over some of
the walls that were in slight shade with a
mix of cobalt blue and white or a mix of
light violet and white. The pan tiles and
parts of the roadway were added using a
combination of burnt sienna and primary
yellow. Other parts of the pathway were
painted with a mix of cobalt blue hue,
burnt sienna and white. All the darks for
windows and doorways were created
with Mars black mixed with burnt sienna.
Once the painting had completely dried
I created a shadow mix from light violet,
Mars black and white then applied this
combination over the areas where I had
strong shadows. I applied the paint more
thinly to the building on the left to allow
some of the originally applied colour to
show through.
Brushwork
For the second painting of Fondamenta
Ospedaleto (right) I sketched the subject
lightly with a refillable acrylic pen onto
cream-coloured mountcard, increasing
the width of the walkway and adding
figures out for an evening stroll. I love
the way that deep shadows are created
when the setting sun just catches the
tops of the buildings.
Venice is an artist’s dream to visit
though fine weather isn’t always
guaranteed. There is usually less
precipitation when visiting earlier in
www.painters-online.co.uk
t
Fondamenta Ospedaleto, Sennelier Abstract Acrylic, 14x10in. (35.5x25.5cm)
the year rather than going in ‘the season using a 3⁄4in. flat brush, just reverting dilution to achieve good colour
of the mists’ when the area tends to flood occasionally to a 1⁄4in. brush and a similar saturation and this time I didn’t want to
in the autumn. palette to the previous painting. The paint leave quite as much line work exposed
The painting was largely completed was applied thickly with very little water as in the previous painting. LP
t

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 51

Acrylics

Demonstration Farmhouse, La Cadiere d’Azur You will need

On a painting trip I visited La Cadiere Back in the studio, I recalled that warm
d’Azur in Provence, a lovely hill-top village. sunny evening; shadows had started to n Surface n Golden Abstract Acrylics
We were there in late September and the grow longer with the setting sun and l Canson Figureas l Cadmium red l Cadmium red
weather was warm and balmy. Farmers were cast on the side of the building. 290gsm oil and light hue l Primary yellow

were busy harvesting grapes and queueing The only alteration I wanted to make acrylic paper, l Primary yellow l Azure blue
to have them processed at the local wine was to change the foreground of vines 13x16in. l Azure blue l Light violet

cooperative. Exploring nearby, I discovered into something more interesting, such (33x40.5cm) l White l Mars black

an old farmhouse nestling at the foot of the as lavender fields. These are normally l Yellow ochre, l Purple
hill with the village in the background. planted in rows and so there would be an
Unfortunately, from the best viewpoint, the element of perspective involved here.
property fronted onto the busy A50, which
made it impossible to stand comfortably
and paint and so a few photographs
had to suffice.

t Step 1
I started by creating an ink sketch of the
subject. To discover the vanishing point
on the right, I drew a horizontal line (or eye
line) approximately where my head would
be if I walked into the scene. The parked van
gave a good clue to my height if standing
beside it. Using a straight edge and lining
up with the eaves, I extended a line until it
touched the horizontal eye line. I then drew
several more lines from the chimney top
and the adjacent barn, which all converged
at the same point to confirm that this was
where the right-hand vanishing point was.
I then drew a series of radiating lines out
from this spot to represent the rows of
lavender. I added all these marks in ink
so that they remained visible as layers
of acrylic paint were added.
t
Reference photograph for this demonstration photo. To paint
this, I changed the foreground from vines to lavender fields

Step 2
t

1 For the next stage

I covered the entire
surface with a
combination of cadmium
red light hue and primary
yellow. These hot colours
helped to give a feeling
of colour unity as the
painting progressed.
2 Once dry, I painted the
sky with a combination of
azure blue, white and
yellow ochre, leaving
flecks of the underpainting showing. I painted down to the
hill top then started to add the buildings.
3 The pan tiled roofs were added with a mix of cadmium red
and primary yellow; some areas of the underpainting were left
to represent some of the distant roofs.
4 The buildings were added using a combination of white and
yellow ochre, placing a few dabs of azure blue mixed with
light violet for shadows.

Step 3
t

1 I tackled the farmhouse next. The light was hitting the building
at a slight angle, which would throw the front of the building into
partial shadow. To achieve this, I added light violet to yellow ochre,
being careful not to over-mix the two colours in the palette then
applied to the front of the building.
2 The sunlit side on the right was yellow ochre with a little white added.
3 The shadows were represented by a mix of azure blue and light violet.
4 For the sunlit rooftop I added yellow ochre mixed with white and
a little primary yellow.
5 For the parts of the roof in shadow I used a mix of primary
yellow and cadmium red.

52 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk

Step 4
t
1 The distant trees were painted simply
using a 14⁄ in. flat brush. I started with
the darkest green first, by mixing
primary yellow with Mars black and
blocked in the shapes of the distant
tree line. I then mixed a mid-tone
green using azure blue with primary
yellow and applied this over the dry
paint. Finally, for highlights, primary
yellow with just a touch of azure
blue and white was added.
2 For the large trees surrounding
the farmhouse I mixed the same
combination of greens but in this
area I wanted more defined leaves
and branches. For the tree to the left over which I added the mid-tone green
t
Step 5
of the farmhouse, I use a 2in. decorator’s into the centre of the tree (above). I developed the trees on the right using the
brush, clasping a few bristles. I developed 3 Finally, I added a few highlights same colours but, this time, I used part of a
the tree shape with the darkest green, using the lightest green. car sponge, which I bent into a round shape.

Step 6 t
1 To finish the painting I added the thin lines
of lavender using a No. 8 Round brush and light
violet. I thickened the rows by adding shadow
to the left side, using purple then added a little
more detail in the foreground with alternating
strokes of purple and light violet. Into some of
the gaps I added a mix of yellow ochre
and white.
2 To complete the painting I introduced
a shadow from the right, using a mix of
purple and black, making sure the shadow
followed the form of the lavender rows.
Tim Fisher
Read about Tim and find out more
about his work, classes, books and
more, visit www.timfisherartist.co.uk

t
Farmhouse, La Cadiere d’Azur, Sennelier Abstract Acrylic on Canson Figureas 290gsm oil and acrylic paper, 13x16in. (33x40.5cm)

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 53

Water-mixable oils
View from the lake
Understand what your brushes can do for you before you combine trees, water
and a building to paint a picturesque view of Sherborne Castle, by Murray Ince
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
n Make a considered choice of brushes
n Build your colour-mixing skills,
especially green
n How to paint water and reflections
T he skills required for painting
develop over time. I have always
maintained that anyone can learn
to draw and paint, but you must give
yourselves time to acquire the necessary
skills, as many of these are honed by
practice and cannot be mastered quickly.
Some of these skills are observation,
drawing, simplification, colour mixing and
translating what you see into marks made
with a pencil, pen or brush.
t
The reference photograph for this demonstration: Sherborne Castle in Dorset
54 AUGUST 2018
Much of the skill in fine art painting is in
brush handling. There are many types of
brush, each with its own advantages and
with practice you will find what works
best for you. Remember there is no right
or wrong way if it works for you then it is
entirely valid! Here are some of the
brushes and methods of using them that
work well for me. The best hog bristle
brushes are made from Chungking bristle.
Round hog bristle
These come in a useful range of sizes,
usually from Nos. 0 to 24, have a round
belly coming to a nice sharp point and
can be used to make a wide variety of
marks. I have quite a number of middle
price ranged brushes, which I abuse
terribly! I stab them into the paint at 90
degrees to the palette, splaying the bristles
out then gently touch them into the paint
mix. This adds tiny dots of paint on the
tips of the bristles, which I then gently
touch to the canvas to place tiny pinpricks
of paint. This is great for painting the
highlights on distant and middle distant
trees, and painting myriad meadow
flowers, among many other applications.
Filbert or cat’s tongue
These are one of my favourite brushes.
They are flat with a rounded end and
again come in sizes between Nos. 0 and
24. The brushes are especially good for
painting skies. The round end is great for
shaping the tops of clouds whilst the flat
can quickly block in large areas of colour
and the two edges are ideal for putting in
the little ‘ribbon’ like clouds that you see
just above the horizon. These methods
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can be applied to a great many other
areas.

Flats
Again these brushes generally come in
Nos. 0 to 24 and were introduced to the
market in the time of the Impressionists,
which helped to revolutionise mark
making with paint. They are very good
for painting large areas and, when loaded
with paint by being pulled through the
paint on both sides, gives a good sharp
edge suitable for linear mark making.

Brights
These are much the same as flat brushes
except that the bristles are shorter, making
them less springy in use. Brights are good
to use for painting anything of a square
nature like buildings, windows and doors.
Fan blenders
These brushes are primarily for blending
colours together on the canvas, however
I also use them for painting certain
effects. I often use fan blenders for
painting rough meadowland, grassland
and even highlighting trees. Cheaper
brushes have a thin line of bristles
whereas some of the more expensive
brushes have a thicker head, available in
both hog bristle and synthetic options.
t
The finished painting Sherborne Castle, Dorset, water-mixable oil on stretched cotton canvas,
24x36in. (61x91.5cm)
Sable or synthetic watercolour type
Watercolour-type brushes are used for
more detailed work, especially where the
paint is thinned for the purpose. Sable
brushes are, of course, the best quality,
however I achieve perfectly good results
from synthetic brushes. They are ideal for
uses, such as dotting in individual leaves
around the edges of trees, or adding
flowers to a field.
Riggers
Riggers are available in a few sizes,
usually Nos. 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4. They
differ from normal watercolour brushes
in that their hairs are longer. Named for
the fact that they were first used for
literally painting the rigging of ships,
they are ideally suited for painting
anything of a linear nature, both
straight and curved. LP

Demonstration Sherborne Castle, Dorset

Step 1
t

You will need Prepare the canvas with

a wash of raw umber
n Surface l Cadmium yellow acrylic over an initial,
l Medium-grain pale not too detailed
stretched cotton l Payne’s grey
preliminary drawing.
canvas, 24x36in. l Cadmium yellow
As you lay the wash, you
(61x91.5cm) l Yellow ochre
can take colour out with
l Burnt sienna
n Artisan a rag then gradually
l Prussian blue
water-mixable oils darken the tones to
l Burnt umber
l Cobalt blue indicate shadow areas.
l Raw sienna
l Titanium white A grisaille underpainting
l Ultramarine blue
l Raw umber helps to decide on the
l Permanent alizarin n Raw umber final composition in
crimson acrylic terms of the distribution
of areas of light and
shade (chiaroscuro).

Step 2
t

1 This sky is relatively simple,

as the rest of the painting is TIP All of the
so busy. To paint the sky mix greens throughout
cobalt blue and titanium this painting are
white with tiny touches of made with cobalt
raw umber, and introduce blue, with the
permanent alizarin crimson exception of the
to the lower part of the sky lighter reeds on
to warm it a little. the lower left of the
2 Block in the distant tree finished painting.
shadow and the large left-hand This creates a
tree with varying shades of harmonious overall
green made from cobalt blue, painting.
cadmium yellow pale, raw
umber and Payne’s grey.
t

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Water-mixable oils

Demonstration continued
TIPS
l There is no right or wrong brush to use or
method of using it. If it works for you then
that is all you need.
l Play with all of your brushes and see the
different ways that you can transfer paint
from the brush to the painting.
l Don’t throw your old and worn brushes away;
they can become your special-effect brushes.
l Try using the corner of a hog bristle fan
blender for adding highlights to your trees.
l Practise with your Rigger, and see what happens
when you increase and decrease the pressure on
the brush. A great way to learn is to paint winter
trees and master your signature.
l It is best to mix your colours and occasionally
scrape up the colour with a palette knife, as
using a brush will spread the paint further,
making it difficult to load the brush with
any quantity of paint.

t
Step 3
1 All of the greens in the trees, bushes and lawn to the right
of the castle are created with mixes made from cobalt blue,
cadmium yellow, yellow ochre and raw umber – some lightened
with touches of titanium white.
2 Paint the building with varying mixes of Titanium white,
raw umber and yellow ochre.
3 Burnt sienna added to small amounts of the basic mix give
the red of the tiled roofs.
4 Raw umber is great for ‘dirtying’ colours as in the castle walls
and indeed the sky blue.
5 The base colour for the lawn is cobalt blue, cadmium yellow
pale with raw umber.

Step 4
t

Continue by painting the details on the trees to the left of the

castle using similar combinations of greens as the trees to the
right, and paint the bank along the water’s edge.

t
Step 5
1 Add the water using the same colours as you
used for the trees: cobalt blue, cadmium yellow
pale, raw umber and titanium white. First, lay
in the base colours using horizontal strokes;
start with the mid-tones. As you work, blend
in darker and lighter tones of the same base
colours. The advantage of working with water-
mixable oils (or any oils) is that you can mix
colour on the canvas.
2 Once you have blocked in your base
colours, begin to put in the reflections,
which should be painted in vertical strokes.
3 Paint the reflection of the castle using the
same colours as the castle itself, just going
a shade lighter than the castle itself.
4 Once all of the reflections are painted, turn
to the movement lines and broken reflections in
the water. These are added with a Rigger and the
colour thinned slightly with painting medium.
t
Step 6
Working from back to front paint the
copper beech leaves with a mix of alizarin
crimson, raw umber and the tiniest touch
of titanium white and, using the same
base green mixes, paint the left-hand
tree, working from dark through to
the highlights.

56 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk

 Water-mixable oils

Murray Ince
Murray specialises in landscape and seascape painting
in water-mixable oils, although he also works in other
media. He leads sketching and painting holidays privately
in France and for HF Holidays in the UK and Italy. He
demonstrates to art groups, runs workshops and provides
one-to-one tuition. His book, Landscape Painting in Artisan
Water-Mixable Oils, is available through his website,
Amazon and on e-bay. Visit www.murrayince.com or
murraysart.blogspot.com; e-mail hello@murrayince.com
t
Much of the detailing in the trees was achieved by
applying the highlight colours of the paint with the corner
of a hog bristle fan blender. With a little practice this can
be a most effective method of application, although
not necessarily suitable for all tree species.

Step 7
1 In the final stage add the dark reeds against the water in
a very dark green dulled with, here it is again, raw umber.
Then add ones in front that are catching the light only this
time use varying shades of green consisting of Prussian blue
and cadmium yellow pale with a touch of titanium white.
2 Paint the dead leaves using three shades of warm browns
made from burnt umber, raw sienna and titanium white.
3 The lawn is various shades of lighter, yellower greens using
the cobalt blue base green, while the shadows on the lawn
are of greens using ultramarine blue in place of cobalt. t
The detail of the lawn shows how using the centre of the fan blender can
4 Finally paint the leaves on the lawn, lighter ones on create the natural-looking texturing of shorter grass. The trick with this is to
the sunlit areas and darker ones on the areas of shadow. start at the furthest away edge and work toward the bottom of the canvas,
5 The final addition is the duck as I felt it needed working in lines across the canvas varying the colours slightly as you work.
something on the water. The duck is painted using This will keep it looking natural. The shadow colour is then overlaid using
the same palette of colours. much the same method with the final addition of some dead leaves.

t
The finished painting Sherborne Castle, Dorset, water-mixable oil on stretched cotton canvas, 24x36in. (61x91.5cm)

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 57

Watercolour

Inspired by nature
Part 5 Texture and life. Michelle Campbell completes her series
with a look at the marks you can make to imitate texture in nature
so much more freedom to work with. various textures in art and to understand
LEARNING OBJECTIVES I will be giving you a few exercises to how they can be used in your paintings.
n How to be creative with paint work on, which will allow you to achieve I started the exercises by using a large
and different tools a whole host of different textures. sheet of watercolour paper and with my
Texture An element of art that refers to ruler and pencil, drew eight squares.
n Mark making for different the way an object feels to the touch or You can either work with the squares
natural textures and effects looks as it may feel. or simply work free-hand. LP
Three-dimensional texture refers to the

T exture stimulates two different

senses: sight and touch. It refers
to the look and feel of the painting
and is based on the paint and its
application.
way an object feels to the touch.
Two-dimensional texture refers to the
way an object looks as it may feel.
Visual texture The illusion of a three-
dimensional surface.
You will need
l One sheet of l Brushes: fan brush
In my final article, I would like to Simulated The imitation of real textures. watercolour paper and a large and
demonstrate how texture looks and Invented The two-dimensional patterns l Watercolour small brush
feels, and how you can accomplish this created by the repetition of lines of paints (tubes (No. 8 and 4)
in a painting or sketch. I have chosen shapes. or pans) l Paper towel
the natural world for this article because Rough textures reflect light unevenly. l Pencil (optional) l Plastic bag cut
texture in wildlife is not perfect; it Smooth textures reflect light evenly. l Ruler (optional) into small pieces
changes constantly with movement, hair Here are a few exercises for you to work l Jar of water l Natural sponge
growth and generally how animals live in on at your leisure. The purpose of the l Old toothbrush or bath sponge
the wild. The imperfect textures give you exercises is to acquaint you with the

EXERCISE 1 Splatter wet on dry and wet on wet

Watercolour is a water-based medium so much water you add. My preferred technique wet, the colours spread into one another
the darkness and saturation of the pigment is painting wet on dry, which produces sharp to produce soft edges and blending. The two
can be manipulated, depending on how edges to shapes, whereas painting wet on techniques give you very different effects.

t
Step 1 Wet on dry
Dip an old toothbrush in water then in your chosen pigment.
Using your fingers, rub along the bristles approximately 8in. away
from the paper. Depending on how much water and pigment you
apply to the brush, you can create small or large splatters. Try this out
on a separate piece of paper first, as the splatters are very random.
t
Step 2 Wet on wet
With a large brush, wet your paper completely then dip your brush
into your chosen pigment. Hold your brush about 8in. away and
either tap your brush to make a splattering motion or do it free-hand
to splatter on the wet paper. Try this again with a different colour
and see how the colours merge; this gives a marbled effect.

58 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk

 Watercolour

A Bird’s Life, mixed media on Saunders

t
Waterford watercolour paper, 2212⁄ x1434⁄ in.
(57x37.5cm). Here I use a wet-on-dry method,
with a layering graded wash, dry-brush and the
splattering techniques. I used an ink pen to give
the illustration more of a hand-drawn feel.

t
Detail from A Bird’s Life showing some
of the marks made for painting the picture

EXERCISE 2 Sponge
A natural sponge is good
for dabbing on background
areas, such as leaves and
fauna, and scrunched-up
paper towels to give
a textured effect.

Apply two-parts pigment

t

and one-part water, and dab

the pigment lightly with the
sponge. Make swirl effects
by moving the sponge in a
circular position. Dab hard
or soft.

Laying down a wash

t

of colour then lifting parts

of it with the sponge is
another great way to add
texture gradually. For this
method, I would suggest
waiting until the pigment
is just damp to give the
desired effect.
t

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 59

 t EXERCISE 4 Paper towel
Paper towels are also useful for correcting
mistakes or directing the paint in a different
direction. With your favourite colour, apply a
wash of colour, leave until almost dry, crunch
your paper towel and apply with a dabbing
motion onto the paper. Again, you can see the
pigment is lifted, leaving a translucent pattern.

t
EXERCISE 3 Scratching t
EXERCISE 5 Dry brush
Choose a colour and paint a shape; I chose Brushes come in all sizes and are a great tool
a square to work with. Paint the shape for making lots of patterns, including textures
with your brush and pigment, leave until it that require no effort. Dip a No. 4 brush into a
is almost dry and, by using the end of your slightly damp pigment and, holding it upright,
brush, scratch out shapes, pressing firmly apply your brush to the watercolour paper.
onto the paper. You can also use any Represent lines by using an up-and-down
object for this method, such as a blade, motion and applying the brush lightly on the
the end of a pen or something similar. You paper. Use the same method again, this time
will see the pigment is lifted by the object using just the tip of the brush so the pattern
and a translucent line will appear where represents smaller lines. Practise this method
you have scratched, showing a shape. until you make lots of patterns.

EXERCISE 6 Plastic
Use various plastics for this exercise, such as crisp packets or
a plastic bag. The harder you press with the plastic, the more
translucent the pattern will be. Apply a wash of colour, leave until
semi-dry then apply a scrunched piece of plastic using a dabbing
motion, the same as you did for the paper towel method.
EXERCISE 7 Fan brush
Fan brushes are great tools; they require least effort for painting
grass or patterns. We are using the wet-on-dry method for this
exercise. Dip your brush into water then pigment. Holding it
upright, apply your brush to the watercolour paper, using an up
and down motion, representing lines, apply the brush hard and
light on the paper. Repeat this method, this time make your
own patterns, you can use the tip of the fan brush, applying
horizontal or diagonal lines. Again, practise this method.

EXERCISE 8 Splattering
t

We spoke about this method earlier, however,

this time, I would like you to apply a wash of
colour onto your watercolour paper. Wait until
the pigment has completely dried then dip a Michelle
No. 4 brush or similar size into a mix of two Campbell
parts water and two parts paint. Hold your Michelle is
brush 8in. away from the paper then give an artist and
your brush an up and down shake over the illustrator. Visit
wash, to represent splashes. Apply this method www.michelle
again with a different colour. Remember, the campbellart.com
more pigment and water you add, the bigger to see more of
the splashes. Use a small or large brush for her work.
this exercise; the smaller brush will give
you smaller splashes and the larger,
bigger splashes.

60 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk

 Miniature

The world in miniature

Part 4 Rosemary Bentley introduces her style
of painting a portrait in miniature on white polymin

LEARNING OBJECTIVES The materials

n
In the past
How to paint a portrait in miniatures were
miniature usually painted
n Practise the pointillist technique on either
parchment,
n How to create detail in miniature vellum or ivory.
Nicholas Hilliard

I often demonstrate the painting of

a miniature at my local art society
exhibition and one of the most
frequent comments made is: I never
realised that people could still paint
like that. I always assure visitors that
there are many of us who do and that
the painting of miniatures is still very
much alive and well.
Miniature painting has a long history
in many parts of the world. Notably
India, Iran (Persia) and Russia, but in
Europe it is Britain that has kept the art
alive and through our worldwide
connections it is now popular in the
United States, South Africa, Australia,
Tasmania and New Zealand. The World
Federation of Miniaturists holds an
exhibition in a different country every
four years.
New beginnings
It was on a visit to the Wallace Collection
in London that I first became aware of
the beauty of miniature paintings and
was lucky enough to find a book in our
local library, Painting Miniatures by
Elizabeth Davys Wood. This gave the
information I needed to begin and where
to buy the materials then it was a case
of trial and error and 25 years later
I am still learning to paint in miniature.
I was 12 years old when I decided
I wanted to be a portrait painter and
was lucky to receive encouragement
from my parents. After leaving school
I went to Exeter College of Art, which
was housed in the city museum and
not far from the birthplace of Nicholas
Hilliard. Strangely, this first English artist
of note was never mentioned. John
Bratby was the preferred choice of
inspiration, but sadly I didn’t want
to paint poor imitations of his work.
During my second year at art school
my mother was taken ill and I gave up
my art training to be her carer. In a way
it was a freedom as Rembrandt, Botticelli,
Ingres and Gainsborough became my
tutors instead and I was able to paint
and draw in my own way. In later years
I broadened my subject matter and as
well as portraits I now also paint still
in his Treatise
Concerning the
Art of Limning
advised: ‘Take an
ordinary playing
card, (polish the
white side of it);
make it even and
clean from spots,
then cut out a
piece of
parchment equal
to the card, polish
it and make it as
smooth as possibly
you can and then
with fine and
clean starch paste
it on the card.
When the card is
dry lay the card
parchment side
down and polish
it well on the
reverse.’
Luckily for
today’s miniaturists there are many
t
Detail from Punting on the Cam. The face
other options. For many years ivorine, began with a light wash of cadmium red and
a plastic material similar in colour and light yellow before building up the skin tones
thickness to ivory, was very popular. It using the pointillist technique and adding
is still used but is now difficult to obtain, ultramarine into the shadow areas.
and polymin is more often the base of
choice. This is a translucent surface-
treated plastic sheet. Vellum, paper, silk,
smooth card and board can also be used.
In fact any smooth, durable surface.
Early miniatures were painted in
watercolour or gouache, but now oil
paints, acrylics, pencil, scratchboard,
etchings, enamels and gold on glass are
all used with incredible skill to create
perfect miniature pictures. Brushes must
be of good quality and able to hold their
point well or life can become very
frustrating. Portraiture is no longer the
only subject. Landscape, animals, birds,
silhouettes, buildings, interiors and still
life are all popular subjects too.
I paint at a Victorian table desk that
slopes at the right angle and I use a
magnifying visor for my less-than-perfect
eyesight. I hope you’ll try the following t
The finished painting at actual size
demonstration, practising the pointillist Punting on the Cam, watercolour on white
polymin, 212⁄ x2in. (6.5x5cm)
t

life and flowers. method in watercolour. LP

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 61

Miniature

Demonstration Punting on the Cam You will need

n Surface n Brushes n Winsor & Newton
l White polymin l Pro Arte Series Professional Water Colour
cut to a slightly 100, Nos. 00, l Light red l Cobalt blue
larger size than 0, 1 and 2 l Cadmium red l Sap green
the finished l Pro Arte Series l Winsor orange l Burnt sienna
painting of MP, Nos. 10/0 l Lemon yellow l Sepia
21⁄2x2in. and 5/0 l Yellow ochre l Burnt umber
(6.5x5cm) l French Indigo
ultramarine

Step 1

t
1 Firstly, I cleaned the
polymin with washing-
up liquid to remove
any greasy marks.
2 I used two photographs
as source material and
drew a rough sketch,
which gave me an idea of
how the portrait would
fit in the oval frame.

Step 2
t

I then drew an 8mm

square grid on a piece
of acetate and a 4mm
square grid on a piece
of tracing paper. I placed
the larger square grid
over the source material
and drew the image
square by square onto
the tracing paper.

t
Step 3
The portrait was then placed on the light box and traced onto the
polymin with a very thin mixture of French ultramarine and burnt
sienna. I then applied a light wash of the base colours to the whole
surface.
Step 4
t

Using a mixture of cadmium red and lemon yellow I added a very

light wash over the face. The hair was a wash of yellow ochre for the
lights and burnt umber for the shadows. The pupils of the eyes were
a mixture of French ultramarine with a trace of burnt sienna and
a slightly darker mixture was used for the inside of the collar.

62 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk

 Miniature

t
Step 5
I used a pointillist technique and continued to build up the colours
on the face, adding a little ultramarine in the shadow areas but
being careful not to loose the brilliant orange reflection on the chin
and ears. I painted a wash of lemon yellow mixed with cobalt blue
on the trees behind the head and a wash of lemon yellow over the
t
Step 6
water and life jacket. With Winsor orange I started to fill in the With sap green I painted the background trees adding ultramarine
colour of the life-jacket and used light red darkened with burnt and burnt sienna in the shadow areas. I used a darker mixture of the
sienna on the back of the seat. same three colours in the shadowed area of the river. At each stage
I added more colour to the face and the hair. I finished the eyes,
making sure I kept the highlights unpainted.

Step 8
t

I deepened the shadow

areas on the back of the
seat and the sleeves and
finished the hair. The zip
was painted in indigo,
edged with black and the
teeth of the zip carefully
painted round. The logo
was painted in indigo and
the lettering neatened.
The clips were also in
indigo with ivory black
for the shadow areas.
Finally, the miniature
was carefully checked to
remove all specks of dust
then fixed in an oval
frame under convex glass.
t
The finished painting at actual size
Punting on the Cam, watercolour on
white polymin, 212⁄ x2in. (6.5x5cm)

t
Step 7
A mixture of French ultramarine and a little burnt sienna was used for the
sleeves and I continued to build up the colour on the life jacket, carefully
adding a line of ivory black for the piping. A little French ultramarine was
added to the shadows in the hair and the nostrils were darkened.
Rosemary Bentley
Rosemary is an award-winning member of the Royal
Miniature Society (www.royal-miniature-society.org.uk).
See her work at the annual exhibition from 28 November
to 9 December at the Mall Galleries, London.

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 63

Inspiration

Small and often

Having problems finding time to paint? Steve Strode has the solution

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
n Tips and techniques to start you
painting small
n Ideas to help you paint from life
H ow much time and effort do you
invest in a single painting? How
often do you paint? When I was
new to painting I thought I was doing
well if I made three or four a month, but
did you know that you can dramatically
improve your skills much faster by
painting small and often?
In her excellent book, Daily Painting,
artist Carol Marine is one of many painters
who believe: ‘Painting small and often
makes you more creative and productive’.
There are plenty of artists out there
painting and exhibiting small works at
an almost daily rate. Artists such as Duane
Keiser, the father of the Daily Painting
movement and Julian Merrow Smith with
his Postcards from Provence, are just two
of my favourites.

Why paint small?

My skills developed at a faster rate
and my grasp of the medium improved
dramatically when I started painting small
and often. Rather than concentrating all
my efforts on a larger canvas that was
reworked on over many sessions, small
studies completed in regular shorter
sessions really helped hone my painting
skills. While some of the small pieces
I completed were considered to be
finished works in their own right, others
were of no importance to anyone but me
in monitoring my progress.

How small is small?

The painters mentioned work on a
postcard size or slightly larger. I gathered
t
Are You Trying to Seduce Me, Mrs Robinson?, oil on card, 434⁄ x634⁄ in. (12x17cm). Indoors a batch of thick primed cards measuring
I find that the still lifes I do, such as fruit, look better no bigger than sight size. Indoors or 15x20cm. These fitted snugly into the lid
out, I prefer the more intimate viewing experience with the smaller scale studies. of the painting box I use indoors or out.
The smaller pieces mean there’s less
surface to cover, hence less time to paint.

Keep the sessions short

Painting for only an hour or so encourages
you to paint more often in the long run.
Too long a session can be discouraging,
especially if things don’t go to plan so
keep the sessions short. In an ideal world,
having enough room for a dedicated
painting space is great as it saves on
setting-up time. It’s handy having
somewhere to leave your materials for
the next session, as there’s less chance of
procrastinating if everything is good to go.
Don’t despair if that’s not the case.
At the moment I’m not lucky enough to
have such a space for painting so I store
all the essentials I need to begin painting
in a big cardboard box I keep in the shed.
I bring this into the house whenever I want
to paint, where it also doubles as a light
box for still life.

Keep the sessions regular

The longer the gap between sessions,
the more likely any learning we achieve
t
River Llugwy, watercolour on paper, 434⁄ x7in. (12x18cm). Use every opportunity to practise, is forgotten, however, if you paint small
although not all studies have to be a full-blown exercise in painting. Here I was more interested studies on a regular basis you’ll learn
in the contrasting edges and values on the water’s smooth black flow as it turned to white foam. much faster.

64 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk

t
A single piece of fruit is set in the storage and
light box, illuminated with an adjustable lamp
with a daylight bulb. I use the small painting
box for both still life and outdoor studies.
t
Geevor, acrylic on card, 512⁄ x8in. (14x20cm). Painting on a windy Cornish cliff my
friend’s large canvas turned into a kite and was last seen heading across the Atlantic
for America. Not the only reason to paint small, but a good enough one that day.

The lessons learned from the last

session are still fresh in the mind, so make
a habit of freeing up an hour a couple
of times a week to get you started, and
gradually add to this as you gain in
confidence – and you will gain in
confidence.
The whole painting process can become
cyclic in nature. Painting regularly improves
our knowledge, which in turn boosts our
confidence. This increases our enjoyment
and encourages us to paint some more. The
more time you put in, the more the painting
process becomes second nature, freeing you
up to concentrate on the subject. Best of all,
these benefits will find their way into your
other larger or more sustained works.

Make studies, not paintings

There’s a hidden benefit here. Working
small removes the expectation of producing
the polished masterpiece we call a painting.
Treating these small pieces as studies allows
us to be more adventurous.
We’ll be more likely to experiment, take
risks and explore the medium as we’re not
investing days or weeks on the same
painting. Remember not all our ducklings
will turn into swans so don’t worry, we’re
on a learning curve here, and nobody ever
got worse with the right kind of practice.
Find the mind-set that it’s all about the
process of painting, and not the end result.
That said, the end result can often be the
icing on the cake and, funnily enough,
these accomplished pieces of work become
more frequent the more you paint.

Model the masters

Paint to learn by modelling the masters or
contemporary painters you admire. Keep
the pictures no larger than a postcard.
Paint the whole thing, or just a section
for focused learning purposes, for example,
you may want to practice painting a variety
of edges, exploring values or colour
relationships.

Inspired by John Singer Sargent’s Oyster

t

Gatherers at Cancale, acrylic on card,

712⁄ x512⁄ in. (19x14cm)
t

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 65


t
Victoria Square, oil on canvas paper, 634⁄ x912⁄ in. (17x24cm). This was finished off at home with the
help of photographs. Working so small also means I no longer have to worry about lighting when
I’m photographing work. Smaller studies can be scanned on my printer for excellent results.
Paint from life
Paint from life whenever you can, but
it’s a fact of life that most painters learning
the ropes will work from photographs.
Working small and often from life on
a regular basis will give you a better
understanding of the formal qualities
that make up a painting, such as light,
shadow and colour. Do this often enough
and when it comes to painting from
photographs you’ll be able to compensate
for the limitations of the camera.
t
Sorrento, watercolour on paper, 8x8in. (20x20cm). A small set of watercolours that sat in my
palm, water and the paper on my lap saw me go unnoticed and undisturbed sitting in the shade.
66 AUGUST 2018
Working outdoors
Working small is ideally suited for
getting out and about and travelling
light. Try working on small sketches or
watercolours to begin. If you want to try
acrylics or oils you’ll need to have a little
bit more equipment, but it can still be
done. If you’re really shy about drawing
attention to yourself, the car is a good
way to ease yourself into painting from
life and, if it rains, you can always carry
on, warm and dry. As you gain in
t
Steve Strode paints small en plein air
confidence find a secluded corner
of a park or somewhere off the
beaten track.
As you get out and about more,
the less you’ll worry about curious
onlookers, but if it still bothers you,
a trick a painter friend of mine used
still makes me smile. Leave an upturned
hat on the floor with a few coins in;
this usually keeps them at bay.
Working small outdoors means taking
the bare essentials and spending no
more than a couple of hours at any
particular site.
Easier to store
If you work on paper or card why not
use both sides? Keep your work dated
and in an A4 file, this becomes a visual
diary of your progress. I sometimes
work on thin MDF and keep these in a
sturdy box. The thicker the surface the
fewer you can store, but again paint on
both sides. The main thing to remember
is we’re learning. Practise a lot and
when you’ve completed around 30 or so
studies, compare your first with your
last, and you may be pleasantly
surprised.
In the words of Kevin McPherson:
‘Become a self-learner, continually learn
and challenge yourself.’ Painting small
and often should be tailored to suit your
own learning needs and not simply
a performance of the skills you already
have. Repeating what we already know
is not a challenge so push yourself with
each study. Buy a notebook and after
every session take time to examine
what you’ve done and write down what
worked, what didn’t and what you’d
do differently next time.
Learning any new skill can be hard
going in the initial stages so why not
accelerate that learning process by
painting small and often. Do this with
focus and I guarantee you’ll become
a better painter, faster. LP
Steve Strode
Find out more about Steve and his work
by visiting www.stevestrode.com. If you
have any questions about this article,
please email him through his website.
www.painters-online.co.uk
 & artist
in association with Patchings Art Centre and Jackson’s Art Supplies

Art Club of the Year 2018

A ll UK art clubs are invited to submit a total of five two-
dimensional works that you feel represent your club along
with a written profile, including details about your club’s
history, members and activities. We will select our top ten clubs to
exhibit their five entries at the Pavilion gallery at Patchings Art Centre,
THE JUDGES
Hazel Soan, artist and tutor
Liz Wood, artist, tutor and
Nottinghamshire from 13 October to 11 November. An overall club co-owner of Patchings Art Centre
winner and two runners up will be selected by the judges, and visitors Sally Bulgin, editor The Artist
will be asked to vote for their favourite club for the People’s Choice Ingrid Lyon, editor Leisure Painter
Award. All work entered will be featured on our website at
www.painters-online.co.uk. Entry deadline: 8 September.

Cardigan Art Society: Winner of Art Club of the Year 2017

THE PRIZES

FIRST PRIZE
£500 worth of Jackson’s art
materials vouchers, £100 towards
the cost of a workshop or Jan Brown Cilgerran Oaks,
t

and wash, 17x21in. (43x53cm)

demonstration to club members,
and a profile about the club
published in our magazines, on David Clinch
t

PaintersOnline and through The Artist at the Folie Bar,

oil, 32x42in. (81x106cm)
our social media channels

TWO RUNNERS UP
£250 worth of Jackson’s art
materials vouchers for each club

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD

£100 worth of Jackson’s art
materials vouchers for the club
John Edwards Helen Rowlands
t t
Clare Howell Sybil Kahlo,
t
with the most public votes Nag Nag Nag, Murmuration, lino print,
mixed-media collage,
391⁄2x391⁄2in. (100x100cm) oil, 20x25in. (51x63cm) 13x15in. (33x38cm)

HOW TO ENTER
The competition is open to art clubs across the
UK. Only online entries can be accepted. Only
original work will be considered and paintings
based on reference photographs must have been
taken by the artist or used with the permission of
the photographer. Photography, except where
incorporated into collage, is not acceptable.
1 The non-refundable entry fee of £20 covers the
FIVE entries per art club of two-dimensional work
in any media.
2 No entry should be larger than 120x150cm WHEN
FRAMED (canvases do not need to be framed).
3 To enter, first register your club at www.painters-
online.co.uk via ‘login/register’ and add your club
profile to the biography area of the club account.
Please include a name of your main contact when
registering. Then upload your digital entries via
the link on the Competitions page. Payment will
be added automatically to your basket; please
remember to pay before you leave the website.
4 Upload your entries with the non-refundable
entry fee of £20 by the closing date of 8
September, 2018.
5 Entries will be judged after 9 September when
selected work will be called for exhibition. All
work must be framed (canvases excepted) ready
for exhibition from 13 October to 11 November at
Patchings Art Centre, Nottinghamshire.
6 Successful art clubs will be notified during the
week of 16 September about delivering their work
between 1 and 8 October to Patchings Art Centre.
7 All care will be taken with entries but no
responsibility can be accepted for loss or damage
in transit, incoming or outgoing, whilst on the
competition premises or during the exhibition.
Originals selected and submitted for final
exhibition must be fully insured by the artists.
8 Original works must be left with the organisers
throughout the exhibition.
9 All entries must be original. Submission of entry
in this competition automatically constitutes
acceptance of all the competition rules and
agreement to allow The Artist and/or Leisure
Painter to publish, republish and repurpose
entries in print and digital formats, including but
not limited to magazines, promotion materials,
websites, databases and as part of downloadable
digital products.

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 67

LP Marketplace
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• Free transport 18-23 Jul Final Frontiers of Outer Space - Fantasy
Soraya French, Steve Hall, Barry Herniman, Michal Jasiewicz, • Highly professional tutors Watercolour studio based
31 Jul-3 Aug Experimental Drawing & Painting - water
Carol Kibble, Arnold Lowrey, Kevin Scully, Keiko Tanabe, • Friendly house-party atmosphere
based media some studio sessions
• Delicious food and wine
Paul Weaver, David Webb, Dave White & Peter Woolley • All accommodation en-suite
3-8 Sep
25-28 Sep
Immerse Yourself in Fantasy studio based
Immerse Yourself in Monet’s Waterlily
Paul Alcock, Max Hale, Chris Forsey, Jake Winkle • No single supplement Ponds and Irises - Acrylics
• Stunning locations - easy walking mostly studio based
• All abilities and non-painting 30 Sep-3 Oct Watercolours - Beginnings and
partners welcome Beyond studio based
4-7 Oct Sketching Buildings with Pen
• Well equipped studio
and Wash studio based
• Small numbers to ensure 19-22 Oct Painting Animals in Watercolour
individual attention studio based

ovely ainting oliday dventure 27-30 Oct Flowers and Seedheads in Watercolour
and Additional Media
Picture by David Webb

 Organisers always on location with the group SUPER P

EU WINTER WARMERS

 All Destinations researched thoroughly by Alpha beforehand D UBL AVE

O Two full days’ tuition in our cosy studio from 10am to

DEA L S 5pm, light lunch and delicious dinner plus bed and

£169
breakfast all for only £155 Why not pamper yourself
 At Alpha we use only proven tutors from around the world and add Friday and/or Sunday night dinner, bed and
 Art Materials included on selected holidays breakfast at the special painters’ rate of £55 per night?
Most people do!
 All Abilities & Non Painters Welcome 3 & 4 Nov Build Your Drawing Skill - Try Blind
Contour Drawing!
 Studio & Location based courses in all media 10 & 11 Nov Mixed Media Medley - Painting,
Collage and Printmaking
 All rooms en-suite & some Ground Floor rooms 17 & 18 Nov Working on a Coloured Surface with
Combined Sketching & Walking Holidays Watercolour Pencils and Pastels
24 & 25 Nov Painting the Weather

01934 733877 8 & 9 Dec Animal Portraits in Pastel

Art Holidays in Dorset, The Studio, Boscombe Spa Hotel, 4 Glen Road,
Boscombe Manor, Nr Bournemouth BH5 1HR

68 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk

 Holidays & Courses

Pain�ng Retreat
Chateau de la Chesnaye
in the Loire Valley
Demonstra�on and discussions on art by
Jackson Wrede from Notre Dame University.
£20 OFF
Private, luxurious en-suites. Wholesome French cuisine. all workshops*
Fabulous regional wines. Pain�ng materials included.

Sandra Kelly Williams

+353 86 045 5888
www.chesnaye.com
info@chesnaye.com

Art
r breaks
rt bre
r aks
re k in Exmoor
ks E moor
Ex Art Materials
www.shorlandoldfarm.co.uk
w
ww
ww.
ww
w.shorlandoldfa
f rm.co.uk
fa
Holiday of the month
Beautiful
Beautifu
f l locat
fu
ffood
Good fo od
location
a ion
at
ARTAQUARIUS
aatmosphere
Friendly at mosphere
Courses fofforr all abilities
Non-painting part
partners
r ners welcome
rt
Ready-made groups also welcome
Book now for our Open Painting Retreat
15 - 19 September 2018
Visit website, or telephone for details
Call Sandy on 01598 763505
Email: enquiries@shorlandoldfa
enquiries@shorlandoldfarm.co.uk
f rm.co.uk
fa

Crea�ve - Fun - Courses

Cornwall - Scarborough -Derbyshire
with
Tony Hogan

For all abili�es - media of your choice
Easy to follow tui�on with a touch of
humour with your experienced professional.
Residen�al and non-residen�al courses.
Excellent catering.
Full details on web: www.hoganart.co.uk
Email: admin@hoganart.co.uk
Tel: 01208 895088 Mobile: 07888 852503
colour leaflet on request
PAINT WITH FREEDOM
at La Liberté
with
Linda H. Matthews
Painting Holidays at
Linda’s home in France
Professional Individual
& Group Tuition
Small Groups
Private groups welcome
also Norfolk & Sicily
T
he beautiful location of Artaquarius on the west coast of
Scotland overlooking the Isle of Arran cannot fail to inspire
artists. Artaquarius is based at South Banks House – a 17th
century country house with period features, set in its own large
garden with a stunning rock-cliff backdrop and views across the
Cumbraes, Holy Isle, the Kyles of Bute and Ailsa Craig. From here,
Audrey Haddon Scott runs short break (three-day) painting
holidays in all media and catering for all levels. The courses are
tutored by Muriel Blair, a painter and art teacher from North
Ayrshire, and the house provides elegant and comfortable
accommodation for up to eight people in three double/twin
rooms and three single rooms.
In such a location, the emphasis is on landscapes and
seascapes, with the courses encompassing both outdoor and
indoor work in the purpose built studio in the garden, which
provides a haven when the weather is inclement. Students are
encouraged to work in whatever medium they choose; they are
welcome to take along their own materials, although these can
be provided, particularly the larger equipment such as easels and
boards. Audrey prides herself on creating an atmosphere that is:
“friendly, informal, fun, relaxing and informative”, and when you
take a break from working, she keeps you going with delicious
home-cooked meals and home baking. Non-painting partners are
welcome and there’s plenty for them to do in the area, including
the West Kilbride Golf Club, which is just one mile away.

Contact Audrey Haddon Scott at Artaquarius, South Banks

House, Portencross, near West Kilbride, Ayrshire, Scotland.
Telephone 01294 823949; email info@artaquarius.co.uk or
linda@broadskiesgallery.co.uk visit www.artaquarius.co.uk
paintncanvasholidays.co.uk

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 69

 Holidays & Courses Art Society
ARTS
HOLIDAY “A truly inspiring painting holiday and Tuscany is such a great location”
Barking Art Society
ITALY Friendly group, looking for
October 13th-20th new members to join us.
Join Arts Holiday Italy and the en plein air artist and tutor Paul Alcock for a week of Demos, workshops, model drawing, sketching
painting in and around the stunning Anghiari area of Tuscany. trips and best of year show.
15%
• All ability levels & non-painters DISCOUNT We meet Tuesday nights at Ted Ball Memorial Hall,
welcome. when quoting Neasham Road, Dagenham RM8 2LU
• All art materials included on the Leisure Painter
holiday. or The Artist
First 2wks are free. £20 p/a membership + £2 p/w
• Outstanding accommodation with Phone Brian: 07915 048513
swimming pool, authentic food or drop in to meet us.
and wine.
• Airport pickup, transportation and all
excursions included.
• Organisers and two artist tutors Visit www.painters-online.co.uk/Marketplace
always on location with the group.
for further details of goods and services
For more information visit www.artsholidayitaly.com
contact us on enquiries@artsholidayitaly.com Mobile: 07792 186043
Art Shops Framing

AshcraftArtists
FramingFrames
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Shop online Call 01427 787318 or visit
www.pegasusart.co.uk www.ashcraftframing.co.uk/store
01453 886560
To advertise call
Anna-Marie on
01778 392048

visit the

Search Press
Demo Day at the Mall Galleries
23rd August 2018
11am - 4pm
Mall Galleries, The Mall
SW1 London
Come and see our fabulous authors including: Hashim Akib, Billy
Showell, Julie King and more!
Tickets cost £5 and can be purchased in advance on eventbrite or on the
day at the gallery
SearchPressArt www.searchpress.com
LP_HalfPage_August1.indd 1 26/06/2018 15:45:06
70 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk
 Books
WHAT TO READ THIS MONTH
Botanical
painting
Botanical Painting
by Margaret
Stevens brings
Visit www.painters-online.co.uk/store and click together the work
on the link to books to buy the latest practical of some of the
art books available from LP’s online bookshop Society of
Botanical Artist’s
most accomplished
members to teach
All about the art of painting
acrylics flowers to a new
Based in Canada, author, audience. Clear
painter and educator, and beautifully
Rhéni Tauchid, is an illustrated step-by-
expert in the history and step demonstrations allow you to follow each artist’s
development of acrylic methods and techniques, and plenty of artist tip boxes
paint. Here she describes help to avoid any problems you may encounter along the
everything you need to way. Interestingly, in addition to information on
know about acrylic traditional methods, Margaret includes new options, such
mediums and methods – as working on vellum, and using coloured pencils, egg
from thinning and tempera and metal point. The book is inspiring,
glazing to texturing and informative and beautifully presented.
thickening. More than Botanical Painting by Margaret Stevens. Batsford, (h/b), £25.
20 step-by-step
demonstrations are
included, showing how other artists use the medium to striking
effect. There’s no “single way to explore acrylic mediums,”
writes Rhéni, but through experimentation and giving yourself John Blockley
the freedom to explore, “your paintings will gain depth, In this new book on the art of John Blockley, his daughter Ann
dimension, and individuality”. This book offers a contemporary has produced a record of her father’s legacy to the art world. Her
and comprehensive reference guide for anyone interested in aim was to “allow the work to speak for itself: to let viewers,
painting with acrylics and in taking their work to new levels. both old and new, draw their own conclusions”.
Acrylic Painting Mediums and Methods by Rhéni Tauchid. Monacelli Press, John Blockley: A
(h/b), £32. Retrospective includes
many paintings and
drawings that have not
been seen or exhibited
Figures on before – most of them
the iPad hidden in a plan chest
Explore the creative in Ann’s studio where
potential of your iPad they had been stored
with Julian Vilarrubi’s new since his death in
guide to Life Drawing on 2001. The book tells
the iPad. Julian introduces the story of her father,
the basics you will need from his birth in 1921,
to get started, including through his paintings,
information on which with chapters
apps are available and dedicated to media –
how to start making watercolour, pastel, acrylic and mixed media and drawing –
images quickly and easily. Learn how to build up layers, before moving on to elements within his paintings, such as
select brushes, work with and store colours, and buildings, figures, and boats. The book finishes with a section
measure figures accurately. There’s plenty of good devoted to his later landscapes from 1995 until his death.
advice here for artists wanting to draw the human body Throughout, Ann offers a perceptive narrative of her father’s
in conventional ways, but Julian makes a good case for painting style and methods that will highlight the enormous
experimenting with modern technology. contribution he made to the development of painting in the late
Life Drawing on the iPad by Julian Vilarrubi. Crowood, 20th century.
(p/b), £16.99. John Blockley: A Retrospective compiled by Ann Blockley.
Batsford, (h/b), £25.

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 71

 The online home of
and magazines

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Offers available to UK READERS ONLY
closing date 25th October 2018
 Art clubs
OVER TO YOU FOR THE LATEST NEWS ON CLUB
EXHIBITIONS AND ACTIVITIES
Highlights
Artlink
The Summer Artlink exhibition will
be on show at Ibsley Hall, Ibsley,
Hampshire BN24 3NL from 23 to 27
August, 10am to 5pm daily.
Enquiries to lmr@gmail.com
Artlook
Artlook, a group of 11 artists based in
Hampshire and Wiltshire, will be
holding two exhibitions this summer
– the first at Sir Harold Hillier
Gardens, near Romsey SO51 0QA from
24 July to 7 August, and the second as
part of Hampshire Open Studios at
the Wallops Parish Hall (on the A343)
SO20 8EG, from 18 to 20 August.
For more information visit www.artlook.org
Association of Marine Artists
The Association of Marine Artists in
Ireland will be holding its annual
open-air art exhibitions on the East
Pier, Dun Laoghaire Harbour, Dublin
Bay on 14 and 15 July, 4 to 6 August
and 1 and 2 September. If you
would like to find out more, go to
www.dlharbour.ie
Bridgnorth & District
Arts Society
Members of the Bridgnorth & District
Arts Society (BDAS) will be showing
their work at St. Leonard’s Church,
St. Leonard’s Close, just off the High
Street in Bridgnorth, from 17 August
until 2 September. This will be the
group’s 33rd exhibition, and offers
visitors the opportunity to purchase
original works at sensible prices. The
society holds weekly painting sessions
and monthly art demonstrations as
well as regular workshops and visits
to art galleries and exhibitions. New
members are always welcome.
For more information go to the society’s
Facebook page at BridgnorthArtsSociety
Guildford Arts
The Guildford Arts summer
exhibition, including paintings, prints,
sculpture, ceramics and glass, can be
seen at Yvonne Arnaud Art Theatre,
Millbrook, Guildford GU1 3UX until
19 July. On Saturdays there is an
opportunity to meet the artists. Open
Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm.
Visit www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk
Newton Poppleford
Art Society
The society is holding its 22nd annual
exhibition of members’ work at
Kennaway House, Coburg Road,
Sidmouth, Devon EX10 8NG, from
21 to 29 July. The exhibition is open
daily, 10am to 5pm; closing at 4pm
on final day. There will be a chance to
win Rob Walker’s lovely painting, Blue
Tit, (below) by casting your vote for
the society’s next logo.
CLUB EXHIBITIONS
n The Attic Art Club
Exhibition at The Village Hall, 18 Lewes
Road, Ditchling BN6 8TT on Friday 24
August, 12 noon to 6pm; then 25 to 27
August, 10am to 5pm.
n Battle and District Arts Group
Annual exhibition at the Battle Memorial
Hall, 81 High Street, East Sussex TN33 0AQ
from 1 to 11 August, 10am to 5pm daily;
closing at 4pm on final day.
n Bembridge Art Society
Summer exhibition at Bembridge Village
Hall, High Street, Bembridge from 5 to 11
August, 9.30am to 5pm daily.
n Bexley Art Group
Annual exhibition at the Freemantle Hall,
Bexley High Street, Kent DA5 1AA from 30
July to 11 August. Open daily, 10am to
6pm; from 10am until 4pm on Sundays
and until 8pm on Wednesdays. Enquiries to
Marilyn Noad on 01322 430681.
Blandford Art Society
Open exhibition at the Corn Exchange,
Blandford, Dorset from 13 to 28 August.
Visit www.blandfordartsociety.weebly.com
n Boughton Art Group
Exhibition at Edwinstowe Craft Centre
Atrium on Saturday 18 August, 10am to
5pm and Sunday 19 August, 10am to 4pm.
n Caister Art Group
Annual one-day exhibition at Caister Holy
Trinity Church, Norwich Road, Caister-on-
Sea on Bank Holiday Monday 27 August,
10am to 3pm.

Rob Walker Blue Tit, watercolour and pastel,

t

14x14in. (35.5x35.5cm). For your chance to win

this painting, go along to the Newton
Poppleford Art Society’s summer exhibition at
Kennaway House in Sidmouth, Devon and vote
for the society’s next logo.
t

www.painters-online.co.uk AUGUST 2018 73


Highlights
North Lincs Art Society
The society’s second exhibition of the
year returns to St. Margaret’s Church,
Laceby, near Grimsby in north east
Lincolnshire DN37 7AA from 21 to 25
August, 10am to 4pm daily. On Friday 24
August between 7 and 9pm, the church
will host a wine and cheese evening,
which will include a pastel
demonstration by Mick Craven. Entry is
by ticket. Telephone 01472 883438 for
details. The exhibition will include
original paintings, prints, greetings cards
and hand-painted ceramics. Contact Mick
Craven on 01472 883438 or visit
www.nlasart.co.uk
North Wales ArtFest 2018
The annual North Wales ArtFest takes
place at Porth Eirias Exhibition Centre,
The Promenade, Colwyn Bay LL29 8HH
on 26 and 27 July, 10am to 5pm daily.
Ringwood Art Society
The Ringwood Art Society celebrates its
50th anniversary with a summer
exhibition at Greyfriars, 44 Christchurch
Road, Ringwood BH24 1DW from 9 to 24
August. Open 10am to 4.45pm daily,
1pm to 5pm on Sundays. Visit
www.ringwoodartsociety.org
74 AUGUST 2018
Irene Colquhoun Market Day, acrylic on
t
canvas, 8x8in. (20x20cm) from the Salisbury
Group of Artist’s annual summer exhibition
Salisbury Group of Artists
The Salisbury Group of Artists is
holding its annual summer exhibition
at Gallery 4, Salisbury Library SP1 1BL
from 4 to 30 August. Open during
normal library hours, the works on
show will be selected and judged by
international artist, Siriol Sherlock,
who will also select the winner for the
Edwin Young Trophy. A Meet the Artist
event takes place at the library gallery
on Saturday 4 August, when there will
be an opportunity to talk to the
exhibiting artists about their work. For
more information telephone 01722 743577
or visit www.salisburygroupofartists.co.uk
The Totton Art Society
The Totton Art Society is celebrating its
50th anniversary with a special
exhibition of paintings and pottery at
the Palm Room, Totton and Ealing
Community Centre, Salisbury Road,
Totton from 18 to 25 August. The
exhibition, which forms part of the
Hampshire Open Studio event, is open
daily, 10am to 5pm. Light
refreshments will be available For more
information visit www.tottonartsociety.org.uk
Art clubs continued
Chagford Art Group
Summer exhibition at the Jubilee Hall,
Chagford, Devon TQ13 8DP, from 8 to 11
August. Open daily, 10am to 4pm.
n Clevedon Art Club
62nd annual art exhibition at The Science
Atrium, Clevedon School, Valley Road,
Clevedon, North Somerset BS21 6AH from
18 to 27 August, 10.30am to 6pm daily;
from 2 to 6pm on Sundays. Visit
www.clevedonartclub.co.uk
n Cookham Arts Club
77th annual exhibition at Pinder Hall,
Cookham Rise SL6 9EH from 14 to 26
August, 10am to 6pm daily; closing at 5pm
on final day.
n Corstorphine Art Group
Exhibition at St. Ninian’s Church Hall,
St. Ninian’s Road, Corstorphine, Edinburgh
from 28 July to 4 August. Open daily,
excluding Sundays, from 10.30am until
4.30pm; until 6.30pm on Thursday and
closing at 3.30pm on final day. Visit
www.corstorphineartgroup.co.uk
n Dartmouth Art Society
Summer exhibition at Dartmouth Masonic
Hall, Lower Street, Dartmouth from 5 to 17
August. Open daily, 10.15am to 5pm. Visit
www.dartartsociety.wix.com/townstal
n Dean Prior Life Drawing Group
Summer exhibition in Birdwood House
Gallery, Totnes, Devon from 29 July to 4
August. Open daily, 10am to 4.45pm.
n Dunfermline Art Club
Themed exhibition on the subject of
Dunfermline and West Fife at the
Community Gallery, Dunfermline Carnegie
Library and Galleries, Abbot Street,
Dunfermline, until 7 October. Open
Mondays and Thursdays, 10am to 7pm;
Tuesdays and Fridays, 10am to 5pm;
Wednesdays, 10am to 2pm; Saturdays,
10am to 4pm; Sundays, 12noon to 4pm.
n Felixstowe Art Group
Annual exhibition at Trinity Methodist
Church Hall, Orwell Road, Felixstowe from 7
to 11 August, 10am to 6pm daily; closing at
5pm on final day. Telephone 01394 276975
or visit www.felixstoweartgroup.org
n Friendly Society of Artists
Annual exhibition at Peveril Centre,
Methodist Church, Astleton, Derbyshire S33
8WP on 11 August, 10am to 6pm and 12
August, 12 noon to 5pm.
n Gravesend Art Group
Annual exhibition at the St. Andrew’s Arts
Centre, Royal Pier Road, Gravesend DA12
2BD from 25 August to 2 September. Open
daily, 10.30am to 5.30pm; closing at 4pm
on final day.
n Lindley Art Club
Annual exhibition at Salendine Nook
Baptist Church, Morrhill Road, Salendine
Nook, Huddersfield HD3 3SS on 10 and 11
August, 10am to 4pm daily.
www.painters-online.co.uk
n Llandrindod Wells Art Club
Annual exhibition at the Metropole Hotel’s
Garden Room, Temple Street, Llandrindod
Wells, Powys, from 10am on 18 to 27
August.
n The Mablethorpe Art Group
Annual exhibition at the Community Hall,
Stanley Avenue, Mablethorpe on 11 and 12
August, 10am to 4pm daily.
n Matlock Artists Society
Summer exhibition at the Gothic Wharf
Gallery, Cromford Mill DE4 3RQ from 30 July
to 5 August.
n Newton Abbot Art Group
Autumn exhibition at Passmore Edwards
Public Library, Market Street, Newton Abbot
TQ12 2RJ from 4 to 18 August. Open during
usual library hours; closed on Sundays.
n Oswestry and District Art Society
Summer exhibition at the Memorial Hall,
Oswestry from 28 July to 4 August.
n Pateley Bridge Art Club
Summer exhibition (part of the Nidd Art
Trail) at St. Cuthbert’s School, King Street,
Pateley Bridge from 17 to 20 August, 10am
to 5pm daily.
n Phoenix Group
Exhibition of art and crafts at Medmerry
School, Selsey, West Sussex from 9 to 11
August. Open daily, 10am to 5pm; closing
at 4pm on final day.
n The Poole and East Dorset
Art Society (PEDAS)
Summer exhibition at the Dolphin Centre,
Poole BH15 1SZ, from 1 to 11 August, 9am
to 5pm daily. Visit www.pedas.org.uk
n Romney Marsh Art Society
60th annual exhibition at The Marsh
Academy, Station Road, New Romney TN28
8BB from 28 July to 10 August. Open daily,
10.30am to 4.30pm.
n Rossetti Art Group
Annual exhibition at Rossetti Hall, 38 New
Pond Road, Holmer Green HP15 6SU on
Saturday 18 August, 10am to 6pm and
Sunday 19 August, 10am to 5pm.
n St. Albans Art Society
Summer exhibition at Dagnall Street Baptist
Church Hall, St. Albans AL3 5EE from 25 to
28 July, 10am to 6pm daily. Visit
www.stalbans-artsociety.org.uk
n Sarnia Arts & Crafts Club
Annual exhibition at Elizabeth College, The
Grange, St Peter Port, Guernsey from July 27
to August 5. Open daily, 10am to 5pm;
closing at 3pm on final day. Enquiries to
01481 25004.
n Stirling Art Club
Annual exhibition at Holy Trinity Church
Hall, Dumbarton Road, Stirling from 4 to 11
August. Open daily, 10am to 8pm, from 2 to
6pm on Sunday 5 August and closing at
5pm on final day.
www.painters-online.co.uk
n Stratford upon Avon Art Society
Summer exhibition at King Edward VI
School, Chapel Lane, Stratford upon Avon
CV37 6HB from 11 to 27 August. Open daily
from 10.30am to 5pm. Visit
www.stratforduponavonartsociety.co.uk
n Tewkesbury Art Society
Summer exhibition at the Methodist
Church, By the Cross, Barton Street,
Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire from 21 to 28
July, 10am to 4pm daily. Visit www.t-a-s.info
n Thringstone Art Group
Annual exhibition at Thringstone
Community Centre LE67 8NR from 18 to 27
August. Open weekdays, 3 to 9pm;
Saturdays, 1 to 5pm; Sundays 2 to 5pm and
Bank Holiday Monday, 1 to 5pm.
n The Tuesday Painters Club of Rye
55th annual exhibition at St. Mary’s Centre,
Lion Street, Rye from 3pm on Friday 17
August then daily, 10am to 5.30pm, until
Monday 27 August.
n
Twenty4Art Society
Annual exhibition at Pamphill Parish Hall,
Wimborne, Dorset BH21 4ED from 25 to 27
August, 10am to 4.30pm daily.
n West Wycombe Art Group
Summer exhibition at West Wycombe
Village Hall, High Street, West Wycombe,
Buckinghamshire HP14 3AB from 24 to 27
August. Open Friday and Monday, 10am to
5pm; Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 6pm.
Visit www.westwycombeartgroup.com
n Windermere Art Society
Exhibition at the Ladyholme Centre, Lake
Road, Windermere from 30 July to 11
August, 10.30am to 5.30pm daily; closing at
4pm on final day.
n Wokingham Art Society
63rd annual exhibition at St. Paul’s Parish
Rooms, Reading Road, Wokingham RG41
1EH from 21 July to 4 August.
Highlights
Wannock Artists
The Wannock Artists’ annual
exhibition is at Wannock Village
Hall, Jevington Road, Wannock, East
Sussex BN26 5NX, from 24 to 27
August. The exhibition will be open
on Friday from 7 to 9pm; Saturday
and Sunday from 10am until
5.30pm and on Monday from 10am
until 4pm. The group meets on the
last Friday of the month (7 to 9pm)
at the village hall for artists’ talks
and demonstrations. For more
information visit
www.wannockartists.co.uk
Warwickshire Watercolourists
The Warwickshire Watercolourists is
one of the leading watercolour
Demonstrations
n Brighouse Art Circle
Paul Talbot-Greaves will give a
landscape demonstration to
members of the Brighouse Art
Circle on Thursday 9 August.
Demonstrations, which start at
7.30pm, take place at Waring
Green Community Centre,
Brighouse. Non-members are
always welcome. Visit
www.brighouseartcircle@yahoo.co.uk
or telephone Geoff on 01484 712947.
n Halifax Art Society
Two demonstrations to look out
for this month at the Halifax Art
Society include Jenny Reid on
Colour Mixing with Watercolour on
Friday 10 August and Mark
Burgum who will lead a
workshop on Drawing Techniques
with Trees on Friday 17. Meetings
take place at All Saints Parish
Hall, Godfrey Road, Skircoat
Green, Halifax from 10.30am
until 1pm. For more information visit
www.halifaxartsociety.com
n Hipperholme and
Lightcliffe Art Society
Bruce Mulcahy will give a
gouache demonstration to the
Hipperholme and Lightcliffe Art
Society on Tuesday 7 August, 7.30
to 9.30pm. Demonstrations take
place at Brighouse Rest Centre,
Park Row, Brighouse. For more
information visit www.handlas.co.uk
societies in the Midlands. The group
will be showing more than 200
paintings at its popular annual
exhibition at the Berkswell Reading
Room, Meriden, West Midlands CV7
7BE, from 25 to 27 August, 10am to
5pm daily.
Wimborne Creatives
A new art group in Wimborne,
Dorset, the Wimborne Creatives will
be showing their work at The
Medieval Barn, Courtyard Centre,
Lytchett Minster, Dorset BH16 6BA,
from 1 to 7 August, 10am to 4pm
daily. The Courtyard Centre is in an
idyllic semi-rural setting with more
than 20 businesses operating,
including a pottery and wool shop.
AUGUST 2018 75
 Art club gallery BEST IN SHOW PAINTINGS

If you would like to see your art group’s winning paintings

reproduced here, encourage visitors to your next exhibition
to vote for their favourite work. At the end of the show,
simply send us the details and we’ll do our best to include
all paintings received. Full details are given below right.

Wall Heath Art Club

t

Malcolm Bradley
Closed Gate, watercolour,
t
Friday Workshop Art Group
133⁄4x9in. (34x23cm). Terry Cunningham Heroes, acrylic, 16x20in.
The Wall Heath Art Club (40.5x51cm). The Friday Workshop Art Group
started approximately 12 comprises around 20 painters who meet in the
years ago and now has a Emsworth Community Centre on Friday mornings.
membership of 34 Members take along their own work – in all styles
painters of various ages and media. There is no formal tuition, but plenty
and abilities. The group of encouragement and constructive criticism. For
meets at 10am on Tuesday more information visit
mornings, with breaks for www.emsworthcommunitycentre.org.uk
summer holidays and
Christmas. As well as
painting sessions, there are Wrabness Art Club
t

periodic demonstrations Geoff Thorpe Stormy Seas, Selsey, watercolour,

and occasional workshops 111⁄2x151⁄2in. (29x39.5cm). The Wrabness Art Club is a
throughout the year. For small self-help club of around 20 members who
information telephone Gail meet once a week to paint together in a relaxed
Belchamber on 07427 environment. For more information contact
147636. Jan Truscott: 01255 880517.

Sutton Coldfield
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Society of Artists
Keith Ripley
Painting Day,
watercolour 20x25in.
(51x64cm). The Sutton
Coldfield Society of
Artists holds two
exhibitions a year, with
monthly professional
demonstrations and
regular meetings,
where members paint
together. The group
also arranges en plein
air painting sessions in
the summer months at
a variety of venues.
New members are
always welcome. For
more information visit
www.suttoncoldfieldso
cietyofartists.co.uk

76 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk

t
Kirby Bellars Group of Artists
David Wenborn Laced Seascape, oil on canvas, 19x243⁄4in.
(48x63cm). The Kirby Bellars Group of Artists was founded by
artist, David Weston, in 1982. Members meet weekly in Kirby
Bellars Village Hall for demonstrations and for outdoor painting
in the summer months. For more information visit
www.kbga.org.uk
How you can join in
To participate in our best in show feature, arrange
for the voting to take place at your next club
exhibition, then send Leisure Painter a photograph,
transparency or jpeg of the chosen painting. We can
only accept sharp, high-resolution (300dpi) images
for reproduction purposes. Attach details of the
artist, title, medium and dimensions, along with
details of the club itself. LP also welcomes art
exhibition listings, profiles, events, letters and news.
Send to Jane Stroud, 63/65 High Street, Tenterden,
Kent TN30 6BD; or email jane@tapc.co.uk
www.painters-online.co.uk
t
Mick Walsh Tokyo Rain, mixed media, 1134⁄ x1134⁄ in. (30x30cm)
t
Jill Hammond Mevagissey, Safe Harbour, mixed media,
30x20in. (76x51cm)
Cheltenham Art Club
For the first time ever, the best in show vote was a tie at
Cheltenham Art Club’s spring exhibition, with Mick and Jill’s
work receiving equal votes. One of the largest art clubs in
the country, this lively group has its own studio in the lower
High Street area in Cheltenham, where members meet to
paint in small friendly groups and for talks, exhibitions,
demonstrations and social gatherings. New members are
always welcome. Visit www.cheltenhamartclub.co.uk
AUGUST 2018 77
 Online gallery
Jane Stroud’s selection of works from our PaintersOnline gallery
WWW.PAINTERS-ONLINE.CO.UK

This painting is inspired by one of

Judith Yates
P
t
rofessional artist, Judith Yates, works from
Godrevey Rocks, her busy home studio in Coventry, recreating
acrylic on canvas,
153⁄4x153⁄4in. the sensual pleasures of the landscape and
(40x40cm) atmosphere of the coast. Here she describes how
a happy juxtaposition of silken water against
hard rocks inspired this painting of the Cornish
coast. If you would like to see more of Judith’s
work, post a comment or upload your own
images to our free online gallery, visit
www.painters-online.co.uk
Judith’s many visits to Godrevey
across the bay from St. Ives. “One
shot taken at high tide, from a
whole series of photographs of
the area, struck me for its quality
of glittering clear sea against the
hard-edged rocks. I wanted to
capture that stark contrast in my
work. I chose a simple
composition with dramatic
lighting: the dark shadows of the
rocks against the clear sunlit
water. I started with the rocks,
laying down the darkest colours
and shapes, slowly building up
colour through subtle tones of
mid grey, to the paler greys where
the sun hit the rock edges. I used
a mix of ultramarine, purple and
burnt umber in the deep
shadows. The rocks were kept
suggestive and loose, using a
palette knife and a flat brush to
avoid too much detail. I painted
the water next, with different
patches and tones of dark colour
showing beneath the water:
greens, blues and deep grey-
browns. Referring closely to my
photo reference, the mid-toned
reflection details were added with
a small round brush, as I started
to build up movement and
shimmer in the water. The bright
greens and turquoises of the
sunlight shining through the
water were added next and,
finally, the brightest highlights of
sky reflected on the rippled
surface, using a Rigger brush to capture the
fluid movement.”
Judith sells her work privately and through a
number of galleries. She also offers painting
workshops from her studio in Coventry,
working with a small number of students, and
has recently started tutoring on art holidays in
the Dordogne, France.
She also works with several art societies,
running workshops and demonstrating a
range of painting processes. To find out more
go to www.judithyates.com

78 AUGUST 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk

 PAINTERSONLINE How to paint your

M
version of Starry Night
The online home of Leisure Painter by Van Gogh with
GQ Design Studio
Here are links to some of the
best practical art videos online,

M
recommended by our website
editor, Dawn Farley
Visit https://painte.rs/2JPcgT2

M
Moonlight

M
watercolour demo
This month: how to paint night skies with Maria Raczynska

M
M

M
Paint a night full of stars
M M
Paint the moon and a blue M
How to paint a night sky
with Tetiana Ntomnits tree by Candy Brush on black with Yovette

Find our friendly community of artists on PaintersOnline for more

videos, a free gallery, forums, blogs, hints & tips and much more! www.painters-online.co.uk

Develop your painting skills

with artist 80 PAGES OF IDEAS & INSPIRATION FROM TOP ARTISTS

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COMPOSITIONS
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ho doesn’t enjoy a bit of
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almost without realising it, we quickly
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about their lives. In essence we have tend to contain an aspect of realism, example an empty room, a tipped-up
begun to make up our own story. You with some recognisable structures or chair, discarded objects or a door left How to develop a successful
could be mistaken for thinking that, figures, but not all representational or ajar might hint at an event that has just
A C R Y Lwith I Cour
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DEMONSTRATION Waiting
might be lost, but in reality we are narrative it must suggest a sequence of the viewer to use their imagination and Paint wild flowers close up in
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demonstration
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narrative story is played out in its entirety on the Although the term ‘narrative art, did 3 easy stages
changed is that we find people and canvas, a narrative work may also not come about until the 1960s, in
their lives fascinating and as such they allude to events that might have taken reality it has existed since prehistoric Enjoy the benefits of water-

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can provide a rich source of inspiration place prior to or after the scene times. As storytelling predates literacy,
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long since exploited our ability to figure painting might not be considered paintings whilst having ritualistic and
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Narrative art is simply art that tells a
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Likewise, it is possible to create a
ceremonial significance were also used
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Throughout history much of Western art
AND MUCH MORE!
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Sometimes referred to as ‘history’

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STAGE ONE STAGE TWO
Using a toned background, I began by roughly placing the figure
to the size I felt best fit the frame. I chose to isolate the figure and
place her centrally but looking off to one side. To add to a more
natural feel I chose a fairly neutral colour palette
Very loosely, using a flat brush, I blocked in flat areas of local colour and
tone. For this painting my palette included Naples yellow, raw sienna,
naphthol crimson, burnt sienna, cerulean blue, cobalt blue and of course
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49

STAGE THREE STAGE FOUR

Once I was happy with the placement and general proportion of the
figure, I started to suggest the background. I like the rhythm created
by the horizontal lines of the steps so continued them to the top of
the frame. At the same time I applied another coat of paint to areas
of the figure for greater solidity and added shadows to add form
Only at this stage do I allow myself to get involved in some of the
details, such as the hair, the sunglasses and the essential phone in
hand. Not interested in a likeness as such, I concentrated on the
position of her head and her feet

48 artist August 2018 www.painters-online.co.uk

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