THIS ISSUE PAGES
2009 DEMONSTRATIONS SEPTEMBER TO NOVEMBER
BRIAN HARRILD ~ September 2009
Acrylic is a versatile medium and may be used on various supports. Brian painted his picture on 140lb. not paper taped to a board positioned horizontally. He 'stretched' the paper on the board by wiping the surface with a wet cloth prior to painting.His sky was pale pthalo blue and cadmium orange using separate brushes for spearate colours. He lifted out a white shape as the sun. The distant area was painted using blue and green with a much stronger torquoise blue-green was painted in the lower third of the painting. Brian then dried the paint before adding the darker foreground.
He turned the painting upside-down and wetted the upper half of the painting before adding a thin layer of orange to the sky, follwed by a darker reddish- orange. More phthalo blue completed the colour balance of the scene.
BRIAN'S TIPS
Cover a plate with foil to use as a palette.
Use artist's quality materials were possible.
Filbert brushes are useful for painting small areas and flat brushes for large areas.
Bockingford is not ideal for paintng wet-in-wet. Brian prefers Saunders Waterford paper.
Make your own tinted paper for watercolour paintings by soaking paper in a thin acrylic wash.
SUE OBAGU ~ October 2009
Sue paints on silk using a gutta resist outline around strong colours. Working flat with the silk fabric pinned to a wooden frame, The paints are poured into china dishes. The brushes may be easily cleaned with water.
Sue has to work boldly but accurately since mistakes cannot be erased. She used autumn leaves as her reference, drawing the outlines and adding streaks and dabs of colour to blend together as they were absorbed by the fabric. The colours lighten as they dry. Press with a hot iron to make colour fast and mount for display.
SUE'S TIPS
Create texture by sprinkling with granular sea salt.
Paint the veins of leaves with gold gutta.
CHRIS JONES ~ November 2009
Chris works with oils and acrylics using a lot of light colour in his paintings. He prefers to use synthetic watercolour brushes with a fine point. Whe painting on paper he uses 360lb. hot press which is stretched, primed with a thin layer of primer and lightly sanded. Alternatively, he uses the back of mountboard or MDF board primed with two layers of gesso and sanded.
Following the practice of some old masters, Chris uses near-black and greys to create a monochrome tonal structure followed by colour worked in a direction to create texture.Working from dark to light he added mid-tone greys to the feathers and to the straw to create shadow.
Chris prefers warm colours and used a solid dark brown background colour in order to create more contrast with the texture of the chicken. He stressed the importance of clean edges between the background and the subject.
CHRIS'S TIPS
Using large blobs of acrylic paint on the palette enables the use of dry palettes.
Substitute tear-off palettes with cheap waxed party plates.
Make your paintings more expressive by not always referring to the reference and having some less-detailed, more abstract areas.
When the paint is thick enough and the tone is correct, 'outrageous 'colours can be used effectively e.g. strong orange in the straw.
Many thanks to every artist who has visited us. We appreciate all the time and effort that you have spent.
Our members are enriched by our professional demonstrations and, together with Claire Palmer, our Programme Manager, they make a large contribution to our continued success.
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All images are copyright
Photos: Di Alexander ©
Totton Art Society
