Sommaire pour April 2024 de Leisure Painter

TIPS • When using multiple photos as reference material, make sure you are consistent with the direction of highlights and shadows in the painting. • Mix more paint than you think will be needed and keep it fresh by covering with Clingfilm in case any touch-ups are later needed. • Your painting will have more unity if the same colours are repeated throughout the painting; for instance, the sky colour will be reflected in the sea. The photographs you see on these pages were taken on the Central Coast of New South Wales, north of Sydney, Australia. During this holiday at a long beach with kilometres of sand dunes, I spent hours exploring and taking photos from many different angles and various lighting conditions. I came back to the studio…

Acrylics There’s something so comical and adorable about meerkats -I love watching their expressions; they are so cute! I have many meerkat photos, but this one caught my eye as it really captures a gentle beauty as well as the character of the meerkat (right). We’re going to call him Merlin. The lighting is lovely and helps his eye to sparkle and show some beautiful colours. I also chose Merlin because his fur is ideal for use with acrylics. The gloriously wispy hair on his body is simply made for acrylics – a great base layer or two, followed by a detailing brush (and a few layers) will make short work of this fur in no time. The ability of acrylics to dry quickly and allow you to layer brighter…

WWW.PAINTERS-ONLINE.CO.UK Ellie Sheil has always enjoyed drawing and has dabbled with most media and various styles over the years, but she has recently fallen in love with soft pastels. Here she describes how she used one of her photographs as a reference for her pastel landscape. To see more of Ellie’s work, post a comment or upload your own image, visit www.painters-online.co.uk ‘There is always art in my everyday life, whether it’s reading books and magazines, watching tutorials or sneaking in a bit of painting for an hour before heading to work. My reference for Evening After the Harvest was from a photo I took back in November 2022 at a local vineyard. Living in a patch of West Sussex near the South Downs, it’s easy to get inspired by…

Exhibitions ■ Arnold Art Society Exhibition at Pond Hills Community Centre, Pond Hills Lane, Arnold, Nottingham NG5 8DR, on 13 and 14 April, 10am to 4pm each day. Visit www.art4arnold@outlook.com ■ Cheltenham Art Club Spring exhibition at the Gardens Gallery, Montpellier Gardens, Cheltenham, from 3 to 9 April, 10am to 5pm; opening at 12 on the 3rd and closing at 1pm on the final day. Visit www.cheltenhamartclub.co.uk ■ Cookham Arts Club Spring exhibition at Pinder Hall, Cookham Rise, SL6 9EH, from 1 to 3 March. Open Friday, 2 to 6pm; Saturday, 10am to 6pm; and Sunday, 10am to 4.45pm. Visit www.cookhamartsclub.com ■ Denbighshire Art Society Easter exhibition at The Studio, 10 Penrhos Road, Colwyn Bay LL28 4DB, from 29 March to 5 April, 11am to 4pm daily. Visit www.dasoc.info ■…

EXHIBITIONS LONDON ■ Bankside Gallery 48 Hopton Street SE1. 020 7928 7521 www.banksidegallery.com ‘The Society of Wood Engravers’, until 25 February. ‘New Light Prize’: exhibition celebrating and promoting Northern art, supporting both well-known and emerging artists, 27 February to 3 March. ‘RWS Open’: annual open-submission watercolour exhibition, 8 to 24 March. ■ Dulwich Picture Gallery Gallery Road SE21. 020 8693 5254 www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk ‘Soulscapes’: exploring new interpretations of landscape art, 14 February until 2 June. ■ Mall Galleries The Mall SW1. 020 7930 6844 www.mallgalleries.org.uk ‘Royal Society of British Artists’: annual exhibition, 29 February to 9 March. ‘Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours’: 212th exhibition, 28 March to 13 April. ■ National Gallery Trafalgar Square WC2. 020 7747 2885 www.nationalgallery.org.uk ‘Discover Liotard and the Lavergne Family Breakfast’, until 3 March.…

For those of us who paint as a hobby or just for pleasure, there is the question of what do we do with everything we produce? Storing artwork in the wrong place can result in damage, which comes from the environment in which we choose to store our work. Attics and garages should be avoided, as these areas are often subject to rapid changes in temperature and humidity. Severe conditions can cause cracked paint, warped canvas frames and mould growth. Turning a cupboard, or part of a room that is completely inside the house into storage is the best option. If you have space, successful artwork is best framed and hung on the wall. I store a lot of my art on the studio walls in this way. Homemade storage…

Discovering a reliable watercolour paper can prove to be quite a challenge for many an artist. A good-quality paper is the foundation of any watercolour artwork, both for the beginner and the more experienced painter. Hahnemühle traditional Artist papers are produced using high quality 100-per-cent cotton rag, which results in a robust, reliable surface that is a pleasure to paint on. Relatively new to Hahnemühle is a range called, The Collection, which features a group of papers with weights of 300gsm and 640gsm. These papers use carefully chosen strong cotton fibres and natural filler materials, which has resulted in a durable surface of very high quality, with fibres that do not lift or dislodge, even when subjected to multiple layers of watercolour paint. They are vegan, resistant to ageing and…

Oils I always take a deep breath as we head into winter. I’m one of those people who embraces December and its twinkly lights, but I struggle with the long hours of darkness each day; January is particularly undesirable. I do have a poor memory, however, and every year I am reminded just how beautiful winter light can be, even if fleeting. Winter is the calm before the storm, nature’s downtime before spring. But dotted among the low light and gloom you can find little bits of magic. December has its obvious charm and I encourage you to make the most of that, but as we come into the new year, look to your landscape: a frosty dawn, a row of tree skeletons, and if the stars align, perhaps a…

TOP TIPS • Be careful to ensure your paper is of sufficient weight not to cockle. • Clean your brush by wiping off excess when switching from one colour to another. You can do this on any piece of rag or paper, or in my case my hand or painting smock. • Careful planning of the painting prior to execution will bring rewards. It was a cloudy day when I travelled with my sketchbook and ink pen for my first ever visit to Port Quin, a well-known cove and small hamlet on the north Cornish coast. I was captivated by the scene of the Cornish slate cottages, and sat on the rocky shoreline to enjoy a couple of hours drawing this delightful location. Last month I demonstrated how…

Wimborne Plein Air 2024 The Otter Gallery in Wimborne is launching its first Wimborne Plein Air event and invites artists of all abilities to paint en plein air in the town centre on Saturday 4 May. Entry is £20 per person and there are three categories for entry: professionals; amateurs; and 14-to18-year-olds. Artists Maria Rose and Tom Stephenson, both members of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, will be judging the entries, with prizes to be won. A special exhibition of gallery artists’ work will go on show at the Otter Gallery on 5 and 6 May to mark the event. For more information and to enter visit https://ottergallery.co.uk…

Junk journaling has gained popularity among artists in recent years. It is a subset of art journaling, and just like that artistic endeavour, there is no one agreed definition for what a junk journal really is. While what it means to each artist varies, in general such journals are made with a mix of found and recycled materials. Why junk journaling? What the journal is used for, the composition and the purpose of the junk journal itself is as individual as you are. The charm of junk journaling lies in its ability to transform seemingly ordinary and discarded items into unique art. The line between art journaling and junk journaling is arbitrary and for me is one of emphasis. The crucial distinction is that the materials you use in a…

Acrylic Working with acrylics need not be complicated. The best learning comes from doing, and you will learn a lot about what works for you, and how to manipulate the medium to suit your intentions by playing with it to investigate its properties. The process is about discovery, and you only discover if you explore and approach challenges in a fresh way (avoiding a prescriptive method). There is no formula for working with acrylic, as the creative journey is driven by you, providing many opportunities for artistic triumphs and healthy challenges. Acrylic’s forgiving nature enables you to overwork and edit paintings as they evolve so you can easily remove or add features that improve the composition. (Wet paint can be carefully sponged off or lifted off with a wet brush…

Over the past few years, I have started workshops with a quick and easy way to build confidence and technique in landscape painting in watercolour. In fact, it can be used for any subject in watercolour. I hope you enjoy tackling the following technique. Before you begin 1 Make sure the watercolour paper you use is not too big. I would recommend using paper approximately the size of a large postcard, roughly 5x8in. 2 Tape four of these pieces down on a backing board. 3 The paper can then be drawn on using a very simple landscape sketch, using a 2B pencil. Once one has been drawn, turn the board around and draw the other so they are positioned back-to-back, with both skies butting up to each other. Use the…

The essential sketchbook This month in The essential sketchbook I would like to look at water and its representation. I’ve found over the years that a number of different characteristics repeat themselves, which has produced a core repertoire of familiar marks, modified in individual cases by idiosyncrasies, in any particular scene. There is no substitute for good observation, which promotes these ‘tweakings’ and helps me capture what I see. Quickly taking stock of things and having quite well-developed methods of representing them, is always a help, indoors or out, but is particularly useful when sketching en plein air, where time is often limited or circumstances subject to change. Still water can be disturbed by wind or passing boats; reflections’ patterns, colours and tones can change as clouds form in clear…