Sommaire pour August 2023 de Leisure Painter

Learning objectives ■ How to create a family history or journal of memories ■ Tips and techniques for creating illustrated pages ■ Watercolour techniques For some time I have wanted to create an illustrated history for future generations of my family, with particular consideration of my two granddaughters. I began this with an account of my grandfather's adventures during the Boer War in South Africa in 1901 to 1902, piecing together his story from my days as a youngster listening to his tales, newspaper accounts and those of other interested parties, to more recent research in museums. I then amalgamated it all with illustrations in the form of watercolours, sketches, old photographs, collages and other images. It has been an enthralling journey through his experiences which I'd like to share…

Learning objectives ■ How to simplify a variety of greens ■ How to see and paint in layers ■ Working dark to light with gouache As gouache has such strong covering power, you can paint on a great variety of supports; I used Arches Cold-pressed oil-painting paper for this painting, which has a lovely surface, more like a watercolour paper, but slightly grittier. You could use acrylic or watercolour paper, canvas board or mountboard, but I suggest you choose something with some texture to help with the painting process. I have recently discovered the Shiraz range of brushes from Rosemary & Co. which I now use for all my gouache painting projects, as they are perfect for the medium, but you can use any watercolour brushes you have. The Shiraz…

Oils Learning objectives ■ How to create depth in your landscapes ■ Inject drama with the use of tonal contrast ■ How to place the focal point You will hear the term ‘tonal values' used a lot in conversations around art, but what exactly is tone? To put it simply, tone refers to the darkness or lightness of a colour. Without tone your paintings can appear flat and two dimensional, but a range of tonal values can help you to achieve a sense of depth and distance in your landscape. They can make a scene come to life and can bring drama and emotion to the simplest of landscapes. Tone can make your paintings pop! When I'm working late in my studio, I sometimes sit with my painting and make…

Kerry Bennett Kerry is a professional artist and art tutor living in Battle, East Sussex. She holds regular online watercolour lessons including live Zoom classes & workshops. Visit Kerry's website and sign up to her newsletter for full details. Kerry also teaches, demonstrates and runs workshops throughout East Sussex and Kent. Visit www.kerrybennett.co.uk Facebook & Instagram kerrybennett.artist…

Learning objectives ■ How to make the most of photographs as reference material ■ How to make notan thumbnails ■ Make three-tone sketches and five-tone monochrome sketches There are times when the impetus to paint wanes and ideas dry up, and the longer this downtime occurs the harder it seems to restart the creative engine. It is therefore essential to sketch and take photos regularly so that you have a bank of possibilities for those dry spells. You can however easily overlook possible painting material when reviewing your photo library, so in this article I will share a process for exploring photos that at first glance may appear to have no painting possibilities, while in next month's issue, we will develop the process to complete a finished piece of work.…

STAR LETTER This month's star letter writer, Nick Jones, will receive a Sennelier watercolour palette, worth £29.95(rrp) Inspiration I have been learning to paint now for over 18 months and at 72 can say after serious heart surgery that I am only alive due to that interest and the help it's given me to control serious psychological issues. I am working with the late Terry Harrison's DVDs and vast publications from Search Press. While I certainly have a huge way to go, your magazine and inspiration from all the experts out there inspire me and I spend two to four hours a day, four days a week getting stuck in with watercolour. As a writer and fisherman who has travelled the world, I have a large image library and using…

New English Art Club Continuing until 1 July, the annual exhibition by the New English Art Club (NEAC) at the Mall Galleries in London, brings together approximately 400 paintings, drawings and prints from elected members hung alongside works by emerging artists. There will also be a programme of artist-led events running throughout the exhibition, from 23 June until 1 July. For full details visit www.mallgalleries.org.uk LONDON ■ Bankside Gallery 48 Hopton Street SE1. 020 7928 7521 www.banksidegallery.com ‘Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers', 28 June to 8 July. ‘Quentin Blake and Linda Kitson: Portraits, Playhouses and People', 12 to 23 July. ■ Dulwich Picture Gallery Gallery Road SE21. 020 8693 5254 www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk ‘Berthe Morisot: Shaping Impressionism', until 10 September. ■ The Gallery 340 King's Road SW3. www.thewappinggroupofartists.co.uk ‘The…

Learning objectives ■ Understand how to draw an ellipse ■ Draw an ellipse using perspective ■ Transfer these skills to drawing transport topics Oh no, the dreaded ellipse – the nemesis for many who thought drawing vases, cups and saucers was hard. With plenty of practice, however, ellipses will help your drawings become more realistic, as they are crucial to the perspective of your subject, especially if you want to include a form of transport in your drawing or painting. What is an ellipse? While they are commonplace in physics, astronomy and engineering, they also feature in art when a circle is viewed from an angle or perspective projection, which turns it or squashes it into an ellipse or oval shape. Like a circle, an ellipse has a centre point,…

Inspiration Learning objectives ■ Understand the significance of soft and hard edges ■ Work with simple perspective TIP Remember to fix your pencil sketches as soon as they are done, to avoid smudging and loss of impact. Any cheap hair lacquer should do the trick. Over the course of this series, I hope, by referring to my own sketchbooks, to outline the impromptu nature of many of my subject choices, why they were chosen, their variety, the range of formats and materials, and the techniques I used. Perhaps it will encourage you to start sketching for yourself or extend what is already your established practice. Unless otherwise stated, all the sketches you see here were made in a 21x21cm hardbacked cartridge paper sketchbook. The paper is bright white and relatively…

Watercolour Learning objectives ■ Practise mixing and applying watercolour washes ■ Work with the negativepainting technique ■ Create texture and depth with watercolour You will need ■ Surface • Bockingford 140lb NOT paper 9x12in. (23x30.5cm) ■ Winsor & Newton Professional Water Colour • Cadmium red • Cadmium yellow pale • Quinacridone gold • Winsor violet • Permanent rose • Aureolin • Burnt umber or light red • Payne's grey • Ultramarine • Raw sienna The aim of this project is to produce a natural-looking representation of a selection of wildflowers. Which flowers you choose to put in is up to you. Choose as many or as few varieties as you would like. My painting has daisies, poppies, buttercups, knapweed and clover as well as grasses and some sorrel. FLOWER COLOURS…

Learning objectives ■ Practise watercolour techniques including negative painting and layering ■ How to create form through shading There are 5,000 different species of ladybirds in the world but only 26 in the UK, many of which can be spotted in gardens and woodlands. They are an extremely lovely subject to paint with their bright colours, contrasting spots and the shine of their elytra (the hard covers that protect their delicate wings and soft body). In this exercise, I will be showing you how I created volume through shading, tonal values using layers of colour, and a glistening shine on the body. I kept the background and surrounding flora loose, retaining only a small part of it in focus while using negative-painting techniques. You will need ■ Surface • 300gsm…

Learning objectives ■ Buils skills and confidence with painting knifes ■ Follow a step-by-step acrylic process My interest in painting with a palette knife began even before picking one up, let alone using it. In my youth I was greatly attracted to the work of one artist, Sir John Kyffin Williams OBE, RA. There was something about those wonderful renditions of the Welsh landscape and farmlands with their chunky textured skies and simple cottages that really inspired me to paint. Using a brush didn't seem to be able to reproduce the textures I admired, and it was only by observing a fellow artist using a knife with acrylics to create wonderful textures that I was inspired to try the same. The advantage of the acrylic medium is that it is…