Indice dei contenuti per December 2021 in Leisure Painter

When painting a red rose, look for the colours within it: the cool pink shades and the warm golden yellows through to hot reds. Allow the colours to mix on the paper to produce a fresh and vibrant glow and leave areas of white paper to give an extra freshness and to accentuate the curling petals. In this demonstration, I referred to the rose photograph (below right), adding a few extra leaves to improve the composition. I also simplified the background. You may wish to leave the background as white paper, which gives a striking contrast to the rose or add a soft diffused background, suggesting it is growing in the garden. I chose to use Jackman’s handmade professional watercolour (available from www.jackmansartmaterials.co.uk), due to the colours’ beautiful vibrancy and…

Autumn is a season bursting with a rich palette of vibrant colour. It is a time of harvest, falling leaves, fruiting fungi and glorious sunsets. Most of us will have enjoyed walks through autumn woodland and witnessed sunlight bursting through the trees, illuminating the dazzling patchwork of yellows, oranges and reds in the leaves. The subject for the following demonstration is an autumn path, leading the way into the morning sunlight on Highgate Common, near Stourbridge. We shall look at how to tackle a complicated scene with lots of information and simplify it, to help capture the essence of the moment. We are going to explore techniques and methods for painting groups of brightly coloured leaves effectively, and how to achieve a sense of depth in the woodland by painting…

All Saints is a very romantic chapel situated on the top of a headland on Hamilton Island with a spectacular view down to Catseye Beach. In this painting, I wanted to capture the quaint charm of the place. Your initial drawing Draw the basic composition onto your chosen support; I used a charcoal on canvas. I didn’t worry about the leaves of the palm trees as I would be painting the sky over them anyway. The important part of the drawing is to ensure the angles on the building are right and to use a ruler for the straight lines. I didn’t draw every plank of timber in the walls, just enough as a guide for the perspective lines. Demonstration All Saints Chapel You will need ■ Surface • Stretched…

The Leisure Painter Open competition and exhibition has been a highlight of our editorial year for over two decades. Every exhibition showcases tremendous, original artwork and highlights the exceptional skills and talents of amateur artists everywhere. There are standout drawings and paintings on show every year, but as you will see in the following pages, the standard of work leapt in 2021. Although we had to take a break from exhibiting the work live last year, due to Covid-19 restrictions, the 2021 exhibition came back with a splash, as it settled into its new home in Patchings’ Crew Gallery. We were also delighted to welcome a new member to our judging panel, Adebanji Alade VPROI, whose thoughts on this year’s LP Open competition can be seen above right. Thank you…

Highlights ■ Cookham Arts Club After a Covid gap in 2020, the Cookham Arts Club was delighted to be able to hold its 79th exhibition in August – in its 80th year! Visitors to the exhibition chose Sarah Cox’s pastel and collage painting, The Hunter (above right) as their favourite work. For more details visit www.cookhamartsclub.com ■ Epsom and Ewell Art Group The Epsom and Ewell Art Group’s Christmas exhibition takes place at Bourne Hall, Spring Street, Ewell KT17 1UF, from 13 to 18 December, 9.30am to 5pm daily; opened on 15 December by the Mayor of Epsom and Ewell. For details visit www.epsomandewellartgroup.com ■ North Weald Art Group Annual exhibition at Denbies Art Gallery, London Road, Dorking RH5 6AA, from 16 to 28 November, 10am to 4pm daily. The…

Last month, I explained how I approach using acrylics and introduced you to the reference photograph of this painting project (see photo, page 20). My thumbnail sketch (right), produced last month, simplifies the rock formations and creates a better lead-in; the rock on the beach was also moved forward. The grasses were omitted as they were an unnecessary distraction. This month I want to show you, step by step, how I tackled a seascape using just five colours (above). I hope you’ll follow along and it would be great to see your version on PaintersOnline (see the ‘show your work’ panel on page 21). Before we begin painting, I would like to explain the benefits of using the Daler-Rowney Stay-Wet palette (above). Acrylics dry quickly but, by using the Stay-Wet…

Last month, we looked at what a valuable resource the photograph can be. This month, let’s explore how to get the best from them in a painting. When working from photographs, unless you’re making an exact copy, don’t let them dictate what you paint. Use the photograph as a starting point only, be selective and interpret, don’t copy. When working from my photos, I email myself a copy, open it on the computer and paint alongside it; this means I can evaluate both images at once (Figure 1, above right). I then size the image to about the same proportions as the 8×10in. copy I’m painting. I measure with the pencil flat to the screen and map out a rough plan of the study I want to make (Figure 2,…

Realistic drawing relies heavily on the principle that parallel lines receding into a picture appear to converge on the horizon at a single spot, known as the vanishing point. Single-point perspective is one of the simplest ways of representing a realistic space and was the main system practised by artists from the Renaissance up to the early 20th century. Paintings and drawings based on the single-point system have an impact of their own. Placing objects in key positions near the vanishing point ensures that the eye is drawn to them by the way converging lines within the scene are arranged. For instance, in his fresco, The School of Athens, Raphael attracted the viewer’s gaze to a single point in what is quite a complex grouping of figures by making all…

Events West Dean courses West Dean College, nestled at the foot of the South Downs near Chichester, has released its programme of new short courses for January to March 2022. These offer a variety of courses in a wide range of crafts – from textiles, pottery and ceramics to painting, drawing, metalwork, sculpture and gardening – aimed at both beginners and experienced artists and makers. Look out for Susan Christopher-Coulson’s Botanical Drawing in Coloured Pencil – Flowers Shrubs and Bulbs, from 17 to 20 March, suitable for beginners and intermediates or Beginners’ Watercolour – Still Life with Kim Whitby, from 9 to 11 March. For a full course programme go to www.westdean.ac.uk or telephone 01243 818300 to book your place. Dürer’s Journeys The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Dürer’s Journeys, which charts…

Landscape painting I want to send a huge thank you for the ‘Lessons in landscape’ demonstrations by oil painter, DJ, and especially the one featured in the September issue of Leisure Painter. My effort (above) is not perfect, but I had so much fun following the instructions and watching my painting develop. I found the colour mixing interesting and I have learnt so much. I had to use approximations of colours, as I didn’t have all of the colours DJ suggested. I was impressed, too, as I was using a very low-end budget set of acrylics. Previously, I often ended up with muddy or murky tones, but the tutorial enabled me to control the colour mixing with much more pleasing results. I was also painting after dark, under a normal…

Kingfishers are colourful, fast, stunning birds and are a species we try to spot when we are down by a river. The sound of a single highpitch whistle usually attracts our attention then a flash of blue speeds down the river or, if we are really lucky, lands on a perch, overlooking the water ready to find a meal. With a few bobs of the head to judge the depth and angle of the fish, they then close their eyes and dive into the water, so effectively fishing blind. Painting this colourful bird is a must for me and for this tutorial we will be working with bright colours, such as phthalo blue, lemon yellow and cadmium orange, to name just a few (see right for colours). Let’s get started!…

Here is the original photograph on which I based this painting (right). I took it from the venue where I was leading a workshop, near Cockermouth in Cumbria. As you will see, I left out some areas and added others to make the painting I wanted. Don’t worry about changing elements in a photo, after all, you are making a picture, not a photograph. I hope you enjoy painting this. Don’t panic about it; just remember that it’s only a piece of paper and it’s all good practice! Demonstration A Cumbrian View You will need ■ Surface • Langton Rough 140lb watercolour paper 16×20in. (40.5×51cm) Daler-Rowney Aquafine brushes • Flats 1½in. & ½in. • Round No. 8 • Rigger No. 4 Daler-Rowney Aquafine watercolour • Ultramarine blue • Yellow ochre…

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