Indice dei contenuti per January 2022 in Leisure Painter

LEARNING OBJECTIVES ■ Top tips for creating vignette effects ■ Ideas for working on tinted surfaces ■ Practise watercolour techniques Early use of the vignette was mainly for the illustration of frontispieces or title pages of books, to which it was admirably suited, although it is an extremely beautiful and effective device for the landscape painting. Many of the early vignettes were based on plant decoration, and the term is derived from the French word for a small vine. The device can be used simply as an aesthetic or as a means for reducing an inordinate amount of foreground detail. It can impart a lovely spontaneity to your landscapes and, in this article, I shall outline a number of ways in which the method can be applied. Simple foregrounds Perhaps…

LEARNING OBJECTIVES ■ How to set up your workstation ■ How to handle wet watercolour and lay simple washes ■ Practise the wet-in-wet and wet-on-dry techniques You will need • Bockingford NOT 140lb (300gsm) in various sizes • Cotman watercolour tubes in ultramarine and burnt sienna • Stephen Coates Spearhead Round No. 8 brush • Stephen Coates Spearhead Round No. 6 brush • Pro Arte Prolene No. 2 Round brush • Flat palette mixing tray • Kitchen towel • Tikitape masking tape Welcome to the first of my 12-part monthly course for those new to watercolour. This course is intended to take you through a process of learning to understand the paint. Once this fundamental knowledge has been gained, you will be free to apply it to any subject or…

LEARNING OBJECTIVES ■ How to paint a calm sea ■ Effective use of different blues ■ How to paint rocks on a foreshore ■ Practise the scumbling technique The sea is a joy to paint in all its moods, from a glassy smooth surface to the raging, storm-swept breakers crashing on the shore. I was born on the Isle of Wight and for most of my life I have lived here. I have observed the sea in all its moods. Oil paint is a fantastic medium for painting water and there is none better than the extremely user-friendly Winsor & Newton Artisan water-mixable oils. I have developed my techniques for painting the different aspects of coastal waters over the years and find that these paints work very well for me.…

LEARNING OBJECTIVES ■ How to handle acrylic paints with confidence ■ Add aerial perspective to your landscape Here is a very large, expansive scene without too much detail or fine brushwork. This painting shows the tooth of the surface, especially in the sky. Keep your colours strong to create some dynamism, especially in the hillsides. This one is done on System3 acrylic paper, which should be taped down well onto your board. You Will need ● Daler-Rowney soft-body System3 acrylic: raw sienna, burnt sienna, cobalt blue hue, titanium white, Payne’s grey, Hooker’s green and Naples yellow ● 1 ½in. (38mm) Skyflow wash brush and ¾in. (19mm) flat wash brush ● System3 acrylic paper, 9½x15½in. (24x39cm) ● Pencil and plastic card Demonstration Step 1 Begin by making a very simple outline…

LEARNING OBJECTIVES ■ Understand the materials you will need ■ How to make egg tempera ■ First steps in using the medium Egg tempera is a beautiful medium to use. It is simple, just an egg yolk, powdered pigment, and water. It was used for hundreds of years before oil paints were introduced and will never yellow or crack over time like oils. It is quick drying and has a wonderful luminosity when dry. Very delicate and detailed work can be achieved, which is particularly useful when painting such things as animals’ fur. It cannot be laid on in the thick buttery way that oil paint can and is best built up in thin translucent layers, using crosshatching or stippling for darker tones, however interesting surface textures can be dabbed…

LEARNING OBJECTIVES ■ Understand your materials ■ Sharpen a pencil ■ How to create a three-dimensional effect Welcome to the beginning of an exciting new drawing series. In every issue of Leisure Painter in 2022, I will be presenting an article designed to teach beginners how to draw with confidence. There will be easy-to-understand drawing concepts along with step-by-step demonstrations that you can follow, and exercises to complete on your own for plenty of drawing practice. This drawing series will begin with graphite pencils then progress to coloured-pencil techniques and finish with water-soluble coloured pencils. Each month you will build on skill development from previous months so by the end of the year, you will have completed an entire beginner’s drawing course. I have kept the materials to a minimum…

LEARNING OBJECTIVES ■ Freshen up your approach to watercolour ■ Refine your watercolour technique ■ Hone your observation skills This is the first of a series of articles in which I look at some of the issues that affect the success of a watercolour painting, and the subtleties that make something that is competent into something special. There are all sorts of techniques and processes that can be refined and tuned to produce a subtler and more sophisticated style, and I will be looking at several of them over the next few months. In this first article, however, I want to say a few words about something you should consider before you even lift a brush, namely your attitude, or mindset, in other words, learning to paint, if you aren’t…

WINSOR & NEWTON TATE COLLECTION JOHN SINGER SARGENT SKETCHING SET Let the greatest artists guide your creative journey. Sargent was renowned for his portraiture, using a variety of lines and marks to describe form. Try drawing with this sketching set containing a range of soft leads and tools for life drawing. The tin contains: 2B, 6B, 8B graphite pencils; white charcoal; sepia; medium charcoal; hard charcoal; metal sharpener; eraser and blender. RRP £16.50. Available from winsornewton.com, shop.tate.org.uk/art-supplies and selected retailers. KRAFT BROWN & BLACK PADS These pads feature a double-sided paper. The grain on the brown side is suited for pencils, offering extra depth to colours. The reverse black side is smooth, giving a nice highlighting effect in white ink or gouache. The 90gsm Clairefontaine paper used is PEFC™ certified,…

STAR LETTER Michael King wins this month’s star letter prize. He will receive two new Saunders Waterford Rough pads, courtesy of St Cuthberts Mill, worth over £64. The prize will be despatched by St Cuthberts Mill. We will share the winner’s name and address with them for this purpose only. www.stcuthbertsmill.com Help with coloured pencils Peter Kimberley (Letters, December 2021) is indeed a lucky fellow to receive such a gift. I have just started using coloured pencils, having been ‘artistically dormant’ for 55 years, but I have been a reader of LP for some time. It was an article describing a project of how to depict a blue tit (Chloe O’Neil, April 2020) that gave me the impetus to have a go so I bought some pencils and departed on…

LEARNING OBJECTIVES ■ Paint reflections on shiny objects ■ Create a three-dimensional form in paint ■ Paint on a white background It’s always fun to find painting subjects that not only bring lovely memories and emotions, but also hold a certain painterly appeal. If like me you love painting light and reflections, then you’ll enjoy subjects like Christmas trees with fairy lights, Easter eggs wrappings, marbles, festive glasses with champagne, birthday cakes with candles, fancy china teacups, and last but not least, shiny Christmas baubles. These are great to practise seeing things in an abstract way, focusing on colours and tones and depicting lovely and juicy reflections. So I do hope you are ready to step into the Christmas spirit and join me in this fun and festive step by…

LEARNING OBJECTIVES ■ Learn basic elements of proportion that will assist in painting convincing small figures ■ Confidently paint natural-looking and lively small figures in watercolour You wiII need ■ Surface • A few sheets of watercolour paper in any size • I use 140lb Arches Bright White Cold-pressed (NOT) paper ■ Winsor & Newton Cotman watercolour (tubes) • Cadmium yellow • Yellow ochre • Burnt aienna • Cadmium red • Alizarin crimson • Ultramarine blue • Prussian blue • Cerulean blue • Viridian • Burnt umber ■ Miscellaneous • Round watercolour brush (medium) • Watercolour palette with a large enough space for mixing • 2 x small containers for holding water • Board to lean on and tape paper to • Paper towels • A soft pencil and an…

LEARNING OBJECTIVES ■ Paint a range of surface effects using oils ■ Mix and lighten colours with confidence ■ Use the direction of your brushstrokes to create a sense of form During lockdown, I had plenty of time to work on different still-life set-ups using a wide range of subject matter. The painting I chose for this demonstration comprises a set of shiny objects: a water pot with lid, a blue glass and metal container, keys and an old spoon. I spent time looking at the arrangement, and especially noted the foreshortening of the water container lid and keys, the blue reflecting on the surfaces, and the glittery effect of the Christmas decoration, all against a purpose-made black half-box with natural sunlight streaming in. I set up the objects in…