Indice dei contenuti per August 2022 in Leisure Painter

Guildford Arts summer exhibition Guildford Arts summer exhibition returns with an exuberant and colourful display of work by over 20 local and national artists. The exhibition, which takes place at The Mill Studio, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, features ceramics, wood, prints, glass, paper and photography as well as paintings and drawings. On two Meet the Artist Saturdays, artists will be on hand to chat to visitors about their work and techniques. Guildford Arts summer exhibition runs from 6 to 21 July. Open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm; admission is free. For more information visit www.guildfordarts.com LONDON ■ Bankside Gallery 48 Hopton Street SE1. 020 7928 7521; www.banksidegallery.com ‘Society of Designer Craftsmen: Transformations’, until 26 June. ‘The Life and Works of Maurice André Kaspar 1892-1946’, 12 to 17 July.…

LEARNING OBJECTIVES ■ Use values to create a focal point ■ Limit your palette ■ Follow a step-by-step watercolour process Last month, I introduced this photograph of an African elephant (right) and explained how I arrived at the final compositional and tonal sketch (see Step 1 on page 24). This month, I will show you how I added the washes and detail to complete this watercolour of the elephant (below right). Before you begin Here are four hints that I hope will help you to paint this subject in watercolour. 1 Working from light to dark in watercolour can make it difficult to keep track of your values. Try painting your darkest dark value on a scrap of watercolour paper before you begin so you can refer to it throughout.…

LEARNING OBJECTIVES ■ How to paint the impression of detail ■ Learn traditional techniques to add depth to your paintings ■ Follow an oil-painting process I have a particular interest in traditional oil-painting techniques used in a contemporary way. I’m not interested in producing photo-realistic paintings, but greatly admire the arists from all centuries, who used sleight-of-hand and bravura brushwork to hint at reality. Most fine art students today are not taught traditional techniques. There is also a common misconception that oil paints are smelly, take ages to dry, and are difficult to work with. None of this is necessarily true, although, if you are not shown what to do, it is unlikely that you will discover the answers by accident. I have therefore sought to understand how the Great…

Exhibitions ■ Christchurch Arts Guild Exhibition at the Red House Museum, Quay Road, Christchurch BH23 1BU, 18 June to 17 July. Open Wednesday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm, 12 to 4pm on Sunday. Visit www.christchurchartsguild.co.uk ■ Deepings Art Club Exhibition at The Willoughby Memorial Trust Gallery, Moreleys Lane, Corby Glen, Lincolnshire NG33 4NL (just off the A151 between Colsterworth and Bourne), from 13 July to 3 August. Open Tuesday to Sunday from 12 noon until 5pm. Admission free. ■ Derriford Art Club Annual exhibition at Clearbrook Village Hall, near Plymouth, PL20 6JD, from 12 to 14 August, 10.30am to 4.30pm each day. ■ Felixstowe Art Group 70th annual exhibition at the Trinity Methodist Church Hall, Orwell Road, Felixstowe IP11 7DR, from 2 to 6 August, 10am to 6pm; closing at…

LEARNING OBJECTIVES ■ Create a summer meadow and tree effects ■ Paint a simple landscape from a photograph ■ Mix different shades of green You will need • Cotman watercolour tubes: ultramarine, raw sienna, burnt umber & lemon yellow • Stephen Coates Mini Hake by Pro Arte • Stephen Coates Spearhead Round brushes, Nos. 8 & 6 • Pro Arte Prolene Round brush No. 2 • Bockingford NOT 140lb (300gsm) watercolour paper • Palette or tray for mixing • Soft pencil and eraser This month we will examine the colour green. We all understand that landscapes are generally swathed in areas of green meadows, bushes and trees, particularly so in the summer months when deciduous trees are in full leaf and grasses are actively flourishing. Most of us have a…

LEARNING OBJECTIVES ■ The value of working from photos and sketches ■ Top tips for sketching on-site ■ Try different styles of drawing Drawing and sketching have always been vital forms of art to me. Most of my finished ink drawings and watercolour paintings derive from sketches completed on-site. If I feel a sketch is worthy of developing into a finished piece of artwork, I will re-draw it then add the ink and detail. First and foremost, I always want to convey visually how I feel about a subject, and what inspired me to draw that scene. A well-drawn, simple sketch often says as much as a highly finished, complex drawing, and the images you will see over the following pages illustrate a variety of finishes to reinforce the importance…

LEARNING OBJECTIVES ■ Follow a step-by-step process ■ Complete the background first ■ How to paint the texture of fur For this step-by-step exercise I have chosen this adorable rottweiler puppy to focus on. Rottweilers are known for their muscular body, thick hindquarters and easy trot, and if you didn’t already know it, descended from the mastiffs of the Roman legions. Those of you who have owned or known a ‘rottie’, will appreciate how they can be gentle, loyal playmates and faithful companions, despite their reputation for being dangerous. For this demo, I deliberately chose a mainly black dog. They are the easiest to capture when learning to use pastels, but give the greatest satisfaction upon completion. Step-by-step videos for each of the steps illustrated here can be found on…

EVENTS Techniques of the Old Masters The Wallace Collection will be running an online Zoom webinar on the Techniques of the Old Masters, on Wednesday 6 and Thursday 7 July, 2 to 4pm. Tutored by Dr Changal Brotherton-Ratcliffe, the workshop looks closely at materials and techniques to discover how some of the finest paintings in the Wallace Collection were created. Each course is 120 minutes, including a five-minute break and Q&A session with the tutor. Tickets must be pre-booked at the Wallace Collection, www.wallacecollection.org Suffolk Sketchfest Organised by the painting holidays and workshop organiser, Art Safari, the Suffolk Sketchfest, from 5 to 7 August, is a three-day celebration of sketching the coast and wildlife around the River Deben in the beautiful town of Woodbridge. There are over 40 sketching events…

LEARNING OBJECTIVES ■ Follow a five-stage sequence to create a collage ■ Be creative with off-cuts and old ‘failed’ paintings ■ Begin with a watercolour background In part one, last month, we looked at how to paint papers in preparation for making a fabulous collage. Now we will look at creating a fun beetroot collage using those papers. My technique involves collaging on a light watercolour background, which makes it nicely time efficient as well as potentially being a great recycling project. It can also be a good way to add colour and energy to an already existing painting. Hopefully you will have been inspired by my previous article to paint lots of decorated paper. My painted papers include: text lightly painted with acrylic; pieces of an old map, which…

LEARNING OBJECTIVES ■ Discover the effects achieved by using coloured pencils on toned paper ■ Understand basic colour theory ■ Practise your drawing skills You will need • HB graphite pencil • Watercolour sketchbook • Pencil sharpener • Putty rubber • Water-soluble coloured pencils – set of 12 • Assorted coloured papers, both Rough and smooth • White charcoal In the past two issues, we practised adding colour to our drawing by using coloured pencils on white paper. This month we will use colour to maximum effect by experimenting with toned paper. The advantage of using a tinted paper is that it sets the mood for the drawing, creates unity between all the pencil colours you use, and can affect the appearance and impact of specific colours. Basic colour theory…

LEARNING OBJECTIVES ■ How to simplify drawing a boat ■ The value of sketching ■ How to view refl ections Boats, by reputation, are notoriously tricky to draw, so much so that some students go out of their way to avoid including them in scenes. Like any other subject, they take practice. When you look at a building or a box on a table the effect of perspective is easy to see, but is it difficult to recognise with a boat, as most boats have curves that go in different directions. If we were able to view the boat from directly above, we would see that both sides are the same: they curve from stem to stern, so that if you were to draw a line down the centre, each…

LEARNING OBJECTIVES ■ How to look critically at a painting ■ Work with the tonal ranges of your colours ■ How to add clarity to a busy scene In this, my final article on refining your approach to watercolour, I thought it would be useful to look at the execution of a painting from a reference photograph. I’m grateful in this, to one of my students, Carol, who chose a view of Polperro harbour from which to work then allowed me to critique her painting and to make some modifications to it. Let’s look first at the original photograph (Figure 1, left) and the considerations it raises. It’s obviously a strong composition, with several major shapes and an assortment of minor ones. We are looking up at the jetty from…