'Pixels & Paint' Exhibition (28th May to 30th May)

Taken over the weekend at the exhibition.

With many thanks to everyone who made the weekend very enjoyable for myself & Michael Shaw.
I am always surprised, not only by the number of people who attend the various exhibitions I take part in, but also by the great distances some people travel!
Over the years I have been lucky to make the acquaintance of so many really interesting & friendly people from all areas of the country and much further afield. This time, our overseas visitor was James Benton from Wisconsin. Hi James!

If you would like to know more about this exhibition, please contact me.
Photograph

Oil Painting Tip Of The Week (30th May 2005)

Avoiding Problems (Part Two)

If there is excess oil in your paint tube, open the lid and rest the tube on kitchen towel for a while to let the oil drain away, before using.

Watercolour Tip Of The Week (26th May 2005)

Making Changes (Part Three)

Different grades of sandpaper can be used to produce different effects, such as sparkling light on water etc.
My advice would be to experiment with these different grades on scrap paper first, to find the effect required,
as once used, there is no return!

Bottle Wall

If you've had a 'heavy night' and aren't too sure what to do with the 'empties', why not build a wall, we did!
It looks good in the sunshine and small wildlife can use it to 'over winter'.
Photograph

Neighbourhood Watch!

Do you have a problem with nosey neighbours, always looking over the garden wall to see what you're up to?
Photograph

Early Evening Light

Taken on my way to Aislaby this evening, about 6.30pm.
Photograph

Quotation (24th May 2005)

What a horrible thing yellow is!

Edgar Degas (1834-1971)
Notebooks,1858

Oil Painting Tip Of The Week (22nd May 2005)

Avoiding Problems (Part One)

Always work 'fat over lean', by this I mean, work from initial thin 'turpsy' washes, gradually building up to thicker layers of undiluted paint, finishing with impasto for the highlights.

Part Two next week

Watercolour Tip Of The Week (20th May 2005)

Making Changes (Part Two)

‘Lights’ can be reinstated in a painting by using white Gouache.
Although pure white can be used, if you need to ‘tie in’ the reinstated ‘lights’ to the surrounding colour, a small amount of watercolour can be added to the Gouache.
But be very careful not to contaminate your watercolours with the Gouache!

An alternative to Gouache is the use of four or five light coloured pastel pencils.
I use white, light grey, Naples yellow, a pale pink and a pale blue.
Having applied the pastel to the area to be highlighted, it can be softened by carefully rubbing with a clean finger to remove any hard edges.
The advantage of pastel over Gouache is that if the correction does not work, the pastel can be rubbed out with a clean rubber and an alternative method can be used.

Part Three next week

Quotation (18th May 2005)

How lovely yellow is!

Vincent Van Gough (1853-90)
letter to his brother, Theo

Oil Painting Tip Of The Week (16th May 2005)

Where possible, it's a good idea to choose a palette similar in colour to the under painting or ground you are working on.
This will help you to see how your mixers will look on your actual painting.
For example, a wooded palette would be helpful if you were working with 'brownish' tones, whereas a white or light coloured palette would assist you with lighter tones.

An inquisitive fox cub!

I went out early this morning with Mike Shaw, hoping to get some special photographs to use as source material for paintings for our forthcoming exhibition, Pixels & Paint ( 28th May to 30th May ). We were so surprised when a fox cub started walking towards us! I'm sure it would have come all the way, had it's mum not called for it.
Photograph

Quotation (11th May 2005)

The mere blundering of clever peasants.

John Ruskin (1819-1900 )
on the work of David Cox and John Constable
Lectures on Landscape

Cheeky Lamb!

Cheeky lamb, helps himself to the new shoots on the rose bush!
Photograph

Winsor

Winsor takes in the late sunshine
Photograph

What a sky!

Early evening at the bottom of the garden
Photograph

Oil Painting Tip Of The Week (8th May 2005)

All highlights in an oil painting, should be laid on thickly using paint in an 'impasto' manner.
Sometimes this needs to be done several times to achieve the desired effect.

Watercolour Tip Of The Week (7th May 2005)

Making Changes (part one)

Lifting Out:- The success of this largely depends upon the type of paper you are using. Some papers allow colour to be removed more easily than others.
-Carefully dampen area to be removed with a wet brush, and then dab wetted area with a kitchen towel to remove colour. If necessary the process may have to be repeated several times. Extreme care must be taken not to remove too much colour, or to damage the paper.

Scratching Out:- Depending upon the amount of colour to be removed, a craft knife blade can be carefully used.
-The sharp tip of the knife can be used to scratch out fine lines or details.
-By dragging the entire length of the blade edge carefully across the paper, large areas of colour can be removed. By varying the pressure on the blade textural effects can be achieved using this technique. Experiment on scraps of paper to develop different results,
-This method is really a final solution in an attempt to achieve the desired results. The paper will be unable to accept any further applications colour once these attempts have been made.

Part Two next week

Quotation (3rd May 2005)

I say that the art of sculpture is eight times as great as any other art based on drawing, because a statue has eight views and they must all be equally good.

Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571)
letter to Benedetto Varchi
28th January 1547

Oil Painting Tip Of The Week (2nd May 2005)

Oil paints can be mixed on the palette using your brushes or a small palette knife. I tend to use both these methods.

For smaller mixes and especially ones using the same colours, I use a brush. I may have 2/3 brushes in use at any one time. One for ‘bluer’ (cooler) mixes, one for warmer mixes etc.

Where I need larger quantities of paint for skies /foregrounds etc., I tend to use my palette knife

I never over mix the colours, otherwise the mix becomes lifeless and dull.