Still Life Revisited

This is a follow up to an earlier post on this blog which you'll find here. That showed a rather rough watercolour which was used to explore the subject. The following image shows a much improved attempt at the same subject, again in watercolour.

Still Life with apples - Richard Hyde

 

Still Life

This photo shows a still life set up with a bright single light source to create strong shadows. The set up was viewed and photographed from several angles before this one was selected.

The next choice to be made was how much of this to include in a painting. Thumbnails are a good way of reaching a decision about how to crop the scene. The first Notan sketch, though crude, looked interesting enough to be taken further. 

A pencil sketch followed.

Apples

Canon Stephen Hutchinson, a gifted pastel artist, developed his skills by painting nothing but apples week after week. Fellow students on the part-time course he attended in Redditch called him the 'apple man'. 

There are so many ways to paint a single apple and it's a challenge that lends itself to experimenting with different media. It was Ian Fountaine that suggested this challenge for LAS members so his is the first of the many apples below.

Watercolour by Ian Fountaine

Diana Woods-Humphery said, "I have just spent most of the afternoon painting an apple in acrylics. As you will see, I cut it in half first!  Hope that comes within the terms of the challenge"

Acrylic by Diana Woods-Humphery

Sue Murphy said, "Rather than try to emulate all the skilled watercolourists in the Society I thought I would try a somewhat abstract apple so here’s my Royal Gala in acrylics using brush, palette knife and comb."

Holidays remembered

On the way to a holiday in Scotland Richard Hyde stopped overnight in a B&B in the Lake District. It was almost dark when he photographed the view of the distant mountains and the 'unreal' colour of the sky. The photo re-awoke memories of that magical moment and was the inspiration for this pastel painting.

Lake District Sunset

The second painting takes us into Scotland and shows the Solway Firth. Despite a heavy grey overcast all the light was in the sky and sea with the land appearing in silhouette.

Rescued

When a painting doesn't work out as planned it may still be possible to make something of it.

Sue Embrey wasn't happy with this one

Sue describes what she did: "I brushed off the lower half of blues then sprayed with a little water and brushed in. I added an under colour before adding the wild daffodils. I used a little fixative in the process." Here's the result

Pastels

Three pastel paintings for you today: the first by Sue Embrey and then two by Richard Hyde.

Sue says, "Here's a quick warm up pastel using on of Karen Margulis' YouTube demos. Very useful to get you going after a break doing lots of embroidery! I used a mountcard offcut in a warm beige with an orange underpainting, Also used fixative to keep the shadows dark."

Sue Embrey - After Karen Margulis

Art doesn't stop

Although we cannot hold our usual monthly demonstrations nor paint together in confined spaces, our members are still continue painting and drawing. We shall be sharing some of their work on this blog from time to time.

Here's the first few

by Ian Fountaine

by Ian Fountaine

Croome Landscape Park by Richard Hyde

Canoe Slalom

Colin Harries

I think the painting challenge based on a photograph of canoe slalom in Merano, Italy proved difficult for many. So well done Colin Harries for having a go and producing such an excellent painting. It gives a real sense of the canoe being tossed around by the very rough water.










I've also included my own attempt. I started off with watercolour but then used some light grey pastel to complete it.

Richard Hyde

Best in Show

In recent years we've asked visitors to our exhibition to vote for 'Best in Show'. As there is always such a variety of styles, and the overall standard of work on show is high, this is no easy task for our visitors. Yet so many do take part and often take a second look at everything before casting their vote.

Six paintings had ten or more votes. Here are our 'Six of the Best':

1. Boats at Lyme - Richard Hyde
2. "Waiting for the Ferry" Symonds Yat - Belinda Morgan
3. Birch Wood - Ann McKnight
4. "Serendipity" - Belinda Morgan
5. Bluebell Path - Ann McKnight
6. A Street in Robin Hoods Bay - Anita Robins

Here are images for the top five: