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

 

Christine Russell: Workshop - Still Life in Pastels

Workshop in progress

For our November workshop, held in the Memorial Hall at Wellington Heath, Christine Russell set up four different still lifes. That meant we had just three people painting each one with soft pastels. Christine began the session with a rapid but helpful demonstration to show how she would tackle one of them. We were advised to use a fairly abrasive paper or board and begin by using a pastel pencil for an initial drawing to establish the composition.

The pictures that follow show a few stages in her demonstration and are then followed by images showing what the workshop participants achieved. Many had little or no experience of pastel painting and yet the results for everyone were good.

Drawing using pastel pencil

Christine Russell - Still Life in Pastels

The still life composed ready for action

Christine achieved some brilliant and subtle colour with pastels. The photos don't do her justice.

She set up a triangular composition with a black backdrop and lit it from the front right. The diagonal with red  stripes in the photo is not part of the composition but the leg of her easel.

She began by quickly sketching in some outlines of the brass pot and the apples, making sure that the oval shape of the pot top was horizontal. She told us she works top to bottom and applies darks before lights. Blending with the fingers is only used for backgrounds. All other blending is done using the pastels themselves by applying pigment with a light touch.

For more information about Christine and to see some examples of her work and get details of workshops and holidays visit her website http://www.art-christinerussell.co.uk

The photos that follow show the demonstration at various stages of progress.

Christopher Hughes - Watercolour

After more than thirty years as a full time working artist Christopher Hughes had plenty of experience to share with us yesterday. Before he began the demonstration he told us a little of his story which included working at Worcester Porcelain and running classes - at his home and studio in Worcestershire, on the Greek Island of Alonissos and online using Skype. To find out more about his work and courses visit his website www.christopherhughesgallery.com

He brought along some of his painted porcelain plaques and responded to the many questions LAS members through at him about the processes involved.

I don't think many, if any, of us are likely to try painting porcelain and after painting so much fruit for Worcester Porcelain he confessed that he had gone off fruit. Vegetables were a different matter, so he had brought along an arrangement on a plate that was to be the subject of his still life watercolour demonstration (see above).