Max Hale - portraits in charcoal

I couldn't resist the temptation: this sketch of Max captures a moment in his demonstration as he answered a question. This is not  charcoal and it's not really creative art as it only reproduces an element of a photograph taken while he was in full flow.

Max used vine charcoal (made from willow twigs) for portraits of two LAS members. Thank you to our sitters, Jane and Tony.

Max achieved a subtlety of tone that I hadn't realised was possible in charcoal - all achieve with just three methods: pressure of application, blending with the finger and erasing with a plastic eraser.

For more information about Max's art and the workshops he runs, visit his website http://www.maxhaleart.co.uk

The pictures that follow show progress with both portraits. Artist  and photographer had a different viewpoints of the sitters.

Nigel Street - landscape in watercolour

On Tuesday I enjoyed a morning with Hereford Art Group watching Nigel Street demonstrate how he paints landscapes in watercolour. Although at the end of the session he had not quite finished, we gained a clear idea of where he was going and picked up some useful tips along the way.

Not quite finished

Having taken part in one of Nigel's Understanding Watercolour weekends a year ago, it was good to get some reminders even though I have a slightly guilty conscience about how little watercolour painting I've done in the last year. For more information on his courses visit Nigel's website.

Hereford Art Group paint most Tuesdays and only have a couple of demonstrators a year: very different from Ledbury Art Society where demonstrations and occasional workshops are the normal pattern.

Nigel's standard landscape palette is worth a mention. He uses plastic palettes with deep wells set out in a 6x2 grid. In the two wells furthest from him he puts pigments useful for atmosphere and distance: cobalt blue light and raw umber (insoluble opaque). The soluble transparent colours are arranged on the left so coming forward from the cobalt blue he has phthalo blue, sap green (which is an optional addition to the basic palette), primary yellow and alazarin crimson or permanent dark red. Notice how the order takes you from background to foreground. At the very front of the palette he has French ultramarine and burnt sienna (insoluble and dense). Yellow ochre is an optional addition which he places to the right of the primary yellow. This is insoluble and opaque and is a good carrier of colour.

Jon Davis - landcape in pastel and acrylic

I'm always fascinated by the many approaches taken by the different demonstrators who come to us each month.  Jon Davis had prepared an canvas board by painting it with white acrylic and he already had the basic scene depicted in light black. Only the sky has been added roughly at this point in the demonstration.

Jon studied classical portrait painting in the studio of Ken Paine. While we were setting up Jon told me how that came about. He had seen Ken working and rather rudely tapped him on the shoulder and asked what he was using. "Pastels.", was the reply and after a searching gaze Ken then asked "When's your birthday?" A date was named and Ken then announced "I've been waiting 20 years for you." They shared a birthday as did Ken with his tutor and so on back through several generations.

Eric Watson - pastel demonstration

Eric Watson used pastels, pastel pencils and watercolour pencils in a very able demonstration of animal portraiture on Tuesday. He provided plenty of tips that could be used just as readily for other subjects. There are two websites where you can see his work Eric Watson and The Priory Gallery

Eric uses white cartridge paper as the smooth surface allows for easy blending of pastels and a white support provides the majority of the white in his images. Blending is carried out either with a finger or with a torchon made from kitchen paper. When working with pencil the sharpness of the point was kept for longer by constantly rotating the pencil as marks are applied. When 90% of the animal was completed he added a background by laying the support flat on the floor, brushing off loose pigment, cleaning the background area with a putty rubber and then using a scalpel to shave off pigment from the pastel stick and then using finger or torchon to blend.
Images showing various stages of the demonstration follow

Best in Show

Congratulations to Daph Willett. Not only was her sunflower image chosen for the exhibition poster, she also had one of her pictures voted as Best in Show.

This is the first year LAS has invited visitors to vote for Best in Show. This proved very popular and also gave some added interest  for some of our younger visitors. Nearly every painting received at least one vote and there were two other paintings that were only three votes short of the winning entry.

More pictures at the exhibition

More pictures from the exhibition

 

2013 Exhibition - all set up, ready to go

Our annual exhibition of members' work starts tomorrow, Saturday 25th May 2013. Click here to see times.

We're all set up and ready for the members' preview this evening.













For more images click on