STEPHEN FOSTER DEMONSTRATION IN OCTOBER

 Stephen's painting philosophy is to "take a simple idea and simplify it". His compositions were quickly laid out with a few soft charcoal marks. He said that it's "not about the subject matter, it's how you attack the canvas".

Stephen painted two pictures of sunlight on water for us on primed 3mm MDF board. The first one was in acrylics using a No.6 knife from Hobbycraft (see photo). He used liquid Schmincke Akademie Akryl paints.

He works very quickly and loosely, laying down a colour and then working other colours into it. This results in subtle colours and many shades of grey with very little definition. He urged us to apply the paint with spontaneous gestures and then leave it alone. 

Stephen's second painting was in oils. He likes to cover the support with a layer of linseed oil and apply the paint without any solvent. He said that sunlight on water is a popular subject and that he is more likely to sell a painting if it was painted quickly! Painting should not be hard work.

Our thanks to Stephen for an inspiring evening. See his website for more information:

https://www.stephenjfoster.com/Home.html

ANNE HAMERTON'S WORKSHOP KNIFE PAINTING IN OILS

 Anne Hamerton gave eleven members a wonderful day in October when she demonstrated how to paint with knives using oils. 

She made it easy to follow every stage of the process. 

 

Anne's palette

The techniques were the ones that New Forest artist Monica Coleman used to use. Members were able to manipulate the paint so that the results were exceptionally beautiful. 

When using knives, artists have to use different techniques so it was a challenge.Some members used their own reference but most followed Anne's.  Everyone learnt a lot!

Many thanks to Anne for all the preparation and work that went into the day. We look forward to the next one!

INGENIOUS ARTISTS ZOOM MEETING 17 OCTOBER

Our members' own experiences made our October session on fur and the natural world a diverse and interesting meeting.Helen regularly sees foxes in her garden. Here is her pencil drawing of a fox's head. Using a deer's skull, she demonstrated how the shape of the head determines how the fur grows.

 

Betty had drawn a furry Bunny's Ear leaf in pencil.

Helen showed how she developed a simple sketch of a barn own into a composition for a painting.

Di explained how she had used hard edges in the most important areas of her acrylic painting of a cat in an LED collar. The soft edges were painted more loosely.

Tony had a picture with a flock of geese painted with hard edges ad the sky loosely painted with soft edges.

Di's first three tips for painting more loosely were discussed. 

The next three tips will follow on 21st November.

Next month our optional theme is:

REPEATED MOTIFS / PATTERNS in a scene, abstract or design.

SKETCHING AT HYTHE MARINA IN OCTOBER

Hythe Marina provided a huge variety of sketching vistas in October. 

Eleven members plus two friends spent a happy afternoon drawing, painting and chatting. 

     

The Boathouse was a convenient place for refreshments and more chat. 

Photos by Helen and Di.

See more on our public Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/134056857189218/permalink/1183151472279746/

OCTOBER 2022 ART EXTRA WORKSHOP

 Everyone was creating different subjects in totally different styles as usual in October.

Claire was painting a forest landscape.

Linda was painting a sentry for a child's room.

Henry's painting was a seascape'

Pat added a kitten to her painting of boots.

Lesley was painting flowers

Kay had found an old issue of the TAS Newsletter to read!

Di's Itchen River painting started like this:

Di's painting at the end of the session 

See more photos - some taken at a later stage -  in Claire's Facebook post:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/134056857189218/permalink/1181652585762968/

UPDATE FROM TERESA ROGERS

Autumn Sunshine

Teresa's completed painting 

 I had a lovely time with you all this week and have called the painting Autumn Sunshine. I decided to keep the background more muted and added in some light coming through the trees. The patterning in this painting has also been toned down as the painting moved towards being less abstract and more representational. I was going to put a bird in the painting and may still add one, but I will live with the painting for a while before making any more changes.

The best place to see my work and catch up with where I am exhibiting is Instagram  @teresarogersartist.

Find details of Teresa's workshops in Redlynch at:

https://teresarogersart.com/workshops-and-demonstrations/

Materials

The background was done with watercolour inks Dr PH, they are very concentrated so they were put into small spray bottles 1 part ink to 4 parts water. I also used watercolour brush pens (Arteza). 

I used stencils, homemade and bought ones which had random patterns. 

Subsequent layers were painted in with Golden Open Acrylics which are smooth and fairly transparent.and work well with watercolours. The sky was added in with System 3 acrylics.

Posca pens were used to paint in fine details and I also used white gel pen for really fine detail. (from WH Smiths)

Teresa Rogers

TERESA ROGERS DEMONSTRATES LAYERS IN WATERCOLOURS AND ACRYLICS

 

Teresa Rogers is an artist inspired by nature and with a wonderful enthusiasm for pattern and design. She loves to experiment with many different methods and in September she showed us some of the techniques that she uses with watercolour paint, watercolour inks, acrylic inks and acrylic paint. She worked on Bockingford paper showing a design of bracken and tree-trunk outlines in pencil. 

Teresa finds Daniel Smith sample dot cards useful for testing colours. Dabbing water on a dot releases a small amount of watercolour paint. [The SAA sells the complete collection for £9.60.]  She also uses  a spray gun or spray bottle, refillable pens and brush pens to apply inks and diluted paint to various supports and even fabric.

Mark-making lays down the background for many of her paintings. She blew puddles of ink in one direction so that it looked like natural shapes. She applied small random shapes using various plastic stencils - some homemade - with pens. Another grid stencil was used with a watercolour spray.  Each layer was dried before the next. Beautiful veils of watercolour sprayed on sections of the picture completed the soft, delicate background. Spraying with hairspray (as a fixative) preserved the the background payer. Only parts of the background would be visible in the final painting. Here is one of Teresa's finished paintings constructed in layers from her website: https://teresarogersart.com/

Teresa applied bracken shapes using sword brushes and Golden Open acrylic paint, which stays wet longer than usual. Her acrylic shapes had the background showing through in a subtle way. 

Some acrylic pen outlines and some negative shapes strengthened the tree motifs before the end of the session. Teresa would finish the painting at home.

.