Autumn and Winter are George's Favourite Seasons

George Gascoigne enjoys Autumn and Winter landscapes and in May he showed members how to make a ploughed field and a clump of trees into a work of art. George used Atelier Interctive Acrylic paints which enabled him to blend for longer than traditional acrylics.

His sky was washed on as if using watercolour but then, unlike watercolour, white paint was used for the lighter areas. The clouds nearest the horizon had some yellow ochre in them. A distant cliff used dark blue and distant trees were created with purple and burnt sienna. Nearer tree banches used burnt umber. George also uses burnt umber and colbalt blue to create grey. Some greens were mixed using purple and yellow.

Foreground interest was created from dark furrows filled with water reflecting the blue winter sky. George also added a distant flock of birds: very light grey against the medium-toned trees, and dark grey against the white clouds. He finished by scratching out (scraffito) lighter grasses in the foreground, followed by a light wash of burnt sienna.

George loves experimenting and recommends that we set ourselves a time limit when painting, in order to achieve a looser style.

PUT YOUR PERSONALITY INTO YOUR PAINTINGS SAYS HASHIM AKIB

Hashim Akib put expression, passion and personality into his April demonstration painting using acrylics. There were two main stages in the artistic process.

Stage one consisted of broad strokes with one and a half or two inch decorator's brush loaded with more than one un-mixed colour. This is Hashim's favourite technique. The result was vibrant, abstract and chaotic, although he did include some structural marks for use in stage two.

Stage two used more 'normal' colours applied as short rectangular strokes with a one inch brush. He favoured white and lemon yellow in the lightest sections. Sometimes he painted the negative shapes around darkest areas. Muted subtle colours in some sections of the painting show off the stronger brighter colours.

When the painting was finished, it looked like a bright, abstract design until viewed from a distance. From farther back, a woodland landscape miraculously came to life in glowing colours, even though the artist had not needed to view it from a distance himself.

Hashim gave the audience valuable advice about developing a style and selling artwork.

• Paint scenes which you find exciting.


• Paint faster and express your own personality in the scene.


• Paint shapes rather than details.


• Let random marks and interesting colour combinations happen.


• Do not limit yourself to realistic effects - bold colours sell better!


• Be confident and believe your own hype!

Hashim aims to surprise the viewer with his painting and he certainly surprised and delighted us with his fabulous demonstration.