Demonstration evening

At the beginning of the evening Mary was presented with her certificate for the Reg Whiting Trophy (won jointly with Di)  and Fred was presented with his cup and certificate for his Silver Award for the Best Picture by public vote (Lesley won the Gold). More details on the website.

The evening continued with:-

FIONA FORBES DEMONSTRATING PAINTING FLOWERS WITH KNIVES 

Fiona painted with watercolours until 25 years ago when she was told to try knives. They have the advantage that they are easy to clean!

She uses mainly a medium sized knife with a small one for detail. Tonight's painting was done on MDF board primed with two coats of white gesso and a coat of acrylic and then the under painting added with water-based oil. A disposable palette is used for the paints which are mixed with a palette knife. Impasto medium is added for texture and to quicken the drying time.

Tonight's background colour was blue made of magenta and mauve with green from various yellows and blues.

Fiona began with the paler flowers using cadmium red, Naples yellow and white  as the basic colour. Using a small knife she started with the background petals. The knife is well loaded to help produce an impasto effect and a small amount of dark colour put on the knife tip for adding detail. Foreground flowers painted later had more texture helped by using some impasto paste.  Fiona suggested that it is best to be open-minded about the colour and be ready to change the colours when working through the painting.

Shadow colour used especially for red roses is mauve and blue blended with white. Dioxine purple, alizarin and cadmium red make good dark colours for the centre of flowers. 

Leaf colours are obtained by mixing either turquoise and orange or a combination of lemon yellow, cadmium yellow, yellow ochre, or raw sienna mixed with any blue. She also uses olive green with white to produce a dark green which is very effective against a light coloured flower. Touches of light green or even white are used to give highlights. 

Fiona paints quickly to get an impressionist effect working over the whole area of the painting. She is very careful putting more paint over wet paint as the lower layer can be dislodged. Make sure the knife is clean! She likes to pause for a few days to re-assess the picture then adding more detail and shadows.

We look forward to seeing the completed painting and thank Fiona for an excellent and inspiring evening.

FIONA FORBES DEMONSTRATES PAINTING FLOWERS WITH KNIVES

 

Fiona painted with watercolours until 25 years ago when she was told to try knives. They have the advantage that they are easy to clean!

She uses mainly a medium sized knife with a small one for detail. Tonight's painting was done on MDF board primed with two coats of white gesso and a coat of acrylic and then the under painting added with water-based oil. A disposable palette is used for the paints which are mixed with a palette knife. Impasto medium is added for texture and to quicken the drying time.

Tonight's background colour was blue made of magenta and mauve with green from various yellows and blues.

Fiona began with the paler flowers using cadmium red, Naples yellow and white  as the basic colour. Using a small knife she started with the background petals. The knife is well loaded to help produce an impasto effect and a small amount of dark colour put on the knife tip for adding detail. Foreground flowers painted later had more texture helped by using some impasto paste.  Fiona suggested that it is best to be open-minded about the colour and be ready to change the colours when working through the painting.

Shadow colour used especially for red roses is mauve and blue blended with white. Dioxine purple, alizarin and cadmium red make good dark colours for the centre of flowers. 

Leaf colours are obtained by mixing either turquoise and orange or a combination of lemon yellow, cadmium yellow, yellow ochre, or raw sienna mixed with any blue. She also uses olive green with white to produce a dark green which is very effective against a light coloured flower. Touches of light green or even white are used to give highlights. 

Fiona paints quickly to get an impressionist effect working over the whole area of the painting. She is very careful putting more paint over wet paint as the lower layer can be dislodged. Make sure the knife is clean! She likes to pause for a few days to re-assess the picture then adding more detail and shadows.

We look forward to seeing the completed painting and thank Fiona for an excellent and inspiring evening.