Painting Demonstration at By Distinction Art

In December 2016 I carried out a successful painting demonstration on the premises of By Distinction Art in Glasgow.  They have been promoting the Arts and cultural history of Glasgow for many years and recently they have erected a series of murals on Ashton Lane in Glasgow’s West End.  I am pleased to say one of my paintings, Salvage, Bowling Harbour is included on those murals.   A photo of this can be found at the end of this sketchbook.

For the demo I drew my inspiration from Bowling Harbour.  It is perfect for anyone interested in maritime history on the Clyde and is an excellent spot for artists.  Living in the area all my life it has always been a favourite spot of mine for both drawing and painting.

Prior to the demo I visited Bowling to prepare some sketches for the final painting.  I always work from either watercolour or pastel and charcoal sketches.  These sketches are vital as a reference when I have to work indoors.

On the night I used a fairly large sized 30 x 30 inch linen canvas.  Prior to commencing any painting I roughly copy the final sketch onto the canvas with a compressed charcoal stick.  Using compressed charcoal helps avoid the outlines smudging when paint is applied.  I then started painting by mixing ultramarine blue with distilled turpentine.  This helps the paint to flow easily for the initial outline.

Then I use large brushes with blocks of colour straight from the tube.  This builds up the structure and depth of the painting.  Making marks and blending the paint is the fun part and adds tension and interest to the painting.  Adding detail with the smaller brushes creates structure and using bright intense colour such as brilliant yellow and magenta makes the eye move to create contrast and depth.  The difficult part is knowing when to stop so as not to over work the painting.

The materials and palette used for the demonstration were: –

Fairly large 2 inch and 1 inch Hogg Pro Arte flat brushes

Small Hogg filbert and round brushes along with various old brushes I have shaped and cut to size myself.

The palette was Ultramarine Blue, Prussian Blue, Kings Blue Light, Flake White (mixing), Warm White Brilliant Yellow, Cadmium Yellow, Raw Sienna, Raw Umber, Naples Yellow, Emerald Green, Olive Green, Cobalt Turquoise, Rose Madder and Italian Green Umber.  These were all Michael Harding Oil Paints.  Both the paint and the canvas were from Art Req Ltd.

Due to time constraints, the painting was not completed on the night.  It was completed in my studio after another painting trip to Bowling to ensure I had captured the colour and light correctly.

There is another painting demonstration with By Distinction Art coming soon.  It will be held on Thursday the 23^rd March 2017 at 7pm on their premises.  Please come along if you are in the area.  We look forward to seeing you there.