Thurs. 10 Nov. Workshop with James Power

Standing in for John Shave, who is unfortunately in hospital, James Power gave us a very interesting and inspiring demonstration of his style of painting landscapes in oil.  He is a local artist and has a passion for horses and Suffolk rural life.  Now retired, he spends a lot of time painting and works en plein air as much as possible.

Here are a few of his oil paintings, all local views except one painted in Spain.  The last picture is a photo of the scene he used for his demo. today.

Starting the demo with a board painted over in a warm colour, he first drew lines in thin paint to indicate his off-centre focal area and perspective lines leading to it, then using the same thin wash began to indicate various features in the scene.

Stressing that tone was more important than colour at this stage, he talked about lights and darks describing shape and about his limited palette (no green).  He mixed the shades he wanted.  He was full of tips as the painting progressed, like including small areas of complementary colours, always leading the eye towards the main focus, suggesting e.g. grasses by flicking the brush from light into dark and dark into light, and not fiddling - always let the brush do the work.  

The focal point of the painting (a castle) was introduced in a pale colour, with the shadow sides in dark.  The clouds were worked on with varying shades of pink.

​This was finished by coffee time.

First in with her work today is Diana, who says, 'Very good morning , still not sure what I’m doing  but something is beginning to make sense.'

Close behind is Harriet with just one picture and the comment that it was a very good session.

In my absence from the workshop after coffee, Hannah kindly took more photographs to cover the rest of the session, shown below.

Ian's

Jill's

Jackie's

Sally P's

Leslie's

Diana's

Josie's

Sally T's

Avril's

Hannah's

In the afternoon, James Power did a quick demonstration (top image) from Jill's photo of a sunset over a common

And finally a mixing demo showing Indian Yellow mixed with Cad. Red, Cad. Yellow, and White, and then with Cerulean, and King's Blue.  The image is looking down Debenham High Street.  (Thanks to Sally P for this information, who said that she enjoyed the day.)

​Although I didn't participate in the workshop, I very much enjoyed what I saw and wished I could return to oil painting to try out some of James Power's ideas.  Many thanks to him for stepping in to do this for the EAG.  Many thanks also to Hannah for her help with photos from the workshop.  

Frances wasn't at EAG today but has sent some pieces she has been working on at home.  The first is a poem she wrote about changing seasons on the Fen and then decided to illustrate it.
The next two are acrylic using a palette knife ... a large one based on Autumn and then she chopped up some others which then represent Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

​Send your photos to Hannah next week.  It's Les Bragg's turn to present the model and still life and I look forward to seeing lots of you there.  Cheers, Noreen