Before starting the drawing, Caroline gave a few tips on working in charcoal: Sandpaper the paper for dramatic marks Use good textured paper Think … Where are my darkest shadows going to be? WORK BIG! Blocking in very lightly, Caroline sketched out the group of bottles. Using light strokes to plot … Read more
The best charcoal to use is Windsor and Newton as it has good deep coverage and is just lovely to use. Always break the stick into a smaller piece and then you can use it side on or using a corner. You should use a rough paper with a tooth to give the charcoal something … Read more
Caroline Marsland took the Wednesday Dupont class through how to watercolour paint a patterned fabric on paper. We were not painting the fabric. She started off by lightly drawing the general shape of the fabric lightly with pencil. She then painted in the the colour of the fabric first with all of the shadows that are … Read more
On November 14th instructor Caroline Marsland did a demo on painting using charcoal and watercolour. This was done on 140 pound watercolour paper. This medium is good for moody pictures. There is usually a tinge of charcoal in the watercolour leaving a shaded picture. She used a piece of charcoal but using a charcoal pencil … Read more
When working in watercolour you should always work light to dark. Caroline started by lightly sketching the outlines of the leaves in pencil and then she used masking fluid to map out the main veins. Then it was left to dry. Using a round brush with a point she started by putting a wash of … Read more
When tackling a complex subject like a vase of flowers, it’s a good idea to draw the outline of the entire thing using a dark colour. Start the outline by placing your main flowers ( the ones that are wholly visible ) first and then moving on to the partially visible ones, moving round and … Read more
Caroline used the Pre-Raphaelites to demonstrate very good use of rest areas in paintings. Rest areas are essential to allow the viewer to easily move their eyes around the space. Use of colour is also effective in leading the viewer around the painting. Cool colours will recede and as such will be a good choice … Read more
Caroline’s session today was a talk about how the use tonal values affect a painting, followed by a demonstration of how to build up tone in a pencil drawing. First Caroline showed us examples of the use of light and shade and colour in paintings by Norman Rockwell. He was an American artist who depicted … Read more
All colours are made up of combinations of different pigments. The resulting colour can be either cold or warm depending upon the exact proportions of each pigment used. When selecting your palette you should choose one of both cold and warm for each colour . For example a cool version of red would be Cadmium … Read more
Caroline gave a helpful talk on preparing your painting for the annual show. It’s a good idea to finish off the back of the painting using gum tape and parcel paper to cover up all the fixings and make your painting look more professional Please note that all pictures ( apart from canvasses) should … Read more