News and Articles
Read about upcoming exhibitions and see art demonstrations and art tutorials from Dupont Art Club.
Drawing upside Down
Caroline said nothing is too difficult to draw! If you look at the picture upside down.By turning the picture you make your brain think in a different way. To start look for shapes, major shapes, in Caroline’s picture this was the rectangle in the middle, easiest point. Check if the vertical or horizontal lines are correct by using your pencil as a reference, you can also use the pencil to measure length and depth of each ‘shape’.It’s important that each shape is relatively to the next, use your pencil again to check which shapes in different parts of the picture line up with you starting rectangle, this will help with perspective.Once all the major shapes are positioned, add the smaller detail ‘shapes’ how they overlap each other, some will just be lines. It’s like building a jigsaw puzzle.Next is the tones, larger areas could be lines or hatching, make sure the tonal values are darker for the shadows around objects, light and dark areas.Nothing is too difficult to draw if you break it down into simple shapes concentrating how they line up with the other shapes and of course measuring the lines. Keep checking the position of each shape with all the areas of the picture this will help to get the picture positioned on the paper correctly.
Line and Wash
Caroline picked a lovely picture of an Owl she wanted to create a loose and expressive picture. Using water colours and remembering not to keep painting over the same spot, which would mean the luminosity would be lost as the paper surface could be spoiled, two yellow ochre eyes were painted, then a wash of emerald greens raw siennas, the grey plumage was created with dark red and blue with a touch of yellow ochre, softly painting the shapes of the feathers, all wet into wet all very loose, drop the paint in. The wash is just the support for the pen. Flashes of orange and green sweeping with the water colour brush, dulling down with sienna if too bright, look for and try to keep the different tonal values. Similar colours for the background but more watery. As the eyes are the vocal point Caroline added green to give depth. With a bic biro Caroline started to build up details of the feathers, to add texture and more interest hatching or scribbling or circles could be worked, like an etching, slowly building up values, keep going darker, echo the shapes of the markings, remember to keep certain areas lighter. As water colour dries quite a lot lighter, go over prominent parts again so they show up, keep you eye on the tonal values all the time. Wet the area then drop in the colour again darkening the feathers orange and blue for brown feathers. The eyes are the important area lots of work with the biro to bring out the owls character, to bring back light white gouache could be applied with a rigger brush or a cocktail stick. Add shadows to the head
Wet into Wet Watercolour
The demo today Caroline chose a winter photo of a small brook and trees in quite dull mono tones. She mixed a yellow quite watery and washed over the sky, she then mixed some purple with the yellow and blended the paint onto the paper, carefully leaving an eye catching, White centre to emphasise the light.Caroline then added an orange to the purple to cool the colour. She did a soft background of impression trees, banks at the side of the brook leaving lots of white gaps to give the look of snow and add light interest. Still keeping to the purple and orange mix but creating a darker colour she pulled the paint through the damp background, making the paint bleed into the background, to form the trees, using a rigger and a larger brush, to soften the edge and give tone she brushed away the edge of the trunk and branches. She also had a small twig and scratched into the fresh paint to give a lovely texture. At this point the paper was not too wet or too dry, salt was added to give even more texture. One the trees had dried slightly darker tones can be added but still keeping the softness, dropping in darker tones on top so it bleeds in gives a misty effect. Caroline added a touch of red to the centre light to draw the eye. For the bank in front, again a wet mix of purple/ orange/ red dropped in, flicked with the brush, allowing the paint to melt together, and more salt once it has dried slightly. Going back to the trees, Caroline pulled darker colour through adding to the tones, again using a dry brush to soften the edges. Keep looking at the picture make sure the light is kept and the dark tonal values emphasised....
Watercolour Negative Painting
Watercolour Negative Painting Caroline explained that we will be creating the positive by painting the negative. She started by painting areas of colours yellows, reds, oranges, and browns with a large brush.She added salt on top of the wet parts and placed cling film over part of it. She sprayed the remaing part. Using dark greens and browns with she parted to paint around the edge of the leaf letting the background colour show through in places.She added a second layer to the dried areas to darken them adding salt to them. She glazed orange over the leaf flicking dark paint over top. Using a ringer brush she demonstrated how to flatten it out by pulling it over one side then the other. Once flatten she used it to draw in further lines into the veins of the leaves. She suggested not to draw around the total leaf as it will flatten the look of it Final piece first paint negative painting
Critique of a Painting
How to critique a painting. Caroline explained that in looking at any picture one should follow the line, colour, tonal value, contrast and how the eye is guided through the picture. The focal point is a very important area of interest. It is where you’re going to put the most contrast in value. Caroline has selected a photograph of a painting for us to study located below.. The first area of interest we find is the body of the lady who is in white against a dark background. In looking at her, we follow her eye, which is looking upwards to another figure who is in white but not as large and is looking down at her. This takes the eye back-and-forth and from the man, The lines go down the tree and across the bottom area so that you are actually circling the photo with your eyes. Brush marks can also give direction Along with the line, colour, total value and contrast. Carolyn stated that Brown is a neutral color along with gray. Opposites on the colour wheel in a painting help the images to pop out. The pink in this photo makes you hunt for other pink areas as well. Texture makes things pop out. In looking at warm versus cold colours, the warm colour advances and cool colours recede. Moods can be established through dark mystery shadows. Light colours tend to be more upbeat and happy. Caroline explained that during the process of painting we can take out and put in objects, colour, line, etc., throughout the whole process until the picture is finished. Even if you have painted the most gorgeous image and are hesitant to do anything with it, if it doesn’t fit then just paint over it or change it into something else that...
Painting like Wayne Thiebaud
Wayne Theibaud was an American painter known for his colorful works depicting common place objects, such as pies, cakes, lipsticks, paint, cans, and ice cream, cones, etc. He was born in 1920 and died in December 2021. he used heavy pigment and exaggerated colors for his subjects with well defined shadows. The objects were simplified. Caroline used his cheesecake photo to illustrate this artist big brush approach. She drew the shape in greens, including the blue for shadow and under the plate and then used the following colors to paint the cheesecake . CAD red mid and light, primary blue, phalo green, and white. She recommended using inexpensive paint to try this out as you layer the paint on quite thickly like icing. Towards the end she layered over the painting swiftly with big dollops of paint being swished around, especially on the berries. Enjoy playing with this artists way of painting.
Drawing Complex Building Scenes
Drawing Complex Building Scenes Break the building scene into shapes of small, medium and large and start with the large shape. Finding the middle of the photo draw in the large shape of the dome. Do not add the detail yet. Switch over to the horizontal lines connecting the dome to the remainder of the shapes. Find the vanishing point. There may be more than one. There may be more large buildings so before starting with the smaller ones add these. You can then go to the medium and smaller shapes and draw what you see is there not what you actually think is there. Start with the detail and tonal values by adding shadows to complete the shapes. This is almost like doodling in these areas. With the small shapes just draw in the tones of the shapes. Be careful not to draw dark shapes near the edge as it could take your eye off the page. If the shapes need adjustment at this time you can draw these in. For drawing distant buildings, Caroline suggest drawing a varied line for the horizon as she has indicated in the photos below.
Portrait in Charcoal and white Pastel
Portrait Drawing in Charcoal and Pastel White This exercise by Caroline is on tonal values. She started with a light grey drawing of the face. The charcoal was then used to draw the darker shadow on one side of the face. Charcoal is easy to wipe out, erase or smudge if a mistake is made. To help with the drawing measurements, she draws points, on the drawing on the width of the nose and mouth and eyes. The width of the nose is often the same as the width of the eyes. With the eyes check out the area of white in the actual eye. The ear starts above the level of the eyebrow. Measure all of the distances according to the facial distances. She starts with charcoal and blends. She can use the white but not for blending at this time. She then repeats the charcoal to darken over the shadows. Once they are drawn in the white pastel can be added but not blended as it simply turns grey with the charcoal. It is OK to blend it at the end if need be. At the end of the shaping of the eyes, they can be redrawn with the white pastel and the iris can be corrected. You were constantly adjusting. The charcoal that she used was by Coats, but she was not happy with it as it was quite scratchy. She suggested that the Windsor Newton charcoal are very good, as our a number of other charcoals. Enjoy practicing with these mediums and portraits.
Collage with Acrylic Paint
Caroline sketched out the head of a tiger, then using non shiny magazine pictures she picked out different coloured paper, some with interesting patterns, you could also use old postage stamps, wrapping paper, anything that will create interest and draw the eye. With a strong Pva glue you could also use old jewellery or even pebbles.Covering the tigers head with Pva glue, Caroline tore and added strips to the face, picking out a colour and shape for the nose adding extra layers again to create interest through texture. A jigsaw effect. To draw everything together, acrylic paint will cover most surfaces.Caroline mixed white yellow and red for stripes. She added a little yellow to white for the white stripes, blue, red and a little yellow and pink for grey using an old bristle brush to create the look of the fur. Then giving detail with black. The focal point are the eyes for which orange with a hint of black just to dull it down, circled with black and then the tigers markings, the nose was yellow with a hint of orange. The paint pulls the picture together and can make for a subtle look. Glaze everything when dry
Mark Making and Tonal Values
Tone, texture, colour and line! Caroline had quite a boring picture of brown cliffs going into a distance. With the use of acrylic paintsShe mapped out a rough line of the picture, then starting with the nearest, the foreground, she used warm colours to bring the cliff forward, yellow, red and blue to make a warm brown. She mixed the cooler colours for the distance, primary blue, phthalo green and red to dull things down, making a kind of turquoise.With lots of underpainting and thick brush strokes the first cliff started to appear from the paper, lots of reflective light into the sea and the sea colour, to the lower part of the cliff face building up lots of texture, adding rocks in the sea, the top of the cliff in contrast was light to give line and impact. As she continued down the line of the cliffs, duller colours and less texture to give them distance, adding dark shadows to separate the different sections.The movement of the sea imitated by the movement of the brush, tapping in different textures and blending whilst wet. Remember to cool colour down with a red in necessary.A wild sky was added with all the colours of the cliffs and the sea, giving a very moody storm look.To get different textures use old bristle brushes adding red or blue to give the tonal values, foreground or distance.Play with the paints adding purples to bring out the rocks and cliff edges to separate them.To give the white water movement, add a touch of lemon to the white, tap the white over the rocks and the bottom of the cliff and scratch for more texture and movement. Add light and dark to the top of the cliffs to give light using different angle brush strokes, going...
Abstract Ben Nicholson style
Caroline had a still life picture of a fruit bowl, Nicholson would pick out and separate the main shapes. Caroline drew the out line in Sepia ink with a small brush giving harder lines to give interest. She started by ‘seeing’ a star shape in the centre of the orange, she overlapped the grapes to give a better composition, she then added the bananas and apple. Nicholson liked warm colours to the foreground and cold to the background, he loved to add texture and flicked paint to add more interest. Using ultra marine, yellow ochre, adding a red to make various shades of grey. Adding a blue centre star to the orange draws the eye, then adding yellow on top of the orange paint. Lovely yellow bananas outlined with green, turquoise grapes carefully leaving a dash of white to give shine, muted apple, red and green yellow for light. Caroline carried the orange carefully through the the background, but used the muted greys to outline making sure there were no hard lines.
Expressive Loose Watercolour Animals
Caroline sketched an outline of squirrel. She mixed the water colours ready for use ranging from raw sienna, ultra marine, red, yellow ochre, green pthalo, and mixed to form lights and darks of purples and grey.She squinted to emphasise the dark areas, and noting any specific interest. Caroline started with the head. A twig or a drawing pen can be used.Using dark colours then pulling down with the brush to move the paint to a lighter tone, she blended the areas together, made sure the light around the eye was kept and the dark above emphasised. Keep the brush light using water to give a light wash, wiggling the colours together, flick and scratch to give looseness and texture. Because the colours are mixed in the beginning you can granulate the paint down the squirrel so the colours bleed into each other giving a soft but striking work. Water colour dries lighter so to keep the tonal values it will be necessary to go over the dark areas again. The tail was a wash then colour dropped in, Caroline made the black with red blue and green, keep working whilst wet, splatter and scrape again for texture. When the head was dry, Caroline filled in the eye leaving a slight white slit. She did use some true black for this. She emphasised the eye socket. Be bold with the dark but keep the light areas light. Go back to the tail repeat the dark areas but blend with water. She used a hint of red which she then added to the eye area as a reflection, splatter, scratch and flick. Any background needs to be muted as it would spoil the impact of the colours in the squirrel.
DUPONT ART CLUB ANNUAL SHOW 2024 RESULTS!
the 2024 Dupont art club show was very successful. This year we sold 13 pictures for a total of £572 The Dupont Shop did very well and sold £350+ of items made by club members. Our innovation this year was the children's section, where we had 14 pictures. The artists were from the age of 4 to 17 and every child who took part received a certificate recording their participation. This part of our show was very successful and I think we will be doing it again next year. We had 301 visitors. Artist of the Year Competition. The runner up was Zoila Reardon with her painting "The Old Man". Zoila received two bottles of wine to drink with her friends and family to celebrate her success. The winner of Artist of The Year was Penny Marler with her painting "Sussex Pond" Penny received a bottle of champagne and was given free club membership for 2024/5. She was also presented with the new Dupont Artists of The year Obelisk which she will keep for the next 12 months. Thanks go to all members who gave their time for setting-up/taking down, and stewarding, which all went towards making this a very successful show. Dupont Art Club is taking a two week summer break and will resume all classes on Wednesday September 4th and 5th. Come and join us!
Painting watercolor skys and Clouds
Caroline instructed us to have all of our colors mixed ahead of time. She used yellow ocher and ultramarine to make the grays. All primaries mixed together will also make a gray. She used the turquoise straight without mixing it. For method one she took a large brush and painted a wash across the sky. She let it absorb until it was slightly damp. She picked up the shape of the clouds with a sponge and the bottom line of the cloud was, painted in a light gray. The shadows around the cloud were also in light grays. To get rid of the hard edge, she put a wet brush along the bottom to help move the line. Method 2 This method has no wet wash. All she did was paint the sky color around a cloud shape and used a wet brush to merge the hard edges into the clouds with a light gray. She painted lines into the cloud this way. Message three. A rainy sky was painted by using yellow ultramarine and red. She started with a pale yellow at the top of the cloud and orange at the bottom, and then used gray with the sharp edges, washing into the top of the cloud, into the yellow and into the orange. Some purple can be added to this as well to suggest rain. She suggested to keep this wet all the time to blend. Caroline uses the white night watercolors as they have very high pigment and are reasonably priced. In case any of us use these watercolors she informed us that apparently the white night watercolors which are from Russia are being taken off the shelves as the UK added a 30% tax on them so the manufacturer is withdrawing them from the UK market....
Ripples and Reflections with Coloured Pencils
Caroline often starts in the middle of the picture and works out. The dark/light contrast attracted her so that was where she started drawing the buildings, measuring shapes in comparison with others. She drew with a 4B pencil but normally would choose a 7B. She hold the pencil from the end( the back) to get more movement. The shadows were drawn in blacks and grays in cross hatching to darken. Caroline said that the best pencils were polychrome and Albert Durer. The cheaper ones had lighter pigment. She recommended putting on the colour in a similar way to when using pastels. One can purchase the blender and burnished pencils to assist. With the colours, she blended colour to achieve the correct tone. With the yellow, she swirls green lightly over top to blend. Her black was not deep enough so she added dark green and red blending in. Also red and blue were used in another area. One can see hints of colour underneath. It is imprtant to make the marks in the direction of the ripples using swirls for the bushes. You can only add so much colour before the area is saturated. photos
Expressive Trees in. Watercolour
This workshop with Caroline started with the painting of white masking fluid over white areas and reflections.After letting it dry, she mixed pools of turquoise,purple, blue and orange. Painting the purple loosely she covered it with plastic wrap and left to dry. She removed this leaving a lovely texture. She added orange with deep brown for the trunk of the tree scratching into it. She added splatter and painting in the reflections scratching this side ways. She went on to paint the bushes and trees with the strong colours coming forward blending them into the water. She bent the reflections as they enter the water. Once it dried she removed the masking fluid and added small twigs and detail with a small brush.
Dupont Portrait Workshop
Caroline lead a workshop with sixteen eager members on how to draw a portrait from a live model. She started the afternoon with the basics on portrait drawing and left us to use what ever media we chose to do a head or full body painting/sketch. It was lots of fun with much hilarity over some of the results. Caroline was pleased with the results and we will be doing this again in the near future.
Oil Pastels with Flowers
Caroline started off the demo showing us the two types of oil pastels that she was using. The first was Fabrer Castell which she used to draw in the shape of the flower in white pastel on a black background. These pastels are cheaper to buy and don’t fill in the colour effectively.. The second was Sennelier. These oil pastels are very soft and buttery with high pigment which covers the surface very well.. She often uses SeaWhite brown papers for her pastels. After drawing the shape of the flower she filled in from the outside towards the center with white showing texture. Pink and red were added. She used her fingers to blend.adding yellow at the base.She uses pale blue as shadows.She used cool and warm greens veridian and emerald, in the background. She finishes with details drawn in using dark browns and reds. As oil pastels never dry completely, they need to be framed behind glass.
DUPONT ART CLUB ANNUAL EXHIBITION!
Come visit us at Ventnor Hall at Blatchington Road in Hove (BN33YF) to see our annual ART EXHIBTION open daily from Thursday August 15th to Saturday August 17th 10AM - 5 PM There will be fabulous arts and crafts tables to visit as well.
Still life Drawing, shapes, colour , tone.
The still life painting started out with mapping out the shape. A line was drawn down the middle of the page after which the shape of the jug was drawen. Shadows and reflections were then painted in black with mixes of blue.Big brushes were used to add layers of shadow colors.Once the correct shape and position of the still life has been finalised, 3 shades of the main colour we’re mixed ready for the shadows and lights to be defined In light, medium and dark.remember red helps to dull colour down. An optical hit was given using another colour from a reflection. Orange works well with the. Blue. It is good to squint as it helps pick out the light and dark Which need highlighting to bring out a 3D effect. Reflections in shadows helps place the object and add interest. It is good to blend the colours while the paint is wet on the canvas. Keep squinting adding dashes of white with a rigger brush and slightly blending the paint. The ‘shine’ will draw the eye to the key areas you want to emphasise. Don’t forget the back drop, reflections, shine as it all adds to the 3D effect, Keep looking ,sitting back and checking to make sure you pick out the key light and dark areas. finished painting of the jug.
Painting Spring Flowers in Acrylic on a Black Surface
PAINTING SPRING FLOWERS IN ACRYLIC ON A BLACK SURFACE Lucy Parker demonstrated a dramatic version of a seasonal still life on good quality black paper. Many people were tempted to give it a try themselves during that afternoon, where Lucy was available to assist. She started by using quality acrylic paint with good pigment to ensure better coverage, otherwise there's a possibility that two coats will be needed. A brush loaded with paint and relatively little water is needed. Some transparent colours like yellows benefit from a white undercoat to ensure the black substrate does not show through. Lucy demonstrated a loose and expressive approach, not aiming for botanical accuracy, by building up a quick and sketchy base layer. She started painting the flowers from the base of the stems, moving quickly towards the head like a firework. Then the leaves were added to create a pleasing composition before working on painting the flower heads. When this layer dried she went back in to refine and add some details. During the demo we picked up many useful tips. Lucy reminded the audience of the benefits of a stay-wet palette to keep acrylic paint moist and workable longer. She shared tips on how to make one with a shallow tray containing damp kitchen paper and a layer of baking paper or tracing paper. Tips on mixing realistic shades of green, which were essential for this subject. And other useful colour mixing tips. Also colour loading with two different colours on the brush - so effective for the different colours in the tulips. Painting water with the elipse of the water line and the distortion of objects seen through water and clear glass.
Painting Spring Flowers In Acrylic on a Black Surface
PAINTING SPRING FLOWERS IN ACRYLIC ON A BLACK SURFACE Lucy Parker demonstrated a dramatic version of a seasonal still life on good quality black paper. Many people were tempted to give it a try themselves during that afternoon, where Lucy was available to assist. She started by using quality acrylic paint with good pigment to ensure better coverage, otherwise there's a possibility that two coats will be needed. A brush loaded with paint and relatively little water is needed. Some transparent colours like yellows benefit from a white undercoat to ensure the black substrate does not show through. Lucy demonstrated a loose and expressive approach, not aiming for botanical accuracy, by building up a quick and sketchy base layer. She started painting the flowers from the base of the stems, moving quickly towards the head like a firework. Then the leaves were added to create a pleasing composition before working on painting the flower heads. When this layer dried she went back in to refine and add some details. During the demo we picked up many useful tips. Lucy reminded the audience of the benefits of a stay-wet palette to keep acrylic paint moist and workable longer. She shared tips on how to make one with a shallow tray containing damp kitchen paper and a layer of baking paper or tracing paper. Tips on mixing realistic shades of green, which were essential for this subject. And other useful colour mixing tips. Also colour loading with two different colours on the brush - so effective for the different colours in the tulips. Painting water with the elipse of the water line and the distortion of objects seen through water and clear glass.
Nest and Eggs in Pastels
Birds nest and eggs Medium Chalk pastels on black paper. Work from dark to light, starting with a brown to outline the nest and position the eggs so they will form the focal point. Start building the nest with the dark browns introducing lighter colours and blending them, this can be done with the pastel stick or your finger. Make sure you decide on the direction of the light and add the lighter yellows and orange. It’s helpful to keep the colours you are using grouped together so you can keep going back adding and blending. Add the green leaves blending a little green reflections into the nest. Look for shapes of green and pick out details with yellow blending again. Use white to highlight the background creating a 3D effect. Build up the layers and gradually add the lighter, whites and yellows to add the details. Using black to define the shapes of the twigs. For the eggs, work dark to light again deciding where the light will fall. Dark blue blending in light blue, white for the light, all blended. Use black to define the shape of the eggs and add black in amongst the browns to give depth and contrast. Finally add the dark marks on the eggs following the shape, but not over working.
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