Gorgeous Gouache

November's meeting was a mini workshop, led by Frank Bingley, on 'Gorgeous Gouache'.

Members learnt that the history of gouache dates back to the 16th century, although it wasn't until the 20th century it became available in tubes.

It is a water based medium made up of water, pigment and either gum arabic, dextrin or
chalk.

Unlike watercolour, gouache is opaque. This means light colours can be painted over dark. The other advantages are it is fast drying, has a matt finish and can be reworked when wetted.


Although it can be bought in pans, for the workshop everyone used the same colours from tubes, mixing it to the consistency of single cream. The subject was a echinacea flower, from a photograph taken by Frank.

As always time seemed short and the members had to work hard to complete the painting of the flower, but almost every picture was finished by the deadline.

Although the same basic colours were used, it was interesting to see the differences between the paintings, from the light and delicate to the bright and bold.

Text by Lynda Talbott, photos by Jane Palmer

Autumn Painting

The subject for our October meeting was Autumn. The members brought in leaves,   Autumn fruits or an image to work from. As usual there was a wide range of styles from small and delicate to strong and bold. Various mediums were used including pencil, crayon, watercolour and Gouache. At one stage the concentration was so intense you could have heard a pin drop, but coffee and a biscuit quickly livened things up!

Pictures in order were by Helen Armitt-Warnes, Sally Struszkowski, Bethany Struszkowski, Cornelia Wontner,  David Coleman, Jane Palmer, Frank Bingley, Lynda Talbott and Jill Scott.

Words by Lynda Talbott, photography by Frank Bingley

Outdoor Sketching/Painting

Foxton Locks Inn - Neocolor oil pastels by Frank Bingley

For our August meeting, we arranged an outdoor Sketching/painting event at Foxton Locks. The morning started out cloudy, but brightened up to a warm sunny day later. 10 of us attended, some of whom met up later to compare our efforts! Below are some of the sketches. The header photo was finished off in the studio.

Appraisal evening with Di Lorriman

I loved Di’s approach; she qualified her experience in all mediums including felt (much to my surprise)!  We saw a selection of her own work, and then she proceeded to tell us what she would be looking for in the artwork. This was most helpful as you can consolidate the thinking throughout the evening and apply it to your next piece of work. Her observations looked for:

·      Good composition – use of the rule of thirds

·      Tonal contrast

·      Perspective

·      Use of complimentary colours

·      Visual description, exploiting all the ideas

·      Mood

·      Mystery, have you given your viewer something to think about?

·      Balance, somewhere for the eye to rest

·      Texture

·      Importance of good framing

No time was wasted as the images arrived Di was scanning the work. Di ensured that individual artists remained anonymous and consequently every one received an impartial good honest critique. If this were a review I would give her full marks.

April Painting Together

The subject of our Painting Together evening was "Animals". Most of us managed to complete the work Alla Prima. The images below are some of the completed works, which will be shown in a separate display at our exhibition to be staged at the Harborough Theatre in October.

Work shown here (in order) are by Alan, Carole, Cornelia, David, Frank, Lynda, Pia and Sally.

Workshop: Figures and Movement by Ken Lilley

Ken's red carrot figure and MW figure

 This month we had a workshop led by Ken Lilley. His aim was to get us all painting figures in a simple constructive way so that we would feel competent to add figures to our landscapes or city cityscapes. He said”, Very little is needed to persuade the viewer that the figure is a credible person, but the proportions must be right. To help this to be effected, he suggested that the head would go into the length of the body 7 times. Michael, standing with his hands in his jean pockets, was used as an example for this rule.

Ken's painting expressing movement

We were not going to try to draw a figures in detail but rather give an impression. The first exercise that was demonstrated was the use of a carrot shape and then the MW concept. Further illustrations were put onto a board and onto a computer screen.

The first task in a sequence of suggested quick paintings was a line of people from the imagination with  their backs towards the painter. Next, movement with ink or pencil added to a quick painted figure to give a feel of movement. Lastly, a rainy day with long vertical shadows (from Ken’s sketch book).

Other prompts circulated were a book entitled “Learn to paint people quickly” by Hazel Soan, an SSA article in this month’s Paint magazine and another article in this month’s Leisure Painter.

This exercise gave us all more confidence in describing the human figure in a simple and economical way when using watercolour paint.

Below are works from (decending) David, Michael and Frank.

Renaissance Techniques Using Acrylic Glazes

Copy of Giotto's Christ

What a treat for members of the Market Harborough Art Club, everyone was engaged with Glenn Badham's power point delivery on Renaissance art. In addition, he did a practical demonstration on how the three kinds of under painting can affect the colour when thin veils of paint and medium are applied to the surface.

Giotto did his under paintings in green and like magic Christ’s face was transformed to brown when a red glaze was applied to the painting using a soft brush.  Glenn then added transparent yellow and orange to warm those browns. He then showed us how the addition of white for the highlights removed any trace of the underpainting.

Two more demonstrations, the second and easiest to do was a bistre showing the folds in a garment.

The three pre-prepared paintings

The third a grisaille (grey tones) detail taken from the famous painting done by Vermeer of a “Girl reading a letter at an open window”. Adding thin washes of yellow over his pre-prepared  grey scale painting, then red and blue in darker areas, Glenn transformed the grisaille into colour. He said that by working in this way, an accurate drawing or sketch would not be lost when colour was added.

Glenn’s presentation and demonstration was highly informative and full of tips and techniques, a lot to take in, so if your art group books Glenn Badham, make sure you take your notebook!

The transformation of the grisaille to colour using renaissance glazing techniques.

See Vermeer's famous painting here. 

Painting Competition

Archie - Animal, vegetable and mineral

It was our AGM this month and after we'd got through the business in hand, it was time to enjoy ourselves by taking part in the Painting Competition, which is designed to take the stress out of the AGM!

Thirteen members took part and we were allowed to vote for three paintings which we liked. After a refreshment break and milling around the paintings, it was time to count the votes and announce the winners.

This year, Archie scooped 1st place with his painting "Animal, Vegetable and Mineral". New member Helen came second with a miniature painting of her kitten "Poppy". Lastly, two members shared third place, David with "Euphorbia" and me (Frank) with "Cow".

Everyone got at least one vote and the voting and social atmosphere soon banished any trace of the dullness of an AGM!

Helen - Poppy

Frank - Cow

David - Euphorbia

Cityscape in Watercolour

Finished painting - Meeting Street, Quorn

In his demonstration, Leicester based artist Andy Shore gave us a demonstration on how to paint a cityscape (meeting Street, Quorn) using watercolours. He came prepared with a Saunders Waterford 140lb stretched paper pre-drawn with portions that were masked out using a stencil and sprayed with latex. Andy said that this was a much cheaper option than masking fluid and easier to remove.

Prepared paper masked off using latex sprayed over a stencil

Andy at work

After wetting the surface of the paper and using Winsor & Newton professional watercolours, he first set about quickly laying a wash for the sky using lemon yellow and venetian red. Other colours used in the painting were Cobalt Blue, Cobalt Violet, ultramarine and burnt sienna. The two cobalt colours were mixed to paint the foreground shadows, after peeling off the latex.

Andy said that it was possible to glaze darker colours only two or three times before they started to look muddy. The trees were blocked in at first, then the finer branches were done using a sword brush. Lastly, finer details were added, though Andy said that it was best to suggest these somewhat. Another finishing touch was to lift out some of the paint for highlights and smoke from one of the chimneys.


This was a super demonstration, much enjoyed by our members.

Source photo