On 23rd October, Graham Webber ROI gave us our first Zoom demonstration of the autumn season, and what a corker it was! Graham presented an East Anglia landscape in oils, from start to, more or less, finish.
Why more or less? Because he finished by talking about that thorny problem ‘when do you know it’s finished?’ Graham’s solution is to leave it around, so he can look at it from time to time, and pick up a brush and palette (because the paint is usually soft enough to move in small amounts) to make adjustments. And when he stops doing that, it’s probably finished.
But we started with a blank piece of MDF, with 3 coats of white gesso (already dry). This gives a textured ground which the paint likes, give something for the brush strokes to get hold of. Then he makes an approximation of the shapes he wants to make in a dark neutral colour. Graham uses vermilion, red ochre and yellow ochre, and white, and that’s all. Everything comes from there. Need it warmer: mix a little red in. Cooler, add yellow, darker, add blue. That’s how it seemed anyway. You can see from the photos of his palette what a range he made, and also how they all go together, all the time. They pick up each other’s tones and support or contrast with each other.
He blocks buildings in to start, along with the other shapes. Everything is worked on at the same time, provided the tone on the brush is right. He especially mentioned not making buildings too ‘right’ to start. The surroundings you add later will do that, along with highlights and key features.
He also showed how he composed the picture to create balance and interest, drawing your eye to the key part, not sticking to the photo. In this case he completely changed the sky, firstly indicating in quite dark paint how he wanted to bring the sky forward over the sea by taking a diagonal line from top left towards the fishing huts, and scribbling it a bit to indicate bulk. His treatment of sky was something I particularly valued, although I still couldn’t spot what he did later to turn the clouds from scrubby patches into dramatic clouds.
There is a recording of the demo (will be available for one more week, for members only) and I should go through it and see if I can spot this stroke of genius on second (or third) viewing. Roy circulated the details by email on 24th October.
I wish I could read my notes on the words of wisdom I scribbled down at the end, but I did get this one:
Remember, you don’t have to put everything in the photo, or in front of you, in the picture. It’s yours.
Thank you for a most enlightening and engaging demonstration, Graham.
Jacky Pett
all images screenshots, copyright for artwork belongs to Graham Webber.