A hard day sketching in Middlesmoor based at the Crown Inn.
Out and about sketching on a baking hot day
Views in Middlesmoor
Views from Middlesmoor
Some results from members’ sketchbooks
Author: Webmaster
Demonstration by Jeremy Taylor
Jeremy Taylor is a Yorkshire teacher, artist and demonstrator who mainly paints in oils and watercolour. He came to Pateley Bridge Art Club to demonstrate watercolour landscapes.
Jeremy explained that he had been painting for many years and was self taught. He described how he spends a lot of time thinking about a painting and planning how to do it before commencing. This enables him to paint quickly, avoiding changes that can ruin a watercolour and achieve a fresh look to the painting.
Jeremy used 140lb (300gsm) branded watercolour paper, as he believes that paper quality is important to achieving good results. He does not stretch his paper as it frees his approach to painting and encourages him to start again on the other side if it goes wrong. He thinks that this happens quite a lot in watercolour painting compared with oil painting which can be corrected more easily.
He usually limits his colours to warm and cool hues of the primary colours. His brushes are usually acrylic, 1.5 inch flat brushes for backgrounds and small round brushes for detail.
For his first demonstration he wet his paper thoroughly with several applications of water, then applied sweeping strokes of blue across the sky with his wide brush. He painted yellow ochre patches and strokes across the foreground, adding darker blue to create lines of hills.
He added trees in various shades of mixed green in the mid ground and background and did some scratching out for tree branches using paint tube caps. As a focal point, Jeremy painted a cottage with a warm colour and etched in a path. The photograph under dim indoor lighting does not do justice to the finished result.
After the break, Jeremy painting a snow scene in limited colours. He wet the paper a little less than the previous painting. He left areas of white paper to show the lighter snow. He washed in blue in various shades.
Jeremy added trees lines and walls, then tree branches with minimal strokes and some fine pencil for the thinner branches. The tree crowns are suggested by a light misting of browns and grey colour, avoiding greens. He added a path then a shepherd and sheep create areas of interest that would balance the composition.
The demonstration showed how results can be achieved with a freer approach to painting. His many suggestions and his dry Yorkshire humour were much appreciated.
Examples of his work
Jeremy brought examples of his paintings in a wide range of subjects. The following are just a sample. The images again suffer from poor lighting and reflections.
All images are copyright of Jeremy Taylor.
Quarterly subject – Sheds/Barns
Sketching in Hartwith
Audrey arranged a sunny day in an interesting area that we drive through quickly, wondering what the pond is doing there and why there is a toll bridge? It was time for exploration and a trip to the bluebell woods. But first a morning cuppa.
Meanwhile others had started sketching the house
The wisteria was blooming in the sun
The mill pond across the road was a refuge for the ducks and a cool place for walk
Hag wood, up the road, was full of bluebells, garlic, trees and artists.
Despite the distractions there were good results achieved
Lesley Seeger, artist from North Yorkshire
Lesley Seeger is a North Yorkshire painter of colourful abstract flowers and landscapes, mainly in acrylic in a format of 3 foot square. She has been painting for 25 years and was influenced by her time in Sri Lanka. She is artist in residence at Burton Agnes Hall.
Her style of painting changed over the years as she experimented with colours and repeated shapes, sometimes a riot of colour,sometimes limiting to a predominating colour. She also used scratching out to reveal colour underneath.
Her work moved towards landscapes, especially of Yorkshire scenes, with the familiar composition of front, middle and distant with a movement through it. Her work progressed from hot colours into lighter, calmer compositions.
Details of her work, with better images of her work than on this blog, can be seen at > www.lesleyseeger.com
Lesley gave a slideshow of paintings images from 2007 starting with some imagined landscapes as illustrated.
In 2009 Lesley developed her abstract flower paintings
In 2010 Leslie started to develop sketches into painted landscapes
In 2013 Leslie produced abstract floral paintings as “observed landscapes”
In 2014 Leslie took on more commissioned landscape work
Leslie combined floral and landscape
These are a couple of recent painting that she brought along
Some of Leslie’s more recent work.
Sketching in Smelthouses
Sarah Garforth – Drawing Techniques
Sarah Garforth gave a talk to the Pateley Bridge Art Club on some of her drawing, painting and printing methods, illustrated with her artworks.
Sarah is a well known Nidderdale artist with a studio in Ramsgill. She described how she immerses herself in the countryside, sketching local scenes.
She sketches, takes notes and collects samples to help with her studio paintings.
She adds colour notes in her sketchbook whilst travelling.
Sarah also showed us her drawing materials, including graphite sticks in dark, darker and even darker. They have useful pointed end, flats and hexagonal edges and ends for creating varying marks and shading.
Sarah enjoys making dip pens of elder twigs. She makes a point and a cut to delivery ink from the soft middle. They make interesting varying lines.
She draws with willow charcoal, clutch pencils that have thick pointed leads in limited shades and Mitsubishi Uniball eye micro pens.
Sarah showed us one of her drawing on Japanese Gampi paper.
For sketching scenes on location, Sarah also uses an Elegant Writer calligraphy pen with a chisel edge to make marks in varying widths. The ink can be spread with a water pen to separate into shades of blue and grey.
Sarah showed us her sketchbooks compiled on her travels. She includes descriptions of places visited and includes local collected images.
Sarah has developed her interest in printing methods. The drypoint method involves scratching into a soft plate to create a printable image. The plate is not as durable as engraved plates.
Sarah showed us a couple of impressive monoprints. They were produced by indents made with a wooden tool into Japanese vellum paper placed over plexiglass that had been inked with water based lino ink. The process creates lines on the other side of the paper of a different nature to those created directly by pen or pencil.
The solar plate printing method requires a detailed drawing. The image is transferred to a polymer covered metal plate using daylight that reaches the plate through the drawing. The plate is processed in water to fix the indents. The completed solar plate can be used to print many images.
A print from the solar plate.
Sarah also showed us the way that a range of Daniel Smith watercolours can be used to split into constituent parts to make interesting paintings.
Sarah Garforth’s work s can be seen at > www.sarahgarforth.co.uk/
There are also details of her monoprints and working methods in her blog.
Details of the Ramsgill Gallery >www.ramsgillstudio.co.uk/
Spring Exhibition 2018
Spring Art 2018 Exhibition runs from Friday 6th April to Monday 9th April at St Cuthbert’s School Hall, King Street, Pateley Bridge HG3 5LE
Update – the exhibition has finished, however, images of the paintings can be seen here > April 2018 exhibition images
• Original paintings & artworks
• Browsers of mounted paintings & prints
• Landscapes, figures, still life & abstract
• Watercolour, oils, acrylic, pen & ink.
• Photography, embroidery, printing, collage etc.
• Artwork greeting cards
• All works by members
• Hot drinks and delicious cakes
Previous exhibition images > – August 2017
Watercolour Workshop
AGM, Rembrandt & member paintings
Annual General Meeting 6th March 2018
The committee reported on a successful year artistically and financially, with increased membership, successful exhibitions, demonstrations and outdoor sketching. The programme of meetings and sketching for 2018 was circulated. The start to 2018 was disrupted by the weather but alternative dates were arranged.
Film about Rembrandt
Gordon showed a film on the life and paintings of Rembrandt, particularly his late period. He painted many portraits and religious scenes as well as many self portraits.
Quarterly subject – Doorways by club members
