Bruce Mulcahy – Gouache demonstration

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Bruce Mulcahy came to Glasshouses from Teeside to demonstrate gouache painting for Pateley Bridge Art Club members and interested local people.

Although he paints in oils, acrylics and gouache, he prefers gouache for outdoor paintings as he can reduce the weight of materials he carries, he can work quicker and the painting dries for safe transport. If weather or light changes cause interuption to an outdoor session, the painting can easily be rewetted and recommenced.
He used 200 gsm slightly rough watercolour paper and thin stiff flat brushes.

For the demonstration he used an enlarged photograph of a garden.

Bruce gets his painting tray ready with his selection of gouache paint colours. He adds white gouache to each colour mix to make sure they are not transparent and can cover the painting surface well.

He sketches the outline of the main features in pencil.

Bruce started painting the darkest features first with a mix of Vandyke brown and blue. These colours create a very dark mix. He uses thin flat brushes, painting quickly. He does not look for precision as he can use refine lines with other lighter opaque colours later.

He continues with smaller dark features.

Bruce working from the photograph, his work is also projected onto a screen for the members.

Greys, greens and blues painted with the thin stiff brush.

Details being refined with lighter colours working towards white. He also uses darker colours where needed to refine details.

Bruce Mulcahy’s painting at the end of the demonstration.

Other incomplete paintings that he showed us to illustrate his range of subjects and styles.

Colin Swinton – Watercolour painting

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Colin Swinton demonstrated painting flowers in watercolour at the June 2023 monthly meeting of Pateley Bridge Art Club in Glasshouses.
Colin last demonstrated to members in 2016. See link at the end for details on his use of colours and granulation effects.

Colin painted flat with camera projection onto the wall for members and guests to see.

Sunflower painting sequence. Building up colours with bold wet brushstrokes, intermingling colours on the paper, allowing drying between major colour changes. The highlights in the centre of the flower created with masking fluid, removed after the dark colour had thoroughly dried. He applied darker background colours to emphasise the central flower.

Sunflower at end of the demonstration

Pink flower painting sequence. Colin followed a similar process in applying darker colours into earlier light washes, drying the painting before applying new colours.

Pink flower at end of demonstration

He is a local artist and tutor.
Links: https://artison.co.uk/tutor/colin-swinton/
Previous demonstration by Colin Swinton : Demonstration 2016

Heather Burton demonstration

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Heather Burton travelled from East Yorkshire to demonstrate painting in acrylic paint applied with a palette knife. The demonstration attracted a full room of members and guests. The painting work was projected onto the back wall to enable everyone to see the detail.

Heather explained how palette knives are designed to enable artists to hold the handle in a firm grip whilst the blade can be flat over the painting surface. This enables an even application of paint from along the blade if desired, loading with paint and tilted in order to spread sideways evenly.

There are many shapes and styles of palette knife. Various lengths, widths and edges.

Building up colours and layers

Heather showed how the palete knife could be used on paper and also on textured surfaces. She illustrated sweeping curves, circular sweeps, flicked grasses, stylized tree, house and windows.

Examples of paintings by palette knife by Heather Burton

Wet felting with Valerie Wartelle

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Valerie Wartelle came to the club to tell us about her work in wet felting, illustrated with slides, sketch books, sample felted pieces and finished pictures.

Valerie has sketch books to record landscapes and subjects from which to create felted pictures. She also works from photographic images.

Valerie explained that she buys wool tops in a wide range of colours and does not dye fabrics. The fibres in the wool tops are already aligned (carded). which is necessary for bonding fibres together or into woven fabric.

As Valerie states on her website – “The process uses wool tops, hot water, soapsuds and friction to interlock loose fibres together to create a stable fabric.”
She slowly lays fine layers of wool fibres onto a plain flat woven fabric, together with linen fibres and silk threads.
The process needs warm water and physical agitation of the mass of fibres to encourage individual wool fibres to bond with each other and intertwine with the silk woven fabrics.
The pieces can be squeezed, pressed, rolled on the table or through a mangle.

The resulting matted wool is bonded, stable and colourful.

Valerie explained how she sews linen and silk threads and fibres into her paintings to make organic forms.

Landscape scenes may be created with subtle or bright colours blending into each other.

Valerie has a website with more details of her vision and methods as well as courses she runs.
https://valeriewartelle.co.uk
There is a short film showing her processes. Go to the following page and click on the image.
https://valeriewartelle.co.uk/my-practice

Mick Burton Continuous Line Drawing

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Mick Burton explained and demonstrated continuous line drawing and colouring at the May 2022 meeting in Glasshouses to a full house.

Many artists have used continuous lines in their artworks, Mick showed images of drawings by Picasso and Salvador Dali that used continuous lines.

He demonstrated how lines could be drawn in sections or at key crossing points before joining up loose ends to complete the drawing as a single flowing line.

He provided outlines of familiar images to enable members to construct continuous line drawings.
These are some of the results by members.

Colouring
Mick explained how enclosed areas can be coloured in a systematic way to emphasis the shape and flow of the subject. There is plenty of scope to vary the patterns.
These are some results by members.

Abstract Drawings

Mick showed members some of his abstract paintings. There is immense scope to create patterns and shapes with colours flowing around the lines.

Flypast over rolling hills by Mick Burton
Overlapping squares by Mick Burton

Artworks by Mick Burton
Examples of his work can be viewed at > mickburton.co.uk/
Some of the artworks shown to members

Stainbeck Artist by Mick Burton
Stainbeck artist in acrylic by Mick Burton
Horse by Mick Burton
Dottie in acrylic by Mick Burton
Pair of robins by Mick Burton
Usain Bolt by Mick Burton

Tracey Krupianka Seascape

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Tracey made a return visit to demonstrate acrylic painting of a seaside scene. An enlarged image was projected onto the wall


She commenced with a blue/grey mix for the sky, applied with a flat brush. She added white to to the sky mix for the distant clouds, as illustrated.

Tracey painted layered horizontal blue greys with a smaller flat brush to create the sea, then blocked in the middle ground and foreground with a burnt sienna as a bright undertone to enhance the foliage to be applied.

After the sky paint had dried, Tracey applied white with a rough dry brush in swirling patterns.

Tracey then used a natural sponge to apply a dark green over the complementary orange ground.

Tracey added the chimney and windows and applied patches of burnt umber and Paynes grey with the flat of a pallet knife and rooflines and window features with the edge of the pallet knife as illustrated.

Rocks created with burnt umber, Payne’s grey and purple. In foreground, dark burnt sienna and dark green applied with scrapped pallet knife. A stipple brush used to apply yellow and greens and sponge to apply yellow ochre, lemon yellow and white to lighten the green gorse.

Tracey used the pallet knife to paint alternate dark and light for the steps and hand rails

In left foreground, dragged white to form grasses and in right foreground, red and yellow ochre dragged with knife.

Tracey applied a splatter of light colour using a toothbrush.

Painting at the end of the session.