44 artistDecember 2019 http://www.painters-online.co.uk
COMPOSITION
Bob’s top tips for using pattern
l Having chosen your subject, consider how it
could be supported and made more interesting by
setting it within a pattern of shapes and colours.
l Make a number of preparatory sketches to try
out your ideas.
l Having chosen your best design, rough out
some alternative colour versions. Will your
supporting pattern use the same colours as your
main subject or contrast with them – such as a cat
lying on a Turkish carpet.
l When developing your painting, keep building
the pattern at the same time as describing the
main subject.
l Keep working the whole canvas at every stage.
Each corner must be of a shape and colour that
adds value to the whole.
l Don’t stop to question your design once you
have committed to it. Doubt is the painter’s worst
enemy; your overall judgement must be delayed
until the painting nears completion.
l Bear in mind that the pattern must serve to
support the subject, not overwhelm it. If the
pattern is coming through too strongly, think
about controlling it with glazes of semi-
transparent colour.
l As soon as the painting has been blocked-in,
look at it in a frame of the type in which it will
eventually be shown. Artists often try to spare
themselves the expense of having paintings
framed by waiting to see if the inished picture
is worth it. Bad idea! Framing a painting makes a
huge diference to how we look at it.p STAGE TWO
When starting to block in, the fundamentals of the planned design were soon put in
place. With so much going on, I had decided at the outset that the water in the bay
and the distant village had to be described in very simple terms and in lat colours.
These parts of the painting remained virtually unchanged from then on
p STAGE ONE
My irst wash of cadmium orange and cadmium red was used to stain the
canvas and establish the general atmosphere of the scene, with potential
high-lit areas being lifted out. The design being very complex, I made a
few marks with a broad-tipped marker pen to remind myself where some
key darks were to be placedI knew that the pattern for this painting would be complex and
involve two elements – the slatted sunshade over the group and
its corresponding set of shadow lines on the scene beneath, with
a contrasting vertical pattern being provided by the frames of the
folding chairs, echoed in the roof supports on the right. This basic
pattern was to be played against the tiled looring, the knotted
trees and the distant view of the town across the bay. The apparent
subject of the painting, the diners, would be almost incidental.
MATERIALS
l Canvas-covered board pre-treated with gesso by the
manufacturer.
l Staedtler Permanent, Special F Lumocolor drawing pen.
l Selection of Pro Arte Sterling and Acrilyx synthetic brushes,
mostly lat.
l Winsor & Newton Griin Alkyd oil colours: cadmium red,
cadmium orange, burnt sienna, burnt umber, sap green,
cadmium yellow, lemon yellow, titanium white, French
ultramarine blue, Naples yellow, cobalt blue, Indian yellow.
l Winsor & Newton Artists’ oil cobalt turquoise light.
l Daler-Rowney Georgian oil colour light blue.
l Liquin medium.DEMONSTRATION Andros Afternoon