http://www.painters-online.co.uk artistApril 2021 21
PRACTICAL
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roughly where I want each element to
appear in the painting, cropping them
to reflect the size of the board I want to
use.
I stop moving things around when
the composition works for me – if I
stop before that point the painting
will invariably fail. For me, good
compositions include: having a focus
away from the centre or the edges,
probably around the third line; having
a clear depth (lines can contribute to
creating this); having the light from one
side, usually from the left – this helps
create depth; simple colours, possibly
two opposites or more restrained – too
many bright colours can detract from
the subtlety of a painting. I also prefer
to have objects overlapping in some
way and to have some space around
the objects to let them breathe. When
painting shiny things, I make sure to
note the shiniest spot in the painting
to make sure it’s not accidentally in the
middle of the composition.
Getting started
I tend to use gesso-covered panels. As
a vegetarian I try to avoid oil primer,
which tends to be made with animal
bones. It’s a shame as I love the texture
but it’s a sacrifice I think it’s only right to
make (if anyone has any suggestions on
good alternatives do let me know!).
I start by mixing and applying a
relatively neutral base colour with lots
of odourless solvent and wait a couple
of minutes before brushing it off with
a cloth or paper. I like to paint loosely,
and doing this first means I won’t risk
having hard white sections showing
through at the end. I then map out
the key elements of the drawing using
ultramarine and raw umber.
My next step is to map out the key
dark areas, usually in a thin wash of
ultramarine and raw umber, and then
start blocking in the colours. As I start
to apply the paint, I’m keenly aware of
where the darkest and the lightest areas
are and that even though somethingp Lemon and Silver Teapot in the Sun, oil on
canvas board, 12 3 16in (30.5 3 40.5cm)p Local Eggs with Moroccan Bowl, oil on board, 8 3 15¾in (20 3 40cm)may look white, if something else is
brighter, the apparently white thing will
need to be painted darker, as with the
backdrop in the demonstration painting
(pages 22-23). I try to get the colours
accurate first time, as it helps keep the
brushstrokes loose if you don’t go over
them again, but that needs to be held
in balance with getting all the colours
down speedily, as it’s hard to have a
sense of their respective tone until
most of them are down.