Renee’s small oil paintings have such a spontaneous, unself-conscious freedom about them, it was very interesting to see how thorough research and organisation are essential to transferring those qualities onto a huge scale in her murals. Renee gave us a lot of practical information about how to prepare a brick wall for painting a permanent…
John was extremely generous in demonstrating his own particular ‘recipe’ for making a painting. He had great advice for organising your practice. As an artist, the materials you use are those of your choice, and they should be materials that will do what you want them to do. You need good tape to get a…
Alasdair demonstrated glass bead weaving. The technique is complex and requires a lot of planning, attention to detail, feeling for the material, and spatial awareness. It was lovely to hear Al talk about how he had learnt the skill from his father, in the same way that knowledge would have been passed down in the…
Gabrielle creates portraits in pastels which are completely different to what you usually see. She uses dynamic mark making, and builds up layer upon layer of colour to create a dense yet animated surface. Gabrielle began by talking about the supports she uses. She uses paper primed with pastel primer. Schmincke pastel primer comes…
Thursday 29 May : Free Materials Demo with Artist Alasdair McLuckie Offered by Chapman & Bailey Alasdair McLuckie adopts meticulous process to explore mythology, ritual, and re-birth. Using drawing and craft, the work re-invents folklore with a strong formalist aesthetic sensibility and an attention to detail that translates into a dense visually symbolic language…
Madeline’s work is very contemporary, but her technique is based on serious study of traditional watercolour techniques so this demo was packed with really useful information. For this demonstration of how to paint flowers in watercolour, Madeline used 300 GSM Arches hot pressed watercolour paper, that’s the one with the very smooth surface. She prefers…
Liquitex sprays are very different from your average can of enamel spray paint. They contain artist’s quality acrylic paint, and the colours are standardised across the Liquitex range. You can use liquitex mediums with them all as well. Because they have very low odour, and contain a high pigment load, you don’t have any of…
March 13th Alice Wormald Watercolour Demonstration Alice makes beautiful, complex, meticulously painted watercolours of weird landscapes. She develops her imagery through collages which she composes from photographs of natural objects, like flower petals, rocks and mountains. Watercolour is a challenging medium, because you can’t hide anything, but the natural imagery is very forgiving. She paints…
February 27th Trevelyan Clay Oil Painting Demonstration This demo provided a fascinating view into the development of Trev’s painting practice over the ten years since he graduated from the Australian National University. He told us about how, as a student, he painted on really cheap boards, with maybe one coat of gesso, and used cheap…
February 20th Masato Takasaka Paint Marker Demonstration Masato is one of Melbourne’s most productive artists, and he seemed to really inspire people to have a go in this demo, without second guessing the result or being tentative. He’s not scared of putting his work out there, and this generous spirit helped to create a fantastic open…
R&F Pigment Sticks : Frequently asked Questions & Some Useful Info Some great info and facts gathered from the R&F website What are Pigment Sticks®? R&F Pigment Sticks® are oil paint manufactured with enough wax for the paint to be molded into stick form. They allow the painter to draw or paint directly onto a…
R&F Encaustic Paints : Frequently asked Questions & Some Useful Info What is Encaustic Paint Encaustic is a wax based paint (composed of beeswax, resin and pigment), which is kept molten on a heated palette. It is applied to an absorbent surface and then reheated in order to fuse the paint. The word ‘encaustic’ comes…