Two hour Demonstration painting.

February 17th 2011.

Colour is secondary to tone. Success, (if that's what this is), depends on masses of pigment being mixed, with tubes of paint very nearby if needed. Image size is around 18" across. The painting is taken from white paper to completion, with explanantions all the way. I do no work at all on a painting prior to demonstrating it, no drawing, no planning, nothing, I don't even decide what I'm going to paint until I get there and sometimes not until I am addressing the audience. Spontaneity is a key so these are the principles which I apply to demonstration paintings are important to me. For the last couple of years I have been endeavouring to turn my demonstration painting into an artform in its own right. Basically that just means I aim to get a "gallery" standard painting. I don't always uscceed - see "past events" under "Events" on my website. Constraints of time, pressures of simultaneously dealing with an audience, and the adrenalin of going out and doing this on a stage, all feed in to create a style of painting peculiarly its own - (not quite sure what the style is yet). All problems are solved there and then in front of the audience.

I don't do master classes because I'm not a master - see painters like John Yardley, Joe Zbukvic, Sergiev Andriaka, Geoff Kersey, Stansilav Zoladz, Richard Thorn, David Curtis and others. The scene is the River Tillingbourne.

I followed my demonstration painting session of the 18th of February with a workshop for Artists at Carshalton and Wallington on Saturday the 20th of February 2011.

These are skilled painters. Even those who had only recently begun painting worked to a high standard - artists submit their work to a panel before admission to the society. They were quick on the uptake and my job was not to teach them how to paint, but to introduce a few concepts and techniques to add to their knowledge, without being too prescriptive. An impressive group of painters.