Contemporary, semi-abstract landscape painter

Demo date: Thursday 19 October, 2023
Time: 7pm prompt. Please arrive 10-15 minutes early so that the demo can start on time.
Venue: Lacock Village Hall, Lacock, Wiltshire SN15 2LF

Stoney will be demonstrating her approach to painting landscapes in acrylics, and may include mixed media. She has been a professional stained glass artist which has influenced her work in the areas of colour, design and light. An example of Stoney's work is shown here and you can find out more about her style on her website. 

We welcome the attendance of guests; a £5 entry fee is payable on the door. There is no charge to LAG members. 

Featuring the reduction technique 
Somerset-based artist, Lisa Takahashi, is probably best known for her bold, geometric linocut prints of cyclists, although she also works in watercolour and oils. In the past she has exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and in 2018 reached the semi-finals of the Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year.
Lisa is an artist in demand so Lacock Art Group members felt very lucky to watch a demonstration by her at one of our Thursday evening meetings in September. Lisa reintroduced many of us to the techniques involved in this special art form, which is something most of us hadn’t tried since our school days!

​Lisa has been making linocut prints for about 10 years, developing her own blocky, simplified style.  Initially the subject of racing cyclists fascinated and preoccupied her – proving to be very popular with the public – but after virtually exhausting all aspects of the topic she has since diversified. Favourite subjects at the moment are the sea and boats.
Invented in 1845, lino (linoleum) is made of solidified linseed oil and sawdust applied to a canvas backing, making it a natural material. Its inherent durability meant it was very versatile for use in high traffic areas, and was often utilised on the floors of naval battleships. Artists of the time quickly recognised that it would make an excellent medium to cut into. The rest, as the saying goes, is history.

Techniques and tools
There are four main techniques for making linocut prints in more than one colour and for our demo Lisa decided to show us the ‘reduction’ method that she said Picasso invented by Picasso when he was in his 80s –impressive in itself. He’s known to have often used this process for making bullfighting posters.
The reduction, or reductive, technique uses one lino tile into which each layer of colour is carved. The tile is printed in a colour after layer is cut, building up the colours in subsequent layers to create depth, definition and contrast. At each layer more lino is removed from the tile’s surface, hence its name, making it quite a challenge and focus is key. The more you cut away the more difficult the process becomes. You need to pay attention and, in common with creating other forms of art, it is very therapeutic. This also means you can’t go back and reprint another time because the block is destroyed, but one edition can run to about 100 prints before the lino tile quality degrades and starts to crack.
Multi-block linocut is an alternate method, in which more than one lino tile is used to make a print. Often, each colour is printed onto a separate lino tile to build layers. Although this method means you can return to print again nevertheless it can be hard to align the different layers accurately.
Lisa tends to use a few specialist tools for her craft - lino angled tools, which are very sharp - working with four shapes of tool. You don’t need different depth of cuts as in wood carving so most people can manage with only a few tools. Lisa used standard lino with a depth of 3.2mm. It’s possible to use the kind of lino sold by carpet/flooring shops (called Marmoleum) but the surface can be quite waxy so the paint is harder to print. She uses a trusty old toothbrush to scrape away ‘crumbs’ of lino from crevices after cutting it.
For smaller prints she uses special Japanese paper called HoSho, which is thin but strong.
Lisa prefers to use oil paints for her linocut prints, adding a medium (Druck-Medium) to make it sticky and transfer paint to paper effectively, mixing them on a piece of Perspex palette.

Painting approach
By pure coincidence, or serendipity, Lisa chose a photo of a house in Lacock as the subject of her demo print. She usually starts by outlining the shape of the image on the lino tile with an Indian ink pen. The image on the lino tile is the mirror of the picture being recreated. Once the drawing is complete she begins cutting into the outline with the tool, being careful to keep her hands behind the blade to avoid cutting yourself – safety is paramount. A golden safety rule is to rotate the block not the tool.
Lisa typically works from light to dark colours, in a similar way to watercolours. She decided to make the street scene for the demo in shades of blue using a mix of Prussian blue and white for the sky. She added Paynes grey to the blue to make a darker blue where necessary.
Using a registration corner made from mount board she lines up the first print for printing, then presses the paper with a round bamboo Japanese tool called a baren to transfer paint to paper. When sufficient layers are printed, clean the block and cut more lino away to make the next layer. Use a tiny amount of Gamsol, similar to white spirit, to remove paint residues from the block. 
‘Chatter’ marks are random lines that appear when ink is accidentally picked up on the wrong (carved away) parts of lino and leaves unplanned, random and unexpected marks. Sometimes this creates added charm, other times it gets in the way.
At our demo Lisa for the last layer of colour Lisa cut away details such as little drop shadows, reinforcing lines where they were needed, window frames on the houses, bricks and so on. 
The resulting print was brilliant, as you can see in the photos. Our thanks to Lisa for giving such an interesting, warm and informative demo. It was well-attended by members and guests, who all enjoyed it enormously and Lisa may well have inspired a few of us to try linocut printing again.

Creating collage

Marilyn Allis is a well-known artist who works mainly in water colour, as well as in acrylic inks and mixed media. She has a loose and impressionistic style, using strong vibrant colours to capture movement, and the energy of a scene. We are very pleased that Marilyn is soon to deliver a demonstration for our art group.

Marilyn won the SAA artist of the year title in 1999 and appeared on Channel 4’s Watercolour Challenge TV series.

Her demonstration for Lacock Art Group next month focuses on collage techniques, similar to those Marilyn used to produce the artwork shown here of the late Queen Elizabeth II, so it promises to be an interesting and interesting evening. To find out more about Marilyn’s work please take a look at her website.

Guests are welcome to attend, with a £5 fee payable on the night at the door.

When: Thursday 4 May, 7pm.
Please arrive 10-15 minutes beforehand so that the demonstration can start on time.
Where: Lacock Village Hall.

We look forward to seeing you at the demonstration. 

Informative and inspirational
A recent demonstration by Phil Madley that introduced our members and guests to encaustic wax proved to be an inspiring treat as well as a tonic. Phil has a background in design and graphics and originally got into encaustic wax after visiting a craft fair years ago where he bought a starter kit. 

Warmly witty throughout, Phil talked  about the kit needed to work with encaustic wax and 'waxed lyrical'  about the importance of using the right kit when you start out and then experiment with alternatives once you’ve mastered the essentials. 

Getting started
A basic kit consists of a small iron, hot stylus, hot air gun, a range of attachments such as mini iron, circles, squares, rectangles, plus a scriber, kitchen paper, and a duster. 
Phil buys his wax from Wakes Waxes which offers 48 different coloured waxes, each costing about £1.40 per stick (price is correct at the time of publication). Sometimes people are tempted to heat up standard wax crayons or candles instead of using specialist wax, but when that type of wax is cold it loses elasticity and becomes rigid. If the card it’s used on bends, the brittle wax will break and your artwork ruined.
He advises utilising a special coated card with a shiny surface when using encaustic wax, which doesn’t absorb the hot wax. You can also use board and MDF too. Prepare the MDF with a coating of gesso to create a surface barrier preventing the hot wax from penetrating the material. 
Ensure you set the iron to the right (low) temperature when you start off; iron temperatures vary from one to another so some trial and error is to be expected until you find the optimum temperature for your equipment. 

Mark making
Apply the cold wax to the warm plate of the iron, by rubbing the stick of wax onto it, similar to the way you’d use pastels. Bear in mind that the lighter the colour of the wax the runnier it is when put on the surface of the card.
So, the wax is warm and ready to go, what next? Phil showed us how to first convey the wax by ‘ironing’ it onto a piece of card. While the wax was warm and manoeuvrable, he then started to make patterns in the wet wax with the iron. He used the edge (side) of the ironing plate to make straight marks/lines in the wax, creating flower petals (as in the image at the top of this post), and more abstract designs by working the iron back and forth producing Spirograph style patterns.
Phil made this technique look easy, which is a testament to his excellent skills, as are the art that he creates using encaustic wax.

Using the the pointed tip of the iron produces dots to represent the stamens in a flower, while the attachments make marks such as small circles or triangles to represent whatever you like! The scriber tool can be used to scrape away wax as another method of making marks.
When happy with the pattern created, you can use kitchen paper to polish the picture, or to tone down the colour. This produces a glossy finish, and the picture can also be buffed with a duster.
It was inspirational to see the colourful beauty of the art that Phil achieves using encaustic wax and since the demo at least one of our members has had a go it!
Our thanks to Phil for opening our eyes to the art of the possible, and keeping us all engaged in a different, informative and entertaining demonstration.

To find out more about Phil Madley and his art please take a look at his website here.

Demo diary date: Thursday 30 March
At the end of March we are putting on a demo with a difference. Instead of featuring watercolours, oils or acrylics, this demo is all about making art with encaustic wax. Phil Madley, a talented, contemporary artist who works with encaustic wax to create stunning, original, unique paintings, will take the audience through his approach. Encaustic wax is an ancient method of painting, using heated wax, often painted onto firm yet absorbent surfaces, such as wood. 

Take a look at Phil's website to find out more about his art and technique. To learn more about the history of encaustic wax and using it to paint with, there's an interesting article on Jackson's Art Supplies website.

What to expect
Phil will produce several paintings in wax during the demo, and pass them round for people to look at. He works with an iron, hot stylus, hot air gun, scriber, to name a few tools. He’ll also bring paintings along to the demo to show the audience and he promises the session will be fun, informative and quite a bit different!

Phil works on a flat table, rather than an easel, which means that the audience usually gathers around the table so they can see what he’s doing. Therefore, we will use a camera and projector, which will be set up above the table, looking directly down at the work surface, to ensure everyone has a good view of what's going on.​

Timings
Arrive no later than 6.45pm for a 7pm prompt start.
​Further details are available on the events page of our website, where you can also find out about forthcoming events organised by Lacock Art Group. 

Guests welcome
This demo is open to  guests and visitors for an entry price of £5 per person, payable at the door on the night. Please come along and join us. 

Getting started
Catherine returned to Lacock Art Group in November 2022 to explain and demonstrate her experimentally loose watercolour style in a painting featuring colourful, abstract lake reflections. She also showed us how to create atmosphere as well as maintain bright colours by merging real colours directly on the painting’s surface in a controlled cascade. 

Catherine began by explaining that she used to paint in oils but now paints in watercolour predominantly, which is why she uses 'thick, juicy' paint. Bright colours are a hallmark of her paintings. 

Painting process
Her typical approach to a painting is to start with the focal point of the scene and develops it from there, using photos of landscapes for reference. When choosing water as a subject, Catherine pointed out that still water is easier to paint than fast moving water like crashing waves, waterfalls or rapids, due to there being less white space which makes it easier to control. 
 
When you’ve selected the scene you want to paint, look at the photo closely to find the way in to the focal point. For instance, is there a winding river that leads the eye, as in the example photo above?

To get started Catherine does a sketch outline, putting in shadows and other notable features. She tends to use Daniel Smith paint – they are often quite granular and it’s interesting to see how it contrasts with transparent paint. Moonglow is a good example; a purple grey, which is very granular in texture.

​Once the sketch is down on paper, Catherine wets the focal point area first using lots of water, letting it drip down the page. Due to volume of water applied she uses a watercolour board – watercolour paper that’s glued to card backing board; not only does it cope well with a lot of water it doesn’t need stretching. All good art suppliers stock watercolour board. 

In common with many watercolourists, her technique involves applying layers of paint to build depth and colour. The scene chosen for this demonstration has reflections in the water and Catherine recommends painting the trees and their reflections at same time. A useful tip to check whether the reflections are right is to turn the paper round ie if painting in landscape view, turn the paper to portrait so the reflections appear horizontally on the page. 

Another tip she gives is to twist and turn the brush to make organic shapes rather than punching or stabbing the end of the brush onto the painting. She uses a flat brush for most of the painting. Allow this layer to dry a little and then add more detail. 

Colours are key
Catherine loves to use bright colours, in particular turquoise which is a frequent feature in her paintings. Other colours she often uses are Sap Green, Raw Sienna, and Cad Yellow. Cobalt Turquoise, by Windsor & Newton, is another of her go-to favourites; a very opaque, acidic colour, which she uses to attract attention. 

Colour scheme is always so important in a painting, she believes, because as the artist you really need to like the colours to like your painting. She suggests mixing turquoise and yellow to produce a wonderful lime green. 

You can use the lifting off technique to remove unwanted drips and to reveal white. At the demonstration Catherine used a No. 5 rigger and a ‘stumpier’ brush to lift off paint. If you have any excess paint left on brush don’t discard it; you can use it elsewhere on the picture.

Watercolours dry lighter in colour than they look when wet, so take care not to over-correct the colour when the paint’s wet. If necessary you can lift off later to achieve the right depth of colour. 

In this painting Catherine uses Moonglow for the waterline, applying it quite darkly. As you paint in more detail, reduce the ratio of water to paint to thicken the mixture. Again, you can lift it off later if it’s too dark; this lifting off technique can also be used to produce a softening effect. 

To create the effect of ripples in water, use end of a flat brush to cut into the paint, removing thin, horizontal lines of paint. Catherine showed how she uses a long rigger brush to paint tree branches – the rigger has a bounce to it that’s harder to control, making it an effective tool for painting features that don’t require a perfectly straight line. You can also use negative painting in spaces between branches to make them stand out. 

When this layer of paint had dried, Catherine rubbed out the pencil lines and from this point on recommended keeping additional detail solely to the focal point area of the painting. 

​To bring the whole painting together she often applies a unifying wash, which dampens down the distant view and blends elements together. For example, bring blue in from sky and wash it over the trees to get a single colour. 

Catherine says she often walks away from a painting when it’s finished, returning to look at again with fresh eyes a couple of days later when you can see any problems in the painting. 

Catherine's demo was well-attended with an audience comprising art group members and guests, who fully engaged and asked some good questions. Our thanks to Catherine for delivering an excellent, informative, instructive and informal demonstration, which was very well-received by attendees. We look forward to her returning in the future.

Join Lacock Art Group's demonstration on 24 November

Catherine returns to explain her experimentally loose watercolour style through colourful, abstract lake reflections. She will show how to create atmosphere as well as maintain bright colours by merging real colours directly on the painting’s surface in a controlled cascade. Later she will use paint straight from the tube on top (a legacy of her oil painting days!).

Catherine is a Member of the Society of Women Artists, a registered SAA Tutor and was recently appointed as a tutor at the Royal West of England Academy Drawing School. She has exhibited with the RWS and RI in London and regularly at the Bath Society of Artists annual show.  

This demonstration takes place at Lacock Village Hall, East Street, Lacock SN15 2LF, and starts at 7pm. Please arrive in good time so that we can begin promptly. 

Open to non-members

Catherine's demonstration is open to non-members for a £5 fee payable at the door. However, to help manage numbers on the night, it would be helpful if you could use our general contact form or email us at committee@lacockartgroup.co.uk to let us know you plan to attend. Thank you.

Calne’s annual Music and Arts Festival (CMAF), providing entertainment for local people and showcasing local musical and artistic talent, runs from 7-16 October. An extensive range of events take place throughout the 10-day Festival so there is sure to be something that appeals to everyone.

An open art exhibition is the festival’s centrepiece, open to the public from Saturday 8 October to Sunday 16 October. The exhibition at Marden House in Calne presents hundreds of artworks from beginners to internationally renowned artists with a local connection. All art displayed is for sale. Please check the CMAF website programme for the exhibition's opening times as they vary at weekends and weekdays; you can also book tickets for various events on its site. This weekend the exhibition is open from 10am to 4pm on Saturday 8 October and from 10am-2pm, and 4pm-5pm on Sunday 9 October.

A few of our members are exhibiting this year so, if you’re able to, please visit the exhibition and show your support. 

Festival event: meet the artist – Chris Dunn
A ‘meet the artist’ talk featuring local, acclaimed illustrator Chris Dunn in conversation with Genevieve Sioka (the Festival’s exhibition co-ordinator) takes place on Saturday 15 October from 10am-12pm. Chris, who is an expert watercolourist, will be answering questions and signing books. The talk is free but if you'd like to attend  please book tickets for it on the CMAF website.
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You can also see some artworks by Chris on display at a separate, free, exhibition, which features his children's book illustrations, taking place at Calne Heritage Centre, SN11 0SQ. Open from 10am - 4pm, Wednesday - Saturday, 5th-29th October (closed on Sundays), the show features mainly prints of his watercolour illustrations for 'The Wind in the Willows', however, some of his original paintings are on display and there will be plenty of cards and books to look at too.

Other Calne Music and Arts Festival events
‘Drink and draw’ at the Piggy Bank Micropub is always a popular event during the Festival. This sounds like a fun evening – no artistic talent needed, just oodles of enthusiasm – so if you like to draw and have a drink join this event at the Piggy Bank, Calne on Monday 10 October at 7pm – again, you can book tickets on the CMAF website.

Numerous musical events take place as part of the Festival including performances by Opera Anywhwere, The Serenata Guitar Trio, The Yehudi Menuhin School, the Kassia Trio, jazz duo Kit Hawes and Aaron Catlow, the Calne Singers performing ‘Songs from the Shows’, sea shanty singers the Roaring Trowmen, Tim Hughes takes you through ‘120 years of the Blues’ and a piano recital by accomplished accompanist and chamber musician Helen Davies.

Local schools are taking part too: 17 year old Royal Wootten Bassett Academy student, Louis Stephenson, gives a piano recital, music scholars from Marlborough College perform a lunchtime recital, music scholars of St Mary’s School, Calne, perform on a variety of instruments, primary schools in and around Calne present ‘Songs from Disney’, and the Kingsbury Green Academy Music Department give a late evening concert.

To book your tickets for any of the Festival events please visit its website.

In other news: solo show by Catherine Beale - 'home ground' at The Packhorse, Bath
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Local watercolour artist, Catherine Beale, is staging an exhibition of new works inspired by her home ground - the villages and valleys around The Packhorse pub in South Stoke, Bath BA2 7DU. For this exhibition Catherine brings together a collection of rich watercolours celebrating the area, drawing on sunlight effects, quiet spaces and trees that mark time passing.

Exhibition dates:                                 
Opening night on Thursday 20 October from 5pm – 10pm.
Friday 21 October – coffee and demo with the artist at 11am. Exhibition open until 11pm.
Saturday 22 October – open from 12 noon to 11pm.
Final day Sunday 23 October – 12 noon to 6pm.

NB Catherine is also giving a demonstration to Lacock Art Group on Thursday 24 November. We will give more information about this in a future blog post.

By Elspeth Wales

Acrylic fine artist, Colin Brown, gave an insightful demonstration of his artistic process and technique to members of Lacock Art Group and visiting guests towards the end of July.

He told the audience about his professional background and how, after completing a four year art course at Canterbury College of Art, he worked for 24 years as an illustrator-visualiser for advertising, design, and 3D agencies in Bath, Bristol, London and Europe. He draws a great deal on his visualization experience to inform the painting technique he uses today.

Colin mainly paints street scenes from locations around the world, although has also branched out into painting racehorses for commissions from Cheltenham Racecourse. Whatever the subject, he always focuses on creating atmosphere and light, and bringing movement into his paintings, achieved through his dynamic style. 

You can see the influence of the Impressionist movement in his own style – free and loose, and unconstrained by detail. Claude Monet is one of Colin’s biggest inspirations, particularly the way Monet applied paint in single strokes of colour.

Colin uses photos as the base reference for his paintings but explained that he makes up a lot of the content too – another nod to his past experience as a visualiser. It was interesting to see how he paints upside down, which is a technique that helps the brain to simplify the image in front of you by focusing on looking at the shapes and angles. Colin paints upside down from start to finish but at the demonstration he turned the painting the right way up for the benefit of the audience! 

Useful tips
One of the tips he gave was to apply a pink ground to the canvas, which helps to exaggerate the brush strokes painted on top of the ground. The placement and direction of his brush strokes are random, decided in the moment.
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For the most part Colin uses synthetic flat brushes, switching to round brushes for more detailed sections of a painting, as shown in the image above. It’s important to keep the paint fresh while you paint and he finds that synthetic brushes cope better with the paint. He uses a metal ruler as a guide for painting straight lines, which worked well.​

​There is never a focal point in his paintings; he believes it’s the overall value that’s important.

To create darks he uses dark purple or dark green instead of black, and always puts some green into a sky to achieve a more realistic turquoise sky colour. And he paints the canvas going round in circles, layer upon layer.
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People attending were fully engaged in the demonstration and several asked some great questions, which Colin was happy to answer. It was also good to see a couple of prospective members, who are on our membership waiting list, attend the event. On the night we revived the use of a projector and big screen, placed on the stage, so that people at the back of the room could see.  After a couple of false starts this worked very well in the end! 

Excellent feedback
We received some great feedback afterwards from attendees about Colin’s demonstration, who found it highly informative as well as good fun. Our thanks go to Colin for making it so interesting and also for taking the time to chat to people in the interval.
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Above all, it was fascinating to watch Colin’s painting evolve in stages on the canvas, from upside down blocks of shape and angles, the emergence of more detail as he applied colour, to the finished painting that evokes the hustle, bustle and movement of a busy street market in Norwich.

You can find out more about Colin and his work on the Buckingham Fine Art website.

It's July already and we have a great demo by artist Colin Brown coming up on Thursday the 28th. If you're not aware of Colin, he works in acrylic and his paintings are very dynamic in style.

All the details about the event are below.

Shout out to LAG members: please help to promote the demo to people you know on your own social media, if you haven't already, by sharing the post about it published in our Lacock Art Group Facebook group. 

On the night please remember to arrive in good time so that the demo can start at 7pm prompt.

Non-members of Lacock Art Group are welcome to attend, To help us monitor attendance numbers we ask that they email us at lacockartgroup21@gmail.com to let us know they are coming.

​Thank you.