By Chris Crosby
Good composition in a painting is vital, and using negative space can be a way of balancing elements, helping to add interest to the whole work, as well as improving the accuracy of drawing. Negative space is the space around and between the subject of the image, whereas the subject of the artwork occupies the positive space.
Negative drawing is also useful for adding outlines and colours where you might otherwise struggle to find a way.
 I use this method in my work with coloured pencil; it is not possible to colour white over darker colours, and saves having to pre-think which areas I need to colour white first.​

Here are some examples of my work to show what I mean
​Looking at the black and white Schnauzer, you can see that I’ve made the shape of the eyebrows and beard by working back into the space with a black pencil.
With the Westie, I have gone into the edges of Alfie’s fur with the rust pencil, to outline him.  

​There are many examples of negative drawing and positive/negative space available on the internet (of course!), some of which I’ll share here:

UK artist Rebecca Mills
Negative space is used in photography and design and there are examples everywhere we can see in everyday life. Negative space is used a great deal in logo design as we see in the FedEx logo and the white arrow that is created in the negative space. Once you sharpen your eye to negative spaces you might find yourself spotting the hidden shapes in them everywhere. You can read more about this on Rebecca’s website.

UK Artist Mike Sibley
What do you see when you look at this picture below? Do you see an ancient black drinking cup? Maybe an ebony candlestick holder? These are the positive images. Or do you see two white faces both looking at each other? Think of these faces as the negative areas or what I call White Space. Imagine yourself seeing these two faces on white paper and filling in the space between them in black so the faces are revealed. This is Negative Drawing - seeing the space and not the line. Teaching yourself to see White Space is one of the best lessons you will ever learn.

​If you want more tips and to practice negative drawing take a look at “An introduction to negative drawing with Mike Sibley” published on the Art Instruction website. You can also find some articles and videos on the topic (pay to download) on Mike Sibley’s website.

​Other links to useful articles about negative drawing/space:
https://emilysnotebook.co.uk/all-posts/negative-space-drawing/
https://theartyteacher.com/what-is-negative-space-in-art/
The renowned graphic design artist, Escher, is known for using negative space in his art – read all about it here.
You can also deploy negative space to great effect in paintings, as explained in this post on Draw Paint Academy.

I hope you find this post informative - thank you for reading.

Lawrence Art Society's exhibition returns to Devizes Town Hall
29 September to 1 October 2022

At the end of this month the major, three-day, annual exhibition held by our friends at the Lawrence Art Society takes place. Last year 250 artworks were exhibited with a total 'display' value of £50,000 which demonstrates how significant an undertaking it is to stage such an event. This year's exhibition will feature an extensive range of paintings in various styles, media and subject matter. 

Please do your best to support this exhibition by visiting it and/or telling your family and friends about it!

Entry to the exhibition in Devizes is free; it's open from 9.30am-5.30pm each day, from Thursday 29 September to Saturday 1 October. Details are on the poster below, or more information is available on the Society's website. 

Calling all artists ... the 14th Annual Pound Arts Open is back!
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Corsham-based Pound Arts has announced the submission dates for entries to its forthcoming exhibition as 9am on Friday 16 September until midday on Friday 4 November, 2022. 

This is the largest exhibition of the year at Pound Arts and exhibitors have the chance to win one of three fantastic cash prizes (including £250 from Corsham Town Council and £200 from Right Angle Picture Framing, as well as the opportunity to win a solo exhibition at Pound Arts! Brief details are below with more information about criteria and how to enter available on the Pound Arts website here. 

Dates of the exhibition itself are yet to be announced.

Good luck to everyone who submits an entry, especially members of Lacock Art Group! Please let the Committee know how you get on.   

​Attention oil painters: limited opportunity to obtain free PDF of Ted Spurgeon's book "The Living Craft"
If you are an oil painter who enjoys making your own mediums this book is a 'must have'. The current edition of Ted's book (edition 14), which is all about the creative process associated with oil painting,  has now completely sold out so he is offering the PDF for free. He has spent many years exploring historic oil painting materials and methods and his book documents his exploration of ways of refining oil and creating mediums that are based on Old Master techniques.

For a limited period - until the end of October - you can download a free PDF of the 500-page book. Given the size it may take some time to download! It comes highly recommended by one of our members who has followed its guidance and already made her own cold wax and will be having a go at making 'putty'! 

Take a look at Ted Spurgeon's website to find out more about the artist and his book which can be downloaded here.

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 [email protected] to let us know they are coming.

​Thank you.

by Paul Fisher
If you are going to use a lot of wet washes on watercolour paper less than 400gms in weight, your paper will need to be stretched or it will 'cockle' and distort badly making it difficult to get consistent colour tones and hard to mount properly. Here you can learn how to stretch paper in 10 quick and easy steps.

The Australian artist Charles Sluga showed me this technique that he uses when he does his overseas tours. It will give you a well-stretched piece of paper ready to be painted on within five minutes.
I have used this method on previously used and un-stretched paper that had ended up cockled and it has allowed me to flatten the paper by stretching it and paint on the reverse side with success. 

Step 1
You will need:

• A stiff board at least 30mm bigger all round than your paper
• Hairdryer
• Gummed paper tape
• Cold water and large brush
• Paper towel
• Tape measure and pencil

​Steps 6 and 7
Apply water to the first piece of tape   .... and smooth it down over the edge of the paper - do the same with the other 3 pieces of tape.

We often have impromptu mini demonstrations during our weekly meetings. Some time ago Paul Fisher, former chair and member of Lacock Art Group, gave us a 10 minute demo on painting people to help loosen painting styles based on "Bob's Blobs" - no initial drawing, straight in with the brush and loads of juicy watercolour to create vibrant crowd scenes using the wet into wet technique.

The idea is to be loose, starting with random vertical strokes of colour which are allowed to flow into each other on the paper, which is best kept vertical or at a steep angle. This is followed by 'sketchy' vertical strokes of a dark tone for the legs leaving some shorter than others to indicate walking. You don't need to be exact and have two legs for all the bodies - let them flow together and then finish by 'blobbing' burnt umber for the heads, angling them slightly to indicate 'conversations'.

Finish with a stroke or two for the shadows to plant the people on the ground. In the example painting, note the gap left to accommodate the person closer to the viewer (Paul's 'Bath' lady) and also note that on level ground, the top of her head is the same as the more distant people - it's the body that is longer.
Brian (Sherwin's) picture below of Tower Bridge shows how Bob's Blobs are used for the crowd scene to the left of the painting.
With a little practice you will soon be able to use this style to great effect in your own paintings.
NB this blog was first posted in 2016 by Paul Fisher

During an extended coffee break at one of our weekly meetings John Harris, a Lacock Art Group member, showed us how to cut a mount to display our paintings.

After cutting the mount board to the desired external size John drew the required cut-out shape on the reverse side - see image 1.

Then, using his special guided cutter with angled blade, he cut along the lines - see image 2. A professional finish was achieved, with the 45 degree angle of the blade producing a neat, bevelled inside edge. A number of different models of this type of mount cutter are available, some of them already in use by our members. 

There was much interest in this from members, who took the opportunity to gain some practical, hands-on experience. 
NB this blog was first posted in 2017
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