Catherine Beale demo review

30/11/2022

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.

Reference photo

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.

Outline sketch (bottom right)

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.