Syd Tunn & Ona Henderson
Saturday 16th March, 2013
Still Life Demonstration
Acrylic and Mixed Media
This was a return visit to Whitehorse for Ona and Syd and we must have made a good impression first time because they were really enthusiastic to come again to such a friendly good-fun club.
WAA
President, Tony Northover (at right)
introduces the demonstration
while Syd prepares his materials.
This demo was to be a still life. Syd, ingenious as ever, solved the
problem of getting the display at his eye level by chocking up a stand on
a small table lying on its side with an easel ledge under it to get it
level. Precarious, but it held out for the afternoon. He arranged some
pink lady belladonna lilies in a blue vase and a bowl of golden wrapped
chocolates against a purple back cloth. Side lighting was set up.
He had prepared a pale blue gessoed board to paint on. As Ona commented on
his work he sketched away with homemade charcoal. They make this from
second year growth weeping willow sticks, sealed in a tin with a nail hole
in the lid, which is put into the coals of a fire for about 20 minutes.
Take the bark off the willow first. It should be black when it comes out.
If not give it some more time in the coals.
His table of materials included a glass palette, a paint scraper, a jar of
Matisse medium which he had mixed half matt, half gel. They advocated this
because it goes on white, or mixed with a little colour, and dries
transparent with a glaze, so you do not need to have glass over your
framed painting, just a frame, no mat. They also like to use gesso which
gives a bit of tooth to the surface, which is necessary if you want to
work over your dried painting with EB pencils for a mixed media effect. EB
(extra black) pencils are waxy and need the tooth to take.
Syd
with his completed painting
After blocking in some broad colour, he took his EB pencil
to parts that were dry and made some stems and outlines. The chocolates
posed a problem with their gold wrappings. Gesso went down first then
metallic gold when the gesso dried. To get shadows he put medium, half
matt, half gel, with a bit of blue or Payne’s grey. The gold darkens but
the colour comes through.
He gave a few hints about drawing ellipses. Start with a rectangle in
perspective, quarter it and curve the edges. They vary depending on their
distance below your eye level.
He steps back and inspects the work through opera glasses, or in a black
mirror or a normal mirror. This gives a different point of view to break
with the obsessive view you have when you are working so intensely on the
thing.
Thank you Syd and Ona for once again sharing your secrets with us. Another
really entertaining and informative demonstration.
Colin Browne (WAA Secretary)