Terry Jarvis Demonstration, Saturday 17th October 2015 Watercolour Landscape, ’Painting the Light’
Terry
is a great entertainer as well as a fine watercolourist. He has all the
cheek in the world and if you give him a microphone he does a really good
standup performance. He has had some experience in that he was lead
guitarist and vocalist in a rock band that toured with John Farnham and
others in the 70s. He started with a marvellous rendition of "Are you
Lonesome Tonight?" with an Elvis Presley voice. From time to time he
danced across stage and while painting kept up a running commentary
through the mike.
He is busy and sought after as an artist, teacher
and tour leader, both within Australia and overseas. Next year he will
lead a painting tour to the Greek Isles, the lesser known ones not the
touristy ones. It sounds most attractive. Also to Tuscany. You can follow
him locally in a variety of places including Bathurst and Dookie. (See the
back pages of Australian Artist.) This demo was to be "Painting the
Light". He had lightly sketched a Tuscan doorway, stone steps and
terracotta pots of flowers. He stressed that you have to get your drawing
right. Draw all the time. Annotate your drawing with reminders for the
future studio version. You are telling a story as you paint.
He had a stock of aphorisms, such as "Never say die until it's dry," meaning that with watercolour you often get accidentaI effects which you didn't plan. So don't fiddle, it may be better than you think. He says "Don't put your lipstick on in the shower", meaning that the thick buttery paint goes on last, not during the wash stage. He continually said aloud "Gee I love painting," which is probably true for him but also psychologically sound to tell yourself, as artists can get very down on themselves at times.
To obtain a painting full of light you work from light to dark, trying to never lose your lights by being too early with darker detail. Think about light. Cool colours recede, warm ones advance. Sharp edges advance, soft edges recede. The consistency of the paint affects the issue too. It may vary from watery to milky to creamy to buttery, and you can put the thicker consistency over thinner while damp, but not vice versa or you get cauliflowers.
Starting with a thin wash of cerulean blue for the sky and other thin shades for different parts of the picture, he avoided any final decisions until he had shaded in the whole picture, all light. Then he set about his main focus. For foliage he did a quick vigorous scumble and when it was part dry used his no.3 fingernail to draw in some twigs and branches. Timing is critical here as if it is too wet the mark fills in and if it is too dry it doesn't mark. Don't fiddle. Let it dry and see.
After drying time, (a delicious afternoon tea), he came back over the light features with strong darks, leaving the edges of pots, foliage, steps, doorway, light where they pick up the low sun. Ping! They jump out. Those terracotta pots were suddenly 3D. He added bright pure red accents for the flowers. In one pot he used white gouache with a splatter brush to give a Queen Anne's Lace effect. As a bonus he painted a rose and bud in the margin with just a few strokes. When he stripped off the tape it gave the lovely painting a crisp edge. He very generously left it with the club to be raffled.
An amazing demonstration. Thank you Terry
Report by Colin Browne