President of the Otter Vale Art Society and renowned local artist, Phil Creek, once again enthralled the members and guests of the society at the Institute on the evening of June 3rd with a masterful demonstration of how to use the medium of gouache for painting.

His subject for the painting, completed from scratch in just over an hour from a sketch made on location, was an Almond tree grove in Andalucia. Phil is well known for his love of the Spanish landscape, with the clear air and sunshine of the hills and mountains of southern Spain greatly assisting his preferred methodology of painting “en plein air”. Gouache is similar to watercolour paint in composition and dries quickly but it is opaque, which makes it a useful medium for outdoor painting where the artist needs to work quickly to capture the scene. It is often thought of as a designers medium but may also be used in the studio to work up finished paintings in vibrant colours and some of Phil’s best known works are in this medium.

                                                   Mike Bird