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News Update at 30th Dec 2020
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We wish you all a happy new year and hope you will remember to renew your membership for 2021.
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There has been a change to our April booking which will now be a Zoom demo of portraiture in pastels from Rob Wareing.
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There is an EXTRA too! The opportunity to paint along with NZ artist Richard Robinson on 14th Jan. Fiona Gale gives all the info you need to know HERE
NB Sorry but Mobile phone view is NOT recommended for this site. Laptop is much preferred
Otter Vale Art Society
Write-ups of this year's demos
Green = link to artist website Light yellow = link to demo write-up
4th April 2025 David Webb - Brixham Harbour in Watercolour
2nd May 2025 Kaili Fu - Chinese art [at Institute]
6th June 2025 Alex Boon on Nature jounalling [at Institute]
5th Sept 2025 Julie Dunster - Painting in oils
3rd October 2025 Lisa Parkyn - Flower-based Abstracts
4th October 2025 Lisa Parkyn -Demo-related Workshop [Sidbury Village Hall]
7th November 2025 Alison Whateley - Mixed Media Textiles
4th April 2025: Brixham Harbour in Watercolour with David Webb
David began drawing enthusiastically from an early age. He discovered watercolours as his preferred mediums when in his early teens and has been mostly painting in this medium ever since.
For two decades he worked as an illustrator, often producing meticulously detailed works connected with natural history. But then he rediscovered his love of watercolour and now works in a looser more painterly style.
He has worked on numerous art books and magazines.
David enjoys finding scenes that include boats and harbours and brought a photo he had taken of Brixham Harbour [above].
But he considers the composition carefully, moving some elements such as boats and simplifying other areas to make a more satisfactory design. Making pencil sketches [below] is part of this process.
A pre-prepared sketch
David worked on pre-stretched 140g NOT paper using just five colours: Cobalt Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, and a touch of Indian Yellow. He favours a 'mop brush', a very soft brush that holds a lot of liquid and is versatile enough to cover large areas or, with its tip, add relatively precise touches.
Typical mop brushes
David's palette
Firstly he wetted the paper copiously and then added washes in the loosest fashion working from the top downwards. A convincing sky resolved itself almost like magic and the major background areas were soon established.
Bit by bit the distant trees and buildings became established, and pigment was sponged out from where light-coloured boats etc would emerge.
David worked quickly, adding details of light, shadow, reflections and so forth until before long the work was complete
The finished painting.
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