Tabla de contenidos para April 2025 en Leisure Painter

Do you think you can't spare five minutes or more a day to draw? Try checking your phone usage or your time spent watching TV, and you might just be surprised. According to Jane Wakefield reporting for the BBC, the average daily phone usage, not including talking, is over four-and-a-half hours. If you're not into social media, simply substitute any other time-wasting activities of choice. Now, imagine what you could do with over 1600 hours to spare every year. Why not put that time to good use and develop the habit of keeping a sketchbook? I get it; you don't use a sketchbook because you just want to paint, or because the sketchbook is not a finished piece of work and a lot of people just don't see the point.…

Your views Leisure Painter's editorial consultant, David Bellamy commented on the state of art societies in last month's issue (page 33). His opinion piece inspired the following readers to reply. Different outcomes I entirely agree with David Bellamy's opinion and thoughts about the decline of art societies across the country. I am currently a member of two societies locally in Essex. Although Dunmow Art Group had a membership downturn during Covid, it is now back to a thriving club (70 members). It has regular meetings with events such as demonstrations once a month and a regular weekly painting workshop during the daytime. This is usually led by a professional artist or a competent member; these are regularly attended. I appreciate that this format does not suit all members and indeed,…

Nicholas Poullis is an award-winning watercolourist and has been a contributor to The Artist for many years, writing on various aspects of watercolour. He has a particular interest in architectural subject matter. His book, Atmospheric Buildings in Watercolour, published by Search Press, is available now from our online bookshop painters-online.co.uk/artsupplies Nicholas runs painting holidays in Collioure; for more information visit vineyardpaintingexperience.com Since graduating from Anglia Polytechnic University in 1996, Nicholas has been a full-time professional artist and has exhibited extensively in France and also England with the RBSA, RI, RBA and RWS as well as in various group and solo shows, including at the Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall. Nicholas is well established in the Languedoc region of south-west France, where he has previously been an Official Painter to the…

I live in the small fishing village of Mousehole that lies on the western tip of Cornwall in the far south west. The pretty harbour is popular with visitors in the summer months and is bustling with families on holiday enjoying the beach and safe waters, cafés and ice-cream parlours, galleries and shops. At this time of year, I am drawn to the colourful boats in the harbour and spend hours attempting to untangle the mystery of the reflections and the moving shadows in the water – forever changing and transient as the tide ebbs and flows, and the high sun shifts across the sky. The winter months are tranquil with many empty homes and businesses closed. However, for the local people that live here we rediscover the sense of…

It's amazing how many people take up painting in later life, especially in retirement. There's no doubt that it's a great time to do it, seeing that we have more time to spend on such things. The social aspects of art alone are certainly worth serious consideration too; painting is a great social lubricant. While all of this is true, there comes a time, even for social painters, were there may be a wish to get ‘better’. Being content with a purely social aspect of painting is a legitimate pursuit for some, but for others, the call for something more can be strong, no matter what age we may be. To advance to a stage above a purely social painter requires a change of mindset more than anything else. Where…

KIMBERLEY KEEGAN produces the Ask an Artist podcast and also happens to be Peter's wife and business manager. She has a fine art degree herself, is a qualified teacher and pre-Covid, ran an in-person art school. Now she is the co-director of Art Profile; an agency representing over 150 UK artists who also teach and demonstrate, coordinating and arranging workshops, demonstrations and classes for art clubs, groups and societies. You can listen to the podcast on any of the usual podcast platforms such as Apple Podcasts or Spotify as well as via the dedicated podcast website, www.askanartistpodcast.com. If you are an art club or society, looking for an Artist to come and work with you, contact Kimberley on info@artprofile.co.uk or take a look at the Art Profile website for more…

LONDON ■ Bankside Gallery 48 Hopton Street SE1 020 7928 7521 banksidegallery.com ‘The Society of Wood Engravers’, until 23 February. ■ Chris Beetles Gallery 8 & 10 Ryder Street, St James's SW1 020 7839 7551 chrisbeetles.com ‘The New English Art Club’, exhibition of 95 artworks by 48 past and present members of the NEAC, until 1 March ■ Courtauld Gallery Somerset House, Strand WC2 020 3947 7777 courtauld.ac.uk ‘Goya to Impressionism’: masterpieces from the Oskar Reinhart Collection, until 26 May ■ Dulwich Picture Gallery Gallery Road SE21 020 8693 5254 dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk ‘Tirzah Garwood: Beyond Ravilious’, until 26 May. ■ The Garden Museum Lambeth Palace Road SE1 020 7401 8865 gardenmuseum.org.uk ‘Lost Gardens of London, until 2 March. ■ Leighton House Museum 12 Holland Park Road W14 020 7361 3783 rbkc.gov.uk…

Hahnemühle has been producing high-quality artist papers since 1584, making it one of Germany's oldest paper mills. Its world-renowned watercolour papers are created using high-quality pulp and produced with a combination of traditional heritage techniques and modern-day state-of-the-art production processes. The Hahnemühle ZigZag book is one of its many products and is essentially one long single sheet of high-quality watercolour paper folded like a concertina to create a sketchbook of 18 pages – ten one side and eight the other. The ZigZag book is available in A5 and A6 portrait formats as well as two square options, measuring 5x5cm and 14x14cm. You'll also find this a highly finished, quality sketchbook. The oversized dark grey durable cloth bookcovers protect the folded paper inside and are held together with a distinct and…

A lot of people I talk to, who discover I can draw and paint, say that they wish they could draw too, and the last time they ever drew or painted anything was at school. I often tell them it's not as difficult as they think. If you have interest in art and like to visit and admire paintings, you are halfway there. With patience and practice you will soon see improvement in your work. Once you can draw, painting is like drawing with a brush. Everyone has their own characteristic hand writing and it's often recognisable to friends and family. This can also be true with regard to sketching. If you look at a number of different artist sketches for long enough, you will see each have their own…

BASIC TECHNIQUES “Painting is as much about enjoying the process as it is about creating the finished picture.” Single colour application Scoop paint onto the underside of the palette knife and apply it to the canvas in an action that is similar to icing a cake or plastering a wall. Use light strokes in any direction, smoothing the paint over the area you wish to cover. The larger the knife, the greater the area of coverage. Blending a gradient of two colours Scoop a portion of paint and apply to the canvas as above. Add a second colour to the canvas below the first. I used titanium white here. Using a steady, evenly pressured knife action, spread the colours across the canvas. A repetitive side-to-side motion will encourage blending. Stop…

In art there are generally two ways an artist will define themselves. By that I mean their approach, either as a tonal painter or a colourist. Sometimes the two will mix or overlap, but usually you are either one or the other. Looking through art history there are clearly defined artists from both camps: Sickert and the Camden Town Group were tonal painters, whereas the Fauves, Post-Impressionists and Scottish Colourists were colourists. Even today contemporary art is divided between the two. The late Ken Howard was a tonal painter whilst Hugo Grenville is a colourist. I have always veered towards colour in my own work even though I have done tonal paintings. There is a crossover between the two partly because in some instances within the different colours there will…

One of the main things I hear as a tutor is that painters want to loosen up their tight painting style and break out of the habit of overly tidy, timid paintings. This can be a tough goal, as we all want to paint accurately, capturing an accurate representation of the subject, and it can feel that we must therefore grab our detail brush and get to work meticulously copying the reference. However, with practice and a little bit of bravery, it is perfectly possible to create realistic, accurate impressions of our chosen subjects with bold marks that look spontaneous and captivating. The main reason why loose painting is challenging is that we, as humans, want to avoid making mistakes. We feel that each brushstroke should be perfectly accurate from…

Here's an exercise that provides the best results when painting with acrylics: painting a scene – or at least the main statements – in one go. This is similar to the traditional practice known as alla prima. With this approach, you are aiming to make your choice of colours, lighting and where to place the large shapes. You'll allow these layers to dry before applying those final details along with strengthening some light and colour. It's difficult painting over several sittings, as identifying and accurately recreating colour mixes is tricky, which slows the process. The spontaneity of an in-depth painting session will keep you in the loop of colours used, while the speedy process will help make your mark making more concise. Get a lot painted early Get your materials…

Quick takeaways • Use artistic licence when working from photographs. Ask yourself: what do I want to take from this scene, and what can I leave out? • Don't skimp on the planning. By producing small tonal and colour studies of the scene, you'll find completing the finished painting much easier. Many of us try to capture the light and atmosphere of a snow scene just as the snow has fallen, with very few footprints in a field, minimal tyre markings on a road, and a layer of snow covering most parts of the landscape. This combination makes an ideal snow study, but what do we paint when the cars and people have had their fun, the snow has almost melted, and we are left with a rather bland and…

If you like the idea of working with oil paints, it's worth considering if your chosen medium poses any risk to yourself or your surroundings. Oil paints do not pose a hazard in themselves or give off harmful fumes when used. It is a slow-drying medium that consists of tiny particles of pigment suspended in a drying oil, most commonly linseed, but sometimes poppy or safflower oil. The behaviour or flow of the paint can be influenced by adding some form of solvent. An alkyd medium can be added to change the viscosity of the paint and speed up the drying time. Manufacturers also add stabilisers to prevent the oil separating from the pigment and allow the paint to be stored for long periods of time. Takeaways • The vast…

Question I struggle to match colours with my pencils. How can I get the right colour? Answer Many beginner and intermediate tutorials will tell you exactly the colour name or number to use at any given stage but it can be a little intimidating to go it alone for the first time. I recommend you don't worry about matching colours exactly. Close enough is good enough, even with realism. Who's going to see the reference and the artwork side-byside anyway? Tonal value When trying to match a specific colour it is more important to get closer to the right tonal value than it is the right colour. Tonal value is how dark or light a colour is and it's what gives a threedimensional object form and dimension on the page.…

Celebrating 250 years since the birth of JMW Turner, cultural institutions across Britain and further afield – from museums and galleries to TV and online – will be celebrating the great British romantic landscape painter. Turner was born in 1775 and during his lifetime travelled the length and breadth of the country capturing the scenery and drama in thousands of drawings and sketches that he later worked up into finished paintings. As his reputation and success grew his work pushed the boundaries of his time, both in his treatment of the subject matter and through the capabilities of the paint itself, producing increasingly poetic and imaginative works in which light, colour and atmosphere dominated. The artist continues to resonate with us and he is considered to be the greatest and…

Last month when I looked at painting from photographs, I pointed out some of the limitations that make them less than perfect as resources for a painting. The major issue is the simple fact that we do not see reality the way a camera sees it and this is where a simple pencil sketch comes in, using shading to create a tonal pattern. A 2B or 3B pencil is a good choice. It is soft enough to get those rich darks but not so soft that it smudges too easily and I use the same pencil to work up my sketch to my drawing before painting. Remember that sinking feeling when looking through photographs for something to paint and finding nothing appealing even though you clearly remember how exciting the…

In the first of a series of four articles showing how I create my linocut artworks I am proud to feature Salts Mill. Salts Mill is a former textile mill in Saltaire, Bradford in West Yorkshire. Built in 1853 it was once the largest mill in the world. The UNESCO World Heritage attraction houses a huge range of work by artist David Hockney. Hockney's art has always carried a fascination for me and the mills alongside the Leeds and Liverpool canal have attracted me back many times. Bradford celebrates being the UK City of Culture throughout 2025 and the venue, created by Sir Titus Salt, features in these celebrations. Sir Titus Salt built the village of Saltaire to house his employees and the village stands today as testament to his…

Maybe you remember still life from school: a shoe plonked on the table, a pencil case spilling pencils. While there's no doubt that painting still life hones your ability to observe form, value and colour, it can be, well, a bit boring. A still life is just that – still. So, how can you make it more interesting for you to paint and your viewer to enjoy? Subject matter as a message Choosing subjects that have some meaning for you will help with motivation. 1 As part of a painting challenge to paint daily for a month, I painted my grown-up children's favourite childhood toys. I enjoyed remembering the imaginative games we would play. This series sparked many nostalgic comments on social media, evoking childhood memories. It can even be…

MONTH FOUR Being an artist is in many ways a solitary pursuit but it doesn't have to be all the time. If you keep your eyes out there are opportunities to paint with a community of likeminded people and a good example of this is the London Plein Air Painters group. At the beginning of my third month as a full-time artist I decided to meet up with this open group for a day of painting at St Paul's Cathedral. London Plein Air Painters was launched more than three years ago by artists Carol Owen and Tushar Sabale who were inspired to arrange informal painting days in London for anyone who wanted to bring along their gear and paint. They announce different locations for the first Saturday of the month…