NAPTON ART GROUP TALK & DEMO
A recent 45 minute talk & 1 hr demo to a very friendly and engaging group of artists at ‘Napton Art Group’ this month, For any interested local artists- they meet weekly to draw & paint together and host regular talks, demos and workshops :)
Subject: Split Primary Plums in oils.
Below on the orange board:
top left- tonal drawing, top right - reference image,
bottom left 10” x 10” primed mdf board, bottom right - paper palette with split primary palette used to form ‘colour strings’
This still life, for me, makes for a perfect talk and demo subject matter it includes:
How and why to use a limited palette of colours, colour strings
Preparation, pre-mixing, surfaces, paints, mediums, brushes, subject matter
Compositional guidelines, lighting, highlights & shadows, negative spaces
Focal Point, edges, background, brushwork
Oil on smooth panel board 10” x 10”
Finished painting - I got about half way through it in the demo then finished it off at home, so it took about 2 hrs including colour mixing.
If you’ve never heard of a ‘colour string before’ - here’s why you may want to mix one prior to painting:
Key Features of a Colour String:
Purpose: To streamline the painting process, ensuring consistent tonal values and organized, clean color mixing across a painting.
Composition: A "string" usually starts with a pure color (e.g., raw pigment from the tube) and slowly adds progressive amounts of another colour (usually white) to create a gradient of tones.
Value Scale: Often, artists will create a string of 3 to 9+ values, allowing them to easily pick tones for darks, mid-tones, and highlights.
Application: It is particularly useful when painting subjects with subtle shifts in hue, value, and chroma.
I offer a variety of one-day painting workshops in my home studio in Leamington Spa on Saturdays. These cover various subject matter and can generally be done in acrylics or oils. Also, should anyone be interested I run regular weekly classes on Mondays. All of these are listed and bookable via my website.
The next date for you to have a go at this ‘Split Primary Plums’ workshop at ‘Campion Art Studio’ is on Saturday 3rd October 2026.
Demo: Trying to paint standing side on to the board so that everyone can see rather than watching the screen! My excuse for why one of the cut plums is at a funny angle!