On Tuesday 20 May, live demo by DJ – Acrylic painting in the style of a master, 7.30pm, Centre 70
DJ talked about the value of copying other artists’ work as invaluable to understanding an artist’s work. He demonstrated this with a painting by Van Gogh. He told us of van Gogh’s circumstance at the time – he worked through the night on this view from his window. The light was poor, his vision intense. DJ talked about his career as an artist while he worked.
Here are notes made by a WADAC member: Ultramarine and white. Adds strokes over mid blue for tonal contrast. Leave some of the mid blue showing. Marks on hills to sculpt shadow of the hill. Mid greens in foreground. Van Gogh worked in layers. Started with raw sienna background. Tree on first. Direction of strokes key. Often used same brush throughout. Rounded brush. Sky strokes. Leave some of ground showing. Will fill in some of the gaps. Stars came last. Add white for lighter blue near clouds. Smaller bristle brush for tumultuous cloud. Add some green near hills. Add cad yellow and white to the existing blue mix to get pale green. Checks colour on brush against photo. Stars were in zinc and Indian yellow. Cad yellow and white, neat paint and some mixed. Prussian blue and burnt sienna, raw umber (almost black) to add contrast to the sky. Foreground, green and black mix. Stars, deepening cad yellow with burnt sienna to make an orange. Blues around stars. Collection of marks build the impact. Pale green around moon. Further mid blue in central sky swirl. White last in clouds. Steeple pale blue. Lined. Blues and greys for distant buildings.
DJ has been drawing and painting for as long as he can remember and his style has developed through many years of experience working in professional fine art studios and working for international design companies. He is now an established, independent artist and has been teaching art classes & art courses, running painting workshops and doing painting demonstrations throughout the UK & Europe for over 15 years.
Being outside in nature is a huge source of inspiration for DJ and you can frequently find him wandering high up in the mountains or perched on rocks by the sea, painting oil sketches in preparation for his larger works. It has been said that Dj’s work frequently stops viewers in their tracks as it so effectively captures the magic of the natural world that surrounds us.
He is a regular contributor to the Leisure painter magazine and his artwork has been featured in national & international publications including International Artist magazine, Artist and Illustrator magazine, The Artist Magazine, Paint magazine, Trail Magazine and the Great Outdoors Magazine.
DJ’s website is at: https://www.artbydj.co.uk/
Free to members. Non-members welcome (£5 payable on the night).
To reserve your place at Centre 70, please email admin@wallingfordartclub.org.uk
