DEMONSTRATION REVIEWS

Jane Perkins
Saturday 3rd February

Saturday 1 November 2026 Paul Oakley: Oil landscape

Professional artist Paul Oakley gave a stimulating and informative demonstration to around 50 members. He demonstrated his painting skills with an impressionistic landscape in the style of the famous French Impressionist painter, Monet.

Paul led a receptive audience through the materials he uses for oil painting and recommended the use of a photographic reference as the basis for the painting. He stressed the importance of producing a sketch of the overall scene with changes, where necessary, to produce a balanced painting.

Demonstrating a variety of brush strokes that help create a successful oil painting, members were led through the stages of creating the sky, mountains, shadows on the hills, village houses, mid-range trees and the featured olive trees. The finishing stages included details to the fields, improving the village houses and selected shadow areas. He finished with the focus on the olive trees which were the key to the painting, drawing the viewers’ eyes into the painting.

Throughout the demonstration Paul kept up an explanation, in a light-hearted and knowledgeable manner, ensuring a pleasant and informative atmosphere in which to watch and learn.

Saturday 4 October
Nick Stewart: Pen Ink

Nick Stewart, a professional designer, conducted a fascinating presentation on his research into fountain pen ink - sharing its qualities as a medium and its potential when mixed with bleach and water.

The presentation was a lively exchange between our very interested members and Nick himself, who admitted that this was the first time he'd shared his findings with an audience.

Prior to the break Nick switched from presenting to demonstrating, creating 'art out of destruction' which is how he describes his work. He flooded a sheet of heavy watercolour paper with a single dark colour of ink which he allowed to dry. During the drying process new colours slowly emerged - pinks, blues and greys.

Using a dip pen Nick worked into the surface dark tones of neat ink (outlines of the sheep and grass). To create a mid tone he simply added water to the ink and finally switched to domestic bleech (diluted) to lift patches of the ink to create the lightest tones.

Nick used:

Dip pens - Zebra G Nib,

cheap synthetic brushes

half rigger

domestic bleech - dilutes 30/70

Fountain pen ink - Quink

Saturday 6 September
Melissa Wishart: Oils

Bermuda born artist Melissa Wishart worked from a colour ground, on board. Using a photograph as inspiration and her iPad image to work from, Melissa created a seascape of Salcombe. The image had a sense of space and energy that she wanted to capture.

Melissa had made her large palette from on old picture frame and kept her colours simple, mixing three tones for sky, sea and beach.

A lot of the early paint work was applied with a silicone wedge, to deliver a smooth and quick base and enhanced with a combination of palette knives and brushes.

Working from the sky to the foreground Melissa finished the image with the addition of figures which gave the finished painting a sense of scale.

Saturday 5 July
Jayne Perkins: Pastels

Professional artist and OAG member, Jayne Perkins, provided another accomplished demonstration in pastels.

Jayne provided a detailed explanation of how to prepare a pastel support which is an essential element of pastel painting. Jayne uses hardboard or MDF which she paints first in acrylic (black is her preference) and is then covered with a pastel ground such as Goldern Pastel Ground or Art Spectrum.

Jayne was working from her own sketch made on a trip to the North West Highlands of Scotland. Her pastel box is made up largely of Semelier soft pastels, although she believes that Rembrandt pastels are a comparable alternative.

She began with a loose sketch using a 2b charcoal pencil, which doubles up as her black throughout later stages of the painting. Jayne is a fast worker and it wasn't long before she had blocked out the principle shapes of sky, land, buildings and the loch. Jayne observed the light that came in from the top left of the image, running down the hill and across the water. Jane blends gently with her fingers when trying to achieve the brilliance of light on water and in the sky.

Returning from a well earned tea break Jayne completed the painting focusing on the details in the foreground.

Saturday 1 March
Marieta Sotirova: Oils

Marieta, a professional artist, undertook a cityscape painting in oils, demonstrating to an enthusiastic group of OAG members.

Her skills shone through as she covered many points about undertaking a painting from the preparation stages through to completion.

She was honest about her own skills and emotions and described what she was doing throughout the demonstration which resonated with members own experiences.

The painting itself went through what she called the “messy” foundation stage for the first half of the demonstration and then onto the details in the second half that brought the painting 'to life.'

This was an excellent demonstration in oil painting skills and the emotional stages most artists go through when undertaking a painting.

Saturday 1 February
Rodney Kingston: Oils

Rodney painted on oil paper, primed with Gesso and washed with burnt umber. He used a limited palette and worked with a range of brushes, favoring a stiff, hog hair brush.

Rodney took his time to carefully plot the objects ensuring heights and widths were correct. With a good base drawing he felt he could make any minor nudges as the painting progressed.

Satisfied with the under drawing Rodney blocked in the shapes playing attention to the tonal values. Working from large to small he swiftly built up his composition and added the detail together with some nice highlights that sharpened up the overall effect.

Stewart Beckett
Saturday 4 January 2025

Stewart demonstrated an oil painted seascape, based on a composition painted 'en plein air' and photographs taken at the time.

He began by painting in the main aspects of his composition using an old sharpened paintbrush. His style favours a loose, fluid interpretation, avoiding at all costs 'fiddling with details' which he feels 'loses the life of the painting'.

Stewart introduced figures to help break-up the landscape and show definition. He focused on achieving the correct tonal values and built up the scene with the use of stumpy sticks to draw in the thickly applied oil, his fingers and a variety brushes to achieve the marks he wanted.

Having taken a well earned break for tea, Stewart avoided looking at his painting until he resumed. He feels it is essential to walk away from your work and return with fresh eyes to establish areas that have worked and those areas that require further application.

With the composition completed Stewart stood well back from the painting to appraise the values and ensure it functioned as a painting. He remarked that paintings aren't designed to be under microscopic inspection but should 'project off the surface and work from a distance'.

Alison Board: Workshop
Saturday 18 January: Mixed Media

Alison had previously entertained the OAG with a lively and knowledgeable watercolour demonstration. Encouraged by her warmth and enthusiasm, the workshop was enjoyed by a full group of members who were eager to experience her mixed media programme.

Alison set the subject of a natural landscape featuring a Red Kite. Using water colour, collage, Gesso, pens and a variety of tools the group spent an informative day creating their spin on Alison's composition.

Alison was a delightful tutor - warm, friendly and exceptionally encouraging. I'm sure it wont be long before we are welcoming her back to North Warnborough.

Jake Winkle
Saturday 7 December 2024

Jake specialises in painting animals enjoying the freedom of vibrant colours and a loose natural style. However, for us he explored winter landscapes using a black and white photo and for his second demonstration a summer painting.

Jake suggested that working a winter scene from either a black and white source or a different season source was a good exercise to develop skills associated with light, shade and reflection. He drew attention to the fact that most landscapes are a form of abstraction as it is not possible to draw every detail. For this reason landscapes require an interpretation and design that will work across balance, tension and depth.

Jake paints very loosely building up the landscape with layers of colour, shadows and reflection to pick out details. He advised that warm colours come forward whilst cool colours retract behind them - grey in particular drifts back a long way which is a very useful tool for the landscape painter.

Jake used:

Arches 140lb rough paper stretched, taped and stapled
He worked with a clean palette using all primary and secondary colours plus raw sienna, light red and sepia
Natural hair brushes for their ability to soak up water
6mm deep MDF as a painting board

Clive Eastland
Saturday 2 November 2024

Clive Eastland entertained a large OAG audience with his gentle humour and accomplished technique as a pastel artist.

Providing a dramatic seascape he employed all the skills he has developed over the past 20 years as a professional artist. Self taught, Clive was happy to discuss the merits of pastels, paper and their application.

Clive worked the study from top to bottom. He set the sea against a gentle sky and gradually built the wave with multiple, thin layers of pastel. He advised against overworking pastel as this clogs the paper and prevents further application. Clive used the base of his hand and fingers to apply the pastel, only applying directly onto the paper to hightlight smaller details.

Clive used:

Jackson's handmade soft pastels
Recommended the use of muted colours - greys, lilacs etc
Paper - Claire Fontaine Pastelmat
Avoid fixative as dulls the finish
Putty rubber
Soft brushes and make-up sponge can be used to blend

Chris Sharp
Saturday 5 October 2024

Chris delighted members with a professional demonstration of an acrylic beachscape, looking across to Burgh Island.

True to her style, the finished painting was a balance of loose strokes, a restricted palette and thickly applied paint that reflected and celebrated the atmosphere.

Working almost exclusively with a palette knife, she ensured that the composition remain fluid and was not encumbered by excessive detail. Not to overwhelm the composition, Chris created quieter passages in both the sky and sea and like many artist's that favour a more abstract approach, allowed the painting to benefit from a few happy accidents. Read more about Chris

Chris Used:

Titanium White - Seawhite

Prussian Blue, Raw Sienna, Naples Yellow, Permanent Rose

Palette knife

DIY Studio palette - tin tray, puppy pad and greaseproof paper

Acrylic satin medium to set the paint

Charles Evans: Workshop
Saturday 19 October: Watercolour

Charles is a regular demonstrator at OAG meetings but this was the first workshop he conducted for us.

True to form, Charles was as entertaining as he was informative. With a full group of 15 members present, Charles began with a demonstration of a Yorkshire landscape and then moved on to a taught session.

Charles is an advocate of stress fee painting and wanted us all to enjoy the journey. Working with just three brushes and 5 water colours (plus 'sand') we were able to construct a rural landscape featuring a farm house and buildings.

The workshop was enjoyed by both new and experienced artists many of whom have already signed up for the next session in January.

Brian Smith
Saturday 7 September 2024

Brian Smith gave a stimulating and 'fast-paced' watercolour demonstration to launch our new programme for 2024/25.

A lifetime professional painter, he held all members interest from the start, with a bold declaration that he would paint five paintings in two hours! He explained that he wasn’t aiming to produce finished paintings but use the opportunity to share many aspects and watercolour techniques.

In the event, he produced one full painting in the first half of the demonstration and a further four, clever painting exercises to encourage everyone to paint with confidence and undertake experimentation to develop their skills.

The demonstration was full of painting tips delivered by Brian with confidence, humour and a lifetime’s knowledge. He held everyone's attention and stimulated audience inter-action as the two hours passed by quickly.

A great start to our new demonstration programme.