Author Archives: David Bellamy

Painting With Pastels Exhibition

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Jenny’s exhibition has just started at Erwood Station Craft Centre, in the new carriage gallery. It will be open every day from 9.30 to 5.30 until 18th August, and she will be demonstrating there on 23rd July – see the events page. Set in the lovely upper Wye Valley the centre makes a lovely day out to see arts, crafts and beautiful countryside. Michael Cunningham is taking the Centre from strength to strength. This, of course is Llandoddie land, so be prepared for mysterious happenings, such as the cat changing colour.

The exhibition features paintings from Jenny’s new book, Painting With Pastels, published by Search Press, and shows the great versatility of the pastel medium. In her painting of Lindisfarne, seen above, I love the soft blending of the foreground vegetation into the sea, together with the variegated colour and the occasional blob. It is so easy to over-work a foreground, but one of her lessons here is to show how to understate this vital part of a painting.

We sketched this scene together on a beautiful evening, looking across at the incoming tide, so I’m not surprised that she has emphasised the romantic nature of the moment, and it is this sense of mood, whether emotional or physical, that can inject that marvellous added ingredient to lift the painting beyond simply a graphic record of the moment.

For details of the book, which is on offer with her latest pastel painting DVD, see our website http://wwwdavidbellamy.co.uk/

Rambling on in Mid-Wales

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For a number of years I have been president of Powys Area Ramblers – part of the Ramblers’ Association, which I joined over 20 years ago. It has given me great pleasure supporting a charity that does such marvellous work keeping so many of our footpaths open, and at the same time campaigning on behalf of the countryside, although I tended not to walk with them as my rather odd habit of continually chasing sketches meant that we quickly lost each other……

Of late, though, things have sadly gone awry in the Welsh Ramblers, with the Welsh RA hierarchy co-opting a controversial new Welsh president in a secretive and what some members feel to be an unconstitutional manner, as it should have been done at an AGM. The new president is Jane Davidson, a former minister within the Welsh Assembly who has been encouraging the building of massed wind turbines across Mid-Wales, industrialising it so much that if most developments proceed there will hardly be a single view without these massive, out-of-scale turbines present. Last autumn, following rumours, I warned Welsh RA that such an appointment would be both controversial and damaging to the RA.

As far as I know, most members of the RA in Wales are not aware of the arrogant manner in which this decision was carried out, and already some are concerned that they may be unable to protest against wind turbines because of the president’s stance. This, of course is not true, but illustrates the potentially invidious effect of having a politician involved in a democratic society.

So sadly I have resigned my position as president of Powys Ramblers. They are a great bunch and I wish them well, but they, and others deserve a far better hierarchy at Welsh HQ than the present incumbents.

The watercolour shows typical Mid-wales scenery that will become industrialised before long if the controversial plans go ahead. How soon before this becomes an artistic no-go area?

Painting Course in Derbyshire

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There were much fewer art instruction books around when I began painting, but one of them gave me to most marvellous advice which I have followed to this day: “The best art tutor you will ever find is Mother Nature.” After so many years painting professionally I could not agree more. There is nothing like getting out into the landscape and working direct from the scene in front of you.

In the photo I am giving instruction to a student on my recent painting course in the Derby shire Peak District. This combination of working directly from the landscape with a tutor to guide you really does push your work forward dramatically. Sure, you still don’t get it right first time, but it is amazing how much you learn simply by being out there, and gradually your work improves. Before going out students are given a talk on working outdoors, including materials, what to look for as a subject, methods of working, figuring out the composing, and so much more.

The course was based at the superb Pear Tree Farm studio run by Sue and Alan Barber, which has excellent facilities and the most delicious meals. My courses always include an outdoors element, followed by studio work where there are numerous watercolour demonstrations and practical work by the students. Where possible I try to include a little walking in search of subjects, but this is optional and should not put anyone off joining in.

Painting waterfalls in watercolour

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I like nothing better than to follow some bubbling rill up a mountain – it makes a delightful companion and almost always will lead me to a superb painting subject. Some of my most memorable moments in the hills has been climbing up a gill or gorge, staying as close to the water as possible, and often right in it! The combination of rocks and tumbling water I find irresistible, and in the current (July) issue of Leisure Painter Magazine you will find my article on painting moving, tumbling water.

The image shows part of a watercolour from my Mountains & Moorlands in Watercolour book, where a small cascade is falling between rocks. Painting cascades and waterfalls is all about contrasts: the contrast between the hard edges of rocks and the soft ones of the falling water where it passes in front of those rocks; and that of the white, aerated water against the wet, dark rocks. Too much of one or the other will weaken the effect. I also often break up the vertical elements with a small tree or branch, or perhaps a sprig of heather drifting in front of the falling water.

The preponderance of cool black – grey – blue – white can induce a feeling of cold austerity in the eye of the viewer, so in the above painting you will see that I’ve included a splash of red in the bottom right. One final tip: a few small flecks of white against the dark rocks and close to the falling water creates a sense of movement and splashing. You can do this with deft stabs with a scalpel, a few blobs of white gouache, or by spotting in some masking fluid before you start the painting, to reserve those tiny whites.

Another final tip:  waterfalls are at their best after heavy rain, so get out there while it’s still sloshing down for the best images, but be sure to keep all your accoutrements dry!!!

Retaining Whites in Watercolour

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Jenny and I demonstrated at the Patchings Art & Craft Festival in Nottinghamshire last week – the best annual show of its kind in Britain in a lovely rural setting with thousands of happy faces enjoying the art, crafts and the band. Jenny showed her pastel-painting techniques in the Search Press tent to enthusiastic audiences, while I did my usual watercolour demonstrations in the St Cuthberts Mill Celebrity Artist marquee, and also taking a couple of forays down to the Search Press tent in my tractor. My daughter Catherine gave us tremendous support, and, in fact, we would have been in trouble without her.

Patchings is superbly well organised. They place a massive screen on either side of me, on which the audience can see every mistake I make in enormous detail, as you can see on the right where my hand occupies one third of the screen. You can view the composition clearly, although only part is showing.

The image that you can see on the screen above illustrates clearly how leaving the paper white in places will have considerable impact on that part of the painting. Here the white cottage forms the centre of interest
which is supported by a gate that is mainly white. I often do this even if the building is not white. In this instance I used masking fluid to retain the white areas, although there are a number of ways of achieving this. It pays, therefore, to consider your whites before you touch the paper with the brush, because with watercolour it is almost impossible to get it back to a pristine white once it has been painted over.

The white paper – here I have used the superb Saunders Waterford High White in a rough surface – is an exceptionally powerful tool in your watercolour painting. Make the most of it!