Friday 5th February.
Melanie Cambridge
Exclusive demonstration for BAS Members
“Seascape in Oils” – West Wittering
I love painting seascapes and beaches. During lock down, having been prevented from going to the beach, painting fairly large scales oils, especially of my favorite place, West Wittering, has kept me sane. So come along to the seaside and enjoy my interpretation of the fabulous silver sands at Wittering, with a few figures thrown in for good measure.
Breezy afternoon
With Melanie Cambridge
The video of this demonstration can be found at https://youtu.be/yeYnRNbWWj4 and will remain visible until 28th Feb. Please don’t share it.
For any members wishing to follow my video of this event, here is a list of materials used.
The Colours:
- Titanium White
- Naples Yellow
- Cadmium Yellow
- Cadmium Red
- Magenta (or Permanent Rose, or Quinacridrone Magenta)
- Cerulean Blue
- Ultramarine Blue
- Raw Umber
- Burnt Sienna
I also use a texture medium for impasto effects. This is available from online from Jacksons Art Supplies – Lukas Painting Butter. Link to website: https://www.jacksonsart.com/lukas-alkyd-medium-5-painting-butter-200ml-ship-by-road-only
White Spirit both for cleaning brushes and for thinning colours.
Rags or kitchen roll to wipe up excess paint and again for cleaning brushes.
My demonstration was painted on a stretched canvas sized 16 x 23 inches. I gave the already white primed surface a coat of cool blue grey gesso in advance. I used Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna mixed with White Gesso. I also used masking tape to cover the edges of the canvas before priming so that when finished the canvas had a clean white edge so can be hung without a frame if required.
Brushes were from my own range: A size no. 12 Filbert, No.8 Filbert, No.4 Long Filbert and a No.4 Round Brush.
EXCLUSIVE OFFER TO BAS MEMBERS – valid until 28th February 2021
£ 5.00 off any order
If you wish to purchase any of my brushes, then these are available from my on-line art shop www.melaniecambridge-fine-art.co.uk/art-shop
Additional commentary by Adrian Fowle:
There are a couple of observations that I should like to add too. Melanie mentioned the Golden Ratio as determining where she placed her main vertical. The Golden Ratio is one of those peculiar numbers, like Pi, that pop up in multiple areas of maths and nature – and art. The size of a canvas can be in the Golden Ratio – if the longer side is about 1.62 times the length of the shorter. The composition within the canvas can be in the Golden Ratio if the canvas areas is broken down into smaller areas with the ratio 0.62 by placing important parts of the scene at those points. That number is sufficiently close to 2/3 or 3/5 that for most purposes in art those simpler numbers will do. For some reason we find those proportions pleasing. The maths is interesting, but not everyone believes the applications to nature or art.
On a more prosaic matter, Melanie buys her frames from easyframe.com