Graham Scandrett (Demo/Workshops 2008)

Week 1 (8 February 2008) REDS
Demo - how to reduce or increase colour without creating mud Workshop - painting from observation - a group consisting of a variety of reds		Students to bring: own painting media RED objects for a still life group
This was one of the best-attended workshops for a long time. The main points covered by Graham were: reds can be darkened, but if you try to lighten them (with white or water/thinner) you lose the brilliance and get pinks start with the purest (cadmium) red, perhaps with a touch of cadmium orange, and then darken by adding darker reds, violets, purples (not blues) and, at the very end, a complementary veridian green reds are generally too opaque to make a good glaze as a general rule, if you need to mix more than two colours, don't. Mix two (the reds) apply the mixture, let it dry thoroughly and then apply the third as a glaze. That way the colours will stay much fresher and, finally, "break rules with impunity if you find it works for you"

WEEK 2 (15 February 2008) GREENS
Demo - exploring ways of achieveing a wide variety of greens Workshop - painting based on a woodland scene using only greens		Students to bring: own painting media (blues and yellows only) any photo of woodland scene NOT coloured green
About the same number attended tonight, too. The main points I got down were: to make a good range of greens you need three blues (cobalt? ultra? indigo?) and three yellows (lemon? indian? raw sienna?). You might like to try cerulean or turquoise blues, windsor transparent yellow and/or new gamboge, too greens are easier than reds - they can be darkened or lightened - but if you are using several glazes use a vat-sized paper (Saunders Waterford?) rather than a cheap surface-sized one (Langdon, Bockingford) BEWARE: you need to be aware of the transparency, staining and permanence properties of your blues and yellows (from the manufacturers' catalogues) and to glaze accordingly glazing with yellow is difficult - virtually impossible with earthy yellows. Put your light or dark yellow wash first and then glaze with a transparent blue (cobalt? indigo? Ultra is too bright for glazing) we've been trying to keep life in our greens. If you really need to grey it, use a transparent cool red or purple (an orange-red will kill it)

WEEK 3 (22 February 2008) GREYS
Demo - how to mix a variety of greys and increase their range Workshop - an atmospheric picture exploring the use of greys		Students to bring: own painting media any photo reference they consider applicable to the subject

We are after a variety of greys, not a monochrome result. If you want your painting to look fresh, don't rely too much on black. Paynes Grey is a lot of black with a little blue although with yellow it can make some nice grey-greens. Indigo is blue with a small enough touch of black not to detract from its usefulness. Your greys can theoretically be made from any pair of complementary colours and modified to give a definite colour (as above). Mixes of red + green (crimson & viridian or scarlet & a blue green) are probably most useful, followed by blue + orange or brown (any blue & a sienna, umber or orange, even cobalt & light red). Yellow + purple come a poor third. If you must go down the yellow + purple route, don't mix them - paint yellow first, when dry apply a purple glaze followed in turn, perhaps, by a transparent yellow glaze. Try them, to get the shades you like.