Sharon Hurst Demonstrations
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Wokingham Art Society Sharon Hurst Demonstrations Return to Archive |
| Visit her at www.sharonhurst.co.uk or email her | |
| 20 September 2011 | 4 December 2007 |
| Fantasy Painting in Watercolour, 20 September 2011 | |
| Before the demo, I'd expected to be able
to say "Here are some pictures of the way the demo progressed, but for details
just look at the write-up from 2007." There are similarities but I still landed
up with quite a few notes. This is destined to become Sharon's 2011 Christmas card: a starry sky; Christmas lights and a Christmas angel, slightly one-over-the-eight, loosely holding a nearly-empty champagne bottle and a sprig of mistletoe. Sharon gets her models from fashion and lingerie magazines and she Googles to pick up details like the lights and the mistletoe. |
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She uses 140lb unstretched Bockingford paper because
it is sized all the way through, doesn't absorb colour enough to stop you
lifting it out (with sponge, brush or salt), is very tolerant of bad treatment
and its wrinkles vanish as it dries. Sharon had already spent a long time composing the picture, lightly drawing all the significant lines and then liberally applying her own, blue, easy-to-see Sharon Hurst masking fluid. "Forward planning is essential". A 1.5" hake wet the areas around the lights before she dropped pure colours in. These spread out to form diffuse patches which were then well dried. She speaks highly of Shin Han watercolours: organic, transparent, permanent and inexpensive. Transparency is essential for multiple glazes. |
| Next the sky above the lights was wetted and a
staining mixture of Indigo and Prussian Blue liberally brushed into
it. No great care was needed, except to catch the occasional runs, because the masking fluid protected the lines. For skin she uses multiple glazes of a very well diluted mix of burnt sienna, burnt umber (20%) and alizarin (10%). This is applied as a flat wash (keeping a line of wet paint as you work down the paper) and then thoroughly dried. For darker edges, the subsequent glazes are less diluted and blended in (repeatedly apply, rinse brush, remove excess water from brush, lift off). For the darkest skin shadows French Ultramarine are added . |
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The demo's time constraints had made her depart
slightly from her 'order of creation' rule of thumb (sky, background, skin and
finally clothes) but she was greeted with gasps of horror, just before the
coffee break when she took the dark sky down over the lower half of the
picture. This completely obliterated the coloured light patches until she
re-exposed them by lifting the wet paint out with a cloth. In the interval, while the dark paint was still damp, she put the board flat and sprinkled table salt onto the lights to give a granulated effect. This effect depends on the size of the salt grains (the background of the small picture below was done with dishwasher granules). |
 The detail on the right shows how  the salt takes the
dark paint off the lights dark paint puddles on the masking fluid (you should remove excess
wet paint from masked areas) fine white lines were made with masking fluid and a
size zero rigger (well soaped to preserve it). |
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| Other things we had been told in 2007 (many of which I
had forgotten) were repeated. Don't paint finger nails until the very end Wings were started
with Quinacridone Magenta, Windsor Violet being added later The edges of the
feathers are little triangles of Payne's Grey All overlapping areas
cast a dark shadow |
Shadow edges
curve to follow the contours Apply masking fluid with a single stroke and don't
leave it on for more than about 24 hours. It can be removed and re-painted
several times in a single painting Stars and other texture can be added onto the dark sky
with white gouache. Cover any areas that don't need the spray, be careful not
to have the paint too wet and avoid oblique spray (which gives teardrops
instead of little circles). |
 So ended another fascinating evening. Sharon is an artist with her own intriguing style. I nearly said "inimitable" but no-one, even with no wish to paint fairies and angels, can fail to want to try out some of her techniques. Thank you, Sharon. The painting was far from finished but Sharon has been as good as her word and sent this photo of the finished version of her inebriated fairy, "The Christmas Spirit!".  |
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| 20 September 2011 | Return to Archive | 4 December 2007 |
| All images on this website are the copyright of either the Wokingham Art Society or the individual artists |