Sunday 8 February 2015

Geoff Rowswell - watercolour landscape

The finished painting
Geoff Rowswell stepped in at very short notice for this demonstration and we're glad he did because this was an excellent demonstration of watercolour painting which he followed up with a lively question and answer session. He also showed us some of the his work that he currently has on show in his gallery, which is over the Farrow & Ball shop in Ledbury.

Geoff encouraged us toward a looser style and the omission of too much detail.

Two things particularly impressed me with the demonstration were: [1] the use of a very limited palette (I think he used only Ultramarine, Burnt Sienna and Raw Umber); [2] the light that seems to shine out of this picture.

Geoff had done his drawing in advance and had applied masking fluid to the trunks of the foreground birches. The images that follow show the progress of the painting.