What is your biggest challenge when it comes to drawing and painting? I often hear from readers, who want to know why they produce dull or insipid colour mixes so I have great pleasure in including Claudia Myatt’s article ‘Keep off the mud’ in this month’s issue (pages 12 to 15). Although she writes about watercolour, her ten top tips for producing bright and clean mixes are, in general, pertinent to all media. Sometimes it’s better to use your time to experiment, practise and play before beginning another painting in earnest, and this article certainly encourages you to become more creative with your colour. I hope you follow Claudia’s advice and let me know how your experiments feed into your artwork.
Another frequent question relates to painting from photographs and how you can move away from simply copying a scene to infusing the painting of it with your own personal response. This is an issue Leisure Painter tutors often talk about in our monthly ‘Painting projects’. Jem Bowden (pages 24 to 25) is no exception as he discusses how you can transfer elements from photographs of a harbour scene in bright sunshine, and in mellow early morning light, to produce one painting full of atmosphere and interest. Next month he’ll demonstrate how he painted the scene, but in the meantime please follow his advice and paint your own version. Don’t forget to share your work on our website and look at and comment on fellow readers’ work (see the end of the article for details).