Our demonstrator for April was David Curtis. He presented an oil landscape demonstration called "Understanding Tones".
The meeting was held in the Guild Hall, First Congregational Church (middle side door), Sanborn Street, Reading, Wednesday April 13th, 2011, 7:30 p.m.
We have some photographs of the event in case you could not make it there in person. You can click on any of the images on this page to view a larger version of it. Then, use the Back button on your browser to return to this page.
David began his demonstration with a discussion about painting and the use of tone. Tone consists of three things:
The value is how light or dark it is, the color is the specific hue (e.g. red), and the intensity is the saturation of the color.
David also emphasized the importance of composition in the painting.
As an example of composition he showed us how to position the highlight.
The center does not work because of the monotony of the negative space.
By moving the highlight off center, the negative space becomes more interesting.
Diagonal lines put movement into the painting.
Once the composition is in place, the large shapes of color are put in.
David worked quickly to put in the rest of the color.
He finished by putting some details into the foreground.
Here is the finished painting.
Brought up among the paintings and painters of Cape Ann, David received an early introduction to art from his father, Marine Painter Roger W. Curtis. After graduating from high school, David began work in the atelier of Boston School painter R.H. Ives Gammell. He is an active member of Rockport Art Assn., North Shore Arts Assn. and the Guild of Boston Artists. Primarily an outdoor landscape painter, David has won numerous awards for his work, including Yankee Magazine's Robb Sagendorph Memorial Award, two A.T. Hibbard Memorial Awards, and two Frank Benson Awards. His work is shown and collected internationally, and he is listed in Who's Who In The East. With more than 30 years of plein air painting experience, he has been conducting outdoor classes and workshops since 1993 and still resides on Cape Ann with his family.