Our demonstrator for February was Michael Milczarek. He did an Oil Landscape demo.
The meeting was held in the Guild Hall, First Congregational Church (middle side door), Sanborn Street, Reading, Wednesday February 8th, 2017 at 7:30 p.m.
We have some photographs of the event in case you could not make it there in person.
Rather than try to go through an entire painting in the limited time available, Michael brought four versions of the same painting in various stages of completion. He then demonstrated his technique by switching between the different stages to show how he completes a work.
In the first stage, he showed us how he makes a rough sketch.
He used Van Dyke Brown to do the drawing.
He did a very rough sketch of the basic shapes in the painting.
After a while, he switched to the second stage of the
painting, which was a more finished and refined drawing.
Before laying on the color, he wrote out his palette.
Most of us were familiar with the colors other than Kings Blue.
Keep scrolling down to see an example of Kings Blue.
Michael next switched to a partially complete painting to
show how he roughs in the colors and the major shapes.
Here he is defining a dark shape in the middle of the painting.
He used the Kings Blue in the hills in the background.
The Kings Blue is the color in the center of the photograph.
Here he continues to define the large shapes.
You can see how the atmospheric perspective makes
the hills in the background recede into the distance.
At this point he put up the fourth stage of the painting.
The fourth version is on the easel, and the third stage,
that he was just working on, is on the floor on the right.
At this stage, the details and the textures are put in.
He is working on the rocks on the left side of the painting.
The pine trees go in next.
Then, he started working on the rocks on the right hand side.
Michael did not have time to complete the painting, but he completed enough of it to show us how he works.
Update 2017-03-15
Michael sent me a photo of the finished painting. Here it is.
You can see some of Michael's work at his web site, https://michaelmilczarek.com/
Michael made the decision to 'try a painting class' after visiting galleries and art shows with his wife for years. He found an artist whose work he admired who also offered classes for adults in the evenings. In 2000 he signed up and has been painting in oils ever since.
He grew up and lives on Massachusetts's North Shore where he draws his inspiration from painting the everyday scene.
"We have a great range on subject matter to draw from in New England, ranging from rocky coastlines, smooth beaches, salt marshes, fields, meadows and mountains. We drive by them every day going to work, school, errands and endless soccer, band, and football practices.
My inspiration is to remove the asphalt, streetlights and buildings in order to see the landscape as it truly is. The majority of my landscapes are literally a view from the side of the road."
Michael works primarily with a full color palette often tilted towards a tonal approach. His goal for a landscape painting is to convey a sense of quiet calm we all need from time to time.
He is an artist-partner in the Saltbox Gallery and is a member of several area art associations.