Our demonstrator was Michael Milczarek, who did an Oil Landscape demonstration.
The meeting was be held in the Guild Hall, First Congregational Church (middle side door), Sanborn Street, Reading, Wednesday January 11th, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.
We have some photographs of the event since you could not make it there in person. But before we get to the photographs of the demonstration, here is a photograph of the audience.
I have been a member of Reading Art Association for over 40 years, and in all those years I do not remember any demonstration where we had zero attendance until this one. The two people in the photograph are board members who were in the board meeting prior to the demo. Including myself, there were just three of us at the demo. Rosie had to leave. No other association members showed up.
However, Michael was intrepid, and he did the demo anyway. And it was excellent.
Michael painted a view of Deception Pass in Washington State.
He started by blocking in the sky and water.
He always starts by painting the sky and water the same color.
In this case, the color is a combination of VanDyke brown
and ultramarine blue, which makes a nice gray color.
In this photo he has blocked in the distant land masses
and outlined the land in the foreground.
Here is a close up.
Adding more definition to the land in the foreground.
A closer view.
It is difficult to see in the photograph, but he is
adding the tree line in the foreground. He uses old
abused brushes to stipple in the trees.
He also uses the old brush to soften the tree line in the background.
Adding more definition to the foreground island.
You can see here that he has started defining the vegetation in the foreground.
Continuing to define the trees.
This is how far he got with the demonstration.
He will work more on it in the studio and let us know how it turns out.
As a final thought, he put a line of sunshine at the horizon.
That brightens things up, don't you think?
Here is the painting with the masking tape removed.
You can see more of Michael's work at his web site, https://www.michaelmilczarek.com/
Michael is a life-long resident of the Massachusetts North Shore which is the inspiration for most of his work. Michael began painting in 2000 studying with a local artist whose work he admired. Since then, a combination of private study, workshops, live and digital demonstrations and experimentation form the extent of his training.
Michael works primarily with a limited color palette often tilted towards a tonal approach.
"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 while walking the local trails. I want to take the landscape we see every day back to the way it is without the asphalt, sidewalks, streetlights and buildings. I rarely include any structures in my painting and the viewer is the solitary person."