Our demonstrator for March was Mark Richards. He presented an oil landscape demonstration.
The meeting was held in the Guild Hall, First Congregational Church (middle side door), Sanborn Street, Reading, Wednesday March 9th, 2011 at 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.
Mark described his pallette before he began.
He started by putting high key colors on most of the canvas.
His goal in doing that was to cover the entire canvas with paint
before getting down to the serious business of painting.
The real painting begins once there is first coat of paint.
After placing the high key areas, he put in the darks.
He uses pigments that are not fugitive colors. Those colors tend to be
transparent. Mixing white into the colors makes them more opaque.
Then, he put in the middle values.
Once the basic painting is done, he usually lets it sit for a day.
On day 2 he adds medium to the paint, which improves its transparency.
He paints wet into wet, using lots of paint.
He adds some highligts and shading to mold the shapes of the land.
Finally, the details go in to add some realism.
Here is the final painting.
Mark Richards always wanted to be an artist and has been creating paintings since he was 11 years old. He said, "My 'plein air' works inspire me in my studio in Needham". He received his Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara and continued his education at Massachusetts College of Art.
Mark has a very long list of exhibits and awards throughout the United States, way too numerous to list. He explained that he seeks out natural subjects that fulfill his love of the natural world. His paintings attempt to capture the spirit of time, place, season, atmosphere, and mood with colors that are bold and vibrant. Paint, color, texture and form are elements that he combines to elicit a response from the viewer. He considers the viewers' responses as important as the places depicted. For more inforamation about Mark, visit his web site, http://www.markrichardsfineart.com/