Workshop: Stewart Beckett - Focus on composition

A select group of us had an excellent day with Stewart Beckett. He started by showing us how he draws out his picture. It seems so obvious, but 4 little dots on your canvas where 3 vertical and horizontal lines intercept is such a simple way to divide your canvas into thirds; so much easier than grids or marks at the edge of the painting.

Stewart demonstrated throughout the day, showing each stage of progress of a painting then allowing us time to focus on each element. We all brought our own source material and some worked in acrylic, some in oils.

We learnt so much, from the difference between drawing in pencil or charcoal compared to just using paint. Then we went on to colour mixing, preparing pools of dark, mid and pale hues to block in the basic areas, trying not to get too detailed but employing the art of squinting to keep things ‘simple’.

As the day progressed, we refined, problem solved, tweaked and discovered the importance of lost and found edges (he made it look so simple!). He spent time individually with all of us supporting our individual journey and offering excellent advice. His final little demo showed us how to put the sparkle into a painting, little dabs of intense colour or highlights to make a painting sing.

We all really enjoyed our day and for those of you who couldn’t get to this workshop, a sneaky heads up, he’s coming back next year.