Peninsula Art Society Monthly Demonstration November 2011

Robert Wade - Water Colour Scene

As an unashamed traditionalist style artist he doesn't care if he is popular or sells at this stage in his life. At the spritely age of 81 (I could not believe his age as he looks nothing like it!) - and with a lifelong passion for art, especially water colour, he devotes his time to continuing his interest in painting and passing on his considerable knowledge to the next generations of painters.

Robert's landscapes truly reflect the feel and emotion of the country he is painting. His use of water colour is brilliant and the colours are perfect for every country he depicts. Speaking about the quality of artists today, Robert said that we in Melbourne in particular are very lucky to have so many very good internationally recognised and quality water colour artists.

Before the actual demo started we were able to see samples of artworks done at demonstrations held all over the world. It was great to be able to identify the country they were done in, not so much by the content, but by the appropriate colours used for the foliage and the atmosphere. We also saw one of his very small sketch books, use to get down very quick impressions on his travels. Even with such quick little sketches, Robert had been able to use these as references for later much more involved artworks.

Unlike many other artists, and a lot of trainers who push for formal art training, Robert is a self taught artist. As he was growing up most of the trainers were teaching modernist style which he had no liking for at all. He decided to go on his own path and develop his own traditionalist style, which has served his extremely well for all his career.

Lack of formal training does not mean the Robert is lacking in knowledge about his materials. He spoke about the need for suitable papers for painting on and selecting the right one for your style of painting. He uses mostly French papers and for this demo was using a 300gsm rough. His preferred paints are by Windsor and Newton, stating that the colours are light fast and he has been very happy after much testing of them. I personally have some paints by this company that I bought in my teens and they are still very usable.

The subject for the demonstration today was from a sketch done in Nepal. A local man is standing holding a push bike wearing traditional clothing. With this subject a very limited palette was used, mostly consisting of Quinacridone Gold, Alizerine Chrimson and Cobalt Blue. The drawing in had already been done, and this was more precise and detailed than I have seen from a lot of other artists recently.

Robert painted with the paper upright which is also a bit different for water colour as many artists like to have the paper on a very slight angle if not flat on a table. Robert likes to control his washes this way, using gravity to move the paint down the page. He also only wets the area that he wants to work on, allowing the edges to stay sharp for the focal point and feature items in the painting.

The mid tones for the background were painted in first and then Robert went on the establish his lightest lights and darkest darks. He went back into to darkest point in the background a few times to deepen the colour and warm it up. This made the main feature - the man with the bike, who was wearing lighter colours, really pop out from the paper.

The washes on the foreground around the main feature were made darker as they approached the bottom of the page and the shadow areas painted in to the bike and the figure. The same colours for the darkest areas of the painting were also used for the darkest shadows on the figure and the bike. The spread of the colour around the painting pulled it all together, colours used in one area were also used in another.

Changing from a large flat brush to a smaller round, a lot of the smaller details were now added to bring out the folds in fabric and details on the bike. The smaller brush allowed for indications of the pattern in the masonry in the wall on the building in the background to be painted in, it was also used for the main and darkest shadows near the subject. The finishing touches of darkest darks on the main subject and all the little details such as spokes and shape of the front wheel on the bike that really made this work stand out. A lot of preparation work was put into building up the mid tones and the form around the painting and making sure that the lightest lights remained untouched. The work was completely dried off on at least two occasions to allow for new washes to be done without muddying up the colours underneath. These additions of warmth built up form and shape and tied together all the elements around the focal point.

With most of the painting done using warm brownish colours Robert selected a light wash of Cobalt Blue on the headgear of the figure and cool grey mixed from the colours he had been using, on the bag hanging from the handle bars. This nice change from warm to cool really made the focal point stand out.

Robert's clever use of cool and warm colours right through this painting really did make the atmosphere of Nepal and the dusty road so real you could nearly feel it. AS he finished off he spoke about the eternal question we all ask ourselves, "how do you know when stop?" - his response to this is when the next brush stroke you make does not add to the painting. I keep telling myself that one whenever I am doing any sort of artwork, no matter what the medium. It is so easy to just keep going when you should have stopped.

To finish off, Robert pulled of the masking tape around his work and popped it behind a matt board. It really did sing now. The colours which had already looked great, jumped out from the surface and the result was a beautiful and atmospheric piece of fine artwork.

I really did enjoy this demonstration. Robert was funny, interesting, well travelled and a very talented and experienced artist and teacher - as well as a very nice guy. I highly recommend him as a demonstrator and would definitely take up the opportunity to see him in action again.

Janice Mills

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