Barry Herniman

Last Friday (5 July) we had Barry Herniman to give us a demonstration in gouache paints. It was a hot and steamy evening at Putnoe Heights Church when we all sat down to watch the picture emerge from Barry's paintbrush.

He had chosen a sea view with splashing waves and he stressed that the applied lines of paint must reflect the ebb and flow of the waves which gives a more realistic effect. He built up a limited palette of colours to paint the rocks, followed by the flicking of paint to begin the spray. This was followed by a change of colour for the sea, with lights and darks of blue tones. He left several spaces of canvas showing to allow the whiteness to shine through even though he later used a white gouache to paint the spray and foam of the splashing waves. Again he flicked the paint on to the painting to achieve this effect.

He then used a rigger to put in the cracks and hollows of the rocks, and to give depth to them.

When finished, Barry's painting gave you a real feel of the liveliness of the sea crashing against the rocks on the shoreline – making some of us wish we were actually there in the heat!

Diane Bell