Melanie Cambridge painting horses

From a photograph Melanie Cambridge painted horses on a beach in gouache. She started by showing us previous paintings of hers. She had herself learnt proportions by sketching simple lines of the ‘shapes’ of various parts of the animal. She continually corrected and revisited her sketch and also included hints on how to paint features - for example, eyes. She used quite large brushes and her background was very loosely painted. It was particularly interesting how she built up the colours and depths of the horses’ coats. Having given an absorbing evening, she was generous enough to send us a copy of her zoom demonstration so that members could watch it again at leisure.

Pauline Brown