Watercolour demonstration by Paul Talbot-Greaves

Paul gathers material and then paints in his studio using pictures he has taken, which he can then edit to suit.
He uses a heavy Saunders paper and draws with a 6b pencil often using a scalefinder to scale up his picture. His aim with this picture was to use a light area on the road as a focus.
He started with big brushes using different sizes for different shapes, first putting in the sky using Cobalt Blue and Burnt Sienna, not worrying about accuracy at this stage. “Start with a mess end with success”​

He then used a hair dryer to dry the paper ready for the addition of stronger values.
He now started to break the painting down into manageable sections using smaller brushes where needed, often working wet on wet, sometimes using a spray, to ensure a softness between shapes.
The dark area was added to the buildings using Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna virtually straight from the tube. Next the hills were added using yellow ochre and sap green with ultramarine added for darker areas. Hookers green was then used for the darker tree.​

The road was then painted with Cobalt Blue and Burnt Sienna mixed for the shadows.
Everything was now blocked in and the painting started to emerge. The details were now starting to be added. Sometimes he splashed water on areas and other times the surface of the paper was used to add effects.
After finishing the waste land on the left, texture and details were added to the wall.
He then moved back to the building, adding windows with White Designers Gouache, with a little Ceruleum Blue added to reflect the sky. The window frames were then added using the white.
Broken fencing was then added on the waste land to add interest before paint was flicked from a stiff brush onto the wall. Final details, such as the telegraph pole and some highlights were then added.

At this stage Paul decided the painting was at a suitable stage to be left. He would then come back to it in a couple of days to access if anything else needed doing.

This was a fascinating insight into his working methods and certainly inspired the members. It was also helpful to see how he set up the technical equipment for future reference.
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