Alan Cotton
An inspiring and interesting talk from one of the UK's leading artists. Alan told us of his trip as tour artist with the Prince of Wales and of his many other journeys in search of inspiring landscapes.
There was a lot of useful information packed into the talk and I managed to jot down some items which I found useful, so in no particular order:-
His use of many drawings on location which as they progress helps him plan the future painting.
Use of a coloured/stained surface to paint on, he never start with a white canvas.
Important to use imagination to interpret the experience once back in the studio.
Also important to have an area/studio set aside to paint.
Using different size canvases can help keep your work fresh.
Part of the drawing process is to explore simple shape combinations to enhance composition.
Make use of foreground objects in painting, also useful in a studio to have some plants to see how they work with the painting in progress.
Artists should have a lot of sketchbooks which contain a resevoir of ideas for future paintings.
Laying the same colours in same position on pallette is rubbish as you are using colours as they inspire you and different ranges depending on the mood and subject.
You need to be 'turned on' by the subject.
Good to find one view/area that inspires you as you can do a thematic series of paintings.
Drawing a subject is understanding it.
Good framing is essential to make your work stand out.
He uses lightfast art pens for sketching.
A lot more information and gallery of work at his website, see link below.
http://www.alancotton.co.uk/
