Charles Reid Day 3

Today the plan was to visit the National Trust property at Trerice to work outside. As the property did not open till later in the morning we had a workshop session before setting out. This turned out to be one of the most illuminating hours of the week so far.

Charles was asked to say something about determining the consistency of paint as some of us were struggling to get it right. Problems in speedy drying and long drying characterise the different ends of the problem spectrum. As most of us knew the ratio of paint to water is the key to this but it is a difficult skill to master.

Charles demonstrates his range of brush strokes

The easel was quickly erected and Charles began a detailed exposition of his thoughts on the subject. Hopefully I can give a flavour of the wisdom passed down.

Firstly the routine should be the same each time. The brush is put into the water and the excess is shaken off. Then the tip of the brush is put into moist paint to a depth of between 1/8” and ¼”. The brush is then like a fountain pen the tip loaded with paint and a reservoir of water behind.

Next the brush is now applied to the paper tip first and then moved to an angle of about 45°, from this point the brush must remain on the paper till the stroke is completed.

Comparing paint consistency

Working out paint on the palette should normally only be done when creating light middle to light values. Anything darker the brush should go from paint supply to paper.

The demonstration strokes

Light value strokes should not be gone back into, the risk of ugly stroke marks is high.

Don’t be frightened to be crude.

Some soft edges

Everything should be painted adjacently this will facilitate the losing of edges. You need sufficient paint on the paper to lose an edge, the brush is moved from outside into the paint area to create a path out.

At the end of the session we set off for Trerice in light drizzle and wind. This was to be the prevailing condition for most of our day there. Wet in wet easy to achieve and no early drying problems. The party split their time by watching Charles paint and making their own images.

Trerice series

Trerice - Watercolour by Charles Reid. Not quite finished.

Charles Reid Day 1

After a pleasant evening where the course participants had the chance to meet each other and have a chat with Charles and Judy Reid we rose early to begin our work with the Master.

David Grubb - Photograph courtesy of Crantock Bay Hotel

The first exercise was to be based on an old photograph of a local lifeboat man. Charles decided to use this and as a backdrop the view from the hotel window.

Charles begins his drawing

He began by talking about his views on drawing. He emphasises what he calls ‘revised contour drawing’ as a technique and advises that students eschew a sketching approach as this leads to poor technique later on with the brush. The main elements of this approach are keeping the pencil on the paper and keeping part of the hand in contact with the paper.

After making a faint outline for the purposes of checking composition and scaling of the elements in the picture he erased most of the outline and began the process of making the drawing that would be the basis of the painting. This process was one of constant cross-referencing of different parts of the image to each other. The creation of both inside and outside shapes including prominent shadow areas was a feature of the drawing.

Completed Drawing

Drawing complete the painting began, but not before Charles talked about paint consistency and mixing. With reference to mixing he is insistent that any mix should retain the integrity of the constituent colours.

Whilst Charles is often described as a 'loose' painter there is a real precision to the way he applies his paint. It is the same routine each time, Water, Shake, Paint is the best way to summarise it. With brush now loaded he 'makes a shape' then softens part of it. This he does by taking the bush in to the paint then lifting.

First strokes on paper

The operative phrase becomes 'Press and Stroke' making as few strokes as possible. Another interesting technique is the way that he directs the brush. He places the point at the point he wishes to start the stroke while holding it so that the whole brush moves in the direction of the stroke.
David Grubb - partial completion

Once the bulk of the figure had been completed, Charles then turned his attention to the background, which was of course the view from the window of the room we were working in.

David Grubb - Watercolour by Charles Reid

Ray, Charles and Judy send their best regards.