Hester Berry came down from North Devon to demonstrate her exceptional talents. Using nothing more than a primed A4 smooth board and a ¾ inch soft  chisel brush, her challenge was to produce a painting using a recently taken photography of the beach at Saunton.

With a very limited palette of oils, she started by mixing her own black, and then with a number of abstract marks laid down the basic structure. Then with subtle additions to gradually lighten the colour built up the illusion. As oils were being used,  a cloth covered finger scraped across the board enabled colour to be removed  to reveal the underlying paint.

Hester explained use minimal brush strokes and think about the angle and strength of your brushwork. For flat block work the palette knife is best, but if the marks require texture use the brush.

She was over an hour into the painting before she cleaned her brush!!

The sky was last, and as she put it “the sun is fun, but scary!” Using nothing more than a palette knife and titanium white a few deft touches and the picture was finished.

A very informative and enjoyable evening.

Simon Gray