Our demonstrator was Emily Passman, who did an oil landscape demonstration.
The meeting was held in the Guild Hall, First Congregational Church (middle side door), Sanborn Street, Reading, Wednesday October 11th, 2017 at 7:30 p.m.
We have some photographs of the event in case you could not make it there in person.
Emily showed us her unusual technique of starting the painting totally upside down. This allows her to put down the large color masses of the painting without being distracted by the details of the objects in her subject matter photograph.
Emily did the painting from a photograph that she took.
Here is a closeup of the reference photo.
She chose only a small portion of the photo to use for the painting.
In this photo I have drawn a red box around the area that she cropped out for use.
Emily cropped out the small area and then turned it upside down.
In this photo she shows us the small image and the large image together.
She then sketched a small version of the painting on the sketch pad.
Continuing to work on the sketch to find the large masses.
You can see the small, cropped image just above the sketch pad.
Emily passed out copies of the photo so we could follow along.
She is finishing the sketch, all upside down.
Moving on to the painting, she established the basic shapes with a large brush.
The painting was done on a tinted board.
The audience was very attentive.
Emily added the large shapes, still painting upside down.
The light area she is working on is actually the sky.
Here is the painting so far.
Adding more shapes to the painting.
Another closeup photo even farther along; still upside down.
Finally, Emily turned the painting right side up for finishing.
The sky is now in the upper left corner of the painting.
She cleaned up the shapes from the reference photo.
Adding some details.
It looks more like buildings at this point.
Here is the painting as Emily left it.
This was a very interesting technique.
Thank you very much, Emily for a unique and interesting demonstration.
Note
Emily sent me a photograph that she took of the finished the painting. I thought that I would share it with you. It turned out really well.
You can see more of Emily's work at her web site, http://www.emilypassman.com/
Emily (Osman) Passman is a painter of oils and acrylics, exhibiting throughout the greater-Boston area and New England. Emily's still lifes and landscapes maintain realism without losing a sense of the abstract. After earning both a fine arts degree and an M.A. in education, Emily had a successful career as an elementary school teacher, then graphic designer. Since moving to Lexington, MA with her husband and son, she has devoted herself entirely to her painting and teaching art locally. She is involved with many local arts events and is a member of the Lexington Council for the Arts. She currently paints in a studio in a barn behind her home.