Julie Dunster
“Pumpkin Harvest in Oils”
Today we welcomed award winning plein air artist Julie Dunster to demonstrate her painting techniques and enviable skill with oils.
I will apologise now for anything I’ve missed (I didn’t quite catch all of the colours Julie used) as not being a painter, many of Julie’s artistic vocabulary went way over my head. I can tell already there will be a lot of ‘Googling’ for this report… ‘A day without learning, is a day wasted.’ as they say.
Straight away I was impressed at how minimal Julie’s set up was… an easel, iPad and a pot of (first Google) Gamsol solvent. Even to my inexperienced eye, it was obvious that Julie is use to working out of doors and travelling light!
Julie took time to explain how she often starts with a monotone gauche sketch to help her understand tones within her subject, which today (after a show of hands) was a photo of a boy sitting on hay bales in barn surrounded by pumpkins. Julie also created a tonal black and white version of the photo which she manipulated by adding more pumpkins to create a pleasing diagonal which leads the eye around the composition.
Equipment and mediums used
A French easel.
Belle Arti canvas board
Rosemary brushes alongside economy brushes from Lidl (all brushes are fair game)
Gamsol solvent
Michael Harding oil paints
Jacksons oil paints
Ultramarine blue
Phthalo blue
Kings blue
Permanent Magenta
Scarlet lake
Cadmium orange
Transparent oxide red
Indian yellow
Raw umber
Raw Sienna
Titanium white
Purple
Julie explained how oil paints can be stored covered in a refrigerator for weeks on end. They can also be frozen or even stored in a sink, covered by water to prevent oxidation.
Working on canvas board Julie started with a very thin wash of permanent Magenta and then roughly marked out the composition in Raw Umber taking care to check where the centre of interest would be. Looking for the lightest light and the darkest of dark areas Julie next marked in the dark areas moving on to the lighter tones. To check that she has the tonal values correct when comparing the area of grass to the bales of hay… Julie closes one eye and squints with the other. Another Dunster tip… Don’t put areas of light at the edge of a picture as it draws the eye away. Working on the sky, Julie mixed three whites… magenta/white. Yellow/white and cobalt/teal/white, which she applied with dabs and flicks, hold her brush long. To desaturate a colour mix a grey made from two neutrals or colours from the opposite sides of the colour wheel. (Yep! In way over my head at this point.)
To finish Julie uses Robertsons retouching varnish. Finally using a permanent varnish after 12 months.
To learn more about Julie’s work and classes you can visit.
https://www.juliedunsterartist.com https://www.instagram.com/pressinglifespausebutton https://www.facebook.com/julie.dunster.92
