Cala. A Study in Temperature

At each of my in-person classes (which have started back permanently since the pandemic restrictions have been lifted), I paint a complete demonstration before all the students set to work on their own pieces. In this case, I did a more ambitious demo as I wanted to get across something very important. Namely, that every painting you do should have a concept. 

I chose to paint from a photograph instead of from life as this also forms part of the syllabus that I’ve developed. There’s a mindset you need to develop if you use photographic references and that is, to try to get away from the reality of the image. Hence the ‘concept’: Since this is a scene from a beautiful part of a hot country, I wanted to get over a sense of heat. You often see this approach in the work of the Impressionists and one of my favourites is Cézanne who often depicted scenes like this.

“Cala. A Study in Temperature”. Oils on canvas panel. 16″ x12″
A new term of art classes in Dublin, Ireland starts March 8 and 10 2022. Go to this link to find art classes in Dublin.