David Bellamy painted a coastal scene with rocks and mountains. I learnt how Yellow Ochre pushes out the other colours but gives a lively variation to the mountains. I saw Fiona Peart doing 2 landscapes, the place was jam packed and I could only stand and watch. She showed how to represent a misty background with clever use of gouache with a slight blue tinge. Peter Woolley and me admired the way David Curtis paints his architectural subjects so well. One other artist I liked very much was Trevor Lingard, I saw him do his wet in wet dark toned landscape. For me the find of the Festival was Robert Newcombe, it was a revelation talking to him and watching him do his what he calls 'impressonistic line and wash' using a sharpened match stick in place of a drawing pen. I admired his work greatly and he presented me with one of his sharpened match sticks! I tried line and wash watercolours using his match stick just to test how good it could be, here are my attempts. Though I did these in a hurry to recapture his style, I plan to use this method in a few paintings. I always had a few reservations about line and wash but my mental block is gone. It is a really new rewarding experience.
