The blue and white deckchair

Equipment

Drawing board

Canson Ingres paper in reddish brown

Caran d'Ache gouache

Daler-Rowney nylon brushes

This article was originally published in the February 1990 issue of Leisure Painter

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Colours

White

Yellow ochre

Cadmium red

Viridian

Cobalt blue

Ultramarine

Black

How to paint a deckchair in gouache

'To illustrate this article, and in order to describe the build-up of a painting, I have chosen a simple subject which pleases me - a striped deckchair in a corner of the garden,' says Jane Taylor.

'I have always loved the look of deckchairs. There is an association with childhood seaside holidays, the garden in summer, etc., and I felt that this subject would get me off to a good start. This particular chair with its bold blue and white stripes had a special significance for me.

I collected my materials, see above, the paper had been stretched the night before by wetting and sticking down with 1½” gum strip. I find Daler nylon brushes, suitable for gouache painting because of their springiness and durability – and not too expensive to replace when necessary.

'I then made for a spot by our own back door under an open-sided but roofed-over extension. Ideal. The day was warm but not too warm, the light steady, again ideal.

'There was no sky visible from my seated position and I was very conscious of the variety of warm and cool greens and greys. I was ready for action with the subject directly in front of me. I could hardly wait to get going!'

Demonstration: The Blue and White Deckchair

I began by drawing in the position of the chair with a light red paint using number 3 Dalon brush, having first made a note of exactly what I wanted to include in the painting with the aid of a cardboard viewer of the same proportion as the paper I had in front of me.

A ruler was used to take vertical and horizontal ‘readings’ and was used as a ruler for the sides of the chair and elsewhere when I felt crisp straight lines were needed. I continued through with more drawing of the masses of foliage, sticking as closely as I could to the subject and thinking of nothing save what I was doing.

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Then the stripes went in with great attention to the actual shapes left and made by the two colours.

I never damp the paper when I am painting and use the paint on the dry side – a trial in warm weather as it needs re-wetting often.

Having settled the chair, it was necessary to block-in the background and surroundings in order to create depth in the picture and not leave the chair floating in space, and also to indicate the tonal contrast with the surroundings.

This is a critical stage in the painting and it is important to establish the basic relationships of the main subject and its surroundings before proceeding further.

By reference to the illustration one can see some of the foreground objects beginning to appear from the background, e.g. the bay tree on the left and the geraniums on the right of the chair.

This stage is really a transition from the previous one with no violent change of direction.

Certain things are obvious when one looks at the final work:

1. The painting of the bay tree on the left is more resolved with more attention given to the subtle shift of colour and light within the leaves.

2. The flowers on the right of the painting are brought into closer relationship to the chair and given fuller expression.

3. Certain qualifying touches are added to the background to make it ‘read’.

4. I worked in the darks around the chair contrasting them with the lighter passages, pulling the tone in and out in an effort to get it right.

The finished work

The Blue and White Deckchair. Gouache 6” x 9½”

Top Tip

The business of painting, of translating one’s reactions to a subject into a process is a very complicated one and difficult to describe adequately in the space of a short article.

It is important to hang onto one’s first impressions – the initial ‘idea’ and not to smother it with a mass of extraneous detail – after all, one can always see something else which one has not included –some selection is inevitable and necessary.

As I have implied, the separate stages are essentially false – a necessary device to explain the development of a work, and difficult in retrospect to pinpoint to certain times in the work.

However, what is not described may hopefully be apparent in the works illustrated, and I trust the reader may be encouraged thereby to explore similar delights for themselves.

The blue and white deckchair by Jane Taylor

Equipment

Colours

How to paint a deckchair in gouache

Demonstration: The Blue and White Deckchair

Top Tip

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