Brian Smith won The Artist prize at the Royal Watercolour Society 2011 Open Exhibition and the Matt Bruce Memorial Award at the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour 2011 Open Exhibition. Like many successful artists, Brian came to watercolour painting through commercial art rather than through an art school education. ‘I took my art A level when I was 15 and at 17 worked as an assistant at a London art studio, where I was promoted to trainee illustrator and encouraged to draw the human figure.’ He learnt by observation, experience and hard work, three qualities that have remained with him.

In 1976 he went freelance and worked in his own London studio for the next 21 years. ‘At that time I was always busy, often finishing commissions overnight, living by the seat of my pants. I was often employed by architects or estate agents to produce architectural perspectives of developments to enable sales before completion. I worked for many advertising agencies producing images for newspapers or storyboards for TV advertising. The advertising world was exciting and demanding. I think that my commercial art training and experience has been vital to my later success as a fine artist, giving me a broad range of abilities’.

In 1995 Brian opened a residential art school in Eastbourne, and he teaches further afield in Tuscany, France, Menorca, India and the Far East. ‘I enjoy teaching and encourage my students to work on the spot as much as possible. I know that this can be daunting at first, so I suggest that people use sketchbooks to begin with. My own paintings are a mixture of open air and studio work, but I believe that working from life has enabled me to learn and develop my techniques to encompass both plein-air and studio work.’
 

Watercolour work

Brian paints mostly in watercolour, using three watercolour papers: Saunders Waterford, Arches and Two Rivers paper, 1401lb (300gsm) but occasionally goes up to 300lb (640gsm). He does not stretch the paper but tapes it all round to a piece of plywood. He then lays in his drawing in pencil being careful to establish the eye level line: if this is high in the composition, the foreground of the picture becomes more important. ‘I work in the studio from sketches done on the spot, often in watercolour, and sometimes from photographs, which are useful as aides-mêmoire.
I always use my own photographs, but they are only useful in the first stages of a watercolour. I generally find sketchbooks more useful than photographs because I have actually stood on the spot and analysed the scene in pencil and watercolour over a period of time. I almost always start with the sky as this is the source of light within the picture, and then work down from top to bottom, rather than lying in broad washes over the whole paper’.
 

Pilgrims, Kerala, watercolour, (45x60cm)

‘I decided to use this street for a demonstration of working on the spot. The final painting is based on my demonstration work and on some photographs, and I have slightly changed the actual view. I loved the sense of space, sunlight and colour’. Winner of the Matt Bruce Memorial Award at the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour 2011 Open Exhibition

Colours

‘For me watercolour painting is all about the contrast between thick and thin pigment and wet and dry paper. I mix my colours on the surface of the paper rather a palette, and admit to being a colourist rather than a tonal painter. I enjoy strong colours and contrasts and try to suggest shapes and colours in deep shadows. I tend to use a warm and cool version of each colour: raw and burnt sienna; raw and burnt umber; cerulean; cobalt; indigo; French ultramarine; I like to have brown madder, Winsor violet and Indian yellow as well as alizarin crimson and rose madder genuine. I rarely use yellow ochre as I find it too opaque. I also use neutral tint as a mixing colour. I mix all my greens except viridian, an artificial-looking colour which I find useful for depicting clothing, tarpaulins and canopies over restaurants. I use Winsor & Newton Designer Gouache bleed-proof white to give linear detail or small touches of light but my highlights are always the whiteness of the paper rather than body colour. I am interested in the way bleed-proof white gives opaque texture to pigments in contrast to their natural translucent qualities, but I use them sparingly’.
‘I try not to use masking fluid which I find makes the painting rather stiff and formal, and prefer to lift out colour using cotton buds. I use an ordinary butter knife to push and drag pigment across the paper, sometimes indenting the paper with the edge of the knife. I find a spray gun very useful to break up pigments in order to give texture: these marks must complement the work, not draw attention. I use a selection of brushes, preferably Kolinsky sable sizes 10, 8 and 6 round, a 1¼ inch flat and an old hog, although I am always careful to hint at detail rather than state it, as I want to leave an element of mystery in my work. I probably only use about four brushes for any one picture and I use a mall stick to steady my hand for fine details and lines. I also use a scalpel to cut into the surface of the paper to create highlights’.

Hustle and Bustle, watercolour, (60x85cm).

‘This studio painting is based on watercolour sketches made on the spot in Barcelona. I was attracted by the people milling around, and the high midday sun coming in from behind.
The scaffolding on the building to the right adds interest’
 

Brian Smith runs classes for watercolour painters near his home in Blunham, Bedfordshire, and also travels around the UK, demonstrating and holding workshops at various art societies.
See his website for further information: www.briansmithartist.com

 

 

Read the full interview with Brian in the January 2011 issue of The Artist