The demonstration given to The Sidmouth Society of Artists (SSA) this month by Tony Homer certainly kept members on their toes.

Tony uses acrylic, mixed media and mark making to achieve the effects he wants.

It was interesting that he likes to paint three to four pictures at the same time to give different aspects of his chosen subject. For this demonstration he chose The Cornish Bakery in Sidmouth.

He began by explaining his reason for so many sketch books as he believes that sketching is very important and provided plenty for us to view.

He used 3-4 pieces of paper preparing them all carefully. He started by piercing them all lightly with a pair of scissors to add texture to the work.

Tony uses pure colours rather than mixing and block paints in three areas over the paper.

Using the first piece of paper, a flat brush, a mix of orange acrylic paint and medium gel, to allow for transparency over the sketch, he added three blocks of colour to the paper repeating this exercise with the other paintings and then with two other colours.

He used old credit cards to score brick lines whilst the painting is wet also using a cut down sponge roller against the paper edge for blocks of colour.

To add texture Tony demonstrated with one painting the use of newspaper and brown paper secured with wood glue.

He built up layer upon layer with the paints to each picture and finished with a glaze which added a subtle change to the colour and depth to the paintings.

How many members will try painting three or four aspects of a subject using these techniques? It was very interesting to watch.

We will be having another interesting demo in November with stamp lino-printing.

If you would like to take up painting as a hobby, we would love to hear from you. Please contact us on our website (www.sidmouthsocietyofartists.com)