Tenby Arts Club was pleased to see the magnetic quality of Graham Hadlow, who attracted a large crowd to see him demonstrate his skill at painting in watercolour. He had painted seascapes on the last two visits, so this time he did a snowscape.

Last spring he visited Rosebush and took a photo of a farmhouse which he had now decided to use as the basis for a snowy scene. Graham remarked that it is necessary to use a little imagination in Britain to do a snowscape, as we generally have so little of it! The base drawing had been prepared in advance on the stretched paper - Arches paper of course, highly recommended by the artist - the only downside of the paper being that it was French, and it would of course be preferable to buy locally if possible!

The paper had been soaked for half-an-hour, stapled every two inches, and dried, then masking tape put around the edge to give a crisp outline. The palette used was characteristically small, blends of cobalt blue, burnt sienna and raw sienna. Mr. Hadlow preferred to concentrate on the tone, rather than the colour.

He started with two washes, for the sky, leaving areas of white for the clouds, and for the shadows on the snowy fields. For each area of the painting he wet the paper first, and then put on the wash. Due to the vertical position of the painting on the easel for ease of viewing by the audience, a quick trip was required to fetch tissue to halt the downward progress of the sky towards the fields!

An unusual artist's tool then appeared - a hairdryer with which to speed up the drying of the washes so the demonstration could continue. The next step was with a dry brush, painting in the hedge with cobalt blue and burnt sienna, and the trees and bushes with cobalt blue and raw sienna, followed by more hairdrying!

Graham had applied masking fluid in advance to the farmhouse and barn, and now removed this. The farmhouse received a wash, and the barn a slightly darker one, necessitating the reappearance of the useful hairdryer. Windows and shadows came next, and the painting seemed to steadily appear in front of our eyes!

Roof slates were then considered - Pembrokeshire tiles being three times thicker than their Carmarthenshire equivalents. Pembrokeshire farmhouse doors are traditionally red, so this brought in the fourth colour - a splash of red. Mr Hadlow revealed that he liked to add a highlight of red somewhere in a painting as it had been his mother's favourite colour.

The final bit of masking fluid was then removed, and a tree behind the farmhouse painted in. Look at a painting to see if there is more detail on the left or right hand side of an object and you will have a clue as to the handedness of the artist. This tree had more branches and twigs on the right!

A dry brush was used for adding some texture to a wash, and for bits and pieces sticking through the snow. A farmer, his coat fixed with the obligatory baler twine, was painted in on the snowy field, and footprints added to save any wisecracks about people being helicoptered in!

A final artist's tool appeared - a ruler for adding the electricity pole - with the tone changing along the pole - variety being the spice of life!

Graham Hadlow was aware of the audience's wish to have a closer look at the painting, and to start on the tea and biscuits, so he left the final details to be added later, and peeled of the masking tape to reveal the crisp edges setting off the painting well. Although he claimed to be only 80 per cent finished, the general consensus was that it was amazing how much he had completed in an hour, and while talking us through as well!

An excellent evening and this week's (tonight, Friday) looks to be as good. Nigel McCall is going to give a talk on The Falkland Islands. This will be as usual at 7.30 at St. Johns Church Hall, Warren Street, Tenby, and will be £2 for members and £4 for non-members, including of course the tea/coffee and biscuits available at the end.

A.D.