The Guild monthly meeting for July 2023 saw a eager group of members and guests gathered for demonstration of palette knife painting in oils by Painswick based artist Rupert Aker https://rupertaker.art/. Rupert’s demonstration was mesmerizing as he deftly created not one, not two, but, yes, three complete paintings during the two hour meeting!
Rupert began with an introduction of himself and his materials. He explained how he started out hiring village halls for a couple of hours at a time and mounting exhibitions using 12 or so easels, publicising the events by means of leaflets. After successes at this he eventually got picked up by a number of galleries. Rupert is a landscape painter using oil paints and palette knife he creates impressionist paintings, he works directly from nature where possible. Larger paintings are then worked up in his studio – ‘The Loovre’ in the old public toilets in Painswick. Rupert explained his limited palette which, for the evening, included a litre tin of titanium white and tubes of W&N prussian blue, sap green, yellow ochre, lemon yellow, alizarin and burnt umber.
Rupert’s first demo was a very large painting on canvas of a landscape featuring large straw roll bales. Beginning with the sky, prussian blue and large amounts of white, applied with a large palette knife mixing on the canvas. Next a distant landscape suggesting fields and hedgerows, to the foreground and straw bales. Rupert’s style was indeed loose and impressionistic and the finished effect very impressive.
Rupert moved on to a slightly smaller canvas for his second demo which was a view of his home town of Painswick nestled on the hillside in evening light. Rupert observed how the same palette of colours can be varied to produce a warm toned painting as in the first demo, or to convey cooler tones as in the second.
Rupert’s final painting of the evening moved us to the coast for a depiction of dramatic cliffs on a natural coloured canvas primed with a clear gesso. The scene was brought forth with broad slabs of colour applied with Rupert’s palette knife – so much suggested to the viewer in the bold abstract marks. My favourite of the evening.
Our next members only meeting on Monday 21st August will be an opportunity to reflect on Rupert’s demo and try wielding a palette knife ourselves, hopefully many of you will come along!
