John Somerscales
A Demonstration - "Landscape in Watercolour"
Tuesday 14th April 2026, 2.00 - 4.00pm in the Pavilion
Short Report
John talked about his background in graphic design, progression to teaching and preference for the mediums of oil and watercolour. With over 60 years experience of watercolour, he emphasized the difficulty of this medium because it needs to be right first time to get a good result. This is very different from oil and acrylics where overpainting to make changes or add detail is both possible and frequently used. John talked about watercolour in terms of practise and planning, with patience also required. Practise a lot to hone your technique and always experiment on a separate sheet of paper until you are confident before attempting a tricky part of a bigger painting; it needs to be right first time!
Planning is about composition of your subject; maybe a landscape view is best but consider the alternatives, for example portrait or square. Planning is also about drawing - how much and how detailed. For example, a detailed pen drawing (with light washes added later) at one extreme through to drawing and painting a subject just with a brush at the other. Patience is about getting the wetness of the paint and paper just right to create the effect that you want. Again, it has to be right first time. This is the essence of watercolour - always spontaneous and transparent.
John demonstrated the "Fairy Glen" near Betws-y-Coed in North Wales guided by a photograph (of a previous finished painting) and a rough pencil sketch on 140gm/cm Bockingford NOT paper which had been thoroughly wetted, taped to a board and then dried. The board was inclined at about 10 degrees and John used a No 12 sable brush with a pointed tip almost exclusively.
Stage 1 was light washes of the principal areas leaving white paper for the highlights. The colours used were Cobalt Blue for the sky, Cobalt Blue and Cadmium Yellow (I think) for the slopes, Cobalt Violet for the middle distance, Cobalt Blue with a touch of red for the water. John did not paint the waterfall or spray areas.
Stage 2 (after the break for refreshments when the washes were all dry) added the dark areas as mixes of Ultramarine, Light Red and Cadmium Yellow. Keep mixing the colours in small amounts as required to avoid a uniform dark uninteresting wash. Wet the river and allow to partly dry to matt before adding the darker blue (which should granulate) for the shadow effect. Use Veridian with Cadmium Yellow for bright foliage. Use a Spanish Escoda pointed brush for branches. Spray with water to soften areas as required but take care when adding paint to avoid bleeding. Finally use a sponge and gouache paint for adding interest to the slopes, in this case a mix of Sap Green and White.
Martyn Worman
Photographs of the demonstration followed by some of John's work.
About John:
John is an observational painter who likes to work on location whenever possible. Much of his work, both oil and watercolour, is started en plein air and completed in the studio with the aid of photographs and sketches.
John's drawing skills, honed by his former work in graphic art and design, enable him to tackle complicated subjects with confidence. His evocative and expressive brushwork is underpinned by sound construction.
John divides his time between new work, commissions, teaching, demonstrating and writing articles on technique. He has staged many one-man shows and has contributed work to The Pure Watercolour Society at Windrush and The Sunday Times Watercolour exhibition in the Mall Galleries, London.
The text above is abstracted from two websites where you can also see more of John's work:
Artists in Woodstock
Oxford Art Society