Paul Deacon
Demonstration - "Garden Flowers in Acrylics"
Tuesday 10th June 2025, 2.00 - 4.00pm in the Pavilion
Paul Deacon, a well-known artist from Malmesbury, talked about his recent work and demonstrated two paintings in acrylics of a garden with flowers. This is part of a series that he is currently working on. Many members will know Paul from previous demonstrations to LAS. His work, which can be found on Facebook, shows his emphasis on plein air but for this demonstration Paul will be working from photographs.
Short report by Gill Cox
Paul Deacon kindly stepped in at short notice for our June meeting due to the illness of our published programme artist, Nigel Fletcher.
His relaxed and humorous delivery was present from the start and he was entertaining throughout.
Paul had committed to painting two garden pictures in acrylic. He rapidly demonstrated how he places colour on the canvas with movement and direction. This is mostly achieved with huge decorating brushes, many on extended handles.
On the first "Poppies" canvas, Paul's seemingly random thick paint marks were actually carefully considered. Strong red was placed precisely for the poppies and the green foliage was achieved instantly with directional backfilling. This created forceful harmony and the choice of colours intensified when next to each other.
The second "Irises" canvas was primed loosely in vivid yellow with accurately placed ultramarine flowers placed on top. They were then obliterated with two intensely thick lines of paint. The result was an instant success.
Whilst these two canvases could be considered as finished, Paul explained that they were preparatory swatches and would be worked on at his studio with smaller brushes to gain much more detail. The end results will be sent on to us at a later date.
Some photographs taken during the demonstration with thanks to Gill Cox, Robert Marchant and Zoe Hing respectively.
To see more of Paul's work search for "Paul Deacon Artist" and select gallery or images from the search results.
