On Friday evening July 17 the Eden 1900 Art Gallery hosted an outdoor event with artist Stephen Henry, who created an oil painting before our very eyes. Even though it was a hot day, attendees were comfortable in the shade on the back patio and followed social distancing and mask wearing guidelines.
The artist focused his effort on a mountain view as seen from the back patio of the facility. He talked first about preparing the canvas. Next he applied a light watercolor on the canvas as a reference. Stephen Henry began by applying a dark blue oil paint color for the background color of the mountains. He explained his color choice and his reasoning for using cool colors in the background. It wasn’t until he was applying the lighter colors that his painting started to have some definition between highlights and shadows on the mountains making them appear three dimensional. With the addition of the foreground hills and the clouds in the sky, his painting really started to take shape. The audience was simply amazed by his talent.
In order for everyone to see this very small painting, a television screen was set up on the patio. Stephen streamed close-up video of the painting and the actual color mixing on the pallet to the television so that everyone in the audience was able to see close up as he was mixing colors and painting.
Stephen Henry is a wonderful art instructor and artist. There were a couple of artists in the audience who mentioned later that they had each learned something new and helpful from his presentation.
In addition to the live oil painting demonstration held outdoors, participants had the opportunity to go inside the gallery in small groups along with the artist and to discuss any specific questions they had about his paintings. Stephen has on display 14 amazing paintings in watercolor or oil and one limited edition metal print made showing an additional one of his watercolor paintings.
The images accompanying this article do not do justice to his paintings. They really come alive when viewed in person. He creates beautiful compositions and has been known to make consignment pieces. Stephen’s works are currently on display and available for purchase at the Eden 1900 Art Gallery through August 2020.
Visit www.eden1900.com and follow us on Facebook @Eden1900.
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