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by Teresa Spedone
Tony Tozer's workshop was so refreshing and liberating. It allowed me to work quickly and with more than one canvas going at the one time. I often find that while I am working my mind is racing away with so many ideas to explore that it is was a relief to feel free to work on a few canvases at the same time.
We started by loosening up, tearing bits of newspaper and placing them at random on our canvases. Then we painted around the shapes with a wash of one colour. When the paint was dry we removed the paper. It was exciting to see how easily a composition was forming and it removed the fear of a blank canvas. We then rearranged the paper again and painted other colours on the patches of remaining white canvas or over the colours that we had already painted. There was no limitation to the palette of colours we could choose.
As we continued we were encouraged to play with colours and space to balance the composition. I decided to limit my palette anyway as I always seem to be going back to the landscape for inspiration. We worked very loosely and with quite watery paint. Above is my first attempt.
 The landscape around Bathurst has some lovely pink earth overlaid with rocks and green lichen and also dry yellowy grass. I wanted to explore the sizzling effect of yellow and pink as well as orange and pink. Someone in the class was using plastic overlaid on wet paint and I knew that was just the technique I was looking for.
I applied a thick layer of pink to my canvas and when dry I added an orange layer. I then recycled my canvas’s plastic cover and applied the crumpled plastic to the wet canvas. I then took it outside and let it dry. When dry I pulled away the plastic to reveal a very interesting sizzling effect.
I have not yet had the time to explore this further but HAVE collected lots of plastic for a series to start…soon???
Tony is a very supportive and encouraging tutor. He is a positive person and allows one freedom of expression but also gives direction and commentary. As part of his workshops the group gets together to comment on each others work. This is also a very supportive process and whether you are commenting on someone’s work or are having your work critiqued it is a rich learning experience. Tony also provides his own review of the strengths of your work and the areas that might need to be improved. It is incredibly valuable information.
Whether you are a traditional realist painter or have never painted before or are a sculptor or ceramists or whatever, Tony’s workshops can assist anyone who has been experiencing blocks by freeing you from the internal critique and allowing you to experiment and play with the freedom of a child and then return later to use some “adult” critiquing to continue to develop your work.
Tony holds workshops at Toukley & Districts Art Society and Workshop Arts Centre |
