Dave White began the evening by saying “I paint for a living”. It was clear from the way that he had set out his work and his books that he makes a good living from his art. He exhibits annually at Crufts Dog Show where on a good year he can have £4,000 worth of commissions. He explained that he was a finance director for 30 years with Flagship which runs Navy Training Centres until fourteen years ago he discovered he could paint when he helped his daughter with her project “Moving Water” which she had to paint for school.
Here are some of the tips he gave during his demonstration:
- Use the golden ratio for composition.
- Make the focal point the height of the viewer’s eye.
- Sea needs transparency and opacity, blue ultramarine is usually transparent, Hooker’s green usually opaque.
- Use greys and purples for the under shadow of white waves.
- The waves should conform to the lines of perspective.
- The sand and the foam on the beach also follow the lines of perspective.