Stephen McClean , Acrylic
10 11 21
Stephen made his first visit to Vis Art today and as you'll see below held his audience spellbound.  He is self-taught and has a studio in Saintfield.  Stephen laid down the skeleton of his painting of Glenariff waterfall in purple and then built all the other colours around that, adding pure white in the waterfall as a final flourish. 

Grahame Booth, Watercolour
13 10 21

Grahame Booth, no stranger to Vis Art, demonstrated for us on Wednesday 13th October 2021.  This, our first demonstration since the start of the pandemic, was greatly appreciated by members and friends.  Grahame completed his painting in an hour and after our tea break gave us a potted history of his career so far.  Follow the  progress of his painting by viewing the photographs Sorrel took shown below.
Connor Larkin, Acrylic
04 02 20
​Local Artist, Conor Larkin, demonstrated in acrylic for Vis Art on Wednesday 4th February 2020
His imagined scene was of a sunset in rural Ireland. Conor started by using charcoal to place his subject in an interesting and pleasing way.
Conor used a limited palate of colours and carefully explained how he mixed these to produce the colour he required.  He clearly demonstrated his use of brushes; wet and dry, showing us the direction which the brush strokes must be made in order to achieve the desired effect.
When his first layer was dry Conor turned to pallet knives to add depth and texture, showing us how to place the knife and the direction in which to move it. While using the pallet knives Conner didn’t add much, if any, water to the mix, impasto style.
As a final flourish Conor added other pure colours to the painting to highlight some areas.
Conor takes commissions and can be contacted on 028 2954 2420 or 07923221185 or conorlarkinart@hotmail.co.uk
Come and join us at Ballymena Golf Club on Wednesdays from 10.00 until 12.30 and check out our website www.ballymenavisart.com for more information.
Grahame Booth, Watercolour and Critique
27 11 19
Grahame has been teaching studio based and plein air watercolour classes for more than twenty years. He tutors workshops and holiday workshops in many parts of the world and he is also a popular demonstrator. 
His beautiful depiction of a boatyard which he completed in about an hour is shown above.
After a well-earned tea break Grahame critiqued some paintings by members of the club.  Members and guests enjoyed his assessment of each painting.  He was encouraging and showed all of us how to improve on the skills we already have to bring our art work to a higher standard. We learned not only what he said about our own painting but the comments he made about all the others.


​Paul O'Kane and Gouache
​16 10 19
​Paul O'kane introduced members of Vis Art to his technique of painting with Gouache.  Drawing his scene first in pencil and then with permanent ink. Since light colours cover dark he starts his paintings with darks, moves to midtones and then adds the lights and highlights.  Members thoroughly enjoyed his demonstration.