If you are stuck in a rut, or want to add another possibility to your artistic toolkit; drawing and painting in light on dark is:
- fun,
- great for creating work that looks good
- particularly suited for atmospheric work
- something that enables you to capture character and mood in portraits
- useful for high realism
- also a good entry point to minimalism and abstraction
- ideal for capturing textures and detail, and so, although we are not planning to bring in vultures and wolves, it is very suited to showing off feathers and fur.
- a way to explore shapes and shadows
- helpful for playing with composition
- a new way of working and of looking at the world
- something that can open your eyes to things that you can use in your everyday art
I first explored working in light on dark when I was given a pack of plain scraperboards as a child. As a teenager, I often worked in white pastels or pencils on black paper, and would take a brush and a tube of white watercolour paint to school to draw his 6th form classmates, and sometimes work in both white and black on brown or blue paper. I still enjoy working in light on a dark surface, and often I use principles learnt from this, and the way of looking at the world through these eyes in my other artworks, be that in woodcut and monoprint, oil painting, working on metal and in sgraffito work, smoke drawing (fumage), etc.
Tom Marshall
When: 27 September 2025 10am-4pm
Tickets: £45/£40.50 concession
Overview of the Day:
Morning:
In this session, we will look at different media, and 3 main approaches to working in light on dark: 1. Simple line drawing, 2. Tonal work, via washes or markmaking, 3. Capturing only highlights. We will also explore how these can be combined, and how these can be taken further into new directions.
One of the beautiful things about working in white on black is that, because it is a new way of looking at things, it is particulary suited for still lifes and everyday household items, because, just as fresh snowfall transforms a familiar back garden, it shows them off in a new way. Some items to draw will be provided, but you are also invited to bring along things from your own home that you might wish you depict- items with a shine to them are interesting- jars of marbles, small bottles, metal teapots, etc- and natural forms with interesting textures are also nice to use- dried flowers and grasses and seedheads, things like teasels and pinecones, feathers, etc, all make interesting subject matter. Do also feel free to bring your drawings that you would like to work from.
Afternoon:
In the afternoon, we will have a clothed model to draw from, and can use the techniques covered in the morning and/or explore working in both light and dark materials on a mid-toned surface- e.g. blue or brown, etc .
This will give us the opportunity to use the materials to capture what we most want to- form, character, shadow and highlights, textures of hair and face and clothing, etc.
We will provide a choice of materials, which will include- working on dark surfaces- light pencils, pastels, watercolour, pen and ink, scraperboard and other sgraffito techniques. If you have any white pencils or other media of your own that you would like to use, or special brushes, or any engraving tools, you are very welcome to bring them along.
About Tom Marshall:
Tom is a full-time artist, typically making figurative art in a lively style, using a wide range of painting, drawing, and printmaking materials and methods.
Born in Gloucester, 1976, Tom grew up in the countryside, was self-taught in drawing and painting, did Fine Art at Falmouth, but, graduated without the confidence to work in art, instead, spending the next 14 years doing other things, including working in a kitchen in a Christian community, a hospital, a special needs school, and teaching English as a foreign language.
As a single parent with 2 small children, this became unsustainable, and after having some time out, Tom went self-employed as an artist in 2013. Since then, he has taken part in various solo, group, and open exhibitions, and won prizes including in plein air (outdoor) painting competitions.
With the kids being more independent, Tom has begun to teach more workshops, and one of his favourite things is to introduce people to new materials and to new ways of making art.
One of the most rewarding, fun and encouraging to work in, and great for those looking to stretch their artwork in new directions, is working in light materials on dark backgrounds.
This is ideal for anyone stuck in a rut, for anyone who wants to learn to look at things in a new way. It lends itself both to highly-figurative work, to work with great atmosphere or texture, but also to abstraction, and it can be a springboard for anyone interested in optical illusions, or anyone wanting to improve their composition. It invites simplifying, but it is also wonderful for detail. It is fun, and the results can be spectacular, and there is huge potential for variety within it, both in materials and in possible approaches to it
