

Birstall and District Art Society
June's live art demonstration review
Artist: Tas Severis
Topic: Norfolk Scene in Pastels
Tas opened by telling us that his scene is Blakeney on the north coast of Norfolk and he remembers staying in a room overlooking the bay and mist coming up in the morning. This quickly disappeared when the sun came up.
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Working with a dark green pastel card from Sennelier with a fine tooth, Tas had added a rough sketch in a light pastel. He told us that it would take about 20 layers. Using soft pastels, working very quickly, moving from colour to colour, Tas built a vibrant sunrise. Usually, he would use just his fingers to smudge it but for speed he used a tissue to blend the colours together before building more layers.
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Tas recommends that when using pastel your easel should be leaning slightly forward so that any excess falls to the floor rather than onto the work.
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You could have thousands of pastels and still not have the right colour. Favourite brand is Unison. Hard pastels are cheaper but go a long way. A set is a good thing when first starting - you can always add to it. Pastels make it easier to work on a section in lots of different colours, as with paints you have to keep washing your brush.
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​Tas went to art college. At 8 years old one of his pictures was put in the hall. At secondary school he was inspired by a young art teacher who was a semi-pro footballer. He now has a gallery at Patching’s and works with a variety of media.
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In the second half, Tas refined the picture, adding detail to the sky and boats in the harbour and the hotel. He also added the mud banks on the other side of the harbour, building on the reflections in the water. Slightly curved lines were drawn representing vapour trails from local fighter jets.


Tas told us that in his studio we would see paintings that looked like photographs and others more representative or abstract in nature.
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When working in plein air, Tas will use oil and use a very small canvas putting everything else in before adding the sky last, finishing in time for breakfast.
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Meg grant