my name's Katherine an artist based in Yorkshire sure like Lowry I'm inspired by
Manchester and Salford architecture which is traditionally built using red
brick that has become synonymous with the two cities for me the most
intriguing part of Lowry is how he captures regular people going through
the ritual of daily life Lara's artworks make you feel a bit of a
voyeur but he also invites you into the scene to paint like Lowry you'll need
paints medium gel cotton calico a palette horrible canvas frame a staple
gun and some staples paint brushes a palette knife and some inspiration today
I'm going to draw inspiration from the popular painting at Tate called dwelling
auto lane Salford you can buy a premade canvas but I'm going to make my own
today prepare the cotton calico it may help to
draw around the frame to give you a rough idea of size cut it to inches
bigger than the canvas frame next paint the gesso onto the cotton calico using a
large brush and then directly rub the paint into the fabric using your fingers
apply two layers and wait to dry before stretching the canvas around the frame
lowery tap the nails down the sides of the canvas when stretching and fixing it
for ease use a staple gun it's neater and more time efficient
first draw about a rough outline of the image for angles and perspective his use
of perspective is very considered it's good to always refer to a photograph for
general outlines and form Lowry would have mainly used oil paints to create
his paintings interestingly he went with just five colors yellow ochre flake
white Persian blue vermilion and black if you knew to paint in working in
acrylics is easier use a gel medium to add texture it also allows for a
speedier drying time mix a base color for the building in the foreground I
chose this building because of the red brick I feel like it's akin to
everything there is Manchester add layers as it dries
the juxtaposition of the more contemporary buildings and the backdrop
gives you more of a context to the time that were actually in then build up the
other structures signposts street lights or other buildings you can see that he
did it from memory because of the naivety within it and build up the
different elements on canvas from ideas to form uncanny dreamlike compositions
but at the same time suggest real locations like Lowry use your fingers or
scratching to the surface to create form and texture use white to block off the
areas of the painting to create a rougher surface the figures of the last
addition to the painting be inspired by the Lowry matchstick men use a stick to
draw the smaller shapes and paint the larger forms using a brush with the
figures it's the motion because of such simple forms and yet they have so much
energy here's naivety he's beautiful and he
obviously did a lot of people watching and it's kind of more of a social
commentary when you look at his work more than it is about the architecture
it's more about the people than it is about the buildings that are around it
there you go why not give this a try and play with
some Alerus techniques yourself