Ken Bromley Art Supplies

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"Watercolour in Venice by John Yardley"

"With over 150 art videos on my shelves I have probably viewed more than most people. I seldom watch a video more than once, so perhaps the greatest compliment I can pay John Yardley is that I shall certainly look at this video several times. It is superbly filmed and something to savour and inspire. John is very much the Englishman abroad as he selects his spot and paints whilst Venice goes on all around him. From the first nervous marks of a view across the canal from his hotel balcony to the finishing brush strokes of a scene with gondolas painted back in his studio, we are treated to some delightful painting accompanied by a splendid mix of thoughts, comments, insight and dry humour. "I hate painting trees," he says, "mainly because they are so difficult." The colour, light and atmosphere of Venice are magnificently captured with a touch that most of us will envy."

"Sunlight in Watercolour By John Yardley"

"Anthony Parker has been generous to us. This video shows John Yardley at work capturing the joys of sunlight and shadow as only he knows how. Two interiors, including one with his wife posing fetchingly in a lovely hat, a beach scene, a crowded outdoor cafe and the quayside at Honfleur, and a brief but informative workshop in painting figures with the minimum of detail, make a full package.

John Yardley is the most diffident of artists before the camera: his diffidence stems from honesty. He talks frankly of the "terrifying problems" in the scene before him as he demonstrates and it is apparent that part of the Yardley phenomena is the 'do or die' dash and courage to conquer this fear with real engagement.

Close-ups of his brushwork show it to be wand-like. We watch his wavering, questing brush "held as far back from the bristles as possible" cover the 140lb Arches stretched paper with the "big juicy" rich tonal masses that he loves. Bright light, strong contrast - these he responds to.

He is honest enough to let us witness him mess up a chimney on the house on the Honfleur dockside, albeit the final result successfully supersedes this minor hiccough. He demonstrates brilliantly the painting of figures walking outdoors with the same rich full brush. Inside he shows how to respond to the subtleties of incident light and its transformation of tone and colour. Delicious hats!

All this is fine, but then we get truly into a Yardley painting when we see him break all the rules of watercolour by working 'lean' over 'fat': thin washes, softening and harmonizing, brushed over the big blocks of dark tone already placed on the picture' surface. His fear of failure is disingenuous in such a talented man. It is love of the visual feast in front of him that carries him forward.

If you polled the watercolourists of Britain as to who they would most want to paint like, my guess is they would plump for John Yardley. The British collective consciousness loves the sparkling depths of the medium as he uses it; Puritans, to a man and woman, we equally require an anxious brinkmanship, a gladiatorial tussle to 'bring it off'. This is the 'angst' we see John Yardley overcome, to our relief. In his case with a seeming gentlemanly effort that belies his tussle in this most nerve-wracking of artistic ordeals. A palpable relief and a thoroughly entertaining and instructive video."

"Sunlight in Watercolour"

"It gives me particular pleasure to review John Yardley's first instructional video. Having made his acquaintance some years before he became a highly successful full-time artist, and having recognised at once the promise and the quality of his work, I have since taken personal interest - and pleasure - in his meteoric rise. It is a source of pride that he contributed six brilliant watercolours for reproduction in my book, Developing Style in Watercolour, published in May 1992 by David and Charles.

John Yardley is one of Britain's finest contemporary impressionists with the rare ability to convey the essential atmosphere of a scene with a few masterly brushstrokes. The secret of his success lies in his keen powers of observation in paint. It is his ability to make sunlight positively shine from his paintings that gives his work its very special quality.

Although John is equally at home with oils, in this video he concentrates on watercolour, his first love, and demonstrates how he captures the brilliant effects of sunlight. He modestly admits he is happier painting than talking, but what he has to say makes a great deal of sense. He begins each painting with some well considered pencil drawing and it is this that gives his work a firm structure of sound composition, even though subsequent lively brushwork may well modify certain passages.

His painting technique is bold and loose for he believes that excessive care and caution are the enemies of spontaneity. His favourite paper is Arches 140 lb. rough, which he always stretches, and because expressive brushwork is a vital ingredient of his work, he uses only the best sable brushes. These he holds as far away from the business end as possible, to give his work greater freedom. He uses a limited palette to good effect and employs strong tonal contrasts to achieve his dramatic light and shade effects. His confident handling of brushes on the rough surface of his paper enables him to produce broken washes and dry brush work with apparent ease.

His first demonstration painting, an interior, shows a glimpse of garden, with sunlight streaming through the open door of an old house. I was interested to hear that all his greens start as mixtures of cadmium yellow and Prussian blue which he then modifies with other colours as necessary. His water jar is always filled to the brim so that he may judge exactly the amount of water he is using a vital consideration in watercolour painting.

His second subject is a figure standing against a window, trying on hats, his wife being the attractive - and patient model. Once again he handles the back lighting brilliantly and his bold, confident brushwork quickly achieves the desired effect. He then demonstrates his method of painting figures in the landscape, concentrating on posture and grouping rather than detail.

His last two demonstrations are painted on location in the attractive Normandy port of Honfleur, beloved of artists of all eras. The first is a busy harbourside scene with buildings, shop fronts and crowds in the distance and water and moored boats in the foreground. The second is a waterside cafe with seated figures under large green umbrellas, again with old buildings in the background. The amount of detail in both subjects is truly daunting, but John's approach is an object lesson in bold and effective simplification and his dictum, "If I see a jumble, I paint a jumble," says it all.

The programme ends with a selection of the artist's watercolours which includes figures, animals, a railway engine and several scenes from Vienna and Prague.

This is a video I can recommend unreservedly to all aspiring watercolourists intent on loosening up and capturing the effects of light."

"Watercolour in Venice"

"There is something to be said for watching a master painter at work without the interruption of complicated and involved comments. After all, words can never completely explain the way in which watercolour effects are achieved and observation comes second only to painting itself. In his latest video entitled Watercolour in Venice, John Yardley refrains from the skilful manipulation of the medium. Indeed, the video is a tour de force of understatement and a remarkable guide to direct painting on site.

The relatively few comments Yardley makes, as his brush flicks confidently across the paper, are a combination of thoughts and observations. They range from the difficulties of mixing colours which approximate those in the scene facing him, to quite unrelated observations, such as rhetorically questioning why rowers who speed past him whilst practising for a race should stand up in their gondola. Strangely perhaps, this does not divert attention from the action of his brush and the accomplished ease with which he captures the intimacy of a small piazza, the bustle of the fish market, or the grandeur of a modest palazzo on a canal.

If what he doesn't say helps one focus on the actual making of the work, what he does say about painting should reassure any leisure painter. Despite his reputation and status, John Yardley is as vulnerable as any of us to the difficulties of watercolour. At one point he confesses, "I really don't know how to get this colour"; on another occasion he admits that "this particular subject which, on the whole, I was really looking forward to, has really caused me far more anxiety ... ". He is also self-critical, an encouraging trait when applied constructively.

True, Yardley's subject is the very best a painter could want; "Venice is absolutely gorgeous," he says, "you can't help but want to get at the paintbox." But what he achieves in the brilliant light and inspirational setting of Italy's most romantic city can be applied to more prosaic locations which may be but a stone's throw from one's doorstep. This, together with fine close-up details of Yardley in the full flow of masterfully applying watercolour, provides an incentive for any watercolourist"

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