Water colour artists work will bring a tear to your eye

THE work of water colour artist Gerry Larkin is sure to bring a tear to your eye for all the right reasons.  

Mr Larkin, who for the past several decades has enjoyed a career in event management, has upon his return to Dromintee  opted to flex his artistic muscles for the enjoyment of all those who live in the area.

 This was done with the help of Newry based artist Bruno Patron who kindly agreed to facilitate Gerry and his work within his own art studio situated on Monaghan Street.  

 It was here that a bespoke gallery was established to showcase the many stunning landscape and environmental pieces  put together by Gerry for the appreciation of all those who paid a visit to the studio.

However, whereas most artists of Mr Larkin’s calibre would gravitate towards bringing their vision to life through more traditional mediums such as oil and pastel, it is with the arguably more esoteric format of water colours wherein the eponymous artist claims his true talent resides.

Watercolour wonders

“I have dabbled in the oils and pastels but it is water colour for me,” explained Gerry.

“I like it because of the transparency, translucency and I like drawing sky's which are perfect for water and this type of thing.

“For me it is the right medium. I like to draw nice open landscapes. Water colour is translucent, whereas oils and acrylics are opaque. It is more about the fact that it is good for light, it is good to blend and you get a more realistic outcome.”

Being of an artistic mind-set Gerry shared in the fact how he is always searching for a new scene which he can render into one of his works of water colour wonder.

“When you an artist there is a phrase that gets overused, you are always looking, conscious of what is around you and you see things slightly differently then if you are not into art. You see colour and texture, something that resonates with you. Me for example, I was out walking on a little path and there was not much on it, a few trees or whatever.

“However, there was a little tree that had just come out in bloom in cherry blossom, the light was on it. So I just went okay I have to capture this. You take a little photo and you then say right okay I will do this when I am in the mood.”

Technical Process

As any artist can attest to receiving influence  from an external source which will in turn inspire  your next magnum opus  is an enjoyable experience, as any artist will also attest to it is also arguably the easier part of the process to ensuring your vision becomes reality.

 The harder part is the technical aspects of crafting your work into a tangible artifact which can be held, sold and most importantly appreciated by others through the medium of sight. 

“For other artists can be different but for me I need to get my head into the space where I have a couple of hours with photos, you look at them, you recall you remember back at the time and you sort of think right I remember that day, that scene and you do your best to try and put this down on paper.

“Technically you sketch it out and when you are doing a drawing there are a few basic rules you have to bear in mind. This is the thing, you have to think about where your point of interest is going to be, if there is perspective.

“The process is, you look at the photo, you crop it or do a rough sketch. Sometimes I will put a little bit of colour on to see how the colour will work because you need to get a little tone values otherwise if everything is the one tone it does not really work, you need to get some depth into it. “You look at the pitch and say okay I can get some depth here. You sketch it out  and once you get it sketched

“Because you are working in water colour the process is you are working from light to dark. “You then start putting in your colours.

“If you are doing a sky you would try and gauge where is the drop in colour, so it bleeds through and this is how you get the cloud effect. You wait for a certain period. You do it in layers, you work from back to front and then darks go in at the end and this is when you pull it together. This is the process of doing it.”

Hobby

Whilst Gerry has already sold a quantity of his water colour work, his cited raison d'etre in laying brush to pallet is for the sake of his own enjoyment.

“This is something I like as a hobby, this is about me doing what I like.

“I work from home, do a bit of travelling overseas but now that I am coming up to retirement I would like to spend a bit more time out, getting into nature and doing more water colours.

“I have had a few commissions such as little family scenes although I am not a portrait artist.

“A few people have bought pictures because there are entirely into local art to hang on their walls.”

If you are interested in having one of Gerry’s fine works serve as the centrepiece of  a room in your house he can be reached via his Instagram page @gerrylarkin_art or via his email address [email protected]