Art Demo by Janine Daddo

Following our 2024 AGM meeting on 25th March we were privileged to have world famous artist Janine Daddo come and do a demonstration for us. Her wonderful happy and vibrant paintings enlivened our studios and let us all relax after a busy and exciting morning.

Janine came well prepared with a large canvas coated in a deep rose red, the beginnings of her characteristically quirky characters sketched out in black line work. As she worked to build up the surface shapes and colours, she explained the philosophy that drives her artistic work and the materials and techniques she uses.

Janine told us we should follow our own unique voice in developing our style as artists, rather than try to guess what others might like. When you put yourself into your work, it has the potential to deeply resonate with another person, but not with everybody. And that’s ok.

Find your voice before you start to paint, think about what you would like to hang in your house, then be brave and bold

Janine is definitely brave and bold and the paintings she brought to show us as well as the piece she worked on while we watched, certainly made us smile.

She paints on quality linen coated 3 times with acrylic gesso and implored us not to be nervous when facing a blank canvas as you can start with an undercoat in any colour, and if your painting is a disaster … well just paint over it!

She gradually painted a light turquoise background, one of her favourite background colours, over the deep rose background, allowing hints of the warm layer to show through, thereby adding depth and visual interest.

Janine uses some unusual paints such as Resene house paint sealed with a PVA binder and sometimes uses Mod Podge to stick down pieces of tissue for texturing the surface. To keep the colours simple and fresh she mixes them on the palette. One of Janine’s favourite colours is Rose Gold as it brightens, or can even dull down, other colours.

Janine will be coming to do a workshop at our studios as soon as we can arrange it. To learn more of Janines fascinating painting tips and techniques and hear more about her interesting creative life, watch this space and book as early as you can. This workshop is bound to be very popular.

Thank you Janine for a fascinating, educational and happy couple of hours.