Art of the Humble Demo

Workshop demo’s are some of the oft-ignored building blocks of our artwork.

They are an undertaking that I find both tense and liberating; the former because I am under such close scrutiny and the latter because I limit a demo to 15 or 30 mins max and this time restriction inevitably changes the way I paint. I never attempt to finish a painting but demo just enough to get people started, introduce my techniques and provide some building blocks throughout the workshop.

Creating a painting whilst explaining the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ in the pressure pot of a demo can be a daunting activity and I have to be fully aware of the decisions I make and why [things we often do automatically because it’s part of who we are as creatives].

To really know ourselves as artists I believe we have to ‘know’ our whole process if we are to be able to explain and demonstrate it to others. There is definitely an art to the humble demo and I always come away having learnt something to take into the next one, if only that it’s ok for it not to be perfect!