Tim brought a sketch showing the front of Sheffield Town Hall on a busy, sunny day.

He put white tape round the edge of his working sketch ready for the demonstration.

Before starting he explained that he would be doing a tonal painting first. This will help him work out composition and lighting qualities for the colour picture.

He mentioned his present project of painting the same street scenes at different times of day.

Tim started the tonal painting with a blue colour wash down to the 'strategic edge'.

The background buildings were painted, wet on wet, in blue with a touch of brown. The top of the tower is cropped to focus the eye at street level.

As he painted in the crowd of people he pointed out that the heads are all at about the same level. The figure on a bike was done quickly to get a sense of movement.

Some figures were joined together to make interesting shapes. A dark archway and white awning created a dramatic focal point.

Tim then started the water colour with splahes of colour across the middle - the strategic edge.

The sky was a wash pale blue, yellow and pink then a misty brown used for the building in the background.

A few details were added and shapes of people indicated. The idea is to give a sense of a crowd, without too much detail.

As marks were made to indicate windows and colour was added to the tree, the picture was certainly taking shape.

During a short break members enjoyed a cup of tea and chat and the raffle prize was drawn.

Tim had brought a selection of cards showing a wide variety of his paintings.

Several members took the opportunity to do a bit of shopping.

As he worked, Tim talked about colours, warm lines to the front of the building, cool colours in the shade, extra violet towards the strategic edge.

He demonstrated the way that primary colours tend to muddy when mixed whereas secondary colours mix to give a silver-grey.

Working quickly on the figures he loosely added bits of colour, painting some figures together into new shapes.

The road and footpath looked rather bland so Tim dropped more colour in then added the cyclist.

A final figure in the foreground and some finishing touches then Tim removed the tape. Everyone agreed it had much more life and interest than a photograph.