WHEN Keighley Art Club's programme secretary Jeanette Bray visited Saltaire village, she noticed some of the artwork created by David Starley.

She took his details and contacted him with a view to providing a demonstration to the club and visitors.

It turned out that David mostly paints in old, and he shows us his first stages of a work portraying trees in Shipley's Northcliffe Park, depicted with a misty background.

He explained that oil paintings can take months to dry, and also that it would not be possible to finish his painting in one session.

Using palette and painting knives of various shapes, he applied oil paint onto a large, deep canvas.

A professional artist for 10 years, David showed us how he used a restricted palette of yellow ochre and ultramarine blue, with varying degrees of white to achieve a woodland scene.

Minor touches of green and burnt umber were also applied. The background was ready on arrival.

He said that depth and contrast are vital, and we saw how the two colours brought part of the scene backwards or forwards.

The use of perspective was also evident from the winding path leading into the picture.

His most unusual tip was in the application and removal of oil paint with a piece of hardboard. In this way objects could be painted, removed or adjusted to achieve his required light and dark or imagery.

David stressed that now and again, the artist should step away from their work to check that it was satisfactory and to take corrective action as necessary.

Several of his greetings cards and some paintings were available for our members to inspect. These are all extremely tactile and textured, adding to their vibrancy. He explained that the most popular of these are poppy images.

Currently his one-man art exhibition is on show at Bingley Art Centre until December 5, or details can be seen on his website davidstarleyartist.com which features his Saltaire-inspired artwork and other paintings.

Some of David's sketch books demonstrate how he has produced works from these initial, basic drawings. He has also developed paintings from his own photography.

David always has a sketch book and pencil with him in case he wants to record a particular view.

He may be moving his studio to the business centre in South Street, Keighley, if he can acquire a room there.

Keighley Art Club's Civic Centre Exhibition is being changed again and can be seen during the cafe's opening hours. Our mural in the Black Mariah room can also be inspected during tours of the centre.

We have sold a few paintings here and we donated a percentage of the sales to the centre.

In December there will only be one meeting, which is on December 3. Club member Lorraine Green will lead the session, which will focus on the subject of drawing and painting people. After that we will be on holiday until January 7.

We will then begin our annual Cliffe Castle exhibition. Bingley Art Group will be joining us for a three-month display.