We had a lovely relaxed evening at our BBQ social evening (26th July). The weather was kind and we enjoyed good and plentiful food with great company. It was great to see many new faces, as well as established friends. Thank you to rosemary Cole for her amazing work in organising this event so well and also to Sue Bains for letting us share her characterful drawings
Members have been able to see the incredible work of Harriet Riddell. She is the master of creating outstanding artworks with her sewing machine. At her demonstration on Thursday evening (12th June) she had a volunteer peddle her bicycle to generate the electricity needed to run her machine. It was an effective way to show members how she manages to create her artwork in some of the remotest regions of the world. It was astounding at the speed at which her needlework is created, all freehand, with no preparatory drawing.
The following day members attended one of Harriet's workshops and created there own applique and finished with some tremendous pieces of sewing.
Congratulations to Lizzie Bentley, one of our members, who has had one her artworks accepted by the Royal Academy for its Summer Exhibition. Her print, 'Man Moth', was in her words, "a result of a series of prints that I did that were commissioned by Lainston House to reflect the Linden trees in the grounds that surround the house and interconnectedness of humans and nature".
The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition runs from 17th June to 17th August at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London. W1J 0BD
Members had a fascinating workshop on May 16th on ‘Expressionism’.
Everyone worked on their own picture and blocked in an under layer before lunch. After lunch we were encouraged to slow down our process and engage in ‘critical analysis’ making marks carefully and deliberately to improve our paintings. We finished by discussing all the paintings - there was an huge amount of positive feedback as well as pointers for future development. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day. Thank you to Wayne for being so inspiring. We are hoping Wayne will return next year.
On Thursday 10th April Members were able to see the work of Wendy Hughes. She explained some of the history behind millinery and told us about her creative journey. Wendy brought a wide variety of her hats and members were free to try them on.
Members enjoyed the Keith Billington 'Abstract Acrylics' on Saturday 5th April. One member commented, I thoroughly enjoyed the recent "Towards Abstraction" acrylic workshop.
Many of our members are already aware of Keith's presentation skills covering all abilities, I found his easy-going manner and informative professional guidance extremely helpful. I certainly learned a great deal on the day and look forward to his forthcoming Studio Time mentoring course!........Paul G
Kathryn Wickson has been working with members on Wednesday evenings to improve their watercolour skills. Over the ten weeks of the course artworks of Blue Tits, Autumnal Leaves, Bluebell Woods and Sunflowers have all been produced by the students. They have done well and learnt a great deal from Kathryn, who employs a variety of teaching methods including mini demonstrations and one to one support. Kathryn is going to continue her course over the summer and this gives a small taster of what can be achieved in a very short space of time.
Saturday 15th February Members were getting messy using pastels on the drafting film at Estelle Robinson's workshop. The workshop was about creating a two layer image on a slightly opaque material. First a soft background in pastels, with a top layer of a fish using crayons to create a sharp image. Well done everyone!
On Thursday 13th February the Art Society were able to see the watercolourist Brian Smith create one of his busy street scenes, on zoom. Brian worked quickly to create the scene below. He did this from memory without the aid of reference photo. He did say that he has painted thousands of scenes like this during his long and successful art career. Brian was also generous with his tip and tricks to help those that are still grappling with the watercolour medium and also had advice for the more experienced artist which could apply to any medium. Overall a very educational and enjoyable evening. Brian can be found on Instagram and he has a website.
