Category: active art

Flaming June already?

Posted on Posted in active artTagged , , ,

June is here, and how long this lovely weather will continue is anyone’s guess. It’s a great opportunity to get out for some plein air painting, but don’t forget your waterbottle (for drinking!), hat and sunscreen!

Since we’ve already succeeded at having our cream tea event, the month starts with our workshop… although the postcard portraits are still on parade outside the Dovetail Cafe until Saturday 3rd.

Saturday 10th June – Paul Berryman

This ‘Figures and life Drawing in Charcoal‘ is a must for everyone who enjoyed Paul’s Zoom demonstration last winter. You may remember his approach to the ‘terminator’ – the line dividing strong light and darkness, where the contrast is greatest, then shading away from that.

For those that have been trying to apply this in their life drawing (or even when painting figures), this workshop is a must. At time of writing, there were one or two places available, so do sign up, via Roy Brophy or Bev Dunstan (members only). 9.30 to 3.30 in the Church Hall.

Drop-In session

Wednesday 14 June sees our midsummer drop-in session. This is probably the only event that continues month in, month out, so if you want to meet up regularly with some like-minded people and get on with your own project, this is the space for you. Members only, £5 per session, at the Community Large Hall on Hursley Road.

Sunday 18 June – Life session

This gives you a quick opportunity to put that learning from Paul Berryman into practice, but you can do any style you like. 2-4 in the Church Hall (members only).

This will be the last life session until September, due to the Summer Exhibition using the same venue.

Wednesday 28 June – Roll Up, Roll up for our Demonstration

We are delighted to welcome Curtis Tappenden to give our demonstration this month on Circus Art. 7.30 – 9.30 in the Methodist Church. I suspect he has many stories to tell about circus life!

If you enjoy this, watch out for details of the workshop that Curtis has kindly agreed to next year.

Getting loose with a knife – and some paint!

Posted on Posted in active artTagged , , , , ,

by Jacky Pett

Stephen Foster’s workshop on 13th May was his second this year, and presumably just as much enjoyed by us as it was for our predecessors!

This was entitled ‘Spontaneous palette knife landscape/seascape painting’ and Stephen gave short talk beforehand on methods and materials, showing examples of his work. Then he picked one to demonstrate the techniques of using a palette knife on a prepared board.

Looking from a distance, the way Stephen blurred and moved the paint around to create clouds and trees was amazing. It was even more amazing, as I saw later, his spiky trees emerging from the clump were really just rough squiggles in the paint when you looked closely. His clouds showed the scuff marks on the board, too, but from a distance, they looked fantastic.

Despite the word ‘spontaneous’ and Stephen’s advice that if we wanted a reference, to look at it once, then put it away, quite a few people carefully drew out their landscapes and proceeded to fill them in. Maybe they were being more spontaneous with their paintwork than usual. They were certainly more beautiful than mine, which I thought were a mess. But then this was my first workshop with the group, and the first time I’d used acrylic paint in nearly twenty years. Thank you to my table mates Bev and Valerie for making me feel at home, and also for helping me get the paint caps off!

Although we’d been around the room and admired each others work, we also got a critique at the end from Stephen, who went through each painting and made useful comments. I think they were useful learning points for us all, anyway. And I came away with plenty of ideas about painting with a palette knife that I hadn’t had before.

Thank you to Stephen, and to Bev for organising it. A good time was had by all, I think!

Stephen Foster workshop

Posted on Posted in active art1 Comment

Words and pictures by Roy Brophy

On Saturday 11 March, Stephen Foster led a workshop where he shared three paintings of Hengistbury Head. He explained why he had chosen particular colours, including Titanium White, Prussian Blue, Yellow Ochre, Vandyke Brown, Magenta, and a Terracotta Red, and showed us a framed version which he felt had not worked because he wanted the sky to have more mystery and feeling.

To demonstrate his technique, Stephen then used a blank 40×40 board primed with a light orangey-red and marked out a similar layout. He showed us how to create a sky using white, with his recommended Hobbycraft No. 6 palette knife, using swirling movements and adding a tiny bit of Prussian Blue, which was most effective. By using just four colours, mixing where necessary, and using touches of reds to add sparkle, Stephen produced an image of Hengistbury Head showing the power of using just a few colours to create a coordinated painting.

Although Stephen was not satisfied with his painting, he encouraged us to have a go. Stephen asked us to use the work as a base for our own feelings on the subject, and after two hours, we had produced a variety of images. Our artists created some amazing skies, and one particular image stood out – by Gill Evatt, of two walkers on a windy beach. Everything about it conveyed a sense of wetness and wind, with the white tops of the waves adding to the atmosphere.

Overall, it was an excellent day, ending with a “show and tell” session during the final half hour. Stephen provided constructive feedback on the works presented, leaving us all feeling inspired.

Ali Lindley success – as always!

Posted on Posted in active artTagged , ,

By Bev Dunstan

Ali Lindley hosted an excellent Cityscape workshop for the Art Group on 1st April, and a good time was had by all.

Ali provided an excellent semi-abstract watercolour workshop, guiding the participants through a series of exercises to develop the technique of introducing aerial perspective in a painting. 

These included pencil sketches, simple loose watercolour brush work and the use of tones and colour to layer up the artwork. 

The two hours after lunch set the challenge to the group to put brush to paper and produce the final work.  It all sounded easy enough and Ali’s demonstrations throughout the day made it look simple; however simple it was not! 

Having the courage to loosen up and ignore the urge to tighten up and define shape and outline demanded concentration and many of the group went home mentally exhausted! 

Everyone had a great day, many having departed from their normal work and coming away wiser and more liberated as a result.

Check out more of Ali’s work at alilindleyartist.co.uk

Seven Days in March

Posted on Posted in active art, Exhibitions, monthly meetingsTagged , , ,

Sorry about that, but we are already seven days into March. Apologies for the delay in reminding you what’s on!

On Wednesday, it’s our monthly Drop-in Session to help you get on with your own project in appreciative company. Details here, and remember it’s at the Community Large Hall on Hursley Road, not the Methodist Centre.

Workshops

Saturday 11th it is a palette knife landscape or seascape workshop with Stephen Foster. This was so popular that we have arranged a second one, in May. No, it’s not an aberration of the Calendar.

All the places for the workshops for this year have now been allocated. If you haven’t had confirmation of your successes and waitlist places, please contact Roy. And don’t forget to pay. You should have had all the details in an email around 22nd Feb.

Sunday 19th March we have our monthly Life Drawing workshop in the Church Hall. Wrap up well as the priority for the limited heating is our poor model! Life drawing workshops were also booked last month, check your email for around 22nd if you don’t recall getting one. There are a few spaces left for both March and April (16th).

Our Quiz Night!

Wednesday 22nd brings us a Quiz Night hosted by Bev and led by Jacky. Tea and coffee etc in the interval. And… there may be prizes! Jacky says this is not a test of how much you know about art. Hopefully you may learn a thing or two (she has, in setting the questions) but the main thing is to have a fun evening. Laughter, bafflement, and a few groans, probably!

The Spring Tabletop Exhibition

Spring Tabletop exhibition at the Dovetail Centre, 29/30 April 10 till 4

We are preparing a print run of flyers for you to give to your friends, neighbours, and anyone else willing to spread the world.

Thank you Sue Bowery for letting us use her lovely picture.

Please let Gill know how many flyers you think you could use asap. The poster can also be downloaded here for those who would like to spread it around their social media. If you can do that with a banner style on a webpage, that’s here.

If you are not a member and wish to take part in workshops and other active art, then why not invest a very small amount of money in joining us? Contact Gill (cfagmemsec at gmail dot com) for details.

Report on Kirstin White Workshop – now with video!

Posted on Posted in active artTagged , , ,

by Beverley Dunstan

The February Workshop was presented by Kirstin White, a successful local artist who specialises in on-the-spot painting at Weddings and Fetes in addition to teaching watercolour painting.

The workshop was full with 16 members who were guided through a series of watercolour techniques.

Starting with the three primary colours the participants learned how to produce colour tones and placement of shapes.

Using a photo of two traction engines as the basis of the workshop the participants experimented with techniques including the use of salt and shaped objects to alter the paint surface; masking fluid, masked areas and candle wax to assist in maintaining colours whist layering the pigments and the use of collage to enhance the shapes within the painting.

A selection of the finished paintings, plus works-in-progress!

Kirstin has also put information about this on her Instagram site, and sent us a 2 min video which is on YouTube, and a 46 second one here:

Vanishing points galore

Posted on Posted in active artTagged , ,

from Bev Dunstan

Vanishing points were a key feature of Helen Talbot’s excellent workshop on 14th January, ‘Buildings in Pen and Wash’.

The workshop focussed on how to use perspective when drawing architectural subjects. 

Helen provided demonstrations showing various techniques using vanishing points and centre of vision for archways. 

Various photographs were used, either from Helen or brought in by the members and everyone enjoyed practicing the techniques. 

Everyone had a great time and found Helen to be very personable, knowledgeable and helpful.

Space available on Kirstin White Workshop 11 Feb

Posted on Posted in active artTagged , 1 Comment

There is a place available on the Kirstin White workshop:

CREATIVE TECHNIQUES WITH WATERCOLOUR

This takes place Saturday 11 February 2023 from  9.30am-3.30pm at the Church Hall next to the Dovetail Centre.

We are now opening this to non-members, so if you are interested, and would like to try our Art Group out in a practical sense, please contact the treasurer, Roy Brophy.

More details of the workshop, and about Kirstin White, are here.

Welcome to 2023!

Posted on Posted in active artTagged , , , , ,

We welcome 2023 in with our first Drop-in session of the year, tomorrow 11th Jan, at the Community Centre Hall on Hursley Road.

New calendar

You’ll find the new programme has been updated here, with as much detail as we have until June, then mainly listings. Undoubtedly, like me, you will find the workshop you really, really wanted to do clashes with something else you’re booked for. With me, that is the Paul Berryman workshop, on June 10. I even got some of those charcoal pencils he recommended, as a Christmas present!

I’m also really interested in the Batik demonstration in March, and several other events.

batik from handprinted.co.uk

The highlight of the spring must be our Tabletop Exhibition on the last weekend in April (29/30) at the Church Hall. It’ll be eighteen months since our last one! How time flies.

January feast

January has a feast of all your favourites: a workshop with Helen Talbot on Buildings in Pen and Wash; Life Drawing Sunday; a New Year Lunch (sign-ups closed in December), and we finish with a Zoom Demo by Roger Dellar – Demo in Oils – on the last Wednesday of the month.

There must be something for you here, so I look forward to seeing you at one of the events (or online!)

Life Drawing reaches new heights

Posted on Posted in active artTagged

By Peter Maule

The final Life session of the year took place on Sunday with Vince as a new model to the group.  He quickly got into some challenging poses, challenging for the artists that is, although he managed to maintain the poses with commendable stillness.

A surprise to all attending, was his standing pose atop of a double height structure giving all the chance to try a vertical standing pose. I think many hearts were in mouths while he settled himself, but he clearly knew what he was doing. We were all treated to various foreshorten poses, adding challenge and variety to the excellent session. We are all looking forward to starting again in January next year.

We’re still having some challenges with the heating in the hall for the model, but hopefully all will be sorted out soon.