How did June get so busy?

Posted on 1 June 202631 May 2026 Posted in monthly meetingsTagged course, life drawing session, live demonstration, sketching group, visit, workshop

No, it’s not a rhetorical question, or even an inquiry into a mysterious lady from the past. It simply reflects the amount of activity going on within the group this month… and there isn’t even an exhibition (although there’s a great deal of planning for August going on!)

We start the month with two (fully booked) special events — Behind the Scenes visits to Southampton Art Gallery. I’m looking forward to hearing a report on these from one of the attendees – it doesn’t have to be as detailed as Bev’s workshop reports, but it would be nice to know what you saw and what you thought!

These are speedily followed by the first of our Life Drawing afternoons on Sunday 7th, when Rowan Roberts will be revealing all. I never cease to be amazed at the ability of our life models to stand still in poses I could not adopt for more than a few seconds – they hold them for a few minutes or up to an hour (usually the longest we ask for is a half hour).

*Note: this may not be the model for June.*

The day after, on Monday 8th, sees the first session in a new Sketching Course, taken by Mandy Axtel. The other sessions take place on 22nd and 29th June, and 6th July. We look forward to seeing your sketches of the St Cross area.

Relegated to a lowly spot, in the listing, but still on the second Wednesday of the month, our drop-in session runs from 10:00-13:00 at the Hursley Road Community Hall.

This month’s workshop is on Saturday 13th, and promises to be a lively Abstract Acrylic and Mixed Media with Rebecca Hurst. It is speedily followed by the Sketching Group’s outing to Romsey Abbey on the Monday, and a brief pause before our second Life Drawing session on the 21st.

Finally we round off the month on Wednesday 24th, with a lively live Demonstration from Jake Winkle. A good time will be had by all.

And that takes us to Midsummer! You realise we will then be closer to next Christmas than last Christmas? Start painting your cards now 🙂

Spring into Sunshine

Posted on 1 May 202631 May 2026 Posted in monthly meetingsTagged AGM, drop-in sessions, life drawing session, live demonstration, sketching group, spring exhibition

Well, maybe. This Bank Holiday looks like it might be a little cloudy, but then we could do with some rain already!

But that won’t make too much difference to us as it’s the Spring Exhibition at the Dovetail Centre Main Hall, with hand-in and set-up tonight (Friday), and the event open from 10 till 4 Saturday until Monday (when its closes at 4pm officially, and hand-out at 4.30, but these things become flexible over time).

Please tell your friends! And bring them along. And visit often yourself. Bring the visitors, bring the kids and their friends. There’s nothing better to do on a bank holiday weekend!

and after that…

Life Drawing! The first session of the month is on May 10th, second on 17th. There were a couple of late spaces available for the extra session put on in April, but the May ones are, as far as I know, fully booked.

Wednesday 13th sees our Drop-In Session at the Community Centre in Hursley Road, 10 till 1. Do whatever you want, enjoy the company, or just enjoy the space to spread out without the cat puddling your paintwork.

After the second life drawing session, we pray for good weather as the sketchers head for a morning at Mottisfont (National Trust, so bring your card if you’re a member). Even if the weather turns inclement, there should be plenty to see and sketch. (You could do the cellars underneath the building on the right hand side of the picture – they have fabulous pillars!)

The most important date is Wednesday 27 May from 18:45-19:30 as it’s our Annual General Meeting. Just a few routine reports to be read, committee to be seen, elected, or co-opted. Just to make sure we run ourselves clearly and correctly. And this is followed by our first LIVE Demonstration of the year, with Marieta Sotirova doing something very interesting.

How hard can it be?

Posted on 22 April 202629 April 2026 Posted in active artTagged Catherine Cartwright, watercolour, workshop

by Bev Dunstan

‘How hard can it be’ – Watercolor Workshop, Saturday 11th April.

Catherine Cartwright brought a fantastic and lighthearted approach to Watercolour painting with her beginners class.

She began by explaining her background and joy in using watercolour in her work and promised to share tips and tricks that she’d learned over time and wished she knew sooner.

Catherine demonstrated the techniques and provided helpful handouts for the class to practice the different methods used in Watercolour including ‘wet-in-wet’ and ‘variegated wash’ – where the watercolour paint is moved down the wet paper without the reapplication of paint.

The group members took the time to work through the techniques and practice the various tips including creating cloud formations and using splatter for increased mark making.

Another great tip was to use the edge of a credit card, length cut to suit the need and dip it into the paint to mark lines – useful for fence posts in a landscape.

Catherine encouraged the class to use a minimal colour palette and mix greens using lemon yellow, cadmium yellow, or raw sienna with ultramarine and cobalt blue combinations.

After lunch, members put the new found knowledge into practice by creating a landscape painting.

The group had a wonderful time and learnt many new things. There was plenty of time to practice the techniques and Catherine was ready to answer questions and help when asked.

Happy Easter – now paint!

Posted on 31 March 202625 March 2026 Posted in monthly meetingsTagged drop-in sessions, life drawing session, sketching group, social events, workshop

Happy Easter to you all, and let’s hope the weather is benign over the holiday weekend. A chance for you to get out and paint, perhaps?

Our month starts with the drop in event on Wednesday 8th, 10:00-13:00. I’m sure you know by now that this is a free to ‘do as you please’ event on Wednesday morning at the Community Hall on Hursley Road. I think it’s still with free coffee, tea and biscuits!

On Saturday 11th our Workshop is intriguingly entitled “How hard can it be?” It’s a Watercolour Workshop with Catherine Cartwright and I’m looking forward to finding out how hard it is!

The following weekend we resume our Life Drawing sessions (Sunday afternoon). The form for the next quarter was sent out recently, and has already closed. If you wanted to apply, please do so more quickly when the form comes out for the next quarter!

Monday 20th sees our Sketching Group heading up to Olivers Battery. I hope the weather will be decent for that. A new year of sketching monthly prompts will also be starting: these will now be sent to everyone, so just ignore those emails if you don’t want to be inspired. You don’t even have to do anything with your sketches, although if you want to add them in the Facebook Group, do so. For any help with this, contact Lisa Marshall.

A couple of days later, Wednesday 22 April, we have a social event, particularly to welcome new members, but everyone is invited. There will be an art-related Bring & Buy sale, and a clinic on presenting your work for exhibition.

And please note your entry form for the Spring Exhibition must be in by the 21st April.

There’s still time to do your Postcard painting – theme of Film Title, so you could bring that to the social too. And perhaps pick up some flyers to promote the Spring Exhibition to your friends and neighbours.

Chaos and sloshing with Jenny Muncaster

Posted on 25 March 202625 March 2026 Posted in active artTagged acrylic, Jenny Muncaster, workshop

by Lisa Marshall

We had a great workshop on Saturday 14th March. It was a bit chaotic at times, lots of water and sloshing about, lots of fun. But no mishaps and a full house, with a waiting list.

Jenny started by giving us an enthusiastic walk through of her art life. She has so many ideas she needs to investigate before she runs out of time.

She bought with her an array of her beautiful work.

She is a promoter for Daler Rowney Acrylics and often visits the factory and works closely with the development team. There are 4 different textures in the system 3 range

Heavy Body
Soft Body. _ Original
Fluid
Ink
DR Acrylics are highly pigmented

She talked about different brush types and their uses and other tools we would need like sponges, pipettes and pallet knives. Then she demonstrated the colour wheel using CMYK and process yellow, magenta and cyan which gives a brighter mix.

We completed two projects and watched her demo a third

16 Square Grid

We started with 16 square grid taped and chose 3 of our colours to make as many different marks as possible in each of the sections. Results: we produced many varieties of patten and texture.

Zine (1)

Next we started our Zine (Magazine like folded paper)

We painted the first side with a base layer then a contrasting top colour which we sloshed with water while it was still wet and waited for the paint to dry, but not the water, then wiped off with a wet sponge – this leaves a splashy effect and can be repeated multiple times. Embrace your mistakes!

We then worked on the second side of the Zine

Oil pastes and make marks right up to the edges then watery paint all over the give a contrasting effect. We made lots of texture marks with grout scrapers, bubble wrap printing, scourers, corks, cotton buds and finally ink flows with a straw.

Jenny’s Demo

While that was drying we watched Jenny Demo a Flower Meadow

The picture is inspired by one that she has created on a much larger scale for cruise ships. – Acrylics are so versatile. She used 5 colours and White.

If you are on Instagram, there is an instagram video she has made of the process.

Zine (2)

Finally, with all the paint dry, we folded and cut our Zines

A fabulous time was had by all!

Jenny has written a book which will be published in March 2027, and has an Exhibition starting on 3rd June at the Arc Winchester for 6 weeks (The Colour Factory).

On the cusp of March

Posted on 28 February 202627 February 2026 Posted in monthly meetingsTagged drop-in sessions, life drawing session, workshop, zoom demo

Well, February whizzed by, so here we are, on the cusp of March, with sun, rain and daffodils, so it must be spring!

As always, we have a packed calendar, including a zoom demonstration on the fourth Wednesday, with the ‘new members’ social, although everyone is invited, now taking place in April.

We start with our now customary first event of the month – the Life Drawing session on 1st March. The form for the next batch of sessions was circulated to members a few weeks ago, and the form closed on 22nd February. There are unlikely to be any spaces, so if you missed it, get your application in earlier next time!

Wednesday 11 March is the Drop-in Session at the Community Centre on Hursley Road. Start 10 am, finishes at 1 pm, and you can drop in any time you want!

Our Workshop for this month is WOW with Acrylics, hosted by Jenny Muncaster. WOW is Wet on Wet, and the description of buckets for water, and huge brushes, plus sponges and goodness knows what else, suggests that the paint will run freely! There was a long waiting list for this event, probably thanks to Jenny’s demonstration last year. A good time will be had by all.

The next day, Sunday, we have our Life Drawing session, this time with a female model, and the following day, Monday 16th March, the sketching group heads out to Southampton Common, weather permitting.

After that we can rest for a few days until the last Zoom demonstration of the season, on Wednesday 25 Mar 2026. Scott Swinson will be doing a Large Seascape in Watercolour, Details. It looks lovely!

And don’t forget to get your picture on a postcard done and brought to a session. The theme this year is ‘Film Titles’. Please write your name and film title on the BACK of your postcard before hand-in.

There are only four weeks in February

Posted on 30 January 202631 January 2026 Posted in monthly meetingsTagged drop-in sessions, life drawing session, sketching group, watercolour, workshop, zoom demo

… but February is even more packed with all the things the group is doing!

We celebrate the end of January with a Life Drawing session at MR3 at Dovetail Centre (at the back). This is Sunday 1st February! The Life Drawing sessions are mostly oversubscribed with waiting lists, and that’s just these early spring ones. Watch for the next sign-up list if you want to get a place in the following quarter. Details

On Wednesday 11th is our Drop-In Session (second Wednesday of the month) at the Community Large Hall on Hursley Road. If you meant to get on with your new year’s resolution of painting more often, now’s your chance. – Details

The second Saturday in the month is the 14th. This was going to be our workshop with Elizabeth Baldin but unfortunately she has had to cancel, but Bev has already rearranged with her for next year.– Details

The third Sunday in the month is the next day, and sees our second Life Drawing session of the month. Details

If you really are an art addict, you can then go sketching somewhere interesting the next day, Monday 16th, with the Sketching Group. Of course, the Sketching group has been sketching on themes all through the year. They also have something planned for a daily challenge like they did last year. If you were on the email list last year, you’ll hear all about it. If you weren’t, contact Lisa Marshall (pictured).

And after a weekend off, you can settle down in your armchair with your favourite beverage on Wednesday 25th for a Zoom Demonstration with Paul Oakley, who will reveal all the secrets of the Colour wheel and tonal value – Details

Sounds like fun to me!

A Chinese New Year?

Posted on 20 January 202621 January 2026 Posted in active artTagged Chinese brush painting, flower, Jean Turton, landscape, workshop

by Bev Dunstan

Well, no, it will not be the Chinese New Year until next month. But we started off 2026 with a workshop of Chinese Brush Painting by Jean Turton. And it was wonderful!

Jean introduced the attendees to the wonderful world of Chinese Brush Painting with her amazing stories of her visits to China to witness the making of the paper, the creation of the chops (stamps), the history of the brushes and visiting the country to paint the phenomenal landscape.

Soft, absorbent surface

She began by ensuring that we all were working on a soft and absorbent surface, explaining that the Chinese paper would surprise us all in how quickly it would take up the water. Any hard or plastic-finished surface would encourage the water to spread under the paper and that was avoidable with the correct base surface – newspaper was ideal and Jean used a piece of felt,

Jean explained that, although there were many brushes to choose from, we would really only need 3 types (1) a narrow brush for thinner marks (2) the sheep brush, made from sheep or goat hair which was very soft and absorbent (3) the stiffer wolf brush (actually made from weasel hair). This brush was harder than the sheep brush and kept its point during application. Jean kindly lent her brushes to the class for the workshop.

Jean supplied the paper and she was NOT wrong regarding its water absorbent properties! It was like painting onto cheap toilet paper! Great care had to be taken to remove the excess water from the loaded brush before making the mark on the paper.

Jean supplied the Chinese ink and explained its origins. The black was ground from Oil-soot or Pine-soot. The vibrant red paste used for the chop marks (generally messages of good luck and the like) was cinnabar, an ore made from mercury sulphide, which is toxic and to be handled with great care.

Narcissus and Camellia

Introduction over, she demonstrated the techniques used to create a painting of narcissus and camilla using the narrow and sheep brushes to define outline and infill colour respectively.

Iconic mountain landscape

After lunch, Jean demonstrated the different techniques used to create the iconic Chinese mountain / pine tree landscape. It used the stiffer wolf brush and included the ‘push’ technique of the brush, causing it to wobble and expand the mark as it crossed the paper surface.

How to paint bamboo

To complete the day, Jean shared her technique for painting bamboo and its leaf patterns. One leaf (passing boat), two leaves (fishtail), three leaves (goldfish tail), four leaves (swallow) and five leaves (landing goose). Jean’s enthusiasm for the poetry and symbolism of the marks was infectious and we all thoroughly enjoyed the day.

The results of our labours:

January Blues? Not here!

Posted on 1 January 202616 December 2025 Posted in monthly meetingsTagged Chinese brush painting, drop-in sessions, life drawing session, sketching group, social events, zoom demo

We enter the new year with loads of activity for you. This is partly fuelled by having two life drawing sessions in the month, the first this coming Sunday at the Dovetail centre, MR3. Details

The following weekend, Saturday 10th we have a workshop with Jean Turton, Jean is a recognised expert in Chinese Brush Painting , and participants have been given a list of essentials to bring, but Jean will be providing the specialist Chinese brushes, ink and paper, so all we have to do is listen, learn and paint.

Wednesday 14th January is our first Drop-In Session of the new year. A chance for you to get those painting materials out to keep your new year’s resolution going, perhaps? I shall be putting my new pencil sharpener to the test … maybe even turn up at the drop-in…any time before 1pm is your start time. Details

Saturday 17th is our New Year lunch, this time at the Concorde Club in Stoneham Lane. The menu looks exceedingly nice, and the company will of course be magnificent. Contact Lisa for further information: Lisa is at cfageventcal at gmail dot com

We are back at the Dovetail Centre the next day for a second Life Drawing session of the month. If you didn’t get your application back before Christmas, you could check if there are any vacancies, but usually, there’s a waiting list.

Our Sketching Group plans to make hay while the sun shines on Monday 19th, so let’s hope for a mild, sunny day with excellent light. Although as the last few sketching challenges of December were about shadows, light and dark, night scenes and so on, obviously our sketchers can cope with anything, anywhere.

We end the month with a Zoom demo, hopefully the one we had originally planned for December. But at time of writing this is not confirmed. So, Wednesday 28th, Elizabeth Hammond may or may not be doing a demo involving Life of Plants. Watch your email inboxes for final details and connection links.