Tag: spring exhibition

Spring into Sunshine

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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.

May is packed – hopefully with continued good weather

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This lovely weather is hopefully bringing the crowds to our Spring Exhibition at the Hillier Gardens. This ends on Tuesday afternoon, so get your friends along for the last weekend and don’t forget to collect your exhibits after 4pm on Tuesday – details

Wednesday 14 May sees our next Drop-In Session at the Community Large Hall on Hursley Road Details. These are currently FREE, so get along to work on your next masterpiece.

Saturday 10 May is a Workshop with Katherine Anteney. There were a few spaces left at the middle of April, check with Bev if you’d like to join this Linocut Workshop. Details

Our next Life Drawing session is at the Dovetail Centre Hall on Sunday 18 May from 2-4. Contact Peter if you need to drop out or want to be placed on the waitlist.

The Outdoor Sketching Group will be hoping for decent weather on Monday19 May, but they seem to cope with anything the weather gods send their way. You can also join in the sketching challenge at any time. Many of those I see are more artworks than sketches, but anything goes!

We round off the month’s menu with a Live Demo on Wednesday 28 May. Jenny Muncaster will be demonstrating Acrylic and mixed media.  Details

Hope you find something there to pique your interest.

Spring Exhibition starts tomorrow!

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Our Spring Exhibition at the Hillier Gardens opens tomorrow Thursday 24th April at 10 am, closing at 5 pm, continuing daily until Tuesday May 6th when it closes to the public at 3pm.

And if you’re reading this thinking, ‘oh yes I must get my picture handed in’… you’re too late! Hand-in was today 9.45 to 10.30. Contact Roy immediately to let him know you’ve forgotten and see what he says.

Artists of the Day, wonderful artworks, cards and browser pieces all ready for you and your friends to purchase. Come one, come all!

And the Gardens are looking wonderful, too.

Time to relax over Easter?

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Yes, let’s all relax over Easter. There’s nothing much to do other than enjoy spring sunshine with family, and eat Easter eggs.

Well, it might be like that. Unless you’re involved in any, or all, of these events.

April’s packed programme

It’s no April fool. The first formal (or informal) event is our Drop-In Session on Wednesday 9th at the Community Large Hall on Hursley Road, as usual. Details. Have you done your postcard yet? Are your artworks for the exhibition finished? Escape from whatever’s going on at home (like a kitchen renovation) and paint in peace here.

Sunday 13th sees our Life Drawing session at the Dovetail Centre Hall from 2-4pm Details. Apparently it was on the cold side earlier in the year, and the problem was solved – by turning the new heating up a notch or two!

Then comes Easter – and there is no sketching group meet on Easter Monday. But they’ll be back before the month end.

Wednesday 23rd from 9.45 to 10.30 is hand-in time at Hillier Gardens for our Spring Exhibition. Make sure your framing and labelling are according to schedule! Good luck to the setting up team – we know you’ll do a super job.

Hand-in 2022

Live Demonstration

And not to let anybody rest, 23rd April is also our first Live Demonstration of our new year. Sue Kerrigan-Harris will be demonstrating ‘Animal Portraits using Pastels’ and her examples on her website look amazing. Non-members are also welcome at the Methodist Church at the Dovetail Centrefor a £5 charge on the door. (see Details)

The next day, Thursday 24th our Spring Exhibition opens at 10 am at the Hillier Gardens. It closes daily at 5pm, there are various places for refreshment around the gardens, and if only visiting our exhibition and the adjacent cafe, there is no entry fee. But as you’re there, why not pay the entry and visit the lovely gardens too. Bring your friends. Do some sketching! The exhibition runs until Tuesday 6th May  details

While that’s going on, people will be stewarding, and artists will be doing ‘artist of the day’. Anyone still without a kitchen may be availing themselves of Hillier’s excellent food. And on Monday 28th the Sketching Group will be having a delayed meet-up (not at the gardens).

There is also a sketching group monthly theme and weekly prompts, so watch out for more information in the newsletters.

The Time of March

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Yes, it’s March again. We seem set for a few nice days (once the frost has gone) so make the most of this week… who knows what storms are on the horizon.

What is definitely on the horizon are some painting and social activities.

Active art

Soraya French

The workshop (fully booked) on Saturday 8th is with Soraya French who will be working with Acrylic Inks. I look forward to seeing what comes out of this – it should be particularly vibrant.

Our Drop-In Session on Wednesday 12th (for members only) is celebrating something with a cake, and free! Roy says he’s going to do his postcard, so if anyone else wants a spur to actually do their postcard (mine got as far as reference photos, then I had to put the stuff away again) turn up at the Community Large Hall on Hursley Road around 10 ish. Times are flexible – you can just drop in!

Sunday 16th is another Life Drawing afternoon at the Dovetail Centre Hall (you’ll notice the rebranding since their open day in February). If you haven’t been inside since the new year, I can vouch for the extremely nice new layout. 

On Monday 17th March our Sketching Group will be descending on Winchester. They had a cold day in Romsey last month, but still produced magnificent work.

Social Evening

Our social evening takes place on THURSDAY 27 March in the Dovetail Cafe from 7.30 pm. This is combining a new members introduction, a general social, an Exhibition ‘clinic’ to answer your questions about submission, and bring & buy sale. So check what you need to do to submit artwork to exhibitions, and what semi-useful stuff you’d like to hand on to someone else, and come ready to chat to old and new friends. You can also hand in your ‘Flora’ postcard if you’re ready (closing date for that is the AGM) – Details

Spring Exhibition 24th April – 6th May

Thank you to all the members who responded to the exhibition questionnaire – we have plenty of people wishing exhibit, and to be artists of the day, and volunteers to look after handing in, handing out and stewarding. If you need any help with framing, come along to the social evening (27 Mar) to discuss or even get hands-on help from the experts!

We’ll shortly be getting posters together, so when they’re ready, please give them to your friends and neighbours so they come along.

Workshops

The form for applying for the early summer (May June July) workshops came round by email last week. Don’t forget to complete it if you want a chance of a place at any of them.

February brings Roses

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Well, I hope it brings roses for you. What the Group brings this month is lots of lovely activities.

Active Art

ron moody

On Saturday 8th February, Ron Moody will be taking a workshop at the Methodist Church Hall, with a pen/ink outline drawing to be followed by watercolour wash techniques.  Details

Wednesday 12th is our regular Drop-In Session at the Community Large Hall. If, like me, you got some new drawing materials, you may be tempted to get yourself away from the distractions of home, and start using them! Details

Sunday 16th sees another Life Drawing afternoon at the Church Hall 2-4pm. If you saw Paul Berryman’s zoom demonstration last month, you can brush up those same techniques using a live model, rather than working from a photo. Details

And on Monday 17th, our intrepid Sketching Group will be visiting Romsey. If It’s a nice day I might join them as there are some wonderful nooks and crannies in Romsey!

From the comfort of home

Wednesday 26th is this month’s Zoom Demo. Kaili Fu will be discussing and demonstrating Chinese brush art, which is bound to be interesting.  Details

Everyday Sketching Challenge

Lisa has set up a February sketching challenge. She will be emailing participants a prompt for a 5 minute sketch each day in February and people can share their outputs in a private group. Check the January newsletters for more details and the link to the sign up page.

Don’t forget your Postcards

Your postcard theme this year is ‘Flora’. Any medium, any interpretation, on a postcard sized piece of card. Must be with Roy in time for the AGM in May… but try not to leave it till the last minute!

Early Warning – Spring Exhibition

This year’s Spring Exhibition is at Hillier Gardens, from 24 April to 6th May 2025. The ‘higher’ standards apply to framing for exhibitions at Hilliers, so spruce up or stand by with your work and make sure you’re meeting the submissions requirements, which will be circulated shortly.

Spring Exhibition – exposed!

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Well we did have a jolly time…  a good number of visitors, too. There were lots of compliments, and lots of membership enquiries!  

Thank you to all who put the stands together and transformed the church hall. Thank you to Barry Fry, who, with assistants, waved a magic wand with the hanging. It is not easy to place 98 artworks in half an hour, creating a beautiful art gallery that looked as if it has had weeks spent on it! Our ‘hand-in’ and ‘hand-out’ volunteers managed to make the whole process go like clockwork – well done. Thanks are also due to our Artists of the Day, who bravely sat (and it was a bit chilly!) all day, painting and chatting with visitors. 

Our Saturday Artists of the Day

Thanks also to all who stewarded, and those who came along with friends and relatives to show them what we have been up to. The hall looked wonderful. Roy did his best – he took some photographs on Saturday, but forgot all about his camera on Sunday!  We need an Official Photographer to produce pictures at all of our events. If you would like to do this please speak to Roy! 

Our ‘bric-a-brac’ table was popular with our visitors, most of whom went away with useful books or other ‘arty goodies’. Proceeds from this table amounted to £106.80 which will be added to the £530 made at our recent ‘Bring & Buy + Fish and Chips!’ event.  Thank you to everyone who contributed, either by donation, or providing goodies for sale!  All proceeds will go to Naomi House, a hospice for terminally ill children and young people.