Tag: workshop

The most colourful time of year!

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Yes, it’s October, and time to take advantage of all the bright cheerful days to get out and paint the fabulous autumn colours. Alternatively, take your muted palette out on a grey day and get the seasons of mists down on paper, canvas, or surface of your choice.

And here’s what the group is doing this month.

loose landscape
Loose landscape, from the June workshop

We have a life drawing session on 5th October (see below) to oust the drop in session from its usual lead spot! The Drop-in will be on Wednesday 8th October at the Community Large Hall . If you’re not that comfortable painting autumn in public spaces, I could remind you that just outside the hall there are plenty of large trees, hedgerows, plus some interesting cottages just a few steps away. Buddy up and keep each other company! But just do your own thing until 1 pm. Details

Our workshop on Saturday 11th is fully booked, but hopefully the skies will be bright both inside and out for George Popesco’s ‘Watercolour Sky-scape Challenge’, at the Dovetail Centre Hall details

George Popesco’s artwork

Our Life Drawing afternoon sees some changes this month. It is now taking place fortnightly at the Dovetail Centre MR3. Roy has been busy reallocating places since he has fitted in two more sittings in October and November, but they are all fully booked. Smaller groups, smaller and warmer room, but more of them. If you haven’t confirmed your reallocated place(s) with Roy, please email him. Details

The third Monday of the month (20th) sees our Sketching Group out and about. Sadly September’s meet was cancelled at the last moment due to the scheduled torrential rain. Fingers crossed the rain keeps itself away from Mondays for the rest of the winter.

Podi Lawrence – Shadows

And the fourth Wednesday of the month (but not the last!), 22nd October, will be our first Zoom Demo of the winter season. Podi Lawrence will be showing us the tricks of painting shadows. This is something I love doing, especially working out the angles for leaves against walls…  Details of the zoom log-in will be emailed a few days before. I suggest you log on early in case you need to download and install the latest version if, like me, you haven’t used Zoom since last March 🙂

Autumn Exhibition

Don’t forget to get your artwork ready for the Autumn Exhibition 8-9 November at the Dovetail Centre Hall!

(featured image by Evelyn Macpherson: Winter Sunset over Worthing Beach)

Painting the Kingfisher

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by Bev Dunstan

Jill Iliffe visited from East Hampshire on September 13th to present a fantastic workshop entitled ‘Painting the Kingfisher’.  Originally planned as an Oil painting workshop, the day expanded to include Acrylic paint to enable a wider audience to participate.  

Jill shared her insights into oil painting techniques including brush types – stiff bristle for the main application and finer brushes for the smaller detail; mixing mediums – Zest-it as a low odour alternate to the traditional turps, and Liquin, used to create a smooth, gel like paint film which was ideal for the eyeball of the bird.

Whilst some of the artists used the traditional Oil based paints, others used the water-based oil paints.  These paints still have the beautiful buttery texture that takes an age to dry, but wash out in water without the inconvenience of smellier solvents required for traditional oil paints.

Everyone came with their painting surface prepared with a background colour and the suggested palette colours recommended by Jill.  Jill brought two photo images to choose from and the artists began by sketching the outline of the bird onto the surface.  Once the outline was completed, then the remainder of the features were painted directly into the painting.

For those who chose the image of the front of the bird, the painting began with the breast, progressing to the head and the beak using different brushes to depict the feathers and the eye.  The tail was painted using the same brush technique before the branch was placed in the painting – this time applying the paint by palette knife – spreading and lifting the paint to give the bark texture. 

The final paintings were displayed and clearly demonstrated just how differently the same image can be interpreted and depicted by individual artists.

The six hours just flew by and everyone agreed it had been a fantastic day.  The biggest challenge left was getting the wet oil paintings home without smudging the paint!

The Summer’s Over…

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… and we can get back to painting rain, storms, puddles and all the other things we haven’t seen for a while!

We also finished our Summer Exhibition and HOS25 studio. Thank you to everyone who exhibited or took part in the studio section – it was really rocking at times! Also welcome to all those who are now following this website, and hopefully your enquiry about membership has already been dealt with.

Here’s a selection of memories from August, which is followed by the usual monthly update.

… and here comes September

It does not often happen, but we start with a free week! Grab your art kit and get out between showers for a quick sketch – the theme for the month is action/sport.

The first event of the month is on Wednesday 10th, the Drop-In Session at the Community Large Hall on Hursley Road (members only)- Details

On Saturday 13th, Jill Iliffe will be doing a workshop, for which we have some places remaining. Contact Bev if you would like to join in (this may be available to non-members who have already contacted us about membership) The workshop is called ‘Kingfisher in Oils/Acrylics’ and it will be at the Dovetail Centre Hall. Details

Our Sketching Group will be out and about on Monday 16th. Hope for good weather, or at least a nice place with shelter!

Sunday 21st see our monthly Life Drawing resume in the Dovetail Centre.  We have been using the hall, but I think it may be moving to Meeting Room 3 (where we had the HOS studio) where the heating is alleged to be more reliable. The life drawing booking sheet went out in early summer, so if you missed it, you’ll have to join a waiting list. Watch out for the new year’s sign up list, which will be out soon. Details

Finally, we finish the month with our last Live Demo of the year, on Wednesday 24th, when Rebecca Hurst will be demonstrating Something Large (all will be revealed!) in the Methodist church, where there is a lovely video feed set-up so you can see the details wherever you sit. (visitors welcome, for a small charge) Details

Starlings in watercolour pencil

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by Bev Dunstan

Chris Church came down to Chandlers Ford from Buckinghamshire and provided a days tuition on the use of watercolour pencils.

He began the day with a quick introduction of himself and his work enabling us to see what could be achieved with minimal equipment; namely paper, coloured pencils, tiny brushes and water.

He chose to demonstrate the painting of a starling, with its deep iridescent colours of purple and green overlaid by golden edged black feathers, tipped with an arrow head of white, this proved to be an excellent choice.

The workshop progressed in stages beginning with a choice of two photos of the starling and sketching the image in graphic pencil onto acrylic paper.  The pencil could then be erased at the end of the process and once the watercolour was dry.

 Starting with the head, the next step was to apply the base layer of colour by overlaying the pencil marks before introducing the water to mix the pigments on the paper.  

For those new to this medium it was very much a journey of trusting the method, since the early stages of the painting looked very rough and ready!

Working from light to dark, the golden wing edges were defined and the layers of colour continued to be applied.  It was important that the brush strokes followed the alignment of the feathers.

Once the colour base was completed then it was time to sharpen the black pencil and start to introduce the feathers and the eye.  

The crowning glory was the use of a white posca pen to mark the white feather tips and the method suddenly made sense!

We were all pretty happy with our results, despite having qualms during the session. ‘Follow the process’ works!

Chris was a patient tutor, spending time with the artists and sharing his tips with the members and also managing to finish his artwork.

Chris is keen to provide a zoom demo in the future.  Our 2025-26 calendar is complete but he is ‘pencilled’ in for a session in the Autumn of 2026.

Where did June go? Notes for July…

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June whizzed past me, fortunately mostly full of good weather, gardening and family activities. So what’s in store for July, art-wise?

Goldfinch/ Church
Goldfinch (c) Chris Church

Saturday 5th sees a Coloured Pencil Workshop with Chris Church. Intriguingly, those on the participants list have also been encouraged to include certain watercolour brushes in their kit. There is more to pencil work than pencils, obviously.– Details

On Wednesday 9th we have our monthly Drop-In Session at the Community Large Hall on Hursley Road. A chance to finish off the pencil drawings, or perhaps try out the acrylic techniques (I want to try sgraffito), or splash some colour about, as inspired by Jamel Akib. – Details

If you forgot to send back the application for life drawing sessions for the rest of the calendar year, it’s too late. Although, things happen, and Peter Maule tends to keep a reserve list for when spare places arise. Sunday 20th is our next Life Drawing session (at the Dovetail Centre Hall 2-4pm). Details

Monday 21st will see our Sketching Group out and about again. It seems to have morphed from Open Air or Outdoor sketching group to En Plein Air (which is just the French phrase), but still. And don’t forget there are monthly themes and weekly prompts for you if you prefer to sketch at other times and places, and would like a stimulus.

Our Live Demo at the Methodist church this month is on the 23rd, with Julie King demonstrating ‘Flowing Flowers in Watercolour’ – Details

And watch out for news of how to get a space for our Hampshire Open Studio at the Dovetail Centre, dates 16-25 August.

NEW – AND IMPORTANT

On Tuesday 29th will belatedly host our AGM complete with reports of last years activities and finances. Most importantly, we will launch our Postcard garden for this year and have a bit of a social event. At the Dovetail Cafe, starting promptly at 7.30pm.

Loose Landscapes with Christine Forbes

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by Bev Dunstan

Christine came up from Chichester on June 14 to present a wonderful  ‘Loose Landscape in Acrylic’ workshop.

Thought process

She began by explaining the importance of drawing out your painting prior to applying the paint.  By doing so, you were breaking down the thought process of the painting into different stages – tone, mark placement and then colour.

Using a graphic stick, the members were encouraged to map out the image, pressing hard to show the darker areas and working the graphic stick across the page to demonstrate the different tones within the painting.

Using the tonal map as reference, a test piece was created to practice making the marks and the placement of paint. Beginning with deep purples – mimicking the darker tones of the graphic marks and once dry, the landscape was applied and the cloud formations were completed.

The final painting was then created using the techniques of the practice piece.

Sgraffito

Christine continued by demonstrating the technique of sgraffito.   A base layer of colour was randomly applied to the paper and once this was dried, a darker application of paint was brushed over the top. Whilst this was still wet the artist scratched away the paint to reveal the colour beneath.  

The afternoon provided time to the artists to use the techniques learned in the morning to create their own work – either freeform or from favoured photos.

The final display of work demonstrated the wide interpretation of the techniques learned during the day.

Linocut workshop – think white space and mirror image!

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by Bev Dunstan

With a lovely warm day upon us, the Chandlers Ford Art Group hosted a well attended Linocut Workshop run by the very bubbly Katherine Anteney.

Her knowledge of linocut and print making was wonderfully presented and her enthusiasm for the craft was infectious.  

The day began with an overview of the stages and a demonstration of the tools provided for the workshop.  The most important lesson was understanding that when the material was removed from the lino it would represent the white of the final image.  Compounded by the fact that the print would also be in reverse from the linocut – definitely necessary to consider if text was involved – it was so important to really concentrate on your work.  

Patience was the key and the best technique was to take it slow and ink up the linocut regularly to see the stages as the image developed.

The 6 hours flew by and resulted in a diverse range of printed images as the photographs show.

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.

Soraya French Workshop (9 March)

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by Bev Dunstan

Soraya presented a well structured and dynamic workshop to the Chandlers Ford Art Group members who attended today [9 March].

Soraya began by explaining the differences between acrylic ink, soft and heavy acrylic paint.  She also discussed the advantages of using watercolour papers for acrylic use.  She demonstrated the different types of ground materials and structural gels to give the painting that extra textural affect.  Another tip was to use the paint as glue when introducing mixed media such as tissue paper and avoiding pva glue in your painting.

Soraya began her demonstration painting by applying the ground layers and textures that underpin the seascape scene.  Periodically Soraya would bring the members back to her painting to show the next steps and techniques to progress the artwork.

The artists were encouraged to use their own sketches and photos which led to an amazing array of fantastic paintings at the end of the day; including Antarctica, Westward Ho!, Isle of Harris and Westbay.

Everyone agreed it was an amazing day with great tips and advice to take away.

A montage of the day’s work

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.