Glennis's Paintings at Oakfield Primary School Totton

Glennis Courtney exhibited some of her African paintings at Oakfield Primary School's Multicultural Art Exhibition on Friday 24th June.

Autumn and Winter are George's Favourite Seasons

George Gascoigne enjoys Autumn and Winter landscapes and in May he showed members how to make a ploughed field and a clump of trees into a work of art. George used Atelier Interctive Acrylic paints which enabled him to blend for longer than traditional acrylics.

His sky was washed on as if using watercolour but then, unlike watercolour, white paint was used for the lighter areas. The clouds nearest the horizon had some yellow ochre in them. A distant cliff used dark blue and distant trees were created with purple and burnt sienna. Nearer tree banches used burnt umber. George also uses burnt umber and colbalt blue to create grey. Some greens were mixed using purple and yellow.

Foreground interest was created from dark furrows filled with water reflecting the blue winter sky. George also added a distant flock of birds: very light grey against the medium-toned trees, and dark grey against the white clouds. He finished by scratching out (scraffito) lighter grasses in the foreground, followed by a light wash of burnt sienna.

George loves experimenting and recommends that we set ourselves a time limit when painting, in order to achieve a looser style.

PUT YOUR PERSONALITY INTO YOUR PAINTINGS SAYS HASHIM AKIB

Hashim Akib put expression, passion and personality into his April demonstration painting using acrylics. There were two main stages in the artistic process.

Stage one consisted of broad strokes with one and a half or two inch decorator's brush loaded with more than one un-mixed colour. This is Hashim's favourite technique. The result was vibrant, abstract and chaotic, although he did include some structural marks for use in stage two.

Stage two used more 'normal' colours applied as short rectangular strokes with a one inch brush. He favoured white and lemon yellow in the lightest sections. Sometimes he painted the negative shapes around darkest areas. Muted subtle colours in some sections of the painting show off the stronger brighter colours.

When the painting was finished, it looked like a bright, abstract design until viewed from a distance. From farther back, a woodland landscape miraculously came to life in glowing colours, even though the artist had not needed to view it from a distance himself.

Hashim gave the audience valuable advice about developing a style and selling artwork.

• Paint scenes which you find exciting.


• Paint faster and express your own personality in the scene.


• Paint shapes rather than details.


• Let random marks and interesting colour combinations happen.


• Do not limit yourself to realistic effects - bold colours sell better!


• Be confident and believe your own hype!

Hashim aims to surprise the viewer with his painting and he certainly surprised and delighted us with his fabulous demonstration.

JAKE WINKLE'S SAYS "PAINT IT ONCE "

Jake Winkle is able to paint fast. He demonstrated to Totton Art Society members in January. He aims to apply the paint once and add no more layers - with only minimal blending of damp colours next to each other. Jake limits his colours but uses up to ten different tones. Tone is also used to create a sense of perspective. The strong colours and clean shapes make his paintings design masterpieces.

Firstly Jake painted horses and jockeys using darks first and then adding lighter colours. This is not the traditional watercolour method.

Secondly he painted people. He uses shape to create a sense of movement. This painting shows that legs do not have to be the same length!

Members also enjoyed Jake's stunning array of cards.

Jake has a DVD to come in Summer 2011 and a book being published in 2012. He also has a website: www.jakewinkle.co.uk

CHRISTMAS CARD COMPETITION 2010

Ruth Edwards won the 2010 Christmas Card Competition with her classic snow scene.

The other entries were all in different styles.

CHRISTMAS PARTY

We had fun on 8th December in the Palm Room.
Faces were painted on balloons. Henry won the prize for the best face.
Heads were scratched over Di's details of Totton.
There were delicious things to eat at 'Half Time'. Anne kept the wine flowing and Claire and co. kept the tea flowing! A few members snapped up the Keep-For-A-Week palettes that were on special offer at £1 in aid of TAS funds !
The teams found the pictionary sketches of famous paintings easy. Pat Scammell won the prize for her team with her impression of Manet's A Bar at the Folies Bergere. She also managed the bumper raffle - drawing the first ticket herself!
Helen's compilation of brands took longer to do.

Ruth won the Chrismas card competition prize with her delightful winter scene. She was also spotted circulating with a very large box of chocolates.

Finally our esteemed Chairman wished all members a very Happy Christmas and looked forward to seeing everyone back again on 12th January.

TECHNOLOGY AT THE TAS MONTHLY WORKSHOP

Members were able to see Marilyn Allis's demonstration once again projected onto a large screen at the October workshop. The theme was 'putting people in pictures' and many members using figures in their paintings.