Teresa Rogers, our November guest artist, is extremely versatile, creating artwork not only in oils and other media, but also prints, collages, printed works, cards, coasters, fridge magnets and craftwork. 

Favourite techniques used by Teresa include collagraph or linocut prints using her own printing press. We saw one of her collagraphs -  a leaf shape cut from mount-board, scored with a scalpel, pieces of wallpaper stuck on top and the whole thing sealed with shellac button varnish. It would then have been inked with oil-based printing ink and pressed onto wet watercolour paper as many times as required.

Teresa showed us that layers of the mount-board peeled back create interesting textures. Other materials used for collagraphs include: dimpled polystyrene trays string, torn scrim or gauze, creased tissue paper, aluminium foil PVA glue which also acts as a resist - creating white shapes in the printed image. Teresa sometimes uses lace shapes as a background for wedding invitations.

The first demonstration piece was not a collagraph but a collage made with pieces of cut and torn wallpaper applied to mount-board with either matt acrylic medium or diluted PVA glue (which dries more slowly). They were then embellished with scrim, sequin waste, small stars and scraps of printed thin paper. Acrylic inks were applied for more tonal contrast. Daler Rowney Goldfinger Metallic Paste was rubbed onto some of the textured areas. (Silver Goldfinger is available in five colours) Teresa has boxes of sparkly materials to embellish her work.

 

 

Teresa Rogers, our November guest artist, is extremely versatile, creating artwork not only in oils and other media, but also prints, collages, printed works, cards, coasters, fridge magnets and craftwork. 

Favourite techniques used by Teresa include collagraph or linocut prints using her own printing press. We saw one of her collagraphs -  a leaf shape cut from mount-board, scored with a scalpel, pieces of wallpaper stuck on top and the whole thing sealed with shellac button varnish. It would then have been inked with oil-based printing ink and pressed onto wet watercolour paper as many times as required.

Teresa showed us that layers of the mount-board peeled back create interesting textures. Other materials used for collagraphs include: dimpled polystyrene trays string, torn scrim or gauze, creased tissue paper, aluminium foil PVA glue which also acts as a resist - creating white shapes in the printed image. Teresa sometimes uses lace shapes as a background for wedding invitations.

The first demonstration piece was not a collagraph but a collage made with pieces of cut and torn wallpaper applied to mount-board with either matt acrylic medium or diluted PVA glue (which dries more slowly). They were then embellished with scrim, sequin waste, small stars and scraps of printed thin paper. Acrylic inks were applied for more tonal contrast. Daler Rowney Goldfinger Metallic Paste was rubbed onto some of the textured areas. (Silver Goldfinger is available in five colours) Teresa has boxes of sparkly materials to embellish her work.

 

 

Teresa Rogers, our November guest artist, is extremely versatile, creating artwork not only in oils and other media, but also prints, collages, printed works, cards, coasters, fridge magnets and craftwork. 

Favourite techniques used by Teresa include collagraph or linocut prints using her own printing press. We saw one of her collagraphs -  a leaf shape cut from mount-board, scored with a scalpel, pieces of wallpaper stuck on top and the whole thing sealed with shellac button varnish. It would then have been inked with oil-based printing ink and pressed onto wet watercolour paper as many times as required.

Teresa showed us that layers of the mount-board peeled back create interesting textures. Other materials used for collagraphs include: dimpled polystyrene trays string, torn scrim or gauze, creased tissue paper, aluminium foil PVA glue which also acts as a resist - creating white shapes in the printed image. Teresa sometimes uses lace shapes as a background for wedding invitations.

The first demonstration piece was not a collagraph but a collage made with pieces of cut and torn wallpaper applied to mount-board with either matt acrylic medium or diluted PVA glue (which dries more slowly). They were then embellished with scrim, sequin waste, small stars and scraps of printed thin paper. Acrylic inks were applied for more tonal contrast. Daler Rowney Goldfinger Metallic Paste was rubbed onto some of the textured areas. (Silver Goldfinger is available in five colours) Teresa has boxes of sparkly materials to embellish her work.

 

Teresa’s second piece was an impressionist landscape, created with layers of paint and cut paper shapes. Paper pre-printed with fennel leaves made effective tree shapes in the foreground. Teresa enjoys using greens and blues in her work. She proposed to finish the work at home and varnish it with a layer of gloss acrylic medium or gloss varnish which would preserve the work and prevent the colours from fading.

There were questions about adapting Teresa’s techniques for those without access to a printing press. Teresa recommends scavenging wallpaper samples from DIY stores. Although it is not possible to create dark enough colours using water-based paints, Teresa suggested making coloured papers by crushing tissue paper onto glass coated with acrylic paints. Many natural materials, such as a cabbage leaf, will produce an interesting shape. We were all intrigued by Teresa’s very unusual artwork and members showed a keen interest in her displayed work.

Teresa’s studio gallery, where she also holds her art courses, are located at her Courtyard Studio in the Wilton Shopping Village three miles west of Salisbury (postcode SP2 0BH).

Teresa is pictured with one of her finished works.

 

TERESA  ROGERS ON COLLAGE.

The next demonstration evening will be on November 25th. when Teresa Rogers will produce a collage using printed materials.

 

ONE DAY SALE.

Despite the weather seventeen pictures were sold - an excellent result.

Thanks to the "Hanging Committee" and other members the day got off to an early start with some paintings selling in the first few minutes of the official opening. The Sale is more than just an opportunity to sell paintings but is always a good time to meet other members. Altogether a successful day.

VISIT TO THE ART GALLERY

 

Stools are available for sketching so the session started well!

Subjects varied from a Monet painting to a group of pottery jars and a stencil portrait to trees and a Will Shayer oil painting. This time as well as the usual HB pencil artists ventured out of the comfort zone and used pastels, inks and graphtint pencils.

After the session everyone finished with tea/coffee in the Art House Cafe with it's amazing Bohemian decor.

There will be no Adventurous Artist visit in December but we will be out-and -about again in the New Year.

Reminder -  Adventurous Artists

Our next outing is to the Art Gallery in Southampton on Friday 13th at 10 -30 am.
As well as sketching there are exhibitions to see including a retrospective of Ben Nicholson.
Sea City next door has a very good café.

ONE-DAY SALE 14TH NOVEMBER
Pictures to be given in 9-930 am in the Three-Score Club and collected at 4pm. More details on web-site.

PORTRAITS WITH CAROLE MASSEY

Carole started her demonstration by pointing out that the skull is basically box shaped and facial features are related to underlying bone structure e.g. the eyebrow ridge and jaw. She then showed how to measure guidelines and angles to get the proportions of features correct. The character is added afterwards.

Carole starts with a drawing in dark pencil then uses sanguine, dark brown and white to build up tones and emphasise features.

 She usually starts her  portrait by drawing the eyes . In an adult the eye-line is halfway down the face. She then measures the distance from pupil to pupil and draws in the eyes. The gap between the eyes is equal to the width of the eye although a child's eyes are wider apart. The irises are put in next. The top eyelid cuts through the iris and is more curved while the iris sits on the bottom lid. Finally the curves of the lids are added.

Next with careful measuring ( See Diagram Below) the position of the nose, eyebrows and mouth are drawn in. It is best to avoid teeth if possible and individual lines of teeth. The mouth often tilts so use the line of the eyes and measure to the corners of the mouth.

Carole was using a photograph and working life-size from it. If this isn't the case the image can be transferred by tracing, using a grid or using Tracedown paper.

Areas that are two small to measure have to be judged by eye.

The curve of the cheek and chin are drawn in using careful measuring and then the ear placed on the head. To do this measure from the start of the ear lobe to the corner of the nostril. The distance should equal the distance from the outer corner of one eye to the outer corner of the other. The hair is drawn in next.

Finally shading is done using white for the highlights to get the character and likeness of the subject - in this case Professor Brian Cox.

Carole was working on the smoother side of Contes paper. She uses Derwent pencils and the colours she uses for these and for paints and pastel pencils include dark brown, sanguine, raw sienna, cadmium red and Naples yellow. Alizarin red, burnt sienna and cobalt blue and sometimes purple are used for shadows. When painting in acrylics Carole outlines the face then underpaints in ochre or a similar colour then blocks in the main colours.

Finally this fascinating evening ended with a flourish as Carole produced a brilliant portrait which she had previously fully completed of her famous subject.

 ADVENTUROUS ARTISTS

The next opportunity for members to spend time sketching together is at 10-30am on November 13th at Southampton City Art Gallery. The galleries are always interesting to look around and the café at Sea City is also worth a visit.

 The next day(14th November) is the One-Day Sale so start sorting out your paintings etc.!

Carole Massey Evening

On October 25th we are fortunate to have for our demonstration a visit by Carole Massey. Carole is a very talented professional artist who is nationally well-known.

On this occasion she will paint a portrait.

 

The next opportunity for practising your sketching with the Adventurous Artists is at 10-30 am on Friday 13th November at Southampton Art Gallery.

The next day November 14th is the One-Day Sale!

SATURDAY WORKSHOPS

We spent a very creative day at the workshops run by Anne (Knife painting in oils), Claire (Other ways to paint in oils) and Helen ( Drawing to inform your painting) These workshops are always very enjoyable and everyone comes away feeling artistically stimulated and that they have added to their knowledge of the techniques involved. We thank the three leaders and Di for arranging them on the programme

Anne and the knife painters

Claire and the oil painters

Drawing group 1

Drawing group 2

ADVENTUROUS ARTISTS at ELING.

Members of the Society met at Eling Church on Friday 9th October for a sketching session and enjoyed a relaxing and productive morning. The weather was excellent - warm, sunny and no wind. The light shining on the church porch and through the leaves of the lime trees around the gate gave us plenty of inspiration for our drawings and paintings.

REMINDER

 

Adventurous Artists are meeting at 10-30 am on Friday (9th October) at Eling Church.

 

Workshops will be held on 17th October in the Palm Room at the Community Centre starting at 10 am.

 

 Details for above contact Di Alexander Tel 023 804833958 0r e-mail dga_home@btinternet.com

  A demonstration of "Brusho" by Maralyn Allis 

Maralyn (a former SAA Artist of the Year) explained that Brusho crystals were sugar sized and contained pigment. They expand in contact with water. The colours produced are very intense. The crystals are sprinkled on paper then either sprayed with water or water is added from a brush. She then did a demonstration painting of a music group.

First the clothes were wet then sprinkled with Brusho crystals of different colours and the colours then teased out with a brush. Some areas were left white or reserved with masking fluid. (If this is used make sure all the crystals are removed before removing the masking fluid). Details were put in using paint made from crystals and water or black ink using a bamboo pen. Some of the crystals were put into a sprayer and water added to produce ink. The main part of the picture was then covered with tissue paper and the background sprayed with different colours. After removing the tissue paper the result was a vibrant picture in brilliant colours.                                    

 Maralyn then went on to paint a "fairy" using colours such as shimmering turquoise and silver. Details were put in using black ink and highlights added using white iridescent acrylic paint.

The next subject was a group of cyclists. A sketch was done first and then areas painted in with registration paint which darkens with age.  She then blocked in the colours with a large mop brush using mainly primary colours and orange and purple. The background was a yellow wash with a sprinkling of  Brusho crystals. The result was a very striking picture.

The Brusho crystals give the brightness of acrylics with the transparency of watercolours. Maralyn had given us an excellent introduction to a new medium.  

Cyclists

Music Group

Tea-break

CLAIRE WILTSHER LECTURE

 

Claire is a well-known artist who lives in Lyndhurst and is influenced in her painting by local landscape( Forest and the Coast), music and poetry.

She started the evening by playing music and getting everyone to draw the image the music produced in our minds. She herself plays music while she is painting.  The poetry eg of Ted Hughes will affect her thinking and is often used in her pictures or she will write and  include some of her own poems. She started writing after attending Creative Writing classes and finds it helps with her art. She then went on to mention the artists which had influenced her such as Turner (expressing emotion), Pollack (structure) and Gustave Moreau ( colours and symbolism). She has also travelled widely.

She then went on to describe her working methods. Claire works from a variety if sources including sketches and photographs as well as poetry and writing. She usually uses 4-7 colours and spends about 40 minutes mixing them. Among the colours used are Lemon Yellow, Cerulean or Ultramarine and Raw or Burnt Sienna A painting normally takes her a day but she will return to it later. Working mainly in oils she uses techniques such as flicking with fingers or brushes, using liquin to liquefy the paint or spraying with white spirit and scraping with eg credit cards. Returning later, details are added with many layers and textures and perhaps some collage. Often a wash is put on first and the later layers of paint scraped back to show the original colour. The base can be acrylic inks or watercolour and put on with a roller. The background washes are bled into each other and then a dark foreground added. She does a final glaze of liquin not varnish. Claire always has a wide tonal range in each painting and uses complimentary colours such as red and green making sure that there is a balance between the two. Most of her work is spontaneous with only a small amount of planning involved.

Finally, in response to a question from the audience Claire described how she does monoprinting. A photograph is placed under a sheet of acetate and a painting done on the acetate using oil paint. Then a sheet of paper is placed over the painting and so a print is produced. To get variety try using acrylics and different types of paper or card.

The evening was very informative and entertaining and we thank Claire for giving us the opportunity of seeing her beautiful paintings.      

        Claire and her paintings

THE ANNUAL EXHIBITION 2015

 

The exhibition was opened by Peter Rodrigues (who captained the Saint's cup - winning team) on a well attended pre-view evening. The paintings had been hung  that morning by the "Exhibition Team" and were well displayed. Some paintings were quickly sold and Harry Yearsley's beautiful painting of Kingfishers voted best in the exhibition. We had a steady stream of visitors during the next week with a good number of paintings and cards sold. Favourable comments were received on the high standard, wide variety and styles of the pictures. Our thanks are due to all who helped with the organisation and who spent many hours arranging an exhibition declared to be "better than ever".

Peter Rodrigues opens the Exhibition  

Discussing the Exhibition

Harry and his Kingfishers

Success at New Forest Show

Congratulations to Anne Hamerton who has been awarded "Best Seascape" for her painting at the New Forest Show. A beautiful painting which is well worthy of the award. Unfortunately from our point of view the painting has been sold so we can't see it but Anne managed to take a photograph of it with it's medal:-

Anne's Seascape

   

REMINDER TO MEMBERS for August.

All works for the Exhibition should be taken to the Palm Room between 9 and 10am on Friday, 21st August. Details of how to frame paintings etc are on the website.

The Preview Evening is Friday, 21st August between 7-30 and 9-30pm.

 

The next Demonstration Evening is on Wednesday 26th August when Claire Wiltshire will be giving a powerpoint presentation on "Journeys" with audience participation involving acrylics.

 

The next All-day Workshop is on October 17th and full details can be found on the website. 

Linda and her painting

TONAL VALUES by LINDA APPLEBY.

 

The tonal range of a picture gives it vibrancy and life. The tones produce form and  texture and are dependant on the direction of the light on a subject while high contrast is used to give a focal point to a composition. Contrast can be exaggerated by placing a light part of a painting against a dark part and vice versa.

In colour we see the lightest colours e.g. yellow as the brightest and the darkest such as deep purple as the dullest. To lighten the tone white (or water in the case of water colour) is added. To darken the colour neutrals are added such as violet, Paynes grey, sepia or indigo. Using water colour start with a concentrated mix then dilute it until the lightest tone next to white is obtained. Very little pigment is needed for this tone.

For oils or acrylic add white to the darkest tone. Acrylic paints do not have the range of intensity compared with oils but dark colours can easily be mixed eg add green or red to indigo to get a dark colour which can be used in a mix. Raw umber with cobalt and cadmium red or violet with cadmium yellow and indanthrene yellow are other mixes. In watercolour start by leaving the paper white for the highlights then add darker and darker tones. With oils and acrylics start with the very dark tones and gradually work up to white highlights.

Linda then started to complete her painting of a stream and bridge by putting in extra tones. First she mixed a variety of yellow tones to fill in the background to the foliage. She uses a light yellow/green to depict sunlight through the trees and cuts in sky areas in trees using a light blue tone. If too many highlights result from this she goes over and adds darker tones. The denser areas such as branches are painted in with a swordtail brush using green with Payes grey as an intensifier. The same mix is used to give finishing touches to the leaf area.

Paintings can be assessed for their tonal range by taking a photograph putting it into a computer and changing it to monochrome. This will show up the darkest and highlight areas extremely well. Alternatively turn the painting upside down and stand back from it.

We found this evening very informative and are grateful to Linda for making us take a closer look at our paintings and check their tonal range.      

Next Demonstration Evening

Lynne Appleby will speak on tonal values in various mediums on Wednesday 22nd July .  Also entry forms for the Summer Exhibition should be returned.

 

Adventurous Artists

Next adventure will be to Minstead on 15th July meeting at the Trusty Servant at 19-30. ( SN43 7FY) Bring a sketchbook and drawing implements.

 

 

AN EVENING WITH MELVYN GATES.

 

A scene at Keyhaven with boats and the Harbourmaster's Office was the subject of Melvyn's painting at our last meeting. He started by sketching an outline of the boats and buildings on a sheet of Arches Rough watercolour paper. He then laid washes of mainly cobalt blue with a base of crimson in the sky area using a 1" squirrel hair mop. To soften the clouds he used a clean wet brush and took out the hard edges. The upper part of the sky was then darkened with deeper cobalt blue.

The water was painted with cobalt and viridian and the distant Isle of Wight with cobalt, alizarin crimson and yellow ochre bringing the yellow down onto the shingle beach. These colours were also used individually on the boats and buildings and mixed to produce greys used for shadows.

Melvyn thinks that colour temperature is important particularly with regard to greys and plays a part in the way the painting is viewed.

The shapes in the picture were strengthened by adding shadows in greys of varying depths and colour mixes. The shadows on the boats are deepest on the stern and under the keel and highlights - important in the windows - are left as white. Difference in tones of grey as well as colour give texture to walls.

After darkening the sea in the foreground and adding details such as boat supports Melvyn took a final look at the darks to see if they needed deepening to bring the picture together.

 Four or five colours are the usual number for Melvyn to use in his paintings. He also tends to "break the rules" - a sentiment with which we all agreed!

Melvyn currently has an exhibition running - the first for many years - at Artsway, Station Road, New Milton and obviously well worth seeing.

          Finished painting

Half-way stage.

Adventurous Artists

ADVENTUROUS ARTISTS

The next AA outing will be at Hythe on Friday 12th June. This time we will be meeting after lunch at 2.00 p.m. outside Waitrose 49 High Street Hythe SO45 6AG

Lynne Davies Demonstration ‘Shaun the Sheep’

Lynne Davies is an enthusiastic and charming artist who has been a finalist in the BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year competition three times and voted the public’s favourite artist in the SAA Artist of the Year competition. She created an inspirational and beautiful portrait of a sheep using acrylics on canvas at our May meeting.

Her favourite brushes are one inch decorating brushes. She also creates irregular marks to suggest texture with a brush which she has trimmed to an uneven shape with scissors. Her canvases are primed with gesso. When demonstrating Lynne may prepare a pencil drawing and seal it with hairspray, otherwise she omits the drawing stage. Her approach maximises spontaneity and creativity. She interprets a black and white photograph rather than copying it. Lynne says that copying a photograph makes the painting ‘dead’. 

Using a dark mixed with ultramarine, cadmium red and olive green, Lynne roughly painted in the darkest areas. She then used raw umber to paint medium tones, allowing the drips to run down the paper. Shades of yellow ochre were added to the face and other areas. Next cobalt blue negative painting helped to throw the sheep forward. Light areas and dark areas gave greater definition and dimension to the head. The eyes had a streak of bright yellow.  Thin squiggles of a dark colour and pale cream applied with a rigger brush provided the finishing touches.  

The subtlety of the finished painting owed much to the use of a few colours boldly applied. Lynne urged us to “Be brave – do what you feel like doing” and “don’t beat yourself up”. While all the time keeping the composition in mind, Lynne prefers to listen to music, relax and ‘lose herself’ while painting. There is certainly a lot of emotion in the end result.

The large display of Lynne’s cards and prints was a popular attraction and many of us were inspired to use some of Lynne’s techniques in our next painting.

Places to see Lynne’s work:

Winchester Art Market on the third Sunday of the month (March – December) 10am - 4pm Middle Brook Street and High Street 

Lynne’s website:    http://www.lynnedavies.com/

 

Di Alexander

Programme Co-ordinator

 

ADVENTUROUS ARTISTS

 

The next event on our programme is the first of our sketching days. Members are to meet at Tudor House Museum at 10-30am on the 15th. May to try their hand at sketching different subjects. If the weather is bad there are plenty of subjects indoors to keep everyone busy. Hopefully this will be well supported and these days will become a regular part of our programme.

 

WATERCOLOUR WORKSHOPS

 

The three workshops held on 25th April were well supported with about 25 members enjoying the day. The subjects for the workshops were quite different.

Glenys concentrated on animals in watercolour and her group  produced paintings of  different subjects including giraffes and pandas. All were painted loosely in striking colours.

Ruth's group ventured into landscape painting producing pictures of local views and even Ruth's own studio. Ruth demonstrated techniques for subjects such as water, trees and buildings and members felt they had added greatly to their painting knowledge.   

Botanical painting was a completely new subject for most of Betty's group but all enjoyed producing the detailed but aesthetically pleasing pictures which typify this branch of painting.  

At the end of the afternoon everyone agreed that they had thoroughly enjoyed the day and that the one-day workshops are a great success. Our thanks are due to Di who organises the workshops and to the three leaders -Glenys, Ruth and Betty.

Overall view of the workshop

 

Glennis and her Group

 

Ruth demonstrates

 

Betty and her group

 

David's Painting

 

The botanical painters

 

Vic Betteridge and his painting

Last Meeting

 

NAIVE  ARTISTS NEW MEMBER

Roy Fisher has been selected to become a member of the Association of Naive Artists. If you look at the website www.britishnaives.co.uk you can see selection of Roy's paintings which made up his successful application.

Congratulations, Roy! -  a great achievement.

 

AN EVENING WITH VIC BETTERIDGE

 

Vic first showed us how he drew and sketched and then produced an African scene of a lion hunt.

 

To get the basic form of a subject Vic looks for connecting shapes and curves. He uses lining paper(for wallpaper) for practising. Everything is carefully measured and drawn to scale. Movement is indicated by shading or by drawing the front of an animal in detail and fading out the rear end. Indian ink or Paynes Grey paint are used for sketching. For subjects Vic makes use of B.B.C. wildlife programmes and likes to go to sheepdog trials!.

Vic likes to use chalk on black which means highlights are drawn instead of shadows.

After sketching the subject it is traced then the back covered in white pencil or chalk and a splender blender used to rub in and shade the pencil lines.

We were then shown how Vic painted an african hunting scene.

The canvas was first wetted then the sky painted in cobalt blue, alizarin crimson and white with a large brush. The foreground was painted in yellow ochre and a touch of red. Some was removed with a paper towel to give the impression of dust clouds. Acacia trees were painted in green using a flat brush and palette knife.

The animals were then drawn using a small brush as a pencil.

Rocks and grass and dead logs in the foreground are formed by painting a block of burnt sienna and yellow and then "flicking " the paint out with a knife to show grass. Some green and paynes grey were added as more grass and shadows.

Finally more colours such as raw sienna and white were placed around the outline of the animals to give form.l

As a last tip Vic suggested we all try drawing with the wrong hand to loosen up!

Report of A.G.M.

 

The A.G.M. was well attended. Kate Rodrigues was elected to the committee and Pat Scammel stays this time as a committee member. Pat Barham said she would do the Raffle in future.  Helen Davies, Membership Secretary, announced that we have a waiting list of 5 prospective members.

Helen's painting won the Eling Mill competition and she was presented with a £10 prize. Thanks are due to all the members who made an effort and entered the competition.

The frame sale was successful and the Bring-and-Buy raised money for our funds.

All the artists who did a sketch in the SAA Lay-flat Sketchbook Challenge have been offered tickets to the SAA All-About-Art Show in July.

Di asked if there were any members interested in an Adventurous Artists Group where everyone met and sketched a variety of subjects. 10 members said ''yes'' so  more information and details will come from Di

 

The next meeting will be on 22nd April when Vic Betteridge will paint birds in acrylics concentrating on negative shapes.

 

This will be followed by the watercolour workshops on Saturday 25th April from 10am-4pm in the Palm Room.

Audience at the AGM

Our next meeting on Wednesday, 25th March is the A.G.M. - your chance to have a say in how the Society is run.

  This year it will be combined with a Bring -and-Buy sale of frames, art materials, books etc. so start tidying up your studios now!

  Also bring your painting of Eling for the competition (£10 prize)

  There are still places on the watercolour - themed workshops on April 25th.These cover Wild Animals, Botanical Painting, and Watercolour Landscape Techniques.

The cost for each is £5.   

Some pictures from Catherine Dunn's demonstration

Catherine with her nearly finished painting

Work in the tea-break

The painting

HORSE'S HEAD IN PASTEL by CATHERINE DUNN

 

The most noticeable feature of this demonstration was the fact that Catherine obviously loves her subjects which range from horses to dogs to sheep. She kept us highly amused with the tales of her experiences all evening.

Her subject for the evening was an Arabian filly from the stable of the Emir of Quatar.

    The subject was drawn first very lightly in pencil - pastel will not take over heavy graphite. The paper used was Ingres pastel paper. For the background Catherine scraped pastel into talc then rubbed the diluted pastel in with cotton wool.

     The midtones were established and then the dark areas carefully following the fall of the hair. Violet was used in the shadow areas and a touch of pink added to sub-highlights. Eye detail came next and then the ridge of the brow and nose marking the highlights with white. Catherine makes use of Faber Castell and Conte pastel pencils  as well as colour shapers for detailed work. Rubbers are blue-tac or Maped rubbers.

     Eyes in animal portraits are perhaps the most difficult features to paint. Catherine edged the eyes first with a dark colour and then surrounded it with white. The eye socket was then shaded with a very dark grey. The highlight was put in and surrounded by deep brown with a touch of the very dark grey. A couple of dots of teal blue were put into the top of the pupil and a touch of the same colour added to the upper and lower lids. Finally the highlight was intensified with very white pastel.

     Catherine told us she takes about 80 photographs of each subject and prefers to take pictures of horses in bright sunlight and dogs in shade. She picks the best dozen or so to use as references for her paintings.

 The evening finished with a big round of applause to thank Catherine for a very informative and highly entertaining evening!                 

The Big Painting Challenge starts tomorrow -Sunday-at 6pm on BBC1. This is supposed to be the replacement for Watercolour Challenge so should be interesting to watch.

February 21st and 22nd

This weekend in the Romsey area there is an exhibition and an art work day to attend. The exhibition is at the Hillier Gardens with paintings by Ali Lindley and Daphne Ellman and finishes on Sunday. There is free admission to this exhibition. The other is Art at Work with Romsey Art Society  at the Gallery in Lee Lane. Admission is £1 and opening times are from 10am to 4pm. Both events are well worth a visit.

Our next meeting on February 25th is a demonstration by Catherine Dunn who will paint a horse's head in pastel. The meeting starts at 7-30 pm in the Three Score Club.

 

 

Saturday Workshops on Portraiture and Landscape painting in Acrylics

The two workshops held on Saturday 5th February were a great success. Di and Mary are excellent teachers and the results showed in the high standard of the paintings produced by the end of the day. The workshops were very well attended and seem a good replacement for the work evenings both as a social event and a learning experience. Our thanks are due to Di and Mary who obviously put much effort into preparation for the day (and to Claire who made the tea!) If any members feel they could run a workshop on their favoured medium or subject please contact Di - we cannot rely on the same people all the time! The next workshop will be held on Saturday 25th April.

Below are few pictures from the day:-