MEETING JUNE 28TH

Our next Demonstration evening is with Sonia Bacchus who will paint flowers in acrylics and oils. She is comes from Milton Keynes so please attend if you can.
Don,t forget - bring your Art Journey Paintings early on the night.
The next sketching event is on 14th July - details from Di on the evening.

TAS AND THE FESTIVAL

TOTTON MEMORIAL PARK AND FOREST ARTS FESTIVAL 

Our contribution to the New Forest Arts Festival was to host a morning sketching in the Memorial Park at Totton. We were joined by members of the public including a visitor, Alison Lee, from Australia who was enjoying her visit attending the Festival events. We all had a very good morning sitting around the pond sketching and chatting and being entertained by a moorhen and her two youngsters.

 Here is a montage of pictures taken:-

 

 

 This was one of the last events of the Festival which covered  the New Forest area and lasts for about two weeks. It includes music, drama, poetry, writing, numerous crafts and workshops as well the visual arts. We were represented in the exhibition at the Five Arrow's Gallery at Exbury by Anne Hamerton and Mary Maskell whose paintings are shown below

Sketching in the Memorial Park Totton

This is a New Forest Arts Festival event which we are hosting. We meet at the War Memorial at 9.55am on Friday 23rd June when we hope to introduce members of the public to the pleasures of sketching as well as do some good sketches ourselves so please try and support us in this.  

SKETCHING IN THE PARK

The Adventurous Artists met in the park on a pleasant morning to do some sketching.
 The most popular subject was the statue of the First World War officer and war horse erected to commemorate the thousands of horses who passed through a military centre just outside Romsey before shipment abroad. Created by the artist Amy Goodman it was unveiled by Princess Anne in July 2015. Some of us drew the very ornate Bandstand and the Pavilion Café where we finished our morning with tea, coffee etc. These meetings are an excellent opportunity to discuss new ideas, try out and "swap" different materials etc and talk about how our Art Journey is progressing.

Here is a selection of sketches and photographs :-

COMING EVENTS

ADVENTUROUS ARTISTS  posted by Di Alexander

Romsey War Memorial Park 41 The Meads, Romsey SO51 8HB

Friday 9th June  10.15 a.m.

 

The major attraction at the park is the War Horse Memorial statue by artist and sculptor Amy Goodman. Children cannot resist stroking it! There are also ducks by the river, flowers, a cafe, toilets and a band-stand to provide shelter from the weather. There are a few parking spaces for 2 hours in the road over the bridge. Alternatively the Newton Lane car park is a short walk away.

 

SKETCHING IN THE PARK

Testwood Park Salisbury Rd, Totton, Southampton SO40 3RA

Friday 23rd June 10.00 a.m. - 12.30 p.m.

 

We are hosting this event for the 2017 New Forest Arts Festival, so ideally we need a handful of members to advise visitors. Please bring sketchbook and pencils and/or pens and something to sit on. We are meeting by the War Memorial. Although the theme of this year’s Festival  is “trees” people will be able to draw anything they choose.  We will also ask people if they are willing to be photographed  for our Blog.

 

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ART JOURNEY

It was good to see so many pictures produced during the first month of our Journey. If you haven't started it 's never too late! A suggested subject for this month is a domestic scene using two colours but this is ONLY A SUGGESTION. Do your own thing but TRY SOMETHING NEW. Bring the results to the next Demonstration evening.
  The following are some of the works produced during May.  

The   following are some of the works produced during May.  

A PORTRAIT IN WATERCOLOUR

WATERCOLOUR PORTRAITS WITH PENNY CRICHTON - SEAGER 

Penny started the evening by showing portraits that she had painted of familiar faces such as David Bowie, Hugh Laurie and Judie Dench. All were painted using photographs as a reference being careful not to infringe copyright. If the painting is to be used commercially eg for cards she gets permission from the photographer. Sometimes - especially when teaching groups - she looks at the work of other artists e.g. Modigliani and produces a portrait in their style.

The paints she uses are Old Holbein  in tubes which are then squeezed into pans. These paints remain tacky and are therefore easy to use. Her brushes are Isabey Kolinsky Sable watercolour brushes and the paper she prefers is Fabriano Artistico Rough or else Arches which is stretched on a board.     

To start the painting she first uses Photoshop to manipulate several photographs to get her final reference image. This is then drawn onto the watercolour paper. Before putting on any paint she identifies white or the lightest areas and makes sure these are left when the first wash is put in. This is usually a watery mix of eg Raw Umber then Perylene Maroon. Other colours such as Cobalt Blue and Permanent Rose give modelling to the face. The eyes are very carefully worked with a dot of white gouache for highlights and grey and pink for the whites. The colour of the iris is always checked very carefully and the pupil painted with a mixture of Payne's Grey and Sepia.  Penny always works from  light to dark using dilute washes so that the density of colour gradually reaches it's final level. Final stages include hair which is painted very loosely and the lips. She never uses red for the lips of men and treats them just as a different contour of the face not as a separate entity.  The background, although worked out before commencing the painting, is added at the end.

This was a very interesting evening when a portrait was painted in watercolour - a medium which most of us wouldn't consider using. Perhaps after Penny's inspiring demonstration we will all consider trying it for ourselves.

 

Half-time

Penny and portrait

Nearly finished