The "Mills in Art" exhibition held at  the Heritage Centre as part of National Mills Weekend May 11th and 12th was a great success. Members took part with a display of paintings and also did some demonstrations - pictures below :

Claire painting

 

 

Paintings exhibited by TAS members

 

TOTTON AND ELING ARTS FESTIVAL  -  MAY 23RD TO MAY 25TH

 

For details of some of the events look on the TOTTON AND ELING ARTS FESTIVAL website -

www.te-artsfest.co.uk - and click on "What's On" at the top of the page. The full programme should appear there shortly.

 Most of the events are free and because TAS  are contributing to the festival some of the artists are giving a reduced rate to our members e.g. the  ORIGAME WORKSHOP is FREE  and the WILLOW WEAVING  WORKSHOP  is reduced to £ 10  instead of £25.

 Book quickly to secure a place on any workshop or event by e- mailing Caroline.Rackham@virgin.co .uk  

Possibly of special interest to TAS members are the following:

From 11th May

Art Exhibition at the Anchor Inn, Eling.

Friday 23rd May

Willow workshop
Courtlye music at Hounsdown Community Centre
Band night at theAnchor

Saturday 24th May

Family Street Arts Extravaganza - all day lots of art events and workshops, music, dancing etc.
Ukeleles and poetry at Eling Sailing Club

Sunday 25th May

Photography Exhibition.
Ceramics for kids,Origami, Textiles, Lino Printing, African Textile Printing among other things!

One Day Sale  = our contribution to the Arts Fest

Framed paintings, pictures unframed /mounted and in a cellophane sleeve and cards to be given in to the Palm Room at  9 to 9-30 am. Note that any pictures can be put in the sale but they won't be eligible for the Summer Exhibition.

FUTURE  EVENTS

Waterperry Garden ART IN ACTION trip July 19th £35 - more details below.

 Graham Oliver workshop will take place on June 21st as we have had enough members signing up for it to run. Thanks to Di for organising it.

LAST MEETING

Demonstration on Wednesday 28th April.

 This month we had a change to the advertised programme and welcomed back Helen Talbot who showed us how to work with mixed media.

 Her first painting was a Snowdonia mountain scene.

 Stage 1.

 Prepare the base.

Tear e.g.watercolour paper and tissue paper into basic mountain and rock shapes. Fix to the base (can be paper or board) by using gesso.

Stage 2.

Start to paint in the main colour areas using the brush and paint ( acrylic or watercolour) to create texture.
Score into the gesso with a stick or draw with pens and ink.

Stage 3.

Add final details using soft pastels, pencils or oil pastels as a resist. Inktense pencils are useful at this stage.

Helen with her Snowdon Picture

Second painting - a vase of tulips

This was based on a monoprinting technique.

The subject was drawn with inktense pencil.

Then wet e.g. cartridge paper was placed over the drawing and rubbed to produce a print.

The original could also be photocopied and the copies worked on using mixed media.

 

Helen's Vase of Tulips

Third  painting

Again using the vase of tulips.

 

Using soluble ink and bamboo or reed pens draw the picture.

Draw in shading then protect some areas with e.g. candle wax.

Finally spray with a coarse spray using a weak coffee solution.  

Helen carried out her demonstrations with great enthusiasm and humour. By the end of the evening we were all very impressed with her methods and eager to try them out!

Art In Action Trip

Saturday, 19th July
 
We are hoping to arrange a trip to Art in Action at Waterperry Gardens south of Oxford on Saturday 19th July.

If you are interested in going please let Helen Davies know.

Waterperry House, Waterperry,
Near. Wheatley, Oxfordshire
OX33 1JZ

 The site covers many acres and is an opportunity to see well-known artists and craftspeople at work. There are exhibitions of paintings, pottery, glasswork, woodturning, furniture, etc as well as workshops and demonstrations. The artists change every year. There is also a very large marquee devoted to the sale of art and craft materials so put a limit on your spending money. The gardens and house are also worth seeing and music is performed in the house and in the open-air theatre in the garden. There are plenty of places for eating and drinking and queuing is not a major problem - the raspberry and cream crepes were delicious last year!

 

For details look on the Art in Action Website  www.artinaction.org.uk

 

Below are some pictures taken on previous visits:

 Glassblower

 Portrait Artist

The Art Marquee



Harpist in the Open-air Theatre

 

 



AGM AND CRITIQUE EVENING

Another year had passed and we had reached our 2014 A.G.M. There were a few changes to the Committee - Claire Palmer transferred from Programme Co-Ordinator to Publicity Officer and was replaced by Di Alexander who had edited our newsletter and then set up and run the website and blog. Both had held these positions for at least ten years and made an enormous contribution to the Society. Di has been replaced by Betty and Tony Rackham. Members wholeheartedly applauded the Committee for all the work that had been done during the past year and which has made the Society such an enjoyable friendly organisation where we all learn and play together.  

AGM - an attentive audience

After the main business we had a critique session led by Anne but with members making the comments. Paintings brought by members ranged from portraits to landscapes done in a wide variety of mediums. Comments were made on composition (should that tree be there?),  perspective ( Where is the vanishing point?)  viewpoint ( Move to the left? or right?) and background ( Light or dark?)  Techniques were discussed particularly unusual ones. Chris Jackson had used felt tip pen under a layer of oil paint which was then gradually removed to leave a strongly toned monocolour portrait.

  

Anne points out how her own painting could perhaps have been improved

 

Di and Anne discuss Lorna's landscape

 

Mary and Rosalind discuss backgrounds for Rosalind's flowers

The end of a really good evening

 Photos: Betty Rackham

Below is a list of contributors with their paintings

 

Lorna Hollingum              Female posed figure 

Lorna Hollingum              Textured landscape 

Betty  Rackham                North Pembrokeshire Coastline

Mary Maskell                    Landscape

Shirley Lester                    Three Ducklings

Chris Jackson                     Female posed head and shoulder – ‘lift-out’ technique

Rosalind Saggs                  Flowers in vase

Janet Hutchings               Toddler on beach

Anne Hamerton               River Dart in November

Audrey Sharrar                 Forest Cottage after Ruth Edwards

David Butcher                   Buildings Study

Di Alexander                     ‘The Tasting’ historical scene

Joan Bass                             Snowdrop botanical painting

 

Pastels Step-by-Step with Graham Oliver

 

Graham Oliver introduced Totton Art Society to the art of using soft pastels at the February demonstration. His step-by-step approach was clear, precise and intelligible to those unfamiliar with the medium. He even demonstrated how to vary the marks on the paper.

He uses artists quality Unison, Sennelier or Daler Rowney pastels on Canson paper or abrasive sandpaper.

Graham outlined the five steps that he uses for his landscapes.

Step1
Composing the scene with the aid of an A4 size photograph and a sketch.
Drawing guidelines one third from the edges identifying possible focal points.
Then a simple outline with grey pastel or pastel pencil.Insert the light and shadow including the sky.

Step 2
Chose a selection of colours that go well together and place them in a separate container. This is your palette for the painting.

Step 3
Block in the areas of colour with a thin layer of pastel (if using sandpaper otherwise, on a less textured support, keep the number of layers to a minimum).

Step 4
Finishing some areas of colour by rubbing - not too hard. Dragging the sky down through the mountains creates a soft sky.

Step 5
"Orchestration" to emphasise parts of the scene i.e. fine detail in and around the focal point, 'lost' and 'found' edges throughout the painting.

Mistakes may be correctedby brushing and shaking.

Artist Mary Austin, who is experienced in using pastels, was one of many who expressed interest after the demonstration.

 

Graham has produced a demonstration DVD which is obtainable from him @ £12 plus postage.

 

Tel: 01722 503610
Email: heatheroliver@btinternet.com

 

See more of his work at:

 

Graham Oliver Gallery
97A Brown Street
Salisbury
SP1 2BA

 

Open Tuesday and Friday 10-1pm and 2-5pm.

 

or on his website:

http://www.grahamolivergallery.co.uk/

Posted by Di Alexander March 2014 

ROY FISHER'S NEW WEBSITE

 

 

 

Roy Fisher now has his own website www.royfisherart.co.uk 

Many of his paintings feature local venues with his own colourful interpretation. He has a particular fondness for birds!

 

 

 

 

 

SUPERB CHANDELIER AT THE RUM'S EGG GALLERY

The Rum's Egg Gallery and Cafe in Bell Street Romsey is looking good now. There is a special textile art display and my breath was taken away by this superb chandelier.

'The Snowmelt Chandelier' is by the successful Lymington sculptor Trudi Lloyd Williams.

It is made of upcycled plastic bottles, drinks cans and water pipes, and each section is lit by an LED light. It really does look worth over £4000. It represents the connection between the global impact of billions of plastic bottles and the effects of global warming on melting the ice caps.

Artists are welcome to offer work for sale at the gallery - see their website for more details. http://www.hampshireartandcraft.org/