MAX SHOWS HOW TO BE CREATIVE WITH ONE BRUSH

Max Hale loves a challenge and in the May watercolour demonstration he overcame lots! He demonstrated without the use of microphone or camera. The support was upright so there were a few 'dribbles' - but he made jokes about them.

 

 

Advocating the use of large brushes, he proved his point by using the one inch flat brush all evening. Max said that some artists spend time fiddling when they should be expressing feeling and using a time constraint can make your work freer.

He achieved vibrant colour through applying as few layers as possible and by pre-mixing colours as little as possible. They were mostly blended on the paper. Look very hard at the beginning and observe the tonal values advised Max. Work on the whole painting rather than resolving one part too soon. Leave the option to make changes after the paint has dried.

 

 

Max showed how to measure proportion, symmetry and draw ellipses and circles.

Other tips were: (1) give cast shadows hard edges and shadows formed on a surface soft edges

 (2) paint glass as if it were a see-through mirror.

 

 

From the initial pencil drawing to the finished picture, Max showed how to imorove your painting through attention to detail and  confident brushwork. Look out for his next article in the September 2013 issue of The Artist!

SUBLIME PAINTINGS AT ROY LANG'S WORKSHOP

Members who attended Roy Lang's Workshop on 14th May produced beautiful seascapes which follow the 'sublime' tradition. Sublime paintings became popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They portray the power of nature and invoke heightened feelings in the viewer.

The subject was a dramatic marine scene with waves breaking over rocks. Roy has studied the sea intensively and he reproduces subtle lighting effects for example:

(1) light shining down onto water and wet rocks, (2) passing through waves and spray and even (3) light reflected from the sea bed. 

He demonstrates in oils, premixing the colours and using a variety of brushes and methods for applying the paint.

Those attending were: Caroline Beech, Glennis Courtney, Rosemary Cunliffe, Jill Gillespie, Anne Hamerton, Shirley Lester, Claire Palmer and John Shotter. Claire reported that she and everyone else thoroughly enjoyed the workshop.

Roy says that 'there's something magical about water'

and there's certainly something magical about his paintings.

 

Click on the links below for more about Roy's artwork.

 

Roy Langs's Website

A YouTube Demo

 

 

 

INVITATION TO SEE THE EAST BOLDRE PAINTERS' EXHIBITION AT LYMINGTON

 

Muriel Hiscott invites everyone to an exhibition by  East Boldre Painters, at the Walter Simmons Gallery in Lymington Community Centre* from 8th June to 5th July. Entrance to the exhibition is free .....should anyone be in the area, please come along!

 

Muriel says that she and June Green belong to the group which meets most Monday mornings.

 

 

*Exhibition Venue Address: Lymington Community Centre,  New Street, Lymington, SO41 9BQ

THE ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY BY BETTY & TONY

Tony & Betty Rackham January 2013

 

Photos: T.A.S. Editor

 

Fellows of the Royal Photograhic Society Betty and Tony Rackham exhibit their photographs with Romsey and Southampton camera clubs as well as showing paintings with Totton Art Society. The January 2013 meeting  revealed how they produce superb photographs of nature and wildlife using rules of composition, viewpoint, natural light, artificial light, abstract shapes, and lots of experience! They projected their digital photos onto the screen and provided an absorbing commentary. Also on show were their own cards and paintings.

 

Betty informed us that not only do they use the 'thirds' rule - placing important focal points one third from the top and side, but they also believe that eye goes to the top right of the picture first of all, folowed by the top left, bottom right and then bottom left.

They also confirmed that 'hot' colours appear to advance towards the viewer, wereas on the other had, cold colours appear to recede. Her photographs are usually taken with a Panasonic Lumix camera wth interchangeable lenses or this Fuji FinePx F600EXR compact camera.

 

 

Tony showed how to improve images by digitally cropping, increasing the tonal contrast (making sure that the highlights are adjusted to show more detail before adjusting the dark areas), and possibly changing or removing unwanted elements, such as rocks.

 

He enjoys using using his technical knowledge to achieve unusual special effects. Both he and Betty look for abstract patterns and shapes within natural subjects, for example: a seed head looks like a piece of engineering. They sometimes prefer to use a black and white image instead of the usual colour image.

 

Taking close-up photographs is frequently successful. The small group of red and purple autumn leaves with white frosted edges was so simple yet so beautiful. He advised always to take a photo before making changes and setting up the final scene. He confessed to removing petals, repositioning objects and even throwing a stone in the water to create the ripples of a rising fish.

 

The audio-visual films at the end of the evening were beautiful and with the music, quite emotionally moving. The passion for nature that Betty and Tony share is forcefully shown through their photography. Finally they urged us to manage our digital photographs by discarding unwanted one, sorting, labelling, storing and backing up to two or more separate disks, lest we lose them all when the computer develops a fault.

 

Artwork by Tony & Betty

 

The demonstration ended with warm applause and questions from members.



 



CHRISTMAS PARTY

LAUGHTER  FROM THE START

Helen Davies kicked off the evening with 'blind drawing'. One person at each table wore a mask while the others gave them instructions as they attempted  to draw a Christmas picture.

 

Here Pam advises Glennis

 

Jim is helped by Roy to the amusement of Mary and Ruth

 

John is helped from both sides!

 

Pat Osborne takes charge on this table

 

Pat Scammell makes sure that the draw operated perfectly

 The next activity was a 'speed dating' session - to give members with paintings a chance to write an appreciative comment about the paintings of the other members on their table.

 

 

 

 

 

The final part of the evening gave everyone the chance to see Helen hold up each painting and to hear the artist read a comment from the list of comments about their artwork. The list became a 'Certificate of Appreciation' which each artist kept. 

 

 

 Party organisers Helen and Di were delighted to receive bunches of roses for their efforts. Many thanks to Anne, Claire and the other members who contributed to the successful evening.

 



LINDA BUTCHER'S EYE OF THE TIGER

Linda Butcher gave members a detailed demonstration of a portrait of a tiger in November using mostly pastel pencils.

 

 

Linda worked on her painting from left to right to avoid smudging it. The fur grows in similar directions on many tigers.  Linda  painted an Amur tiger (Siberian) which has a broader face. She lightly applied layers of colours overlaid with streaks of different colours flicked upwards to provide a furry texture.

 

The eye began as a dark grey shape and white centre. The coloured iris then appeared to have light shining through it. A brown shadow from the eyelid was applied very lightly on the upper part of the eye. Linda emphasised that the eye is a mirror so the highlight can be one of many different shapes. She aims to have the eyes follow the viewer wherever they might be.

 

 

Totton Art Scoiety's animal artists, notably Paula Humphrey, found the evening interesting. Linda not only uses a pastel paper support but also velour and Pastelmat (with a layer of cork).

 

 

Linda's work may be exhibited at the following venues:

• Nightingale Gallery of the Royal Hampshire Hospital Winchester
• The Discovery Centre Winchester
• Fair Oak Art and Craft Society
• Online at Linda's Art http://www.lindasart.co.uk
 

 

 

 

SHARON HURST'S WORKSHOP

 

Sharon Hurst is a professional artist who paints fantasy pictures using watercolour and gouache.

She demonstrated how to paint a face at the June 2012 meeting of Totton Art Society.

 

Chris Jackson, Muriel Hiscott, David Butcher, Jean Symes, Kay Cavalier, Shirley Lester, June Green, Margaret Lee, Joan Jerrett, Patricia Osborne, Mary Andrews, Ruth Edwards, Rosemary Cunliffe, Pat Scammell & Paula Humphrey attended Sharon's Saturday workshop.

Some people painted portraits and some painted fantasy pictures.

 

Sharon also takes commissions for personal fantasy portraits, paints on silk and creates jewellery. She has now become a demonstrator for Shinhan Artists Watercolours.More details are available on her website.

http://www.sharonhurst.co.uk/