Steve finished his watercolour painting of train with a cowcatcher fitted to the front

He also finished a pastel picture on Pastelmat which he started in another Paul Hinks workshop

Nine members attended Wednesday evening’s meeting. The numbers were lower than usual because quite a few members were unwell or away on holiday. In spite of this we had a very pleasant evening with most using the subject for the month ‘Summer’.

The next session will be on Saturday 28th June from 10am to 3pm and will be our annual competition. It’s not compulsory to enter so come along and draw or paint a picture about summer and enjoy painting with friends.

Steve completed his soft pastel picture of a Crocodile. He used mainly pastel pencils for the detail and soft pastels for the background and of course the colours were blended with pieces of grey pipe lagging.

On a bright chilly Saturday 18 members shared their day at Chalk Hall.

The theme for the day was ‘Then and Now’. A broad subject which gave resulted in an eclectic mix of paintings

Some members chose to ‘Do Their Own Thing’

Well done everyone. Thank you for all your help setting up and clearing away.

Our next meeting is on Wednesday the 9th of October 7pm till 9pm

Best wishes

Steve

Eighteen members attended on a lovely bright warm day

As usual there was an eclectic mix of interpretations of the theme ‘In an English country Garden’

Some members continued with the Wednesday challenge to paint or draw an image which related to a page from a book, newspaper or dictionary.

Well done all. Special mention for Tracy who with her image of Fuchsias managed to cover some flowery words with some well positioned leaves.

Some members, as usual ‘did their own thing’

Thank you to you all for sharing your company on such a lovely day

Our next meeting is on Wednesday 10th July at Chalk village hall from 7pm to 9 pm. Do remember that the meeting on Saturday 27th July from after 10am until 3pm is in the garden at Chalk Church

Best wishes

17 members signed up for the Paul Hinks pastel workshop, for some it was a new experience. Two other members decided to do their own thing.

Paul was so informative, approachable and gave an excellent structured workshop. He talked us through the various merits of all the soft pastels available and other equipment to use including foam pipe lagging to use as a blender or eraser. Paul had on show his many sets of pastels from the very affordable to the very expensive. These are just a few of them.

He produced a terrific picture of a lion to illustrate the various stages of a complete work. There was not enough time for him to complete the whole work but he concentrated on the area around the the eye.

Paul managed to come round quite a few times and give individual advice. He had such a positive and encouraging attitude. It made for a great day and there was some great work produced. Most is still work in progress so either send images of your finished work to Tracy or Steve or bring in to the next meeting

There was a great atmosphere on the day. Thank you all.

Hopefully we will be able to have another workshop with Paul in the future.

Our next meeting is on Wednesday the 10th April. Happy Easter

On our first Saturday meeting of the year it was good to see so many members , 24 in all, turn up

Some members kept strictly to the theme of ‘A Winter Walk In The Snow’ or painted snowy scenes with various wildlife.

Some members chose to ‘do their own thing’

We would like to welcome three new members to the group. Elizabeth (Betty) Foxworthy who came along on Saturday and Graham and Pat Lock who were unable to make the meeting in January but will be coming in February. Graham is a returning member from the early years of the group.

I would like to give a big thank you to Ann Brooker who had to leave the group last year because she had to give up driving. She still looks at the blog and gave us a very generous donation which we will put to good use. Thank you Ann

Our next meeting is on Wednesday the 14th February from 7pm to 9pm

Best Wishes

Steve

There were eleven members who came along for the first evening of Autumn including our new member Ann Carter

The main theme was Statues. Here are the images including 4 from Tracy who unable to attend gave me previously.

Some members did their own thing

Many of the the above are ‘work in progress’ so do please send your images of finished work or other projects to either Steve or Tracy.

Well done all

Our next meeting at Chalk Village Hall is on Saturday the 23rd September from 10 am till 3 pm

Eleven members came along on a warm, bright summer evening bringing an assortment of ‘Boots and Shoes’

Some of the following are works in progress.

Chris had time to work on another painting and Patrick went back to a sketch he started many years ago on a visit that the group made to Yorkshire.

Well done all. Please forward your finished work to Tracy or Steve

Our next meeting on Saturday the 22nd July is in the garden at Chalk Church at the usual time of 10am till 3 pm. The bridge has been totally replaced and the pond, complete with water, has been reinstated. If the weather should become rainy we can use the cover and facilities of the adjacent building. Do come along. You don’t have to paint the Church or stay for the whole day

Best wishes

The theme for Saturdays meeting was Fabulous Flowers and Tracy requested that perhaps members could wear something bright and floral, which many did even including Peter.

Here are the ‘fabulous’ paintings in various mediums that we produced.

Some members ‘Did their own thing’ all are ‘works in progress’

Well done all , 22 members attended, what a lovely day.

Ann Brooker, a member for many years, has let me know that as she is unable to drive any more and will not be able to attend meetings in the future. She sends her best wishes to everyone. We all hope that she continues painting and perhaps will send in some of her work to go on the website.

Meetings for next month are.

Wednesday 12th July 7pm till 9 pm. at Chalk hall

Saturday 22nd July 10 am till 3 pm in The garden at Chalk Church