It’s time for our annual competition which is a friendly affair and is NOT compulsory.  If you don’t want to enter a painting that’s fine, please just use the suggested idea as inspiration for a drawing or painting. The competition theme will be on both Wednesday and Saturday sessions, but if you prefer come along and ‘do your own thing’.

Wednesday 10th April 7-9pm – Start painting for the competition

The subject is – the 200th Anniversary of the RNLI – The Royal National Lifeboat Institution

Philanthropist Sir William Hillary began the National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, with King George IV as patron, after witnessing and taking part in many shipwreck rescues where he lived on the Isle of Man. It was renamed the RNLI in 1854.

24 hours a day, 7 days a weeks, every day of the year for 200 years the RNLI has provided a ring of safety around the UK and Ireland. Based in Poole, Dorset, there are now 238 lifeboat stations, 448 lifeboats and hovercraft, over 5700 volunteer lifeboat crew members, lifeguards on 200 beaches and flood rescue teams on standby nationally and internationally.

Lifeboats have been launched over 380,000 times saving more than 144,000 lives. Lifeguards have responded to over 303,000 incidents, saving over 2000 lives. 19 lifeboats took part in the rescue of Allied troops from Dunkirk in 1940. Sadly, since the RNLI’s inception, over 600 crew members have died during rescues.

Gravesend lifeboat station opened in 2002, one of four lifeboat stations on the River Thames.

The tv programme ‘Saving Lives at Sea’ began in 2016 and follows crew and rescues at many lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland. Have you visited Chatham Dockyard and seen the many lifeboats in one of the covered slips?

Further details to read are under the ‘what we do’ header on the RNLI’s website… www.rnli.org

Several RNLI quarterly magazines, given to those who donate to the service, will be available at the sessions to read and use as inspiration for your drawing or painting.

There are countless subjects to draw or paint…

People – paint a portrait of a crew member in their uniform from modern times or earlier years, or one of the lady launchers who launched lifeboats from the shore to the sea.

RNLI founder Sir William Hillary… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hillary . Cromer crab fisherman Henry Blogg ‘one of the bravest men who ever lived’… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Blogg. Lighthouse keeper’s daughter Grace Darling… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Darling.

Buildings – lifeboat stations on the coast or rivers, or those that launch lifeboats down a slipway in the sea.

Lifeboats – there are several different classes of lifeboat from huge sea-going craft to smaller river rescue boats and hovercraft. Some are launched by tractor in to the sea, like at Dungeness.

A rescue – paint the drama of a rescue at sea.

There’s no right or wrong way to paint this subject…just your way.

Saturday 27th   10am-3pm   –    Competition continued

Continue with your RNLI picture, or paint another. All pictures to be in by 2.15pm then we all cast one vote for our favourite painting. There will be small cash prizes for the winner and runner-up.

A maximum of two drawings/paintings per member.  If you have a picture but can’t attend today please arrange with someone to take and collect your artwork. Or if you come to the Wednesday session but know you can’t make the Saturday session, your picture can be put in our storage cupboard upstairs and brought down for the competition.

If you feel uncomfortable entering the competition that’s fine, you don’t have to. Paint the RNLI theme but leave your painting on your own table so it won’t be on the separate tables with the submitted pictures.

All proceeds from the raffle will be sent to the RNLI, along with all donations for cake that will be available on the day :o)

Good luck everyone!

For a little Easter gift Kay bought some chocolate eggs and popped them in an egg box. She spent half an hour painting a chick and egg shell in watercolour. Adding words to the painting she fastened it to the top of the egg box.

What a lovely idea!

There’s a couple of days until Easter, so get painting if you want to create a similar painting or gift idea.

Eleven members attended the session Heroes and Villains and what a challenging subject it was! We used acrylics, watercolours, graphite pencils, coloured pencils and ink pens to create our pictures. Most are works in progress of Superman, Catwoman, The Joker, Maya Angelou, The Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Jekyll and Hyde, and Robert Oppenheimer.

Here’s an amazing completed William Morris-inspired watercolour painting and artwork from members who came along and painting their own subjects.

Our next session is the pastel workshop on Saturday 23rd March from 10am to 3pm. Email Tracy asap if you want a place.

The group has had a very positive start to the year with most members attending one session or other, which is great news. For those too poorly to come along at the moment, we wish you well as soon as possible so you can paint with us again!

Here are this month’s session ideas but, as always, they are simply suggestions, you can come along and ‘do your own thing’.

Try and get Pantone’s Colour of the Year, Peach Fuzz, into at least one of your pictures.

Wednesday 13th – 7-9pm – Heroes and Villains

A broad subject that you can create in any medium. Your hero, heroine or villain can be real people, living or dead, famous or family, from fiction or from popular culture like films and animation. Draw or paint one hero or one villain, or a hero and their arch nemesis together.

Saturday 23rd – 10am-3pm – Soft pastel workshop with Paul Hinks

Paul Hinks is a local artist whose work you may have seen at an Under the Rainbow exhibition at Bluewater and at events in Gravesend. His pastel artworks and paintings are absolutely amazing and you can see them here on his website… www.paulhinks.art

It will be a soft pastel workshop and the subject will be animals. More details of photographs and equipment needed will be supplied very soon.

The cost will be £10 each to cover Paul’s fee, the hall hire fee already covered by your subs. Please note that Paul is booked from 10am to 2.30pm, the extra 30 minutes of the session to be used for clearing up the hall. Please turn up promptly to start at 10am so we don’t waste any time with him. If you arrive late please find a free seat and unpack quietly.

Check the date first to see if you are available. There are 5 Saturdays in March, but we’ll meet on the 4th one. The 5th and last Saturday of this month is Easter weekend, but we are meeting the week before.

If you are free and want to attend then EMAIL Tracy on her usual email address.

*** DO NOT USE the comments box as messages can take days to get through! ***

Once Tracy has confirmed your place please pay by bank transfer (preferred) or cash.

If there are more people than places then there will be a waiting list. 

Please don’t book a place then realise the day before that you won’t be able to come. Unfortunately in the past we have had members cancelling on the day or just not turning up. This means that people on the waiting list miss a place and we also lose the person’s fee, costing the group money.

As you have already paid for the hall in your recent subs we aim to make the hall accessible for everyone on the day, even if you’re not taking part in the workshop. We’ll have the workshop towards the big window end of the hall and a couple of tables at the kitchen end of the hall available if you wish to come and ‘do your own thing’ on the day, but please work quietly, thank you!

Our Wednesday evening session saw 11 members at the hall, mostly drawing and painting dragons as the Lunar New Year began just a few days earlier. Mediums used were graphite pencils, coloured pencils, watercolours and acrylics.

Most are works in progress, but if you complete your painting before the next session on Saturday 24th February please bring it along and put it on the long ledge at the side of the hall. Tracy will then take photos of the finished artwork for another blog post. If you can’t make the Saturday session please email or WhatsApp a photo to Tracy.

Here be dragons!

Other members chose to complete pictures of their own subjects, showing amazing attention to detail in their artwork.

Well done everyone, it was a very colourful evening!

January was a good start to the art group’s year with many members attending the two sessions. There is always a buzz when more artists come along as it’s great to catch up with friends and see what each other is painting.

Tracy’s been asked why there are suggested ideas each session. The session ideas are not compulsory at all, you don’t have to paint the idea if you don’t want to, you can come along to draw and paint whatever you want to. The suggested ideas are simply to give you inspiration of what to paint and draw if you’re stuck for ideas.

Some subjects are to do with current or historic events in a certain month, or when an artist was born or died. Some ideas are to promote learning by including depth of field, perspective or colour exploration. Other ideas are to gain experience of human portraits, animals, texture, or certain media. The ideas are to help not hinder you, so if you don’t want to paint the suggested subject then come along and DYOT – Do Your Own Thing!

Wednesday 14th February  7-9pm  –  Chinese New Year of the Dragon

Chinese New Year in 2024 falls on Saturday 10th February and will be the year of the Dragon. The Lunar New Year, as it is called in other countries, is celebrated by over 2 billion people and is a national holiday in Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea, Malaysia, North Korea and Taiwan.

Draw or paint any New Year celebration including a dragon, real or imaginary. Just paint a dragon or include the traditional red lanterns and people enjoying the celebrations. Use any media but use bright bold colours.

Saturday 24th February  10am-3pm  - William Morris

British textile designer, writer, poet, artist and social activist associated with the Arts and Crafts movement, William Morris is one of Britain’s greatest designers. His original wallpaper and textile designs are still in print today and are also on everyday items like mugs and bags.

Draw or paint a portrait of William Morris, along with his wife Jane, who was a model in many Pre-Raphaelite paintings. Or create an image of one of the thousands of designs in the original colour way or tweak the design to your own image and colours. 

If you’d rather paint a house exterior or interior, William Morris had Red House designed and built in Bexleyheath and it’s been open for years by the National Trust. Another Arts and Crafts house looked after by the National Trust is Standen House in East Grinstead, West Sussex. Morris didn’t live there but the whole house is decorated with original items produced by Morris & Co. Morris also lived in Kelmscott Manor in Oxfordshire and his childhood home, Water House in Walthamstow, is now home to the William Morris Society.

Lots of ideas, the choice of subject and medium is all yours.

More info online…

www.morrisandco.sandersondesigngroup.com

www.wmgallery.org.uk

www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_and_Crafts_movement

www.kelmscottmanor.org.uk

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/london/red-house

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/sussex/standen-house-and-garden

Angela D has finished the flower painting she started at the last Wednesday session about Pantone’s Colour of the Year Peach Fuzz. It’s delicately painted in acrylics.

Angela also goes to weekly art classes and is working on a portrait of Canadian-American singer and songwriter Neil Young.

They’re both beautifully painted, well done!

Nine hardy members braved the cold evening to attend the first session of 2024. Creating a picture using the colour Peach Fuzz was the suggested idea, either as the only colour or as part of a painting.

It’s a year long colour project, so try and include Peach Fuzz in your paintings throughout 2024. Some members drew and painted to their own theme.

A great start to the year, well done!

The next session is on Saturday 27th January 10am-3pm.

Here are suggestions of what to paint at the sessions in January, but you are very welcome to come along and paint whatever you want to. 

Wednesday 10th 7-9pm –   Pantone Colour of the Year – Peach Fuzz / or bring new art supplies to try out

Worldwide colour company Pantone’s Colour of the Year 2024 is Peach Fuzz, a soft gentle peachy colour. Use any medium to paint or draw any subject using this colour alone, or make it the most used colour in a picture. Draw or paint flowers, animals, food, a landscape, abstract, Zentangle, a person wearing peach coloured clothing, a car, absolutely anything at all!

Remember this colour, Peach Fuzz, and try and use it in paintings throughout 2024.

Here’s a link to the Pantone website if you want more info… https://www.pantone.com/uk/en/color-of-the-year/2024

Or if you received new paints or paper as Christmas gifts bring them along to try them out. It’s always a pleasure unwrapping and using art supplies for the first time.

Saturday 27th  10am – 3pm  –  A winter walk in the snow

Imagine a wintry walk in snow either in the countryside or an urban landscape. Wrapped up in hat, coat and scarf include figures in your painting either close to or far away. Paint footprints leading to the people, giving a sense of depth of field, and a dog being taken for walkies if you want to add an animal to your picture.

Leave the white of a watercolour sheet of paper as snow or add white tissue paper for texture. With acrylics or oils use a palette knife to add depth to snow in the foreground.

Before you recycle your Christmas cards look through them all to see if there’s one or more that you can use for inspiration for your painting. Or if you have an Instagram account look at snowy winter photographs.

If you can’t make January’s sessions please pop in anyway for a chat and to pay your subs.

HAPPY NEW YEAR and THANK YOU to everyone for your continued support for M&C during 2023, attending sessions or painting along at home.

Membership

We will finance M&C this year with an annual subscription of £84 to cover the hall hire fees for 2024.

Alternatively, equal payments of £28 will be due 3 times this year in January, May and September. If you choose to pay in instalments you are committing to pay for the whole year. Without this support we will not be able to raise enough funds to hire the hall. Steve emailed everyone on 18th December with details of how to pay by bank transfer, cheque or cash, so look back to his email if you need to. Please pay promptly as this saves members being emailed and phoned to be reminded to pay!

If you no longer wish to be a member please email Steve asap so you don’t continue to receive emails from us.

Please pay your membership fee by the end of January to continue to be a member of the art group. Thank you! :o)

Sessions

Our sessions will continue to be on the second Wednesday and the fourth Saturday of the month, with session ideas being published on the 1st of that month.

You don’t have to paint the suggested ideas, you’re welcome to come along and paint anything you want to. Or if you come on a Wednesday and want to paint the Saturday idea or vice versa, that’s no problem at all.

Free tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided at all sessions, so if you just want to come and chat with your art friends then that’s fine too.

Workshops

If we have any workshops they will have the usual ‘first come, first served’ policy of putting your name down, with an additional amount to pay to cover the tutor’s fee. If more artists wish to attend the session than the tutor has room for, we’ll have a waiting list and you have a chance of getting a place as members sometimes pull out at the last minute. 

Even if you don’t want to attend a workshop you will have already paid for the hall hire in your subs. You are therefore welcome to sit and paint quietly at the kitchen end of the hall, whilst the workshop session takes place at the window end of the hall. 

Here are the session dates for 2024

Please print them out or write them in your diary or calendar. Some months have 5 Saturdays but we meet on the 4th one.

Please note that our Open Day is on Saturday 23rd November, with hanging the evening before.

2024	2nd Wednesday    7-9pm	4th Saturday   10am-3pm
January	10th	27th
February	14th	24th
March	13th	23rd
April	10th	27th
May	8th	25th
June	12th	22nd
July	10th	27th   (not at hall)
August	14th	24th (not at hall)
September	11th	28th
October	9th	26th
November	13th	FRI 22nd  – Hanging evening  SAT 23rd  – OPEN DAY
December	11th Christmas Party