It was super to welcome so many members to the hall and we enjoyed chatting over tea, coffee and biscuits to catch up with each other.
Many artists painted the suggested theme ‘A Winter’s Day’ using their own pictures or those on recently-received Christmas cards. There were several landscapes, some with with farm animals and people added, wild animals in the snow and birds drawn and painted. The Pantone Very Peri purple/blue colour was added to several paintings in the snow shadows or to bring a chill to the paintings.
Some artists created pictures based on January’s other theme of ‘An Evening at the Ballet’, or drew and painted their own subjects. Well done everyone, it was a very enjoyable and productive day!
Our first session of the year was attended by 16 artists including three ladies who came along to meet us to see if they would like to join the group. We hope they enjoyed the evening and want to return.
The suggested subject of ballet was very popular but many of us found our ballerina’s legs and feet difficult to draw in the correct position as their joints looked too flexible. Watercolours, acrylics, coloured pencils and pastels were used and the Pantone Very Peri colour was added to a couple of pictures in the tutu or sash colour. Some artists started painting, or continued with, their own subjects.
Most pictures are works in progress and will be finished at home or at the next session on Saturday 22nd January. It was a great start to the year, thank you to all who came along, long may our sessions continue!
Peta was very busy last year visiting London and sketching various places. She sat and sketched in pencil then used a fountain pen filled with blue, sepia or black ink to complete the sketches.
The pictures are full of minute details and it’s very interesting to read why Peta chose to draw certain places and objects. Well done, Peta, please keep up your fantastic work and thank you for sharing your sketches with us!
Here are all the pictures screenshot from the website. Click on the first one to enlarge it and then use the right arrow to see all the pictures one by one. Or go direct to the website named above to see all the sketches in higher quality photos.
Here are a couple of ideas of what to paint and draw, but you’re welcome to come along and paint your own ideas.
A project for the whole year is to incorporate into your artwork the 2022 Pantone Colour of the Year. A new colour has been created called ‘Very Peri’ and is mid purple, or in Pantone’s own words “a blue with violet red undertones.”
Wednesday 12th – 7-9pm – An Evening at the Ballet
Think of childhood memories of post-Christmas visits to watch the ballet at a local or London theatre or dance school. Draw or paint a scene from your favourite ballet or a ballerina in a pose. Use pastels like Edgar Degas or Henri Toulouse-Lautrec used in their ballet pictures. Add the ‘Very Peri’ colour to your picture for a ballerina’s tutu, sash or shoes.
Pay your membership fee to Steve by cheque or cash if you haven’t already done so by bank transfer.
Saturday 22nd – 10am-3pm – A Winter’s Day
Save any Christmas cards to help you choose what to paint or draw. Use any medium to paint snow in bare fields or your garden, wild or farm animals on a cold day, children building a snowman or throwing snowballs, people taking their dogs for a walk, a misty morning, hoar frost, crisp footprints in snow, a distant building on a cold night with lights aglow. Add texture to your picture by using tissue paper, modelling paste or white material. Use the Very Peri purple colour for shadows on snow or for a person’s clothing.
If you can’t attend the Wednesday session come along today to pay your subs.
Happy New Year and thank you everyone for your continued support for M&C during 2021, whether it was attending sessions or submitting paintings for this blog if you painted at home. 2021 was another odd year for us all but hopefully, as we move into 2022, the world will begin to be a healthier, happier and kinder place to be.
Membership
You’ll know from Steve’s emails that we are financing the group in a different way this year, with a payment of £25 due 3 times a year in January, May and September, to cover our hall rent for the year. Steve has emailed everyone with details of how to pay by bank transfer, cheque or cash.
If you don’t wish to be a member any more then please email Steve asap so you don’t continue to receive emails from us.
If you have any friends or family members who would like to join us then please show them this blog so they can see what we draw and paint at the sessions. If they want to join then please pass their details on to Steve.
Please pay your membership fee by the end of January to continue to be a member of the art group. Thank you!
Sessions
With no current Government restrictions on meeting, apart from having to have adequate ventilation in the hall, our sessions will be on the second Wednesday and the fourth Saturday of the month, as they have been for years.
Session ideas will be posted monthly, not every two months, just in case rules change and sessions have to be tweaked at the last minute. You don’t have to paint the suggested ideas, please come along and paint anything you want to. 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.
Here are the dates we intend to meet in 2022. Please print them out or write them in your diary or calendar.
Some months have 5 Saturdays but we meet on the 4th one.
M&C session dates 2022
2nd Wednesday
7-9pm
4th Saturday
10am-3pm
January
12th
22nd
February
9th
26th
March
9th
26th
April
13th
23rd
May
11th
28th
June
8th
25th
July
13th
23rd
August
10th
27th
September
14th
24th
October
12th
22nd
November
9th
Fri 25th Hanging evening Sat 26th Open Day
December
14th Christmas Party
Workshops
When we resume having workshops it will be the usual ‘first come, first served’ policy of putting your name down like we have done in the past, with an additional fee to cover the expense of the tutor. If more than 25 artists wish to attend the session we will have a waiting list and if you’re on that you have a chance of getting a place as sometimes people pull out at the last minute.
I have made enquiries and have not been able to find any artists running workshops in person at the moment, only offers of demonstrations over Zoom. Hopefully as the year progresses then artists will return to running workshops with art groups.
Brenda says “The ‘Making Connections’ course with Cas Holmes that I was doing has now finished, though I still have full access to all the lessons. The e-book of students’ work has now been published. There is a huge range of different styles even though we all used the same basic techniques of making a collage using fabric and paper temporarily stuck to the substrate with wallpaper paste and then held together with hand and machine stitching.”
Click on the following link to look at the e-book, it’s full of amazing work. You can view it on a phone but a tablet or laptop/computer screen is best as the images are bigger. Brenda’s story and artwork is on page 19.
George has finished four more oil paintings of people, one a self-portrait. He has been a very prolific painter this year, keep up the good work, George.
Thank you to everyone who came to the Christmas Party. We decided not to share all our food and drink this year but bring our own supplies and we kept to our tables which were spread throughout the large hall. The traditional Pass the Parcel game became a tombola thanks to Angela and Myrna and thank you to Neil for keeping the Christmas tunes playing. We had good time even though the quizzes were difficult…sorry! :o)
May you all keep happy and healthy over Christmas and the New Year and be ready for an arty 2022.
Angela M has painted this delightful robin in line and wash as a Christmas present. It took her about 3 hours, using watercolour brushes and colours from a Derwent Inktense travel palette on watercolour paper. She is pleased with the painting overall especially as the pen lines have remained light and didn’t get heavy handed.
You should be very pleased with your painting, Angela, it’s very well done!
The task this month was to draw or paint your favourite actor playing 007 James Bond in the official EON films. Only two members created pictures, so presumably James Bond films aren’t popular with our members!
Steve used charcoal and white pastel on pastel paper for his image of Sean Connery. He used a grid to accurately draw Sean’s features and the charcoal and chalk is used sensitively to create the different skin tones of the face and hand. It’s a very good likeness, well done.
Tracy found it hard to decide whether to paint Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan or Daniel Craig, as they are all favourites. She plumped for Daniel Craig as she liked the promotional photo of him in front of the Day of the Dead mask for the film Spectre.
Tracy is not happy with the final painting as Daniel’s face went rather splodgy, but there’s a vague likeness. The skull in the background is much better she says!
Chalk Art Group 