Wednesday 10th 7-9pm – Frida Kahlo

Draw or paint a picture inspired by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (July 1907-July 1954). Her colourful paintings are full of colour but often filled with angst as she suffered life-long injuries from polio as a child and a terrible bus crash when she was 18.

Draw or paint Frida Kahlo’s portrait on her own or with her husband Diego Rivera. Study one of her paintings in depth or use her colourful style to paint a picture of your own subject.

Here are a few websites to read up about Frida Kahlo and to see her pictures… www.museofridakahlo.org.mx

www.fridakahlo.org

www.frida-kahlo-foundation.org

www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frida_Kahlo

Saturday 27th AFTER 10am – 3pm – ‘Do your own thing’ at Chalk Church

We return to our summer venue at St.Mary’s Church in Chalk. Please arrive AFTER 10am so we don’t block the lane to the church before the gates open.

The church and ‘Monet’ bridge are popular subjects to paint, but you don’t have to.

Many of us have painted these several times, so instead start any project for our Open Day (Saturday 23rd November), continue or start a Frida Kahlo inspired picture or bring paintings you want to finish.

If it’s raining we still meet at the church as there’s an indoor room in the barn with tables and chairs for us to use. There’s a large car park, toilet, and tea, coffee and biscuits as usual.

Please bring along a folding chair or stool if you intend to paint outside and a packed lunch too. If you can only make the morning or afternoon, please come along and join us for a couple of hours. We pack up before 3pm as the church warden locks the gates then.

The church doesn’t charge us to use the barn or gardens, so any donations to the Church Fund are appreciated, thank you.

Mary’s surname of Hoade isn’t in the dictionary but it derives from the Old English word ‘hoath’, meaning heath dweller. In pastel pencils on the page with the word heath on it she drew a tree on heathland. Pastel pencils work really well on the thin dictionary pages.

Mary also completed an acrylic painting for the ‘In an English Country Garden’ subject. A gardener in his garden is beautifully painted.

Lovely artwork, Mary, well done!

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

Painting images on dictionary pages has proved a very popular subject.

Brenda rose magnificently to the challenge of painting a picture for her surname which is Paternoster. In Latin Paternoster means ‘Our Father’, the first words of the Lord’s Prayer. The word also means certain beads on a rosary. She used watercolours to paint praying hands holding rosary beads and used metallic paint for the beads and cross.

Mary has drawn and painted several elephant pictures lately so created this image on the dictionary page that has ‘elephant’ printed on it. She used pastel pencils and the thin paper held the multiple pastel colours really well.

Tracy started her picture of a quokka, a small Australian marsupial, at the last session. She had used watercolours quite drily then added coloured pencils to deepen the colour of the paint. Coloured pencils worked really well on the thin paper and gives many options for further pictures without using water on the page.

Well done ladies, it’s really interesting to see the finished pages.

If you complete your painting on book pages do bring them along on Saturday to be photographed, or send your images to Tracy or Steve.

Wednesday 12th 7-9pm – paint on a book page

At the last Saturday session we painted on oyster shells. This time use a page from a book or sheet music for another different surface to paint on. Don’t deface a treasured book but get an old one from a charity shop or use an out of date phone book. Some old pages may be quite absorbent so acrylics or very dry watercolours might be better than using very wet media. Newer books will have shinier, less absorbent pages, so make your choice.

Paint any subject, but you could choose a word from the page and paint that object. A page from an old dictionary would be the perfect prompt. If you use sheet music then the title may spark your imagination. A couple of old books will be available if you can’t find your own surface to paint on.

Saturday 22nd 10am-3pm – In an English Country Garden

Take inspiration from the lyrics of the song of the same name written by American country singer Jimmie Rodgers in 1962. The music is based on an old English folk tune from the 1720s called ‘Country Gardens’.

Paint a whole country garden with a house or cottage in, any colourful flower close-up or in a botanical way, birds, insects and maybe a gardener too if you prefer painting people. The choice of subject and media are yours, and if you love painting flowers then this session is perfect for you. Remember back to when we used coloured pencils with visiting tutor Amber Halsall to create viola pictures.

The song lyrics are below, but a few birds are from the Americas and definitely not from England!

Here’s the song on YouTube (if the link doesn’t work for you then just Google the song)… https://youtu.be/EUyxCP5Rvco?si=YKofuJ5p1UABxBUE

The Society of Botanical Artists have their annual Plantae exhibition online from today for the month of June… https://sbaonlinegallery2024.oess1.uk/Artwork/ViewByThumbnail

Here’s the main website about the SBA… https://www.soc-botanical-artists.org

Three paintings started at the May Wednesday session have been completed at home.

Angela painted Salvador Dali’s striking portrait in acrylics. She has perfectly captured his intense stare at the viewer.

Susan painted Dali’s mermaids and sea creatures picture in watercolour and finished the details with coloured pencils.

Tracy used black pen for the telephone and watercolour paints for the lobster in the image of ‘Aphrodisiac Telephone’. One of four such telephones made by Dali, this one was made in 1936 and is now in the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Pantone Colour of the Year, Peach Fuzz, is in the lobster’s tail and claws.

Good work, ladies! It’s good to see completed paintings when we’ve seen the beginnings at an earlier session.