Dot started drawing her tiger picture on Open Day, our last Saturday session. She used coloured pencils in many different colours to accurately draw the tiger and found it both relaxing and enjoyable.
Well done, Dot, what a super tiger!
Our annual Open Day saw 23 members painting at the hall and welcoming about 30 visitors. This was 50 visitors down on last year but the awful cold, very wet and windy weather unfortunately kept people indoors.
We all enjoyed the day painting and chatting to visitors and several commented that it’s great to see artists at work whilst they enjoyed walking around the exhibition.
Words from visitors in the comments book included…
“A great variety of lovely artworks.” “Lots to see and admire and one purchase made!” “A nice friendly group with some wonderful art pieces to show.” “Perfect as usual, clever and warm group.” “Lots of excellent pictures.”
There were 63 framed paintings with 3 sold, three browsers of 51 mounted pictures with 5 sold and Dot sold 3 of her greetings cards. 4 paintings/prints were specifically bought as Christmas presents to gift which is a brilliant idea. A good response in only 4 hours, well done everyone!
Thank you to everyone who helped with hanging on Friday evening and a BIG thank you to all members who kept tea, coffee and biscuits constantly supplied on the day. Also for washing up and drying so many cups, saucers and teaspoons. We couldn’t run the day without your help and enthusiasm!
Our last session of 2024 will be the Christmas Party on Wednesday 11th December from 7-9pm.
Please email Tracy asap with a yes or no to the party!
Tracy really enjoyed the coloured pencil workshop last month and started an A4 picture at the last session. She’d saved a cover from World magazine in 1988 and decided it was time to create a picture of the colourful mandrill. Using many colours Tracy spent hours on the mandrill’s face and is finally happy with the result, especially the eyes and long snout.
The evening was a ‘do your own thing’ session and to finish pictures for our Open Day on Saturday 23rd November.
Ten members came along and continued their pictures in a variety of mediums. There is a completed painting from the previous design a book cover session.
The next session is on FRIDAY 22nd November from 7pm and is hanging evening.
Open Day is on Saturday 23rd November from 10am to 3pm with visitors from 10.30am to 2.30pm.
After the coloured pencil workshop Dot went home inspired and started a picture of a fox on one of the extra sheets in the packs we were given. She used several different colours of pencil for the fur and gave emphasis to the eyes as they stare out of the picture at the viewer. Lovely work Dot, well done.
Steve has created a picture of a gorilla which looks 3-D. He used several colours of browns and black for the gorilla’s hair and if you look closely the hair highlights are from using the ceramic slice to take off the colour. Well done, great work Steve.
Tracy tried the curly hair exercise from one of the information sheets in the pack. The exercise was for black hair but she used 6 shades of light to dark brown instead. The sheet says the hair wouldn’t look right for a couple of hours and this was true, it looked very stiff. But after adding darker browns the hair looked a lot better after another 90 minutes. Do give the exercise a go on the pastel paper or drafting film, it is a big challenge!
Please read everything as there’s lots of info…
Here are the dates of our next meetings-
Wednesday 13th November – 7-9pm – finish paintings or DYOT
Friday 22nd November – 7-9pm – hanging evening
Saturday 23rd November – 10am-3pm – Open Day (Visitors from 10.30am to 2.30pm)
Wednesday 11th December – 7-9pm – Christmas Party
On Open Day you don’t have to hang your paintings on the walls or in the browsers, it’s not compulsory. We call it an Open Day not an exhibition as a way to open the hall for a day so visitors can see what we paint at our sessions. It’s a good way of showing the group to people who are looking for a local art group to join. So if you have interested friends or family please ask them along.
If you aren’t showing your paintings please come along and enjoy a day of painting.
Wednesday 13th – 7-9pm – Finish paintings or DYOT
We all have paintings we started and haven’t got around to finishing. Bring these paintings and finish them off, especially if they’re for Open Day. If you’ve already decided which paintings to show for Open Day bring them and mount or frame them.
If you’ve already mounted and framed your paintings then come along and DYOT – ‘do your own thing’.
Friday 22nd November – 7-9pm – Hanging Evening
Please email Steve ASAP with how many framed paintings you will be hanging for our Open Day, along with their names and price or NFS (Not For Sale).
Framed paintings – up to 6 and not too big to hang from the hooks. No clip frames please as they easily break. Use D rings and cord across the back with a label hanging down below the frame or on the front with your name, name of the picture, medium and the price or NFS.
Mounted pictures – any number for the browsers but they must be for sale, all labelled front or back. There won’t be a list of mounted work, so keep a record yourself of which ones you bring along.
If you need insurance for your artwork then please make sure it’s in place for today and tomorrow.
From 7pm drop off your paintings or stay and help hang them all up. Please bring scissors to cut the hanging cord.
If you can’t come on hanging evening then please arrange from someone else to bring your artwork.
Saturday 23rd November – 10am-3pm – Open Day
*****Visitors welcome 10.30am to 2.30pm*****
We open our doors and invite friends, family and Chalk locals to come and see what we paint. Please don’t be upset if you don’t sell anything. It’s lovely to welcome people into the hall to talk about art and painting.
There’s no set subject, just bring along something to paint during the day.
So no one gets stuck in the kitchen for hours please take your turn making teas and coffees for visitors and also wash and dry up the cups and saucers. Please wash up the teaspoons too as they don’t wash themselves :o)
Membership – If any visitors want information about becoming a member please take them to Steve who can tell them about joining the group.
Sales – If anyone is interested in buying a framed or mounted picture please take them to Tracy for payment. We don’t have a card reader for debit or credit cards, it’s cash only.
Wednesday 11th December – 7-9pm – Christmas Party
Come along in your Christmas jumpers, sparkly outfits or fancy festive hats and enjoy some quizzes and Pass the Parcel. No painted wood slices this year, we already have several for our Christmas trees!
Bring along a plate of food to share and pop it on the side tables. Also bring your own plates, cups and drinks.
If your food is for vegans or coeliacs please label accordingly and place on the separate table.
Your partner/family are welcome to come along too. Please email Tracy if you’ll be coming so we know numbers for pass the parcel. Tea, coffee and biscuits will be available as usual.
Fourteen members enjoyed an animal coloured pencil workshop run by local artists Liz and Helen. They met at Gravesend Art Group and both love creating pictures of animals using coloured pencil techniques learnt through online courses. Here are examples of their work that they sell at exhibitions and they also take commissions (apologies for the reflections of the hall lights). It’s amazing artwork with so much detail to look at.
Helen made up packs of sheets of information for us to use and Liz showed us how to colour the eye, nose and fur. By learning these three basics we can go on to create a picture of an animal of our choice. Both ladies walked around all day showing people individually how to lay the colours down and generously loaned their extensive coloured pencil collection for everyone to use, along with their ceramic slices and erasers.
No one had drawn on drafting film before and we were all surprised how well the colour layers could be built up. We put a smooth sheet of hot pressed watercolour paper or cartridge paper underneath the drafting film so the colours could be easily seen. The Tombow Mono erasers were useful for removing tiny areas of colour as the eraser head is so small and the ceramic slices used to remove areas of colour for highlights and individual strands of fur.
We all completed the eye, nose and fur and although we used the same templates the pictures look individual as we used many different coloured pencils in browns, reds, yellows and greys. Everyone was pleased to learn so much throughout the day, especially using the drafting film.
We’re all looking forward to drawing our next animal on the extra drafting film sheets which were given to us. When you finish your picture please email a photo to Tracy to be included in a future blog post.
Here are the finished pictures which were on the ledge at the back of the hall. (Apologies not to get the ones left on tables whilst we cleared up.)
Well done everyone you did really well and a huge thank you to Liz and Helen for such an informative workshop!
Our next session is on Wednesday 13th November 7-9pm, then it’s hanging evening on Friday 22nd November from 7pm and Open Day on Saturday 23rd November. On Open Day we meet from 10am with visitors from 10.30am to 2.30pm.
Peta has been very busy again travelling to London to sit and draw in various locations then completing the pictures in different coloured inks. She’s been to Paddington and China Town and also Walthamstow, where she drew one of the Banksy images that appeared around London during the summer.
Peta is hoping to publish some of her pictures in booklets and these will be the covers. Go for it, we’d love to see your beautiful pictures printed and be able to buy them!
Eleven members enjoyed the evening session painting together and having a natter over a cuppa and biscuits. The idea to design a book cover was very challenging but there were so many good ideas.
Several authors and their books included William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, George Orwell, Beatrix Potter, T.S.Eliot, Wilfred Owen, Agatha Christie and Erin Kelly. Some are works in progress and some were finished the next day and a photo sent in to be included. Mediums used were pencils, watercolours, acrylics, pens and collage. Well done everyone, you rose to the challenge really well!
As usual you’re welcome to come along and ‘do your own thing’ and also bring in completed pictures from previous sessions. Here is a pastel portrait in progress and pictures from The Olympics/Paralympics, one of last month’s sessions. (Photos of Peta’s pictures will be in the next post.)
Our next session is the coloured pencil workshop on Saturday 26th October 10am to 3pm, costing only £10 each. Only 10 members so far have put their names down, so please email Tracy asap if you want a place.
Chalk Art Group 