art

Painted Whitstable oyster shells

/ tracyqp / 2 Comments

At last Saturday’s session about Underwater Life there were oyster shells to paint, either the traditional teardrop oyster shape or the flatter native oyster shells. Tracy had visited Whitstable beach and helped herself to lots of empty oyster shells which are thrown on the beach behind the Whitstable Oyster Company Restaurant. After a soak in hot water and washing up liquid she scraped off the last of the muscle at the dark muscle scar inside the shells, soaked them with antibacterial spray and left them to dry in the sun. The inside of the oyster shells were all clean to paint with no fishy smell and the outsides were patterned and interesting too.

Everyone who painted a shell came up with a design on the spur of the moment and drew inside the shell with pencil then painted with colourful acrylics. Kay painted with watercolours and the paint did stay on the inside. Her painting of a badger’s head on a flat native oyster shell was much admired and we all agreed it was the highlight of all the shells.

Well done everyone, you painted the shells beautifully and it was fun to try something different!

Underwater Life – May 2024 – Saturday

/ tracyqp / 4 Comments

Eighteen members rose magnificently to the challenge of painting underwater life, using watercolours acrylics, pens and pastels.

Andrea brought along a beautiful, tall and very heavy paperweight of an octopus and Tracy brought in a cup, bowl and Christmas decoration all featuring octopus designs. Tracy’s items were bought from George’s in Whitstable High Street, a shop full of ‘stuff’ that you don’t need but want because it’s handy, nifty or just lovely to look at. George’s have a website with some items on, but they have many more items in the actual shop. The shop is worth a trip to Whitstable :o) www.georgeswhitstable.com

There were oyster shells from Whitstable to paint too and all those photos will be on a separate post, along with finished Salvador Dali paintings.

We were very creative on the day and any works in progress will be finished at home. Several members have supplied photos of artwork they painted at other art groups. There were many different underwater animals and divers painted in glorious colours including turtles, tropical fish, jellyfish, octopuses, sharks, shells, seahorses, rays, crabs, lobsters, a mermaid, a little girl looking at life underwater, and an exotically named axolotl. The first painting is Steve’s slightly disturbing Salvador Dali portrait with sea creatures and a melted clock!

Next month’s ideas will be published on 1st June and the next session will be on Wednesday 12th June 7-9pm.

Peta’s sketches of City of London Churches

/ tracyqp / 1 Comment

Peta has had her sketches of several City of London Churches published on the website ‘Spitalfields Life’. Beautifully and skilfully sketched in pencil and then coloured with soft tones of black, blue and brown inks, she has masterfully captured the atmosphere and tiny details of these churches and related items. Click on this link to see the sketches on the site… https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/04/29/peta-bridles-city-churches/

Peta would be really interested in your comments, so please scroll to the end of the article on Spitalfields Life and submit a comment for her to see. You write your comment, add your name and email address, submit your comment and it appears on the site when approved.

The pictures from the site have been screenshot and are below, but the higher quality images are on Spitalfields Life. Look for where the last image was drawn. You will know the place because Peta started the drawing on our Saturday session in July 2023.

Click on the first picture then scroll through to see the pictures enlarged and with words that explain about each image.

Well done Peta, your sketches and use of the coloured inks are awesome!