Susan started her soft pastel picture of a lynx at the recent workshop and completed it at home. There’s amazing detail of the lynx’s fur, especially his ears. Good work, Susan!
Susan’s finished pastel picture
chalk-kent
Chris W’s finished picture
Chris W chose to create an orangutan pastel picture at the workshop but used a different reference photo to Paul’s. She completed the picture at home by adding to the orangutan’s face and colourful fur and putting in a soft green background. Super work, Chris!
Finished pictures by Dot and Tracy
Dot continued to work on her Art Deco lady at home by changing the background from lots of small geometric shapes to larger ones. This has made the lady much more prominent. Lovely use of colours too, very striking.
Dot completed her orangutan pastel picture from the last session which was the pastel workshop. She’s added more hair around the head, beard and on the body using several orange and red pastels colours.
Tracy finished her orangutan pastel picture by adding more gingery colours to the body hair and and taking time on all the wrinkles and highlights on the face flanges. She particularly enjoyed creating the orangutan’s hands and using pipe lagging to soften the greens in the background.
Good work ladies, thank you for finishing your pictures for us to see!
If anyone else completes paintings or pictures from the pastel workshop, please send photos to Tracy or Steve to add to the blog.
May 2025
Hope you’re enjoying the warmer weather but not getting too hot. Lovely to set up your drawing and painting equipment in the garden to enjoy the fine weather.
If you didn’t pay your yearly subs all in one go at the beginning of the year the next payment of £28 is due at the beginning of this month, which cover the next four months. Please see previous emails from Steve of how to pay this amount. Thank you :o)
This month the suggested subject is for both the Wednesday and the Saturday sessions, but with a slight difference. But if you prefer your own subject that’s absolutely fine.
Wednesday 14th – 7-9pm – Portraits
Many of you love drawing and painting portraits but lots of us find portraits very challenging! Choose any person, male or female, child or adult and create your picture in any medium. Don’t do the whole figure but head and shoulders or just the head.
VE Day 80th anniversary commemorations are on next week so maybe draw or paint a portrait of military personnel, men or women from that time, or their portrait when older.
Info about next week from the VE80 website… www.ve80.com
Saturday 24th – 10am to 3pm – Portraits – the Diversity of Humanity
Using any medium draw or paint any man, woman or child who is not of your ethnicity.
The United Nations had an exhibition in 2019 called ‘The World in Faces – One People. One World. One Love’ with 30 photographs by artist photographer Alexander Khimushin and it’s now available to view online… www.un.org/en/exhibits/exhibit/world-in-faces
Further photos have been released by the photographer (some are duplicates)… www.boredpanda.com/the-world-in-faces-project-diversity-of-the-world-through-the-portraits-of-its-people/fbclid=IwY2xjawKAht9leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFDaUR3REtMRURXaFpXcnEyAR5k7hAnY3_nciwzfFwGSW_LgzyszKfwOtWswTviSFqCz5qD_JUGqO37qxTjAg_aem_R2FkZVAoRtWERVULE-3ypQ
Alexander Khimushin’s website… www.khimushin.com
They’re amazing photos but bring your own reference photos along if you prefer.
If you can’t come to the sessions but want to try the subjects at home, please send photos of your pictures to Tracy or Steve for putting on this blog.
Susan’s Art Deco painting
Susan has completed the painting she started at the Art Deco session last month. It’s a beautifully painted image in Cuba in vibrant colours and the details especially of the car and lady are amazing. Well done, Susan!
JMW Turner – April 2025 – Wednesday
Turner’s paintings still hold our eyes and imagination 250 years after his birth. Fifteen members enjoyed an art session based on Turner and drew and painted images based on his paintings or to their own theme.
Among the Turner paintings used for inspiration are Self Portrait (c1798/9), Bill Rock Lighthouse (1819), a detail from the Burning of the Houses of Parliament (1835), Snowstorm – Steamboat off a Harbour’s Mouth (1842), Colchester, Essex (c1825), Stonehenge and Sunset, both undated. Some paintings pastoral, some full of light and drama, a few finished and several to be completed at home.
Some artists painted their own colourful subjects.
Lovely work everyone, Turner was a challenging subject!
Our next session will be a soft pastel workshop on Saturday 26th April 10am-3pm, please email Tracy if you’d like a place.
Art Deco – March 2025 – Saturday
Last month many of the artists liked painting to the natural Art Nouveau theme and this month we decided that bold, geometric Art Deco was just as interesting!
Eighteen members drew and painted images inspired by New York skyscrapers. Clarice Cliff pottery designs, elegant ladies by the artist Tamara Lempicka, objet d’art, interiors, railway posters, fashion, wrapping paper designs and car bonnet mascots.
Some pictures were finished but others are works in progress, to be completed at home.
Some members created pictures to their own theme, including from the previous session on Michelangelo.
Lovely work everyone!
Look out on 1st April for the next newsletter and the next session will be on Wednesday 9th April 7-9pm.
Dot’s Art Nouveau painting
Dot has almost finished the painted she started at the Art Nouveau session, and what a super painting it is. An elegant lady surrounded by sinuous and natural floral images painted in acrylics. Well done, Dot, she’s beautifully painted!
Fauvism – February 2025 – Wednesday
This session’s subject on Fauvism was well attended with 13 artists and most painted like Les Fauves, the Wild Beasts, using bright colours and bold strokes.
Using original artworks or other paintings or photographs as inspiration, the mediums used were acrylic paints, watercolours, acrylic pens and felt tip pens. Some paintings are finished and others are works in progress and will be completed at home.
Some members came along and created pictures to their own subjects and there’s one coloured pencil drawing inspired by the last Saturday session on winter.
Lovely work everyone, well done for being so bold and colourful with your paints and pens!
The next session is on Saturday 22nd February from 10am to 3pm and the suggested subject is Art Nouveau.
Steve’s and Angela’s pictures
Both artists have completed the pictures they started at the last Saturday session on ‘Winter Wonders’ and Steve has also finished a canine portrait.
Steve’s pictures were made using soft pastels and pastel pencils on Pastelmat paper. The winter picture feels so cold that you can imagine the snow crunching under your feet as you walk along the lane to the house.
The dog picture works so well in pastels as they make it’s fluffy fur look soft and strokeable.
Angela’s picture of a blackbird was painted in acrylics. Lovely use of paint with the blackbird in focus in the foreground and the background out of focus using larger brushstrokes.
Well done Steve and Angela for completing your super pictures and thank you for sharing them with us.
Chalk Art Group 