Open 28 Art Exhibition.

Congratulations to 2 of our MHAC members; Frank Bingley and Sally Struszkowski. Both have art work in the Leicester 28 Open Art Exhibition. Competition for a place was fierce this year so they have  both done particularly well.

The exhibition takes place in the refurbished old Library Gallery at the Leicester Adult Education College on Belvoir Street.

Opening times:

Monday - Thursday: 9am - 5pm

Friday & Saturday: 9am - 4pm

Closed Sundays.

It is open to the public now until 19 August 2017.

The art work is varied and interesting, so pop along and take a look

.

Flower painting proves popular

Welcome to old and new members. A lovely evening painting flowers, which proved to be a popular subject. Please bring your finished work to the next meeting.

Praise Indeed!

Peter Sumpter
(picture by kind permission of
Oadby Artists)

Members each brought along two paintings for appraisal by Guild of Aviation Artist Peter Sumpter. Peter joined the Leicester Sketch Club in 1955 and in 1958, was accepted by the Leicester Society of Artists.

Before making any comment on our paintings, Peter told us that he found it so enjoyable to see other people's work. Drawing on his considerable experience and expertise, not only was he quick to point out successful parts of a painting, he also gave lots of advice on how a painting could be improved by a few simple additions or alterations,  even cropping down works to aid composition.

His tips also included:

To check if an ellipse is symmetrical, turn the work at right angles and tilt until an ellipse looks like a circle - a true circle would mean a true ellipse.

Take some parts of the work - like a tree for example, out of the frame, again to aid composition. The same advice was given to a member who brought along her painting of an elephant, only this time to take the trunk (which was near the bottom of the work) out of the bottom of the frame.

If more than one tree etc. in a painting, make one of them appear dominant rather than all even sized.

Peter also brought along some of his sketchbooks. These were fabulous to look through, the drawings also being incredibly neat!

Promoting the arts

A joint venture! Market Harborough Art Club (MHAC) and Harborough Artist Cluster (HAC) help each other.  Last weekend the HAC & MHAC took to the streets and the local market to advertise the HAC Open Studios and MHAC. 

March came and went!

A little painting done last month. A portrait of Libby and my entry into the Kettering open Exhibition,
'Fill this Space,' held at the Alfred East Art Gallery.

'Libby'

Catkins and Courtship Oil 30 x 40 cm painted on wooden panel

The first prize winner was a water colour called 'Prickly Customer,' by Gill Denbigh.

Prickly Customer

The work was behind glass so the photograph does not not it justice.

The exhibition closes on 20th May 2017.

Little Selves Exhibition

If you haven’t been to see the ‘Little Selves Exhibition’ in the New Walk Museum Leicester, there is still plenty of time. It closes on the 25th June 2017. It features a portrait by one of our members - Eden Coe. It is well worth a visit, not only to see Eden’s work in reality, but to view other students work, LSA artists and guests like Paul Wright. 

Eden’s work - ‘Idris’ Acrylic

Surprise photographs

Many thanks to Michael Edwards for leading this fun and useful evening session. The serious side of this activity was to help MHAC members and visitors loosen up their style of painting. Most worked in water colour, but you can also use other mediums.

The Technique

Place a number of photographs on a table so that they face downwards.

Use a mount to draw a rectangle on the painting surface. It should be the same size as the photograph (6 x 4 inches, 15 x 10 cm).

Select a photograph and put it upside down on the easle. Time 15 minutes.

Disassociate the brain by spending 10 minutes on concentrating on putting in ‘the shapes.’

In the last 5 minutes put the photograph the right side up and apply the details to the painting.

Amazing pictures and done in 15 minutes! Now I can understand how you can do a daily painting.