A watercolour workshop with Michael Edwards

Michael guided the art club members through watercolour washes for beginners. As a beginner it was perfect combination of demonstration, and instruction, far easier than following a book and DIY.  Looking around the room I could see the experience water-colourists’ also benefited.

We were gently guided through:

1.   Background wash

2.   Foreground grass

3.   Removing hard edges, branches and twigs

4.   Direction of the light, and tones

5.   Finishing, making additional statements

Creative but not constrained as the members of the group were allowed to choose and develop their own work. Had I had been taught watercolour by Michael before my art may have taken a different direction. Having said that I will apply what I have learnt to my sketchbook work.

A big thank to you Michael.

Christmas Painting

Our art club met for the last time in 2018 with an informal painting session. We were spurred on by a quiet, relaxed atmosphere and an unhealthy supply of the most sumptuous mince pies, provided by Ken in celebration of Christmas!

 Archie produced this fabulous landscape in next to no time, while Frank got lost in the detail of this classic car. Jane was very much taken by a blackbird she'd spied eating the berries on a pyracantha on the hedge next door and proceeded to sketch it.

Ken was very much in seasonal mode with his painting of a church in the snow and Leslie went into illustration mode sketching a buddha's head ready for a painting.

Lynda surprised us all when she got out her knitting needles and started to Knit, then amazed us by producing these three bespoke Christmas cards!

On the whole, the evening showed what true diversity our members have when it comes to art.

A Collage workshop

On Friday 26th October, Ken led the members into making collage pictures.

He began by saying, 'The art of collage goes back into the beginning of paper making by the Chinese before the Egyptians,3000 BC or even earlier; it is not a modern art form. Collage comes from the French "colle" - glue or "coller " to glue and that is what we
shall be doing tonight.' He then referred  to two books that had been an inspiration to him, "Collage , colour and texture painting " by Mike Bernard and Robin Capon and a more definitive source ,"Creative collage techniques. He exemplified

the use of some of their suggestions by showing some of his own creations. A painting of Dresden, which had sold at one of our exhibitions and a transcription of a Monet using coloured tissue paper to create the stratification of the cliffs at Etretat and then adding acrylic and inks.He suggested  preparing a sketch book for holidays with random shapes of paper stuck to the pages and  using cafe receipts as a background and showed examples of both. Similarly he showed how a still life could be begun with random shapes stuck on to the paper. He also had  part of his course work with local artist Brian Taylor using tissue paper to create trees in a landscape painting before adding colour and then putting more PVA glue on the dried painting to give a gloss,bringing  out the colour.  Frank Bingley and he had been to a workshop by Daniella Vaughan who makes collage using coloured magazine pages but torn, not cut.

     



         Frank showed his

'Seagull painting' and Ken, ' a Robin'. After another session with Daniella, Ken had created a political portrait of Donald Trump beginning with a background of newsprint of articles about him. To get members started Ken suggested they might try making a towns-cape and showed Julian Trevelyan's painting. They might prefer to use their own ideas and subjects using newspaper or magazine coloured pictures. And off everyone went and 'Wow' what pictures they created!

Water colour demonstration - Helen Neave

Helen Neave

Helen’s Norfolk up bringing influenced her love of the natural world. She trained in art and design at Bournemouth art school, and started out in graphic design. Sitting at a computer all day did not appeal, so she used her watercolour painting skills and her love of wildlife to develop her career in art. Now she gains commissions linked to her passion for wild life and conservation. In addition to this she teaches adults water colour painting.

Helen’s taster and tips demonstration was seasonal being based on ‘autumn’.

Her mantra, work,

‘Light to dark’,  ‘soft to sharp’.

Advice

·      Know your paints, each manufactures colours work differently.
·      Plan ahead.
·      Note the direction of light and paint accordingly.
·      Avoid going in with heavy with paint.
·      Start soft and misty.
·      Apply clean water with an ample brush, creating a damp surface and not a puddle.
·      Start with very dilute paint and allow the highlights to show through.
·      Remove drips with a clean brush by lifting off the blob of paint.
·      Allow the paint to dry before applying more layers; a hairdryer can be used to speed up the process.
·      Dampening the paint surface with clean water, before adding a second layer of paint in this way tones can be built up.
·      Paint leaves before twigs, Helen favours sap green, which can be glazed over with yellow to create light effects, and the dark areas can be glazed over with blue.
·      Twigs use a rigger to apply clean water to where you want the twigs to be; once the paint hits the water you create a snail like effect.
·      Trees look at the colour, pattern and texture and use that knowledge to paint a tree, do not paint individual leaves.
·      White flowers are not pure white, look for the colour in them
·      With flowers start drawing in the middle and work outwards.
·      Negatively paint and hint at the masses through light and shade
·      Sharp edges are done on dry paper.
·      Backgrounds give context so negatively paint around the flower.
·      Neutral Tint is used to darken paint without changing the colour.
 
A big thanks you to Helen for a very informative evening.

 

Glenn Badham

Glenn Badham

Local dance teacher and artist demonstrated his oil painting technique. Follow the link to his website to view more of his work

: www.glennbadham.com

Inspired by Renaissance painters and Goga. He clearly understands form and painting as he checked the ball of the foot was in line with the cheek. Glenn was very generous with his knowledge as he talked us through his technique. A useful tip is to use a couple of drops of Blackfriars liquid driers in a little linseed oil and turpentine. Apply to the painting in a well-ventilated space. The oil paint will be dry in two to three days.

Seaside Inspiration

Sally Struszkowski in action

Here at Market Harborough Art Club, we are pretty much 'hands on' at our monthly meetings. Our June meeting was very much in that vein, with David Coleman leading our group to paint a Seaside Scene using A5 size paper or card. Most of us managed to end up with a somewhat finished piece, though some took theirs to finish at home.


The idea of the topic is that David will take the finished works and mount them in a display to show at our forthcoming exhibition in October, after the success of our composite image displayed last year attracted quite a bit of interest from visitors to the exhibition.


If you are wondering what we will be getting up to at our next meeting, do have a look at the programme page on our website.

Sally Struszkowski

Frank Bingley

Linda Talbott

Appraisal evening with Scott Bridgwood

Clarifying your thinking

If you ever get chance to be tutored by Scott Bridgwood, take the opportunity. This guy really knows his stuff and is very generous with his knowledge.

This year I have been disappointed with the artwork I have produced. Some people would say I have had ‘artist block,’ but I am not short of ideas, it is the development of them.  During the appraisal evening Scott helped me clarify my thinking so I can now progress and move my work up to the next level.

Thank you Scott.