NEWSLETTER, JANUARY, 2024.
Chairman’s Report
I’d like to thank the committee for the effort and dedication shown over the last year to ensure that our group continues to thrive. We have enjoyed numerous demonstrations and workshops, and have put on exhibitions, all of which need time and energy to organise and run.
As the new year begins, we look forward to more of these, especially the exhibition at Killerton in April. I encourage everyone to submit artwork to this event, as the footfall there will be good. It is an opportunity not only to sell, and give our funds a boost, but also to make our existence as a local art group known, and to attract new members. We have space for another 9 members and need to spread the word. The buzzword is “wellness” after all and we all know the benefits of creativity and shared activity.
So as the bitter cold turns to rain and we move on towards spring, let’s use the time indoors to paint, and create beautiful work which can delight others. We mustn’t waste our talents!
Jenny Hallam
29th September –“Raw Earth” – Demonstration by Matthew Davison
We were very pleased to welcome Matthew Davison to demonstrate his use of mixed media. He currently teaches at the Honiton School of Art and Wellbeing, but for much of his career worked in film and television as a Directory of Photography, and originally studied art as a student in Bradford.
Matthew sees these demonstrations as a ‘kind’ of speed painting,’ which is invaluable as it avoids procrastination, helps limit palettes and can produced ‘lively’ artwork. He suggested challenging ourselves to speed paint.
Interestingly, Matthew’s opening question was to ask what subject should be demonstrated and what elements should be included. However, he stressed that he would respond appropriately to the ‘happy accidents’ as the artwork developed. Poetry is often his source of inspiration, but today we agreed on an early morning, snowy, landscape scene of Killerton. To achieve this Matthew would encourage the use of memory, rather than photographs, as this utilises ‘other parts of the brain’ and leads to more ‘exciting’ artwork, which is ‘not too descriptive’ and where the ‘natural world is suggested.’
On 3mm MDF board, with a white acrylic gesso ground, to provide some tooth, using willow charcoal, Matthew outlined the distant horizon, the mid-ground along with some trees, then applied orange oil pastel to the foreground, which would act as a resist for the acrylic wash, and was suggestive of bracken.
Using this minimal sketch and a large squirrel mop, the first layer of acrylic paint, Paynes Grey, was applied in varying tones, to both the mid and foreground to suggest hills, hedges and trees. This was misted to soften, providing an interesting mix of hard and soft edges. Some paint was then selectively removed to provide even softer edges and some definition. Switching to Lidl brushes, the sky was similarly blocked in with Cobalt Blue, then softened with Lowry White, by Wallace Seymour, plus a touch of Alizarin Crimson. We were reminded that snowy skies often have a hint of either pink or yellow. When happy with the sky Matthew added Titanium White to the mid ground, following the fall of the land, to suggest drifts of snow, leaving some small areas of Paynes Grey showing through. A touch of Cobalt was added to the edges of the shadows where the sky would be naturally reflected.
At this stage Matthew advised standing back to frequently review progress, and ‘consciously work to avoid detail’ – switching focus to different areas can help with this. Using a palette knife, ‘a valuable mixing tool,’ in this case for Titanium White, Paynes Grey and Cobalt, the trees and hedge-lines were ‘bodied’ up’ to indicate the direction of the light and to provide depth.
Focus was then shifted to the foreground using these same colours, plus more orange oil pastel along with Cadmium Orange acrylic to further suggest bracken. For this, sometimes Matthew uses pure pigment, again by Wallace Seymour, with acrylic medium or sometimes acrylic ink, often raw umber, straight from a pipette. He finds a credit card is often handy to apply colour, especially for areas such as the brilliance of the bracken in the foreground. To finish the foreground Titanium highlights were dotted in to provide areas of light and interest and Paynes Grey mixes to provide more depth.
To complete the painting, using Titanium White, Matthew hinted at clouds and a touch of snow on the hedgerows. An area of the painting which was suggestive of a building was left untouched and provided an interesting focal point. This was a very useful reminder that a limited palette doesn’t result in a limited painting, and that white is never just white!
Friday, 24th November – Working from Sketchbooks - Demonstration by Tony Homer
Previously an art teacher for 30 years, Tony explained that he started keeping a sketchbook when it became a National Curriculum requirement. He now recommends daily sketching to improve drawing skills. He uses cartridge paper sketchbooks – available from the art shop in Sidmouth, which can be used in a portrait or landscape orientation and can lie flat to allow for double page sketching. To avoid any erasing he normally sketches using a permanent 0.3 fineliner. His resulting sketchbooks predominately consist of black and white line drawings, but he occasionally touches up with the colour when back at his studio.
When creating his artwork, he merges pleasing elements of different sketches to produce his composition, drawing, excuse the pun, inspiration from Cubism and artists such as Picasso, Mondrian, Terry Frost and Ben Nicholson. This was demonstrated today with two Urban landscapes. Tony often works on two paintings at a time, as moving from one to another allows him to work with ‘fresh eyes.’
Strong architectural structures were quickly and simply sketched out using a 5b graphite pencil on mount board, with figures and text, such as shop signs, included to provide scale. The mount board was wetted, then he used Matt Medium to dilute the acrylic; this does not reduce the intensity and avoids the ‘dulling’ effect of white. Stripes of bright orange and ultramarine were boldly applied using flat brushes in a grid fashion and allowed to soften on the damp board. Tony favours bright colour combinations and complementary colours. He continued to work using ‘cheap’ flat brushes to block in the buildings and the figures using a limited palette of French Ultramarine, Prussian Blue and Crimson; with the occasional Paynes Grey for tonality. He took care to ensure, for pictorial accuracy, that the foreground stood out more by employing sharper lines, more detailing and stronger colours. The distortions and reflections in windows and shop fronts were also captured. He enjoys fragmenting and breaking images and exploring ‘the split’ between reality and abstraction. A credit card was used to apply the paint, in places, to provide sharper lines, but Tony encouraged us to not over do this. The text was blocked around rather than painted in, as he believes this to be more effective. Lastly the darker colours of Prussian Blue and Crimson were used to bring elements forward and to provide contrast and these colours mixed together provided applied a purple glaze to add depth to the windows.
The resulting artworks were fresh, vibrant and atmospheric.
Programme of Events
Friday, 26th January –
Cherry Lyons, South Devon Artist. “Mixing it Up” – demonstration using acrylics, collage, inks and texture paste.
Friday, 23rd February–
Club Morning – A teach in on how to present your framed and unframed work together for exhibition.
Friday, 22nd March -
NB One week early due to Good Friday on 29th March – Owen Williams will demonstrate his simple, bold and colourful style of acrylic painting
Friday, 26th April –
AGM and Table top sale followed by a critique by Debbie.
May 31st
Amelia Webster, Chudleigh Artist. A charcoal portrait (a volunteer model needed)
June 28th.
Belinda Reynell, Tiverton artist. Treescape in oil, experimenting with texture and colour.
July 26th.
10am - 1pm (Note longer meeting) Clare DuVergier, Somerset artist. Will demonstrate watercolour techniques followed by a short workshop with club members, so please bring along your watercolour equipment to the meeting and make full use of this opportunity to paint with Clare.
August. No meeting
Sept. 27th.
Rachel Toll, local artist will demonstrate a watercolour landscape
October 25th.
Club morning
November 29th.
John Haysom, our favourite Thorverton artist will demonstrate painting Flowers using Watercolour with pastel.
December 13th.
Club morning with mince pies.
Half Day Workshops
Friday, 8th March –
10.00am – 1.00pm – Rachel Toll – “Birds and Animals” – watercolour
£15.00 – To book email [email protected]
Friday, 12th April –
10.00am -1.00pm – Luna North – “Building a colour story with acrylics.”
To book email [email protected] - £20.00
Debbie’s Workshop
Friday, 9th February,
10.00am – 1.00pm
To book email Debbie – [email protected].
EXHIBITION AT KILLERTON 5th, 6th 7th April.
Entry forms available at our meeting on 23rd February. A maximum of 4 framed paintings at £4.00 each and £2.00 each unlimited number of unframed. Entry forms and payment can be handed to Debbie at our meeting on 22nd March.
Pictures to be delivered to Killerton at 3.30pm on the 4th April.
SAD NEWS
It is with sadness that we have to inform members that Cherry Mason has recently passed away. Her passing was sudden and unexpected and thankfully she did not suffer.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Newton St Cyres Art Group extends a warm welcome to new members.
We are a friendly group of enthusiasts who meet monthly to enjoy a talk/demonstration from a visiting artist and occasionally to paint together and chat.
Workshops led by visiting artists and exhibitions are an optional extra with no obligation to participate.
Why not come along and see if you would like to join us.
Past Events
Wednesday 27th January 2016 @ 7.30pm. Michael Chappell 'Creating a dynamic seascape using acrylic'.
Friday, 27th. February--Club Morning -- 10am. -- 12.30pm. " Still Life with fruit" , bring your own material and fruit and make tour painting traditional or modern.
Wednesday, 30th.March -- A watercolour demonstration by local Dartmoor artist John Christian.
Wednesday, 27th. April --A. G. M.
Wednesday 26th. May -- Critique of members work by Jane Baker.
Wednesday, 29th. June --A pastel demonstration by wildlife artist Heather Irvine.
Wednesday, 27h. July.--A watercolour demonstration by Mike McDonald, painting in the manner of F, J. Widgery using modern materials.
All meetings are in the Village hall at Newton St Cyres.
We hope to see you there.
Chairman’s Report
I’d like to thank the committee for the effort and dedication shown over the last year to ensure that our group continues to thrive. We have enjoyed numerous demonstrations and workshops, and have put on exhibitions, all of which need time and energy to organise and run.
As the new year begins, we look forward to more of these, especially the exhibition at Killerton in April. I encourage everyone to submit artwork to this event, as the footfall there will be good. It is an opportunity not only to sell, and give our funds a boost, but also to make our existence as a local art group known, and to attract new members. We have space for another 9 members and need to spread the word. The buzzword is “wellness” after all and we all know the benefits of creativity and shared activity.
So as the bitter cold turns to rain and we move on towards spring, let’s use the time indoors to paint, and create beautiful work which can delight others. We mustn’t waste our talents!
Jenny Hallam
29th September –“Raw Earth” – Demonstration by Matthew Davison
We were very pleased to welcome Matthew Davison to demonstrate his use of mixed media. He currently teaches at the Honiton School of Art and Wellbeing, but for much of his career worked in film and television as a Directory of Photography, and originally studied art as a student in Bradford.
Matthew sees these demonstrations as a ‘kind’ of speed painting,’ which is invaluable as it avoids procrastination, helps limit palettes and can produced ‘lively’ artwork. He suggested challenging ourselves to speed paint.
Interestingly, Matthew’s opening question was to ask what subject should be demonstrated and what elements should be included. However, he stressed that he would respond appropriately to the ‘happy accidents’ as the artwork developed. Poetry is often his source of inspiration, but today we agreed on an early morning, snowy, landscape scene of Killerton. To achieve this Matthew would encourage the use of memory, rather than photographs, as this utilises ‘other parts of the brain’ and leads to more ‘exciting’ artwork, which is ‘not too descriptive’ and where the ‘natural world is suggested.’
On 3mm MDF board, with a white acrylic gesso ground, to provide some tooth, using willow charcoal, Matthew outlined the distant horizon, the mid-ground along with some trees, then applied orange oil pastel to the foreground, which would act as a resist for the acrylic wash, and was suggestive of bracken.
Using this minimal sketch and a large squirrel mop, the first layer of acrylic paint, Paynes Grey, was applied in varying tones, to both the mid and foreground to suggest hills, hedges and trees. This was misted to soften, providing an interesting mix of hard and soft edges. Some paint was then selectively removed to provide even softer edges and some definition. Switching to Lidl brushes, the sky was similarly blocked in with Cobalt Blue, then softened with Lowry White, by Wallace Seymour, plus a touch of Alizarin Crimson. We were reminded that snowy skies often have a hint of either pink or yellow. When happy with the sky Matthew added Titanium White to the mid ground, following the fall of the land, to suggest drifts of snow, leaving some small areas of Paynes Grey showing through. A touch of Cobalt was added to the edges of the shadows where the sky would be naturally reflected.
At this stage Matthew advised standing back to frequently review progress, and ‘consciously work to avoid detail’ – switching focus to different areas can help with this. Using a palette knife, ‘a valuable mixing tool,’ in this case for Titanium White, Paynes Grey and Cobalt, the trees and hedge-lines were ‘bodied’ up’ to indicate the direction of the light and to provide depth.
Focus was then shifted to the foreground using these same colours, plus more orange oil pastel along with Cadmium Orange acrylic to further suggest bracken. For this, sometimes Matthew uses pure pigment, again by Wallace Seymour, with acrylic medium or sometimes acrylic ink, often raw umber, straight from a pipette. He finds a credit card is often handy to apply colour, especially for areas such as the brilliance of the bracken in the foreground. To finish the foreground Titanium highlights were dotted in to provide areas of light and interest and Paynes Grey mixes to provide more depth.
To complete the painting, using Titanium White, Matthew hinted at clouds and a touch of snow on the hedgerows. An area of the painting which was suggestive of a building was left untouched and provided an interesting focal point. This was a very useful reminder that a limited palette doesn’t result in a limited painting, and that white is never just white!
Friday, 24th November – Working from Sketchbooks - Demonstration by Tony Homer
Previously an art teacher for 30 years, Tony explained that he started keeping a sketchbook when it became a National Curriculum requirement. He now recommends daily sketching to improve drawing skills. He uses cartridge paper sketchbooks – available from the art shop in Sidmouth, which can be used in a portrait or landscape orientation and can lie flat to allow for double page sketching. To avoid any erasing he normally sketches using a permanent 0.3 fineliner. His resulting sketchbooks predominately consist of black and white line drawings, but he occasionally touches up with the colour when back at his studio.
When creating his artwork, he merges pleasing elements of different sketches to produce his composition, drawing, excuse the pun, inspiration from Cubism and artists such as Picasso, Mondrian, Terry Frost and Ben Nicholson. This was demonstrated today with two Urban landscapes. Tony often works on two paintings at a time, as moving from one to another allows him to work with ‘fresh eyes.’
Strong architectural structures were quickly and simply sketched out using a 5b graphite pencil on mount board, with figures and text, such as shop signs, included to provide scale. The mount board was wetted, then he used Matt Medium to dilute the acrylic; this does not reduce the intensity and avoids the ‘dulling’ effect of white. Stripes of bright orange and ultramarine were boldly applied using flat brushes in a grid fashion and allowed to soften on the damp board. Tony favours bright colour combinations and complementary colours. He continued to work using ‘cheap’ flat brushes to block in the buildings and the figures using a limited palette of French Ultramarine, Prussian Blue and Crimson; with the occasional Paynes Grey for tonality. He took care to ensure, for pictorial accuracy, that the foreground stood out more by employing sharper lines, more detailing and stronger colours. The distortions and reflections in windows and shop fronts were also captured. He enjoys fragmenting and breaking images and exploring ‘the split’ between reality and abstraction. A credit card was used to apply the paint, in places, to provide sharper lines, but Tony encouraged us to not over do this. The text was blocked around rather than painted in, as he believes this to be more effective. Lastly the darker colours of Prussian Blue and Crimson were used to bring elements forward and to provide contrast and these colours mixed together provided applied a purple glaze to add depth to the windows.
The resulting artworks were fresh, vibrant and atmospheric.
Programme of Events
Friday, 26th January –
Cherry Lyons, South Devon Artist. “Mixing it Up” – demonstration using acrylics, collage, inks and texture paste.
Friday, 23rd February–
Club Morning – A teach in on how to present your framed and unframed work together for exhibition.
Friday, 22nd March -
NB One week early due to Good Friday on 29th March – Owen Williams will demonstrate his simple, bold and colourful style of acrylic painting
Friday, 26th April –
AGM and Table top sale followed by a critique by Debbie.
May 31st
Amelia Webster, Chudleigh Artist. A charcoal portrait (a volunteer model needed)
June 28th.
Belinda Reynell, Tiverton artist. Treescape in oil, experimenting with texture and colour.
July 26th.
10am - 1pm (Note longer meeting) Clare DuVergier, Somerset artist. Will demonstrate watercolour techniques followed by a short workshop with club members, so please bring along your watercolour equipment to the meeting and make full use of this opportunity to paint with Clare.
August. No meeting
Sept. 27th.
Rachel Toll, local artist will demonstrate a watercolour landscape
October 25th.
Club morning
November 29th.
John Haysom, our favourite Thorverton artist will demonstrate painting Flowers using Watercolour with pastel.
December 13th.
Club morning with mince pies.
Half Day Workshops
Friday, 8th March –
10.00am – 1.00pm – Rachel Toll – “Birds and Animals” – watercolour
£15.00 – To book email [email protected]
Friday, 12th April –
10.00am -1.00pm – Luna North – “Building a colour story with acrylics.”
To book email [email protected] - £20.00
Debbie’s Workshop
Friday, 9th February,
10.00am – 1.00pm
To book email Debbie – [email protected].
EXHIBITION AT KILLERTON 5th, 6th 7th April.
Entry forms available at our meeting on 23rd February. A maximum of 4 framed paintings at £4.00 each and £2.00 each unlimited number of unframed. Entry forms and payment can be handed to Debbie at our meeting on 22nd March.
Pictures to be delivered to Killerton at 3.30pm on the 4th April.
SAD NEWS
It is with sadness that we have to inform members that Cherry Mason has recently passed away. Her passing was sudden and unexpected and thankfully she did not suffer.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Newton St Cyres Art Group extends a warm welcome to new members.
We are a friendly group of enthusiasts who meet monthly to enjoy a talk/demonstration from a visiting artist and occasionally to paint together and chat.
Workshops led by visiting artists and exhibitions are an optional extra with no obligation to participate.
Why not come along and see if you would like to join us.
Past Events
Wednesday 27th January 2016 @ 7.30pm. Michael Chappell 'Creating a dynamic seascape using acrylic'.
Friday, 27th. February--Club Morning -- 10am. -- 12.30pm. " Still Life with fruit" , bring your own material and fruit and make tour painting traditional or modern.
Wednesday, 30th.March -- A watercolour demonstration by local Dartmoor artist John Christian.
Wednesday, 27th. April --A. G. M.
Wednesday 26th. May -- Critique of members work by Jane Baker.
Wednesday, 29th. June --A pastel demonstration by wildlife artist Heather Irvine.
Wednesday, 27h. July.--A watercolour demonstration by Mike McDonald, painting in the manner of F, J. Widgery using modern materials.
All meetings are in the Village hall at Newton St Cyres.
We hope to see you there.
newtonstcyresartclub.org Click here to go to Newton St Cyres Art Group website (Will open in new window)