archive
Tuesday 24th September
Lewis MacKenzie - Portrait Painting in Oils - (lewismackenzie.co.uk)
Using a portrait by John Singer Sargent of Joseph Marie Carries on an ipad, Lewis demonstrated his considerable portraiture skills to our members. Starting with a dark background made from a Zorn palette of colours, Lewis rubbed out the lighter parts of the face before gradually building up the portrait bit by bit.
Tuesday 28thMay - Sheena Philips - 'Big Skies'
Sheena gave members another inspiring watercolour demonstration, working from a photograph to produce a brilliant landscape painting in a very short period of time! She used a limited palette and many watercolour techniques in the process. We were all enthused by the lovely watercolour that Sheena painted in such a short time. Many thanks to Sheena.
Update from Sheena:
Sheena has now finished the painting she started at the meeting and has shared it with us below.
Sheena is donating the painting to a charity art sale in North Berwick to raise money for Brain Tumour Research through the Brain Power fund set up by the BBC presenter Glenn Campbell who is himself being treated. The exhibition is on 16/17th August at St Andrew Blackadder Church, North Berwick where he lives.
Finished painting
Tuesday 30th April - Crit Night
Members submitted paintings which Hayley Whittingham studied before giving some useful constructive criticism. There were some really good art works on show and everyone benefitted from Hayley's informative comments. Some of the paintings are shown here:
Tuesday 26th March 2024
Mark gave us another inspiring demonstration of a landscape painting of Pittenweem Harbour in the Fauvist style. From a blank canvas, Mark built up the colourful, lively painting in the course of the evening, giving us many tips along the way. Here are a few photos from the evening along with another painting of Pittenweem Harbour by Mark. www.markholdenart.co.uk
February 27th meeting
Club members enjoyed an inspiring demonstration given by Jenny Matthews RSW who brought along a large vase of daffodils and tulips and her watercolour paints and proceeded to paint a beautiful large painting of the flowers as can be seen below (although it was still wet at the time of the photo). We learned many tips to help with watercolour painting from Jenny and she answered many questions from the audience. Jenny also showed us a selection of previous paintings some of which are shown below. www.jennymatthews.co.uk
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Jenny will be running 2 workshops ('Flowers in Watercolour' and 'Essential Drawing') in March at the HUB@531 Juniper Green. For more information : Workshops and Tuition | Jenny Matthews RSW
January 30th Meeting - Crit Night
Leo du Feu had a hard task at the club's crit night where he had over 30 paintings to look at and give some constructive criticism on each. There were some great art works on display and Leo's comments were very informative and useful.
At the end of the meeting, Leo chose 6 paintings he thought would make the best flyer for our annual exhibition and then members voted for one of these 6 paintings.
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Leo du Feu giving his crit and some of the other paintings submitted:
The winning painting is by Joanna Westwater.
November 28th meeting
Pam Thorburn demonstrated one method she might use to paint a still life by dividing a large sheet of paper into 4 using masking tape, then continuing by painting simple objects (perhaps as a child would) over the whole sheet of paper using acrylic (and household) paint and oil pastels. At the end of the demo, the masking tape was removed to reveal 4 smaller paintings. Pam admitted this can be a hit or miss method but it is fun. You can see the result below.
She showed us some examples of this method which were successful and also her sketchbooks which were inspiring.
Pam enjoys painting as it brings her joy and contentment, something we will all agree with.
Update:
Pam has very kindly sent a link to a video she made of finishing the painting that she started at our demo which you can see here: From Ugly to Finished
Belle Kilgour Memorial Trophy
Best in Show
'Ardnamurchan' by Lorna Hunter
Earle Douglas Award
Outstanding Merit
'Sanna Bay' by Carol Carden
AGM
A successful AGM was held on the 31st October with a good turnout of members which included the presentation of the Exhibition Trophy Awards by Douglas Ramsay, followed by tea and cake.
October 31st meeting
September 26th meeting
Jean Stewart demonstrated how to use oil pastels - her subject was an old door handle and lock with peeling paint and rusty metal- to create an impressive painting.
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At the end of the demo, Jean explained that she would look at the painting later and work out what else to do to it before considering it finished.
ANNUAL EXHIBITION 2023
July 29th - August 4th
We had a very good exhibition this year, despite having slightly fewer submissions with over 50 paintings sold and more than 400 visitors.
Many visitors commented on the very high standard of work presented.
Well done and thanks to all our artists.
And thanks to all our visitors for coming to our exhibition.
Jean Stewart who hung the exhibition
Preview Evening
Poppies by Anne Henderson
May 30th meeting
Dianne McNaughton demonstrated how she uses her wonderful sketches to produce lively, loose watercolour landscape paintings, giving us many useful tips on the way, including some of the tools and products she uses. You can find out more information about Dianne on her website: www.diannemcnaughtonart.com
April 25th meeting
Priscilla Brightman joined us to assess paintings member's had brought along to the meeting. Priscilla's comments, observations and suggestions on each painting were very interesting and useful for all the members who attended the meeting, not just the paintning's artist.
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March 28th meeting
Mark Holden (www.markholdenart.co.uk) treated us to a fascinating, lively demonstration on how to create an urban scene - in about an hour!
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Mark later sent us a photo of the painting after he had worked on it for a few more hours the next day. Amazing.
January 31st meeting
Hayley Whittingham (www.hayleywhittingham.com) joined us for the first club meeting of 2023 which was a crit night. Hayley gave us very constructive comments and advice on our paintings.
At the end of the meeting, Hayley chose 6 paintings from which members voted for the painting they thought would make the best poster for the 2023 Annual Exhibition.
The poster winner was Anne Henderson's painting 'Poppies'.
A few of the other excellent paintings presented at the crit night:
2022 Meetings