Critique night 2013

Hi there!  Another full house last week for the critique night.  Many thanks to you all for bringing along your work.  It looks as if the exhibition this year is going to be a cracker.

Jim Butler did a great job on the critique.  I found myself wondering what different things he could say about each piece, but his experience as a teacher for many years shone through.  He touched on lots of points and his critique was always 'gentle' and 'encouraging'.

He worked at a steady pace, never rushing, and managed to talk in length about every single piece of art that was brought along.  A job well done, I am sure you will agree.

Here are some photographs from the night, including a picture of Jim's own work 'The thin red line', which will be on display with many of his other painting at the Harbour Arts Centre in August.

 

 

 

 

 

Please go along to the HAC and enjoy more of his work.  August is also the time of year for our own exhibition.  Handing in times for the exhibition were published in the last post of this blog.

Next week's AGM night will be rounded off by a presentation in the Art of Silhouette Cutting.  I will be hosting this.  Not to be missed, this is an excellent chance to learn about this beautiful art form.  Do come along.

May Byrne, expressive artist

Thursday night's demonstration was again very well attended. Thanks to all who came along. Before I talk about this week's guest artist, I would just like to echo Margarets words about new members for the committee. We are doing so well with numbers, demos and the exhibition. It would be too much of a good thing to lose if the committee numbers fell away. Something to ponder.

There is more important info at the bottom of this blog with regards to the exhibition this summer, so please stay tuned, as they say!

May Byrne entertained us all on Thursday evening with some swashbuckling expressive painting. The subject matter was from a picture taken of the cottages at Portencross and the medium that she employed was a mixture of charcoal on a stick, (sounds like a meal) oil pastel, acrylic paint and ink.

May's obvious enjoyment of her art was infectious. Some of us were even invited up to 'have a go'. Expressive art is well named and we all enjoyed watching her work, including those in the 'splash zone'.
Thanks very much May. We hope to see you back at the club in the future.
If you want to see more of May's work you can visit her site by clicking HERE

Here are some pics of the night, including one of May working with the board on the floor at her feet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now that important info about the exhibition . . .

 

 

At the committee meeting on 28th January 2013, we came to agreement on the following.

 

Ronnie Russell will open the exhibition on Friday 2nd August 2013.

 

The exhibition will run from 3rd August - 10th August.

 

Handing in of work will be Tuesday 30th July.  Times - 2pm - 4pm.

 

Collection day will be 10th August.  Times 2pm - 4pm.



 

 

All these blogs are archived, so if these dates and times slip your memory, all the info will be there on the Februatry blogs on the top left of this page.

 

Happy New Year

Well here we are in a brand new year.  Apologies to everyone who has looked in on the blog over the last six weeks and found nothing had been added.
Personally, I had a really busy time over the festive period, as I am sure you all did.  Missed the first demo of the year, but I am glad to say that I was present for the second.

James Orr presented a very informative talk and demonstration.  He is a laid back chap who obviously loves what he is doing.  A "Madey up landscape" was the subject.  Acrylic was the medium.  James made it all look so easy.  He confessed that, although the subject matter came from his imagination, he had painted the same scene many times as a demo.  Thursday night's painting didn't quite get to the completed stage, but he had, in Blue Peter style, brought along one that he had made earlier.  Everyone loved his work.  There were other paintings on display around the room and there was also a very well presented brochure that James had created on his PC.

He stated that he likes to keep things simple.  To prove this, he went on to show us that he only works in two board sizes, and these are cut from MDF.  His palette is restricted mostly to the three primary colours with an occasional greem here and there.

The time seemed to fly pass very quickly, which is always a good sign.  Please have a look below at some of the pictures taken on the night,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The one "Done earlier".

 

 

 

Thanks to all the member who have commented about the blog.  Hopefully it will become a useful tool for passing on information, especially at the time between the end of season and the exhibition.  I will endeavor to keep you all up to date with preparations for the exhibition and any other news coming from the comittee meetings.

 

It was decided on Thursday night that there would be no end-of-season dinner this year.  This was due to a lack of numbers. 

 

I still have my Galleries on here.  If you would like to share something with us all, please send it to me as a jpeg and I will place it in the appropriate gallery for you.  Why not give us all a preview of what you intend to exibit this year.  A 'Work in progrtess' would also be of great interest to our fellow members.  Take photographs at different stages and email them all to me.  Why should all our demonstrators be 'hired in'?  There are plenty of skilled artists in the club who could teach us their techniques on this blog in step by step pictures.  I am a caricaturist and silhouette artist.  If anyone would like step by step pictures on this please let me know.

 

Thanks for looking in.  The days are stretching now, so hopefully those creative juices will be flowing.

 

Happy painting!

 

 

Ronnie Russell creates an atmosphere

Last Thursday's demonstration at the club was a pleasure for all who attended.  Ronnie Russell came to town and entertained us all with some wit, some banter, some stories . . . And an excellent lesson in painting.

Ronnie chose acrylic paint as his medium and the motif was a delightful little harbour scene from a photograph that he took himself.  The initial set up was very interesting.  His photograph had been transferred to a sheet of tracing paper on which he had drawn out a sixteen square grid.  The cotton canvas that he was using for the demo had been given a wash of Naples yellow mixed with white. The grid had been duplicated on here too, which served as an aid for his horizon line,  perspective and composition.

In no time at all the painting came to life under Ronnie's expert touch.  Acrylic paint is notorious for drying quickly, but Ronnie worked in all areas of the canvas, picking a colour and repeating it at various points.  This maintained the painting's balance nicely.  A dramatic cloudy sky took up one area of the canvas, clear skies occupied the other side.  A mixture of dark water showing the boats' reflections merged into a sparkling sunlit area.  All in all an excellent choice to demonstrate "A moment in time", as Ronnie put it.

I could go on, but please enjoy looking at the pictures from the night.  (saves me writing a thousand words! )

 

 

 

 

 

 

As it is nearing the festive period I would like to invite everyone to send in your Christmas type paintings.  Just send them to my email address and I will include them on the blog.  I have posted my Christmas painting here, along with Robert Clayton's Robin Redbreast painting.  Send them to morrisonb13@aol.com

 

Much more than a demo

James Davies was the artist last week.  'Travel and tricks' was the title - and that is exactly what we got.  This was much more than a demo, in actual fact the 'demo part' was crammed into the last 30 minutes of the evening.

What we enjoyed last Thursday was a little bit of everything. James started with drawing a simple line, then asked us to describe what exactly a 'line' is.  "History of a movement" was his take on it.  A simple statement that got the capacity audience thinking.  He then moved on to an in depth look at the other basics of drawing and painting - Texture, Pattern and Composition. James encouraged discussion and shared his inventive thought processes and techniques.

He also shared with us some of his adventures, which were both fascinating and at times very amusing.

A slide show of his work followed.  All of his earlier points about structure and inventiveness were there to see in the semi abstract landscapes that were on view.

James then did his 'Rolf Harris bit' as he put it.  Another abstract landscape was created before our eyes.  James dispensed with the need of a palette by squeezing the paints straight on to the canvas from the tubes.

 

Another nice fact that he shared with us was that he always has an empty frame at hand, ready to slip the canvas into at he end of a session.  It didn't really matter to him whether it was finished or not, he would mull it over and perhaps even change the subject completely on another day.





 

James Davies is a Glasgow born artist who studied drawing and painting at Glasgow school of Art.  He has work hanging in the Glasgow City Chambers and has been commissioned in the past to work in the Vatican.

 

What has been happening elsewhere?

Our art neighbours over in Dalry have been enjoying their own lecture on the science of colour.

Duncan Watt delivered a lecture on the truth about how we see colour and the way sight and brain interpretation can alter perception.

Here are some photographs of Duncan in action.

 

 

 



Paint a robin for C.....

Hi everyone.  This is just a quickie post between my fortnightly newsletter.  I have joined English artist, Jean Haines on her quest to raise money for  'C'. 

'C' standing fro Cancer, not Christmas.

Jean has been doing a step by step lesson of painting a robin on her blog, 

www.watercolourswithlife.blogspot.com.  Please paint a robin for your favoured cancer charity.  Ayrshire Hospice, McMillan nurses are two which come to mind.  Donate your robin painting, raffle it, auction it or find any other way to raise some cash through your work for your chosen cause.

Above is my attempt.  I am hoping to create some Christmas cards from this.
Speak to you shortly about this week's demo at the club.

Happy painting!

Janet Forry

What can I say?  We had to go looking for extra seats, such was the popularity of last week's demo.

The artist was Janet Forry, who came along and enthralled us all with her skills.  Janet visited the club last November and did a live oil portrait.  This year, her creation was a city street scene at night.  Times Square, New York.

Janet is a graduate of Edinburgh College of Art.  She has studied illustration and animation.  She has been involved in producing animation for film and television.

As well as doing demos and commissions, she is the Art & Development Officer for East Renfrewshire for visual arts.

Her linen canvas had been prepared with a coat of black acrylic for the street scene.  Janet's palette was bright and colourful, which came as no surprise when you think of all those neon lights.

As with the portrait, she applied the paint direct with no pre drawing.  Her brushes were everywhere, gradually bringing the scene to life.  This technique is best shown in photographs.  So here are some shots that I took from my 'ringside' seat.

Enjoy!

And finally the 'almost completed' painting.

Thanks once again Janet.  Can't wait to see what you produce next year.

Now some news of an exhibition coming up soon.  Here are the details . . .

DREW COCHRANE SOLO ART SHOW

The Champion Shell Inn

5 Schoolwell Street

STEVENSTON

18th - 21st November

Mon, Tues, Wed  6 - 10pm

Sun 1 - 9pm

Why not pop in and have a meal there too.  I have put forward this location as a contender for our end of season meal.