Low tide at Bosham

We have yet another response to the Painting Challenge and this one's particularly creative as Ian Fountaine has managed what Canute failed to do and has stopped the tide coming in. Yes, it was supposedly at Bosham that Canute commanded the waves without success. I bet Canute couldn't paint like Ian either.

Here's what Ian wrote when he sent in his entry. "Sorry to take so long to get around to your painting challenge.  In fact, by the time I got there the tide had gone out!  Actually this is with acknowledgement to Joe Francis Dowden who will demonstrate for us in October and who painted the same scene in this manner."

If you have ever visited Bosham you'll know that it is the houses that have a wall separating them from the road below and at high tide the road is often flooded.

LAS Challenge

I thought I had better have a go at the painting challenge I set last month and tackled it with watercolour. Some parts of my effort I found quite pleasing but I really fiddled too much with the grassy areas and the rippled water. I also found the more distant buildings a little too strong and there is one building near the right where I have distorted the perspective. I really should have used a smaller brush for the windows or at least avoid overloading it. My other problem had nothing to do with painting but everything to do with my ability with a scanner. Never mind, at least I've increased the amount of painting and drawing I do since Christmas.

Valerie Briggs - Pastel demonstration

A misty start to the day

Valerie Briggs produced two different pastel paintings during her demonstration of atmospheric landscapes. 

Her first is shown on the left. Both this and the subsequent painting were produced without reference materials. She obviously has an excellent visual memory which, I'm sure, is the result of well developed observational skills.

Before starting she gave us some useful guidance on types of pastels and the various supports available and how well they held the pigment. It seems the "dreaded velour" sheds the pigment rather rapidly. The demonstrations were on Canson Mi-Teintes. Looking at the images of the second demo painting I can see that the right hand edge of the paper is lightly embossed with the brand name - probably not something you would want to show up in your work.

First responder

by Diana Forsyth

Here's the first painting in response to the painting challenge based on a photograph of Bosham. Thank you Diana.

Now on tumblr

Yes, we have a second blog https://ledburyartsociety.tumblr.com/ This is a bit experimental so we'll see how it develops. You might like to look at some of the other blogs on tumblr as there are a lot of artists using it to show what they're doing.