Tuition in Watercolour

Robin Holder, who will be our demonstrator in February has supplied the following information:

Weekend, Tuition in Watercolour - Painting the Fabulous Scenery Along the Mawddach Trail and Estuary with Landscape Artist, Robin Holder

2 places available. 6th & 7th October. For full details please go to www.robinholder.co.uk.

Nearer to home, Nigel Street is running two separate watercolour tuition weekends at Trumpet Corner on 6/7th and 13/14th October. See the post on this site

Galleryvanting

h.Art has given us a week of galleryvanting around Herefordshire - Galleryvant definition: to go about in search of pleasure in many places where art is displayed (etymology 2012: combination of gallery and gallivant). This is the third year we've done this since moving to Herefordshire and has introduced us to new artists and off-the-beaten track venues and villages we might not have discovered without art as the incentive. Sometimes it was a great relief to find another h.Art sign when driving along a narrow lane with grass growing down the centre.

We also managed some more urban settings - Hereford, Leominster and, of course, Ledbury.

Image and Word

A must see exhibition at a must visit venue - Monnow Valley Arts Middle Hunt House, Walterstone, Herefordshire HR2 0DY (h.art venue 10). Superb views, four acres of garden complete with sculptures and carved lettering. The Image and Word exhibition features 50 prints and limited edition prints from the Julian Francis Collection of Prints and Private Press Books. Additional prints and books are available for sale, including prints by Eric Gill, David Jones and John Buckland Wright.

the most comprehensive exhibition of 20th and 21st century wood engraving I've ever seen

Trudy Friend

Trudy Friend gave us a wonderful demonstration yesterday and our new projector gave everyone a clear view of her eight basic strokes for drawing and painting. She worked rapidly to produce a variety of drawings that made use of these strokes and gave a clear running commentary on what she was doing. Very impressive stuff.

If you want to find out more about Trudy and her books and DVDs then visit her website www.trudyfriend.co.uk This also has some YouTube video clips so you can watch her work. Here's one of them:

Trudy worked into one of drawings with a water brush - something many of us had not seen before. The Pentel water brushes are available from www.saa.co.uk

Painting Holidays

Have you ever been on a painting holiday? It would be great if members could use this blog to share something of their experiences pass on any recommendations for others. Brian Steventon has sent information about a painting holiday he will be leading to Cinque Terre, Italy. The area certainly looks very colourful.

You will be able to see additional information on the Authentic adventures website : http://www.authenticadventures.co.uk/painting-holidays/italy/cinque-terre.aspx There's also a trip to Sardinia on 29 June.

Glass Festival



Market stall in 2008


The International Festival of Glass is celebrating 50 years of international studio glass and 400 years of glass making in Stourbridge. It runs from 24-27 August at 8 venues. The main festival site is the Ruskin Glass Centre & Glasshouse Arts Centre - home to an array of glass and craft studios and location of the British Glass Biennale. See www.ifg.org.uk for more detail.


I thoroughly enjoyed the festival when I visited in 2008 and look forward to another good day out. The Bead Fair at the Bonded Warehouse, Canal Street is full of life and colour. Broadfield House Glass Museum has one of the best glass collections in the world and well worth a visit at any time. Unfortunately redevelopment in Stourbridge town centre means no open air stalls for glass makers to sell their wonderful creations.

Even if you are not as enthusiastic about glass as I am, a visit to the Festival will give masses of inspiration for your paintings.

Portraits in Oil

I'm told there are 3 spaces left for the 2 day Introduction to Portraiture and Oils workshop run by Mike Skidmore on August 11th & 12th 2012. 

 The cost of the 2 day workshop is £150 and if you go to Mike's website www.mikeskidmoreonline.com you can find out more about the man himself and his workshops. The link for the 2 day workshop is http://www.mikeskidmoreonline.com/new-to-portraits-in-oils.html

 I would value comments from members about advertising activities like this. I don't want to crowd the blog with adverts but it some might find it useful to know what is going on not too far from Ledbury