Pascale Bigot - Musicians in Soft Pastel

Pascale is a French born artist who has lived in England for more than 20 years. She has developed her own techniques for soft pastel using strong colours and very contrasting tones, as can be seen in the detail where she is in the process of adding blacks and dark browns to provide contrast for the musician and keyboard. She is also beginning to add outlines for the figures.

To see more of her work visit her website www.pascalebigotart.com

Her supports are usually a white or ivory sandpaper which is not at all abrasive. I think it was Clairefontaine Pastelmat.

Composition is very important for her and she can spend hours sketching until she is happy with the composition. For this demonstration she brought with her a prepared drawing done with graphite pencil. This included blocking in some of the darker shapes and shadows with pencil. Pencil marks can be erased to make corrections to the drawing, something that is almost impossible with pastel. This was a technique she developed for the students she was teaching and now uses it herself.

The drawing can be seen to the right. The next step after fixing with extra hold hairspray, is to add a lightly applied layer of white pastel. This makes it much easier to blend colours which are added subsequently. Light colours are added first and then darker colours above. Blending is done with the fingers, working from light into dark. Smaller areas, such as the musicians' fingers, are blended using a colour shaper.

The images that follow show the work in progress. The painting was not completed at the end of the demonstration but Pascale has promised to send an image of the finished painting.

Best in Show

In recent years we've asked visitors to our exhibition to vote for 'Best in Show'. As there is always such a variety of styles, and the overall standard of work on show is high, this is no easy task for our visitors. Yet so many do take part and often take a second look at everything before casting their vote.

Six paintings had ten or more votes. Here are our 'Six of the Best':

1. Boats at Lyme - Richard Hyde
2. "Waiting for the Ferry" Symonds Yat - Belinda Morgan
3. Birch Wood - Ann McKnight
4. "Serendipity" - Belinda Morgan
5. Bluebell Path - Ann McKnight
6. A Street in Robin Hoods Bay - Anita Robins

Here are images for the top five:

More Exhibition pictures

We had a very enjoyable Preview Evening on Friday which was opened by Councillor Annette Crowe, Mayor of Ledbury who made a brief and appreciative speech . Donations collected at the Preview go to the Mayors Charities: Salters Hill Charity http://www.saltershill.org.uk/ and Love Ledbury http://www.loveledbury.org/

 We had nearly two hundred visitors on Saturday. The sales table and cards were doing particularly well. Visitors obviously enjoyed the range of paintings on display but sales were less than hoped for.

Here are some more photos of the exhibits.

Sneak Preview

Here's your chance to see some of the pictures in the exhibition which will be opened tonight by the Mayor of Ledbury at the Preview. The Exhibition opens to the public on Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 4:30 pm. Entry is free but we're hoping to sell some pictures, raffle tickets and the many books and art materials on the sales table.

The pictures below are only a sample of what's on show. There should be more images posted over the weekend.

Tim Nash - Landscape in Mixed Media

Our Autumn/Winter programme got of to an excellent start with Tim Nash demonstrating how he works in mixed media.

What you see above is the end of a journey that began with looking at several textured surfaces including several old paintings that could be distressed and changed in a variety of ways to make them more interesting.

The painting surface of choice was mount board to which torn up pieces of textured wall-paper had been added using PVA. Generally, the textured paper was added to the lower half of the board so that a 'quieter' area was left elsewhere.

You can get some idea of the textures from the image on the right here, particularly if you zoom in.

And, yes, there is a painting that looks suspiciously like the one we ended up with!

But on closer inspection it proves to be far less interesting.

You can see that more clearly in the next image.

All in September

September looks a busy month.

We start with Tim Nash demonstrating Landscape in mixed media on 1st September. Then we have our exhibition on 12 and 13 September in the Burgage Hall. Don't forget to send or hand in your entry forms by 1st September.

Then there's h.Art - Herefordshire's Art Week - 9 days of open studios from 12 to 20 September inclusive. This is usually a real feast of art and there are plenty of venues in and around Ledbury if you don't feel able to venture further afield. For more information and to download a map and guide visit http://www.brightstripe.co.uk/services/herefordshire-art-week-visitor-information/ 

Featured in Leisure Painter

Leisure Painter has a  report from Ledbury Art Society on page 62 of its September issue and features Sarah Amery's painting of the Malvern Hills.

This is the image used for the posters advertising our exhibition on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 September - 10am to 4:30pm on both days. The exhibition in the Burgage Hall, Church Lane, Ledbury will be formally opened by the Mayor of Ledbury at the preview evening - 7pm on Friday 12 September.

I look forward to the usual range of good quality paintings and hope for even more entries than last year. My own pictures are not as consistent as I'd like but I'm going to risk public scrutiny and put in at least four. I've always found other art society members to be very encouraging and it's good if our exhibition also reflects the differing abilities of the membership. So don't be shy - get your entry form to me by 1st September!

September 1st is also the day for our first demonstration of the Autumn/Winter programme when Tim Nash will be painting a landscape in mixed media.

Richard Hyde