The Trumpet calls

Two LAS members, Ian & Anne Cook, are exhibiting some of their paintings and cards at the Trumpet Crossroads studio from July 2nd to August 31st2014 10;00am – 4:00pm

If you chance upon the right day you might find Ian at work on a new painting.

The studio is located 4 miles from Ledbury at the intersection of the A438 and the A417/A4172 next to Trumpet Garage – postcode HR8 2RA











More pictures follow

Exhibition 2014

Ledbury Art Society's annual three day exhibition opened to the public this morning (Saturday 24 May). We have fewer paintings on show this year but the quality is high. The good thing about having only 90 paintings is they can be displayed to advantage more readily. To give a quick impression of what's on show I took some photos while we were in the process of setting up. That's why some of the labels are not on the boards. When you visit you will also see that many paintings were repositioned. Hanging is a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle and finding, when you get to the last few pieces, that some you had already fitted in are not actually in the right place.

Postcard Art Auction

The following may be of interest to LAS members

Nigel Street - Aspire Watercolourist of the Year

Great news for LAS member Nigel Street. He's been named Aspire's Watercolourist of the Year.

Robin Holder - River Severn in Oils

We are very grateful to Robin Holder for stepping in at only a few hours notice to do this demonstration after Mike Skidmore was taken ill. When Robin came to us in February of the previous year he had used watercolour to paint the Severn at Kempsey. This time it was the Severn in Worcester showing the old Rowing Club boathouse behind the racecourse at Pitchcroft. You may have guessed that most of Robin's landscape work features the Severn. He does very little studio work and much prefers to get out in all winds and weathers ... and he's prepared to stand in flood waters while painting! I just hope he's been careful about where he stands in the last couple of weeks as the Severn reached record levels coming slightly higher at Barbourne than it did in 2007.

The demonstration painting was based on a painting that Mike had done a few weeks before. That had the sun coming from the left but for the demonstration he's repositioned it. Even in winter the sun would be higher in the sky when looking south but artists are allowed licence and this painting contre jour allows interesting light to play on the water. The photographs I took were so poor this time that I only include one here and that doesn't show the colour achieved. However, even with the original the tones did suggest moon rather than sunlight.

Do take a look at his website http://www.robinholder.co.uk/ to see more of what he does and find out about the tuition he offers.

Christine Russell - Still Life in Pastels

The still life composed ready for action

Christine achieved some brilliant and subtle colour with pastels. The photos don't do her justice.

She set up a triangular composition with a black backdrop and lit it from the front right. The diagonal with red  stripes in the photo is not part of the composition but the leg of her easel.

She began by quickly sketching in some outlines of the brass pot and the apples, making sure that the oval shape of the pot top was horizontal. She told us she works top to bottom and applies darks before lights. Blending with the fingers is only used for backgrounds. All other blending is done using the pastels themselves by applying pigment with a light touch.

For more information about Christine and to see some examples of her work and get details of workshops and holidays visit her website http://www.art-christinerussell.co.uk

The photos that follow show the demonstration at various stages of progress.

Charles Evans - Watercolour Landscapes

Lindisfarne Castle

Charles Evans enthralled and amuses us with his rapid painting and quick-fire humour. This painting of a scene in Northumberland took about 25 minutes to complete.

His approach is quite literally broad brush - he only had four brushes and although his support was almost vertical throughout that didn't create any problems. Any runs or large beads were soon picked up with the tip of a 1½" brush.

Once he had completed this painting he show us some techniques and after the break did a painting of Alnwick Moor in just 20 minutes. As well as my photos which show step by step progress of the two paintings in this demonstration you can see more on the News page of his website http://www.charlesevansart.com/index.htm