Poster competition winner

Congratulations to Sarah Amery whose picture of the Malvern Hills was judged the most suitable for use on the poster to advertise the Annual Exhibition which, this year, is on 12 and 13 September in the Burgage Hall. Sarah has deliberately echoed the style of the railway posters of the 1930's and when the poster is produced it will have a type face that is also reminiscent of those posters.

Paul Weaver - Market Scenes in Watercolour

The end product

I (Richard Hyde) missed this demonstration as I was in Italy at the time. A great pity as I love market scenes and Paul seems to have created something interesting based on three photographs. Andy Castro took some photos as well as working the projector, so thank you Andy. I have cropped a few of his photos and included them here.

Paul Weaver is a full-time artist and popular tutor with many art groups. Townscapes, markets and the bustle of the city are favourite subjects, as well as landscape, marine and coastal. He currently specialises in watercolour and also works in line and wash, oils, coloured pencil and mixed media. You'll find out more about him if you visit his website www.paulweaverart.co.uk

The images that follow shows work in progress

Ledbury Community Day - Saturday 6th June

In case you haven’t heard, Ledbury Art Society is participating in Ledbury Community Day on Saturday 6th June which will give us a wonderful opportunity to showcase our work and the society. We will have a selection of members’ artwork on display (from 10 a.m. until 2 pm) and we will be selling cards, prints and paintings inspired by the local area. Members are invited to submit unframed pictures, prints and cards for display and/or sale. We shall also be inviting visitors to our stand to join in with a drawing competition (on postcards).

We will have our stand in the Burgage Hall and there are several ways you can help. The first is by providing material for display/sale. The reason we are asking for unframed pictures only is due to limited space. The second is that we are asking if there are any members who would like to set themselves up around the town, e.g. outside the Master’s House (weather permitting!) as “roving artists”. The third is that we need some volunteers to man the stand between the hours of 10 a.m. to 12 noon and 12 noon to 2 p.m. Even if you can only manage 1 hour in that timeframe it would be much appreciated and Christine Castro will be organising a rota.

We will be logging sales during the day and it is suggested that 10% of sale proceeds go to Ledbury Art Society and 10% to the Mayor’s nominated charity.

We would suggest that you either bring your pictures, prints and cards to the next meeting of the Society on Tuesday 12th May or bring them along to our stand on Community Day. Title, name and price should be attached to all work for sale.

Finally, can we remind you all about our poster competition, the theme of which is the Malvern Hills in homage to the theme of the Ledbury Poetry Festival which is “Remembered Hills”. The winner’s painting will be used for the poster advertising our annual exhibition in September. Judging will take place at our next meeting on 12th May so could you please bring your entries along. Entries would be perfect for sale or display at the Community Day and after!

In the meantime, if you need any further details, please don’t hesitate to contact a member of your committee.

Thank you in advance.

Ledbury Art Society Committee

David Wilcox - Landscape in Watercolour

Landscapes are not what we associate with David Wilcox. He is, and sees himself as, a figure painter. Last time he came to us it was dancers in watercolour. This was his first landscape demonstration and the first time in a long while that he had attempted a landscape, though he used to produce many when he lived in Devon. He based his demonstration painting on two photographs: one a Dartmoor village, the other a snow scene painting he had done back in the 1980s.

David works very loosely in watercolour and for his sky he worked quite quickly wet-in-wet. Having his board nearly vertical led to some challenges as wet paint ran rather too readily from the sky. The next step was to wash in some greens for the foliage and then he moved on to put in some shadows on the buildings before adding some texture to them. Once he had added darks for the yew trees in the churchyard the battle to balance out tonal contrasts began. There were several occasions where he found some areas were not dark enough. I'm sure for several of us this is a familiar process when a painting needs constant adjustment.

Yet again, a good demonstration. Attendance was not so good with only sixteen members present on this occasion. It was probably too soon after Easter.

The images that follow show David's paintings at various stages of progress.

Pastel and painting workshops with illustrator David Brindley

I am including information about a workshop which, although it has nothing to do with Ledbury Art Society, is happening not too far away and it may be of interest to members.

Book in to a beginners workshop to learn techniques of blending, smudging and colour layering. Sessions are approximately 2 hours long and will be held from 10.30am on Friday mornings at RAFT Newent on the Market Square. Price per workshop £15 and includes light refreshment and all materials. Places are limited to 5 only so please book early to avoid disappointment. Telephone 01531 828280 or email info@raftclothing.co.uk. Start date to be confirmed soon.

All students will produce a still life of fruit for the first workshop.

If you would like to see some watercolours produced by David Brindley then take a look at http://originalwatercolourpaintings.com/# 

Geoff Rowswell - watercolour landscape

The finished painting

Geoff Rowswell stepped in at very short notice for this demonstration and we're glad he did because this was an excellent demonstration of watercolour painting which he followed up with a lively question and answer session. He also showed us some of the his work that he currently has on show in his gallery, which is over the Farrow & Ball shop in Ledbury.

Geoff encouraged us toward a looser style and the omission of too much detail.

Two things particularly impressed me with the demonstration were: [1] the use of a very limited palette (I think he used only Ultramarine, Burnt Sienna and Raw Umber); [2] the light that seems to shine out of this picture.

Geoff had done his drawing in advance and had applied masking fluid to the trunks of the foreground birches. The images that follow show the progress of the painting.

AGM and programme changes

3rd February 2015

There has had to be a change to the programme for this year. Firstly Val Ridler has undergone eye surgery and so very kindly Cherly Clayton the artist book for November has kindly swapped with her.  Therefore on Tuesday 3rd February Cheryl will be demonstrating and coloured pencil drawings of wild animals.

3rd March 2015

The AGM.  Please do make every effort to support your society and attend the AGM.  AGM papers will be available at the 3rd Feb meeting and mailed to those who do not attend.  You will find a proposal form from which you will see we are seeking nominations for Chair, Treasurer, Secretary and general committee places.

14th April 2015

April has proved a very difficult month for a number of reasons but I'm pleased to let you know that David Wilcox will be demonstrating watercolour landscapes for the society.  David graduated with an Honours Degree in Fine Art in 1978 followed by a PGCE at the Birmingham College of Art and Design.  He has been a professional artist since 1983 and has work in collections across the British Isles.

Lucille Eveleigh