Ledbury Community Day and Trip to Compton Verney

Our stall at Ledbury Community Day attracted a lot of interest from visitors as they were asked to vote for their favourite among those on display. Belinda Morgan's picture of the 'Market House' won 'Favourite Picture' in the public vote. We had a real buzz of interest and more than 100 voters. She was  followed closely by Tony Bateman and Ian Fountaine came third. More than 10 pictures got at least three votes. We had around fifteen 'In and Around Ledbury' pictures in all... As much as we could fit on the table. Thank you to all who supplied pictures. It's a pity we couldn't display more.

The weather was a challenge for anyone attempting to paint or draw outdoors but Meg Keeble found a nice corner under the Market House.

This event was our second of the week as 14 people enjoyed out coach trip to Compton Verney on the Wednesday. An enjoyable and worthwhile visit.

Poster Competition Winner

We didn't have a demonstration for our May meeting but had a 'Show & Tell' where we shared tips and sought advice from each other. We had also invited members to submit paintings suitable for use on a poster to advertise our Exhibition which runs over the weekend of 10-11 September. The theme set for this poster competition was 'In and around Ledbury'. The winning painting was a watercolour by Ian Fountaine showing rather deep snow in Church Lane. Well done Ian!

Workshop - Seascapes in Acrylic and Oil

One of Colin's paintings

Colin Ross Jack, who had demonstrated for us in February, led today's workshop at Wellington Heath Memorial Hall. We were glad to welcome a few non-members and to share a day's painting. Colin had brought plenty of his paintings and many photos to serve as inspiration for our own efforts.

He began with a brief introduction to his method which he was able to demonstrate very rapidly, not by painting but by bringing along six canvases, one for each stage. The stages were: 1. paint the canvas/board with thin acrylic in a mid tone; 2. choose a composition; 3. sketch composition with chalk; 4. sketch composition with thin acrylic paint using a small brush to follow chalk lines; 5. acrylic tonal underpainting, dark tones first than lightest lights then mid-tones; finish rocks with thicker acrylic and texture; 6. finally paint it in oil or acrylic ... enjoy!

Adrian Clamp - further progress

Adrian Clamp has done some more work on the portrait he began at this month's meeting and has sent us this image.

Adrian Clamp - Portrait in Mixed Media

Photo with grid

To see a range of works by Adrian Clamp visit his website http://www.adrianclamp.webs.com/

Adrian showed us how to paint a portrait from a photograph using acrylic paint initially and then adding some oil pastel over the top. He worked on paper which had previously been given a coat of cream emulsion paint so he wasn't working on a bright white surface. He had selected the area of interest in the photo and overlayed it with a grid that was used for scaling up.

The grid on the paper

To scale up he draws a vertical line, with a charcoal pencil, onto his paper where the left side of the painting will be and a horizontal line to mark the top. With the top left corner of the grid aligned with the intersection of these two lines, he draws a diagonal at the same angle as the grid for the photo. The other two sides of the rectangle to contain the
painting can now be drawn in. They will meet at some point on the diagonal. The other elements of the grid can now be drawn.

Using the grid as a scaling guide he added marks with paint to indicate the location of some of the key facial features and began his underpainting.

Seascape workshop and drawing master class

LAS are delighted Colin Ross Jack is coming to lead a workshop in April on painting a seascape in acrylics and/or oils. 

Date: Saturday 23rd April from 10am to 4pm

Venue: Wellington Heath Memorial Hall

Artist: Colin Ross Jack

Subject: Seascape

Media: Acrylics and/or Oils

Cost: £30 per person, payable in advance. Places are on a first come first served basis. To express interest please email ledburyartsociety@btinternet.com

The cut off date for Ledbury Art Society Members to sign up and pay for the workshop will be Friday, 8th April. After that date places will be offered to other Art groups and interested persons

The Print Shed is running a Drawing Master Class in May, led by Allison Neal who recently retired from Hereford College of Arts where she headed Fine Art. More details and a wide range of other courses on the web: www.theprintshed.net/courses

Seascape

Evie Whitfield was inspired to paint a seascape in acrylics following the February demonstration by Colin Ross Jack. She brought her canvas to our AGM today so plenty of members were able to congratulate her on such a successful painting.

We are also pleased to announce that Colin Ross Jack is going to run a workshop for us at Wellington Heath Memorial Hall on 23rd April.