News



TUESDAY 19TH NOVEMBER - RODNEY KINGSTON - STILL LIFE IN OILS



Rodney studied art and design at Wimbledon School of Art then completed a degree in graphic design at Camberwell College of Arts


He then worked as a Graphic Designer on weekly print publications


Rodney is now a full time professional Oil Painter who prefers to work from life using traditional oils


For our demonstration Rodney used oil paint paper prepared with gesso and plotted out the still life objects with thinned down paint


From here background shadows were placed before working between cool and warm tones


Rodney is a contributor to The Artist magazine and appeared in Sky Arts Portrait of the Year 2019 and Landscape Artist of the Year 2017


Rodney thank you for a very interesting demonstration providing us with lots

of useful tips



Prepared Board and Still Life



Adding Shadows and Blocking in Shapes



Blocking in Colour



Addition of Mid Tones



Highlights Added



Rodney Kingston - Finished Picture



TUESDAY 15TH OCTOBER - CURTIS TAPPENDEN

A COASTAL SCENE IN WATERCOLOUR



Curtis is a well known performance artist and painter so this evening we were treated to a combination of his poetry and informative watercolour demonstration


His preference is to paint en plein air and for this demonstration he chose a scene of Margate to show us how he plans and progresses his work


Curtis explained that he does not usually do any under drawing but prefers to rough out the shapes on the horizon with blue paint which will disappear into the painting


He has a unique style where he scrumbles the paint into the paper to feel its scratchiness and uses a limited colour palette


Curtis works quickly allowing the strong colours to mix on the paper rather than on a palette giving a fresh and vibrant finish to his paintings


Thank you Curtis for an entertaining and informative evening

JC



Roughing out the horizon in blue paint



Colour added to sky and foreground



Building up detail



Adding more colour



Adding detail to background and foreground



Finished Picture - Curtis Tappenden



TUESDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER - ELAINE ALMOND - ABSTRACT PAINTING



Elaine enjoyed painting as a child but was not allowed to pursue this so instead embarked on a career in the Health Service


She retired in 2008 and decided to learn how to paint by participating in art workshops doing mostly landscapes but starting to play with structures and design


The breakthrough came in 2017 when she completed an intensive six month course in Abstract Painting and realised she needed to put her own emotions into the painting


Elaine commenced our demonstration by providing an outline of her favourite abstract painters and showed us the tools of her trade for mark making and applying paint


She likes to paint on large sheets of paper or 50cm square canvases and for our session used Fabiano watercolour paper and started by randomly spraying with water


This was followed by making loose marks with a Stabelo Pencil then she added acrylic paint explaining that she does not start with a plan for her paintings


This was a very interesting demonstration with Elaine encouraging us to give our views on how some of her paintings could be developed

JC



Stabelo Pencil and Acrylics on Fabiano watercolour paper



Picture before other elements added



Inspired by a local walk - Elaine Almond



Sunset at the Beach - Elaine Almond



Saxifrage - Elaine Almond



Collection of work - Elaine Almond



TUESDAY 16TH JULY - JOEL WAREING - PORTRAIT IN PASTEL



This evening we were treated to a session by a popular demonstrator who with his unique style and approach manages to make his work look effortless


His father who was a professional artist taught Joel to paint and he has built

on this to become a successful practising artist and teacher


For this demonstration Joel worked on black fine tooth paper for drama and commenced the portrait making marks with a red pastel pencil


He has a distinctive style holding the pastel like a paintbrush and applies using diagonal strokes without blending in between but instead allows additional application of soft pastels or pastel pencils to blend naturally on the paper


Joel works between light and dark and over the whole area of the portrait to keep the work loose


The session was enjoyed by all so thanks to Joel especially as he had an eventful journey to get to us

JC



Marking out with red pastel pencil



Holding pencil like a paintbrush



Making marks with pastel pencils



Adding soft pastels



Adding Lights



Moving between light and dark



Adding white accents



Adding detail with pastel pencil



Finished picture - Joel Wareing



TUESDAY 18TH JUNE - PRACTICAL SESSION



For this session three of our members made themselves available to demonstrate the techniques they use to create their artwork


ALLISON BAKER uses the Procreate App produced by Apple to create her digital art

She was able to guide us through the process by demonstrating the App and we were invited to have a go


GAIL MURRAY is known for her very loose and colourful paintings and she showed us the various watercolour palettes she uses dependant on the environment she is painting in

Gail had a range of sketchbooks to show us as well as demonstrating her techniques


NICK DARLOW has a unique style using Felt Tip Pens and drawing with a continuous line

He demonstrated how he approaches his work which is completed with confidence and speed


This was an interesting evening exploring different approaches to create art

Our thanks go to our three demonstrators for the evening



Allison Baker - Triptych Digital Art



Gail Murray - Watercolour



Nick Darlow - Felt Tip Pens



TUESDAY 21ST MAY - BLING FOR KINGS - KEITH DYMOND



Keith is an engineer by background and had a successful and varied career in specific and precise engineering


On retirement he went on an introduction to glass making course and his journey using this medium began concentrating on kiln fused glass


Following a stroke his passion for making glass became his rehabilitation and path to recovery


Keith commenced his talk by explaining how glass is made and its development through the ages from the cruder forms dating from 3500BC to the present time


Keith demonstrated how to cut glass into various shapes and lay in position to form patterns before being fired in a kiln


It was a very interesting evening providing an overview of the history and use of glass through the ages

JC



Keith using a diamond head to cut a circle of glass



Workstation for glass cutting



Cut strip for laying on glass circle



Fused glass before slumping



Cast Glass ornament



Fused and Slumped Glass Bowl



Pate de Vere description of technique



Pate de Vere Bowl - Keith Dymond