Our press reports for the last twelve months, which may or may not have been published in local papers, are given below in reverse chronological order.
Finding Structure and Form in the Portrait
Local artist, Roger Clemens, gave the Axminster Art Society's February demonstration at Musbury Village Hall.
The interplay of light and shadow is the key to a successful portrait drawing; it is how an artist achieves volume in 3-dimension on a flat piece of paper and so brings the work alive. This was the central theme of a demonstration entitled "Finding Structure and Form in the Portrait" given to the February meeting of the Axminster Art Society by Roger Clemens, himself a professional portraitist.
Roger demonstrated through his portrait drawings why it is essential to know the basic structure of the human skull in order to understand where the light and shadows fall, and with what values. He also showed the importance of perspective in a life drawing and how to achieve the correct proportions while avoiding some of the errors that even professional portrait painters make. It became clear as he worked that hard lines had no place in his drawings but rather he relied on the clever use of light and shade, plus what he termed the "spectator's share", the ability of the viewer's eye to fill in gaps.
It was an afternoon packed with tips and advice which was well appreciated by the enthusiastic audience of members and friends.
A Meeting with Sparkle!
'Sparkling Seas' was the subject of a highly entertaining and informative demonstration given by Devon-based professional artist Rob Dudley to the Axminster Art Society on Wednesday 18th January. By way of an introduction Rob told members that a good drawing was at the heart of most paintings and he urged them to practice sketching as often as possible. He also said that when working with watercolours he preferred working with paper that had been stretched.
Since masking fluid is central to his technique, he spoke at some length on this difficult-to-handle substance and gave some excellent advice on its care, preparation and use.
Rob then proceeded to demonstrate how to achieve the effect of reflected sunlight on the sea using watercolours and masking fluid, emphasing how the direction of the brush strokes helps to add interest to the painting. 'Art is all about communication' he said, adding that a painting will be much more interesting if the artist puts in only enough detail to allow the viewer to complete the picture.
Let's Party!
On 14th December Axminster Art Society held its Annual General Meeting, which was followed by a Christmas party.
The large gathering of 47 members, Presidents, sponsors, friends and family enjoyed traditional fare, quizzes, an art auction (Father Christmas was the auctioneer),
a "bring-and-ballot" (a new take on a painting competition), a raffle with sumptious special prizes, a fudge stall and convivial company.
Three members of the committee stood down and three new members were elected to replace them. The occasion was a flourishing end to the past year and the promise of much to look forward to 2012.
Painting with the Presidents
A large gathering of members and friends were present at the Musbury Village Hall to hear an entertaining and informative talk by the two Joint-Presidents of the Society, Howard and Wendy Jones. Both Howard and Wendy are accomplished artists in their own right and have for many years made Devon their home although they paint and exhibit throughout England and France.
Howard began life as an artist in Shropshire but soon was attracted to the rugged scenery of Devon and Cornwall where he concentrated on seascapes and the many streams and tors of Dartmoor. Using his paintings to illustrate his points, he explained how the use of mixed media and thickly applied paint (often put on with a knife) brought life and texture to each painting. His intention was not to produce a faithful copy of the scene but rather to be inspired by the interaction between rocks and water, picking out the interplay of light and shadow. Particular examples of this use of tonal values were his paintings by moonlight and several done in the harsh sunlight of southern France. Howard prefers painting on a large canvas and has always believed that an artist must paint what he likes and not what others want.
Wendy also began by giving a brief account of her early, formative years which taught her to be true unto herself. She therefore bucked the then trend for a 'free and loose' approach to painting choosing rather to spend time planning and executing her works. She proceeded to show the meeting many examples of her paintings, which included flowers of various types, broader scenes of gardens and meadows as well as compositions of lichens, pieces of wood and seashells. In all her work, she demonstrated a clever use of colour and composition.
Both Howard and Wendy continue to be active both in the local Society and in their home town of Exmouth. The Chairman, Rob Chappel, thanked them both warmly for their most interesting presentation.
Watercolour Journeys - Where to Start
The Society welcomed back Lynda White for this demonstration.
One of our members has kindly written up a report, which will be posted here shortly - in the meantime
here is the picture that Lynda knocked up in no time at all after the technical overview.
Impressive!
Shame you can't read the whole of the apron - it says "Stand back this could get messy!"
Summer Exhibition at the Axe Vale Festival
For the second time running one of Ron Hall's paintings was voted the People's Favourite, this was "The Swollen Axe".
The raffle, for an original oil painting by Roy Lang, was won by Colin Manson of Honiton, who is pictured here receiving his prize.
WILD COLOUR - Matisse Based Still Life
Once again, Axminster Art Society welcomed past President, Robert Julier, to demonstrate to members and visitors.
This time Robert's subject was Matisse Based Still Life and the audience watched him assemble various items and paint them in vivid colours in the style of Matisse. We cannot show a picture of Robert's work, but here is one of Matisse's.
Axminster Art Society's Spring Exhibition
Axminster Art Society's Spring Exhibition was held in Trinity House and had over 100 exhibits including framed paintings, folios, handicraft and greetings cards.
The public voted for their favourite picture, which was Ron Hall's "First Home", an action packed picture of a horse race.
The raffle, an original pastel portrait by Jon Davies, was won by a member who generously donated it back to the Society for auctioning at a later date.
Look out for the Society's next exhibition which will be held in their own marquee at the Axe Vale Festival on June 25th and 26th.
Painting Flowers in Acrylics
Axminster Art Society's demonstration on 20th April was by Lyn Whiteman who illustrated painting flowers in acrylics.
The lilies bought a few days previously remained firmly in bud but undaunted, Lyn proceeded to paint her flowers using her imagination to change the buds into full blooms. Acrylic inks were used a lot as Lyn loves the vibrancy of the colours. She also used acrylic paint including some pearlescent colours.
Lyn is an intuitive artist - she began by sketching in outlines but quite early on in the painting she allowed her imagination and feelings to take over to create a very expressive and flowing finished painting. Lyn always puts a lot of thought into planning a new painting over a period of time before making a start. She works out her composition and colour scheme in advance, sometimes but not always making sketches. When the time comes to put paint to paper, whilst bearing in mind her mental preliminary planning, she allows her creativity to take over. The finished painting was full of flowing movement and harmonious colour, loosely painted and verging on the abstract in places. Little attention was paid to perspective or accuracy and this gave the painting the appeal of freshness and simplicity - altogether a most enjoyable and instructive afternoon.
Portraits in Pastels
At its March meeting Axminster Art Society members and visitors were given a demonstration by Jon Davies on painting portraits in pastels.
Jon has, deservedly, earned a fine reputation as a portrait artist, having taken commissions to paint Harry Secombe, Les Dawson and Danny la Rue among others. In fact the audience was treated to two sessions, carried out in Jon's own individual style of instruction combined with a constant mix of humorous anecdotes.
Firstly, using a "Conte" crayon, Jon sketched a face to demonstrate the basic proportions necessary to create a realistic likeness. These proportions generally always remain the same for every subject. He also showed how to make effective use of shadows and light.
The second demonstration, a portrait in pastels of John-O, a tramp of indeterminate age, was accompanied with an entertaining tale describing how Jon met John-O some years ago, on a freight train travelling from New York to San Francisco. With broad strokes on sugar paper, Jon combined yellows and reds for nose and cheeks, blue for eyes and shadow areas, and golden yellow for the forehead. The whole portrait was blended with a layer of peach pastel, resulting in a dynamic portrait full of warmth and character.
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