NEWS
Check out our latest Budleigh Salterton Art Club news!
ALEX BOON DEMONSTRATION
and workshop
For our March club meeting we had Alex Boon give a talk on Nature Journaling. He was initially inspired by the Diary of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden which he was given as a gift by his grandmother. In 2016 following the decision to leave an academic career, studying and teaching environmental science, he decided to move to the rural southwest and it was then that he began nature journaling. At the time he didn’t know that that was what it was called, and he found it by accident through the way he expressed his connection with nature.
Alex advised club members to keep it to a short and manageable time, 10-20 mins a day, and that the nature of the journal lends itself to doing something different every day, playing with composition, adding observations, poetry, and feelings in written form too. Alex sketches out in pencil first and stressed to us to make sure that you really like what you are drawing before committing- appreciation is part of the experience. Alex takes elements of the nature and not only records them using Inktense coloured pencils, but he also creates his own inks using the natural materials within an environment such as through crushing leaves or adding chalk dust from nearby cliffs.
This means that part of the nature is encapsulated within the journal too. He also does some contact printing as well as pressing plants and flowers into the journals. He found that he learnt so much about the environment he was in through discovering it in person, and then researching things which caught his eye - specific plants, their flowering seasons etc. He showed us his ‘perpetual nature journal’ which has a different format – it is a year split up into time periods of maybe a few weeks each. He works through the dates in the book year on year adding a new drawing. He found that this way of journaling built up on his understanding of those particular plants that appeared at certain times of year, but also highlighted to him his progression in drawing over time. Club members remembered doing art journaling as children and how at school it was a regular thing. Alex is keen to inspire us all to step into nature, notice, and respond to it, and through nature journaling you can record your connection with the natural world in any way that suits you.
Following on from the demo, a group of Club Members attended a workshop with Alex. They found it to be very mindful and will endeavour to keep their own art journals.
Fairlynch exhibition open 29.3.24 - 28.10.24
We are excited to announce the opening of our exhibition at the Fairlynch Museum in Budleigh Salterton! Please see the poster below. The exhibition will be running until the end of October so there is plenty of time to check it out. The Fairlynch Museum is a lovely place to visit in its own right, and we are very pleased to be exhibiting there. Artwork is for sale, and is all produced by our extremely talented club members, who are all local artists. Below is a first look at some of the exhibits.
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
John Washington DemonstraTION
For our February Club Meeting we had club member John Washington give us a demonstration on ‘An Introduction to Portraiture’. With a live sitter, John demonstrated how to pin-point specific areas of the face, roughly measuring each in relation to the other by eye. The main features included were the top of the forehead, brow, nose and the middle of the mouth. John explained that in order to get a likeness, no matter how much an artist hones in on detail, that if the proportions are incorrect the likeness will not be there. He said that portraiture is a skill that can be built upon by practise and repetition. John explained how he finds that through painting from life, he is able to better capture the character of the person than through a photograph. He used a limited palette of oils which consistent of 4 basic colours- white, black vermillion red and yellow ochre which he used to block in slabs of dark and colour. Before our eyes, we could see the painting emerge and we were in awe of his ability to capture such a great likeness live and in a relatively short space of time!
John wanted us all to know that portrait painting is a process which includes encountering and overcoming hurdles and to not give up!
SPRING LUNCH
On the 14th February, Club Members gathered for a Spring Lunch held at The Holt. The food was remarked as being delicious and club members also enjoyed a quiz. It was great to have a social gathering at the new Cricket Club, have a chat and take in the wonderful views over the Otter Estuary. Thank you for all who attended- it was great to see you.
HELEN PLANT DEMONSTRATION
For our January Club meeting we had a demonstration by Helen Plant on wet-felting and needle-felting.
She showed us how to lay the merino wool in layers, creating a composition, before beginning the bonding process. She sprayed the wool with washing-up liquid and water and massaged the fibres with her hands. She used alternative temperatures of water to rinse the wool and began a rolling process. This is quite a laborious technique which demands a lot of time and repetition but is also quite relaxing too. The result of this process is a singular formed bonded piece which in essence becomes a ‘painting in wool’. She then showed us how to work into this with the needle-felting tools and explained how she often uses her sewing machine to do free-form embroidery over the top. Helen showed us a video of the work she does with The Open Door Community Craft Room in Exmouth which is a space to learn and share craft skills, with a variety of projects and activities on offer. It provides a relaxed, welcoming place to make friends. Club members were impressed to hear about such a worthwhile project and to see first hand how to create a piece of artwork using a different medium.
Tree festival
Our BSAC Christmas tree is up! This year we have joined many of the local clubs and initiatives for the festival in the Temple Methodist Hall. Our tree includes an array of individually hand painted wooden baubles, and handmade mini palettes to add to our theme! We decided to name our tree ‘last Christmas I gave you my art’!
MILL WATER SCHOOL ART EXHIBITION
Budleigh Salterton Art Club raised money for Mill Water School from our exhibitions this year. It’s great to see what that led to. They had their own series of workshops led by local artist Nic George focusing on the styles of different artists (such as Picasso) which the pupils used to influence their own designs. It culminated in their own art exhibition with the theme ‘All About Me’. We helped to set up the exhibition and were very happy to have a sneak peak at all of the wonderful artwork. We felt very proud of being a part of this experience with Mill Water School and would like to extend our thanks to not only them for using the money in such a meaningful way, but also to all that have supported our exhibitions this year and hopefully we can help to nurture our future generations of artists.
liese webley demonstration
For our November club meeting we had Liese Webley demonstrating for us. Over the past 10 years Liese Webley has been drawn to coastal semi-abstract painting, and the time she spent in Cyprus ignited her love of the bright and rich colour palette she gravitates towards today. Liese said 'I am less focused on making my artwork representative, but more focused on where it takes me.' Liese demonstrated her personal approach to abstraction and talked us through how she usually starts sketching from life or photos but with a simplified methodology- noticing the main shapes that catch her eye, and what interests her. She creates layers and layers of underpainting which gives her artwork depth and texture, with oil being added with a palette knife to block in sections. She described this evolution beautifully as 'the history of the piece'. She follows an intuitive approach when painting, and makes decisions on colour based on what she is drawn to rather than being representational. She explained how the juxtaposition of certain colours set each-other off, and she often adds a newly mixed colour into many paintings at once, and watches as the paintings naturally evolve through this technique, feeling what seems right. Through working on 3 or 4 paintings in tandem, she has time to step back and look for balance.
Liese’s demo inspired us all to try abstraction in our own artwork and to listen to, and trust our own intuition as artists.
liese webley workshop
On Thursday 30th November, Liese Webley held a workshop for club members. The words of the day were- colour, balance, simplify, and movement.
After a demonstration of Liese Webley’s abstract work the day before, club members taking part in the workshop were keen to do their own interpretations. Liese continued to explain that shapes and colour were the order of the day and to not over-complicate things. She advised about layering paint and shapes over each other (waiting for the first layers to dry using hairdryers). Club members found her process of having a couple of pieces of work on the go to be helpful for them and that going back and forth stopped them from trying to add too much detail. Liese explained that a helpful way to get rid of the tension in slavishly following a photo is to sketch without looking at the paper. Club members managed to create something that showed what they had learnt and had enough information to have another go, taking these methods into their own artworks in future!
phil creek WORKSHOP
On Friday, 17th November, Club Vice President Phil Creek held an Acrylic Workshop.
Phil explained that he uses a very limited amount of tools- a synthetic flat ¾ inch brush and a rigger. He recommended Windsor and Newton Galeria Acrylic paint as he finds it has a good flow. He often uses an unprimed Mill board, sometimes known as grey board. He explained at the workshop that he doesn’t draw out his composition in pencil, but actually dives straight in outlining the large shapes with paint. Part of his method to create the effect of his work is to minimise the amount of paint strokes used. He suggested that the group could try and do a painting in only 50 paint strokes. It really made them think about where the paint was going and what impact each brush stroke had. They followed a demonstration with their own effort, which, as you can see from the photos, turned out really well! Phil then allowed the group to use his photos of snowy landscape scenes as guidance. It was a great day with lots of inspiration!
MARK GIBBONS DEMO AND WORKSHOP
For our October club meeting we had a watercolour demo from Mark Gibbons. He is an artist from Cornwall who has been painting all his adult life.
With watercolour, he suggested that we don't think of a painting as a quilt of many colours but to think of it as coloured cellophane which you put your layers on top of each other- starting with light tones first and then when dry, start the next layer. He advised to match your size of painting to your paint palette and to consider the amount of paint coverage before you start. He also explained how he finds it useful to sketch out his idea with a 4B pencil, which can be rubbed out with a putty rubber once the paper is dry. He explained his process of keeping the paper flat- his method being to use Blu-tack to stick it to the board whilst painting and then to mist the back of the paper and put it in between plates of glass with a weight on top for a day or two.
He also mentioned complimentary colours to bring out the different elements, hence the blue boat which emphasises the peach sky reflected in the water. He certainly made the painting look easy to do and his way of painting achievable for all.
Mark has written a blog with lots of tips and apparently this winter he may put them altogether into a book which will be something to look forward to!
I think I can speak for everyone when I say he was very interesting and funny to listen to as well as informative!
A number of Art Club members joined Mark for a watercolour workshop in the afternoon. They described how they tried attentively to follow his clear progress of layering the watercolour and produced some great results. View the slider gallery to see the work produced.
'A very worthwhile workshop with Mark who thoroughly knows his subject.'
.jpeg)