HEMPTON

here is a photo of the group at Hempton. We have no display facilities in that hall so the only way to show off the work is to get everyone to hold it up, as  in the pic......
Mary has suggested that we put in a group entry to the exhibition in the Church at Bintree which will take place over the August Bank Holiday. It seems way ahead but of course these things need planning. I hope everyone will put in at least one piece of work. Some people have already framed their work! Any work is suitable. We will not have a theme, just have a look through your old drawings and paintings and see if there is anything you are pleased with and think might be suitable. Ask me if you aren't sure what to do. Its amazing how a bit of judicious cropping and mounting can smarten something up.

We will look at how to mount a piece of work up next term.

Beryl Cook

so here is the last 'joint' painting stolen from Beryl Cook. I thought this work might be useful in terms of style for the illustrations for 'One in a Million'.

the interesting thing for me is how simple yet expressive the faces are!

update

so here is some work from Marsham, watercolour and oil painting group, on Tuesdays.

and here is one of the Beryl Cook cribs from Marsham Wednesday group. More portraits to follow, and some illustrations from 'One in a Million'.

PORTRAITS

And here are some of the watercolour portraits, some in monotone, and some with a little more colour. I have put the emphasis on tone so that you don't worry about getting flesh tones at the expense of good drawing and tonal values. We recognise people by the way light falls on their features, not by how many pores they have on their skin or by how many eyebrow hairs they have!
( I've said this once or twice this last few weeks!)

getting the proportions right is tricky, but certainly getting better and better, and so what I notice now, when I come in and see work on the wall is that the fullness and volume of the head is still not always as bulky as it should be, so thats something to watch....

and here are paintings in pastel and oil pastel of someone who very kindly volunteered to come and sit for the Monday afternoon portrait group.....she sat and knitted, and wasn't as cross as she looks here, its just that when someone sits and works they tend to have a settled look on their face, they don't have a permanent smile! So its quite interesting to see the difference between the look of the watercolours above, which are all done from photos (they aren't Cawston residents) and these outstanding  portraits done from life...

still on a portrait theme.....

As part of the portrait work we have been looking at Beryl Cook's paintings, in acrylic paint, really just to notice how she gets a bit of emotion into a face in a minimal way, so they have a slightly cartoon like quality.
Anyway here are a couple, you can see that they are joint efforts

and there will be more to come when they are finished, so watch this space...

Update....

Some more rip off Shirley Trevena paintings from the 'oil painting ' group who are now doing water colours at Marsham!

and some portraits from the Wednesday Marsham group......

we have one more week and then half term so a week off, dates are at the top of the blog, and then four weeks till the end of term and Easter!

So more portrait work,  involving Beryl Cook, and then some illustrative work based on the gorgeously evocative song "One in a Million", by Hugh Lupton and Chris Wood. We will see what we can do with these new ideas!

Off to Hindolveston tonight, Saturday,  to see John Kirkpatrick in concert. 

January chores

You might wonder what this pic is about, well I bought a jam funnel to help with the annual marmalade making, and am so impressed with how efficient it makes the process, so that with the aid of silicone spoons which mean you can scrape very tidily as you go a much higher proportion of marmalade goes in to the jars!