2017 AGM Wednesday 22nd February

In the absence of our chairman, Clive Tyler, vice chairperson, Alex Johnson, stepped in and did an excellent job of handling the 2017 AGM. Reluctantly Clive will step down as chairman as he is currently in Johannesburg with his wife who sadly requires frail care after a stroke last year.

Enough members attended - 21 present and various proxies received - to pass the usual motions and mention was made of needing to amend the constitution as the current work was penned at a time when the FHAS had many, many more members. This will be on the agenda later in the year and with the new committee - essentially the same as the old one with two new members, Cynthia and Maureen. And very welcome they will be.

Sue Green gave the financial report - not a very healthy one, unfortunately - and secretary Ann took notes. We need more artists, more members!!!

THE MORE MEMBERS WE HAVE THE MORE EXCITING OUR EVENTS WILL BE ABLE TO COME.

The AGM notes will be circulated later for all members of the Society.

 

After the business was terminated, there was time for a glass of something (wine or juice) and some nibbles which Ann had so kindly brought.

Next it was the art history quiz devised to stretch the mind. Most people correctly answered over half the questions and the winning couple were Karen and Els. The prize gifts comprised automated pencil sharpeners and more. Much appreciated by the artists!

To round off the evening, John S gave us a hilarious impression of Donald Trump. We were a little lost as to the relevance of this to the AGM but it was a very amusing ending to a pleasant evening.

Thanks Rob for recording the event.

Paint out at the Range, Tokai

It's as pretty as a picture and a great venue. Thank you John, or was it Clive, for introducing us to this little church. Behind it, there is the Range with a small place to eat. Around the church, and by the Cape Dutch homestead, there are magnificent old eucalyptus and other imposing trees.



And while the dozen or so artists turned up on time and had a good morning sketching, one of the best aspects of Tuesday's paint out was that we left the hurricane strength (ok, a bit of an exaggeration) wind back on the coast and enjoyed just mild zephyrs and cool shade here in Tokai. Does it get better?

Hard at it, John and Angela hardly paid heed to the barking dog intend on sending off a rather large male baboon that was not welcome with our group. He left, and we continued peacefully.

We were particularly taken by the blue of the sky and the very verdant foliage: a surprise as most ofthe peninsula is crying out for rain and water.

We were all absorbed and hardly noticed Rob, artist and photographer, wending his way around the area and capturing the concentration.

Let's do it again and hope the weather is as favourable.

Coloured pencil workshop

Eighteen members of the Society turned up for the coloured pencil workshop run by Fiona Nichols.

This was coloured pencil, as in wax and oil based coloured pencils, not those that are water-soluble or called aquarelle. Faber-Castell's Polychromos, Lyra Rembrandt's coloured pencil range, and the American Prismacolor were all used.

Those water-soluble pencils that are also popular here will have to wait for another workshop for they too require a different technique and different papers.

We were allocated the Blue Room at Nerina this time and took the airy patio room beside it. Unfortunately there weren't any decent tables so the workshop was done on our knees!

Fiona demonstrated some usual techniques with this particular medium, brought out a few of her works and then also showed how a different surface also changed the nature of a coloured pencil - on a sanded surface, it becomes something like pastel.

There were some apples and coloured peppers to drawn, and two orchids - though they were not all very visible to the whole group! Aah well...

It proved an informative and enjoyable afternoon despite the slight inconvenience.

Thanks Alex for taking the photos.

Want to put your pix online?

Sure you do!




Come along to the AGM or regular meetings and let's see how we could do this. Could we sell online? Could we feature your works regularly?

Contact us on the COMMENTS section below.

Coloured pencils, coloured paper - not what you think!

Tuesday 14th February Fiona Nichols will be demonstrating how to use colour pencils to create vibrant pictures - this isn't coloured pencil as you know it!





Participants are asked to bring along their own coloured pencils and some good paper and she will show tricks and short cuts to producing interesting and original works. She'll also bring along some WIPs and some mistakes to show how we can learn from these and improve skills.

USING COLOURED PENCILS

The key to successful coloured pencil work is, after good drawing skills, layering. Unlike the process of using water-based coloured pencils, wax and oil based pencils benefit from multiple layers: as many as your paper and patience can take. This fills in the ‘hills and valleys’ of your paper and brings richness of colour to your work. So, the process is fairly laborious but ultimately rewarding.

CONSIDERATIONS

Tools. You don’t need 100 pencils to start. They blend, especially if restricted to one make.

24 pencils are fine to begin working the technique.

A good pencil sharpener – as the sharper the points, the better – it can be manual, electric or a cutter blade.

Masking tape to hold your paper on the page. Also to ‘lift’ off pencil errors.

A burnishing tool – a great way to blend colours. Remember the darker colours will push through the lighter ones. Most pencil manufacturers produce a colourless blender pencil.

A (household style) paint brush to brush off excess pencil bits and keep work clean.

The right paper: one that takes multi layers.  Paper that doesn’t tear when removing masking tape. HOT pressed paper is favoured – but it has limited layering ability as it is smooth. Canson pastel paper. Or good watercolour paper. Or textured paper. Fisher 400. The US-made Stonehenge is the most popular of all.

Size of work. Don’t think too big – at least in the beginning.

Under painting. Just in tones. Or monochrome. Or in opposite colours.

Under painting in crayons, or in another medium? Acrylic ink. Watercolour. Acrylic paints.

Using solvents to create move crayon around.

Order of work. Light to dark is the rule – though tonal darks can be blocked in first.

Where to start: consider this first so hands don’t smudge work.

Direction of strokes. Haphazard. Cross hatch. Or parallel and orderly. And orderly, vertical, diagonal etc

How to erase (if you need to). Tape. Rubber. Blue tack.

How to protect the painting, as you work: Use a mahl stick or sheet of greaseproof paper.

How to finish work so it is transportable. Fixative? Use of glass paper (or cheaper grease-proof baking paper).

RESOURCES

Internet

Coloured pencil societies

www.ukcps.co.uk (UK)

www.cpsa.org (USA)

www.auscpa.org (Australia)

www.penciltopics.co.uk (UK)

 Magazines

 Color (Ann Kullberg) both paper and digital

      Also downloadable instruction kits

 Colored Pencil  both paper and digital

 Check out articles and works on Facebook, Pinterest, on-line groups, FREE YouTube pages (download

  these) and demos, online or downloadable courses such as those found at Craftsy.com.

Where to buy pencils in SA

Write Shoppe: sells Austrian-made Cretacolor (wax based)

The Deckle Edge: German-made Faber Castell Polychromos (oil based) and tins of Derwent coloured pencils.

The Italian Artshop: English-made Derwent (wax based) and German-made Lyra (Rembrandt and also a wax based pencil).

Overseas online supplies: dickblick.com (USA), saa.co.uk (UK), geant-beaux-arts.fr (FR)

Pick up your paints, pencils and pads...

Our summer weather is continuing and the painting opportunities are everywhere.

Beaches. Mountains. Rivers. Ponds. Lakes. Kids. Birds. Flowers. Historic homes.










If you have some ideas about venues, give us a call or write a comment on this blog, and we can get together and enjoy an extra painting excursion.




 It is always good fun!