Getting Going on our Greens

You thought that green was just one of the seven colours of the rainbow? Or just a secondary colour made from blue and yellow? 

Wrong! 

There are millions of greens and getting just the right ones to depict grass, trees, hills, leaves or guacamole, is the challenge.

       John in action  

 

John Strickland came along to give us a workshop on mixing those difficult greens and we all tackled the challenge.

Trees and grasses, receding horizons and sharp foregrounds. 14 members of FHAS worked their way through understanding the make up of greens and how to employ them and John was on hand to guide and show.

A good afternoon!

Thanks Alex for the photos.

Ray Potter demonstrates

Apologies as this is out of sequence and without photos.

Local artist Ray Potter gave FHAS a great evening. This popular and talented artist has always been a good supporter of FHAS and his demonstrations are always very popular.  

Wednesday, late July, was no exception. We had a wonderful attendance with 19 members and 4 guests. The evening began with the usual critique and Alex was brave enough to present her picture for this.  After many suggestions from the floor of how it may be improved, Raystepped in giving his comments and suggestions.  

The subsequent demonstration began with Ray developing his already-prepared sketch into the most impressive picture. It featured Table Mountain in the background with a lovely compositon of rocks and people in the middle ground, and  a very soft beach to finish.

At tea, later, everyone was most complimentary about his work, many taking  notes on the useful hints he imparted during the evening. 

Many thanks Ray.

 

Karen Davel wakes us up to new techniques

This month we had a very successful workshop by Karen Davel, one of the newer members to FHAS. New to Fish Hoek, perhaps, but hardly a newcomer to art, as Karen has been teaching elsewhere in the country for years.

We were all way out of our comfort zone and encouraged to be bold, inventive and creative.   Karen demonstrated lots of techniques in various mediums and encouraged us to "go for it". 

She provided lots of flower arrangements (fresh and dried) to give us inspiration and to help with colour ideas.  It was a messy but enjoyable afternoon with 11 members attending.

Picture and text courtesy of Alex Johnston.

 

SKETCH BOOKS and SALES

17 members turned out for this evening's meeting. It was Sketch Book evening - following on from the making of our sketch books earlier in the month under the tuition of John Strickland.

There was some very nice work which encouraged lots of comment and debate.

The book sale might have been better but it still netted a small amount for the Society.

  

   

Consensus of opinion was that it was an enjoyable evening. And sketching is a very valuable part of our artistic lives. We need to do more!

The winner of the best sketchbook was relatively new member Karina and she was delighted to win a bottle of wine.

Photos by Rob McAlpine.

Critique night

Another good night with the FHAS.

A number of members brought along works for critical comment and under the practised, skillful and artistic eye of Fish Hoek Life Member, Elva Palombo, these were viewed and discussed.

Elva has a keen eye and a very fair way of viewing the works while the floor was also invited to comment. It was a very interesting exercise and while some folk loved some aspects of the pictures, other artists had quite a different view.

We discussed also whether pictures should be submitted anonymously. Some feel it makes the critical appreciation easier for the invited guest, but it does prevent interaction with the artist. This was illustrated in a very unusual work where Elva asked what she was looking at - she was unable to comment until it was explained.

In summing up, we all found the evening helpful and Elva a delightful guest to host.

We also held a raffle of art material, and Alex was the lucky winner.

Photos by your blogger and Alex.

Painting at Ohio Farm

Surely one of FHAS's favourite venues, Ohio Farm is relatively near and yet it offers so much to the keen artist. We're very lucky to be invited to paint there for not only is there an attractive manor house, and those delightful alpacas, but there are horses, ducks, geese, a pond and some of the oldest oaks this side of the peninsula.
Nine members came to the paint out on Tuesday 15th, and despite the 'breeze' much enjoyed their time there. Let the photos speak for themselves.
Thanks Alex for the photos.

Clay creations in the Tuesday workshop

Weird, unusual,  charming but certainly wonderful were the results of the clay modelling workshop on Tuesday 8th March.

Seventeen people turned up to attend the event run by Peter Ford, a retired sculptor turned wood carver!

Peter brought along some ideas for starters and cut us all a slab of clay and gave us a small block on which to model.

Firstly, we warmed and massaged the clay to reclaim its malleability and then we formed small balls to start modelling.

As you will see, Peter brought some rather good elephants and these proved popular as inspiration: few matched his but it was fun trying.



Here are the budding Rodins at work and some of the results.