RESUMÉ of MONOCHROME WORKSHOP

Well attended, this monochrome workshop lead by Fiona Nichols was a success and most of the 17 participants felt they had learned something new.

 

   

Fiona started us looking at some well known paintings on an iPad, works in which tone played a major role and how artists through the years have astutely used contrasting tone to create interesting works. Think Rembrandt, Vermeer, Titian.

  

The old adage of DARK against LIGHT, and LIGHT against DARK were more than evident and she pointed out that with masterly use of tonal values, plus good composition, an artist is well on the way to a successful painting.

Interestingly, a good tonal painting - such as a sanguine work - stands as a work of art on its own, without the need for a full range of colour.


We made a tonal chart dividing our chosen medium - mostly pencil, some watercolour and some charcoals - into FIVE tones.

This was the basis for the work we did. The darkest of the tones were to be black and the lightest, the colour of our paper.

There were two still life set ups and we had a chance at doing both. See a photo below.

   

She also showed how to convert a photo on a smartphone or tablet directly into grey scale, which makes working in monochrome so much easier.

   

So why not take up the challenge, and make another sketch in monochrome?

MINUTES OF THE FISH HOEK ART SOCIETY 63^ND AGM

HELD AT NERINA GARDENS FISH HOEK

ON WEDNESDAY 28th OF FEBRUARY 2018 AT 7 PM

WELCOME

Ann Zwets, as acting Chairman, welcomed everyone present and, in spite of the poor attendance, confirmed that a quorum had been realised.  She thanked everyone for their support.

Members present were noted in the Records book.

Apologies:       

                        Marcelle Spinks

                        Chris Schutz

                        Dave and Val Parry

                        Els Dorat

                        Sue had informed the committee that she would be a late attendee

No other apologies from the floor.

MINUTES OF THE 2017 AGM

Circulated, taken as read and accepted were proposed by Di Breeze and seconded by Fiona Nichols.

MATTERS ARISING

There were no matters arising from those Minutes.

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

As circulated to the members and attached.

 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND REPORT

As circulated and attached.  In Sue’s absence Ann asked the floor if there were any queries arising from the financials.  Referring to the report Ann highlighted that we had again shown a small loss and a dwindling membership.  She went on to say that perhaps the current small membership didn’t warrant the work involved, but the committee would be prepared to carry on for the few members who attended most of the events and supported the Society.

Sue had submitted forms to Nedbank re the Society’s tax status, but had not yet received any directive.  It appeared that people with money invested overseas were being targeted, and the meeting was advised that the Garden Club had avoided the issue for the time being.

Proposed as accepted by Cynthia Fletcher and seconded by John Strickland.

ELECTION OF THE COMMITTEE FOR 2017

The present committee members, willing to stand for re-election, had been written up on a board: They were unanimously voted in as the committee for the 2018/19 year.

Ann Zwets                   Chairman/Secretary

Sue Green                    Treasurer/Librarian

John Strickland          Paint-out convenor

Cynthia Fletcher         Refreshments

Maureen Copley           Publicity

Rob McAlpine              Photography

Fiona Nichols               Blog

Di Breeze proposed a vote of thanks to committee for their hard work during the past year.

GENERAL

It was resolved that the National Art Gallery would no longer be a beneficiary if the Society closed down, and the Constitution would be amended accordingly.  Various ideas of who might benefit were mooted, the most favourable being a monetary prize to be given annually to local High Schools and named the Fish Hoek Art Society Trophy or similar.  Nerina Gardens could also be acknowledged in some way. A firm decision on beneficiaries would be made at a later date.

Fiona had tabled written instructions on how to subscribe to the blog.  She said that once a member had subscribed a notification would arrive in their mailbox if there was any news.  It could be a one liner, photos or anything pertaining to the local art scene.  She did point out that the blog was a public domain, and it was agreed that it might bring in new members if people were looking online for a local art club.

Fiona went on to say that a picture could be posted on the blog with an invitation to members to paint/draw the subject.  The artworks could then be brought to a future meeting to be discussed.  Fiona remarked that she had recently put the events calendar on the blog and had, in the past, compiled a list of useful contacts such as framers, art suppliers etc and those would be repeated later in the year.  She implored the members to be proactive and contribute to the blog with news that could be shared, and Ann commented that the Society was not just the committee but the collective members.

As there were only 10 members present it was decided to forgo the raffle and quiz for another evening.

There being no further matters, the meeting closed at 7.20 pm with a vote of thanks to the Chair.  The members were asked to enjoy a glass of wine or fruit juice and fellowship

March to May 2018 programme

A framing contact for you

Membership Application Form

Monochrome Workshop 13 MARCH, Nerina 2pm.

Let’s get creative and think in tone: black - white, dark - light.

Whether you know it or not, tone is the building block of every successful picture - in whatever medium.

What is monochrome? 

From the Greek mono, meaning single, and chromos, meaning colour.

Monochrome - a single colour, be it red, black, blue or orange - painting requires the artist to interpret what he sees with just one colour. Sometimes a dab here and there of either white or a black can also just emphasise the clever use of a monochrome to produce a picture.

      

To create the illusion of a three-dimensional subject in two dimensions, we have to look at dark and light. With a clever use of darks, lights and all those shades in between we fool the observer into thinking he’s looking at a three-dimensional object - and without slaving at reproducing what’s in front of us like a photo - we make a picture.

      

 

If we want a true rendition of a subject, pull out a camera, iPad or cellphone. By the way, if you have a smartphone, camera or tablet, bring it along.

Preparation

So, for this workshop we invite you to bring one colour in one medium (plus, if you like, a black or white in the same medium), and some paper. 

Don’t scrimp and bring postcard sized paper, go for at least A4 size and a couple of sheets. You don't need fancy paper, almost any type will do.

If you plan on wetting your paper - for watersoluable pencils or watercolour - then bring a few sheets of decent watercolour paper.

So what options work? With a bit of consideration, make your own choice: here are some ideas.

   

         *    White crayon on red, dark blue or black paper 

      *    Sanguine or dark burnt umber colour on  
                     pale paper 

      *    Charcoal on pale paper 

      *    White water-based paint (liquid acrylics, 
            watercolours) on dark  (black, green, red…) paper 

      *    Red or blue or black felt-tip or Biro on white paper

      *    Pencil (any B, 2B, 4B or 6B - whatever you have)
           on a pale paper

You can work on what you like: just remember that in order to get a really good range of tones, your paper and drawing medium have to be opposite ends of the tonal scale.

See you on Tuesday!

2018 AGM

Friends and fellow artists! Where were you? Apart from the committee members, there were hardly more than a handful of faithful members at this 2018 AGM. Very disappointing.

Chairman and secretary, Ann, put in a lot of work to give us the annual report while Sue, treasurer, had put together an excellent - though worrying - financial report. Furthermore, Sue was only able to leave her daytime job just in time to see the meeting close.
Members brought wine, juice and nibbles to make the evening flow and this warmed up the floor for the few participants. The raffle and the quiz were abandoned for the reduced numbers.

As we have said previously, the success of a Society is due to the participation of its members and the Society found itself in the usual position of NO new nominees for the committee positions and so the same folk kindly agreed to remain in the roles they have been occupying during the last year(s).

Thanks Rob for the photos.