It was brilliant to have 17 enthusiastic members come along to our session last Saturday. We had 3 ‘bubbles’ of people so we could chat to those in our group, but keep apart from the other tables. It feels a luxury having a big table each to use and we all managed to spread our art stuff over the whole table top. I’m not sure how we will ever share half a table again!
The suggested session subject was ‘Analogous Autumn’ and there were many beautiful Autumnal paintings created during the day. Some members did one painting and others did several, whilst some carried on with other projects like still life and portraits. A super, eclectic mix of pictures. Click on the first photo to enlarge it and scroll through to see them all. (Any current Portraits of the Week or Month will be on another post soon.)
It’s back! The Sunday weekly challenge for artists to draw and paint a sitter, either live from 10am-2pm or in your own time from a screenshot provided or one you take yourself. You can then upload your picture to Instagram by Friday 2pm, putting a hashtag symbol in front of myPAOTW, for viewing by Instagrammers throughout the world and by the usual 3 judges.
DJ and presenter Annie Macmanus, known as Annie Mac, was painted by PAOTY 2019 finalist Sara Lavelle. Sara painted a quick likeness in acrylics then painted in oils over the top, completing most of the portrait during the programme and finishing it off during the week. The usual chat between sitter and artist was very interesting and it’s fascinating to get to know people better.
The members who took part remarked on Annie’s beautiful clear skin, bright eyes, thick curly hair and full lips. She is very beautiful and an absolute pleasure to paint.
Cynthia spent around 3 hours altogether on her portrait, working from a screenshot. To try out some acrylic paint she had bought 4 tubes of Daler Rowley paint and a small 8” x 10” canvas in Poundland, what a bargain! Cynthia used just the 4 colours that are in her photo, which gave all the colours needed for Annie’s skin and hair tones. That’s very similar to the Zorn palette, which uses white, red, yellow and black.
Dot’s pencil sketch of Annie took only 20 minutes to get a good likeness. The watercolour took longer. Both pictures are on Bockingford.
Juliet finds sketching very therapeutic and her portrait of Annie looking very wistful is extremely detailed, including all her curls.
Steve did quick sketches of Annie whilst the programme was broadcast live. He noted how long each sketch took, which is a good way of reminding oneself when looking back through a sketchbook, as it would be hard to remember. The three at the top are ink pen and the bottom one is coloured pencil.
Tracy took about 2 hours to paint Annie in watercolours. She found Annie’s bright blue eyes the hardest to paint as they were firstly a too-intense blue, then too dull when darkened. Third time lucky and the eyes seemed about right.
Here is Sara Lavelle’s finished portrait of Annie. Also the judges top three, the best of the youngsters’ portraits, one from the director and finally a selection of the many portraits shown on the programme a week later.
Angela M has been busy at home and has created this beautiful portrait of a little girl. It’s really detailed, which is difficult to do with charcoal as it can be rather messy. The face is well modelled with the light and dark parts and it makes the portrait look 3D. Well done!
Here’s what Angela says about her artwork…“I took the plunge and did the lesson on Portraits in Charcoal on Art Tutor. I’ve belonged to Art Tutor for several years and I find following the lessons and courses, I have learnt so much. I especially like the pencil and charcoal lessons. Here is the finished drawing of a “Portrait of a girl in charcoal”. I am quite pleased with this first attempt of a portrait and really enjoyed doing it.”
Ten members braved the cold, wet weather to meet at the hall and everyone was up-to-date with the current guidelines that we have to meet under, thank you. This time we used the air-conditioning, set to warm at this time of year, to provide the necessary ventilation so we weren’t chilly at all. No coats had to be worn at this session!
The subject was pachyderms i.e. animals with a thick skin, and most people drew elephants, with a couple of hippos and a rhino making an appearance. It was great that four members drew along at home, so their pictures are here too. All photos in the hall were taken on an iPhone at the end of a selfie stick at arm’s length, so no distancing rules were broken.
Three members carried on with their own paintings, a portrait of a granddaughter, a still life and a view in Italy.
As at today’s date we are still able to meet in Chalk Parish Hall in multiple groups of 6, so our two sessions this month are going ahead. If the guidelines change during the month we will let you know.
Portrait Artist of the Month (PAOTM) – Dame Judi Dench or Yinka Shonibare
Dame Judi Dench is quite simply a national treasure who has delighted audiences in the theatre, cinemas and in their own homes for decades. Draw or paint Dame Judi at any time of her long life, young or old, or perhaps create a painting with her dressed as one of her many characters. If you have a favourite film starring Dame Judi, use that as a starting point for your work.
Yinka Shonibare, CBE, RA, is a British-Nigerian artist who creates paintings and sculptures in bright colours, using Ankara fabrics as his inspiration. He became better known to the public when his art installation, ‘Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle’, with Ankara fabric used for sails of the Victory, was commissioned and stood on the 4th plinth in Trafalgar square in 2010. That sculpture now resides behind the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, so you may have seen it if you’ve walked through Greenwich Park near the museum. He became a Royal Academician in 2013 and his work is highly regarded worldwide. Four postboxes in the UK have been painted black and gold to celebrate Black History Month and the one painted in Brixton is in honour of Yinka.
You can draw or paint Dame Judi or Yinka at a session or at home but send all your pictures to me by the end of the month.
Pachyderms in Pencil
For Wednesday 14th October or at home. From the original Greek, pachys = thick and derma = skin.
Draw in graphite pencils or coloured pencils any pachyderm i.e elephants, rhinoceroses or hippopotamuses. If you want to go further back in history then you could draw mammoths or gomphotheres.
Analogous Autumn
For Saturday 24th October or at home.
Analogous colours are next to each other on the colour wheel. For autumn those colours would be yellow, orange and red, thus conjuring up visions of trees in autumn as their leaves change colour, studies of the leaves themselves or children gambolling through leaves and puddles dressed in Autumn-coloured coats. Pumpkins in their various types can be painted or crunchy red apples in a wicker basket. Whilst we’re in October let’s also think of Hallowe’en, Samhain, witches, ghosts and ghouls. A multitude of ideas so please get painting!
Medway & Chalk Art Group 