Steve has just finished his two latest pictures that you might have seen him painting at recent sessions at the hall. They are painted on Bockingford watercolour paper, Daniel Craig in watercolours and the ballet dancer in gouache.

They show you are very good at painting portraits and the human form, well done, Steve!

Here are George’s latest paintings, all in oil and painted with a good knowledge of shape and colour.

The first painting is of actor Chief Dan George playing the character Lone Watie in the film The Outlaw Josey Wales. The second painting is a very good likeness of John Wayne and the third a still life. Isn’t the glass especially well painted with the light catching its shape?

It was super to welcome so many members to the hall and we enjoyed chatting over tea, coffee and biscuits to catch up with each other.

Many artists painted the suggested theme ‘A Winter’s Day’ using their own pictures or those on recently-received Christmas cards. There were several landscapes, some with with farm animals and people added, wild animals in the snow and birds drawn and painted. The Pantone Very Peri purple/blue colour was added to several paintings in the snow shadows or to bring a chill to the paintings.

Some artists created pictures based on January’s other theme of ‘An Evening at the Ballet’, or drew and painted their own subjects. Well done everyone, it was a very enjoyable and productive day!

Our first session of the year was attended by 16 artists including three ladies who came along to meet us to see if they would like to join the group. We hope they enjoyed the evening and want to return.

The suggested subject of ballet was very popular but many of us found our ballerina’s legs and feet difficult to draw in the correct position as their joints looked too flexible. Watercolours, acrylics, coloured pencils and pastels were used and the Pantone Very Peri colour was added to a couple of pictures in the tutu or sash colour. Some artists started painting, or continued with, their own subjects.

Most pictures are works in progress and will be finished at home or at the next session on Saturday 22nd January. It was a great start to the year, thank you to all who came along, long may our sessions continue!

Peta was very busy last year visiting London and sketching various places. She sat and sketched in pencil then used a fountain pen filled with blue, sepia or black ink to complete the sketches.

These sketches have been published on the the website called ‘Spitalfields Life’… https://spitalfieldslife.com/2022/01/12/peta-bridles-east-end-sketchbook

The pictures are full of minute details and it’s very interesting to read why Peta chose to draw certain places and objects. Well done, Peta, please keep up your fantastic work and thank you for sharing your sketches with us!

Here are all the pictures screenshot from the website. Click on the first one to enlarge it and then use the right arrow to see all the pictures one by one. Or go direct to the website named above to see all the sketches in higher quality photos.

Here are a couple of ideas of what to paint and draw, but you’re welcome to come along and paint your own ideas.

A project for the whole year is to incorporate into your artwork the 2022 Pantone Colour of the Year. A new colour has been created called ‘Very Peri’ and is mid purple, or in Pantone’s own words “a blue with violet red undertones.”

Wednesday 12th – 7-9pm – An Evening at the Ballet

Think of childhood memories of post-Christmas visits to watch the ballet at a local or London theatre or dance school. Draw or paint a scene from your favourite ballet or a ballerina in a pose. Use pastels like Edgar Degas or Henri Toulouse-Lautrec used in their ballet pictures. Add the ‘Very Peri’ colour to your picture for a ballerina’s tutu, sash or shoes.

Pay your membership fee to Steve by cheque or cash if you haven’t already done so by bank transfer.

Saturday 22nd – 10am-3pm – A Winter’s Day

Save any Christmas cards to help you choose what to paint or draw. Use any medium to paint snow in bare fields or your garden, wild or farm animals on a cold day, children building a snowman or throwing snowballs, people taking their dogs for a walk, a misty morning, hoar frost, crisp footprints in snow, a distant building on a cold night with lights aglow. Add texture to your picture by using tissue paper, modelling paste or white material. Use the Very Peri purple colour for shadows on snow or for a person’s clothing.

If you can’t attend the Wednesday session come along today to pay your subs.

Happy New Year and thank you everyone for your continued support for M&C during 2021, whether it was attending sessions or submitting paintings for this blog if you painted at home. 2021 was another odd year for us all but hopefully, as we move into 2022, the world will begin to be a healthier, happier and kinder place to be.

Membership

You’ll know from Steve’s emails that we are financing the group in a different way this year, with a payment of £25 due 3 times a year in January, May and September, to cover our hall rent for the year. Steve has emailed everyone with details of how to pay by bank transfer, cheque or cash.

If you don’t wish to be a member any more then please email Steve asap so you don’t continue to receive emails from us.

If you have any friends or family members who would like to join us then please show them this blog so they can see what we draw and paint at the sessions. If they want to join then please pass their details on to Steve.

Please pay your membership fee by the end of January to continue to be a member of the art group. Thank you!

Sessions

With no current Government restrictions on meeting, apart from having to have adequate ventilation in the hall, our sessions will be on the second Wednesday and the fourth Saturday of the month, as they have been for years.

Session ideas will be posted monthly, not every two months, just in case rules change and sessions have to be tweaked at the last minute. You don’t have to paint the suggested ideas, please come along and paint anything you want to. Free tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided at all sessions so if you just want to come and chat with your art friends then that’s fine too.

Here are the dates we intend to meet in 2022. Please print them out or write them in your diary or calendar.

Some months have 5 Saturdays but we meet on the 4th one.

M&C session dates 2022	2nd Wednesday 7-9pm	4th Saturday 10am-3pm
January	12th	22nd
February	9th	26th
March	9th	26th
April	13th	23rd
May	11th	28th
June	8th	25th
July	13th	23rd
August	10th	27th
September	14th	24th
October	12th	22nd
November	9th	Fri 25th Hanging evening Sat 26th Open Day
December	14th Christmas Party

Workshops

When we resume having workshops it will be the usual ‘first come, first served’ policy of putting your name down like we have done in the past, with an additional fee to cover the expense of the tutor. If more than 25 artists wish to attend the session we will have a waiting list and if you’re on that you have a chance of getting a place as sometimes people pull out at the last minute.

I have made enquiries and have not been able to find any artists running workshops in person at the moment, only offers of demonstrations over Zoom. Hopefully as the year progresses then artists will return to running workshops with art groups.