The editor wishes you all a happy painting year in 2017 and thanks all those of you who have renewed your membership. If you are one of the few who haven’t yet done so, please send the renewal form and a cheque for £20 to me, Barbara Swindin, as soon as possible. I hope to see many of you at The Pavilion meetings where we have had a splendid series of talks and demonstrations during the Autumn of 2016 – many thanks to Dorothy Daniels who arranged them all and a special thanks to Peter Daniels who helped the speakers to set up their equipment and pack it all away again. Thanks too to our wonderful team who provided us with refreshments in the tea breaks, cheerful as ever, despite the logistical difficulties involved. We had an excellent turnout at all those meetings and a very appreciative audience, many of whom also helped set out the chairs and clear them away afterwards.
Furthermore, thanks to Margot Phipps who has sent in this obituary: “Most of you will know by now that Audrey Pollard died in September. She had been a loyal member of the Club since the early eighties and during that time she stood as Chairman more than once and hung many many exhibitons. She attended and enjoyed almost every meeting until earlier this year (2016) when her health began to deteriorate. Sometime back she had received an Arts Council Award for her services to Art in Cheltenham in the form of a Citation and she was involved in many other aspects of art, exhibiting in the Open-Air Exhibition for many years and much else. She is sadly missed.”
Sadly, we have also just heard that long-standing member Fred Lea died recently. He is much missed by those who knew him. Barbara Swindin
Forthcoming Saturday Meetings from 2.30 – 4.30pm at the Pavilion, Hatherley Lane, Cheltenham GL51 6PN:
Saturday 21st January: Frances Browne – Painting Loose
Saturday 18th February: Traceyjane Rees – PEBEO Mixed Media
Saturday 18th March: Martin Bowden – Painting the Sistine Chapel
Saturday 15th April: Jenny Bowden – Making Mounts for Watercolours
The next Selection Committee dates will be at the Saturday meetings in March and June 2017. New/Associate Members wishing to apply for Full Membership should note that they should submit three framed pieces of work (or deep canvases) for approval and presented as if ready for exhibition. Full Members have the right to exhibit work with the Club, as well as access to all the other activities already open to Associates.
Summary of Saturday Meetings held at the Pavilion September – December 2016:
September: The Autumn series of meetings started off very well indeed with the excellent talk by Richard Cann about stained glass. The meeting was very well attended and the talk much appreciated judging by the reactions and questions from the audience. Projecting many pictures onto the wall, Richard enthusiastically explained in considerable detail the history and processes of making stained glass windows. Gloucester Cathedral was his chief source of images and interesting stories. Above all, Richard stressed the usefulness of binoculars when visiting sites with stained glass windows, as they enable the viewer to see details which would not be visible to the naked eye.
October: Tom Shepherd’s demonstration and non-stop commentary on painting in oils was most inspiring and never dull. Members of the audience were encouraged to ask questions and received many useful answers. Using both Georgian and Michael Harding paints on hardboard, Tom created, firstly, a harbour scene with boats and, secondly, a picture of sea with cliffs. He planned out his composition with thin paint and then built the scene up using creamier and creamier layers, concentrating very much on capturing the feeling of movement of light. Simplicity was the key. Tiny, bright details were added at the end with very saturated paint. Tom’s ‘mission statement’ (his words, not mine) was that “light should bounce across the painting”. He certainly achieved the result he intended.
November: Another exciting afternoon at the Pavilion! Something very different this time: Mariana Robinson encouraged us all to ‘think outside the box’ and paint with an emphasis on colour, shape and design instead of approaching painting with total realism.This should release our emotions (e.g. anger, joy, peacefulness, etc) and enable us to concentrate on ‘playing with paint’. Mariana also gave us an informative tour of the history of painting since the end of the 19th century to show us how artists have developed abstract painting over the decades. During the first half of the afternoon, using Atelier Interactive Acrylics, Mariana concentrated on covering a deep canvas with various marks, mainly grey/black on white. It wasn’t until I returned to the room during the second half of the demonstration that I could clearly see two zebra heads emerging from the otherwise abstract painting. Abstraction perhaps, rather than pure abstract, but the areas of orange paint on this otherwise monochrome painting captured the image of two beasts running full tilt out of the picture. The afternoon gave us much food for thought.
December: The AGM was well attended and the Christmas Quiz and Tea were much appreciated, so thanks to all involved. This meeting saw the election of Martin Bowden as our new President, Evelyn Howson as Chairman, and the addition of Paul Johnson (Minutes Secretary) to the Committee. The following existing officers and members of the Committee were re-elected: Barbara Swindin (Secretary), Valerie Currie (Treasurer), Debby Hooper and Dawn Niven (Exhibitions), Dorothy Daniels (Saturday Meetings) and Traceyjane Rees (Publicity and Workshops).
Exhibitions: Information about sales at 2016 exhibitions is attached and on the members’ page of the new website. (If you don’t already know it, please ask a member of the committee for the members’ password).
Our next exhibition will be in Lower Slaughter from 24th May to 6th June 2017. Our usual exhibition rules will apply and a few weeks beforehand information will be sent out to members who wish to exhibit. If you have not exhibited previously, or not for a long time, please contact Debby well in advance so that your name can be added to her exhibitors’ list.
We also plan to exhibit during the whole of October 2017 at the Corinium gallery in Cirencester. Please note that 30% commission will payable on sales at this latter venue, but the good news is that we shall not be required to steward there.
If you need to make contact, please note the following telephone numbers/email addresses:
Debby Hooper: 01242 530780 info@debbyhooper.com
Dawn Niven: 01242 522189 dniven2015@gmail.com
but only call if absolutely necessary. Exhibiting details are in the documentation received by all exhibitors on Debby’s list.
Membership: * Renewal of membership for 2017 is now overdue, so if you haven’t yet renewed and wish to do so, please send me, Barbara Swindin, your details and subscription of £20 payable to the Cotswold Art Club. If you do not do so by the end of January, I shall assume you don’t wish to renew your membership and your name will be deleted from the contacts list i.e. you will no longer receive any information we send out to members.
* Congratulations to the following Associate Members who have now been accepted for Full Membership: Pat Courtney, Leanne Courtney-Crowe, Nick Dawe and Paul Johnson.
Workshops: Tracyjane Rees will be running a second workshop in March. This will be based on the use of Pebeo mixed media. The exact date will be fixed shortly and in due course Traceyjane will announce details re. venue, cost and materials etc. Because of a family bereavement she may not be available for the time being, but should fairly soon be able to put details of the workshop on the website and also give out information at one or both of the next two Saturday meetings. Her contact details are 07894 607058 or 01242 690171 or email: t-jrees@hotmail.com
Finally, please send me any news items for the next Newsletter BY THE END OF MARCH. Barbara Swindin,
Secretary: barbara.swindin@btinternet.com 42 Perry Orchard, Upton St. Leonards, Gloucester GL4 8DQ tel: 01452 616687