Those of you expecting to find Sally L's description of a day out at Southwold Harbour will be disappointed.  She has unfortunately been caught up in the complete chaos of flights across Europe, and when last seen, was trapped in a hotel in Greece.  Not literally trapped of course, just unable to get home.  So I[Hannah] have stepped into her shoes for the day!

Anyway, five intrepid members made it to Southwold for the day, joined by Josie and Ian J in the afternoon.  I have photos from Harriet, who was with Sally T in one part of the area, and also sent the photo of grazing cows, and from Jackie, Ian and Lesley, who were down by the harbour.  They did eventually all meet up.
Jackie said that Southwold looked sunny and sparkling today, if a bit breezy.  Lesley agreed it was 'A blustery day', and added that getting to/from Southwold proved to be quite an adventure, with road closures necessitating lengthy cross  country diversions.  She added, 'We were based in the harbour, rather than the town, which seems to have been tidied up and become more commercialised with two ( new to me)  fish and chip cafes on the Black shore.'   More from Harriet and Sally's adventure later.

Frances has sent in some sketches from Normandy:
Here are some sketches done in the last few days.  1. Garden of gîte we stayed at in Normandy.
2. Front of gîte… we and friends had left side!  3. Waterwheel in Bayeux  4. Beach scene near oyster beds in Normandy.

 These are Ian's sketches, with quite a lot of different subjects catching his eye...

Lesley was busy too.  The harbour provides a great number of interesting views.

Harriet and Sally T were elsewhere in Southwold, and Harriet decided to walk and draw, and followed the river as it went inland. She said, 'I was impressed by the views. My first drawing shows Southwold and the water tower in the distance. Cows in the foreground with the farmer walking purposely towards them. A couple stopped to tell me that the man was the farmer. The second view was from the same point, but looking the other way, showing a bridge which the footpath followed and a water channel. Both these drawings were done holding the sketch pad so it was quite hard drawing a straight line (my excuse any way). The third picture is from the footbridge, and laying the pad on the rail, it was much easier to do. Again I was stopped by a few people who made comments, including the yacht owner.' 
Later, after they had met up with the other members, they returned to the same area and the final drawing shows the tide racing out.

Next week we will be going to Pulham St Mary.  I hope to see you there as I am afraid you will have to put up with me doing the blogging again next week...

Josie and Ian kindly hosted the Eye Art Guild, today and they provided morning coffee and Afternoon tea, with lovely cakes and scones in their house. We met their two new puppies, along with their existing dog, who entertained us for a while, they are all gorgeous, and well behaved after the initial excitement of having visitors.

We were shown Josie's great studio just waiting to be finished, and I'm sure she'll enjoy being creative in there.

We all enjoyed Debenham, the houses being both historic and charming. Some of us visited the church yard, which was quite atmospheric. As below others were drawn to the cottages and the view, just along from Josie and Ian's house.

The weather was good except it was a bit blustery.

The photos below show: morning coffee/tea provided Josie and Ian, including scones and cakes: then afternoon tea/coffee, as earlier but with a few extra faces: the dogs: Josie's new studio:  and two pictures of houses in Debenham.

Followed by another photo of houses along the main road, and the phone box; and 2 pictures of the church yard, with artists at work.

Here is the art work done on the day. Apologies for the lack of quality of the photos. However it is enough to show the work produced. 

We have Jane's work first, then Lesley's drawing followed by Jackie's 2 water colours and Avril's garden feature and some flowers.

Next we have Sally T's drawing of the church door and the chapel: and Ian's sketches plus a pastel drawing and then mine, both in the church yard.

Then, which we much appreciate, we have our regular contributors: 

Carolyn

"We have done well with fruit, firstly damsons , then plums and now apples.. A lot for Roy to harvest, but a bonus of living in the country! Debenham is an attractive village, so hopefully there will be a good turnout. My memory is on the wane, but I remember one of the old stagers (now deceased) doing a lovely sketch there. He was an architect"

Diana:

"This was done from google earth walkabout. It takes ages to do these but once I start I can’t stop.
Some artistic licence but my son recognised it as Debenham"

And Francis:  "I have done this while waiting in the queue to board the ferry at Portsmouth. I can't think why I started it!!! An exercise in geometry perhaps?  The line at the front represents our dashboard…."

Next week's Blogger is Sally

7 members gathered at the museum today and were made very welcome by four members of the staff who plied us with drinks and took an interest in our work.

Sally T sketched a leather flying  jacket  from the Wally Gaul collection and A plane Boulton Paul Ltd after moving from the graveyard outside where she had drawn the remains of an engine

Sally P started in the graveyard and drew  propeller then went inside and made a wonderful sketch of Thomas Harold Shield who was shot by Germans at Lowestoft. The third one is a pen drawing of scrap metal pieces that looked like a dog but Sally thought it looked more like a snail.  The last one has been drawn with Sally's right hand  (not her usual one)

Lesley as ever made miraculous paintings the first one of a Lightning F1  plane in Indian ink and the red plane was a wooden one which looks good in inktense blocks.

As you can see we were all inspired by our  surroundings.  Harriet also draw the Lightning plane, a propellor which looked like it is floating, a plane (Boulton and Paul) . A pen and ink  plane and one in yellow which she thought looked like a slipper.

Jackie also made a watercolour yellow plane, an outside view of the huts and a endearing sketch of some grazing cows.

Frances came to Flixton after her dental  appointment and produced  2 stunning  'G​eometry at Flixton' pictures. The first picture above is from last week's pictures cut up into cards.

Avril was prolific with her iPad for the first five and the last one is from her sketchbook

Diana sent this via e mail
On July 1st I had new range cooker delivered which immediately had a faulty oven door which would not stay open.Since then I have been battling with Belling.After 7 visits from engineers to mend it (!) they have finally given me my money back. So jigsaw has covered the kitchen table instead of paint.

Next weeks blogger is 

A good turnout today. Nine of us at Harriet’s for coffee, and in spite of some very impressive skies we were only interrupted once by a light shower. Harriet’s garden, the church and the large village pond ( the Grimmer) all made attractive subjects.

first for work inspired by the garden.
Lesley painted the grape vine, photo above, which catching  the sun shining through the leaves.

Jackie was remembering the work of John Lidsey, and used a sponge very effectively for the  foliage in her picture of Dave’s workshop, with Maggie Ann.

​Jane drew the gateway leading to a view of the garden

​and Maggie Ann chose the rosy apples and a side view  of the shed.

​Sally Tyley’s pencil sketches of the garden.

Sally P was unaccountably attracted to a yellow hosepipe ( which Harriet points out was not in use) , 
​because of the colour…, absence makes the heart grow fonder maybe.

Frances drew dahlias in the garden using acrylic inks and watercolour, enhanced at one point by the shower of rain. Then she moved on to the church , inspired by her book on the architect Piranesi.

Also a sketch of her foot whilst waiting for a train at Diss station. 

​I was attracted to the Grimmer the rushes surrounding it were a bright fresh green and the lily pads as big as dinner plates.

Diana sent some pictures of past visits, also of the Grimmer, which is remarkably unchanged, even the sky looked the same today.

Avril was unable to join us as Bob has a sore toe, and is feeling poorly. She sent this dramatic picture of a tiger, who also seems to have a sore toe.

Harriet has been inspired by various workshops that she has attended. First an acrylic workshop at the guild led by Andrew Harrington.

and two interpretations of a photograph ( top L) of a sunny Suffolk summers day.

she has also attended and very much enjoyed two subsidised workshops run at The Bank .
the first a woodcut printmaking workshop using water soluble inks, run by Suzannah weaver, Weaverbird Art,

And an acrylics workshop run by Jon Higham. 

and finally from Carolyn an adult African elephant, the mother of the baby that Carolyn drew a couple of weeks ago. She says that she tried to give an impression of the size of the animal, and I think that she has very cleverly succeeded without putting in any other reference points ( a person or a tree) as a hint.

Hoxne water mill was looking very lovely, there was even some green around, a change from most gardens at the moment. It was a bit sad that it was too hot to paint. Hopefully we will go there another time. As Diana's paintings show we've been going there for a while.

So it was just Jackie and myself, and if it hadn't been so hot it would have been the perfect day and place for sketching.

On my way in I saw some very attractive goats, they looked very friendly although I thought they might be expecting some food. Here they are in the first photo. Followed by the mill and outbuildings and then the main house behind a tree as well as a picture of the river from the bridge, also the mill and a photo of the barn.

Some more shots showing the river and outbuildings, including one which includes Jackie sketching.

First Jackie's sketch done this morning and then mine which I finished at home. Both showing part of the old barn, from a similar point of view.
Next we have Diana's sketches of the mill and surrounding area from 2012 and 2013

Lesley in wales: "I’m currently 250 metres above sea level in Powys and it’s still over 30 degrees! We’re  staying in a cottage,near the top of a hill, 3 miles outside Newtown, overlooking the Severn. The two watercolour sketches are the views from my bedroom, using the window ledge as an easel.  Colours are accurate- It seems weird to see normally green pastures looking like cornfield stubble."

Ian in Scotland:  "Two quick sketches on a walk in the Trossachs"

Next we have Sally's bright geranium - what a brilliant colour

Frances has been busy: "I decided to sew instead of paint or sketch this week. A skirt in the making.
Also some pieces of printed fabric awaiting, one of which is  obviously cyanotype which I had forgotten about even though I have recently been using cyanotype paper!"

Jackie's drawings from last week : "This is Bucket Man from our visit to the Sainsbury Centre
and this head was so beautiful, had to draw it"

Avril: "Sorry I will not be with you tomorrow as I have the grandchildren to look after. Imogen my granddaughter asked if I would like to do a shadow drawing. We went around the garden and traced around the shadows that the flowers made. And then used watercolour to paint around the shadows on some of them and then used an ink pen to surround them and this made a very interesting art piece"

I just want to bring this to everyone's attention: Courses at the Bank, Eye are really enjoyable and good value - they are subsided. I've just done 2. Harriet.

This was a very different sort of outing for EAG, but maybe we should do it more often, going to see other people's art as a group.  The Sainsbury Centre is not only an interesting building, but houses objects that have been gathered from the four corners of the world, as well as important works of art.  We were a small band today, 7 of us, and we mostly just enjoyed the visit, but there was also some sketching, as you will see below.  There are also free tours around the collection, with a very welcoming and knowledgeable guide.  First the gathered members at coffee in the small cafe, minus Sally L, who arrived a bit later, and then lunch in the big one, just before I left.  The third photo here is the wonderful glass wall that frames the landscape as though it was a mural.

I took some photos of things that caught my eye, especially Degas' 'Little Dancer Aged Fourteen', a favourite from my childhood (the one in the Tate Gallery in London).  There were apparently 28 of them made.  The lady in pink is the terrific tour guide (thanks, Avril). Next is a hat for seal hunting in Alaska. Third is a 3D work with nails 'Diagonal Cut' by Gunther Uecker (1965). Fourth is a wonderful tapestry called 'Radical Furniture for Radical Times II'  by Koan Taselaar (2024). [All items Courtesy of Sainsbury Centre]

Finally, a couple more photos from this visit.  First a deer mask and walrus mask, and second a wolf mask (though I think it looks more like an evil version of the early Mickey Mouse!) [Items Courtesy of Sainsbury Centre]

Next week we will be going to Hoxne Watermill, hopefully with more of you able to join us!
The blogger next week will be Harriet.  Send her your contributions.

Five go Mad in Beccles! Well not quite, but the quay was quite busy with pleasure boats and paddle boards, so there was plenty to draw, and although the grass was very dry there were some nice purple Loose strife to add pops of colour too.

Sally P had a bit of a battle with her sketch book ( see above) but she soldiered on, and produced three pieces of work in pencil with some water soluble pencil, (the purple loosestrife),  and in  the final picture , some mooring posts.

​Frances started at the quay and then progressed to the view over the marshes from the church.

​Lesley painted the view of the river towards Geldeston and the old iron bridge.

​Jackie picked a quiet riverside spot, a perfect sunny summers day.

and I chose the cut beside the river for it’s calmer water and reflections.

Ian was also by water, the sea in his case, two sketches from Constantine Bay  in Cornwall, a very different coastline.

​Diana has sent in two collage views of Beccles. Very cleverly put together, and the Lido was just like that yesterday, full of happy swimmers. Including me! Although sadly I’m not in her picture.

Some lucky people have apparently still got  flowers in their garden.
Harriet has sent two pictures, the first of a rose, and the second of an Agapanthus flower spike.

and Carolyn has sent a coloured pencil drawing of a purple Hibiscus flower.

Avril has been busy with visitors, but managed to fit in a bit of sketching too, a Roman soldier, an Aztec stone mask, a sketch of her garden, and  a lovely picture of a tired wet Bob.

This is what you missed at tea time…
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Next week we are at the Sainsbury Centre, a bit of a departure, meeting at the cafe. We hope to see you there.
​
Next week’s blogger is Hannah.

Happy painting!
​Sally

First, an apology.  I am so out of practice, following cancelled visits and failure to get to any of the venues that have been possible to get to this summer, that I entirely forgot to take photos at coffee time this morning.  I can only say that by counting the chairs, there were thirteen of us then.  Some left, some arrived, during the morning.  The weather held.  Laurens was a great host - plenty of coffee, tea and cakes.  The dogs loved having us there, but we were spoilsports and wouldn't play 'catch' however many times we were asked.  The puppies looked like they were enjoying the company, and the moorhens levitated across the pond. I'm not sure whether the rogue chicken was caught!  The house and garden are just perfect for a visit from an art group!
Anyway, I am very grateful to Jackie for sending the photo of teatime (by which time the numbers had dropped drastically), and the photos of some of the work done today by herself and others. I can only apologise to the others who are not shown in these photos.

From Frances, a busy day today, 'First A5 sketch of part of front. Second pencil from back thinking about geometry. Third larger free sketch which I enjoyed doing and fourth very quick sketch of thistle type plant.'  Come to think of it, there was a huge patch of these thistle type things along the road in Little Green, glowing with purple...

Next week we are off to Beccles - hope to see a similarly well-attended session then.  Your blogger will be Sally L.  Contributions to her please.

We went to Sue's garden this week, and although it was hot we all managed to keep in the shade. Sue was a great host, filling us with tea, coffee, cold water and lovely cake. Her garden is lovely too, with plenty of interest, lots of pots with colourful flowers, trees and a mini digger! Here are some pictures of her garden and EAG artists

And some details of the garden including a visitor

Here are our images of the garden that we drew or painted
First up two water colours by Jackie and one drawing of Sue's house by Maggie Anne 

Then another drawing of Sue's house by Sally P and two images by Ian, the first a view of fields from the back of the garden, and he drew the house as well.

Avril had a go at the digger as well as the green house and one other (abstract) 

Sally T is interest in tonal values and completed these four drawings

Followed by Jane's water colour and my fixed media images.

Lesley arrived in time for tea. She had been with her textile group and it was their last session before the summer. She took a dyed piece material (snow dyed - i.e. covered with snow and sprinkled with dye powder to get the interesting effect) which was passed around and each person embroidered something on it for 10 minutes.

Thanks to Frances, Diana and Carolyn for sending in their work for this week.

First are three images from Frances:

"Still in France, but here are some pics.

First I just want to explain that last week I sent some sketches of a chateau and a view from it at Amboise… where Leonardo had spent his last three years. It was fascinating.

This week I am enjoying playing with cyanotype once more. Then a quick sketch done last evening from the front of our house here and an acrylic called ‘Sun or Flower? ‘" 

Followed by Diana's paintings:

"When I was  about 20 , Michael and I spent the summer at the official dig at Sutton Hoo. We were going through the spoil heaps of the original dig and found odd bits of silver and copper .There were a few elderly people there who had been on the original dig who had stories of precious objects being taken home as souvenirs! Also did some more flower painting."

And here is Carolyn's Giraffe:

"Attached is the last of my African animals. (My friend took great care to make the giraffe symmetrical, while drinking, to get this unusual pose) Just a bit of fun!"

Next week's blogger is Hannah

Sorry to say that the event has been cancelled due to the extreme hot weather, the Quayside does not have much shade and it would be gruelling to draw in such heat.

​Decided against going down to Woodbridge today as far too hot and sunny.
Sat in the garden for the Hydrangeas which I did in watercolour.
The next 3 show my drawing progression of my pitcher plant using water soluble pencil. I love the structure of these amazing plants and the way the pitchers hang. 
Regards
Sally P

A graphite stick and messy ink offering this week.
Sally L
​

​

Hi all,
Am now back in the  UK, in a very hot Ramsgate marina, after sailing from Calais yesterday. Not much time for sketching so these two are all I've done this week. Top one is the old Georgian  lighthouse guarding Ramsgate harbour entrance, second in old dock in Calais, of the bows of the yacht moored next to us - Lesley
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​Guess what -  I've drawn a hare ( who hasn't!!)  this morning-  attached- The plan is to put it either in a harvest field , flower meadow or hedgerow. Another take on the pic I did for the Bank exhibition  this time  with the vegetation in the background rather than the foreground.
Still a long long way to go. 
Hopefully a watercolour eventually. sent from Maggie-Anne

Two pictures of woodbridge taken from the internet from Harriet, Both water colours

1. Mill and yellow boat, we were there last Saturday and had our sandwiches near the boat. We went to view the construction of the Sutton Hoo replica boat, which was very impressive. I didn't take a picture though - should have done!

The other view is sunrise and snow - I just thought I would have a go.

from Jackie - Am sending two photos.  
One from yesterday of the straw 'shocks' baled by our local Thatcher and no.2 of the fields near us. 
Such glorious colours in the landscape this time of year but sometimes frustrating when trying to mix the right hue.
Am hopeful we can meet up next week.
​

 Just wanted to let you know that I am still happy for everyone to come here on the 16th....weather permitting.  I have organised extra parking and will have cold and hot drinks available.  Accessible toilet.  Let me know if you need any further information.  Sue Ashby x
​

Next weeks blogger is Harriet

We seem to be living a Plein air version of The Three Bears, too wet, too hot, and this week too windy! Let’s hope that next week it will be ‘just right’.
But ten of us were ready for the challenge papers clamped to boards, hats clamped to heads, paint drying as fast as we could apply it. ( several people sensibly opted for pencils)
​ here to edit.

Penny was sitting near Angela’s lovely wildlife pond bordered by trees interesting marginal plants and dragonflies, working on her pencil study of a tree, and also the side of the shed in pencil.

Harriet was attracted to the view across the fields, a stretch of summer green punctuated by some almost lollipop like willow trees.

Sally P drew a detailed pencil sketch of the shed, and a colour study of the foliage round the pond

Jackie painted a view through to the fields from the back garden, (apologies for the quality of the picture Jackie) and a lovely pencil study of the hammock, 

A detailed flower study and the shed in the back garden from Jane.

And another delicate flower study of pink poppies, and the shed from Maggie Ann

Lesley worked on an acrylic picture of a  view over the small pond, that she had started on a previous visit.

And I sketched a similar view of the smaller pond pond, and a larger view across the garden to the fields beyond

Angela was working on some oil and cold wax pictures from her studio, beautiful colour studies, we all loved the Turquoise house.

Avril has been working from home, the Bayeaux tapestry? Perhaps for her next textiles project?

and Frances has sent some holiday images, a decorative urn at Hinton Ampner Dorset, Poole harbour, and a sketch of St Malo from the car deck,

And finally a very sweet drawing of a baby elephant from Carolyn, whose friends have just returned from a safari. I’m surprised that they weren’t tempted to bring him home!

​next week’s blogger will be Avril.

​Sally

I don't know - too much rain - too much heat - I am sure there will be members with longer memory than me who know of years when there were this many cancellations in the summer, but not during my time (about ten years now), except of course during COVID. 
It was decided this week not to take chances with the forecast for extreme heat, and risk sitting out in intense sun.  At the very least I suspect that most of those who would have come, would have nodded off... but maybe no one would have wanted to sit and fry.
Anyhow, sitting here in my darkened room, with Oscar the cat sprawled on the floor in the cool, I find I have been sent some offerings from the ever-reliable members of EAG to liven your week.  So here they are:

From Sally P: 'Have been enjoying sitting in the shade under my apple trees with a pleasant breeze. 
Had a good week. I felt inspired to draw/sketch earlier in the week. Rather like the effect of my knee and t.v. remote control mix. Photo 1. As you can see, I just grabbed bits of paper that I had to hand rather than go over to the studio.  Decided on my foot for today's work after a few smaller sketches.'
[This reminded me of one of my COVID projects, drawings of shoes, and eventually also my feet]

Harriet sent some more drawings from her trip away last week:
'Middleham, North Yorkshire,  'water feature', from Queen Victoria's jubilee, now planted with lavenders. Here is a drawing and photo, I drew it 'plein air' hence the wonky drawing. Also from the same bench, the view down the street at Middleham.'

Lesley sent two photos: 'Leaving the pub', and 'Under sail', perfectly illustrating the intense blue above - not a cloud in sight!

Those of you who participated in the exhibition at the Bank, don't forget to collect any unsold paintings on Monday between 10.30 and 11.00 am.  Next week hopefully we will be in Angela's garden for the day (although I have a visitor, so won't be able to come). At the moment the forecast is telling me the weather will be a sensible temperature and it will not be raining.  Finger's crossed! 
Don't forget to check Stop Press before setting out.
Sally will be blogging next week, so send contributions to her.

Today was a wonderful day and not just because of the weather, our happy band fully enjoyed our time in a most spectacular garden with many different views and full of inspiration.

Sally P made delicate pencil drawings of the flowers and a pastel on textured paper with a dark background which made it pop.

Sally L had a very successful day creating moody trees with strong shadows. The middle one is a tetrapanex plant under the arch with the light radiating through the leaves and the last one using ink and a brillo pad cocktail stick known as the intermittent spotter.  

Jane used her watercolour paints to show great light and for her first time 'en plein air' with the group it was an excellent start.

Jackie also beautifully painted the moon gate, sally was painting in front of her her but Jackie edited her out, (so I thought I would include her). Jackie also sketched a woodland scene and said the trees had a silver edge to them and her focus would be the child's blue ball and if she added the wheelbarrow and hammock that would be the famous triangle.

Avril was inspired by the garden and did her usual hurried sketches, here is a selection.

We went back to Jackie's for some lemon cake and tea, served in china cups, Lesley joined us and showed her painting from last week which are shown further down in the blog.

Diana sent these two paintings via email  
View from the lane leading down to the river at Hoxne, from  a few years back and the boiler screen

Ian C sent this by email:  Quick sketch of swans and cygnets while I was waiting mistakenly at Hoxne Mill.

Another email sent from Frances

Hannah has been very busy making ​ three collages, and the beginning of an oil painting

Another excellent sketch from Carolyn
I have looked at the chair daily for weeks, as it is in the Conservatory where we have our pre-lunch drinks. I liked the idea of the binoculars hanging ready for bird watching perhaps. I have taken on too much this time. It was quite difficult for me, it is only partly finished! I was busier watching tennis on TV. I hope it is OK.

 Sent last week  from Jackie : The roses are so lovely to paint.

What a miserable day. Expect others members also disappointed that our visit to Mendham Mill had to be cancelled.

Two of the sketches sent from Harriett that she had done this week

Easby Abbey near Richmond and the castle at Barnard Castle

The Old Cherry Tree, Ludgate causeway next week.

Instructions for members:

Leaving Eye on the Hoxne Road, Ludgate Causeway is the turning on the right immediately after Abbey Bridge. Going past the Pennings, The Old Cherry Tree (ex pub) is the first house on the right. Park in the yard, inside the double gates just before the house, ensuring you don’t block the owners’ cars in the cart lodge. If that space is full, park in front of house or in the Pennings Car park. Tea, coffee and biscuits are provided. Entry  to the garden is up the steps at end of the  cart lodge. Paint in the garden or at the Pennings.
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Next weeks blogger is : Hannah