21st NOVEMBER 2024 - WITH BEA

Only 10 members (and guest Penny, who had come to give EAG a try) braved the cold today. Several others have various illnesses/are convalescing from operations/undertaking grandparent duties. Personally, I [Hannah] am still grounded by a positive Covid test, which I hope will change in the next couple of days. I was also doubtful yesterday when I looked outside and saw this... It actually got quite a lot worse before it all went away, but was back this morning.

Anyway, we all missed a lovely seasonal display of bright autumn colours in the still life brought in by Bea, including various fruits, veg and flowers.  As model she did two long poses and kept really still, a miraculous feat.

Thanks to Avril for stepping in as photographer.  By the end of the session Penny had decided she would like to join us, so welcome to her.

Ian’s pencil sketches...
He was happy although they did not show up well for photographs.
He ran out of space on the full length portrait -  Jackie suggested he used bigger paper to loosen up

Three members next, left to right - 1. Jill’s gourd watercolour was very realistic, stunning. 2. Our new member Penny made a loose watercolour which members thought looked Japanese. 3. Barry said he was not satisfied with the proportions of his portraits and that the neo colour was very intense either side of the nose.

Jackie said she liked to show the planes of the face and leave the white paper to define the highlights and people thought the eyes draw you in...

Lesley’s is watercolour on mixed media paper. The workshop gave her confidence to try to do something only once and not overcolour, although she felt the sedums were too heavy...

Maggie Anne used watercolour pencils.
We all agreed the cauliflower was gorgeous and she said she will try to finish the basket...

Elizabeth found it hard to get the eyes right. She likes the orange background and uses Jarrards blockingford paper and cuts it up to a half or quarter size. We said it was nice to see the violet charcoal pencil.

Avril tried different methods today and said the first one reminded her of Grayson Perry. As usual, she was very productive, and there are some good likenesses here.

Jenny left early, but this is as far as she got...
Let's hope we see the finished result, as it is a very good start.

Here is Diana's contribution to the week's efforts.
'Full of good intentions, but I haven’t actually painted anything for a couple of weeks!'

And I have been trying to put together some illustrations for Oscar's Grand Tour, when he went missing in 2021, and went on a long trip up to Horsford in Norfolk, out to Lowestoft, and back to Horsford, before we got him back.  These are a mixture of proper drawing with pencil and use of Procreate.  The locations are in Thorndon.

Finally a reminder from Lesley. There are now only 3 weeks to finish your interpretation of the Chairman ‘s project ‘On Reflection’ to be shown at the Christmas party. The party will take a similar form to last year’s. If you intend to come, please sign the list next to the register at the Bowls club, and indicate what you will contribute the shared buffet lunch.

Thank you very much to Avril and Lesley for words and pictures this week; I could not have managed without you!

Next week Angela will be providing the still life and model, and Hannah will be the Blogger.