3rd February 2022

Numbers were up this morning - 18 of us convened at the Bowls Club for Jackie's still life arrangement and modelling stint.  Once we got down to work, all was quiet, as you can see below, you could almost hear the concentration.  I realise as I write this, that I didn't photograph the still life separately, (apologies to Jackie, and anyone who wanted to have a go at it at home) but it was a great mixture of shoes, bags, an amazing bracket fungus and branch, lacquerware, a stunning shell and flowers in a vase, set up so everyone who wanted to had something close at hand to study.

So, to start, Harriet was one of those at the portrait end of the room, but she has also sent in some work from home.  Here are 2 poses of Jackie, along with garden gnomes doing yoga, based on a challenge on the pottery program that is currently on TV - Great fun!  She says, ' Also I'm trying to do SAA Challenges, inspiring me to attempt subjects that normally I would never consider, so here is Tiger, which is inspired partly on William Blake's 'Tiger tiger burning bright' poem, and on Rousseau's jungle paintings.'

Ian was one of the portrait artists, too, and here are his three pastels of Jackie.

From Carolyn, a drawing of three persimmons, of which she said their taste was sweet but not very special.

Leslie was at the still life table and said 'Here is my rendition of the silver birch log and bracket fungus in soft pastels. It looks better in the photo than the original!'  It was a very difficult subject with all the markings and solid shapes to describe.

Sally T used a different medium (as did I, see later).  This is graphite ink water colour.

Avril had a busy morning (as usual she works so hard!), and here is a selection of her portraits of Jackie.

Frances worked on the flowers that were part of the selection.  She says:
'First, Oil pastels on black paper. Would have been more effective with acrylic.
'Second, pencil sketch.
'Third, oil pastels based on design of pencil sketch. Hadn’t used oil pastels for ages so came with the idea of playing today.'

Rachel was one of the portrait artists...

As was Sally P, who sent me one picture, but not the other...  This one is a good likeness, though.

Sally L was there too, and says, ' Two Inktense drawings/washes of Jackie.
I went on a one day life drawing workshop last weekend, run by Malcolm Cudmore, which was surprisingly good, so I thought I’d better carry on before it all got consigned to the mists of memory.'

Jane also worked on the flowers... 'Plenty to finish at home.  Water soluble crayons.'

Les and Josie both worked on their own projects...

Les was working on a landscape, and Josie on images of children...

While June tackled the handbag, boots and hat in the still life, all in watercolour, and Freda drew Jackie...

Finally, I was round the other side of the fungus and birch branch, so here is a different view, in pencil. 

Next week Frances is doing themed morning, using charcoal.   Here are her notes for those of you who will be coming next week.
We are going to be ‘playing’ about with charcoal. Please bring any types of charcoal you have. As far as paper is concerned white and grey or fawn paper would be good. I also thought we could use watercolour with the charcoal, so please bring that medium. A ruler would be useful too so that initially we can square off a sheet of paper for experimenting with the various types of charcoal we all have.
I will bring some objects we can use as subjects and I will sit as a model for some of the time if you would like to try a portrait.
VERY IMPORTANT....FLOOR COVERING ESSENTIAL!

The forecast is talking of a cold snap, so wrap up well...