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We all gathered together to show the results of the Chairman's Project, entitled "Elements", set by Lesley at Christmas. We have had plenty of time to think about it and there has been a wide variety of ideas and finished pieces. Late addition: Unfortunately I was out of the room when Ian showed his work and then he was away. I have since added it below.
| Lesley started with two: first an installation looking like an offer to us to sit down and have a drink. Sadly not! She used it to illustrate all the elements required to make a gin and tonic. Her second piece was an excellent painting of a volcano in Hawaii showing air, fire, earth and water. |   |
| Two members were unable to join us today but sent their work in, which Sally P presented. Frances had been looking at gothic churches and thinking of the idea of architectural elements. |    |
She decided not to paint a church as such but to use various architectural elements as part of an overall design. So there are flying buttresses, lancet windows, a spire with crockets on the sloping sides, a gargoyle and a rose window.
Avril's inspiration came from an item about Avatar in a small book about the periodic table, under Popular Culture. In the film, human miners are destroying the alien moon Pandora to extract a fictional element called unobtainium, which is crucial to earth's survival.
In Diana's collage I think we can see all the natural elements of earth, air, fire and water.
| Quite a different approach from Sally P. She had a number of small shapes hanging from the shade of a lamp. Eight of them each had one of the letters in the word 'elements'. Others showed the various elements in nature, or that you have to consider in painting, such as texture, colour, composition ... Then she switched the lamp on to show light. |  |
| Hannah was in her element with this project, as it very much aligns with her method of working. (Hope I've got that right, Hannah!) She first showed us a large painting which she likes and has hanging at home. This started from a photo taken through a shop window and by a long process of copying, enlarging, selecting bits she liked and so on until she finished with an abstract that she liked. |   |
| Josie arrived at the easel with a large number of papers, with sketches, drawings and paintings, which all seemed to be part of the process of coming up with an abstract result. She showed two works, though saying they were not finished. |   |
| Jane showed us the elements that go to producing her artwork. She does not like painting from photos, other than her own, but will sometimes refer to photos for data. |   |
| We were kept entertained by Sally L, enlightening us on all you need to take with you for en plein air sketching. She extracted one by one from a slim bag, which she demonstrated you could easily carry with just one finger, the basic elements you needed. She wanted to keep it to basics, but thought it would be good to have some colour so added some pastel, then some watercolours, then more brushes, then ........... eventually leading to everything bar the kitchen sink - illustrated nicely with a cartoon in the book she had. This may be hard to see, but you get the idea I'm sure. |     |
 | We were also provided with some entertainment from Richard, during which he broke out into song a couple of times. "Oh I do like to be beside the seaside...." Accompanied by an abstract painting, he talked about the joys of being outside, being on the beach, being by the sea, enjoying fish and chips ..... Textures and colours came into it somewhere, to be seen in the painting - and doesn't one of those shapes suggest fish ... and chips? |
| It was great to see something from Carolyn, who used her knowledge as a scientist to illustrate some elements as in (I believe) the periodic table. The first drawing shows the letter C which is for Carbon. She said anything containing carbon was organic, while anything without was inorganic. Good to know! The second illustrates Hydrogen and Nitrogen and the small supporting figures are also chemical elements. You'd have to ask Carolyn for more information on this one. |  |
| I listened with interest to Angela, who had been thinking a lot lately about the earth and its threatened existence. This first painting of rocks was inspired by a visit (to Cornwall?) |    |
She has used images from her life drawings of women to form parts of the rock to indicate the connection between humans and earth. You may be able to pick these out. The second painting uses images of a male figure seemingly pushing back against the encroaching sea. The last image is of inland freshwater rivers, which are also suffering pollution, and we see some sad-looking humans illustrated.
| First is Jill's lovely painting, demonstrating elements of nature and elements of drawing. The last one, by Frieda clearly shows the elements of nature at night, including stars, moon, water and fire (volcano) . |    |
  | Ian showed two paintings. the first shows the four elements of earth, fire, air and water. The second is his interpretation of what will happen if we don't look after those elements. |
| Harriet brought a fine painting from her beloved Wales, which I think speaks for itself. Sally T has listed Elements of Drawing, which are all illustrated in her painting of pots: Line, Shape, Colour, Value, Texture, Form, Space. Finally, I wanted to show willing so have used an earlier seascape loaded onto Sketchbook on my iPad, then added layers to point out Elements of the natural world. |     |
Well, that is the last day of our Winter Programme. We were reminded by Lesley about getting our entry forms for the Summer Exhibition in in good time. Next week the Summer Programme begins at Angela's and Hannah will be doing the blog, so please all send your artwork to her.
Cheers, Noreen.
Cheers, Noreen.
See the Exhibitions page for details of the exhibition at Stradbroke Church and for application forms for our exhibition in Diss in June. [Hannah]
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