18 members attended today and were happy that they did as the selection of ideas was splendid.

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Maggie Anne sketched a beautiful ballerina on the edge of the floor which showed a strong balance.

Diana used her sketchbook to help her do these finger paintings using rubber gloves  of different times of the day at a camp site at Bishops Castle. She also was inspired by Shropshire Lad and a book by Malcolm Saville about the area.

Harriet had two offerings, the first when she was a teenager she had a poster on her wall from Athena: girl power on the line, ecstasy youth. The second was a painting of Bardsey Island in Wales, you can see the waters edge and edge of the hills.

John gave us a painting of The End of the World, inspired by Belshazzar's feast night, Dathan and Abiram (Numbers Chapter 16). An unknown hand writes on the wall, and the  earth opens up. The second one from John was Donald, no explanations necessary.

Hannah showed us two photocopies to set the scene, the first of Beachy Head, in East Sussex where the lighthouse,, Belle Tout, iwas built too high. Once it was decommissioned, it had a new life as a house, and was used by the BBC for filming Life and Loves of the She Devil.  It also made a mistaken appearance in RobinHood, Prince of Theives.  It has had to be moved 17 metres from the edge, and may need to be moved again. The painting resulted as much from something else altogether (a collage) as from the original image.

Jackie made a Japanese looking watercolour inspired by a poem by P.H. Lyon which looks back over a coastline with a tree falling down, on the edge. the viewer is also on the edge.

Bea's kingfisher was on the edge of a branch. Elaine's birds are also on edge of the shore both recognisable realistic paintings.

Ian C shows a skier hurtling towards the edge to his peril and Ian S sitting on the edge of a building in Church Street, Kensington  that reminded him when he was an apprentice plumber who did use a wire basket to be lifted to the 8th floor. We were told tales of doom about the peril of being on the edge.

Frances showed us her sketchbook with sketches of Covesea, with a bird precariously perched on the edge of the rock.

Judith gave us a turner type painting with nicely typed explanation

Josie said hers was work in progress, the first an imaginative walker on the edge and the second figures on the edge balancing.

I showed an acrylic painting called 'On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness' it is a fantasy novel written by Andrew Peterson, the book is full of characters with courage and heart who live on the edge.

So from here on, the Summer Programme applies. All the info is under the Events menu. Hope to see you all out and about!
Next week, Avril will again be your blogger, so send her any contributions you may have.

12 of us at the bowls club today, a beautiful sunny day, the tree outside in full blossom, and a game of bowls on the green outside, it really was beginning to feel like summer. Jenny had continued the theme by providing us with a still life table of plants and gardening paraphernalia .

Jenny modelled for us first an ‘action pose’ here are our portraits of Jennyknitting and then after the break relaxing in her chair.
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Here are our portraits of Jenny 

First from Jane, two finely drawn pencil portraits, 

​and a selection from Avril’s sketchbook.

Three from Sandra in pastel and conte pencil, a winning combination!

in complete contrast, two from Jackie who really enjoyed the movement that Jenny’s knitting gave to her pose, caught beautifully in the hands here.

​Penny used fine a  liner and the charcoal pencil which was a free gift from the drawing workshop.

​Sally T used charcoal and white chalk giving the lovely loose effect that she was striving for.

starting off our horticultural theme , Carolyn has sent this drawing of a plum blossom in burnished crayon, she’s waiting for the apple blossom to come out so watch this space…

Harriet was attracted by the posy of double Narcissi in a blue and white jug, initially painted in watercolour, and then embellished with mixed media.

Bea was attracted to a pair of gardening gloves with lots of character.

and Elaine added her own brightly coloured flowers to the arrangement on the table to give it a bit of welly (get it!) 
that’s just to prove that this blog isn’t written by AI!
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​ian finished two lovely pastel landscapes, we all liked the very effective threatening sky.

and Frances has sent three pictures, the first she says is not quite Rene Mackintosh, but I think she’s given him a run for his money, The second a strange cliff at Lossiemouth - or is that a ancient profile? Her back door at Mellis, and a picnic in Pont Sarrac Brittany.

• And finally…
• chairman’s project next week
• Please bring your completed forms next week for both the exhibitions, closing date     Thursday 24 th April 
• next week’s blogger is Avril

Sally

I am afraid you get a double dose of me today, as I have provided the still life and model today, as well as writing the blog.  I mostly managed to stay awake while sitting for the portraitists, but it was rather warm and the chair was very comfortable...

So first to the portraits.  It was quite a small group today.  First a very serene looking work from Ian J, then Sally T's studies.  Avril used pastel, first two on pastel paper and then one on lining paper ( a likeness I paticularly liked), and finally, two from Penny, treating the form as drawing first and portrait second, which has worked well.

Angela tackled both the still life and the portrait.

Several of the still lifers chose the begonia as the focus of their work.  First Lesley, then Harriet.  Sally L is third, and Bea's if fourth.

Diana was woring on her own still life, and, in the process tore up 2 old paintings she didn't like, to try them out in the new composition...

Some notices from this morning.  If you were not able to come this morning, and will not be coming next week, but want to take part in our exhibitions in June, the forms for entry can be found for downloading and printing on the Members Only page.  Please do NOT complete them digitally, and particularly take note of the instructions.

We would like members to check and update their gallery page.  Images should be sent to me, Hannah, along with any words you want changing or adding.

Does anyone have space to store the green trunk that is kept at the Bowls Club?  This would be from 24th April, for the summer.  Please let Lesley know if you can.

Next week's blogger is Sally L.  Please send any work to her for inclusion.

Andrew started us off with a sheaf of useful crib sheets, and the wise words,’Always have a piece of paper and a pencil with you, just incase an idea sneaks up on you’
​He talked us through the different basic approaches to drawing a group of objects (see sheet below)
Then we were off, starting with some quick timed drawings of a group of three dimensional objects in 1,3 and 5 minute time slots.

The second challenge was to draw a candle lamp with a large glass shade using white media on black paper. Creating a symmetrical shape by drawing a line down the centre of the paper, positioning the ellipses, rim, base, and centre, and then drawing a profile shape on one side and reproducing it on the other side.( this was actually easier than I’m making I’d sound, but by no means simple!)
then adding tones and highlights reflected in the glass.
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Our third task was to create the illusion of distance, by thinking of a view as a series of layers, with those furthest from us being the least distinct, and therefore needing less detail and more muted tones, and detail and strength of colour increasing as we progress to the foreground.of the picture.
We each drew/coloured a sprig of tree foliage and by using tracing paper to create the illusion of a background layer, we literally created a visual layering effect. 
see below for the results…

Finally we were given the challenge of drawing a lit candle emphasising the subtly darkening tones of the candle as we got further from the flame, and emphasising the high points of the flame 

Andrew was very generous with his expertise, and materials, we all came home with a new white pastel crayon, white charcoal, a white marker pen, AND a black marker pen, and a head full of useful tips on how to use them.


​Finally Ian has finished this very successful landscape/seascape in pastel inspired by Andrew’s previous workshop a few weeks ago.

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• Messages from Lesley:
• EXHIBITIONS :  Paper copies of entry forms for both exhibitions will be available at the next meeting and subsequent meetings until the end of the winter session. There will also be a copy for reference on the members page of the website  THE FORMS THIS YEAR ARE DIFFERENT SO PLEASE READ CAREFULLY
• The Chairman’s project ‘On the Edge’ is due at our last session, April 24th.
• The summer programme will be available shortly on the website.
• Hannah is in charge of next week’s blog.

Sally