Lesley was kind enough to do the description today for me:
​Another cold dreich day which dampened the spirits of the eight  members who ventured out to Debenham this morning. 
Seven of us met for coffee at the River Green Cafe then dispersed to sketch and paint. Ian J joined us later.

Despite the wonderful architecture and street views of the village no one could summon up much enthusiasm to paint as it felt like the skies could open any minute  and soak us. Ian J and Jackie were brave to get out their watercolours.
The church proved a popular place to chat and  escape the weather.
Most of us gave up by lunchtime so there was no show and tell at the Lion.

With the start of meteorological summer on Saturday, let’s hope for better weather at Felixstowe Ferry next week!


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Lesley sent some photos of Debenham
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Here are some phots I took

Here are Ian C and my efforts for this morning

Hannah here - what a great blog from Avril on another dreadful day.  My memory of years past with Eye Arts is that most Thursdays the weather played ball, not this year!  I will be doing the blog next week, so contributions to me please.

i am grateful to Lesley, Avril and Frances for sending me reports of the day's activities, cut short as they were by the cold.
'A depleted committee [minus Sally P and Jackie, as well as me - Hannah] held a meetiing at the Coach House, thankfully indoors, before five of us braved the cold and wind to sketch on the bank of the River Waveney, under the close scrutiny of some young cattle on the opposite bank.  Less than a minute's sunshine so the light was poor under the trees.  After Tuesday's thunderstorm the river was in spate and indeed further upstream the water meadows at Billingford were flooded again.  Sadly, by lunchtime we were all frozen so abandoned our plein air session for the comfort of our homes. However this was not before we had succumbed to the temptations of the Coach House's plant stall!'
I would challenge anyone who didn't know to guess which month of the year these photos belong to - it could have been November, judging by the light and the way people were dressed.

Never daunted, or not much, the intrepid members produced an array of sketches before wending their ways home to get warmed up.  Rather like Rishi Sunak in his drenched suit last night outside No 10, they had done their bit for art!
So here are two from Avril, and one each from Ian J and Josie:

Three from Lesley, first the view at Brockdish this morning, then two side of flowers bought at the flower stall, despite her caveats about the unfinished nature of the second painting, wonderful colour in both..

One of the wettest  days for Plein Air painting that I can remember. a complete wash-out. But some very interesting contributions this week as a result, which just goes to prove what a creative bunch we are!

Two views of Mellis as we would prefer to view it, in sunshine, from Diana's sketch book.

Avril has been experimenting with oils using wax initially, which she was not happy with so she painted the Devil Fish on top - picture 1, added texture with embossing powder-picture 2, then treated it to a blast from the heat gun for good measure!  a useful lesson here, if at first you don't succeed....

From Hannah a section of a fading Hydrangea flower, just beginning to fade. the lovely dark tones really bring into focus the blues of the petals, an echo of the dark background in Sally T's chiaroscuro painting. 

Sally T. has been working on this chiaroscuro still life in oils. the dark background makes a very effective foil while emphasising the composition. A useful tip for any still life picture.

Frances has sent in an image of a leaf printed on top of a sponged background on Yupo paper, perfect for this highly textured background, the Yupo paper really adds another dimension to the picture.
The second almost a response to the weather, in watercolour (what else!) oil pastel and Noodlers ink.

Lesley has been attending a workshop with her textile group, and again good ideas to 'try at home'
using printed tissue paper collaged onto a previous painting -pic1&3,
or stuck onto plain paper -pic 2 and drawn into with black pen.
​Very effective, and in my experience a great way to 'kick start' a painting that you are stuck on.

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And finally a bit of fun… Hannah has sent this link to a Postcard Auction raising funds for her old school. Can you guess which picture is hers? Answers on a postcard please….

https://www.jumblebee.co.uk/anonymousartauction2024

Hannah is in charge of the blog next week so please send contributions to her.


Sally

7 members had a wonderful time in sunny Framlingham, the castle on the hill looked beautiful and the banter between us was great.  We started off at the café at the junction of New Road and Bridge Street and then dispersed.

Several members looked in at an Art exhibition, Jackie was contentedly painting while Judith walked her dog.

Harriet started the ball rolling by showing her two views of Fram castle and a beautiful tree, she used pearly paint which gave a misty glow.

Jackie used her watercolours to paint Fram castle and the majestic tree and then used ink to do more detailed brickwork and windows.

Ian was next to show his watercolour painting of the castle and also did a pencil drawing of an alleyway which he hopes to colour later as it was a bit faint to photograph then.

Sally was productive and produced pen and ink detailed pictures and a contour drawing

Judith  presented two detailed sketches of the castle and field and Josie a lovely mixed media painting of leaves

I did my usual trick of producing lots of quick sketches

Two very wide sketches from Lesley done today on the beach at Newborough, Anglesey as it had warmed up.

Hannah will be doing the Blog next week.

A beautiful sunny day today and Hoxne was looking at it's best, perfect sketching weather. Unfortunately initially only four of us were drawn to this idea [notice that subtle pun] but we were joined later by Josie and Ian, so a merry band of six.

This first picture from Carolyn sets the scene perfectly for what i hope will be a long summer of sitting in the garden.

Followed by two views of Hoxne from Diana taken from previous visits

And from today , Ian's view of the cottages opposite Jackie's house, and a watercolour of Jackie and Chris's lovely garden.

Josie took inspiration from the garden too with her bold drawings of the Apple tree and watering can.

Jackie's lovely painting of a beautiful Iris just coming into flower in her garden.

 Three sketches from Frances that have been completed this week, giving a flavour of the rapid changes in the season.

And a beautifully observed drawing from Jane of a 'wild bit of her garden'

And last but not least, a message from Lesley.
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Having taken a couple of photos of Low St. spent much of the morning chatting and drinking coffee in Jackie's garden! who kindly made it for Sally. L, Jane and myself.
then no time to paint, so have sent a photo of my garden instead...
The exhibition can definitely now go ahead, I've had 69 entries from 20 members. Better than last year!  

Avril  is blogmeister next week, so please send your contributions to her.

Sally