We cannot take advertising in Brushstrokes but you are welcome to advertise for a small fee on our website.

 

You will have noticed that the July edition of Brushstrokes carried photos in black and white illustrating events. We would love to reproduce these in colour but we think that members would not be too happy at the increased costs that this would incur! However, if you look at our web site you will be able to see the photos in colour.

 

We hope you like our new registration system for meetings. We ask all members to sign in.  Guests are welcome to attend a maximum of 2 meetings for a small charge of £3.00 for each meeting. They also need to sign in.

 

Councillor Michael Weaver opened the exhibition and praised the variety and the high standard of the work on display. For the first time ever, art work produced by pupils from Harpenden schools: St Georges, Roundwood and Sir John Lawes was on display in the foyer. Visitors commented favourably on the work produced by the pupils and undoubtedly this increased the number of visitors to the exhibition. The HAC initiated the display but Karole Lange coordinated it. Total sales amounted to £3089 a slight increase on last year. 17 framed pictures were sold.  The Club received £617.80 in commission.  The picture voted Best in show was Snow in Lamer End (146 points) followed by Skye Boat by Jan Makower (71 points) and Crab Apple by Roger Reynolds (60 points).

 

The Town Mayor, Cllr Michael Weaver greeted by Chairlady, Hazel Green.

 

First and foremost, I would like to thank everyone who gave their help with the Exhibition. Without your help there would be no Exhibition. I would specially like to thank Jenny Barden for hanging the pictures so beautifully and Karole Lange for so efficiently coordinating the Schools Art display. And thanks of course to all the artists who submitted their work!

On a different note I have to say that I feel unable to continue to do another term as Chairman and so would like Club Members to put on their thinking caps  about electing a new Chairman.

As in past years a number of our members participated in Hertfordshire HVAF  Open Studios.

19^th January- Hazel Green  will lead a Life Drawing session

 

2^nd February – Mitzie Green, a Club Member who has exhibited at the Royal Academy and the Mall Galleries will create a landscape using collage and acrylic paint. Mitzie has also won Best in Show at the St Albans Art Society Annual Exhibition.

 

9^th February – Hazel will lead a session on drawing hands and feet. Bring art materials with you.

 

16^th February – Jan  Makower a water colourist and Club Member who won Best in Show in our 2010 exhibition will lead a watercolour workshop on how to paint skies in this is a change from the published event of painting a glass.  Bring watercolours, brushes, palette, watercolour paper, sketchbook and pencils

 

23^rd February – John Spielman who has had one man exhibitions, including two shows at the Alwin Gallery in London,  will give a slide lecture on Wood Sculpture.

 

1^st March – Club member Margaret Metcalfe will give one of her informative critiques. Bring along your pictures.

 

8^th March – Club Member Roger Reynolds will lead a workshop on Multimedia – Pussy Willow. Roger has previously given two very popular workshops on Painting the Strawberry and Daffodils.

 

22^nd March – Life Drawing led by Hazel

The new programme ‘kicked off’ with a fascinating slide lecture by Frances and Tony on their travels to Indonesia and India in 1987 and 1988. On entering the hall we were greeted with a vibrant kaleidoscope of Indonesian and Indian textiles which, during the break, we were able to inspect at a closer range. In the first half of the evening Frances and Tony focused on Indonesian textiles, explaining the different processes of creating these beautiful cloths and giving us an insight into the Indonesian way of life. After the break the highlight fell on the subcontinent where we were shown yet more fascinating slides of the textile industry against a colourful backdrop of the palaces of Rajasthan and the Taj Mahal. Such an interesting evening - perhaps we should include such a visit in the programme next year!

Did you know that people who contracted syphilis in past centuries were treated with mercury and this had the unfortunate effect of turning their skin black in places?! This was just one of the fascinating facts we were told at the lecture entitled Symbolism in European Art given by Martin Smith co-founder of the Watford School of Drawing and Painting on 22 September. Martin pointed out the black marks on the skin of the more racy characters in Hogarth’s Marriage a la Mode series of pictures. Hogarth’s work was so pirated that it led to the enactment of the Copyright Act.

He explained that in an age when many of the population were illiterate the use of symbols such as these helped people to understand the paintings.

Martin’s lecture was accompanied by wonderful slides of paintings by such artists as Botticelli, Van Gogh, Fragonard, Rossetti, Correggio, Tintoretto and Rubens to name but a few. A man in a portrait wearing shoes with red heels Martin explained demonstrated the symbolic use of red to demonstrate royalty. Partridges and peacocks also had a symbolic significance as did the use of specific colours in medieval paintings, for instance, the use of blue to represent the Virgin Mary.

An evening with a difference – that’s what the digital session became. Keith Higham, Roy Bentley and Harry Dobkin shared their computer experiences with members. Keith didn’t let a problem he had with his laptop prevent him from taking part in the evening’s session. He answered various photographic questions put to him such as the best way to photograph paintings, whether to use a flash or natural light. Roy showed members how he produces his own Christmas cards with a fascinating display on the hall’s screen. Harry explained to members how he produces his acrylic paintings from original photographs using his computer.

Louise who has posed for us as a life model in the past modelled for us in a selection of clothing. Her wonderful abstract patterned dress certainly presented us with a challenge! It was good to see such a good turnout of members including new faces. Louise is a brilliant model – how she can retain the poses without a flicker of movement for up to 20 minutes I don’t know!

 

 

In Week 1 Kim Major-George showed us how to create a collage from such diverse materials as wallpaper, string, rice, seeds, tissue paper etc. These materials were then glued onto a piece of mountboard to form a collagraph plate. During the week club members had to varnish their individual plates twice. In week 2 Kim demonstrated how to paint the plates using water based ink. She stressed the need to burnish well to remove the excess ink. The resulting plates then went through the printing press. It would be no exaggeration to say that some wonderful pieces of artwork were produced.

 

 

 

 

 

Hazel organised a small exhibition at Harpenden Library from the 7^th to the 12^th November with the objective of tempting library goers to visit our annual exhibition at Harpenden Public Hall.

Luton Hoo Walled Garden will be holding an Open Art Exhibition on 16^th-18^th March 2012 with the theme garden and landscape.  Closing date is 21 February. For more information phone 01582 879 089 or e mail arts@lhwg.org.uk   HAC members exhibited last year in this exhibition.

Not an exhibition but a play (Duchess Theatre, London) well worth seeing about a group of miners from Ashington in the north of England who employed a lecturer to teach them art appreciation in the 1930s. The Ashington Group as they came to be called began to paint and have their pictures exhibited. The play is not as earnest as the subject matter suggests but full of humour – the audience kept laughing! The play won the Evening Standard award for best new play.

Could Members please e-mail a copy of one of their artworks to Harry on harrydobkin6@msn.com  for display in the Gallery on the club website. If you have your own web site Harry can link the club web site to yours. If you don’t have e-mail please contact Harry on 01582 767583. The web site www.harpendenartsclub.org.uk  also carries details of the Club’s annual programme.


We wish all our members a happy and successful New Year. Keep drawing, keep painting and keep creating!