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Christmas Lunch 2011
A lovely lunch to celebrate the end of a successful year for the society. Always a good meal at St George Motor Boat Club. Always good company! Here are some snaps.

 

 

 

Demo by Geraldine Taylor back in October 2011

Here is the finished version of the painting of "The Secret Keeper" as promised by Gerry. Those of you who were present at the time would have enjoyed the demo and although the painting was pretty well advanced it was not completed. You can now appreciate the incredible beauty of the final work.

 

 

 

 

 

Paint-a-thon November 12 & 13 2011
The paintathon this year was voted a great success by the more than 40 members and non-members who attended. Some beautiful artworks were created under the tutelage of the dedicated and generous teachers. I wish I could show them all here. I always enjoy the event immensely both for what I learn and for the chatting with like minded people. I'm already looking forward to Paintathon 2012!

Cathy Harry teaching mixed Media and some of her students' work on the day.

 

 

Joe Cartwright's Sunday class and one of the watercolour paintings he taught:

 

Linda Simonis teaching:

 

Faye Joseph teaching and one of the paintings she taught:

 

 

 

John Hingerty Demonstration and Gai Grayson's Display 2nd November 2011
Here are some photos from John's demo for those who missed it. John drew a bigger crowd than we normally get. Good on you John.

Gai only brought in one painting - but it was a tryptich and massive. Excuse the photo as one painting was not in line with the other two when the photo was taken but you get the picture. A major work for sure.

 

 

Annual Art Show 2011
Some colour photos of winners and placegetters are in the Newsletter - click the button on the home page.
Below are additional photos. Sorry, I don't have titles or artists names.

Portraits-3rd Place - Jiawei Shen by Michael Rogers

 

 

Meeting 6 July 2011

A great critique today by Geraldine Taylor. Quite a mix of artwork by our members of various subjects and genres. Geraldine calmly assessed each one in her own quiet, confident way. The tips for improvement were helpful to the artist and of interest to the audience in general.

A great talking point of the afternoon was the afternoon tea. A spread to make a Masterchef proud had been prepared by Nancy Gibson - there were exquisite iced cupcakes, lamingtons and slices etc. Thank you Nancy. The best afternoon tea the society has ever had.

A number of portraits from Jiawei's workshop were also displayed. Looked like a rogues gallery. (You seldom like your own image do you?). Three works from Ken Tucker's workshop were also on display. A difficult subject well executed by the artists involved.

 

Workshop 6 June 2011 - Jiawei Shen and Ken Tucker

Written reports yet to come..... but here are some photos:

Jiawei - portrait in oils

With Michael as a most interesting model, Jiawei Shen, master of portraiture and all round nice fella demonstrated his technique and interesting use of colour and tone.  This little painter hung off every word and brush stroke that Jiawei uttered and I’m sure that everyone who attended was awestruck by the master’s sheer expertise.  After Jiawei demonstrated for about 3 hours it was up to the rest of us to emulate what we’d observed, and hopefully absorbed, by painting Michael’s portrait, as he again modeled for another 3 hours. Painting with Jiawei was a once in a life time experience that will never be forgotten…… Dave Manning.

Mr Shen, Mr Shen.............

The finished portrait

 

Ken Tucker - acrylics

We arrived at the workshop thinking we were going to paint a streetscape but we found Thai fishing boats! A bit of a shock at first and I know quite a few of us were nervous trying something so different.  Ken eased us beautifully into the design stage of the painting and we found very interesting shapes and patterns emerging. Ken showed us how to make some great darks for the water and moved us through the painting, showing by painting and then visiting each student to give a hand, hint and encouragement.  Seeing all the paintings lined up at the end of the day showed that Ken Tucker had bought out the best in all of us. Cheryl Young.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joe Bezzina Demonstration 1 June 2011
Joe gave a very good demo today in acrylics and was generous with his time, not leaving until after 4pm. He made extensive use of palette knives, scrapers, medium, spray bottle and a pastry brush. The folder of his work which was circulated included paintings of Australian outback scenes, often of rocky hills and crags.

 

 

Miranda Fair Art Show 19 to 25 May 2011
Report by Michael Rogers

This was only a small exhibition with room for only 45 entries with the way Westfields made us set up. However we sold 5 paintings which was not as many as we would have liked but not bad considering the small size of the exhibit and the fact that we are going through a slow retail market situation.

We also signed up eight new fully paid up members with the possibility of more to come given that we handed out a number of Membership Application forms to people who requested them.

The Peoples Choice went well with the public as usual and the results below indicate which artists were the most popular. 290 votes were cast.

First: Gai Grayson - "Morning Lake"

Second: Monika Brookes - "Passing Storm, Cronulla"

Third: Michael Rogers - "Stormy Skies"

This was our set up right outside the Target store. Note the security lock up system for over night!!:

 

 

Archibald, Wynne, Sulman and Doug Moran Exhibitions.
Report by Michael Rogers
Following a request by some members, an easy-going visit was organised for a train/bus trip to the Art Gallery and State Library to see the above exhibitions. It was announced at the May Meeting and by email. It took place on 11 May. Those who went were Bruce McGuiggan, Michael Rogers and Janet Brennan together with three of her friends. Perhaps others attended but we did not bump into them.
As usual, the entries were inspiring and I for one came away with a head full of ideas that were sparked by the works. “Dribble” paintings are still “in” -  I’m not sure about them!
The winner of the Archibald, the Margaret Olley painting by Ben Quilty, was great on TV but is phenomenal in the flesh. The amount of white linen left exposed is brilliant and the paint appeared to me to be applied with the palm of the hand and the fingers in great dabs. For once I agreed with the judges choice!
  

INAUGURAL ART SHOW AT CLUB CENTRAL MENAI
MARCH 2011

The show was a great success. We received many comments on how good the venue was with its air conditioned comfort, carpeted floors and oodles of space. Good coffee and meals were on hand as well for workers' convenience.

Sales were not as high as we hoped. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, times are hard for retail in general and art in particular because of proposed taxes. Secondly, the Japan disaster is affecting shares and Australian exports and Aussies are a little apprehensive about spending. Thirdly, we held the Open Night on a Friday which is one of the busiest nights in the club. As entry was restricted to those who had prepaid (for catering purposes) the general crowd was excluded. If we try again next year we have learnt from our mistakes and know what to do better. In defence, this was our first time at this venue and although we ran the exhibition very professionally, after all we have a good body of experience in this field, there was still a learning curve involved.

Here are some statistics and more to come when figures are finalised. We have several prospective commissions in negotiation:

There were a record 261 entries with a combined ticket value of $111,000. The People's Choice attracted 481 votes for the most popular paintings. Here are the top five which you can see were very close:

1st Jana Blasco with 33 votes for "Plum Blossoms"

2nd Keith Blake with 32 votes for "Landscape Burning"

Equal 3rd with 31 votes, Clint Gray with "My Cat" and Janette Rigby with "European Street Scene"

5th Helen Andrews with 22 votes for "Hill End in July".

Congratulations to those who sold and to the most popular above. Thank you to those who worked hard to make the show a success. This includes everyone who helped set up and hang and re-arrange, those on rostered duty between the hours of 10am and 10pm, and to the able bodied male members who did the hard physical work of picking up the screens, setting them up and dismantling and returning them to storage. I won't mention specific names as everyone who helped was generous with their time. Thank you. Thank you. It is not ever forgotten who you are. Michael Rogers.

 

The raffle winners are:

First prize (Painting by Pamela Griffith): Nat Smith
Second prize (Painting by Val Watson): Ruth Bye
Third prize ($100 giftpack of wine, chocolates, History of the Shire, Cooler Bag): David Muscat

 

Opening night

Opening night went very well with 70 people attending. There was plenty of food and refreshments although it arrived a little late. Cheryl opened the show with a short speech and the politicians, our esteemed guests, also gave friendly speeches and wished us success. Here are some shots of the night:

Patron Otto and Adele.......................... Impromptu partial Committee meeting

 

Otto and Norma C Jones.........................General discussion

 

President Cheryl opens the exhibition.......Councillor Peter Towell (E Ward) speaks on behalf of the Mayor

 

Craig Kelly (sitting Federal Member for Hughes) and Cr Melanie Gibbons standing for Menai (State) speak

 

Peter Scaysbrook standing for Menai (State) speaks.

 

 

 

 

 

WORKSHOP MONDAY 7TH MARCH 2011

Report by Margaret Hincks: On 7th March, nine enthusiastic water colour students spent a very informative & challenging day with Marion Stroud as tutor. Many clever techniques were imparted by Marion.
 
By the end of the day each one had proudly produced two pieces of work, one a waterscape with a boat and the other a landscape including water and boats.

 

Report by Michael Rogers: We spent a wonderful day with Leyla Spencer as tutor. Leyla has a long history of art teaching and currently teaches at the Royal Art Society but is new to the local art society scene. She brought many books and showed us the relevant techniques of the old masters. So we learned about art history as well as receiving the hands on constant tips for improvement as we painted.

Leyla does not do a demonstration painting, preferring to get each student to work on their individual piece. We had the choice of a still life which she set up, or a streetscape from photos she supplied. We all plumped for the photos with Noel Kelly being the only one with the fortitude to attack the still life. We were exposed to a more painterly artistic approach than we are normally used to and I think had our eyes opened a little.

 

 

 

Christmas Lunch Dec 1 2010 at the St George Motor Boat Club.
Fifty eight members and partners attended this year's Christmas lunch which was a really enjoyable way to end the society's year. The company was great and the food was as good as in previous years, including the lobster. The weather was dreadful but we didn't care as we were inside and warm and dry!

President Cheryl summed up the year very well and thanked all those who helped through the year. Lucky door prizes were then drawn and well received by the lucky ones. Thanks go to Olga for her kind donation of her marvellous water colour paints and also to Eckersleys for their generous donation of art materials. For those who missed out there is always next year.

Here are some pics:

What a wet, miserable view outside! But hey, we were dry!

 

President Cheryl summing up the year as
Betty looks on ready for the Lucky Door
prize draw.

Listening to the speech in our private room after the meal.

 

 

 

 

Paintathon 13 & 14 November 2010

This year's Paintathon was a great success. The classes in mixed media by Pamela Griffith, watercolour by Josefia Lemon, acrylics by Ross Kurtz and oils by Ros Psakis were full or nearly full. We even had a visitor from Victoria who attended the classes.

Both the participants and tutors praised the venue and all enjoyed and learned.

Pamela Griffith's class attacked a highly creative and wide range of subjects which left people gasping. Pamela was most generous in donating two paintings done on the day to the society to raffle and raise funds towards our many expenses. Thank you Pamela, your generosity with these gifts and the giving freely of your extensive and obvious skills is so very much appreciated.

Ros' class got into great figure paintings with that terrific light that she produces while Ross revised perspective and then got into a different approach with acrylics. Josefia pushed her class to work faster and faster and do twelve paintings in the "the hardest medium of all - watercolours" in the two days. Thank you to all the tutors for imparting your knowledge.

Here are some photos.

Pamela Griffith and some of the class.

Portrait of Amanda (member) by Pamela Griffith painted on the day and given to Amanda.

Donation from Pamela Griffith.

Donation from Pamela Griffith.

Ros Psakis teaching.

Work by one of Ros' students.

Ross Kurtz's class.

Josefia demonstrating.

Shirley Ridge having a bit of a blow!

General View

 

 

 

 

 

Life Class September 29 2010

Eight members tried their sketching skills at the last life class for the year. Amber was a great model and posed both nude and in costume. Here are some photos of the resultant sketches. First off, the class and the model:

The class.

Amber, the model.

 

 

 

 

 

37th Annual Art Show 28 and 29 August 2010

Here is a brief summary of winners in the art show. Full results with photos can be seen by clicking on the appropriate button on the front page of the sitear displayed soon in the Newsletter which will be attached as a down-loadable pdf file.

 

Section 1 - Paul Wiseman - "Taren Point"

Section 2 - Yvonne Ferguson - "The Intersection"

Section 3 - Norma C Jones - "Old Fuel Stove"

Section 4 - Michael Rogers - "Dave Manning, Artist"

Section 5 - Richard Green - "Abstract 1"

 

 

 

Workshop 9 June 2010 - Dave Thomas: Portraits and John Perkins: Landscapes

Dave Thomas' class.

Dave and some of the class' work. Excellent likenesses easily obtained with his simple system of mixing colours and tones.

John Perkins. The full class created two glowing landscapes on the day.

Lunch break with Dave and John in full flight and some of the classes. We listened and learned 'cause it was hard to get a word in!

 

 

 

Norman Lindsay Bus Trip 27 May 2010
This trip was a great experience. We were all amazed at how prolific Norman was. Not only with his oils, watercolours, sculpture, writing (The Magic Pudding), weekly publication in The Bulletin and his model ship building but also his building work and landscaping. Then there was also his etchings which took 4 weeks each. He died in 1969 at the age of 90.

His painting studio
Two of the sculptures in the 50 acres grounds

A lovely lunch at the Springwood Country Club for only $12 which included a drink. Then a visit to a few gift shops in Springwood on the way home.