Christmas social

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The Christmas Party in December was a very relaxed and jolly affair with lots of delicious food and home-made, non-alcoholic mulled wine.
Three teams tied in the Art Quiz, answering almost all correctly. Fortunately we had lots of chocolates available for prizes and some for Audrey, the hall caretaker, for her help during the year.

Thank you to everyone who participated and helped to make the evening a great success and enjoyed by all who attended. Happy New Year.

There was a good display of members’ artwork which everyone voted on to decide which was the overall favourite.
Pat Sullivan’s beautiful ‘Sunset’ was the favourite.

Some of the other artworks

Nidd Hall sketching

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Fourteen people met up at Nidd Hall on a dry, sunny morning for the last sketching trip for 2019. We were given a room for our sole use. After coffee we set off in all directions to find our own sketching spot.

The surprisingly large grounds had splendid trees showing Autumn colours, a lake, a water garden with statues , a church and stables with a clock tower.

Lunch was served at one large table in the oak panelled dining room with a roaring fire and festive decorations. Sketching after lunch was both outside in the grounds and inside.

Audrey thanks everyone who has supported the club sketching trips. The sketching trips have been to a variety of interesting places for enjoyable sketching in the company of like-minded folk.

If you have your 2020 diary ready, pop the date in of our first visit to.
The Mercer Gallery, meet at 10:30 on 6th April 2020.
  We have a room for ourselves, you can look at the latest exhibition, sketch in the area and have snack lunch nearby in Hales Bar, the oldest pub in Harrogate, next to the Pump Room.

Photographs at Nidd Hall Hotel

Members’ Sketches

Portraits with Richard Squire

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Portrait pose by two members

Richard Squire returned to the club to talk about and demonstrate his method of portrait drawing.
He explained that he bases his portraits on careful observation of the subject and not rule of thumb ideas of face proportions.
As with life drawing, the first thing to establish is the overall shape of the head by lightly drawing the outline, checking and correcting.

He suggested that members establish a vertical reference line and lightly mark the angles of the hairline, eyeline, ears, nose. Then observe the face symmetry and lightly mark the position of key features.

After careful comparison of the layout against the model, members could start drawing in their own style, paying particular attention to the shape of the subject’s actual eyes, nose, mouth and ears. The position of the pupils is particularly important as eyes can vary.

Richard mentioned that he draws in tones rather than in lines. Mouths are mostly areas rather than lines. He adds colour tones where appropriate and white as highlights.

Members’ Portraits in progress

Sketching in Grewelthorpe

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Eleven members and two friends were made most welcome with coffee in the well used community centre in Grewelthorpe prior to joining the ducks around the pond.

In spite of quite a chilly breeze , we stayed sketching until the rain came. After a delicious soup and sandwich lunch, members found sheltered in the hall or in cars to sketch the village cottages.

Ann Pearson explained that the cottages used to house a dentist, a general store, a butcher, a post office and a slaughterhouse. There had also been a tailor, a reading room, a flour mill , a cream cheese maker and a straw hat maker.

Sketches by members

Watercolourists – by Alex Purves

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Alex Purves gave an illustrated talk on watercolourists to over thirty members of Pateley Bridge Art Club . He ran a slide show of over 70 watercolour paintings, many influential from the 16th century to modern times covering a wide range of styles and subjects.

Durer was one of the early landscape painter in watercolour, most paintings being in oils or body colour. Alex showed two paintings from 1502/3, Young Hare and Great Piece of Turf.

Alex illustrated a landscape by Claude Lorraine, a Rembrandt pen and wash and buildings by Caneletto.
Another artist, Paul Sandby from Nottingham, was a major influence in the 18th century. He painted this view of a scottish castle.

The artist James Gilray painted satirical cartoons, like this famous political one of Pitt and Napoleon carving a Plumb-pudding representing the world.

Alex illustrated watercolours by Thomas Girtin and his rival JMW Turner. Turner experimented many techniques including applying paint and ink to very wet paper and used tinted papers.
He painted Norham Castle several times. His later paintings became less detailed.

Many watercolour artists had the profitable follow up market for engravings when creating their paintings, including Turner.

Alex also showed paintings by John Ruskin in Venice and the major watercolourist, John Sell Cotman, with his famous view of a river bridge.

He alsso showed paintings by Henry John Boddington, Samual Palmer and John Constable. This is Constable’s painting of stonehenge.

Alex talked about Arthur Melville, Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, Russell Flint, Ron Ransom, Rowland Hilder and John Yardley.
He also discussed the war artists Albert Richards, John Worsley, John Piper, Edward Wesson and Norma Bull. He showed their varied work in two wars.
This is a painting by Norma Bull of a war damaged hospital.

He showed painting by modern artists, William Heaton Cooper and Len Tabner and many others. This is one of hundreds of Tabner’s images of Boulby Potash mine.

Alex also brought some of his own paintings.

It was another interesting talk by an expert in painters and paintings.

Parceval Hall sketching

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Parceval Hall is a religious retreat set in gardens near Appletreewick. It has extensive gardens open to the paying public and a small cafe and outdoor area.
Due to members being on holiday, nine members met at the cafe on a blustery, wet morning, keen to enjoy the sketching day.

The secluded hall and gardens are on a hillside with steep paths winding up to the woodland.

Members produced some good results considering the difficult weather

Oil painting by Nigel Overton

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Nigel Overton demonstrated oil painting for Pateley Bridge Art Club.
He explained that cheaper paints usually had far less pigment in them. He recommended that members use the artist quality paints.

He uses low odour thinners and fast drying oil. He often prepares his own painting board using MDF. It needs smoothing with sandpaper, cleaning with methylated spirit, sanding and priming. White or coloured gesso makes a good grounding for oil painting.

He mentioned that care should be taken with oil paints to avoid painting thin layers on top of thick layers, as cracking may result.

This was Nigel’s oil paint pallet

Nigel suggested that painting landscapes outdoors can produce more accurate scenes as you can paint what you see, avoiding distortions that cameras often introduce into images.
He also suggested that the painter should try to stay true to the scene colours and to the aerial perspective.

Nigel started by sketching his underdrawing by brush.

He explained how he painted outdoors very quickly, painting with his brush like a drawing, capturing the moment before the weather or tide changes.

Nigel mentioned that, using fast drying oils, the paint may be dry by morning. To add detail at this stage care in needed. For this he used a small brush.

Unfinished oil painting at the end of the demonstration.

Sample paintings displayed by Nigel Overton

Nigel Overton gallery and courses etc. > http://overtonfinearts.co.uk/

Abstractions workshop

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Margaret Clapperton ran a workshop to help members explore ways of creating paintings or drawings that did not appear to represent objects, people or scenes.

Beginners may find it easier to start with an image and select shapes in combination to make new images with interesting colour combinations.

Shapes can be copied using tracing paper. Draw the image, or parts, on tracing paper then trace it onto painting paper. Then move the tracing paper around and trace over the top of the first tracing, breaking up the original image. They can then play with the shapes and colours. The finished result can hint at the original source.

Example of a landscape image changed to an abstract painting, by Margaret

Abstract works can be based on geometric forms and imagined colours.

Example by Margaret Clapperton

Abstract paintings by members

Sketching at Low Hall

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We made a return visit to Low Hall, Dacre Top. Thirteen members and a friend (a garden expert from Seattle) found plenty to sketch. While we were having lunch in the conservatory Pamela read a poem written by a former Bishop of Canterbury, who obviously enjoyed the peace and quiet of the surroundings as much as we did.
We all had a good day at Low Hall , in spite of a drizzly morning, and the afternoon was sunny.

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Click images for larger view

Summer Exhibition 2019

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Summer exhibition in St Cuthberts School, King Street, Pateley Bridge August 16 to 19, 10am to 5pm.

Framed painting displayed and unframed work and limited edition prints in the browsers. A wide selection of greetings cards. You can vote for your favourite exhibit. Finally, refreshments: enjoy a tea or coffee and some home made cake before you leave.

Exhibition Preview

Mayor, Chris Skaife & colleague Mike Holt

Gallery of members’ framed works
https://www.pateleybridgeartclub.org/?page_id=3232