Previous Saturday Meetings
Have a look at what we have been doing at the different events during 2023,
and some of the work produced by members during the day!
and some of the work produced by members during the day!
Saturday 23rd September - Painting Demonstration by Keith Harris
At the beginning, we found out a little more about Keith and his journey as an artist, moving from watercolours initially to oils, which is now his medium of choice. Keith chose a 'simple' landscape to paint for the group, and started by sketching, in thinned paint, a basic outline, thinking about composition, and what structures to include or move. He also shared tips about how he stores and uses his paints and what painting mediums he uses.
Keith started painting in the darkest structures, using his photo reference, working loosely and fairly quickly. He continued working from dark to light, telling us how he always paints the sky last as he feels it makes the rest of the landscape sit better under the sky. As Keith progressed, he adjusted the lights and darks and started to add in detail, working more with the painting itself rather than just working off the photograph.
He described the painting as 'simple' which maybe it was, but it was still full of life and vitality. During the session Keith answered peoples' questions, coped well with the odd interruption, including a band playing almost right outside the doors for 5 mins, and afterwards talked to individuals wanting more information about his work and his painting techniques.
It was a lovely session to see a painting from start to finish, and to do so in our wonderful exhibition space with all the member's paintings around us!
Keith started painting in the darkest structures, using his photo reference, working loosely and fairly quickly. He continued working from dark to light, telling us how he always paints the sky last as he feels it makes the rest of the landscape sit better under the sky. As Keith progressed, he adjusted the lights and darks and started to add in detail, working more with the painting itself rather than just working off the photograph.
He described the painting as 'simple' which maybe it was, but it was still full of life and vitality. During the session Keith answered peoples' questions, coped well with the odd interruption, including a band playing almost right outside the doors for 5 mins, and afterwards talked to individuals wanting more information about his work and his painting techniques.
It was a lovely session to see a painting from start to finish, and to do so in our wonderful exhibition space with all the member's paintings around us!
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Saturday 9th September - Annual Exhibition 2023
It was a proud day as we opened this year's Annual Exhibition with a bumper display of paintings. We have 149 pieces of work on display, by 55 artists, covering a wide range of style, media, genre and subject. The standard is extremely high and it is truly a wonderful display that showcases the talent of members of our society!
Our president, David Whiting, opened the formal part of the day and presented awards to:
Maggie O'Keeffe - selector's choice of her painting ' Breaking Rain'
Louise Ventris - selector's choice of her painting ' Heywood'
Rachael Singleton - Calder Graphics' choice of her painting 'Adagio' for a first time exhibitor.
You can see the work of these artists on our website: under events, then click on Annual Exhibition. The whole of the exhibition will be displayed on the website towards the end of September, because, in the mean time, we want you to come and see all the works in real life in Unit 18 on the Piazza in Huddersfield!
After the formal part of the afternoon, 6 artists were invited to talk briefly about their journey as an artist and share some insight into the paintings they had on display. Those artists were Louise Ventris, Matty Evans, Bob Hryndyj, Stacey Shaw, Rachael Singleton, and Caro Ward. It was really interesting to hear their story's and each one shared different, pertinent points, either about their journey as an artist, or the work they had produced, which was really inspiring and encouraging to everyone there.
Below are some photos from the day.
Our president, David Whiting, opened the formal part of the day and presented awards to:
Maggie O'Keeffe - selector's choice of her painting ' Breaking Rain'
Louise Ventris - selector's choice of her painting ' Heywood'
Rachael Singleton - Calder Graphics' choice of her painting 'Adagio' for a first time exhibitor.
You can see the work of these artists on our website: under events, then click on Annual Exhibition. The whole of the exhibition will be displayed on the website towards the end of September, because, in the mean time, we want you to come and see all the works in real life in Unit 18 on the Piazza in Huddersfield!
After the formal part of the afternoon, 6 artists were invited to talk briefly about their journey as an artist and share some insight into the paintings they had on display. Those artists were Louise Ventris, Matty Evans, Bob Hryndyj, Stacey Shaw, Rachael Singleton, and Caro Ward. It was really interesting to hear their story's and each one shared different, pertinent points, either about their journey as an artist, or the work they had produced, which was really inspiring and encouraging to everyone there.
Below are some photos from the day.
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Saturday 12th August - En Plein Air Painting Day at Holmfirth.
13 members enjoyed a day painting scenes from the Holmfirth area.
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Saturday 8th July - En Plein Air Painting Day at Skelmanthorpe.
18 members braved the fickle weather today and produced some wonderful work at Skelmanthorpe. (slideshow)
Saturday 10th June - En Plein Air Painting Day at Golcar Colne Valley Museum
About 20 members enjoyed a beautiful, sunny day in Golcar painting the local views (slideshow)
Saturday 27th May - Members Own Workshop
Today's session was small but perfectly formed as a few members gathered to continue with their own projects. The smaller group allowed us to talk about what we were working on and what we hoped to achieve with our paintings.
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Saturday 13th May - Observation of Shape, Tone and Colour to Describe Objects in a Painting, with Bruce Mulcahy.
We had a record number of members present at today's session and the atmosphere was buzzing as Judith Bleazard opened the session with a presentation of her work. Judith described some of the art training she had in her youth, and brought along with her a wide range of subjects and media showing the breadth of her approach. She particularly likes Life Drawing and finds it a good practice for observation skills that has impact on all areas of her work. (slideshow)
Bruce then talked to us about his approach in painting a landscape and demonstrated some of his key points: picking out shapes, starting with sketching out the largest shapes and beginning the painting using the darkest tones. Bruce worked in gouache today but he also uses this approach with oils and acrylics. Today, he used the sort of equipment he works with en plein air to demonstrate how easy it can be. He continued working on the painting progressing from the darkest tones to the lighter tones adding white. He will often use gouache when painting outdoors as it dries quickly but when applied thickly it remains workable for a time; it can be re-wetted to shape areas further and the added benefit of the opacity of the paint allowing Bruce to build up layers.
Bruce encouraged us to take a more painterly approach thinking about marks and lines rather than the objects themselves and taking advantage of the surface we are painting on to create texture. He had brought along a lot of his previous work to demonstrate how he achieved some of those effects.
See slideshow below)
Bruce encouraged us to take a more painterly approach thinking about marks and lines rather than the objects themselves and taking advantage of the surface we are painting on to create texture. He had brought along a lot of his previous work to demonstrate how he achieved some of those effects.
See slideshow below)
Members then had a go themselves, using Bruce's approach and either their own reference photo or one of the many that Bruce had brought with him. Here are just a few of the works in progress. (slideshow)
Everyone had a great time and many said they had picked up tips they can use going forward, both on painting out doors and when painting their own subjects.
Saturday 22nd April - Members Own Workshop
Today's session started off with a presentation of some of her artwork by Joan Leslie. Joan has not had formal training as an artist but took it up when she retired and is very much self-taught. She is keen to experiment with lots of different materials and her paintings showed a wide range of approaches but each with a great sensitivity to its subject. It was really inspiring to see. (slideshow)
Gilly Markham also sent some of her work using Anthony Barrow's technique for people to have a look at and get some inspiration for other topics as well as portraits.
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For the rest of the afternoon members worked on their own projects, some using the technique taught by Anthony Barrow, some adapting the techniques or some just using their own approach. But once again it was lovely to have a laugh, catch up with people and have a little time to talk about our work with others! (slideshow)
Saturday 8th April - Visit to the Cooper Gallery, Barnsley.
This was another brilliant gallery visit organised by our president David Whiting. 15 members enjoyed viewing the artwork in the gallery, had afternoon tea at the Town Hall, visited the permanent display at the museum and had a walk around the town.
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Saturday 1st April - Creative Portrait Painting with Anthony Barrow
Today's session had a strong, creative and experimental flavour starting off with our member's presentation from Kay France. She began by saying that painting is an interest of hers but not a passion and I wasn't quite sure if it was said tongue in cheek, because her work showed a creative mind and an artist who is not afraid to experiment and play! She has quite a wide range of approaches, styles and interests, and a strong sense of humour, and this all adds to the creative elements in her paintings.
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This was followed by Anthony Barrow demonstrating how he creates his atmospheric portraits using charcoal and acrylics plus one or two less obvious mediums! I have listed some details below with the photos to help members at the next session when we attempt a similar approach.
* Anthony uses 1400 weight wall lining paper, in a square format for his portraits. The paper is gessoed on both sides. On the painting side he would sometimes use gesso thickly to make textural marks before painting.
* He started with a light covering of charcoal smudged over the paper to give a mid tone base
* He uses a photo image but says he is not aiming for a perfect likeness of the subject; more of an aesthetically pleasing painting.
* Using jet black charcoal he drafts out the basic shapes of the features rather than picking out detail. He then wiped off some of the excess charcoal to indicate highlights. This layer was then fixed with hairspray.
* He then painted over a light wash of acrylic colour using a large brush
* He started with a light covering of charcoal smudged over the paper to give a mid tone base
* He uses a photo image but says he is not aiming for a perfect likeness of the subject; more of an aesthetically pleasing painting.
* Using jet black charcoal he drafts out the basic shapes of the features rather than picking out detail. He then wiped off some of the excess charcoal to indicate highlights. This layer was then fixed with hairspray.
* He then painted over a light wash of acrylic colour using a large brush
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* When this layer is fully dry, he used a damp cloth to wipe away some of the colour, particularly over the highlighted areas, and in areas where he wanted to indicate the shape and roundness of the face.
* He then continued to layer up darks using charcoal, lights using pastels (fixing this with hairspray), adding spots of colour with acrylic or even adding further washes to deepen the layers. As well as considering the facial features, he also worked on the background building up layers of dark and light areas. The layering process could continue several times, fixing with hairspray before introducing a water based product such as acrylic, until he achieves the depth and texture he wants.
* Once he is satisfied with the final image he seals the painting using Ronseal water-based varnish for non- oil wood with either a satin or a matt finish.
* He then continued to layer up darks using charcoal, lights using pastels (fixing this with hairspray), adding spots of colour with acrylic or even adding further washes to deepen the layers. As well as considering the facial features, he also worked on the background building up layers of dark and light areas. The layering process could continue several times, fixing with hairspray before introducing a water based product such as acrylic, until he achieves the depth and texture he wants.
* Once he is satisfied with the final image he seals the painting using Ronseal water-based varnish for non- oil wood with either a satin or a matt finish.
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Anthony is a pragmatic down to earth artist who is hugely entertaining in his talks but he also shares a lot of tips about technique and process which are really helpful. He also brought a lot of work he had done previously which was fascinating to look through.
Many thanks go to both Kay and Anthony for a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon!
Many thanks go to both Kay and Anthony for a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon!
Saturday 18th March - AGM
Minutes of the meeting will be made available to members. During the meeting Margaret Fairclough was made a life member for her long service and dedication to the Society. In 1987 Margaret joined HAS and later joined Council where she served as Exhibition Secretary for three years. Margaret’s Husband Ken was a member of HAS and is remembered fondly. Margaret continues to be an active member and enjoys every minute of it, she attends the gallery visits and the Abstract Group. DSW presented her with a gold card for her life membership and some flowers.
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After the formal meeting we had a lively discussion about how to price our art work for sales. It seems the overall conclusion was that this was not an easy thing at all as there are so many factors to take into consideration, not least that we are a large open society consisting of members who are professional and semi-professional artists as well as very new members and a whole range in between!
Saturday 4th March - Gestural Mark Making with Lindsay Norman
We had a fabulous session today led by local artist Lindsay Norman, who showed us some of her techniques in using gestural mark making to bring animal subjects to life.
We started off with some loose gestural marks, initially just abstract mark making to get us used to holding charcoal, pencil or pastel in different ways, with a looser grip and different hand positions. We then progressed to look at gestural shapes in animals using images of cockerals or hens as examples and we practised how we could focus on those gestural shapes in the first instance to inject life into the drawn image before going into adding detail.
We started off with some loose gestural marks, initially just abstract mark making to get us used to holding charcoal, pencil or pastel in different ways, with a looser grip and different hand positions. We then progressed to look at gestural shapes in animals using images of cockerals or hens as examples and we practised how we could focus on those gestural shapes in the first instance to inject life into the drawn image before going into adding detail.
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We then moved onto our own images, aiming to incorporate the things we had learnt
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Everybody was amazed at the difference having a 'gestural focus' made on their work and some amazing pieces were produced as well as everyone having a great time. I think we would all agree that this approach could be used in a lot of our painting to make our art work more unique and full of life!
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Saturday 18th February - Celebrating the Portrait with HAS Portrait Group
Today's session was a particularly special session linking with members regularly attending our Portrait Group, who started off our afternoon by showing us some of their work and talking about how they produce their portraits. Other members of the society also brought in some of their portraits to show people. (slideshow)
We then had a couple of live models for everyone to have a go at painting a portrait.
There was at least 25 of us in the group today and the session was a fabulous, lively one, with lots of discussion and sharing during the tea break. We also had one model drawing one of the artists in the group, which was highly amusing, but thanks to Linda for stepping in as a second sitter so that everyone had good sight of a model!
Painting portraits can be really hard and frustrating at times when you don't quite get a likeness of the model, but the practice sharpens our observational skills and, over time, great improvements can be made. All members of the group this afternoon approached the task with great enthusiasm and lots of enjoyment! (slideshow)
There was at least 25 of us in the group today and the session was a fabulous, lively one, with lots of discussion and sharing during the tea break. We also had one model drawing one of the artists in the group, which was highly amusing, but thanks to Linda for stepping in as a second sitter so that everyone had good sight of a model!
Painting portraits can be really hard and frustrating at times when you don't quite get a likeness of the model, but the practice sharpens our observational skills and, over time, great improvements can be made. All members of the group this afternoon approached the task with great enthusiasm and lots of enjoyment! (slideshow)
Here are some of the portraits painted on the day, some of which might be worked on further at home with a little more time. More will be posted as people send in photos of their finished work.
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Saturday 4th February - Demonstration and workshop - wet strength tissue paper - led by Rachael Singleton.
The meeting began with an inspiring presentation of work by Keith Harris. He explained that he almost always does plein air painting as it produces a finished result within one session. He uses mainly oils, but also for drawing he favours double ended markers in a range of tones from black to various greys.
Rachael then gave a very informative talk and demonstration of a wide range of tissue papers which have wet strength, particularly tea bag paper, which can be laid down with diluted glue to apply overlays to paintings. Rachael's paintings are abstracts in which the spontaneous addition of extra elements can produce exciting effects. For the second part of a busy and well-attended meeting, members produced their own abstracts on small pieces of card, using paper supplied by Rachael, many with pre-printed designs on, of which the fascinating results can be seen in the slideshow below.
Rachael then gave a very informative talk and demonstration of a wide range of tissue papers which have wet strength, particularly tea bag paper, which can be laid down with diluted glue to apply overlays to paintings. Rachael's paintings are abstracts in which the spontaneous addition of extra elements can produce exciting effects. For the second part of a busy and well-attended meeting, members produced their own abstracts on small pieces of card, using paper supplied by Rachael, many with pre-printed designs on, of which the fascinating results can be seen in the slideshow below.
Saturday 21st January - members' workshop using Andrew Jenkin's loose watercolour techniques
The meeting began with an impressive presentation of work by Carol Wood. Carol is renowned within the Society for her outstanding ability in portrait and life model painting, and members were able to see a wide selection of her work, both individual studies and in sketchbooks. Carol works almost entirely in oils or acrylics. As well as attending the weekly portrait group and leading the life drawing group, Carol regularly attends the outdoor painting days.
Members then worked from their own reference photos of landscapes, aiming to follow Andrew's technique of using plenty of water, both combined with paint and laid on to the surface, and to convey the basic shapes from the source but avoiding precision by using a loose style. It was interesting to see such variety in the resulting paintings. (slideshow)
Saturday 7th January - Andrew Jenkin demonstration -
impressionist style watercolour
impressionist style watercolour
Today's session began with an excellent presentation of work by David Whiting. David has been a key member of the society but this was the first time he had presented his work. It was great to see such a wide diversity of work representing some of his many interests in art, but also to hear about some of the projects he has worked on in the past including doing murals for various departments of the Royal Infirmary.
Andrew Jenkin has been a member of the art society for many years, filling key roles in the past before his move to North Wales where he now conducts his art career including teaching workshops. His demonstration today was focussing on a loose, more abstract approach to watercolour, taking inspiration from impressionist artists but putting his own twist on it. He is not afraid to experiment which was really encouraging to many of us there!
After discussing impressionist approaches and how he teaches and guides his students, Andrew then demonstrated his approach on a large sheet of watercolour paper working from his own reference photo so that we could see how he 'abstracted' the key features and 'feel' of that landscape.. Because we can now project onto a screen (most of the time when the technology behaves itself!) Andrew was able to work flat showing how he uses lots of water to keep his work loose and to manipulate the pigment on the paper.
Andrew shared lots of tips with us and I am certain that it will be an invaluable inspiration to us when we have chance at the next session to have a go ourselves.
You can find out more about Andrew and his work on his website at www.andrewjenkin.co.uk
See slideshow below.
After discussing impressionist approaches and how he teaches and guides his students, Andrew then demonstrated his approach on a large sheet of watercolour paper working from his own reference photo so that we could see how he 'abstracted' the key features and 'feel' of that landscape.. Because we can now project onto a screen (most of the time when the technology behaves itself!) Andrew was able to work flat showing how he uses lots of water to keep his work loose and to manipulate the pigment on the paper.
Andrew shared lots of tips with us and I am certain that it will be an invaluable inspiration to us when we have chance at the next session to have a go ourselves.
You can find out more about Andrew and his work on his website at www.andrewjenkin.co.uk
See slideshow below.