This was another successful year. We have a few new members who are very active,
the demonstrations have been well attended & members have enjoyed the Club
events. Hopefully 2011 – 2012 year will be even more successful not withstanding
problems with winter weather.
If any members have any ideas for activities, ways to improve the Club etc.
please let us have them, they will be gratefully received.
We had eight demonstrations covering most aspects of interest to our members.
Tim Fisher gave an acrylics demonstration.
Tony Slater demonstrated the use of watercolour in landscapes.
Graham Laughton demonstrated pastel portraits using our own Richard
Knowles as his model.
Mark Wilde covered pen & wash providing us with some very useful
approaches to the topic.
Bob Elcock demonstrated animals in watercolour & pencil. A number of
pastel paintings of animals have been entered for exhibitions possibly helped by
his insights & tips.
Carol Hill did landscapes in oils.
Cheryl Wilbraham watercolour still life.
In addition to the demonstrations two workshops were scheduled. Unfortunately
Jane Betteridge’s had to be postponed until November 7th of this session due
to illness in the family.
Tony Sumpter’s original approach to life drawing, using charcoal, was
well received in his workshop. Tony will be repeating his life drawing workshop
next May & also providing an insight into using a sketchbook in January.
We have a total of eight demonstrators scheduled for this 2011 – 2012 year and
are still looking for a volunteer(s) to take over the arrangement of the
programme for the 2012 – 2013 years. Gill Schofield & Anne Boshell have been
arranging the programme for the past few years & are now stepping down. They are
happy to provide any initial information/guidance/help to anyone who is
interested in taking over from them.
The Party
The weather over the winter was a problem for many members. The snow & ice in
December meant that we only had three members present for the meeting before the
Christmas Function. Since the snow was predicted to continue the event was
postponed.
Many members reported that they were reluctant to venture forth on dark winter
evenings & so we tried the experiment of holding the club party in the summer.
The party for this season will be held on April 16th 2012, the week following
the Easter Exhibition. It is hoped that this will enable us to garner feedback
on the Exhibition – what went well, what might be improved etc.
The party was finally held last July 4th. A number of members were away on
holiday so numbers attending were not what we had hoped but this didn’t stop
everyone from having a good time. Barbara Royds organised the refreshment
assisted by her team of helpers.
Maureen Weeks arranged the entertainment with party games, quiz etc. based on
ideas taken off the internet. These resulted in much banter & hilarity with the
Red team beating the White team by one point & the Blue team a close third.
The Quiz
Alan Betteridge kindly volunteered to act as quiz question setter & Quiz
Master ably assisted by Jane. As per usual team members were chosen at random.
Alan & Jane did an excellent job setting the questions. Some required general
art knowledge, some a little logical thinking & others we simply guessed (some
of us, at least) the answers. The standard of questions was ideally set so that
every team could make a reasonable attempt at the answers even if some of the
guesses were a little wide of the mark. Even being wrong was great fun.
The quiz this year is on 12th December. Everyone is invited to take part, you
don’t need to be expert, just good at guessing.
Easter Exhibition
As usual this was held over the Easter weekend. Paintings were handed in on the
Friday morning, hung on the Friday afternoon with the preview Evening on the
Friday evening. Seven works were sold at the preview evening, an improvement on
the 2009 preview when none were sold. Twenty works were sold over the Saturday,
Sunday & Monday. The exhibition attracted nearly 500 visitors.
Barbara Royds is the chief exhibition organiser but there is an army of members
who work hard to make the event a success. The ‘behind the scenes’ team who
manage the publicity, the strong ones who erect the boards upon which the
paintings are hung, people on the door who handle the sales, those in the
kitchen who keep everyone supplied with tea & cake, all of these make the
exhibition possible. The club thanks go to all of those who gave so freely of
their time.
Ashby Art Festival
This was organised by Barbara Royds. The Ashby Art Club venue this year was in
Market Street, a big improvement on the venue in South Street that we have used
in previous years as evidenced by the sale of six paintings & the large number
of visitors.
Osgathorpe Garden Festival
This was a new venture for the Art Club. This garden festival has been going for
some time but this year was the first time that they had tried an Art Trail. The
Club exhibited in the Harley Hall in the centre of the village. We had a fair
number of visitors who were most complimentary about the works but only one
painting was sold. This was bought by someone who lived just around the corner
from the Hall who could go home to fetch the cash needed for the purchase. One
got the impression that visitors to the Festival were unprepared to make a large
purchase of a painting. With no cheque book & no cash machines in the village
most people were in no position to buy even if they were tempted to.
Pauline Allen worked as a ‘painter in residence’ in one of the gardens & did
sell one or two small works, plus we tried out her ‘browser’ idea. This is a
print rack that holds mounted, unframed works that sell for just a few pounds.
We intend to try it out again at the next Ticknall Easter Exhibition.
From the Chairman:
Dear members
As the weeks roll on and we are nearly up to our break for the Summer holidays I
thought I would just let you know what we have got arranged for the next three
weeks.
Monday, 12th July for those wishing to take part, we are making the flowers for
Calke Abbey’s Plant in Time. This is to be held 26th August – 11th September. We
will need to have a session together during the holidays to make and decide how
flowers will be arranged before we go to Calke on Wednesday 25th August to
assemble the baskets. The wicker baskets have now arrived for the arrangements.
Patty has asked if our members could spend a couple of hours with our stand to
chat to visitors and tell them about the exhibition and promote our Club. We
will pass a rota for that. Other members ‘Do your own thing’.
Monday 19th July – Carole Rogers is running a workshop entitled ‘Take Three
Colours’. Members will paint along side Carole.
Monday 26th July – Our last evening – ‘Again we will make flowers and for other
members ‘Do your own thing’
We commence our Autumn programme on September 7th. Fees paid on or before that
evening will be £30 after that date the fees will be £32.
Have a good Summer break. Look forward to seeing you in September.
Wendy
The Club are taking part in 'A Plant in Time' at Calke Abbey. The club have been invited by the National Trust to represent a garden made of handmade flowers. We are going to the gardens at Calke on Monday evening 21st June, meeting at Calke car park at 6.45 to paint the garden in preparation for this event. The exhibition is travelling around the country and will arrive at Calke 25th August when we will place our display. this event will continue until 11th September.
Page updated: 14 November, 2011
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