Join us for our last art demonstration of the year, which is being given by Bristol-based painter, Tom Hughes.
An important part of Tom's approach to painting is to work outside on location "en plein air" initially, making small studies in oils, observing and capturing the light, texture and hues, developing the work back in the studio. He paints a range of subjects such as woods, street scenes in London, Bristol and Bath, and beach huts. 

Demo venue:  Lacock Village Hall, East Street, Lacock SN15 2LF

Time: 7pm prompt to 9pm

Guests welcome - £5 entry fee per person on the door.

As ever, Lacock Art Group's next exhibition features the work of many of its members whose art covers a wide range of subjects painted with oils, acrylics, pastels and watercolour. There's sure to be something to suit everyone's tastes.

• Copies of our 2025 wall calendar will be on sale - just in time for Christmas, they make a great gift. We're donating profits from calendar sales to Lacock Primary School.
• Original art, prints, and greeting cards (most likely including some winter/Christmas themed cards) will be available to buy, all reasonably priced. 
• Free entry
• You can pay for any items purchase by cash or card.
• Children and four-legged family members are welcome to look round.

Full details are below.
Please come and see us and our art - we look forward to seeing you over the exhibition weekend.

Our next demo takes place at the end of October, on Halloween night. It will be an evening full of treats and no tricks.

Professional artist Colin Ross Jack will demonstrate his approach to making art with pastels. You can find out more about his work by visiting his website.

Guests are welcome to attend - there's no need to book a place in advance. There is a £5 entry fee for visitors, payable on arrival. We look forward to seeing you at the demo.
Details are below:

This year our Christmas competition takes the theme of portraits - of our art group members. As usual, this is intended to be a fun competition for members to take part in if they wish to. That said, if previous such challenges are anything to go by, the competition is likely to be pretty fierce!

To help members prepare and keep track, here are the essential details and dates to be aware of.

Details:

• The competition is conducted anonymously, which makes it more intriguing - both in terms of whose portrait you're allocated to paint. Please try not to discuss your painting with fellow members. 
• Joy will assign a number to each photo of members, and will then allocate a numbered photo randomly to those taking part in the competition.
• Your portrait can be in any medium - pencil, charcoal, oils, acrylics, watercolour or mixed media.
• Bring your finished portrait to the Frolics evening on Thursday 19 December but keep them under wraps so that the artist's identity is not revealed. Joy and a couple of helpers will display the portaits on the stage. 
• We will ask members present on the night to vote for their favourite painting. The method of voting will be explained on the night. Joy will announce the winner at the end of the evening.
• We'll publish a gallery of entries on our website after the competition.

Dates:

• Thursday 26 September - photo shoot during our evening art session.
• Thursday 10 or 17 October - NB updated information: Joy will distribute digital photos to members, by email, and informing them of their number (this is instead of handing out printed copies). If you'd like a printed version of the photo allocated to you please arrange this yourself.
• Thursday 19 December - LAG Frolics evening and competition judging. Bring your portrait with you to the Frolics.

Previous portrait competitions
​We last held this theme in the autumn of 2018, judged at the Christmas Frolics event. Here are a few photos taken of the entries to give newer members an idea of what to expect. Several members have left LAG since 2018 so you may not recognise some of the portraits - no reflection on the likeness of any paintings themselves!
​The winning portrait was of Margaret Gray, painted by Mark Peskett (former member and previous LAG chair). Apologies for the photo quality, which was affected in places by glare.

David Cobley is an English portrait and figure painter, best known for his oil paintings of famous people including actors, royalty, broadcasters, and leaders of large institutions. Luckily for us, David lives in Wiltshire and this demo came about by chance when one of our members, Ken Baldy, attended a talk David gave to a local business group about his life and work. Chatting after the talk Ken asked about doing a demo for us. And the rest, as the saying goes, is history.
​Held on 5 September at Lacock Village Hall, this demo is our best-attended in recent years, if not ever. The chance to see a painter of such calibre at work proved highly appealing. With about 40 people present, including some visitors, we ran out of chairs so for a few it was standing room only. The aim of the demo was for David to paint a portrait of a ‘live’ sitter, who we could choose, and show how he approaches his craft. Given that Ken instigated the demo it was only fitting that he was David’s muse for the session.
​David started the demo with a question for the audience; what did we want him to cover during the session? His technique and thinking, was the answer.

Equipment 
With Ken in position sitting on a chair on the hall’s stage, a pale gold curtain as backdrop, and David all set up, he quickly explained about the kit he’s using:

• A radial easel (an adjustable easel that can tilt, often made of beechwood) that he’s had for years. It folds down easily and fits in the car.
• A large plastic toolbox containing a selection of oil paint tubes, brushes, towels, a bottle of turps, and rags.
• Loads of brushes, which he admits he doesn’t clean. Instead he keeps them in a tin containing white spirit/turps. The tin has a carrying handle and a compartment in the bottom containing water that has holes in it for draining the water when needed. 
• A canvas, cut from a roll of fine quality double linen, fixed to a wooden frame. This canvas happens to have another drawing on it, which David paints over. ​

​Initial marks
He pre-paints a canvas usually with a neutral, greeny blue background, saying that this is partly so as not to feel daunted by a white canvas and it gives a tone to work into. He explains he thinks more in tone than in colour, and this background is 3-4 on the tonal scale where 1 is white and 10 black. 
David starts the painting by making black marks on the canvas to indicate the position and tonal value of the eyes, nose and mouth, followed by white marks on the forehead, also for tonal purposes.  He mixes Prussian Blue (PB) with Venetian Red (VR) to make a darkish grey and advises people to use bigger brushes than you think you need, for faster coverage. Impatient by nature, says David, he likes to see quick results when he paints. 
The first marks made on the canvas are really important, he says. 

​As he’s never painted Ken before, he doesn’t know what his head looks like so he explores it first. He explains that if this was a normal sitting he would have done some sketches beforehand for exploration.
Next he starts thinking about Ken’s head, neck and shoulders and makes a rough outline on the canvas. He also pointed out that, while painting, he constantly flicks his eyes quickly from Ken to canvas and back again, and constantly adjusts the drawing as he goes. 
He tells us that he has a life size skull at home so is very aware of bone structure and how the flesh falls on a face. 

Fleshing out
Having got the outline down, David changes the paint to Yellow Ochre (YO). He’s now thinking about the contrast of Ken’s pale blue shirt against the warmth of his face and the greeny/blue background so puts YO on the background. 
For the forehead skin colours he uses a warmer blue than PB, Ultramarine Blue (UMB) and a different brush for each pigment to avoid muddying the colours. Tonally, the forehead is 3 on the scale, he informs us – an overhead light shines on it. He reminds us that the head is asymmetrical so he tends to paint one feature (such as an ear) on one side of the head and checks the corresponding feature on the other side of the face straight away, for accuracy. 

As he was making adjustments David remarked matter-of-factly that Ken’s neck is thin. Ken retorted, “Well, it’s been wrung a few times!” The audience chuckled loudly, enjoying the banter.
Ken pointed out that he’d noticed the high degree of concentration on David’s face when he looks at Ken and back to the canvas. 
Someone commented that he hadn’t done much to the eyes but nevertheless the likeness is there, just as they are. The best advice he says he’s ever been given came from his school art teacher. He told him to paint what you see, leave your preconceptions at the door. 
David says he’s conscious the painting looks a mess at this stage, so tries to ignore the messy start and reassure himself that he’s done this before; it will be OK.
He need not have worried. Within a mere 20 minutes of starting the painting he had captured a distinct likeness and the essence of Ken. 

Further refinement
After a short tea break we resume. So far he’s used PB, YO, VR for this painting. Responding to a question from the audience about preferred colours, he says he uses PB and VR a lot, but apart from those doesn’t have a standard set of colours as such.
Always aware of complementary colours he tries to bring them out in his work, with this painting the colours are orange and blue. 
Although working from a photo of a subject can sometimes be helpful David says there’s no substitute for a sitting with the person. In portraits you’re trying to create the illusion of a 3D object in space, using pigment and brushes. That’s hard to do from a photo because it’s a flat, 1D surface. 
Talking as he works, David explains that he’s trying to suggest Ken’s neck is dipping into the collar. More friendly banter ensues.
Ken: “Do I look like a tortoise to you?”
David: “I think I need my lawyer!” 
“You’re coming out of your shell, Ken,” quips someone in the audience.  

As well as painting people David says he loves to get out into countryside and paint the lovely landscape of Wiltshire. He also likes to think, and be controversial in his paintings.
Now that he adds more detail and refines the painting he uses thicker paint, which you tend to do as a painting progresses. He adds that using paint straight out of the tube is probably the best approach from a permanence standpoint as it has been mixed specially for this purpose.
Asked how to avoid over working or flattening out when painting from a photo, he replies, “Good question. I suppose it’s experience, knowing when to stop.”
The session went in a flash and suddenly it was 9pm, time to stop. Feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive, saying the demo was “superb”, “amazing”, “fantastic”,  “great to listen to – gave us factual information but didn’t overdo it”, “a privilege”, “incredible and inspiring”. Our thanks to David for making it such an enjoyable and interesting evening, and to the art group members who helped to make it all run so smoothly on the night.
David spent another hour and a half on the painting the following day; his final version is below. It's interesting to see that the relatively small tweaks and refinements at this stage make such a major difference overall.
The painting will soon adorn a wall in Ken’s house, if it doesn't already.

David's Devizes exhibition starts soon
David is exhibiting in Devizes, at the White Chalk Gallery, 5 Old Swan Yard, SN10 1AT, from 17 Sept – 5 Oct 2024, Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm. Called Traces, the exhibition also features ceramics by Janene Waudby. More information is available on David’s website, where you can also buy a copy of his book, All by Himself. It’s a fascinating read, discussing his artistic influences and putting his work into an art historical context by charting his work through key stages of his career.

​40th anniversary of the demolition of the Harris factory, Calne
​This year is also the 40th anniversary of the demolition of the C&T Harris bacon factory, which dominated Calne's town centre for many years and was its biggest employer. To mark this anniversary the Festival is holding a community art project, inviting people to buy and decorate one of 500 papier mache pigs. This has been under way all summer, creating a great deal of engagement from people and some impressively themed and painted piglets. A selection of the piglets will be included in an exhibition at the Calne Heritage Centre throughout October, alongside exhibits charting the history of the factory and what it was like to work there. 

Held every two years, the main purpose of this event is to encourage and promote Wiltshire artists - who are born or live in the county. Wiltshire Museum organises and holds the exhibition in Devizes home, which includes selected entries and is open to the public from 19 October to 23 November, 2024.

Key facts

• Any subject matter will be accepted but artwork for the adult category must be 2D i.e. painting, drawing, collage and printmaking but not computer generated.
• Picture size for adult category: must not exceed 80cm x 60cm (landscape or portrait), without exception due to limited gallery space.
• Entry fees for adults (over 25 years'' old): £3.50 per picture submitted.
• Maximum of three entries per artist.
• Art hand-in/delivery of entries: from Monday 23 September to Saturday 28 September, 10am to 5pm daily. There is an entry form that you must complete, print and take with you when you hand in your art submissions.
• There is a competition element and judging takes place on Wednesday 2 October.
• More information about the competition and exhibition, including entry forms, are available on the Wiltshire Musuem website.
• Alternatively, you can contact Heather Ault, on 01380 727369 or by email at oexmann@wiltshiremuseum.org.uk

This chance to see well-known Wiltshire artist,  David Cobley, at work is one that's not to be missed! David, one of England's foremost portrait and figure painter, will be painting a portrait in oils, working with a live model on the night, explaining and demonstrating his approach. He has been commissioned to paint many famous personalities during his career including comedian Ken Dodd (a remarkable painting of reflections now hanging in the National Portrait Gallery), broadcaster Sir David Attenborough to mark his 96th year, The Princess Royal, and artist David Hockney, as well as lesser-known people.
He is driven by his fascination with the way human beings think, move and behave. His book, All by Himself, discusses his artistic influences and charts his career is well-worth reading. To learn more about David and his work, please visit his website. Here are a few of his portaits, provided by David and including a self-portrait. Details of the demo are on the poster shown.

Kate used a reference photo taken of Avebury earlier in May, which Kate calls the ‘fluffy month in the countryside. The scene is of distant trees and hedgerows, beyond a bright yellow field in the middle ground, and a dense bank of foliage (grasses, nettles, cow parsley) in the foreground.  Her style is very loose and tends to feature fresh, bright colours.

Getting started
Her ‘go to’ paper is 300g/m2 Bockingford stretched NOT (cold pressed) paper. For the demo Kate uses half a full sheet of this paper, taped to a board. She prefers Jackson’s Art Supplies own brand paint of watercolour paint or Windsor & Newton’s Professional series, and tends to use flat paint brushes.
 
Kate starts off by drawing a light sketch, placing the horizon centrally on the paper – there are no rules, she says. Initially she focuses on the foreground, aiming to put texture here, using masking fluid to block off twigs and other foliage, preparing the base for further layers of paint to give the impression of masses of leaves. Next she spatters masking fluid with an old toothbrush, using a very light touch. Trying not to overdo the cow parsley. The applicator for the masking fluid (which has a small pipette able to mask off quite fine lines) is from Jackson’s Art. 
 
After this she moves to the sky and before approaching the bottom half of the painting.

Sky and foreground
Tackling the sky is always a bit scary, acknowledged Kate; it was comforting to hear that even accomplished, professional artists also find this rather daunting at times. 

Using a range of different blues, beginning with Cobalt Blue for the stream of blue sky among the clouds, followed by Kings Blue Light, Kate then adds another shade of blue. She softens the edges of the clouds for variation and darkens this with Burnt Sienna, running it into the Cobalt and dabbing with tissue paper to soften it. Generally Kate paints her skies wet on dry, preferring a bit more control over the paint than you get with wet on wet. 

Now Kate moves to work on the foreground, putting in some acrylic ink, which is waterproof, to represent grasses and leaves. She builds up foliage of nettles etc in layers, making grassy lines with a rigger brush, getting movement into them, mixing Yellow Ochre with Emerald Green.  Using a small squirrel mop she makes nettle shapes on the grass before laying a wash. 

Fields and distant trees 
Kate next turns her attention to the fields in the middle ground of the composition, first applying yellow, the lighter, brighter colour, to avoid it getting lost. Starting with Cad Yellow Light plus a bit of Indian Yellow (a very intense colour) out of tube to warm it up. She takes yellow over the grassy areas as the undertone and adds yellow to where trees will be on the horizon to give them a little light. 

Permanent Green, knocked back with Yellow Ochre, keeps this area sunlit and bright while a ground of green will blend in with trees when they’re painted. She uses a bigger brush for the foreground colours that are more saturated and spatters paint to distract eye from hard edges. When this is dry, she paints a layer on top adding Cerulean Blue to the green to exaggerate reality slightly. 

Once the sky is dry Kate starts work on trees. She spatters and stipples the paint to achieve the effect of soft, fluffy edges on the trees. Getting the right shade of green can be tricky, says Kate, and Hookers Green is an option. For the smaller trees, Kate uses a round brush to blob the paint on, adding a darker colour in middle of the tree. Here, granulation of paint enhances the effect. She adds a tiny bit of French Ultramarine to darken the green further. 

Foreground depth, finishing off
Kate decides to put shadow undertones into the foreground to the bottom half of the painting. To do this she mixes Burnt Umber and Quinacridone Purple, creating a clear, nice dark. Using a big flat brush she paints it across the foreground noting that it may look drastically dark, but the paint sinks in and you can put more colour over the top. Next Kate adds more green to the foreground shadow, keeping the green bright but tempering it with Burnt Sienna. The more opaque the colour the more it sits forward in the painting so she recommends using it to your advantage. 

​The final step is to rub off the masking fluid from the foreground, applied at the outset, to create the grasses. Kate adds more detail with thick Yellow Ochre mixed with white gouache. She also use gouache to create white or pale highlights. Creating the effect of cow parsley is laborious takes time to do, but is worth the effort. To do this Kate uses cotton buds to spatter gouache, a creamy white colour mixed dirty water. 

With grateful thanks to Kate for an inspirational, enjoyable and educational demo.