Winter 2024 art challenge results

Festive Frolics and rounding off 2024
Each December we hold an art challenge for members to take part in if they wish to, with a different theme each time and the emphasis on this being a fun initiative. For the 2024 challenge we returned to a previous theme: to paint a portrait of a member of LAG from a reference photo, in a style and medium of the artist’s choice. LAG’s chair, Joy Tickell, randomly allocated a subject to each member of the group taking part and to inject an element of intrigue and surprise into the challenge each artist kept the identity of their subject under wraps/a secret until unveiled on judging night. This proved to be a challenge in itself for some!

Thirty members took part in the challenge, producing portraits in oils, acrylics, watercolours, pastels, and graphite. Judging took place during our ‘frolics’ evening (traditionally the last session of the year in December) when all members attending were each invited to cast one vote for their favourite portrait to determine the winner.

​LAG chair, Joy Tickell, says: “It was brilliant to see so many of the group getting involved in this year’s challenge. What’s more, the standard of the artwork submitted was incredibly high, especially given the fact that many of our members rarely paint portraits and for some this was a first. I’d like to thank everyone who took part and for the time and effort you put into your portraits for the challenge.”

When everyone had voted two portraits tied with six votes each. These were Glyn Overton’s painting of Angie Weir and Graham Brewster’s of Dave Cooper. 

It was extremely hard to vote for one painting only because there were so many great portraits that deserved recognition. Paintings that also received votes in the first voting round were Elspeth Wales’ portrait of Tracy Warne, which got four votes, and Dani French’s painting of Sally Grogan received three votes. Several other paintings received one vote each, including (in no particular order):

• Karen McGreevy’s portrait of Richard Newsome
• Tracy Warne’s portrait of Ken Baldy
• Victoria Cleverly’s painting of George Jenkins
• Mike Wilson’s drawing of Graeme McFaull
• Lynda Handyside’s painting of Karen Road
• Karen Road’s portrait of Lynn Pick
• Joy Tickell's portrait of Maggie Jenkins

Apologies if I have inadvertently omitted anyone or any of the vote numbers are incorrect.

Challenge winner
However, we needed an outright winner. The tension mounted as we held a second round of voting between the two paintings that received six votes in the first round. So, without further ado, after a second voting round, Glyn Overton emerged the clear winner with her fantastic painting of Angie Weir in acrylics that captured Angie’s likeness and personality perfectly. Many congratulations to Glyn for her win, which was thoroughly deserved. 

Do look at all the portrait entries along with corresponding reference photos in the new Winter 2024 Art Challenge gallery.

Glyn Overton receiving her champagne prize for her winning portrait of Angie Weir from LAG chair, Joy Tickell.

Glyn's winning portrait of Angie Weir

Angie Weir with Glyn's portrait of her

Rounding off 2024 - two new honorary members
Our last meeting of the year is called the ‘frolics’ evening. The term ‘frolics’ suggests the evening is more risqué than it actually is but is usually a lot of fun, and involves festive nibbles to eat, contributed by members, some sort of game, plus any ad hoc announcements. 
The frolics event was the ideal opportunity for Joy (chair) to announce two new honorary members – John Harris and Anna Swatton who both joined LAG 36 years ago. Joy announced the good news and presented them each with a bottle of champagne, thanking them for their unstinting involvement in and commitment to LAG for so many years.
To finish off the frolics, we formed teams and played a round of two of Beetle Drive, which brought out the competitive nature in some!

Two new honorary members. John Harris (L), chair Joy Tickell (c), and Anna Swatton (R)

Christmas social
In December we held a meal for members at La Flambé, returning there by popular demand. Huge thanks to Tracy Warne for once again organising the meal (and us), which was attended by 27 of us and proved to be a very enjoyable occasion.  The restaurant staff did us proud – everyone agreed that the food was fabulous and plentiful, the service was spot on, and conversation flowed. Here are a few photos from the evening.

Table 1 (left from front) Glyn Overton, Elspeth Wales, Richard Newsome, Lynda Handyside. (Right from front) Lynn Pick, Joy Tickell, Martin Handyside.

Table 2. (Left from front) Jacqui Matthews, Sally Grogan, Angie Weir. (Right from front) Richard Adams, Jane Tucker, Karen Road.

Table 3. (From front) George Jenkins, John Harris, Sally Parsons, Keith Bennett.

Table 3. (From front) Maggie Jenkins, Chris Pattemore, Ken Baldy, Sarah Clover.

Table 1 (R to L) Kay Smith, Tracy Warne, Lynn Pick, Joy Tickell, Martin Handyside.

Table 2 (left from front) Anna Swatton, Sophia Swatton, Jacquie Matthews, Sally Grogan, Angie Weir.

Glyn Overton

Elspeth Wales

Kay Smith