Calling all local artists Art exhibition registration deadline looms A firm fixture in Wiltshire's annual cultural calendar, the 49th Calne Music and Arts Festival (CMAF) is gearing up to open for business on 6 October, offering a comprehensive and wide-ranging programme of activities to suit different tastes and ages. Central to the programme is an open art exhibition that runs in Marden House for the duration of the Festival, 7-14 October, presenting the works of predominantly local artists, professional, semi-professional and amateur, who are based in Calne and surrounding Wiltshire towns/villages. The majority of artworks exhibited will be for sale. The standard of exhibits is typically very high so, if previous exhibitions are anything to go by, this year the standard is sure to be equally impressive. Participation in the exhibition is genuinely ‘open’ with work only refused if it does not meet the entry criteria. Several LAG members have taken part in previous CMAF exhibitions. Key exhibition dates and links If you’re interested in exhibiting this year, you will need to register online by 5pm on Thursday 28 September, using the form on the CMAF website. This link takes you to the form. Alternatively you can print the form, complete it and take it with you on the artwork submission day – this is likely to take longer than using the online option. Artists can submit up to three works each, for an entry fee of £5 per piece. You can find detailed information about entry criteria, terms and conditions in the online form. Artwork hand-in day is Saturday 30 September, between 10am and 2pm, at Marden House. Other art-related Festival events As well as the exhibition the programme includes a number of art events, including:
You can view the full programme here on the CMAF website where you can also buy tickets.
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A year on, royalty through the lens of LAG member Ken Baldy Today, 8 September, 2023 is a significant date. It marks the first anniversary of our late Queen's passing. Elizabeth II reigned for over 70 years, making her the longest reigning monarch in British history. Over the years, her enduring, deep sense of duty and devotion to service won the respect of many in the UK and Commonwealth, including some who were not royal supporters. Elizabeth II was also known for her sense of humour and quick wit, which revealed her human side, and admired for her dignity and strength of character. You could say that Elizabeth II was a British monarch of a kind like never before. One of our members, Ken Baldy, enjoys painting portraits of the late Queen and other members of the Royal Family, producing several in his unique, inimitable style. She would surely have appreciated them. They are always popular at our exhibitions. Here are a few of them, as an affectionate tribute to Elizabeth II on the first anniversary of her death. Please note: the copyright to these images is owned by Ken Baldy
Successful August bank holiday exhibition for LAG Our most recent exhibition and art sale took place over the three days of the August bank holiday weekend; a regular spot in our events calendar each year. Held as usual in Lacock Village Hall, the exhibition often benefits from the additional footfall that the National Trust village attracts from late-summer visitors on a day out, and this year was no exception. There was also some healthy competition for us on bank holiday Monday from a few stalls set up outside the Red Lion pub (often frequented after our weekly art group meetings by some of our members), including one or two stalls selling various types of art. Somewhat mixed weather throughout the weekend didn't seem to deter visitors to Lacock with a steady stream of people calling in to look at the art on display at our exhibition, which was good to see. Our August exhibition tends to generate higher sales compared to our February and November exhibitions, partly driven by the additional day. This proved to be the case this August. In total 41 paintings were sold during the course of the weekend, 35 were original works hung and displayed on boards, and six were unframed works from the browsers. As ever, greeting cards proved popular with 99 sold in total, 42 of which were Kay Smith's handiwork! This resulted in achieving total sales of just over £2,500. LAG members John Harris and Joy Tickell each sold five of their paintings, and a few others sold four each including Karen Road and Richard Newsome. Visitors keep on voting We are continuing to invite visitors who look around our exhibitions to take part in our 'visitor vote' by submitting the name of their favourite painting on display. This informal competition is just a bit of fun, and we really appreciate people taking the time and effort to take part. A total of 257 votes were cast during the August exhibition and 99 paintings received one vote or more. This time, the winner of the visitor vote is . . . Kay Smith and her painting of a ballerina, featured on the poster for the August exhibition, which received nine votes. Congratulations to Kay, who won a bottle of wine. This is something of a hat trick for Kay, being the third time one of her paintings has won the visitor vote. Finally
Thanks to all of our members who helped to set up/take down the exhibition boards, supported the event by stewarding, and for producing such a variety of fantastic art for people to enjoy. The biggest thank you of all goes to the lovely, friendly people who visited our exhibition and showed such appreciation for our art. Our next exhibition is in November - please check the events page on this site for details. Following last year's introduction of a summer social event for LAG members, this year’s event took place at Chippenham Golf Club on Thursday, 10 August. We hold these events because we're a sociable, friendly bunch at heart who like to get together from time to time without the focus being on our art, and it's also a good use of surplus funds accrued. Committee Member and event organiser extraordinaire, Tracy Warne, did an excellent job and even managed to arrange a warm, sunny evening for the BBQ – one of the few during July and August here in the UK, it has to be said! It was lovely to sit on the terrace, chatting, looking out over the golfing greens, with the last rays of evening sunshine warming our faces, and the unmistakable smoky smell of the BBQ wafting our way. Fortunately most of our members were able to attend, and we missed all those unable to come along. A special mention goes to Ellen Bothwick, whose car broke down on her way to the BBQ. Unfortunately, there was no quick fix for it so, instead of tucking into burgers, sausages, vegetable kebabs and various salads, Ellen spent a couple of hours waiting for roadside rescue to come to her aid, although they didn't arrive in time for her to get to the BBQ.
Raffle winners
Tracy commissioned Lisa Peare to provide the bespoke balloon decoration for the raffle prize table. If anyone is interested in having a similar decoration for a special event you can use our website form to contact her and we’ll pass on your details. Many of our members who attended the event have their own gallery on this website. To view their artwork please follow the links in the lists – the photos are captioned by table number, with names and links to galleries listed underneath. Note, if a name doesn't have a link that person doesn't yet have their own website gallery page. Table 1a: L-R Karen Road, Jane Tucker, Chris Crosby, Victoria Cleverly Table 1b: L-R Chris Crosby (again), Angie Weir, Kay Smith Table 1c: L-R Sally Parsons, Karen Road (again), Jane Tucker (again), Chris Crosby (again!) Table 2: L-R Ken Baldy, Joy Tickell, Elspeth Wales, Richard Newsome, Keith Bennett Table 3: L-R Anna Swatton, Vanda McCann, Karen McGreevy, Maggie Jenkins, George Jenkins, Richard Adams, Graham Brewster, Sophia Swatton LAG August exhibition – members’ art on show, for sale Artwork created by many of our members will be on display and for sale at our next exhibition over the August bank holiday weekend at Lacock Village Hall. Our exhibition poster below gives the detail – come along if you can; we hope to see you there. Finally, a gallery reminder for members
If you’re a LAG member and don’t yet have a personal gallery page on our website, please look at our guidance on how to submit gallery images. Elizabeth Baldin September workshop - spaces available
Lawrence Art Society (LAS) is repeating a successful workshop in watercolours and acrylic ink by Elizabeth Baldin and opening up the few places remaining to artists outside of LAS. Workshop date: Wednesday 27th September 2023 Venue: Bishops Cannings village hall, near Devizes Timing: 10am - 3pm The workshop will use watercolour/acrylic inks and is titled ‘Free-flowing Florals' (sunflowers or peonies) - a loose approach to painting flowers". Depending on attendance numbers the cost of the workshop is £30 - £35 for the session. To discover more about Elizabeth's work please take a look at her website. Elizabeth trained in graphic design and worked as a designer for a major book publisher for several years, before starting her own design business, and is now a full-time artist. If you'd like a place on the workshop please email Margaret Hanson of Lawrence Art Society at margarethanson69@gmail.com to register your interest. The practice of making a tonal underpainting in one colour by Joy Tickell The word ‘Grisaille’ comes from the French ‘gris’, for grey, so is literally a grey scale painting. However, this term is used even if the underpainting is done using another colour - often burnt umber. Painting a grisaille allows the artist to focus on the tonal values (degree of light or dark) without the complications of colour. When working in colour it can be easy to misjudge the actual tonal value. An ancient art The concept of Grisaille started hundreds of years ago when pigments were scarce. Old masters used it as a first stage of an oil painting, which was then glazed over to achieve luminosity in their work. Glazing is when transparent layers of paint are used over opaque layers. Rembrandt, amongst others, was a great exponent of this method of working. The light can then travel through the transparent layers and be reflected back from the opaque underlayers of the grisaille giving greater depth of colour. The underpainting was done by covering the white canvas (or other surface) with a slightly diluted paint. The paint is then wiped away in the light areas of the image to reveal the white surface below. A tonal underpainting is then built up by adding white and black to the paint to build up the various tones. One of the best examples of Grisaille in modern art is Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ painting. One of the downsides of using a grisaille is that the final colours may be less vivid. However this can be overcome by using a mixture of glazing techniques as well as using opaque colours to enhance these less vivid areas. Although this method was traditionally used in oil painting it can also be used in acrylic and watercolour. Often a grisaille piece is left as a stand alone artwork, without the addition of colour, and this is known as a classic grisaille. How to approach grisaille I have attempted to show how this method can be used to paint a box of oranges. I am not an expert so please do take time to investigate how experts do it properly!!! I have used oils for my example. Step by step guide In diagram 1 you can see how I have made an initial sketch of the image. In diagram 2 I have made a basic grisaille using burnt umber with black and white to get my tonal underpainting. I could have gone to much more trouble using more tones but as this is only an example I didn’t spend too much time on it. In diagram 3 I have used glazes of orange on the fruit, french ultramarine on the box and green on the leaves. You can see already how easy it is to bring life to the underpainting. In diagram 4 I have wiped away some of the orange glaze where I want the lightest areas of the image to be. In diagram 5 I have used a glaze of cadmium yellow over the highlight areas of the oranges. I have also used a glaze of green gold on the leaves and burnt sienna on the wooden crate. I could keep adding layers and add some opaque highlights to really give it some bling. For my glazes I diluted my oil with a little liquin. There are glazing mediums available or you can
research how to make your own by browsing the web. I hope this will inspire you to have a go at this technique. Do send your examples so that we can post them on our website for all to see!! Creating collage
Marilyn Allis is a well-known artist who works mainly in water colour, as well as in acrylic inks and mixed media. She has a loose and impressionistic style, using strong vibrant colours to capture movement, and the energy of a scene. We are very pleased that Marilyn is soon to deliver a demonstration for our art group. Marilyn won the SAA artist of the year title in 1999 and appeared on Channel 4’s Watercolour Challenge TV series. Her demonstration for Lacock Art Group next month focuses on collage techniques, similar to those Marilyn used to produce the artwork shown here of the late Queen Elizabeth II, so it promises to be an interesting and interesting evening. To find out more about Marilyn’s work please take a look at her website. Guests are welcome to attend, with a £5 fee payable on the night at the door. When: Thursday 4 May, 7pm. Please arrive 10-15 minutes beforehand so that the demonstration can start on time. Where: Lacock Village Hall. We look forward to seeing you at the demonstration. Coming soon - our first exhibition this year is on 15 to 16 April
Everyone's welcome, including well-behaved dogs out for a walk with their owners! Please drop in if you're in Lacock - details are below - we'd love to see you. Informative and inspirational A recent demonstration by Phil Madley that introduced our members and guests to encaustic wax proved to be an inspiring treat as well as a tonic. Phil has a background in design and graphics and originally got into encaustic wax after visiting a craft fair years ago where he bought a starter kit. Warmly witty throughout, Phil talked about the kit needed to work with encaustic wax and 'waxed lyrical' about the importance of using the right kit when you start out and then experiment with alternatives once you’ve mastered the essentials. Getting started A basic kit consists of a small iron, hot stylus, hot air gun, a range of attachments such as mini iron, circles, squares, rectangles, plus a scriber, kitchen paper, and a duster. Phil buys his wax from Wakes Waxes which offers 48 different coloured waxes, each costing about £1.40 per stick (price is correct at the time of publication). Sometimes people are tempted to heat up standard wax crayons or candles instead of using specialist wax, but when that type of wax is cold it loses elasticity and becomes rigid. If the card it’s used on bends, the brittle wax will break and your artwork ruined. He advises utilising a special coated card with a shiny surface when using encaustic wax, which doesn’t absorb the hot wax. You can also use board and MDF too. Prepare the MDF with a coating of gesso to create a surface barrier preventing the hot wax from penetrating the material. Ensure you set the iron to the right (low) temperature when you start off; iron temperatures vary from one to another so some trial and error is to be expected until you find the optimum temperature for your equipment. Mark making Apply the cold wax to the warm plate of the iron, by rubbing the stick of wax onto it, similar to the way you’d use pastels. Bear in mind that the lighter the colour of the wax the runnier it is when put on the surface of the card. So, the wax is warm and ready to go, what next? Phil showed us how to first convey the wax by ‘ironing’ it onto a piece of card. While the wax was warm and manoeuvrable, he then started to make patterns in the wet wax with the iron. He used the edge (side) of the ironing plate to make straight marks/lines in the wax, creating flower petals (as in the image at the top of this post), and more abstract designs by working the iron back and forth producing Spirograph style patterns. Phil made this technique look easy, which is a testament to his excellent skills, as are the art that he creates using encaustic wax. Using the the pointed tip of the iron produces dots to represent the stamens in a flower, while the attachments make marks such as small circles or triangles to represent whatever you like! The scriber tool can be used to scrape away wax as another method of making marks.
When happy with the pattern created, you can use kitchen paper to polish the picture, or to tone down the colour. This produces a glossy finish, and the picture can also be buffed with a duster. It was inspirational to see the colourful beauty of the art that Phil achieves using encaustic wax and since the demo at least one of our members has had a go it! Our thanks to Phil for opening our eyes to the art of the possible, and keeping us all engaged in a different, informative and entertaining demonstration. To find out more about Phil Madley and his art please take a look at his website here. A new logo for LAG
When we launched this website in November 2021 we did so using a temporary logo, with a plan to replace it soon afterwards with an official logo. For various reasons, however, deciding what our logo would be has taken longer than anticipated. Until now! We encouraged our members to be involved in choosing our new logo. So, instead of holding our usual end-of-year painting competition for members in 2022 the Committee decided to hold an informal competition to design a new logo. Entries were displayed at our Christmas Frolics event last December and everyone who attended voted for their preferred design – the entry receiving the most votes would be the winner. Fast forward to today: we're pleased to unveil our new logo, which from now on we’ll be using on all our art group promotional materials. The winning entry, by Elspeth Wales, was judged to have best met the brief of being clean, clear, simple, contemporary, and conveys who we are/what we do at a glance. We hope you like it too. On behalf of the Committee, thanks go to everyone in LAG who took the time and effort to design and submit a logo entry; especially as this type of graphic design is different to what most of our members are familiar with. |
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