ANDRE DE BEER WORKSHOP, CREATIVE FIGURE DRAWING

On the 16th october we had a wonderful day with Andre de Beer.
He is a very well known South African artist whose work is of a very high standard, and he loves to depict people in his paintings. His drawing skill is fantastic and his caricatures are very entertaining.
We were very privileged to have him come and share some of his knowledge with us. He also brought several paintings and books of sketches and his fantastic caricatures of the Bulls.
Andre started off by saying "open your eyes". Look around you and draw what you see. use pens and always carry around paper. Pencils encourage you to erase. By using pens you begin to put down what you see the first time. Sketch, sketch and sketch some more Where ever you go and where ever you are look around and sketch.
You can draw anything from plants, trees, dogs, cats, people, buildings etc. Also take you camera and take photos of street scenes, restaurants,the shopping malls, sporting events etc.
Draw all the time and develop your own style. Choose the accent line and put that down first then work in the rest, See something in your mind- how he is bending his elbows or his knees .
We drew a man taking the size of the head and working with that size to create the body of the man. The head goes into the body 8 times. From the top of the head to the chin- 1, from chin to breast-2 from breast to waist-3, from waist to crutch-4, from crutch halfway to knee-5, from halfway down the leg to just below knee-6, and from below the knee to halfway down shin-7 and from halfway down shin to under the foot is 8. This is a good measurement although is slightly different in some people. Children have different sizes to measure with and babies have bigger heads. A babies head measurement is used 4 times when about one year old.
We then drew stick figures showing movement and then filled it in. We did several running, bending, walking etc. We drew faces side and front view.
He also helped us see movement by showing us how he moved. Andre walked around to all of us and gave out help and encouragement.
Andre gave advice by saying we must use our whole are to draw not just your fingers. He also told us to draw all the time, using pitt pencils, pens and charcoal. Do Not Erase.
We all enjoyed it. he is an inspiring teacher and we produced so really exciting and good results. He invited us to come and visit his studio and gallery. I look forward to that sometime next year.
As usual there were great eats to be enjoyed by all. During the lunch break we had our branch AGM.

Dont forget that our next meeting is on the 20th November. We are all meeting and going over to Norscot manor. This will be an exciting and very interesting meeting. hope to see you all there.

SPRING FLOWER DEMO

We asked three of our accomplished artists to show us how they approach a painting and then demo how they apply the paint. They were given the same reference material. The artists were Helen Lamprecht and Lois Sangari and Jeanie Wallace.

Helen drew hers onto a fairly large piece of stretched paper. Further back leaving more space in the foreground. And she saved the whites using masking fluid. And added more daisys into the foliage and around the vase. She also painted a dark back ground.

Lois used a smaller size paper with her drawing more in the foreground and the marmalade jar was the focal point. With her foliage being painted all at one time. Her painting was set with a light back ground.

Jeanie's painting was smaller and almost finished in the afternoon. I do apologise for not being able to describe the painting but I did not get to see it. I was away and only got to see the others at Zanne's class.

People were able to walk around watch and listening to the artists.

Cheryl Curnick--Interseting Techniques

On the 21st of August we had a very exciting and interesting meeting with Cheryl Curnick.
Cheryl is a long standing member of the Watercolour Society of which she also was the chairman. She is an Associate and a fellow.Cheryl is an establish art teacher and has developed new and exciting techniques, some of which is not found in books
One of the helpfull things she showed us was to make our own coloured paper for collages Use Butcher paper on a board For colour use acrylic paints or Ink and Bleach. Mix watery colours and paints onto paper. You can add bubble wrap to make a pattern and allow to dry. or add other colours. Or you can wait until almost dry and turn it over onto another piece of paper creating a print type pattern.On another piece of thin buthcher paper you can paint on Quink Ink blue or Black. Spray on Jik bleach Allow to almost dry and turn and press onto more paper. All the paper can be used and you can use the "printed" patterns.These can be torn or cut into any shape and used on your collage.
Other ideas were to cut out pieces from magazines or wrapping paper paint with glue, gel medium, and put onto a board. Work up a painting with different pieces even adding pieces from scrap booking or card making.
You can make cut outs from contact paper. Cut out you shape and stick on contact paper. Spread a glob of glue with two parts sand into the space and spread using pallette knife. remove contact paper and see the shape is correct and when semi dry add texture with tooth pick. You can paint over this.
Another idea is to use foam board. Put a pattern onto the surface with toothpick. paint onto pattern with thick brush and paint. lay over paper and roll.
We all had a good afternoon and loved her paintings.
There was a very good crowd of us and everyone brought eats so there was plenty to go around.Good company, good art and good food.