Halifax Art Society

Last week Chris Leaper gave an interesting talk about how he created his Snowdog. Chris entered a ‘Wild in Art’ competition that supported The Kirkwood hospice in Kirklees. The Snowdog was inspired by Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman & The Snowdog book sequel. There were in total 31 large and 36 small, differently decorated Snowdog sculptures that created a spectacular art trail during September to early November 2022 around Kirklees. All 31 large sculptures were sold at an auction.

Chris entered a sketch of his idea ‘The Kirklees Rocket’ which was based on the railway stations in Kirklees. The body of the Snowdog was painted to resemble steel plates and rivets of old steam locomotives. It also displayed all the current connections and operating railway stations of Kirklees with Huddersfield at the centre.

We then had a go at creating our own Snowdog design on the template Chris provided. He also brought pictures of other designs. We had a really enjoyable morning.

Review

Costume model with Louise

6 December, 20224 December, 2022 Halifax Art Society

A Society member, Louise, said she would model for us and wore a fantastic bright and colourful outfit. In the first session we had 10 minutes slots to sketch Louise as she changed positions. After coffee we had the opportunity to draw a more detailed picture from one pose. Everyone had a fun morning.

First, our model…

Some sketches…

And a splash of colour…

Review

Pastel Landscape demonstration

4 December, 2022 Halifax Art Society

We had a great demonstration from Matthew Evans on the 18th November, who painted a landscape in pastels. He brought a photo of a landscape view and had drawn an outline of it in preparation. He also brought some of his completed work which was impressive.

He gave us so many ideas and tips of how to use pastels and protect the image e.g. when you add water to pastel it becomes a watercolour to which you can then reapply pastel; if using a fixative you should lay the painting on a flat surface and spray it in a sweeping action from about 2ft away and greaseproof paper protects the image when travelling. The demonstration was very enjoyable and we all learnt so much.

Review

Female artists of WW2

23 November, 2022 Halifax Art Society

Lynda led our workshop on the 11th November, giving a short talk about the few female war artists from World War II. She provided many images and brought some books containing wonderful artwork produced at that time.

This inspired us to produce similar work.

Review

Marbling workshop

15 November, 2022 Halifax Art Society

Lynda and Philip led a workshop on marbling on 4th November. All materials were provided, we just had to bring an apron.

There were different coloured ink paints with pipettes, tubs filled with a special clear solution, various materials such as paper, cards, toothpicks, forks etc. Lynda talked through the cards, booklets, decorations etc she had made as examples of what can be done using the marbling technique then gave a demo.

Lynda placed small drops of different coloured ink on the surface of the solution and created a design using a toothpick. She placed a piece of card on the surface and then took it out to dry. The result is quite striking.

Dennis organised and led an Ebru workshop, which is the Turkish way of marbling using black ink.

We all had great fun creating different designs.