Halifax Art Society

Nose and lips workshop

2 June, 2022 Halifax Art Society

Last Friday many members of the HAS were present when Lynne Hickin shared her knowledge and skills once again. Dennis Kilbey had assembled a camera, microscope and screen so that everybody in the large room could join in the experience. The morning was informative and inspiring.

Lynne explained the anatomy of the head to help us with the proportions. She showed us pictures of faces by famous artists.

She had prepared little papers with drawings of different lips and noses for us to copy before we could choose photos of full faces or part of some.

News

Art and Craft festival

18 May, 2022 Halifax Art Society

Members of the Halifax Art Society contributed art works and supported the event at the Piece Hall last weekend. In particular, quite a few sunflower pictures were sold and all the proceeds from those sales went to Overgate Hospice.

The whole event went really well and it was helped by the fine weather, which meant there were a lot of visitors to the Piece Hall. The Caygill Rooms were a super venue and the whole exhibition looked very good.

The high quality of the entries was much appreciated.

Review

Watercolour demonstration by Paul Talbot-Greaves

18 May, 2022 Halifax Art Society

Last Friday we finally experienced a long-anticipated morning. About 30 people arrived to witness our president Paul Talbot-Greaves giving a demonstration of a local landscape in watercolour. As he used the society’s modern equipment, everyone in the room had a good view.

Paul brought along a pencilled sketch and a photo of the scene he had in his mind – he had added trees on his computer, changing the view slightly. He also showed us an edit of it to highlight the balance of his painting like the foundation of a house.

The next step was colour-matching. Paul didn’t use a very heavy paper, just 140lbs. With a big brush he started painting the light areas of sky, building, trees and covered the whole paper. He let the paper dry off naturally, as the use of a hairdryer would freeze it.

Paul dried out his palette for the second stage and used his initial colour match strip. When the paper got too dry he sprayed it with water, but also used the dry-brush technique in parts. He splashed some water into the painting, flicking his brush to give the impression of grass. For the large shapes of brambles in the foreground Paul used big brushes and assured us that the colours underneath would come through. The edges were softened with a wet brush and Paul added shadows on the building and trees.

At break we were able to buy materials and greeting cards from Paul or ask for his advice. The finished painting was stunning even though the paint was still wet.

Review

Drawing with scissors

10 May, 2022 Halifax Art Society

Taking inspiration from Matisse, last week members created work with cut-outs and gouache.

Review

Three of a Kind

5 May, 2022 Halifax Art Society

Last week’s workshop ‘Three of a Kind’ was led by our member Janet Gledhill. We brought along paper, pencils, acrylic or watercolours. Janet provided everything else, from fresh mushrooms, pears and lemons, to a variety of photos. The idea was to paint three in a row, vertically or horizontally.