Unfortunately, due to personal circumstances, Fran and Mark Burgum had to cancel their workshop. Carol stepped in and led a workshop giving a lot of Hints and Tips to improve our pencil drawing and sketching. She brought in many different examples and ideas to work from to practice the techniques.
The workshop was led by Janet, who brought along some peacock feather drawings, information on how to paint one as well as many lovely examples she had painted herself. This inspired members to produce some amazing pictures.
Last month Simon Manfield, an artist from Todmorden, ran a ‘Drawing from Observation’ workshop. We were invited to bring an item that held some importance and to draw it using charcoal, graphite and dark coloured pencils. Simon gave lots of encouragement and advice.
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.
On Friday 8th April our member Lynne Hickins gave a well prepared talk about how to draw portraits of people wearing glasses. As she used our microphone and camera everyone could follow with ease. We were astonished to learn that the history of glasses goes back a lot further than we had assumed.
It was first recorded in 1280 that crystal workers in Venice were creating lenses for focusing eyes. The first portrait we have of someone wearing eyeglasses was painted some 70 years later in 1352. This shows Cardinal Hugo de St Cher, and was painted in a fresco in Treviso, Italy, by Tomasso da Modena. Demand for spectacles grew after the invention of the printing press in 1452, but it was not until the 1700s that spectacles that were held in place by arms that fitted over the ears – that look essentially like modern spectacles – were invented. Before then, they had to be held in place with the hand, or perched on the nose!
Halifax Art Society 