IMAGES ON THIS SITE MUST NOT BE COPIED OR USED WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER
2017
The May Exhibition was opened by Mere artist Laura Rich whose contemporary landscape paintings are sold in galleries across England and are held in private collections internationally.  She is also coordinator of Wiltshire’s largest art trail - The Wylye Valley Art Trail which Warminster Art Society is part of. 
more pictures from the exhibition:
Laura presented the Alfred Lilly award for the 'People's Choice' to Jane Dyer for her watercolour entitled Toby the Shetland Pony. ​
A generous and inspiring tutor
We were delighted to welcome back Internationally published artist Fiona Peart on 22nd April for a Saturday workshop "Understanding Watercolour". 
Fiona studied drawing and watercolour at the Flemish Academy of Fine Art in Leuven, Belgium  On graduating, she was awarded the 'best achievement' prize and then went on to gain an adult teaching qualification.  Her work has been exhibited at many galleries including The Mall Galleries in London.
A generous and enthusiastic tutor, she told members about the exciting and confounding properties of watercolour - which ones granulated and which flocculated, which ones were transparent and which opaque - and how to achieve the best when mixing colours.
She demonstrated how all these properties can be used and then members practised what they had learnt, feeling as though they were using watercolours properly for the first time. 
Fiona has written seven practical art books, is a regular contributor to the Leisure Painter magazine and will certainly be invited back again.
Christina demonstrated her skill and techniques on specific aspects of her art, such as leaf shine, the ‘bloom’ on fruit and painting white flowers and gave members individual attention and generous advice about their own work.
 
A memorable day indeed.
A memorable day

We had a real treat on Saturday 25 March when Christina Hart-Davis held an all-day workshop at the studio.
Christina has been a professional botanical artist for almost thirty years, with three Gold Medals awarded by the Royal Horticultural Society for paintings of mosses and lichens and one for paintings of European and Australian terrestrial orchids.  She was also botanical artist to an expedition to the rainforests of Sumatra.
Her work is held in collections worldwide, notably the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie Mellon University, and the Shirley Sherwood Collection of Contemporary Botanical Art.
She was a founder Member, and Honorary Secretary for its first ten years, of the Society of Botanical Artists.
Inky paintings with Somerset reeds
Judith Champion, an SAA artist from Somerset, came to the Studio in March to demonstrate the art of using reeds with Quink or Parker black ink. She explained how the reeds could be trimmed to produce a very effective pen to draw both thin and thick lines.
 
Judith gave a slideshow to illustrate how the ink could be applied and then showed how to create a rainy sky, trees and reeds. Using simple black ink we discovered that blue and even sepia hues could be produced, depending on the type of watercolour paper used. She also diluted the ink with water to produce a paler version for backgrounds and used a water spray to create other effects. 
 
Armed with all this information, members created their own paintings with helpful feedback from Judith.
Chinese dragons and tigers
We had great fun In March, when ​Kaili Fu gave a Saturday workshop teaching Chinese brush painting to a group of members plus Sue, a guest who had come all the way from Bristol. 
Kaili’s desire is to bring Chinese art to the West and she is passionate about introducing people to this ancient oriental skill.
Mainly based in Exeter, she runs regular classes, workshops and tutorials for all ages. And for the last ten years Kaili has been running art trips to China where students have masterclasses with some of China's great art masters.
​One of the students has a go at a Chinese dragon.

Lively oils
After her much appreciated lessons last year, Fiona J Forbes returned in February to give two consecutive Tuesday afternoon tutorials of painting in a lively manner in acrylics and oils.
After demonstrating, she encouraged members to try her methods and gave useful feedback on our efforts.
Fiona graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee, and began painting, exhibiting and doing commissions whilst moving around with her husband and two children. She has lived in Germany, Norway, Wales and France and has now settled in Wiltshire. Living in various countries and meeting people of different nationalities has been a huge influence on her outlook on life and art.
She is a member of Artlook and is an Associate member of the Guild of Aviation Artists.
Three paintings in two hours!
Picture
On 24th January, Dee Cowell, internationally renowned for her watercolours, oils and pastel work, gave the Society ​an amazing and entertaining tutorial at the Tuesday afternoon studio session.  She shared her techniques and tips for producing the lovely effects which she achieves in her work by producing 3 paintings in 2 hours!

Born and educated in Zimbabwe where she taught art at various high schools, she
came to England in 1988. She teaches students in her home studio as well as holding  classes at local art groups.

Her paintings of dogs have been printed as greeting cards to raise money for the charity Hearing Dogs for Deaf People.
 
She has demonstrated on behalf of several companies (such as the Derwent Pencil Company and Daler Rowney) in the UK, Germany, South Africa and Denmark, and is President of the Crowthorne and Sandhurst Art Society in Berkshire.
2016
Seascape in acrylics
​
Dave White is a SAA professional associate who focuses on painting animal portrait commissions.  He exhibits every year at Crufts Dog Show, the NEC and the New Forest Agricultural Show.  But on a Tuesday afternoon in November, his demonstration was a seascape.
He uses acrylics and enjoys teaching and coaching, demonstrating to art societies and also holds his own classes in Ashley New Milton.
Dave is artist in residence for Rhinefield House Hotel in the heart of the New Forest and regularly exhibits and conducts workshops there. 
​Thanks to our new projection equipment and large TV screen, members were able to enjoy Dave's entertaining and inspirational demonstration.
He has written two books, ‘Ready to Paint Horses in Acrylics’ and his latest publication ‘Sea and Sky in Acrylics’.
A welcome return
In November our old friend, artist and Illustrator Jane Brayne, returned to share her exciting techniques using sticks, dip pens, reeds and feathers to apply inks, watercolour and acrylics. Members thoroughly enjoyed themselves, painting apples, pomegranates, shells and dramatic landscapes from photographs. Nationally known for her work as an archaeological reconstruction illustrator, (she was the series illustrator for the BBC2 programme ‘Meet the Ancestors’), she has recently published a children's book 'Archer, Journey to Stonehenge'.  
 Picture
 









WAS member, Kate Wilkinson, has a go.
The November Exhibition
Picture
The November exhibition was opened by Barbara Savage, the manager of Coates and Parker in Warminster.
Guests at the Preview evening voted for Eleanor Free's painting of Cheap Street in Frome as the peoples' choice and Barbara presented her with the Alfred Lilly award.
Here are some more works from the exhibition
The competition at the November exhibition was to decorate a pair of baubles to hang on our tree in the Minster Church during the Christmas Tree festival.  Vivien Green's ballooning Santas were the most popular with visitors to the exhibition and she was presented with the winner's prize of £25.
The fist use of our newly purchased projector
Using the Art Society's newly purchased projection equipment, Jane Barne, a Wiltshire artist who specilises in the use of charcoal and pencil, gave drawing lessons on two consecutive Tuesday afternoons in October.
Jane studied life drawing at the Slade School of Fine Art and has exhibited at the Royal West of England Academy in Bristol, the Mall Galleries in London and at Wycliffe College, Oxford.
For the lessons, very limited tools were needed, the same brand of HB, 2B and 6B pencils, a putty eraser, a knife to sharpen and A3 drawing paper. The same brand of pencil was needed because of the variation in clays, and a sharp knife as pencil sharpener are blunt after the first use.
Lesson 1 concentrated on perspective and we were provided with a picture, charcoal and chalk to produce a sketch before proceeding to our pencil drawing.
Lesson 2 concentrated on tonal values and still life and members went through the same procedure for as lesson 1.
We enjoyed brushing up on our drawing skills, an essential pre-requite for any artwork.
A challenging hedgehog
Picture
Carole Peart, an artist from Urchfont,  is fascinated by detailed and complex shapes, carefully observing nature and wildlife subjects to create at balance of intense colour.
Carole uses conventional watercolours (a mixture of Daniel Smiths with SAA and MaimerBlu) and applies coloured pencils (Faber-Castell) to enhance the painting.
At her demonstration in October she painted a rather prickly hedgehog and members took up the challenge of painting along with her.
These are some of the lovely settings for our outdoor painting sessions in summer 2016
A day of painting en plain air with Phil Biggs
On an overcast Tuesday in June, Members were treated to an all-day workshop in Warminster Park with Phil Biggs.
Phil paints in a very traditional way, outdoors when possible, shunning gimmicks, preferring to just use pencil, brush, lovely artists' watercolours and quality papers.
​He has been influenced by the old masters and by modern painters like Ted Wesson, Edward Seago, Roland Hilder and James Fletcher-Watson.
He loves to paint the light and atmosphere of the British landscape and to pass on his enthusiasm and knowledge to student painters. Many creditable pictures were produced on the day, much to the delight of those attending.
A day of teasels and inspiration.
 
Sue Rubira trained as an illustrator at Bristol where she gained a BA 1st Class Honours in Illustration, and then an MA at the Royal College of Art in London, after which she moved to Portugal. Sue now lives and works near Southampton, teaching and painting portraits on a personal and commission basis. In 2006 she was winner of the Daily Mail Portrait of the Queen competition and she has had her work exhibited at the National Gallery.
At an all day Saturday workshop at the end of May she generously shared her techniques and expertise with the group and demonstrated how to achieve some amazing effects using watercolour and acrylic inks.