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2018
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Castles in Pastels
Kate Cochrane gained a Diploma in Graphic Design Design at Canterbury College of Art followed by local courses in Fine Art and in colour work. She has been exhibiting paintings since 1980, has designed home accessories and runs tutoring workshops. In April, she ran a Saturday pastel workshop in Warminster, creating vibrant castles. Kate works from her garden studio in Frome and the images she uses in her paintings are from places she has visited personally. Kate transforms what she sees into a mosaic of shapes and colour, considering hue, tone and composition. Local Somerset landscapes, visits to Tasmania, Wales and the Borders provide a wealth of images. Her current interest is derelict castles and abbeys. |
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Warminster in Watercolour
In February, Pete French gave a demonstration of how to paint buildings in watercolour and talked about his technique, the paint, brushes and the paper he uses. Pete has been a professional artist for 35 years, specialising in architecture, townscapes and landscapes. Water colour is his main medium but occasionally he switches to acrylic or oil. Recent Paintings have been exhibited in London Cork Street, The Mall Galleries and the Royal Water Colour Society Bankside. Other exhibitions have been with IEA at Holt, Stourhead Wiltshire, and also in Norfolk and Suffolk. Members especially liked the painting of Warminster. 
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2017
Visitors to the November Exhibition in Warminster Library who voted for the 'People's Choice' selected the oil painting by Kate Wikinson entitled 'The Jewel of Sutherland' .
She was presented with the Alfred Lilley award by Janet Cooke, the Society's Chairman.
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Dave White came to us last November and returned this September to demonstrate the painting of portraits of dogs.
Dave paints commissions of people's pets, with a large proportion of his work arising from his exhibition each year at Crufts' He showed us how to prepare the canvas and then mixed shades of acrylics, starting with the darkest tones in the eyes and nostrils, demonstrating the techniques of layering and glazing. He showed how to create fur with a rake brush or comb brush and how to produce realistic whiskers by painting the edge of a piece of flexible card and applying it to the canvas. He will be be back next year to hold an all-day Saturday workshop and his book on animal portraits is due out In October 2018. |
Pat Ebdon got the most votes in the competition for a postcard-sized picture of Autumn. She was presented with the prize of £25 by Janet Cooke.
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21 members came to the Lakeside Garden Centre in August where we drew and painted and had lunch.
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The first outdoor painting session this summer was at Ark Farm, Old Wardour.
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The coach outing to Mottisfont House and gardens in June was a great success.
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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.
Laura presented the Alfred Lilly award for the 'People's Choice' to Jane Dyer for her watercolour entitled Toby the Shetland Pony.
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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. |
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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. 
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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. |
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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.
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Lively oils
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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!
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.
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.
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2016
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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’. 
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A welcome return
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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'.
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WAS member, Kate Wilkinson, has a go. 
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