Chester le Street Autumn Exhibition 2014

The exhibition started Sat 25/10/2014 in the library in Chester le Street.

Nice entries from our new member Gillian Burrell.

My entries

Seaham Beach and Elvet Bridge from Browns boathouse

Old Elvet Bridge and Fairfield

Painting of Old Elvet Bridge painted on Friday afternoon as the original entry I had put into Shepherds Dene Exhibition. Collage and acrylic on 20 x 16 inch canvas board.

Elvet Bridge painting form Browns Boatyard

Chester le Street Arts Wednesday 22 October 2014.

Prepared canvas board with gesso, added blue strips of tissue and added some grey colour randomly to the canvas. I had no idea of which way up or what picture of the four views I had of Elvet bridge I was going to paint.

I settled on the view from Browns boatyard looking across to the Swan and Cygnets pub with the Old Town Hall in the distance together with the church spire where my daughter Lesley was married.
The initial drawing was done with a rectangular block of graphite using the long side edges for the straight lines. Blocked in with blue acrylic ink using small piece of mount board and the texture added using a black ink pad straight on to the canvas.

Next day added some colour to the Old Town Hall the far bank of the River Wear and the stonework on the bridge with tissue paper and brown ink pad. Subdued the blue tissue on the pub and added the pier numbers.

Ready to seal and varnish for exhibition on Saturday 25th October at Chester le Street Library.

Only one picture left to paint and time is running out!

Dearness Art Group Exhibition at Shepherds Dene Retreat near Riding Mill in the Tyne Valley

Six paintings entered into Shepherds Dene exhibition. I was only 2 weeks late as I had forgotten about the taking in day on the 4th October but the organiser Jenny Mathers kindly offered to take my late submission.

Link to Jennys website

Painting of Blanchland done the previous evening using collage and acrylics. This was a replacement for a painting I had sold on Artfinder website.

Waiting in reception for Jenny as we were a little bit early so it gave us time to look at the exhibition and the Warden also gave us a guided tour of the house. Deerness Art Group members were at the retreat for three days painting and were busy in the upstairs Newell Room and in the ground floor Garden Room . The garden was a riot of autumnal colour.

View from the Terrace Room.

Later we drove to Hexham and had lunch in the Chinese restaurant-( the worst Chinese I have ever had ) and then a walk around the town.

Rothbury Demonstration

Wet drive to Rothbury for watercolour class at Coquetdale Art Gallery

from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm- direct road still closed due to landslide.

Eight people at the class - Ann, Jane, Josie, Barbara, Heather,Sheila, Carol and Ted who was also steward in the gallery so had one eye looking for visitors.

In the morning we painted a traditional watercolour landscape using transparent washes of a coastal scene of Sandend on the Moray Firth in Scotland.

My painting that session

Overall wash used was cobalt blue greyed off with brown madder and Naples yellow for the lower sky then same blue for sea and far rocks and raw sienna for the sand  painting around the white houses. Wet into wet building wash of cobalt blue, raw sienna, and brown madder painting the negative shapes of the fence posts and poles.

Masking tape used as a guide for the horizon and cobalt blue for the sea.

Rocks three washes 

1. Raw sienna 
2. Cobalt blue, permanent magenta and raw sienna for shadows
3. Brown madder with ultramarine blue or ultramarine and burnt sienna for the darks.

Students work at midday.

The late afternoon was more a fun session which everyone seemed to enjoy doing

 a black outline of a village and filling in the shapes with textured watercolour.

Cling film, splatter in a confined area blocked off with masking tape and  plastic needle workers grid to give an impression of roof tiles were used.

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