Novel mark-making
Bea Last (below) tutored our first workshop of 2020, in the mezzanine room at Kirkcudbright Galleries on Friday February 7.
The emphasis was on using sketchbooks as an aid to individual development and on mark-making in inventive and innovative ways, using a variety of materials, including string, masking tape, and sponges, as well as more usual media such as inks, marker pens and pastels.
In some ways the workshop continued a theme that has been evident in several presentations and workshops recently - the freedom to experiment, using unorthodox methods.
Brigid Collins, for example showed how to create textured effects with polyfiller; Oliver Reed does things with gum arabic and various pigments and even bleach, while Tom Lindsay incorporates substances such as bitumen in his paintings. Almost anything goes, it seems, so here's...
...a challenge!
Put all of your artists' materials - oils, acrylics, watercolours, pastels - aside and create a work of art, abstract or representational, using only the kind of things you can find in a DIY store such as B&Q or Homebase, or in your shed or workshop.
Grounds could be hardboard or plywood, for example, but not your usual art papers or canvases, though various fabrics and tissues could be incorporated. Household paints, sealants, etc. could be used - just think outside the paintbox!
If you're up for the challenge, send a photo of the results, with a note of the materials used, to the website and magazine editor by the end of February for publication in the forthcoming spring magazine. (No prizes, just the reward of creating something in a completely different way!)
Chris Otty
Members will be saddened to hear of the death of Chris Otty, the society's treasurer for many years. Chris relinquished the post at the last AGM but continued to be an active member of the council and attended its last meeting in December. A retired veterinary surgeon, Chris died at his home in Dumfries on January 20.
Chris pictured minding the entry fees at the summer show hand-in in 2014