Alan Cotton Talk

 Alan Cotton



An inspiring and interesting talk from one of the UK's leading artists. Alan told us of his trip as tour artist with the Prince of Wales and of his many other journeys in search of inspiring landscapes.
 There was a lot of useful information packed into the talk and  I managed to jot down some items which I found useful, so in no particular order:-
His use of many drawings on location which as they progress helps him plan the future painting.
Use of a coloured/stained surface to paint on, he never start with a white canvas.
Important to use imagination to interpret the experience once back in the studio.
Also important to have an area/studio set aside to paint.
Using different size canvases can help keep your work fresh.
Part of the drawing process is to explore simple shape combinations to enhance composition.
Make use of foreground objects in painting, also useful in a studio to have some plants to see how they work with the painting in progress.
Artists should have a lot of sketchbooks which contain a resevoir of ideas for future paintings.
Laying the same colours in same position on pallette is rubbish as you are using colours as they inspire you and different ranges depending on the mood and subject.
You need to be 'turned on' by the subject.
Good to find one view/area that inspires you as you can do a thematic series of paintings.
Drawing a subject is understanding it.
Good framing is essential to make your work stand out.
He uses lightfast art pens for sketching.
A lot more information and  gallery of work at his website, see link below.
http://www.alancotton.co.uk/

Elizabeth Cook - Court Artist

A fascinating talk by Elizabeth Cook, one of only three court artists working in the UK. Her work is seen in newspapers and on TV for all the famous trials and infamous defendants. Her work is all the more amazing when you consider it all has to be completed from memory and written notes as no drawing or photography is allowed in court. She usually has to complete the drawings in about 20 minutes so a photo can be taken then beamed to the news desk for the latest bulletin. Her main tip is to concentrate on the 'muzzle' i.e. the mouth and area under the nose as this area is critical to getting a good likeness. She works with pastel pencils and grabs any available surface to work on, such as a baby changing area in the toilet or even outside on the pavement.

Recalling some infamous trials

Demonstrating how changes to the eyes only can change the entire facial expression

Recent drawing of Vincent Tabak  (Joanna Yeates muder suspect)

Competition Devon Landscapes 17th March

1.

2.

3.

4. David Matthews

5.

6.

7. 1st prize

8. Glyn Cowles

9.

10. Cherrill Bailey

11. Add caption

12. Paul James

Critique by Diane Broady

absence

I have been thinking a lot about the critique that Ernest gave at the AGM. One of the paintings he showed was of his sons bedroom just after he had left home and married. Apart from its technical brilliance it showed clearly those feelings that every parent knows so well. He and Cath talked about the importance of putting oneself into the painting and I have been musing over our 'competitions'. How would it be if we had an emotion to put to our themes? Perhaps a 'wild' or a 'soft' or a 'polluted' or 'overdeveloped' Devon landscape, maybe a 'futuristic' or 'modern' or 'olde world' architectural landscape. Figure or portrait showing 'age', 'loneliness' or 'joy' or togetherness? etc etc

Perhaps then we could move away from technical skills, ( and usually won by the same people) and open up to those having something to say but still exploring their media.

Just a thought.

Skills Evening

A good turnout for the skills evening, with demos ranging from sugar decoration to digital image creation.

Tree Planting at A La Ronde

Colin and myself spent an enjoyable (but exhausting) morning planting fruit trees at A La Ronde.
The art group and other local societies contributed to the cost of the thirteen fruit trees which have now been planted in the garden and field of our local NT property.