Dear Member
In February and early March, we had some really enjoyable events:
Recent Club Events
Monthly Meeting
For our February demo Tushar Sabale talked entertainingly while creating an oil painting of the fountain at Trafalgar Square. His touch was deft and colour mixing confident.
if you missed this demo and get the opportunity to see Tushar at work, or join him for a workshop we think you will certainly have an enjoyable time!
Club Workshop Day
Our February club workshop day involved a supply of gouache paints, Indian ink and good quality watercolour paper. This briefly describes what we did: – First, we painted a gouache picture with little (or large) gaps between the colour blocks and dried it thoroughly. Then we painted over it with Indian ink – totally black! When that was dry, we washed (or scrubbed!) it off under a tap. Some of the colour stains the paper well, some almost disappears and where there were gaps the black of the ink remains. The final step was to ‘touch-up’ as little or as much as we liked with watercolour and ink.
Although the results, having not tried the technique before, were variable we all left the workshop with a picture or two and a good feeling that the day had been lots of fun!
Many thanks must go to Gill. She had prepared many examples, showing the steps in the process, was superbly organised and gave us great guidance.
Spring Exhibition
In the first few days of March, we held our Spring Exhibition. This was very well supported by our artists, so many thanks to all of you, and also to all who helped set up and dismantle the exhibition. The exhibits were certainly variable; a great variety of painting styles and some exciting craftwork, such as clocks with paint-poured faces and decorated glass vases (with fairy lights!)
Sales were good (if not quite as high as last Spring) and we made a small profit for the club. Visitor feedback was very positive – one even said “The best yet”! Another group we would like to say a big thank you to is the Maidenhead branch of ‘Good Gym’. This is a national organisation who like to ‘do good to keep fit’. They were a great help in dismantling our screens and putting them away under the stage, which certainly requires some flexibility and strength.
Events in April
Sunday Painting
Sunday Painting at Guards Club Park on Sunday 14th April, 10.30 – 4pm.
For our first session this year, we plan to paint at Guards Club Park, by the Thames, situated between Maidenhead Bridge and Brunel’s railway bridge. The park gives views of both bridges and to the rowing club opposite. Further information and some photographs can be found on the internet. There is no vehicle access from Guards Club Rd by Maidenhead Bridge but a free car park for a dozen or so cars can be accessed via Oldacres off Oldfield Road. Being close to Maidenhead Bridge, there are also painting opportunities further up by the Bridge or across the A4 facing Roux at Skindles.
Although there are no toilet facilities at the park, a CAC member, Carol Baughan, who lives very close by, has kindly offered the use of facilities at her house during the day and will also provide refreshments for us afterwards.
(Please note – the next outdoor painting will be on Sunday May 12th – it may say May 11th on some membership cards as we have had to change the planned date).
Monthly Meeting
Monthly Meeting on Thursday April 18th, 2 – 4pm at the Parish Centre, (Church Gate, Cookham, SL6 9SP).
A demo by Keith Hornblower – Watercolour, street scene or buildings with figures.
This is a CHANGE OF ARTIST from earlier version of ‘events for 2024’ on your Membership cards.
Keith shows great skill with watercolour and we look forward to a fascinating demo. This photo might remind you of his previous visit.
Workshop
Workshop in CDVH. Sunday April 21st, 10am – 4pm
Susan Gray – Seascape in acrylics or oils.
Susan has previously given us a demo, and if you like her style of landscape painting this is the workshop for you!
To join the workshop, please email Sue Sepehri (smsforcac@gmail.com) requesting how many places you will require by Monday 1st April. Numbers will be limited to about 16, so get your requests in as soon as possible.
Sue Sepehri will then email your confirmation and outline your payment options. No payment will be required until Sue has emailed you and confirmed your place. Cost: £40 /person.
Coming Soon
If you are taking part in the ‘Unusual view of Cookham’ exhibition for the Cookham Festival, the handing-in day for paintings is 7th May.
Tuesday Painting Workshops
At Cookham Dean Village Hall, Church Road, Cookham Dean, Berks SL6 9PY, from 2 to 5pm.
| Tuesday Painting: cost £2 A topic, appraisal, tea and cake | Tuesday Extra: cost £2 Painting, tea and biscuits |
| March 26th: An unusual view of Cookham | April 2nd: Paint what you like |
April 9th: Design and make a pop-up card | April 16th: Paint what you like |
April 23rd: A woodland (Spring colour) | April 30th: Paint what you like |
TIP OF THE MONTH
NFTs – a warning.
If you have any artwork on a social medium, such as Instagram, you may receive an offer to, for example, create a Non-Fungible Token of your picture – which you can then trade for lots of money. A NFT is a digital code which refers uniquely to your piece of work. If you want to know more, read all about NFTs on Wikipedia or in the article in a recent ‘Artist’ magazine. I will not try to explain further, here. I and other members of the CAC Committee have researched a little bit, and the simple conclusion is that any such offers about NFTs are 99.9% criminal scams.
The offer may go something like: ‘you pay us a few £100 to ‘digitise’ your art and create the NFT, then you will be able to sell it for £1000s’.
There are genuine NFTs, which can be bought and sold. But we just want to warn you about the scams!
Yours sincerely
Robert Jones
Newsletter Editor