Dear Member
Recent Club Events
Cookham Festival 2026
Cookham Festival 2026 was during the first two weeks in May. This year our members had been painting Seasonal Views of Cookham (as pictured above).
We had a very well received exhibition at Holy Trinity Church for the Cookham Festival. Thank you to all the members who took part and made it a success. We received some really lovely comments from visitors. Some fun facts about the event… 28 members contributed 83 hung entries. We had more than 600 visitors over the duration of the festival and 327 people voted in the People’s Choice Award.
1st Choice Entry – Summer Walk by Wendy Mercer
2nd Choice Entry – Snowfall in Holyport by Karen Comber
3rd Choice Entry – Winter Stroll by Wendy Mercer
4th Choice Entry – Quarry Wood by Gill Griffith
Congratulations to all the winners.
For more about the exhibition please see our Cookham Festival page.
Monthly Demonstration
In May we welcomed Susan Clare to demonstrate how to paint marshes in mixed-media. Susan used watercolours, oil pastels and inks to create this tranquil scene.
Here are some tips from the demo:
- Watercolour paper 400 gsm.
- Oil pastels (which resist the later layers of watercolour) for the rushes to mark the general layout.
- Big brushes, a flat for the water and a mop for the trees.
- Wipe excess paint off with tissue paper or clean brush.
- Tilt the paper to let the colour run.
- Inktense watercolour pencils and acrylic inks to add interest. The inks can be worked with a broken stick to have some fun.
- A swipe of a palette knife and the edge of a credit card were used for the foreground rushes.
Tea and biscuits were enjoyed by everyone.
Events in July
Monthly Meeting
Thursday 16th July, 2 – 4pm in the Parish Centre, Church Gate, Cookham, SL6 9SP.
This month we look forward to a demonstration by Fiona Hooper of a seascape in oils, using a palette knife.
Fiona’s passion lies in painting landscapes in her distinctive and contemporary style. She works predominantly in oils using a painting knife, to capture the peace and tranquillity of the wild, natural places that she loves to discover, including trees, mountains, water and coasts. Her work has won various awards and can be found in collections both in the UK and internationally, including the USA, Canada, France, Ireland, Malta, Australia, and Switzerland.
Coming Soon
Summer Garden Party
It is not long now until our SUMMER GARDEN PARTY, on Sunday July 5th, from 12 to 4pm. Rita will be our host in her lovely garden. After rather rainy parties in the last couple of years we do hope for a lovely day to enjoy the garden.
This has always been an enjoyable, well-supported event and it is so good to meet up with other members we may not have seen for a while. Do come along if you can, partners welcome too!
Please bring a plateful of ‘finger-food’ to share. If you would like to bring something like a trifle, we’ll make sure we have enough bowls etc. So that we have an idea of numbers to expect, and to co-ordinate the mix of sweet and savoury dishes, please get in touch as explained in your member’s newsletter. We will make a food list and may help you decide what to bring. The Club will provide plates, cups, cutlery etc and some soft drinks. Tea and coffee will be available.
Rita has quite a large selection of garden chairs but once we have an idea of numbers, we will ask for help with any short-fall. We plan to have a quiz and a raffle with some lovely prizes. See you there!!
Getting there and parking: as explained in your member’s newsletter.
Our Summer Exhibition
18th-30th August is our Summer Exhibition – it is time to start planning.
We would like to invite you all to participate in the Club’s 84th Annual Exhibition from 18th to 30th August 2026 which will be held, as usual, in Pinder Hall, Cookham Rise.
Here is a summary about our exhibition which we hope will be useful, especially if you have not entered before.
For all the more precise details about how to enter, how many paintings, framing requirements, acceptable size of pictures, craft labelling etc. please refer to the FAQ’s on our Annual Exhibition page.
You do not pay a fee to enter your artwork. If sold, 20% commission is payable to the Club (10% on cards).
If you would like to take part, please complete the Member’s Registration Form from the link on the web site and submit it as soon as you can and no later than Monday 29th June. You will be emailed the Entry Form. Please download the Entry Form and complete it by typing your entries on to it. This will be used as the Entry Sheet at the Exhibition. Email it back to the Exhibition Organiser by Saturday 17th July at the latest. This will enable the catalogue to be compiled and printed before the exhibition. NB: Late entries and amendments cannot be accepted.
Please respond to the request for stewarding – which you will receive when we acknowledge your Registration. We are trying to increase the number of stewards on duty this year, especially during busy times, so that you will have more time to talk to visitors about the art on display and hopefully encourage more sales. With more stewards there, it should be a more relaxing and enjoyable ‘duty’ to perform!
If for any reason you cannot access the web page, please contact us.
Handing-in day for paintings (framed and unframed), and greetings cards is Saturday 15th August (10am – 12noon).
Please make sure you hand in all the paintings entered on the Entry Form, including the unframed (portfolio) items – they will already be in the catalogue!
Handing-in day for craft items is Sunday 16th August (1pm).
Schedule of events for the exhibition.
| Saturday | Handing in pictures/unframed and cards, selection panel and templating |
| Sunday | Hanging pictures, Craft hand in 1pm |
| Monday 7pm-9pm | Preview evening, invited guests and artists |
| Tuesday | Exhibition opens for the first full day |
| Tues/Wed | Local press invited |
| 2nd Wednesday | Best in Show vote closes, Winning Artist invited for Photograph. |
| 2nd Friday | Pack all red dot sales ready for buyer collection from 2pm |
| Last Sunday | 2pm Raffle prize draw. 4.45 exhibition closes, craft artists pack their work 5pm All artists collect work 5.15pm Dismantling team commences. |
N.B. Just a little extra complication – The Pound in Cookham will be closed from 24th July to 2nd September, which may affect how you get to Club events!
Tuesday Painting Workshops
At Cookham Dean Village Hall, Church Road, Cookham Dean, Berks SL6 9PY, from 1.40pm to 5pm.
| Tuesday Painting: cost £2 A topic, appraisal, tea and cake |
Tuesday Extra: cost £2 Painting, tea and biscuits |
| July 7th: Produce an image using shading only (e.g. use contour lines, cross hatch, dots etc) | July 14th: Paint what you like |
| July 21st: A cartoon character | July 28th: Paint what you like |
TIP OF THE MONTH
Painting up-side-down was tried by many members at Tuesday Painting recently. Put the photo (or object if it is feasible!) that you are working from up-side-down, then draw/paint what you can see. Working with the subject viewed in this unusual way really forces you to draw the positive and negative shapes in the way that you see them, and not as you think they should be. We had fun and many were surprised, when the painting was turned the right way up, what a well proportioned picture we had achieved!
Yours sincerely
Robert Jones
Newsletter Editor