Dear Member
Recent Club Events
Workshop
Our workshop in April was abstracting florals, using mixed media with Jo Harris, which was, according to one participant, informative, experimental and great fun!
In some workshops people start packing up a bit early, having run out of energy, but everyone worked until the last minute. Jo was so enthusiastic and energetic that she spurred everyone on and she was very attentive spending all her time going round the room.
It was quite a messy process using acrylic and watercolour paint and inks, Brusho, water soluble crayons and loads of other stuff. Some lovely results – It was a successful day.
Monthly Meeting
We continued the floral theme when, later in April, Nicky Hunter painted water colour flowers. Her approach was very loose, with the use of lovely ‘clean’ colours.
A few members suggested that they would enjoy a workshop with Nicky and we are looking into this for next year.
Sunday Painting
Outdoor painting in May was in the grounds of Stubbings House a grade II listed mansion. We had a lovely time and although it was very hot, it didn’t spoil our day. We were made very welcome by the staff who were friendly and very helpful. We will be sending Stubbings some photos from the day to say thank you for having us. Perhaps we will see some of the paintings in our next exhibition!
Events in June
Sunday Painting
June 1st Outdoor Painting, 10.30 – 4pm. We will meet at the attractive Queens Head Pub, Little Marlow, where we could paint views of the pub, village street and the nearby church. Please note that the pub is situated down a narrow lane leading to a footpath. It has only a small car park for about 10 cars, which is likely to be popular with lunchtime diners. They are expecting us, but please consider car-share and park in the village street where possible (about 100yds) to leave space for customers
Monthly Meeting
Monthly Meeting: Critique of ‘New Arts’ by Jan Munro.
Date: Thursday 19th June. Time: 2-4pm. Venue: The Parish Centre (Church Gate, Cookham, SL6 9SP).
Bring ONE painting and one ’spare’ painting (we will put the spare ones into the critique if there is time). This is a critique of our ‘modern style’ paintings – difficult to define, but we would like to see an abstract painting or a work with an unusual/new approach, not purely representational, and which has not been seen at one of our previous meetings.
Jan seems ideally qualified to discuss these paintings. She began her Art making using watercolour and now works mainly in acrylic and collage to create contemporary still life, harbour scenes, landscapes and more recently, abstract works. She prefers to move away from the reality of a subject and through sketching and intuitive process, paints how she feels about the character of a thing or place. We look forward to an interesting critique. Two of Jan’s works are shown here – Little Turquoise Bowl and Whispering Not Shouting.
As usual we will have a vote, with a small prize for the members’ favourite painting.
Coming soon
Summer Party
Put the date in your diary! On Sunday July 6th, 12 – 4pm, we will hold our Summer Party. Rita, who has a lovely large garden in Marlow, has been good enough to volunteer to host our get together again, hoping for a dry day this year!! More details will be in your next newsletter.
Summer Exhibition
Other important dates for your diary are 12th – 24th August – our Summer Exhibition – get painting and planning your entries! Check out our website if you want to see the dates and details of entry. We will give a more detailed run-down of important times and dates in the July newsletter. You may request an entry form, via the website, as soon as you like.
…And coming in 2026
Cookham Arts Club supports the bi-annual Cookham Festival with an exhibition. For 2026 the theme is ‘The Seasons in Cookham’.
You can submit 2 images. The images will need to be no bigger than 50cm x 50cm, with 1 image ready to hang and 1 unframed image for the browser.
Work will be displayed with that of other local artists, as well as work produced at workshops prior to the festival, in an exhibition from May 1st – 17th 2026.
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 |
| June 10th: Capture sunlight and shadow on a bright day | June 17th: Paint what you like |
| June 24th: A portrait looking up – as seen from below | July 1st: Paint what you like |
TIPS OF THE MONTH
An interesting thought on cloud-painting…
And another by Heidi Jo Summers from Painters on Line … Getting your head in the right place is a huge part of plein air painting. Take the pressure off by not intending to make a gallery-worthy painting when you go out to paint en plein air. Think of it as a learning exercise each time. Choose just one thing that you’d like to focus on and tell yourself ‘This is a study of…’
For example, ‘this is a study of how to vary my greens’ or ‘this is a study of vehicles in contre-jour conditions’.
This can also help you know when you have finished i.e., when you have achieved your main objective.
A final thought – and challenge! Do you have an eye for design? Would you like to ‘re-design’ this Summer’s flyer for the exhibition? Please get contact us if you would like to help.
Yours sincerely
Robert Jones
Newsletter Editor