Dear Member It will be August when you receive this Newsletter, the month of our Summer Exhibition. We have been very pleased indeed at the response of our members, and, as always, the artwork they have entered will be items you have not seen before in a CAC exhibition. It runs from 15th to 27th August so do bring your friends and family along to enjoy the show!

Events in September

Sunday Painting

3rd September 11am to 4pm. Meet at Taplow Court, a mid-19th century mansion set high above the Thames near Maidenhead. It is the home of SGI-UK, a lay Buddhist society. The grounds are extensive and the house has much earlier origins – indeed there has been a manor house on the site since before 1066. September 3rd is an open day at Taplow Court and they have agreed that we may enter the grounds at 11am, earlier than their usual opening time. Refreshments should be available at the café.

Monthly Meeting

Thursday September 21st, 2 – 4pm (note our Autumn/Winter timing) in the Parish Centre (Church Gate, Cookham, SL6 9SP). A demonstration meeting with Mic McNicholas – Improve your drawing skills with charcoal. Many of you will remember Mick from his previous visits, including a figure drawing workshop using charcoal. He also ran our critique in January this year.

Coming soon

Workshop Workshop, Saturday October 7th 10am to 4pm in the Parish Centre (Church Gate, Cookham, SL6 9SP).

Come and join us as Joel Wareing takes us through the painting of an urban scene with figures. previous visits Joel has given excellent presentations of urban café scenes in different media. This time it is your turn to produce the work, in oils or acrylic! We do think that this will be a popular topic so get your applications for a place on the course in as soon as possible, and not later than 16th September. To join the workshop, for which the fee is £40, please contact us requesting how many places you will require. 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.

Elizabeth House

Elizabeth House Day Centre in Cookham Dean has again invited us to put on a display of paintings. This will start on 5th October and run until January 2024. If you would like to exhibit one or two paintings and offer them for sale, look out for more details in a future newsletter.

2024 Club Holiday

Book Your 2024 Holiday Soon. Fancy a week’s holiday in North Wales with full board? The Club is planning a 7-night Painting Holiday, based near Snowdonia. Date: 14 – 21st June with HF Holidays – Dolserau Hall, Dolgellau, Gwynedd, LL40 2AG See last month’s Newsletter or the CAC Holidays page for lots more details and the booking form.

Members’ News

Gill Cook

Regulars at Tuesday Painting will remember Gill’s cheerful presence. I have received an update from Gill’s daughter to let us know how she is getting on, now she no longer lives in Maidenhead. She says: “I’m emailing to update you with Gill’s news since she reluctantly moved away from Maidenhead to be nearer to me in Hove. I’m happy to say the re-location has been a success although Gill still misses the Tuesday sessions in Cookham Dean and your super exhibitions at the Pinder Hall. In March Jill exhibited two paintings at an exhibition organized by Brighton & Hove Arts Club, selling one of them to a visitor to the city who took her Cornish landscape home to Iceland! Jill is now spending the summer with me on the Greek island of Lesvos. I’m attaching a photograph of her here last year with the six acrylics she had on show last September at the Sappho International Women’s Festival. They were all local scenes that she painted in 2022.” Gill says: “Hope you are having some good painting weather. It is too hot to lift a brush here. All good wishes. Please send my love to everyone.” We send you our love Gill, it is great to hear from you.

Maralin Cottenham

At the recent Wild Cookham exhibition Maralin exhibited a wire sculpted figure holding a globe. At the end of the Odney Club exhibition she was approached by the Ecoshop in Maidenhead. They wanted to display her wire sculpture in the front window of the shop. She has since been up there, installed the work and had some photos done. Well done, Maralin!

Ruth Daniel

To celebrate a ‘significant birthday’ Ruth recently enjoyed a wing-walking experience over Gloucestershire. Congratulations Ruth, that looks exhilarating to say the least – you have sent us this photo, but we look forward to your painting of the event!    

Recent club events

The Summer Garden Party

In July the club had a lovely summer party at John and Janice’s beautiful garden. We were lucky with the weather too; sun was shining from a nearly cloudless sky. People had brought numerous tasty salads, quiches, charcuteries, olives etc. And of course, wonderful puddings enjoyed with a cup of tea. Freddie had put together a fairly difficult quiz which was greatly appreciated by everyone. The winners got chocolates to share. Lots of laughs and happy moments. A BIG THANK YOU TO JOHN AND JANICE.

Monthly Meeting

The Monthly Meeting in July was our New Arts Critique. Peter Keegan came along to share his thoughts on our paintings. He gave a list of ‘Things to Consider’:

1. Composition / Drawing – gets things in the right place.
2. Tonal values – gives shape and form.
3. Colour – every colour has a tonal value. Some artists might start with colour – better to start considering tone, then add colour.
4. Mark making / edges – how we touch the surface – gives our own style to the artwork.
5. The message! Best works of art are those in which the artist has something to say.

If you are trying to assess your own work and feel it needs an extra ‘something’, consider the above points. During our critique the most frequent ‘problem’ seemed to be number 2 – painting looks a bit flat? Increase the tonal range. After the critique we had a chance to look at all the entries and vote for our favourite. The winner was Gill, pictured here with Peter and her acrylic painting. Well done, Gill    

Sunday Painting

After an unpromising weather report and an awful wet Saturday, caused some uncertainty over our Sunday Painting at Shiplake, it turned out to be fairly dry and not too cold. The sun even came out some of the time. Six of us went in 3 shared cars and had an enjoyable day painting in this quiet, tranquil location on a high point above the river. People arriving for the morning service greeted us and invited us to join them in the vestry afterwards for refreshments. The beautiful log cabin facilities, at the back of the church – called “The Ark”- was left open for us all day. As always, people came to view what we were doing and to chat, so we felt very welcome. One local man, a keen photographer, insisted on having a selfie with us and wants to come to our forthcoming exhibition. We were so lucky that the rain held off until we had all just finished our paintings. We didn’t find anywhere to go for tea this time, but a good day was had by all. Many thanks for this day to Sue Carter who kindly discovered it and made prior arrangements, after exhibiting there a few months ago.

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 £1.50 Painting, tea and biscuits
August 29th: Cottages	September 5th: Paint what you like
September 12th: Vegetables	September 19th: Paint what you like
September 26th: An animation storyboard – 4 frames	October 3rd: Paint what you like

TIP OF THE MONTH

Liz Baldin, after her demonstration recently, showed us how she keeps her watercolour tubes organised so that she can easily find the colour she needs. She attaches the tubes to the base of a large flat box with Velcro – see picture. Yours sincerely Robert Jones Newsletter Editor