Stephen Cheesman will be demonstrating a picture in oil pastels at the Cedar Centre, Castle Road, Rayleigh.
Guests are welcome for a small charge of £4 per person, for more information on Stephen check out his website: https://www.stephencheeseman.com/
& pm for a 7.30 pm start see you there.
Our evening started with an interesting talk by Cathy Russel on Quilling, which is an art form that goes back hundreds of years.
In this picture, she is demonstrating the varied form of paper rolls that are used to make up a picture. Thank you Cathy.
After Cathy had finished her talk and everyone had replenished their glasses and plates, Brian Coppard presented the awards chosen by the public for the best pictures on show at our exhibition.
In third place with a watercolour entitled ‘Sunrise Leigh-on-Sea was Colin Mossman, and here he is receiving his certificate and cup.
In second place was Chris Wiseman with his acrylic painting entitled ‘Smoke and Steam’, (this painting, was purchased by Mark Francois). In this picture, Chris is receiving his certificate, he also received a cup.
In first place with his watercolour painting entitled ‘Special Moments’ was Colin Mossman. In this picture, he is receiving his cup certificate and the Jose Hook award tankard which he can keep until next year.
The final award of the evening went to Ken Marjoram, he won the ‘Presidents’ award for the best painting of the year, In these two photos Ken is receiving his certificate, and clock that he keeps for a year and a ‘Brian’, this is a gold coloured maquette, and this he may keep forever.
We had some great prizes for our raffle most of which, together with the presentation mugs, were donated by the SAA.
All in all, it was a very good evening, thanks to all who attended and brought food and a big thank you to the committee for organizing and preparing everything for the evening.
Report by Colin Mossman
Photos by Anita Mossman
Several members enjoyed an entertaining evening last night using, which for some was in a medium they were not used to, painting a portrait of an animal in watercolour and gouache. Painting challenges are always good fun and useful, they certainly take you out of your comfort zone so should always be attempted.
You can almost feel the concentration emanating from this photo
The finished results, well-done everyone for taking on the challenge especially the three new members
What a great success our exhibition was this year, despite the inclement weather we experienced on Saturday morning we still had a steady stream of visitors, in fact over the weekend we had around 400 through the door.
The Rt Hon Mark Francois, gave an extremely encouraging speech at 1pm on Saturday, in which he praised the quality of work on display. Mark has been a stalwart supporter of the group for some years and usually purchases some paintings, this year was no exception, Chris Wiseman’s ‘Smoke and Steam’ in acrylic was the one he took away with him this year.
There were about 130 paintings on display and we sold 24, very pleased with that and it is a testament to the quality of work.
Comments from the visitors as they left the venue were all positive so all our members should be very proud of themselves, give yourselves a big pat on the back, you deserve it.
We do have the result of the voting from the public which will be announced at our ‘At Home’ social evening on 1st May at the Todman Centre.
The SAA has done us proud again this year for, as well as supplying catalogues, magazines, and banners to give away, they have also supplied our certificates, presentation mugs and several prizes which we will be able to raffle at our meetings.
Our grateful thanks must go to AR Adams Funeral directors of Rayleigh for their continued sponsorship of our exhibition.
Last but by no means least, we have to thank all the members of our committee, without all their hard work this event would not have taken place.
All the best for now, see you all soon and in the meantime, keep painting 
Photos and report by Colin Mossman
We had an excellent turnout last night for Carole Massey’s demonstration and I don’t think anyone was disappointed as Carole treated us to an excellent evening, explaining her method of working as she produced a vibrant example of a cockerel using pastels.
Carole favours Schmincke, Sennelier and Unison pastels because they are soft and very high in pigment content. She augments her pastels with Derwent pastel pencils, she explained that the pastel pencils enable her to do the initial drawing and to use for small details.
The surface she used for her painting was a grey Mi-Teintes that Carole finds an excellent surface for her pastel work.
It was very interesting to see her method of working especially that she leaves a section at the side of the painting to try out the colours, to ensure she selects the correct one.
I know many of us have never tried pastels but after watching Carole I think there will be more than a few trying out this medium, which includes me.
Thank you, Carole, for an extremely interesting, informative and enjoyable evening, we look forward to seeing you again.
For those of you who would like to know more about Carole and her work, check out her website at http://www.carolemassey.com/
Picture and report by Colin Mossman.
This coming Wednesday we have a demonstration by Carole Massey of a cockerel in pastel.
Carol has been a professional artist for many years, is a contributor to the ‘Leisure Painter ‘ magazine and has written several books, her latest being ‘Drawing for the absolute beginner’
She has an online tuition website, www.arttutor.com/artist/carolemassey featuring step by step classes on Drawing Portraits, Portraits in Acrylics, Painting Florals in Acrylics, Painting Still Life in Acrylics and Water Soluble Pencils Essentials, with step by step demonstrations covering every aspect of each subject.
In 2019 Carole will lead many courses in the UK at the popular locations of Art in Aldeburgh, Flatford Mill and Dedham Hall in Suffolk, Art and Craft Days and Watershed studio in Essex – see courses page. Throughout the year she will be demonstrating to many art groups across the UK. Have a look at the demonstrations page to see if there is a course running near you, or get in touch to ask about private tuition on the tuition page
To learn more about Carole, visit her website at http://wwmw.carolemassey.com.
The demonstration will be at the Cedar Centre, Castle Road, Rayleigh. SS6 7QF.
7 pm for a 7.30 pm start, visitors are welcome, entry fee for non members£4.
Free tea and coffee available during the interval.
Look forward to seeing you there.
Colin Mossman
Cathy Newton and Ian Deaves did a marvelous job last night as Trivial Pursuit quizmasters, although the questions were somewhat hard (it was the latest Masters Edition), we all had a great time.
The fish/chicken and chips arrived in very good time and were up to their usual high standard that we have come to expect from Chris’ of Grove Road, Rayleigh, so the good food coupled with good company made for a very enjoyable evening.
If you couldn’t make it this year, not to worry, you will have another chance next year!
