This summer term the group focused on painting Contre Jour. This (as you will probably know), means Against the Light in French. We looked at famous artists' work such as Sorolla, Pierre Bonnard, and Walter Sickert who painted dramatic light-infused masterpieces using Contre Jour. Also we studied works by the contemporary artists David Hockney and David Curtis. Looking into the light softens the edges of objects between the viewer and the Sun, and casts rich, dark, interesting shadows towards the viewer.  Working Contre Jour makes a notable difference to shapes and colours, softening edges and lightening as it catches the tops of rounded shapes. It was very good practice for colour mixing which everyone finds tricky and which is a most important skill to try to understand and improve. We tried to get as much colour into our shadows as into the lit areas, finding some lovely, rich, dark purples, blues and greys. We found Contre Jour to be a rewarding topic and the technique is one we will return to in the future, I am sure. My painting here shows one of my grandsons excitedly heading towards the rock pools with his shrimping net one evening on the Dorset coast.

Come and meet our amazing artists — Bridget Beattie, Hayley Cove, Pamela Lea and Hilary McFarland! Welcome to Venue 14 of the 2025 Wylye Valley Art Trail. It's a great chance to chat with the artists! Discover the stories behind their creations, and possibly snap up a piece of original art that inspires you. We can't wait for you to join us!

This January and February the Paint4Fun group worked on portraits. We started the term with sketching a loose portrait in charcoal while we learned the basic proportions of the face. It is surprising to note that eyes are positioned halfway down the face. A common beginner mistake is to draw eyes too high up, also tempting we found, to make eyes too big. We painted a portrait using just one colour plus white. This is called a Grisaille painting. Next we looked at how to get skin tones using a restricted colour palette. It is easier to use just a few carefully selected colours because there are simple mixing choices. The paints we used were red, yellow ochre, black and white. This is known as the Zorn palette as it was made famous by Anders Zorn (Swedish Artist 1860 - 1920) whose beautiful portraits were painted with these colours. In this palette of colours there is no blue, but we found that a surprisingly blue effect can be achieved with grey when juxtapositioned with warm tones such as red or orange. Also a very nice (if muted) green comes from mixing yellow ochre with black. All in all it was an interesting and enjoyable topic and gave us a chance for a few welcome hours each week to forget the wintery weather outside.

An educational celebration of the Wylye River is taking place in the Kingfisher Gallery on the beautiful Langford Lake Nature Reserve during August 2024. The festival kicks off with an opening night on Thursday 8th with demonstrations and talks. Information and tickets for this evening event from https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/bathspalive/the-wylye-river-ancient-landscapes/e-rlrorv  The exhibition is open and free to visitors Wednesday to Sunday until 25th August. Do come and enjoy exploring the nature reserve and then browse a fascinating display of the history of the river, from an ecological, cultural and historical perspective. Included is an exhibition of original artworks in all media; relating to the river.  Oh and there is a cafe onsite!

The Paint4Fun Group winter term of 2024 started in early January with an enthusiastic focus on the Impressionists. We looked at a famous artist each week. We started with Constable and Turner who were an inspiration to Impressionists and who are seen as pioneers of Modern Art. Interestingly we discovered that both artists died some 20 years before Impressionism emerged. Constable and Turner used broad brush strokes and rough (almost violent) movement of paint. They added energy and emotion using vibrant colour.  They were the first artists to paint 'en plein air,' taking their paints, easels and equipment outside. Before this only drawing and watercolour were used out of doors.  Here are some of my paintings below which were copied from Impressionists' famous works using their brushwork techniques and using a similar palette wherever possible. 'Suffolk Church', after John Constable 'Snow Storm Steamboat,' after JMW Turner The group then studied Pissarro, then Renoir and finally Van Gogh. We discovered that working outdoors (without the benefit of a camera!) there was not much time to capture fleeting moments of reality before it passed before the Impressionists' eyes. They focused on the effects of natural light upon the landscape and sought to make an impression of the scene in front of them rather than seeking realism. Impressionists usually painted using limited palette of vibrant, bright clear colours and they avoided browns, black and muted muddy colours. The group enjoyed copying some of each artists' best known paintings using techniques such as choppy short brush strokes and vibrant colours. 'Haycart' after Camille Pissarro 'Boating on the Seine' after Pierre August Renoir 'Wheat field with Crows' after Vincent Van Gogh All in all this was a most interesting and enjoyable term. As much as anything we enjoyed researching the artists' works and lives and learning about…

Paint4Fun Group this Autumn term focused on painting still lifes with a limited palette. We started the term with a simple subject, an egg and eggcup. Next session was onions on a wooden board and finally a still life with a white jug. White we discovered is actually many subtle tones from quite surprisingly dark to the brightest highlights. We struggled with the electric lights in the village hall to get light coming from one direction and this made shadows difficult to gage. Some students found it useful to take a photo first with the electric lights off, with light coming from one direction only. They used this image as a reference to help decide lights and darks before painting the objects on the table. All good practice!

This summer has gone very fast. The garden has got away from me again, every year it happens.. We have three new rescue hens who have been laying well, lovely dark brown eggs.  I wanted to continue my reduced palette work with just red, yellow, black plus white. This still life of two eggs and an eggcup was made using just these colours. I think it makes for a rich but muted tone where colours are harmonic.

The Wylye Valley Art Trail in April was great fun and we met many old and new friends while we dished out soup and cakes and juggled the cash box and my new gadget, the card reader. All in all a successful couple of weeks and we made many sales and quite a number of commissions - which have been keeping me from twiddling my thumbs  over the summer!For a bit of R and R in July we took ourselves off to Devon for a few days. The sun came out every now and then while we walked along the cliffs above Sidmouth; what a view! We also enjoyed eating delicious fish and chips sitting outside while warding off the seagulls. Those birds are really big and their beaks with those orange red tips are long, and very sharp looking. 

This year's Wylye Valley Art Trail is certain to be an exciting and vibrant event spanning 10 days over the two bank holidays in April/May.Please do make a note in your diary to come and visit some of the venues. I promise it will prove to be a wonderful day out if you do!We will be hosting a venue here and my husband Crispian will for the first time be exhibiting with me.  More info to follow in due course!