Hi folks

Firstly, a big thank you to everyone who attended/helped out at the exhibition last week.  There couldn’t have been an exhibition without you and I hope you all enjoyed seeing everyone’s work all together.  I hope this will give you the confidence to exhibit your work in future.  We had a few sales of work and many people commented on the high standard of work displayed.  So give yourselves a well earned pat on the back.  The all important results of the public vote are as follows:-

1st place:  “Sundown Silhouette” – Jean Higginson

2nd place  “Early Risers” – Jean Higginson”

Joint 3rd place:

“Secured” – Carol Haigh

“Watchful” – Carol Haigh

“Iguana” – Soo Matthews

“Venice” – Philip Verhees

“Frida Kahlo” – Stephen Clifford

Well done to everyone who took part and if you missed out this time, I hope you’ll consider exhibiting next time.  Here are a few photos of the exhibition (special thanks to baby Emma for posing with her portrait).

Hi everyone

It’s finally here!  The Leeds Art Group Exhibition is this week and everyone is welcome to come along.

The opening times are Friday 27th and Saturday 28th July between 10am and 4pm (both days).  Entry will be free and there will be a number of stalls selling refreshments, cards, books, bric-a-brac/gifts etc.  There will also be original artwork for sale.

In this week’s lessons the Beginners Portraiture Course Level 2 had life models to paint.  You all did a fantastic job, especially as you didn’t have a lot of time to spend on these paintings, well done!  The Beginners Drawing Course Level 1 did some timed drawings of a still life composition in order to work on proportion skills.

Thanks to our two life models Paige and Timea and to everyone else who stepped in at the last minute to be our volunteer models.  You are now all works of art!

Hope to see you all at the exhibition!

Wendy

Hi folks

The Leeds Art Group Exhibition is almost upon us but don’t worry, it’s not too late to submit a piece of work!  Please email me a photo of any work you would like to exhibit to leedsartgroup@yahoo.co.uk.  All Leeds Art Group members have some work that’s worth showing off.  So come on, don’t be afraid to blow your own trumpet!

The opening times are Friday 27th and Saturday 28th July between 10am and 4pm (both days).  Entry will be free and there will be a number of stalls selling refreshments, books, bric-a-brac/gifts etc.  There will also be original artwork for sale.

Meanwhile, what have we been up to this week?  Well it was time to introduce a bit of colour into the Beginners Portraiture Course Level 2 with fineliner pens and cross hatching technique.  A difficult technique to get the hang of but some fantastic results, well done everyone!  The Beginners Drawing Course Level 1 used gridlines to improve accuracy and proportion.  Great work, some real progress being made.

See you all soon.

Wendy

Hi everyone

The Beginners Drawing Course Level 1 used charcoal and white pastel this week to create these brilliant enlarged drawings of small objects on A3 paper.  Well done to everyone for having a go at this – it’s not easy!  We had some life models join us for the Beginners Portraiture Course Level 2 and had a chance to put into practice all those light and shade skills that we’ve been working on so far.  Fantastic work everyone and big thanks to our models Susan, Lynne, Alicia and Achyut for helping us out.

Don’t forget to get your artwork submissions in for the Leeds Art Group Exhibition by July 20th.  It would be great to have at least one piece of work from everyone on display.  If you would like to submit a piece of work or have any questions, please contact me at leedsartgroup@yahoo.co.uk and I will send you all the details.

Here are the exhibition opening times Friday 27th and Saturday 28th July between 10am and 4pm (both days).  Entry will be free and there will be a number of stalls selling refreshments, books, bric-a-brac/gifts etc.  There will also be original artwork for sale.

See you all soon.

Wendy

Hi folks

This week things got a bit trickier with more challenging tasks.  The Beginners Portraiture Course Level 2 looked at the areas of light and shade on faces and how you can use this to create a portrait using just black and white.  The Beginners Drawing Course Level 1 drew manmade forms, a bit more difficult than last weeks natural forms and less room for error.  Well done for tackling these exercises.  More challenges next week.

I am pleased to announce that the Leeds Art Group Exhibition will be taking place on Friday 27th and Saturday 28th July between 10am and 4pm (both days).  Entry will be free and there will be a number of stalls selling refreshments, books, bric-a-brac/gifts etc.  There will also be original artwork for sale.

It’s about time we all had a chance to show off our work so I hope all Leeds Art Group members will take part.  If you would like to submit a piece of work or have any questions, please contact me at leedsartgroup@yahoo.co.uk and I will send you all the details.

See you all soon.

Wendy

Hi everyone

A great start to a brand new term!  The Beginners Portraiture Course Level 2  jumped straight in at the deep end and attempted the much feared “self-portrait”.  You all did absolutely fantastic and I’ve struggled to narrow it down to just 2 to appear on the website.  The Beginners Drawing Course Level 1 started with natural forms to get used to using tone, proportion and composition.  Well done everyone!

As mentioned in class, St. Gemma’s Hospice are running a “Secret Art Project” and they have invited members of Leeds Art Group to take part by producing a postcard sized work of art that the hospice will then exhibit and auction.  The “Secret” bit is because it’s completely anonymous.  So no one knows whose work they are bidding on.  Past contributors have included Katherine Jenkins, Stephen Fry, Danny Dyer, Keith Lemon and Ashley Jackson.  If anyone wants one of the postcards then please ask me in class or email Michele Barker-Field at: michelebf@st-gemma.co.uk.  The closing date for entries is 31 August 2018.

Enjoy the sunshine!  See you all next week.

Wendy

P.S.  Watch this space for details of our own Leeds Art Group Exhibition at the end of July.

That’s all folks!

We’ve come to the end of the term once again and the past few weeks seem to have flown by.  The Beginners Watercolour Course 2 continued to practise their painting skills with the added challenge of drawing from three dimensional objects.  You did some fantastic paintings and really showed how much you’ve all learned during the course.  The Beginners Animal Portraiture Course 1 used oil pastels this week to create some really vibrant drawings of parrots.  Well done everyone!  I couldn’t have asked for more effort and enthusiasm from you, it paid off!  Thank you to everyone who has helped to set up/pack away at the end of lessons.  Your help is very much appreciated.

Don’t forget, all new course information can be found on our Courses for 2018 page.  If you have any questions or would like to book a place on any of the courses please get in touch on tel: 07788 871286 or email: leedsartgroup@yahoo.co.uk.

Hope to see you next term but if not, have a great summer!

Wendy

Welcome back everyone!

Hope you all had a good break and enjoyed the unusual amazing weather.  This week was all about practising all the things we have already learned in the Beginners Watercolour Course 2 and beginning to work more independently.  Students produced several small scale studies of landscapes and experimented with the techniques from previous lessons.  The Beginners Animal Portraiture Course 1 had this lovely pig to draw this week using soft pastels.  Well done everyone, great work!

See you all next week for the last lesson of the current courses.  The dates for next term have now been confirmed and all new course information can be found on our Courses for 2018 page.  I am pleased to announce there will be a brand new course starting on June 25th: Beginners Portraiture Course level 2.  If you have any questions or would like to book a place on any of the courses please get in touch on tel: 07788 871286 or email: leedsartgroup@yahoo.co.uk.

Wendy

Hi everyone

This week the Beginners Watercolour Course 2 combined both their colour mixing and layering techniques to create these really colourful paintings of pencils.  Great work everyone, you are really getting the hang of it.  The Beginners Animal Portraiture Course 1 also used watercolour to produce these fantastic paintings of giraffes using only 5 different colours.

Don’t forget there are no classes next week.  Lessons will resume on Monday 14th May.  Enjoy the bank holiday and I’ll see you all soon.

Wendy

Hi folks

Bit of a monochrome week for both courses this week.  After all that colour mixing last week, the Beginners Watercolour Course 2 focused solely on tone and layering of a single colour to create depth in their paintings, with some really effective results.  The Beginners Animal Portraiture Course 1 used charcoal and white pastel to create these fantastic drawings of elephants which also show how individuals can have very different styles even when working from the same subject.  Both really beautiful drawings.  Well done everyone.

See you next week.

Wendy

P.S.  We have a new discount available to Leeds Art Group members.  Little Green Tree jewellery are offering 10% off.  Visit their facebook page at:  https://m.facebook.com/LittleGreenTreeJewellery/ and email me at:  leedsartgroup@yahoo.co.uk to receive your discount code.