​#petemarsh #salfordartclub #salfordmuseumandartgallery

Pete introduced himself and talked about his time at art college in Sheffield and his studio at Falcon Mill.
One of his favourite topics is musicians and he does a range of sketches from life at these gigs to get a feel for the subject. These are rough sketches catching the movement or stance of the subject. He then showed his working method for one of these paintings. Here he started with a brown wash but explained he has many different ways of starting paintings.

he carried on by

He then talked about his ways of painting outside and the importance of an interesting viewpoint in his pictures. In the first one by sitting down to paint the viewpoint worked better. The second one shows a study done in acrylic later painted in the studio in oil, in this instance he changed the perspective to make a better composition.

Next, he talked about the diverse types of printing techniques he uses in his work. Examples of these were on a table for members to look at during the break.

He finished this part of his talk by telling us about two of his recent commissions and how he had to use a GoPro to capture a range of images to help him decide on the final choice.

After the break he did a quick demonstration of his working method to capture an image plein air, using oil paints. Using an MDF board, already primed with PVA, he stated by adding the clouds using three tones staring with white, blending the tones towards the end. Next, he worked on the foreground, and then the side sand dune. He adjusted the composition continually explaining his reasoning as he went along. Eventually it was time for the session to end, many members felt too soon, as we could have watched and listed to him for much longer. An interesting and informative afternoon.

Elise provided an excellent and informative demonstration of her working methods using a range of pastels.
She started off by laying in the basic sketch with the Pan Pastels with a small sponge. using a range of colours. 
After Applying several coats of colour, this way, she then moved on to adding details with pastel pencils and pastel sticks.
During the whole process she explained what she was doing and how this working practice was successful. There were lots of helpful tips along the way with instances where the work was brought out to show everyone close up, such as in the details of the eye.
A very interesting afternoon watching the painting come alive.
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Hello me dearies,

Well I does hope you enjoyed that talk on portraits. If you would like to find out more here is a list of the artist’s names in no particular order, because I don’t take particular orders.

The Eygptian portraits are known as Fayum portraits as they are mostly found in the Faiyum Basin.

Hans Holbein and his followers.

Henry Gascar painted the flamboyant James II, though you will have to look very hard to find it.

The notions on why Leonardo Da Vinci never finished the Mona Lisa are purely Danny’s speculation.

​Tronie is pronounced ‘Tro – ni’ me old Dutch.
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Rembrandt Hartmenszoon van Rijn is his full name, but it is a mouth full me darlin’ hence just call him Rembrandt or Remmy if you know him well.

Johannes Vermeer (1632 – 1675). Pearly earring 1665, she ain’t got nothing on me feathers though!
Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788)

The Bromley family. Elizabeth Bromley, lower right side, was Ford Madox Brown’s first wife she died in 1846. His second wife Emma is with him in ‘The Last of England’ painting.

Lowes Cato Dickinson (1819-1908). Not to be confused with the character in the Pink Panther films.

Gerald Festus Kelly (1879 - 1972). Not to be confused with the Uncle in the Addams Family.

Elissa Landi (1904 – 1948). Her real name was Elizabeth Marie Christine von Kunhelt. She died of cancer poor dear, but she did write six novels.

Stanley Reed (1908 -1978). Didn’t always wear a white shirt.

Ian Grant (1904-1993). Was a senior lecturer at Manchester Regional College of Art and lectured in Art History at Manchester University. His portrait of Margaret Gamuchian is currently valued at £1, 800, that’s a ga’muchian amount.

Glynn Warren Philpott (1884 – 1937)

Eva Lutyens (1894 – 1963) Some of her dresses are in the V&A collection. Robert Lutyens eventually left Eva after 31 years marriage. Her haute couture business ceased trading in the Second World War. I fancy me feathers could be an Eva creation mind.

Ethel Barlett was a classical pianist who travelled the world playing the piano alongside her husband Rae Robertson.

Roger Hampson (1925- 1996) lived his whole life in Tyldesley.

The Flame is a classic Vorticist painting.

And there you go me darlings. Do have the loveliest of Christmas’s and you never know you might see the Danny fellow next year.
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Ttfn, Granny.

 
 

Andrew sketched out his composition roughly in pencil, then after spraying the paper, he applied a loose wash of colour from his premixed colour palette.

The greens were then added as well as darker blues and purples. The two paintings were allowed to dry during the short break. ​

After the break Andrew continued to work on the paintings ​using a range of techniques to demonstrate his working method. 
The final two paintings below would have the final touches added when the surface has dried.

A fascinating insight into the artist's working method and members certainly learnt a lot from the demonstration.

Last year six member were invited to talk about their artwork by David. This proved to be successful so it was added to the programme for this year,

As a youngster Laurence drew cartoons and sketched tattoos, eventually moving into pubs doing decorative boards. Inspired by his art teacher, who said that he was an imposter, as he copied artist’s styles, he was challenged to find his own style of painting.
Moving on, Laurence showed us the work he does now, such as his portraits, landscapes. he also showed us a few copies of traditional artists such as Monet, Degas etc. saying that he was still inspired by these great artists. Laurence made it clear that finding himself was one of the, hardest thing he had had to do.
Laurence explained that he tries to capture something in his own paintings that is inspired by Renoir or Japanese art. He is never happy with his work. He often starts with a pencil sketch then when happy with this, he plays with it in his own style. His helper Mavis showed us a range of different styles in his folder, from all around the world. Another great inspiration for him was his teacher from the London School of Art.

Karen who is now working from her studio in the Lake District was a member of the art club, where she was the exhibition officer. Her influences were her parents who liked hiking etc. which gave her a love of landscapes, especially the changing seasons. She said she wants the viewer to connect with the work, which  includes,  trees,  water and moss.
Karen is influenced by different artists like Alwyn Crawshaw, John Blockley and Ann Blockley. She has learnt a lot by copying from their work, simplifying  where she needs to. She described her style as messy and impressionistic.
Karen enjoys going on painting holidays, saying that different techniques influence her artwork.  There is always something new to learn.
She attended Kendal college to do a foundation course which she enjoyed.  Then Karen showed some prints she has done based on Morecambe Bay.  Recently, she has experimented with oils and cold wax and does a lot of mixed media work nowadays.

Michael has an art degree. This introduced him to the Renaissance and he talked to us about how he was inspired by the work of Leonardo da Vinci, in particular the painting of Mona Lisa. He then showed a canvas with her image, and it included a crushed Campbells soup tin! This was a link to another artist who also interested him, Andy Warhol.  Michael worked  on a  screen print on the same theme mentioning the use of lapis lazuli, an expensive blue colour.
He likes to look at the work of artists who use collage and showed us an example of his work.
He mentioned artists have always copied from each other and how some artists have work that is similar to other work.
 Finally, he showed a large painting of Mona Lisa entitled ‘Painting by Numbers”. ​

Meredith mentioned that she has a nice commute to work with superb views of the Pennine moors, which has influenced her paintings. She is inspired by the colours of the seasonal changes and likes  the vibrant colours of David Hockney and his portraits of people. She also likes Jackson Pollock with his use of inks and the fact he listens to music as he paints.
Meredith brought with her a selection of reference books from which she gets ideas for her work.
After visiting Australia, and meeting an Aboriginal artist, she took the idea of using 'dots' back with her. Using this for inspiration she worked on her own interpretation and incorporated it in her  painting of Winter Hill, which can be seen below. 
Another influence that she mentioned was by children's author Tove Jansson who created the Moomins characters. Showing us pages from one of his books we could see the wonderful illustrations, characters and movement created influenced her.
​Finally, she showed a sketch she thought was influenced by Tove and read a passage from the book.

A super afternoon sketching Tanya who was a perfect sitter and fascinating personality, telling us about herself, the charities she supported and some of Salford's history.