WORKSHOPS, HOLIDAYS, PAINTING DAYS
Members receive regular newsletters and various activities and events take place throughout the year. These include studio workshops, art holidays in Cornwall (below, left) and France (below, middle), local Outdoor Drawing and Painting Days (below, right) and Day Trips to various painting locations throughout the Summer. Further information at www.maggieread.co.uk
OUTDOOR PAINTING DAYS
August saw the start of our "plein air" painting season - the first one taking place on the very day when severe weather warnings were put in place for the whole country - a storm was heading our way! Somehow, though, we managed to avoid any bad weather for the whole session (a light rain shower at lunchtime soon cleared away) and in fact it was still and calm with warm sunshine in our corner of Pirbright .... Older Cottage, Mill Lane. As soon as we had finished at 3 o'clock and reached home, the storm hit and it raged through the whole evening and that night!
The same wasn't true of the second of our outdoor days - at Farnham Castle on Monday 12th August. We had a nice few hours drawing and painting in the grounds until about midday, by which time the clouds had rolled over and the rain started.
We quickly put up two gazebos and huddled underneath for the demonstration and struggled through till around 2pm, by which time everyone had started feeling a bit damp and chilly! We called it a day and hoped for better luck next time! More outdoor sessions are still to come before the end of August and photos will follow!
The remaining two painting days at Shere and Elm Farm were lovely and warm and all-in-all the outdoor days were enjoyed by all who took part.
PAINTING HOLIDAY 2019
Some of our members joined Maggie for a week's painting holiday in Cornwall in mid-2019. We returned to our special location near Mevagissey - Bodrugan Barton - and visited some of our old haunts as well as some stunning new painting locations. We had a fine week with no rain and some lovely sunshine, although Surrey was sweltering in 37C heat whilst we had temperatures at least 10C lower ........ much more comfortable for outdoor painting! Some scenes from the Cornwall holiday are shown below.
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Each year since 2004, the Club has awarded a trophy to the "Most Improved Artist". The Maureen Green award (see below) has now been replaced with the Hilary Blakey award for Artist of the Year. Hilary sadly passed away in January 2016 and the award is in her honour - she was a creative and generous member of the Art Club, as well as a personal friend and neighbour of Maggie's for over 30 years. See our Home Page for details of 2019's winner, David Hardcastle.
During the 2019 Christmas Social, Maggie Read presented the Artist of the Year trophy to David Hardcastle. During the presentation, Maggie said "..... David had been a prolific painter during 2019, including running a plein-air group in Southwold. He has tried many different media and surfaces, and developed his own style, especially in pen and watercolour. David has recently been accepted into Guildford Art Society and sold a piece at his first exhibition with them. David has certainly earned the Artist of the Year title this year".
"MOST IMPROVED ARTIST" AWARD
Past winners of the award have been :
ANNUAL SOCIAL
To celebrate the Club's 20th Anniversary, we held a well attended Social in December 2019 at Worplesdon Golf Club. Details of this event can be found on the Home page.
"PUBLIC VOTE for FAVOURITE PICTURE" AWARD
Each year the Club asks visitors to our Annual Exhibition to nominate their favourite picture in the exhibition. The winner of the award is announced by Maggie Read at the annual social.
During the 2019 Christmas Social, Maggie announced that the results of the Public Vote for Favourite Picture at the Annual Exhibition 2019 was won by Colin Wood with his painting "The Sky Fallen: Llyn Crafnant". Colin's picture is shown below.
