WORKSHOPS, HOLIDAYS, PAINTING DAYS

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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 & Painting Days (below, right) and Day Trips to various painting locations throughout the Summer. Further information at www.maggieread.co.uk

OUTDOOR PAINTING DAYS

During August, Maggie held 3 Outdoor Painting Days, one in Pirbright, with the other two being nearby in Lightwater and Horsell. All 3 were held at lovely private houses and we owe great thanks to the owners for letting us paint there. Further details and actual pictures take on the days below.

CRAMOND HOUSE, PIRBRIGHT - A 1930s Tarrant-style house with stunning woodland gardens and adjoining fields with horses (including Maggie's own two!). There was lots of potential for painting the house, the grounds and adjoining fields.

COLVILLE HOUSE, LIGHTWATER - An imposing house, overlooking Lightwater Lake. Large covered terrace and stone balustrade. There were many shaded areas in the wooded gardens to sit and enjoy the peace! Fantastic painting subjects including water-fountains, ducks and swans. Pictures show views from the house and the end of session critique from Maggie.

BIRCH COTTAGES, HORSELL Charming Victorian house (originally two cottages) with long winding garden, specially designed to have many little ‘rooms’ and seating areas. Gorgeous plants and flowers, water-feature and statues. Pictures show views around the garden and the end of session critique by Maggie.

2020

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Sadly, we were unable to hold our usual schedule of outdoor painting days in Summer 2020, due to the ongoing Covid restrictions. Some of us met together on the village green at Pirbright at the end of August for a sketch and catch-up session!

2019

August that year 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 Lodge, 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!

On 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

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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.

"MOST IMPROVED ARTIST" AWARD

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Past winners of the award have been :

ANNUAL SOCIAL

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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.