We had a really good turnout for our meeting this month, spare chairs were needed again. Our chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and announced that we could paint, draw, use any medium and any subject as long as it was trees! As usual the room went very quiet as we all settled down and concentrated. After the tea break things lightened up and there was a lot of chatting going on, which is always lovely to hear. Most members didn’t finish their pictures as you can see from the selection shown. Can I just say, it is perfectly ok to make a start on your picture before you come to the meeting, even if it’s an outline sketch.

The next event this month is our annual exhibition. Good luck to everyone entering on the 12th and 13th October.

Our meeting this month was very busy as it was the deadline for entries into our annual exhibition in October. All submission forms had to be in by September 2nd. As usual there was the last minute flurry of forms being altered and revised before giving them to exhibition secretary Lynda Talbott. Eventually things settled down and work began on our ‘Harborough for £20’ pictures. This was organised by Frank Bingley, who will arrange the finished works on display boards and will be for sale at the exhibition. Each picture is A5 in size, unmounted and will cost £20. They are all scenes from the areas in and around Market Harborough. These are a selection of works in progress.

Maxine came all prepared to give a talk and demonstration using her laptop and screen. Unfortunately no one could get it to work but she did a wonderful job ‘winging it’. She started by telling us that she went to the Liverpool School of Art in the 1980’s doing the usual subjects such as landscapes etc. Then inspired by her love of sport and a wonderful library she became interested in the movement of figures and animals. One particular favourite of hers was ‘Liberty Leading the People’ by Eugene Delacroix. A wonderful action packed scene of a revolution in Paris. He famously quoted ‘sketching a man jumping out of a window before he hits the ground’ is easy! Horses and riders painted by Edgar Degas had that same sense of movement. He probably did quick sketches and finished the painting in the studio. In 2010 she was approached by a dancer from Oaklands (a college with a range of special educational needs) regarding a project where dancing helped pupils with communication skills. No cameras were allowed so Maxine did a lot of very quick sketches capturing the spirit and the movement. She found this very rewarding and made two paintings from her drawings. Another favourite is to speed draw images from the television, especially the Tour de France. She regularly captures the play from a nearby cricket pitch and her latest work is all about the Olympics. She showed us three large sheets of studies done this week of Divers, Kayaks and Gymnasts using water soluble wax crayons.

Then it was our turn. We had to quickly sketch two or three people walking across the room, noting the shape of the head and the movement of clothes, arms and legs. After the break we were handed photographs of animals and birds in motion. She allowed us five minutes to draw our picture so there was a lot of frantic, table shaking sketching going on. Then another image and ten minutes to do three versions of it. Maxine said she always had several sketches ready so when she added watercolour to bring them to life she didn’t have to wait for the paint to dry, just move on to the next one - speed painting! Working quickly was something new to most of us but with excellent results. We had a record number of members at the meeting and ran out of tables but even those balancing their sketch pads on their knees produced some lovely work. Because of the large number of people it isn’t possible to show everyone’s efforts. From the selection of photographs you can see how movement and speed has been achieved, just by speed drawing.
 

Thank you to Maxine for an inspiring evening, although it wasn’t what she had planned she kept us all enthralled..