Sketch Club enjoys sunny start to season in Ludlow

Our Sketch Club 2015 season started with a visit to the attractive South Shropshire town of Ludlow. We met at the Harley Centre where Ludlow Art Society (LAS) were holding their Exhibition. The LAS members were very hospitable, making tea and coffee for us on arrival. We enjoyed meeting them, looking at their work and voting for our favourite pictures.

The day was sunny and warm, and members had a relaxing day sketching the varied and attractive buildings and colourful street market.

Image of Shropshire Art Society Sketch Club in Ludlow 2015
Shropshire Art Society Sketch Club in Ludlow 2015

Later in the year – in July – we will be meeting at St Mary’s Church in Shrewsbury town centre when we hope some members of Ludlow Art Society will come to look at our Summer Exhibition. We plan to have coffee with them at the Battlefield 1403 Cafe within the Church. It would be nice if some of our Sketch Club members were there to greet them and perhaps show them interesting places to sketch around town – all helping to foster friendship between the two societies. SAS Sketch Club Members, please come along and take part!

Thank you to Jo Thompson for the photos and words.

Gallery weekend in Edinburgh, March 2015 – the Report!

On a damp Friday 13th morning 46 Shropshire Art Society members and friends set off for Edinburgh with its splendid galleries and many other cultural delights. A lunch break at Carlisle allowed us to visit Tullie House Museum and Gallery, where we had the opportunity to view the challenging work of Anselm Kiefer. Then by 5.30pm we were approaching our centrally based Mercure Hotel on Princes Street, ready to enjoy a relaxing evening.

A cool but dry Saturday and Sunday were used to explore the city and its many attractions: The Scottish National Gallery, The Royal Scottish Academy, The National Gallery of Modern Art, The Fruit Market and perhaps for some, the highlight, The National Portrait Gallery, which was showing the winning entries in the 2014 BP National Portrait Competition. A rich diet!

On Monday morning we headed for The Kelvingrove Museum and Gallery in Glasgow, that treasure-house of Scottish Art and artefacts, where again we were stunned by the work of the Glasgow Boys and the Scottish Colourists. After lunch we turned for Shrewsbury, breaking our journey at the impressive Tebay Motorway Services. Disembarking just before 9.00pm, it was generally agreed to have been another excellent Art Society Gallery Weekend.

A huge thank you to Alan Townsend for organising such a splendid trip!

Exciting colours in pastel – thank you Lynda Kettle!

Well over 40 members and friends enjoyed a splendid demonstration of pastel painting by Lynda Kettle RBSA on 20th February. With her substantial experience of working on set design in Theatre and Television, her work reveals a dramatic flair and exciting use of colour. The soft pastel, her medium of choice in this demonstration, was applied with considerable vigour and directness, resulting in a strong and lively image. Her practical advice about choice of grounds and the properties of the various brands of pastels was very welcome and we went away aware of new possibilities in working with this exciting medium. Committee member, Anne Linton, was the delighted winner of the demonstration painting. Thank you so much Lynda for sharing so generously with us and inspiring us for our own future work. And thanks to Rob Leckey for organising the event and to everyone who helped with the wonderful teas. See you all next time!

Image of Shropshire Art Society Lynda Kettle pastel demo February 2015
Shropshire Art Society Lynda Kettle pastel demo February 2015

Strong pastel work inspired by our Chairman at February 2015 Wednesday Classes

Wednesday Classes at the English Bridge Workshop got off to a great 2015 start this week with a full house, including one or two members new to our Wednesday offering. Wilf Langford, our Shropshire Art Society Chairman and on this occasion our tutor for the sequence of classes, challenged us to take a different approach to Still Life painting, using his favourite medium of Pastel. Under the course title ‘Towards Abstraction’, he invited us to take a fresh look at familiar objects, avoiding realism and linking them together within a more a stylised design. Members rose to the challenge, explored this exciting medium and very much enjoyed this, the first of the three sessions. Thank you Wilf!

Image of Work from Wilf Langford's pastel class SAS 2015
Work from Week 1 of Wilf Langford’s pastel class ‘Towards Abstraction’ 2015

‘Birmingham and Beyond’… with a Christmas flavour

On Monday 1st December, 39 Shropshire Art Society members and friends travelled to Birmingham for our annual Pre-Christmas gallery visit. After our usual stop for coffee, on arrival in the delightful St Paul’s Square we headed for the annual ‘Birmingham and Beyond’ exhibition at the RBSA Gallery. This exciting and varied show featured work by Members and Associates of the RBSA. Then, after enjoying a traditional Christmas Lunch at the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, many of us visited the new galleries designed to house the splendid Anglo Saxon artefacts from the Staffordshire Hoard, while others sampled the delights of the Christmas markets in the streets outside. Smooth journeys both ways in our comfortable Longmynd coach ensured another stress free and very happy outing with a lovely Christmas flavour, as the photos below show.
We wish you all an excellent festive season to come!

Collage of SAS Birmingham Gallery Visit 2014
Birmingham Gallery Visit 2014, festive photos with thanks to Anne Linton