NEXT MEETING:  WEDNESDAY 24TH MARCH 2021 AT 7.00PM
FENCIBLE LOUNGE, UXBRIDGE RD, HOWICK (NEXT TO THE HOWICK LIBRARY).

 

President’s Letter

Hello Members,

We are very lucky indeed to be having Nicki Heenan as the demonstrating artist for our next club night.
Nicki will be moving back to England very soon, so we really are very privileged to have the opportunity to watch this amazing artist in action.
Nicki specialises in the use of cold wax medium and oil paint. Cold Wax is a medium that you add to your paint to enhance body and increase luminosity. It has an ancient heritage going back to the Fayum portraits in Egypt and most famously JWM Turner in his tempestuous landscapes. Nicki Heenan is a member of RWSW – the Royal Watercolour Society of Wales having joined in June 2019. Nicki often paints the Welsh Landscape and also spent time in her childhood in Aberystwyth where her father was a Doctor at the University Hospital.
Nicki Heenan has undertaken a residency in Wales at Stewdio Maelor where she did a series of paintings and studies on the local mine at Corris. Earlier in 2019 Nicki conducted several workshops and an exhibition at King Street Gallery in Camarthen, Wales and will be returning there in 2020.

This is a unique opportunity, so I highly recommend you join us for what will prove to be a very interesting and informative evening. Check out Nicki’s website at www.nickiheenan.com.

New Classes for Midwinter
Things will be slightly different for our next Midwinter so we would like to give our members as much
notice as possible. In short, we will be moving from medium based categories to genre based
categories.
The classes will be as follows:

Class 1. Landscape.
This includes Cityscapes, which covers our urban environment and architecture, it also covers farm
buildings and equipment, garden scenes, lakes, and rivers.
Class 2. Seascape and Marine.
This includes the ocean, ships, small boats, sail boats, coastal, beaches, harbours, wharves and
boatyards etc.
Class 3. Portraits.
This includes figurative work, and the human form studies.
Class 4. Still life.
This includes objects, floral arrangements, indoors or outdoors, pot plants etc.
Class 5. Abstract.
This covers contemporary, and modern art.
Class 6. Wild Life.
This covers all animal life including pets and bird life.

NB. We have dropped mixed media as this is included in any genre.

Reason for Change
One of the main purposes of the committee is to advance the group. All major exhibitions are moving
towards this kind of categorisation, so your committee felt the Howick Art Group should align with the
best. It doesn’t matter what medium is used; it is the genre that counts. When judging, you are looking
at composition, tonal values, techniques used and what the artist is trying to say. In other words, it is
the painting that counts. If we stick to medium, then it is all about how the artist used their particular
medium etc. not the painting. We feel it is better and fairer grouping genres together as is the trend
overseas.
If you have any questions, or are unsure which class to enter your work, please phone:

President, Elise De Silva 0273288760
Vice President, Merv Appleton 0272460929

I look forward to seeing you at our next club night.

Elise De Silva

Our current 2021 committee members are:

President – Elise De Silva
Vice President – Merv Appleton
Secretary – Carina Sim-Smith
Treasurer – Ken Tanner
Amanda Gleason – Membership
Jennie Henry -Art Programme
Janice Skinner – Gallery & Library

Off committee members are:
Wendy Oey – Website & Library

 

COTTAGE REPORT 

I would encourage all new members and beginner artists to make regular visits to the Gallery to see how paintings are to be presented for exhibitions and to get some inspiration. The exhibitions at the Gallery are of a high standard and thanks to all the artist’s who support it.
Please note that because of lockdown the next changeover date will be Sunday, 25th April and we
will be closed over the Easter Weekend.

Happy Painting

Janice Skinner

 

GALLERY RULES (FOR ALL TOO READ)
ORIGINALITY – (New Zealand copyright law and excerpts taken from Landscape Painting Inside and Out by Kevin Macpherson)
Many artists are not aware that painting from a photograph taken by someone else is copyright infringement. The same goes for painting from another artist’s painting. Photos or paintings by others may inspire you to see a subject a different way, but please do not copy them. To do so is illegal. Copying a painting can help you grow as an artist, but the results should never leave your studio. If working from someone else’s photograph the painting must be so changed that it is unrecognisable as a copy. Copying paintings of the Old Masters is allowed as copyright falls away after they have been dead for 50 years but the original artist must be acknowledged on the artwork.
When putting your signature to a painting, it means that you are the sole artist. No work that has been worked on by a tutor should be entered in a competition or sold. No work that has been done at a workshop from the demonstrator’s photo, or that the demonstrator has worked on, should be put up for sale.
For your own work, find and research your own subjects, including taking your own photos. Make it your view, your idea. Herman Melville said: ‘It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation’.
FRAMED PAINTINGS AND PAINTINGS ON STRETCHED CANVAS – Are to be written up in the Painting Register at a cost of $2. Paintings are hung for one month but can be hung again after a waiting period of at least 4 months.
PRICE – All works including miniatures and unframed items must be for sale and 20% commission added on.
FRAMING – Artwork must be soundly framed with the correct rings and cords attached ready for hanging. The correct picture framers tape must be used. No badly damaged frames will be accepted.
LABELLING – Put your name, title, medium, and price on a card (swing tag) affixed to the back of each painting.
UNFRAMED WORKS – All unframed Watercolours must be mounted and covered in plastic or cellophane. All these works must have stickers on top of the plastic, stating title, name, medium and price. These paintings must be entered into the Miniatures/Unframed register (no cost) and they can stay in the gallery for a period of 6 months.
MINIATURES – These works should be no higher than 7”. A card stating title, name, medium and price must be affixed to the back. These paintings must be entered into the Miniatures/Unframed register and can stay in the gallery for a period of 6 months. There is no cost in hanging miniatures in the gallery.
Janice Skinner – Ph 535 9190 (021 023 68667)

 

CRAFTS FOR THE GALLERY

We are able to display ceramics,  glass, pottery, woodwork and sculptures.  Any of our working members who are involved in the above arts please bring your creations to the next changeover.  The cost to display for the month is $2 per item and 20% commission must be included in your pricing.