Tomorrow's class, Monday 5th January, will be the first of two with our very own Audrey Bowling on the subject of Intuitive Abstract Mixed-Media. Location: Foakes Hall, Great Dunmow Time: 1-3pm Dates: Monday 5th January Monday 12th January Don’t forget to bring a mug if you would like to enjoy a cuppa ☕️ Audrey has provided us with the following information: ‘We will be doing intuitive, abstract mixed-media, working in layers. The first week will be preparing a base, the second week we will work towards finishing them. We will work on 6/8 items simultaneously. This will help with drying times; help keep your work fresh and give you opportunity to experiment. Please bring a hairdryer if you have one. If you have the following, please bring them. If not, don't worry I will have some you can use. Please don't go and buy some specially until you know you want to use them in your own work; it could become very expensive. Heavy paper (300g/140lb+), canvas or board A4 size or bigger. Any boards should be sealed with a coat of gesso. Or a previous artwork (not oil) that you want to paint over. You may cover all or part of this with gesso to start again – I suggest at least 2 days before to allow to dry thoroughly. Bring 6-8 sheets with you – I'll have some spare paper. - Acrylic paints (any colours) - Gesso - Mark making tools, for example: o Ink dip pen o Round things – empty Sellotape reels, empty loo rolls, o Credit cards/scrapers o Forks o Twigs o Feathers o Stamps o brayer o Brushes o Palette knife o Any other random things you can find around the house that might make good marks and you don't mind getting paint on. - Pens – posca, waterproof - Inks – acrylic, Indian, Quink, drawing, etc - Graphite - Charcoal - Watercolour - Soft pastels - Collage fodder – broken books, sheet music, wrapping paper, paper bags, gelli prints, doilies, newspapers, old patterns or magazines. - Old magazine or some surface for putting glue on things - Texture mediums – carvable paste, crackle paste, wood filler, etc - sand, eggshells, threads - Rubbing alcohol - Sandpaper - Kitchen roll - Hair dryer - Stencils - Palette - Water container - Glues – PVA, Pritt stick, acrylic mediums - Scissors - Spray bottle Lastly, please bring enthusiasm to experiment and an open mind.’

 

Monday 15th December there is no tutor, so just bring along anything you are working on for a lovely relaxing couple of hours before Christmas. 🎄 Foakes Hall, Great Dunmow, 1-3pm £1 for members £10 for non-member (A gentle reminder that if you have not yet renewed your membership, you will be asked to pay the non-members fee of £10) Remember to bring along a cup for your cuppa. ☕️

 

On Monday 8th December it will be our second week of two with Julia Fonnereau on the subject of Winter Wildlife in Watercolour. Location: Foakes Hall, Great Dunmow Time: 1-3pm There are no updates from Julia for Monday as it will just be a continuation from this week so please bring the same resources along. 🎨 £1 for members £10 for non-members (Please note that if you have not yet renewed your membership, you will be asked to pay the non-members fee of £10) As always, please remember to bring along a cup for your cuppa. ☕️ We look forward to seeing you! 🎨

 

Dunmow Art Group were joined by Julia Fonnereau today. Julia explained her process in creating a design brief by combining different ideas as a type of collage. Enjoy seeing the start of our journey with Julia in the video attached. Welcome to the new members who joined today - the group is growing and it was lovely to see everyone enjoying the design brief process. Art really is so good for the mind! If you would like to join us, the cost for membership is just £45 for the year and then £1 each week you attend. If you are not sure about membership, you can still come along and pay £10 as a guest. We are in Foakes Hall, Great Dunmow between 1pm and 3pm. See you all next week for part 2!

 

Monday 1st December between 1pm and 3pm at Foakes Hall! Dunmow Art Group will be joined by Julia Fonnereau using watercolour (theme is winter wildlife) £1 for members £10 for non members. Please note you will be asked to pay £10 if you have not paid your subscription. Don’t forget your cup/mug if you want to enjoy a cuppa ☕️

 

A huge thank you to Stephen Abbott for sharing his amazing techniques with Dunmow Art Group over the last four weeks. His clarity, enthusiasm, and willingness to share his knowledge have inspired us all, resulting in the group creating some great portraits. Our final session with Stephen started by looking at our portraits of Eddie Redmayne from last week (see attached video in the comments) We then applied everything we have been taught, to start our portraits of Gal Gadot - these are works in progress. We were also joined by members who worked on their own pieces. It was lovely to see some new faces too - so nice to meet you all - hope you enjoyed the session! 😊 For the next two weeks we have Julia Fonnereau joining us - the theme is ‘winter wildlife in watercolours’. 🎨

 

Today Dunmow Art Group were joined by Stephen Abbott for his second session. We built on last week’s knowledge of tonal values and progressed from shapes to faces. The slideshow shows a selection of our work along with the work of members who were creating their own pieces. Another packed hall - thank you for another great session Stephen! If you would like to join us, please feel free to come along next week! £1 for members and £10 for non-members. Remember to bring a mug if you would like to enjoy a cuppa and a biscuit at half time ☕️

 

We have some AMAZING news! Thanks to every single one of you who voted for us with your little blue discs…we were lucky enough to be the winners of the recent ‘Stronger Starts’ campaign. Every blue disc you voted with has made this possible and we cannot thank you enough! A huge thank you must also go to Tesco for giving us the opportunity to take part. We will be using the money to help fund the amazing guest artists we invite to Dunmow Art Group. If you are interested in finding out more about Dunmow Art Group, please take a look at our programme of upcoming events using this link: https://dunmowartgroup.blogspot.com/p/whats-on.html?m=1 or visit our Facebook page (Dunmow Art Group) 🎨

 

Today Dunmow Art Group was joined by our very own Stephen Abbott, who introduced us to the basics of hatching and crosshatching. After some practise, we started to look at various shapes/forms, identifying the different shades we could see and then applied our new crosshatching knowledge to create the tonal values. Stephen is with us for the next three weeks, guiding us to the portrait stage. If you missed today’s class, you can still come along for the remaining weeks - the equipment list is attached.

 

The next Class will be on Monday 3rd of November and we will have Stephen Abbott joining us for 4 weeks working on Pen Portraits. Foakes Hall, Great Dunmow, 1-3pm - Monday 3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th November Classes are £1 for members and £10 for non members/guests. We have received the following information from Stephen: Pen Portraits We have four sessions where we'll work together with simple and helpful building blocks to make a good portrait in line. We shall explore the magic of line-making using hatching and crosshatching to create tonal values with simple shapes we know, to more challenging objects. We will then move on to simple facial structure using measurements to create front face, side face and three-quarter face layouts. In the last two sessions we will go step-by-step with guidance to complete two celebrity portraits one front facing and then a three quarter portrait using crosshatching. Things to find for the sessions: A4 Presentation Display Pocket Laminate Book Edding 55 Fineliner Black Pen Sharpie W10 Black Pen Clear Plastic Ruler 2B Pencil Putty Eraser Eraser Masking Tape A4 Photo Copier Paper (Stephen will be bringing along pens that you will be able to purchase at the class.) On DAG Discussions, there are some prepared pages for you from Stephen in the comments. Please print out and bring to the class. (Tracey will also be sending these via email if that is easier) Please remember to bring a cup with you if you want to enjoy a cuppa ☕️

 

REMINDER: No Art Class today or next week! Next class is the 3rd November and we have the amazing Stephen Abbott as our tutor. More information coming soon. #dunmowartgroup

 

Life Drawing with Julie Arnall

Last night we were joined by Julie Arnall and her lovely model Helen for a life drawing session. Here's a sample of some of the resulting sketches.

Ruth Wilson Wins Best in Show! Dunmow Art Group held their Autumn Exhibition on the weekend of 11 – 12 October. Local artist, Ruth Wilson wins Dunmow Art Group’s Best in Show award for her acrylic artwork ‘Rainy Menorca’. Ruth says ‘What a lovely surprise to have received this accolade, thank you for your votes. This scene was painted from one of my own photos, the view caught my eye along one of the many tiny streets of Ciutadella. The rain which had come down very heavily just before hand created some super reflections on the pavements, enhanced by the sun making a slow return. I always enjoy painting scenes from my travels whether close to home of further afield. Dunmow Art Group has been really supportive of my work, and I am pleased to be part of such a welcoming community.’ More of Ruth’s work can be found on her Instagram account @ruth.wilsonart or her website www.ruth-wilson-art.webnode.co.uk Dunmow Art Group has a long history of supporting artists and art lovers in Dunmow and the surrounding area and has a regular programme of weekly art meetings/classes and monthly visiting artists. For further information on Dunmow Art Group please contact dunmowartgroup@gmail.com or go to dunmowartgroup.blogspot.com.