Demonstrations & Talks 2025
February 2025 - Teresa Seals - Wildlife in Pastel
Teresa's passion for pastel, in particular Unison - for whom she is an Associate Artist, was infectious. She brought along some of her beautiful animal art for us to see and one of two gannets to work on. Teresa likes to use the "bokeh" technique to achieve and atmospheric, out of focus background highlighted spots of light. She likes the tactile nature of pastels which enable her to "stroke" animals into life with her fingers enabling her to capture their likeness and personality. Teresa stressed the importance of layering the pastel gradually and that she only uses pastel pencils sparingly as a blender or just for detail. Fascinating.
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See more of Teresa's work at www.tsealsart.com
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March 2025 - Graham Webber - Marine Scene in Oils
We were very pleased to have a return visit from Graham, this time demonstrating a quayside scene. To create his atmospheric works Graham uses just two brushes, which he does not wash during the process, and three primary colours plus white. He starts by mixing a very dark purple with a smidge of yellow to create his darkest tone which he uses to sketch in the darks of his design, he then gradually adds the other colours to this mix to create additional tones as the underpainting to his work. This adds interest and tonal harmony when lighter tones and shades evolve from the original mix. Adding a frame to the painting totally transformed it.
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See more of Graham's work at www.grahamwebber.co.uk
April 2025 - John Patchett - Salty Sea and Sand Dunes
Master pastelist John Patchett gave another masterclass in the use of pastels to capture light and fleeting moments. Combining several refererence ideas he created a glimpse through the dunes to the sea with wonderful cloud formations above, imparting many useful hints and tips along the way. A great evening.
May 2025 - Christine Lester - Animal Portrait in Pastels
Members were treated to a wonderful journey creating a very colourful white horse in pastel, though we did have the option to choose a rabbit as the subject. Christine started the painting at home by laying down an acrylic wash as the background on the Pastelmat paper to save having to apply too many layers of pastel of which Inscribe and Unison are her favourites. The dark background creates as contrast in tone to add more drama to the many colours in the horse as well as emphasising the lovely backlight effect. A very interesting evening.
June 2025 - AGM followed by a talk by Amanda Geitner - East Anglia Art Fund
This meeting was a cracker! We had a short AGM followed by a really interesting and informative talk by Amanda Geitner of the East Anglia Art Fund. Amanda gave us an insight into EAAF's work, which surprised many of our Members. After the break Amanda delivered an insightful presentation of Roger Ackling, a Norfolk-based artist and teacher who influenced many local artists in his time. An exhibition of his work is currently on at the Henry Moor Institute.
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Learn more about the work of EAAF at www.eastangliaartfund.org.uk
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July 2025 - Phil Biggs - Landscape in Watercolour
The Society welcomed the return of Phil Biggs who gave another interesting and informative demonstration describing his watercolour painting methods and colour mixes. He had roughly sketched out a scene from the Yorkshire dales and worked from the back towards the foreground, putting in a loose sky wash, then hills. The pub he obscured slightly with trees to enable the bridge to be the focal point.
September 2025 - Denise Allen - Mixed Media
We welcomed the return of Denise Allen who is a prolific plein air painter and wildcard contestant on the Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year. Denise has demonstrated at art societies and for the Society of All Artists for many years. This evening's fascinating demo involved Denise's technique of deconstructing and re-constructing an image to make an abstract yet cohesive work. Denise tears up old paintings with a similar theme and colour tones, arranges them with great care onto a sheet of watercolour paper then extends the lines and colours from the fragments to join them up and create a interesting finished work. Most interesting. www.deniseallen.co.uk
November 2025 - Malcolm Cudmore - Digital Portrait
We were delighted to welcome the return of Malcolm Cudmore, standing in at short notice, to demonstrate a digital portrait. Malcolm uses the "Procreate" programme for his digital sketching together with an iPad with a special screen protector that gives a bit more drag and paper feel to his very expensive stylus. We were enthralled to see all the different "brush", "pens", "pencil" and "pastel" effects that were possible, together with the ability to work in layers. So that you can change one layer without it affecting the others. Malcolm explained the theory behind facial proportions before creating a monotone, charcoal like under sketch then adding colour and the appropriate level of detail for a small drawing, which is less than for a large one. A fascinating delve into a media that is new to most of us.
