Friday the 8th of February 5 a.m and it just dawned on me what an opportunity and day this would be, not only for me but also for eight other P.A’s heading to Manchester for an opportunity of a lifetime. I had the chance to get up in front of an audience at one of the biggest public art events held in the UK and Northern Ireland today.

It’s All About Art is run and sponsored by the Society for All Artists and offers everyone the opportunity to have tuition in group workshops and demonstrations with some of the UK’s leading professional artists, as well as the chance to stock up on top quality art materials at great prices.

I do not know of any other art event that offers as much as the S.A.A , and the benefits of being a member are like no other art Society in the UK today.

Being given the opportunity to be on the public stage in this type of venue is priceless and to be able to go up in front of hundreds of visiting guests and artists alike to showcase your art, techniques and knowledge is just superb.

From the moment I arrived at Event City, Manchester at 8:30 a.m the days events were an amazing experience and a dream come true for me. I have wanted for many years to teach and share my art at an event like this and it has now become a reality. I was greated by Richard Hope-Hawkins and Elizabeth Moore at the all new introducing PA stand. I recieved a lovely warm welcome and introduction to the days itinerary. We were all shown our own stand area  where we could set up for the visitors to come and view our work and to talk to us about art and our artworks, and I spent the day chatting  and making new contacts.

The whole day of events went like clockwork thanks to Elizabeth Moore who was in charge of all aspects of the introducing PA stand. It was a beehive of activity from start to finish and was so well organized and managed by all the SAA Management and professional artists.  Truly it was an honor to be part of this superb event. The public response was phenomenal and it proved to be such a benefit to these great events;  what a great addition.

A great big Thank you very much to everyone at the SAA for making this great event possible!

Paul Beattie
PA Wrexham

To find out more about Paul Beattie visit his website: http://www.paulbeattieart.com/

How often have you watched your child, grandchildren or someone you know, as they are completely absorbed in their own world, and you have known it would make a lovely painting, if only you could capture that moment?

I have spent years with my growing family, trying to draw and paint those special moments with my pastels. Along the way I have developed a few ways to get the most out of each situation and to record happy memories in a personal way.

The first question people usually ask is ‘Do you work from life or from photographs?’
My answer to this is both. I cannot sketch quickly enough to get as many of the subtle details of poses as I need, so I take photographs. However, I need to be constantly sketching as well, to develop my drawing and observation skills. I then use the photographs as reference, but the sketches have built up my huge ‘visual database’ that I hold in my head, so that I understand what I am drawing.

The most important thing is to ‘Be Prepared’, as any girl guide will tell you.

If you have a camera or a camera/phone with you most of the time, and a little book or some paper, you will be ready to spot the moment when it happens. It could be a child jumping over a puddle, or digging in the mud, or maybe a little group of children looking at a spider they have caught in a jar.

To get the best out of your photos, take lots, even if you think you have got the one you want. You can always delete the surplus ones. Use a file size that means it will enlarge to A4 so you can really see the subtle details (probably 1mb is big enough). Look for good clear light or interesting light such as the golden glow as the sun is low, or sunshine catching the side of someone’s face. Good focus is important, otherwise it will blur when enlarged.

Telling a story
The next thing to think about is how to tell a story with your picture. Photographs of children looking into the camera are great as photographs, but don’t necessarily make wonderful paintings. If you can catch them being themselves, in their own world of concentration, unaware they are being observed, then you will have a good starting point. My children complain constantly that we never have family photos of them looking at the camera! I was always planning my next painting.

Understanding figure drawing
Drawing figures can be tricky to start with, but it’s not rocket science. With a bit of guidance and practice you will be amazed how much you can achieve, and how satisfying it is. I have a way of sketching figures that I learnt in a book called ‘Figure Drawing without a Model’ by Ron Tyner. It shows the importance of understanding the basic proportions of the skeleton. I simplify the skeleton into a stick figure so that I can draw it quickly.

It is a way of drawing in shorthand that means I can get the pose and proportions right in a matter of seconds. This is a great technique to develop for sketching from life. It is also a real help when doing thumbnail sketches as preparation for a painting.

As I show people on my pastel courses, once you have practised drawing your stick figure, you can soon get it to move around and show emotions with its body language.

Composition
Early thumbnail sketches to plan composition can really strengthen your painting, especially if you want to tell a story. You can work out the balance of space on the paper, the size and position of the figure, and the dynamics (Are you conveying movement or calm and tranquillity?) If you are drawing a group of children playing together, they need to relate to each other in a way that has flow and harmony.

As you do your little sketches, you also get to know your subject better, so can start your painting with more confidence.

Palette and mark-making
The colours you choose will have a huge influence on the emotion and mood of your painting. So if it’s a bright sunny day, keep your palette as fresh as you can.

Try not to use browns in shadows, but go for blues or purples. Warm yellows are lovely colours to bring sunshine and a happy glow to your work, but go lightly with them, as too much can be over-powering! I often put little flicks of orange against blues, to lift the intensity of the colours.

With pastels you have a huge variety of marks that can be made, so you can change the feeling of your picture by varying your marks. They range from bold energetic bright strokes down to soft gentle smudging for skin tones and hair, perfect for painting people, especially children.

Do your homework
I think the most important thing I have learnt over the years, is the importance of doing my homework. This consists of sketching to get to know my subject matter, either the figures or the backgrounds, such as beaches and skies. I also read as many books and articles I can, to find out how other artists tackle the same problems, and I love to watch other artists at work, demonstrating or teaching their methods.  However, above all, it is only by drawing and painting as often as you can that you will really improve.

So with summer round the corner, it’s time to practice your drawing, find your camera or phone and have a go at capturing those fleeting moments.

For more details of Rebecca’s pastel and figure courses, go to www.rebeccademendonca.co.uk or call her on 01392 840132

Just before Christmas I called Essex County Council to see if they could advise me on how to achieve my goals of facilitating artists to exhibit in the local empty shops both to liven up the town and to enable more local artists to exhibit  I was invited by the council to hold an exhibition at the Electric Palace Cinema in Harwich where I live as part of the ‘Summer of Art’ in Essex. The exhibition was to be themed ‘A Cinematic Celebration’.

This seemed like such a wonderful opportunity I accepted without question. I asked artists via email through various groups and people that I already knew. I managed to get together 15 artists with very different styles so that I could achieve an eclectic exhibition where there would be, ‘something for everyone’, from traditional to conceptual.

The Electric Palace is the oldest running cinema in the country. It’s patron is Clive Owen the actor, whom I have invited to be involved, although at present I have not received a reply. It’s so exciting to have such a unique venue for an art exhibition but I felt I wanted extra room to allow the artists to exhibit more of their work and so have also booked another space next door to the cinema. A local gallery, ‘Bodgeners’ have now also agreed to take part in the exhibition and all work is to be themed around the cinema. Along with the ‘Bodgeners’ artists there are now over 20 artists.

Any money raised from the exhibition will be put towards setting up the next projects for filling the empty shops in the town and also for an art workshop for young people in one of the empty shops. I do believe it will be difficult to achieve registered charity status but think perhaps it would be possible to work with established charities in exchange for commission raised by the sale of artists work.

Artists exhibiting in empty shops along with the workshop will raise morale both for young and old by making the town a more vibrant place which in turn will create a stronger sense of community. In these difficult times I believe art has a strong part to play, especially where many people are out of work with time on their hands.

My main problem at present is raising funds to pay for the current exhibition. It has proved to be more difficult than I had anticipated. I need to pay for the venue fees and for the hire of boards etc but am very optimistic that with the help of the County Councillor I will raise the money needed successfully in the time that I need it. I am putting so much energy into this project and am very excited about the work that I am producing for the exhibition.

The possibilities for expressing the associations I have with cinema are immense. I have so far produced 2 completed digital images and a diorama. I often use digital media to sketch with and will work from some of the ideas I have produced using more traditional media such as oils. I will just let the work develop and grow.

I never seem to run short of ideas. Quite the opposite I never have the time to carry out all of the ideas I have. So far I have researched the history of the cinema and became interested in George Melies after watching the film Hugo. I produced a few pieces of work inspired by him, ’20000 Lieux Sous les Mers after Georges Melies’ and the surrealistic diorama ‘Funambulesques after Georges Melies’.

The first painting I produced was an iconic piece of Vivien Leigh in ‘Gone With the Wind’. I find her face so beautiful. She is perfect to portray the archetype of the heroine. Beautiful, strong and independent and her face along with her acting ability portrays this perfectly, particularly in her facial expression in this image. Her whole portrayal of Scarlett O’Hara was so very convincing that it has remained prominent in my mind whenever I think of film or cinema.

There is much to do, both for the exhibition and for my work. So far, I am enjoying every minute of it.

You can find out more about the exhibition at http://larainperr6.wix.com/harwich-art and more about my work at http://larainjp.deviantart.com/ and https://www.artgallery.co.uk/artist/larain_briggs_2 I am still developing the website for the Harwich Art exhibition.

I began painting when I was a child and have never stopped being an artist whatever else has been happening in my life. Sometimes I can work more than others but the love of art and the desire to create never leaves me.

One of my aims is to investigate the unconscious through the language of art. I enjoy studying Carl Jung and love his writings, thoughts and philosophies on the psyche, particularly ‘Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious’. Very often archetypal images appear in my work and fantasy is a style I enjoy.

I love to experiment in many other ways with mediums, genre and styles. My work intends to tap into the psyche and resonate with the unconscious mind of the viewer. I admire most the ability to evince emotion in any visual way that proves to be effective. Perhaps that is why I have so many different styles and work in such different ways. I very rarely plan work I just let it develop and take its own course although often I have a particular theme or inspiration.

Some time ago due to ill health I had to give up teaching. I was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder when I was studying for my fine art degree at Camberwell Art College 23 years ago. I have managed this relatively well most of my life and even managed to take a Post Graduate Certificate in Education at Goldsmiths College, University of London as a single parent. When I started having physical problems everything became too much and I had to give up work.

This gave me the opportunity to spend more time painting but after a few years I felt that I wanted to do something for other people more directly. I missed teaching. I felt like a gardener without a garden. I made it my goal to exhibit my work again as I had previously achieved some success in London exhibiting in prestigious venues such as the Business Design Centre in Islington.

To help others I decided I wanted to set up something for young people where I live. Having worked with children with emotional and behavioural problems as a special needs teacher in London and studying art therapy, I felt that I could perhaps use these skills as well as art and set up a workshop in one of the unused shops in the town. I also want to help artists exhibit in empty shops in the town and have plans for this also.