We had our monthly portrait group at the Hawkesbury Community Arts Workshop on Saturday morning, with Eartha as our sitter, and I had only just arrived back from the Uni when the NSW Government applied a Covid19 Lockdown for two weeks... we just squeezed this in!
I have recently been using watercolur at our regular Life Drawing sessions, its a bit easier and cleaner to handle than oils, and I like the brightness that they have when dry... still trying to get used to how different papers need to be approached in these fairly limited timed poses, but it's good practice!
WIND! It was a sunny winter morning, but the wind was gusty and chilly, the painting board was rattling in the wind and as I tried to adjust it the painting was whipped away... onto the palette! I took this as a sign that it was time to stop!
Adjusted a little later
The Village Kitchen at Kurrajong, a local Restaurant and Coffee shop, holds regular exhibitions of Art on a rolling basis, changing every 5 weeks or so. At the moment four of our Piggery Lane Studios Artists have the current exhibition there. It would have been Five, but Jenny Lloyd only has nudes at the moment and the owners didn't want nudes on the walls, so the present exhibition is Kym Morris, Marian Wilcox, Sharron Whitington and myself.
The exhibition runs until July 15th, these are some of my landscapes on display there.
I decided to travel in to Sydney to see this year's Archibald Prize exhibition at the AGNSW. I think the winning portrait of 'Guy warren at 100' by Peter Wegner was a good portrait and was more than just an image, and there were a number of other fine portraits too.
I did find the accompanying exhibition of '100 years of the Archibald' a much more interesting and rewarding experience. I didn't spend much time with the other two exhibitions.
The visit to the Gallery was a bit of a nostalgic experience as I couldnt help being reiminded as I walked up to it that it was 60 years this year that our ship arrived in Sydney on route to Brisbane and, berthed at Wolloomooloo. As a young boy I walked up the grassy hill above the ship and was thrilled to discover the Art Gallery of NSW! There is a view from a Gallery Window of the area where the ship berthed though it is a little obscured now.
the Painting of 'The Queen of Sheba to King Solomon' by Edward Poynter made a huge impression on me as the painting that hit you in the eye as you walked in, now in a different location.
We haven't had our regular portrait group at the Hawkesbury Community Arts Workshop for a few months now due to floods and various other happenings, and almost didn't again this month when the sitter that was arranged had to cancel at the last moment, but fortunately for us Mia, who was booked for next month was able to fit in for us.
I gave her this portrait sketch at the end of the session and wasn't able to get a decent photo of it.
On Tuesday March 15th I was invited to do a demonstration Portrait painting from life for the Macquarie Towns Arts Society.
The following weekend on the 13th we were invited onto the RAAF base in Richmond to do some plein air painting as a part of the celebration of the 100 years Anniversary i=of the RAAF.
I did a couple of paintings of a C130 J Hercules
on the March 8th members of the Combined Arts Societies of Sydney (CASS) were invited to paint plein air in the grounds of Government House in Sydney. The easiest way for me was to travel in by train, and carry a limited amount of equipment to do a couple of plein air scenes.
There have been a few disruptions to the portrait groups so far this year, these are a few sketches from some of the sessions so far
The Hawkesbury Art Fair was held again this year from 26th September until 29th November at the Hawkesbury Regional Gallery. It is an exhibition of artworks from local artists and art organizations, our Piggery Lane Studios were again invited to exhibit and all works were for sale.
2020 seems to have slipped away, Covid has made a huge impact on ther world and we are very fortunate in Australia with a government that took immediate and strong steps to make sure it didn't ravage the community here.
Many things were cancelled, but we still managed to have many of our monthly portrait group sessions, here are a few of the portrait sketches from some of them.
