LAST Tuesday’s well attended meeting saw the launch of the club’s new term. Sadly, the advertised watercolour demonstration by John Hoare had to be postponed but luckily, artist Mike Bragg from Ringwood stepped into the breach and gave a wonderful demonstration of portrait painting in oils.

Members hope to rebook John Hoare as an extra meeting.

With Shuna George as his model, Mike, underpainted with acrylics to speed up the final drying process and, with a few broad strokes, captured her likeness.

He uses a variety of brushes, with brush strokes evident in his work to contribute to the dynamism of the picture, and recommends using the best paints as they have more pigment than cheaper brands.

He works with a limited palette of colours, today using ultramarine, yellow ochre, Naples yellow, Venetian red and also buff titanium as an alternative to white which could make the skin tones look chalky.

He paints from a person rather than a photograph as the personal contact tells you more about your sitter and this feeds into the painting.

The finished piece was very well received by both his audience and his sitter and offered a good grounding to try a portrait themselves.

The society meets on alternate Tuesday from 2pm to 4pm in The Woodmead Halls and new members and visitors are always welcome.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, October 7 with a demonstration by Linda Hampson of ‘The Joys of Coloured Pencils’ followed by her workshop on Tuesday, October 14. For further details contact the secretary, Sheila Stratton on 01297 445464.