Filbert’s Newsletter: December 2006 Issue 13

For your Christmas Gift Vouchers click here

Welcome to the Filbert Splosh Newsletter. Your comments, suggestions or contributions are welcome.

Featured Artist : Geoff Gooding

I am ‘fifty something’, and when at school I was told, “you are no good at art so do science”, which decided my career path, so I became a Health, Safety and Environmental Manager for a large chemical company. I have a very wide interest in sport, sporting activities and my music taste is very varied. I like to attend concerts on a regular basis. I started drawing some two years ago when I arrived at one of Paul’s beginners drawing classes almost by accident. My job requires me to travel a lot, which gives me the opportunity to sketch and draw when waiting for travel connections. I started painting this year and enjoy working with acrylics. To me it is a great joy to be outside drawing and painting a landscape or seascape.

If you would like to be the Featured Artist please email me a short biography and two or three examples of your work.

Filbert Splosh’s News

RECOMMEND A FRIEND
This is becoming popular, must be something to do with Christmas. If you recommend a friend, who has not attended one of my art courses and that person subsequently books and attends a course, I shall send you a £10 Marks and Spencer Gift Voucher. For details of how this works CLICK HERE

Filbert Splosh’s online shop
It is now possible to book and pay for a course online at the Filbert Splosh Website, just click on Painting or Drawing courses and you will be taken to lists of courses and the online purchase system. The system is incredibly secure using PayPal as used by Ebay, Dell etc. When purchasing choose PayPal for credit/debit cards or Cheque if paying by cheque. The system keeps a record of the places available so if you book a course you are guaranteed a place. It will not allow you to purchase if there are no places left. You can, if you prefer, go straight to the online booking system by logging on to www.paulpriestley.com

New Venue
From April I shall be running a series of one day courses at Abberley village hall, it is a wonderful facility set in great countryside near to Great Witley in Worcestershire. The courses will be listed on the website shortly.

Forthcoming Events
Courses in the New Year
Portrait Painting at Storridge Village Hall on 13/14 January 2007
Inspired by Klimt at Leintwardine Village Hall on 20/21 January 2007
Watercolour Painting Day at Storridge Village Hall on 26 January 2007
Matisse Weekend at Hampton Bishop Village Hall on 27/28 January 2007
Abstract Painting Weekend at Storridge Village Hall on 10/11 February 2007

Let’s appreciate Art
Part three of our look at how paintings work.
Form
Remember Form relates to all those elements that influence how the painting is physically constructed.

Once we have considered the individual elements of form that we looked at last month we can now look at general factors that relate to the painting as a whole.
Unity is a rather abstract quality, but nevertheless very important. It is perhaps best determined by asking a series of questions.
· Do the elements of Form we discussed above work together, or do they compete and fight with one another?
· If they do conflict has this been done deliberately to create tension or conflict, or is it simply a poorly constructed painting?
· Are the majority of lines within the painting horizontal and vertical, implying stability, or do they cross each other at angles creating drama and tension?
· Are the shapes similar or dissimilar? Does this seem important?
· How do the four questions above affect our appreciation of the painting?
Are there a Variety of colours, shapes, tones, textures and lines in the painting, or has the artist concentrated on one or more of the elements exclusively?
If we look at a Mark Rothko colour field painting we see he has concentrated on just two elements, colour and shape. His work investigates how colour and shape interact and how certain colours seem to float on top of others. Other artists will have lots of variety in their work whilst others will have little.
Does the variety of elements in the work enhance or detract from our appreciation of the painting?
Considering Balance, artists will sometimes use ‘The Golden Section’ not only as a means of composing a picture, but also to balance the various elements within the painting. Dark sections in a painting may be perceived as solid, heavy areas and maybe counterbalanced by pale sections that perhaps can be perceived as light in contrast to the dark areas. It is often the case that a smaller, dark area is balanced against a larger light area. For example, a dark, brooding mountain maybe placed against a pale grey sky.
Perhaps the artist that spent the most time investigating balance - more than 20 years – was Piet Mondrian, the Dutch De Stijl painter. His paintings and ideas, exploited by numerous fashion designers in the 1960’s, sought to balance black and bold horizontal and vertical lines with primary colours, invariably on a white on grey ground. Interestingly, in 2003 researchers conducted an experiment to see if by changing the balance in six Mondrian paintings - enlarging or reducing the coloured squares and moving the lines slightly - members of the public could spot the real Mondrian’s. They were surprised to find over 80% of the public could do exactly that. Mondrian was successful in being able to ‘tap into’ our innate sense of balance.

If I do not see you before have a great Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year

Regards

Filbert Splosh