Tuesday, March 16, 2010

A YEAR IN REVIEW WITH THE ART GROUP

WOW- CAN'T BELIEVE ITS BEEN A YEAR ALREADY!

In march 2009 i first picked up a paint brush and started painting for the first time, and now 12 months later i can't believe how much i have grown.

What a lot of fun and adventure has been had along the way!

After joining my local community art class (in Mentone Victoria), we visited each week on a Tuesday night, to hang out with friends and get creative.
Looking back over the last year, I am quiet surprise what i actually
                                                      got up to in the year:



1. We hit the beach down at Beaumaris for a paint-out and then headed back for drinks at a paint buddies' house to finish the night off properly. Drinking wine while watching the sunset at a beachfront property in Black Rock, was simply Beautiful.

2. We have travelled to Port Melbourne to Wharf 35 for a christmas celebratory paint out and we enjoyed a wonderful lunch at the local restaurant.
The highlight for the day was when Sue and I gave out chrissy presents to our teacher.  A pair of men's PJ's- something Clive (our teacher) kept forgetting to bring with him to our weekends away. Our teacher who is in his mid to late 50's and definately NOT a male model, thought it was hysterical, as did his wife when he brought them home. Clive even modelled the PJ's on the first night of class in Jan 2010 and had to explain to all the new members of class why he was wearing PJ's in class. So funny!


3. We headed for a weekend away to Thornton Victoria- staying at Erb Trembath's personal studio and we were lucky enough to actually meet Ern. (This was the first time Sue and I travelled with the group and at this weekend retreat we encountered Clive without his proper night attire for the first time- thank god for daggy old undies is all i am saying. lol)


During our stay at Thornton, we painted beside the riverbanks, along the road edge and we frequented the carpark in the rain at Eildon Dam and then enjoyed dinners out at the local tavern and wine sampling (and lots of it) and in the evenings we were scerenaded by our teacher, who is also in a band. It was a wonderful weekend!

4. A few members of our group headed to Airies Inlet for another weekend paint out, and on another occasion the group hit the marina at Williamstown (views from both, shown here).


(Unfortunately, i missed those due to family commitments- and another of the ladies in our group encountered Clive, this time without the daggy undies too- hence the christmas present need. The girls managed to take photos of the views to show me what i missed- thanks guys!).

5. A large group of us, were crazy enough to wake on a Saturday morning in Feb 2010 at 4am, and we headed to tullamarine airport and caught flights to Canberra to view the Masterpieces of Paris Exhibition and the wonderful artworks at the Portrait Gallery for the weekend.
We enjoyed dinner out at the Italian Club and had a fantastic time.
This time, Clives wife joined us for the weekend, so we told him we didn't care if he brought his christmas present, unless he planned to wander the hotel corridors at night. lol

We walked for hours at the National Gallery, shopped till we dropped and then headed back to our hotel for a drink before dinner. Sunday we spent the day at the Portrait Gallery, flew back to Melbourne and then stopped for coffee at Sue's before heading home.



6. During the year, our group were blessed to have a live model at the studio on TWO separate occassions. The first time, I got to feel like a "real artist" , after finally overcoming MY shyness of having a nude woman in the room.
It was quiet an experience, she modelled several 5minute poses for us to complete charcoal drawings and then 2 sets of 20 mins for us to actually paint.
After i started to draw each pose, the artist in me took over and by the end of the night, it was fantastic. the only negative thing was i think i upset the model by painting in her tan lines in my painting. Oh well, i was trying to be precise. The second occasion, our model was there for portrait work where we contentrated on her face and shoulders and hat. Another great learning experience.



7. And every Tuesday night (during term) a group of us meet to paint our little hearts out, in the comfort of the Mentone/Mordialloc Art Group Community Hall. We ALL attempt still-life paintings of vases, flowers, or we paint seascapes and landscapes  that Clive brings in for us to copy and in 2010 we will start bringing in our own little projects to start work on.

8. And to close the year off, Hubby and I headed down to Merimbula NSW where i went on daily walks to either the Beach or Lake to try out watercolor painting and photograph all the sites, so i could paint when i returned home again.
So as my first year as an artist comes to an end, i look forward to what 2010 will bring and how much i will develope over the next year.