On Sunday 20th October Heather Gilbert, pottery tutor at the club, demonstrated how best to use Kirkcaldy Art Club's own glazes. Heather gave members an insight to the endless possibilities from the large selection of glazes available at Kirkcaldy Art Club. She showed members different ways to apply glazes, what problems to look out for, how to use wax resist, and also 'what not to do' , reminding potters to 'Clean the bottom of your pot !!' Heather had prepared some beautiful examples. Members left feeling inspired, even those who had been coming to classes for years. We look forward to seeing the examples emerging from the kiln.
Also on Sunday 20th October, in the painting studio, Alan Stephens led a workshop in painting water, either seas or rivers, using oils. Alan, a well known artist based in St Andrews, had already demonstrated this topic earlier at the club so it was a pleasure to see him back sharing his techniques with us. He began by talking through the different colours of water, depending on the various circumstances, ie reflections of the skies, angles of waves creating changes, fading into paler reflections, breaking waves causing the colour to be light on top and darker below. Also the reflections of rocks in the water can cause shadows and light. Alan demonstrated all these points in paintings and then, as people got started on their own paintings, he spent lots of time giving individual attention, providing tips and suggestions to participants. General suggestions included investing in better brushes and paints, being bolder when applying paint, using fingers to blend colours, and using a toothbrush with runny foam to produce foam on waves. It was a busy afternoon, with everyone working very hard indeed, but gaining from lots of tips to apply in future works.
This coming Sunday 27th October, 2-4pm, Avril Cunningham, a Tayside artist, will demonstrate how to use materials to provide texture when using acrylics, 'Having fun with Gels and Pastes'.
After a successful and fully booked afternoon a couple of weeks ago Irene Coulthard will repeat the 'Mishima' and 'Sgraffito' workshop. This will be on Saturday 2nd November 1-4pm.
Our final workshop of 2019 will be on Sunday 10th November, 1-4 pm, when Pat Bray, a local Fife artist will return to Kirkcaldy Art Club to lead a workshop in Life Drawing, always a very popular class.
Below some images from Heather Gilbert's glaze demo.
