Show and Tell July 2026

Speaking from a purely personal point of view these once a month meetings have

become part of a root system from which my progress as an artist continues to be fed. These, as well as the life drawing sessions, act as a shared source where ideas, innovations, experience and open- mindedness cascade and continue to flow onwards from each artist to another. It is from here that a joint energy issues an becomes more than the sum of all its parts.

This Monday we had a recap of the course Christine and others are on, especially reminding us of the initial

freedom of mark making and materials, thus reawakening our interest and enthusiasm for the parts which appealed to us individually. As two of our members have just completed an HNC in art this initiated an interesting debate on the value of college courses which result in an educational qualification and this gave rise to comparing the aims, processes and value of each course.

This led seamlessly on to Sumi’s mixed media and collage pieces centred on

nature, her flowers and garden. Looking at the balance of darks and lights, how do we

simplify and how do we work to remain abstract. I added to this a photo of my

abstract piece where I am striving to express my feelings at seeing a carpet of crocuses in a graveyard. Sumi’s work and mine are different but have the same goal and quest.

We are each looking to distil, depict and express the essence of our reaction to

Spring and nature and put it out there in a painting.

Finally the “piece de resistance” from Jean who showed us the wonderful “plein air”

sketches done on her recent visits to Skye and the Orkneys. So freely and boldly

depicting the ruggedness of these coastlines in inks, pencils and other portable mediums, Jean was able to give us a sense of actually being there and engaging with that place . We now anticipate how Jean might turn

these into further extensions of her visit although they are resolved pieces just as

they are.

Each “Show and Tell” is completely relaxed and informal yet always provides support

and validation and today was no exception. This is a vital core activity enabling us to

recognise who we are as a group of individual artists and it just keeps getting better.