Thame & District

Art

The Art Group’s meetings will restart on 23 September 2021 – meeting on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month [except for August] from 10.00 am to 12.00 noon at the Guide HQ., on Southern Road, Thame).
Meetings to be held in the Barns Centre during and June, July.

New members of all levels of ability welcome. Come along for a session to meet and have a go.

For more information contact Anne Fisher (Group Leader).

2024 Meetings:

11th January: WATERCOLOUR TEXTURESA chance to try out some new ideas including clingfilm, candle wax, salt, granulation, masking fluid and even dishwasher rinse/ alcohol. Please also bring in ideas you have tried previously…or things you have found in books and on the internet.
25th January and 8th February: PETSDogs, cats….whatever you choose. Try experimenting with a different medium eg pastel which is very good for animal hair and fur.
22nd February: MEDIEVAL As this is a single session I would suggest something smaller eg an illuminated letter, stained glass or a gargoyle but if your heart is set on a full scale castle scene simply carry on into the next session.
14th March and 28th March: THE USA Lots of choice here. Native American Indians (there are some fabulous old photos online), scenes from National Parks like the Grand Canyon, urban life eg New York or New Orleans - or anything you like!


2023 Meetings:

12th January: LOOSENING UP

26th January: SPANISH PAINTERS

9th February: GLASS WORKSHOP

23rd February: STAINED GLASS

9th and 23rd March: AFRICA

24th April: COMPLEMENTARY COLOURS

11th and 25th May: GARDENS

8th June: FRENCH ARTISTS

22nd June and 13th July: FAMOUS BUILDINGS SEEN DIFFERENTLY - Meeting in the Barns Centre

27th July: SELFIES OR PAIRS - Meeting in the Barns Centre

14th September: COLLAGE

28th September and 12 October: INDIA

26th October: 17th CENTURY DUTCH

9th and 23rd November: AUTUMN

14th December: A COLLECTION OF SIMILAR OBJECTS


2022 Meetings:

13 January: MYSTERY MATCHBOX

27 January & 10th February: REFLECTIONS

24 February: PEN AND WASH VARIATIONS

10 & 24 March: SPRINGTIME

14 April: MONOCHROME

28 April: - No Meeting -

12 May: BLACK AND WHITE WITH A COLOURED HIGHLIGHT

26 May & 9 June: SHADOWS

23 June: TEXTILES

14 July: TRAVEL POSTERS

28 July
11 August
25 August
8 September
22 September
13 October
27 October
10 November
24 November
8 December
22 December


2021 Meetings:

23rd September - Illuminated Letters

14th and 28th October - Quirky Thame

11th and 25th November - Patterns in Nature

9th December - Christmas Cards


2020 Meetings:

  • 9 January - PASS THE PARCEL. A chance to try out different materials and tools....and produce a mini abstract. You will need to bring a few paints (watercolour or gouache best), a pencil, three brushes (small round, big round and a flat....plus a fan brush if you have one), and a sheet or two of watercolour or thick drawing paper. If you have two smaller sheets it might allow you to alternate and let colours to dry before you add the next bit. You will also need a viewfinder made from two L shaped bits of card to crop your finished masterpiece!
  • 23 January - CHILDREN AND BABIES. This can be a portrait, a whole figure or a group picture....sitting still or in action....in any medium you like. Choose your favourite family photo or any cute picture that appeals to you.
  • 13 February - CHILDREN AND BABIES. Continued.
  • 27 February - ABORIGINAL ART. You will need a selection of earth colours....eg. black, white, yellow and red ochre. Gouache, acrylic or pastel would be best as they are opaque but water colour is fine. If using an opaque medium coloured paper would work well.
  • 12 March - DANCE. A chance to practice showing movement in any medium. Dance can include Morris men, ballet, ballroom, flamenco. ...even animal courtship dances....be imaginative and get busy on Google.
  • 26 March - DANCE. Continued.
  • 9 April - COLOUR MIXING. This is a workshop on getting the colour you hope for....not mud! Bring the colour wheel you may have created last term to help you, if you have it - old worksheet attached if you fancy a go over Xmas. You can then celebrate your colour mixing skills by making a fun picture giving names to your colour creations.
  • 23 April - PEN AND WASH. A chance to try different pen and wash techniques. You can experiment with permanent and non permanent ink, dip pens and throwaway pigment markers. You can put either the watercolour wash or the pen first. Lots of combinations....some work better than others !
  • 14 May - FAMOUS BUILDINGS (WITH A CATCH). The catch is that you need to find an unusual view of them. This could be a close up or an odd angle or a semi abstract with different colours....or any other ideas you can think of. You can use any medium but will need to find your own source material. I hope that you will all be able to find different buildings and a different way to approach this so that we can share what we have done.....and maybe try to guess each other’s 'famous building'.
  • 28 May - FAMOUS BUILDINGS (WITH A CATCH). Continued
  • 11 June - ABSTRACT. Two things to try .A Place a small viewfinder (or two L shaped bits of card over a bigger picture) to find an interesting composition and then enlarge it. B. Reduce a composition to flat basic shapes, trace over them cut them out and re-arrange....use different colours also if you like.
  • 25 June - FLOWERS. Another popular theme. You can use any medium but will need to provide your own flowers or photos. If you work quickly you could try two contrasting styles...botanical v. loose, macro closeup v. large bouquet. No tip sheet this time but have a look at Anna Mason's website and You Tube videos for realistic style ideas.
  • 9 July - FLOWERS. Continued
  • 23 July - BERYL COOK. A FUN session to get us ready for the summer break. Her style was semi- cartoon caricatures of rather rotund but jolly ladies. You will need to source your own pictures....or just do a holiday seaside scene.
  • 10 September - MONOCHROME. This is a useful exercise in helping you to see values and strengthen composition. You can choose any subject as long as it has a wide range of values from white right through to black. You can use a monochrome medium like pencil, charcoal or ink or try with a dark watercolour eg indigo or sepia which unlike a lighter colour will give you a full range of tones.
  • 24 September - YE OLDE ENGLAND. - This could be a cosy cottage with roses round the door or (for the alternative thinkers among you) 19th century poverty....and anything in between. Raid the internet for Edwardian photos of rural life or dig out some old photos of city life.
  • 8 October - YE OLDE ENGLAND. Continued
  • 22 October - PANELS. - This comes from a short internet course I followed. I’ll send out the notes I made next time. Take a large sheet of paper, tape off six sections. Splash paint, pastel anything you like over the whole lot....best to keep to a couple of colours plus black and white. Add some lines and decoration and when dry remove tap to reveal 6 unexpected pictures. Can be cut up for cards etc.
  • 12 November- REFLECTIONS AND SHADOWS. This is a two session theme but you could do two paintings to concentrate on each of the topics. Any subject.... evening landscapes, shiny objects, water reflections, shadow patterns etc. I'll do a hint sheet for this one.
  • 26 November - REFLECTIONS AND SHADOWS. Continued
  • 10 December - CHRISTMAS CARDS. I still have the cards I bought for last year but in case we don’t see each other before then you can get smaller individual packs from Glynswoods and Hobbycraft as well. I'll put together a range of ideas....more suggestions welcome.


2019 Meetings:

  • 10 January - THE RAILWAY STATION. This may be from photos: ideas - piles of luggage, trains and rails, signals, bridges, clocks, the waiting room or ticket office, carriages, milk churns, envelopes and packages OR passengers etc. It could be from the past or from today or the future! I have been on GOOGLE and the choice great. I will have some pictures from there but you can look too. You may have a book or magazine for reference!
  • 24 January - THE RAILWAY STATION continued
  • 14 February - VALENTINES DAY(!!), what could this mean? Design a card to accompany a bunch of flowers (remember it is Valentine’s day so expense no object!) Examples could be a heart shape with flowers, garden birds and butterflies, chocolates the list is endless let your imagination do the talking.
  • 28 February - POSTER OR ADVERTISEMENT FOR A CRUISE SHIP, this may be for a trip by sea or river, it could be a picture in retrospect like the TITANIC with ice burgs, or one of the QUEENS (Mary or Elizabeth) or Empresses (Canada, Australia, Britain, for example). There are lots of pictures in the travel sections of the daily papers and this is another chance to improve your Googgling skills.
  • 14 March - POSTER OR ADVERTISEMENT FOR A CRUISE SHIP continued
  • 28 March - PARKS AND GARDENS - BULBS IN FLOWER
  • 11 April - NEW LIFE - A new Grandchild perhaps, OR new leaves. Whatever springs to mind when you read these words?
  • 25 April - BIRDS. We will bring in some photos and pictures for you to use, but feel free to bring in your own. These can be drawn in their own habitat OR drawn alone to show off their colours OR drawn into a design.
  • 9 May - BIRDS, OR YOUR OWN CHOICE
  • 23 May - A STILL LIFE. TBA
  • 13 June - A WATER COLOUR – WET INTO WET PICTURE of an interesting scene, petals, twigs, ECT. (I will demonstrate the week before. I have a hair dryer if others can bring one as well, then we can dry our pictures between paintings. You will need a good quality watercolour paper. If you only use pastels, look at the demo and see what you can do?)
  • 27 June - A BOOK FACEPLATE. We will bring some ideas for you to use, OR please bring in your own. You will need a background design and you can find some of these in pattern books OR in a book or art shop OR you can use one of mine. Then you can apply on top, an object or animal, or something from nature, to display what the book will be about. You can use copying tricks, tracing paper or draw using your own skills.
  • 11 July - A BOOK FACEPLATE, OR YOUR OWN CHOICE
  • 25 July- CREATE A DESIGN FOR A COTTON OR PLASTIC OR PAPER BAG -- Ideas the week before.
  • August Holiday - no meetings
  • 12 September - DESIGN A BAG
  • 26 September - GUSTAV KLIMT
  • 10 October - GUSTAV KLIMT (continued)
  • 24 October – LEAVES...DEAD AND ALIVE
  • 14 November- BRIDGES AND ENTRANCES
  • 28 November - BRIDGES AND ENTRANCES (continued)
  • 12 December- FESTIVE SEASON
  • 26 December - no meeting


2018 Meetings:

  • 11 January - SNOW DROPS IN THE SNOW.
  • 8 February - BIRDS, SWANS AND DUCKS CONTINUED.
  • 22 February - STILL LIFE – A CLEANER’S PROPS.
  • 8 March - EDOUARD MANET 1832 – 1883.
  • 22 March - EDOUARD MANET CONTINUED
  • 12 April - STILL LIFE - BOOTS - LEATHER, RUBBER, PLASTIC, FUR
  • 26 April - FRUIT THAT I LIKE TO EAT!
  • 10 May - SPRING & SUMMER BLOOMS – ARRANGEMENT
  • 24 May - PLANTS & SHRUBS – ARRANGEMENT
  • 14 June - PORTRAITS 1. FRENCH CALLENDAR GIRLS
  • 28 June - PORTRAITS 2. FENCH CALLENDAR GIRLS CONTINUED OR PORTRAITS OF EVERYDAY PEOPLE
  • 12 July - A CHURCH/ A FARM OR A COUNTRY BUILDING
  • 26 July- LIGHTHOUSE ON A ROCK/ OR ON THE MAINLAND
  • August Holiday - no meetings
  • 13 September - A TRAVEL GUIDE!
  • 27 September - DETAILS FROM PICTURES IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY
  • 11 October – DETAILS FROM PICTURES IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY CONTINUED
  • 25 October - FANTASTIC FEATHERS AND/ OR AN UNUSUAL POT
  • 8 November- ANIMALS
  • 22 November - ANIMALS CONTINUED
  • 13 December- A SEASONAL PICTURE - CHRISTMAS BLOOMS.
  • 27 December - no meeting
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More Group Pages
Any-Ology Art
Art Appreciation Board Games (Rummikub)
Book Reading 1 Book Reading 2
Book Reading 3 Bridge
Computer Group Craft
Current Affairs Day Visits
Enguistics Family History Group
French Beginners Garden Visits
History Jigsaw Group
Knit & Natter Latin Beginners
Latin Beginners 2 Mah Jong Group
Music Appreciation Ornithology
Pétanque Photographic
Poetry, Prose & Play Reading Puzzle Ponderers Group
Quilt Group 1 Quilt Group 2
Quiz Group Social History
Spanish Conversation Spanish Intermediate
Tech Trips Thame Museum Group
Travel Group U3A Local Groups
U3A National Events U3A Thames Valley Network Events
Walks - Day (about 9 miles) Walks - Morning (about 5 miles)
Walks - Short (Happy Wanderers) Wine Appreciation