WelcomeWelcome to the Fairford Art Society (FAS)
We are a group of enthusiastic leisure painters who meet every month to share ideas, techniques and motivation. The society has been active now for over 35 years, so has many years of experience behind it. Besides our monthly meetings we have social occasions and annual exhibitions. Where do we meet? The Fairford Community Centre, High Street, Fairford, Gloucestershire. Membership The society has a membership of about 40 living in Fairford and the surrounding area. New members are always welcome. |
News2019 - 2020First meeting of the new seasonThe September meeting featured Clive Eastland who shared his unusual way of using pastel with the group. He works by putting the chalk pastel onto his hand and brushing the pigment onto the paper surface to build up the colour of his still life images. Clive, a self taught artist, runs workshops at Ardington School of Crafts, near Wantage.
The evening also saw the use of a new piece of equipment, a video camera which will allow the audience to see what the demonstrator is doing on the large screen
The committee hopes that members will find this equipment adds to their enjoyment of meetings
Annual General MeetingThere was a good attendance at this years meeting and the Chairman reported on a good year. The new venue for the exhibition was discussed and generally approved of by the meeting. Points about the difficulties of the setting up of the show, movement of heavy screens for example, and how this might be addressed were discussed. The treasurer reported on the state of the society's funds which are in a good state. Suggestions of how money built up might be spent for the benefit of the society were debated including the purchase of equipment to allow demonstrations to be filmed and shown on a large screen.
There followed a social evening with drinks and nibbles and a competition for the most popular painting won jointly by John Hewett and Sallie Seymour and an art related quizzes won by Liz Harding and Wendy Challoner. Summer PaintingOutdoor painting continues with a visit to North Cerney Manor Gardens and a return visit to Filkins Woollen Mill. See the events page for details for the remaining summer sessions.
Figure DrawingThe June meeting saw members take it in turn for a fifteen minute pose for everyone to draw.
Exhibition Many thanks are due to the people who organised the exhibition. It was quite a task to set up, run and take down the show. There were plenty of interested and appreciative visitors. We were very pleased to once again show the work of pupils from Farmor's School
Exhibition at St. Mary's Church FairfordWe are pleased to be exhibiting this year in St. Mary's Church Fairford.
The exhibition opens on June 5th and is open daily from 10 - 5 until Saturday June 8th when it closes at 4.00 
Please look at Exhibitions page for up to date information on the correct procedure for preparing pictures for the exhibition
SeascapesOn April 4th Warwickshire based artist Judith Yates gave a demonstration of her dynamic way of working to create seascapes.
She explained how she works in layers gradually building up the image with acrylic colours
She often uses a palette knife to create texture and flicks and sprays paint, often turning the canvas to control the spread of the paint and suggest the life of the wave.
Judith enjoying a short break during the workshop she gave on April 13th
The black and white of it.The March meeting took the form of a working evening with our Chairman, Sallie Seymour. Sallie set up a large still life group which members used to create images using just black and white working on either a light or dark ground. The object of the evening being an exercise in the judging of tonal values. Sallie explained that too often artists were so concerned with colour that concern for light and dark, for changes in the tone of a colour were sometimes neglected. The time spent on thinking about basic skills was enjoyed by all and Sallie was very pleased with the results.
Flowers in February Using acrylic inks Alison Vickery demonstrated her methods and gave lots of advice on ways of developing imagery of flowers. She talked about her career and showed some of her own work and beautiful sketchbooks as well as the potential of having work commercially printed for greeting cards and wrapping papers. During the tea break she allowed members to try out her materials, an afternoon enjoyed by all.
Taking an idea for a walkIn January Liz Harding talked to members about the way she likes to work. Taking the Oxpens, Fairford as a subject she showed members a series of pieces of work she had made on the same subject describing how she will make lots of drawings and then make work to thoroughly explore the subject, some will be successful, others not. She likes to get all she can from a topic before moving on.
Railway Inn, FairfordOver twenty members enjoyed a Christmas lunch in December
Mono-typesA working session with Brian Britton, on November 1st, proved to be a creative and enjoyable session allowing members to explore the possibilities of one off printing using the mono-type technique.
    Watercolour landscapesOn October 4th Catherine Beale gave a most interesting demonstration about the use of watercolour. She described watercolour as a very mobile medium, exciting in the way the colours worked together and in many ways more important thasn the subject matte of the picture. She works on waterclour art board and makes picture 'about' rather than 'of landscape
Catherine will be giving a workshop later in the month
The new season began with a demonstration of working with figures by Pamela Stone
|
CommitteeChairperson
Sallie Seymour 01367 850385 Members Secretary
John Hewett Treasurer
John Hewett 01285 239403 johnchewett@hotmail.co.uk Exhibition Secretary
Angie Vaughan 
|
