The Guild monthly meeting for June was a “Pastel Evening” this followed on from the very enjoyable pastel demonstration by visiting artist Steve Hall in May. Members gathered with a variety of pastels (hard and soft), oil pastels and pastel pencils. Some were familiar with the medium, others were trying something new – always an important feature of the Guild monthly evening workshops.

Mike, Joy, Jane, Jim, Sonia and Ann were joined by enthusiastic new member Ellen Bothwick. After some chatting, and loan of materials and equipment to some members of the group, everyone set to work.

Jane worked in oil pastel and employed some scraping techniques to create her piece.

Ellen had chosen oil pastels as her medium and she worked on two pieces during the evening.

Jim worked to compete and dramatic figure in monochrome.

Joy recapture memories of a holiday in Crete in hard and soft pastels.

Mike worked on a village scene inspired by a article in an art magazine.

Sonia worked on black paper with pastels, completing a dramatic landscape before moving on to some fantasy flowers.

Ann worked on a landscape she had previously painted in watercolour to see how it would work using the medium of pastel. She chose Inscribe and Conte hard pastels (seen pictured at the beginning of this post).

Next month will be an Open Meeting featuring a demo by visiting artist Rupert Aker using oils – large, loose landscapes using a palette knife.