Monday, 17th October 2022, 7.15-9.15 pm

At October’s monthly Guild meeting in Hook Village Hall the suggested theme was a Fauve style* portrait or landscape, using mainly orange and green.

Once those attending had got used to the idea of not using realistic colours, it was quite freeing to work with a limited palette.

Joy tackled a rocky river scene in acrylic; Jim used pastels for his portrait; Mike went wild with very wet watercolour, but did not have enough drying time to remove the masking fluid before the end of the session; Sonia chose pre-painted papers for collage and Jenny took the opportunity to update her daily journal in mixed media.

Sonia’s collage
Mike’s portrait in watercolour
Jenny’s journaling
Jim’s portrait in pastels
Joy’s fauve landscape in acrylics

* Fauvism is an art movement that was established towards the beginning of the 20th century. Characterized by its bold colours, textured brushwork and non-naturalistic depictions, the Fauvist style marked a seminal moment in the early 20th century. The name les fauves (‘the wild beasts’) was coined by the critic Louis Vauxcelles when he saw the work of Henri Matisse and André Derain in an exhibition, the salon d’automne in Paris, in 1905.

The name is applied to the work produced by a group of artists (which included Henri Matisse and André Derain) from around 1905 to 1910, which is characterized by strong colours and fierce brushwork. One of Fauvism’s major contributions to modern art was its radical goal of separating color from its descriptive, representational purpose and allowing it to exist on the canvas as an independent element.

Read more about Fauvism and see examples on the Tate website.