Markham Group of Artists

SEP 19, 2012 - CRITIQUE WITH BARRY COOMBS

Read Barry's comments about the Markham Group of Artists on his Blog 

MAY 9, 2012 - THE MUSIC OF ABSTRACTED DESIGN WITH CLAUDIA MCCABE

MAY 2, 2012
MGA MEMBERS' ANNUAL SPRING LUNCHEON

PREPARATORY WORKSHOP FOR MGA'S FIRST MURAL MOSAIC PROJECT
AND
ANNOUNCEMENT OF ARTWORKS SELECTED FOR THE VILLAGE GROCER INAUGURAL 2013 CALENDAR

Linda McIntosh led members through a practice session for MGA's first Mural Mosaic project, explaining the concept of fitting several smaller paintings to compose one large image.

Allen Class, MGA President (standing left) announced the artworks selected for The Village Grocer’s inaugural 2013 calendar by it’s owner,  Evan MacDonald, at right, standing.

APRIL 18, 2012 - WORKSHOP "PAINTING ON SILK"  WITH TAMARA HARUTYUNYAN

Participants in this workshop learned how to transfer designs to silk and basic methods of painting on silk with various techniques using salt, alcohol and resist.  Tamara also demonstrated blending, wet on wet and other watercolour methods used in this fun and rewarding art.

APRIL 2012 - FIGURE DRAWING WORKSHOPS WITHOUT INSTRUCTOR

MGA figure drawing workshops have been evolving with a variety of formats - nude figures, costumed models and in one session workshop participants had fun taking turns sitting as the model

April 5 - Costumed Figure Drawing without Instructor

April 4 - Figure Drawing without Instructor - artists took turns sitting as models

Bill Wheeler by Lynn Ross

APRIL 4, 2012 - MEMBERS' DAY WITH LORI ST. CLAIR

"THE SUPERIOR ROLE OF ART AND THE ARTIST"

Lori explored art as it affects our psyche and impacts those with whom we share it, reasoning how the elements and principles of art and design are the building blocks of life, and how creativity is essential in fulfilling the life dreams, hopes and goals of men, women and children. She dealt with the questions, “Why do we bother to paint at all?  What difference does it make?  who cares about what we have to say as a painter or artist?” and helped equip us with purpose to keep us motivated while offering rationales to quash intruding negative thoughts that rob us of our God-given creative nature.

MARCH 28, 2012 - GLORIOUS FLORAL WATERCOLOUR WITH HI-SOOK BARKER

This worksop was open to all levels.  Hi-Sook gave a full demon painting followed by student participation using floral photos.  She demonstrated how to paint beautiful sunlit petals and lovely green leaves by applying an impressionistic style with transparent and glowing light.  The workshop ended with questions and critique.

MARCH 7, 2012 - MEMBERS' DAY - CRITIQUE WITH JOHN LEONARD

Members had the exceptional opportunity to have their artwork critiqued by acclaimed artist and instructor John Leonard.  John a graduate of OCAD and a member of the Royal Canadian Academy has taught at OCAD, University of Toronto and York University among others.  His works hang in over 40 public galleries.

FEBRUARY 15, 2012 - FIGURE DRAWING & STILL LIFE WORKSHOP

This informal open studio session, without instructor, offered participants the opportunity to work in a congenial atmosphere on their figure drawing and/or still life drawing.

FEBRUARY 1, 2012 - MEMBERS' DAY

BEST PRACTICES WHEN PHOTOGRAPHING PAINTINGS:  A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO PAINTERS

WITH LEVIN RODRIGUEZ

In this non-technical presentation, Levin Rodriguez shared with participants best practices to obtain high quality images of their work for promotion, reproductions or record purposes - images that accurately reproduce the original in terms of colour, lighting and lack of distortion normally produced by lenses.  Members gained a good understanding of the quality of images normally required by galleries when evaluating artists for exhibition.

JANUARY 11, 2012 - WORKSHOP "LANDSCAPE PAINTING WITH ACRYLICS" WITH DOUG PURDON

Doug painted a landscape to demonstrate how to take advantage of the unique properties of acrylic paints to create stunning paintings, discussing the principles of drawing, composition, value and colour from initial concept through to the finished painting.  Then he worked with each participant on a one-to-one basis.

JANUARY 4, 2012 - MEMBERS' DAY

"FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE GROUP OF SEVEN"  WITH SUE AND JIM WADDINGTON

Sue and Jim Waddington located some of the places that inspired the Group of Seven painters.  They particularly liked to search for those sites that can only be reached by canoe and on foot.  Their love of photography, canoeing, mapping and orienteering culminated in their presentation “Following in the Footsteps of the Group of Seven”  comparing images of some of the Group’s paintings juxtaposed with images of the actual sites.   Jim and Sue also discussed how they found the painters’ sites, what they learned about the painters and their choice of painting sites.

DECEMBER 7, 2011 - MGA ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING & LUNCHEON

NOVEMBER 30, 2011 -  SUMI-E (ORIENTAL BRUSHSTROKE) WORKSHOP WITH ROSLYN LEVIN

THE BRUSH DANCES

Roslyn demonstrated how to move with strength, flexibility and grace to create paintings of simplicity and eloquence.  Participants learned the importance of white space, brush control and sensitivity to gain strength in their brushwork.

NOVEMBER 17, 2011 - MEMBERS'  WORKSHOP
DEMYSTIFYING THE JURY PROCESS

This workshop was introduced with an entertaining skit performed by Marjorie Broga, Allen Class, Philippa Hajdu, Jean Rennie, Maureen Thompson and Shirley Turcott.
Pussycats: Maureen and Shirley	Pussycats and The Turtle, played by Allen
Jean and Philippa as the Owls	Pussycats, Owls and Narrator, Marjorie

Grethe Jensen reviews MGA policy & guidelines for juried shows and fields questions	Vita Keeling explains the jury process & a juror's rationalization from her point of view as she judges six members' works in a mock jury process.

NOVEMBER 16, 2011- WORKSHOP
"LANDSCAPE BY DESIGN: TAKING CONTROL OF YOUR COMPOSITIONS" WITH DON CAVIN

This Workshop was about using photos for a reference.  Don emphasized the principles of good design, the process of selecting the photo, identifying its strengths and weaknesses regarding its design potential.  He demonstrated how to redesign it, producing a small value sketch to serve as a "blueprint" for a full scale studio painting.  Workshop participants then started their paintings and benefitted from Don's critique.

NOVEMBER 9, 2011 - ACRYLIC WORKSHOP - "LANDSCAPE PAINTING" WITH JOHN PRYCE

This accomplished artist illustrated the various stages of painting a landscape in acrylic.  John offered many tips and techniques including underpainting colour choices, blocking in objects and effectively painting water and reflections.  Workshop participants were given time to start their paintings, followed by one-on-one instruction after which John completed his demonstration piece explaining as he deftly applied the final touches.

NOVEMBER 2, 2011 - MEMBERS' DAY
"USING PHOTOS FOR PAINTING REFERENCES" WITH DON CAVIN

Renowned acrylic painter, Don Cavin, took members through the process of selecting  references, what to look for in a photo, how to re-design a photographic image where necessary, and produce a studio piece based on the original.

OCTOBER 24, 2011

"ABSTRACTED LANDSCAPE IN ACRYLIC"  WORKSHOP  WITH DIDI GADJANSKI

Well-known and highly honoured artist, Didi Gadjanski, demonstrated various new techniques for abstracting landscape painting in acrylic on canvas, yupo and paper.

OCTOBER 12 & 19, 2011

WORKSHOP "THE ROMANTIC FIGURE IN PASTEL" WITH 
GLENN BERNABE, MGA AWARD WINNER AND MASTER PASTELLIST

	In this workshop, Glenn focussed on romantic themes and imagery with a female model incorporating costumes such as lingerie and nightgowns.  He also dealt with the fundamentals of painting the figure in pastel, proportions, recognizing certain forms of anatomy, as well as application of colour, light and shadow.

OCTOBER 5, 2011 MEMBERS' DAY PRESENTATION "IN PRAISE OF KALEIDOSCOPES"  BY DOUG COCKELL
	Doug Cockell brings together three things in this presentation:  Kandinsky’s ideas about artistic innovation, De Bono’s notion of lateral thinking, and a little game called “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” noting that too often we find ourselves merely refining the techniques and subject matter of others.  Doug uses the radial symmetry of the kaleidoscope images to suggest a way we can achieve originality in art.

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011  ABSTRACTING BUILDING AND STREET SCENES TO CREATE POWERFUL PAINTINGS IN WATERCOLOUR OR ACRYLIC WITH MARC L. GAGNON

In this workshop for acrylic and watercolour painters,  Marc demonstrated how bulding elements can be depicted using astraction techniques, resulting in more personal, meaningul and dramatic paintings. Participants  were encouraged to employ a loose, creative and abstract approach as they sketched and painted from photographs of buildings.  Sample paintings and demonstrations helped them understand the concept, in addition to one-on-one attention and group discussions.

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011 - FIGURE DRAWING WITH BRIAN SMITH
	This workshop catered to all artists, from those who draw stick figures right on and up to the more experienced shadow renderers.   Brian Smith, an accomplished and practicing fine artist, worked with a live model to demonstrate drawing the human figure.

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011 - TRANSCENDING THE DOODLE WITH YANIS ERTMANIS

Yanis' "boot camp" doodling session taught artists how to tap their subconscious image bank through speed drawing exercises,their images were then projected onto three-foot wide shellac-coated paper and painted in water colour or acrylic.