Ann England with the latest from the Sidmouth Society of Artists.

Things have been very busy with Sidmouth Society of Artists (SSA) this month.

Not only have we shared the monthly zoom demonstration with Exmouth Art Group (EAG) and of course our live demonstrations are back on course, but at the end of the month members enjoyed a delicious luncheon at the Victoria Hotel.

The Zoom demonstration by Angie Seaway gave everyone yet another perspective of painting.

Angie painted an abstract flowerscape in acrylics.

She demonstrated in an engaging and enthusiastic way which encouraged members to paint along with her and increased interaction between her and the group.

Angie explained her own random process but advised members to use the style they are used to and to keep an open mind.

She introduced mixed media paints, graphic pen, and her fingers, all at different times, adding to the interest.

Several members sent their paintings in, and others have taken advantage of the video available in order to ‘paint along’ so this was obviously very well received.

Later in the month we had a live demo at Kennaway House and here is Roger Marks’ report:

This month’s painting demonstration featured Topsham-based Ken Cosgrove, SWAc, formerly of the United States.

Educated at the Ringling School of Art & Design, Florida, he graduated as a Bachelor of Fine Art before re-settling in England.

Ken specialises in portraiture, so he set about painting Margaret, a member of the society, using oil paints on a backboard of oil-primed linen, which enabled him to push the paints around, and blend and erase the oil paint long after its application.

We learnt that to do a portrait justice normally takes Ken at least a full day, and very often a week or so.

It was therefore not surprising that, in the interest of getting a result in the allotted two hours, he settled for monochrome, using only the colour burnt umber.

Interestingly, his powers of observation were assisted by the use of a plumb-bob, by which means he was able to assess the vertical alignment of the subject’s features – a neat trick indeed.

Ken advised us that the first step of a portrait is to establish the shape and proportions of the head correctly; such things as the eyes, nose, ears, mouth, hair, facial lines and creases follow later in the process.

Sadly, despite his best efforts, he was beaten by the clock, but did more than enough to stimulate our interest in this branch of art.

If you are interested in finding out more about the SSA or EAG please visit their websites.