The Missing Link

We've talked about seeing art. We've talked about buying art. The missing link is doing art. So with cheque book in hand I called into Darlington Arts Centre and enrolled on an Introduction to Drawing and Painting course.

I have to say that I am not a skilled artist. I've done a bit of doodling in the past but nothing worth keeping. I can also manage to splash a bit of paint on the kitchen walls when they need it.

It was a chilly Wednesday morning in September when I joined the group of a dozen other students to learn what drawing and painting is all about and have a bit of fun at the same time. After the obligatory safety talk and introductions, we got started mixing paint to work out how to make virtually any colour from a basic half dozen tubes of paint.

By week two we were painting a watercolour landscape, a task that was pretty simple thanks to the carefully thought out approach of the tutor, Paul Dillon. Paul has over thirty years experience of drawing and painting and easily pointed out what each of us was doing well and how we could improve on the trickier aspects of painting.

One of Paul's main interests is landscape painting and this influences the classes to some extent. However, he's keen that everybody discovers their own preferences and techniques and he spent time with many of the students suggesting how they could develop their individual styles in the future.

Like me, the other students enjoyed the course too. They agreed that it had been a useful, broad introduction to painting and drawing. Those who had not done any art before had learned a lot; those who already dabbled a bit had refined their techniques and picked up a lot of hints and tips to take them further.

Although my artistic ambition is to create sculpture and mixed media art, this course has given me many of the essentials that I can use when working on my own art.

The course content covers drawing, watercolour and acrylic, observation and composition. It deals with the basic theory and provides lots of opportunities for practical work. So if you want to put things into perspective or find out how to use puddle management to avoid cauliflowers, why not have a go yourself.

The course was part of a programme of leisure classes run by Darlington Borough Council. More are planned for the New Year term. Contact the Arts Centre for details.

Love Your Art,
Vince

Suffer Not In Silence

If you'd gone along to Darlington Arts Centre last Thursday evening, you may have struggled to get in the building; there were hundreds of people milling around. Some had come to visit the centre's own theatre, some to learn how to paint or make jewellery, some to see Halima Cassell's ceramics exhibition preview, some simply to have a drink and a chat with friends in the Lounge and some to attend the Darlington For Culture meeting.

This is a thriving centre of culture, entertainment and social activities. Sadly it may close next year due to Government spending cutbacks. We joined the latter group of visitors to hear about an initiative that may avoid the closure of the building and retain the range of popular arts activities in the town.

Last month Darlington Borough Council announced their worst-case scenario for cutting £22m from their total budget. This included withdrawing their generous (compared to other, much larger, councils) funding for both the Civic Theatre and the Arts Centre, leading to their likely closure. Darlington For Culture was quickly set up with the intention of maintaining the services provided through alternative support from other funding bodies, the centre users and the community at large.

The meeting, chaired by Paul Harman who has extensive experience especially in the performing arts, covered three main points; the discussions that had taken place with the Council so far; a proposal to set up a Community Interest Company to take over the operation of the building and an idea for a "cultural parliament" where issues and the needs of the community could be discussed openly and acted upon. The meeting was attended by members from the clubs and groups based at the centre, representatives from the council, staff and users of the centre and also concerned members of the public.

The general feeling from the audience was that losing a facility like the arts centre would be a significant loss to Darlington as a whole, not just the regular users. It was pointed out that the arts centre served a regional community and perhaps additional support could be obtained from further afield. Several people urged co-operation with the council and other bodies rather than trying to go it alone.

A number of related ideas, some more realistic than others, were put forward. But we're not sure that the suggestion to ask the council to do a U-turn and leave the funding in place would be very successful, considering the pressure they will be under to make substantial savings across their budget.

As you might expect, there was some political posturing by a few people in the room. However their mischievous interruptions were greatly outnumbered by the concerns and support from the majority of the day-to-day users of the centre.

At the end of the meeting a vote was taken on whether individuals would pledge £10 each to buy a share in the company. The vast majority raised their hands, moving the process another step forward.

Whether or not Darlington For Culture will become part of a solution is still uncertain. There may not be sufficient support or time to make the necessary arrangements. What is certain is that without a determined push to find a solution, it is likely that Darlington Arts Centre will close next year.

Love Your Art,
Vicky and Vince

Art For All

Darlington Society Of Arts is holding its annual exhibition at the Arts Centre in Darlington. We couldn't miss seeing a large number of paintings, ceramics and mixed media by local artists so off we went.

We were impressed by the quality of the works, the range of styles and techniques used as well as the variety of subjects. We would love to talk about them all but we only have space to mention a few items that caught our attention.

Bella Staithes by Cassandra Anderson is a watercolour of Staithes harbour in unusual shades of purple, pink, brown and turquoise. To us, it seems to be alive with movement and activity, we can almost hear the seagulls and splashing waves. It has an atmosphere that many similar pictures fail to achieve.

Cassandra likes to paint all kinds of subjects. She told us that she paints very quickly and has built up a diverse collection of work. She is now studying Art History through the Open University.

Jack and Rosie Mackenzie are brother and sister and both obviously talented artists. At the show they are exhibiting mutual portraits in acrylic. Both pictures use completely different styles yet both are full of character and emotion.

Rosie's portrait of Jack won the Junior Award. It captures the light and shade on Jack's face perfectly. Jack's portrait of Rosie was highly commended. His technique of bold brush strokes works well to portray his sister in an intimate pose of laughter. It's a pleasure to see some younger artists applying their skills to portraits, a genre that seems to have lost its popularity these days.

The exhibition runs until 19th November 2010 at Darlington Arts Centre.

Love Your Art,
Vicky and Vince

It's Alive!

Illustrations for books form a specialist art genre of their own and are growing in popularity among collectors. The opportunity to own an original illustration is enticing for several reasons: it represents favourite books or characters especially from childhood; it brings a story to life; it's a work of art in its own right; and it's for investment reasons. The Alive! exhibition at the Myles Meehan Gallery, Darlington showcases important illustrators some of whose images are instantly recognisable as well as including many unseen illustrations that were unpublished.

The role of the book illustrator is to interpret the story and depict it in a visually appealing way. In children's books these pictures are often whimsical depictions of people and anthropomorphised animals sometimes in comical situations. For example, I laughed out loud at Emma Chichester Clark's Croc - a cute, harmless bright green crocodile wearing a pink scarf - opening gifts on Christmas Day in "Presents"; or sitting on chair in an outdoor cafe enjoying a nice cold drink with her friend Melrose in "Cafe Scene".

Both adults and children will be familiar with the work on Quentin Blake; of his works featured here, I particularly liked "Reader with Parrot" rendered in his well-known pen and ink style with watercolour. The simple, quickly drawn lines portray the humour and absurdity of a purple parrot perched on top of the head of an elderly man sitting reading in a chair. This picture is part of a series Blake has produced featuring birds doing human tasks in "The Life of Birds".

Ronald Searle also switches between illustrating for adults and children and I didn't know he had produced illustrations for Jeffrey Archer's short stories in "Cat O'Nine Tales". The story of "The Commissioner" is illustrated with a portrait of the Bombay Chief of Police as a rotund looking man: dressed in a grubby cream military uniform bursting at the seams; with an elaborate upturned moustache; a gun holster is hooked around his neck, and he is using a large white hanky to mop his head.

Coming to exhibitions such as this is enjoyable as I'm often introduced to artists whose work I want to see more of. One is Oliver Jeffers for his simple but humorous illustrations with complicated titles such as "He Thought He Might Lasso The Star With The Life Belt" and the book eating boy in "He Was Going Through Them At A Fierce Rate".

Another is Paul Cox, whose work I'm going to nominate as my exhibition favourite for his picture in Durrell's "My Family and other Animals" entitled "Don'ts says anythings to anyones". This shows Spiro and Gerald driving, in an open top car, back from town where they'd been to buy some goldfish. It's a large dramatic picture fizzing with personality and energy allowing the characters to live beyond the pages of the book.

The Alive! Contemporary British Illustration exhibition continues at the Myles Meehan Gallery in the Arts Centre, Darlington until 13th November 2010. The works have been selected and supplied by Chris Beetles Gallery, London.

Love Your Art,
Vicky

Cockerton Art Group

We had a weekend of surprises while visiting an exhibition of art at a local church in Darlington.

Our first surprise was how many people were there viewing the art works. When we arrived, around 11am, the atmosphere was buzzing and we had to squeeze past lots of other enthusiastic viewers to see the pictures.

The show, held by Cockerton Art Group in the Methodist church on the village green, had around 120 pictures produced by the group's members. As you would expect with a general exhibition like this the subject matter and the mediums used were wide ranging. The quality of the work was excellent and most of the pictures were for sale, with prices typically between £10 and £50.

We moved slowly up and down the rows of tables with the pictures on them, it was easy to view the pictures and nobody seemed to mind if you picked them up for a closer look.

As is customary with our blogs, we will mention a few that we liked. Vince was impressed by Carol Cloughton's picture of sheep on the moors. By the way, did we mention that we collect sheep art? Vicky liked L Roach's use of perspective to draw you along the South Jetty at the harbour in Amble, Northumberland. We also admired the finely detailed fretwork of two ladies by Peter Edge.

After a brief look round we noticed a sign saying 'cafe' so decided to go for a cuppa. Here was our next surprise, the Sunday School rooms had been converted into a makeshift cafe and it was packed with even more people than the exhibition! We managed to find a space sharing a table with a couple who had been to see the pictures too. We enjoyed a friendly chat with them about the exhibition and the pictures that we liked.

Our final surprise was on the way out as we spotted a couple of scantily clad women! Fortunately they were only paintings, by the aforementioned Peter Edge. We wondered what the Minister might say if he saw them in his church!



Love Your Art,
Vicky and Vince