As you can see from our new logo, Scarning Art Club has changed its name. The Club has enjoyed many creative years at Scarning village hall. However, following Covid the venue changed to larger premises at Swanton Morley village hall to adhere to the guidelines at that time. Member numbers have continued to increase and so a return to Scarning is no longer viable. A vote was taken to change the name to SMART – Swanton Morley Art. We are grateful to those who founded the group all those years ago in Scarning and that the opportunity for creating art and making friendships continues.
We have enjoyed a varied programme throughout the summer months. ‘Repeat Pattern Design’ was an exercise new to most of the group. It is a structured process which creates a repeating design which can then be printed to use as gift wrap, or on fabric/textiles etc. It certainly needed concentration to follow the process and some eye-catching designs were created.
We often paint animals in landscapes so it was fun to paint a landscape within an animal or creature. Various designs were painted within the shape of the animal, this allowed for creativity and fine detail while still being able to recognise which animal was being represented.
A session on painting moonlight showed how it can add to the atmosphere of a painting and could create a ghostly, romantic or nostalgic air. It was challenging to paint the balance of darkness and light to portray such effects.
We learn much from one another within the group and members are so helpful in sharing their knowledge. Prior to the session on painting ‘Drapes and Folds’, we heard how fabrics can be portrayed within paintings.
The luxury and colour of fabrics can denote a sense of authority and power, while the flow and movement of fabric may denote romance. Botticelli used fabrics to provide modesty and cover as shown in The Birth of Venus (c.1484-1486).
Members have also continued to work on paintings for the Mattishall village map which is progressing well.
The art exhibition at Bawdeswell Garden Centre was held late May bank holiday, 11 paintings were sold and we really enjoyed meeting and talking to the visitors who attended.
The months have certainly flown past but time flies when you’re having fun! This was particularly true when we enjoyed a summer outing to visit The Munnings Art Museum at Dedham. It is at Castle House the former home of Sir Alfred Munnings (1878-1959) and the museum owns the largest collection of his works. As we were an organised group, we appreciated having exclusive viewing of both the house and his studio and enjoyed the exhibition, Munnings: Colour & Light. Munnings is well known for being one of Britain’s most celebrated equine artists but from viewing his art he not only painted all subjects in many mediums, but also created beautiful sculptures too. We would certainly recommend visiting as it was a thoroughly enjoyable day, enhanced also by the delicious food available at the Garden Café!
Answers to March Quiz:
1. Albrecht Dürer (1471 – 1528)
2. Grinling Gibbons (1648 – 1721)
3. Carrara
Questions for September:
1. Who was the first president of the Royal Academy?
2. Who had a blue period?
3. What is George Stubbs famous for painting?
Jacquie 01362 697783
Mike 01362 652935
mike@mdeward.co.uk
