linocut
An exciting night!
Massive thanks to everyone who came along to our preview last night. It was wonderful to see so many people enjoying our art.
The standard of work is so high this year. Many people seemed to be doing a couple of rounds of the room before deciding which masterpiece to vote for – it was really difficult to decide.
The breadth of work was also great to see – acrylic, watercolour, pastel, print, textile silk. The list of our talents seems endless!
And it was brilliant to see the red dots going up throughout the night.
But after an evening of fierce voting, there was a winner. Huge congratulations to Jane Candlish, whose linocut print, Castle Grant, was voted favourite artwork on the night.
She is the first winner of the Gordon Crisell Shield, named in honour of our former secretary and donated by his family.
Pictured here is our treasurer Liz Downie handing over the beautiful trophy to Jane at the end of the night.
The shield will be on display at Grantown Museum until the end of the exhibition.
Finally many thanks to Dan Cottam and the museum for their help in setting up and allowing us to have a wee party to launch the show.
And thanks are due to the group’s elite team of organisers – too many to name – who gave up their time yesterday to set everything up. The exhibition looks great!
Don’t forget we’re on until May 7, Mon-Sat, 10am-5pm. Tell your friends!
Here are a few shots of a very successful evening!
The Old Spey Bridge Challenge
This week Angus challenged everyone to pick their favourite media and work from the same source. He chose the Old Spey Bridge at Grantown and provided a number of different views. Some showed the whole bridge, some just a section, while one photo even had ivy obscuring the structure almost entirely.
A busy class took to the task with gusto and there was huge variation in approach. Among the media on the go was pencil, pastel, acrylic, collage – two members even got their lino-cutting tools out. We’re looking forward to seeing how their prints turn out.
In an extra twist, at coffee break time everyone had a wonder round the room to look at other’s work. Then Angus opened up a discussion where people had to say a little bit about an element of someone’s work that they liked and how they thought it could improve their own piece. Despite a bit of embarrassment in having to speak out loud (it was like being back in school), everyone had some inciteful things to say. Many admired the freedom which people brought to their painting, while some wanted to emulate the tight detailed brickwork achieved in other works.
Spey Art Group 