UKCPS News

Derwent 'Artbar'- new drawing product

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 10:50:00 +0000

Derwent have introduced a new product which may be of interest to those who like to use soluable pigments in their drawings, or want to try a new dry medium - I quote from their literature:

Derwent’s new Artbar is a water-soluble wax bar perfect for creating bold expressive marks and building up texture. The high wax content gives the Artbar a very smooth consistency and its unique triangular shape means you can make many more distinctive marks than you can with a traditional round block.

The new Derwent Artbar range recognises the role of tone within art and the comprehensive spectrum of 72 opaque colours is divided into 4 tonal groups, Brights, Pales, Earths and Darks. For easy colour selection the colours within each tonal group are positioned together in the tins.

The Artbar has been tested by our panel of professional artists and they found the new Derwent Artbar incredibly versatile, being able to use them dry and wet as well as being able create texture by building up layers of colour almost like paint...

Each Artbar is protected by a peelable silver wrapper which can be removed in sections thereby ensuring that both the Artbar and your hands are protected throughout the life of the bar. They are perfect for working ‘en plein air’ as they are easy to transport dry and will balance on a hand held sketchbook without falling off!

The new Derwent Artbar is available individually and in selections of 12, 24, 36 and 72. The 12 tin contains a set of basics which, in theory, can be used to create any colour you want. To help you understand the art of colour mixing a tutorial is available to download from

www.pencils.co.uk

If any readers have had a chance to use them - why not leave a comment for other readers to see with your own opinion of their value?

Malcolm Cudmore - workshops

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:35:00 +0000

Malcolm Cudmore, the Editor of the UKCPS magazine, 'Talking Point' and a fine artist in his own right, has some workshops on offer. He writes:-

"I'm delighted to be running three one-day courses on coloured pencil techniques here in Bungay. They will be at The Art Trading Company studio on Earsham Street and suitable for both beginners and improvers. I shall be sharing my own techniques for creating memorable images with coloured pencils as well as covering other useful art techniques that will help you develop your own work. Each day has a specific focus and will include opportunities to try out a range of high quality pencils and papers as well as work with your own favourite materials. The dates are:

Saturday 24th March - "Stone Walls, Bridges and Rural Architecture"
Saturday 23rd June - "Still Life"
Saturday 15th September - "Portraits"

Each day is 10.30am to 4.30pm and limited to 10 participants. Booking has already started and the first day is almost full already! The fee of £40 per person per day includes all tuition and free tea/coffee. Bring your own lunch! Further details are available from my website - from where you can download flyers for each course." Visit: www.malcolm-cudmore.com

10th Keswick Exhibition - REMINDER!

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:01:00 +0000

UKCPS Members are reminded that the closing date for entries to the 10th Keswick exhibition is fast approaching on 10TH MARCH 2012 !!

A summary of the details as follows:-

10th 'World of Coloured Pencil' Exhibition 2012

Venue: The Cumberland Pencil Museum, Keswick, CA12 5NG
Saturday 28th April - Saturday 26th May 2012

Free entry open to all UKCPS members only. Entries to be Pure coloured pencil, or as mixed media with coloured pencil as the main medium. The entry form is downloadable from here:
Entry form and rules (pdf downloadable form)
Entry form only for electronic submission .doc format .rtf format

(Ensure you also download a pdf version above so you have full copy of the rules)

Due to lack of space the exhibition can only feature 24 pictures, to be chosen by ballot after all entries received. Closing date for entry is 10th March 2012!!

The UKCPS is always grateful for the magnificent sponsorship that we recieve for our exhibitions, and the following awards are available, and are sponsored by -----

Derwent - willl sponsor the 'Best in Show' and also the picture voted as best by members of the public - 'People's Vote Award'.

Leisure Painter Magazine will sponsor the award for the 'Best Newcomer to Coloured Pencil' (an artist having less than 24 months membership of UKCPS.) [Ed note: The Leisure Painter has always given good coverage to colour pencil topics and regularly features articles by or about UKCPS members].

UKCPS -will sponsor 'Best in Show - Runner Up', plus two 'Highly Commended' awards.

Tiffany Budd - Derwent featured artist

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:08:00 +0000

Congratulations to UKCPS Signature Member, Tiffany Budd, who is the featured artist in the Derwent Pencils blog page: www.lovepencils.co.uk.

You can follow Tiffany's own blog by scrolling down the column on the right to the Members Blogs section, and look for the link : 'Tiffany Budd At Work'.

Robin Borrett - workshop news

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:55:00 +0000

Robin Borrett has been in touch with this message:-

A one day workshop, on Saturday February 18th 10.00 am - 4.30 pm St Mary's Church School Room, Main Street, East Leake, Loughborough LE12,
opposite the Parish Church. If you are interested please contact me soonest.
Tel: 01509 856940 or Email: robin.borrett@talktalk.net.

Try Coloured Pencils - on the Wirral

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:44:00 +0000

I posted a noatice of this event on 6th January last. Please note that the event is now fully subscribed with 36 attending. I am compiling a waiting list of those who wish to get first chance at a follow-up day to be held later.

Alan McMahon

Victoria Parsons - Artists & Illustrators Magazine

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:34:00 +0000

Congratulations to UKCPS member, Victoria Parsons, who is another of our members appearing in Artists & Illustrators magazine: [SEE PREVIOUS POST RE: BEV LEWIS]

"I thought I would drop you a quick line to say that a drawing of mine has been selected to be featured on the Artist and Illustrators "Featured Collections" in their Animals and Wildlife Exhibition on line.
The image is of Cheza the wolf that was chosen by the public as being the best in show, in last years Annual Exhibition at Stamford".

Bev Lewis - A & I featured artist

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:04:00 +0000

UKCPS Silver Member, Bev Lewis, is the featured artist in the March edition of 'Artists & Illustrators' Magazine.

Bev writes:

"I was surprised and delighted to find myself as a featured artist in the Artists & Illustrators online portfolio gallery 'Portfolio Plus'. They asked if I would like to be one of their featured artists.., well would I? Of course I would.

They sent me a questionnaire to find out a little about me and my art and this is the result. http://www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/featured-artist/animals-wildlife/494/featured-artist-bev-lewis

I am so pleased that they liked my work enough to feature it, and they also kindly put a link to UKCPS website. 'Big Red' is featured in the January 2012 issue of A&I. This picture won a Highly Commended Award for the UKCPS 2009 exhibition."

NEWA - Nat. Exhibition of Wildlife Art

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:03:00 +0000

I am aware that a number of UKCPS members submit pictures to the annual NEWA exhibition at Gordale Nursery, on the Wirral. The following statement has been issued by the organisers:

National Exhibition Wildlife Art 2012

NEWA has been running very successfully for many years, but the time has come to rethink the administration and financing of the exhibition. We have endeavoured to do this without changing the original concept, which was to keep the fees for the artists as low as possible, to bring examples of excellent wildlife art from amateur and professional artists to the north of England, and to raise awareness of the natural environment.

We hope that we have achieved this but we need your help.

Please fill in your Application Forms on line, if possible. This will greatly assist the admin team. It is very easy to follow the simple directions, but help is just a phone call away if needed. You will be sent an email as soon as you have submitted your form. This will give you your own personal number which you can enter in the specified box on the home page at any time, up to delivery, and change your forms. You will also be able to download your labels for pictures, labels for packaging, your receipt of pictures, invitations for your buyers and fliers to help advertise the exhibition. Payment does not necessarily have to be done online. We will also accept payment by cheque or card.

NEWA has not changed – we are still trying to show the best of your work to as many buyers as possible, but we are aiming to be more efficient in these challenging times.

To apply visit www.newa-uk.com

From the NEWA team

Society TREASURER required!!

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:57:00 +0000

This is a reminder to all UKCPS members that the society is in urgent need of a volunteer TREASURER, to enable our present Treasurer, Ann Roberts, to take a well-earned break from the job.

The successful applicant, who will become a member of the UKCPS Executive Committee, will need some experience in keeping club-type Income & Expenditure accounts, and be able to produce a Balance Sheet.
Because of the dispersed nature of the committee membership, most of the work of the Exec. Committee is carried out via the web, so access to the internet is required. The committee does meet, (but infrequently), so UK residency is required.

Your Executive Committee are a friendly bunch of volunteers, so if you have some spare time available, why not join us and give some time to the society as the society's Treasurer?

For more information about the role of Treasurer, contact Barbara Murray, the UKCPS Chair, on chair@ukcps.co.uk or Ann Roberts on treasurer@ukcps.co.uk

Maria Villioti - New blog link

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:26:00 +0000

Maria Villioti, a UKCPS member in Greece, has a new blog. See the link in 'Members Blogs' (scroll down the column on the right) entitled: http://breathsofart.blogspot.com/.

The link takes you to her home page which is set out in Greek, but there is a simple to use facility which translates the page into a number of languages.

Karen Coulson - Artist-in-Residence

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 12:05:00 +0000

Wildlife artist and UKCPS silver member, Karen Coulson, is Artist-in-Residence at 'Nature-in-Art' during this next week. 'Nature-in-Art' takes place in the village of Twigworth, situated on the A38 in Gloucestershire. Karen will be working on three different pictures from Tuesday 17 January until Sunday 22nd, and also hopes to have room for a 'Have-a-Go' table, space permitting.

The event, which features a wildlife photography exhibition, is open 10 am until 5pm, and costs £5.25 for adults, but there are concessions. Nature-in-Art have a website: www.nature-in-art.org.uk

Karen says "If you are visiting the Wildlife Photography exhibition or are local to the area please call in and say hello. I've not done anything quite like this before, so it would be lovely to see some friendly faces."

New local group - Keswick area

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:06:00 +0000

Zoe Ginty, a UKCPS member, and one of the staff at the Pencil Museum in Keswick, has been in touch with news of a local coloured pencil group just starting in the Keswick (North Lakes) area :--

Hia everyone!
A new local pencil art group is starting up in Cumbria on Saturday 21st January. We have been lucky enough to have had lots of interest in our group, so will be holding it at the Quaker Meeting House (near Booths Supermarket) in Keswick rather than at the Pencil museum education room, as previously planned.
Free parking is available at the Pencil Museum, so please ask at the Museum reception and you will be given a parking permit for the session(10am to 2pm). It will take place on the third Saturday of each month, at the small cost of one pound per person.
Everyone is welcome,so please bring your pencils, paper and enthusiasm for a session of drawing, experimentation, show, tell and some demonstrating with like minded pencil art fans.
Look forward to meeting you !!
Please contact us for more details.....
Zoe Ginty (you may know me from the Pencil Museum) 07843416183 and Barbara Murray (our very own Chairman) chair@ukcps.co.uk

Leisure Painter - Simply The Best 2011 results

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:42:00 +0000

Congratulations to UKCPS members, Irina Garmashova-Cawton, and Judith Heilbronn-Crown, whose CP pictures are featured in the February edition of 'Leisure Painter' as winning entries in the Hobbycraft 'Simply The Best Competion 2011'.

The pictures were on display at the recent Art Materials Live Show held at the NEC in November.

I should also mention that the February 'Leisure Painter' contains the 2nd part of a colour pencil article by Veronica Winters, featuring two seperate still-life execises using fruit.

Try Coloured Pencils - on the Wirral

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:37:00 +0000

I TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO WISH ALL OUR READERS ALL THE HAPPINESS FOR THE NEW YEAR.
Alan

Beginners and experienced CP users alike will be welcome to join me at St Chad’s Church Hall, Roslin Road, Irby, Wirral, CH62 3UH from 9.30 am to 4 pm on SATURDAY 25 February 2012, for a friendly day of coloured pencil demonstration, and ‘Have-a-Go’ workshop.

Our guest for the morning will be Brenda Chappell, a
well-known Manchester artist, who will be demonstrating
techniques using the famous Caran D’Ache range of pencils.
Brenda is a regular demonstrator at art societies throughout
north of England, at Art Materials Live in the NEC, and at
the Patchings Festival. A former textile designer, Brenda
now specialises in flower paintings, but also produces landscapes
and portraits.

Brenda will demonstrate the use of the Caran D’Ache excellent
‘Luminance’ pencils, their water-soluable pencils
and Neocolor II range, and other products from the Caran D’Ache range.

AFTERNOON WORKSHOP
Dig out those old pencils you last used in school (or bring along last year’s birthday present), and
‘have a go’ with other pencil artists. Paper will be provided. Bring your own subject matter or use some of the photographs available.

and all this for £6 (MORNING ONLY) or £8 for FULL day!!!

Entry forms and further details available from me at:
Alan McMahon
32 Noctorum Dell
Prenton
Wirral
CH43 9UL

Tele: 0151 670 1680 Email: alanmacann@btinternet.com

Christmas reading

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:35:00 +0000

Sometime over the next few days, members should be receiving their December edition of 'Talking Point' containing, amongst other things, the Call for Entries to the 9th World of Coloured Pencil Exhibition 2012 at Keswick, the Minutes of the UKCPS AGM back in October last, and a list of available courses and workshops for the New Year, plus lots of stuff about the 10th Open Exhibition last September.

Good reading to you all, and I take this opportunity to offer my personal best wishes to all our blog readers for a very happy Christmas.

Alan

Anyone bound for Paris soon?

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:17:00 +0000

The UKCPS Chairman, Barbara Murray, has recieved an email from Elizabeth Patterson, a member of the Coloured Pencil Society of America [CPSA], who writes:-

"Hello Barbara,

Hope this email finds you well! I am a member of CPSA from Southern California and wanted to contact you because I will soon be arriving in Paris for a month long stay. I am hoping that I might have a chance to meet some of your members. I don't know that I will be leaving France during that time, but perhaps some of your members live there? I was in contact with Ann Massey some months ago, but it appears she is no longer an officer, hence my email to you.

The reason for my trip is a solo exhibition at Galerie Louis Carre' & Cie which is opening Thursday, Jan 26th. I would like to have the gallery send an invitation to your chapter, but do not see an address. I got the impression that your membership is spread across a rather large geographic area, so I understand if no one can meet with me or come to the opening, though I would be so happy to see ANYONE from UKCPS there, as I will know few people! This is only my second solo exhibition and as the time draws near, I am getting quite nervous about the entire prospect. I have never even been to Europe!

Many thanks!
Elizabeth"

If any of you members out there are visiting Paris at the end of January, and would like to be put in contact with Elizabeth, then email Barbara Murray at chair@ukcps.co.uk for further information.

Dave Richards - Hafren Award

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:15:00 +0000

Ukcps Silver status member, Dave Richards, was awarded First Place- Hafren Award in the Hafren Themed Art Competition/Exhibition which opened in Newtown, Powys, on 26 November last. The theme was 'Revelation'.

Dave's picture (shown on the right) is entitled "Feelings Revealed" and was done exclusively with Derwent Artists coloured pencils on Rising Stonehenge paper.

Dave has commented "I have a set of 72 of the Artists pencils which were the first set of pencils I bought. I was inspired to pick them up again after seeing Suzy’s [Herbert] beautiful ‘work in progress’ picture of pears she was demonstrating at the Open Exhibition in September. I seem to have come full circle after trying many different makes in search of the ‘magic’ pencil".

"A total of 74 pictures were accepted for the exhibition. There was a wide range of media including 2 in wool, however there were only 2 coloured pencil pictures [my entries], It was very pleasing to see cp being accepted as an equal".

The exhibition is in Newtown, Powys, Mid Wales and runs until 27 January 2012. More details are available on the Hafren website at:
http://www.thehafren.co.uk/gallery.php

Re; a bit of self promotion....

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 22:37:00 +0000

Further to my post regarding the Irby Artists Association exhibition - I'm pleased to say that I actually sold a drawing! It was called 'Joy', and you can view it in my photo album in the UKCPS Yahoo Group page.

Alan

A bit of self promotion.....

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 15:53:00 +0000

Any members/readers who will be in the Wirral area on this coming Saturday, 19th November, will be made welcome at the Irby Artists Association Autumn Exhibition, where I shall be on duty all day from 10 am onwards til the close at 4pm
There will be 265 paintings on display (including my own CP stuff) and a range of craft items. Free entry, and nice refreshments available.
The exhibition is located at St Chads Church Hall, Roslin Road, Irby, Wirral, CH62 3UH.

Alan McMahon

Alan Jones in the news

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:39:00 +0000

North Wales member, Alan Jones, has been commissioned by Derwent Pencils to produce a drawing of a bear cub to be reproduced onto the front of their sketchbooks. "I couldn't believe it when Derwent approached me" said Alan. "This is a huge honour and I am very humbled that Derwent chose me to produce the drawing, but I am glad they did!" The drawing took over 15 hours to produce using Derwent soft graphite H, 2B & 8B pencils onto Derwent A3 cartridge. "Derwent pencils are really a joy to use, you can sharpen them to ultra fine points and lay a really rich velvety layer of graphite down to build up subtle shades with precise control."

These quality sketchbooks will be on sale in an art store near you anytime soon.
More of Alan's fine animal drawings can be viewed in his album via the UKCPS YahooGroup Forum.
(if you are a UKCPS member and not in the Yahoo Group Forum then you are missing out on seeing some wonderful pictures in the members albums - contained in the 'Photos' section of the group page)

Also It has just been announced that Alan's entry 'Pleasureland' won 3rd place in Ms Poem's Cover Star Illustrator competition! Follow the link:http://msmoem.com/2011/ms-moem-news/my-cover-star-illustrator-winner/

　

Alan is over the moon with this as the standard was extremely high. Drawn in Derwent Studio Coloured pencils onto white A4 cartridge paper. He wins a copy of the book and Derwent sketching pencils.

Members in the news

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 17:55:00 +0000

A number of UKCPS members are currently appearing in current editions of art magazines. Besides Irina Garmashova's regular coulour pencil articles in the 'Leisure Painter', both Malcolm Cudmore and Tiffany Budd have articles and examples of their work in the current edition of 'Paint', the magazine of the Society for All Artists [ known as SAA for short].

Pictures of Malcolm's article are shown on the left.

Art Matrials Live - NEC

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 15:14:00 +0000

Just a timely reminder that UKCPS will have their usual stand at the forthcoming Art Materials Live Exhibition which starts next Thursday, 3rd November, and runs through until Sunday 6th. at the NEC, Birmingham.

Besides the 'have-a-go' section, some of our members will be demonstrating colour pencil techniques throughout the exhibition, and will be glad to say hello to visiting members.

There are always lots of offers at the show, but one of the best has been negotiated on behalf of our members with Artistpapers, suppliers of the well recommended 'Strathmore' paper. Leaflets [illustrated on the right] are available on the UKCPS stand, or visit www.artistpapers.co.uk and enter the code: ' UKCPS' when you checkout your purchases.

Time For a Chat?

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:34:00 +0000

A reminder for UKCPS members that if you join the UKCPS Yahoo Group Forum, you can also access the 'Chat' room (click on the link 'CHAT').

7pm (GMT) is a good time to visit as Sarah Longrigg and Judith Crown are regular visitors at that time. If they are busy chatting to one another when you enter the room - just type 'hello' or something, and they will respond.

UKCPS News

noreply@blogger.com (UKCPS Blog) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:15:00 +0000

Members will have recieved their latest edition of the society newsletter by now. (if you haven't then let me or one of the Exec Committee know, and we'll sort it out!).

I take the opportunity to highlight the picture competition (deadline 10 December) on the theme of 'Texture in Wood'. A lovely prize of 24 Conte watercolour pencils for the winner!

Nice to see the pictures submitted by some of our newer members!