Hello everyone
Less than a month to go to our big event of the year—our Annual Awards Exhibition. Please send me your entry form and roster form by 22nd September—also a photograph of each of your paintings for the online catalogue—and please remember to measure your paintings, including the frame, for the “size” column in your entry form. There are reminders about your entries, raffle contributions and other bits and pieces on pages 4 and 5 so please read them carefully. Good luck everyone and I really look forward to seeing your wonderful paintings and to having an exciting and successful exhibition.
Before the AAE is WA’s major plein air event in Mandurah—Plein Air Down Under—where many of our members will be braving the elements over the long weekend from 25-27 September for the various competitions that are happening, as well as seeing some of WA’s great artists in action, including Sue Hibbert who is holding Watercolour Masterclasses—she has a couple of vacancies in her masterclass so contact PADU asap if you are interested . PADU is an event well worth visiting.
Download the full newsletter using the link below. Much more information is contained in the full document.
Header Image: Amit Kapoor’s finished painting from the Zoom Meeting.
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Newsletter No. 417 – September 2021
“The artist’s world is limitless. It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away. It is always on his doorstep.”
Paul Strand
Thank you for for accepting me once more as President for the next 12 months—I look forward to what promises to be an exciting and busy year with our new look Committee and some exciting events planned. Thank you also to all those members who have replaced ‘retiring’ members who have given so much of their time for so long.
What a great variety of portraits for our first WatercoloursWA Portrait Prize—a huge thank you to all our members who entered a painting and to Kale Miller, who had the very difficult job of judging. Kale also generously gave very helpful critiques. Many congratulations to Penny Maddison whose winning portrait was entitled “Me—A Work in Progress”. Photos and details on page 2.
The next exciting event on our calendar is the Zoom demonstration with Amit Kapoor, live from New Delhi, which is our guest hour at the August meeting, next Tuesday the 17th. If you would like to join in the meeting via Zoom, please contact me asap and I will send you an invitation with link to join in. This is an exciting first for us so I hope that many of you will join us for the demonstration. More details on page 3.
Download the full newsletter using the link below. Much more information is contained in the full document.
Featured Image: The Late Theresa Walley – Esteemed Elder of the Whadjuk/Balardong tribes with her daughter Cheryl at the opening of the IWEF 2020.
A Nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.”
Mahatma Gandhi
Hello everyone
The July meeting includes our AGM and we will be very sorry to say goodbye to Stephanie Boyle and Kale Miller who are leaving the committee. Stephanie has been on this committee for the past 6 years and has been organising our Guest hours for the past 7 years. She has been a hard-working, informative and invaluable member of the Committee and I speak for all of us when I say we shall miss her every month at our lively meetings.
Kale has been on this Committee for the past 12 months and, apart from deserving a medal for being the only male amongst 8 women, his contribution and advice has also been invaluable.
This means there are two new vacancies on the Committee. We have had 3 new nominations for the Committee but this shouldn’t stop any other members from nominating—it will simply mean that we hold a ballot for the four committee places.
There will be more major changes on the Committee—Marion Power is stepping down from being Treasurer after 3 years, having been Secretary for 3 years previous to that so we need a replacement. I cannot begin to say what a massive contribution Marion has made to the Society during the last 6 years—her energy and enthusiasm have helped to bring the Society to where it is today. Marion has streamlined our system using Excel but we are happy to change to whatever program suits and you will have the full support of the Committee. We cannot function without a Treasurer so please contact me if you would like to know more or just to talk the position through.
After 12 months of filling in as Secretary, Cass Gartner is prepared to continue as Minutes Secretary while Gerri Box is nominating as Secretary. The rest of us on the Committee are all willing to nominate again but that doesn’t stop anyone else from nominating for any position. New blood is the best way forward for any Society so if you want to make your presence felt in Perth’s art community and make a difference to this great Society, please contact me or Geri Box (acting Secretary until the meeting) secretarywswa@gmail.com
There is also another important change—Lorraine Gardner has been providing our wonderful morning teas for the past 7 years and she would like to hand over to someone else. I have always said that Lorraine is probably the most important person in the Society and everyone will understand what I mean if no-one takes over from her! Thank you Lorraine—you are a true star! Details and information about this position are on page 6.
Download the full newsletter using the link below. Much more information is contained in the full document.
Header Image: Marion Power, our long serving committee member, previously Secretary and Treasurer. Stepping down from the Treasurers position this year. Step up and be one of us.
“There is no “I” in team, but we sure are glad there is “u” in volunteers!”
Debbie Weir
Hello everyone
I think we can definitely say that the Watercolour Weekend Fair was a great success with heaps of visitors all weekend and a wonderful vibe throughout the hall at the Italian Club where the visitors were able to chat with the artists about their artworks. Lots of photos on page 4 and we will be discussing the pros and cons of the event at the meeting on Tuesday 15 June.
A reminder that the July meeting is also the AGM and we are looking for two new members to join us on the committee—all you need is a passion for watercolours and an interest in the direction and future of the Society. We meet on the first Tuesday of each month at each others homes and wonderful morning teas are usually pretty high on the agenda too! You all know that we also need a new Treasurer—as I have said previously, you don’t need to be a genius with figures as Marion Power has simplified everything using Excel. If you have a partner or family member who would be willing to help, that could also be accommodated. We can’t function without a Treasurer so someone needs to give it a go. Please contact me or Marion—contact details on page 7.
Download the full newsletter using the link below. Much more information is contained in the full document.
Featured Image – Kale Miller sharing his vast knowledge on portrait painting during the May guest hour.
“Watercolour offers us, as artists, an inspired approach to the age-old process of making paintings sing.”
Jeffrey J. Watkins
The Watercolour Weekend Fair is just around the corner and we’d love to see you there!
Jane Zandi has submitted the photos to go up on the Yagan Tower and has also organised a viewing on Monday 17 May when the selected paintings will be displayed in one go for everyone to see them.
The WWF is an exciting event that we have not tried before so to those taking part, please send out flyers, emails, post on social media. There is a paint-out at Fisherman’s Wharf, Fremantle on Monday 17 May at 9am that anyone is welcome to join and give out flyers.
If anyone would like to distribute posters and leaflets to local shops and cafes in Fremantle, please contact me—the more advertising we do, the better! More information about WWF on page 3.
The July meeting is the AGM – we need some new Committee Members. Also at that meeting Kale Miller is demonstrating his “Approach to Portraiture” for Guest Hour.
Download the full newsletter using the link below. Much more information is contained in the full document.
“Because watercolor actually moves on the paper,
it is the most active of all mediums, almost a performance art.”
Nita Engle
What a great result at our “Art for Wooroloo” fundraising auction last Month.
These are difficult and unpredictable times so we were thrilled to raise $8115! A huge thank you to all the artists who donated paintings from both the Watercolour Society of WA and the WA Society of Arts, Wayne Gardiner for donating his professional auctioneering talents for the day, the Italian Club for donating the venue, Karen (from the Italian Club) and her family for providing their tasty snacks and donating the proceeds, Steve Power for making and donating the desktop stands, Admiral Printing for their generous donation and all those artists who gave up their Sunday to make sure the event ran smoothly and successfully.
This was true community spirit at work to help our fellow West Australians who were affected by the devastating bushfires in February.
Feature Image: The Wooroloo Auction
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Newsletter No. 412 – April 2021
“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands –
one for helping yourself, the other for helping others”
Audrey Hepburn
There’s a lot going on at the moment with the auction coming up in 2 weeks time, the Watercolour Weekend Fair in May and don’t forget the WatercoloursWA Portrait Prize at the July meeting which was in the calendar that was sent out to everyone last month. (More details about this will be in the next Newsletter.)
So please read this Newsletter carefully!
Gillian Peebles – Who will be presenting Guest Hour at the next meeting, details on Page 3.
We are also looking at having a drawing/sketching/painting session with a model in costume at the April meeting as well as having Sandie Schroder from the Art Scene.
Featured Image – Richard Bristows painting being displayed on the Yagan Square Digital Tower. Read more about this exciting initiative in the newsletter.
A new feature of the website is we are now uploading the minutes. The Minutes for the Meeting held 16 February 2021 have been uploaded. These are located in a password protected area called Forms & Documents.
“Watercolour, with all its subtle colour and value
gradations and its many welcome surprises,
is the perfect medium for capturing mood.“
Ray Hendershot
Happy New Year to you all—let’s be positive about 2021 and look forward to the good things that are going to happen this year……
The first good thing is our “Art for Wooroloo Fund-Raising Auction” which we are holding together with the WA Society of Arts, at the Italian Club on Sunday 28th March. As you know, Jan Pittman and her husband, Dave, fought hard, risking their lives to save their home in Gidgegannup from the fires but their block, olive trees, garden, sheds, machinery all went up in smoke. Most of their neighbours lost their homes. This is our opportunity to give something back to the community who support us so well at our exhibitions and events—we held an extremely successful fund-raising auction for Yarloop five years ago so let’s do the same again for the victims of the Wooroloo fire. Please see page 2 for all the details.
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Featured Image – by Derek Newton – See Page 2 for details of Derek’s appointment as the Vice President of the Australian Society of Marine Artists.
A new feature of the website is we are now uploading the minutes. These are in a password protected area called Forms & Documents.
“Art is to console those who are broken by life”
Vincent Van Gogh
We decided to put out another Newsletter for December so that you can see the photographs from the Margaret River Camp and the fun and games we had at the Christmas Lunch which followed the November meeting.
Many thanks to Michael Boercamp from Jacksons Drawing Supplies who supplied Stephanie Boyle with yupo paper and watercolour inks which were the basis of her fascinating demonstration on how she goes about abstract painting—fascinating stuff!
More thanks again to Jacksons and also Oxlades for donating some art supplies for the party bags that everyone at the Christmas lunch received. It really was a fun lunch with delicious food supplied by Food by Ros, a quiz, Creative Challenge and a communal painting as well as loads of raffle prizes. Full report and photos on page 4.
Details about our second art event in May will be emailed out to everyone rather than explaining in the Newsletter.
So once again, on behalf of the Committee, please have a wonderful, happy Christmas
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Featured Image – Morning Tea at Arthur’s Farm during the WatercoloursWA 2020 Camp.
“What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future. “
Agnes M. Pahro
You’ll see a lot of difference in the look of this Newsletter—and that is all thanks to one of our new members, Jayne Sarsfield, who has offered to take on the job as Newsletter Editor. Jayne has made some welcome visual changes which I hope will encourage the reading of this essential piece of communication! A huge thank you to Jayne—this is so very much appreciated.
I hope Margaret River will have recovered in time for Christmas from the onslaught of 22 of our members this last week! We have experienced glorious beaches, majestic trees, welcoming wineries, diverse birdlife, amazing food, a farmyard full of paintings and a marvellous model—so many things to experience as artists that we will be back next year. It was so good to catch up with so many of our regional members—Debbie, Julie, Anki, Jo, Jenny and Kama. Society friend, Tanya Izzard, also joined us for a weekend, filming the members as they painted in the middle of Boranup Forest. There will be a special December edition of the Newsletter with a report and photographs of this exceptional annual camp……
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Featured Image – Jane Zandi, painting at the Annual Camp at Margaret River. Jane is our Instragram & YouTube Co-ordinator
“The artist’s world is limitless. It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away.
It is always on his doorstep.”
Paul Strand
Wow—what a wonderful event the Annual Awards Exhibition was! Against all predictions we had record attendances and record sales! 59 paintings were
sold and the compliments were flowing in for what was undoubtedly the best quality exhibition yet. Professor Ted Snell had such a difficult task judging the
exhibition but I think there is a consensus that he definitely did a good job!
Professor Snell also stayed for the opening and gave a very complimentary speech which was very well received.
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Featured Image – Jude Scott with Riverside Solace. Winner of the Julie Michael Overall Award and Sponsor’s Choice Award for Innovation.
“The one perfectly legitimate excuse for murder is ……”
Which famous artist said this?”
See page 6 of the newsletter
