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SASA NEWSLETTER – July 2017

President: Glenda Chambers president@sasa-artists.co.za

www.sasa-artists.co.za www.facebook.com/SASArtists http://sasartists.blogspot.com

Patrons: Sam Nhlengethwa, Conrad Theys, Hayden Proud

Secretary Liz Pearson - PO Box 2574, Clareinch 7740 Tel. 021 671 8941 secretary@sasa-artists.co.za Treasurer Kim Scarrott 021 712 3229 kscarrot2@gmail.com

Diary

JULY Thursday 13 Evening Life Drawing

Thursday 27 Monthly Meeting: Landscape, Life and Still Life Competition

Saturday 29 Winter Workshop: Karen Burns

AUGUST Sat/Sun 5/6 Selection Weekend: Rustenburg Girls School

Saturday 26 Winter Workshop: Derric van Rensburg

Youth is a gift of nature, but age is a work of art ― Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

President’s Letter

Dear Members,

Well Mercury must definitely be in retrograde, or the planets were up to something. June had us all rushing around like mad things. Those that attended the June monthly meeting, will definitely know what I am talking about.

It started with our guest who was doing the demo, Derric van Rensburg being stuck on the N2 because of an accident and then being diverted back to Stellenbosch from where he had come, via Bellville and Goodwood to get to the SASA meeting. Thank goodness Derric was able to save the night with his showmanship and amazing talents as an artist. Not only did we have to have tea and coffee before the meeting, but we also could not get the overhead to work. So we all pulled our chairs closer and thoroughly enjoyed the evening. Thank you Derric for a very entertaining evening.

Congratulations once again to all our members who got into Fynarts and good luck to all our members who are taking part in the Sanlam portrait awards. Keep painting up a storm.

The Selection Weekend as you all know by now is the 5 / 6 August, less than a month to go. Better get cracking if you haven’t already got your paintings for this. No wet paintings accepted and with this weather everything takes that much longer to dry. Liz will be sending out the entry forms shortly. Please read the rules etc. very carefully and remember that all works selected must be for sale and reserved for the Annual Exhibition. If anyone is not sure you are welcome to contact me at president@sasa-artists.co.za. It would

be preferable for you to submit new work that has not been displayed anywhere before eg. Facebook, galleries etc.

The Annual Exhibition will be 21st September to 4th October, immediately followed by the Members 2 Exhibition from 5th to the 15th October. Please note that no paintings can be left from the one exhibition to the other. For the Members 2’ Exhibition new work has to be hung or the paintings from the selection weekend that were not accepted can be hung.

We are still looking for the book by Alvaro Castagnet, please if all of you can check your books at home and return it as soon as possible. Starting to sound like a stuck record, sorry.

Life Drawing monthly sessions are the 2nd Thursday of every month at the Athenaeum at 6pm for 630pm; please no late arrivals or early leavers, as this disturbs the sessions. Thank you, Libby Harrison and Mary McMillan, for this.

The next meeting 27th July, Art Sauce will be giving a brief explanation of the sketchpack project, which they will also be selling at the meeting, followed by our Landscape, Life and Still Life competition.

READ the newsletter for all the upcoming events. Don’t forget about our online gallery, details on the web. Special for the year is R200 which includes 5 artworks and your cv. To all our members surround yourself with the beauty of art …!

Happy painting!

Glenda Chambers

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Member News and Happening

The noticeboard is put up at every monthly meeting and the latest news from the art world posted for your information. You are invited to bring along your own bits of information to post on the board. Members are also welcome to put up notices advertising their art related products or classes. Please contact Irene Oxley (oxleyi1@iafrica.com) or Ronnie Biccard (ronniebiccard@gmail.com) or if you have any news you would like to share, email secretary@sasa-artists.co.za.

It’s mid-year and we have one new member, Gisele Thompson, who joins this month. And Claudia Treagus has rejoined the society. Welcome, Gisele, and welcome back Claudia.

The finalists of the Tollman Bouchard Finlayson Tondo competition were announced at the beginning of June – too late for inclusion in the last newsletter. But we are proud to announce that the following SASA members were selected and their work put on display during the festival:

In 2nd place overall was Drummond Murphy Leana Rauch Stella Geel Mandy Herdien Mary McMillan

Christopher Reid with two works Robyn Schoon Charmé Southey Mary-Ann Wiggill

Well done to all of you.

Ivanonia Keet, our longest standing member – this year it will be 81 years she will have been a member

of the society! celebrates her 97th birthday on 12th July. We hope you have a wonderful day with your family and friends.

Our condolences go to Di White on the loss of her husband, Kevin, last month. Our thoughts and best wishes go to you at this time. This month Art Source will be selling their sketch packs and encouraging you to try and do a sketch a day for the month of September. If you do manage to complete your sketch pack, your work will be hung in

their art shop in town. This is great fun to do and rather a nice way to discipline yourselves to sketch. The packs will be available at our July monthly meeting, but you can also purchase them direct from Art Source in town.

If you haven’t been receiving mail from SASA, it could be that you may have (a) changed your address or (b) email details or (c) SASA is being re-directed to your junk mail folder. Please let us have any change of personal information so we can continue to communicate with you. Also please re-direct our mail from ‘junk’ status in your inboxes. If something goes wrong with email, the only form of communication is what you supply us. Email secretary@sasa-artists.co.za with any changes.

SASA Programme - What’s on

Monthly Meetings

SASA Monthly Meetings are held at the Athenaeum, Boundary Terraces, off Campground Road, Newlands, on the last Thursday of every month at 19h00. Entry is R10 for members and R20 for guests, including refreshments. We encourage you to attend these meetings, find out what’s going on in your society and connect with your fellow artists.

Thursday 29th June: Demonstration by Derric van Rensburg:It was an evening full of twists and turns, starting off with the video equipment not functioning, followed by an accident on the N2 (Derric lives in Stellenbosch) forcing him to

backtrack to Stellenbosch and come through on a different route. But when Derric did arrive, he didn’t disappoint, being the consumate professional he is. He entertained, chatted and produced a masterpiece. Thank you, Derric, for a great evening.

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Thursday 27th July: Alla Prima Landscape, Life and Still Life Competition: Once a year we have a competition for three works of art that depict a landscape, a still life composition and/or a life drawing/painting. This is the ONLY competition in the year that we ask that you embrace the concept and bring work that has only been painted from life. You can also enter one work of art per category.

Landscape needs to be done in one sitting (alla Prima - Italian, meaning at first attempt) ‘en plein air’. When you pack up your easel at the end of the morning, that is the work that we encourage you to bring to the comptition. No touch ups in ther studio! No working from photos, ipads, iphones, etc. Everything ‘au natural’.

For those of you who are attending the life drawing sessions this winter, this is a great opportunity to put up what you believe to be your best drawing. If you are a regular life drawing/painting enthusiast, bring along that work from the first sitting. The still life category is, for many artists, a favourite genre. But again, please only enter that work that was done in one session. Continually going back to the set up takes away from the intitial freshness and

spontaneity of the work. To enter, simply bring your artwork along to the next monthly meeting where it will be displayed for your fellow artists to vote on. There is no charge to enter; you must just be there to enter and to vote.

The Rules are as follows: Only SASA members may participate, and artists

wishing to take part must be present at the competition.

Work must be either a landscape/seascape AND/OR a life drawing/painting AND/OR a still life composition. Dictionary definitions of these terms are:

Landscape art is a term that covers the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers and forests. We have included cityscapes and seascapes in this category.

Life drawing is the process of depicting the human figure from observation of a live model.

Still Life is painting of inanimate objects such as utensils and containers, fruit and cut flowers.

We will exclude work that does not fall into any of these three categories e.g. no animals accepted.

Life studies, still life and landscapes must have been executed from life (not from photographs, nor from another artist’s work).

One entry per member in either one or all categories.

Work may be in any medium.

Works do not have to be framed.

Work cannot be submitted if it has been done in a class convened by an art teacher, nor if it has been previously entered in any SASA competition or exhibition.

Work submitted must be the original hand-made work and cannot be a photographic or electronic reproduction.

Work entered may be submitted for selection and to a future SASA exhibition

Exhibitions

Selection Weekend: 5th and 6th August:By now, everyone should have received the Conditions of Entry together with the entry form and labels.

Please make sure you read the instructions carefully so we can avoid any ‘incidents’ on the day. Because it is a weekend of intense activity by all concerned, no membership fees will be taken on the Saturday. Please make sure you are up-to-date with your membership. Membership cards will be available for collection on the Saturday as well, if you haven’t collected yours already.

If you are unsure of what is required of you and have read the conditions thoroughly, please contact Glenda at president@sasa-artists.co.za.

With a month to go, there’s not that much time left to get those masterpieces done. Remember all oil based work MUST be dry to

avoid any accidents.

If your work is not selected, this is not a reflection on your ability as an artist. The John Winter Hall at

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Kirstenbosch can only accommodate a limited number of works of art and that is the primary reason we have such a high cut-off mark.

Remember, if you don’t put your work up for Selection, you definitely won’t be able to exhibit!

111th Annual Exhibition: 21st September to 4th October: Great dates which include two weekends at Kirstenbosch – right at the start of the Summer season! Those members who have their work selected over Selection Weekend will be taking part in this exhibition. All they need to bring with them is the slip that was returned on the evening of 6th August. 2nd Members’ Exhibition: 5th October to 15th October: This exhibition will follow immediately after the Annual Exhibition and Conditions of Entry, entry form and labels will be sent to everyone by the end of August. Please remember that work for this exhibition must be new work – one of the conditions of entry in any SASA exhibition is that the work cannot have been on any previous SASA exhibition.

Life Drawing

Our Thursday life drawing sessions are becoming very popular, so if you would like to attend, please email secretary@sasa-artists.co.za. These are held every second Thursday of the month at the

Athenaeum, and the next one will be on the 13th July.

Once again, the Saturday life drawing at

the Newlands Scout Hall has proved immensely popular. A big thank you to those members who booked and paid either via eft or at the door. Unfortunately, a number of members “turned up” for life drawing without prior booking. This caused some chaos but luckily Mary and Libby were able to accommodate them.

Because space in the life drawing classes is limited, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT YOU BOOK your space and not just “take a chance” and turn up.

We would love to accommodate all 500 members, but we are limited to 30 on Saturday morning (MAXIMUM!)

The life drawing is also restricted to members

only (because of the popularity of the event). The doors to the hall will be locked at 9.30 and no-one will be let in after that time. This is to ensure privacy for the model and to retain the heat in the hall. With just three more sessions left, if you would still like to attend the Saturday life drawing, please email secretary@sasa-artists.co.za to establish whether there is space available.

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Winter Workshops

The workshops will be held at the Peter Clarke Art Centre in Newlands and will start at 9.30 and finish at 15.30. The cost for the workshop will be the same as last year - R350 which includes tea and coffee, but you need to bring your own lunch. You can book by emailing Irene Oxley at oxleyi1@iafrica.com and making payment to SASA Nedbank Constantia branch 198765 account 1088006981 – please use your name as the beneficiary reference. The Peter Clarke Art Centre (formerly the Frank Joubert Art Centre) is very close to the Athenaeum and is accessed via Vredenhof Road, off Keurboom Road. Please get there early so the workshop can start promptly at 9.30. It was extremely unfortunate that the first workshop with Karen Davel had to be postponed but the clashing dates with the life drawing proved to be insurmountable. We hope to find an alternative date in the not too distant future.

On the 29th July, Karen Burns will be giving a workshop on still life oil painting. The response to this

workshop has been tremendous, so if you want to attend Karen’s workshop, please email Irene Oxley at oxleyi1@iafrica.com to check whether there is still space available.

We have also had a great response for Derric van Rensburg’s acrylic workshop on the 26th August. This is also filling up fast, so please check space

availability with Irene before making payment.

Library

Our Library is open from 17:45 to 18:50 prior to every monthly meeting. Your membership entitles you to take out two items per month. Fines from 2017 are: R20 for a DVD, R10 for a Book and R5 for magazines.

If you haven’t yet taken advantage of our library facilities, why not come to the monthly meeting a bit earlier and browse through the selection of art books, magazines and DVDs available.

For more information and for renewals, please contact Audrey Innes at audsinnes@hotmail.com.

Workshops, Classes and Information

Your 2017 membership card will allow you to claim your 10% discount from the following art shops: Deckle Edge – all branches, The Italian Artshop in Rondebosch, Brush and Canvas in Claremont, The Art Shop in Hermanus and Artland in Claremont. Also 5% from Art Source in town and Creative Atelier in Durbanville. You will need to present your 2017 membership card when claiming your discount. The Studio Art Gallery is searching for four new artists to represent. They are inviting emerging and established artists to submit their best artworks for the group exhibition titled ‘Winter Life’ from 14th to 16th August.

The directors of the Studio Art Gallery will select artworks from all submissions for the Winter Life group exhibition. Artworks will be chosen based on concept,

presentation, use of material, artistic skill and available exhibition space, also whether or not it will be a good fit for the Studio Art Gallery’s expanding market. From the Winter Life group exhibition, four artists will be chosen for representation by the Studio Art Gallery.

For more information please contact the organisers direct at admin@studioartgallery.co.za or click here.

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Art SA are holding their Winter Exhibition at the John Winter Hall in the Kirstenbosch Gardens from 10th July to 13th August. A number of SASA members will be exhibiting. For more information contact Glenda at artsa@mweb.co.za. Artists are invited to submit artwork in any medium for Bright Street Gallery’s September exhibition Lipstick and Rouge Perceptions of Beauty through Colour. Selection Wednesday 2nd August. Please bring your artwork between 10h00 and 12h00. Selection will be completed by a panel of three people. Artworks must be collected between 13h30 and 15h00 the same day, when you will be told whether your artwork has been selected. For more information contact Chris Hall at brightstreetgallery@gmail.com.

After the Workshop

What to do when the Workshop’s Over – Kathleen Dunphy FineArtViews Newsletter | Friday, August 5, 2016| Issue 2472

“Without a doubt, the best thing about attending workshops is having someone with a trained eye look at your work and give you feedback for improvement. Inevitably the instructor will see something that you didn’t even notice, something that seems like a glaring error once it’s been pointed out but somehow slipped by during the painting process. How many times have teachers pointed out obvious tangents, skewed drawing, or inaccurate values in my work? More often that I’d care to admit. It’s almost embarrassing just how blind I can be to these things when I’m in the heat of the moment of painting.

“Once the workshop is over, what can an artist do to continue the invaluable lessons that come from critiques? The lucky few will find a mentor or trusted friend in the art world who is willing to give honest, constructive feedback. But even a good friend can’t critique everything you do. The key is to learn to look

at your work with a dispassionate eye and to develop the art of self-critique.

“During my years at the Academy of Art University I sat through dozens of critiques, both of my own work and of others, I learned that the most effective critiques were organised, structured, and to the point. I missed that input so much and realised I needed to find a way to do the same thing with my work once I left academia and ventured off into the world as a professional

artist. This is how my Critique Notebook came about.

“I critique each of my plein air paintings when I get back in the studio. It's easier to assess a painting once I'm away from the subject matter; I am better able to judge how effective it is as a work of art and not be distracted by how closely I rendered the scene in front of me.

“With the painting on my studio easel and under good light, I take out my Critique Notebook and write down the date, size, and location of the painting. I then asses

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how effective the painting is in 5 basic categories: Design, Hues, Colour, Edges, and Paint Quality.

“I make quick notes on ways to improve in each of the categories. Sometimes the change will be as simple as ‘crop 2 inches off the right edge,’ sometimes as complex as "cool background mountains, add cows to midground fields, add thicker paint in foreground." I turn the painting upside down or look at it in a mirror to help me get a fresh view of the work; I thumb through books to find examples of paintings that accomplish what I was after; I make sketches of better designs...in short, this is my time to study and try to come up with anything and everything it takes to make the painting more successful.

“Why bother to write all this down? I know it sounds pretty obsessive/compulsive, but it is so easy to just paint a plein air piece that didn't work, come back to the studio in defeat, toss the canvas in the burn pile and move on. But what have you learned from that? What lessons are lost? If you take the time to critically look at your work and honestly try to figure out what went wrong, chances are you'll do better the next time you get in front of the easel. Conversely, it's just as important to critique paintings that are successful on the first go-round. If the painting was a slam-dunk, why did it work? What happened in that painting that you can remember for next time? Writing down your thoughts is critical: it cements the ideas in your brain and helps to point out

areas of weakness in your work…. break out the books on composition to do some intensive study in that area. By repeatedly doing these critiques, you will become better at assessing your work. It will help you go from ‘I don't like it but I don't know why’ to having a roadmap for improvement.

“Do these critiques as soon as possible after you've painted the piece--that way the subject is fresh in your mind and you will better remember what it was that you were striving to capture in the painting.”

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