- HAG - we came, we saw, we drew...

Hilgay Art Group flyer following 1st meeting!
Coming to a notice board near you...

Apologies for not getting in touch sooner but my bt broadband's been offline for a week (!??$), and email is just now up and running. 

I'm pleased to report that the first night for HAG - aka the Hilgay Art Group - was a big success. Lucky 13 in fact, with me being the thirteenth - or the first. More prospective members  than I expected, even though a few people who said they'd come along were unable to attend. 

I'd set up two still lifes - one simpler, the other more complicated, and asked people to tackle whichever they were most comfortable with. I gave advice and guidance here and there to whoever seemed to need it, and must praise the brave souls who turned up having never drawn before -  or not for a long time - and thought they would give it a go. Very well done!

Watering cans - pencil sketch. Not sure what happened to the
spout and handle of WC no. 2 - probably time for tea...

We stopped at half time - I didn't blow a whistle - but with kettle a'boiling took orders for tea or coffee (once a restaurateur, always a restaurateur), which I prepared with Nikki's able assistance! 

During the break members checked out various instructive and historical art books I had brought in, or alternatively sneaked a peek at a selection of my own comic art and illustration work - not to start a fan club or anything - hmmm -  just so that people who weren't familiar with it could see what I got up to. 

And is a 'fen & ink' fan club idea such a bad idea...?

Pencil sketch drawn at Bates Wood, Denver
...and yes - there will be wheelbarrows...

In the second half, members didn't so much change ends as adjust their point of view so that they could draw the other still life - painted white bottles or rustic watering cans. Or in Ryan's case animate a previously static wooden artist's mannequin into appropriately manic poses - phew! 

Thanks to one and all for clearing up and packing away the tables and chairs etc. while I hid in the kitchen and pretended to dispense artistic advice to a handful of members who thought I knew better than they. 

So a big thanks to you all again, especially Gerry and Arijs whose question "Would you like to set up an Art Group?" held little interest for me at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized what fun it might be - and it was! 

See you all next time - there'll be oranges...

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