I spent much of my life as a teacher of Mathematics in secondary schools having been taught that I couldn’t ‘do art’ during my own school years! I’ve always enjoyed being creative and creating with clay has become my number one medium pass time but that doesn’t stop me being creative in many other ways. I love working with others to share the skills I’ve acquired over the years so running workshops is always a great experience for me. As far as I’m concerned there is no ‘right way’ of doing things. Anything that works is ok and things are right if they seem right to the maker!
Barmouth beach – 2019 Oil on canvas, was painted on New Year’s Eve 2019 – COVID-19 Already With Us
Fire – 2020 Oil on Canvas – Inspired by the eruption of Taal in the Philippines but could just as easily relate to the many wildfires that occurred/occur all over the world.
Covid Kitten – 2020 Oil on canvas – This feral kitten was curled up on top of Ann’s food waste bin enjoying the hot July sun and was as surprised to see her as she was to see it. She never saw it again after having taken a photograph, but apparently there were several litters born in the surrounding area last summer. Ann says, “None more striking than this I’m sure!”
Welcome to the Meirionnydd Artists Society Annual General Meeting 2025.
I would like to start by thanking the members of the committee and others in the society who have contributed to the continued smooth running and success of the society and all our activities.
There are many members who give their time to the running of the Society. Firstly, thanks to Meena Davies, our secretary, without whom we would be lost, especially me, as chair, as she keeps me on my toes and doing the right thing! (Exactly what I said last year but still oh so true!) Also thanks to Hilary Harrison, our treasurer for her efficient work in keeping our accounts up to date and manning the financial ship through another exhibition. Thanks to Huw Lewis Jones for his leadership of the 2025 Exhibition (report to be read later), to Ken Bridges for his masterful organisation of the events programme, to Valerie Land and Ian Roberts, who both keep us all on track with their vast historical knowledge of the society and to all the committee members for their help and support. Thanks go, in particular, to Marsha van den Bogaard and Jean Napier who are both stepping down from the committee; their support over the years has been indispensable and very much appreciated.
A big thank you, also, to all our members for their support.
Our Activities programme has continued to be very successful this year and our thanks go to Ken Bridges for all the time he puts into the organisation of the programme and, again, for the generous giving of his time in attending many of the events and providing expert support to attendees. Thanks also to Valerie Land for her enthusiasm and dedication to these events and her expert support, and also to Meena and Hilary in making sure the events go without a hitch.
Ken supporting the Paint Day!
The regular paint days are enjoyed by many providing artistic support and social engagement and even a bit of silliness and laughter! We have had two successful workshops: in March Jane Fellows led a workshop creating landscapes with texture and Pastels and in May Jacob Gourley led members in painting buildings with oils. Thanks to both for the generous sharing of the skills and knowledge. Another very enjoyable event was a talk in October by our illustrious member, Huw Lewis Jones, on his ‘Top Ten’ where he shared his favourite ‘Art’. The talk was very informative and the agreement was that this type of event is something that needs to be repeated. Attendees brought food and as a social occasion it was also a great success.
Our current membership is 57 which is down on our membership this time last year but around the average over recent years. We are sorry to have lost members who are no longer with us and particularly we remember Anne Laurie who passed away in May this year. Anne was a member for over 20 years and she was responsible for encouraging our great asset, Ian Roberts, to join the Society. We do have quite an aging membership with a number feeling that they can no longer continue. Meena and Hilary have done an excellent job this year in contacting ‘non renewals’ and updating the membership list. We have acquired new members, some at the exhibition and some through word of mouth and social media in relation to our activities programme. We have a growing following on our website with 1600 individual visitors this year, an increase from 1400 in the previous year. However, we are struggling to keep our website up to date and urgently need a member who will oversee this. We do have a contact who is giving advice on the website and look forward to a more dynamic web presence in the future. Our Facebook page continues to grow in number of followers slowly but surely and the number of views has doubled in the last month from the previous Many thanks go to Valerie Land, in particular, but also to other members, in adding content from the Paint days, Workshops and other events. We are attracting some members who are not so long in the tooth and hope to continue to do so. Your chair, once again, sets the agenda for increased community engagement in the next year (should she be to continue) in line with our Objects as a charity.
The objects of the Society shall be the encouragement and education of the public in the visual arts in all their aspects for the public benefit and the furtherance of public knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the visual arts including arranging and holding exhibitions of artists’ work
Our next MAS Workshop will be on Thursday 1st August, 2024 on the subject of Varied Approaches to Drawing with Wensy Murphy as the tutor.
The workshop will be held at Llanelltyd Village Hall from 10.30.am to 4.00 pm. The cost will be £10.00 for members and £20 for non-members. Due to table availability numbers will be restricted to 15 on a first come first served basis.
Wendy is a popular and experienced local artist who will be familiar to many of you. She has a relaxed and informal style of tutoring which goes down well with pupils. The day will involve making marks on paper using varied materials and subjects. Wendy will bring one or two props including “Russell”, her stuffed Crow, but attendees are encouraged to bring some of their own. This can be any 3D object that can be drawn fairly easily.
Members who wish to attend should bring the following:
Drawing paper, any type will do but the larger the better ie. A3 and above. Loose sheets are fine and a drawing board if you have one ( not essential.)
Drawing implements such as pencils, biros, felt tips, and charcoal the bigger the better.
Brushes and inks.
Rubbers and tissues.
You can use the following links to book and pay for you place. If you are not currently a member, please send you name and details via our contact page.
Our annual art exhibition was be held at Ty Siamas, Dolgellau from Saturday 17 August until Thursday 29 August 2024.
People’s Choice
Congratulations to our People’s Choice winner Debbie Andrews with Barn Owl on Ash Stump. Runners up were Hilary Reed with Nest , Sandy Venables with Take Me Home and Michelle Silver with Storm Surge.
Thank you to all who voted and all our exhibitors.
Come and join in for World Wellbeing week in the Coed Y Brenin conference room or beyond into the trees and down to the river. We hope to share our own wellbeing with some Coed ay Brenin visitors as well as and advertising the enormous well being benefits of being a member of the Meirionnydd Artists Society.
Booking is requested (email Meena on meena.davies@hotmail.co.uk) so we know expected numbers but there is no charge for members and non members can pay only the £12 membership to create with us for the day and join the society for the rest of the society year. To join, click the Join Us link on the menu bar.
Special Paint Day 10:30am – 4:00pm. The day will take the usual format of an informal painting day with people doing their own thing and exercising therir own creativity. As usual a member will be there to offer help and advice where needed. The only difference being that the general public will be around and will have access to where we will be painting and will be able to ask about your work and the society .
Light refreshments will be available at the venue and there is a cafeteria for lunch. Alternatively members may wish to bring their own. Members wishing to attend should book their place as attendance will be limited to 15.
Bring you own artwork to work on, coming for the whole day or just part of it. Take a stroll, run or even a cycle for your recommended lunchtime break activity!!
Bring lunch or visit the excellent Coed ay Brenin cafe.
Our next MAS Workshop will be on Tuesday 11th June, 2024 on the subject of Abstracting Landscape with Hilary Reed as the tutor.
The workshop will be held at Llanelltyd Village Hall from 10.30.am to 4.00 pm. The cost will be £10.00 for members and £20 for non-members. Due to table availability numbers will be restricted to 15 on a first come first served basis.
In this workshop Hilary demonstrate some of her techniques and talk a bit about how she approaches landscape painting, her process, materials and methods. She will also discuss composition, contrast and colour. Participants will then move on to make their own abstracted landscapes.
If you have an image/photo of a favourite view use that as the basis of your painting, for example this could be a sunset, mountain view, rainy day, a strong horizon line or a lake with a boat in it. You can also use an image from a magazine that’s caught your eye. I will be bringing some images you could use as reference.
Things to bear in mind when choosing an image are: does it have strong shapes, is there a lot of contrast, are the colours vibrant or dramatic, does it inspire you, These are all good! We will not be concerning ourselves to much with fine details on plants etc.
Materials:
Acrylic paint (because it dries quickly) – a range of colours but at the very least a blue, red and yellow with white and black. I will also bring my favourite colours and some acrylic medium to add to the paint to experiment with flow.
Brushes – a range of sizes and shapes, big flat brushes if you have them! Also any other objects to make marks with so you can experiment, such as an old toothbrush, palette knives, rags etc.
A palette/something to mix paint on and 2 jars or similar for water.
Charcoal, oil pastels, pencils if you have them.
2 or more A3 sheets of all media paper suitable for wet paint or anything similar you have. Feel free to work larger! But not smaller… If you have thick cardboard or paper board this will need to be primed before the workshop (using 2 thin layers of white gesso or acrylic paint). You can use canvas board or unstretched canvas, whatever you have to hand that is suitable really. Thick water colour paper will need to be taped down on to a board.
A small spray bottle of water (like you might use in the garden.)
You can paint flat on a table or use a table easel/standing easel – whatever works for you.
This MAS Workshop will be on Tuesday 9th April, 2024 on the subject of Portraying Plants in Watercolour, with Ann Thomas as tutor. It will be held at Llanelltyd Village Hall from 10.30.am to 4.00 pm. The cost will be £10.00 for members and £20 for non-members. This workshop will limited to 10 on a first come first served basis.
The workshop will explore the possibilities of watercolour paint using light washes by studying a plant such as a wild or garden flower. Ann will explain how she uses light washes of colour, water soluble coloured pencils and dry brush techniques to enhance pencil drawings. She will share her method of work by bringing examples of completed artwork based on field and studio sketches. By the end of the session, artists will have drawn on watercolour or cartridge paper and have the opportunity to control watercolour washes, rather than being controlled by it!.
Ann will give an illustrated talk describing her trials and tribulations whilst using her sketchbook studies of nature to write and illustrate her book ‘Wild Wonderful Plants’ for the Norwegian Archipelago of Vega.
Material list.
Paper for sketching – a few sheets
Tracing paper
Kitchen roll, absorbent paper to mop up
Pencil – HB, 2B and an eraser
A drawing board to support drawing/ painting paper
A book or similar as a prop to angle the drawing board
Masking tape to secure paper to board or bull dog clip
Jam jar or container to hold water
Container with narrow neck to hold plant stem for drawing
Your usual watercolour paints
Water soluble coloured pencils (if you have any but not necessary)
Heavyweight white Cartridge paper A3 190gsm or 200gsm and/or your usual watercolour paper (140 gsm or heavier, smooth surface, white or cream)
Watercolour palette and/or ice cube tray
Watercolour brushes – at least four good brushes –small to medium (1 – 4/5)
The following list of Windsor and Newton professional paints are used by the tutor and will be available on the day.
Transparent Yellow
Cadmium Scarlet
Quinacridone Magenta
Ultramarine Blue
Winsor Blue
Winsor Green
Ann will bring the above list of paints, tracing paper, cartridge and watercolour paper all available for a small contributory fee and also plants to draw. Artists are welcome to bring their own source material to study – flowers with simple rather than complex structures recommended eg tulip.
About Ann Thomas
The natural world and sketching in the field has always been the source of inspiration for Ann’s artwork. A two year visit to New York State (1987-89) USA provided an opportunity to join graduate art classes in Union College, Schenectady. She was encouaged to use her field sketches and watercolour drawings as the source of inspiration for prints. She has been a member of the Meirionnydd Artists for many years, exhibiting work with them and also with the North Wales Society of Botanical and Fine Watercolour Artists. In 2005 and 2014, she exhibited her work in Norway on the Vega Archipelago and taught a mixed media adult art course on the main island in 2010. She illustrated and wrote a book on Vega wild flowers for their new World Heritage Centre in 2019.
Ann was born in Dolgellau and graduated from Aberystwyth University with a degree in Zoology in 1974. She became a Biology and Science Secondary School teacher in England and Wales for a few years before being appointed to a full time lecturing post in Plas Tan y Bwlch Residential Centre (1990 – 2010), continuing part time until 2018.
Meirionnydd Artists Society 