Club News

A date for your diary ... 19 to 26 April. We'd love to see you at our 67th Annual Exhibition of paintings. (Free entry).

Portobello artist Jude Nixon spoke about her fascinating process, and also  the inspiration behind her recent art. Members loved the 'hands on' session.

Fiona brought along many of her artworks for us to see close up. Her energy, enthusiasm, and imagination, was very evident in her presentation.

Members said this was an excellent Crit session. Hayley covered 35 paintings and provided great feedback. Our 2025 Exhibition flyer image was also chosen.

An enjoyable evening of 'art' games with a backdrop of class works, and past Exhibition posters. A warm welcome too, to our new members! Ray's cakes were fantastic again this year.

 Enjoy the festive season.

 Enjoy the festive season.

Tim, a former surgeon at WGH, also worked for the WHO, gave a talk entitled 'Representation of the Circumcision of Christ in Europe. Interesting & fascinating, with many art images. 

Artist George Donald returned for our first of 3 Crit Nights. As always, members find these sessions very useful, and George was impressed by the range of work.

Following a previous Print Night with Karl Stern, members had collected lots of materials and, with guidance from one of our own members, had another evening of experimentation. Great fun!

Fresh from an exhibition at the Scottish Art Club, Michele explained how she approaches her work, her inspiration & influences. Each painting tells a personal story. Very enjoyable.

It's great to be back! This is our Portrait & Draped Life group hard at work with a tutor and model. Our other class were tackling mixed media & collage.

Members were treated to a fascinating & entertaining insight into George's art over many decades with influences from India, Japan, China & North Africa, but Scotland too!

Thank you to everyone who visited our Exhibition. 60 of the 220 paintings on display were sold - brilliant!

Karl Stern did an interesting talk to members, followed by a 'collagraph' workshop where the group produced their own 'plates'. No time to print of course, but we'll see some results next term.

Our 66th Annual Exhibition is fast approaching, in a NEW VENUE and preparations are well advanced. Come and see almost 200 paintings in all mediums, from 50 Club members.

Really interesting evening hearing & seeing how Carmen incorporates a variety of earths, pigments, sand, marble dust, gum arabic, cement, & wax in her work. Other materials too. Eye opening!

This was our final Class Night for this term. The recent classes have involved much experimentation, and this time involved the use of salt for effects.

For this Crit, we welcomed Duncan back to the Club. He was impressed with our artworks, but offered plenty of advice and tips for future paintings. 

It was good to have plenty of members turn up for our AGM, especially as this administrative task is important for the Club. 

Lovely to have Brigid back, this time for a Crit Evening. Brigid provided lots of feedback before choosing the painting to be used for our exhibition flyer.

Olivia shared her experience of a recent fresco course and provided a short demonstration. Fresco refers to painting with pigment and water on damp lime plaster.

The 1st half of Duncan's presentation was about Eduardo Paolozzi, sculptor and graphic artist. After the break, Duncan talked about his work, and career to date, with many laugh out loud moments.

Our Club social night includes 'arty' team games, and this year, some special home baking. Recent class works will also be on display.

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy New Year. 

Best wishes for a happy Christmas. 

Our Art Club can now be found on Instagram, as well as Facebook. 

The time has flown by and members have enjoyed being creative this term. Now is the perfect time to join our Club before Term 2 gets underway. 

Brilliant to watch Lorna create this mixed media artwork on top of a collage. Lorna brought along several other works for us to see. Very inspiring!

Great picture of Rowena sketching. We thoroughly enjoyed her demonstration, and the sharing of the techniques used in creating her work.

Lovely to have Sandy back for a Crit Night. As well as tips and advice, many of the 30 paintings triggered memories for Sandy, and some funny stories.

Brigid's presentation was about how her experiences in Japan have influenced her work. We loved the examples she produced and the demonstration of the art of 'kintsugi'.

A special evening with Alexander Moffat OBE RSA who entertained us with stories from his long and varied career.

Brushes at the ready for a new term!

Now OPEN - our annual exhibition at Greyfriars Kirk. Over 40 artists have 187 framed paintings on display and for sale. Come and see us.

Ronnie's use of collage gave us an insight into how much of his work is produced, and how he achieves the optical illusions that can result. Layers of paint are added to complete to artwork.

An artist with a fascinating background, George presented examples of his animation work in Africa as a communication medium, as well as his portrait work here at home.

Great to have Hayley back to talk to the Club. Really interesting to hear about her experiences painting in the Scottish landscape and the challenges she faced.

Our final Crit Night of this term saw Ken Johnstone come back to the Club. Ken delivered lots of advice, and chose two favourites to advertise our forthcoming exhibition on online platforms.

The 22nd Feb. was our AGM and in addition to a review of the previous 12 months, we can look forward with confidence to another good year.

Sara, a director with the Scottish Arts Trust, provided an interesting talk. Also a UNICEF consultant, author, and dancer, Sara discussed the SAT portrait & landscape competitions, and the Club will need to look at these in more detail.

Flyers have been printed for our 65th Annual Exhibition being held at Greyfriars Kirk from the 15th to 22nd April. Hope to see you there.

Another class night this week, one of three in a row, and it's good to have tea, coffee & biscuits back at the interval.

Leo Du Feu returned for this Crit Night to provide advice & guidance on our paintings. This 'Queensferry Crossing' image was chosen for our exhibition flyer. 

Members enjoyed a couple of games, some refreshments, and good company at our 'social night'.

Wishing everyone a happy new year.

HAC wish you all a good Christmas.

Members enjoyed an easy evening of chat from Erik, and his acrylic demonstration. It was interesting to hear about his early journey, and to see lots of images of his varied work.

Artist George Donald returned for an entertaining and educational crit of members paintings. We were given lots of good comments, but plenty to think about!

Collage this time, with Ken Johnstone, and a unique way to use it using multiple drawn figures to show shapes, shadows, & movement. Very inspiring to see examples of his work too.

Another excellent talk and demo, this time with Leo du Feu. We could have listened longer to stories of miniature worlds and painting on train trips. Good to see lots of examples of Leo's work. See the Blog page (pics), and Facebook.

As anticipated, this was an informative and entertaining evening about how to draw the human form, understanding the skeleton, and muscle shape and position, before adding an outline.

We're back for the new term, and we begin with a Class Night. It's good to meet everyone again, and to welcome a couple of new faces.

​

Members have enjoyed a series of outings, including this one, over the last few months. We are looking forward to two more in August. See the Blog for more images from the Newhaven trip.

This week artist Damian Callan will talk to the Club, and provide a demonstration. This will be our final talk this term before our Spring & Summer outings begin. We still have a couple of class nights though.

We've been open a couple of days, and hope for a busy weekend ahead. Open 11.00 to 17.45 Sat. and 14.00 to 17.45 Sun., in Greyfriars Kirk, closing Wed. 6th at 16.30. 

Over 200 framed paintings are soon to be submitted for selection into our Exhibition opening to the public on Thursday 31st March. Members should look at the Blog page about framing.

In a change to our Programme, artist Sophia Burnell will talk about her work, and provide a brief demonstration. Sophia is an en plein air painter, which will be of interest to many members.

Another Crit Night this week, this time with artist & tutor Hayley Whittingham. Hayley provided plenty of feedback on our work, to help us improve both those paintings we'd brought along, and future ones.

Our 64th Annual Exhibition opens in Greyfriars Kirk at 11:00 on Thursday 31st March, and runs until Wednesday 6th April. Come and see us!

This week we're back together for a class night at AUC.

I hope members will grab a cuppa (or something stronger) and join us this evening on Zoom for our AGM.

We like to mix things up, and this week it's architecture. Neil Gillespie is our speaker, and you can expect to hear about some award winning Scottish buildings. One that got my attention is the Pier Arts Centre in Stromness, Orkney.

We all enjoy these Crit evenings. This one is on Zoom with our own Diana Jackson, and I'm told there are 25 paintings to be discussed.

A treat for all of us this week, but especially for the watercolour painters amongst us, a talk and demo over Zoom by Sheena Phillips. Inspiring and educational! See the Blog for some more pictures.

Members should prepare a wee drink, and join our Zoom call at 8pm tonight for some chat, a quiz, and more!

Best wishes for a happy & healthy 2022.

Holyrood Art Club wishes everyone a Happy Christmas. 

Well, that's it all over for 2021. Diana prepared a challenging still life for the final class night. Upstairs, we had two great models for the portrait and draped life classes. Members are looking forward to our Social Night over Zoom on Jan. 12th.

The Club welcomed artist Brigid Collins to talk about her work. Members enjoyed her slides of paintings, ceramics, and 'poem-houses' all incorporating text from collaborations with poets. See brigidcollinsart.com for much more detail.

This week we had a Crit Night with artist and tutor Graeme Swanson providing advice and guidance on a wide variety of paintings brought in by members. More photos on the Blog page.

Members were treated to another interesting talk this week from artist and art therapist Ingrid Bell, about the use of art in therapy. Very thought provoking!

Head to the Gallery to see this piece (Inchcolm), and 4 other works, by Roger Emmerson. Members should note tomorrow (10th) is a talk by local artist and art psychotherapist, Ingrid Bell.

This week artist Jaya Cauchy Ogilvie provided an interesting and lively talk, that included many of the artworks that she'd brought along for us to see. Check the Blog for more.

Congratulations to HAC member, Evie Jamieson, on her solo exhibition (21 paintings) at the Scottish Arts Club. Closes noon Sat. 23rd. so last few days!

Members enjoyed our first talk / demo of the term with artist Kenneth Le Riche. Great insight in how to approach a piece, and lots of tips. More pics in the Blog.

The first class night of the new term is this Wednesday, 6th October, at Augustine United Church.

Our Exhibition closed on 29th Sept. Fifty five paintings were sold, from the 225 framed, and a few unframed, images on display. Thank you to all our visitors.

Another fine day for our 2nd outing this month, on Wednesday 25th August.

Please see your emails about sending back your Exhibition S.A.E. this week, by the 21st August, and your membership renewal form.

This pastel by Michael Coutts was voted Crit Night favourite by the Club Council and will be used as online Exhibition advertising.

Wednesday 28th July 2021 to Cockenzie Harbour & House at 2pm.