The W A S A Warble. July 2018 Issue 79

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1 Parking at WASA meetings We can park off the street without fear of a parking fine. Thanks to Le Pine Funerals we may use their customer carpark. It is in Linsley St south of the library and the gate is never closed. 12 pages July 2018 Issue 79 WASA's 'Wild Awards 2018' WASA s prestigious biennial exhibition of fine artworks begins Aug. 23 rd. until Sept. 25 th & prizes of cash/art products/vouchers are in excess of $3000. The entry closing date is July 26 th which seems to be coming up quickly. The entry form is attached to this and more details are on page 7. Please note it would be helpful for the selection process when you send an image of your artwork if the painting is framed already please include a photo of the artwork in the frame as well. Next meeting 17 th July Tuesday evening upstairs in the meeting room at Box Hill Library 7.15pm for 7.30pm start: 1040 Whitehorse Rd, Box Hill There is a slow lift to get you and your gear upstairs and if you want some exercise you may use the stairs. Chinese brush painting : with WASA member Thanh Duong Thanh will give a brief introduction to Chinese Lingnan Painting style and materials such as rice paper, brushes, Chinese ink and colours. She will demonstrate the techniques of loading the brush and mixing colours, various brush strokes to achieve specific shapes and more. Also Thanh is bringing along two Chinese scrolls for display and she will talk us through the techniques used. Janet Flinn has donated some more books and magazines to WASA members in exchange for your small cash donation which we will pass on to Birdlife Australia. Kingfishers and Kookaburras David Holland Inspired, Flora of Queensland's Wet Tropics Rare & Vanishing Australian Birds Peter Slater Australian Birds of Prey Penny Olsen And other books PLUS a bag of Wingspan, Birdlife Australia, Australian Geographic and more. If you'd like one or more of the selection they will be at the July meeting for you to have a look at. Thanks Janet and Peter for thinking of the WASA members who can enjoy and use these items. Page 1 of 12 P O Box 284 Canterbury Victoria 3126

2 'Hunt for the Wilder Pictures' in Yarra Glen 1 st Rikki Fisher's 'Enchanted' scratchboard at right $250 prize and it sold 2 nd. Vida Pearson 'Spotted Pardalotes' hand-painted linocut below $200 prize 3 rd. Marloes Bakker-Marsden 'Inquisitive' micro-pen ( pic. next page) prize $100 Theme winner Rosemary Morgan 'Eyes Wide Open' watercolour lower right prize $200 Highly Commended : Elena Koloutusha 'Feather Hunt' scratchboard Karin McKee 'Lily' scratchboard Ji Qiu 'White Rhinoceros' pencil Prue Sanchez 'Wombat' watercolour Collect unsold artworks from the depot you delivered to between now and 7 th July please. Lots of the people who regularly visit our exhibitions travelled to view it and left glowing praise with the gallery owner. We sold four framed paintings and seven unframed plus a few cards. Some funds were collected and sent on to Birdlife Australia as a donation from the public. Thanks to all who contributed to the exhibition and demonstrations. We did a boost post on Facebook and reached approx people during the exhibition. Page 2 of 12 P O Box 284 Canterbury Victoria 3126

3 Marloes Bakker-Marsden 'Inquisitive' micro-pen 3 rd place at HTWP 2018 Raptor photography and free-flight encounter Re-scheduled Sunday 28 th. October 11am We expect the weather will be more reliable. If you've previously booked and paid, please let us know by end of August if you're able to come along OR if you'd like to receive a refund if you can't attend. To be held at Garibaldi which is south of Ballarat and car pooling is possible from Box Hill, Geelong, Narre Warren, Kilsyth If you enter Garibaldi Community Park into your car/ phone GPS it should find the place easily. Garibaldi hall doesn't always come up as an option. There are no signs on the entrance from the road and the buildings are not easy to see from the road so keep our phone numbers in your mobile phone. Event for 1 hour + $30 per person Up to four birds (depending on species & who can fit safely in the van) Drawing Naturally Two hosted by Janet Matthews When : August 11 th.saturday 1pm 4.30pm Where : Field Naturalists Club of Victoria at 1 Gardenia St, Blackburn, Vict Good light and some specimens which belong to the Field Naturalists Club AND others. Cost : $ 10 WASA member, $15 non-wasa member Afternoon tea provided BYO art materials. WASA will have some specimens for subject reference including a skull and several mounted specimens. To begin the drawing session, Janet will demonstrate several techniques using graphite. She will show how to use a blender, the different pencils for resist methods and different erasers. Then she will show how to create a few different textures with ease, including bark texture, feathers, fur, stones and shiny surfaces. Then we will all do our own drawing using the specimens supplied or which you have brought along to draw and share. You can book by or phone to Kris Peter ph & wasakp@optusnet.com.au Scratching with Patrick workshop has one available place remaining Sat. 7 th July 10am for start at Box Hill South Neighbourhood House, 47 Kitchener St, Box Hill South Look out for your confirmation and reminder of the event. If you would like to book please or phone Kris. BYO lunch Patrick's reference photo is at right which will be used for the workshop. Page 3 of 12 P O Box 284 Canterbury Victoria 3126

4 WASA ON VIMEO: is now easier for you to use The short films of our meetings/presentations are on Vimeo and our thanks go to Rachael Hammond and Gavin for filming and editing. Control/click this link to watch the film of Linda Weil's May presentation to WASA and you only need to enter the password which is 'cockatoo' to view. Have the sound turned on for all Vimeo films Please don't edit the settings, or share these films as they are under WASA copyright. Rachael Hammond set up for her demonstration at HTWP coffee & cakes thanks to Reggie of Art at Linden Gate \ Rachael's demonstration was carefully planned with colour tests ready to go for her Gouldian Finch painting The films of Vida Pearson's presentation on COMPOSITION (Feb 2018 meeting) are also up ready for you to watch thought provoking and entertaining Composition with Vida click these links part 1 Part 2 Page 4 of 12 P O Box 284 Canterbury Victoria 3126

5 More on Vimeo Here's an easy link to some of the videos of our meetings Page 5 of 12 P O Box 284 Canterbury Victoria 3126

6 WASA Meeting 19th June 2018 'Change of Medium' This month's meeting was supposed to have been Velda Palazzi's night where she would have talked about using water-based paints on canvas. Unfortunately she couldn't make it as she is waiting for orthopaedic surgery - our best wishes, Velda, for a successful procedure and a complete recovery. Karin McKee stepped into the void and talked to us on some aspects of working on Scratchboard and Clayboard. Basically, the difference between the two supports is simply that clayboard is a base plate with a white Kaolin clay layer on it, whilst scratchboard is the same but the white clay is over-sprayed with a thin film of black ink - so the clayboard surface is white and the scratchboard one black. On a table Karin had placed different sizes of scratch- and clayboards, of course, but also special inks,paints, as well as other fluids, fixatives and repair pens, all helpful to the scratchboard artist. There were scratching implements of all kinds, from craft knives and other sharp tools to sandpaper, glass fibre brushes and even a selection of tattooing needles - those a particularly nasty looking set of instruments. However, in the always limited time of an evening, Karin concentrated on just one aspect - airbrushing. This is another important technique in the arsenal of the scratchboard worker, where it is most often used to create beautifully delicate backgrounds. what it looks like but, in fact, a fair amount of practice is required to achieve even layers of paint without blotches and other irregularities. Karin recommends budding airbrushers spend time first, practising on cheap pieces of paper and always do a spray test before applying to a board. Airbrushing can be a slow process which requires repeated and patient applications of thin films of paint. New colour combinations need to be mixed, paint containers changed and the gun has to be flushed with water between each paint change. Apart from that, everything can be interrupted by the gun blocking up and needing cleaning. However, it is worthwhile coping with these small difficulties and complications because the results can be absolutely beautiful. Airbrushing is capable of producing lovely, subtle and even colour tones which not only look great in themselves but also help to emphasise the painting's main subject and make it 'lift off' the background. contd For her first demo, Karin had pre-drawn three Fairy-Wrens on a piece of clayboard and had covered their shapes with masking fluid. After we had managed to solve the problem on how to avoid spray-painting the carpet Karin proceeded to demonstrate her airbrushing technique. An airgun, with a paint container attached to it, is supplied with air from a compressor. The airflow draws the paint out of the reservoir and sprays it in a fine mist onto the painting surface. The artist controls both the amount of air and paint with one moveable lever on the airgun - simple! At least that's Page 6 of 12 P O Box 284 Canterbury Victoria 3126

7 continued Karin McKee air-brushing on boards Karin had time for a quick second demo, this time on scratchboard. The animal depicted was a tiny Harvest Mouse, this dainty little rodent which feeds and nests in the European grasslands and wheat fields. The airbrushing process here was exactly the same except that, of course, lighter colours had to be chosen to show up on the black surface. It was quite an intimate meeting but it's cold and wintry here in Victoria. We were only ten - but the audience contributed a lot with questions, comments and some of their own experience based suggestions. Anybody so inclined was encouraged to try a spot of handling the airgun as well. All this made for a friendly, easy and pleasantly free-wheeling evening. Our thanks to Karin for talking to us and coming to our rescue at short notice. Our next Paint and Sketch is in September We have not scheduled sessions for June, July or August as the weather is usually not kind and in the lead up to the spring exhibition rush most of us are quite busy finishing artworks. WASA's 'Wild Awards 2018' entries close this month WASA s prestigious biennial exhibition of fine artworks begins Aug. 23 rd. until Sept. 25 th. and prizes of cash/art products/voucher are in excess of $3000. Entry to this exhibition is by selection and we hope you will submit your very best artworks which we also hope will be well presented as the gallery lighting shows every tiny flaw/speck under or on the glass. Entries close July 26 th. and we will notify you of acceptance or otherwise by within a week or two after that date selection panel decision is final. Delivery of artworks needs to be before 15 th. August to one of our depots or direct to the gallery on Friday 17 th. August. Burrinja hang this exhibition so it's a time and energy saver for us but we need to be more stringent about delivery and collection times and co-ordination.. There are no size restrictions for 2d framed paintings for this exhibition some restriction for 3d pieces for which we have only three plinths available. The entry form for the Wild Awards is attached and also on the website in the members' library. Karin McKee and Carol Gorenko at their scratchboard demo. at HTWP, our recent exhibition. Thanks to Canson for the material supplies which the ladies shared with their audience. Thanks also to Denise Smith and Marloes Bakker-Marsden also for their demos. during the exhibition. Page 7 of 12 P O Box 284 Canterbury Victoria 3126

8 The library of articles is at To access the library area of the main WASA website the username is cockatoo. We encourage new members to be aware of this feature which has helpful reference material. Also see below about WASA Noticeboard. WASA 2018 Councillors President Kris Peter ph & Treasurer Jenine Bell Exhibition Director Karin McKee WASA on Facebook Remember to like the Facebook page and please share it with friends. We're up to 666 Likes which means all those people get to see images and brief news about WASA and the artists and hopefully remember to come to our events. WASA Noticeboard on Facebook You may post pictures/comments/questions about your artwork and discuss with other WASA-ites both your own and their artworks or anything else of interest. Click here to view WASA Noticeboard in Facebook WASA BANK DETAILS Facebook & Noticeboard Nadine Dudek Ph Kate Goodman Rachael Hammond Marloes Bakker-Marsden Helpers Alison Clark editor Warble Ralph Keller articles for Warble, Dario Zanesco Q land website advice/help Ruth Ault meeting photos DISCLAIMER: Articles from all WASA members are very welcome however the editor and WASA Council reserve the right to edit or deny publication of any submission. Bendigo Bank BSB account number ****************** P O Box 284 Canterbury Vic 3126 Visit the news page on the WAMA website to keep up with progress in this project for wildlife art in Australia. Karin and her load of scratching/spraying equipment. Views expressed in the articles and e-newsletter are not necessarily those of the Wildlife Art Society of Australasia Inc. Page 8 of 12 P O Box 284 Canterbury Victoria 3126

9 Tony Weston s Masterframe Melbourne framing services tweston2@bigpond.com telephone Remainder of 2018 W A S A July 7 workshop : medium- advanced scratchboard Patrick Hedges at BHS Neighbourhood House If not going to scratchboard workshop and are longing to sketch - why not visit Melbourne Museum where it's warm and dry or a gallery in your home town. 10am 17 Meeting : Chinese brush painting with Thanh Duong 7pm 26 Entries close for Wild Awards Aug 4 No paint & sketch 11 Drawing Naturally Field Naturalists Club of Victoria in Blackburn deliver Wild Award artworks if possible 21 Meeting : Mixed Media with Vivi Palegeorge 7pm 25 Wild Awards at Burrinja Gallery cnr Glenfern Rd & Matson Dve, Upwey until Sept Wild Awards opening event 2pm Sept 1 paint & sketch - Moonlit Sanctuary 10am WOW Online Exhibition of Wild Awards artworks Opening event Wild Awards 2018 date to be advised 18 Meeting : Peter Trusler presents 'Can you Connect with the Life in their Eyes?' 7pm 23 Wild Awards 2018 at Burrinja Galleries closes pm Oct 6 paint & sketch - Healesville Sanctuary 9.30am 16 Meeting Watercolour on canvas with Velda Palazzi 7pm 28 th Raptor free-flight & photo session 11am Nov 3 paint & sketch - Melbourne Zoo 9am 20 Meeting :: In the Artists Studios mosaics with Leanne Beyer, sending your artworks away, travel tips and end of year feast 7pm On the following pages is a copy of an article by Raoul Slater printed in Birdlife Australia's magazine in March 'Ways of Seeing ~ Bird Painting vs Bird Photography' which I found interesting for a number of reasons : His comments about photography as art I wonder if he'd still say the same now? At the time, he considered that photography which had been worked on could be considered fine art. The section about his father Peter Slater paintings of the Square-tailed Kite - quote below How did Peter Slater manage to paint a white bird with yellow ochre and light blue violet ah, unless it is a watercolour and he left the paper to shine through. Kris Peter "There is a famous 1650 portrait by Velazquez of Pope Innocent X dressed in crimson robes and looking at the viewer with a world-rxpression. Looking at a Square-tailed Kite with its drooping eyelids and air of cynicism puts me in mind of this portrait. I tried to capture the similarity of the two gazes by simplifying the background and focusing the composition on the bird's expression." Peter Slater Page 9 of 12 P O Box 284 Canterbury Victoria 3126

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