UKCPS Member on LAC

UKCPS Member Julie-Ann Maguire has written a piece about her experience working on drafting film for the London Art College Blog. It can be found here. Thank you for that Julie-Ann and I wonder if any other UKCPS members would like to share their experiences of working on this surface.

2014 Open Exhibition Shortlist Results

The shortlist results for the 2014 Open Exhibition are out. Please check your email to see if you have been accepted. You should receive an email either way to confirm. Good luck!

Winter 2014 Newsletter

The UKCPS Winter 2014 Newsletter is out now. Please check your email boxes or head over to the UKCPS website to download the pdf.

Charity Calender

Over at paintmyphoto.com a member called Cheryl Neilson is looking at submissions for a 2015 Wildlife calender to be sold in aid of BSPCA, Bahrain Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. 

Full details are available here. You may have to be a member of paintmyphoto to get access to the details.

UKCPS Questionnaire

In the recent Talking Point, volume 13, you would have found a questionnaire asking for your thoughts on the UKCPS. A number of these have now been returned but we would love to hear from more of you. So, c'mon, get them filled in and returned - this is your chance to voice your opinions, thoughts and mutterings about the UKCPS. What would you like to see more of? Where do you think we could improve? What do we do well?

Don't miss your opportunity to get involved and have your say! It'll take you 5 minutes and the cost of a stamp but mean a lot more than that to the UKCPS.

Judging Process for the UKCPS Exhibition

For your information - 

Selection is anonymous and made by three independent judges. Our President Pat Heffer who based  the selection process on the original method instigated by our founder Bob Ebdon is most concerned that anyone should  for one minute consider the process to be biased in any way, so we are explaining exactly what happens to your entries once they are received by Liz Ridley, to allay any concerns.

The judges this year are:
Ann Kullberg - US Coloured Pencil Artist
Steve Pill - Editor, Artists & Illustrators Magazine
Paul Bartlett RBA RBSA - Artist and Full Member of the RBSA.

 The full process is as follows:
1. All entries are received by Liz Ridley who checks that the correct entry fee has been paid, the work has not previously been hung in one of our exhibitions and the entry form has been completed correctly.

2. All pictures are given a number. The judges are sent a spreadsheet with all the pictures listed, giving the picture number, title and size, together with a link to a slideshow where they can view all the pictures with, once again, just the number, title and size, no artist’s name being provided. Thus the whole process is totally anonymous and no artist can be favoured by the judging panel.

3. The judges score each picture marks out of 100. The scores are added together so a perfect picture would score 300. A decision would have already been made by the executive as to how many pictures can be hung at each gallery so the applicable number with the highest score will be selected for exhibition. For example, this year we received approx. 240 pictures for judging and we will be hanging about 80 pictures (dependent on how many are above the cut off score –( it may be 78 or 79) so about a third will be successful.

4. The successful pictures are then linked back to the artists who will be told of the result.

Most societies have only one judge to select the successful pictures and this can therefore give a rather biased result, but using three judges has been shown to give a much more varied exhibition, although it entails a lot more work for the executive member dealing with the entries.
We hope that this explanation has now satisfied our members that the selection process for our Open International Exhibitions is totally fair and unbiased.

Liz Ridley, Treasurer and Exhibition Assistant
Pat Heffer, President

New Editor over at Talking Point!

Hello all,

I would like to quickly introduce myself as the new Editor :)

I am putting together the next issue of TP. If any of you have anything you would like me to put into TP however small pleases can you let me have it ASAP. Even if it does not go in this issue it will go in further issues as I am stockpiling just incase!

*****MEMBERS GALLERY*******

Please send me your pictures in JPEG format. There is no theme this issue apart from introducing yourself and your art. So send in the image that best represents you and what you like to do. No nudity I am afraid though, even if life drawing. I don't wish to get into trouble by the magazine going on a top shelf ;)

*****CRITIQUE*****

Would anyone like their work critiqued by an established artist? Send in a picture of your work and it's description including what you have used and on what you drew it on. Also what you fought with or was successful on. And importantly about you.

******LETTERS TO BARB*****

Send in your letters to the chair please

****** WHATS ON*******

Please let me know what is going on in your area, maybe it's is an exhibition, craft fair, lessons or a group. Reference gathering opportunities are always useful as are competitions etc

If you can think of anything else please do let me know and forgive my spelling and grammatical errors I am typing this on my iPad in bed before I get up for my first art group/lesson this morning and If I don't turn the heating on early they shall all freeze!

Have a good day

Judith

Editor of TP

Patchings Festival 2014

This year's Patchings Festival is on the 5-8th June 2014. UKCPS will have a marquee where you can meet up with other members, watch some demos, participate in some workshops.

This year there is an exciting artistic challenge which will also help decorate and promote coloured pencil art. You can download a bunting template from the UKCPS site (link below), trace it onto your best paper and decorate it with your best coloured pencil effort. There is no limit on the number of entries you can submit and you could win a prize!

The closing date is the 28th of May 2014.

Full details here.

The Artist & Leisure Painter Butterfly Competition

The Artist and Leisure Painter magazines have opened a competition with Jackson's Art Supplies to win:

Leather pencil case which holds up to 48 pencils
Koh-I-Noor Mondeluz Coloured Pencils
Publication of the winning pictures in their summer editions.

All you have to do is create a picture in any medium of the subject 'butterfly' and submit it by the 2nd of May 2014. 4 winners will be notified by the 13th of May. They have also provided some reference photos if you need one.

Full details here.

Talking Point Volume 13: December 2013

Volume 13 of the Society's quarterly newsletter, Talking Point, is now out. Cover art is by US coloured pencil artist John Smolko with a dedicated feature inside. You will also find a Member Survey inside which we hope you will complete and return as soon as possible.

New Blog Admin!

Following the call for UKCPS members to volunteer for various roles, I am pleased to report that Alan McMahon has been relieved of duty over here at the UKCPS Blog and I have stepped up to the plate. I want to thank Alan for all he has done here and the assistance he has offered to me in taking over.

I have been running my own Coloured Pencil Blog for a few years now and hope that it will stand me in good stead to continue the great job Alan has been doing. Not much will change, unless you want it to and have some great suggestions, and all news, tidbits or matters of interest to the members of UKCPS can be forwarded to myself at:

blogmaster@ukcps.co.uk or ukcps@gmail.com

I would love to hear from you; big news, wee news, any news and hopefully we can build on what is already here.

Hazel Hay

BBC 1 - Seeking amatuer artists!

WANTED AMATEUR ARTISTS! BBC One is on the hunt for the best of Britain’s amateur artists for a new competitive arts series. We're looking for amateur painters from all over the UK who have a passion for painting and drawing. If you are over 16 and like a creative challenge we want to hear from you. Applicants must not be professional artists and will be expected to work in a variety of different figurative forms and media - from landscape, portraiture and still life, to watercolour, oil and charcoal. To apply - please send your name, address, age, occupation and contact number, along with a recent photo, up to three images of your work, and a short paragraph about why you paint to: amateurartist@bbc.co.uk Or by post to: Amateur Artist, MC5 A6, BBC Media Centre, Wood Lane, London, W12 7TQ  (Please DO NOT send originals as these can not be returned to you)

Try Pencils - Wirral, UK

If any members are coming north to escape the floods - why not join us at St Chad's Church Hall, Roslin Road, Irby, Wirral, CH61 3UH, on Saturday 22 February for an afternoon of drawing (cp or Graphite!).


1pm to 4pm, cost £5


 Tea/coffee & biscuits and A4 Cartridge paper provided, bring your own pencils or use the available Coloursoft or Faber-Castells. 


Pay on the day, but please let me know if you are coming: alanmac48@btinternet.com


Alan McMahon