UKCPS Annual Open Exhibition 2015 - Menier Gallery, London

UKCPS Annual Open Exhbition 2015 - Menier Gallery, London
The artists have now been selected, congratulations to you all and commiserations to those who did not get selected. You can see a list of the successful artists at our website.

We hope you will be visiting the exhibition which is open from Wednesday, 6th May to Saturday, 16th May (closed Sundays). Full opening times are on the website.

There will be at least one artist in the gallery every day demonstrating coloured pencil and ready to chat about our favourite medium. Full timetable as listed below:

Wednesday 6th May - Judith Heilbronn-Crown
Thursday 7th May - Morryce Maddams
Friday 8th May - Sue Clinker and Karen Coulson
Saturday 9th May - Debi Hide
Monday 11th May - Malcolm Cudmore
Tuesday 12th May - Malcolm Cudmore
Wednesday 13th May - Morryce Maddams
Thursday 14th May - Suzy Herbert
Friday 15th May - Suzy Herbert
Saturday 16th May - Victoria Parsons

The Private View is on Wednesday 6th May at 6.30pm, if you would like an invitation please email london2015@ukcps.co.uk with your name and address. Please note, all those who entered the competition will automatically be sent an invitation.

Are you able to help??
We are still looking for helpers - can you assist with any of the following:

Stewards - we still have some gaps in our rota, if you can spare a few hours when you come to visit please contact Pat Heffer at president@ukcps.co.uk

Do you have a van (or know of a driver with a van) - we need someone who can transport our card holders and racks from a storage unit near Birmingham to London on Tuesday 5th May. Petrol costs will be reimbursed. Please contact Barbara Murray at chairman@ukcps.co.uk

Do you have any prints or pictures for our Silent Auction? This is a great way of raising funds for the society and we would appreciate any works you can offer. Please contact Pat Heffer at president@ukpcs.co.uk.

Alan Jones in the news

North Wales member, Alan Jones, has been commissioned by Derwent Pencils to produce a drawing of a bear cub to be reproduced onto the front of their sketchbooks. "I couldn't believe it when Derwent approached me" said Alan. "This is a huge honour and I am very humbled that Derwent chose me to produce the drawing, but I am glad they did!" The drawing took over 15 hours to produce using Derwent soft graphite H, 2B & 8B pencils onto Derwent A3 cartridge. "Derwent pencils are really a joy to use, you can sharpen them to ultra fine points and lay a really rich velvety layer of graphite down to build up subtle shades with precise control."

These quality sketchbooks will be on sale in an art store near you anytime soon.
More of Alan's fine animal drawings can be viewed in his album via the UKCPS YahooGroup Forum.
(if you are a UKCPS member and not in the Yahoo Group Forum then you are missing out on seeing some wonderful pictures in the members albums - contained in the 'Photos' section of the group page)


Also It has just been announced that Alan's entry 'Pleasureland' won 3rd place in Ms Poem's Cover Star Illustrator competition!  Follow the link:http://msmoem.com/2011/ms-moem-news/my-cover-star-illustrator-winner/

　

Alan is over the moon with this as the standard was extremely high.  Drawn in Derwent Studio Coloured pencils onto white A4 cartridge paper.  He wins a copy of the book and Derwent sketching pencils.

Time For a Chat?

A reminder for UKCPS members that if you join the UKCPS Yahoo Group Forum, you can also access the 'Chat' room (click on the link 'CHAT').

7pm (GMT) is a good time to visit as Sarah Longrigg and Judith Crown are regular visitors at that time.  If they are busy chatting to one another when you enter the room - just type 'hello' or something, and they will respond.

CHAT ROOM MEETINGS

(see my post of 14 February)
The 7 pm [gmt] meeting in the Forum chatroom seems to have developed into regular appointment, with Judith Crown, Pauline Longley, and Sarah Longrigg, being frequent 'chatters' between 7 and 7.30 pm. (and I pop-in when I can!). Don't worry if you've never used a chatroom before - most of us are beginners and only starting to learn the ropes. Spelling is definately not important!

Alan

Notes from the UK Coloured Pencil Society AGM

UKCPS Annual General Meeting 1st October 2010

The Annual General Meeting of the UKCPS took place at 5pm on Friday 1st October.

This is an edited version of the Chair's note which summarises key points in advance of the publication of the full minutes to all UKCPS members.  It broadly follows the order of items on the agenda

Society Finances / Sponsorship / Membership

The current economic climate is generating pressures on two important sources of future UKCPS revenue.  It is proving increasingly difficult to gain sponsorship and also to retain members who are having to review their outgoings.  The latter particularly affects those who are retired and/or whose income is increasingly squeezed.  It's therefore essential to keep the Society's running costs under control.

However, the good news is that the UKCPS has accumulated a significant reserve which currently provides:

• the equivalent of a year’s running costs which acts as a buffer against any financial difficulties or insolvency.
• an opportunity to invest funds to take forward both the aims of the Society and to add value to members.

Annual Exhibition / Venues for future exhibitions

Changes have been agreed to how UKCPS exhibits in future.

In order to maintain maximum accessibility for members, the new plan is to hold the Annual Exhibition at a venue in London and a suitable venue elsewhere in the UK in alternate years.

• The 10th Annual Exhibition in 2011 will be in London.
• The venue for 2012 has not yet been decided.  Prestigious galleries outside London are being sought and any help identifying suitable locations is most welcome.

10th birthday celebrations / a new mixed media class

The occasion of the first Annual Exhibition by UKCPS in London will be used to promote the use of coloured pencils as a fine art medium within the capital and to figures in the fine art establishment.   Invites will be extended to the latter re attendance at the Private View and involvement with the judging.

The 10th exhibition will be a larger event.  It provides an opportunity for members to get involved in running workshops and demonstrating.  Members are also invited to make suggestions for new ways of how to use the Exhibition to communicate coloured pencils to a new audience

A new mixed media class has been proposed and agreed.  The AGM agreed that UKCPS should pilot a judged 50% mixed media class alongside the pure coloured pencil workls in order to extend the scope of the Society and to enable keen users of pastel pencils to participate.  This does not mean that the Society is losing its primary focus of being the Society specialising in pure coloured pencils.

UKCPS Committee 

There have been a number of changes in committee membership during 2009/10 which have resulted in fresh ideas coming to the fore.  The spreading of roles between more people is working well.  This has relieved pressures on existing committee members and enabled more attention to be given to the development of new ideas.

Currently there are urgent outstanding vacancies for:

• PR and marketing
• Co-ordination of the UKCPS annual attendance at Art Materials Live at the NEC

Anyone interested should contact the Chairman.  You don't need to be proposed - you can volunteer.

If better forum webware can be found (given the current way Yahoo displays artwork separate from threads) a volunteer is also needed to make this happen and then run the forum.

Forward notice was given that the following roles will be vacated in 2011

• Chairman
• Exhibition Director
• Sponsorship

Communication with Membership

The Annual Committee Meeting enabled discussion of new ways of improving communication to members using a variety of channels.

In future, the plan is to:

• Create a membership area on the web.  This will include a searchable set of resources based on articles in Talking Point and useful threads in the Forum
• Develop a new approach to Local Groups to create a more geographically based approach to the provision of information and workshops at a local level.
• Develop an interim newsletter for members who do not use the web to provide top tips from the Forum inbetween editions of Talking Point

Timing of Annual Committee Meeting / AGM

It has been customary to hold the Annual Committee Meeting on the same day as and just before the AGM.  It was agreed that this is not working.

Next year a revised timetable will create more opportunity to develop ideas for consideration by members in advance of the AGM

It was also noted that the change of day on which the AGM was held had also prompted many members to ask that the UKCPS AGM returns to being held at a weekend so more members can attend. 

Exhibition Awards

Pat Heffer presents the Derwent Award to Peter Woof

The Exhibition Director distributed the following awards to those prizewinners able to attend.

• Caran d'Ache Award for Best Picture in Show (£400) ‘Loire Valley Harvest’ by Jane Pirie (Mrs Thorogood)
• UKCPS Award for ‘Reserve Best in Show’ (£200) ‘Daydreaming Tiger’ by Sue Clinker UKCPS 
• The President's Award (£100) ‘Challenging Stereotypes’ by Kate Clarke UKCPS 
• The Peter Weatherill Award for Best Landscape (£75) ‘Surrey Spring Elstead Moat Pond’ by Jean Canter UKCPS
• The Staedtler Award (£50) ‘Strawberries’ by Irina Garmashova-Cawton
• The Faber Castell Award (Large box of Polychromos Pencils) ‘Ross’ by Brian Ainsworth
• The Derwent Award (£100 of art supplies from Derwent catalogue) ‘Japanese Still Life’ by Peter Woof UKCPS Silver
• The Lyra Award (Large Box of Pencils) Plum & Blossom 'Marjories Seedling' by Jane Pirie (Mrs Thorogood)
• The Ann Swan Award for Botanical Art (copy of her new book)  'Pear 'Conference' by Jane Pirie (Mrs Thorogood)

Prizes were also awarded to those Highly Commended.

Following the close of the meeting, an enjoyable social gathering was held.

After that, volunteers (and partners) dismantled the exhibition and packed up artwork for despatch back to members. 

NOTE:  Distribution of artwork:  “The postman” is away next week on a course so there will be a short delay before pictures are returned to artists.

Pauline Longley, Suzie Herbert and Malcolm Cudmore pack up the exhibition
assisted by members' partners

UKCPS Annual General Meeting - 3rd October 2009

The UKCPS Annual General Meeting is on Saturday 3rd October 2009 and will follow the Annual Society Lunch.

Annual Society Lunch

The Annual Society Lunch takes place at Pasta di Piazza, 11 Brook Street, St Paul's Square, Birmingham B3 1SA on Saturday 3rd October at 12.15pm. Contact Pat Heffer if you wish to join the annual lunch as all seats need to be booked in advance.

Annual General Meeting

The UKCPS AGM will take place in Birmingham at St Paul's Church, (St Paul's Square, Birmingham B3 1SA) from 2pm until 4pm, after which the exhibition at the RBSA Gallery (4 Brook St Birmingham, West Midlands, B3 1SA) will be taken down.

UKCPS AGM - 3rd October 2009 - Agenda-

The AGM will start at 2.00pm. The agenda is as follows.

1. Apologies for absence
2. Minutes of last meeting
3. President’s report
4. Chairman’s report
5. Financial statement
6. Membership report
7. Exhibition report
8. Sponsorship report
9. Constitution
10. Report about Yahoo group and future
11. New members of Exec
12. Any other business

If you'd like any more details about the Annual General Meeting please contact Carol Bramley, UKCPS Secretary and Postmistress

Locations & directions - car/ rail/ walk

The RBSA website includes a "locate us" page. This provides details of where the gallery is (see RBSA locate map on right). and instructions for those coming by road or rail.

This is a link to a Google Map which indicates the locations of the RBSA Gallery, the restaurant, church and Birmingham New Street station.

You can use Street View to see what the area looks like. You can also use 'Get Directions' to find a suggested route - walking or by car - to St Paul's Square from a location of your choice.

Rail/Walking: Directions are provided on the RBSA Locate us page. The location of Birmingham New Street station is indicated on the Google Map.

Parking: The St Pauls Square area is an area of controlled parking with parking restrictions applying every day between 8am and 5pm. There are some 'pay at the machine' spaces. Local car parks are indicated on the map. Further details are available on the RBSA Locate us page

Current activity

OK, so it looks as though I might be able to do this. I will try to update as often as I can with anything that I think may be of interest to our members.

Today the yahoo discussion group has been talking about different surfaces, including Art Spectrum Colorfix and Tim Fisher's Fisher 400 papers. We have also been introduced to the amazing art of Ester Roi, and I have added her to our links pages.

The Executive is still debating the merits of some members having an online subscription only, and trying very hard to come up with some helpers, especially as our Local Groups organiser has now left the post. They are also preparing for the UKCPS stand at the NEC Art Live show coming up on November 8th-11th. Please do try to get along to this and say hello if you can. Our printer is now working on the next issue of Talking Point which will contain a small Christmas Present courtesy of Legion Papers.

Some more of our members are taking up the Mobtal offer of membership for a year of this Art Portal WAP oriented website - but not enough! And I know there are still 400 or so of our members who do not have their own page on the site. Please get in touch with me so we can show what ALL of our members are up to!