UKCPS Annual General Meeting 2014

Please take the time to read the minutes from the 2014 Annual General Meeting of the UKCPS which are ow available on the UKCPS website - find it under Members' Login. There is a lot of important information regarding your society and it is worth keeping up with all the news. Thank you.

AGM Clarification

There seems to be some confusion about the members workshops being held in the afternoon after the AGM.

There are 3 workshops at £25 each. David Lewry - fur, Morryce Maddams - buildings, Malcolm Cudmore - complimentary colours. These are hands on and are NOT demonstrations. For booking and further details check out the members page of our website or contact the tutors direct.

In the morning before the AGM there is a talk and demonstration also by Malcolm Cudmore about 'composition' this is open to all members and is free.

Please do come and support your society, hear what is being planned for the future and if you wish you can have your say too, we don't put you under any pressure. Your Executive Committee will be pleased to meet you and you will have the opportunity to meet other members from beginners to professional artists. You all have one thing in common, a love of coloured pencils.

The MAC centre is an art venue and there is often other things going on. There is plenty of parking and a good cafe.

UKCPS AGM

Indulge in a Day of Coloured Pencil

UKCPS AGM, Talk and Workshops

19th October 2014
MAC, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, B12 9QH

10.30 - 11.30 am
Free talk by Malcolm Cudmore on Composition

11.45-1.45pm
AGM - meet the exec and have your say.

2.30 - 4pm
3 coloured pencil workshops as detailed below. Cost £25 and log in at the members section at the UKCPS website to book your place.

Log in and book your place now

Malcolm Cudmore
Using complimentary colours to add impact!

David Lewry
Fur Techniques
Techniques for rendering very realistic animal fur using coloured pencils

Morryce Maddams
Architectural features in fine detail, coloured pencils give the wow factor.

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.

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

AGM Rogues Gallery

The Chair in full flow!

The UKCPS is such a scattered group of enthusiasts that few are able to attend the AGM unless it is actually held within their region of the UK.

Consequently, many members would not recognise an Exec Committee member even if they fell over one!

Here then, are those Exec members who faced the members present at the AGM in Nuneaton on 6th October last:



(L to Rt) Pauline Longley [Local Groups], Malcolm Cudmore [Editor- Talking Point], Will Johnson [Secretary & Membership], Barbara Murray [Chair], Liz Ridley [Treasurer & Website], Pat Heffer [President].  (I'm missing 'cos I'm behind the camera!).

Missing Exec members are: Bev Lewis [Newsletter & publicity design], Sarah Longrigg [Yahoo Groups Forum].

Be advised that, in the course of the next year, some of the Exec members are liable to undertake different functions from those listed.  (follow this Blog or read about it in Talking Point or the Newsletter!)



Members present - too many to name!

And here are those members who managed to attend!



Exec Committee vacancies

One of the outcomes from the recent AGM is the fact that the executive committee has an urgent need for new volunteers.  The comittee members are scattered throughout the UK, so the commttee only meets formally a couple of times a year, and most of the work is carried out/discussed via the internet.

The most important need at the moment is for a society Treasurer, and incidental to that, a volunteer independent Auditor (membership of UKCPS not essential), but we also need some volunteers to form a sub-committee charged with organising the society's exhibitions (the 2012 one is in Nuneaton, by the way).

If you think you could devote even a little bit of your time to the society's affairs, then please contact the Chairman, Barbara Murray, who will give further details (and will no doubt offer various enticements).

Barbara can be contacted via barbaramurray1@sky.com  

AGM Reminder!

Just a note to remind UKCPS members of the Annual General Meeting being held at Methodist Central Hall, Westminster, London, SW1H 9NH, at 14.30 on the forthcoming Saturday, 1st October 2011.

If you have read your latest edition of 'Talking Point' (and if you haven't, then you should've 'cos there are some lovely articles in it!) you will be aware that there are some important issues to discuss and make decisions upon.

The AGM will be an excellent oportunity to meet fellow members, and is a good chance to put faces to the members of your Executive Committee, or to people you may have read about on the UKCPs Forum or website.

I myself have been given the day off DIY duties by 'her indoors' so that I can attend, and I look forward to meeting everyone.

Alan (McMahon)

Derwent 'Inktense Blocks'

The new Inktense Blocks (see the Blog entry for 12 February) are under discussion by the UKCPS Executive as they try to decide whether they should be defined as a 'coloured pencil' - given that they consist of the same Inktence pigment, but shaped in a pastel-like block without any wooden surround.

What do readers think?

A Birthday and a Goodbye

Today is my last day as blogmaster and this is my last post on UKCPS News. 

I've been responsible for writing the blog posts for UKCPS News since September 2008 when I took over from Bob Ebdon, the Founder of the UKCPS.

I'd like to take this opportunity to recap where this blog came from and what it has achieved to date - and that's partly because it was my idea in the first place!

At the 2007 AGM, I suggested it was time for UKCPS to think about creating a blog with a view to (1) improving online communication with UKCPS members and (2) broadcasting news about UKCPS and coloured pencils to an audience beyond UKCPS members - all with a view to fulfilling all the main aims of the Society:

• to promote coloured pencils as a fine art medium
• to support artists who use coloured pencils
• to educate artists and the public in general about coloured pencils

At the time of the meeting, the Executive was a little reluctant to make a commitment, however Bob soon saw the point and created the blog a short while later in October 2007 - which of course means that this blog is now three years old!

UKCPS News Achievements

In the last three years, UKCPS News has achieved the following:

• 167 blog posts in three years
• 255 subscribers from all over the world - who get an email every time the blog is published or otherwise read the blog in their feedreader
• an awful lot of visitors.  Since it started three years ago there have been 38,892 unique visitors to UKCPS News.  My records for the last two years show there have been well over 26,000 visitors who have generated some 44,000 page loads.  As always the peaks have come in October round about the time of the Annual Exhibition when lots of visitors are keen to see the images of the prizewinners - and to find out who won what.

UKCPS News: Pageloads and Unique Visitors October 2008-October 2010

New Initiatives

New initiatives that have proved popular during my time as blogmaster have included:

• a suite of posts covering every aspect of the UKCPS Annual Exhibition - from prizewinners to the volunteers who help make it happen
• the publication of all the names of artists accepted into the Annual Exhibition.  This has become one of the most popular posts on the blog and always gets a big audience each year.
• more publicity for the activities of members at a local level - especially those running local groups and those demonstrating coloured pencils
• posts featuring individual members when they have achieved something particularly meritorious as a coloured pencil artist.  This has helped raise the awareness of just how many coloured pencil artists are now being selected for and winning awards in multi-media exhibitions.
  
• the development of the blogroll.  This now provides a link to every UKCPS member who has a blog about their coloured pencil art and news of their latest post
• the inclusion of the Link Within widget.  At the bottom of every post, this highlights past posts which are related in topic terms to an indvidual post.  This in turn helps people to explore the archive of relevant posts as well as reading the latest one.

So - all in all - it feels like UKCPS News has been a very worthwhile exercise to date in terms of the benefits it has brought to the promotion of coloured pencil.

I'm now stepping down from the role of blogmaster for a few reasons, two of which relate to a couple of major projects I've had in mind for a while.  One of which involves a lot of writing!  If you're interested, all will become clear in the next couple of months or so and you can find out more in due course in my usual home over at Making A Mark.

In the meantime, there's now a vacancy for a blogmaster....so I hope it will only be a short gap before somebody is again writing about the next major UKCPS activity (which is Art Materials Live at the NEC - see the side column), what the local groups have been getting up to, who's won a prize in which exhibition, who's demonstrating where, who's written a relevant book etc etc.

There'll be a new email address in due course if you have any news.  In the meantime, if you want to highlight anything which is suitable for the blog please contact Liz Ridley - webmaster@ukcps.co.uk

Katherine Tyrrell UKCPS
UKCPS Blogmaster (now retired!)

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: 1st October 5pm

This is from Elizabeth Frearson, the Chair of UKCPS

Here is a reminder to all our members that it is the AGM next Friday (1st October) at 5pm at the Stamford Arts Centre with a social gathering afterwards.  We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible there. 

Under the Constitution of the Society, the committee roles are formally ratified at the AGM.  If there are any alternative candidates seeking appointment to any committee post at the AGM please could you let the Chair know by midday 30th September by e-mailing chair@ukcps.co.uk.  If you wish to raise any other business it would be likewise useful to do so in advance because the committee are having a meeting that morning and can be prepared with a consensus view for a  better use of the time available.

Agenda for the AGM:

1. UKCPS Committee 
2. Scope of the Society
3. Sponsorship
4. 10th birthday celebrations and the annual exhibition
5. Keswick
6. NEC and the resources available
7. Venues for future exhibitions
8. Communication with Membership
9. The Web
10. Forums
11. Membership
12. Local Groups
13. Schools
14. Any Other Business - Timing of the AGM, Private View, committee meeting and incorporation into the annual exhibition 

Looking forward to meeting you all there.

Note: The UKCPS Annual Exhibition at the Stamford Arts Centre Gallery will be closed next Monday

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

Happy New Year!

.....And a very productive one, to all of the UKCPS membership!

We start the New Year with some good news and some bad news. The good news is that we seem to have a few more volunteers for posts on the Executive, and, after Peter Weatherill has let the Christmas Turkey settled a bit and twisted a few arms a little higher up some peoples backs, we hope to be able to announce four additions to the Executive, initially in a job share/support role, but who knows where that might lead - we hope!

The bad news is just a reminder of what was decided at the AGM in October - subscription rates will rise this year for the first time since the Society was launched in 2002. The new rates, which will apply to anyone joining this year or renewing during the year, are:

• UK Resident Full member - £28
• UK Resident Assoc member - £20
• Add £5 to each of these for Overseas residency.

The new rates are now on the website, you can join from our membership page. We feel that with the increased postage costs, increased size of Talking Point, and increased fees for prestigious gallery space in 2008/9, the increased fees are both warranted and value for money. And we hope you agree!

Happy Scribbling!