AROUND THE STUDIOS

Welcome to Peninsula Arts Society. This article is to give you a small look at the studios and the people who enjoy the facilities provided.

You will have to go a long way to find a more welcoming group of people, from the committee to the tutors and everyone in between.

There are two large studios; Studio 2000 and the Greenhill studio, these make many activities possible for the benefit of all the members. Once a month a Demonstration by an artist of note is held in the Greenhill Studio, both studios are used once a year for the annual Day of Demos, the event itself is conducted with an artist in each studio morning and afternoon demonstrating his or her field of expertise. Peninsula Arts Society has tutors covering many Arts and Crafts such as; oils, pastel, watercolour or mixed media, textiles and a Writing Group ... just some of the many exciting things you can look forward to.

This particular article is to introduce Colin Johnson and his Wednesday morning class to you, as a tutor Colin’s great knowledge and experience of history is eagerly sort out by PAS members and so with this in mind and instead of a studio class, the members met on Wed 13th May at the Ian Potter Centre in Federation Square to have Colin conduct a walk‐about and discussion, in fact a “Tribute to Selected Artists” of the Australian school.

The tour was to take place in the main gallery of Australian Impressionists followed by the smaller Joseph Brown bequest gallery. The organization was timed to the second until the gallery staff forgot that they were to allow the access to Colin’s class...and they closed the gallery... Disaster ...no way, after Colin straightened the gallery staff out, and without breaking stride he just went to plan “B”

Plan “B”

The Joseph Brown gallery holds some of the greatest paintings in Australia, so plan B went into action.

The class with their chairs sat around the Louis Buvelot painting “Bush track, Dromana, 1879“while Colin pointed out the features of the painting and giving instruction on how to check for the main points... constructional lines, down, across and diagonal, your tonal features and the narrative of this great painting. The students all drew a small linear sketch containing all they had learned. We all moved on to Frederick McCubbins “Autumn Memories,Brighton‐1899” the same thing with this painting, they followed the format, composition, and looked for the light and atmosphere, colour change and narrative in the painting.

All the time the class were drawing, Colin kept up a steady stream of comments and explanations. The concentration was complete; no one noticed the passing parade of school children and unaccompanied adults. The work and critiques by Colin made the class members time spent very valued indeed.

The third painting that was tackled by all was Arthur Stretton’s “Sydney Harbour‐1895” painted on a drapers board panel, the story of the painting was the reason it sang. Last but not least the painting by “Farm Landscape‐1905”a beautiful landscape with a hint of Art Nouveau to it. Most of the class drew this in a small sketch. The four paintings that Colin chose for the class to study, were by popular opinion, the best in the gallery, maybe because the understanding of how and why they were painted added to the appreciation.

All class members agreed that the in‐depth study on the four paintings was worth the time and effort. Colin’s knowledge, with the aid of photographs, anecdotes and stories of the artists lives and loves helped make each artist become more vital and the painting relevant to this day and age. Colin’s knowledge is exceptional, for instance did you know the seagulls on the Mornington peninsula always fly diagonally...strange, but true...I got it from Colin.

All the photographs are of Colin’s class in studio and on the field trip. All tutors in the society try to make all budding artists’ quest for “Art” a pleasure and hassle free.

What a great way to follow you dreams of an artistic life.