Monday 7 September 2009

News: BAASA member wins international prize for 'Baobab'

Eileen Bass, who is also a member of the Miniature Art Society of South Africa, recently won the prize for "Best Drawing executed in Pencil" for her drawing "Baobab" at the 18th International Miniature Art Show which was held in North Carolina, USA.
Well done Eileen!

To read a report on the show click here.
To see the artwork click here.

Please diarise:
The Miniature Art Society of South Africa is having their next Annual Exhibition at Hyde Park Centre (near Exclusive Books) from Monday, 5th to Sunday, 11th October 2009.

Friday 4 September 2009

"Flowers" Mass Demonstration - Centurion Watercolour Society


The mass demonstration with the theme "Flowers" which was organised by the Centurion Watercolour Society was held on Saturday afternoon on 15 August, and was fairly well attended by members from BAASA's Pretoria group.

Gill Condy was there representing BAASA, and although there were only 7 artists demonstrating in total, it was still interesting to see every one's entirely unique style and approach to painting floral subjects.



Linda Fourie, from the Centurion Watercolour Society, painted a rose in transparent glazes.


Gillian Condy represented BAASA and worked on her painting of the very rare Aloe peglerae, which is endemic to Gauteng and the North West Province.





Mary Lynn Kidd represented the Miniature Art Society of South Africa, and painted a miniature floral arrangement.


Click here for more information on the Aloe peglerae

Wednesday 17 June 2009

Painting with Di

On Saturday the 6th of June we had a wonderful turnout to the last meeting to be held at Di Carmichael's studio.
Di demonstrated landscape painting techniques, after which all members got a chance to paint and experiment.
Di demonstrating the art of making washes.

A big thank you to Di:
Di has opened her home and studio for meetings of BAASA members for the past several years. She has always willingly opened the doors, shuffled the furniture around, put out the tea things and then cleaned up after we have left.
Di has been so generous with her knowledge and has always been willing to share, help and demonstrate to us all.
We would like to wish her many happy painting and teaching years in her new home when she moves later this year.

Di, we all thank you most sincerely for all you have done.

Sunday 19 April 2009

Beth Grobbelaar Talk: "Natural jewels and how to illustrate them" - April 2009




An illustration by Beth Grobbelaar. (Photo by Mary Lynn Kidd)

In April BAASA members were mesmerised by Beth's excellent presentation, and all the boxes of meticulously mounted beautiful "bug" specimens that she had brought with from the National Insect Collection in Pretoria. We were astounded by her facts and figures, and at the amazing diversity of insect life. Beth also discussed her illustration working methods in detail.

Some of the "natural jewels" from the National Insect Collection.
(Photos by Ann Harris)

(Photo by Mary Lynn Kidd)
Above is Beth's illustration of the African Rock Crawler, an insect from the new order Mantophasmotodea that was discovered in 2002! This illustration formed the basis of the logo that she developed for the 2008 International Congress of Entomology which was held in Durban.

Wednesday 15 April 2009

Sheila Santilhano's "Bees, Butterflies and Birds" Workshop - February 2009




Photo by Mary Lynn Kydd.
Sheila demonstrating her painstaking method of painting birds in fine detail. Here she is painting a Redthroated Twinspot (Hypargos niveoguttatus).


A bee painted by Mary Lynn Kydd.




An unfinished painting of a Spotted Eagle Owl (Bubo africanus) by Samantha Haacke which was painted from a stuffed specimen.

"Natural Wonder" - Pretoria group exhibition




The Pretoria group recently held a small and successful exhibition. Of the 100 artworks on show over 40% were sold. For most of the exhibition participants this was their first art show, and seeing their work mounted and hung was a wonderful confidence booster. Well done to all involved!




Some of the participants together with Stuart Trent, the gallery owner, in front of some of their work.