Our wonderful Diane has left us. Diane passed away last Thursday, with her loving family at her bedside. Diane Gilham has been member of Coochie Art Group for over 20 years, when she and Trevor joined us, all those years ago. Diane was an artist who never wavered in her devotion to her particular artistic path. Equally talented with her brush or the camera lens, Diane always brought her unique artistic talents to both. Her photos from her beloved Coochie were always beautiful. She showed us the beauty in the most prosaic of subjects – the light curving over pebbles, patterns in bark, flowers, – they brought joy to Diane and to all her friends. Diane battled health issues years ago and this was reflected in her paintings, which at that time, were mostly sombre choices of black and burnt sienna. It was wonderful to see her pride, when a painting of hers, in this moody genre, won the Judges Prize as best in the Show. Then, as her health improved, came Diane’s breakthrough moment! She used colour for the first time and then celebrated colour! And what colours Diane used thereafter! Rich, vibrant and exotic was Diane’s unique vision. >
> Diane faced the challenge of her diagnosis this year with unswerving grace, dignity and humour. Always ready with her huge grin and joy in family and friends, she was still creating, despite her limitations. She loved the personal art adorning her room, the more colourful the better! >
> With deepest sympathy to her loving family and many Coochie friends. Diane, we miss you. >
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Coochie Art Group is anticipating more colourful fun with one of our zaniest, colourful tutors, the inimitable Jenni Kelly, starting on Tuesday, 2/5/23. Jenni will be showing us her impressionistic approach to painting waterlilies, with an emphasis on layers of transparent acrylics. Jenni’s tuition is always extremely popular, and we already have many visitors joining us for her wonderful techniques. Jenni will have us scraping, rolling, and throwing brilliant colours to emphasise a strong design. Love it!

Visitors are always very welcome, as long as space in the class permits. For more information, Materials List, etc, please contact Gail on 0429 174 818

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Subject: Funtastic Acrylics with Jenni Kelly and CAG

Coochie Art Group and a lovely group of visitors have enjoyed 2 wonderful, fun days with one of our favourite tutors, talented artist and gifted tutor, Jenni Kelly. Jenni took us through a loose, impressionistic approach to a market scene. We layered darks, scraped on brights, layered more brilliant darks, stencilled, rolled, dribbled paint with a screwdriver, even briefly used a paintbrush! It was a lot of fun – nothing to get wrong here- just add another layer or 2 until it feels good. Thanks Jenni for a wonderful 2 days!

We are now eagerly anticipating our last term class with Jenni on Tuesday 6/9/22, when Jenni will take us through another impressionistic and very colourful approach to a brilliant bird “ portrait”.

Visitors are always very welcome, as long as space in the class permits. For more information, Material List, etc., please contact Gail on 0429 174 818

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Coochie Art Group members are a hardy lot! Yesterday, Tuesday 7/6/22, was a very cold day ( for SEQ ) with an icy wind and low temperatures. This didn’t stop us from enjoying a wonderful, tutor-free day, painting, laughing and dining together, thanks to Peter, Susan and Donna. They brought everything required for a gourmet sausage sizzle, complete with a warming beverage! Especial thanks to Peter for braving the icy blasts, as he barbequed the sausages and onions to perfection.Some beautiful work was produced, especially Gilly’s and Gail’s pastel portraits, Donna’s beach pastel, Beryl’s pen drawing and much more. It was a very productive and enjoyable day. How wonderful to have such great company and talented artists to share such a top day and their knowledge!
Members are anticipating yet another great day on Tuesday, 21/6/22, when Master Pastellist, Penny Gilbert-Ng will guide us through a day of plein air pastel landscape, again using a loose watercolour wash as the base. We will be drawing our inspiration from the wonderful views from the Hall balconies, whether it be the lush golf course surrounds, trees, or the glimpsed seascapes to the South and Victoria Point. Great place to paint!

Visitors are always very welcome, as long as space in the class permits. For more information, Materials List, Class Outline etc, please contact Gail on 0429 178 818

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Coochie Art Group members enjoyed a fabulous day on Tuesday15/3/22, with our own wonderful tutor, Hilary Wakeling. Hilary has a real gift of inspiring members to step out of their comfort zones and stretch their paintbrushes! Hilary guided us through the intricacies of overlapping shapes, forming pleasing patterns with limited colour choices, be they harmonious, complementary or more complicated! Fun! As always, some wonderful, creations evolved under the brushes of our members. Thanks Hilary, for a fabulous day! The delightful Southerly breeze through the Coochie Hall made last week’s heat an unpleasant memory.
We were so pleased to have our visitor Ruth, back with us once again. On Tuesday 29/3/22, Hilary will be tutoring CAG with Pen, Ink and Watercolour wash. Should be another great day! Visitors are very welcome as long as space in the class permits. For Materials Lists, class information and more details, please contact Gail on 0429 174 818

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Coochie Art Group had a fabulous ( and hot ) Tuesday 8/3 start to our years classes. It was so good to be back with the mob, painting up a storm with our own wonderfully talented Hilary Wakeling. Hilary led us through the challenges of preserving the white of the paper, whilst painting white subjects – birds, flowers, animals etc. No masking fluid and harsh outlines here, just gentle, loose applications of limited colours and layers, carefully avoiding the highlights/white areas and bringing gentle washes of the background colours in over the subject to provide shadow areas. Lovely to do and some brilliant work was completed.

We also welcomed a new visitor, Ruth, who fitted in so well and helped with some unexpected glitches, as we coped with RCC changes to the Hall over the holidays! Always a special treat to welcome more Islanders to our classes. Next week, Tuesday 15/3, Hilary will be showing us the joys of overlapping shapes in watercolour.

Visitors are always very welcome, as long as space in class permits. For more information, please contact Gail on 0429 174 818

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Subject: Wonderful Watercolour with Hilary!

Coochie Art Group is eagerly anticipating our first class for 2022 on Tuesday, 8/3/2022, with our own talented tutor, Hilary Wakeling. Hilary will guide us through “ Loose Painting leaving White” in watercolour and we can’t wait! Hilary has devised 3 watercolour classes for CAG in Term 1, including “ Overlapping Shapes” on 15/3/22 and “Pen, Ink and Wash” on 29/3/22.
The Material List is available on request and visitors are always very welcome, if space permits.

For more information, please contact Gail on 0429 174 818

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 Coochie Art Group enjoyed a particularly wonderful day on Tuesday 10/8/21 with tutor Vicki Whalan. Fresh from lockdown, it was great to be creating watercolour magic with our mates. We welcomed a new member, Susan, presented with her Coochie Badge, welcomed a new visitor, Joanne and were delighted to have a former member, Natalie, back to enjoy the class. With Vicki’s help, we explored the intricacies of gum blossoms and leaves. Vicki took us through the importance of establishing colour notes, using a limited palette, and warm and cool colour wheels to inform the choice, drawing an initial detailed sketch with comprehensive notes, demonstrated when and how to use limited masking fluid and to avoid the usual traps. We were delighted to see Vicki’s chosen gum blossoms emerge beautifully, not as a botanical painting, but as Vicki’s lovely interpretation. Thank you Vicki for a wonderful day, complete with your usual very extensive class notes. These are invaluable, as members could watch Vicki’s every brush stroke, without stopping to take notes.
Next class with Vicki will be on 24/8/21, where members will explore painting native birds in watercolour. Should be fascinating! Visitors are always very welcome, as long as space in the class allows. For more information, please contact Gail on 0429 174 818.

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Coochie Art Group was delighted to welcome back, on Tuesday 27/7/22, our wonderful tutor, Vicki Whalan – a very talented, local artist, who is also President of Old School House Gallery. Vicki has a real and generous gift for tutelage, is extremely encouraging for all skill levels, hands out the most comprehensive class notes and is a delight to have back for Term 3 – Gum Blossoms and Birds in Watercolour with the optional addition of coloured pencil. Vicki took us through the importance of an accurate subject sketch, better methods to improve composition, drawing techniques, and how to actually draw a gum blossom – no easy subject, and so much more! Her handouts covered everything, including how to stretch watercolour paper and why! It was a fabulous and enjoyable day, great mates, great tuition in the best art venue – Coochie Hall, looking out over the Bay and the Golf Course. Visitors are always very welcome, as long as class size permits. Next class will be Tuesday 10/8/21. For more information, contact Gail on 0429 174 818

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Yesterday, in the teeth of strong winds, relentless rain and rough seas, Coochie Art Group enjoyed another fabulous day, learning and creating with our brilliant tutor, Jan Lawnikanis. It has been such a wonderful term with Jan’s innovative teaching, new techniques to learn with coloured pencils and some really outstanding works of art created by our talented members. Jan demonstrated techniques to use with pencils on birch wood panels, which gave a very different result, using the grain of the wood to enhance the design. Lots to remember with this method, but absolutely fabulous results! We had a couple of Aha! moments, when wax-based and oil-based pencils reacted unusually! So much to learn, with such good mates and an amazing tutor. Thanks Jan!

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