mavas June 2012

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MAVAS

THE MAGAZINE OF THE MANCHESTER AVIATION ART SOCIETY

Issue 73 JUNE 20112

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Editorial This has been an excellent few months for the society with interesting meetings, the unveiling of the memorial plaque and the coming exhibition of American aircraft.

Cover Image Suspended Aviation Charles Thompson

This PDF issue shows the benefit of the electronic media. Because producing a printed version is quite expensive it is limited in the number of pages and the use of colour,and there is the cost of postage to add. Electronic media has the glorious freedom to use full colour, costs no extra to distribute and in this issue has an extra four pages, with some articles extended and some extra material not found in the print version.

This issue looks at the man behind many articles, news items and paintings over the years. Charles Thompson has been a source of help and guidance and a link to the Guild of Aviation Artists. Some of our members belong to the Guild and will be familiar with it s website, For those who have not visited it there is a treat in store.

Happy browsing and successful painting,

Rear Cover Image Neptune David Bates

Dave

If any member has an objection to the Society holding Member­ ship records on a computer and using the information for society purposes deemed suitable by the Committee, eg; the production and distribution of a membership list, please notify the Editor

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Contents A Treasury a Mouse Click Away ­ GAVA Website

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The Man In The Left­hand Seat Takes the Hot Seat ­ Colin Taylor, new Hon. Sec..

Roger Markman Shares a Discovery

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Workshop 5th May ­ Skies and Landscapes

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A.G.M. Report and new Committee Line Up

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April Meeting ­ Rob Knotts on Airships and Balloons

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May Meeting ­ Peter Carter on Sketching from a 3­view Drawing Introducing Charles Thompson

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Peter Nield takes a final Irreverent View of Perspec­ tive ­ Foreshortening Painting with an iPad ­ Peter Grove Investigates

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News Round

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Diary Dates

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The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life. ~William Faulkner

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Spare some time to visit the Guild of Aviation Artists Website it is both enjoyable and educational.

The site has lots of information about membership and events but the real treasures are the galleries.

Each year the Guild has the Aviation Painting of the Year exhibition and all the paintings for each year are archived and available from the site. www.gava.org.uk In years past a study of Old Masters was recommended to young artists.

A study of these modern day artists can enlighten and inspire ­ or of course lead you to throw your paints in the bin and take up knitting.

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The Man In The Left-hand Seat Takes the Hot Seat

Meet Colin Taylor the New Hon. Sec.

I am 59 years old, single and retired last year from a career in aviation. I was raised near Watford and learned to fly when I was in the Air Cadets. I joined the CAA as an air traffic controller in the mid seventies and was at Glasgow Airport on aerodrome control and approach radar for about 15 years. I qualified as a commercial pilot in 1989 and joined Loganair in 1990 flying the Shorts 360 and Twin Otter. I then flew the ATP under the BRAL flag and then the Embraer the Dash 8 under Flybe. Overlapping these two careers I was a part time flying instructor for about 13 years at Glasgow Flying Club. I am an aviation enthusiast at heart and art is a nice way to indulge my interest. I started painting about 20 years ago and used to sell pictures of the club aircraft to owners and other members. After a break I have taken it up again so back on the learning curve again.

Colin Taylor

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Roger Markman Shares a Discovery

Have you ever watched one of those (usually American) chat shows where long lost, or even unknown, relatives are brought on to the huge astonishment of the guest being interviewed? I had an experience a little like this recently when I came across the SE5b during my aero ram­ blings on Google.

I have known and loved the SE5 at since I was about eight and first came across it in an encyclopaedia about the First World War. Later on I built 1/72 scale plastic kits of them and even a balsa flying model. This is one plane I really know well!

Imagine my astonishment then when I discovered that there had been a SE5b!!!!!

It was a one off as the advantages were so slight over the regular SE5a, that production plans were cancelled.

It differed in appearance quite a lot when compared to the SE5a. The nose was streamlined with a large propeller spinner. The wings were different with a larger top plane and a smaller span and chord lower wing. The pilot s head fairing was enlarged and extended and a retractable radiator was also fitted. The new look was most striking making an already very

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attractive machine look even sleeker and elegant. It foreshadowed the Hawker Fury biplanes of the thirties in many ways.

Sadly, the gains in speed, general performance and handling were extremely small. It was not deemed worthy of a production contract at the time. The war was drawing to a close and with the end of the conflict there was a massive amount of cutbacks in the size and strength of the RAF. The sole prototype was kept for further experimental work and in this connection standard SE5a wings were later fitted. In this form it had a marked edge over the standard SE5a but by the early twenties the game had moved on and there were newer and much faster offerings at hand like the Bulldog. It made an appearance at the 1920 Hendon air show before being eventually scrapped.

SE5b by Kevin Clarkson

http://www.kevinclarkson.co.uk/aviation­paintings

It is a unique and fascinating machine worth consideration by aviation artists wanting to depict something a bit different. Some biplane fighters are strikingly beautiful and this was one of the best of the best!

Roger Markman 2/5/12

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A search to see if any other information could be found revealed a 3 view drawing on a site that a lot of early data, some linked to Jane s all the World s Aircraft 1913.

Unless you read Russian don t forget the translate option Ed.

http://flyingmachines.ru

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Workshop Saturday 5th May 2012

Report by Colin Taylor Skies and Landscapes in water­ colour was the theme for the latest Mavas workshop host­ ed by Ron Sergeant. There were only three attendees plus Ron, just enough to warm up the chilly conference room in the Aviation Hall of the Manchester Museum of Science and Technology. Ron brought along two well­illustrated books on weather and clouds as a stimu­ lus to the imagination and then gave a demonstration of his tech­ nique of watercolour, producing the effect of a mist and cloud shrouded forest and then superimposing a dramatic Lightning interceptor using a stencil.

In the five hours we were there we each produced several pages of work in pastel as well as watercolour, so it was a very productive session. The most valuable thing about a live session, that you don't get from books, is watching other people work and getting a sense of the timing involved in applying washes and tints; when to work fast and when to slow down and what constitutes wet, a bit wet, not so wet, a bit wetter and so on. Clearly watercolourists have as many terms for wet as eskimos have for snow. Also very welcome, when things are going wrong, are those few words of encouragement you don't get when working alone. In Ron's work­ shop it's not a case of 'do it like this' but rather have a go and see what you and the medium can do together.

All in all it was an enjoyable and instructive day out which we should do more often. The pictures are by Ron Sergeant, Keith Stancombe and Colin Taylor. Many thanks to Ron for hosting the event.

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A.G.M. As always, the meeting in the Conference Room on the first Tuesday in March was the A.G.M. This year, the meeting was attended by 14 members and by far the main concern was whether or not the Society could continue for another year without an Hon Sec. In the absence of a proper structure, there was a very real possibility that we might have had to consider winding the whole thing up. However, in the light of reduced workload because of fewer outside commitments and bearing in mind that several arrangements were already in place, new member Colin Taylor came forward and took the job on, thereby assuring the future of MAvAS up to, and hopefully beyond, March 2013. We are very grateful to Colin for this gesture. Also to Peter Flitcroft for taking on the job of Chairman and to Treasurer, Peter Grove for continuing to act as Hon Treasurer. Following the rather prolonged AGM, the remainder of the meeting was devoted to discussing general matters including the design of a plaque being prepared by Roger Markman in memory of the late Joe DeMarco.

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The Committee for 2012/13

P. Flitcroft Chairman

P. Grove Treasurer

C.Taylor Hon. Secretary

D Bates; Magazine and Web­site Editor

P Carter; Selection Panel Chairman

L Sakowicz

R Sargeant; Refreshments

J. Williams

P Nield

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Meeting 3rd April, 2012

Rob Knotts on

The meeting in the Conference Room on 3rd April was attended by 14 members. The planned illustrated talk on Airships by Rob Knotts nearly had to be cancelled because, for some reason, the requested museum audio visual equipment had not been supplied. Chaos ensued and it was only through the generous efforts of Nick Forder and Terry Burnett, who happened to be on hand, that meeting was able to continue. Unfortunately, this involved mov­ ing to another room on the other side of Lower Byrom Street so if any members missed the event we can only apologise and guarantee to make every effort in future to see that this sort of situation does not happen again. Once under way, Rob`s presentation, covering the history and development of the balloon and airship, went very well and it might be worthwhile at some point to include Airships as a subject for one of our display panel competitions.

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The fire worshipping pre­ hydrogen Pioneers.

The hydrogen Balloon as an artillery spotting device, Boer War.

Pre­ WW1, Floating around for Fun.

WW1, the Airship as a weapon.

The Inter World War years, the Airship, passenger transport, and hydrogen vulnerability.

New technology, helium and the heavy lift Airship of the future.

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Peter Carter

On Sketching from 3 view drawings

Meeting 2nd May 2012

There was a good turnout for Peter s demonstration, unfortunately it was delayed by a combination of new members and new parking arrangements and the unveiling of the memorial plaque (see Newsround).

Peter explained his method dated from his employment at Avro s where he mainly worked on the Shackleton and Vulcan. He rarely saw the actual parts, working mainly from engineer s drawings.

Peter used a photocopy of an illustration typically found in aviation books.. In this case he took the wingspan as his first reference line and drawing a perspective square from it which in this case more or less gave him the point where the leading edge mated with the fuselage. Using the same method gave him the posi­ tions of the main parts of the aircraft ­ fore­plane, fin cockpit and nosecone.

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Then he located the position of the tailpipe, measuring its size by its proportion of the wing­ span. The shape of the fin was adjusted, the intakes and the cockpit firmed up by proportion and the mark one eyeball .

He added the remaining parts explaining the drawbacks of the three view drawings for refer­ ence when some parts were ob­ scured and the rear view and underside view would be useful ­ some drawings do show a split top/underside view which does help. He went on to finish the sketch, and discussed the way the national markings and the camouflage scheme help define the shape.

There was a satisfying amount of audience interaction, and peter discussed different methods of producing drawings and de­ scribed some of the work he had done ­ producing drawings for the conversion of the AEW Shackle­ ton and the modification of the Vulcan for Blue Steel and Skybolt missiles.

Because of the delayed start the the discussion had to cut short but it was an enjoyable and informa­ tive meeting.

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La Martiniere & Fox Moth

G.Av.A A.S.A.A.

Introducing Charles Thompson Charles was born in 1931 in the British Army Hospital, Poona, India, His father was born in Carisbrooke Castle on the I.O.W. and, following in his father s footsteps, he joined the Rifle Brigade. Retiring from the army in 1938 his father joined the staff of La Martiniere College, Lucknow (the famous boy s high school and the only one in the world to have been awarded battle honours). So it was here that Charles and his younger brother received their education until 1949 when the family decided to return to live in the South of England.

Because Charles has always been an aviation enthusiast, his main aim when returning to England was to find a job in the aviation industry. However, although he was initially hired by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, he accepted instead the post of Trainee Draughtsman offered him by Briggs Motor Bodies at Dagenham.

Why? Because Dagenham was only a 7d (7 old pennies) bus ride from home, whereas going to Bristol would mean living in digs !!

However, unwittingly, this turned out to be the wisest decision he ever made because, had he gone to Bristol he would have spent his working life an engineer , whereas at Briggs, later Ford, he became a stylist and so was able to put his artistic talents to good use.

E in

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HANNO over Sharjah"

"A Field of Human Conflict"

"Royal Saudi Air Force"

"The Forlorn Hope"

Editor s choice ­ paintings n Charles soft ­ light style.

"Flight of Fancy ­ Typhoons"

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So, at the age of 18, Charles joined Briggs Motor Bodies, which at that time was a supplier of motor bodies to several motor manufacturers including Ford Motor Company situated just down the road from the factory. Initially working in the Drawing Office, he spent the next four years at night school and qualified with honours in Motor Body Design.

He did his National Service, in the RAF as a Senior Aircraftsman from, 1955 to 1956. Upon returning Briggs ­ which had in his absence become part of the Ford Empire , he had his request of a transfer to the Styling (Design) Department accepted. This turned out to be a very wise move as he now found himself in his element ­ spending each day painting, drawing, sketching ideas and "Roll on Demob" Self Portrait modelling shapes in clay for future cars was right up his street. You can t beat getting paid for what you like doing, can you?

Charles with "A Real Honey" MATS Constellation VC­121­A

Success soon led to the designing of the MkI Cortina and Station Wagon; The Corsair and The MkIV Consul, Zephyr and Zodiac model ranges, Promoted to Executive Designer, Charles eventually took early retire­ ment in 1986 after spending 37 years service with the Company.

An aeromodeller since early childhood Charles enjoyed designing, building and flying models of all types. But it was not until 1979, when he discov­ ered and joined the Guild of Aviation Artists (G.Av.A.), that he begin to paint seriously, in oils, He was initially elected an Associate Member of the GAvA in 1982 and then in 1984 he was elected to the highest echelon as a Full Member and served as Press and Publicity Officer for seven years before holding office as the Chairman from 1997 to 1999. His work has been accepted for every GAvA London exhibition since he joined.

"Oshkosh Aesthetics" Speed Wing.

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In 1988 Charles joined the American Society of Aviation Artists (A.S.A.A.) as an Artist Fellow and has had work accepted for exhibition every, winning numerous awards including two prestigious James V. Roy Awards for the best painting in show.

Charles is a Master Artist of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), Oshkosh, Wisconsin in 1992 after winning four Par Excellence awards in two consecutive years in their annual competitions Pan Books Ltd. published his book "Wings" (Combat Aircraft of the Second World War .

Charles has never been interested in the limited­edition print mar­ ket, and only occasionally produced commissions for clients.

"Size Matters" Airbus A380

"Sunny Sally B". Painted on site at Duxford

Today, he much prefers to paint outside the studio ­ en Plein air ­ along with other members of the GAvA, rather than working from reference material inside.

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n Irreverent View of Perspective

Foreshortening

Part 7 and the end

By Peter Nield

It was a beautiful day in Heaven and God was just settling down to a nice mug of steaming hot tea when there was an hysterical knock on the workshop door. God knew straight away that it was Gabriel on yet another frantic mission in his thirst for knowledge.

Come in, my little eager beaver said God and what can I do for you? . Well said Gabriel. What`s this foreshortening business all about? Ah said God, that`s a question I get asked about all the time and, providing you promise not to pester me any more, I`ll tell you what I know. Do we have a deal, Gabe? OK Boss said Gabriel, slightly sad that this would be his last trip to the workshop.

Right said God, Here we go . For a kick off, foreshortening is simply a consequence of perspective which, as you know, only came about because I invented my fantastic compact lens that was part of my revolutionary eyeball design. This and was done in order to give the ability to see stuff, judge distances and to stop folks banging into things. You might remember that this was covered in magazines 66 and 67. Anyway, you OK with all that? .

Yup , said Gabriel.

OK said God, Let`s get this right. The word foreshortening is generally used to describe the appearance of an object when an artist gets really close in with an oblique view, much closer than normal. In this situation, the perspective appears to become exaggerated not what we are used to seeing in normal circum­ stances. Note that I use the word exaggerated and not distort­ ed . I get really hacked off with people who say distort , d`you hear, really, really hacked off!! Steady on, Boss, watch the old blood pressure said Gabriel I get the message .

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Make sure you do said God My super duper lens does not distort. What you see is what you get (Gee, I made a joke!). This technique has been used by artists for dra­ matic effect since the 5th century BC and can be seen in many artworks worldwide, including early architectural work and 15th century frescos in Greece. In more recent times, these dramatic exaggerations can be seen in the artwork of comic books Captain Marvel and so on, and the effects have even been used by Chris Wren in aircraft recognition . God paused. Are you taking this in, Gabe?

I sure am said Gabriel most interesting Right said God, Here are a couple of foreshortening examples for you, Chris Wren`s Oddentification Blenheim IV and a swift doodle showing a close up oblique version of you Ooh, I do look weird said Gabriel. I`m saying nowt said God.

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OK said Gabriel but what about photography? Well said God Your average camera uses a lens that is similar to my fantastic natural eyeball lens so the effects of close up oblique shots are very much the same. Think about those severely ta­ pered images of railings and railway lines . And what about wide angle and fish­eye lenses? said Gabriel.

Similar principle said God, but just more distorted whoops! Exaggerated I guess that wasn`t so bad said Gabriel.

Hang on a minute , said God, There`s one more type of fore­ shortening that all artists should be aware of if they are going to copy photographs and that is the artificial foreshortening you get when you enlarge, say, a couple of small distant objects in a photograph for the purposes of creating a painting. The objects fit naturally into the width of the photograph, meaning the width across the cone of vision of the camera ­ say 40º, roughly similar to my magical eyeball ­ and the perspective appearance of the small objects corresponds, as always, to the viewing distance. If the two objects are then enlarged and placed in a normal frame, the enlarged size of the objects in that frame width will imply a closer viewing distance and the distant perspective they carry will not be compatible. Also, if the distant objects are one behind the other, they will appear to be compressed together foreshort­ ened ­ and the relative sizes and perspectives in the enlarged view will suggest that they are much closer together than they really are . No kidding said Gabriel That`s a lot to swallow in one go. It`s not so bad if you go through it methodically said God Check the sequence of images below taken in the workshop with a standard lens. Here we have two pairs of 7.5 x 2.5 cardboard panels spaced 7.5 apart. The second pair of panels is 40 along the worktop and the viewpoint is about 3 up from the ground and some 15 from the first panel Oh, my Sunday hat! exclaimed Gabriel The enlarged Distant Pair look nothing like the real panels. Now they are almost the same height! Also, given the size in that frame width (across a 40º CoV) and the apparent nearness of the panels to each other, they look more like a couple of spindly columns 7.5 high

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A General View

Focusing on the Near Pair

Focusing on the Distant Pair

Distant Pair enlarged to fit normal frame

by less than 0.5 wide with a gap of about 1 between them. Also, the per­ spective on the feet is all to cock for a nearby viewing distance. I guess we have to be really careful about this kind of foreshortening if we are going to use photographic images for our paintings .

Another thing you have to remem­ ber said God, is that you get exactly the same problems with images taken with telephoto lenses. All they do is magnify stuff and the only difference is hat the enlarged distant image is dumped directly on a normal sized film, sensor or frame. In the above example, you would have gone straight to the last image without any cropping and enlarging . Gosh! said Gabriel are you telling me that all telephoto shots have faulty perspec­ tive?

Nope said God the perspective is sound but the Cone of Vision is much less than the more natural 40º so it always look a bit odd in a normal size frame setting. Mind you, telepho­ to shots do have some advantages, not least of which is the ability to pho­ tograph what appear to be close up head on shots of aircraft taking off without getting flattened. Invariably, the distant perspective is way out of synch with what it should be but, boy, it still makes you want to get out of the way of the charging rhino!

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Il­76 Take Off Close Perspective Normal Lens ­ Engines Splayed Out Two seconds to Live ­ Splat!

Il­76 Take Off Distant Perspective Telephoto Lens ­ Engines Head On The Safer Option!

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Interestingly said God, these two shots demonstrate both types of foreshortening the dramatic effect of a true close up slightly oblique view and the flattening effect of distant perspective that is not compatible with the normal frame size . That`s amaz­ ing said Gabriel When I think about it, I`ve seen this foreshorten­ ing effect many times in F1 racing where the telephoto shots of cars coming towards you on the track show them all much the same size with little or no difference in perspective and, in spite of knowing there are big gaps between them, they all seem to be bunched up Right on said God That`s another good example Is that it, then? said Gabriel, with a little tear in his eye. Is this where we part company? I`m afraid so said God, I`ve got a million things to do and I think we`ve covered most aspects of perspective in a round about sort of way OK said Gabriel I have loads to tell my blob friends so I`ll be on my way. Do you have any final advice? I sure do said God If you really want to get your teeth into perspective, get hold of Joe DeMarco`s Artists` Per­ spective Modeler (APM). It is basic, brilliant and creative. You don`t need to be a rocket scientist and you will be rewarded by the results of your own raw efforts. Well worth it, Gabe, go for it!

Perspective is to painting what the bridle is to the horse, the rudder to a ship. (Leonardo da Vinci) If the artist does not understand perspective and how to see and use it, all the applications of paint and ink and pencil will not overcome the lack of good perspective. (Helen Scott) If you intend to make a living at drawing, by all means learn it [the rules of perspective] now, and do not have them bothering you and your work for the rest of your life. (Andrew Loomis) Perspective is a ghastly mistake which it has taken four centuries to redress. (Georges Braque)

Hmm..?

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Peter Grove on Painting Using the iPad. I know that it s a bad idea to start an article like this with an apology but I should make clear that I am by no means an expert on this subject. I ve had an iPad for about a month and I ve made only a few paintings using it, a couple of which were miserable failures. However, I m sufficiently enthused with what I have done and learnt so far that I thought it worthwhile to pass on my experiences and to suggest that it is a real alternative to more conventional painting.

I was only inspired to try using the iPad after watching a fascinating television documentary about David Hockney in prep­ aration for his exhibition at the Royal Academy in London at the beginning of the year. Hockney has produced landscapes throughout his career but they have principally been of California and the American desert. The main point of the exhibition was that firstly it was a more traditional exhibition of painted landscapes, unlike the current trend for installations and videos, but also that the paintings were on a huge scale and of the Yorkshire country­ side. The Royal Academy had given over all their exhibition space to one artist, something I believe they have never done before.

Everybody will have their own opinions of the paintings themselves which are impressionistic and full of intense colours, a sort of combination of Monet and Matisse, but personally I loved them, even the hawthorn trees in full blossom, some of which have a rather distorted, threatening, triffid look. However, the feature that particularly struck me was Hockney s use of an iPad during the preparation of the paintings.

He started out using the iPad as a sketch book, jotting down colours, shapes and compositions without the bother of watercolours, brushes, water and all the necessary cleaning up.

His coat was altered to add a pocket into which he could put his

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iPad and that was all the equipment he needed to go out for a day s sketching in the countryside. However he soon realised that paintings produced on the iPad had an artistic value in their own right and the Royal Academy exhibition included a room full of paintings which he created on the iPad and then printed.

Hockney has often adopted the use of modern technology in his art, for example using a series of overlapping Polaroid photos from slightly varied positions to create a series of collage mosaics showing wide landscapes of deserts or of the Grand Canyon. He has used computers and even faxes to create his art and began using an iPhone for drawing before adopting the iPad. At the same time he has always placed an emphasis on the importance of craft in art and has recently criticised some of the luminaries of the current art scene, such as Damien Hirst, for having their works made by other people. He has also strongly expressed his concern at the reduced importance of drawing in current art school training.

I know that many people think that digital art created on a screen is not real in the way that applying oils to a canvas or graphite to paper is real . However, throughout history the means of creating art has constantly changed, from powdered pigments made from minerals or crushed insects, mixed with egg yolk then painted on to wet plaster, to synthetic chemical paints applied to an artificial canvas such as Daler board. At one time real artists mixed their own paints (or rather their apprentices did) but the invention of the metal paint tube in the 19th century freed artists from that labour and this advance allowed the Impressionists to take their equipment out into the country and paint en plein air.

Personally I see the iPad as a continuation of this process.

With the iPad you paint with your finger on a screen.

Effectively you are applying coloured particles (pixels) to a surface in the same way as with conventional painting and, rather than waiting for it to dry, you simply save it. It is as permanent (or impermanent) as a conventional painting. The only real difference, and the same argument also applies to photographs, is that it can only normally be displayed as copy, or print, produced from the original artwork, which comprises a digital record on a silicon chip or a chemical deposit on a film (or glass plate).

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Having said that, at Salts Mill in Yorkshire there is an exhibi­ tion of Hockney s iPad works projected from the computer on to a number of screens in a continuous slideshow and this is possibly the best and most original way of displaying the work, as it captures the luminous quality of iPad pictures. Hockney has compared the effect of an iPad picture to that of a stained glass window. There is however a limitation to the size that can be projected as the largest screen lost a certain amount of definition and light intensity.

The characteristic that primarily attracted me to the iPad however was that it encourages a freer style of painting, which I have been attempting to achieve for some time. I normally work from photos and avoid the necessity of taking too many artistic decisions by putting in every detail. I confess that I still like those highly realistic paintings but I feel that it s a bit limiting if it s the only thing I can do. Leaving out careful pencil underdrawing, rulers and rubbers is, for me a bit like working without a safety net but I ve decided to give it a go.

When I say I use the iPad, strictly speaking I use an applica­ tion (or App for all people under 25) called Brushes , which can be bought from iTunes for a princely £5.99 and loaded onto your iPad. The iPad itself is the expensive bit. Even for a bit of a dunce like me it is remarkably straightforward to use with a choice of brush types and a colour selection wheel, plus an eraser and an undo button for all those mistakes. You can change the width and transparency of the brush strokes and apply paint on up to 4 layers, each of which can be amended without affecting the rest of the picture. To add an element of feel to the action, the width and transparency of the brush stroke can be changed by the speed with which you apply it.

The faster the movement the thinner or more transparent the brush mark.

Here, as an example, is the first thing that I did sitting on the sofa with a glass of wine and nothing to work from other than remember­ ing what a tree looks like. Not brilliantly imagi­ native I must admit but, as a first effort I found it quite satisfying.

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I then tried something in colour and painted a jar of water, sat on my desk, which I d used for cleaning watercolour brushes which gives some idea of how often I tidy up. With the ability to paint in layers, I put in the background on one layer, a rough outline of the jar with a two pixel­ wide brush on the second layer and then put the colour in on a third layer. This had the benefit that I could tidy up the outline of the jar with the eraser without affecting the background. I could also rub out the outline on the second layer, after finishing painting, without removing anything else. Again, not startlingly original but I felt I was making progress. It took a couple of hours.

My final exam­ ple is a proper land­ scape, working from a photo of Salford Quays that I took fairly early one morning. I know that working from pho­ tos is a bit of a cheat, given what I said above, but I am still learning and my inten­ tion is to go out into the country and work di­ rect from nature when I m a bit more confi­ dent. Nonetheless, I m quite pleased with the result. Again I put in the background, the sky and water, on the first layer, the furthest buildings on the second layer and then the nearer buildings, the reflections in the water and the rower in the third layer. This was useful as it took quite a bit of fiddling to get the reflections right and I could do it without having to redo the basic water colouring. Once more I could use the eraser to sharpen up the edges of the nearer buildings.

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NEWS ROUND In Recognition At the April meeting Roger Markman revealed the plaque created in memory of our late American member and friend, Joe DeMarco. This plaque is now positioned next to the memorial painting by Eddie Cohen on the Display Panel in Air and Space Hall as a permanent feature. A second plaque with different wording was sent to Joe s family.

Above Peter Nield unveils the plaque.

Wording on the Museum plaque ­ In memory of his outstanding achieve­ ments in and contribution to Aviation Art .

Always our friend and Mentor In recognition of his unique and valued association with us over many years.

Manchester Aviation Art Society 2012

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Diary Dates Sunday 1st July, 2012 City Airport (Barton) Family Day An Exhibition of approx 50 Paintings Exhibition Officer Colin Taylor Deliver works with hooks, string and labels by 9­00am Collect works at 4­45pm 10% on sales to support Barton Aerodrome Heritage Museum Tuesday 3rd July, 2012 Sketching in Air and Space Hall Hosted by Len Sakowicz Best sketch decided by concensus Tuesday 7th August, 2012 Bring Alternative Work A general appraisal by Roger Markman Best work decided by concensus Saturday 11th August, 2012 Workshop Sketching from Model Aircraft Models supplied by Peter Flitcroft Best sketch decided by concensus Runs 10­00am to 4­00pm Car Park entry £3 as agreed via ex­Director Tony Hil Tuesday 4th September, 2012 Working with Pastels A demonstration by David Steeden Tuesday 2nd October, 2012 Avro Trophy Competition Subject Pioneering Flights Adjudicator TBA Meetings are held from 7­00pm to 9­30pm in the Conference Room in the Air and Space Hall at the Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester on the first Tuesday in the month unless otherwise stated.

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Editor: Dave Bates Tel: 0161­284­3467 Email: david­bates@ntlworld.com Society website: www.mavas.co.uk