Welcome to the Somerton Group of Artists.
Are you interested in art? Why not join us!
Here you will find a very friendly local artists group from Somerton and the surrounding areas, Somerset, UK. We welcome all new members who are interested in art. You don’t even have to be a painter yourself to get involved – you may just want to meet other people with the same interests. We are well established and have around 60 members of all ages and abilities.
We hold a year round programme of talks and demonstrations by professional artists with occasional day-long workshops. We have ‘painting together’ sessions and outside painting and sketching sessions in the summer. These are usually held with somewhere for lunch or tea nearby! In the winter, some members also meet weekly in the Pinney Room, in the Parish Rooms ,Market Square Somerton , to paint together every Tuesday morning from 10am. to 1pm.
We hold an annual exhibition of our work, and all members are invited to participate.
If you are interested, or have any questions, please contact us for a chat or just turn up to one of our events or sessions. You will be made very welcome!
January evening meeting
It’s all about the layers
A high energy talk and demonstration from Sarah Bernsten left many of us feeling motivated to “let loose” with our artwork as a New Year’s resolution.
Sarah’s artistic vision begins with her choices of surface, preferring to use found objects from huge sheets of left over plywood, to using charity shop linen tea towels stretched over old frames.
Onto this, she then begins to apply layers of different torn papers, allowing them to crease and cockle into a heavily textured surface, ready to apply more layers, this time of colour.
Sarah uses colour instinctively, in the form of Tempera and Paint sticks,( available as kids kits) and Neocolour 11 water-soluble wax pastel sticks, by Caran D’ache, applied and rubbed in by hand. She also uses Rembrandt Oil colour, favouring transparent colours mixed with wax and applied with a knife, with a creative energy that pervades her work. She advocates, enjoying the process, saying “don’t mind what other people think, express yourself,” her inspiration coming from past experiences, and her response to the elements derived from her lifetime of working outdoors and in her market garden. The paintings are not figurative, often celebrating stormy weather for instance, allowing the surface and her subconscious to dictate. Sarah advises not to try to control your artwork, let it happen instinctively, and do not try to please other people!
A final layer of wax allows her paintings to breathe whilst protecting them with a highly polished surface, that makes the colours glow, and gives a leather like appearance.
An invigorating evening to begin our creative year, Sarah can be contacted for workshops or for requests to paint on her land via info@somertonartists.co.uk.