Our meeting on Monday 3rd August was a demonstration by the very talented Andrea Naylor. She was working on velour paper, using a limited palette, from a photo of a cat which she had roughly sketched beforehand.

Andrea told us that she preferred Jackson’s pastel sticks as they weren’t too soft. She also used either Caran D’ache or Stabilo Carbothell pastel pencils in white, cream, black, brown and rust red. Starting with the background, the whole area was crosshatched in mid green. Then black’s and brown’s blended in for depth. Finally covered lightly with more green to knock back and soften the dark areas.

Andrea always starts with the eyes in her animal studies. First she outlined the eyes with black pastel pencil, then filled in all the other areas that needed to be black following the direction of the fur and outlining the nose and mouth. Using the same mid green as the background she filled in the eyes and drew the pupils in black, then brought them to life by shading the top third with black and lightening the bottom with white, blending well together. After redefining the pupils and black outline she put a highlight at the top with white pastel stick.

On to the nose - shades of black and grey to get values, rust red for colour and cream for highlights. Next the fur, using the pure white stick areas were blocked in using the flat side, fading the edges with her finger to soften. Using brown for values the face was gradually covered, varying the colour by the amount of pressure applied, always working in the direction of the fur. By coffee break the basics had been put in place and a beautiful cat was emerging.

After the break black was added to the darkest areas ( Andre squints to see where they are) a warm, peachy glaze was lightly added and the ears were given depth by using rust red for the darker parts and highlights of white over yellow using a tapping stroke to indicate hairs around the edges. White was added to the rough of the neck to make it stand out then small strokes of grey and gold further down the chest. To establish the direction of the fur small zig zag strokes were used with brown pencil on the face then lighter strokes on top using the same technique. Final details to the nose and mouth, redefining the black and softening with small white hairs.

Andrea then turned the picture and the photo upside down, a clever way to check composition, highlights and shade and made a few adjustments around the mouth and nose which needed to be lighter. Finally the whiskers were added using the white pencil and the cat was complete. It was a very informative and entertaining demonstration, thank you Andrea and we hope to see you again.

Our meeting on Monday 6th July 2026 had the theme of Flowers. Considering the temperature was still 27 degrees at 7pm and it was holiday season, we had an excellent turnout. In fact we had to get extra tables and chairs out at 7.30pm. It proved to be a popular challenge and everyone had a different take on the subject. We had the usual hush of concentration at the beginning but it turned into a lively night with the new members chatting and getting to know the long standing members, which is what I always hope for. Sally’s name badges are a great asset, no forgetting names now!!!! A lovely selection of pictures and some of the unfinished ones will appear on our Facebook Group. Just look up Market Harborough Art Club on Facebook. Also, please take the time to Google Market Harborough Art Club, it will take you to our website, with photos of past meetings, a guide to show how to present your work for the exhibition in October and other interesting items..

On Monday June 1st we had an unusual meeting titled ‘How to become a Cubist Artist. David brought in a violin, three vases and a harp plus a sheet of illustrations. He didn’t give too many instructions, just start with a shape, add lines and colour in! None of us were sure what we were doing but once started we got very enthusiastic as cubism appeared before our eyes. The process was quite time consuming and not many managed to start a second picture, in fact some spent so long planning the shapes they didn’t finish. We were all hooked on creating this style of work and said we would definitely have another go at home. Well done and thank you David Simons. We welcomed a potential new member, Pat Evans, to the group.