Please make a point of attending the AGM if at all possible. We need a quorum to pass any resolutions.

Award-winning children’s author Lorraine Johnston will deliver a workshop to our members to show the behind-the-scenes processes of illustrating children’s books. This will give you an insight of what it’s like to work with a writer.

This workshop is full of surprises, revelations, useful information along with a good measure of laughter too!

For more information visit her website www.writerlorrainejohnston.com

Our demonstration artist, Todd Garner, cannot make this Wednesday 18th March due to ill health.  We tried to find a replacement artist at short notice but it was not to be.  We are instead having a work-night.  So bring your artworks and materials to develop your own personal projects and have a chat over coffee.

Louise originally studied Visual Communication and photography at Glasgow School of Art and now uses her eye for photographic composition to capture the reference images which she uses back in her studio to plan, sketch and then paint landscapes, seascapes or any other type of scene which inspires her.

Her medium of choice is soft pastel, supported by pastel pencils and she also enjoys using charcoal and dabbling in graphite drawing.

A constant in her work is the inclusion of nature, no matter how minor. A particular passion is recreating striking cloud formations and using them as an important feature in her compositions.

Louise also undertakes commissioned work which often involves portraiture, in the form of people, pets or even soft toys on occasion!

This week we are extremely lucky to have Kirsten Mackinnon a figurative painter of some repute from Glasgow.

Kirstin has a particular interest in portraiture, predominantly created from life, in oils and will be painting a live sitter.

Bring along a piece of your own work (Members with surnames M to Z). 

Nicola will give you her professional appraisal with hints and tips.

Michelle Ives is an artist and illustrator living and working in Glasgow, Scotland. Originally from South Africa, she trained in graphic design and illustration before moving to the UK and gaining further qualifications in the field of animation.

In 2016 she was shortlisted for the “Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year” competition, and in 2017 was awarded the Small Painting Award at the Paisley Art Institute 129th Annual Exhibition for her painting “wet Intersection”.

Her work is strongly influenced by the landscape near to which she lives (on the outskirts of Glasgow) and the ever changing light and atmosphere of the Scottish weather.

In 2018, she was once again shortlisted for Sky Arts, this time as a finalist in the “Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year” competition.

After her demo last week, Nicole returns to lead us through a workshop.

You can still attend even if you weren’t at the demo, however bring a prepped board, a variety of thin papers/napkins and glue/acrylic gloss medium and old brushes…. and anything you might want to incorporate into a nautical, cove type scene…as well as a reference photo. There will probably be extras lying around!

Nicole had brought some watercolour sketches too so if collage sounds too much, bring watercolour gear. A fabulous opportunity to try something you might not do otherwise and Nicole is very approachable and generous with her skills!

Bring along:-

• Thick cartridge paper or watercolour paper. Or wooden panels 

• Papers 

• Napkins

• Wrapping paper

• Photocopies of patterns 

• Kitchen paper

• Embossed wallpaper

Drawn to coastlines, Nicole spends time in the places she wants to paint, doing water based media paintings and taking photos. Returning to the studio she works on wooden panels with layers of acrylic paint and collage papers that she has either collected or made herself with paint and different block printing methods.

Following her demo last week, Madhumati returns to the club to lead a workshop. See the beautiful painting she started last week here.

Bring along materials you need to work on anything with the floral theme and Madhumati will be on hand with advice and support.

Madhumati is an artist/musician, having graduated from Visva Bharati University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Santiniketan, India, 1998. Madhumati paints in a free impressionistic style and has always been fascinated by the interplay of colour, light and movement...these are the key characteristics of her works.

She loves to bring out the movements, colours and impressions of life around us - the joy of that which is seen and that which is heard!

This is Madhumati’s second demo for us - an evening not to be missed!

Bring along a piece of work related to the theme ‘Wha’slike us’. It will be displayed and there will be an opportunity to explain why and how it was painted.

This is always a most interesting night - and it isn’t as scary as it sounds!

Four Art Club members will set up around the hall with examples of their work. This is always a very sociable evening and is a great opportunity to explore different techniques and expand our own practice.

Tonight’s artists:-

• Caroline Boreland

• Lesley Herd

• Paul Nelis

• Kaz Stevenson

here are some dates for your diary.

Keep an eye out for updates over the coming weeks, when I'll be sharing further details and sneak peeks on what goodies I'll have at these fab artisan markets.

#ayrshireart #datesforyourdiary #handmade #artisanmarkets #artmarket #robertburnsbirthplacemuseum #artforsale #ayrshireartist

#supportlocal #lovewhatyoudo #dowhatmakesyouhappy #handmadeayr #ayrshiressmallbusiness #smallbusiness #supportsmallbusiness #craftmarket #ayrshiremarket #ayrshireartisans #scottishartistsandmakers #scottishart #ayrshirecoast

Handmade in Ayr Market

Caroline Dyet Art www.carolinedyetart.com

Vanessa Lawrence has gone from predominantly painting for many years to creating sculptures based on wildlife and the human figure.  

These sculptures have been commissioned both privately as well as for large scale public art commissions.  Although sculptures are the starting point these sculptures go on to influence drawings and paintings on to a variety of surfaces.  One work can evolve into a whole series of works, which keeps the whole practice exciting and open ended.

In 1993 Vanessa attended a 9-month programme at Lorenzo De Medici, School of Art, Florence, Italy studying figurative drawing and painting, then continued to live, work and paint in Switzerland until January 1998 when she obtained an 18-month sponsorship to attend The New York Studio School of Drawing Painting and Sculpture.  Vanessa then won scholarships from the school to complete the three-year program, including a 4-month exchange in autumn 2000 to the Ecole de Beaux Arte, Marseille, France.

After graduating from the Studio School in spring 2001, she was accepted to take part in the Studioscape Residency Program run by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council on the 91st Floor of the North Tower of the Twin Towers.  The residency was tragically ended on September 11th, which then forced Vanessa to return to Scotland where she works as a full time artist.

Read more about Vanessa here

This evening there will be live model for you to sketch, paint or draw. A great opportunity to practice life drawing skills.

Bring along your materials of choice!

Bring along a piece of your own work (Members with surnames A to L). 

Nicola will give you her professional appraisal with hints and tips.

Bring along a current piece of work and enjoy a sociable evening sharing chat and ideas over a nice cup of tea!

Donations for tea/coffee/biscuits will be going to this year’s chosen charity.

Four Art Club members will set up around the hall with examples of their work. This is always a very sociable evening and is a great opportunity to explore different techniques and expand our own practice.

Tonight’s artists:-

• Jenny Brown

• Sandra Innes

• Audrey Kaufman

• Cally Laidlaw

Nicola Carberry BA PGCE Fine Art graduate of Glasgow School of Art, post-graduate certificate in Post-School Education from Strathclyde University, lecturer in Art & Design at Glasgow Kelvin College, member of Milngavie Art Club, former committee member of RGI and PAI.

Life drawing has been part of Nicola’s creative practice since the age of 15 at Dollar Summer School with the renowned Scottish artist Lys Hansen. Her drawings evolve through numerous sessions and layers. During lockdown, she also found a way of working with the figure via sessions online and began to recognise the flat screen for what it was, a frame around an image, like a still from a film or play. Being able to view the model as a character within a scene, opened lots of new possibilities.

Bring along a current piece of work and enjoy a sociable evening sharing chat and ideas over a nice cup of tea!

Donations for tea/coffee/biscuits will be going to this year’s chosen charity.

Lewis MacKenzie is a contemporary impressionist painter based near Glasgow in Scotland. His work features in numerous private collections and has appeared in exhibitions by the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, The Royal Glasgow Institute and the Paisley Art Institute, as well as in several private art galleries in London, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

A mostly self-taught painter, Lewis trained as a biologist and worked for several years in a cancer laboratory before rekindling his life-long love of drawing and painting in the early 2010s. He draws influences from the masters of past eras, such as Velasquez, Vermeer, Raeburn, Sargent, and the Boston School Impressionists. His interests range from portraiture to still life and landscape, and he is committed to the impressionist way of working – to approach form through the study and interpretation of light, in an effort to draw out the musical and poetic resonances of the visual impression.

Read more about Lewis here

Yvonne is a graduate of Glasgow School of Art, winning the American Friends of the GSA award. In the same year she was one of 66 artists worldwide awarded Sotheby’s International Artist of the Year status with exhibitions in Tel Aviv and Chicago.

She is an artist member of Paisley Art Institute, Glasgow Art Institute and the Glasgow Society of Women Artists. Yvonne has a wonderful mastery of the palette knife. Her skill in creating textures, gestural marks and detail is exceptional.

Siobhan McLaughlin is an artist and curator based in Glasgow. She graduated with First Class MA (Hons) in Fine Art at Edinburgh University in 2019 and has since been awarded the SSA Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Award at the Royal Scottish Academy and a film commission from the Tate’s British Art Network. In 2022/23, Siobhan was awarded an RSA Residencies for Scotland at Cromarty Arts Trust, the Black Isle, a Visual Art Scotland Cornwall Exchange Residency and a Stephen Palmer Travel Award.

As well as exhibiting regularly, she has curated a major private collections exhibition at Dovecot Studios for the centenary of Scottish artist Alan Davie.

Her practice combines personal experiences of walking and nature with material experimentation to create non-traditional landscape paintings. Alongside painting she uses drawing, basic weaving, printmaking and installation to explore themes of place, struggle, memory and sustainability.

She is interested in honesty in painting, allowing raw materials, thick brushmarks and exposed frayed edges to lay bare the construction of the painting. This links into her interest in the history of British landscape painting, the romanticisation and valuing of rural landscapes primarily for their aethetic value, which for centuries has led us to risk minimising the land's ecological worth. In the current, continued state of climate crisis, it is more important than ever to re-evaluate our understanding of landscapes, to represent them in paint not only as areas of beauty but as valuable and complex resources to be protected. 

Read more about Siobhan here

Our first night of the 2025/26 Session. Troon Primary School, Sports Hall - Barassie Street, Troon 7pm to 9pm

Come along to enrol.

This is also an informal work night so bring along a piece of work in progress and enjoy sharing ideas, chatting and having a nice cup of tea!