RSMA demonstration - part one

Thank you all those that came along to the Mall Galleries on Tuesday (22nd) for the demonstrations by Lorraine Abraham RSMA - working in scraperboard, sadly William Carney was ill, so Alan Runagall stepped in to do some watercolours and myself - working in oils.

I hope you enjoyed meeting the artists and gained something from the day, be it from asking questions or just by watching.

Personally, thank you to all those that passed comment and asked a wide variety of questions. It was a pleasure to meet you and made the day very enjoyable.


Above are the sketches done on location

Above is how the painting was at the close, the above picture was from someone else (thank you). There's still more work to be done, mainly in the foreground (boat, posts, bank etc).

I'll post the finished painting as soon as possible.

Oil painting of river in early spring...


Detail from "Spring Evening Sunlight", nr Ketton, Rutland.
Oil. Alistair Butt © 2013 -
#AB 021366

The late afternoon into evening light lit up this bend in the river, the line of trees on the bank side help take the eye around to the open fields. Being a lovely spring evening there was just enough breeze to provide a slight ripple on the water surface, that combined with the reflections and patches of sunlight/shade on the surface just added to the interest.

Society of Wildlife Artists 50th Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries, London

31 October to 10 November

10am to 5pm (closes 1pm on final day)

The Society of Wildlife Artists celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and to mark the occasion Sir David Attenborough will be opening their annual exhibition The Natural Eye held at London’s prestigious Mall Galleries.

The exhibition will be the London launch of the Society’s new book ’The Natural Eye, Art Book One’ which showcases the talents of the members of the Society and has been published to help raise funds for the Society’s exciting bursary scheme.

The SWLA Bursary scheme is in its 25th year and has awarded well over 70 bursaries to young and emerging artists to help them on their creative journeys. Chosen as ‘Book of the Month’ by BBC Wildlife Magazine this limited edition publication will be available from the exhibition and via www.swla.co.uk

The exhibition has over 330 works by members and non-members on show. Four of the founding members are still regular exhibitors and past President Robert Gillmor, who was integral in setting up the Society, has his ‘Bull o’the Bog’ featuring on the cover of the catalogue. John Busby was also there from the start and has work in this 50th anniversary show that is a showcase for art inspired by the natural world.

The ‘Out of the Frame’ room that shows fieldwork from selected projects by member artists will show 3 artists this year. There will be the stunning work of artist Carl Ellis documenting the fish of his local rivers, Matt Underwood who has spent time in the Alpes-Maritime in France and shows his sketches from the region and Mike Warren who will be exhibiting pieces from his long running project on his local quarry site reserve. 
Admission £3, £2.50 concessions, Free to FBA Friends, RSMA Friends, National Art Pass and under 18s

All works for sale will be available to Browse & Buy online
Find out more at: www.mallgalleries.org.uk

Royal Society of Marine Artists Annual Exhibition 2013 - starts next week at the Mall Galleries, London

16 to 27 October 2013

10am to 5pm (closes 1pm on final day)

After the wind and rain of last year, the summer of 2013 arguably produced the best painting weather for a long time. Marine artists especially welcomed the summer's blue skies, sun drenched vistas and sparkling seas. The results of their endeavours are not to be missed at the Royal Society of Marine Artists 68th annual exhibition at Mall Galleries, London.

The Society was founded in 1939 and is widely recognised for being the focal point for much of Britain's finest marine art, and currently has a membership of 55.

The Society's common theme is the sea, and whilst most RSMA Members work covers a variety of subjects, paintings submitted for the Society's exhibitions must be related to tidal waters in some way. Traditions such as plein-air, topographical, historical, still life, and figure painting are all welcomed.

Admission £3, £2.50 concessions, Free to FBA Friends , RSMA Friends, National Art Pass and under 18s

All works for sale and some are available to Browse & Buy online now.

Find out more at: www.mallgalleries.org.uk

Part of the RSMA Exhibition now showing online and list of RSMA members demonstrations during the show

Royal Society of Marine Artists Annual Exhibition 2013

With just over a week to go before the RSMA exhibition at the Mall Galleries to go... some of the paintings in the show can be seen here http://mallgalleries-shows.com/.

You can purchase paintings by calling the gallery if you see something you like.
Please note this page is has lots of images and can take sometime to load if you have a slow connection.

Royal Society of Marine Artists Annual Exhibition 2013 Painting Demonstrations

RSMA members will be working in the gallery. Do come along and chat to them, pick up hints and tips on techniques and watch them at work.

Mall Galleries info

Wednesday 16 October from 11.00am
David Howell PRSMA – working in watercolour

Saturday 19 October from 11.00am
Barry Peckham ARSMA – working in oils

Tuesday 22 October from 11.00am
Alistair Butt RSMA – working in oils
William Carney RSMA – working in oils
Lorraine Abraham RSMA – working in scraperboard

Thursday 24 October from 11.00am
Geoff Hunt PPRSMA – working in oils

Saturday 26 October from 2.00pm
Keith Noble RSMA – working in watercolour
Martin Swan RSMA - working in oils
Rowena Wright RSMA - working in oils

Please note: there are two changes from previous RSMA newsletters and catalogues... Alistair Butt RSMA is doing oil and not watercolour and Keith Noble RSMA is doing watercolour and not oil. 

Exhibition at Patchings Art Centre - Lucy Willis RWA with David Curtis ROI, RSMA and Ken Howard OBE, RA


This was from yesterday and a break between my work... I was invited to the Private View of the above exhibition held at Patching Art Centre, located near Nottingham.

As can be seen it's the 25th Anniversary of Patching and part of the celebrations is this exhibition with Lucy Willis, David Curtis and Ken Howard.





Above are some general views of the exhibition at a quite time. I didn't take any of the paintings themselves... as per normal copyright.

I did have a talk with David Curtis & Ken Howard, plus a few of the other artists, with the main topic being drawing and it's importance as a base for all that follows along with other topics like first painting sold and how much etc...

What was good about the exhibition was the mix of the three artist work, non jarred with the others and on the same wall were Lucy's watercolours next to David's and another wall David's oils alongside Ken's.

Well worth the time visiting and likewise talking to the artists..

Oil painting of Bluebells in Derbyshire wood...

Detail from "Great year for Bluebells", nr South Wingfield, Derbyshire.
Oil. Alistair Butt © 2013 -
#AB 021365

Finally got around to painting something from the trip to this wood earlier this year... as the title states, it was one of the best years I've seen for the Bluebells. This painting was done with the morning light, I spent most of the day walking around the area, gather information from different viewpoints but most of it was waiting for the sun to move around to a different angle i.e afternoon. While not in this wood, sometimes waiting can be great, I've seen badgers, a mother and baby about three feet away being the best along with deer, owls and other birds... etc, it wasn't like that this day and even when the sun did get to the right position nothing seemed to capture the wow factor or even come close... maybe next year?