Bredwardine Art Group meets weekly in the village hall where we work side by side on our chosen artwork, support and encourage each other. We have a membership of around 15 women who use a range of media: oils, watercolour, acrylics, inks, charcoal, pencil, lino cut, collage.
We used the Zoom video app to meet the challenge of Covid-19. Even when we briefly resumed face-to-face in August – September, we kept Zoom contact as several shielding members were not ready to meet. Zoom sessions have been a lifeline for all of us.
Weekly themes kept us focused in-between sessions. We shared our work on our Facebook page. Art-based themes included: abstracts, monochrome work, self-portrait; subject themes included birds, autumn, dragons. However, we also chose themes that made us think about the pandemic and what was happening for us. We have chosen our images from these.
Our very first theme was ‘isolation’, followed by ‘goats’ inspired by the wild goats roaming quiet Llandudno streets in lockdown. As time went on, especially for those of us shielding, we tackled ‘a view from a window’, ‘something we miss in lockdown’, ‘something that makes me smile’ and recently ‘light at the end of the tunnel’. All the images exhibited express how we have coped, turning the stress of 2020 into art, holding family while at a distance and making the most of Herefordshire’s beauty – as well as escaping into other places through our art. We hope you enjoy our work.
Theme: Isolation
Above: Lockdown by Gill Sergeant, watercolour
Theme: Isolation
Top left: The elusive tree by Jenny Johnston, watercolour with acrylic highlights
Top right: Family Lawson in lockdown’ by Kari Manning-Lawson, acrylics
Theme: Goats
Above: Goat by Jenny Johnston, pastels
Theme: View from a window
Above left: Lockdown nook by Sheila Marsh, charcoal & watercolour
Above right: View from my desk by Janet Preece, acrylic
Theme: View from a window
Above: View of Hay Bluff from my window by Gill Sergeant, acrylic
Theme: Something I miss in lockdown
Above left: Alfie by Sue Lloyd, pastels
Above right:Hug by Diane Furlong, pastels
Theme: Something I miss in lockdown
Above: Tenby by Susan Sahota, acrylic
Theme: Something that makes me smile
Above left: Up-cycled downpipe by Lou MacIntyre, watercolour
Above right: Cow and calf by Brenda Taylor, oils