THE Chairman opened the November meeting by reporting on the recent Autumn Exhibition and giving the results of the vote for the best flower painting and best painting overall.

He announced that both categories had been won by Barbara Winfield who was then presented with the trophies.

Visiting speaker Ronald Swanwick's topic was acrylic painting.

He has a wide knowledge of the use of acrylics from his commercial art and art teaching experience and set out to describe the required materials and techniques.

Reference was made to other media so that the various advantages and disadvantages could be discussed.

It has often been claimed that the colours available as acrylics are cruder than the equivalent oil colours and that acrylic paintings lack the subtlety of oil paintings.

Ronald rejects this view and asserted that the pigments used are the same in both media and so long as the techniques employed are correct, the results are indistinguishable.

He supported this view with examples of his work at different stages of completion and went on to describe the various additives that can be used to enhance an acrylic painting. These ranged from textured layers and metallic effects to varnishes.

He continued by describing the selection and priming of boards and canvasses, the choice of brushes and other application tools and the techniques for handling the medium.

He gave some very useful tips on where economies can be made.

At the close the audience expressed their thanks for an interesting and stimulating presentation.

The next meeting will be at St Luke's Memorial Hall, Headless Cross, on Wednesday, December 3, at 7.30pm when Audrey Massey will demonstrate encaustic painting.

This will be the last meeting before Christmas so the evening will be rounded off with some socialising accompanied by mulled wine and mince pies.