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Dear Members,

Once again the Covid pandemic is putting our society plans into disarray. We now feel it necessary to change our planned AGM/Christmas social event, and to carry out our AGM via zoom as we did last year and postpone our social until restrictions and the Covid Risk eases.
We understand that members will want to avoid any risk thereby protecting a family Christmas that we missed so much last year.
We desperately want to hold a big social event where we get together and meet our new members and catch up with our established members. When new protocols allow, we will arrange an event that satisfies all our needs and have fun.
We are lucky that we have been able to hold physical events this year, particularly our exhibition. Let us hope that we return to some sort of normality very soon.
Please participate in our AGM as far as possible, it is necessary to satisfy our constitutional obligation, but should also provide information on the societies success and future plans.

Graham Pellow
Chairman

Our Next Meeting will be on
Thursday 16th December via Zoom
7.45 - 8.25pm

This is our Annual General Meeting

Plans to change the LBAS Constitution
You can see our current constitution here

The changes proposed are as follows
Under Meetings
the first change proposed is - ' The AGM shall be held not more than 6 weeks from the 1st December each year' (previously held not more than 6 weeks from 1st August)

The second change proposed is - 'General meetings of the Society may be conducted electronically. The committee shall give not less than 7 days electronic / written notice to the members of any such meetings'

The reasons why the committee are recommending these changes are

1. We have changed the annual membership to fit with the year Jan - Dec, rather than previously (Sept - August - we do not have a meeting in August and meant we lost touch with some members at the end of the year), it is also clearer for new members, that they are signing up for a specific year.

2. We have already conducted many meetings by Zoom, this technology was not considered when the constitution was drawn up. The society now has this as an option, should it be necessary for us to stop physical meetings for any reason, so it is to make this clear and allowable within the constitution which previously stated meetings must be in person.

All of the committee are standing again and we have one new person who has expressed an interest in joining the committee, but we would like a few extra helpers - if you are interested in helping by joining the committee please speak to a committee member, we would love to have a few extra sets of hands. Many hands make light work etc. this was really clear during our build up and the Exhibition. It was a great example of success through everyone working together.

Members will be sent a Zoom invitation on the 15th December

Community Market

A huge thank you to those who submitted work and who helped on the Community Market Stall last Sunday. Despite the weather (very cold and a bit damp) we had a lovely time, sold some cards, met some new members, had several people interested in joining and had a very social time - we did not sell any art, but we did once again raise the profile of LBAS.

Free Demonstration by Peter Keegan

Peter Keegan is offering a free landscape painting demonstration
You need to book ASAP

'To book your space for the free demonstration, you will need to follow this link: https://peterkeegan.com/free-christmas-demonstration (also in the newsletter) and register for your free ticket. For GDPR purposes, every member of your group who would like to attend this FREE demo, will need to register for a ticket themselves with their email address. We realise this is different to how you would normally run a Zoom demo, with you as the secretary distributing the link - but as we are opening this demonstration to all the 700+ art clubs that we work with, you will appreciate that's an awful lot of people, so we need to know who and how many will be attending, so we can set this up safely and securely for everyone. Only people who have registered in advance will be allowed onto the Zoom call, and places are limited, so if you want to join, register as soon as you can.'

New Event Announcement
LBAS is arranging for a monthly Life Drawing meeting at a St Leonards Church Hall in Heath and Reach.

We are hopeful that by the end of January we shall be able to meet. We have had an amazing response to this session, and may not be able to accomodate all those who have requested places. We are tryng to determin how to meet this demand. It is a a great indicator of the state of the Society as a highly active group.

First meeting will be Friday 28th January 1pm - 4pm This is suitable for all levels, although there is no tuition, there will be support from more experienced artists.
You can draw or paint. You must pre book for this session by contacting Sally. There will be a charge for this session price TBA
(should be no more than £15 and may be less)

If you are interested in joining this session please reply to this email as spaces are limited
We have had a great response to this session, if you have not replied but are interested do get in touch, we may not be able to accomodate you in January, but it is useful to know who might be interested in the future.

Zoom Art Together Day

Date - Saturday 18th December 2021

Time - 10:00 - 16:00

Topic - 'Toys and Games'

Join us on Zoom, the invitation will be sent to members on the day before the event. All welcome, even if you don't want to join in with the art, come and join us for a coffee and chat. If you are new to our Art Together days, we meet 3 times 10am, 1pm amd 3,30. We also have a Whatsapp group where we share images of what we are working on. It is a fun day, suitable for all levels and styles of work. If you don't wish to stick to this months theme, you don't have to. It is there, as a bit of inspiration, should you need it.

There is an inspiration sheet here

Sketchbook Pen Pal Group - Join NOW!
We are ready to start the next round of sketchbooks. Many of you will have seen them at the exhibition. So now is the time! Message Tricia (email below) and join the next one. They are good fun, it is lovely having this little art gem drop through your door every 4 weeks or so. Be part of it!

This is well under way with several sketchbooks on their travels or completed. The completed sketchbooks are available to view on our website here. If you would like to join this project, or have already been involved and would like to be in another sketchbook, please let Tricia know, the next group can then be prepared (you may well be mixed with different artists). There are many new members who have not yet joined a sketchbook - do get in touch if you would like to have a go!
The themes so far are

'Things I found.....'
'Postcards'
'I used to....'
'The Mundane'
'I heard...'
'Has Anyone seen..'
'Heteronyms'
'Rubbish'
'Pairs'
'Juxtaposition'

Contact Tricia at the email address below, if you would like to join the project.

Interested? -
Email ‘I’m in’ to Tricia at magpie_wing@outlook.com

The Competition for December is 'Toys and Games'

please submit your entries by email to threadsandpatches@gmail.com

WhatsApp Social Group -this is working well, and those involved are enjoying keeping in touch and sharing work, events and a few jokes. If you would like to join this group please reply to this email confirming your name and mobile phone number. You must have the WhatsApp App on your 'phone. Please note this is only suitable for those with Smartphones.

Art Competitions and Exhibitions
If you know of any competitions/exhibitions that our mambers may be interested in entering, please send details and I shall include them in future emails

Moma weblist of current exhibitions and competitions in UK

Artist and Illustrators Magazine competitions

Making a Mark Competition List

Sky Arts TV Competitions

“Art should be something that liberates your soul.” – Keith Haring

Copyright © 2021 Leighton Buzzard Art Society All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
threadsandpatches@gmail.com

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Our Next Meeting will be on Thursday 16th December via Zoom 7.45 - 8.25pm