Dear Members,

Our EASTER EXHIBITION this year, kindly opened by His Excellency, the Governor and his wife, Lady Haddacks, was a great success. Admissions were up on last year, possibly due to the bright and cold weather conditions, and the raffle was very well supported. 99 members sold works including 10 new members!

The committee have decided to add an ‘E-mail Address’ field to the sales cards for the next exhibition as there were 25 sold exhibits that were not collected at the required time this year. If we have the buyers e-mail addresses we will be able to send a reminder of the collection date and time and this will hopefully reduce the number of exhibits that have to be transported to Thie Ellyn on collection day.

Thanks go out to the members and their families that helped out with the admissions and sales during the exhibition. Can I encourage all other members to sign up next year as it is a great help and a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.

Sadly, I have received a complaint that some of the works included in the Easter exhibition had been had exhibited previously and that some were not finished appropriately. Can all members ensure that their pieces submitted for the Easter Exhibition have not been exhibited previously and that they are all well finished and suitable for exhibiting. The committee will be reviewing and updating the exhibition rules to include reference to the new methods of display, including box canvases, that are now available to our members.

On a more positive note, the new WEBSITE is now up and running at www.isleofmanartsociety.com. A link to this new site has been added to the old site. The old site will be removed shortly so please add the new address to your ‘favourites’ folder. If anyone has anything they would like displaying on the website please let me have the details and I will arrange for its addition.

This year in our SUMMER PAINTING WEEK we are very excited about the Artist who has agreed to come over from Derbyshire. His name is David Coupe and he is a very experienced tutor of painters with all levels of ability. David has been painting in watercolour for around twenty years and is hooked on this unpredictable but wonderful medium.

David started his company, Coupe Watercolours, in 2003 and now provides lessons, workshops painting holidays and life classes along with art sales. His classes put the emphasis on personal instruction and mastering the basics of painting in watercolour.

Those of you with internet access can view his website at www.coupe.uk.net .

David will travel to the Island for the week commencing Monday 21st July. The week will include four tuition days on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, when we will hopefully be able to paint outdoors. The cost to attend all the tuition days will be £75, with individual days at £20.

David will also be giving a demonstration at Thie Ellyn of Tuesday evening 22nd July at 7pm. We will provide a light supper as usual and the cost of this evening will be £4.

Please remember that the summer painting week gets booked up very quickly. Places are available on a first come, first served basis, so get your booking form and payment to me as soon as possible if you wish to attend.

Kind regards,

Jackie Kelly (Hon Sec) Tel: 407402 / 824817