Monthly Meetings

Our monthly meetings are held at the Athenaeum, Boundary Terraces, off Campground Road, Newlands on the last Thursday of every month, excluding December. The meetings start at 7pm. Entry is R10 for members and R20 for non-members. Our library is open from 5.50pm to 6.50pm. Apart from interesting talks, demonstrations and competitions, we offer refreshments, coffee and tea afterwards, where artists can chat and share ideas with one another.

Future meetings

30 Oct – Paul van Rensburg will give a demo

27 Nov – Eleanor Palmer competition and year end function

Previous Meetings

25 September 2025

Sculptor Nanette Ranger gave a fascinating talk at our members’ meeting held on 25 September! Even for those who know little about sculpting, the presentation was engaging and easy to follow, with visual aids that really brought the process to life.

One can only imagine the creative journey from the first spark of an idea to the finished piece, and hearing about the symbolic meaning behind different elements of the artwork gave us a deeper appreciation of the artist’s vision.

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28 August 2025

Our members’ mee􀆟ng of August was held on 28 August 2925. As always this 􀆟me of year it took the form of a crit
evening with the Selec􀆟on judges. This year Phillipa Duncan and Susan Proctor Hume gave of their valuable 􀆟me to
come and answer ques􀆟ons from ar􀆟sts.
Thank you to all the ar􀆟sts who brought in works for feedback and to the judges for coming out to address them. It is
always interes􀆟ng to hear what aspects of our work can be improved. Some interes􀆟ng ideas and opinions were shared.
Congratula􀆟ons to all the ar􀆟sts who were selected for the Annual Exhibi􀆟on, and especially to those who were awarded
Best of, Highly Commended and Commended. We look forward to seeing all the artworks together at the Richard Crowie
Hall at Kirstenbosch from 21 October un􀆟l 4 November.
We hope all the Fellows are working hard on their addi􀆟onal Fellow pieces. We are excited to see the result.

31 July 2025

On the evening of Thursday 31st July at our monthly members’ meeting we held the landscape, life and still-life competition. We had a lovely turn-out of members who entered some very beautiful paintings. The competition was held in two sections – one for more established members and one for new members, although, judging from the quality of their work, these new members could’ve just jumped right in with the oldies. We all had quite a tough time choosing our favourites, but after the votes were counted, these were the winners:

Established Members:

Land/Seascape:

1. Beth Lowe – A Moment of Light

2. Grazyna Janik – Warship Maintenance

3. Lynne Menge – Breakthrough

Life:

1. Audrey Innes – Kitty’s Repose

2. Margie Munroe – Ouma

3. Grazyna Janik – Cockerel in Blue

Still-life:

1. Karen Burns – Fragility

2. Mary Henry McMillan – Flowers Wildly

3. Mandy McKay – Little Spring Gems

New Members:

Land/Seascape:

1. Penny Webster – Living Water

2. Maureen Edgecombe – Zanzibar Fisherman

3. Corma Laubscher – Burnt

Life:

1. Maureen Edgecombe – Contemplation

2. David vd Spuy – Marek

3. Dalene Smit – Snoek Time

Still-Life:

1. Michael Wade – Still Life With Spider

2. Kira Chernotsky – Second Hobby

3. Michelle Hamman-Wright – Before the Event

Well done to all the winners and a very big thank you to our generous sponsors for the prizes.

Deckle Edge and Brush and Canvas donated gift vouchers, Ashley and Radmore donated acrylic liquitex sets and ETH Canvas donated canvases.

Thanks, as usual, to our hard-working council for organising the evening.

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26 June 2025

On a rather cold and rainy evening on June 26, we held our monthly members’ meeting at the Athenaeum. Despite the weather we had a pretty good turnout of members who came to hear Marc Alexander speak about pricing our art and making a career of it.

Marc, himself an artist, teacher and erstwhile gallery owner, is very knowledgeable on the subject and had some important tips and insights to share with us. Besides putting a price to our artworks, he told us how to go about dealing with galleries and buyers, both ethically and confidently.

Thank you Marc, for an extremely useful and informative evening and, as usual, thanks to our council for organising it all.

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29 May 2025

At the May SASA members’ meeting last Thursday evening we held our “Critique Night”.

Each year we invite our members to bring along a piece they have been struggling with, or perhaps a work that just needs a little guidance to reach completion. This year we were privileged to have Lyn Northam and Lesley Charnock, both well-known Cape Town artists, to do the critique for us.

They answered questions, offered insights and gave useful tips on improving technique, composition and application. It was a fun, relaxed and enlightening evening. We all left full of inspiration and new ideas for enhancing our own work.

Thank you Lyn and Lesley for sharing your time and expertise with us and thanks as well, to those members who were brave enough to put their work in the spotlight.

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24 April 2025

On the 24th, the last Thursday in April, we held our monthly members’ meeting, with Solly Gutman – Senior Fellow of SASA – talking to us about scratchboard art. Solly told us about the history of the medium and the comparisons between old and new techniques. He took us through the process from start to finish. We learnt about the tools, instruments and equipment he uses, the preparation, tracing, scratching, finishing and addition of colour. Each step was illustrated by some of Solly’s beautiful artworks, positioned around the hall for just that purpose. Thank you Solly, for sharing your secrets with us.

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27 March 2025

American cartoonist, Jan Elliot, was our guest for the evening at the SASA members’ meeting, on the 27th of March. Having “accidentally” found herself a holiday home in Muizenberg online, she now spends quite a lot of time in Cape Town, so luckily didn’t have to come all the way from Oregon!

Jan presented a talk, illustrated by a slide-show, taking us through the beginnings and progression of her career. Her comic strips now feature in various newspapers and magazines across the USA and she has also published eleven books of cartoons, which have been translated into several different languages.

Thank you, Jan, for taking the time to entertain us with your story and thanks, as well, to our council members for organising the event.

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27 February 2025

The SASA AGM was held at the February members’ meeting on 27 Feb. The meeting was chaired by Solly Gutman, who did his usual excellent job, making sure the official part of the evening went very smoothly. The president’s address – a rundown of the past year’s events – was presented as a slide-show by SASA President, Irene Oxley and Mike Forrester, our treasurer gave a comprehensive report on all matters financial. We also voted to keep the current council members in office for a further year.

With all the formalities dealt with, we could get to the lighter side of the meeting – the drawing and sketchbook competition. There were some very beautiful entries, but after the votes were counted, Louise Van Wyk won first place and the trophy for her drawing and Sonja Frenz was in second place. Johanneke Strydom, who took 3rd place in the drawing competition also won the Ryno Swart trophy for her sketchbook.

Thanks, to Solly for officiating and to our council members for all their hard work. We only have half the required number of council members at the moment and the society cannot run without them. If anyone is willing to serve on the council, please email secretary, Louise Van Wyk – secretary@sasa-artists.co.za – your society needs you!

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30 January 2025

On Thursday 30 Jan we had our first members’ meeting for 2025. Our “guests” for the evening were the “Best of” winners from the last selection weekend. Each did a demo in their winning medium, giving us a little taste of their creative process. We had Beth Lowe, painting her beautiful “found objects from a beach” in watercolour; Solly Gutman, who demonstrated his scratchboard technique; Corma Launcher painting a landscape in oils; Lyn Menge creating a “wavescape” with mixed media and Libby Harrison using acrylics for her impression of a Swedish summer garden.

Our members had a chance to go from one to the next, to see how they work and to ask questions that needed answers. It was a lovely, relaxed evening, both informative and inspiring. It’s always good to pick up pointers which we can use to improve our own work.

Thanks to our “demonstrators” and to our council members for making it happen.

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26 October 2024

Our monthly meeting on Thursday evening, 31 October was very interesting. Internationally known impressionist artist Derric van Rensburg gave a demonstration on landscape painting. Derric was born 1952 in Cape Town.

Since his first exhibition in Cape Town in 1976, he has been commissioned by various clients including multinational corporate clients such as First National Bank, South African Airways, Price Waterhouse Coopers and Mobil. His work is internationally recognised and he has been rated as one of South Africa’s top artists. Van Rensburg’s career was celebrated in a coffee table book published in 2007 to coincide with the artist’s 55th birthday. Derric is self-taught and has developed a method that is both unique and mesmerising to watch. In less than an hour he carved a landscape out of a blank canvas.

Starting with a canvas washed in a neutral ground, Derric quickly sketched out a main concept and then started to work intuitively with a large brush to lay down the main blocks of colour that he saw in his reference. The reference is merely an idea, and is not followed strictly. Derric says he follows a method of working from general to specific. The next step was to start defining objects within the landscape such as a fence and some trees. He remained very loose in his approach, sometimes adding in a shadow before actually painting the object casting it, using thinks like solvents and tissue paper to create textures.

Highlights in the trees were achieved by applying yellow directly over the darker blues and purples that had already been laid down in the first steps of the process. For this he used a piece of cardboard instead of a brush. He also used a rubber squidgy to create clean edges and detail. In pursuit of creating dappled light effects, Derric tries to allow light and shadow to emerge intuitively, with great effect. Derric’s demonstration was a great lesson in loosening up when painting. Those of us who were there learned so much from this masterful painter.