Annual General Meeting on Sunday, 23 August

We are holding our Annual General Meeting on Sunday, 23 August at 1.00pm at Louis Joel in the Art Room. This will be followed by refreshments and a demonstration by Peter Smales. We are expecting a big attendance from all our membership.

As usual all the committee positions are thrown open at this time so everyone can nominate to serve on the 26-27 committee; as the president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, Exhibition Co-ordinator, Fine Arts Program Co-ordinator and another 5 committee members. This is the normal process so do not think that you are "putting someone's nose out of joint" by putting your name forward.

‘5 x 7 Art Prize’ 2025 Exhibition

This year’s Hobsons Bay Arts Societies ‘5 x 7 Art Prize’ Exhbition was once again well received by all, with 271 works by 132 artists in the open section, and 9 school group entries making a total of 475 little artworks on display! This year’s theme was Patterns. 

Hobsons Bay City Council Mayor Cr Daria Kellander officially opened the exhibition as well as being on the judging panel with Hobsons Bay City Council’s Tania Blackwell and LJAC Manager Karen Ingram. 

Open Section

1st Prize: Inside Outside -Sally Bilbao 

2nd Prize: Patterns of Destruction - Belinda Nieuwesteeg

3rd Prize: Hobsons Freight Rail Weave -Belinda Nieuwesteeg

Highly Commended

Patterns on Patterns - Kate McCracken-Bell

Kookaburra - Lukas Kaspar 

Zincworks - Jenny Viney

School Section

(judged by Gaye Pereira-Jackson & LJAC admin Hannah Cheevers)

1st Prize: Seaholme Primary School

2nd Prize: Williamstown Primary School

3rd Prize: St Margaret Mary’s Primary School, Spotswood

Congratulations to all who took part, and special thanks to Hobsons Bay Arts Society’s curating team and other members who stepped up to assist with the many tasks such a large exhibition brings with it. 

We are looking for a dedicated team of Hobsons Bay Arts Society volunteers to organise this exhibition moving forward; if you have time, love working in a team, interested in learning the ropes, and having fun, please consider stepping up!

Kirsten Craggs - Exhibition Coordinator

Landscape Painting with Lana Daubermann

Can you complete 4 paintings in 2 hours and be totally engaged in each step of the process? A definite YES from 14 enthusiastic participants who exercised their artistic muscles in a fast-paced series of learning exercises, expertly led by Lana Daubermann. It was also a night of sevens! Using our preferred mediums (some used acrylics, some oils, some pastels, some pencils), we started by representing our allocated landscape in 7 minutes, making speedy decisions about features like colour, line/brush work and focus.

Next, we were challenged to break the same composition down in to 7 shapes, with some surprising abstract landscapes emerging. Our next challenge was to undertake the same landscape in 7 brush strokes, ensuring that our brushes were sufficiently well loaded. Finally, we infused a particular mood or feeling into the same landscape, selecting colours, strokes, blending techniques or line work to fit the emotion. A lot of fun was had afterwards guessing the mood of each other’s renditions!

Our efforts were gently guided by Lana, who demonstrated each of these approaches before letting us power through our own and shared our accomplishments with lovely encouragement. The landscape painters in the group commented that these techniques will be invaluable in their plein air painting, where speed is of the essence.

Thanks Lana for a fun and thoroughly educational evening!

Lana will be running a 2 day weekend workshop for HBAS members at Woods Street Art Space on 10th and 11th August, so watch this space for more information.

Check out more of Lana’s work on her website: https://www.lanadaubermann.com/

Autumn Life Drawing with David Payne

A group of enthusiastic HBAS artists met on Thursday nights for a month to attend David's 'Autumn Life Drawing’ sessions. David, accompanied by his dog Lucie, warmly welcomed everyone to his studio in Altona. Artists of various skill levels, from beginners to seasoned professionals, shared their time and expertise generously. The atmosphere was social, educational, friendly, and incredibly relaxed.

It was wonderful to have many different models with dynamic and varied poses. This challenged and inspired us to new heights, learning from one another. This is the best Life Drawing sessions in the local area, and we eagerly anticipate more sessions in the future.

Thank you, David, for organising the ‘Autumn Life Drawing’!

Check out more of David’s work from the life drawing sessions on Insta: davidpayne_art