QN SUMMER 23 FINAL

MIDLAND REGION MEETING
Hooton Park Trust
Ellesmere Port, The Wirral
Saturday July 16th
On a characteristically blustery July
Sunday, we were invited back to our
latest find, the historic hangars in the
care of the Hooton Park Trust. In a
landscape dramatically changed
over the last century; the former grand
hall and estate of 18th C Hooton Park,
falling into decline and becoming the
site of an RFC station in 1917.
The later RAF station closed in 1957 with
most of the estate being redeveloped as
the Vauxhall motor factory which is still in
operation today. Despite the closure, three
First World War Belfast-truss hangers have
been retained and restored, and have
become home to a collection of vintage
aircraft and vehicles, which provide an
ideal set of subjects for our artists.
This was another occasion on which we
reached out to the periphery of our area
(any further and we would have been
in the sea), but then the Midland Region
is very extensive, and we are used to
travelling far and wide.
Sheltering from the occasional thundery
shower, we stayed quite close together
in the main hangar which was quiet and
comfortable. We were eleven in total, with
two non-sketching guests.
The works illustrated tell an impressive
tale of what can be accomplished in
three hours, and we were particularly
pleased to meet two new, first-time Friend
members, Heather Vernon and Steve
Hopper. Between the nine sketchers, we
chose the Dragon Rapide (3: Heather
Vernon, Grahame Witts, Steve Hopper),
Avro Avian (2: Trevor Colegate and Vince
Nevin), Auster Alpha (Nigel Morris), Tiger
Moth (Ian Smith), Miles Messenger (Phil
Hadley), and the Wallis-Bensen Autogyro
(Robert Calow).
Meeting at 10, we settled down to sketch
at about 11, giving a comfortable 4 hours
until our crit at 3; a period of 4 hours, which
in retrospect seems more than enough to
handle the sketching and have a good
luck around, and a natter.
The question of time management came
up during the crit, ably and sensitively
handled by Phil and Robert, as an essential
tool in the sketching process. We all know
the feeling of ‘where has the time gone?’
and there is nothing like sketching to give
yourself the discipline of saying: outline
sketch in 1 hour, detail in 3, block-in tone
and colour in 3, finesse and detail, 4.
The work produced covered a wide
range of materials including pencil,
coloured pencil, charcoal, watercolour
and oils. The variety and quality showed
well in the images reproduced here.
Once again, the day, and in particular
the Guild’s inclusive critique approach,
demonstrated the value of such meetings,
particularly to new or less experienced
members in not only looking, but listening
to and learning from others. It is the
importance of being dragged out of your
comfort zone!
With special thanks to our hosts, the
Hooton Park Trust. You are firmly on our
radar.
https://hootonparkhangars.co.uk/
Vince Nevin GAvA
Ian Smith
Trevor Colegate
Nigel Morris
Vince Nevin
Phil Hadley
Robert Calow
Heather Vernon
Steve Hopper
Vince Nevin
Grahame Witts
24 GUILD OF AVIATION ARTISTS QUARTERLY NEWS SUMMER 2023
GUILD OF AVIATION ARTISTS QUARTERLY NEWS SUMMER 2023 25