JOANNE Kell specialises in graphite black and white or coloured drawings of animals, and her drawing of a fox appears on the tin box of Derwent colour pencils.

She gave Keighley Art Club a fun evening with her explicit methods of producing both basic and detailed techniques when drawing domestic wild animals.

It was interesting to see how a few lines of graphite could be converted to other illustrations such as trees, which we all saw from the examples we were asked to produce.

Joanne supplied all the materials we needed, from tins of black graphite and soft, creamy-coloured pencils, to blenders, putty rubbers, and the specific paper for the task.

Each person was then given a work booklet with stage-by-stage directions, hints and tips for both the workshop and how to apply our skills to future drawings.

The various grades of pencils were discussed, and we were advised of the best uses of the F, H, B and HB pencils numbered from 2 to 9.

Joanne showed how just one pencil could be used for anything, but this would leave grooves in the paper and therefore the graded ones were better for giving lighter or darker lines.

Joanne told us of her way of sharpening pencils to avoid breaking the graphite, and also how to clean the blender easily.

She gave us all a section of putty rubber and showed how this could be used to create the effect of animal fur or feathers.

Fur is not created by heavy lines, and Joanne showed several times how to achieve realistic and life-like images, first with black graphite and later with coloured items.

The same method of fur or whisker drawing could be used for drawing grasses, and the almost wax finish of the colours demonstrated gave a softness to the finished drawings.

We were able to see some of the cards Joanne had printed from her work, which varied from pets to a kingfisher and a red squirrel. Her reference material is sourced from Laurie Campbell, the natural history photographer.

Joanne offers workshops, demonstrations, schools and private tuition from her base in Holmfirth. Her website is joannetkell.co.uk, or people can call her on 07837 927020 for further information.

Several of our members showed an interest in supporting Keighley Show’s handicraft and produce section in September, which included an art sub-section under three categories. These were landscape in any medium, any subject in any medium, and collages.

This system was vastly simplified from previous years, which catered to novices, experienced artists and other classes, and hopefully the system will be adopted in future years, to help people enter the categories.

Keighley Art Club’s Facebook page continues to be updated regularly with information about events at the club.

Rosemary’s Brushes have agreed to visit us on November 16. Other guests will be Tracey Holmes on November 7 with a Christmas theme, Barbara Klempka on November 23 with Dalesman covers, and Malcolm Sharrock on November 30 with portraits.