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MAVAS
THE MAGAZINE OF THE MANCHESTER AVIATION ART SOCIETY
Issue 71 December 2011
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Editorial
Cover Image “Apollo 15” Peter G.. Nield
Hello again. I delved into the archives to come up with the cover painting. Peter Nield chose the opposite viewpoint to Keith Woodcock for his depiction of the parachutes taking Apollo 15 to a safe Splash- down despite the failure of one ‘chute to deploy fully. Safe decent is also the subject of Gwen Yuill’s painting. The almost monochrome painting is brought to life by the warmth of the lights and their reflections, which take the eye in a gentle curve from the white lights at the bottom of the painting up to the dark mass of the aircraft. I am delighted that the subject of this issue’s member profile is Joe DeMarco. Joe is best known to us as the author of the APM program used by some of our members to generate the perspective view of their chosen aircraft. It is nice to see the man himself. Thanks go to all our contributors and a special thanks to Peter Nield our contributions editor.
Dave Rear Cover Image “Evening Approaches” Gwen Yuill
ps. No special Christmas cover as the magazine has to last for three months on the website, but we give you a cartoon by Rob Knotts. pps. The price for extra copies has been reduced to £1 by popular demand.
If any member has an objection to the Society holding Membership records on a computer and using the information for society purposes deemed suitable by the Committee, eg; the production and distribution of a membership list, please notify the Editor
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CONTENTS Introducing Joe DeMarco September Meeting - Parke’s Dive
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Avro Type G and the Larkhill Trials
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October Meeting - Avro Competition and Gallery
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An Irreverent Look at Perspective - part 6
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November Meeting - Alternative Work
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The August Workshop - Open Forum
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The November Workshop - Colour Mixing
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News Round
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Diary Dates
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Introduci Joe DeMa
Well, looking through your bios it seems I’m not the only one who was born with a pencil in my hand. My first love was steam locomotives, but in 1927 Lindbergh’s solo flight to Paris caught my fancy and turned my head to aviation. In time I gave up my ambition to be a locomotive engineer and knew that I had to be a pilot. I went to work in 1934 at the usual menial jobs for a kid with no experience and in the meantime kept up with aviation in the movies and pulp mags. I went to work for the Glenn L. Martin Co. in 1939 as a Timekeeping clerk, took a hiatus at the Sun Oil Company and returned to GLM in early 1942. While working as a draftsman in the Tool Design Department it was found that I could sketch, and at that point my “career” took a turn that put me on the track to becoming an artist, my real ambition. In 1946 I transferred to the Engineering Division’s Art Department. The first thing I learned there was how much I had yet to learn. By 1951 my competency was much improved and I was invited to join AAI Corp., a startup defense contractor, where I remained for the next 30 years. At first I wore many hats—artist, photographer, printer—as the need for those services arose. As the company grew each of these crafts became independent groups and I ended up as Manager of Art Services.
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ing arco
Joe’s beautifully drawn portrait of the Martin Mauler executed in 1948
Most of our artwork at AAI was done in pencil, the most direct means to the end. My first venture into commercial aviation art was a series of WWI Airplane drawings in pencil. Alkyds are my favored medium for painting. I am mostly self-taught in my skills, particularly art and the geometry and mathematics that have gone into the creation of APM (Artist’s Perspective Modeler.) Oh, by the way, I got my pilot’s license in 1970 at age 52.
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Meeting - 06.09.2011
Roger Markman On Parke’s Dive
The G 191
Originally, this meeting should have been “Sketching from Life” with Ron Leigh in his USAF uniform acting as the model but, unfortunately, work commitments prevented Ron from attending. Therefore, at rather short notice, Roger Markman stepped in with his lecture entitled “Parke`s Dive” which centred upon the first observed recovery from a spinning aircraft which, in the early days of flight, was usually fatal. This momentous event took place at Salisbury Plain on Sunday 25th August 1912 when Lt Wilfred Parke, R.N. who, with passenger Lt. Breton in the rear, was returning from a 3 hour military flying trial in the Avro “G” biplane. His attempt at a spiral glide from around 700 feet developed into the dreaded spin but Parke, with a combination of good luck and skill, managed to pull out at a height of 50 feet. The event was comprehensively reported in the journals of the day but, surprisingly, there are few, if any, reports on the observations of Lt. Breton. Roger`s enthusiasm for his subject was clear and the way in which he mixed the technical content with various aspects of art was much appreciated by the 14 members present.
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Avro Type and the 12 Larkhill Trials Avro Type G the world's first cabin biplane was designed for the Military Aeroplane Competition of August 1912 at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain. Two Type G biplanes were built but due to engine problems only one untested aircraft arrived in a crate .On August 7, 1912, Wilfred Parke took off at the start of the 3 hour endurance trial but turbulent conditions led to a crash landing after half an hour and it had to be sent back to Manchester for repair. The aircraft returned a week later and by flying in a rainstorm for 37 minutes and in a wind of 40mph. for 30 minutes demonstrated it’s all-weather qualities. At 6.04 a.m. on Sunday August 25, 1912 Parke again started on the endurance test and this time all went well, until at the end of the flight he started a series of steep diveing turns which developed into the famous spin and he found that if the stick were central, applying full opposite rudder made recovery possible. Because of the time lost due to the crash, and having a poor climb rate the Type G did not secure a major award but the company was given £100 for it’s efforts. The Type G held the endurance record for all-British aeroplanes with a time of 7 hours 31 minutes. - for one hour, before Harry Hawker in the Sopwith Wright biplane managed 8 hours 23 minutes and won the £500
H. V. Roe flying passenger in the Type G became the first person to type a letter in an aircraft in flight.
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Showing the enclosed cockpit with the triangular door to the rear of the radiators.
The Type G had a slim 60hp Green in-line engine with side mounted radiators. It had a very small rudder re-inforced at the bottom with iron instead of a tail skid.
A paper plane was used to show the position of the controls during recovery - including the wing warping.
A map of the flight with inset a diagram illustrating the stages of the spin and recovery. Illustrations from http://flyingmachines.ru An excellent source for early flight.
A poor half-tone photograph of Wilfred Park opening the triangular door of the Type G.
Full story at http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1912/1912%20-%200787.html
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Meeting – Tuesday 4th October, 2011
Avro Trophy Competition Tonight`s meeting was the annual Avro Trophy Competition and the subject this year was “Cold War Aircraft 1949-1991”. Sixteen members attended plus Richard Jackson`s grandson Paul Rose. The Trophy was returned by last year`s winner John Williams. Thirteen artist members produced a total of eighteen paintings for the competition which was judged by MOSI Director, Tony Hill. After much deliberation Tony selected “Black Ops”, a painting by new member David Taylor, as the winner together with a commendation for pencil sketch “Hammer and Sickles” by Chris Jones. After presenting the Trophy to David, Tony commented favourably about the general standard of work and stated that he would be very pleased to act as adjudicator for the event in October 2012 when the subject will be “Pioneering Flights”. The remaining part of the meeting was devoted to constructive criticism of the new entries by Ron Sargeant.
Tony presenting the Trophy to David
Constructive criticism by Ron
page 10 The winner - “Black Ops” by David Taylor
Commendation for “Hammer and Sickles” by Chris Jones
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Above - “Cold Steel” by T. Jones Below - “Antonov An2” by P. S. Carter
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“Evening Departure” by R. Rumbold
“On Manoeuvres” by D. Bates
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“Bid for Freedom” by P. G. Nield
“Eastern Seagull (chaika) by J. D. Williams
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“Hungarian Sunset” by D. Bates
“Halo” By R. Sargeant
“Hind” By R. Sargeant
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We do not have a competition for cartoons, so Rob Knotts’ work does not get the publicity open to other members. So this and his Christmas cartoon help redress this. Perhaps Rob could enter a cartoon for our February panel.
“Su-27R” By J. Sevelan
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Above - “Forger” by R. Sargeant Below - “Hanging on the Prop” by C. Taylor
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Above“Mig-25R” by K. Stancombe Below “Badger Bear” by R. Sargeant
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Above - “Border Patrol” by P. W. Grove Below - “Reunification” by D. Bates
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Peter Nield continues his
Irreverent View of Perspective (Part 6) By now, Gabriel, having grasped the fact that the eyeball is a lens, had a pretty good idea about the practical aspects of perspective. Three months had passed since he had discussed viewing distance, canvas size and image size etc., with God and he was itching to find out about a couple of other things he had overheard the blob people discussing, so off he went once more to the Workshop in the clouds. As usual, God was brewing up. “I knew you`d be back” said God, “What is it now?”. “Well, said Gabriel. “It`s those blob people again. They both want to join MAvAS you know, and they keep rattling on about circles and ellipses, mainly in connection with propellers what`s that all about? God sighed wearily “I`ve had all this before but I can see that I`m going to have to explain it all again. Tell you what though, we`ll go right back to basics this time. “Right, said God “we`ll start with the circle first so, go on, you tell me how to construct a circle”. “You`re having me on” said Gabriel “But OK, OK, don`t hassle me, I`ll go with the flow. How`s this? I get a piece of paper flat on the table. I then make a dot for the centre and draw round it very carefully making sure that the distance ‘r’ from my pencil to the central dot does not change”. “That`s right”, said God, “but just remember this my smug little friend (a) it is just a constructed 2D flat outline (b) it is symmetrical
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about the centre point and (c) if we gave the circle two axes at right angles to each other intersecting at the centre they would be equal length wouldn`t they?” “I guess so, just like a couple of diameters” said Gabriel, “that seems pretty straightforward to me”. “OK” said God “So far, so good. Stay with me and we`ll construct an ellipse which is just little a bit more tricky than a circle but not that bad. Now just do what I tell you and all will be well. Are you ready?” “Never better” said Gabriel “Tally Ho, let`s go!” “OK” said God “Settle down. Now make two dots on your flat piece of paper with a reasonable gap between them” “Done that” said Gabriel “Next” said God “is the interesting bit so listen real good!! I want you to draw carefully round the outside of that pair of dots in such a way that the sum of the distances to each dot – ‘a’ plus ‘b’ always stays the same. Can you do that?” Gabriel hesitated only for a moment and soon the drawing was finished. “So what was that all about? said Gabriel. “Well” said God “the rule that you followed to draw that line round the two dots is very special – you have just constructed an ellipse!” “No kidding!” said Gabriel “and I suppose if I had put the dots at a different distance apart and made the sum of the two distances different, I would have had a totally different ellipse” “Dead right” said God “and you will notice about the ellipse that (a) it is just a constructed 2D flat outline (b) it is symmetrical about the centre point and (c) it has two axes at right angles to each other intersecting at the centre. However, unlike the circle, one is big – the major axis, and one is smaller – the minor axis. That`s not so difficult is it?” “Nope” said Gabriel “A piece of cake.
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“Right” said God “that`s the constructed flat drawing board stuff out of the way. Now I want you to clear your scruffy little angelic head and pay attention. We are now going to talk about something entirely different, namely a solid circular disc with a thin rod attached perpendicular to its centre - at the hub if you like. We`ll call it ‘The Thing’. Being a 3D object, you can pick The Thing up and chuck around if you so wish. You got that?” “Yep” said Gabriel. “Right” said God “Here`s one I made earlier – have a go with it and take careful note of what you see” Gabriel had the time of his life and finally had to stop because he was knackered. “OK” said God “Now tell me, what exactly have you observed?” “Well” said Gabriel “Whichever way I viewed the 3D disc, it conformed to your laws of perspective” “Right” said God “What else?” Gabriel paused momentarily and continued “When I saw the disc head on, it obviously looked like a circle but as soon as I started to turn it through an angle, it seemed to morph into an ellipse that went narrower and narrower until I could see the disc edge on”. “That`s exactly right” said God “and let me assure you that a disc viewed at an angle – a circle in perspective - really does project a 2D elliptical outline on the viewer`s picture plane. Why? - because that`s the way I set it up. I did this because I get a real buzz out of sexy ellipses and, as Master of Everything, it`s my call anyway. If anybody queries it, just say who I am and tell them if I say it is an elliptical outline then it is an elliptical outline. So, come on, what else do you have on offer?” “Well” said Gabriel “Whichever way I turned the disc, I could always see a full diameter on
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the major axis of the observed ellipse” “That`s right too” said God “Anything else?” “Oh yes, there are two more things” said Gabriel “the minor axis always lined up with the rod and the major axis - the full diameter - always sat at right angles to it. “Spot on again” said God “and make sure you don`t you forget it – you will need to keep the alignment of those two axes in mind at all times when you are drawing!” “Look, I`m really sorry Boss, but I still have one major problem” said Gabriel with some trepidation, “When I look at the disc at an angle, the point where the rod is attached at the centre of the disc – the hub - is definitely not in the middle of the observed ellipse. How can that be?” “That” said God patiently “is because you were not looking at a flat ellipse constructed on a piece of paper with a geometric centre, you were looking at a circle in perspective - a 2D ethereal ellipse projected on to your picture plane. In that situation, there is a natural movement of the projected ellipse relative to the fixed hub as the viewing angle on the disc changes from zero when head on through to the side view at 90º. As the viewing angle increases, the projected ellipse appears to move towards the viewer. This can be seen quite easily in the little diagram that shows you looking at The Thing on the PP. The biggest displacement from the hub is when the viewing angle is 45º and then the projected ellipse drifts back to the centre as it swings towards the 90º edge on side view” “And another thing” said God “the distortion, if that is what you want to call it, becomes more exaggerated the
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nearer you are to the hub” “Ahh” said Gabriel “so I`m not going crackers, it is just a natural phenomenon” “That`s right” said God “not too difficult was it” “Not at all” said Gabriel “and there was Silly Billy me thinking that it was the hub that moved relative to the ellipse!” Don`t you worry, Gabe” said God “You would be surprised at the number of so-called artists down there who still think that the hub moves about within the ellipse as the viewing angle changes. As you now know, this just ain`t the case, it is the ellipse that floats about relative to the fixed hub. I wish they would get to grips with that. “Something else troubling you?” said God “Yeah, I guess there is” said Gabriel. “I still can`t understand how you can refer to a circle in perspective as an ellipse when it is not symmetrical about fixed centre” “Hey” said God, with a knowing grin “No worries. There`s more than one way to skin a cat. I have the alternative geometry and maths somewhere but, trust me, these circles in perspective with their apparently offset “centres” have genuine elliptical outlines”. “Gee, all this is fantastic!” said Gabriel “so that disc with its thin rod is just like a whirling propeller on its prop shaft isn`t it?”. “That`s correct” said God “so you can go back to your blob friends feeling a bit more confident about the subject”. “Hmmmm” said Gabriel “I hate to say this, but if I am drawing an aeroplane with a propeller – or any other circular component - how do I figure out the size of the major axis and the proportions of the ellipse?” “Well, that`s a tricky one” said God “You can refer to 3-view drawings and estimate the diameter of your circle which gives you the size of the major axis, but the proportions of the corresponding ellipse are more elusive. Basically, you will just have to do like everyone else and give it your best shot based upon what you see in real life, reference to photographs and experience. Some artists are quite skilful in referring to 3-views to create angled “Perspective Boxes” on their drawings into which Ellipses can be sketched. Better still, if you want to take full advantage of 3-view drawings, you need to get hold of Joe DeMarco`s “Artists` Perspective Modeler” program (APM) – that will enable you to create perfect circles in perspective from any view point every time”.
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Meeting Tuesday 1st November 2011 Originally billed as being hosted by Eric Yuill, Ron Sargeant stepped in and hosted the appraisal of non - aviation art. This annual meeting gives members a chance to display their wider talents, and it was interesting to note that despite the variation in subject and stile, the paintings remained within the artists comfort zone. I have to confess that had I been able to attend my offering would have been no different.
A L T E R N A T E W O R K
K. Stancombe
R.Sargeant
S. Ridgway
C.Taylor
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J.D. Williams
P.S. Carter
P.W. Grove
Workshop 6th August 2011
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OPEN FORUM Attendance at the workshop hosted by Eric Yuill on 6th August was encouraging. Seven members who turned up in the morning were joined later by new member Colin Taylor. This workshop was described as a Forum and Eric did a splendid job in promoting vigorous discussion about many aspects of art, relating to our own subject and art in general. In particular, strong views were expressed about the place of digital art in the grand scheme. This was not resolved and will no doubt be raised again. The meeting was topped off with a slide show of various artistic shots taken by Eric in earlier days. Many of the images demonstrated the beauty of sculpture that can be found in the shape of the automobile, much in the same way as it can be observed in the design of an aircraft. The notion of an open Forum proved to be very successful and is certainly worth repeating in the future.
Workshop 5th November 2011 page 27 Possibly as a consequence of this ‘Colour Mixing’ workshop being held on the build up to bonfire night, turn out was very poor with only four members attending, including Ron Leigh who was running the event. Nevertheless, Ron Sargeant, Peter Nield and Dave Bates, later joined by wife Joyce, enjoyed watching Ron go through the various stages of painting of a B-17 in oils. Ron demonstrated the use of the colour wheel and emphasised the advantages of tonal preparation and the use of a limited palette. All present, including Ron, benefited from discussion and observing the mixing of different colours to achieve required greens, browns and yellows etc., in various lighting conditions. Similarly, metallic surfaces were also addressed, this being particularly relevant to the B-17 painting that Ron planned to complete at home. This proved to be a very useful workshop and, if some members feel they have missed out, it may well be worth repeating at some point next year.
Colour Mixing
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NEWS ROUND Sadly
We have to announce the death of two former members
MAURINE SPACKMAN
M
aurine sadly passed away earlier this month. Maurine was one of our very early members, first attending in June 1984. Maurine was not an artist herself but supported MAvAS in many other ways, particularly by looking after refreshments. This was acknowledged at out 10th Anniversary celebration in November 1993 when Maurine was presented with a bouquet of flowers for these services by fellow member at the time, Neil Fraser. Ultimately, ill health prevented her attending and in May 2002 she resigned and moved from Hale down to Truro to be with her family. Our condolences go out to her daughter Philippa and Tony.
MALCOLM A KINNEAR
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alcolm`s recent death took place following a long illness. He joined MAvAS as an Artist Member in October 1993 and his work was immediately recognised as being of a very high standard and added greatly to the quality of our exhibitions. Malcolm was very much an active member, taking on the duties of Treasurer during 1994. He had many other aviation interests, not least of which was his involvement in the Jetstream Society at the old Speke Airport. The loss of his wife Jennifer took its toll and Malcolm`s own difficulties resulted in his resignation in August 2000. He will be missed by friends and family alike and our condolences go out to his son Paul and daughter Jane. Photo courtesy of Eddy Evans, shown above with Malcolm. ........Ed.
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Update On reflection the committee has realised a panel full of posters may not be the best way of advertising our art in the museum. It has been decided to revert to the subject - free aviation art usual for February, but to still award the Mavas Trophy for the best poster. Further information on page 30
Update 2 Charles Kadin saw the news item about Charles Thompson and wote: Attached is my painting of the Canadarm II which received Second place in the Space Category of Aviation Week & Space Technology juried avart competition. The work went on exhibit at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola Florida, USA. It is the same avart contest for which Charlie's painting won the grand "Gong." We liked the painting so much we invited Charles to be our featured artist next issue.
Oops! Keith Woodcock saw the report on the visit to his exhibition and wrote: Just received the latest MAvAS missive with my painting on the front cover plus the photo of Peter, Ron and myself for which, many thanks. However, if I can just point out that although I'm a Yorkie, at the moment I don't live in darkest Yorkshire. The exhibition was held at the south side of the Humber bridge in my current home town of Barton in North Lincolnshire. Suggest you update your sat-nav! .................Keith
Apologies to Lincolnshire. ...Ed.
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February’s Poster Competition
Come and join us Monthly meetings Exhibitions Workshops
1. A general poster advertising the society, which could be used as a flyer at exhibitions etc. 2. A poster promoting an exhibition. If non specific it could be used at any venue. 3. A poster for use at the East Lancs Railway which has unlettered space at the bottom which could take an arrow pointing in a relevant direction.
Manchester Aviation Art Society
E.L.R.S.
Wartime Week-end Exhibition
Appraisals Magazine
Manchester Aviation Art Society
Aviation Art Exhibition
by the MANCHESTER AVIATION ART SOCIETY
This is not a competition in the normal sense. The society has need of promotional material and would like ideas from the members. The poster can be in traditional materials, max size A4 (so it can be scanned ), or larger if a digital print. Considering its intended use digital images will be welcomed.
What would attract you? Get your ideas down Attend the January meeting Turn them into posters
. l
x a l
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DIARY DATES Meetings run 7-00pm to 9-30pm in the Conference Room in the Air and Space Hall at MOSI in Manchester unless otherwise stated
Tuesday 10th January, 2012 The Development of Poster Art An illustrated talk by Peter Grove.
Tuesday 7th February, 2012 DisplayPanel Change Over Open aviation subject plus MAvAS Trophy Competition Subject this year - Aviation Poster Art With East Lancs Railway WW2 Weekend in mind. Winner decided by consensus Appraisal by Ossie Jones
Saturday 11th February Workshop A Painting Demonstration by Ossie Jones Subject – Catalinas on Menai Straits 1943 Medium - Acrylics Runs 10am to 4pm
Tuesday 6th March, 2012 Annual General Meeting Election of Officers and Committee If time permits, followed by :Working Illustrator An illustrated talk by Peter Carter
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Editor: Dave Bates Tel: 0161-284-3467 Email: david-bates@ntlworld.com Society website: www.mavas.co.uk
Free via email to Members. Available for free download from website