“Some of our members have ventured outside their comfort zone and into some modernistic styles,” ALM president Nerida Merlin said.

“We’ve still used all of our usual watercolours, acrylics, oils and pastels, but we’ve learned that there’s so much more you can do.”

She said one of the modern techniques that members had experimented with had produced some impressive results.

“There’s one technique where you pour paint onto your palette and then move it around.”

The method sounds straightforward, but when it’s done well, produces complex and compelling images of extraordinary layers and textures, she said.

The ALM Cooranbong annual exhibition and sale will be staged inside Morisset Memorial Hall on the weekend of October 14 and 15.

The opening night function will be held on the Friday, October 13.

It will be ALM’s 21^st annual exhibition.

Ms Merlin said the group had come a long way.

“We now have 115 people on our books. Most of them are seniors, but we’ve been joined by some younger retirees, too,” she said.

ALM was founded in 1997 by Daisy Sharps and Harry Goyens as a place for experienced and novice artists to share their passion for art.

The group meets on the first Thursday of the month at Cooranbong Community Services Centre for a demonstration and workshop by a guest artist.

“We have a guest demonstrator in the morning, then in the afternoon we have a workshop where we get to try out what the demonstrator has shown us,” Ms Merlin said.

The group includes plenty of members who were reluctant and embarrassed beginners who have since discovered that they do, in fact, have an artistic bone in their bodies.

Visitors to this year’s ALM annual exhibition and sale will have the chance to win paintings created by member Lynne Lucas. The paintings will be lucky door and raffle prizes.