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TIPS • TECHNIQUES • IDEAS • INSPIR ATION
The WondeR of watercolour
October 2017 £4.40
your own galler y show
10 pages of inspiration and advice
How to
s a g e D PAINT LIKE
Master his colour techniques
Capture autumn in acrylics Boost sketchbook skills Choose the perfect tools
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Art & Dialogue
The Mortality Paradox - Nitram Charcoal
Brian Skol Mental is the next series of works I'm starting that address mental health in general and my personal experiences in living with and having mental health disorders. I hope my experiences and the work I create from that are able to help others who might not have anything or anyone to relate to. Shedding light on mental health with art can hopefully encourage a much needed dialogue, not only about the issues themselves, but also being open enough to talk about them in the first place.
Life Drawing using two sticks of Nitram Charcoal at the same time. To see this fantastic video go to: www.youtube.com/NitramCharcoal or scan the QR code
It was after seeing what kind of artistic communities were in Chicago, I decided to move there, but not before commuting for nearly two years, from Rockford to Chicago, having been accepted to the American Academy of Art. Going to the Academy ended up being my gateway to the Palette and Chisel, and finally the Ravenswod Atelier where I stayed for 3 and half years. The last years at Ravenswood completed my education and took my knowledge of the craft of painting far beyond anything I thought possible. After 11 years of school I started to wonder when I would get to start to make my own work, so I decided the time was right to go on my own. www.brianskolart.com
NITRAM
TM MC
www.nitramcharcoal.com
FINE ART CHARCOAL
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LESLIE FRONTZ, ASSISI, WATERCOLOUR, 22X30CM
welcome
MAKE RAPID PROGRESS IN THE OUTDOORS The fleeting British summer will soon be a memory. But after reading my interview with this year’s Pintar Rapido winner Adam Ralston (page 30), you’re sure to be inspired to make the most of what’s left of the mild weather. His plein air paintings will put a smile on your face (who doesn’t want to see Postman Pat and Frosties cereal packets as subject matter?) Plus, he has some very helpful advice for painting your way through that inevitable summer downpour. We’re also keeping the autumn at bay with our watercolour special. It’s a medium wonderfully well suited to working en plein air, and Ray Balkwill’s roundup of essential techniques (page 46), Aine Divine’s free-spirited portrait masterclass (page 42) and Sandrine Maugy’s guide to the choosing brushes (page 52) should help you get you in the mood. We’ve also had a fascinating chat with the new president of the Royal Watercolour Society, Jill Leman (page 36), to find out how the organisation is going from strength to strength under her guidance. But the changing of the seasons is an inevitability. And we’re here to help you get ready to capture autumn’s colours in a dynamic new way just as soon as those leaves start to fall with Terence Clarke’s great demo (page 66).
Stay inspired with a subscription... Artists & Illustrators Tel: +44 (0)1858 438789 Email: artists@subscription.co.uk Online: chelseamags.subscribeonline.co.uk Renew: www.subscription.co.uk/chelsea/help Post: Artists & Illustrators, Subscriptions Department, Chelsea Magazines, Tower House, Sovereign Park, Lathkill Street, Market Harborough, LE16 9EF
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Artists & Illustrators, The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd., Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London SW3 3TQ. Tel: (020) 7349 3700. www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk EDITORIAL Editor Sally Hales Digital Editor Natalie Milner Art Editor Alicia Fernandes Contributors Laura Boswell, Jake Spicer, Anne-Katrin Purkiss, Aine Divine, Sandrine Maugy, Juliette Aristides, Damian Callan, Terence Clarke, Ann Witheridge ONLINE ENQUIRIES support@artistsandillustrators.co.uk ADVERTISING Advertisement Manager Jack Shannon (020) 7349 3731 jack.shannon@chelseamagazines.com Advertising Production allpointsmedia www.allpointsmedia.co.uk MANAGEMENT & PUBLISHING Managing Director Paul Dobson Deputy Managing Director Steve Ross Publisher Steve Pill Finance Director Vicki Gavin Senior Marketing Executive Drew Brown Circulation Manager Daniel Webb Digital Media Manager James Dobson Brand Manager Chatty Dobson BACK ISSUES www.chelseamagazines.com/shop ISSN NO. 1473-4729 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES: UK £72, US: $126, ROW: £84 COVER IMAGE ADAM RALSTON, WAKEY WAKEY RISE & SHINE, OIL ON HARDBOARD, 20X20CM © ADAM RALSTON
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CONTENTS OCTOBER 2017 7 THE DIARY
39 SKETCHBOOK
10 EXHIBITIONS
50 COMPETITION
22 IN THE STUDIO
52 TIPS AND TRICKS
Eileen Hogan shows us round her workspace
How to choose the right watercolour brush
The best art events to explore
Your monthly selection of quick tips and advice
Plan your gallery visits for the month ahead
Win an art weekend with the National Gallery
54 ATELIER METHODS Paint in two colours to master warm and cool
26 ARTISTS OF THE YEAR 2018
58 SKETCHBOOK ESSENTIALS
Submit your art to our annual competition
Jake Spicer on this all-important practice
30 PINTAR RAPIDO
74 THE CANONS OF ART
Top tips from this year’s competition winner
Ann Witheridge talks the tools of the trade
36 10 MINUTES WITH...
82 ARTY FACTS
12 FRESH PAINT
The president of the Royal Watercolour Society
The 15th-century Flemish painter Jan van Eyck
Three inspiring new artworks
BARTHOLOMEW BEAL
24 THE WORKING ARTIST Laura Boswell on persevering with your art
Don’t miss r o l ou our waterc special
RAY BALKWILL
AINE DIVINE
MUSÉE D’ORSAY, PARIS
18 WHAT IS PAINTING?
42 MASTERCLASS
46 ESSENTIAL TECHNIQUES
Explore how colour has been used in art
Use shadow space to create a portrait with ease
Simple ways to create watercolour effects
JAMES LYNCH
TERENCE CLARKE
THE BURRELL COLLECTION, GLASGOW © CSG CIC GLASGOW MUSEUMS COLLECTION
60 PAINT LIKE DEGAS
66 AUTUMN LANDSCAPE
71 YOUR QUESTIONS
Learn from the artist’s innovative techniques
Create an expressionist-inspired painting
Top tips for painting with egg tempera
4 Artists
& Illustrators
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YOUR LETTERS write to us
LET TER OF THE MONTH
An inspirational summer
Re: Summer projects, issue 380, summer 2017 I’ve been inspired by your recent summer project suggestions. The garden is my own and it is a work in progress. I love getting Artists & Illustrators each month. There are always so many helpful tips and it’s packed with inspiration. Fleur Finch, via email
Send your letter or email to the addresses below: POST: Your Letters Artists & Illustrators The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd. Jubilee House 2 Jubilee Place London SW3 3TQ EMAIL: info@artists andillustrators.co.uk The writer of our ‘letter of the month’ will receive a £50 gift voucher from our partner GreatArt, who offers the UK’s largest range of art materials with more than 50,000 art supplies and regular discounts and promotions. www.greatart.co.uk
A TRUE CLASSIC Re: Down to a fine art, issue 382, September 2017 I am not usually a fan of modern realist painting. Although I can admire the skill, I often find the style tight, soulless and glossy, which I find hard on the eyes. However, Benjamin Sullivan has cut through all this with his astonishing painting Breech! He has captured the archetype of mother and child with tremendous skill, sensitivity and love in this raw, earthy image. Also, it is a painting in which one can keep finding new aspects to delight: the baby’s hand so accurately placed on the mother’s breast, the painting materials in the background and the beautifully painted hands. In my opinion, this painting belongs alongside the greatest of the classical painters. Carolyn Smith, via email Benjamin is sure to be delighted that you found such pleasure in his painting – it is very special.
ON THE LINE Re: letters, 381, August 2017 As an art student I have come across the challenge of painting stripes. In one of my oil paintings, I was trying to capture the straight lines of my subject, the Peace Bridge, Derry. I tried all sorts of devices, with no success. My teacher showed me how to use the straight line of my paintbrush to get a delicate fine line. By placing the brush at an angle where I wanted to draw the line of the slant of the bridge, I was able to paint the line I needed using another brush. I have found this a good method of creating a straight line. Via email, Mary Boucher
SOCIAL SCENE Keep up-to-date with what’s happening on our busy social media channels Simple ways to step up your pastel techniques. The Pastel Society’s Sarah Bee explains why using acrylics, charcoal and gesso can help you get the most out of your pastel art... Rhoda Hamer: There are no rules – eg, I create a colourful variegated pastel background and then draw over it with black pen or charcoal with some some amazing results. Emma Boitoult @duckard12 @AandImagazine My new painting of a beautiful Rottie named Shylo.
Let us know what you think of Artists & Illustrators magazine and share your painting projects with us at the contacts below...
@AandImagazine ArtistsAndIllustrators AandImagazine AandImagazine
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“I gained my MA Fine Art with the Open College of the Arts and its influence on my art practice was hugely positive. It offered me the opportunity to fully immerse myself in my painting studies.� Painting and words by Iain Holman, MA Fine Art
As well as the MA Fine Art, the Open College of the Arts also offers specialist Open BA (Hons) Degrees in Fine Art, Painting and Drawing, or try our pre-degree Open Foundations Drawing course first.
oca.ac.uk/ai
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the diary
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9 ARTISTIC THINGS TO DO IN
october
WATCH LOVING VINCENT Mix a passion for art and film this month with a visit to see Loving Vincent – the world’s first fully painted film – at cinemas from 13 October. Every one of the movie’s 65,000 frames has been oil-painted by a professional to tell the heartwrenching story of Vincent van Gogh’s demise in the style of his paintings. The film took years to complete with new techniques needing to be developed and actors, including Douglas Booth and Helen McCrory, first shooting live action sequences, which were then hand-painted by a team of more than 100 artists. Unmissable. www.lovingvincent.com
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the diary
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eXPLORE
Combining Opposites practical course Spend the weekend of Saturday 28 October and Sunday 29 October exploring alternative painting techniques at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Inspired by its Jasper Johns exhibition, artist Leigh Clarke will introduce participants to some amazing alternative processes for making paintings with techniques influenced by Johns’s multimedia method of painting. www.royalacademy.org.uk
DRAW
Sign up to celebrate There is still time to organise an event for the world’s biggest drawing festival, The Big Draw, from 1 to 31 October, which aims to get everyone involved in making marks. This year’s theme is Living Lines, plus there’s also a new People’s Choice Award, for the most inspiring event. www.thebigdraw.org
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Landscape workshop Artists can learn to paint a winter mountain landscape in a day with David Johnson (shortlisted for Artists & Illustrator Artists of the Year 2016) on Saturday 14 October at Pegasus Art in Stroud, Gloucestershire. Discover a variety of techniques and methods for applying paint. www.pegasusart.co.uk
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JASPER JOHNS, PAINTING WITH TWO BALLS, 1960, ENCAUSTIC AND COLLAGE ON CANVAS WITH OBJECTS (THREE PANELS), 165.1X137.5CM. COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST © JASPER JOHNS/VAGA, NEW YORK/DACS, LONDON 2017. PHOTO: JAMIE STUKENBERG © THE WILDENSTEIN PLATTNER INSTITUTE, 2017
Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) annual exhibition call for entries The prestigious RBA Exhibition is now accepting submissions for its 2018 showcase. For your chance to take part, enter your work online by noon on Friday 8 December 2017. www.royalsocietyofbritishartists.org.uk
MALCOLM ASHMAN RBA ROI, GHOST, OIL, 59X59CM
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COMPETE
d o n’t m is s !
Pastel Society exhibition call for entries Are your pastels picture-perfect? If so, you should enter the Pastel Society annual 2018 exhibition at Mall Galleries in London. Submit by noon on Friday 3 November 2017 for a chance to win the top prize of £5,000. Plus, the winner of the Artists & Illustrators award will have their artwork featured in the magazine. Enter now! www.thepastelsociety.org.uk
READ
The Hidden Cézanne: From Sketchbook to Canvas Flick your way through these beautifully recreated sketchbooks (Prestel, £45), which delve into Switzerland’s Kunstmuseum Basel collection of the master’s drawings. The hugely significant collection is rarely exhibited and offers insight into Cézanne’s everyday practice as a draughtsman. www.prestel.com
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DISCOVER
Belfast Open Studios Just how does an artist get from an idea to a finished exhibition? Take a glimpse into the creative process and meet more than 150 artists as they open their doors to the public at venues across the city on Saturday 21 October 2017. www.belfastopenstudios.com
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LEARN
St Ives School of Painting open evening Head to Porthmeor Studios on Saturday 7 October to find out if Ives School of Painting’s new year-long programme is right for you. It kicks off in April 2018 with three study days, followed by eight tutored weekends, culminating in a show. www.schoolofpainting.co.uk
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www.einfohq.blogspot.my NORFOLK
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EXHIBITIONS OCTOBER’S BEST ART SHOWS LONDON
50 Years of Children’s Books 6 October 2017 to 4 March 2018 Work from Quentin Blake and lifelong collaborator John Yeoman. House of Illustration. www.houseofillustration.org.uk Bomberg 21 October 2017 to 4 February 2018 A major reassessment of the life and career of Whitechapel Boy David Bomberg. Pallant House Gallery, Chichester. www.pallant.org.uk
Canaletto and the Art of Venice Until 12 November 2017 The famous painter’s most spectacular views displayed alongside his contemporaries. The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace. www.royalcollection.org.uk Dalí / Duchamp 7 October 2017 to 3 January 2018 Two of the 20th century’s most famous artists in exclusive dialogue. Royal Academy of Arts. www.royalacademy.org.uk El Greco to Goya – Spanish Masterpieces from The Bowes Museum 27 September 2017 to 7 January 2018 The first London exhibition of the collection. The Wallace Collection. www.wallacecollection.org Fahrelnissa Zeid Until 8 October 2017 Islamic styles combined with Western abstraction. Tate Modern. www.tate.org.uk Fred Cuming RA Until 16 October 2017 This collection of recent coastscapes, seascapes and skies forms an installment of the Academicians in Focus series. Royal Academy of Arts. www.royalacademy.org.uk Harry Potter: A History of Magic 20 October 2017 to 28 February 2018 Marking the 20th anniversary of the first book in the series, see drawings by JK Rowling and Jim Kay alongside artefacts and drafts. The British Library. www.bl.uk
26 October 2017 to 11 February 2018 More than 50 of Cézanne’s portraits are coming together from across the world, including works never before seen by the public in the UK, such as Self Portrait in a Bowler Hat (pictured). Having painted almost 200 portraits during his career, this show explores the pictorial and thematic characteristics of his portraiture, as well as tracking changes in his style and method. National Portrait Gallery, London. www.npg.org.uk
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James Lynch: A Parallel Reality 19 October to 11 November 2017 Striking new works in egg tempera which capture the beauty of the British countryside. Jonathan Cooper. www.jonathancooper.co.uk Reflections: Van Eyck and the Pre-Raphaelites 2 October 2017 to 2 April 2018 How Jan Van Eyck’s famous The Arnolfini Portrait
Tove Jansson (1914-2001) 25 October 2017 to 28 January 2018 A rare chance to see works by the Moomins’ creator. Dulwich Picture Gallery. www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk ENGLAND – NORTH
100 Years of Bradford Painters Until 8 July 2019 A survey of local artists from 1850 to 1950. Cartwright Art Gallery, Bradford. www.bradfordmuseums.org Modern Watercolours Until 22 October 2017 Traditional and innovative techniques compared. Grosvenor Museum, Chester. www.grosvenormuseum. westcheshiremuseums.co.uk Land | Sea | Life 20 October 2017 to 17 February 2018 Exploring themes in the work of 20th-century British artists. Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal. www.abbothall.org.uk Alphonse Mucha: In Quest of Beauty Until 29 October 2017 Drawings, paintings, photographs and sculpture. Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk Portraying a Nation: Germany 1919-1933 Until 15 October 2017 Intimate portraits of ordinary people during the country’s inter-war years, from painter Otto Dix and photographer August Sandler. Tate Liverpool. www.tate.org.uk Raqib Shaw Until 19 November 2017 Intricate paintings flanked by Renaissance drawings, wallpaper and textiles. Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester. www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk ENGLAND – SOUTH
Glorious Years: French Calendars Until 29 October 2017
PAUL CÉZANNE, SELF PORTRAIT WITH BOWLER HAT, 1885-6, OIL ON CANVAS, 44.5X35.5CM NY CARLSBERG GLYPTOTEK, COPENHAGEN. PHOTO: OLE HAUPT
Cézanne Portraits
Hidden Messages 24 October to 3 November 2017 Mixed-media works from Anita Ford alongside Alfred Huckett’s large-scale canvases. Menier Gallery. www.meniergallery.co.uk
influenced the Pre-Raphaelites. The National Gallery. www.nationalgallery.org.uk
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PAULA REGO, DINNER PARTY, 2013, ACRYLIC, BLACK FELT PEN, GRAPHITE, BRONZE POWDER WITH DRY GOUACHE AND PASTEL ON PAPER MOUNTED ON ALUMINIUM, 120X160CM © THE ARTIST. COURTESY MARLBOROUGH FINE ART
Paula Rego: The Boy Who Loved the Sea and Other Stories
21 October 2017 to 7 January 2018 Stories have long been a source of inspiration for Paula Rego. This new body of work is no exception, taking Hélia Correia’s 2005 tale The Boy Who Loved the Sea as a starting point for paintings, drawings and sculptures. See etchings and aquatints, as well as a series of seven pastel drawings called The Depression Series, never meant for exhibition. Jerwood Gallery, Hastings. www.jerwoodgallery.org
Rare illustrated calendars popular during the reign of Louis XIV. Waddesdon Manor, Aylesbury. www.waddesdon.org.uk
a new approach to art emerged in the country. Salisbury Centre for the Visual Arts, Salisbury. www.scva.ac.uk
WALES SCOTLAND
Howard Hodgkin: India on Paper 14 October 2017 to 7 January 2018 Exploring the artist’s lifelong love affair with India. Victoria Art Gallery, Bath. www.victoriagal.org.uk
Hidden Gems 7 October 2017 to 13 May 2018 Celebrating the unsung from the fine art collection. City Art Centre, Edinburgh. www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk
Constable and Brighton Until 8 October 2017 Radical seascapes from the landscape painter. Brighton Museum & Art Gallery. www.brightonmuseums.org.uk
Looking Good: The Male Gaze from Van Dyck to Lucian Freud Until 1 October 2017 A selection of portraits on the theme of the male image and identity. Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh. www.nationalgalleries.org
Women Artists: The Female Gaze Until 15 October 2017 Challenges traditional narratives of femininity. Pallant House Gallery, Chichester. www.pallant.org.uk A Life in Art: GF Watts 1817-1904 Until 5 November 2017 A chronological journey through the artist’s work. Watts Gallery, Compton. www.wattsgallery.org.uk Rembrandt: Lightening the Darkness 21 October 2017 to 7 January 2018 Ninety-three etched prints by the Dutch master. Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery. www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk Radical Russia 14 October to 11 February 2018 The exhibition will show how, in a few short years,
society at a time of great change. Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow. www.gla.ac.uk
True to Life: British Realist Painting in the 1920s and 1930s Until 29 October 2017 Rediscovering 70 paintings by a generation of talented figurative artists. Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh. www.nationalgalleries.org RSA Open Exhibition of Art Until 1 October 2017 A showcase of nearly 400 contemporary works. Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh. www.royalscottishacademy.org The Truest Mirror of Life: 19th-Century French Caricatures Until 21 January 2018 An intimate look at aspects of Parisian
Bacon to Doig: Modern Masterpieces from a Private Collection Until 31 January 2018 Highlights from a collection of many of the best 20th-century British artists. National Museum Cardiff. www.museum.wales/cardiff Invited Artists: Imagined Realms 21 October to 12 November 2017 Eminent artists and illustrators chosen by Clive Hicks Jenkins RCA. Royal Cambrian Academy, Conwy. www.rcaconwy.org Sarah Ross-Thompson: The Quiet Landscape Until 1 October 2017 The Argyll-based printmaker explores the British countryside. Mostyn, Llandudno. www.mostyn.org IRELAND
Light and Life Until 5 November 2017 Dramatic light effects in Italian and Dutch paintings from the 17th to 19th century. Ulster Museum, Belfast. www.nmni.com William Crozier: The Edge of the Landscape 13 October 2017 to 31 December 2017 Early works inspired by the Existentialist movement. Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin. www.imma.ie
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INSP IRING NEW ART WORKS, STRAIGHT OFF THE EASEL
BARTHOLOMEW BEAL Using literature as stimulus allows this talented painter to create cohesive sets of paintings. For his latest solo exhibition, A Drive Out West, he’s drawn on the works of Irish poet Seamus Heaney. “A romantic drive along the Irish coast – which Heaney’s poem Postscript seemed to have encapsulated – was the initial trigger,” he says. But this painting, Vinegar Hill, takes its cue from Heaney’s sonnet Requiem For The Croppies, which references the 1798 Irish rebellion. Bartholomew used multiple, disembodied figures to suggest the movement and struggle of the uprising. “While I have given the ‘croppies’ their shaven heads, I have deliberately avoided historical costume or uniform which might distract from the poem’s dynamism,” he adds. The painting’s boldness comes from the startling contrast of naturalistic human form and large areas of strong, graphic colour. It’s an approach developed through trial and error. Studying at Wimbledon, the artist found transferring observational drawings to canvas too traditional. He then experimented with abstraction. “My final year was a culmination of the two – bringing figures back to create a much more considered painting – approached as a whole,” he says. Bartholomew is an artist excited by colour, using Michael Harding and Winsor & Newton oils to make reds and yellows pop. “I love the way it can create mood,” he says. “Experimenting with colour is one of the glories of painting.” Yet as bold as Vinegar Hill is, the artist has still captured the poignancy of Heaney’s poetry, creating an evocative work that’s more than worthy of its subject. Bartholomew Beal’s A Drive Out West is at London Fine Art Society, London W1S, from 12 to 29 September. www.thefineartsociety.com; www.bartholomewbeal.co.uk >
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RIGHT Vinegar Hill, oil on canvas, 175x240cm
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www.einfohq.blogspot.my to p tip Us e a bru sh one size lar ger than ne eded to ke ep the painting both exc iting and challeng ing
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KATIE ALLEN
ABOVE Fall Bay, acrylic on Dibond, 75x100cm
14 Artists
An isolated Welsh beach and India textiles make unlikely dual inspirations. Yet acrylic painting Fall Bay succeeds in merging a ruggedly realistic coastline with almost abstracted decorative colour to express the joy of an encounter with nature, blurring the boundaries between decoration, design and painting. “Fall Bay is a small beach at the end of the Gower Peninsula, and one of my favourite places,” says Katie. “It’s secluded and off-the-beaten track. In the spring, the cliffs are covered in gorse and wild flowers, which is when I was inspired to paint this piece.” But, once inspiration has struck, she becomes more concerned with the formal aspects of painting, seeking colour, balance and harmony. It’s a process that mutates gorse into swirls of blue and ferns into purple designs, adding fascinating detail to a work rooted in the representational. It’s a style the artist has been developing for 12 years, following her move to full-time artist after a career teaching. “A key point was a
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trip to India,” she says. “I was inspired by the colourful patterned textiles, intricate miniature paintings and the heavily decorated walls of the palaces.” Although colour is a cornerstone of her work, Katie doesn’t stick to a specific paint brand, using Winsor & Newton’s Galeria range and Daler-Rowney’s System 3 for her standard palette, while also experimenting with Cryla, Liquitex Golden and Atelier for more precise colours, and adding pearlescent tinting and iridescent metallic colours. The artist works flat as she often pours paint and, because she needs to lean on the support, opts for Dibond. “I find it more stable than board,” she says. And while it provides the hard surface she needs to create a smooth finish, its aluminium supports also fulfil a creative role. “When hung, the painting appears to be floating off the wall.” It’s hard to imagine a more perfect ending for this otherworldly vision. Fall Bay forms part of Katie’s latest solo show, Transforming Nature at the Cube Gallery London W1H, from 26 October to 11 November. www.cube-gallery.co.uk; www.katieallen.co.uk >
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to p tip Wait until the end to ad d refl ection s in cas e objec ts move during the painting pro ces s
PETRA PALMERI Often, the route to a dynamic still life is simplicity. Take Portfolio Plus artist Petra Palmeri’s watercolour painting Three Pears. Picked up on her weekly shop there was nothing sentimental about this trio of fruit, yet, the subject is heightened through a simple gesture: a wobbly pear. Emphasising the rule of odds, Petra leaned the right-hand pear on the middle one, adding disorder. The eye is drawn by the object’s incline, and a narrative takes shape. The stage was set with an angled light to create all-important shadows and gain control over the composition. A reflective table added drama to the occasion, substantiating the objects’ presence and depth, but Petra waited until the end to paint the reflections, in case the objects changed as the painting progressed. Indeed, the skin of the pears was built up through a lengthy process of layering, alternating between Winsor & Newton Cotman half-pan watercolour paints and dry Derwent watercolour pencils to gain a rough, dappled effect. For more intense colour and detail, she dipped the pencils in water. The Hahnemühle watercolour paper
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complements the wet-in-wet technique and pencil drawing, ABOVE Three Pears, letting the teeth of the surface hone the texture. watercolour, Petra’s portfolio reveals that she’s familiar with jumping 30x40cm from one medium to another, with oils, acrylics and pastels in her repertoire. Her subject matter is just as varied, finding inspiration in antique shops, art fairs, charity shops, supermarkets and For your chance to feature in garden centres, her house and home Fresh Paint, sign up for your studio is bursting with vases, bottles, own personalised Portfolio Plus bowls, jugs, marbles and plates, all of page today. You can also: which find a new life on the canvas. •Showcase and sell unlimited The organised chaos of her studio artworks commission-free and inspirations is hinted at in the •Get your work seen across background of Three Pears. Flicking A&I’s social media paint with a large, round brush may •Submit art to online exhibitions seem haphazard but, just as the fruit •Enjoy exclusive discounts performs a balancing act, the palette and much more also unites the whole. Register now at www. www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/ artistsandillustrators.co.uk/ petrapalmeri register
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E IT
Taught by Professor William Kloss
D TIME OF
INDEPENDENT ART HISTORIAN
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LECTURE TITLES 1.
Greatness in Painting
2.
The Majesty of Duccio and Giotto
3.
Acts of Faith—Masaccio, Van Eyck, Van der Weyden
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NATIONAL GALLERY OF SCOTLAND, EDINBURGH
BY THE 1840S AND 1850S, THE PRINCIPLE OF COMPLEMENTARY COLOURS WAS MAKING ITS WAY INTO STUDIOS
ART SHOWS ITS TRUE COLOURS
In an extract from his newly up dated bo ok ‘What is Painting?’, painter and art historian Julian Bell exp lores how c olour has been used by artists from the Renaissance to the modern day
MUSÉE D’ORSAY, PARIS
M
ost pigments used during the Renaissance proved durable. The rose madders and umbers that Italians set down five centuries ago still absorb light much as they ever did. Yet since, the meanings of coloured paints have been upended. Cima da Conegliano, starting a panel circa 1500, draws first, then colours. A head, a hill and a tree have outlines, within which pigment may be applied, because each is a distinct entity in the world, held together in a predictable way: a form, in other words. The painter’s job is first to grasp forms and then to present them on a flat plane in such a way viewers will recognise them. In this way Cima, according to the definition of his art, “imitates nature”. Had his altar panel been completed, Cima’s viewers would have been offered not only forms fit for worship but visual stimulus. The Virgin’s robe required lapis, the costliest pigment of all – but in subtle over-glazes.
Particular Italian studios had secret tricks of the trade in this regard – their own colour lore. The sequence is clear enough: form, colour; cake, icing. Of course some of us make a grab for the icing. Venetian painters in Cima’s wake – Titian, above all – did so. Studying them, Peter Paul Rubens arrived at a considered rethink of painting’s remit: this particular art was, in contrast to sculpture, the province of the sensuous effect, of transient fleshliness in all its diversity. Roger de Piles, Rubens’s critical advocate in late 17th-century Paris, teased his fellow academicians by speaking of painting as un fard – a cosmetic, a fancification. Yet both he and Rubens retained the academicians’ assumption that all colouristic effect depended on a prior mastery of form. Paintings attach to nature, and that is the order in which nature proceeds. Suppose, however, that what paintings primarily attach to is the painter’s own experience, which, I >
ABOVE Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano, The Virgin Mary and Child with Saints Andrew and St Peter, c.1500 (unfinished), oil on panel, 47.7x39.7cm LEFT Paul Sérusier, Le Talisman, 1888, oil on wood, 27x21.5cm
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W H AT I S PA I N T I N G ?
Fac t trial h’s indu s Van G og rove d le s s p p ig ments n the O ld a th le b relia m at ’. B e dro o rs te s a M re e w s e A rle s’ b lu ts le io v onc e
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– of variations in light. German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe at once depended on and disagreed with Newton when he published his Theory of Colours just over a century later. Goethe wanted to switch the emphasis from scientific impersonality to the viewer’s experience. “It is light, shadow and colour that come together and permit our vision to distinguish one object from another. With these three elements – light, shadow and colour – we construct the visible world and at the same time make painting possible.” If scientists were sceptical about Goethe’s project, artists – JMW Turner, for instance, in his later years – saw the point. From delineating a system of forms, we must now switch to defining a system of perceptual experience. Goethe’s was an age of colour wheels and colour pyramids bidding to do just that. By the 1830s and 1840s, the principle of complementary colours was
MUSÉE D’ORSAY, PARIS
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suggest, is the default assumption we now hold. How shall they then be constructed? Painters are individuals who rely on their eyes and, when it comes to eyesight, colour leads the way. “We see nothing but flat colours,” pronounced Victorian art critic John Ruskin in 1857. “The perception of solid Form is entirely a matter of experience.” Our minds, he argued, arrive at structured entities by analysing the “childish perception of those flat stains of colour”, thereby achieving a workable understanding of the outside world. Ruskin’s approach might be traced back to Isaac Newton’s experiments with the prism, published in his Opticks of 1704. For the first time, Newton showed how colour could be conceived as a cohesive range – a spectrum
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making its way into painters’ studios, informing them that paired opposites, such as red and green or yellow and purple, could stimulate the eyes. Studio bookshelves also started to feature volumes by Michel Eugène Chevreul and Hermann von Helmholtz, detailing investigations into the experience of colour. Armed with their researches, painters such as Georges Seurat aimed to handle colour not by tricks of the trade but by rational systems. From 1841, artists could buy colours in metal tubes that were more transportable. A direct response in colour observed outdoors became viable. “Without tubes of paint, there would have been no Impressionism,” Auguste Renoir once claimed. After resistance during the 1870s, the art market took to this new picturing, which negated line in favour of a flux of colour stimuli. In the following decade, Vincent Van Gogh, Renoir’s junior, encountered Impressionism after a zealous self-education in line-drawing. The contrasted approaches of drawer and colourist met up dramatically in the tactics he developed at Arles in 1888. It was not that colour, for Van Gogh, was the starting point. It was the end. Colour, in his eyes, had become the province of spiritual feeling, of emotions communicated from heart to heart. Let the outlines be firm but stripped to the minimum: let them be loaded to the maximum with paint. “It’s simply my bedroom,” he wrote of the famous image, “but the colour has to do the job here... Looking at the painting should rest the mind, or rather, the imagination.” If Van Gogh remains the world’s favourite poster artist, that is because he hooks painting to the wall where we wish to hang it: in the gallery of the mind. The second edition of Julian Bell’s What Is Painting? is published by Thames & Hudson on 5 October, £24.95. www.jbell.co.uk; www.thamesandhudson.com
BERLIN STATE MUSEUMS, GEMÄLDEGALERIE, BERLIN
ROYAL COLLECTION, WINDSOR
FAR LEFT Vincent van Gogh, Bedroom at Arles, 1889, oil on canvas, 57.5x74cm LEFT Michelangelo, Christ on the Cross with the Virgin Mary and St John (recto), 1555-64, black chalk, white heightening and red chalk, 40.5x21.8cm BELOW Peter Paul Rubens, St Sebastian, c.1614, oil on canvas, 200x120cm
IT WAS NOT THAT COLOUR, FOR VAN GOGH, WAS THE START POINT. IT WAS THE END – THE PROVINCE OF SPIRITUAL FEELING
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www.einfohq.blogspot.my PAINT WORK Eileen’s painting Sweet Promise FH175 on show in her studio
which made me more introverted. At the age of 12 or 13, I went to Saturday classes.
IN THE STUDIO
EILEEN
HOGAN
THE PAINTER, BOOK ARTIST AND RESEARCHER SHOWS US AROUND HER WONDERFUL, HISTORIC STUDIO IN WEST LONDON. INTERVIEW AND PHOTOS: ANNE-K ATRIN PURKISS You have completed a residency at the Garden Museum in London. What are you working on at the moment? The residency has come to an end, but I’m only half-way through it because my plan was to create 12 paintings of the gardens, and I did not expect I would be so affected by the weather. It turned out to be a two-year project. You are best known for your paintings of gardens and green spaces, but you’ve always lived in London. The city has the most wonderful gardens, both public and private, and sometimes quite unexpected green spaces. For me, they are also very much places of escape.
What were the subjects of your first drawings? There was an early sketchbook that had a tree on our local common in it, my dog and my grandmother, so there were people and places. When I went to art school, I started painting Tooting Common – which was at the end of the road – and carried on. It’s always been places. You are now working in a historic, purpose-built studio in West London. How long have you been here? About four years. I lost my previous studio rather unexpectedly. This studio belonged to the artist Leonard Rosoman. He taught me as a student at the Royal College of Art. When he died, his widow suggested I could move in “for a few months” and I’ve been here ever since. This studio is rather wonderful. Leonard never threw anything away; it was like walking into a museum. Is there a ‘spirit of the place’ when you work in an area that has so many associations with another artists? I am sure there is, particularly this place. These studios were completed in 1893 and part of the Victorian enclave
I FINISH WORK BACK IN THE STUDIO. I GATHER EVERYTHING AROUND ME: DRAWINGS, SKETCHBOOKS, PHOTOS
When did you become interested in painting? I have always liked drawing. As a child, I was ill for a time 22 Artists
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www.einfohq.blogspot.my IN THE STUDIO
THE RESIDENT Sketches from the artist’s Garden Museum residency
SENSE OF PLACE Eileen’s studio has items from its previous occupant, artist Leonard Rosoman
Who are your preferred subjects? They are rather random. My partner, an oral historian and a writer, established and runs a project for the British Library called Artists’ Lives. Many of my portraits are connected with that, so the oral history recordings are set up and then I join in.
of artists’ studios in West London. But I am aware needs are changing and, for younger artists, a computer is often more important than a large north-facing window. How much time do you spend working in the studio compared with working outside? There isn’t a formula. It depends very much on where my source material is and what stage I’m at. Do you finish your paintings of green spaces outdoors? I finish in the studio. I have to reflect and I like the distance. I gather everything around me: drawings, sketchbooks, photographs; it’s a mix of things that flow into a painting.
Is there a connection between your paintings of people and your work in gardens and green spaces? I have always painted people to some degree – sometimes a back view of somebody or a trace of a person, the empty bench or a path – people always have a presence, if only by an implied absence. I’ve got more involved with painting specific people fairly recently. The first occasion was some years ago when I did a series at the Chelsea Arts Club garden, and Carel Weight and Leonard Rosoman appeared in some of those paintings.
WEST IS BEST The artist at work in her lovely West London studio
What are the plans for the future? I want to make the Garden Museum cycle very much part of my retrospective at the Yale Center for British Art in 2019, so I am concentrating on the remaining six paintings of the Garden Museum residency. The retrospective at the Yale Center will also be accompanied by a monograph of my work. Paintings and sketchbooks from Eileen’s residency are on show at the Garden Museum in London until the end of September. www.gardenmuseum.org.uk; www.eileenhogan.co.uk
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M
aking art isn’t always enjoyable. This will come as a shock to those who assume creative types spend their time in a whirl of indulgent invention. Whether you’re a professional artist with demanding clients or scrabbling to make Christmas cards, there can come a point where joy leaves the room and you have to summon up some grit. There’s a double standard when it comes to creativity: on the one hand, there’s the idea that we artists can only work when our muse visits and, on the other, that we are naturally gifted with skills we live to indulge. Reality falls outside these extremes, and is rather more mundane. Art, like most things, requires us to show up, hone skills and keep going when things get tough. At times like this, I revert to childhood and make myself a timetable. Planning my time, allocating a slot to my project and making sure I stick to the schedule works every time. I may not do my best work under these conditions, but concentrating on making something – even if I end up throwing it away – ensures I will have moved forward. This takes discipline, especially when art is a pastime and family pressures are high, but the results are worth it, and so are you. My other trick is to be accountable. If you tell people about work-in-progress, aims and goals, it is much harder to let things slide. That’s true of social media and, while I’m not suggesting you create an artistic persona that’s impossible to live up to, the act of documenting your work will engage you and garner support to keep you on the road. Not everything will work but, believe me, people will love you all the more for the odd failure. Sharing disasters makes dusting myself off and carrying on so much easier. Finally, don’t let outside pressures become an excuse for avoiding creative time. Rather than using the dog’s walk as an excuse to skip that art session, use it as an example: if you can walk a dog whatever the weather or your inclination, you can do the same for your art. www.lauraboswell.co.uk
ARTIST L AURA BOSWELL ON HOW SHE P ERSEVERES WHEN THE CREATIVE GOING GETS TOUGH
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PLANNING MY TIME, ALLOCATING A SLOT TO MY PROJECT AND MAKING SURE I STICK TO THE SCHEDULE WORKS EVERY TIME
LEFT Mountain Pines, Japan, Japanese water-based woodblock, 180x270cm
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Artists &
ARTISTS OF THE YEAR 2018 I L L U S T R A T O R S
C OULD YOU BE ONE OF OUR WINNING ARTISTS FOR 2018? OUR 10TH ANNUAL C OMPETITION IS NOW IN FULL SWING, BRINGING YOU THE CHANCE TO WIN TOP PRIZES AND AMAZING EXP OSURE
O
ur competition gives readers of Artists & Illustrators the chance to gain national exposure for their art. The overall winner will take home £1,000 cash and get a solo exhibition at Panter & Hall’s London gallery. Situated on Pall Mall, this prestigious gallery has a wonderful portfolio of contemporary British talents. Artists in second and third place, as well as a readers’ choice winner, will also claim great prizes. All 50 shortlisted artworks will be on show at Mall Galleries, London, from 18 to 24 February 2018. Remember, if you are a member of Portfolio Plus, you can enter unlimited artworks for free. Visit www. artistsandillustrators.co.uk/ register and join from as little as £2.49 per month. Entries are open now.
FIRST PRIZE Sponsored by Cass Art The winner will be crowned Artist of the Year and receive a £1,000 cash prize, a solo show courtesy of Panter & Hall, and a £250 brush bouquet and £500 voucher from Rosemary & Co.
SECOND PRIZE £750 worth of art materials vouchers from GreatArt. 26 Artists
& Illustrators
WIN YOUR OWN SHOW!
THIRD PRIZE £500 worth of art materials vouchers from STAEDTLER.
JUDGING Submissions close at noon on 3 November 2017. A shortlist will be drawn up by a panel of judges, which includes Tiffany Panter and Matthew Hall of Panter & Hall, Artists & Illustrators editor Sally Hales and Adebanji Alade, a regular artist on BBC’s The One Show. Readers will have the chance to vote for shortlisted works at www. artistsandillustrators.co.uk/aoty.
HOW TO ENTER 1. ONLINE Take a digital photo of your artwork(s). Go to our website at www.artistsandillustrators. co.uk/aoty. Entry is £6 per artwork, unless you are a member of Portfolio Plus – if so, entry is free! Complete the form, taking care to fill in all requested fields, attach your artworks (up to nine per form) and complete your payment information (if applicable). Select the ‘Submit’ button to send us your entries.
2. BY POST Complete the form opposite and post it with a photo or print of
TOP TO BOTTOM Visitors to the Artists of the Year 2017 exhibition at Mall Galleries enjoy the shortlisted artworks
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www.einfohq.blogspot.my ARTISTS OF THE YEAR 2018
With thanks to this year’s prize donors and sponsors:
ARTISTS OF THE YEAR 2018 Name
pa n t e r & h a l l
Address
Postcode Date of birth Email
your artwork (and cheque if applicable) to: Artists of the Year 2018, Artists & Illustrators, The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd., Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London SW3 3TQ You may enter multiple times, but please complete a separate form for each entry. Photocopies of the form are accepted.
OTHER INFORMATION Please do not send your original artwork at this time – instead
send prints of your work, no larger than A4 in size. Originals must be available for the exhibition from 18 to 24 February 2018, otherwise the work will be disqualified. The closing date for all entries is noon on 3 November 2017. Entries will only be accepted in one or more of the following mediums: all water-based mediums (including watercolours), oils, acrylics, gouache, all drawing mediums (including pastels and charcoal), collage and all forms of printmaking. Digital art is not accepted. If your artwork is based on photographic reference material, you must own the copyright to the image(s) or be able to produce written permission from the copyright holder.
ENTER FOR FREE WITH
PHOTOS: NEIL HALL
Our exciting community allows you to share, showcase and sell art on a personalised webpage for as little as £2.49 a month. Once signed up, you can enter Artists of the Year 2018 for free. Other benefits include: •Sell your work commission-free in our Art for Sale area •Display as many paintings as you want •Get your work seen on regular online exhibitions on our website, the monthly Editor’s Pick email and across the magazine’s hugely popular social media channels •The chance to feature in the magazine’s Fresh Paint section •Publish your own blog on the Artists & Illustrators homepage £24.99 per year or £2.49 per month. Sign up now at www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/register
Telephone Title of work
Medium used Size of work (cm)
PLEASE TICK AND COMPLETE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING OPTIONS: 1. I AM A PORTFOLIO PLUS MEMBER Entry is free to Portfolio Plus members. Please enter your unique Portfolio Plus URL here: www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/
Not a member? Sign-up today at: www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/register 2. I WOULD LIKE TO PAY BY CHEQUE I enclose a cheque payable to Artists & Illustrators for £6 3. I WOULD LIKE TO PAY BY CREDIT/DEBIT CARD Please debit my Mastercard / Visa / Maestro (delete as applicable) with the sum of £6 Name on Card (if different from above)
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Signature Date Please tick if you are a subscriber to Artists & Illustrators The closing date for all entries is 3 November 2017 at noon. Terms and conditions apply. For full details, go to www. chelseamagazines.com/terms-and-conditions. Please tick here if you would prefer not to be contacted by Artists & Illustrators
, the competition’s prize donors
, or carefully selected third parties
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www.einfohq.blogspot.my A DV E R T O R I A L
THE ARTISTS OF THE YEAR 2017 WINNER REVEALS HER PRIZE PRODUCT PICKS... Sennelier Oil Pastel Wooden Box (set of 120) “The first thing I treated myself to when I won the Cass Art prize was a complete set of Sennelier Oil Pastels – 120 colours. I bought ten last year and coveted them, so I was like a kid in a sweet shop when I ordered the big set. Sennelier Oil Pastels are quite soft and buttery, so they slide well over mixed media. They blend easily, too, and you can use your fingers to smudge them, so I find they work well for both line work and in a more painterly way.”
The Artists of the Year 2017 winner tells us how she’s put her Cass Art p rize haul to go od use and what suc cess has meant to her
ABOVE Anna Perlin has been creating new art with her Cass Art prize products. Autumn Brights, mixed media, 91x122cm and (right) Dawn Fields, mixed media, 30x30cm
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Derwent XL Charcoal Tin Set “I sometimes map areas in colour charcoal after an initial paint layer. Some of the charcoal gets painted over but other areas make their way into the final piece, so making nice marks early can have benefits. Sennelier Oil Pastels, Winsor & Newton Galeria Acrylics and Derwent XL Charcoals are available from Cass Art. www.cassart.co.uk
PHOTO: NEIL HALL
Anna Perlin
Winsor & Newton Galeria Acrylics “I use these for my first few layers. They’re good value for money but also great quality and colours. The consistency is good for getting on the canvas quickly and they mix easily as they’re not too thick. The paints are also versatile; I use them straight from the bottle and water them down on my palette or directly on canvas. They also work well put with brushes, rollers, pieces of cardboard and create some interesting textures and effects.”
Mixed-media artist Anna Perlin was crowned overall winner at a glittering ceremony at Mall Galleries in London in January this year. As well as the prestigious title, she was presented with a year’s worth of art supplies from Artists of the Year 2017 sponsor Cass Art. Since then, she’s been busy creating beautiful new paintings with her Cass Art materials, as well showing her art in exciting new venues. “I’m going to have work in Thackeray Gallery’s Christmas show, which I’m working towards now,” she says. “And I’ve just finished a successful solo exhibition with Bircham Gallery in Holt, Norfolk.” Anna’s paintings will also feature in Christmas shows at the Bircham Gallery and Robert Fogell Gallery in Stamford, Lincolnshire, and she’s been busy demonstrating and exhibiting – and having fun – at Childwickbury Arts Fair, near St Albans in Hertfordshire. www.annaperlin.com; www.cassart.co.uk
& Illustrators
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‘THE GREAT MCGARRY’ is back at the
TREW ART GALLERY
Sat 16th Sept to Sat 23rd Sept 2017 An exhibition of extra-ordinary oil paintings of big cats and African animals from one of the world’s leading wildlife artists!
Don’t miss! Contact June Trew at gallery@trewart.com for further details. 11 The parade, Claygate, Surrey KT10 0PD
ART IN THE ALGARVE Watercolour • Oil painting • Oil & Acrylic • Specialist courses
info@artinthealgarve.com
Call us on: 0203 287 7140 www.artinthealgarve.com
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30 Artists
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www.einfohq.blogspot.my LEFT Tea and Jammie Dodgers, oil on hardboard, 50x20cm RIGHT Piccadilly Circus, Rain, oil on hardboard, 36x30cm
Picture THE SCENE
Adam Ralston, winner of outd o or painting c omp etition P intar Rap id o, talks to Sally Hales about the trials and tribul ations oF working en p lein air
L
ondon’s Piccadilly Circus is a challenging place at the best of times as thronging crowds and heavy traffic meet packed underground entrances and iconic landmarks – and never more so than on a Saturday in July, accompanied by an almost inevitable downpour. But where many would have made a sharp exit to calmer places – or at least head indoors – plein-air painter Adam Ralston was setting up his kit and getting down to work. The artist was one of hundreds who set out to paint the capital’s streets as part of Pintar Rapido, Europe’s biggest outdoor painting festival and competition, which gives entrants until 6pm to check in the results of the day’s paintings, with works judged and exhibited the following day at Chelsea Town Hall. Organisation, perseverance and talent saw Adam overcome the elements to create an exuberant scene in
oils and claim first prize in the professional and semiprofessional category. “This year’s event was a great success with around 300 artists of all skill levels taking part,” says Pintar Rapido organiser Roger Beckett. “I loved Adam’s painting of Piccadilly Circus. It captured the spirit of the day. Clearly the judges felt the same, too.” Perhaps because the Blackpool resident is used to painting his home town’s busy seaside in all weathers, he was well prepared for the day’s challenges, managing to complete two pictures. “I was expecting the rain so came with waterproofs, an umbrella and clip-on light,” says Adam. “Apart from the difficulty of holding an umbrella while painting under it, I love the milky tones you see during wet weather. I knew there’d be crowds and lots of activity. I liked the idea of painting all the umbrellas.” But even Adam’s preparation didn’t entirely relieve the pressure. “It was quite stressful and frantic,” he >
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PINTAR RAPIDO JUDGE ADEBANJI ALADE’S TOP TIPS 1 GET TO GRIPS WITH YOUR DRAWING Many painters use lovely colours, but on a faulty foundation. If the drawing is wrong then it can hardly hold all the beautiful colours together. 2 IT’S ABOUT COMPOSITION AND DESIGN Get your design to work by doing a few thumbnails and making sure that there’s an interesting, abstract shape in the piece. This is what holds a painting together. 3 CHOOSE AN INTERESTING SUBJECT Painting anything is hard, but choosing a
subject matter that lacks a spark and can hold the interest makes the work even more daunting. By interesting, I mean a good shape, with nice light and shade, textures, reflections and interesting shadows. The scene has to arouse attention. If not, then exaggerate. 4 MASTER YOUR MEDIUM Know everything your chosen medium can and cannot do. This is what makes you the boss on the day. Don’t try to capture a scene with a medium that you struggle with, you’ll be fighting a losing battle.
5 HAVE A CENTRE OF INTEREST This means an area that catches the viewer’s attention – a place that leads the eye into the picture. This shouldn’t be in the dead centre, however, but three-quarters to the left or right. You don’t want this area to arrest the attention immediately. Instead, you want the eye to be led to it with guise and poise. Adebanji will be judging Artists of the Year 2018. Turn to pages 26&27 to find out how you enter your art for the chance to win your own gallery show. www.adebanjialade.co.uk; www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/aoty >
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P I N TA R R A P I D O
“I KNEW THERE WOULD BE CROWDS AND LOTS OF ACTIVITY. I LIKED THE IDEA OF PAINTING ALL THE UMBRELLAS” ADAM’S OUTDOOR ART KIT “My easel is a 25x30cm pochade from Open Box M. This clips onto a Manfrotto tripod 190XPROB with a compact ball head 496RC2. I mostly paint on hardboard primed with two coats of Roberson’s oil-based primer. The majority of my brushes are hog rounds and filberts, with a few smaller synthetics and riggers, all from Rosemary & Co. I carry everything in a wheeled shopping trolley, much to people’s amusement.”
BELOW Postman Pat, oil on hardboard, 36x30cm PREVIOUS PAGE Hottest Day of The Year, oil on hardboard, 30x36cm
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adds. “Even though I’d worked out exactly what I was going to do the day before, I still felt under pressure. It’s all or nothing.” Adam’s Piccadilly Circus, Rain – he also painted Trafalgar Square – impressed the judges with its expressive style, revealing an artist full of confidence. Judge Adebanji Alade, a regular on BBC’s The One Show, himself an experienced plein-air painter, said: “It had so much energy and vibrancy, and the composition works so well. There’s a very angular shaped triangle (the sky shape) that leads the eye into the thrust of the picture where the figures with their umbrellas are passing.” Fellow judge and Artists & Illustrators contributor Hashim Akib added: “Adam’s experience and touch is evident. The expressiveness, colour and composition make a scene which straddles between recording a moment and becoming an intriguing semi-abstract.” Adam was delighted to win, having come third last year. “Working alone you can lose confidence in what you’re doing,” he says. “Winning is a great boost.” And this latest success is yet more evidence of a growing reputation. In the last 12 months, his work has been accepted in the New English Art Club, Royal Institute of Oil Painters and Royal Society of British Artists exhibitions. An art foundation course in the late 1980s left a lasting impression on his style. “The students were heavily influenced by Euan Uglow’s work and measured drawing,” says Adam. “I lost my way in the following years, but I still use this skill in still lifes.” One thing he never lost sight of, however, was his palette. He’s used the same ten colours since college, preferring Jackson’s Professional or Michael Harding. “They are all strong colours you don’t see in the landscape,” he says, “so most of the time I’m using complementaries to tone down.” Amazingly, Adam still considers himself a newcomer to outdoor art. “I’ve been painting plein air since 2013,” he says. “Tonal values are new, and something I find difficult to get right. I’m a competent draughtsman, but I know that when working fast drawing can go to pot.” Before plein air, he painted still lifes; now he combines the two. Still lifes are good training for the eye, he says, while echoes of the strong composition in Piccadilly Circus are obvious in his tabletop scenes. The latter have a soothing quality, as if the diners have momentarily slipped away, but this belies the artist’s meticulous hand. “They can take hours to set up, and I’m moving objects even mid-way through. They take three or four times longer than plein air,” says Adam. “And I have very young kids so, as you can imagine, my table looks nothing like my paintings.” Yet, whether working fast or slow, this painter’s skill with colour and composition lets him capture the feeling of fleeting, everyday moments in a beguiling style that is all his own. www.pintarrapido.com; www.adamralston.co.uk
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Tuscany in the Frame
Tapestry_half Tapestry_half page_132 xpage_132 90mm_ARTWORK.indd x 90mm_ARTWORK.indd 1 1
11/05/201711/05/2017 15:57 15:57
At Tuscany in the Frame, we gather together the very best professional tutors from all over the world and bring them to Villa Nobile- our gorgeous base in the heart of Tuscany. We cater to all mediums and style. So if whether you work in acrylics, oils or watercolours we can give you the inspiring tuition to hone your skills with likeminded artists in a warm and hospitable atmosphere. No detail is left to chance. Every location is vetted personally by staff with over 15 years¹ experience in providing the highest quality Italian painting holidays. And when you¹re not painting, immerse yourself in Italy with the very finest traditional Italian cuisine prepared by passionate & passionate cooks/chefs. You¹re sure of a warm welcome, and with holidays destinations such as Venice, Lake Como, Sardinia, Amalfi coast, Basilicata, Puglia, Sicily and Malta it’s no wonder that people come back to us year after year. Start planning your Italian adventure today with Tuscany in the Frame
T: +(0039) 0575 610406/+(0039) 3398 256617 E: info@tuscanyintheframe.com
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www.einfohq.blogspot.my 10 MINUTES WITH…
JILL LEMAN RECENTLY ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL WATERCOLOUR SO CIET Y – THE FIRST WOMAN TO HOLD THE P OSITION – WE FIND OUT HOW SHE BAL ANCES PAINTING AND LEADERSHIP. INTERVIEW AND P HOTO: ANNE-K ATRIN PURKISS
Could you briefly describe how you became a painter? I did a two-year foundation course at Colchester School of Art. We had some fabulous staff, and artists such as John Nash and Edward Bawden would come in for a day and teach. That was very influential for me. This was in the 1960s. At the time, I wanted to go to London and study graphic design. I got accepted at the Central School of Art and Design for the graphics course and, when I’d finished, I got a job at a publisher doing book layout and typography. What made you give up publishing and return to painting? By 1996, publishing had changed. And, also, I had been doing it for some time and I found it quite restricting, however lovely the books were. You were dealing with other people’s work. I wanted to do something that was mine, and get back to what I used to enjoy: drawing and painting. Did you find the return to drawing and painting difficult? Not at all. It’s a bit like riding a bicycle, you start again where you left off. You just need confidence. Is drawing still important for your work? For me, each painting starts with a drawing but they are often too realistic, so I have to rough them up, take control and give it the shape and colour I want. Drawing is also very important in understanding and knowing your subject. I need the basic structure to be in the work, then the painting can be set free to take on its own life. You are known for your paintings of domestic objects. What determines your choice of subject? I live in North London. My home and studio are all one, so my subjects are mainly flowers and still life, sometimes cats, buildings and portraits. I have things in front of me here; I can just paint them. I feel I paint what I know best. My pictures are for people to hang on their walls and enjoy. Are you working mostly in watercolours? I use watercolour and acrylic, which I find really versatile. The Royal Watercolour Society (RWS) was founded more than 200 years ago. Does it still have the same admission criteria for its members? Not quite. Today our criteria is work in any water-based media on a paper-based support. Does that mean there is less interest in watercolour? Not at all. Public interest in the medium is increasing. We’ve noticed people are very keen; they love coming to our exhibitions and spend a lot of time looking at the 36 Artists
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paintings and discussing techniques, subjects, materials and so on. Painting in watercolours is extremely popular as a hobby and RWS courses fill very quickly. We also have fun events such as The Big Draw when families can come along and paint together. And on a professional level? Most artists carry a sketchbook or notebook around and, if they are out and about, they will probably have watercolours, too. Some artists paint outdoors, others have ideas and do sketches that are worked into paintings later. Watercolour is also used by illustrators, textile designers, architects, fashion designers and so on. It’s sometimes said watercolour painting has flourished in England particularly. Do you think that is the case? This might be because it was traditionally considered an accomplishment, like playing the piano. Many people had a watercolour box. Queen Victoria was a keen watercolourist; she granted us royal status in 1881. How do you combine your work as a painter with the duties of your new position? I don’t have a clear division of days that I spend painting and on my duties as president. I’m constantly in touch with the society. It’s very busy at the moment as we have Colour & Vision, our autumn exhibition, to prepare, as well as our 2017/18 programme of workshops, talks and events. We also run a Contemporary Watercolour Competition, which opens for online entries soon. As president of the RWS, what are your plans and ambitions for the future? I want to ensure the RWS continues to have exciting exhibitions of members’ paintings at Bankside Gallery in London, and promote the society and its members and associates whenever possible. Bankside Gallery is the home of the RWS and has a fantastic location on the South Bank next to Tate Modern. In two years’ time the RWS will have an additional gallery space next to the National Gallery where we will be able to house and display our unique and nationally important archive and diploma Collection, making it more accessible to the public. And, as an artist, what are your plans for the immediate future? To produce some fabulous paintings. Jill will be showing work at the Geedon Gallery, Essex, in September. www.royalwatercoloursociety.co.uk; www.geedongallery.co.uk; www.jillleman.co.uk
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“PEOPLE ARE VERY KEEN; THEY LOVE COMING TO RWS EXHIBITIONS AND SPEND A LOT OF TIME DISCUSSING TECHNIQUES AND SUBJECTS”
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BEAUTIFULLY CRAFTED CREATIVE HOLIDAYS Inspirational painting, drawing, stone carving/sculpture, stained glass, marbled paper and print making courses and writing retreats in the heart of Umbria. Master Classes and Painting Classes in Italy with Grahame Booth, Kelly Medford, Caroline Bays, Adele Wagstaff, Belinda Biggs, Liz Chaderton, Roger Dellar, Paul O’Kane and Colin Joyce. Writing Retreats course with Sue Moorcroft. Stone Carving courses with Simon Keeley.
The Art of Mosaic with Megan Mahan. Workshop in Illuminated Manuscripts, Miniatures & Frescoes, with Claudia Tulifero. Stained Glass course, with Neal Winfield. Price includes tuition, art materials, complimentary accommodation, food, wine and refreshments. Course prices from ÂŁ1085 Visit our website arteumbria.com for full details on all our courses. Phone 0033 643 436 721 or 0039 340 371 6510 Follow us on Twitter: @arteumbria; our Facebook page ArteUmbria; and Instagram @arteumbria
ARTE UMBRIA T H E L E A D I N G PA I N T I N G H O L I D AY D E S T I N AT I O N
Art Holidays in beautiful Art in beautiful andHolidays sunny Cascais, Lisbon and sunny Cascais, Lisbon All media & all abilities All media & all abilities Accommodations with views Accommodations with views over the beautiful Cascais Bay over the beautiful Cascais Bay Excellent food and culture Excellent food and culture Relaxing and friendly atmosphere Relaxing and friendly atmosphere
For details: For details: Our site: site: Our email: Our email: 38 Artists
tel: (+351) 932 244 582 tel: (+351) 932 244 582 www.paint-in-portugal.com www.paint-in-portugal.com paint.in.portugal@gmail.com paint.in.portugal@gmail.com
& Illustrators
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sketchbook
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october TIPS • ADVICE • IDEAS
PAINT WHIMSICAL ANIMALS Faye Moorhous e introdu ces some of her favo urite painting and dr awing techniq ues for capturing a pet’s personalit y
DRYBRUSHING
BUILDING LAYERS OF PAINT To create a solid area of colour with paint, build it up in layers rather than painting one thick layer. Two or three loose, watered-down layers of paint will give you a flat finish that’s free of visible brushstrokes. Here I have painted three layers of the same colour. I let each layer dry before adding the next and created a nice, solid base colour that could be used for the body of a light brown dog, cat or hamster.
Applying paint with a dry brush can add texture to a painting. Grab a clean, dry brush, dip it in water-free gouache paint, and apply it to the area that needs texture. Doesn’t this look like the fur on a wirehaired dog? You can also layer colours using the drybrushing technique. Let each layer dry before you add the next one to ensure that you don’t lose the nice, rough texture that drybrushing creates.
To p t i p
You c an use a r e g ular b ru s h t o s t ip p le or bu a s p e c ia y l st b ru s h w ip p ling it h ver y b lun t h air s
STIPPLING Stippling can be used to build texture in a painting. For example, if you want to paint a scruffy dog, simply load a paintbrush with paint, and dab it repeatedly onto the paper to create fur.
PALETTE-KNIFE PAINTING In addition to using a brush to apply paint to paper, you can also use a palette knife, which will give you a much heavier colour. Simply load the knife with paint, and spread it onto the paper as if you were icing a cake. Playful Painting: Pets by Faye Moorhouse is published by Walter Foster Publishing, an imprint of The Quarto Group, £12.99. www.quartoknows.com
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sketchbook
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HOW TO DRAW Jake S pi cer help s yo u s ketch AN autu mn le aF A handful of autumn leaves – brought inside and left to dry – make an excellent subject, retaining crisp shapes. Rich autumnal colours beg to be captured in a limited but saturated palette, and I have chosen the new Derwent Procolour pencils for the job.
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COLOUR (Colours: Copper Beech, Sunset Gold, Bright Red) Use parallel marks to hatch in blocks of colour, indicating the local colour of each leaf.
SATURATION (Colours: Olive Green, Sunset Gold, Bright Red) Build with marks in the direction of the leaf surface. Leave pale areas light and build darker parts.
1 LINE (Colour: Copper Beech) Start with a quick, light gestural sketch to establish their overall shape and scale. Follow immediately with a firmer line drawing, pinning down the contours – pay attention to the negative spaces between leaves.
WINNING TECHNIQUES Artist Richard Fowler took first prize at the S unday Times Watercolour competition for his acrylic work ‘Portis head’. We look at how it was made
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To create the acrylic on board work Richard utilised cut paper ‘masks’ with stencil brushes of various sizes to achieve the sharp edges and textures of corroding steel and decaying wood. Richard says: “The sunlight falling on the rusting steel, contrasting with the intense blue of the sky gives the image a somewhat surreal and sinister quality, while the stark outlines and rugged shapes are reminiscent of an ancient castle or coastal fortification.” www.sundaytimeswatercolour.org
TONE (Colour: Burnt Umber) Build darker tones in shadowed areas of leaves using a sharp point to clarify edges and cross-hatching shadows, paying attention to the darkest darks. Jake teaches at West Dean College and Draw Brighton. www.jakespicerart.co.uk
COMPETITION
WIN!
FIVE CHANCES TO GRAB A TIN OF PROCOLOUR PENCILS Pegasus Art is offering five lucky readers the chance to win a tin of 24 Derwent Procolour Pencils worth £44.75 each. The winners, chosen at random, will each receive a set of the fabulous new range of colour pencils, which are a perfect combination of a strong point and smooth laydown, with a texture that has the covering power of wax while also gliding like an oil. These pencils will retain a hard point while you are drawing, making them great for achieving fine detail in your coloured pencil artworks or enhancing aspects of watercolour paintings. 40 Artists
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Pegasus Art has been supplying fine art materials to the art community since 2005, offering a comprehensive online shop, as well as art classes and workshops. Visit them at www.pegasusart.co.uk
HOW TO ENTER For your chance to win a tin of 24 Derwent Procolour Pencils, enter online at www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/ competitions by noon on 3 November 2017. For full terms and conditions, visit www.chelseamagazines.com/terms
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gar dens t udi o. c o. uk 01296320333 Showr oom:Gar denSt udi o,Buc k s ,HP180XB
Guests painting in Lake Garda.
Painting in Italy Painting Holidays in Italy Guests having lunch in Umbria
• Sublime Italian locations such as Tuscany, • This is the perfect holiday for solo • Fully organised holiday including airport Umbria, Lake Garda, Sicily, Florence and travellers and friends/partners coming transfers, 4 star accommodation, dinners/ Venice together as cooking lessons available on lunches including wine and excursions to some destinations. historical Italian towns with professional • Top class tutors: Charles Mitchell, Fiona guide. Graham-Mackay, John Booth, Chris • Still Life and Portrait Workshops available Forsey, Jennifer Johnson, Sarah Miatt and in a beautiful studio in the centre of • New in 2018 – Painting Holiday in Lucca & Soraya French. Florence. Fabriano Watercolour Convention
The Times “Top 50 Holidays for 2016” and The Telegraph “Best Special Interest Holidays 2016” “I’ve had a truly, wonderful holiday and made so many delightful new friends. It was difficult going on holiday on my own for the first time but I shouldn’t have worried” – Anne B. “I thought the whole of the holiday excellent and I know it sounds boring but really did rate every experience with 5 stars”. Charles B.
www.paintinginitaly.com • Freephone: 08081185729 • Email: info@paintinginitaly.com
www.paintinginitaly.com Freephone: 08081185729 • Email: info@paintinginitaly.com Artists & Illustrators www.einfohq.blogspot.my 41
HandG.indd 1
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42 Artists
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www.einfohq.blogspot.my WAT E R C O L O U R S P EC I A L
MASTERCL ASS
SHADOW PLAY Aine Divine guides you through using shad ow space to create a p ortrait that has ease and lightness
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have painted Alisdair many times, with and without a beard, with long hair, hats and in many different guises. For this painting, my focus was on representing each shadow shape with ease and lightness. With this in mind, I also made sure I felt light in myself. There was a constant advancing and retreating. It was almost a fencing action with the easel. I am reminded of this quote by Walter Sickert: “If you put free loose coat over free loose coat, eventually the deaf canvas listens and the painting paints itself.” Standing back
Aine’s materials often means the painting can speak to you; it creates the space and room to see what needs to happen next. I like to loosen up regularly by picking up the two-inch brush and whipping on the paint to break the edge of the figure or quickly establish a tone. There is great joy to be found in working from the shoulder, making big sweeping statements. These marks make up the scaffolding of the body and the space it occupies. A splash from the shoulder makes you feel brave. www.ainedivinepaintings.co.uk
•BRUSHES
Aine Divine Rosemary & Co brush set: three flat brushes 1in, 1/2in and 2in; Royal & Langnickel Taklon 1/2in flat craft brush for lifting out the lights •WATERCOLOUR
Winsor & Newton Professional Water
Colour: Alizarin Crimson, Sap Green, Cadmium Red, Cadmium Orange, Yellow Ochre, Lemon Yellow, Cerulean Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Sienna, Vandyke Brown •SUPPORT
Paper Bockingford 535gsm 250lb NOT surface full imperial, 56x76cm
2 FLUIDITY IS IMPORTANT You want enough water so the pigment fills the space, but not so much it runs down the page taking the colour, and your faithfully observed shape of skin tone, with it. It’s helpful to generate the colour quickly and choose a brush that will best explain the shape. Consider where the brush will be placed and lifted for each shape you make. This way you make a patchwork of tones. >
1 MARK THE PAGE
FIND THE RIGHT TIME When you paint a portrait in watercolour from life I recommend that you have one direct source of light on the model’s face, which will remain fairly constant. Choose the time of day with care.
There’s something equally terrifying and glorious about making those first light marks on the white page. It needs a “let’s see what happens here” approach to move forward. If there’s a preconceived goal, you’re lost. Here, I’ve used Sap Green and Alizarin Crimson with the white of the page to represent the shadow running down the side of the face.
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M A S T ER C L A S S
3 ESTABLISH THE BODY
4 FEEL THE MOVEMENT
I applied Crimson on the left shoulder where the shadow of the head is cast, and Cadmium Red on the brighter shoulder. I’m happy to allow runs as it anchors Alisdair. I also favour allowing the water to take over sometimes. The pose is dynamic, with the shoulders at different heights.
I’ve angled the splashes to reinforce the tilt of the head and get a feeling of movement in the body. The darker shoulder is pushed back by the splash of red that breaks the edge of the figure. Splashing the paint on is a good loosening up practice, and dissipates any tension I feel in my arms.
5 WARM UP THE SKIN I’ve injected more colour into the skin here. Yellow Ochre and Cadmium Orange make a good warm skin tone and counteract the cooler shades in the skin up to now. I’ve moved on to the 1in flat brush to identify these smaller shadows.
To p t i p
Re m e m ber t h closin at half g yo u r e ye s – taking or yo u of f – le r glas se s t s yo u se d ark s and lig e ht s
6 REVIEW THE PAINTING I can see where I could have done less. I lost the structure a little filling in the gaps in the skin, particularly the nose and forehead. In hindsight I could have left more white spaces between marks. I’m happy with the printed line marking the light edge of the face; it’ll lighten as it dries, leaving a broken edge. 44 Artists
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7 MAKE A SPLASH When I’m not clear about where to go next or want the paint on the face to dry, I’ll hold the palette as a shield over the face and splash colour on the body. The injection of red gives me licence to introduce more colour and tonal contrasts on the face. This movement from particular to general keeps the surface alive.
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www.einfohq.blogspot.my M A S T ER C L A S S
8 EMPHASISE LIGHT AND DARK I use Burnt Sienna with a little Ultramarine Blue to make the skin tone for the left socket, the left collar and lower lip. As I’ve printed the edge of the face on the light side, I need to deepen the darks on the other side to make the form of the head read convincingly. I’m using the one-inch brush, reserving the two-inch brush for bigger sweeping marks.
9 WORK ON THE EYES It is helpful to locate the eyebrow as it marks where the forehead ends and socket cavity begins. I look at the shape of skin between the eyelid and eyebrow rather than at the line of the lid. When I place darks in the eye, I want to disperse the same tone elsewhere.
BE AT EYE LEVEL Find a high stool for your model so you are at eye level with them. Take regular breaks every few hours so you’re both fresh and can keep up momentum.
10 FINISH WITH A BOLD MOVE I place patches of skin colour on the forehead. Bridging the gap between eyebrow and hair helps the left eye to settle. I put touches of Vandyke Brown and Ultramarine Blue throughout to direct the viewer and swipe red on the shoulder to guide into the face.
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TECHNIQUE
THE WONDER OF
Watercolour FROM FLO C CUL ATION TO DRYBRUSH, ARTIST RAY BALKWILL EXP LORES DECEPTIVELY SIMP LE WAYS TO CREATE BEAUTIFUL EFFECTS WITH THE MEDIUM
46 Artists
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www.einfohq.blogspot.my WAT E R C O L O U R S P EC I A L
Trevor Chamberlain, Mellow Autumn, Waterford Marsh, watercolour, 23x30cm In Trevor’s atmospheric plein air painting he reserved highlights with masking fluid before dampening the whole sheet of paper. He then worked wet-in-wet with his first wash before allowing it to dry completely. His second wash was more considered and carefully stated. When completely dry, the masking fluid was removed and resultant white paper tinted.
O
f all the media available to artists, watercolour is possibly the most versatile when it comes to the many techniques that can be employed. One of its main attractions is the power to suggest without overstatement. Whether it is used in a more traditional way, by building layers of washes, or in a more direct way, painters have shown it is an exciting medium, albeit a difficult one to master. One of watercolour’s most endearing qualities is its translucency, expressiveness and unpredictability. Many inexperienced watercolourists, however, make the mistake of trying to cover every part of the paper with paint, which is neither necessary nor desirable. The white paper plays a vital role by adding a sparkle to the resulting painting. Whichever technique you decide upon, you aim for simplicity at all times.
WASH TECHNIQUES Flat wash and graded wash These are the backbone of watercolour, and understanding and practising creating them are essential steps in mastering the medium. A flat wash is evenly toned and it is often used to cover the paper with a unifying background colour. A graded wash moves gradually from dark to light, and vice versa, or from one colour to another. Graded washes are most often used in painting skies and, again, a flat brush is the best to produce this effect. The appearance of a wash depends on a number of factors: the level of the dilution of the pigment; the type of paper used; and whether your surface is wet or dry. Some painters prefer to lay large areas of a uniform wash on damp paper, but it is best to practise and experiment to work out what’s best for your paintings.
Ray Balkwill, The Old Tug, Topsham, watercolour, 43x48cm This painting features a number of techniques including wet-in-wet, wet-on-dry, drybrush and spattering. Masking fluid was used to reserve the highlights and was also spattered to add texture to the foreground mud.
ONE OF THE MOST ENDEARING QUALITIES OF WATERCOLOUR IS ITS TRANSLUCENCY, EXPRESSIVENESS AND UNPREDICTABILITY Wet-in-wet This is the most expressive of techniques. When colours are applied to either a damp sheet of paper or an area of still-wet paint, they run out over the surface giving a soft edge to the painted shape. This method is particularly effective in painting skies, water and atmospheric effects. Wet-on-dry In this traditional technique, tones and colours are applied in a series of pure, transparent layers, one over another, allowing each wash to dry before applying another. Superimposed washes of thin colour result in more resonant areas of colour than can be achieved by a single more direct wash of dense colour.
CREATING TEXTURE Drybrush This is an invaluable skill because it can suggest complex textures economically. As its name applies, drybrush involves working lightly with applications of fairly dry paint. The exact nature of each texture is determined by the consistency of the paint and the type of paper. It is most effective on rough textured paper, where the pigment catches on the raised tooth and misses the hollows, leaving sparkling dots of white. Each type of brush – and the way it is held – will also produce a slightly different effect. Granulation and flocculation With granulation, certain pigments have a tendency to precipitate and, as the wash dries, granules settle in the > tooth of the paper producing a granular effect.
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WAT ER C O LO U R
Wet-in-wet
Flat wash
Wet-on-dry
Reserving highlights with masking f luid
Drybrush Ray Balkwill, Morning Mist, watercolour, 13x15cm
Masking fluid was applied with an old brush to reserve highlights on the boats. A wash was applied using a diluted Cerulean Blue with a flat brush. While damp, Raw Sienna was dropped wet-in-wet to create the distance and reflections in the water. This colour was also used in the foreground. When dry, Burnt Umber was applied using drybush. Darks were applied to the boats, and a mix of Ultramarine with a touch of Alizarin was applied to the boat hulls, reflections and shadow. A further wet-on-dry wash was applied on the quayside, building and its reflection. Details such as masts were added with a rigger brush. 48 Artists
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Flocculation is produced by pigments, such as French Ultramarine, where particles are attracted to each other, rather than evenly dispersed. This causes a speckling that lends a subtle atmospheric quality as seen in Trevor Chamberlain’s Mellow Autumn, Waterford Marsh (previous page). Spattering and splattering Useful for effects such as suggesting texture on a beach. A ‘spatter’ tends to be created by flicking the bristle end of a stiff brush with your finger, while a ‘splatter’ is similar, but done with a softer brush. A splatter is more directional and can create a stronger effect.
CREATING HIGHLIGHTS Masking fluid, scratching and lifting out The simplest way to create white highlights in
your watercolour painting is to paint around them, preserving the white of the paper, but this requires careful planning. Masking fluid is useful because it can seal off these areas without the worry of accidentally overpainting them. Masking fluid can also be used in the latter stages of an artwork, painting over subsequent washes. Fine highlights can also be achieved by scratching out the painted surface once it is dry, using a scalpel knife or other sharp, pointed tool. You can also create highlights by removing the colour while it is still wet, using a soft brush, sponge or tissue. This gives softer highlights, such as those needed for the edges of clouds. Many artists also like to use touches of gouache for the detailed highlights in their paintings. www.raybalkwill.co.uk
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John Hoar, Winter Light, South Molton, watercolour, 76x46cm In this lively street scene, John used a sword-liner brush to give a simple outline to buildings taking care to leave the white of the paper untouched. He worked in the main elements with a large wash brush using a limited palette of Winsor Blue, Raw Sienna, Burnt Umber and Light Red. A wet-in-wet wash was used in the sky and some drybrush in the road and trees.
FLOCCULATION IS PRODUCED BY PIGMENTS, SUCH AS FRENCH ULTRAMARINE, WHERE PARTICLES ARE ATTRACTED TO EACH OTHER RATHER THAN EVENLY DISPERSED
RAY’S WATERCOLOUR TOP TIPS 1 USE CLEAN WATER When painting in watercolour always use plenty of clean water. Be sure to fill the jar to the brim so you can see how much water you are taking up on the brush. 2 COMPENSATE FOR DRYING Remember that a watercolour wash always dries much lighter than it looks when wet, so always compensate for this when mixing your paint. 3 BE DECISIVE When laying a wash, sweep the brush lightly and decisively across the paper using the tip of the brush. Make sure that the drawing board is tilted at a slight angle and never work back into a previously laid wash to smooth it out.
Leslie Frontz, Come Rain or Shine, watercolour, 25x36cm
Leslie’s watercolour draws on strong gestural brushstrokes painted on dry paper. She first painted in lighter clouds and let the paint rest for a few minutes
before adding darker cloud forms, allowing the pigments to merge together. The white highlights in the sky and sea were painted around, rather than reserved with masking fluid. In the foreground, more subtle highlights were added with white gouache.
4 MAKE A MASK Masking fluid is tough on brushes, so always use inexpensive ones. The best method of cleaning brushes is to rinse them with lighter fuel or use a bar of soap. Be sure to remove masking fluid from a painting within a day or so, otherwise it will be difficult to get off.
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WIN COMPETITION
AN ART WEEKEND
EXPLORE HOW VAN EYCK’S FAMOUS ARNOLFINI P ORTRAIT INSPIRED THE P RE-RAP HAELITES’ VISION WITH A TRIP TO THE NATIONAL GALLERY, P LUS A STAY AT A TOP LOND ON HOTEL Discover how Van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait became one of the beacons by which the Pre-Raphaelites forged a radical new style of painting at Reflections: Van Eyck and the Pre-Raphaelites. The exhibition runs from 2 October to 2 April 2018, organised by the National Gallery in collaboration with Tate Britain. It is set to bring together The Arnolfini Portrait with paintings from the Tate collection and other loans to explore how it influenced Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Sir John Everett Millais and William Holman Hunt, among others. Enter now for your chance to win two tickets to the exhibition, a complimentary catalogue and tote bag,
and enjoy an overnight stay at the Strand Palace Hotel. Set on the Strand in the heart of the West End, the Strand Palace Hotel is just moments from Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square and the Thames, making it a perfect spot for discovering the city’s cultural icons. www.nationalgallery.org.uk
HOW TO ENTER
JOHN EVERETT MILLAIS, MARIANA, 1851 © TATE, LONDON 2015; JAN VAN EYCK, THE ARNOLFINI PORTRAIT, 1434 © THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON
Enter online at www.artistsandillustrators. co.uk/competitions by noon on 3 November 2017. Alternatively, fill in the form and return it to: National Gallery Competition, Artists & Illustrators, Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd., Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London SW3 3TQ.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS The hotel stay is valid for one night, subject to availability; the prize is non-refundable and non-exchangeable; no cash alternative is available; stay must be taken by the end of the exhibition (2 April 2018) and booked within four weeks of claiming prize. For full terms and conditions visit www.chelseamagazines.com/terms •Turn to page 82 to explore five fascinating facts about the painter Jan Van Eyck. 50 Artists
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Telephone: Please tick here if you subscribe to Artists & Illustrators The closing date for entries is noon on 3 November 2017. Please tick here if you prefer not to be contacted by Artists & Illustrators Are you happy to subscribe to the National Gallery’s email news Are you happy to subscribe to email news from The Strand Palace Hotel
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Oil for the watercolourist
Cobra is the new generation of artist quality oil colours by Royal Talens in the Netherlands. 70 highly pigmented colours all with the highest degree of lightfastness. Only the best pigments and oil are used to produce Cobra. Cobra is the finest quality artist oil colour that has the added benefit that it can be mixed with water, giving you the freedom to produce beautiful art, wherever you are. www.royaltalens.com
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Fan brush
p u g n i h s u Br TOOLS
FIND OUT HOW TO GET THE MOST FROM YOUR MATERIALS WITH SANDRINE MAUGY’S GUIDE TO SELECTING WATERC OLOUR BRUSHES
When faced with the plethora of watercolour brushes in art shops, it might feel difficult to make a choice. When asked what the best watercolour brush is, my answer is that I can only say which is my favourite, not which is the best. The answer differs from artist to artist, depending on what they are looking for in a brush. Softness, good spring, cost, value, aesthetics, high animal welfare standards, control or looseness are criteria we may need to consider before splashing out.
SHAPE FAR RIGHT Pear ‘Fondante d’Automne’, painted with Pro Arte Prolene Plus 007 and Jackson’s Studio Synthetic 505 52 Artists
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The first thing to decide is which shape is the most appropriate for the job. Round, pointed tip The most common shape of brush. This classic works well for laying
washes and painting details, while being suited to wet and dry brush techniques. I would estimate 98 per cent of my process relies on the round brush. However, every so often, another shape might be more suitable and make the task a little easier to achieve. Flat brush Wider and thinner than the round brush, the flat brush can help in painting certain shapes more precisely and more quickly, for example, a brick wall or wooden planks. I use a flat brush to lift veins and tidy edges. Its thin edge acts like a blade and breaks the paint surface more effectively than a round brush. Rigger This is a round brush with much longer filaments than the typical round tip. Originally created for marine artists to paint
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www.einfohq.blogspot.my WAT E R C O L O U R S P EC I A L
HANDY HINTS •Invest in a good brush. It is difficult to paint well with poor tools. •Select a brush that suits your style, whether it’s dry, wet, loose or precise. •Do not try to replace the plastic caps after using a brush: it bends the bristles backwards and ruins the brush. •Do not leave brushes standing in water.
Sword liner
Thin comb brush
Thick comb brush
ship rigging, it is useful when long, regular lines are needed. Some come with a reservoir, allowing for even longer lines to be painted without reloading. Fan Used with drier paint, a fan brush can help to paint foliage or fur more quickly and randomly than can be achieved with individual strokes. Used with drier paint it can add texture, especially on rough papers. Comb brush This has tufts of longer bristles alternating with short. It is great for painting hairs on stems, leaves or animals because you can paint several in one stroke with more accuracy than with the fan brush. The thickness of the combs varies from a few bristles to thick clusters. Sword liner Similar sh to ru b ld o to the rigger but with Use an t, not in a p r u a slanted edge, this mix yo uality q ts e b can be used to paint your es n o g n ti foliage and pain
To p t i p
arabesques. It takes some practice but can give beautiful results. Quill brushes These boast a swan (or clear plastic) quill ferrule rather than a metal one. They are usually floppier and work well for loose work where less control is required.
BRISTLE QUALITY All these brushes come with different bristles quality. The best synthetic brushes are now undistinguishable from sables so you can still get excellent brushes even if you worry about animal welfare. Whether you choose natural or artificial hair, you will find a huge range of quality and cost. The low-quality synthetics will be very stiff and rapidly get split ends, while low-quality sables will fluff up and lose their point, while also getting split ends. Top-quality brushes in both categories are a pleasure to paint with and are worth spending a bit more on wherever possible. www.sandrinemaugy.co.uk
SANDRINE RECOMMENDS... •For softness Sables used to be best, but wonderfully soft synthetic bristles are now available. The softest I have tried are Da Vinci Casaneo series 5598, Jackson’s Studio Synthetic series 505, Escoda Versatil and Isabey Kolinsky Sable Series 6228. For a stiffer brush, try Da Vinci Nova. •For spring Some brushes are floppy while others spring back. Quill brushes are the floppiest. For a great spring, I like Pro Arte Prolene Plus series 007. •For holding capacity Synthetic fibres can now hold as much as sables. For wet-in-wet washes, try Escoda Versatil or Jackson’s Studio Synthetic series 505. •For control More control means a stiffer brush that doesn’t carry too much paint. Pro Arte Prolene Plus series 007 and Da Vinci Cosmotop-Spin are good options.
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T H E AT E L I E R M E T H O D
Temperature 2 painting
IN THE SEC OND PART OF HER SERIES, ATELIER TUTOR JULIET TE ARISTIDES EXP L AINS HOW USING T WO C OLOURS CAN HELP YOU MASTER WARM AND C O OL IN YOUR PAINTINGS 54 Artists
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www.einfohq.blogspot.my O I L PA I N T I N G
LEFT Andrew DeGoede, Paint Tubes, oil on canvas, 20.32x25.4cm RIGHT, TOP TO BOTTOM Thomas Kegler, First Snow, oil on linen, 16x36cm; Thomas Kegler, Evening Glow – Proverbs 11:2, oil on linen, 38.1x83.8cm
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s a student, I spent many years learning to draw before transitioning to grisaille painting. Yet after only a year of working in black and white, we were given a full high-chroma palette; it felt like I had been on a raw food diet only to be thrown into a milk chocolate fondu fountain. It was a mystery to me why we didn’t gradually transition through a limited colour palette. My teacher’s answer surprised me. He said: “Because it’s harder.” How could it be more difficult to use two colours than 20? After wrestling with this, I realised it is not only harder, it’s impossible. Can you imagine painting the bright red of a tomato or the emerald green of a pepper if the only colours on your palette are orange and blue? Yet, if your subject matter doesn’t have much high-intensity colour, it could lend itself perfectly to a simplified palette. It takes little to convey a full-colour painting. In fact, depending on the piece, two-colour painters can outperform those using a full palette, even when working from the life model. The limitations of a few colours provides a freedom and mastery; it’s not what you have but how you use it.
CHANGING LIGHT Colour painting, regardless of your palette choices, is a translation of nature, not a direct transcription; a point more quickly understood in warm/cool painting than with a full palette. There are infinite variations of colour in nature and they shift under natural light and translucency.
REGARDLESS OF YOUR PALETTE CHOICES, COLOUR PAINTING IS A TRANSLATION OF NATURE
For example, when painting flesh you can see through layers of pale skin. It is not possible to get the exact colour every time, often the goal is pictorial harmony and creating the feeling of life: a believable translation. The rhythm created by the scale of warm and cool notes throughout a painting can capture the reality of objects surrounded by light and atmosphere. The two paintings by Thomas Kegler (above) show warm and cool as a quality of light bathing each landscape at a different time of day. The snow scene, although cool, has warm notes. The yellow of the hay turns orange as it reaches the snow. There are no strong blues beyond a vaguely grey sky. Yet in comparison to the fiery orange light on the sunset painting’s horizon, it reads as cold. Likewise, the warm painting has greens and violets, yet the piece reads as warm, and even more so when we contrast it to the snow painting. So light itself can be warm or cool regardless of the temperature of what it’s hitting. For example, when we buy lightbulbs in a shop, we often have a choice between bulbs that veer towards blue or yellow.
WARM AND COOL Warm colours are yellows, oranges and reds, while blues, violets and greens are considered cool colours. Yet, in >
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truth, there can be cool reds and warm reds; blues can lean toward violet or blues toward green. It may be helpful to see warm and cool as poles, like north and south. See the colour chart (right): with Burnt Sienna on the right and Viridian on the left, notice how the cool colour becomes warmer as we move across, and the warm colour gradually cooler. The end points of green and orange are fixed but, in the middle, it becomes more flexible. Try this: pick a neutral from the middle of the diagram. Is the square warm or cool? To answer: first compare it with the green square at the far left. Does it appear warm? Next compare it with the square on the far right. Now does it seem cool? In just the same way, identifying warm and cool notes is placing the moment within a temperature spectrum.
STRONG COLOUR Warm and cool temperatures are relative, yet when well-placed and consistently applied they create a feeling of truth. My students learn that the secret to believable colour is not how much colour they use, but how carefully they manage limited colours. A tip for the studio: when starting 56 Artists
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THE SECRET TO CREATING BELIEVABLE COLOUR IS NOT HOW MUCH YOU USE BUT HOW YOU MANAGE A LIMITED PALETTE
a painting, determine the strongest colour note. It could be found anywhere, from the blue in a vase or the hot reflected light under a person’s chin, and compare all your other colours to that note to accurately assess its temperature. You are ‘keying’ or ‘tuning’ the painting to where the colour feels most pure. Now you know nothing will be warmer – or cooler – than the spot you identified. Students are encouraged to ask themselves while painting, “Is it lighter or darker?” and “Is it warmer or cooler?” Kegler’s sunset painting may be keyed to the hot spot of red on the horizon on the left in the trees. In my painting of the silver pitchers (above), it is a moment of warmth in the reflections. The study of warm and cool is a system of comparison, mastering believable rhythms of temperature with consistency can help you convey light and mood in your work. In the next part of The Atelier Method, Juliette tackles full-colour painting. www.aristidesarts.com
ABOVE Juliette Aristides, Back Light, oil on panel, 46x40cm
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www.einfohq.blogspot.my C L A S S I C A L PA I N T I N G
LEFT, TOP AND BOTTOM Two-colour palettes of Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna, with the gradients when they are mixed LEFT, MIDDLE The chart shows pure
colour at either end of the first row and degrees of colour mixed horizontally across the top. The vertical lines show a step-scale made with the addition of white
STUDENT DEMO Grace Flott, I. Love. Bread, oil on panel, 30x30cm
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Getting started Grace arranged a simple still life of bread under a spotlight. Notice her two-paint colour chart on the right, the limited palette and the note above her painting asking two questions: Is it lighter or darker? And is it warmer or cooler? The drawing In this first stage, the artist establishes the drawing. You can see the lines showing through the brown wash. Then she does a quick tonal underpainting with Raw Umber to place the big values of light and dark. Colour placement In this second stage of the painting, Grace blocked-in the first pass of opaque paint, completely covering the surface. She has not included much detail, instead opting for general colour placement. Final painting Grace focused on bringing the painting to a finish. When concluding, what changes is not the drawing or value, but the level of detail.
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www.einfohq.blogspot.my T I P S & T R I C KS
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SKETCHBOOK ESSENTIALS
JAKE SPICER OFFERS HIS ADVICE ON HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF THIS ALL-IMP ORTANT ARTIST’S ASSET
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he sketchbook can be an artist’s most valuable resource. Some people keep home-bound tomes, fat with magazine rips and collaged scraps, while others have slim leather-bound
notebooks on hand for scribbling observations. A sketchbook is often the first place an idea makes contact with the world and can become a rich visual diary: a cabinet of curiosities for everything you have seen.
PICK THE RIGHT ONE Paper What medium will you be using? What texture of surface do you like? How heavy does the paper need to be? Should it be white, off-white or a colour? Size and orientation How do you plan to use it? Will you be making notes at a desk, surreptitiously sketching on a train or standing on a hilltop painting expansive watercolours? Pick an appropriate size and weight. Portrait, square or landscape formats create opportunities for different drawings. Binding Hardback books don’t need to be supported by board. Softback books are bendy, but lightweight. Spiral bindings can get crushed in a bag, but also folded back easily, giving access to the whole page.
PLAN FOR YOUR MEDIUM Be aware of how your medium behaves in a sketchbook. If you are using wet media, such as ink or watercolour, make sure that you have a sufficiently heavy paper in your book, and let it dry before closing the pages. If you’re using charcoal, leave the opposite page of your sketchbook blank and fix your drawings as soon as you are able to avoid one smudging another.
FIND YOUR FOCUS Decide what you would like to use your sketchbook for. You will find it much easier to draw in it if you have a clear purpose in mind. This will stop you overthinking 58 Artists
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whether a sketch ‘fits’ the book, giving you more reasons to get on with your drawings. For example, is your sketchbook: •A learning tool?
•A visual diary? •A testing ground for ideas? •A collection of observations? •A showcase?
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DRAW, DRAW, DRAW Having a portable sketchbook on hand at all times of the day is the best way of ensuring that you will make time to draw more often. And in doing so more regularly you will become more confident and competent in your drawing. Don’t be afraid to use your sketchbook, either. If its first, clean page intimidates you, just start working a few pages in.
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REPEAT EXERCISES YOU ENJOY The collective impact of repeated exercises adds up to more than the sum of individual pages. When exercises, such as contour drawings of interiors, short portraits or daily compositional studies, are repeated throughout a sketchbook it imparts a satisfying consistency to the pages.
KEEP THE GOOD AND BAD When a drawing goes awry it is tempting to tear the offending page from your sketchbook; when you make an excellent sketch you may find yourself inclined to slice out the page and frame it for posterity. I’ve found myself regretting both past actions. The linear narrative a sketchbook provides tells of your personal journey as an artist, and that means seeing your ups and downs across the sequence of pages. You’ll learn the most from your worst drawings, so keep them for later reference, and leave your best drawings to stumble upon later. Jake Spicer is an artist and author of You Will Be Able to Draw By The End of This Book, published by Ilex Press, £14.99. www.jakespicerart.co.uk
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IN-DEPTH
s a g e D
PAINT LIKE
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THE BURRELL COLLECTION, GLASGOW © CSG CIC GLASGOW MUSEUMS COLLECTION
LEFT Dancers on a Bench, about 1898, pastel on tracing paper, 54.8x76cm RIGHT Woman Looking through Field Glasses, about 1869, pencil and oil (essence) on paper, 32x18.5cm
GLASGOW MUSEUMS: ART GALLERY & MUSEUMS, KELVINGROVE © CSG CIC GLASGOW MUSEUMS COLLECTION
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Damian Call an exp lores what you can learn from the artist’s innovative c olour techniques with a lo ok at paintings on show at a new exhibition at Lond on’s National Gallery
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dgar Degas loved to experiment with materials and techniques so he’s a wonderful artist to learn from. He explored themes, such as ballet dancers and women bathing, producing multiple versions of similar images. Many were left unfinished making it is possible to see his process at work. Degas’s work is a combination of tradition and innovation. His early paintings were influenced by the Italian Masters; colours built in layers over a monochrome start. His later work was more in keeping with his friends the Impressionists; looser, more colourful and abstracted. He described his process as “a series of operations.” This was fitting for the Old Masters technique of a monochrome underpainting developed by successive layers of lighter, brighter colour. It also describes his approach to chalk pastels, which he increasingly used as way of emulating the Old Masters’s methods without having to wait for oil layers to dry. Pastel layers sealed with a fixative allowed rapid colour building, adding weight and depth to an image. Degas’s later work in pastel and oil is characterised by looser, vibrant and abstracted colour, as well as a range of graphic and calligraphic marks that allow combinations of muted and contrasting colours to be created. Woman Looking through Field Glasses is an example of Degas’s more traditional use of colour. Always experimenting with materials and approaches, here he used a technique that involved modifying oil paint by leaving it on blotting paper to remove some oil content and then diluting it with petrol or other volatile solvent. This peinture à l’essence was a clever way of working with quick-drying oil paint that allowed successive >
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M A S T ER C L A S S
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“DEGAS IS WORKING IN SIMPLE SETS, BUT LAYERING HAS AN INSTINCTIVE ELEMENT”
colour to the negative background shape and darker hair. His next step may have been to add contrasting greens, as seen in Woman in a Tub, before laying down pink and pale orange skin. Dancers on a Bench is a complex pastel painting, which probably started with a charcoal tonal drawing and built with complex layers of subtle colour combinations. The main colours are the green walls contrasted with the pink floor, and a secondary pairing of orange hair and fan with the blues of the dresses. But, examining the greens in the background, you see they are composed of blue and yellow layers, while the pink floor is pale oranges laid over light blues. Degas is working with simple sets but layering and building appears to have an instinctive element. Although pastels became more significant in Degas’s output, he continued to paint in oil and the influence of the pastel technique can be seen. The layered chalk
ABOVE Woman in a Tub, about 1896-1901, pastel on paper, 60.8x84.6cm
THE BURRELL COLLECTION, GLASGOW © CSG CIC GLASGOW MUSEUMS COLLECTION
layers to be built in a short time. The fluid paint has been applied to absorbent tinted card and the colours work as they might do in a Rubens or Titian. Weaker colour areas are created by thinner paint, whereas more solid paint results in intense effects. The lines and blocks of brown underpainting over the beige surface hold together the scheme, and stronger colour is contrasted with weaker. Woman in a Tub illustrates Degas’s later approach to colour. Working in pastel layers, he limited himself to fewer related colours: a bright orange background animated by busy hatched marks is contrasted with the blue-grey tub. In the figure, the subtle pinks of the skin appear to have been laid on dull greens, and these combinations are balanced by the neutral white and greys of the rug. Like many of his unfinished studies, Woman Combing her Hair is an insight into his methods. The first stage of a charcoal underdrawing is clear, and the build of colour can be seen in the background and the woman’s hair. This could be a lesson in translating tone into colour. Degas established a pattern of light and dark in the figure and towel using the charcoal, and applied
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THE BURRELL COLLECTION, GLASGOW © CSG CIC GLASGOW MUSEUMS COLLECTION
pastel images have a busy, textured quality, and Degas’s handling of oil paint took on a similarly animated feel. Just as pastels can be softened by smudging or applied crisply on a fixed or sealed surface, so Degas built a range of soft and sharp oil effects by applying the colour in different ways. In Horse tied to a Tree, the paint has been applied in varying consistencies. A fluid dark line has outlined the body contours and saddle, while much of the background has been blocked in with areas of colour scraped into the canvas with the side of a palette knife. Degas used scraping down a lot in the early stages. It amounted to smudging so the colour was softened and paint pushed into the canvas, allowing more paint to be added to the wet surface, as with the impastoed green above the animal’s back. Just like the pastel process, this creates layering and gives depth, and also allows the artist to rework a painting, adding or altering emphasis. Degas said: “The art of painting is to surround a touch of Venetian Red so that it looks like Vermilion.” In other words, colours affect each other. By working with layers of soft, clear colour, and limiting your palette to sets of related colours, you can create vibrant and subtle effects. Damian Callan is the author of Paint Like Degas, published by Octopus Books, £14.99. Drawn in Colour: Degas from the Burrell is on display at the National Gallery, London, WC2N from 20 September to 7 May 2018. www.damiancallan.com; www.nationalgallery.org.uk
ABOVE Horse tied to a Tree, about 187380, oil on wood, 22.2x31.7cm RIGHT Woman Combing her Hair, about 1877-90, charcoal and pastel on paper, 55.8x27.9cm
•Work with chalk pastels on tinted pastel paper. Start with a willow charcoal under-drawing, laying down outlines while building a pattern of tone. Next, spray fixative and apply areas of colour. Limit colours and think about combinations that create harmony, such as opposite complementary colours or nearly opposite colours. Try using three stages: charcoal followed by two colour layers applied in broken, hatched and scribbled marks. •Begin an oil painting on canvas, sketching your subject and covering the image with a reasonable amount of paint. Then scrape down by pressing the paint into the canvas with the side of a palette knife, wiping the knife clean each time. Select one or two areas to sharpen with bright, contrasting colours. Aim to have some areas scraped down, and others with more paint. Apply thicker paint with a palette knife, fingers, sponge or card.
THE BURRELL COLLECTION, GLASGOW © CSG CIC GLASGOW MUSEUMS COLLECTION
MASTER DEGAS’S TECHNIQUES
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www.einfohq.blogspot.my A DV E R T I S I N G F E AT U R E
HAND LET TERING With the l aunch of its new Hand Let tering Pad, paper-maker HAHNEMĂœHLE explores the world of let tering with artist Mia Warner Can you tell us a bit about yourself? I love letters and dogs. I moved from the Gloucestershire countryside to Brighton to study graphic design, became obsessed with typography and realised I preferred working with my hands, so I moved to London to do that for a living.
SADIE OSBOURNE
What is hand lettering? And what is the difference between it, calligraphy and typography? Hand lettering is drawing and creating letters, words, phrases and arrangements with your hands, individually as illustrations, rather than by writing or typing. Although there are links with calligraphy and typography, there is much more freedom in terms of style and construction. Typography involves fonts and typefaces. Type designers construct letters of the same style to fit together in one alphabet, which is used by graphic designers. Calligraphy also follows certain rules because of the tools involved.
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www.einfohq.blogspot.my I LOVE THE SATIN, SILKY FINISH OF THIS PAPER — AND SO DO MY TOOLS. IT ENABLES PEN NIBS TO GLIDE ACROSS THE SURFACE Hand lettering uses the thick and thin calligraphy forms, and certain styles can be inspired by existing typefaces, but the fact it is made with brushes, pens, pencils and chalk means there is a lot more freedom. It is so much fun to experiment and play with different arrangements. How would you describe your style of work? I don’t have a set style. I work with hand lettering, calligraphy and signwriting, and no two projects are the same. I switch my style regularly. At the moment, I love working with long, flowing calligraphic words with big, loopy flourishes. Where do you get your influences and inspiration from? Instagram is my favourite. It’s a brilliant source of inspiration. There are some incredibly talented lettering
artists putting their work out constantly, such as Jessica Hische, Alison Carmichael, Tyrsa, Mary Kate McDevitt, Ken Barber at House Industries. How do you think hand lettering fares in the art world? Is it growing in popularity? Definitely. I think hand-drawn letterforms have gone through a massive resurgence as people are rediscovering the value in having something created by a human. Designers can do brilliant things with computers and vinyls, but there is soul in every piece of lettering created by hand, which you just don’t get any other way. What projects do you have on the go? I’m just starting to teach, which is incredibly exciting. I’m hoping to be running some small lettering workshops in the not-too-distant future. So many people are interested, I would really like to give something back. What specific qualities do you look for in a paper for hand lettering? A smooth, beautiful, silky finish that enables my pen to almost float across the top while it’s doing long, flowing flourishes. And definitely a paper quality that ensures the ink won’t bleed. What did you think of Hahnemühle’s Hand Lettering Pad? I love the satin, silky finish of this paper – and so do my tools. It enables pen nibs to glide across the surface, and makes it easy to get varying marks from different pressure levels on a pencil. This means I can experiment more than I would be able to on other types of paper, which makes the process feel smooth and satisfying.
THE NEW HAHNEMÜHLE HAND LETTERING PAD Offering a first-class foundation for practising their art and developed with hand-lettering artists, Hahnemühle’s Hand Lettering Pad has been tailored to their specific needs as a basis for outstanding lettering. Brush pens, fine-tip pens and pencils glide across the smooth paper. Preliminary sketches can be easily rubbed out,
and the closed surface traps colours and prevents bleeding. The brilliant white paper ensures vibrant colours; monochrome and multicoloured motifs stand out and can be easily scanned and processed digitally. The pads offer perfect absorption and drying behaviour for brush pens, fine-tip pens and felt-tip pens. The paper weighs 170gsm and the pads – 25 sheets bound at the top – are available in A5, A4 and A3 format.
Do you have any pearls of wisdom for budding hand-lettering artists who are just starting out? Keep creating. There will be times when it feels like you may be drawing for no obvious reason, but every piece that you create has soul and purpose. Whether you are drawing for a client or yourself, each piece teaches you something new. So they’re all as valuable as each other. Keep going! www.hahnemuehle.com
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DEMO
PAINT FALLING LEAVES ARTIST TERENCE CL ARKE SHOWS YOU HOW TO CREATE EXP RESSIONISTIC AUTUMNAL L ANDSCAP ES
This is an example of how you can use a simple study to create a full painting back at the studio. Many plein-air artists, including Monet, used this technique, particularly if they wanted to explore an image beyond realism. This painting was started in woodland in autumn. I put the basic structure down, using my time to create a tonal study, which I developed later. I was trying to create the feeling of falling leaves, as well as the intensity of late-autumn light. By using bold colour and very free brushwork I was able to go beyond the factual, into the realms of an almost expressionistic, Van Gogh-like depiction. Because I was not tied to the original tones and colours, I could use my imagination to capture and enhance the “sensation” of autumn, while still using the original information from the study. www.terenceclarke.co.uk >
terence’s materials •SUPPORT
Professional primed canvas, 50x60cm •ACRYLIC
For drawing: Daler-Rowney System 3 Acrylic, Prussian Blue Hue •OIL
Lukas Terzia Artists’ Oil Colours: Vermilion, Magenta, Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue, Cadmium Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Titanium White. Lukas Terzia: Yellow Ochre; Phthalo Green. •BRUSHES
Seawhite: Hog-hair filberts, size 4 5 and 7
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OIL
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Having prepared the canvas with a soft-coloured ground, I used Prussian Blue Hue acrylic to draw in the image of the woods. It’s almost like a watercolour study in that the washes establish the tonal areas. This generates a very vivid light effect, which I will use to guide me back in the studio.
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I used thick areas of oil paint to block in the basic light effect. All areas of the painting are being opened up to colour, including the sky, the trees and the foreground. Note how important the dark regions at the back of the composition are for suggesting depth in the scene.
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You can’t make omelettes without breaking eggs, so it is important for an expressionistic, Fauve-type painting that you put lots of paint on your palette. You need to be generous to ‘carry’ the expressiveness of your painting’s brush work.
4
Note here that the darker areas are still thin paint with the thickness building through the tones to the lightest areas. Up close, you can see how individual marks and spots of colour are working in harmony, despite the vivid hues.
5
Here you can see how the colour almost sculpts the recessional space. The shadows are also modulated with an array of brightly coloured tones to suggest they are filled with light and thus intensify the sensation of a rich autumnal scene.
6
In the foreground, I let rip with colour. Of course the bold reds and contrasting greens and blues help to bring the
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foreground forward. The whole picture is bounced off this foreground, despite it being low on detail. Although it is outrageous, it works by being tonally in harmony with the other elements of the painting. Terence’s paintings will be on show with Thompsons at Battersea Affordable Art Fair in London SW11 from 19 to 22 October 2017. www.affordableartfair.com
To p t i p
For this st yl e of expre ssion is tic painting , re member to put lots of paint on your pale tte
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www.einfohq.blogspot.my LYNN PAINTERSTAINERS PRIZE EXHIBITION 2018 CALL FOR ENTRIES A prize for representational painting with awards totalling £30,000 Deadline for entries: Wednesday 6 December 2017, 5pm Enter online at lps.artopps.co.uk
Image: Júlia Moscardó, Elfe (detail)
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Chelsea Art Society 70th Annual Open Art Exhibition - Call For Entries Exhibition 26-30 October 2017; Chelsea Old Town Hall Handing-in day: 8.30am-3pm Monday 23rd October Entry forms available from: chelseaartsociety.org.uk/register www.chelseaartsociety.org.uk Sponsored by Wedlake Bell 70 Artists
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www.einfohq.blogspot.my M A S T ER C L A S S
YO U R Q U E S T I O N S
EGG TEMPERA L ANDSCAP E ARTIST JAMES LYNCH REVEALS HIS TECHNIQUES FOR USING THIS C OMP LEX MEDIUM TO CREATE LUMINOUS PAINTINGS
What support do you use for your paintings? I make my own gesso ground from rabbit-skin glue and whiting; I cook it on my studio stove, then paint several layers onto a wood panel (MDF). I used to sand the final layer smooth, which was traditional, but now I make the surface rougher. For very large paintings, I lay muslin over MDF, stick it down with rabbit skin glue and layer over the gesso. How do you make the egg tempera? I mix raw ground pigments with a little egg yolk and water. It’s water-thin, and I build colour glazes slowly. When I first became interested in egg tempera, I read the 15th-century Il Libro dell’Arte by Cennino Cennini. It seemed complex. It probably was in those days, having to grind pigments and use distilled water. But they are finely ground today, so it’s far simpler. I use tap water. >
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C O LO U R ED P EN C I L
What are the unique qualities of egg tempera? What attracted me to the medium were egg tempera paintings I’d seen in the National Gallery. They seemed to glow with a light that came from within. This is because the paint glazes are translucent and allow light to bounce back from the underlying white gesso ground. As I got to know the medium, I discovered it was a gorgeous, glowing, luminous, living paint surface. What effects can you create with egg tempera? It dries in seconds to a waxy finish; you can scratch into it, rub it back using steel wool and lift it with water. Because I stipple the final coat of gesso on the panel, it’s a slightly textured surface and, as the layers of glazes build, it gives more character and interest. Do you have any tips for mixing egg tempera? I separate the egg yolk from the white and roll it on absorbent kitchen paper before piercing the membrane with a pin and draining the yolk into a small container. The yolk’s the binder – it’s a natural emulsion. I mix small amounts into a water and pigment solution to make each thin glaze, adjusting the consistency over the course of a painting, moving from a leaner to fatter mix, with more yolk in the later stages. I use yolks from my own hens’ eggs and, although they are very yellow, it doesn’t affect colour. I had Indian Runner ducks once and used their eggs. They were oilier than hens’ eggs, but were fine. Which pigments do you use? I buy pigments from L Cornelissen & Son Artists’ Colourmen in London. The first time 72 Artists
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I went there I was like a child in a sweet shop: all the colours under the sun in jars on shelves. I usually buy online now. I often start with an underpainting ground of weak Cadmium Yellow Middle then make a tonal underpainting on top of this using Manganese Violet. Other staple colours are French Ultramarine, Cobalt Blue, Cerulean Blue, Viridian Green, Cadmium Vermilion, Cadmium Yellow Lemon, Burnt Umber. After the underpainting, I use a small amount of Zinc White with the pigments to give them body. I only use Titanium White for certain highlights because it’s opaque and more or less obscures what’s underneath. What makes egg tempera a good fit for your subject matter? I used gouache years ago, but pushed it as far as I could. I tried oils but found them dull and heavy. I’ve been using egg tempera for more than 20 years, I love the way it reflects light through its eggshell sheen. I am interested in light on the landscape, reflected light and how it links with the sky. You also paint clouds. What advice can you offer for capturing their character? I work from the lightest areas to the darkest. With egg tempera, like watercolour, you have to decide where the lights are from the start. I spend ages looking at the sky – always have since I was a child. My parents were keen glider pilots, most weekends we’d be looking up, waiting for them to drop down. James Lynch’s new exhibition Parallel Realities is on display at Jonathan Cooper gallery in London SW10 from 19 October to 11 November 2017. www.jonathancooper.co.uk; www.james-lynch.co.uk
JAMES’S TOP TIPS
1
Know when you have finished the painting. Egg tempera needs a lot of glazes, but you can still overdo it with too much paint.
2
Unify the surface of an egg tempera painting between glazes using just a clear thin glaze of water and a little egg yolk.
3
If you’re interested in landscape and skies, make clouds an obsession. They are huge characters in an epic drama, and they are all up to something – all the time.
ABOVE Looking South from Stoke Camp, Mendip Hills, Somerset, egg tempera on gesso-coated panel, 71x304cm RIGHT Spring Equinox, egg tempera on
gesso-coated panel, 48x59cm PREVIOUS PAGE Convergence over Poole Harbour, egg tempera on gesso-coated panel, 81x102cm
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www.einfohq.blogspot.my PA S T EL
WITH EGG TEMPERA, LIKE WATERCOLOUR, YOU HAVE TO DECIDE WHERE THE LIGHTS ARE FROM THE VERY START
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THE CANONS OF ART
5 The Tools of the Trade In the final part of her series, Painting tutor Ann Witherid ge exp lores how a knowled ge of materials can enhance your work
W
hile the most important skill is our own hand using the tools, the correct equipment can greatly facilitate our vision. A first-hand knowledge of art materials – properties and compounds of paints, priming and stretching canvases, brushes and so on – is an integral part of any artist’s education.
BRUSHES These come in many shapes, sizes and varieties: flats, filberts, rounds, fans and brights (short flats). The types of hairs are equal to the variety of shapes, from bristle and synthetic to sable and mongoose. A bristle is usually used for the block-ins and alla prima work, 74 Artists
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ABOVE Camille Corot, Fontainebleau: Oak Trees at Bas-Bréau, 1832 or 1833, oil on paper, laid down on wood, 39.7x49.5cm RIGHT Rosemary & Co series 47 brushes
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CATHARINE LORILLARD WOLFE COLLECTION, WOLFE FUND/METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART/ISTOCK
M A S T ER C L A S S
whereas a sable is suited for glazing. The most traditional is a hog filbert. A long handle helps you stand at a distance from your canvas. Joaquín Sorolla used brushes up to three feet long. Rosemary & Co has a 24-inch handle, which is ideal for perspective and standing at a distance. Before the invention of brushes, artists used bamboo sticks, feathers and quills. Nowadays we have an extensive range of brushes from which to choose. At London Fine Art Studios, where I teach, we use Rosemary & Co Artists Brushes. They are handmade in Yorkshire using the best materials, and are the most durable. For beginners, I recommend Series 47. These are quality hog brushes, but also inexpensive. As you grade up, I would suggest you move on to the ivory long filberts. These hold a lot of paint, as well as being sturdy and long lasting. For a treat, buy a few Masters’ Choice mongoose brushes, but only once you have learned to care for brushes. Many artists like using flats, both short and long. I like rounds. The shape of your brush helps define your calligraphy but it is best to start with filberts, which are the most classic shape, before moving on to a brush that might dictate style.
students underestimate the value and density of colours. New Wave Fine Art Products makes my favourite palettes; its hand-held versions are lightweight and perfectly balanced so your arms do not get tired. New Wave also has tempered glass and tear-away palettes, which are grey in tone. The latter provide convenience but still allow you to gauge the value of your colour. How you lay out your colours and mix on the palette is important – it should be in keeping with a systematic approach to painting. >
THE PALETTE IS AN ESSENTIAL PIECE OF STUDIO KIT. MONET’S WAS HUGE AND JOAQUÍN SOROLLA’S WAS SAID TO BE AS BIG AS THE LID OF A GRAND PIANO
THE PALETTE Jackson Pollock would disagree, but the palette is essential studio kit. Monet’s was huge and Joaquín Sorolla’s was said to be as big as the lid of a grand piano. Many types of rigid, flat surfaces have been used to mix paint, from limestone, wood, paper and glass. Walnut is used for its clear, pale tone; its rich hue allows colours to stand out. There has been a shift towards glass with a medium-grey card underneath, which makes values stand out. It’s also easy to clean. Many beginners use white tear-away palettes because they are practical, but they do not help with the painting process. Against the white surface,
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M A S T ER C L A S S
THERE IS A RANGE OF MEDIUMS OR VEHICLES WE CAN USE TO HELP PAINT MOVE AROUND SUPPORTS
PAINTS Though pigments have always been used, the range of colours has increased enormously. Oil paint is a dry pigment bound in a media. Oils can be bound in safflower, poppy, linseed and walnut. Pigments have two compositions: inorganic or mineral and organic or animal/plant. Oil painter Lawrence Alma-Tadema was a purist about not mixing the different compositions, believing it would help the longevity of the work. Beginners should use student grade paints in which real pigments aren’t always used; they feature cheaper pigments mixed with dyes and fillers. At London Fine Art Studios we use Michael Harding. They are made with a mix of modern and historic pigments, using contemporary and ancient methods. They are well ground, mostly in linseed oil, so you don’t need thinners.
ANN’S ADVICE ON MATERIALS •I believe it is best to start with student brands so you are not precious about the amount of oil paint or the type of brush you use. Then you can slowly buy better quality as you understand how to work with them. •Your first paintings might not be masterpieces, but remember the most satisfying approach to painting is to put process before product. 76 Artists
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THE JACK AND BELLE LINSKY COLLECTION/METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
The surface you paint on will affect the final outcome. It is possible to paint on canvas (linen or cotton), board, paper, and even copper and silk. Linen is the most traditional, not to mention more durable, flexible and archival. It is also relatively easy to stretch and comes in many different weaves. Stretching a canvas can be an art in itself, as is preparing the ground or tone of the primed surface. This is often left visible and alters the colour on top. Historically, a lead white ground was tinted with pigment to make a ground or colour. The best examples are Red Earth or Bole, bone ground (Anthony van Dyck), grey blue (John Singer Sargent) and pink/Burnt Sienna (John Constable). You can put an imprimatura, or thinned transparent brown/blue, directly on the white primed canvas. Landscape painters often used sized paper because it is lightweight and convenient for travel. London Fine Art Studios uses Claessens linen because the primer is good quality. Often a student will arrive with a linen canvas, but the primer is so bad they may as well paint on plastic. With a cheaper, cotton canvas, feel the surface before you start. If it is rough, give it a light sand or it might ruin your brushes.
MEDIUMS There is a range of mediums or vehicles we can use to help paint move around the canvas. Artists use turpentine or an odourless turpentine substitute for the imprimatura (thin block-in). It evaporates quickly, so you can organise shapes, and broad value and colour patterns, before you lay down thick paint. The best paint makers generally grind colours in linseed oil with as much pigment as possible and no fillers. This can make paints stiff. Adding a touch more linseed oil helps it move without changing the make-up. You can also use mediums that have dammar resin or balsam added to the linseed oil to change the feel of paint. Whether runny or thick, the medium can speed up or slow down drying, as well as give a glossy, matt or satin finish. Our standard medium is three parts: one-part stand oil; one-part dammar varnish; and one-part turpentine. In the best examples, knowledge of technique and materials are bound together. Velásquez used a limited palette (four oil colours) counterbalanced by meticulous surface preparation. His familiarity with the demands of the medium and the tools of his trade meant he was able to retain the power and quality of the painting with few well-selected components. Ann Witheridge teaches at London Fine Art Studios. www.londonfineartstudios.com; www.annwitheridge.com
ABOVE Peter Paul Rubens, Portrait of a Man, Possibly an Architect or Geographer, 1597, oil on copper, 21.6x14.6cm BELOW Michael Harding paints
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Stanhope Forbes (1857 – 1947) Gala Day at Newlyn, 1907 Oil on canvas, 106 x 136 cm, Hartlepool Art Gallery © The Artists’ Estate / Bridgeman Art Library Stanhope Forbes (1857 – 1947) Gala Day at Newlyn, 1907 Oil on canvas, 106 x 136 cm, Hartlepool Art Gallery © The Artists’ Estate / Bridgeman Art Library Forbes (1857 – 1947) Gala Day at Newlyn, 1907 Oil on canvas, 106 x 136 cm, Hartlepool Art Gallery © The Artists’ Estate / Bridgeman Art Library Stanhope Stanhope Forbes (1857 – 1947) Gala Day at Newlyn, 1907 Oil on canvas, 106 x 136 cm, Hartlepool Art Gallery © The Artists’ Estate / Bridgeman Art Library Stanhope Forbes (1857 – 1947) Gala Day at Newlyn, 1907 Oil on canvas, 106 x 136 cm, Hartlepool Art Gallery © The Artists’ Estate / Bridgeman Art Library
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LONDON ART
132 Finchley Road, Swiss Cottage, London NW3 5HS Tel: 020 7433 1571 info@londonart-shop.co.uk www.londonart-shop.co.uk We sell a wide range of Art & Craft materials.
RUSSELL & CHAPPLE
The Canvas Specialists 30/31 Store Street, London WC1E 7QE Tel: 020 7836 7521 Fax: 020 7636 8733 www.randc.net Custom canvases, linens, cottons and stretcher bars.
L. CORNELISSEN & SON
19th century shop near The British Museum Pigments,Gilding & Etching supplies, tubed colour, brushes, paper, pastels. 105 Gt. Russell Street, London WC1B 3RY Tel: +44 (0) 20 7636 1045 www.cornelissen.com
STUART R. STEVENSON Artists & Gilding Materials 68 Clerkenwell Road London EC1M 5QA Tel: 020 7253 1693 info@stuartstevenson.co.uk www.stuartstevenson.co.uk
CHROMATECH Lower Barn, 4 Blenheim Road, Horspath, Oxford OX33 1RY Tel: 01865 874846 www.chromatech.uk.com Fabulous quality giclée prints at a reasonable price
SUFFOLK / NORFOLK GOSLINGS 50 Station Road, Sudbury Suffolk C010 2SP Tel: 01787 371932 A family run business specialising in Bespoke Picture Framing and Artist Materials
THE ART TRADING COMPANY 55 Earsham Street, Bungay NR35 1AF Tel: 01986 897939 TheArtTradingCo@btinternet.com www.thearttradingcompany.co.uk
NORTH YORKSHIRE THE ARTIST’S PALETTE 1 Millgate, Thirsk, North Yorkshire YO7 1AA Tel: 01845 574457 artistspalette@thirsktown.co.uk We stock fine quality artist’s materials, crafts, models and kits
WEST MIDLANDS HARRIS MOORE Fine Art Supplies Unit 12 Minerva Works, 158 Fazeley St, Birmingham B5 5RT Tel: 0121 633 3687 sales@harrismoorecanvases.co.uk www.harrismoore.co.uk Specialists in Artists Canvases and Professional Painting Supplies.
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www.einfohq.blogspot.my A R T Y FAC T S
JAN VAN EYCK
GIL L HART I NVEST IGAT ES T H E L ASTI NG L EG ACY OF T H I S 15TH-CENTURY FLEMISH PAINTER
Van Eyck’s reputation as the inventor of oil painting can be linked to Giorgio Vasari, the author of the 16th-century text The Lives of the Artists, who tended to overstate facts. But, Van Eyck was one of the first to truly master the medium; The Arnolfini Portrait is one of the earliest and finest examples of this.
THE LADY IS NOT PREGNANT It is easy to see why many people think the woman in The Arnolfini Portrait is pregnant. In fact, she is holding a huge amount of rich green fabric in front of her. It is possible the cloth is a reference to the Arnolfini being a family of merchants from Lucca.
ABOVE Jan van Eyck, The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434, oil on oak, 82.2x60cm 82 Artists
& Illustrators
© THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON
IT’S A MYTH HE INVENTED OIL PAINTING
THE JOY OF WORK
IT’S AN ILLUSION In The Arnolfini Portrait, discrepancies of scale help create a balanced composition. The man’s head is too large and the woman’s arms are too short yet, assembled together, the composition creates a pleasing rhythm of position and scale. Minute observations of texture and the material of things made this painting a favourite among the artists of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood.
HIS REFLECTION INSPIRED In the 19th-century, artists connected to the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood were drawn to the distorted reflection cast by the large convex mirror in The Arnolfini Portrait. The painting had general appeal because it informed their views on empirical observation, draughtsmanship, colour and the symbolic meaning of objects.
William Morris encountered Van Eyck’s Man with a Red Turban in the National Gallery. An inscription on its frame reads “als Ik kan”, translated as “as I can”. He adopted the phrase; it chimed with his views on work and joy of craftsmanship. Gill Hart is head of education at London’s National Gallery, where Reflections: Van Eyck and the Pre-Raphaelites is on display from 2 October 2017 to 2 April 2018. www.nationalgallery.org.uk
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Caran d’Ache in oduces MUSEUM AQUARELLE, an innova ve approach to the art of watercolour in the form of a pencil. A high concen a on of pi ents and excellent solubili ensure that MUSEUM AQUARELLE pencils are perfectly suited to both watercolour pain ng and ar s c desi . Developed and manufac red in Geneva, they are proposed in three assor ents: Standard, Por ait and Marine. The 76 colours are also available individually. Caran d’Ache. Swiss Made excellence since 1915.
For addi onal informa on and stockists please contact: Jakar Interna onal Limited, 410 Centennial Park, Els ee, WD6 3TJ • Tel: 020 8381 7000 email: info@jakar.co.uk carandache.com
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