PRIMA
Forming figures
Sarah Foat
This artist blends colour and texture through detailed acrylic layers. Ramsha Vistro digs deeper
Sarah Foat’s paintings are all about layers: of paint, colour and meaning. Her work, heavily inspired by graffiti, is an exploration of adding and removing paint; creating textures that reveal glimpses of what lies beneath.
After graduating from Bath Spa University with a Fine Art degree in 1998, Sarah swapped the studio for the spotlight, running her own gallery for a full decade. After a break to focus on motherhood, she’s back at the easel, diving
headfirst into her passion for abstract art. Sarah shares how she builds her abstract worlds through experimentation, markmaking and a bit of chaos. Her goal? To create works that intrigue, energise and offer a moment of thought-provoking escape for the viewer. With vivid colours and rich textures, her art invites you to look closer; to explore the stories hidden within the layers and to get a little lost in the process. sarahfoat.co.uk
Cloud Walk, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 30x30cm
Pastures Flowing into the Palisades , oil on canvas
61x61cm
This artist creates spiritual landscapes, blending natural and human elements through a panoramic lens, as Bianca Dumas finds out
Chris Segre-Lewis
Chris Segre-Lewis is always wondering about the story behind the image, particularly when he gazes out at a landscape. Why did people settle in this area? What beliefs did they bring to the place? What experiences did they have here? His landscapes are viewed from the highest perspective he can find and always merge natural and humandesigned elements. “I want to present the landscape as if the landscape itself is a created, painted artwork,” he says.
The artist developed his eye for large-scale, panoramic landscapes in his early years while enjoying artist residencies in various places including Ireland and Indonesia. Through his travels, he had the realisation that physical
places can be like spiritual sponges, holding centuries of spiritual content within them. His landscapes are therefore spiritual portraits, though he tries not to overstate them. “I resist over-describing when I paint,” he says. “I want it to be simple. I want a single mark to say a lot.”
He lives in the US on a farm, in the state of Kentucky with his wife, four kids and lots of extended family. After spending 20 years as a professor of art at Asbury University in Wilmore, where he focused primarily on colour theory, Chris now paints full-time. He is represented by galleries in several major American cities: Atlanta, Lexington and Nashville; along with the powerhouse art towns of Jackson Hole, Santa Fe and Scottsdale. chrissegrelewis.com ▸
The Dales, oil on canvas, 40.64x45.72cm
Tirzah Garwood
As a mother of three children and the wife of the much more famous Eric Ravilious, TIRZAH GARWOOD has largely been confined to the shadows of art’s story. A new exhibition is set to change all that, says Amanda Hodges
“Tirzah Garwood looked at the ordinary world – with its spring tulips and snowmen in winter, its toy trains and kittens, its village shops and favourite houses – but with a visionary eye. Hers is a world seen in a dream, recognisable and comprehensible, but strange. Curating this exhibition has been like opening a box of treasures,” says guest curator James Russell, keenly anticipating Dulwich Picture Gallery’s new retrospective of her career. Offering over 80 artworks, this exhibition is the first to ▸
MAIN IMAGE Erskine
Returning at Dawn, 1950, oil on canvas LEFT The Train Journey, 1929-30, wood engraving
Reflections
MATTHEW HAYDN JEANES shows you how he painted these reflections in watercolour whilst also using a little coloured pencil to sharpen things up
MATT’S MATERIALS
Paints
Winsor and Newton Pans:
Burnt Umber, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Raw Umber, Naples Yellow, Naples Yellow Deep, Viridian, Hookers Green, Green Gold, Emerald Green, Yellow Ochre, Cerulean (red shade), Vermillion, Alizarin Crimson, Scarlet Lake, Cadmium Red, Indian Red, Cerulean Blue, Antwerp Blue, Cobalt Blue (red shade and g reen shade), Manganese Blue, French Ultramarine, Winsor Violet, Payne’s Grey, Potter’s Pink, Neutral Tint, Perylene Maroon, Indigo, Davey’s Grey, Mars Black, Ivory Black
Winsor and Newton
Designers Gouache: Titanium White
Brushes
Pro-Arte Brushes Series 007: 1, 3, 5, 10, 20 and a 1” Flat
Support
Artistico Traditional White 18x24 140lb Artists’ Water
Colour Paper by Fabriano HB pencil
Winsor and Newton
Colourless Masking Fluid
Royal Sovereign Taper Point
Colour Shaper No 2
A soft putty rubber
A3 piece of heavy grade
Tracing Paper
A selection of artists’ coloured pencils to suit your painting
Sometimes, a painting presents itself to you and, at first, it seems like too much of a challenge. When this happens, it always remains in the back of your mind and you can sometimes feel like a failure, unless you pick it up again and finish it. That’s where I was with this painting. I loved my source reference of a calm early evening moment in Bruges with a moored boat and gentle reflections but it felt too complicated. But then, after two more paintings and some good practis e, I picked it up again and finished it. Sometimes it’s good to take a break and start again.
matthewjeanes.co.uk
STARTING OUT
1As this scene is very complicated, comprising elaborate brickwork, a boat and a maze of patterns and shapes in the water, I start by just drawing in what I can work out easily. The boat itself, the lettering on the wall and just a hint of items in the reflections will help me see where I will need to paint. Once that is done I use a colour shaper and colourless, removable artists’ masking fluid to mask out any white areas. Always check that the masking fluid is removable, not permanent and colourless; yellow and grey versions can stain your paper. I then add the palest wash of colours and bleed them together. ▸
Picture this
In every issue, we ask an artist about a piece of art that is important to them. This month, we speak to multi-disciplinary American artist JOE GYURCSAK
Grayson is a depiction of my neighbourhood. In the winter, just across the street, the sun sets behind this row of houses and, when the snow is on the ground, it creates a wonderful glow. I had been working on paintings close to home and began creating houses in different seasons and various light. It opened the door for me to do a continuing series of paintings.
There are influences from past paintings that played a part in my interpretations of this winter landscape. I think it is vital that an artist understands how colour and value manipulation creates an atmospheric effect in representational painting.
I have done a lot of en plein air painting over the years, so I am able to capture fleeting moments with a good amount of success. I get excited to paint something that is a challenge; you need a strategy in knowing what to paint first as everything is changing. So, having priorities in portraying these light sensations takes experience. I hope the viewer loses sight of the painting’s boundaries and becomes drawn into the scene. They need to take an active role in completing the story. If a painting has a universal appeal and connects with the masses on a visual, non-verbal level, then an artist has done their job. josephgyurcsak.com ▫
Grayson, acrylic, 41x51cm