Ondre Pettingill
Oil artist, ONDRE PETTINGILL is at his most creative in an orderly studio. He tells Sarah Edghill how he approaches his work ▸
First Sign of Winter, oil on canvas, 40.5x51cm
Charlie Pickard
This artist’s work explores the dynamic interplay of light and colour in modern figurative art. Ramsha Vistro learns more
Charlie Pickard, a London-born figurative artist and illustrator, has a knack for turning classical training into something refreshingly modern. His work, rooted in the expressive use of colour and bold brushwork, captures the human form with a spontaneous flair that keeps it both timeless and current. His dedication to the expressive potential of oil painting has made his work a staple in the art scene, with exhibitions across England and Portugal, and pieces held in collections worldwide.
Beyond the canvas, Charlie is also an accomplished author, having penned two acclaimed books on anatomy for artists. Whether creating, teaching or writing, his passion for art shines through, making him a distinctive voice in the contemporary art world. From his London studio, he continues to push the boundaries of figurative art, sharing his insights and techniques with a global audience.
charliepickardart.com
Carla, charcoal, 45x30cm
Monet and London
Staying at The Savoy, Claude Monet painted many London landscapes that have never been exhibited in the capital until now, finds Amanda Hodges
“Iso love London! But only in the winter,” declared Claude Monet, foremost of the French Impressionists. “It’s nice in summer with its parks but nothing like winter with the fog because, without the fog, London wouldn’t be a beautiful city.”
Contemporaries might disagree but for an artist primarily concerned with aesthetic satisfaction, the cooler seasons most appealed. Of the city, he felt “it’s the fog that gives it magnificent breadth. Its regular and massive blocks become grandiose within that mysterious cloak.” Monet was fascinated by fog’s effects, an unsettling phenomenon produced by heavy industrialisation, something expediently overlooked.
During three visits spanning the years 1899-1901, Monet painted many London landscapes, specifically Charing Cross Bridge, Waterloo Bridge and the Houses of Parliament. His 1904 Paris exhibition, as The Courtauld Gallery’s curator Karen Serres explains, “had a single theme – views of the Thames – and transported visitors to winter in central London.” There were 37 paintings that ▸
Waterloo Bridge, soleile voilé, 1899-1903, oil
London, Parliament. Sunlight in the fog, 1904, oil on canvas
TheeffectBanksy
In an edited extract from his book How Banksy Saved Art History, Kelly Grovier explains how the elusive artist has made works by the great masters newly relevant
Banksy doesn’t borrow from art history. He shoves it up against a wall and mugs it.
For decades, Banksy has lured one unsuspecting masterpiece after another down dark alleyways to strip them of the smug and superficial gloss that has, over time, tarnished their tired surfaces. Paintings and sculptures that we have long taken for granted, from Michelangelo’s David to Claude Monet’s Water Lilies, are not politely appropriated by Banksy, merely alluded to or echoed in his irreverent murals, canvases, sculptures, drawings and prints. They are abducted, radicalised and turned against us. Banksy’s spray-can has become a kind of enslaving syringe with which he injects himself into milestones of cultural history, from the Great Sphinx of Giza to Mary Cassatt’s Children Playing on the Beach, from Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring to Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump. Far from damaging or debasing the works into which he intrudes, however, Banksy rescues these weary icons from an accelerating irrelevance. He infuses them with the raw energy and edgy urgency that, for many, they ceased to have long ago. He saves them.
When Banksy emerged from the underground street-art scene in Bristol, England in the early 1990s, art history was struggling, strung out and left by many for dead. Less than a decade earlier, the prominent American philosopher and art historian Arthur Danto had pronounced that humankind had, in fact, reached “The end of art,” a provocative sentiment that had begun to sink into the minds and muscles of artists and scholars, critics and casual admirers alike
In Banksy’s work, the famous icons of the past are neither exhausted nor inert. They hold limitless potential. But the dialogue Banksy strikes up with the past is not quite like anything that ever came before. It is as if he salvaged the history of art from a fusty catacomb where its half-remembered milestones have been festering for ▸
LEFT Banksy, Crude Oil Jerry, oil and spray paint on canvas, 2003, 50x60cm TOP LEFT Banksy, Toxic Mary, screen print in colour on wove paper, 2003, 69.5x43.5cm TOP RIGHT
Elisabetta Sirani, Nursing Madonna, oil on canvas, 1663, 92x72cm ABOVE Banksy, Show Me the Monet, oil on canvas, 2005, 143.1x143.4cm
Picture this
Every month, we ask an artist to tell us about a painting that means a lot to them. This month, we speak to oil artist FRANCES FEATHERSTONE
I am inspired by Gaston Bachelard’s statement: ‘Inhabited space transcends geometric space.’ Being in bed reading a book is pretty ordinary but simply changing the perspective makes it extraordinary.
My series, ‘From the Perspective of the Angels’ explores figures in spaces but as seen from the heavens. Into the Wide Blue Yonder was a breakout piece in the series. Conceiving it was a real challenge. It shows an everyday scene but allowing the stripes and the colour blue to dominate felt exciting when the piece came together. It went further than others in highlighting a core theme of the series, namely the abstractness of the everyday world when our perspectives are flattened. I wanted to capture that feeling of making time for oneself, the sense of meditation and being lost in a lazy moment. I explored a more abstract
approach which made the piece more accessible I painted this painting in my mind before putting it on canvas. It felt like a real journey into my creative inspiration; a much more challenging and interesting piece to paint. It opened many more doors, raising my Instagram following over three-fold in the space of a few months. But more than that, my work started to attract the attention of international galleries and collectors.
This painting has helped me evolve as a painter. I have learned about the interplay between representative and abstract art, and between making choices that maintain the simplicity and purity of the themes while allowing the painting to still be full of detail and narrative. francesfeatherstone.co.uk ▫
Into The Wide Blue Yonder, oil on linen, 100x90cm
DYNAMIC LIGHT & SHADOW
WITH NITRAM CHARCOAL
“I love the quality of Nitram Charcoal, which I've used for many years as an industry standard in traditional drawing. Its versatility allows me to create expressive broad strokes as well as finely modelled work and delicate details on a variety of surfaces. Nitram Charcoal transforms the drawing process into something more akin to painting, enabling me to fully express the artist's hand. It captures the full value range of nature with precision and is perfect for creating the nuanced hatch marks necessary to modulate light effects. This capability allows me to accurately render the subtle interplay of light in my work, enhancing its depth and realism.”
~Charles Miano
To watch a video of Miano Academy students working with Nitram Charcoal please visit: https://nitramcharcoal.com/Miano-Academy or scan the QR code
www.nitramcharcoal.com
Charles Miano is an American artist who explores humanistic values and is known for merging classical foundations with contemporary inspiration. Recognized by the Art Renewal Center as an Associate Living Master, he is the Founder and Director of Miano Academy in Sarasota, Florida and the globally recognized Miano Live Online. Miano champions classically inspired representational art through intensive, hands-on teaching. He is dedicated to the deep study of old masters and supports emerging artists through his immersive workshops and lectures worldwide. Website: https://mianoacademy.org | Instagram: @mianoacademy
“Reaching Man”, 30 x 24 inches, Nitram Charcoal