Artists & Illustrators October 2021

Artists & WIN A YEAR’S SUPPLY OF PAINT

I L L U S T R A T O R S

TIPS • TECHNIQUES • IDE A S • INSPIR ATION

October 2021 £4.99

Drawing

Special

Tips, tricks and challenges

10

How to...

•Paint alla prima •Master anatomy •Draw with depth

ways to paint pictures that really glow

Autumn

art projects

Sketchbook walks, watercolour flowers

I am addicted to painting portraits. I am tremendously fascinated by how a tweak of the brush can translate into a whole range of different human emotion - Rosso Emerald Crimson

Learn from the best Learn under the watchful eye of some of the world's biggest names, including awardwinning portrait artist Rosso Emerald Crimson.

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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 Group Editor Steve Pill Art Editor Lauren Debono-Elliot Assistant Editor Rebecca Bradbury Contributors Tony Allain, Laura Boswell, Lizet Dingemans, Aine Divine, Emma Leyfield, Sandrine Maugy, Alan McGowan, Florence Sheward, Laura Smith and Jake Spicer ONLINE ENQUIRIES support@artistsandillustrators.co.uk

MANAGEMENT & PUBLISHING Chairman Paul Dobson Managing Director James Dobson Publisher Simon Temlett Chief Financial Officer Vicki Gavin EA to Chairman Sarah Porter Subs Marketing Manager Bret Weekes Group Digital Manager Ben Iskander BACK ISSUES www.chelseamagazines.com/shop ISSN NO. 1473-4729

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Welcome I’ve judged and even entered plenty of art competitions over the years so I’m not about to discourage anyone from doing so. That said, it’s worth remembering that, as I've said before here, art is not a competition. Twice over the past week I’ve heard people refer to themselves as a “failed artist” when that blatantly isn’t true. Surely you can only be a failure if you give up art altogether and never make another picture for the rest of your life? If you persist at painting, drawing, printmaking or whichever artistic discipline best suits you, then that is a real success as far as I'm concerned. And this issue just happens to be full of inspiring artists who have done just that, from Lucy Jones, who won the Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize at 66, to Katrina Wallis-King, the new Pastel Society member who only turned to art full-time in her mid-50s.

Someone else who has been creative on a regular basis is our wonderful art editor Lauren Debono-Elliot, who is sadly leaving us after this issue to begin her dream job: designing children's books. Lauren has been responsible for designing many fantastic issues of Artists & Illustrators and I hope you'll join me in congratulating her and wishing her all the best for the future.

Steve Pill, Editor

Write to us!

Did you turn to art later in life? And if so, what prompted it? We'd love to hear your stories... info@artistsandillustrators.co.uk @AandImagazine

@AandImagazine

/ArtistsAndIllustrators

@AandImagazine

Artists & Illustrators 3

Contents 76

Emma Leyfield's autumnal art project

70 REGULARS 5 Letters

I was at a crossroads in life...

I decided I've got one life and I was going to give my art a go – K ATRINA WALLI S- KING , PAGE 70

20

Win a £50 Atlantis Art voucher

6

Exhibitions

October's best gallery shows

9

Sketchbook

Tips, ideas and materials to try

14 Fresh Paint New artworks, fresh off the easel

32 The Working Artist With our columnist Laura Boswell

33 Prize Draw Win £1,000 of Amsterdam acrylics

82 Meet the Artist Prize-winning painter Lucy Jones

INSPIRATION 20 Drawing Special Challenges, tips and new ways to think about your practice 4 Artists

& Illustrators

34 Art Histor y

56 Mixed Media

Why Frans Hals' Laughing Cavalier is a true painter's painting

Join Aine Divine in the boatyard to learn about layering up acrylics

38 In The Studio

60 Demo

At work with stationery designer and illustrator Harriet de Winton

Follow the eight steps to paint a fiery dahlia in watercolour

TECHNIQUES 44 Masterclass Learn about alla prima (or direct) painting in this 12-step guide

50 Tips

64 Anatomy Leading figurative tutor Alan McGowan concludes his series by looking at the planes of the face

70 How I Paint

10 ways to create more luminous paintings with Lexi Sundell

New Pastel Society member Katrina Wallis-King shares her techniques and thoughts on art

52 Principles of Depth

76 Project

Jake Spicer has three clever tricks to give drawings a sense of space

A seasonal stroll sets up this exploration of autumn colour

ta Tr y o u c a l o di m e t h aye r ol w ay t o ur l up co 6 0 – page

Letters LET TER OF THE MONTH

WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO EDIT LETTERS FOR PUBLICATION

WILD FEELINGS When our first copy of Artists & Illustrators arrived – the August 2021 issue – my five-year-old daughter and I instantly fell in love with it. I loved all of the tips on techniques, the ideas and the inspiration.

We were particularly awestruck over the insanely realistic wildlife art. We just couldn’t believe they were paintings!

My daughter was particularly smitten with Natalie Oberg’s fox, so much so that she wanted to give it a go herself. We often paint together, and she prides herself on copying me, but this was just her. I just wanted to say thank you for inspiring both young and old.

I feel like a kid at Christmas when your magazine arrives – not a lot of things make me feel that way, so thank you.

Charlene Goldsmith, via email

Write to us!

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

be set up as a studio again. On my coffee break, I picked up the last few issues of Artists & Illustrators, and suddenly found my desire was coming back. Fingers crossed I can balance my time with art again soon. For inspiration, Artists & Illustrators is always there for me and always has been.

Eric Holland, Yateley, Hants

JUICES FLOWING After many years of trying to do art in between work and life, I’ve finally reached that time when I can continue with my art unhindered by distraction: I have finally retired.

Normally I produce a number of pieces throughout the year, but it is now over a year since I did anything.

The pandemic knocked me back and I lost focus – strange as everyone else seemed to be able to divert their time to art.

I’m two weeks into retirement, the home office is cleared and ready to

A NEW WORKING ARTIST Thanks to you guys, I am that artist that pays the bills. When I lost my job because of Covid-19, I took the leap of faith and rented a studio.

I have creative parents, but they didn’t get to follow it as a career.

I had this chance and, with Laura’s Ask an Artist podcast playing in my ears, it gave me the confidence I needed. I played your podcast over and over making notes. I thought the odds might be against me, with no space, dyslexia, health issues and low finances, but I concentrated on my Ps: passion, paint, practice podcasts and people.

I found two other great local artists to help with form filling, so I could enter Devon Open Studios with them. A beautiful outdoor café opened up next to my unit and now

holidaymakers and locals buy my cards and paintings; one lady even took a big canvas back on the tram balanced on her push chair.

I have been really lucky with how supportive people are on Instagram and I have a link to my shop selling small paintings all over the world.

I started painting on reclaimed wood I could get locally as I couldn’t get my usual small canvases in lockdown. I’ve now stayed with this and made it my own. I stayed true to my style and gradually increased my prices and don’t think I could have done this without the podcast, it was something to hold on to when you get the self-doubt monkeys.

I now can pay my studio rent and even my hubby knows the theme music of your podcast.

Anyway, this is a long-winded way of saying thank you. I hope my story might help others.

Hesta Singlewood, via email We’re glad you’ve been enjoying Peter and Laura’s podcast, Hesta.

Readers can catch up with the latest episodes at www.artistsand illustrators.co.uk/askanartist and look out for a new series of articles from Peter starting in our next issue.

The writer of our “letter of the month” will receive a £50 gift voucher to spend with Atlantis Art, the UK’s largest art materials store. www.atlantisart.co.uk

Share your stories and get a daily dose of Artists & Illustrators tips, advice and inspiration by following us on our social media channels... @AandImagazine ArtistsAndIllustrators AandImagazine AandImagazine

Artists & Illustrators 5

Exhibitions OCTOBER’S BEST ART SHOWS

ELIZABETH BLACKADDER: FAVOURITE FLOWERS

ERIC RAVILIOUS: DOWNLAND MAN

25 September to 30 January 2022 Eric Ravilious's positive persona shines through his charming watercolours and wood engravings, not least in his depictions of the chalk downlands of Sussex and Wiltshire.

Iconic paintings such as The Westbury Horse

and The Wilmington Giant feature here alongside rarely seen works that explore not only Ravilious’ attraction to the local area, but also the fascination with the landscape that gripped Britain between the wars.

Wiltshire Museum, Devizes. www.wiltshiremuseum.org.uk

© VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON

19 October to 21 November Both art and gardening have provided solace for many of us over the pandemic and what better way to soothe the soul than with a combination of the two?

It’s possible thanks to this celebration of Elizabeth Blackadder, the Scottish artist known for her beguiling and lyrical paintings of flowers. Focusing on the theme of growth, expect watercolours, oil paintings and prints from throughout the 89-year-old’s career.

Garden Museum, London. www.gardenmuseum.org.uk

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© ELIZABETH BLACKADDER

© HM THE QUEEN, 2021

YOUNG GAINSBOROUGH

1 October to 13 February 2022 Despite making his name as a portrait artist, Thomas Gainsborough’s true passion lay with painting landscapes.

Thankfully, he was able to focus on this later in life, due to the royal family’s support. And now, 300 years later, HM The Queen is loaning out 25 of the artist’s drawings from her collection.

Newly attributed to Gainsborough, they shed new light on his techniques.

York Art Gallery, York. www.yorkartgallery.org.uk

Dates may change due to Covid-19 restrictions Always check gallery websites beforehand

PHOTO: STEPHEN WHITE & CO. © ANISH KAPOOR. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DACS, 2021

ANISH KAPOOR: PAINTING

2 October to 13 February 2022 Royal Academician Sir Anish Kapoor is best known for being one of the most influential sculptors of his generation.

Less widely recognised, however, is how painting is at the core of his sculptural practice.

Here to change the misconception is a collection showing how the artist pushes the boundaries of the two mediums, with oil paintings on canvas shown alongside floor-based artworks.

Modern Art Oxford, Oxford. www.modernartoxford.org.uk

© AMGUEDDFA CYMRU/NATIONAL MUSEUM WALES

RULES OF ART?

23 October to 4 September 2022 The hierarchy of genres, formalised

by France’s Académie Royale in the 17th century, structured artistic subjects by importance. Hugely influential, that ranking has shaped western art to this very day.

Yet throughout history there have been artistic movements challenging these rigid notions, as will be explored in this bold showcase of art.

Works by Rembrandt van Rijn, Pablo Picasso and Rachel Whiteread will ask pressing questions about representation and identity.

National Museum Cardiff, Cardiff. www.museum.wales/cardiff

Artists & Illustrators

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A DV E R T O R I A L

U Liquitex Acrylic Inks

20 new colours!

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nlike regular inks, Liquitex Acrylic Inks use finely milled pigments instead of dyes.

And like all acrylics, they dry quickly and permanently, and don’t move or bleed when rewet or layered. You get intense, pure, lightfast colour, in a range of opacities.

As well as the 14 colours below, there are six vivid colours made with polymer-coated dyes to give instant fluorescence. Together these 20 new colours extend the Liquitex Acrylic Ink range to 55 (available in 30ml bottles).

To find your nearest stockist, visit www.liquitex.com

Rubine Red Similar to magenta, this bluish red creates beautiful pink tints.

Naphthol Red Light An intense red with a hint of cherry and a high tinting strength.

Bright Orange A bright, semiopaque, warm orange.

Bismuth Yellow A bright, opaque, cool lemon yellow good for mixing clean greens.

Yellow Orange An intense, semiopaque, bright clean yellow orange.

Yellow Deep A warm transparent yellow that dilutes to reveal a lighter “sunset yellow”.

Iridescent Rose Gold A beautiful opaque colour with an iridescent lustre.

Perylene Maroon An intense blood red that dilutes to create dramatic “red wine” shades.

Sepia A cool, deep brown, originally a pigment made from the ink of cuttlefishes.

Purple A deep purple that granulates beautifully to reveal a red undertone.

Prism Violet A bright purple that is similar to an amethyst crystal when diluted.

Turquoise A strong, bright green reminiscent of Viridian Green in its mass tone.

Phthalocyanine Blue (Red Shade) A red undertone with granulation resembling denim.

Hooker’s Green Hue Permanent A subtle, deep green named for a botanical painter.

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SKETCHBOOK

October All at Sea? TIPS • ADVICE • IDE A S

Marine ar tist TO NY ALL AIN shares his tips for ar tistic succes s

1

SKETCH OFTEN

Try to sketch from nature as often as you can. Sketching is the ABC of painting. It’s a language we can all learn. I believe that painting is about 70% observation and 30% application. Sketching and drawing helps us to understand all the important elements like colour, light, value, perspective and composition which in turn makes for a more pleasing result.

2

BE COMPOSED

If you paint from your photographs, it’s always wise to choose a good composition with a range of various values from dark to light. If necessary, don’t be frightened to crop your reference images to create a strong design.

A simple viewfinder is an excellent device that allows you to scan your surroundings and to isolate a particular scene.

3

PLAN THE APPLICATION

My chosen medium is soft pastel, although I sometimes paint with oils. I usually paint dark to light

and “fat over lean”, as it’s important for me to establish my darkest values with thin layers of paint.

I try to make a mark and never touch it again. If I do make bad marks, I simply camouflage these by putting a better one next to them.

Paint what you see and not what you know is there.

4

FIND YOUR CORNER

It can be daunting when confronted with the splendour of a popular subject like Venice. I try to choose a quiet corner to sketch and record a glimpse of such a magical city.

The Gondola Station [above] is a predominately neutral toned painting with warm ochre reflections in the water. The addition of the red upholstery in the gondolas helped to make this quiet scene pop. www.tonyallainfineart.com

Artists & Illustrators 9

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75 Lots Road, London, SW10 0RN Telephone: 020 7351 4190 Email: info@heatherleys.org

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Enrolling now!

SKETCHBOOK

IMAGES THAT ARE LESS “I PREFER SPECIFIC, SO THERE IS ROOM

”

FOR EVERYONE’S IMAGINATION

— Robert Rauschenberg

The Diary

30 SEPTEMBER The Historic Houses Summer Art Competition 2021 is looking for artwork depicting their many member houses and gardens around the British Isles. www.historichouses.org/ summer-art-competition

1 OCTOBER Enter the South West Academy of Fine and Applied Arts annual show before this deadline for the chance to exhibit at Devon’s Kennaway House. www.southwest academy.oess1.uk

Join us online!

21 OCTOBER The four-day Affordable Art Fair returns to London’s Battersea Park, a chance to admire thousands of paintings and prints – and pick up a bargain too. www.affordable artfair.com

The Ar tist s & Illustrator s web site is one of the bigge st re s ource s f or ar tist s on the internet . You can f ind tip s , new s , of f er s , ar t f or s ale, comp etitions , inter view s and a huge databas e of practical painting and drawing advice.

W W W. A RTI S TSA N D I LLU S TR ATO RS .CO.U K

EXPERT TIP Dennis Miller Bunker’s 1889 Roadside Cottage is a masterclass in painting shadows. Notice how the “white” building is largely bluish-grey, while the deep blue-green grass in shadow is punctuated by yellow-green highlights that suggest the dappled sunlight falling between the leaves. Very subtle modulated strokes throughout help create interest in otherwise large areas of block colour.

© NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, WASHINGTON

BOOK OF THE MONTH Contemporary Figures in Watercolour

by Leo Crane with Roy Joseph Butler It is unusual to find figurative work in watercolour, even more so when used in such a fluid and expressive manner as this. However, this collaboration between artist and model provides an appealing twist on more rigorous art instruction manuals, focusing on less-explored elements like capturing movement and developing stories through the figure.

Batsford, £20. www.pavilionbooks.com

Artists & Illustrators 11

SKETCHBOOK

NEW HUES VERMILION Discover a new colour ever y month

THINGS WE LOVE… Alice Neel was in her late 70s when she spent five years completing this striking 1980 Self-Portrait, one of only two she made in her whole career. A brave yet warm depiction of her aging body, it features in Alice Neel: People Come First, which runs until 6 February 2022 at Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. www.guggenheim-bilbao.eus

Why not try…

Medea Electric Eraser We all make mistakes. But rather than dwelling on them, let this lightweight electric eraser from Medea (available in the UK via the Airbrush Company) make them go away completely. The soft pulse allows you to erase small, intricate areas with ease, while the USB wire means no batteries to replace. You can change the heads though – each eraser comes with 2.3mm and 5mm rubber refills. www.airbrushes.com

12 Artists

& Illustrators

© NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. © THE ESTATE OF ALICE NEEL, BILBAO, 2021

The principle red in so many paintings of the Renaissance and beyond, Vermilion was initially made from the mineral cinnabar yet fell out of favour once modern synthetic alternatives like Cadmium Red were developed. Michael Harding continues to produce a costly Genuine Chinese Vermilion oil paint with very high opacity and lovely soft brown notes, while most brands favour a hue combining several pigments.

The perfect design?

Frustrated by a lifelong quest to find the ideal sketchbook, leading British illustrator Nina Cosford decided to design one herself. The result is a flexible book of 100gsm off-white paper with a smart vegan leather cover and stylish red band.

Nina’s first limited run of 1,000 sketchbooks sold out, so grab one of this next batch while stocks last. www.ninacosford.com/sketchbook

NNEKA UZOIGWE

WAKING DREAM 6–18 September 2021

Private view 7 September 2021 6.30–8.30pm RSVP: thegallery@greenandstone.com Image: Shell carousel.

Oil on canvas, 70.5 X 50.5 cm.

LUKE WALLER

DANCING IN THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE 5–12 October 2021

Private view 7 October 2021 6.30–8.30pm RSVP: thegallery@greenandstone.com Image: Bar on Site of Folies-Bergère 2021.

Acrylic Paint. 38 x 57 cm The Gallery At Green & Stone, 251—253 Fulham Road, London SW3 6HY +44 (0) 20 7352 0837 | www.thegalleryatgreenandstone.com

STACEY’S TOP TIP “Use a lot of paint, more than you think.

Like good cooking, painting requires generosity of spirit.”

RIGHT Stacey Gledhill, Two Black Cats, oil on canvas, 100x75cm

Fresh Paint

Fresh Paint

Inspiring new artworks, straight off the easel

Stacey Gledhill There’s a lovely dynamism to Stacey Gledhill’s new painting Two Black Cats, as the composition resolves itself nicely and the whole canvas purrs with purpose and life. It is perhaps no surprise to discover that this deceptively simple work actually had a lengthy gestation period as the artist mulled over her potential subject for more than a year.

Lockdown had caused the New Zealand-born artist to forsake her Oxford studio and work from home, though this actually proved a “creatively fertile” period as ideas for new paintings seemed to arrive thick and fast.

It was another unexpected arrival that prompted this particular painting. “We had a black cat coming into our garden most mornings,” explains Stacey. “He was sleek, shiny and quick, and always moving and wouldn’t be held.”

The artist’s partner took some reference photographs, including a shot of the feline visitor jumping out of her arms. “I kept coming back to the image, and had the idea moving round in my head for about a year before I started working on the painting. In the final work it became two cats. There is something in the work about the feeling of the time too: a lack of control – the feeling of letting go, loosening your grip.”

In fact, Two Black Cats represents something of a departure for the artist. Not only does the graphic, colour-blocked arrangement differ from her usual organic found compositions, her methods have changed wholesale too, from the use of initial test sketches to the application of the paint itself. Meanwhile, all creative decisions in the final painting were made at the mercy of keeping focus on the animals. “The face of the figure, for example, is in shadow, because if it had been in light it would have taken most of the attention,” she reveals.

This shift was a successful one. Two Black Cats features in Figurative Art Now, a bold survey of contemporary painting at London’s Mall Galleries this summer, which runs until 20 September. Stacey has been particularly inspired by two of her contemporaries recently too. “I’m really excited by the work of Jennifer Pochinski and Vladimir Semenskiy – bold, loose work that uses the figure as a vehicle for colour and design. Painters that delight in paint application are my kind of painters.”

We couldn’t agree more. www.staceygledhill.com

Artists & Illustrators 15

Fresh Paint

ALICE’S TOP TIP “I tried to keep my brushstrokes short and broken, so the painting looks more like a tapestry”

16 Artists

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Fresh Paint

Alice Boggis-Rolfe Lockdown prompted a rethink for Alice Boggis-Rolfe.

Prior to the restrictions, the Gloucestershire-based figurative artist had spent most of her time plein air painting in far-flung locations. “For the last decade, I have always been on the move,” she says. “I love travelling and I love the urgency I feel to paint everything I possibly can when I have a limited amount of time somewhere.”

Her 2017 solo exhibition Paintings Around the World was the culmination of travels across Africa, Asia, and South and Central America earlier that same year, while two subsequent shows have focused in turn on India and Kenya. Lockdown, of course, prompted a rethink: “The last two years have changed how I work dramatically. I’m lucky enough to have a small garden, which I have found hugely inspiring. I am also a collector – hoarder! – and the things in my life find their way into my paintings. Many of the objects in my pictures were given to me and I can’t help but think of these people while painting them.”

As such, her forthcoming solo exhibition, a first with London’s Panter & Hall, will feature a number of still life paintings, including Lemons, Reflections. The arrangement came together organically, with the colour of an old painting making a perfect backdrop to the lemons, while the silver ice bucket had been waiting for an opportunity to be utilised for some time. “Many of my paintings have quite a chaotic feel to them but I wanted this one to be calm and ordered,” she says.

Alice made it through to the final three on the Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year series in 2017, though she is equally adept working in other genres. In fact, she approached Lemons, Reflections in much the same way that she would one of her plein air works, using the same palette, materials and techniques.

“As with landscape painting, the composition is key and I take a long time over the set-up of a still life, just as I do [when] hunting for a view,” she explains. “In landscape painting the height of the skyline can be critical, and in my still life paintings it works the same way with, say, the edge of a table. Often, I like to crop the subject quite close, so it feels like there is more beyond the painting, rather than everything contained neatly within the set-up.”

Alice’s next exhibition runs 6-15 October at Panter & Hall, London. www.aliceboggis-rolfe.com

LEFT Alice BoggisRolfe, Lemons, Reflections, oil on canvas, 60x60cm

Artists & Illustrators 17

Fresh Paint

Ewa Czarniecka There’s something distinctly British about the places that Ewa Czarniecka paints and it’s not just the London landmarks that populate many of her cityscapes, as her coastal scenes can’t be misplaced either. The clue is, in fact, in the cloud-covered skies and shrouds of silver drizzle – weather conditions synonymous with the British Isles and so magically captured by this month’s featured Portfolio Plus member.

That’s not to say the Polish artist’s body of work is grey and gloomy, however, and perhaps this is down to her outsider’s perspective. When she moved to London nearly two decades ago, it was the frenetic energy of the capital that inspired her to paint, but now based in the Brecon Beacons, it’s the Welsh coast and countryside that frequent artworks such as Stroll with Best Friends.

Whatever the subject, the characteristic style she spent a long time finessing prevails. “It’s somewhere between abstraction and Impressionism,” she explains, and this is certainly an apt way to describe her dynamic figures, which are just as eye-catching as her atmospheric skies albeit rendered with a looser, more economical touch.

18 Artists

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“I like the figures to be seen as if they’re moving,” TOP Ewa Czarniecka, she says, “like the wind is going through their clothes Stroll with Best and the rain is pouring.”

Friends, oil on It’s an effect that relies upon the use of palette knifes, canvas, 80x60cm something she will start using only in the latter stages of her work. “My paintings are very heavily textured,” she says.

Every month, one of our Fresh Paint “I put all the finishing touches artists is chosen from Portfolio Plus, on with a palette knife, taking our online, art-for-sale portal. For your paint directly from the tube.” chance to feature in a forthcoming “My advice is not to scratch,” issue, sign up for your own personalised she says, “just put one touch Portfolio Plus page today. You can also: and that’s it.” This technique • Showcase, share and sell unlimited also keeps pure the vibrant artworks commission free colours Ewa selects for the • Get your work seen across Artists & visceral effect they have. “I use Illustrators’ social media channels very strong colours,” she adds.

• Submit art to our online exhibitions “I like colours that scream...

• Enjoy exclusive discounts and more I like a painting to scream.”

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D R AW I N G S P E C I A L

Why Draw?

THIS MONTH WE ARE CELEBRATING THE HUMBLE ACT OF DRAWING. OVER THE NEXT 11 PAGES, YOU WILL FIND TIPS, IDEAS AND CHALLENGES, BUT STEVE PILL BEGINS WITH AN IMPORTANT QUESTION…

20 Artists

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METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK

W

hy draw? It’s the simplest of questions, yet it deserves some thought. Drawing is an activity that is easy to take for granted, given that many of us have been doing it for longer than we can remember. Chunky felt-tips and reams of old printer paper with perforated edges were a means with which to make our first marks, stick figures emerging before we could even form a sentence on the same page. In the arc of an artistic life, these were our cave paintings at Lascaux, the very first step in a chronology of drawing that would only develop, becoming both more refined and more expressive over time.

Drawing is a compulsion for children and something that tends to garner praise at an early age, the recognition being that an ability to create art is a more impressive and elusive signifier of a gifted child than SATs results or athletic trophies.

Sadly, there also comes a point – usually in our teens – when the opposite is true, when continuing to “doodle” is dismissed as a phase out of which we should have grown. All too often I speak to brilliant artists who were thrown off their wide-eyed exploratory path by an adult influence – a teacher whose narrow concept of art doesn’t fit with one’s own;

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK

ABOVE Paul Gauguin, Tahitian Faces, c.1899, charcoal on laid paper, 41x31cm

LEFT Evelyn de Morgan, Study of Arms for 'Cadence of Autumn', 1905, graphite and pastel on brown paper, 38x25cm

Drawing is a desire to not simply record the world but engage with it a well-meaning parent who suggests getting a “real” job. The pursuit of other careers gets in the way, only returning to their initial passions in their 30s, 40s or even retirement age.

A return to regular drawing can be an attempt to reconnect with our earlier selves and try to document that wonder once more. It is a worthy

ambition, in keeping with Pablo Picasso’s famous quote that it took him “four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child”.

For those who manage to continue or rediscover the drawing path, the motivations are varied and fascinating. Identifying yourself within them can help you to better

understand your own purpose too.

For some, drawing is a daily pursuit, part of a routine as fundamental as brushing your teeth or putting out the bins. In this respect, the sketchbook becomes a visual diary, updated every day with notes and dashed off sketches, the focus on establishing a rhythm via these simple passive records. Illustrators and urban sketchers are the masters at this, as these sketchbook workouts become a form of exercise, a stretching of the artistic muscles to keep the eye and hand in good shape. This also taps into the idea of praxis, a concept first laid out by Aristotle and popular with many modern philosophers, the gist in artistic terms being that the focus is placed on activity rather than theory. By drawing regularly in this instinctive, almost automatic way, the hope is that new ideas or conclusions can be made from reviewing the work at regular intervals.

There is often talk of this unfiltered approach being more honest, with practitioners from Salvador Dalí to the architect Le Corbusier praising the inherent truthfulness of putting pencil to paper. “I prefer drawing to talking,” said the latter. “Drawing is faster and leaves less room for lies.”

In a way though, this idea of an artist being able to make an unbiased record of an object, a person or a scene is an impossible one. Even a mechanical camera struggles to be truly dispassionate, as even the lens and settings all count towards the interpretative nature of photography.

By contrast, a human being brings a lifetime’s worth of accumulated knowledge, skills and memories to any given picture. None of this helps in the pursuit of an unbiased image perhaps, but it is also one of the many beautiful aspects of drawing as a process.

Artists & Illustrators 21

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK

D R AW I N G S P E C I A L

Confidence is a huge issue for many artists and there is no better way to overcome those concerns than drawing 22 Artists

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METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK

D R AW I N G S P E C I A L

ABOVE George Seurat, AmanJean, 1882-'83, conté crayon on Michallet paper, 62x47cm

LEFT Jacob van Ruisdael, Dune Landscape with Oak Tree, 1650'55, chalk, ink and gouache on paper, 21x19cm

The next step beyond this, of course, is a desire to not simply record the world but engage with it and use the pen or pencil as a means of developing a better understanding of what we see.

This might be a landscape artist using a sketch to become familiar with a location or a wildlife painter using repeat observations to better understand how an animal moves or behaves. When we engage with a subject in a more active, reciprocal way, this encourages us to be present in the moment.

Portrait artists and life-drawing tutors often emphasise the need for interaction between artist and sitter, as it elevates the process above the

act of mere recording and into the realms of collaboration.

Confidence is a huge issue for many artists, particularly at the start, and there is no better way to overcome those concerns than drawing. If a blank page represents the ultimate fear, then getting in the habit of making those first marks quickly and decisively is a major step towards conquering it. There is also a tendency to think of drawing as a private practice in contrast to the rather public-facing intentions of a painting, and while that isn’t necessarily true – many of the most exquisite drawings in the world were intended for exhibition – there are benefits to this way of thinking.

Treating your sketchbook as a safe space, away from prying eyes, can help you to develop without inhibitions. Reminding yourself that you are the only person judging these drawings can help you experiment without burden. Mistakes are nothing to be ashamed about.

Tied to that idea, drawing can also be a wonderful outlet for the imagination. Fanciful ideas that you may be embarrassed to discuss can be enacted on the page, as you dream up mystical worlds or futuristic scenarios. In a quote on the wall of her new exhibition at Tate, Paula Rego compares drawing to an adventure.

“First of all, it is like this: piece of paper and pencil and you find an image in your head, behind your ears somehow. You put it down and something suggests something else and then, afterwards, when you go over it with the pen and ink you change it again. So there is constant change, adjustment, and so on…

The drawing is where the story and the picture develop, really.”

This leads us on to one of the other great reasons to draw – as a means of refinement. On the one hand, this might involve refining an idea, using thumbnail drawings to quickly test potential compositions; on the other, it might be a case of simply honing a final image, draughting and erasing individual lines ready to be scaled up for painting or exhibited as they are.

Drawing then becomes a substitute for thinking, a means of working through options on the page.

Whichever way you approach drawing doesn’t really matter, there are no winners and truly it’s the taking part that really counts. All options are valid, the possibilities endless. Paul Klee’s idea of taking a line for a walk is one of the oldest cliches in art, yet the beauty of drawing is that – no matter how many times you set out in a similar way – no one truly knows where that line might end up.

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D R AW I N G S P E C I A L

ADDING STRUCTURE GIOVANNI CIVARDI EXPLAINS THE IMPORTANCE OF USING CONSTRUCTION LINES TO HELP YOU BETTER UNDERSTAND THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF YOUR SUBJECT “On voit tout autrement un objet dont on connait la structure.” (“When we know the structure, we see a completely different object.”)

-Paul Valéry

T

he word “structure” comes from the Latin verb struere, “to construct”: the way in which the parts of an object come together to form a whole – i.e., the relational arrangement between an object’s composite parts. It is very important for an artist to understand a form, be it organic or man-made, in terms of its structural characteristics. This is achieved by seeing the object stripped of its inessential details, and therefore concentrating on it as an arrangement of simpler geometrical forms: cubes, oblongs, cylinders, and so on.

It can also be helpful to supplement this intuitive investigative framework with a kind of X-ray vision, enabling the artist to visualise the non-visible lines of the object’s linear and perspectival structure, as if viewed as a cross-section. This is partly based on symmetrical relationships and linear directions that are found between an object’s parts, and partly on the logical sense they make together in terms of size and fit.

When drawing from life or executing a design drawing, the study begins by drawing lines freehand to indicate the relationships between the different planes, the subject’s main axes and its thickness. These lines then act as directional guidelines and reference marks when the drawing is developed to the desired degree of precision.

The lightly drawn lines may be left visible in order to heighten awareness of the object’s structural framework, or they may be gradually overlaid by lines that come later, depending on the particular style of you and your picture.

This is an extract from Giovanni’s book, Drawing – A Complete Guide: Nature, published by Search Press. www.searchpress.com

QUICK PRACTICE Drawing trees is an excellent starting point for understanding and sketching construction lines, as they have a number of straight elements.

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D R AW I N G S P E C I A L

IDENTIFYING TONE FLORENCE SHEWARD PRESENTS A SIMPLE EXERCISE FOR IDENTIFYING TONES, USING A SCALE SYSTEM THAT CAN BE EXPANDED AS YOU PROGRESS

O

ne of the hardest elements of drawing can be identifying and replicating tone. Tone refers to the relative lightness or darkness of an area, irrespective of colour.

However, in reality, the presence of colour can confuse matters – it becomes not only a case of judging relative tonal values, but also interpreting colours in monochrome.

If you struggle in this respect, a simplified tonal sketch is a good way of training your brain to judge values. Begin by drawing a sequence of five boxes in the top corner of a sheet of paper or your sketchbook page.

This will be our tonal scale, with which you can identify the differences in your subject.

Leave the first box blank and shade the fifth box as dark as possible. This is your scale, the tones with which you will set out the lightest and darkest parts of the drawing.

In the third box, shade a tone halfway between the two extremes. Now, shade the second box with a tone that bridges the first and third boxes. Repeat with the fourth box, bridging third and fifth. You now have a tonal scale in five equal increments.

This tonal scale can now be used to create a drawing using five distinct areas of tone. Begin by making a faint line drawing of a simple subject. Identify the parts of your subject that you think are the darkest 20% tonally speaking and add them to the

page using the darkest fifth tone. Now work progressively lighter along your scale, adding bands of the four shaded tones to your drawing. The highlights – the lightest 20% – should be reserved by the white of the page. If you struggle to see distinct areas of tone clearly, try squinting – halfclosed eyes will simplify things for you.

For a more advanced version of this exercise, try making seven or nine shaded boxes to expand the range of tonal areas within your simplified drawing. You might also use hatching and crosshatching within each box, rather than a solid area of tone, so that you can introduce more precise lines to your final drawing.

Artists & Illustrators 25

Chelsea,naturally 340 King’s Road, London SW3 5UR An exhibition of work by Members of Chelsea Art Society

Monday 6th–Sunday 12th September 2021 • Monday to Sunday: 10am–6pm S PO N S O R E D B Y

Chelsea Art Society chelseaartsociety.org.uk/gallery John Killens, Bicycles and Houseboats, Chelsea (detail), watercolour and pastel, 40 x 40 cm

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Chelsea Art Society

PRESENTS

The Wedlake Bell Award

An exhibition by Members and Non-Members of Chelsea Art Society 340 King’s Road, London w3 5u • 13th–19th September 2021 Monday to Saturday: 10am–6pm; Sunday: 10am–1pm S PO N S O R E D BY

Wedlake Bell

Chelsea Art Society chelseaartsociety.org.uk/gallery

Elizabeth Guthrie, The Old Railway (detail), acrylic on board, 38 x 50 cm

quick tips for D R AW I N G S P E C I A L

1

WHILE GOOD DRAWING DOES TAKE REAL PRACTICE, THESE SIMPLE CORRECTIVES ARE DESIGNED TO IMPROVE YOUR SKETCHING SKILLS IMMEDIATELY

Choose the right pencil for you.

“B” grades get progressively softer, create darker lines and need regular sharpening; “H” grades get harder, leaving fine, crisp marks. A 2B or 3B is a good place to start.

2 3

Keep your pencil sharpened. A good point means more precise lines and a more satisfying outcome.

4

Work left to right. (Unless you’re left-handed, in which case work right to left.) This prevents you dragging your hand across the drawing and smudging your progress.

5

Avoid fragmented lines. If you’re unsure of the exact position required, draw a light yet continuous line first instead. Go over this with a firmer, darker line later once other elements are established.

6 7

Vary line width. Give emphasis to certain marks by doubling up or using a softer, less sharp pencil.

Forget what your subject is.

Focus instead on what it really looks like instead. Think of it not as a bowl of fruit, for example, but rather as a series of lines, forms and textures.

8

Draw quickly. A faster line looks dynamic and less forced than a slower, shaky one. Occasionally the latter is necessary for accuracy, but quick lines generally lend pictures a sense of movement and purpose.

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Start simple. Reduce a complex subject to basic elements – a cube, a sphere, a pyramid, and so on.

Sketch those in lightly first to get an idea of your subject in space.

9 10

Alter your grip. Press down on the side of the pencil to create wider marks or larger, shaded areas.

Draw something twice.

Revisiting a subject forces you to really look, and also learn from your mistakes. Familiarity breeds confidence too.

11

Consider negative shapes. Think of the space between objects – a gap between an arm and a body, for example – as a shape in its own right.

12

Check angles and proportions.

Hold up your pencil against an angle on your subject and replicate that on the page. Likewise, use your thumb to measure distances.

13

Add tone in increments.

Whether hatching or shading, begin lightly and add another layer if required. It is easier to assess accuracy when you build slowly.

14

Leave detail until last. Make sure you’re happy with general shapes, proportions and tonal areas before committing to fiddly details.

15

Draw with an eraser.

Remember you can subtract as well as add. Pick out highlights in a drawing with the edge of a hard eraser. For more subtle graphite removal, use a clean putty eraser shaped into a point.

16

Control the edges. A sharp edge suggests part of a subject in focus, whereas a softer transition appears further away. Use this to your advantage to create a sense of depth.

17

Draw every day. Even if you can only spare 10 minutes, regular practice will sharpen your skills over time. Get in good habits. Carry a sketchbook wherever you go and draw on the bus, in a café, or from a park bench.

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D R AW I N G S P E C I A L

Frame of Mind D R AW I N G S P E C I A L

GETTING INTO THE RIGHT HEADSPACE IS KEY TO GREAT DRAWING, SO WE NEED TO THINK LIKE AN OLYMPIC ATHLETE ON A WET TUESDAY MORNING, SAYS LAURA SMITH

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D R AW I N G S P E C I A L

We need to get rid of the critical, imaginary audience in our heads and start enjoying the process

M

any of us try not to be too precious in our drawings, but what does that really mean?

And why is it worthwhile? To be precious is to be self-consciously looking over our shoulders, inhibited by false ideas of what constitutes good drawing, fussing about insignificant details and crippled by perfectionism. It robs us of our authenticity and can freeze us altogether. I think fear is the root cause. Each time we pick up a pencil, we are so keen to live up to our high expectations that our reasons for drawing become muddled. Mark making can be derivative for fear that risks will backfire. Preciousness can look like a reluctance to make changes, as the rubber is relied on obsessively.

Our mistake is to compare unfinished scribbles with exhibition pieces, prematurely imagining a viewer. When an author begins a novel, do they start by polishing one beautiful sentence? No, they begin with notes and move onto rough drafts and then edits. We must stop seeing ourselves as the athlete poised for the Olympic starting pistol and realise that we are actually that same athlete on a rainy Tuesday morning during a daily training session. We are the novelist scribbling down ideas for a plot, working things out. We need to get rid of the critical, imaginary audience in our heads and start enjoying the process.

I am far more prone to preciousness in drawing too.

When I begin an oil painting, I know that my initial strokes will never be seen, whereas when I begin a drawing, part of me hopes the next few moments will give rise to a succinct sketch of miraculous skill. Inevitably, a Rembrandt gem will spring to mind and I will feel deflated instead.

This seems ludicrous but comparing ourselves to others is insidious and widespread. No generation has ever had so many images burned onto their brains and it takes effort to forget about everyone else. Our feeling towards drawing could be no more daunting than rolling out a yoga mat for

some stretches or jotting down words in a journal.

It comes down to mindset and getting lost in the activity.

Doodle on the back of an envelope. Start with loose, soft lines to feel your way across the paper. Try using a pen that cannot be erased. As the experience becomes more enjoyable and less stressful, you will naturally want to do more. This will result in a greater number of drawings, increasing the chance that some will be better quality and all will be more you. You are your true self when you feel most at ease. The pleasure of drawing with abandon in secrecy must not be the preserve of children and nonartists; it must be for us all. Privacy, comfort and freedom together grant the opportunity to draw as only you can. www.laura-smith.com

ABOVE AND FAR LEFT Drawings from Laura's sketchbook

IN THE BAG FOUR GREAT ADDITIONS TO YOUR DRAWING KIT

•DERWENT PENCIL EXTENDERS Never give up on a favourite well-used pencil ever again.

Simply pop a sharpened stub into these holders and continue making your mark. www.derwentart.com

•REMBRANDT SOFT PASTELS Made from pure pigment and kaolin clay, these half-sticks come in themed sets of 5 or 10 – choose from “storm greys”, “warm reds” and more. www.royaltalens.com

•PITH SKETCHBOOKS Available in three sizes and hand-finished in Berwickupon-Tweed, these 170gsm books have exposed binding to open 180-degrees and lay flat. www.pithsupply.com

•SCHMINCKE LIQUID CHARCOAL Add smooth transitions and large washes of tone to your life class drawings with these vegan-friendly, gouache-like pigments in 35ml tubes. www.schmincke.de

Artists & Illustrators 29

Sketchbook D R AW I N G S P E C I A L

CHALLENGES

STRUGGLING FOR INSPIRATION? TRY A QUICK DRAWING EXERCISE TO GET YOU STARTED – AND YOU MIGHT JUST LEARN SOMETHING ALONG THE WAY TOO! CHALLENGE 1 NEGATIVE SPACE WHAT? Use crosshatching to indicate the negative spaces between parts of your subject.

WHY? A focus on negative space helps to view a real subject in more abstract terms. This in turn can make it easier to think about line, form and colour.

HOW? For this challenge you need an intricate, light subject against a dark background: a bunch of white flowers in front of a dark curtain, for example.

Look closely at your arrangement and try to think of the darker gaps between the objects as shapes. Find a gap in the centre and focus upon it.

Using parallel hatched lines, try to draw an approximation of that gap in the centre of your paper. Now locate another gap nearby and consider its size and position relative to the first one. Mark it with hatched lines again.

Continue until all the main gaps are in place and an outline has emerged.

Now add an extra layer to the tonal drawing by adding crosshatching.

Look for the darkest areas of your subject and replicate them in your drawing by adding more hatching at right angles to the previous layer.

You should finish with a drawing that has three distinct areas of tone – cross-hatched, hatched, and the white of the paper – in a more abstract manner than you would if you had drawn the outline first.

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D R AW I N G S P E C I A L

WHAT? As seen in the previous challenge, traditional crosshatching involves suggesting tone through intersecting layers of parallel lines.

Here you will develop that idea further by making a drawing in which the tonal lines follow the form of your subject.

WHY? While the concept of crosshatching is straightforward, this challenge will have you thinking about building tone in a way that better describes the form of your subject.

It will also encourage you to really look at what you are drawing and think about how the various forms sit within the space.

HOW? Pick out a slightly firmer pencil, maybe a 2H, and sharpen it with a craft knife (cut away from yourself).

Hone the tip into a needle-like point – you want to be able to hold the pencil at an angle and produce sweeping lines with it more easily.

Choose a more complex subject – perhaps a figure at an angle or a busy still life composition – and make a loose, light outline drawing of it. Add a first layer of hatching to the darker half of your subject, trying to mirror the contours with the angle and curve of your lines. Hold the pencil away from the tip so you are able to make more sweeping lines.

Think about how different parts of the subject appear to come forward and recede within the picture plane.

Add a second layer of hatching that mimics these movements.

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CHALLENGE 2 FOLLOW THE FORM

CHALLENGE 3 VARY YOUR MARKS WHAT? For our final challenge, you will be making a drawing of a scene using a range of similar drawing materials.

WHY? All too often, we complete an entire picture using the same drawing tool, which limits how expressive we can be with mark making. This simple challenge will help you focus clearly on the added variety that a range of materials can bring.

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HOW? First you need to arm yourself with a set of similar drawing tools that will give you a varying degree of marks.

You could follow our example and choose graphite pencils with different levels of hardness, or you might want to try charcoal or fineliner pens of varying thickness – anything that produces similarly textured marks of a differing width or darkness.

Now find yourself a scene with an obvious background, mid-ground and foreground. It could be a landscape or cityscape, but it could equally be a garden viewed through a window.

Begin your drawing by only drawing the furthest elements from you, using your lightest (or thinnest) drawing tool. In the case of graphite pencils, choose one with a high H value as it will create the hardest, lightest lines.

Once complete, turn your attentions

to the mid-ground and use a middling pencil – a B or HB perhaps – to draw this with darker slightly thicker lines.

Finish by drawing the areas nearest to you with your softest pencil, using the wider, darker lines to create subtle emphasis.

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COLUMNIS T

A good fit between teacher and student expectations will make a big difference to the outcome

Artist

As the autumn term begins, LAURA BOSWELL reflects on how to make the most of an art class

ABOVE Laura Boswell, Skye to the Mainland, linocut, 46x73cm 32 Artists

I

am writing this in a studio full of teaching kit, ready for me to deliver printmaking classes next week.

Over the years I’ve noticed that it doesn’t really make a difference whether you are the student or the

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teacher; getting the most from an adult learner’s class depends on pretty much the same things.

The best ones are those where the teacher and the students are clear about the type of class on offer –

this means not only knowing the subject matter but also sharing similar expectations. These are things to prepare for before class starts.

As a teacher, it is important to be as clear about your teaching style as you are about the content of your class.

As a student, it pays to research the teacher as well as the subject. Two classes may teach the same topic at the same level of experience, but an intensive class aimed at equipping students with skills to build on once they leave the course is going to offer a different experience to a relaxing one-off class with the emphasis on having fun and going home with a memento. A good or bad fit between teacher and student expectations will make a big difference to the outcome of any class for both parties.

Taking time to listen is another essential. A good teacher doesn’t treat a class as a single unit, but rather a group of individuals who each deserve to be heard. This means really tailoring tuition accordingly, factoring in one-to-one time and making it count. Listening seems like a given for students, but it is a skill in surprisingly short supply. Trust the teacher’s knowledge, take notes if it helps you to focus, and follow instructions properly. Listen to other students too; they will be working differently from you and there’s a lot to be learnt from their ideas and from how the teacher works with them too.

Lastly, be flexible. Every class you experience will be different. Keeping an open mind will ensure that you, teacher or student, get the most out of each class you take. www.lauraboswell.co.uk

P R I Z E D R AW

A £1,000 BUNDLE OF PAINT AND TOOLS

AMSTERDAM ACRYLICS PRIZE DRAW Name: Address:

Explore a whole new world of bold and brilliant painting with this prize courtesy of AMSTERDAM ACRYLICS From fast-drying times to malleability, acrylic paint has a multitude of advantages for beginners and professional artists alike.

When it comes to this medium, there is one brand which has it all, as one lucky reader will discover when they win £1,000 worth of materials from Royal Talens in this month’s prize draw.

What started with the Amsterdam Standard series, offering the broadest range of pure colours, has evolved into a range of intermixable products. Not only does this month’s prize package include more than 200 tubes of Standard series paints, but also a selection of Expert acrylics, metallic paints, inks, mediums and primers – not to mention brushes, scrapers, markers, paper and more.

Made from 100 per cent acrylic emulsion and high-grade pigment, the Amsterdam brand offers great lightfastness and a range of opacities, while an impressive list

of 35 different auxiliaries supports you at every step of your painting journey. www.royaltalens.com

THE PRIZE One winner, chosen at random, will win a bundle of Amsterdam products worth more than £1,000, including: • Four sets of Standard Series acrylics (a total of 210 x 20ml and 5 x 120ml tubes) • One set of Expert acrylics (12 x 20ml tubes) • Five 120ml tubes of Standard All Colour acrylics (Silver, Light Gold, Deep Gold, Copper, Bronze, Pewter) • Two acrylic marker sets • Two brush sets (medium and extra large) • 11 tubs of mediums and primers • Four Amsterdam acrylic paper pads …and much more. To read the full list of prizes on offer, please visit www.artists andillustrators.co.uk/competitions

Postcode: Email: Telephone: The closing date for entries is noon on 29 October 2021.

Please tick if you are happy to receive relevant information from The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd. via email , post or phone or Faber-Castell via email

HOW TO ENTER Enter by noon on 29 October 2021 at www. artistsandillustrators.co.uk/competitions or fill in the form and return it to: Amsterdam Acrylics Prize Draw, Artists & Illustrators, Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd., Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London SW3 3TQ

TERMS AND CONDITIONS Prizes are non-transferable. No cash alternatives. For full terms and conditions, visit www.chelseamagazine.com/terms

Artists & Illustrators 33

ART HIS TO RY

Frans Hals

Far from just being a painter of jovial portraits, this Dutch Golden Age artist inspired future generations and a new exhibition is set to boost his legacy, says STEVE PILL

V

incent van Gogh was a competitive painter, always looking closely at the work of other artists for any scrap of knowledge that he could utilise in his own practice.

So when he famously claimed that “Frans Hals must have had 27 blacks”, there was a huge compliment hidden within the vinegary bitterness.

Van Gogh’s original comment, an acknowledgement of his countryman’s skill at finding subtle colour shifts in passages where lesser artists would have laid down a blanket of tone, came in a letter sent to his brother Theo on 20 October 1885 in which he also declared Hals as “a colourist among the colourists, a colourist like Veronese, like Rubens, like Delacroix, like Velázquez”.

In another letter sent a week earlier, Van Gogh had first written of his joy at seeing a painting by Hals and named him alongside Rembrandt as one of the true greats. “What particularly struck me when I saw the old Dutch paintings again is that they were usually painted quickly,” added Van Gogh. “These great masters like Hals, Rembrandt… as far as possible just put it straight down – and didn’t come back to it so very much… If it worked, they left it alone.”

Because it is this that is forgotten when one sees a Frans Hals portrait in reproduction. The ruffled collars and silken clothing combine to form the impression of a rather smoothly 34 Artists

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rendered likeness, yet in fact his visible brushwork was every bit as expressive and daring as Rembrandt – or indeed Claude Monet or Jackson Pollock. Writing in The Guardian, Jonathan Jones spoke gleefully of “the spun threads of free spittle-like white paint and broad smears of silky black” in Hals’s masterpiece, 1624’s The Laughing Cavalier, and yet that description could just as easily apply to one of Pollock’s drip paintings.

This brazen approach to paint application was only truly appreciated more than two centuries after Hals’ death in 1666. In fact, by drawing the admiration of Van Gogh, Monet and more, The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Walter Liedtke claimed that “in the second half of the 19th century, Hals was actually the most admired artist in some quarters”, ahead of even Rembrandt.

So why exactly has Hals fallen from that perch in modern times? And should a new exhibition prompt a reassessment? While fashions ebb and flow, perhaps the reason that Hals’ reputation has suffered in relation to other masters of the Dutch

Golden Age and beyond can be explained away by the fact that the development of his career doesn’t match contemporary demands for a dynamic narrative arc. He was neither painting prodigy nor maturing talent, yet seemingly accepting of his role as a jobbing portraitist for hire.

Born in Antwerp (then part of the Netherlands) around 1582, Hals’ family were forced to flee the city three years later at the hands of Spanish forces, migrating north to Haarlem. Hals served as an apprentice to Karel van Mander, a Flemish artist with a fondness for stylised history paintings, yet he didn’t start producing his own canvases in earnest until he was well into his thirties. He established his reputation locally with The Banquet of the Officers of the St George Militia Company in 1616, one of several group portraits of the Haarlem civic guard, which is now on display in the Dutch city’s Frans Hals Museum.

It was painted while Hals mourned the death of his first wife, Anneke, the grief seemingly sharpening his concentration on this 3.2-metre-wide

Were it not for the period dress, it is hard to believe that The Laughing Cavalier was painted 4 0 0 years ago

ABOVE The Laughing Cavalier, 1624, oil on canvas, 83x67cm

Artists & Illustrators 35

THE WALLACE COLLECTION, LONDON

A R T H I S T O RY

scene. Not only was it a skilfully executed painting with a strong, diagonal-heavy composition, but Hals also managed to satisfy the complex group dynamic. So happy were several of the men that they would later commission individual portraits, helping establish the artist’s career.

His most iconic single portrait was, of course, The Laughing Cavalier and, in keeping with the rest of Hals’ work, the sense of personality is strong here. The unknown 26-year-old cavalier is sited in the foreground, his arm out, his head turned, with the viewer seemingly looking upwards.

It is a pose that adds grandeur, aided by intricate lacework and embroidery that was painted by Hals in dynamic bravura brushstrokes. Were it not for the period dress, it would be hard to believe that this was painted almost 400 years ago.

Like many Dutch artists, Hals was known to have painted tronies (deliberately exaggerated facial studies) so he knew well how to be playful in this respect. And like the Mona Lisa, it is the gaze that engages but the smile that beguiles. The eyes are smiling, yet the mouth is not – our perception of a jovial character is largely created by the upturned moustache suggesting a grin that isn’t actually there. It makes sense of the fact that The Laughing Cavalier was not a title given by the artist but rather one earned over time.

Press for Frans Hals: The Male Portrait, the new exhibition at The Wallace Collection, has credited the London gallery’s co-founder, Richard Seymour-Conway, the 4th Marquess of Hertford, with the 19th-century revival of interest in the artist’s work.

While it is true that Lord Hertford’s audacious purchase of The Laughing Cavalier at a Paris auction in 1865 (which involved paying six times the estimate and outbidding a Rothschild) clearly boosted the market value of Hals’ work, it doesn’t account for his adoption by a new generation of painters on purely artistic grounds.

What the new exhibition will do is put The Laughing Cavalier in proper context for the first time in The Wallace Collection’s history. The London institution only relaxed its self-imposed restrictions on loans in 2019, so this is the first time that the 36 Artists

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CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART

A R T H I S T O RY

Some experts have speculated that the Tieleman Roosterman and The Laughing Cavalier were one and the same person

A R T H I S T O RY

LEFT Portrait of Tieleman Roosterman, 1634, oil on canvas, 117x87cm

this rich Haarlem textile merchant and the moustachioed cavalier were one and the same person, so visitors have a unique opportunity to compare and contrast up close these two likenesses, painted a decade apart.

Meanwhile, Portrait of an Unknown Man, a favourite from Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam Museum, will also make an appearance to help emphasise the ahead-of-his-time virtuosity of Hals’s later works. The artist was likely in his early eighties when it was completed so whether one can ascribe the loose, painterly brushwork of the sitter’s coat to masterly confidence, failing

eyesight or a thrifty attitude to paint is unclear. What we do know for sure is that in capturing such a vivid character with unrefined marks and even visible drips of thinned colour, Hals was demonstrating his mastery and how little he needed to do to communicate his observations. And without this and the other bold examples on display in London this winter, there would have been no Manet, no Freud, and no Van Gogh.

Frans Hals: The Male Portrait runs from 22 September to 30 January 2022 at The Wallace Collection, London. www.wallacecollection.org

THE FITZWILLIAM MUSEUM, CAMBRIDGE

BELOW Portrait of an Unknown Man, oil on canvas, c.1660-'63, 80x67cm

1624 masterpiece will hang alongside other works from Hals’s career. “It felt only fitting that we should honour our most beloved and enigmatic portrait with this unprecedented study of his unique cultural and art-historical influence, as well as to reunite him with his ‘friends’ from the collections of our wide ranging and eternally generous lenders,” said Wallace Collection director Dr Xavier Bray.

One of the most tantalising juxtapositions will see The Laughing Cavalier hung alongside 1634’s Portrait of Tieleman Roosterman.

Some experts have speculated that

Artists & Illustrators 37

IN THE STUDIO

1

1 Harriet’s

compositions make use of the full page 2 The artist

takes a break in her Devon studio 3 Cherry

blossom comes into season every April 38 Artists

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IN THE STUDIO 3

IN THE STUDIO

2

Harriet

de Winton The former set designer turned artist, author and entrepreneur talks to REBECCA BRADBURY about building conf idence and starting a creative business in her spare room

PHOTO: MATT AUSTIN

H

anging on the wall of Harriet de Winton’s studio is a very unusual piece of art with a very personal backstory.

Painted over her parents’ wedding invite is a watercolour landscape of Kemsing in Kent, the place where the couple tied the knot back in 1979.

The gift originally took pride of place in the hallway of Harriet’s childhood home, but unbeknown to her at the time was just how prophetic the painting would be.

It was only in 2015, after launching her successful wedding stationers, de Winton Paper Co., that the artist

made the connection between her new venture and the invite-turnedartwork she passed every day while growing up. Since beginning her business, Harriet’s career has taken a few more unforeseen pivots, from being asked to teach watercolours to securing a publishing deal, proving life rarely turns out as planned.

Indeed, these recent achievements would probably have been unimaginable for Harriet as she studied for her degree in English literature and theatre studies. After graduating, she took the more logical step of working as a set designer for stage and TV, a job she enjoyed but

One of the biggest challenges is imposter syndrome… I have to remind myself that my instinct is good Artists & Illustrators 39

IN THE STUDIO

4

5

4 Intricate

stems call for the smallest brush heads

5 Harriet

captured this agapanthus in full bloom

didn’t find very fulfilling. It would take a rare request to eventually reveal a creative niche that the Devon-based artist could make her own.

“I ended up being asked to create some wedding invitations for my stepsister,” she explains. “I enjoyed it so much that I was like ‘right, I think this is what I want to do’. It was at that point that I thought I’d better make sure I can paint in watercolour and do it properly.”

De Winton Paper Co. soon sprang to life and today the wedding stationery business is run from the home the artist shares with her husband Ant and rescue dog Crumble on the edge of Dartmoor National Park. Once a spare bedroom, the light-filled studio is arranged with everything within easy reach. The long desk serves as a place to paint as well as to sit at a computer, while the storage opposite keeps safe not only art materials but also the requisite envelopes and ribbons.

Ranging from invites and itineraries to menus, place cards and table numbers, Harriet’s stationery range is all beautifully illustrated in watercolour with blooms and buds, elegant monograms, delicate swirls, and classy confetti patterns.

These are only the in-house collections though, as the artist also offers handwritten modern calligraphy and a bespoke stationery service.

These one-off commissions are a 40 Artists

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6 Palettes

with deep wells allow generous colour mixes

7 Overlapping

8 The artist’s

layers add interest to the daisy’s petals

illustrative style has become in high demand

IN THE STUDIO

7

6

In life, it’s ver y rare that we get things right f irst time, but you always learn from the unexpected popular choice and involve a consultation with the soon-to-bemarried couple, before Harriet interprets the brief fully in three different designs. “I like to paint things properly, in full, not just a sketch, because it can be quite hard [for the customer] to visualise what it’s going to look like,” she says. “It’s a much smoother process, I’ve found – and I enjoy the painting.”

As with most things weddingrelated, the stationery features an abundance of florals – a subject that appeals to the artist’s love of nature and something she spent hours painting while on a mission to learn the watercolour techniques her business would require. Being self-taught artistically, her lack of

a formal education was once a source of doubt. However, she now rejoices in the freedom and individuality it offers her work. “One of the biggest challenges,” she explains, “is the classic imposter syndrome of thinking, ‘well, I haven’t got loads of qualifications’, so I have to remind myself that my instinct is good and [my work] has connected with a lot of people.

“A common thread has always been a focus on not worrying about the established way of doing things and finding that if you know too much that can be a bit of a limitation.”

Having faced her own fears, Harriet suggests that all creatives wanting to transform their passion into a

8

Artists & Illustrators 41

IN THE STUDIO

career should do the same. “It’s very important to just start and try things,” she stresses. “Don’t be afraid of not getting it exactly right first time. In life, it’s very rare that we get things right first time, but you always learn a valuable lesson from anything that doesn’t quite go how you expected.”

Charming subjects, a down-to-earth and engaging presentation style, and clear, easy-to-understand instructions have proven a winning combination for Harriet on Instagram and she was approached via the site to run her first watercolour workshop. Her advice to students is always to buy the best quality products you can afford. In her studio, she favours Winsor & Newton and Daler-Rowney watercolour pans, while ProArte Masterstroke mixed media brushes, Derwent Graphik Line Maker pens and cold-pressed cotton pulp paper are also essential parts of her illustration kit.

A common hurdle for Harriet’s students is overcoming their limited self-beliefs. “When they are presented with my finished product,” she says, “they are a bit overwhelmed with how they’re going to get from a blank page to that painting.

I’m always reminding them to take it slow and just enjoy the process.”

Access to Harriet’s online tutorials has been steadily expanding over the past year or so. When the pandemic hit, most weddings were cancelled causing stationery commissions to dry up. With the extra free time, the artist launched the de Winton Paper Co. YouTube channel, with production help from her wedding photographer husband. Every Sunday, her studio is cleared for filming, and, over the last 16 months, the channel has amassed more than 45,000 subscribers. On top of this, more in-depth, longer form content is available via a subscription on the membership platform Patreon.

I’m always reminding my students to take it slow and ju st enjoy the painting process 42 Artists

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9 10

9 Multiple

drawings on a sheet of paper make a nice set 10 Harriet

favours ProArte Masterstroke brushes 11 The elegant

curry flower stems were a striking subject 12 Painted

swatches can prove a useful reference

IN THE STUDIO

12

11 Speaking out about how to create a revenue stream from your creative pursuits is something Harriet is keen to do. “It’s important to try to dismantle the taboo about making money and the positives of being able to make a sustainable business out of something creative,” she says.

“I would love to find ways to help people see making a living from something they’re passionate about is not something to be ashamed of.”

Recently, Harriet has also been working on her second book of watercolour tutorials – another opportunity that emerged from her Instagram presence after catching the eye of Ilex Press. Published this

October, Birds, Bees & Blossoms follows her debut, New Botanical Painting, with 30 more step-by-step projects, this time based on both flora and fauna. “My focus all the time is teaching techniques that students can apply to lots of different projects,” Harriet says of her new book. “What I did was choose subjects that would provide readers with a different painting challenge – a new brushstroke or a new way of painting.”

The books have also ensured Harriet’s journey with her chosen medium continues. “The big challenge is painting each step of the project,” she explains. “With watercolour, quite often you have times when things are wet, and the next step might be to bleed and blend one colour into the next. Therefore, you end up painting the project multiple times over, which can really be quite time consuming – but that’s just how it goes.”

With wedding stationery orders coming in again, as well as a burgeoning online presence and upcoming book release, Harriet’s diary is beginning to look fuller by the day, but what does the future hold for herself and her business?

“I’m really enjoying what I’m doing, and I’d like to continue doing it, but I also know that quite a lot of the opportunities I’ve had have come along when I didn’t expect them to.

So, if I keep up a good work ethic and keep communicating with the community of people I teach, funny stuff will continue to happen.”

Harriet’s new book, Birds, Bees & Blossoms, is published by Ilex Press. www.dewintonpaperco.com

Artists & Illustrators 43

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Alla MASTERCL ASS

Lizet's materials • Paints Titanium White, Scheveningen Yellow Medium, Cadmium Orange, Cerulean Blue, Raw Umber and Ivory Black, all Old Holland Classic Oil Colours • Brushes Daler-Rowney Graduate synthetic flat brushes, various sizes; Rosemary and Co. Series 308 hog bristle long flat brushes, various sizes • Support Wooden board primed with Golden Acrylic Gesso, 45x50cm (approx.)

• New Wave wooden palette • Sansodor medium • Odourless turpentine • A dipper • A palette knife

ORIGINAL PHOTO

PRIMA Raw Umber Studios tutor LIZET DINGEMANS presents an introduction to the direct painting technique that can be used to create lively, spontaneous pictures

A

lla prima can roughly be translated as “at first attempt”. It is a method of working directly into still-wet paint, which is very different to the commonly used layering approach, where one would be painting a layer and letting it dry, before working over it again. When painting alla prima, the picture is traditionally completed in a single sitting, which allows for a spontaneous execution that is incomparable to any other technique in terms of finish and boldness of brushwork.

A still life is a perfect subject for alla prima painting as it is infinitely patient and needs no breaks. I chose a pair of cowboy boots, lit by a single light source from the left, which provided clarity and made it easier to distinguish the tones.

The latter is especially important for alla prima work, as it will make the process easier and more direct.

Before you begin, spend time making sure your set-up is just right. Things that will simplify your process include using fewer tube colours, choosing a single subject, and avoiding symmetry (a perfect circle requires very accurate drawing).

It is also a good idea to spend a few minutes making a few tonal composition sketches, before settling on a composition you really like. These can be really simple, but they will give you a sense of whether the composition works before you jump straight in to painting.

I recommend using oils for alla prima painting – it is the slowest-drying medium so will give you plenty of time to work. This painting took me about three hours to complete, but anything up to six hours is manageable for alla prima oils – after this point, the quicker-drying pigments will start to get tacky. www.lizetdingemans.com

Artists & Illustrators 45

MASTERCLASS

1

S et t hin g s up

I started with the underdrawing, working directly onto the white board using only Raw Umber paint thinned with Sansodor medium.

This allows the paint to slightly sink into the support, making it easier to go over later. As I drew, I looked for the big shadows and impressions of the light.

When applying oils to a canvas already thick with wet paint, the colours can get muddy. Keeping it simple at the start will pay off later in the course of the work. Another advantage of applying thin layers at first is that you can wipe out any mistakes using tissue.

3

2

M ap t h e envelop e

I like to map out the “envelope shape” at this stage – this is what I call the simple shape that wraps around the focus of the composition. The main goal is to look at the big proportions to prevent getting caught up in small details.

Good questions to ask yourself here are: How does the length compare to the width? How can the set-up be simplified using as few lines as possible? In my case, I tried to show the broad shape of the boots against the light background with as little detail as possible.

Work b ig to s m all

I started breaking down this initial envelope shape by adding darker lines that used less and less solvent. The initial Raw Umber dried quite quickly and sank into the canvas, letting me build up more, darker tones.

Work big to small here. Try to break up your initial big statement with one or two lines at first, working towards smaller changes as you go. This method helps keep the drawing flexible and easy to change if you see a mistake.

Erase the wet Raw Umber with a rag or tissue if required.

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4

B uild t h e ton al ran g e

Continue building up the drawing, now using pure Raw Umber out of the tube. I used Old Holland’s Raw Umber, which is quite thick and allows you to build up the tones (if you are using a pigment that is quite oily or watery, try leaving it out on a piece of tissue for a few moments to absorb excess liquid).

Start adding a few details, but try to keep things fairly flexible, as colour will later be put on top of this drawing.

MASTERCLASS

Top tip

Arrange colours on the far end of your palette to give plenty of mixing space in the middle and prevent muddying.

6

B alan ce light an d sh a de

B alan ce th e temp erat ur e

5

Int r o du ce white

I started to add white to my palette, but keeping it simple was still key. I only mixed three tones: one each for lights, midtones and shadows. This forced me to make clear decisions and helps when I then start using colour.

I went in with a hog brush, pulling out the lights and lightening the background using my white mix. The white mixed slightly with the wet Raw Umber on the canvas, which allowed me to make big gradients.

I wanted the full drawing to be resolved – albeit in monochrome – so I compared my lights to each other and then did the same for the darks. I kept an eye on the lights in particular – Titanium White is a very strong pigment, so I only used it when absolutely necessary and cleaned my brushes regularly.

For the lighter darks, I tried to avoid using white and instead simply diluted Raw Umber with medium if I needed to lighten things.

7

Int r o du ce f ull colo ur

8

With the tones and shapes in place, it was time to start mixing colours. Colour is where alla prima painting really comes into its own. Avoid small dabs; instead use your palette knife to mix plenty of pigment on your palette. I tend to use my previously established trio of tonal values as a guide to mixing my colours. I can then go straight in, aiming again for an overall impression rather than lots of detail.

I started to pay closer attention to colour temperature here. Warmer tones are any that have a more orange hue to them and appear to stand out, whereas cooler tones will be closer to the blue end of the spectrum and appear to recede. I searched for these differences and played them off each other in order to make the whole painting feel more realistic and vibrant.

For example, note the blue line near the shadow cast by the left boot – adding blue to the shadow there brought out the oranges in the boot.

Artists & Illustrators 47

MASTERCLASS

9

Cont r ol t h e p aint

It is important to control the extent to which you mix on the canvas. Paint can become muddy, particularly if you dab your brush, rather than using long, single strokes.

A poorly-loaded brush will simply push the existing paint around, so always start with plenty of paint on the brush and only drag it around on the areas you want to soften. Clean your brushes with tissue after each touch on the canvas.

If all else fails, scrape off an area and start again. At first, this may feel frustrating, but as you get more proficient, you will be surprised at the effects made by scraping back.

10

Ch an g e b r u sh e s

Up to this point, I mainly used hog brushes as they deposit thicker layers of paint and leave softer edges, which is perfect for the beginning stages of a painting. However, at this point I wanted to start adding some detail to the patterns on the boot, so I switched to synthetic brushes.

Synthetic brushes are perfect for detail and areas of emphasis, as they cut into the wet paint, giving you more control and harder edges.

Top tip

Use a mirror to look at the work upside down – flipping the image can help see things with a fresh eye.

11

Cont r ol t h e f o cus

I started to think about the focal point.

The boot on the left was the main focus and so this was where I had worked the most.

However, I didn’t want to leave the other boot behind completely, so I added a few hints of thinned colour to it with my hog brushes.

Areas with thicker applications of paint will tend to draw the viewer’s eye. Other techniques that will enhance focus in an area include the use of warmer colours (cool ones appear to recede) and harder edges (soft edges appear out of focus).

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Simp lif y to f inish

I worked over the whole painting once again, pulling out small details, adding warm and cool accents, and refining the drawing. Another beautiful thing about alla prima is that you can control how finished the painting looks. I personally prefer a more unfinished style with visible brushstrokes, so I try to remove or simplify elements that are not essential to the central purpose of the picture. This emphasises the speed of execution and the freshness of the brushstrokes.

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Artists & Illustrators 49

TIPS

RULES FOR CAPTURING LUMINOSITY American acrylic artist LEXI SUNDELL shares her expert tips for recreating a natural glow in your floral paintings, which could be applied to all sorts of subjects

F

lowers naturally lend themselves to the creation of luminous, glowing paintings.

Light shining through translucent petals or reflecting delicately within the flower creates a magical glow. Dawn light accentuates deep shadow and radiant highlights in the freshly opened flowers.

Attention to light and colour allows you to capture this luminosity.

1. ESTABLISH YOUR LIGHT SOURCE A direct and even light looks rather flat and unexciting, so use a strongly angled light source for maximum interest. Look for shadow patterns that enhance the form of the flower.

Rotate the flower and tilt it in the light until you see the best view to paint.

2. USE STRONG BACKLIGHTING As an alternative to angled lighting, look at the flower with a light behind it to determine if the backlit effect is what you prefer to paint. Rotate and tilt the flower to find the most attractive composition.

3. MAINTAIN THE DIRECTION OF LIGHT

Light source The play of light can emphasise a composition. Here, the central light focus on the pod and stamens is echoed by the ring of highlights on the two petal edges.

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As you paint, maintain the established direction of light throughout the painting.

Especially when first learning to paint, it can be too easy to forget the direction of light while working out the intricacies of colour mixes and painting techniques.

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Smooth blends Smoothly blending colours as you build the layers of paint greatly enhances the tactile quality of the petals.

painting. This will instantly show up any problem areas.

5. EMPHASISE HIGH CONTRASTS A deeply shadowed area surrounding a brilliantly lit area creates a luminous glow. Trying to create luminosity by using only lighter values simply results in a washed-out look. Using too many shadows without enough lighted areas results in a dark, heavy look. Make sure you have enough shadow areas and also enough brightly lit areas to combine in a luminous glow.

6. KEEP THE COLOUR BLENDS SMOOTH

4. BALANCE LIGHT AND DARK AREAS

Crisp shadows It is impossible to paint a glowing water drop without a fine sharp line of shadow cradling it.

Keep light and dark values balanced. The background should support the values used in the painting – dark contrasts well with light flowers, and vice versa. If you are having difficulty with tonal values and can’t identify the problem, take a black-and-white snapshot of the

Use smooth blends of colour for softness. Even though the painting needs strong contrasts to be luminous, flower petals should appear soft, not harsh and coarse.

7. JUXTAPOSE WARM AND COOL Using warm and cool colours next to one another creates another form of visual contrast. White petals can have yellow tinted light areas and blue tinted shadow areas, for example.

8. REFLECT THE LIGHT Notice where a leaf or bud catches a reflected glow of light from a red petal. The leaf or bud is green but has a soft reddish blush when catching the reflected light. Be alert and observe any areas in the flower that reflect one colour onto another.

These subtleties distinctively add to the luminosity of the flower.

9. USE INTENSE SHADOWS When nearing completion, bring the deepest shadows to their maximum intensity. Look at the overall balance of shadows in the painting and make sure some intensely dark areas are emphasised, even if they are small.

10. ADD HIGHLIGHTS These can be tiny bright accents strategically placed to show the light falling across the flower. Look at the water drop, opposite: a tiny round highlight with a slightly softer arc of light on the opposite side of the drop shows the refraction of light through the liquid. Highlights always show the movement of light.

This is an extract from Lexi’s book, The Acrylic Flower Painter’s A to Z, published

by Search Press. www.lexisundell.com

Artists & Illustrators 51

PRINCIPLES OF DEPTH

2. Diminution

JAKE SPICER’S new six-part guide will help you create a greater sense of space in your work. Here he reveals three clever tricks for adding depth without sacrificing accuracy

T

he more distant a subject is from you, the smaller it appears; it is a simple idea but one that is critical to how we create the illusion of three-dimensional depth on a two-dimensional surface. This concept is known as “diminution” and it is one of the three main indicators of depth,

governing the complex constructions of linear perspective and the baffling distortions of foreshortening. In this second part of our new series, we’ll be looking at how you can use its principles to support your observational drawing.

You don’t need to understand diminution in order to represent it –

1

if you could draw what you see in front of you with innocent eyes, then the illusion of depth would resolve itself on the page as a reflection of what you have seen. The main challenge we must all overcome is our lack of objectivity – this happens when our expectations of a subject can distort our drawings of it. For example, a distant figure walking down the pavement towards you might appear as tall as your thumb when your arm is outstretched, but you know from context and experience that when they get close they will be around the same height as you. Your knowledge of their height conflicts with the truth of your eyes, nudging you towards making the figure slightly larger than it really is.

Over the next four pages, we’ll look at three ideas that will help you to represent diminution with observational precision and emphasise it with the compositional choices that you make.

Tip 1: Rulers Find a “ruler” to help you compare the scale of different subjects Diminution will express itself in differences of scale between similar subjects in a composition – a tree-lined avenue or people in a room, for example.

To help you compare the heights of those subjects in a space, find a near-vertical element to use as a visual “ruler”.

The vertical can be used to provide visual reference points against which you can compare the top and bottom limits of subjects within a composition, making judgments by eye, or supporting your observations with measuring tools. You can hold your pencil horizontally to bridge the gap between subject and ruler, but you shouldn’t let a reliance on tools hinder the development of your visual intuition.

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2

Tip 2: Overlap Emphasise depth by including more overlaps Whether we are looking at hills in a landscape or objects arranged on a table, the overlapping of two subjects often provides a visual cue to help us understand whether one subject is either smaller than the other or simply further away.

Overlap helps to emphasise depth by creating a hierarchy of distance; conversely, when each element of a composition is surrounded by open space, it becomes harder to judge whether differences of scale are a result of diminution or whether the subjects are actually different sizes.

When you can’t see the base of an object, an overlap is often the only visual clue that indicates distance.

Tip 3: Shared planes Use shared surfaces to emphasise diminution When two subjects stand on a level plane, the position of their bases help us judge their relative distance. When you’re looking down on a plane, the base of a distant subject will always appear higher up the page while closer subjects appear lower.

Navigate the relationships between bases in an L-shape, noticing first the vertical distance apart, then the horizontal.

Think about the topography of the ground you are drawing.

Imagine a chalk grid and include elements that help the viewer to understand the space and the relationships between subjects. The human propensity for flat floors makes it easier to suggest depth through shared planes; nature often presents us with slopes and uneven landscape which might mean we have to rely on other cues to judge distance.

3

Artists & Illustrators 53

PRINCIPLES OF DEPTH

EXERCISE 1 Figures in a room

This exercise works best in a busy space where people are liable to settle for long enough to be drawn – beaches and parks will provide extreme illustrations of diminution across expansive spaces, while more compact cafés, family living rooms, and even life drawing classes create opportunities to explore overlaps.

Settle in a comfy corner with your sketchbook and make a drawing that both helps you to explore and represent the depth of that space.

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B lo ck in sh ap e s

Begin by lightly blocking in the fixed shapes of furniture and architecture. The position of walls and floors will be fixed, while most furniture will remain unchanged over the course of the drawing.

Establishing these big shapes early helps form a stage set in which the figures can be placed, providing reference points that will help you orient your figures and create negative space that you can use to support accurate observation.

Aim to make a linear drawing, rather than a tonal one; focus on

1

PRINCIPLES OF DEPTH

shape and scale rather than the behaviour of light.

Compose your drawing with a vertical that stretches the length of your picture plane, such as a tree, a beach umbrella, the edge of a wall, or a standard lamp – this will act as the “ruler” in your drawing.

2 3

2

Add a f ir s t f ig ur e

3

Int r o du ce t h e s up p or t in g c a s t

As you block in the big shapes of the composition, you’ll find people come and go, obscuring and revealing different parts of the space in front of you. Once you have some structure established, take advantage of the moment when somebody settles in a position that works well in your composition and draw them in place.

Think of your drawing not as a snapshot of a single moment, but a story about time spent in a space – although you might take photographs to support a sustained study, as much of the drawing should be completed in the moment as possible.

As you draw, use the vertical “ruler” in your composition to check the scale of the figure and notice how the overlapping shapes of figures and furniture suggest where your subject sits within the space.

Place more people in the scene as they move into favourable areas of the composition. As you place each one, try to select a moment when multiple figures are overlapping to place them in space. Use the vertical “ruler” to check the scale of new figures against your first figure and, if you can, see where they make contact with the floor and check that their L-shape relationship with the base of the first figure places them correctly in space.

Next month: Jake looks at the art of foreshortening. www.jakespicerart.co.uk Reader offer – SAVE £9!

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1. Acrylics MIXED MEDIA

In the first of a new series about incorporating different media into your work, AINE DIVINE goes on location in a Scottish fishing village to show the benefits of acrylics

P

ort Seton is a small fishing village about half an hour’s drive east of Edinburgh and it is one of my favourite spots in which to paint. It has everything.

There’s a sense of space, with the Firth of Forth stretching beyond the harbour wall and the large sky above; there are the beautiful contrasts of tone and texture between the newly painted and more weathered fishing boats; there are the fine details of rigging above, the wild texture of the sandy ground below, and the flashes of brilliantly coloured buoys in the distance. In this series of articles, I wanted to show you the benefits of working in mixed media and I will be focusing on a particular medium each time. This month I’m looking at acrylic and how best to incorporate it with other media, so I wanted to walk you through how I made a painting in this way.

When deciding on a composition, it helps me to wander around with my iPad – I use it as I would a viewfinder and zoom in on various views. In Port Seton, I found a lot of appealing compositions in this way, but the fishing boats layered behind one another along the harbour wall won out in the end. I chose to put my easel down on the sand and paint them at eye level; last month I had painted the same wall lined with boats, but from the vantage point of the harbour a few metres higher.

Once I had decided on this new view for my painting, I set about deciding the format. To do this I made some sketches: one horizontal landscape, the second vertical portrait. I found I preferred the drama of the portrait format, and how the boats felt densely packed into the picture plane.

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MIXED MEDIA

When working outdoors, especially using mixed media, it is important to be organised and be able to easily find what you need when you need it.

I’m right-handed so my materials were on my right side for easy access – and I improvised with a fishing crate as I forgot my table!

Another thing to consider is the amount of space around you. It helps to be able to stand back often, in order that you can see your full painting and how it works in response to the subject that you’re capturing, so make sure you give yourself a “runway” and use it regularly.

Our focus this month is the qualities of acrylic paint, and how it’s so very useful as a component of mixed media. Acrylic paint can be used to cover large areas quickly,

whether watered down and applied with a large brush or scumbled with a dry rag, really pushing the paint into the surface of the canvas.

I love to prepare a background colour in advance of a plein air painting session as it lets me get painting quickly. Acrylic paint allows you to bring exciting patterns to the table early on.

I tend to use a dry brush to put down a layer of acrylic straight from the tube, then splash on some drops of water – if you wipe these away as the paint dries, you’re left with an exciting pattern, and you'll feel as though you are already halfway there.

For this painting [above], I also splashed on some yellow acrylic ink afterwards.

There are so many benefits to mixing media with acrylic. It’s useful during the painting process to apply the paint thickly, making descriptive marks with a firm flat brush. I’ve used flashes of blue here and there to

describe the background boats, and to heighten the bright white of the sunlit cabins. Acrylic is also a great medium to stipple through a stencil. Use a bristle brush for this to give pattern and texture right up to the end, as I have in the white pattern of the sky.

Artists & Illustrators 57

MIXED MEDIA

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Harbour scene

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S et t hin g s o ut

Having already decided the position I wanted the boats to occupy, I could find my “way in” to the painting. I wanted the top of the masts to be included and for there to be a good amount of sand in the foreground.

I shaped a paper towel into a point and dipped it into dilute Indian ink (around 70/30 water to ink) so I could draw with it. To create the foreground yellow droplets, I placed the paper flat on the ground and sprinkled on Golden Yellow alcohol ink, leaving it to fully dry before standing it upright on the easel.

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Work lo o s ely

As I introduced areas of acrylic colour, I deepened the darks with neat Indian ink. I try to keep an eye on the darkest parts throughout the process as it helps me ensure the composition hangs together.

I love to apply the colour with real energy in one or two swipes of a large brush, then adjust it by working into it with a damp rag, brush or kitchen paper. I made the “windows” in the red cabins of both boats by lifting out the required shapes with a damp clean 0.5” flat brush, then I lay in the darker windows in the foreground boat with a single move of a flat brush loaded with Payne’s Grey.

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E s t ab lish contex t

I tried to keep an eye on context here – the relationship between the

ADDING STENCILS I particularly enjoyed adding pattern to the sky and foreground in the closing stages of the painting as it created simple yet interesting details. It also set apart the line of boats from the surrounding land and sky.

Try stippling thick acrylic paint through a stencil with an old, dry household brush.

Floral stencils work even on a seascape.

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surroundings and the boats sitting in that space. Establishing the sky colour, the greys in the land, and the blacker tones on the wall all gave me a licence to introduce greater contrast and more details on the boats.

I made the clean edge of the sky by sticking down masking tape along the edge of the harbour wall, then painting a Powder Blue acrylic right up to the edge of the tape. I introduced flashes of oil pastel here and there, mostly to indicate the rigging and watermarks of the boats. Using my non-dominant hand for these details keeps the line work lively.

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B uild relation ship s

The relationships between the boats and the foreground, and the boats and the sky, were calling for attention here. I used a 2” flat brush to lash down some Burnt Sienna acrylic as a way to describe the sand in the bottom right corner.

I painted over the splashes of background yellow to describe the sky reflected in the water with an opaque layer of powder blue. Then with a charcoal line I extended the dark mast well into the sky. Expanding the composition upwards and downwards felt fitting here.

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MIXED MEDIA

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Pu sh thing s back

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Strengthen tone s

I wanted to show off the rich tapestry of marks in the boats, so I subdued the colours of the background harbour with clear opaque shapes of grey acrylic mixes.

I took time to mix the various shades first, using a Payne’s Grey base mixed with small amounts of Alizarin Crimson, Yellow Ochre and Titanium White.

I applied the acrylic with care in the spaces between masts and cabins, as well as on the distant harbour wall. Knocking back the background like this allowed the weathered raw textures elsewhere to become more prominent.

The sky and foreground were

similar in tone and colour now, acting almost like a frame to the picture.

I wanted to bring more substance to these areas to set them apart again from the row of boats. I worked on the form of the boats by re-establishing the darks and enhancing the tonal contrasts. Painting over parts of the collage pieces helped to integrate those more fully too.

I strengthened the front of the closest boat with a line of dark grey oil pastel. The same colour was used to paint the sand surrounding the pointed front edge of the boat, and to describe its form as it swept towards us. Bright flashes of oil pastel orange and stippled stencil shapes added further interest.

Next month: Aine paints a mixed media portrait. www.ainedivinepaintings.co.uk

Artists & Illustrators 59

DEMO

AUTUMN

flowers

This dahlia’s complex beauty and seasonal colours made it the perfect subject for SANDRINE MAUGY in a painting that combines drybrush and wet-in-wet techniques 60 Artists

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DEMO

Sandrine's materials • Paints Hansa Yellow Light, Mayan Yellow, Nickel Azo Yellow, Quinophthalone Yellow, Perylene Red, Carmine and Phthalo Blue (Red Shade), all Daniel Smith Watercolour • Paper Fabriano Artistico Hot Pressed 640gsm • Brushes ProArte Series 007, sizes 000, 0, 2, 3 and 6; Princeton Series 475, size 4 • Sketchbook • Pencil

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D i v ide your image

When painting a plant, I normally work in a sequence of washes, keeping the painting balanced as I work my way through the various layers.

For this Dahlia, I decided on a different approach. The large number of petals made the drawing complex and working on the whole piece at once potentially confusing, so I divided the flower head into five areas and developed each section a stage further before moving onto another.

The first of those five sections was the centre, which anchored the whole painting. I divided the rest into quarters, breaking down the observation of the

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subject and the painting into manageable pieces.

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L ay dow n shadow s

The first paint layer was a wet-in-wet wash of what I call my Harmonic Shadows mix. For this I mixed three primary colours that I planned to use later in the painting: Hansa Yellow Light, Perylene Red and Phthalo Blue (Red Shade).

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Work wet- in -wet

With the second wash, I could start adding some colour while still painting wet-in-wet, one petal at a time.

The topside of the petals was a base of Hansa Yellow Light with a hint of Quinophthalone Yellow for

the veins and Nickel Azo Yellow towards the base.

The underside was a base of Hansa Yellow Light with Mayan Yellow dropped in all over. All the extra colours needed to go down before the initial washes start to dry, to ensure they blended and merged smoothly.

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Add an e dge

I applied a third wet-in-wet wash of Perylene Red. I wet one petal at a time and ran a small loaded brush along the outline, letting the paint bleed into the water to create an uneven edge.

Some of the pattern was done at this stage too, taking advantage of the wet paper to let some of the red spread thinly

Artists & Illustrators 61

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o p ip

colour to Adding less back of e petals at th eases cr in the flower depth the sense of

along the veins. The transparency of this wash helped turn some of the yellow into a nice peachy hue.

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B ring in colour

The size of the open petals allowed for a more playful approach with the various yellows being dropped in wet-in-wet.

Allowing the colours to mix straight on the paper rather than on a palette helped make the petals look less flat and more natural.

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Add s trip e s wet- in -wet

The stripes on the petals were painted wet-in-wet with Perylene Red, in order to keep them soft, avoid hard edges, and produce

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the delicate peach colour.

I kept the petals at the back fainter to give the illusion that they were further away, giving depth to the globular flower head.

The next red layer was painted with a dry brush to add a more defined and random pattern.

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Plan your layer s

Once I was happy with the layering process established in the centre of the flower, I continued to work on each of the other four sections in a similar way, adding one layer at a time.

The sequence of the layers was as follows: wet-in-wet shadows; wet-in-wet all yellows; wet-in-wet Perylene Red; dry brush Perylene Red; dry brush accents of

Carmine. Here you can see in the bottom section only the shadows are painted, whereas at the top the section is complete.

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D r y bru sh to f ini sh

The pattern on the petals was painted with an extreme dry-brush technique: I ruffled the bristles of an old size 4 round brush on a piece of scrap paper first, then picked up a red mix and brushed it gently on the petals, following the direction of the veins.

This created a naturally broken up pattern of lines and dots.

If you feel the drybrush pattern is too prominent, it can be softened with a glaze of pure water after it has dried. www.sandrinemaugy.com

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Artists & Illustrators 63

A N AT O M Y

Planes of the Face ALAN MCGOWAN concludes his three-part series on expressive anatomy by showing how an understanding of tone can help define form

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he study of anatomy helps us build a kind of mental blueprint of the figure – an imaginary three-dimensional model of muscles, bones and connective tissue, typical structural relationships, symmetries and asymmetries within forms, and even perhaps an idea of scales and proportions. This understanding really helps inform our looking when we come to work with the life model.

In a sense we have a bit of a head start (no pun intended) because we already know the structures and forms that people have in common, which gives us things to look out for as well as an understanding of why they might look that way.

This structural understanding provides a framework that helps us to organise the immense range of visual information provided by a model’s pose – things like light, tone, balance, colour, composition and so much more. To that extent this blueprint is a useful simplification when confronted

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with complexity, something stable in an elusive and dynamic situation.

Nevertheless, while anatomy teaches how we are all fundamentally similar, as artists we should be sensitive to the ways in which each individual sitter diverges from the norm – it is this uniqueness and idiosyncracy to which we should be alive. Anatomical models of faces and facial proportions are pictures of everyone in general and nobody in particular. We must be aware that our life models are never blueprints, machines or ideals.

Anatomy therefore has a sort of double-sidedness. It helps us understand the figure but runs the risk of proposing an archetype which effaces its individuality. The study of anatomy is to be treated in two ways: to be worked both with and against.

This duplicity also surfaces as we come to represent each figure as we negotiate between the conceptual and the sensory; between drawing what we know and what we see.

A N AT O M Y

Zygomatic bone Projects underneath the eye socket and often catches the light

Anatomy of the face There are a number of smaller muscles in the head, but knowledge of such detail is not always of great help to us in figure drawing or portraiture. While some understanding of muscles and bones is helpful, perhaps of more use is a familiarity with the planes of the face and their relative relationships.

In the first instance, let’s look at some simple anatomy that underlies these planes. Imagine the skull as a kind of rounded box, made up principally of two parts: the upper fixed part of the cranium and the lower moveable jaw (mandible).

A general understanding of the shape of the skull, as well as certain features, is useful.

Orbicularis oculi Circular muscle that surrounds the eye Orbicularis oris Ring-shaped muscle that influences the shape of the mouth 66 Artists

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Masseter Muscle at the corner of the jaw that can influence surface form

Planes of the face The planes of the face are broad facets that occur universally and can be observed time and time again in a sitter. The same planes are almost always present in an individual, but the arrangement varies.

To see in terms of planes involves seeing the simple form that underlies the structure of the head rather than concentrating too much on the detail of individual features. It requires being attentive to light and shade,

A N AT O M Y

particularly being aware of where the light is coming from and why shadows are created – since forms either project forward into light or recede into shadow. These planes work in tandem with the light and shadows to help reveal the facets of the face as three-dimensional forms in space.

We should give equal consideration to each of the main planes – and it is helpful to identify them so that we don’t forget about them.

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Identifying planes A conceptual model for the planes of the face acts as a kind of template of how facial structure is usually arranged. When doing this there will always be a question of how complex this should be. A relatively simplified model is useful as a pattern that can be elaborated upon in many different ways – it also underscores the functionality of the structure as something to build on, a means rather than an end. In the model on the right, I've included seven light planes, seven shadow planes, and the axis of the plane break between the front and side plane – the latter runs from the edge of the forehead down and out to the wide point of the zygomatic, then back in at an angle to the outside of the ball of the chin.

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The main axis A) The plane break Forward light planes 1) Forehead 2) Upper eyelid 3) Zygomatic bone (cheekbone)

4) Upper plane of the nose 5) Top lip (moustache plane) 6) Lower lip 7) Top of ball of chin Backward shadow planes 1) Glabella

2) Eye socket 3) Lower eye lid 4) Underside of nose 5) Upper lip 6) Return plane between lower lip and chin 7) Underside of ball of chin

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A N AT O M Y

CASE STUDY Describing form with tone The great advantage of referring to our model of facial planes is that we read the face (and the features within it) as three-dimensional forms in space, rather than as two-dimensional details stuck on top of a flat surface.

This is consistent with what we are seeing in terms of light and shade and gives us a logic for the use of tone in our drawing or painting. It also helps address something that can be an issue in portrait drawing where too much emphasis (whether energy, time or concentration) is placed on the features (the eyes, nose and mouth, for example) and not enough on the spaces between them, which are also very important for drawing (in the same way as negative space is) and therefore for likeness.

The model of the planes acts as a template that can influence us both as a consistent foundation upon which to build, and as something from which the individual model diverges – to keep us alert to the unique and idiosyncratic qualities to which portraiture should tend. As the picture progresses the planar relationships become subsumed within the image, embedded within a foundation.

These foundations may then go on to become buried, hidden, emphasised or however we want to use them, for our own ends, as the study of a head develops into a portrait.

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A N AT O M Y

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So far, we have been looking at the planes as light and shadow under conventional lighting from above.

However, it can be fun to change the light source so that the model is illuminated from below. What we notice is that the same planes are there but that their roles are reversed, so the upper lip becomes a light plane and the lower lip a shadow plane for example, and so on.

This can be a good way of refreshing our idea of the face and also reemphasising the structures which lead to light and shadow planes.

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Begin with a sheet of toned paper (or lay down a mid-toned ground) so that you can work both up to the highlights and down to the shadows.

You can start with a little foundational drawing to establish the basic shapes but keep this very rough and simple – avoid doing too much line work or worrying about accuracy in this first step, as the drawing will develop over the next few stages.

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Roughly establish the light and shadow planes, paying particular attention to how forms come forward or go backwards in space. Block in all the main planes first, before trying to be very exact about any of them.

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With the main planes in place, we can start to adjust them. Trying to be sensitive to each plane and the

relationship between planes, shapes, sizes and proportions of the model.

Be especially keen to look out for any places where the conventional planar relationships are unusual or idiosyncratic.

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Progress the drawing, working towards more detail and greater tonal graduation – and likeness, if you’re lucky! www.alanmcgowan.com

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H O W I PA I N T

H O W I PA I N T

Katrina Wallis-King The newly-elected Pastel Society member tells STEVE PILL how bird nests, CBT training and willow charcoal have all played a part in her atmospheric mixed media art

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atrina was born in Windsor in 1963 and raised in Norway. She completed a BA in Archaeology at University College London and spent a year studying art at the SACI College of Art and Design in Florence.

Alongside her later career as a counsellor, Katrina continued to paint and make prints in her free time, before making the decision to devote more time to her art in 2018. Now based in Bath, Somerset, she was elected to the Pastel Society this summer, after being selected for its last three annual exhibitions. www.katrinawallisking.art

ABOVE Pine at Sundown, pastel, charcoal and acrylic on board, 59x59cm

services, helping people reconnect with all the things that matter to them, things that would give value to their lives, and I suddenly thought: “Hang on, Katrina – what about you?”

I decided I’ve got one life and I was going to give my art a go. I went off to a pastels workshop in deepest, darkest Devon. It felt like a profound experience for me. I was up close and personal to a live artist and I thought: “Hey, that could be me one day”.

How did you first develop your affinity with the landscape?

My mother is Norwegian, so I grew up there. I’ve got childhood memories of skiing, swimming in the fjords, going out hiking and all the different seasons of the year, so that obviously left an impression on me.

Was there a sense you had found your medium with pastels?

Yes, pastels and charcoal as well, just because I always love drawing.

They are the things I pick up most naturally. I’m really pleased I have stuck with pastels over the last two to three years, because actually I’ve found out much more about the medium. My drawing has got better and my use of colour.

When did art become a more serious pursuit for you?

It wasn’t until more recently. In 2018, I was at a crossroads in life: I was in my mid-50s and I had a reasonable talent for art, but I’d never paid enough attention to it.

I’d dipped in and out of life drawing classes for years. I would do one a year, which doesn’t sound a lot, but it is when you’re working. Whenever I did one, I was in seventh heaven.

I was working in drug and alcohol

Ok so what goes down first?

Firstly, I should say that nearly every subject I paint is somewhere I’ve visited and that matters to me. I will go with my sketchbook and my iPad camera to take references, then I will come home and draw a thumbnail to see if the composition works, before I upsize to what I hope to be the finished piece.

I work on gesso-primed mountboard generally, sometimes wooden board, and I break up the starkness of the

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white background with dilute acrylic.

Sometimes I want a certain colour to set the tone for the composition and sometimes it doesn’t really matter – it can be any colours that get splashed on just for the energy and process of breaking up the white so it’s not so scary. I might also distress the support’s surface, scratching where I know I also want to show drawn texture later.

Does charcoal come next?

Yes. If I’ve done a rough sketch first, then I can revisit that once I’ve splashed on the acrylic, sharpening 72 Artists

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up the drawing over the top. I use Coates willow charcoal, the medium size. I would like it to be a bit darker sometimes so I will use a black conte crayon instead because that has a really dense blackness to it. Derwent Charcoal pencils are great for control whilst sharpening up details too.

When you’re out in the landscape, what screams “paint me”?

I tell you what I love is patterns, things like plough lines in fields or the patterns in dried heather. Sometimes it can be the atmosphere of a place.

The Road to Exford, that place had an

atmosphere that I just felt.

I was driving through Exmoor and when I came over the brow of the hill, the whole atmosphere just changed, I thought: “This is a special place, I can feel it”. I jumped out of the car and padded about just taking it all in.

The line work in The Road to Exford is so dense. Where do you start?

You know, I would love to say I have a formula but that is really not the case.

With The Road to Exford, I actually took a risk putting down rather bizarre colours that didn’t make sense. It’s got all sorts of magentas and blues

ABOVE The Road to Exford, pastel, charcoal and acrylic on board, 42x42cm

TOP RIGHT Birch Grove II, pastel, charcoal and acrylic on board, 59x79cm

H O W I PA I N T

underneath. It had started with quite a lot of drawing underneath these colours, but I felt I would be able to revisit the trees afterwards.

In many of your paintings, two or three colours tend to dominate.

Do you plan those out?

No, it happens quite organically.

I sometimes feel like I should just add a colour here or there and suddenly the picture is populated by colours that sing together. By that point, it is instinctive and I’m just going with it.

I try to be disciplined at the outset but there comes a point where I have to hand myself over and let the painting speak to me.

You’re involved in mindfulness and CBT training through your counselling work. Does that feed into your practice at all?

I believe art is a therapeutic outlet and a form of self-expression, I firmly believe that. I think it can be for anybody that wants to give it a go.

Everything is valid when it comes to self-expression, you need to trust yourself a bit and mess about.

A lot of the shifts in my work have come about through thinking I can’t make another mind-blowing masterpiece, I’m just going to play.

And lo and behold, without that internal pressure, sometimes you get that gift.

One painting I really love is Eggs in the Nest. How did that come about?

That came about through playing.

I was walking my dog up where the rooks have their nests, and I found these little shells at the bottom of the tree. The colour of shells that had fallen wasn’t that electric, but that’s artistic license – and it works. I was thinking about the nests and I sat in my studio playing with that image.

The blue of the eggs could be overpowering but I like how you’ve picked out touches of the same colour elsewhere. Was that a conscious decision?

Most of that is me trying to balance out the overall composition. I thought the eggs were quite neat, so I wanted to use scribbly charcoal lines elsewhere, just an automatic drawing style, so I could see what happened.

That was a little breakthrough painting, I must explore that way of working again.

How did you create the speckled effect on the eggs?

I masked off the eggs with old envelopes and then mixed up a colour that was an approximation of the egg marks. I loaded the brush with watered-down acrylic and first practised pinging the brush onto a

Art is a therapeutic outlet...

Everything is valid when it comes to self-expression, you need to trust yourself a bit and mess about Artists & Illustrators 73

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bit of newspaper to see if I’d got the right consistency. I tried to be reasonably restrained and not get carried away with making everything spotty. I might also use splashes on my work if things are getting a bit too nice – I like to mess it up a bit.

Evening Star felt a bit more magical and less grounded in reality than your other paintings. Is that a direction you might explore?

That was a revived painting, which I made initially for the joy of drawing – the central pine tree. It sat unresolved for a good eight months until my son said he really liked it, so I dusted it down and revisited it. It took on this fairy-tale quality. I had doubts about that, but I went with it.

What elements did you add or change on it?

I deepened the darks at the front where the viewer is stood, and I also darkened the spooky upright distant pines. I wanted people to wonder what goes on beyond the trees.

I made attempts to add some rough vegetation but actually that made it too fussy, so I went with the simpler, more gothic look.

As a largely self-taught artist, do you ever look at the work of other artists to learn things from them?

When I look at paintings, it is the emotional response that first hooks me in and then I will go back and think, “Why does that work?”

My absolute hero is Isaac Levitan, the Russian landscape painter – I love, love, love his work. It’s probably deeply unfashionable but I don’t care, it just works for me.

I also love Andrew Wyeth, Peder Balke and Kathe Kollwitz – she makes me cry, her stuff really gets me.

Also, she draws beautifully and there’s a lot of social commentary in her work that appeals to me.

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ABOVE Evening Star, pastel, charcoal and acrylic on board, 59x59cm

H O W I PA I N T

I might use splashes of acrylic on my work if things are getting a bit too nice – I like to mess it up a bit

Charcoal and pastel are notoriously messy mediums. How do you control that in the studio?

Well, my hoover bag is frequently choked with dust! I’m quite deft at keeping different areas clean and washing my hands endlessly. I’ve got this wild side and I’ve got this really anal side, so I can be quite organised and disciplined when I’m storing and framing things.

My studio is a tiny little space that I carved out for myself in our house and it is a bomb site, but I know how it works and, periodically to shift the energy when I get stuck, I will do a tidy and I am always shocked by how messy it has become.

ABOVE Eggs in the Nest, charcoal, pastel and acrylic on board, 24x24cm

Do you ever use varnishes or fixatives to finish your artworks?

I use Daler-Rowney’s Perfix Colourless Fixative but not too much of it. That is the only one that works for me.

I’ve tried others in the past, and they were disastrous.

If you use too much varnish – and it can happen easily with just one spray too many – suddenly everything can become one dull, clumpy colour and then you’ve killed a picture, you’ve lost the brightness and the mark making.

Now I tend to spray from really quite far away. I stand on top of a chair, doing little bursts of fixative and watching it settle.

ABOVE Little Alpine (Foxfield Allotment to Cow How and Birch Fell), oil on canvas, 76x91cm

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PROJECT

Autumn Walks

Join illustrator EMMA LEYFIELD for a brisk seasonal jaunt as she hunts out suitable subject matter for this month’s colourful watercolour project

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utumn is here – full of conkers, jam making, and long nights drawing in. The hedgerows are full of life and the trees are turning gold to drop their leaves, but most of us spend a lot less time in the natural world than we once did, missing the magic of the changing seasons. I always feel that the autumn months are the beginning of a time spent in quiet craft, a form of creative hibernation, but this is interspersed with brisk walks to blow away the cobwebs and remind me of the inspiration of the world outside.

So many of us have turned to nature for solace during the pandemic, and this has really brought to light the benefits for our physical and mental wellbeing of time spent walking in the natural world. The links between walking or mindful activities and improved health have been widely studied and shown to improve your sleep, mood and self-esteem, as well as reduce stress and anxiety. Creating art is the perfect balance to this; it is a fantastic way to incorporate nature into our home lives and appreciate the world in a different way. It can also provide an additional opportunity for quiet and mindful practice, perfectly suited to a blustery afternoon, cup of tea in hand and paint at the ready.

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I am one of those people who unconsciously picks leaves and flowers as I walk, constantly keeping an eye out for things that inspire my work. So, whether it’s a blustery day where the wind whips up the leaves; a mild one, when the sun sets off a fiery display across golden hills and woodlands; or an early cold snap, with a crunch on the ground and a nip in the air, scented with wood-fires, I’ll return home feeling rosy-cheeked and exhausted, ready to put the kettle on and examine my collection.

My post-walk pockets will overflow with leaves, brambles and feathers, as well as some long-lasting sweet peas and nasturtiums. If you are interested in nature journaling, sketch-booking, or just painting, then this project is an ideal way to fill a few pages and pause to look at the season around us. I find this way of working is particularly useful when I’m feeling stuck for inspiration, as I can record the landscape without committing to a traditional picture. You can choose a leaf with interesting colours to fill a single spread in your sketchbook or create a full page of assorted hedgerow finds. Observational drawing is a good exercise for any artist and can be an inspiring activity for children, for whom a walk to collect things like conkers and autumn leaves can be a comforting childhood staple.

ABOVE AND TOP RIGHT A selection of Emma's seasonal sketchbook entries

PROJECT

WET-ON-WET PAINTING To create a soft colour gradient, it’s important to have the right water-to-paint ratio. Making test swatches for each colour in your palette (and even a few mixes relevant to your subject) can help you understand how much water is needed to activate the pigments, allow them to mix fluidly, and also see how they dry.

Build your colours from light to dark. If you have bright and unrealistic pigments, mix them with a touch of a complementary colour to achieve more natural results – so, for example, tone down a lurid green with a little red.

Artists & Illustrators 77

PROJECT

PROJECT Leaf Painting Aim To paint an accurate and beautiful page of autumn leaves to record the season.

Duration 1-2 hours after walking.

What you will need First you need a good quality paper that will stand up to a few watercolour washes.

For drawing, try a B or HB pencil and a waterproof fineliner – I used a Uni-Ball Uni Pin 0.3 for this example.

And finally, a watercolour kit: A water pot, artists’ quality paints and a larger brush, sized 8-12 – I chose an R2 Pocket Pure Kolinsky Sable pointed size 8 travel brush from Rosemary & Co. I also used kitchen roll sparingly to adjust my water-topaint ratio.

What you will learn As well as improving your observational skills, this project will provide a chance to improve your skills of composition, proportion, drawing and colour mixing.

Process Set out to walk somewhere and look for things that inspire or interest you – this could be a 20-minute wander or several hours spent exploring.

Collect these objects and bring them home with you.

Back at home, choose a few leaves to paint and place them directly onto your paper. Move them around until you find a pleasing composition.

Note the placement of each item by putting a few light pencil marks around them. Observe them carefully, then connect these marks to create simplified shapes. These guidelines will help form the proportions and check the composition.

Take a step back to consider the placement and size of your leaves on the page. You don’t want to end up with a beautiful drawing only to realise it’s too small or too far to the left. Make adjustments if necessary and once you are happy, add more 78 Artists

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PROJECT

detail in pencil to better define the leaves. I tend to do this step quite quickly, as limiting the pencil can mean the subsequent pen work has more life and movement, but you can take as much time as you like here to perfect the under-drawing.

Next add the pen. In this example, I drew the detail with a fineliner pen after doing only the basic proportions in pencil. I wanted this to be recognisable, so I really focused on distinctive features. A good tip is to avoid “fluffy” lines; a slightly wonky

yet confident line is much less noticeable than a dark, fluffy one that you’ve gone over multiple times.

Make sure to rub out your pencil after this stage if you don't want it to show through the paint.

Now it is time for watercolour.

Before you begin to paint, look closely for a few minutes at all the colours on your leaves. Don’t be tempted to only use bright pigments – lots of beautiful plants have browns, greys, and dark greens in them too. In this example, I have

painted the leaves with a wet-on-wet layer (see box on page 77). This allows the colours to blend and dry without creating hard lines, which mimics the softer transitions in nature. Try not to fiddle with the colours once you put them on as moving them around the page can muddy them. If your colours dry lighter than hoped, a second layer may be needed.

After the main painting is dry, you can add shadows to create more dimension in your leaves. Take note of the direction of the light and only paint shadows where you can see them. If an object is casting more than one shadow due to overhead lights, pick the strongest and ignore the others. This is always easiest in natural light.

Watercolourists don’t really use black because it can overpower or dull paintings, especially when mixed. Try creating dark shadowy greys by mixing two complementary colours instead. For example, I prefer my shadows to err on the side of blue, so I mixed Cobalt Blue with a small amount of Burnt Sienna (an orangey complementary to blue) to dull it down slightly. www.valerian.com

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Painting myself naked shows me in a raw and vulnerable state, but also a defiant one I had a large G&T to celebrate winning the Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize. It was very exciting – it means that my exploration of what it is to be human in this world has been recognised.

JONES The winner of this year’s Ruth Borchard SelfPortrait Prize on what it means to be human.

Interview: REBECCA BRADBURY

I used metallic paint as a suggestion of something precious. Originally, I was going to have a black background, but the framework of the door held me within the painting, making me more static. And the cooler colours looked well against the gold and bronze.

Painting is the best way I’ve found to explore, express, and share my experience. While my portraits explore what it is to be human, I have never populated my landscapes or townscapes with people, as we are essentially alone in the world.

Nearly all my portraits have been of people I know quite well. I’ve only done one portrait where I have not known the person I was painting – that was Grayson Perry for a commission for the Attenborough Arts Centre in Leicester.

It’s almost impossible to pick a favourite artist, but Rembrandt is up there. His observations are so astute – particularly of himself, for his self-portraits.

I recently went to Rodin’s exhibition at Tate Modern.

[The Making of Rodin, until 21 November]. He was so interested in nailing the person and their hands; he found them part of the expressive nature of being human and it’s something which is important in my work as well.

My cerebral palsy has caused me to slow down over the last few years. Physically it is difficult, even getting the last bit of paint out of the tube. If I were heavier, it might be easier standing on the ends of tubes to squeeze out the paint.

If I could talk to my younger self, I’d tell myself that it will all be alright in the end. That I will slowly become a good, perceptive painter. www.ruthborchard.org.uk

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© LUCY JONES. COURTESY OF FLOWERS GALLERY, LONDON AND NEW YORK. GIN PHOTO: JEZ TIMMS/UNSPLASH

Lucy MEET THE ARTIST

My entry [Being 66, Being] gives a nod to old age.

In the last 12 months, life has been in suspension for all of us. Such a year of tragedy has left us in a raw and vulnerable place. Painting myself naked shows me in a vulnerable state, but also a defiant one.

d l r o w e h t g n i t . n t i i Pa e e s I y a t h e w B e ca u s e I ca n .

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