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I M P ROV I N G YO U R A R T W ITH E V E RY I S S U E
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Jonathan Yeo
The world’s most popular portrait painter shares his secrets
Send them something special
Make your own Christmas cards – we show you how
How to paint the ordinary – and make it extraordinary
David Hockney The drawings of an early genius
H O W I WORK IN T H E S TUDI O
Jonathan Yeo Renowned for pushing the boundaries of portraiture and challenging the very essence of art itself, one of the world’s most in-demand portrait artists, JONATHAN YEO, is a vibrant luminary in the contemporary art scene, says Ramsha Vistro ▸ 20 ARTISTS & ILLUSTRATORS
Claire’s Room (Grayson Perry), oil on canvas, 127x101cm
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H O W I W O R K HO W I PA I NT
Tony Allain
Self-taught landscape artist, TONY ALLAIN tells Sarah Edghill about his love of colour and light, and how his extensive travels have influenced his work
T Bennybeg Farm, pastel, 50x65cm
ony Allain was five years old when he was caught drawing butterflies on the wallpaper in the family dining room, and the artistic bug never went away. As a small boy, growing up in the Channel Islands, his spare time was spent sketching – often ink drawings from life – and as an adult landscape artist, he paints vibrant and dynamic work that celebrates the colour and light that he sees in the world around him. Completely self-taught, he was lucky enough to have a good art master at primary school who recognised his natural talent and enthusiasm and encouraged him to continue. Tony says “he was a wonderful man” who took him under his wing and introduced him to watercolour, which was a natural progression and enhanced his ink drawings and guided Tony towards Impressionism. Sadly, he died after just a year of mentoring the young artist, so that was the end of his formal training. From then on, Tony was flying solo. Today, his work has become highly sought after and can be found in many leading galleries, as well as in private and corporate collections. Tony is a member of the Pastel Society London and the Royal Society of Marine Artists, among others. tonyallainfineart.com ▸ ARTISTS & ILLUSTRATORS 29
THE BIG INTERVI EW
Tamara Williams British semi-abstract painter TAMARA WILLIAMS’ design background strongly influences her work. Sara Mumtaz learns more about other inspirations behind the artist’s practice
B
orn in a family of creatives, Tamara Williams’ love of art comes naturally. A contemporary British painter, designer and printmaker, she creates art which is a blend of texture, mark-making, letterpress and mono-printing. At a young age, she referred to her drawings as a visual diary which helped translate and capture the true essence of what she felt in the moment. Tamara’s work is hugely inspired by her surroundings whilst she finds that daydreaming is the best form of inspiration. She lets her intuition guide her artwork and take her someplace ‘other;’ somewhere she hadn’t planned. Through her art, she hopes to emotionally connect with her audience by 3 4 ARTISTS & ILLUSTRATORS
capturing a moment that she didn’t know existed for them. With a degree in graphic design – and having worked with the likes of Marks & Spencer and Burberry – Tamara eventually decided to revisit her love of printmaking. She is the co-creator of Ruby-Kite, a brand which creates timeless, wearable art pieces. The process of seeing colour stories from her paintings come to life on silk and cashmere is rewarding. She says, “Our aim is to create treasured, timeless pieces that prioritise longevity over fast fashion; original art scarves that stand-out in a world of mass production. Making our products as sustainable as possible is key.” tamarawilliams.co.uk ▶
The Sun Stepped Back, acrylic, emulsion, ink, oil pastel and wax on canvas, 65x65cm
Philip Guston: passion painting
Always marrying the personal with the political, PHILIP GUSTON ’s career defied categorisation. As a new retrospective opens at Tate Modern, Martha Alexander takes a closer look at the extraordinary life and works of one of the 20th century’s most intriguing painters
© ESTATE OF PHILIP GUSTON, COURTESY HAUSER & WIRTH
K
ettles, Klansmen, the soles of shoes, stray limbs and loose irons; colours by turns as vivid as children’s picture books or as thick and black as a starless night. This is just the smallest slice of what is in store at the Philip Guston retrospective at Tate Modern, the first of its kind on UK soil in 20 years. Laid out chronologically, visitors will explore the Montreal-born artist’s 50-year career which started as a Los Angeles schoolboy and ended as a recluse in upstate New York. Guston’s biography is extraordinary and his reach, immeasurable. He was largely self-taught; his work was informed variously by cartoon imagery, European Old Masters painting, surrealism and Mexican muralism. His own drawings and paintings are all shot through with his experiences of and reaction to familial tragedy, social injustice and activism. His work is by turns funny, elegant and heart-breaking. He is now,
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over 40 years after his death, hard to categorise. And yet Guston isn’t a household name, unlike his childhood friend Jackson Pollock, or Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning, both of whom he worked alongside as part of the New York School in the 1950s. He was born Phillip Goldstein in Montreal, Canada in 1913 to Jewish parents who had fled persecution in present-day Ukraine. But by 1922, Guston and his family had relocated to Los Angeles. The following year, his father, Louis – depressed and in low-paid work with a large family to support – took his own life. Newspaper reports from 1923 say Guston’s mother discovered the body, but Guston later claimed he was the one who found his father. Either way, such a loss at such a formative age cannot have failed to have a profound impact on a young boy. The years which came after saw Guston lean into drawing, often practising in the privacy of his closet – paper lit by ▸
R E T REOXSHIPEB CT I T I OVNE
Bombardment, 1937, oil paint on paper, 106.7cm ARTISTS & ILLUSTRATORS 51
Cloud Light, oil, 31x41cm
Picture this
In every issue, we ask an artist to tell us about a piece of work that holds significance. This month, we speak to Canadian landscape artist DAVID SHARPE It was a very cold, late afternoon with snow on the way when I painted this piece. It captures an end-of-day light effect that I see a lot in the sky here from my studio in Alberta’s mountain foothills. It evokes a sense of peace and serenity. Having been a graphic designer for many years, I tend to favour simple landscapes with a strong design. It’s a simple semi-diagonal shape of warm colours against the cold blues of the sky and ground 82 ARTISTS & ILLUSTRATORS
plane. It’s done in oil on a birch panel and I used oil for its ability to deliver intense colour and blending. I was inspired by the design of the dramatic slice of light behind the massive cloud bank. I hope the viewer feels the same sense of beauty from the light that I felt when I painted it. I hope they are struck by the splendour and simplicity of that streak as it reflects up into the sky; it’s my favourite part. sharpegallery.com ▫