FOR ARTISTS OF ALL ABILITIES
Artists & I L L U S T R A T O R S
TIPS • TECHNIQUES • IDEAS • INSPIR ATION
Be more creative
Mark Hearld's secrets to painting every day
December 2021 £4.99
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Coloured pencil sets worth
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Winnie-the-Pooh Redrawing a classic
• Layered portraits • Colourful still life • Collage flowers
FLUID SHAPES & LINES
“Wild Rose”, 12”x12”. Nitram Fusain Aquarelle, Nitram Liquid Charcoal and Nitram Bâtons on hot press paper
NITRAM FUSAIN AQUARELLE “My work is a semi-abstract interpretation of the natural world with a focus on fluid shapes and lines. It’s the constant movement throughout the piece that I am interested in creating; to keep the eye lingering and coming back for more. For this piece titled Wild Rose, I used three Nitram products: the new Nitram Aquarelle, Liquid Charcoal & Charcoal Bâtons. The performance of each product was remarkable. The particles of dry charcoal from the sticks were easy to blend and added detail and texture. The Liquid Charcoal and Aquarelle watercolor charcoal mediums dry well and the blacks retain their strength and density. I love the combination of depth and subtle softness.” ~ Pamela Harnois
Nitram Fusain Aquarelle Charcoal Watercolor
Learn how Pamela Harnois used Nitram Fusain Aquarelle, Nitram Liquid Charcoal and Nitram Bâtons to create her artwork. Go to: https://bit.ly/3DDkgif or scan the QR code to watch the video now! A classically trained fine artist, Pamela Harnois has been experimenting with her craft for over 25 years working primarily in watercolor, charcoal, graphite and ink. Pamela graduated with honors from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and holds a degree in Fine Arts. Pamela’s signature style is light and loose and she has created a varied art collection of florals, still lifes, landscapes and seascapes. A longtime resident of Southern California, Pamela now lives and works in beautiful Northwest Connecticut, where she gives online art lessons and maintains an active Instagram following of more than 24K artists from around the world. www.pamelaharnois.com | www.Instagram.com/pamelaharnoisart | www.facebook.com/pamelaharnoisart
NITRAM
TM MC
www.fusainaquarelle.com
FINE ART CHARCOAL
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 Acting Art Editor Andrea Lynch Assistant Editor Rebecca Bradbury Contributors Martha Alexander, Grahame Booth, Laura Boswell, Kirsten Britt, Lizet Dingemans, Aine Divine, James Fox, Sally Hales, Peter Keegan, Sarah Nisbett 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
COVER ARTWORK MARK HEARLD
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Welcome Life is hard. And so is drawing. In fact, sometimes I think drawing might be the harder of the two. Just the other day, I was staring at my hand and struggling to quite work out why the arrangement of stubby digits in front of me did not in any way match the mishmash of graphite lines on the paper to one side. Surely it shouldn't be this difficult, I thought: you see a thing, you draw that thing. Yet if we could all do it first time, where would the fun in that be? Hands have always been my artistic nemesis. My life drawings, especially the quicker ones, tend to stop somewhere along the forearms. I like to kid myself that it's a nod to ancient Greek sculpture – the Venus de Milo looked just fine without hands – yet in truth, I'm simply avoiding that trickiest of subjects. Anyway, there is a point to me sharing my artistic shortcomings. In a forthcoming issue, we will be looking in depth at the various subjects or techniques that you find the hardest – but first we want to know what it is and why you struggle with it. Write to us and we'll commission our experts to answer the most common or unusual problems and give you all the practical advice you need. At Artists & Illustrators, we're always here to offer you a helping hand... Just don't ask me to draw it for you. Steve Pill, Editor
Write to us!
Which subject or technique do you find the trickiest? Share your thoughts, we're here to help: info@artistsandillustrators.co.uk @AandImagazine
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Artists & Illustrators 3
Contents 46
64
Learn to layer up portraits in watercolour
Survey's show that in almost every country in the world, people's favourite colour is blue – D R JAM ES FOX , PAG E 30
68
REGULARS 6 Letters Win a £50 Atlantis Art voucher
30 Art Histor y
56 Technique Learn about the classic Loomis method of drawing the head
Quick tips, ideas and inspiration
From Turner's yellows to Monet's purples, Dr James Fox looks at the favourite hues of the great artists
16 Fresh Paint
36 In The Studio
New artworks, fresh off the easel
Artist-designer Mark Hearld invites us into his shared York studio ahead of a major new show
Cloudy days needn't mean dull paintings, says Grahame Booth
8
Exhibitions
The five best art shows this month
11 Sketchbook
28 The Working Artist With our columnist Laura Boswell
43 Prize Draw Win £1,200 of Caran d'Ache sets
82 Meet the Artist With Cos Colours' Ameenah Begum
INSPIRATION 22 Feature Illustrating classic Winnie-the-Pooh characters for a modern audience
TECHNIQUES 46 Masterclass
ator Illu s t r g e s s B ur M ark a atin g is up d s erie s c cla s si ge 22 – pa
60 Demo 64 Mixed Media It's time to rip it up as Aine Divine shows you how to incorporate paper collage into mixed media art
68 How I Paint
Kirsten Britt explains how to build a portrait in economic layers of pure colour and simple lines
Royal Watercolour Society member Peter Quinn shares his street scene painting techniques
52 Principles of Depth
74 Still Life Workshop
Jake Spicer's six-part series looks at how to use linear perspective
Our three-part series continues with a focus on vibrant colour
Artists & Illustrators 5
Letters Write to us!
LET TER OF THE MONTH
Send your letter or email to the addresses below:
A PROFOUND CONNECTION
READY TO COMPETE I was so thrilled to learn, from the recent Artists & Illustrators newsletter, that one of my artworks had been featured in last month’s competition. I can’t tell you how overjoyed I am, as to be honest, upon entering this competition (the first art competition I have ever entered), I was very blasé and almost didn’t want to put my work out there yet, as I didn’t consider my style cemented or by any means ready. I am feeling so grateful to you for choosing my work, it’s an honour to be considered by such a prestigious publication. Thank you to all at Artists & Illustrators for making my day, month or possibly even my year. 6 Artists
& Illustrators
POST: Your Letters, Artists & Illustrators, The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd., Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London SW3 3TQ EMAIL: info@artists andillustrators.co.uk The writer of our “letter of the month” will receive a £50 gift voucher to spend with Atlantis Art, the UK’s largest art materials store. www.atlantisart.co.uk
We are so sorry to hear of your loss Dawn and very grateful for you sharing your story. I do hope you get the chance to experience John Henry Lorimer's painting in person at Edinburgh’s City Art Centre as the exhibition runs until 20 March 2022.
I’m totally enthused and encouraged to keep going, learning and producing more art. Manos Felice, via email Thanks for your entry, Manos. Readers can sign up for our newsletters at www.artists andillustrators.co.uk for the chance to enter more great competitions. FUTURE HISTORIES I have really enjoyed reading about sketchbooks used by artists and the suggestions of different ways we can record information. I have kept sketchbooks for a few years and revisiting them brings back memories and incidents which
sometimes I had forgotten. Many years ago, previous generations kept autograph books. My mother had an autograph book which had illustrations as well as words by contributors. These beautiful illustrations are a mirror into her young adult years – pictures showing the landscape as it was then, and the travel taken or the fashion of the time. There are some light-hearted entries depicting the humour of that era. They give me enormous pleasure. Maybe in the future our ancestors can revisit our lives through the illustrations we have recorded? Alison Petley, via email
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
WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO EDIT LETTERS FOR PUBLICATION
I just wanted to write to thank you for the most wonderful moment of reconnection. My four-year-old daughter heartbreakingly died in hospital with pneumonia in July this year. Since then, I have struggled to connect with any artwork until I bought the November issue of Artists & Illustrators and saw The Flight of the Swallows by John Henry Lorimer in your Exhibitions. I’d not seen this work before but felt instantly drawn to it. I connected with it on a deep level. When my daughter died, I’d looked out of the hospital window to see some swallows dancing in the sky. The figures in Lorimer’s painting spoke to me as different aspects of myself: the crying child, my despair at the loss; the excited child, my hope for her freedom; the central child, the numbness of bereavement, and the mother figure, a resolution of all these emotions into a sense of acceptance, balance and peace. I immediately ordered a print of the image online and will display it somewhere I can see it daily to remind me of this profound reconnection and the validation of the complex mixture of emotions we all carry with us, particularly following the death of a child. I don’t know what Lorimer had intended for the image, but maybe that’s largely what art is: the viewer taking from it what they need in the moment. I’m guessing he may never have thought how helpful his artwork could be this many years later for a grieving parent. Thanks for the exposure to this piece of artwork. Dawn Starley, via email
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Exhibitions DECEMBER’S BEST ART SHOWS
BETSY BRADLEY: CHASING RAINBOWS
LIFE BETWEEN ISLANDS: CARIBBEAN-BRITISH ART 1950S TO NOW
1 December to 3 April 2022 Marginalised voices regularly get left out of the art history books but seeking to shine a light on some oft-forgotten stories is this collection from artists of Caribbean heritage or those inspired by the region. Artists from the Windrush generation, including Denzil
Forrester, will have paintings [above] on show alongside political pieces from the Black Power Movement, while work from either side of the new millennium and today’s emerging names continue to illuminate themes relevant to the Caribbean-British population and beyond. Tate Britain, London. www.tate.org.uk
COLLECTION SHANE AKEROYD, LONDON © DENZIL FORRESTER
3 December to 13 February 2021 Artists have a knack for finding beauty in the mundane and this includes Betsy Bradley, who has taken inspiration from things such as patinated billboards and light pollution for her latest body of work. What sets the Midlands-based abstract painter apart, however, is the voile and organza she uses as supports. These translucent fabrics will interact with the gallery lights in a way unlike one you may have ever experienced before. Ikon, Birmingham. www.ikon-gallery.org
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COURTESY THE ARTIST
20 November to 27 February 2022 In this digital age of connectivity, it’s easy to forget how far artists would have had to venture to seek out new influences. Case in point is German-born artist Albrecht Dürer, who travelled across Europe from the mid-1490s onwards. This show chronicles the journeys he took, via paintings such as Madonna and Child, making its UK debut. National Gallery, London. www.nationalgallery.org.uk
© NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, WASHINGTON
DÜRER’S JOURNEYS: TRAVELS OF A RENAISSANCE ARTIST
Visited an exhibition lately? Write to us with your opinions and recommendations via the addresses on page 3
ALISON WATT: A PORTRAIT WITHOUT LIKENESS
© ALISON WATT
Until 9 January 2022 Alison Watt is best known for her large-scale, detailed paintings of folded drapery, a subject she was not content to leave in the background of her acclaimed figurative work. Here she brings still life to the fore, taking subjects not from her own work, but that of 18th-century painter and fellow Scot Allan Ramsay. Closing in the New Year, this is your last chance to see Watt’s delicate brushwork up close in subjects such as ribbon, lace and flowers, reimagined from Ramsay’s portraits of women, also on show. Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh. www.nationalgalleries.org
© CHRIS MOULD
MYTHS AND MONSTERS
27 November to 27 February 2022 Our first encounters with the immersive power of art are likely to be through the picture books we devour in childhood. Celebrating this magical mode of storytelling is this family-friendly showcase of mythical characters drawn by our nation’s favourite illustrators, from established talent like The Gruffalo’s Axel Scheffler and How to Train Your Dragon’s Cressida Cowell, to Chris Mould, recently acclaimed for his reimagining of Ted Hughes’ The Iron Man [right]. Victoria Art Gallery, Bath. www.victoriagal.org.uk
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