Issue No.35 R50.00 incl vat
FEATURED ARTISTS: Kealeboga Tlalang • Karen Wykerd Linda Rademan • Barbi Vanderwalle Elize Bezuidenhout • Mariana Zwaan Henriëtte van Staden • Su Wolf Amy Jane van den Burgh • Sue Hoppe
• the magic of collage • working with gold leaf • 30 minute watercolour warm-up
Issue 35 ISSUE 35
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A note from the studio Feedback Quick Art Quiz What’s Happening? The Business of Art: Malcolm Dewey FEATURED ARTIST: MARIANA ZWAAN DE BRUIN What’s in Store? FEATURED ARTIST: AMY JANE VAN DEN BURGH FEATURED ARTIST: HENRIËTTE VAN STADEN 30 Minute Warm Up: LESLEY MILNE FEATURED ARTIST: SUE HOPPE Getting Started with Oils 2
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FEATURED ARTIST: KEALEBOGA TLALANG FEATURED ARTIST: SUE WOLF Big Painting Challenge No.5 Winner FEATURED ARTIST: KAREN WYKERD Portrait Demonstration: ELIZE BEZUIDENHOUT Life of a Working Artist: ANA DE VLIEG FEATURED ARTIST: BARBI VANDEWALLE Plein Air Painting Quick Art Quiz Answers FEATURED ARTIST: LINDA RADEMAN Q&A Classes and Workshops
FEATURED ARTIST: MARIANA ZWAAN DE BRUIN
Oils
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Above: Royalty Revisited; 100 x 120 cm Below: A place called elsewhere; 80 x 80 cm
vitality &
movement
Every painting tells a story and Mariana Zwaan attempts to tell her own experience of the subject. She identifies the main ‘character’ of the story and allocates it to the most pleasing place on the canvas, so that the design flows strongly. “A definite plan and direction ensure that I have a clear understanding of the composition and design, the atmosphere and emotion I want to portray. Thumbnail sketches also give me an idea of the values I want to use, to leave out what is not needed and link shapes to create a pleasing pattern.” 13
FEATURED ARTIST: AMY JANE VAN DEN BERGH
photo: Daniel West
Mixed Media
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Above: Keeping clean;
Right: Reflections of a lark;
both paintings: 80 cm x 1 m oils; variegated gold/silver leaf
flight &
feathers
Amy Jane van den Bergh’s earliest, and also possibly most vivid memory, is of feeding the pigeons on the Durban promenade with her grandmother. In fact, she says that almost all of her memories, in some shape or form, are connected to birds, insects, flying or nature. “My sketchbooks are full of them, and with each drawing of a bird I can recall the emotion and happening of that day. My birds, for me, are the guards of my memories, and the guides of my art journey.” From a young age, she loved art and found the process of creating extremely meditative – finding an escapism within her colouring in books. As a young artist, the goal was always to master realism – to mimic a camera lens. “However, as I grew older I learnt to let go of these hyper-realistic urges, 19
FEATURED ARTIST: HENRIËTTE VAN STADEN
Pastels
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Left: I saw you; coloured pencil on Fabriano Artistico HP 300gms; 30 x 40cm Above: Lashes; coloured pencil on Fabriano Artistico HP 300gms; 40 x 30cm Below left: A Mother’s love; coloured pencil on Fabriano Artistico HP 300gsm; 30 x 40cm Below: Chestnut; pastel pencil on Sienna Clairefonteine Pastelmat; 30 x 40cm Opposite top left: Roller; pastel pencil on Clairefonteine Pastelmat; 24 x 30cm Opposite top right: Rupert; pastel pencil and PanPastel on Clairefonteine Pastelmat 24 x 30cm Opposite bottom: Glossy starling; Pastel Pencil on Clairefonteine Pastelmat, 30 x 24cm
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FEATURED ARTIST: SUE HOPPE
Mixed Media
Above: Under Weeping African Skies 90 x 110 cm oil on Canvas
mixed media
memories
Sue Hoppe is a painter and photographer from Port Elizabeth. She says that describing her work and processes is a way bigger challenge than actually producing the work, because it is so eclectic and her methods so diverse. “I had a website built recently and scanning through work from the last decade looks like a group show. Materials went from ceramics to straight oil on canvas, to doing lino prints with paints on canvas, then adding photos, with detours to ink painting, charcoal drawing on canvas, and then over the years, experimenting more and more with encaustic, until it has become my primary medium”. Her first love, creatively, is photography, which she has experimented with since childhood. From an early age, she studied anything she could find about the technical side as well. “When I left ‘varsity, (Pmb, where I studied sciences, not art) I did a spell as a portrait and wedding photographer with a professional studio, and also moved to Joburg for a while, to work in a colour processing lab. When my husband and I met, we discovered it was one of our common passions, and a priority in our first home was to set up a darkroom. In recent years, we 33
Below: Politicians and the People 1x1m oil on canvas
FEATURED ARTIST: KEALEBOGA TLALANG
Collage
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All mixed media collage: Top left: Karabo; 136 x 90 cm Top middle: Lesedi; 160 x 120 cm Top right: Music into the equation by Arch Junior; 160 x 120 cm Middle left: Dancing in colour; 120 x 120 cm Middle right: Dream Chaser; 160 x 120 cm Left: Remembering Granpa’s fire stories; 160 x 120 cm
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FEATURED ARTIST: SU WOLF
Acrylics
Above: Pink Flamingoes 27.5 x 35 cm acrylic on canvas board Far left: Moonlight Serenade 30 x 24 cm acrylic on canvas board Left: Three in a Tree 36 x 19 cm acrylic on canvas board Opposite top: Betty’s Bay clouds 20 x 25 cm oil on canvas Opposite bottom: Betty’s Bay - en plein air 20 x 25 cm oil on canvas
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FEATURED ARTIST: KAREN WYKERD
oils
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that assist in capturing the mood and fleeting moments rather than the specific details. “I also enjoy mixed media working in acrylic, watercolour and onto various surfaces such as wood and glass. Recently I have started embroidering, which is extremely therapeutic and also allows me to create after hours and away from the studio”. Promotion of her work is mainly through the marketing and PR activities of the galleries that represent her. “I also manage my personal social media platforms where I showcase my work. Our studio hosts open studio evenings and exhibitions which also assist in marketing my work”.
Above left: Harbour View 50 x 50 cm oil on canvas
Below left: Life is but a shadow; a shadow of a bird on the wing 37 x 42 cm oil on wood panel
Above: Make haste, but slowly 37 x 42 cm oil on wood panel
Her thoughts on making a career in the visual arts: “An artist’s life is not always a glamorous as it sounds, I have found that a good work ethic is key and one needs to be dedicated and driven to produce consistently, despite creative blocks and negativity that may stem from unsuccessful endeavours”.
Watch “In the studio with Karen Wykerd” by scanning this QR code. For more info on how QR codes work, see page 4.
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Below: I am moved by the light 120 x 100 cm oil on canvas
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Before painting the face, the background area directly behind the face is painted. I work from dark to light and from back to front, giving special attention to edges. I like to make use of lost edges and therefore keep the edges soft.
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STEP 3: Once the skin is covered, the fun starts – painting the detail, more detail at the focal area, and less away from the focal area. It is still important to work with the correct tonal values. The darks should be dark enough and the lights should be light enough. This prevents the portrait from looking flat. I prefer to start with the eyes and then work outwards. I let it develop by adding more and more detail such as wrinkles, scars and the reflections of light and colour on the skin. This is my favourite part! STEP 4: There are so many different colours on the skin, purples, greens, reds, yellows, and especially the blues on this one. I photographed my model during the “golden hour� of the day, which resulted in a lot of lovely rich colours reflecting on the skin. What I see first is what I paint last: so I paint the skin underneath the eyebrows first, then only, when I am happy with the shapes, tonal value and colour, I paint eyebrows. The same goes for beards and moustaches. STEP 5: When I am happy with the detail on the skin I complete the background. As I used the blueish reflections of the late afternoon light on the skin, I make sure I repeat it in the background. Next, I paint the clothes, scarves and other accessories. A great deal of attention is still given to the edges.
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THE LIFE OF A WORKING ARTIST
by Ana de Vlieg
a mindful
elephant moment
Sentences like “being present in the moment”, “being mindful of your reality and the feelings this invokes in you” all serve to guide one into a state of true “seeing”. This is the foundation for the growth in art making. Have you ever wondered why your mind is often on the next thought before completing the present one? It shows in my less than completed sentences uttered in enthusiasm ending in a fog at times...
Ana Pereira de Vlieg is a practicing South African Artist born in Mocambique. Having studied Fine Art and Post Graduate Education and managed and designed for a furniture creation company back in the 80’s, Ana now runs private art sessions, teaches, trains and encourages the therapeutic benefits of art. Her passion is colour mixing and meaning, art as healing.She has developed a drawing course called “Draw your way to Seeing” to teach the skills of formal art and to determine one’s own signature within the safe environment of her studio. 60
FEATURED ARTIST: BARBI VANDEWALLE
Watercolours
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Above: Beached 1; 26 x 40 cm
Right middle: River Bluegums; 38 x 60 cm
Above right: Beached 2; 26 x 40 cm
Right bottom: Winter on Klip; 38 x 60 cm
Right: Standing Tall; 35 x 55 cm
Below: Heavy Load; 60 x 38 cm
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FEATURED ARTIST: LINDA RADEMAN
Mixed Media
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His master’s voice, (figure 6) consists of a blown-up colour photocopy of a two Rand note, circa 1973, with Jan van Riebeeck’s face removed and an embroidered portrait of my father, inserted instead. The president of the reserve bank’s signature is replaced by my father’s signature, as well as a typographic alteration from ‘Reserve bank’ to ‘Reserved bank’. This parody suggests the ultimate familial patriarchal authority at the time when men were accepted as the sole financial providers and therefore the sole decision makers.
This dress is displayed in an archival cabinet as opposed to being ‘framed’. The archival cabinet refers to the outdated notion of women’s silence. As this ‘silence’ is in the past it becomes a historic relic and must be preserved as such, as it is no longer relevant. The represented christening dress is the vehicle for expressing discontent towards the silence of women. This artwork presents another ambivalent thread in my own life as I have chosen to keep and still carry my patriarchal surname and have never adopted a husband’s surname through marriage.
Van trofee tot triomf (figure 7) is part of a series of four portraits each on a trophy shaped substrate (rusting steel), which parody hunting trophies. Displays of decapitated animals attest to the hunter’s prowess and are a visual reminder of his superiority in the hierarchy of nature. I replace the displayed heads and shoulders of the pursued victims, with embroidered commemorations of unsung ordinary Afrikaner women. These pictures of women (who are not remembered for any heroic reasons) were chosen from my family photo albums. The oval shaped background to the portraits is deliberately used as it emulates the oval portraits which often depicted historic Afrikaner male (war and civil) heroes in the media. My portraits are embroidered as pieces of art, in direct rejection of needlework being trivialised as ‘craft’.
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Figure 5 (and detail below): In the name of the father 11 (2017) Sewing cotton on sewn-together teabags Figure 6: His master’s voice (2016) 30 x 62 cm; Embroidery, colour photocopy on cotton Figure 7 (and detail left): Van trofee tot triomf i (2017) 46 x36 cm; Rusted steel, copper, embroidery on cotton
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