Innholdsfortegnelse for Volume 12 Issue 2 i Artists Back to Basics

Water is around us everywhere. It is in the clouds, in the ocean, in rain, in mist and in fog. Water can be gentle and calm, or can be wild and ferocious. It can reflect like a mirror, echoing the sky and clouds or the surrounding foliage or landscape. The colour of water can change depending on the water depth or the water clarity. It can change according to the weather conditions, where wind will create ripples on a pond, a river or the sea. It is ever changing, beautiful in all its moods and a rewarding challenge. As in all sketching, it is all in observation and awareness and your skills will develop the more you sketch. REFLECTIONS IN WATER If you are close to the water, the sky…

Patrick Dagg is a Sydney based artist creating paintings and ceramics that capture the fragility of the human form. Through his vibrant colours and gestural composition there exudes a spirit and imagination that both questions and celebrates life. Born in Melbourne in 1985 and raised in Sydney, Patrick attended The College of Fine Arts, experimenting with several mediums including film, video, sculpture and sound, before settling on painting. With two solo shows, both in 2008, Patrick discussed personal issues relating to death, grief, love and life. Taking some time off to focus on musical pursuits with his band tortoiseshell, he has returned with a show focusing this time on life, and the celebration of it. Crash Paintings emerged from an accident Patrick was involved in June 2011, in which he…

There are many other possibilities; some artists even make their own paint. The First Step Visiting the art shop,what paint to buy! As you progress with your artwork you will probably experiment with many different paint mediums. As all artists develop their skills by trial and error, the way forward for an artist is experimentation; ‘what paints will I use?’, ‘what paper should I buy?’, ‘what canvas or boards are best to paint on?’, and ‘what else will I need to get started?’. Of course you can always be a little different from everyone else and try other surfaces, other paint variations, or even mixed media. I’ve started this article with a painting from my own studio collection to hopefully set you thinking outside the box. This piece is acrylic…

MATERIALS • Peterboro Conservation Matboard as ground Derwent Pastel Pencils- to draw up the subject, and my signature ( I often use Conté crayon for this ) Rembrandt Pastels- my favourite pastel and used for most of this work. Schminke pastels- for the sky and some dust and highlights Conté Crayon- for the military bit (it just happened to be the right colour and no pastel had been applied there) Lots of tissues ( mostly to wipe my hands and clean the pastels, but can also be used to remove excess pastel) Soft Brush- small and flat to lift off excess pastel to make a correction in detailed areas Kneadable rubber-only rarely used to lift unwanted pastel when making a correction• Pastel colours:• Cobalt Blues• Burnt Umbers• Burnt Siennas• Raw…

It was only when I had my children that I realised I needed a source of income that allowed more flexibility. Living in Queensland on the Gold Coast, over the past 35 years this artist has dabbled in oils, graphite drawing, pastel and acrylic but her true passion is for watercolour. Some people know from a very young age that they are destined to be an artist. For me, although I recall having an artwork framed and hanging on the wall in primary school, there was nothing to predict the course my life would take. After finishing school, where my main achievements were as an athlete, I trained as a nurse and a midwife. Watercolour is a very versatile, clean and enduring medium that continues to delight me and many…

One or the Other Now, don’t get me wrong. I like everything to be neat, tidy, organised, and clean. I know I could quite (scarily) easily become completely absorbed (far past the point of obsession) in cleaning, organising, sharpening, maintaining, categorising, alphabetising, and arranging my tools, equipment, possessions, and surroundings to the point of utter lunacy. In fact it would give me a lot of pleasure and satisfaction to create a beautifully ordered and aesthetically pleasing environment to exist in. Not just my studio (which is also my living space) but also my large workshop which is filled with an endless array of old tools, machinery, motorbike parts, endless bits and pieces of scrap and interestingly shaped junk, and multitudinous projects all in various states of disassembly or development. It’s…

MATERIALS • Stretched canvas (0.60 x 0.75 cm) on timber frame.• Atelier Interactive Grade Acrylic and Chromacryl Grade Acrylic: Titanium White; Terracotta; Brown Sienna; Viridian Green; Ultramarine Blue; Yellow Oxide; Pink; Black.• Flow medium.• Plaster powder.• Sand.• Impasto gel.• Gesso – Red Violet.• Two flat nylon brushes (three-quarter inch and one inch).• Spatula.• Masking tape. Three weeks after painting this picture from a photograph, I returned to see ‘Mrs Celestina’ (female name meaning Celeste in Spanish) … but to my surprise she had disappeared. Maybe she wanted me to immortalise her beauty before she left. STEP ONE I turned on my traditional music of Tango and started. I applied two coats of gesso and then sketched a drawing with charcoal. STEP TWO I painted the door with Brown Sienna and…

Pelicans have always fascinated me, they are so large and awkward looking when they are on the ground, but so graceful in flight. I have had many and varied encounters with them, they seem to like our company and are not too bothered when we encroach on their territory. In this painting I wanted to capture them “ at home” in their own surrounds with no worries and no onlookers to disturb their peaceful life. Step 1 The atmosphere for this painting was initially created using my air- brush! I wanted a background of muted and rather misty tones. I wanted the viewer to be able to sense the isolation and smell the damp ground. I have used Prussian blue in my first air-brushing and once this was dry I…

Mixing various yellows with blues creates an almost endless repertoire of greens. Green is the colour of nature. Look around and you will see an astonishing number of varied green colours. Knowing how to mix green is essential. It is used in most landscape paintings and the greens can vary enormously in a landscape, from area to area, country to country. Mixing various yellows with blues creates an almost endless repertoire of greens. Look at ten different trees or leaves and there will be no two the same colour. It is important to build up your own portfolio of Greens. Record the mixes that work for you. When mixing always begin with the lightest colour (eg yellow) and slowly add the darker colour into it (eg blue). Try to limit…

Gradations of colour and tone pretty much occur everywhere. I’ve probably said this about six squillion times. My arts practise is fundamentally built on gradations of colour. Often the painting itself will be entirely a series of gradations of colour, with some detail applied for realism. Some gradations are quite obvious, and some are subtle. Even within the most subtle gradation of colour, there is a whole world of nuance. They are rarely just gradations in tone. There is usually a shift in hue as well. And often, several. Throughout history, artists have been mesmerised by the illusion of dimension, particularly in figures and fabric. Being able to “gradate” colour and/or tone is necessary for this. You may not wish to paint “realistically”, but knowing the process and the “rules”…