Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2016 i Artists & Illustrators

What is it about animals that makes them so intriguing to paint? For one, they never moan (at least out loud) about having to pose for long sittings or complain about an unflattering likeness in the final result. Whether it’s a simple drawing of a pet, or an ambitious study of a wild elephant, the world of wildlife art presents unlimited challenges. To try a few for yourself, visit page 50, where artists Kate Osborne and Pip McGarry have put together a few wild painting demonstrations. And on page 30, the co-author of The Book of the Bird Kendra Wilson explores the majestic avian influence on art, and picks her top five bird paintings. Meanwhile, at the Royal Academy, David Hockney RA is exploring a very different beast: the human…

1 ING DISCERNING EYE EXHIBITION OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS The ING Discerning Eye is an exhibition of small works chosen by six prominent figures in the art world. Artists & Illustrators’ former editor had the honour of curating a space at last year’s event alongside fellow judges Nicole Farhi and Emma Bridgewater, and was floored by the high standard of works on offer. The show opens a rare window of opportunity for unknown artists to exhibit alongside well-known names, and a chance to win the £5,000 ING Purchase Prize. Submissions will be accepted from now until the 3 September, and the only restriction is the size, which must not exceed 50cm in its largest dimension. Submit your work at Mall Galleries, London SW1 on 2 and 3 September or find details…

“I’LL NOTICE A BEACH FIND IN THE STUDIO AND REALISE I’VE DRAWN IT, IT’S LIKE WAKING UP FROM A DREAM” Both your home and your art studio are based on a houseboat, how did you end up here? My husband and I bought an old WWII landing craft [on a houseboat site], which had been used as a sort of holiday home, and camped on that for a couple of years while we designed the new one. My husband actually built it with his bare hands. The only thing he didn’t do was the plumbing and the electricity. He started off as a sculptor and ended up in the property business. I am very lucky now to have been able to design my studio myself. It’s still not completely finished;…

FASHION ILLUSTRATION MICHELE WESEN BRYANT’S TIPS FOR FASHION DRAWING 1 In fashion drawing, what you leave out is as important as what you choose to include. When rendering woven and print patterns, step away from the swatch. Whatever you can’t see from a distance of 1.5 metres does not belong. 2 When first drawing hands, the inclusion of too much detail about the knuckles can have a gnarly effect; conversely the omission of these anatomical details can result in the appearance of a rubber glove. Instead, first draw the overall outside shape of the hand and then subdivide for individual fingers. Then create subtle shadows for joints with marker rendering. 3 Having an assortment of different values for each colour is key for marker rendering. 4 Draw from life whenever…

The making of a picture is largely a question of organising different abstract elements. This painting was generated from a tiny study of an image that attracted me whilst cycling in Holland. There was something about the abstract structure that struck me, and so I made a very quick drawing of it on the back of an envelope. There is a moment in the landscape where something ‘hits’ you. What really grabs one’s attention is the visual structure of something, rather than the subject matter. Of course the drama of a field of crocuses is integral to the painting but it’s their visual punch that I wanted to capture, along with the contrast they made with the black and white of the birch trees. Essentially, the problem was one of…

What first attracted you to iPad apps as a means of making artwork? All through school and college, I was a traditional painter working in acrylics. When I went to the University of Chichester for my degree, I transitioned into video art and stopped painting altogether. Nine years passed before I saw some examples of paintings, produced on the iPhone, in a technology magazine. It inspired me to try digital painting, which I immediately loved for its accessibility and flexibility. The phone was too small to be as detailed as I wanted, so I purchased the iPad when it was released. Do you work with your hands, or with a stylus? With the iPad I like to work with my fingers but have tried many different types of styluses. Painting…

FAMILY PORTRAIT Here is my latest portrait offering, ‘Fraser’. It is a soft pastel painting on Canson Mi Teintes paper, which is taken from a photo of my nephew, Fraser, which I took when he was sat in a pensive mood. I liked the composition and the way the strong sunlight caught the highlights in his mop of curly hair and beard. Rosie Mark, via email YOUR LETTERS: ISSUE 336 In the July issue of your magazine my book was mentioned in a letter from Ron Greaves. I have a degree in Fine Art and was attracted to the iPad after seeing the Hockney exhibition of 2012. After I bought an iPad I realised there was no manual to show you how to use it, so my book came in…

Most of us are fairly ignorant about birds. We can’t identify them; we forget that birds nest in the hedge we didn’t get round to pruning before spring. We only notice geese when they are coming or going, flying urgently and noisily to somewhere better. Ornithologists’ enthusiasm for birds seems to give them more finely-tuned hearing and vision. They ask if we just heard the robin’s song to its mate, or whether we can also see the interesting things going on in trees (we can’t). Art is the way that most of us connect with the romance of bird life and bird symbolism is as powerful as ever. The gift of flight enables these avian creatures to travel between worlds – like the dove crossing a flooded earth, clutching an…

Lessons in Classical Painting: Essential Techniques from Inside the Atelier by Juliette Aristides Terms like ‘grisaille’ and ‘value composition’ may strike fear in the hearts of those unfamiliar with classical art practices, but the writing of Juliette Artistides approaches these techniques in a way that’s both interesting and accessible for newcomers to the world of atelier. The book takes a bird’s-eye view of painting through a mix of demonstrations and personal insights from her 25 years of experience as an art instructor. Penguin Random House, £20…

I find the best commissions are the ones where the customer provides a free rein, limitless artistic licence and no deadline, as was the case for me with this study of Henry, a beautiful black Labrador. This black dog, surrounded by a nebulous background, was a fantastic challenge. MATERIALS • 50X60CM ACRYLIC BOARD • COLOURS Winsor & Newton Mars Black Acrylic Winsor & Newton Titanium White Acrylic Reeves Yellow Ochre Acrylic • BRUSHES Size 0 Winsor Newton Brush Round ‘L’ brush • SCALPEL/CRAFT KNIFE • BLACK BIRO PEN • PENCIL AND ERASER STAGE 1 Divorcing the huge expanse of white was my initial challenge. Thankfully, I have a basket of outgrown socks, courtesy of my teenage son. Placed on the hand like a glove and dipped in the required colour…

As I watched my artwork being rescued from a skip at the refuse dump, I felt a surge of resentment. Looking on the bright side, I should take it as a compliment that someone else could see the value in my paintings, even though they were in poor condition and unfit for exhibition. Sadly, for all the hours I had spent on them, now someone else was going to reap the benefits. I then made a rule that in future I would completely destroy my work to shreds before putting it in a public skip. However, I now find myself in a quandary. Six years ago I completed a Fine Art Degree and my output was prolific. I was encouraged to do very large mechanical abstracts, all have been exhibited,…

“AS AN ART-LOVER, I’M ALWAYS PRETTY UPSET WHEN A WORK GOES MISSING” How did you become interested in the world of art crime? I became intrigued by the subject and the work involved in establishing whether a painting was authentic when studying History of Art at UCL. This interest led to a job at the Art & Antiques Unit at New Scotland Yard, where my research on cases and organisation of events to raise awareness of the issue helped me get to grips with how the art market worked and how criminals work within it. Which art heist of our lifetime has affected you the most? As an art-lover, I’m always pretty upset when a work goes missing. I think the most shocking art heist in recent times has to…

In 1893, Monet pursued his love for horticulturalism by purchasing a plot of land with a pond near his home in Giverny. Here, he cultivated the garden that would fuel his best-known series: the water lilies. He installed a Japanese style bridge, and proceeded to paint 17 views of the motif. In Bridge Over a Pond of Lilies (pictured), the vertical format allowed Monet to give prominence to the striking reflections and fleeting shadows of the floating vegetation. Though his brushstrokes imply spontaneity, in reality he worked with a series of undercoats. French painter André Masson described Monet’s technique as “a touch of many accents, criss-crossed, ruffled, speckled. You have to see it in close-up, what a frenzy!” In a new book, author Ross King will explore how the water…

As its name suggests, the marsh harrier is a wetland bird and a beautiful, medium-sized raptor of subtle greys and browns, which, when painting, offers an opportunity to get out your earth colours and complete a study in tone as much as colour. I’m a bird lover, but I am no expert, so this piece is not about accuracy as much as it is about a general impression. Here, I avoid getting bogged down in detail while still suggesting those primaries and secondaries, its long legs, and its elegance. MATERIALS • PAPER Saunders Waterford 300gsm rough paper, taped (not stretched) to a board • COLOURS Daniel Smith Permanent Brown, Old Holland Raw Sienna, Daler Rowney Raw Umber, Winsor & Newton Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Cerulean Blue, and Da Vinci Ultramarine…

Flowers make excellent models; they are willing to sit anytime of the day and never complain. Their conversation is always profound, speaking of life, love and death but always free of cliché. Flowers never outstay their welcome. In the open field engaged with the breeze, they shudder flirtatiously, so easily swayed by the chatter of the wind, and then gone. The challenge of their capture is what interests me, along with the questions they always leave behind. The ‘woman painting flowers’ has a long tradition but it is a complicated and sometimes subversive one. I always wanted to paint large-scale flowers that had a watercolour quality, but most of all, I wanted them to be strong in every sense through scale, application and impact. Georgia O’Keeffe was one of the…

For these three step-by-step paintings, I used my daughter, Hope, as the model. Her hair was irresistible to paint as she had dyed it green; I wasn’t using artistic licence! While the ‘side on’ view was painted from scratch, the starting point for the 3/4 and front views on the following pages are the result of short demonstrations at my watercolour portrait class. Conveniently, they were ready for me to paint an ear on and allowed me to show how you might paint it over existing layers of dry paint. The ear is a useful feature in portrait painting; when placed accurately, it can give the feel of the head’s form or emphasise a particular turn of the head. I hope this article will encourage you to pay some attention…