Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2018 i Artists & Illustrators

At what point do you “become” an artist? Arguably, anyone who engages in the process of making art has the right to call themselves such. Others might say the correct answer is “never” because the creative process is one long, neverending journey. But what’s certainly true is that to keep moving along the path, both amateurs and professionals alike must continually challenge themselves. And that means getting out of your comfort zone. In this issue, two artists have done just that. On page 31, we chat to award-winning portrait painter Phoebe Dickinson, who threw caution to the wind and spent a year travelling and painting landscapes. She’s sure the break away from her core practice has made her a better painter. On page 75, Jake Spicer continues his latest series…

It was so interesting to read the article ‘The Art of Wellbeing’ in my recent copy of Artists & Illustrators (October, issue 396). I have always found that I could achieve mental peace when creating my artwork. This was especially important when I was working in education, which was very stressful at times. My style of painting involves thousands of tiny dots of acrylic paint applied with a stick. It becomes a totally absorbing enterprise. You become so focused, yet your mind is also able to distance itself from the almost mechanical process of the painting and wander down a beautiful path of mindful thinking. It is truly relaxing on a deeper level, and I have often found that solutions to problems appear without even realising that I was thinking…

Our exciting community lets you share, showcase and sell your art on a personalised webpage for just £2.49 per month. You can then enter Artists of the Year 2019 for free. Other benefits include: •Sell your work commission free in our Art for Sale area •Display as many works as you want •Get your work seen in regular online exhibitions, the monthly Editor’s Pick newsletter and across our social media channels •The chance to feature in the magazine’s Fresh Paint section •Publish your own blog Sign up now for £24.99 per year or £2.49 per month at www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/ register…

Phoebe Dickinson’s portrait The Cholmondeley Children at Houghton Hall cut a striking figure in the National Portrait Gallery’s 2018 BP Portrait Award exhibition. Painted at Houghton Hall in Norfolk, the image is a classic portrait of aristocratic children in a stately home setting. Only, it’s not. The large off-centre doorway and half-cropped wall decorations give the composition the quality of an opportunistically snapped photograph, as do the hands-in-pockets attitude of the kids pictured. The subject is almost as traditional as they come, but Dickinson’s take on it is relaxed and modern, and it wears its art-historical references as nonchalantly as the older boy’s crumpled shirt. Frequently commissioned to paint members of Britain’s aristocracy, portraiture has become Dickinson’s calling card. But despite the obvious talent she has for the genre, her…

Any aspiring artist will understand the importance of getting the right support. Good experiences early on a creative journey can be the difference between being inspired to greatness and giving up. That’s why when Cass Art owner Mark Cass came across Jake Spicer’s first book, Draw, around five years ago, it was a game changer. Previously, his stores hadn’t carried many instructional art books. Mark felt they had become a little out of touch, but Jake had something special. As well as being a gifted artist, he is also a “genius” tutor. Draw made its way into all branches with enormous success, and the pair has been working together ever since. Indeed, Jake’s accessible and modern style of teaching was the impetus for what has become a huge roster of…

Emphasising the most important part of a painting is a sound compositional device – with “composition” being the important word. A focal point or, perhaps more usually a focal area, is just part of the composition process and must be planned in consideration to the rest of the painting. Indeed, there is an argument to say that, rather than having a specific focal point, it would be better to have a number of focal points distributed along a compositional line. Our eyes can only see detail in a narrow band, even though we are aware of 180 degrees of vision. If you stare at a word and don’t divert your eyes, you’ll be conscious of other words but will only be able to read a few around the area you…

The terminology can seem complex to the uninitiated but all printmaking techniques are simply ways of making pictures by printing on a surface using a prepared block or plate. The term normally covers printmaking that has an element of originality, rather than reproductions of a painting. Processes are defined by the method used to make a print, such as the way ink is applied and how the medium is transferred to the paper. These can be combined to create a single work. INTAGLIO This refers to an image that is cut into a surface or plate, such as etching, drypoint, aquatint and mezzotint. When the plate is inked, cut lines hold the medium so an image can be transferred to paper. A press is used to push the plate onto…

What media do you use when working in situ? Pen and ink. It’s immediate, it’s unthreatening and it’s fast. It appears on the page like a magic trick – and that is a powerful tool when you don’t speak the language of the place you are in. What tools and materials are your kit essentials? I go to John Purcell Paper in London before each trip and buy a pile of paper, which I think is called a 145gsm Zerkall. It’s lightweight with a bit of grain. I use Gillott nibs, and a pelican feather cut into a quill to vary the line.…

GETTING THE BLUES While reading your September 2018 magazine (issue 395), the thought occurred to me that I would love to be a fly on the wall during a debate about colour temperature between Graham Webber, who on page 62 describes Cerulean as cooler than Ultramarine, and Al Gury who takes the opposite view – only two pages later. Dick Ray, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, via email You’re not alone in spotting this difference in opinion on the tricky topic of the temperature of blue. Both can be right – it’s down to different artists’ interpretations – but we’ll be tackling the subject in-depth soon to try to get to the bottom of the issue. SUPPORT POPS UP I want to say how I enjoy Artists & Illustrators. I was pleased to…

1 ARTISTS OF THE YEAR 2019 IS OPEN Our competition returns for its 11th year, offering Artists & Illustrators readers the chance to gain national exposure for their art. The overall winner will take home £1,000 cash prize and the opportunity to work towards a solo exhibition at Panter & Hall’s London gallery. Enter now. www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/aoty 2 DISCOVER Natural Treasures Take a seasonal stroll through the natural world with the expert guidance of botanical artist Elaine Searle. At this day-long masterclass at London’s House of Illustration on 17 November, you will explore making found treasures from the natural world using watercolour, graphite and items such as seed pods, dried leaves, pebbles and bird feathers. www.houseofillustration.org.uk 3 ENTER Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize 2019 Created in 2005 to encourage the best representational painting…

10 November to 24 February 2019 Bringing together works by Rossetti and other members of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, this major exhibition of the 19th-century group of artists explores how they rebelled against the accepted thinking and teaching of the time. They produced and promoted a style of painting uninfluenced by the work of the Italian painter Raphael, who they believed had had a corrupting effect. The Lowry, Salford. www.thelowry.com…

“Make appealing photos your focus, and keep text chatty and short” A marketing email can be a good way to engage interest in your work, but you’ll need to keep them effective – and legal. There are three rules. You need to grow your mailing list from people who have actively signed up to receive information from you. Once you have an email address, you cannot share it with third parties unless you have permission from every subscriber. And remember, each email must contain an opt-out option. As an individual, it’s best to send emails when you have something to say, rather than at fixed times. That way, your audience will learn that the communication contains worthwhile information, rather than padding. Make sure you have an engaging subject line with…

1. ONLINE Take a digital photo of your artwork(s).Visit www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/aoty. Entry is £8 per artwork, unless you are a member of Portfolio Plus – if so, entry is free. Complete the form, taking care to fill in all requested fields, attach your artworks (up to nine per form) and complete your payment information (if applicable). Select the ‘Submit’ button. 2. BY POST Complete the form on the right and post it, along with a photo or print of your artwork (and cheque if applicable) to: Artists of the Year 2019, Artists & Illustrators, The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd., Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London SW3 3TQ. You may enter multiple times, but please complete a separate form for each entry. Photocopies are accepted. OTHER INFORMATION Please do not send original…

•PAINT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE Don’t be afraid to experiment. The best way to learn is from your mistakes. •FIND YOUR INSPIRATION Look at other artists you admire, and think about the way they paint when you are working. •BUT DON’T GET TOO HUNG UP Sometimes it’s good to not think about anyone else. Just have fun and play, and don’t worry about what other people are doing. •BE TRUE TO YOURSELF Enjoy yourself and the rest will inevitably follow.…

•RESEARCH THE TUTOR Find out about the artist taking the workshop’s personal work by looking at their website or Instagram. •PRACTICE BEFOREHAND Take a sketchbook and make a five-minute drawing every day for a week before the class. This will help you understand what your problems might be. You will also be able to ask better questions. When you start the drawing class, you won’t be making your first marks for 20 years – you’ll be making your sixth set of marks. •CLARIFY YOUR INTENTIONS Think about what you want to get out of the session. Write down three things that you want to ask about or learn during your class. This approach can also help you choose what kind of workshop will be correct. •FOCUS ON YOUR OWN GOALS…

The artist’s Young Woman with a Water Pitcher shows his work with different surface types, careful composition and balanced distribution of planes to create depth. Vermeer’s painting is fluid and rapid in these colour planes. His treatment of light is also essential: a dark motif in the foreground contrasts with the pale wall behind. Highlights and reflections in the silver bowl and jug are created with small patches of paint, which are almost abstract up close.…

VISIT Laura Boswell Printmaker, 23 October to 10 November, The Upstairs Gallery, Berkhamsted Explore this solo show from the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers member and our regular Working Artist columnist. www.upstairsgallery.co.uk London Original Print Fair, 25 to 28 April 2019, Royal Academy of Arts, London W1J See works covering all periods of printmaking, from Albrecht Dürer’s early woodcuts to the latest editions by contemporary masters. londonoriginalprintfair.com; www.royalacademy.org.uk Martin Langford, This Is Us , 20 September to 14 October, For Arts Sake, London W5 This printmaker’s work mixes sardonic cartoonishness with social commentary and mastery of the etching process. www.forartssake.com The Masters: Screen and Stone, 7 to 18 November, Bankside Gallery, London SE1 A series of technique-specific exhibitions from the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers. This year’s exhibition is…

“Cadmium Yellows tend towards golden warmth, even orange” Like Black, Red Oxide and White, Yellow Ochre (natural yellowish clay) is one of the oldest colours used by humans. The ancient Egyptians used it extensively. The Greeks and Romans used pigments such as Saffron Yellow and Orpiment. The latter is a by-product of minerals containing arsenic, a high chroma yellow which is highly toxic. It was commonly used yellow throughout the Renaissance and remained in use until the 18th century when it was largely replaced by the lead-based Naples Yellow. Lead-tin yellow, a product of heating lead and tin, was in use from the early medieval period in Europe but disappeared as a common pigment after the Renaissance. The early 19th century saw the introduction of Chrome Yellow, Zinc Yellow, Indian…

• Acrylics Royal Talens’ Amsterdam Expert Acrylics: Cadmium Yellow Lemon, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Cadmium Orange, Pyrrole Red, Quinacridone Rose, Sap Green, Turquoise Blue, Sky Blue, King’s Blue, Cobalt Blue, Phthalo Blue, Prussian Blue, Phthalo Turquoise Blue, Permanent Blue Violet and Titanium White • Brushes Daler-Rowney: System 3 Sky Flow brushes in 1in, 1½in and 2in • Support Canvas, 61x84cm • Squeegee Several vinyl film applicators cut down to various sizes, but store cards will do • Large plastic mixing tray • Large free-standing easel…

•TRY CHIAROSCURO Caravaggio is a master of chiaroscuro – using light and dark to describe form, volume, depth and space. To create more dramatic and intense contrasts, try placing your model or still life against a dark background or drape, and experiment with directional light from a lamp to accentuate how the lights appear against the dark. In this painting, depth is created by using contrast. Light brings the figures forward – as do the saturated colours of the instruments and garment – while the two figures in the background appear further back in shadow as they are darker in tone. •USE A CLOSE CROP Caravaggio uses close cropping in his figure compositions. This can give the sensation that the viewer is in the same pictorial space. Explore how differing…

For this series, I am returning to oil painting after a two-year hiatus, using the work of a different artist as a catalyst to my personal practice. This month, I will be using the work of one of America’s greatest abstract painters, Richard Diebenkorn (1922 to 1993), to explore landscape and abstraction with reference to the figurative work of his Berkeley series of 1955 to 1966. “When you are stepping outside your comfort zone, consider how you will judge your achievement” For the last decade, I have been focused on drawing the figure, so a move into painting abstracted landscape was a bold one. It is important to note that the outcome of this exercise was not a good picture. When you are stepping out of your comfort zone, consider…

Talking point: Do you prefer to draw in graphite or charcoal? Madelein Bronn: Graphite is too shiny for me. I love to work with charcoal and I love to choose from all the different kinds for different affects. Martha Bredwell: Graphite is preferable if painting atop the drawing. Charcoal is great if only doing a drawing. Kilyén Balázs: Prefer graphite because it’s more easy to handle, like to scan, transport, etc. Cynthia Sequanna: Graphite for most daily drawing. Less messy and good for on the go sketching. Charcoal is a choice when a rougher texture is desired and it’s specific character is desired in the drawing. Joy Bower: Graphite. I like the feel of it, and the fineness of the marks you can make. Also the many degrees of hardness/…

LONDON Courtauld Impressionists: From Manet To Cézanne Until 20 January 2019 A major display of some of the Courtauld’s most inspiring Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works. National Gallery. www.nationalgallery.org.uk Edward Burne-Jones 24 October to 24 February 2019 Don’t miss the first major London retrospective of the Pre-Raphaelite’s work in more than 40 years. Tate Britain. www.tate.org.uk Encounters by Nicola Green Until 19 November This exhibition features more than 50 portraits of the world’s global faith figures. St Martin’s in the Fields. www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org LAST CHANCE John Vernon Lord: Illustrating Carroll and Joyce Until 4 November This exhibition features his extraordinary work on five books including Finnegans Wake, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Ulysses. House of Illustration. www.houseofillustration.org.uk Ladies of Quality and Distinction Until 20 January 2019 This landmark show highlights hidden stories…

“Sketchbooks are a source of raw material I can draw on when I need inspiration” When did you decide to be an artist? I have a clear memory of introducing myself as an artist at the age of five. Because my mother was a painter, it didn’t seem an odd thing. It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I realised how hard it would be, but I was determined – or stubborn. The art in our house made a great impression on me. There were many engravings after Holbein portraits; they made me realise the power of the portrait. I still look at Holbein when I am working on a portrait drawing. I often make drawings after him in an attempt to understand how to create such a seemingly…

•HAVE FAITH Believe in works you think are successful. In 2016, I received the Brian Botting Prize – awarded for outstanding representation of the human figure as part of the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize – for my painting, Madonna. Not many of my contemporaries thought as highly of the piece as I did, but I had faith and entered it. •LOOK AT OLDER WORKS Take a look at older works. Head of Thandi, which was awarded the same prize in 2018, had been completed a year or so before. It had been sitting in my studio. It was only after a few people praised the work I began to look at it with fresh eyes and saw its potential. •STRIKE A BALANCE When deciding what to enter, strike a balance between…

I once painted at a local primary school to demonstrate how an artist works. One little girl, aged eight, watched me, glued to my side. Towards the end, she said: “I get it. First you do it all roughly, then you resolve it.” I thought it was very profound for an eight year old. I treat a portrait as I would any subject: I let the subject find me. I end with some implied detail, but start by enjoying the exploration of the subject and paint. For this acrylic painting, I worked from a photograph of an old friend, trying to catch the warm winter light on his face. www.rogerdellar.com 1 Block in midtone colour I begin by mixing my paint with a palette knife, aiming for a neutral, midtone…

•USE SHARP TOOLS Spend money on good tools and keep them sharp. I favour Swiss-made, wooden-handled printmaking tools. •GET COMPOSITION RIGHT Spend time methodically working out the composition. If it isn’t working, it’s not going to be a good print. •USE A REGISTRATION PLATE This is a piece of card that is bigger than the paper to be printed on. I trace my master drawing onto the card. If you work out a line where your paper is going to drop each time, it improves accuracy. •CREATE FADES WITH A ROLLER To make a subtle gradation of colour, make the print, then get a roller and coat it with ink, along with a translucent white to thin. Start rolling vertically with the roller’s right-hand side touching the left-hand side of…

How does reportage illustration differ from other kinds of painting and drawing? The key to good reportage illustration is communicating an idea. In many cases, that’s about a story an audience would otherwise have less understanding of than if you hadn’t drawn them. It doesn’t have to be war, or medicine, although historically it has been. Done correctly, it can connect the viewer with the subject through an imagined and empathetic line. When I was drawing in Mosul, Iraq, last year, the drawings were led by the people I met and the stories they told: young Iraqi soldiers fighting Isis and people washing in the hammam despite being in a war zone. Without sitting in front of these people making drawings, these stories would mean significantly less. What advice do…

•DO A TINT TEST Test your yellows to evaluate their tinting strength, chromatic intensity and value, as well as their opacity or transparency. •CONSIDER FLEXIBILITY Some yellows may be redundant because they do not add much to your palette, while others can be the basis for flexible mixing and reliability. •CHOOSE A RANGE OF TEMPERATURES Select yellows based on the variety of temperatures you need. For example, make sure you have both warm and cool yellows, and earth yellows, on the palette.…