Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2019 i Artists & Illustrators

1. Work small “People are often surprised by how small my artworks are – A5 or A6. I like the equipment to be discreet and portable too. I use a small block of hot-pressed Fabriano Acquarello paper, and tiny ProArte Prolene brushes.” 2. Embrace straight lines “I sometimes use a small ruler on location for the first pencil lines, just to establish the main structure. I like the graphic quality of a straight line against the washes of colour.” 3. Get on your bike “I often use my bike handlebars as a support. To a passer-by, I look as though I’m standing by the bike – nobody stops to ask me about what I’m doing, as they tend to do if I’m sitting down.” Eleanor’s new book, Shopfronts of London,…

“The first art class I attended was a life drawing session with the etcher John T Freeman. I had never been life drawing before, so I was nervous about the idea of working from an unclothed model but that worry dissipated as we began. “Any fears I had about not being good enough were also dispelled by my classmates’ willingness to share their own experiences, to give advice, and lend their materials. The class showed how much I had yet to learn about drawing and, through practise tempered with tuition, I improved more over those hours than I had in months of drawing on my own. It’s important to realise that everybody’s work is different and there is no need to compare yourself to the person next to you –…

• Mapac Quartz A1 Portfolio Straps down artworks in this weather-resistant folder to avoid them rattling around. www.mapac.com • Nitto Acid-Free Art Tape Prevent drawings being torn in transit by taping them to mountboard in your portfolio. www.jacksonsart.co.uk • Pegasus Art Telescopic Carrying Tube Flat cases are a burden in a strong wind, so put papers in this tube that extends to 126cm. www.pegasusart.co.uk • Schmincke Universal Fixative Protect drawings and watercolours after class with a fast-drying, colourless spray. www.schmincke.de…

“I rarely add any detail that gives clues to the sitter’s character… My interest is solely the head” Why did you enter Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year? I had never watched the TV show and I didn’t really know what I was getting in to, but my godson is a big fan and he nagged me to enter. I didn’t think it would come to anything – I thought that I’d be rejected before the filmed rounds. What were the benefits of entering the competition? Well, the obvious benefit is exposure. Suddenly, after winning the competition, thousands of complete strangers knew something of my work. Exposure is very important for artists trying to get commissions. There are a lot of people out there who would like to buy…

One of the main issues when painting any skin tone is the lack of strong colour. White is generally over-used to create pastel tints that can look chalky and dull. For darker skin tones, some may overuse Burnt Umber. Beginners may even be tempted to plump for a tube of Flesh Tint, which in no way is representative of the multitude of real-life skin pigments. Skin tones tend to look consistent from distance and colour may come from an accessory someone is wearing or a shot of colour in the background. On closer inspection, skin has a variety of subtle hues. These colours can be affected by illness, bruising, light, temperature, or reflected colour and can vary with age. Initially it’s important to simply be open to seeing these variations.…

I wanted to conclude my series on outdoor painting with my favourite landscape in England: the view of the River Wye from Symonds Yat Rock. Set in Gloucestershire’s gorgeous Wye Valley on the Anglo-Welsh border, the river winds itself around the hills in a horseshoe shape here, the start of which is visible from the top of Yat Rock. This is no remote, mountainside destination either – it is easily accessible from the car park via wooden walkways, making it easy to carry your kit to the top. Like the cliffs at Beer in Devon that we tackled in the last issue, Symonds Yat Rock is another place that seems almost engineered in its perfection. It has everything: aerial perspective, clearly defined planes, hills, patchwork fields, woodland, a river and…

JE SUIS DÉSOLÉ I found the article about specialist mediums [Essential Studio Craft, Issue 406] extremely interesting but the final part about spirit painting mediums made me pause. Edgar Degas’ favourite method of peinture à l’essence is cited and the writer suggests that this translates as “the essence of paint”, which sounds romantic but seems far too literal. I suggest that in fact it would translate as “petrol paint” (or a similar volatile solvent), essence being the French word for gasoline. This makes sense from a technical point of view and also more significantly would align it with the similar peinture à l’huile. Anyway keep up the good work. I look forward to the monthly issues of the magazine, which are always stimulating and educational. Pete MacKenzie, via email Yes,…

• DO… BE GENEROUS “Be interested in other artists’ work and give positive feedback to your fellow students. We can learn a great deal from investing in other artists’ creativity.” • DON’T… BE WASTEFUL “When using paint or spirits, be careful not to throw away too much. You can always pour a little bit more if you run out.” • DO… TRY NEW WAYS OF WORKING “Always be willing to experiment. We have a huge range of different and unique tools available to encourage experimental mark making.” • DON’T… WORRY ABOUT MESS “We have aprons for all – and we clear up after everyone too.” • DO… AVOID DISPOSABLE PLASTICS “Although it is more expensive, we try to use paper palettes made from recycled pulp for our students.” • DON’T… SAY YOU “CAN’T” DO SOMETHING “Everything…

The Scottish Colourists is a collective name given to Samuel Peploe, John Duncan Fergusson, Francis Cadell and Leslie Hunter, four Edinburgh painters who made their mark at the dawning of the 20th century. Each artist created elegant portraits, blocky still life and fond Scottish scenes, reworking the techniques of the French Impressionists into something bolder and distinctive, forsaking pastel blues for bright primary hues. A question often asked of the group is whether they festishised light and colour because their surroundings in the early 20th century had so little of it? This is often posed by anyone who hasn’t spent enough time in the Scottish capital, a place that the author Alexander McCall Smith would famously later describe as “a city of shifting light, of changing skies, of sudden vistas.…

• USE PLENTY OF PAINT Squeeze out more pigment on your palette than you need. There’s nothing worse than running out and you can always use it next time. • DAB, DON’T STIR When picking up paint with your brush, avoid stirring as this will corrupt colour. • PICK UP INDIVIDUAL COLOURS I tend to use several colours at once on my brush, though allowing a particular shade to dominate. • AVOID OVER-MIXING When applying paint to your support, over mixing will grind the colour into a bland, flat pigment. Holding back will allow for subtle streaks or flecks of interesting colour to remain. • COVER PALETTE AFTER USE This will avoid the acrylic drying out. I buy tubs of acrylic and anything not used during a session is placed…

A soft edge is a smooth paint transition created by working “wet into wet” – using wet paint on wet paint. I carefully pull one colour into an adjacent colour as I make my stroke, as seen in the tree reflections in the river. Another method is to use a clean, dry brush with splayed hairs, as they create a softer stroke. Simply pull the brush over the area you want to soften until it looks soft enough for the object you’re describing. Try completing a whole painting without blending any edges at all and then just do a few at the end to the areas that really need it. The contrast will create a more dynamic piece.”…

No matter how long a person has been painting, we all benefit from a challenge. It stretches us, makes us think harder, and improves our technique. These are things we all need if we are to avoid getting lazy and relying on what we know rather than what we see. With this demonstration, I decided to set myself a really big challenge. A cow looking through a bramble hedge in a field may not seem that big a deal, yet from a painting perspective it really was. To recreate this image it required, in effect, two paintings: the scene with the cow in the field and then the bramble fence I was looking through. The challenge was to paint both layers, while working out what goes where and avoiding overpainting,…

Congratulations on producing such an interesting and informative magazine. Like many people who feel intimidated that their work will not compare, I eventually “found my own voice” by painting things that I felt about. Your ideas and emotions will give you your own style. Just paint to record your pets, garden, family members and surroundings that mean something to you. Over time these will become a record of your life to be enjoyed by the family in the future. As you get older and look back, you will think: did I really paint that? The answer is: Yes, you did. Jean Marianne Andrews, Shrewley, Warwick WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO EDIT LETTERS FOR PUBLICATION…

THE COLOUR A deep, reddish brown that became popular during the Italian Renaissance and was named after the Tuscan city from which it originally came. THE PROPERTIES Sienna is a yellow-brown iron oxide pigment (PBr7) that turns to a deep reddish-brown when heated. Generally more translucent than other earth colours, Burnt Sienna nevertheless has a relatively high tinting strength. Note that some brands make Burnt Sienna with the synthetic pigment PR101 also found in Mars Violet and some Venetian and Indian Reds. THE USES A versatile colour, Burnt Sienna creates a great range of greys when mixed with darker blues – ideal for stormy skies or complex shadows. It is also a great red substitute in a limited watercolour travel palette alongside French Ultramarine and Raw Sienna.…

Daler-Rowney Warm Pastel Papers A mid-toned paper allows you to work up to highlights and down to shadows. www.daler-rowney.com Derwent XL Charcoal Chunkier slabs of charcoal won’t snap as easily, inspiring bolder mark making. www.derwentart.com Faber-Castell Pitt Monochrome Set This Renaissance-inspired drawing set adds sepia, sanguine and white pencils. www.faber-castell.eu ArtGraf Tailor Shape Blocks of pigment shaped like tailor’s pencils, ideal for sweeping lines. www.viarco.pt Zest-It Pencil Blend Create smoother transitions with this citrus-smelling solvent. www.zest-it.com Nitram Sharpening Bloc Hone your drawing media to a fine point on this abrasive paddle. www.nitramcharcoal.com…

Arriving in an unfamiliar city by sea was a new experience for me, so steaming into Cape Town at dawn was something I will never forget: the monumental Table Mountain with the city curled beneath it, fringed by two oceans – the Indian and the Atlantic. I was on board the Viking Sun in the hopes of breaking my painter’s block and coming home with sketches, photos and ideas. I began my stretch of its world cruise in Durban, South Africa. Huge, bustling and colourful, this city’s Zulu culture mixes with Asian influences so the golden mounds of the spice market jostled with the coloured silks of the sari merchants’ stalls. That evening, I found the ocean light flooding in through the ship’s huge windows great to work with, so…

• Oil paints Permanent Orange, Burnt Sienna, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon, Yellow Lake Deep, Emerald Green, Prussian Blue and Ultramarine Violet, all Michael Harding Artists’ Oil Colours; Winsor Violet and Cadmium Yellow Light, both Winsor & Newton Artists’ Oil Colours • Canvas Winsor & Newton stretched linen canvas, 30x41cm • Brushes Pro Arte Series 204 Acrylix flat brushes, sizes 1/4” and 3/8”; Pro Arte Series 61 Prolon filbert brushes, sizes 6, 8 and 10; Daler-Rowney Series B48 Bristlewhite flat brush, size 1 and 2 •Liquin •Lukas Medium 5 painting butter medium •Turpentine •Palette knife •Rag •Mahl stick…

WHAT IS ALLA PRIMA? Alla prima is also known as “direct” painting and refers to a wet-into-wet method of using oils and acrylics in which the picture is basically completed in one sitting while entirely wet. It is the opposite of “indirect” painting, whereby the paint surface is built up in layers with each layer being allowed to dry before the subsequent one is applied. Alla prima is a more modern way of working, whereas most of the painting done before the 17th century could be described as indirect. WHY PAINT DIRECT? My direct painting method first developed when I left art school in 1984. After graduation, I no longer had access to live models – and was too poor to hire them. Although I liked working from still life…

• Watercolours Burnt Umber, Naples Yellow, Naples Yellow Deep, Gold Ochre, Quinacridone Gold, Hookers Green, Green Gold, Viridian, Winsor Green (Blue Shade), Winsor Blue (Red Shade), Cerulean Blue (Red Shade), Cerulean Blue, Antwerp Blue, Cobalt Blue, French Ultramarine, Winsor Violet (Dioxazine), Payne’s Gray, Neutral Tint and Indigo, all Winsor & Newton Professional Water Colour • Gouache Permanent White Winsor & Newton Designers Gouache • Brushes ProArte Series 007 brushes, sizes 1, 3, 10, 20; ProArte Series 008 one-inch flat brush • Paper A2 sheet of Winsor & Newton 300gsm Professional Water Colour paper •Coloured pencils •Colourless masking fluid •HB pencil…

WHO WAS WILLIAM BLAKE? Born in London in 1757, William Blake was one of the greatest poets and painters of the Romantic era. He first engaged with the arts as a boy, studying at the Royal Academy of Arts and briefly opening a print shop. He is famed for his illustrations of classic texts such as Dante’s Divine Comedy as well as several collections of his own poetry including Songs of Innocence and of Experience. WHY DID HE PAINT THE GHOST OF A FLEA? The artist and astrologer John Varley wrote in his Treatise on Zodiacal Physiognomy that Blake had been with his fellow artist when he’d seen the “ghost of a flea”. Blake had many “visions” of this kind, and it was unclear to his contemporaries as to whether…