Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2019 i Artists & Illustrators

Felicity Gill Already a hugely talented and successful portrait artist, it feels like Felicity Gill is on the cusp of a major breakthrough in her painting career. Her portfolio includes fresh likenesses of the likes of Joan Bakewell and Boris Johnson, the latter completed when the new PM was still Mayor of London and resulting in what is surely Felicity’s highest career accolade so far – an Artists & Illustrators front cover. Nevertheless, the Kent artist has been growing frustrated by the limitations of a conventional sitting. “I have always thought that photographic portraits show just a fleeting moment and therefore often don’t quite look like the subject, whose face constantly changes with millions of micro-expressions,” she explains. “We used to assume photographs were ‘true’ but digital photography has made…

I live fairly near to the National Trust’s Fenton House in Hampstead and frequently visit its tranquil walled garden – an oasis in this busy part of north London. One particularly bright morning towards the end of last summer, I noticed little patches of sunlight dancing on to a dense patch of flowers through the branches of the tree overhead. The flowers were Japanese anemones which I have painted numerous times. I am fascinated by the tall, architectural shape of the stems and the simple, archetypal flower structure which gives them a timeless quality. To many people flowers symbolise the rhythm and continuity of the natural world, but also its transience. My painting, Sunlight on Japanese Anemones, aimed to capture some of this joyous but fleeting presence. I also wanted…

1 Balance A good composition must be balanced to create unity 2 Contrast Variations in tones, colours and textures add interest 3 Depth Consider the shape and size of your subjects in relation to one another 4 Repetition Similar patterns, including shapes or colours, can effectively link a scene 5 Motion Lines, such as shadows or rows of buildings, can be manipulated to direct the viewer’s eye 6 Emphasis Use visual clues to draw the viewer into areas of interest or a focal point…

What is the key to a successful marine painting? Ben Mowll: For me, success involves some planning. You have to plan your painting. Have a reasonably clear idea about what it is that you want to say before you start. That, in turn, will help you to know when to stop, before you kill your work by over-doing it… And we have all done that! Ben, you paint in both watercolour and oils. Does one or other medium lend itself better to marine painting? BM: Different subjects suggest a different medium or treatment. They are, essentially, two totally different musical instruments. You have to choose which medium best suits the subject at hand. You may even want to try painting the same subject in both. That can be very instructive.…

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• BARBARA HEPWORTH Trewyn Studio, Cornwall, England Opened as a museum in 1976, the late Yorkshire sculptor’s St Ives studio and garden is home to the largest permanent collection of her works. www.tate.org.uk/stives • EMIL NOLDE Seebüll, Neukirchen, Germany The German-Danish expressionist spent almost 30 years here, designing the garden and painting his famous sunflowers. www.nolde-stiftung.de/en • IAN HAMILTON FINLAY Little Sparta, Dunsyre, Scotland Just outside Edinburgh lies Finlay’s greatest work of art – a five-acre garden created with wife Sue and filled with poetry carved in concrete. www.littlesparta.org.uk • FRIDA KAHLO Casa Azul, Coyoacán, Mexico City The Mexican artist was born and died in her “blue” house [below], where she cultivated flowers and fruit trees that often ABOVE appeared M n Rising, in her paintings. Japanese water- www.museofridakahlo .…

• Paint Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Sienna, Naples Yellow, Naples Yellow Light, Cadmium Yellow, Lemon Yellow Hue, Yellow Ochre, Prussian Green, Sap Green, Olive Green, Indigo, French Ultramarine, Turquoise, Raw Umber, Davy’s Gray, Payne’s Gray and Titanium White, all Winsor & Newton Artists’ Oil Colours; Violet-Grey, Old Holland Classic Oil Colour • Brushes Pro-Arte Series 32 Polar White Nylon brushes, sizes 1/4”, 3/8”, 1/2”,3/4” and 1” • Support Bird & Davis primed linen stretcher, 90x90cm •Gesso primer •Zest-It Oil Paint Dilutant…

• Watercolours Bismuth Yellow, Cobalt Blue, Indigo, Permanent Mauve and Sap Green, all Daler-Rowney Artists’ Water Colour; Winsor Blue (Green Shade) from Winsor & Newton Professional Water Colour; May Green from Schmincke Horadam Aquarell • Brushes Da Vinci Series 35 size 4; Swordliners, medium and small; Dagger, medium and small • Paper Bockingford NOT 300gsm watercolour paper •2B pencil and eraser •Tracing paper •Black pen •Masking fluid •Mapping pen •Colour shaper •Palette •Kitchen roll…

I am writing this email and enclosing my most recent pieces of artwork to encourage people that it doesn’t matter how late in life you start to draw, that anything is possible. I am 49 years young and first picked up a pencil to draw four years ago having not drawn before. I practise when I can and enter my pictures onto various Facebook sites to gain recognition but besides that, am unsure of where to go first. I would dearly love to become a recognised artist, but I know that there are so many truly talented artists out there. Any help and advice would be extremely appreciated and thank you for looking at my pictures. Tracey Ashcroft, Surrey…

THE COLOUR This intense, blue-leaning deep red is based upon madder, a natural dye that was first used in ancient Egypt and later picked up by artists such as JMW Turner and even Queen Victoria was a fan. THE PROPERTIES Chemically identical to natural madder pigment, Alizarin Crimson is based on the PR83 pigment which always scores poorly on lightfastness tests. Try Quinacridone Magenta or Perylene Maroon for more permanent alternatives. THE USES Despite these reservations, Alizarin Crimson is a staple of many art school colour lists and its staining quality means it mixes well with transparent and opaque pigments alike. Colourman Michael Harding also notes that Alizarin Crimson’s “cool, rather smoky hues” are “well suited for Caucasian flesh” mixes.…

“I have become increasingly fascinated by the act of pushing paint around to find the unexpected” Your latest body of work feels like a departure from the precise realism of your 2010 exhibition at London’s National Gallery. What prompted the change? I see it more as a development from those urban landscapes shown at the National Gallery. My understanding of being an artist has always been underpinned with a relentless questioning and a desire to get nearer to the truth. A snapshot taken in 2010 and one taken now would suggest a huge shift, but it would be more accurate to say that there has been a steady progression. One of the problems was a common assumption that the paintings were photorealist. I knew that I had to make my…

“Recreating an artwork that you admire will teach you a lot about your technique” I came across the #drawitinyourstyle hashtag on social media recently when I saw a copy of one of my prints published as part of the Instagram challenge. The artist concerned was delighted with her version and tagged me in the post, completely unaware that she’d broken copyright law. We exchanged polite words and sorted the problem, but it got me thinking about the question of copying work; when it is helpful and when it damages creativity. Making copies of a master’s artwork has been part of an artist’s education throughout history. Nobody is born with the skills needed to make art and it makes sense to learn from those with more experience. From birth, we instinctively…

Many artists strive to find the most well balanced or harmonious composition in their drawings or painting as this creates an image that’s impactful and accessible to the viewer. Some may even shroud the design in expressive mark making or fancy detail but behind the façade there’s generally a strong compositional foundation. Most beginners just want to get painting straight away and work things out as they go. I prefer to do plenty of planning before beginning a painting, even more so now as my style has become looser and more expressive. I think about the overall design and any preliminary drawing before I begin painting. The drawing is concerned not by details but rather establishing the most important elements. To some, these guidelines may dampen the immediacy of getting…

One of the most complicated issues for artists when it comes to colour is understanding the value of colours in nature and how to replicate this in paint. This is also sometimes called the tonality of colours. In the modern world, a greyscale – usually containing as many as 10 stops on the scale from pure white to absolute black – is used as a guide to colour values. A pure middle grey is usually the fifth stop on this scale. Value refers to the visual quality of light and dark of surfaces, colours, objects and shapes, as we see them in nature. In other words, how light or dark are they. Matching colour mixtures to capture the correct values of an object or a scene is a skill that…

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