Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2020 i Artists & Illustrators

In 2018, I sent a message to a group of friends and contacts on Instagram, pondering the fact that there was, to my knowledge, as yet no independent society to celebrate or give voice to contemporary British portraiture. I asked my artist colleagues whether they felt there was a need for such a group and, if so, whether they might want to be a part of it. What started out as a general enquiry got an almost unanimously enthusiastic response from its recipients – and soon afterwards a new collective, Contemporary British Portrait Painters (or CBPP for short) was born. Eighteen months later, the group is already 40-strong and preparing its first exhibition. Our mission is to give a platform to contemporary British portraiture, and by doing so provide mutual…

Do you prefer to paint from sittings or photographic references? “A mixture of both. I collect reference material from anybody I meet that has a quality to their face or body that I find intriguing. Sometimes this material may sit around for years before I am ready to use it. My work is very much about the relationship between the person and their surroundings. These surroundings need to be constructed, which involves bringing different elements together from different sources. Once I have all the pieces I need, I start to develop the work. I prefer to work alone in my studio with music and podcasts for company – any person in the room would be way too distracting.” www.ilsabrittain.com…

One of my favourite works by Claude Monet is his 1891 painting Poplars on the Epte. It is one of a series of paintings he undertook of poplar trees along this part of the river near to his house in Giverny. The story goes that when a local farmer was about to cut the trees down, Monet purchased them so that they could stand a little longer and he could finish his work. The painting is part of the National Gallery of Scotland’s collection and there is a picture of it on their website, which you can enlarge to see almost every brushstroke. Painting a study of this Impressionist masterpiece is a great way to understand how Monet used loose directional brushstrokes to bring the scene to life, creating the…

AIM To paint a picture in the style of the modernist painter Ben Nicholson. DURATION At least three hours. MATERIALS You will need a wooden board or thick card to paint on, acrylic primer (the sort you might buy from a hardware store is ideal), a selection of oil paints (see below for colour suggestions), a low-odour solvent, a pencil or graphite sticks, and an old rag or sponge. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN People are drawn to Ben Nicholson’s style because it allows you to get to the essence of a subject. You will also learn to emulate the scrubbed effect that emerged in Nicholson’s paintings in the 1940s, a result of paring back and working over earlier layers. PROCESS Start by making preparatory drawings. Nicholson liked to take inspiration…

What was your big break in portraiture terms? “Winning the Changing Faces Portrait Commission Prize at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters’ annual exhibition in 2015 was a watershed moment for me psychologically. “To have my work singled out for an award amidst many of the country’s best portrait painters helped my self-confidence levels. I used to suffer paralysing self-doubt when working – and still do to a lesser extent – but this gave me something to hold on to.” www.herojohnson.com…

What qualities should all great portraits possess? “The emotion and character of the figure and gaze of the eyes – they should be able to communicate with the audience. Raqib Shaw is my all-time favourite portrait painter. I find his painting process is very interesting as he creates his own paints and doesn’t use a paint brush. I also love Kehinde Wiley’s larger-than-life scale paintings and I have been looking at Mary Jane Ansell’s work since I was studying art A Level. Her paintings look like they are breathing.” jemishamaadhavji.wixsite.com…

David Hockney once asked: “Wasn’t it Degas who said, ‘I’m just a man who likes to draw’?” Then he added: “That’s me. I’m just a man who likes to draw”. It’s true that draughtsmanship has defined the Yorkshire artist’s whole career. As a 16-year-old student at Bradford School of Art, Hockney drew all day, every day, staying at his easel until late in the evening. And today, at the age of 82, he’s still just as fascinated by the whole process as he was more than 60 years ago. Last spring, soon after he moved into his new house and studio in Normandy, France, he began to draw panoramic views of this new domain on sketchbooks that open out into one long sheet of paper, like a concertina. Hockney drew…

Picture the scene. You hang your latest masterpiece on the wall, only to find out the nail was weak and the picture falls. As it hits the floor, your beautiful work of art gets snagged and the canvas now has a tear straight through it. The painting is unsalvageable... Or is it? No matter how careful we are with our artwork, occasionally canvases will rip – whether accidentally or otherwise. Some of the most famous paintings in the world have sustained damage over the years and have needed repairs made to the canvas. In fact, even The Night Watch by Rembrandt was slashed with a knife in 1975. Luckily, restorers managed to fix this priceless artwork and it is still on display to this day – proof that what at…

I have been painting in watercolours for many years now. Recently though I have decided to take the plunge and also learn to paint using oils. Now here is the thing: painting in watercolours at the dining room table is fine, but with oils that is a different matter. I rent where I live and would be fearful of making a mess, so this got me thinking. How could I find somewhere affordable that I could use as a studio where I could make a mess and it would never be catastrophic? What do other artists do? I would love to see a series of articles about how different artists have set up and organised the spaces where they work. Through Open Studios events in the summer, I have been…

Andrew Eadington For novice artists, the complications of working with oil paint can prove a testing obstacle, but for Andrew Eadington it’s a welcome opportunity to get his hands dirty. “Oil paint is definitely my medium,” he says with relish. “I enjoy the geeky complexity of the different drying times and transparencies, and also the thought of all these artists through history struggling in their own unique ways to deal with this weird stuff.” He first fell for the medium after buying his first tube of paint, a Venetian Red from Old Holland. Taken aback by the strength of the pigment, he realised colour was something he wanted to explore in depth, and his research certainly seems to have paid off. His latest figurative painting, The Letter was one of…

What’s the best tip for achieving an accurate likeness? “Go beyond simply aiming for a physical likeness. A computer could create a perfectly accurate physical likeness, but I don’t believe a computer can create good art. Art is about emotion, and good art is reactive not prescriptive. A portrait artist should think about how the energy between the sitter and them is imbued in what they create. Vincent van Gogh created his paintings in a matter of days and Lucian Freud took thousands of hours to paint a single piece, yet both succeeded in loading every brushstroke with a huge amount of emotion.” www.owainhunt.com…

I am often asked how artists find an individual voice and consistent style. For me, most of this process lies in how I develop each idea from the first observational sketch to the finished print. I must find something to intrigue me in every potential landscape subject, then work out how I can share that fascination with the viewer. I do this by building on skills I already have and pushing my techniques to coax the best from each new print. The inevitable result is a print created on the basis of my particular enthusiasm and interests. I maintain consistency by relying on skills learned in making previous work, while gradually developing through exploring something new in each new print that I make. I have just returned from a drawing…

A little over half a century ago, Detroit was the place to be. In the eyes of the wider world at least, this was the “Motor City”, the home of Motown, Aretha Franklin and Iggy Pop, not to mention Diego Rivera’s murals at the Detroit Institute of Art. The demise of the car industry and the middle-class flight to the suburbs, however, saw the midwestern US city spiral into bankruptcy in 2013. On the plus side, the resulting wealth of cheap real estate has encouraged an influx of enterprising creative types. And it is here that Felicia Forte finds herself after a rather peripatetic life to date. “My partner and I bought a house a year ago,” she explains. “We attempted to have a home studio, which I haven’t had…

AIM To make a monoprint inspired by the modernist painter William Scott. DURATION Around 10 minutes per print plus preparatory drawing time MATERIALS For the prep drawings, you will need a pencil and lightweight paper. For the print, you will need more paper, a water-based ink (we used a GB Water Washable Relief Printing Ink from Lawrence Art Supplies), an ink roller, a palette or other surface to use as an inkwell, and a printing plate – a sheet of acetate or glass will do. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN Monoprinting is an ideal place to start when simplifying your composition as it requires looking for the essential lines of your subject and doesn’t allow you to sketch or rub things out. Your lines have to be loose and confident. PROCESS…

1 Acrylic Painting: Mediums & Methods Rhéni Tauchid Written by the head of development at Canadian paint manufacturer Tri-Art, this practical guide shows how to expertly introduce textures into your paintings. Monacelli Press, £32 2 Alla Prima Al Gury Though aiming at beginner and intermediate artists, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts chair never talks down as he introduces a wealth of direct painting techniques. Watson-Guptill, £29.99 3 Breaking the Rules of Watercolour Shirley Trevena Like the bad girl at school, the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour member’s best book disregards accepted wisdom to create her fiery, colourful art. Batsford, £18.99 4 Color for Painters Al Gury Admire timeless masterpieces and vibrant abstracts, while priming yourself with lessons on colour theory,…