Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2023 i Artists & Illustrators

…but as Al Gury says in his feature about the joy of colour through the ages, working with different hues in these bleak winter months can be a real pick-me-up. I urge you to keep on creating – getting in the artistic zone will take your mind off the freezing temperatures! Along with Al’s feature, you’ll find plenty of insight to keep you going in this issue of Artists & Illustrators. Professional animal artist Dede Gold has written a new book about what she’s learned along the way, which will be an invaluable read for those also wishing to take the leap. After all, being a professional artist means you have to be good at lots of things, not just painting. You need to be marketeers, bookkeepers, social media experts…

6 JANUARY Enter your drawings to the Society of Graphic Fine Art which has an emphasis on excellence in drawing. It costs £20 per work and the prize fund totals over £2,000. sgfa.oess1.uk 6 JANUARY The Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours is looking for artworks in watercolour or water-soluble mediums. Six winners will win prizes worth £6,500. Fee: £14-20. mallgalleries.org.uk 10 JANUARY The G. & A. Mamidakis Foundation Art Prize wants visual artists for works in Crete. Three artists will each receive €14,000. Free to enter. gnamamidakisfoundation.org 22 JANUARY The 27th Young Cartoonist of the Year competition is now open. Winners will receive prize money and a certificate, presented at The Cartoon Museum. cartoonmuseum.org…

I worked as an orthodontist for many years, creating art in another form. I was programmed into old beliefs regarding the financial stability a doctor’s job can offer, but when you feel like you’re pedalling but not moving forward, that may be a sign you’re not in the right place. That’s the moment when you should have your eyes and heart wide open and shift your focus to go after what fulfils your soul and lightens up your energy. That is exactly what I did and I’m so happy it led me here. My canvases have become a spiritual playground and my current goal is to focus on investigating the deepest inner levels of our beings and channelling them through women, objects and entities; creating immersive stories for the observer…

Using wax resist To create the shiny textures on the back of the fish, I rubbed a wax candle over the tooth of the paper, and then applied another layer of blue ink wash. The wax left there resisted the water in the ink and stopped it from settling on top, leaving highlights. This can produce effective textures when used in layers, as the colour beneath the wax comes through quite well. Creating gradients with bleed effects Applying ink to wet areas – much like wet-in-wet watercolour – creates striking bleed effects. This can create gradients that are particularly useful in portraying colour shifts present in animal markings, as well as leaving interesting patterns and textures. Neat inks produce quite intense bursts of colour, especially when they haven’t been mixed…

ANNE-MARIE BUTLIN Anne-Marie’s paintings are a celebration of flowers and natural forms; the strong structures, distinct character and often the sheer joyfulness of their appearance. In recent work, she has widened her gaze to include more of the landscape, drawing inspiration from the south. OLLIE TUCK Ollie is a still life painter. Light is integral to her work, whilst her paintings achieve a balance of colour and light using everyday objects, overlaid with a highly decorative style with rich textures and a keen eye for pattern. Ollie has exhibited with the RSMA and ROI. LANCELOT RICHARDSON Lancelot is a painter and printmaker. Drawing from observation and imagination are central foundations to his practice and his most recent work ties these interests together in a series of drypoint prints, depicting urban…

SARAH GRAHAM I adore Go or Go Ahead by Rufus Wainwright. I’ve loved Rufus ever since I discovered him almost 20 years ago. His unique theatrical pop and velvety voice has been the soundtrack to my entire career. This song is just so beautiful, the way it starts softly and builds into a huge, layered sound; I get completely lost in it. Recently I have been obsessed with the singer-songwriter Self Esteem (Rebecca Lucy Taylor). Her music is quite simply brilliant. I find her music really empowering. It lifts me up, which is so important for me when painting. sarahgraham.info HASHIM AKIB The soundtracks to my paintings are generally cheesy 80's tracks. I can listen or paint along to the group Khruangbin all day and night. I’m also a huge…

PETER BASHFORD DISCOVERED HIS LOVE for art at the age of 13, when he painted a boat drawn up on the beach with his first set of oil paints. “I was entranced. As a dyslexic mid-teen – at a time when dyslexia had not been discovered – I used painting and drawing as a means of expression.” His biggest influences were Graham Sutherland, Cezanne and Ansell Adams’ photographs of Yosemite. “I was a poor reader but loved visiting the local library where I would look at books on artists, maps and photographs.” When it comes to his subject of choice, Peter paints what excites him. This could be “a landscape, a dry-stone wall or people in the street, but it’s the cliffs and the sea that I love the most.…

1 Be brave and take the first step into the unknown. It won’t always be easy, but you’ll learn more from the hard times than the easy ones. The trick is to not give up and keep on following your dream. 2 Practice, practice, practice. Find a mentor and follow in their footsteps, but use your unique voice throughout your journey. 3 Start with the ending in mind but don’t forget to enjoy the journey. Use all marketing streams you can think of, let people know about your gift and share it with them; invite them to your journey and celebrate it. The rewards will follow.…

THE LONDON ART FAIR aims to provide a space to showcase exceptional modern and contemporary art to discover and buy. Launching with just 36 UK galleries in 1989 by London’s Business Design Centre – where the fair still takes place today – it has grown steadily over the years with well over 100 galleries now regularly exhibiting. The fair provides a home for modern British art while also embracing an increasingly international and contemporary outlook, with new galleries from around the world expanding their offer and reach. Providing a platform for nurturing talent, the London Art Fair has played host to acclaimed artists early in their careers as well as established names. The extensive gallery lineup showcases a diverse cross-section of art from exciting emerging talent to established art world…

THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY PAINTER Thomas Gainsborough was a man of many hues. His contemporary, the mercurial and renowned actor David Garrick once memorably commented about Gainsborough’s receptive mind that it was “so crammed with genius of every kind that it is in danger of bursting upon you like a steam engine overcharged.” The sheer diversity of delights that now await visitors to his childhood home in Sudbury, Suffolk (recently benefiting from a major redevelopment, courtesy of the National Lottery Heritage Fund), would probably have been much to his liking, a cornucopia of artistic treasures celebrating both Gainsborough and the work of his peers. A painter, draughtsman and printmaker, Gainsborough is today considered one of the most prominent British artists of the late eighteenth century. A genial, lively man, he was famed…

Drawing with a shaped cane The end of this cane has been trimmed into a wedge shape using a blade. When drawing with a shaped cane, it can be twisted onto its narrow side to make thin marks, or broad side to make thicker ones. Try carving different shapes, such as angled tips or chevron shapes that draw two lines at once. Canes tend not to pick up a lot of ink on the tip and tend to work best when dipped in deeper ink so it can flow down. Gritty textures in dry brush Drybrush is a technique that works well for producing gritty, directional texture. To do this, select a splayed, worn brush – hog hair works well – and dip it in ink. Dab out any excess…

THIS PAINTING IS BASED on some photographs taken on a cold February day in Suffolk. The dramatic line of tall pine trees silhouetted against the light sky really appealed to me. Each of the solo trees in the foreground seemed to have their own distinct character and as they receded into the distance, the overlapping tree trunks provided an interesting tangle of shapes. Gentle February light enhanced the soft ochres, slate blues and blue greens in the East Anglian landscape, so I wanted to replicate this by keeping my palette relatively limited. It’s also full of horizontal lines, something I am always drawn to in a composition. I aimed to treat both the sky and the foreground as a series of colour bands. The overriding atmosphere that I wanted to…

A large-scale exhibition that explores the work of the celebrated Scottish artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, from her early works inspired by the Cornish landscape (she moved to St Ives in 1940) through to the abstract works she made during the ‘60s and early ‘70s. It is the most significant exhibition of her work in recent years and a chance to engage with pieces including those rarely seen before in a solo museum presentation for over 30 years. From 11 February to 20 May 2023. hattongallery.org.uk…

Much has been said and written about Picasso’s life and art but until now, his self-portraits have never been studied and presented in a single book – many of which held in private collections. At the suggestion of Picasso’s widow Jacqueline, the distinguished art historian Pascal Bonafoux began researching Picasso’s self-portraits more than 40 years ago. This meticulously researched book presents the fruits of his decades-long project. Thames & Hudson, £30.00…

ILLUSTRATING THE WORLD: WOODCUTS IN THE AGE OF DÜRER 24 January to 23 April 2023 The New Year will see visitors to Bath’s Holburne Museum which offers a rare opportunity to see a complete set of twelve woodcut prints by the most celebrated artist of the German Renaissance, Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528). Known as the Great Passion, the biblical images are normally inaccessible in their entirety, as they are most frequently bound into an album or incomplete. Especially for Illustrating the World: Woodcuts in the Age of Dürer, these beautiful images detailing moments in Christ’s Passion have been framed, allowing the viewer to appreciate the full cycle. Great Pulteney St, Bath BA2 4DB holburne.org NIGEL COOKE: ATLAS WITH BUTTERFLY Until 7 January 2023 This solo exhibition marks Nigel Cooke’s first display…

DEDE GOLD WAS BROUGHT UP on the south coast of Ireland and oscillated between a strict convent education and a more free-range quaker school, depending on how her grades were going; anything less than a B and she was hiked back down the hill to the nuns. The Quaker school was brilliantly attentive to the importance of the arts, sports and individual self-expression: it was as much about creativity as curriculums. She can still hear her art teacher’s words calling after her and her friends as they headed into town to ‘look up;’ he was encouraging them to remember to look beyond the tips of their noses and their immediate orbit, and let the imagination wander to see what it stirs within; ultimately a great lesson for life and art.…

MY IDEA FOR THIS PAINTING began on spotting some beautiful underwater photos, by Belinda Collier-Morrow, posted on the White River Fish Sanctuary Instagram page. She kindly gave me her permission to paint from them. I still love the reefs and feel every bit as protective of them as when I worked in scuba diving, here in Jamaica, in my twenties and thirties. Despite my change of career and having witnessed a heartbreaking deterioration of the reefs in the last 20 years, I still feel compelled to do anything I can to help. Although damaged, the remaining reefs and their residents represent an important indicator for the health of the ocean and by extension, our planet. Being an island nation, the looming threat of rising sea levels (with associated problems from…

COLOUR IS ONE OF THE GREATEST joys in the whole painting process. Sometimes, just sitting and mixing colour with no serious agenda other than the pleasure of seeing colours unfold is all that is needed. Comparing the chromatic intensities and temperatures of the mixtures is a great way to keep energised with your art through the bleak winter months. Even though colour in painting can seem like a mystery, colour practices can be organised and understood in a way that can help painters make choices and develop their own approaches. The following will present the core colour methods that have been the most present and usable approaches of the past two hundred years. One of the hallmarks of Impressionist painting and colour is the description of the varying qualities of…

MESSAGE OF THE MONTH Anna Blachut I think it’s important to surround and immerse yourself creatively and be part of an artistic community. That’s why Artists & Illustrators is a super reference in the industry. As a fashion illustrator, inspiration is everywhere; from a fashion show in Paris to a stylish woman passing me by on the street. The spark of creativity is something that can strike so unexpectedly, which is why I always keep my notes at the ready to quickly jot down ideas. I think the most humbling aspect, which is sometimes hard to accept as an artist, is that you can always learn more, try new techniques and grow. That is why a platform like this magazine is great, providing insight into the creative process. I view…