Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2025 i Artists & Illustrators

So said Dame Tracey Emin, and her words feature – alongside other prominent female artists of the last 150 years – in an exclusive book extract in this month’s issue. Our cover artist, Kathy Barker, will no doubt concur. She likes to capture the essence of a person by the tilt of a head or an impression only made by the sitter. Caroline Pool, who features in The Big Interview, likes to portray the older population, because their faces weather history and each has a story to tell: stories which should be celebrated. Reflecting all walks of life, after all, is what makes paintings powerful. For practical features, Hashim Akib wraps up his brilliant six-part acrylic series with a demonstration on the beauty of working with flat colours, while watercolour…

15 NOVEMBER The Beyond Future Art Prize invites artists 15+ to explore the theme 'Thrive Together,' connect globally, and showcase their art internationally. Free entry. beyondfuture.art 27 NOVEMBER Submit your artwork to the 15th Annual Nature Online Art Competition for a chance at global exposure. Open to 2D and 3D artists worldwide, entry starting at $18. lightspacetime.art 2 DECEMBER Enter the 8th John Ruskin Prize, open to artists, designers and makers aged 18+ of any nationality. Total prize fund of £9,500. Entry from £15 per work. ruskinprize.co.uk 5 DECEMBER Join the Light & Shadow 2025 Art Competition to explore light and shadow and gain worldwide recognition. Open to artists everywhere, from $25 per entry. fusionartps.com…

THIS ARTIST IS A PROFESSIONAL working from her London studio in a mix of oils, charcoals and pastels. In addition to portrait painting, she teaches privately and holds weekly classes, while she has exhibited her work with the esteemed Royal Society of Portrait Painters and the Society of Women Artists. kathybarker.co.uk Portraiture was my first love. If I was only allowed to do one thing for the rest of my career, it would be portraiture. I love the challenge of capturing a face and how it develops with each sitting. Portraits are special: they show a moment in time in greater depth than any photograph and will almost certainly outlive us and be seen by generations to come. I have always been drawn to paper, excuse the pun. As a…

1 Oil paint is a versatile medium, but it needs patience and hard work to improve your skills Educate yourself with tutorials on platforms like YouTube, follow other artists for inspiration and sign yourself up for workshops whenever possible. As artists, we are always learning; it’s key to growing as a painter. 2 Paint, paint, paint Small colour studies are an important part of how I develop ideas. They are quick, experimental pieces where I can play around with composition, tone and value without stressing about the final result. I like using them as a warm-up at the start of the day. 3 Think of your practice as a business, not just a creative outlet Stay on top of deadlines, sales, submissions and finances. Your creativity is what drives you…

EVERY PAINTING’S VARYING SUBJECT MATTER and scale offers us distinct opportunities and challenges. Before I start any project, I like to consider what I want to convey, what opportunities and challenges the subject presents, and what clear steps I would like to take. The clothed figure is one of the more complex subjects to paint, as it incorporates a range of elements, including portraiture, figure painting, interiors and still life. Doing compositional tonal sketches and colour studies really helps the process. When painting a simple still life or doing an en plein air landscape sketch, a value or colour study is not always necessary due to the immediate and clear subject matter. However, they are certainly great to do. As an experienced artist, I am likely to perform these exercises…

THIS PORTRAIT BEGAN LIFE as a pile of old magazines: pages full of colour, text and typography just waiting to be reimagined. I’ve always loved how collage can transform the ordinary into something completely new. You’re not just making a likeness, you’re weaving together fragments from different places to tell a fresh story. I worked from a photo of the sitter, using it as a guide while hunting for just the right scraps to match each tone and shadow. Paper can’t be mixed or blended like paint, so you have to search for the perfect hue. Don’t worry if you make a mistake, simply stick a new piece over the top. Finding materials is half the fun. Check your online marketplace of choice or head to a local car boot…

KATHY BARKER This month’s cover artist trained at Wimbledon School of Art in Fine Art Painting and Printmaking. She was awarded a studio at the Florence Trust, London, and is a full member of the Society of Women Artists. While portraiture lies at the heart of her work, she also paints landscapes and still life. ANN FLYNN Ann is a full-time professional painter. She has won a number of prizes for her work, most recently at the prestigious Mall Galleries. Alongside studio practice and commissions she exhibits in galleries across Ireland and has been selected for the RHA Dublin, the RUA Belfast, the RSMA and the ROI London. LUKE WILLIAMS Luke completed Art Foundation at Kingston University and a BA in Illustration at the University of the West of England.…

SOMETIMES MAKING LIFE SIMPLER FOR YOURSELF and avoiding overthinking a process gets you further. In painting terms, using flat colours does exactly that and it may even prove to hold the key to more complex ideas. In a nutshell, just mix your colours to an even shade, avoid streaking and apply or blend with other flat colours for pleasing, clean applications. Let’s break down the advantages of painting in flat colours and how we can take them forward into more complex processes. Initially, using flat colours gets you painting; there’s no reason to procrastinate. Colour choices are simple: see a red ball, choose a red and apply. Add a darker shade for the base and you’ll have a cleanly painted, relatively realistic red ball. Avoid over complicating things by adding…

Editor’s pick… From rustic barns to Riviera villas, Pablo Picasso’s studios were engines of invention. Picasso: From the Studio at the National Gallery of Ireland, in partnership with Musée national Picasso-Paris, takes visitors to the heart of his creative process. With more than 60 works spanning painting, sculpture and paper, the exhibition reveals how space, muse and moment collided to shape a modern master. This is Picasso as never seen before: intimate, inventive and entirely transformative. On until 22 February 2026. nationalgallery.ie TURNER PRIZE 2025 The latest Turner Prize brings together artists who play with space, materials and memory in unexpected ways. Nnena Kalu’s swirling, cocoon-like forms, Rene Matić’s layered photography and sound, Mohammed Sami’s quiet, absent figures and Zadie Xa’s immersive, otherworldly installations all invite curiosity. On until 22 February…

AFTER SCHOOL, CAROLINE POOL could have easily applied to her local college to further her art education. Yet, being the last of four children who were all supremely academic, negotiating with her father the idea that she wanted to study art was, as she says, comical. “What kind of stability is that as a job?” he asked, before adding, “If you want to pursue this, you need to go to the best art school there is.” What followed was a successful “X Factor style interview process” for the foundation course at the prestigious school of St. Martins. Specialising in illustration, Caroline now realises that she wasn’t on the right course. Today, she would have told her 18-year-old self to skip art school altogether. She would have advised that young woman…

BROUGHT TO YOU BY The acclaimeded judging panel for The British Art Prize – made up of watercolour master Alvaro Castagnet, The One Show’s Artist in Residence and President of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, Adebanje Alade, Dr Amy Orrock, Curator for the National Trust, Tiffany Hall, co-founder of Panter & Hall gallery, and Niki Browes, the editor of this magazine – have painstakingly cast their votes and the winners have been decided. The big reveal will be in the next issue but, for now, we’d like to get you involved. This is your chance to vote for your favourite painting from the 50 artworks shortlisted and shown opposite. To cast your vote and view every artwork up close, simply follow the link (below right). When the deadline closes…

WINTER HELLEBORES, ALSO KNOWN AS Christmas roses, come in many different colours. We love those with cool green petals, veined and limned with pinkish red. The fern fronds and ivy complement them perfectly. Once you are happy with the arrangement, draw the vase and transfer the outline onto hot-pressed watercolour paper. Go over the pencil outline with the 0.1mm and 0.3mm waterproof fineliner pens. Use the 0.1mm fineliner for the ferns, ivy and vase, and use a slightly bolder line with the 0.3mm fineliner to outline the hellebores so that they stand out a little more against the foliage. Mask out the flowers and ferns with masking fluid and an old, small pointed brush. Tape the outline onto your board and lay it flat, ready to begin. 1 USE YOUR WASH…

This is a painting of my whippet, Lily, in old age. I knew I wouldn’t have her for much longer, so it was a particularly poignant image for me. It was a moment at the end of her life, when I was preparing myself for not having her by my side all the time. I just painted her as I saw her. I love the mugshot portrait, so that you can meet the subject’s eyes. I also love the hue; she had a coat that colour. This style of painting is very typical of my practice. This particular painting is both typical and personal. I paint a lot of dogs, but Lily has a special place. I’ve painted and drawn her many, many times – sometimes they work and sometimes…