Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 42 i Australian How To Paint

James Hough The chatter of eastern Rosellas permeates the solitude of an artist’s studio through an open window on a sunny July day. They’ve settled in the winter seed grass outside – left long on purpose to attract many parrots to the garden. King parrots, grass parrots and James Hough’s favourite – the eastern Rosella. Known locally by his moniker Jim, silently he stops work, reaches for his SLR camera – ever present by his side – and begins to photograph. It’s the beginning of yet another wildlife original masterpiece – an acrylic on clayboard. After the Rosellas move on James puts down the SLR and goes back to his easel to paint. His studio is surrounded by photographs he uses to get exact details of his subjects correct. As…

My ‘art’ journey was restricted initially to dabbling in hobbies and crafts including decoupage, paper tolle, folk art, pottery, woodworking and lead lighting, until my two sons reached secondary college. Utilising my skills in tracing, gridding up, machine sewing embroidery and patchwork, I began operating a ‘boutique industry’ from home designing and manufacturing ‘wearable art’, (3D appliqué clothing with matching Fimo earrings for women and children), selling under the label “Rozzie’s Ozzies” - naturally! When a silk painting weekend workshop was organised by the college, I volunteered as a ‘parent assistant’. (Thank you, Jaden). I was absolutely fascinated by the art tutor’s contagious enthusiasm..... and the silk-painting technique. The tutor, Barbara Grollmus, exposed me to a world previously unknown to me, and my passion for painting and all things art…

I began my journey to painting in 1987 at a Council of Adult Education watercolour course. At that stage I had no idea what I wanted to paint, but felt that being able to create a painting would be a great creative outlet. I had this misguided idea that watercolour would be easy. Wrong! While on the course, I also learnt about gouache, or opaque watercolour, as opposed to transparent watercolour. That was a medium that I had never heard of. I tried various subjects, mainly landscapes, but eventually settled on wildlife, as I have always loved birds and animals and felt I could be more passionate about these subjects. Wildlife presented a problem in that you have to seek it out. Unlike a landscape, which sits and waits for…

STEP ONE This is the hardest step; finding a subject. Once that hurdle is overcome, I complete my drawing on tracing paper as it’s much easier to rub out mistakes or even turf out the drawing and start anew. Also, it’s easier to correctly align the drawing onto the canvas. Once I’m happy with the result, I trace over the line work on the wrong side of the tracing paper using soft graphite and then transfer onto the canvas with a stylus. STEP TWO Outlining the subjects helps in not losing the shapes. I use a liner and thin the paint with a little thinning medium. Then the background is painted in using mixed paint left over from previous work. At this stage getting the colours exact isn’t important. The…

Although I generally work with oil paint, I have chosen to do this demonstration in acrylic because the colours are very bold, dry more quickly and can easily be painted over if alterations are needed. As backgrounds take quite a lot of paint, I find the sample pots the most economical. If needed they can be easily tinted, and it is more than likely that you will use all the contents of the pot before it has time to thicken and or dry out –even if the pot is not sealed completely. The recommended brushes work for me but you could use any brushes you are comfortable with. STEP ONE Once I have decided on the format of my painting, I mist a fine spray of water across the horizon…

This particular painting was commissioned for someone moving overseas. The scene depicts the view from their family home. The client wanted the dam, windmill and gum tree in the painting. The swamp hens in the foreground are frequent visitors to the house. They are local characters. Given a chance, they will make a mess on the verandah and steal the apples from under the apple tree. For the painting I used my preferred medium which is gouache and watercolour on Arches watercolour paper. STEP ONE Before I began the drawing, I washed the paper blue and let it dry completely. I accurately drew the swamp hen in first – from a series of photographs and some live sketches. STEP TWO Once I was happy with the drawing of the bird,…

My earliest memory of painting was of a sailing boat on the bay, whilst in primary school. My teacher could not believe I painted it myself. When I was young I would entertain my friends with drawings of popular cartoon characters. Living on Moreton Bay near Brisbane, Queensland, I developed a close affinity with native wildlife. I continued to draw throughout my young life, but did not begin to paint until after a motorbike accident, when I was house-bound with a broken leg. Sensing my boredom, an artist neighbour introduced me to painting. I soon began to express my love of wildlife through my art. I am a self-taught artist, developing my own technique by trial and error, with tips I picked up from art publications such as “Artist’s Palette”.…

STEP ONE I start by preparing the canvas with two coats of acrylic backing paint. For this painting I have used straw colour, as it will help to bring out the light filtering through the rainforest foliage. I then sketch the main subject which is a photo of a Cassowary and chicks which I have taken at Mission Beach Far North Queensland. STEP TWO I then block in the leaves and the rainforest trees, using Green Black for the leaves and Payne’s Grey for the rainforest trees and branches. I use a No. 8 flat brush for the trees and branches and No 4 round for the leaves. I then start blocking in the main subject, the Cassowary. I use Burnt Umber for the cone on the Cassowary’s head and…