artist and illustrators january 2015

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Artists &I L L U S T R A T O R S

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January 2015 £4.20

Seven golden rules for better drawings

Quentin Blake

The Portuguese artist reveals her techniques

Paula Rego

A masterclass in watercolour

vintagef a s h i o n

PoRtRaits

Year'sResolutionsNine projects and ideas for a creative 2015

New

COVER Jan15.v8.indd 1 25/11/2014 15:07

Free entry with this voucher

Royal Institute of Oil PaintersAnnual Exhibition 201410 to 21 December

The Mall, London SW1www.mallgalleries.org.ukImage: Lucy McKie ROI, Water Jug on Cardboard Box (detail)

ROI Oil Painters A&I.indd 1 25/11/2014 11:22

Artists & Illustrators 3

Ok, I realise that seeing delicious French confectionery is

probably not what you need right now. With the New Year

approaching, this is usually a time of resolutions and abstinence

after all. Well, you can relax. Artists & Illustrators is with you on

this one. We’ve got your back.

The picture is part of Jane Moore’s 2014 resolution to create a

drawing a day for an entire year. The plan was a simple one: to

devote a little time to something she loves every day. She’s made

more than 300 drawings so far and even landed an exhibition in the process.

Jane features as part of our 12-page guide to making artistic New Year’s

resolutions which begins on page 13. Whether you’re looking for a new

exhibition to visit, a competition to enter or just some inspiration for a different

direction to take, we hope we have something here for you.

In keeping with our theme, I’d also like to welcome artist and author Jake

Spicer to the Artists & Illustrators family. His article on page 62 is the first in a

series based on everyday subjects, making it easier to fit art into your daily life.

Steve Pill, Editor

these macaronscan help you!

welcome

If you make an arty New Year’s resolution, we’d love to hear about it. Drop us an email or share photos on social media...

[email protected]

@AandImagazine

ArtistsAndIllustrators

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Artists & Illustrators, The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd., Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London SW3 3TQ. Tel: (020) 7349 3700 www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk Editorial Editor Steve Pill Art Editor Alicia Fernandes Assistant Editor Terri Eaton Contributors Laura Boswell, Michele del Campo, Mark Harrison, Richard Kenworthy, Maxwell, Natalie Milner, Gill Murray, Bett Norris, Adam O’Reilly, Peter Rush, Jake Spicer and Jenny White oNliNE ENquiriEs [email protected] adVErtisiNG Advertisement Manager Tom O’Byrne (020) 7349 3738 [email protected] Sales Executive Erika Stone (020) 7349 3739 [email protected] Advertising Production allpointsmedia www.allpointsmedia.co.uk maNaGEmENt & PublishiNG Managing Director Paul Dobson Deputy Managing Director Steve Ross Publisher Simon Temlett Commercial Director Vicki Gavin Head of Marketing Will Delmont subscriPtioNs aNd back issuEs Artists & Illustrators, Subscriptions Department, 800 Guillat Avenue, Kent Science Park, Sittingbourne, Kent ME9 8GU [email protected] (01795) 419838 artists.subscribeonline.co.uk

Get in touch

3 Content + Letters_new.indd 3 27/11/2014 15:12

4 Artists & Illustrators

5 your lettersWrite to us for the chance to win a £50 voucher

7 THE DIARYJanuary’s best events and exhibitions

13 RING THE CHANGESStart 2015 creatively with our resolution ideas

35 THE WORKING ARTISTColumnist Laura Boswell on being sociable

39 COMPETITIONWin £1,000 worth of art courses and materials

40 THE GALLERYThis month’s best new Portfolio Plus artworks

43 NOTEBOOKOur new section of practical tips and deadlines

CONTENTS

JANUARY 201552 QUENTIN BLAKEHis seven golden rules of illustration revealed

54 PROJECTTurn a grey vista into an atmospheric cityscape

62 DRAWING EXERCISESJake Spicer’s new series on fi gure sketching

64 MASTERCLASSStep-by-step guide to painting vintage fashion

68 DEMONSTRATIONFor the perfect painting recipe, just add salt

70 CAREER ADVICEHow to survive and thrive as an artist

82 MY FAVOURITE THINGSWith art school principal Veronica Ricks

24 TIME FOR A CAREER CHANGE?Why it’s never too late to paint professionally

48 DAME PAULA REGOTalking techniques with the Portuguese legend

29 ROLL UP! ROLL UP!Making pastels in the wilds of Northumberland

59 MAKING A SPLASHYour seascape questions answered in detail

36 MIND THE GAPInside the art studio on a Scottish train platform

72 PHOTO FINISHCompose paintings with the aid of your camera

16 NEW MEDIUMSBe inspired to try something different in 2015

Xin courses and materials on page 39



RE: Mr Turner, Issue 344Launch day of the fi lm Mr Turner saw me painting at the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse. Local artists were invited along to use the venue as their studio. It was a fantastic day with cinemagoers and staff really interested in the painting process. The organiser Jack Toyle said he found it calming having artists working in the venue.

This got me thinking: wouldn’t it be fantastic if all businesses made a small studio space in offi ces and factories for artists to come and use? It would be interesting to see how having a working artist around would affect the staff. Judy Logan, via email

Great idea, Judy. We think all businesses should consider having an artist-in-residence, even if it is only for a day. If any companies would care to offer a space, we’d love to hear from them!

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GENERAL INTERESTSRE: Your Letters, Issue 346I read the letter of Mr DM Howard with great interest. I am an extremely amateurish artist but have occasionally sold a picture. My relatives and friends seem to like them. I also play bridge, at which I’m even more amateurish. I have tried on occasion to combine my two hobbies. Ellis Field, York

JOLLY GOOD READI enjoy getting your magazine and I wanted to share a book I consider to be very helpful on the business side of things – it’s called Art Inc. by Lisa Congdon. I’ve found it inspiring and hope that your other readers might as well. Eszter Rajna, via emailThanks for the tip! If other readers are inspired by a particular book, please share your recommendations with us.

FIRST EXPOSUREI am in the second week of my fi rst solo exhibition. West Dunbartonshire Council asked if I would be interested in a solo exhibition at The Backdoor Gallery. Reading about other artists in your magazine has given me the confi dence to produce 52 paintings for the exhibition.

Having left school, served an apprenticeship in marine plumbing and lectured for 30 years, I can now concentrate my efforts on enjoying art and hopefully selling my paintings.

I look forward to my delivery of Artists & Illustrators each month. They have a prominent place in my studio, where they are used either for reference or just to enjoy browsing. I like to specialise in acrylics and watercolours with an emphasis on detail. My subject matter is varied but I like to return to the shipbuilding on the Clyde. Alex Moffat, via email

YOUR LETTERS…

CALMING EFFECTLET TER OF THE M ONTH

keep in touch

HOT TOPIC

JASON CRAMER I love Pollock, especially when you consider the research and hard work that went into it. Ed Harris is brilliant

MARION BODDY-EVANS@PAINTING The best artist fi lm ever is Vincent by Paul Cox – John Hurt reading Van Gogh’s letters to an unfolding sequence of images

CHRISTIAN CAMACHO Girl with a Pearl Earring should be on that list

STELLA DAVIS Carrington is one of my favourites. Set in the era of the Bloomsbury group, it illustrates how relationships infl uence artistic output

SARA GLENDINNING@BOTSWANAARTIST You forgot the dark and depressing Caravaggio and Carrington with Emma Thompson, which I loved!

RICK WHITE I would have picked The Yellow House over Lust for Life

JAN CAVANAGH I haven’t seen any of these yet but I really enjoyed the Desperate Romantics series on BBC2 – thoroughly entertaining!

At www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk, we picked out fi ve great fi lms about artists and asked you to name your favourites on social media…

[email protected] @AandImagazine ArtistsAndIllustrators AandImagazine AandImagazine


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the diary

Jean Joseph Benjamin-Constant is hardly a household name in the UK but that may be set to change. A new monograph, Benjamin-Constant – Marvels and Mirages of Orientalism (Yale Books, £40), is the first time that this Toulouse master’s story

has been told in detail. Born in 1845, he established his reputation in the Parisian salons of the 1870s. Extensive travels across Spain and Morocco inspired vast decorative canvases, filled with Moorish architecture and striking portraits of local people. By working with a saturated palette and layering his oils with confidence, he drew comparisons with Delacroix and

Rembrandt. For fans of elegant 19th-century portraiture, Benjamin-Constant is a name worth getting accustomed with.

THE FORGOTTEN COLOURIST

8 The Diary.indd 7 27/11/2014 15:22


the diary

join us to toast our

The Artists & Illustrators Artists of the Year 2014 exhibition opens at the prestigious Mall Galleries this month. We will be hosting a special drinks reception on 6 January 2015 for all the shortlisted artists and we are offering our subscribers and Portfolio Plus members the chance to join us at the evening event.

To apply for your free ticket, call Ebba Jacobsson on (020) 7349 3712 or email [email protected], quoting either your magazine subscriber number or Portfolio Plus web address. Please note that places are limited and subject to availability on a first come, first served basis.

The Artists & Illustrators Artists of the Year 2014 exhibition runs from 6-17 January 2015 at the Mall Galleries, London SW1.

Landscape painters should make a beeline to Sheffield’s Graves Gallery for a major new free exhibition by the 20th-century painter Stanley Royle.

The Great Outdoors is the first major retrospective of his work for almost 30 years. Born in Stalybridge in 1888, Royle trained at the Sheffield School of Art where he later taught. He spent the 1930s in Canada, painting the Rocky Mountains and vast coastlines, On his return to Britain, he was often found touring Yorkshire on a motorbike adapted to accommodate his canvasses and paintbox.

The Great Outdoors runs from 13 December to 30 May 2015 at the Graves Gallery, Sheffield.

artists of the year

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8 The Diary.indd 8 27/11/2014 15:22

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LARA A&I Full page portrait competition.indd 2 08/06/2014 15:16


the diary

• The Midas touch? The publisher of popular Derbyshire wildlife artist Pollyanna Pickering has insured her right hand for £1 million in case of accident during her many expeditions. “I’m not allowed to go skiing, rock-climbing or even to sculpt,” she says.

• Unique view of the coast Norman Ackroyd CBE chartered a whale-watching boat to sketch the Yorkshire coastline for a new series of etchings. “The coastal cliffs of Yorkshire are deceptively beautiful,” says the Royal Academician. From Saltburn to Flamborough runs until 21 January at Zillah Bell Gallery, Thirsk.

• Show me the Manet Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery’s Homage to Manet, opens on 31 January. Taking its title from William Orpen’s 1909 painting (above), this major new loan exhibition explore Édouard Manet’s influence via works by Claude Monet, Gwen John and Vanessa Bell.

• The new generation The sixth edition of the Catlin Guide launches at the London Art Fair 2015 on 21-25 January. The book selects 40 rising stars from recent graduate shows.

popular view

The Prince’s Drawing School has been given the highest seal of approval by Her Majesty The Queen and will now be known as the Royal Drawing School.

The title was bestowed in recognition of the London school’s academic and artistic excellence much to the delight of all of those involved, including deputy chairman Loyd Grossman OBE. “One thing that hasn’t changed since the school was established in 2000 is the heart, the core mission of the school, remains a devotion to the importance of drawing and particularly observational drawing,” explained the broadcaster.

The school now joins an elite group of arts institutions to bear the royal imprimatur, including the Royal Academy of Arts and the Royal College of Art.

known as ‘prince’the art school formerly

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Brighten your coffee table with Monet’s

Impression, Sunrise (Editions Hazan, £30),

a beautifully-illustrated insight into the

canvas that inspired a whole art movement.

in

Congratulations to Juliette Losq who won the visitors’ choice award at the John Moores Painting Prize 2014 exhibition. The 36-year-old artist scooped the £2,014 prize for Vinculum, an urban scene in watercolour and ink that measured a staggering 2.9 metres high.

8 The Diary.indd 11 27/11/2014 15:22

Untitled-58 1 03/09/2014 17:44

With December drawing to a close, it’s time to start planning for the New Year. Over the next 12 pages, we have put together a host of inspiring resolutions, projects and challenges to help

you make the most of your artistic talents in 2015words: terri eatON, steve pill aND jeNNY White IllustratIon: bett NOrris

13 Resolutions.indd 13 26/11/2014 15:48


see more art1When you’re looking for encouragement, nothing beats seeing a great painting in the flesh. We’ve picked out 10 top exhibitions opening in the next six months that are sure to inspire

1Sargent: Portraits of Artists and Friends12 February to 25 May 2015

With loans from many major US galleries, this personal set of figurative paintings is set to reveal a looser, more experimental side to the great John Singer Sargent. Look out for our technique feature in the next issue. National Portrait Gallery, London WC2. www.npg.org.uk

2Joshua Reynolds: Experiments in Paint12 March to 6 June 2015

Based on the findings of the four-year Reynolds Research Project, this free exhibition will provide new insight into the 18th-century painter’s techniques. Artists will find much to learn from his once-radical use of pigments, oils and varnishes.Wallace Collection, London W1. www.wallacecollection.org

3Inventing Impressionism4 March to 31 May 2015

Art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel played an important but largely unsung role in the Impressionist movement. All 85 artworks in this Sainsbury Wing show passed through his hands at one time and they include masterpieces by Monet, Renoir and more.National Gallery, London. www.nationalgallery.org.uk

4Leonora Carrington6 March to 31 May 2015

Born in Lancashire in 1917, Leonora Carrington spent 70 years in Mexico where she remains hugely revered. Alongside her surreal paintings, this collection also includes her costume designs, stories and films, made with Dalí cohort Luis Buñuel. Tate Liverpool, Liverpool. www.tate.org.uk

5 Canaletto: Celebrating Britain14 March to 7 June 2015

Giovanni Antonio Canal is famed for his vedutes of Venice, which he sold to wealthy Britons on their grand tours. In 1746, he moved to London and spent nine years recording our fair isles in equally epic detail.Compton Verney, Warwickshire. www.comptonverney.org.uk

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TOP LEFT Claude Monet,

Poplars in the Sun,

1891, oil on canvas,

93x73.5cm

LEFT Terry Frost, Straw

and Purple Visage,


63.2x63.2cm

ABOVE John Singer

Sargent, Édouard and

Marie-Louise Pailleron,


152.4x175.3cm


>

6Richard Diebenkorn14 March to 7 June 2015

One of the most consistent and disciplined American painters of his generation, Richard Diebenkorn tackled the landscape of his native Californian landscape with a bold and sometimes abstract eye for colour. Royal Academy of Arts, London W1. www.royalacademy.org.uk

7Grayson Perry23 May to 13 September 2015

Everyone’s favourite cross-dressing Royal

Academician returns with a fresh set of ceramics, tapestries, prints and more, all crafted with typical love, wit and insight. Turner Contemporary, Margate. www.turnercontemporary.org

8Jean-Étienne Liotard6 June to 13 September 2015

Was Jean-Étienne Liotard the world’s first hyperrealist painter? Rare 18th-century oils, miniatures and prints all make the case. Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh. www.nationalgalleries.org

9 Taking Flight: St Ives in the 1950s26 June to 3 October 2015

Glorious modernist abstract art from five key figures including Patrick Heron and Terry Frost. Abbot Hall, Cumbria. www.abbothall.org.uk

10 Sickert in Dieppe4 July to 4 October 2015

After honeymooning in Dieppe in 1885, the Camden Town artist returned almost every summer to paint the French resort.Pallant House Gallery, Chichester. www.pallant.org.uk >


RESOLUTIONS

They say a change is as good as a rest, but, for David Grosvenor, there was no pause when he decided to make an abrupt change in mediums,

subjects and styles. In fact, he decided to put the works together in the same exhibition.

The painter, who lives in Cardigan Bay, created a show at Oriel Plas Glyn y Weddw with two distinct halves. One room was filled with the type of paintings he was known for: delicate, colourful watercolours, mostly of flowers. In the other room was a set of dramatic mountain landscapes, executed in thick impasto oils. “It was interesting watching people arrive because they walked through the first room with the oil paintings saying, ‘Where are David Grosvenor’s paintings?’ Later they would wander back into that room and realise that the oil paintings were by me too.”

It was a brave move that was inspired by an instinctive need to start painting the dramatic

landscape surrounding his North Wales home. A former graphic designer, David

had taken up painting professionally when he moved to Wales two decades before, but had never properly tackled the mountains prior to that point. “I focused on still lifes

because when you are surrounded by so much stunning scenery it’s actually

quite difficult to get a handle on it. However, just being here for this amount of time breeds

familiarity with it, and you start to feel able to depict it.”For a while he had only ever painted

tranquil views of that landscape, typically focusing on the sea or a lake, with the mountains in the distance. More recently, however, his perspective changed again.

“It happened around the time that I did my first walk up the mountain. It took me 20 years to decide to go up there, but the experience opened my eyes.”

Another significant factor was a visit to see an exhibition of work by the late Sir John ‘Kyffin’ Williams, the celebrated Welsh painter of impasto mountain scenes, at Oriel Ynys Môn on Anglesey. “I met him a couple of times when he was alive and he had been very complimentary about my work, even though it was so different to his. He worked with a knife and lashings of paint. I couldn’t afford to use that much paint, but there were

some seascapes that particularly struck me. He liked to finish each painting in a day, even the big canvases, and I was influenced by that too.”

Although he claims that he will never tire of the complexities of watercolour painting, the switch to oils was liberating. He enjoyed the spontaneity of working with palette knives too. “If you’re working with brushes you need about a million of them in order to prevent your colours from becoming dirty, whereas if you work with a knife, you can wipe the paint off and you’ve instantly got a clean tool to work with.”

Making the change has worked well for him so far. “I’ve got a whole new audience,” he admits. “Some have followed, and there are people who have told me they bought one of my oils even though they had never liked oil paintings before.”

For his most recent show, David kept both sides happy by including a number of watercolour paintings. Revisiting the medium, he found that his style has become bolder and freer, and he is now able to explore contrasting moods within one exhibition, covering everything from moody windswept mountains to tranquil still life. “Making the switch was a commercial risk but I’m glad I did it,” he says. “If you’re not happy with your own work there’s no point in doing it. If you try something different and you feel it is working, the chances are that there will be people out there who follow you on that path. You’ve just got to have the nerve to follow your instincts.”www.welshart.net

change styles2Thinking about switching subjects, techniques or medium? David Grosvenor did all three at once and reaped the rewards for following his muse

LEFT David Grosvenor,

Rocky Coast of the North

Llyn Peninsula, oil on

canvas, 40x40cm

BELOW David Grosvenor,

Camellias, watercolour

on paper, 30x21cm

>

Change style and your buyers will often follow

Untitled-30 1 26/11/2014 13:03


resolutions

Royal Institute of Painters in Water ColoursThe annual open exhibition returnsSUBMIT: Before 2 January 2015 at www.registrationmallgalleries.org.ukPRE-SELECTION: 9 January 2015RECEIVING DAY: 7 February 2015EXHIBITION: 25 March to 11 April 2015 at Mall Galleries, London SW1

Royal Society of Portrait PaintersIncludes the £15,000 7IM Conversations Prize for multiple figure portraitsSUBMIT: Before 9 January 2015 at www.registrationmallgalleries.org.ukPRE-SELECTION: 16 January 2015 RECEIVING DAY: 14 February 2015 EXHIBITION: 16 April to 1 May 2015 at Mall Galleries, London SW1

RA Summer Exhibition 2015Follow in the footsteps of Mr TurnerSUBMIT: Online from 6 January 2015 at summer.royalacademy.org.ukPRE-SELECTION: March 2015 (dates tbc)RECEIVING DAY: March 2015 (dates tbc)EXHIBITION: 8 June to 16 August 2015 at Royal Academy of Arts, London W1

BP Portrait Award 2015The world’s premier portrait competitionSUBMIT: Before 3 February 2015 at www.npg.org.uk/bpPRE-SELECTION: 27 February 2015 RECEIVING DAY: 16-20 March 2015 EXHIBITION: 18 June to 20 September 2015 at the National Portrait Gallery, London WC2

New English Art ClubChampioning figurative paintingSUBMIT: 8 December to 13 March 2015 at www.registrationmallgalleries.org.ukPRE-SELECTION: 20 March 2015RECEIVING DAY: 18 April 2015EXHIBITION: 19-27 June 2015 at Mall Galleries, London SW1

The Haworth PrizeA new £4,000 prize for a Northern English cityscape or landscape made by a northern artist under 35SUBMIT: 8 December to 13 March 2015 at www.registrationmallgalleries.org.ukPRE-SELECTION: 20 March 2015

RECEIVING DAY: 18 April 2015EXHIBITION: 19-27 June 2015 at Mall Galleries, London SW1

David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year 2015A top prize of £10,000 is on offerSUBMIT: Before 13 February 2015 at www.davidshepherd.org/wayRECEIVING DAY: Spring 2015 (dates tbc) EXHIBITION: 30 June to 4 July 2015 at Mall Galleries, London SW1

Aviation Paintings of the Year 2015The Guild of Aviation Artists’ 45th annual summer exhibition, open to non-membersSUBMIT: Email [email protected] for entry forms and submission detailsRECEIVING DAY: 10 May 2015 EXHIBITION: 21-26 July 2015 at Mall Galleries, London SW1

National Open Art CompetitionThe Chichester Art Trust’s gala event SUBMIT: Online from 10 January 2015 at www.thenationalopenartcompetition.comRECEIVING DAY: August 2015 (date tbc)EXHIBITION: September 2015 (dates tbc)

Royal Society of Marine ArtistsIncludes the Classic Boat Prize, awarded by our sister magazineSUBMIT: 6 April to 10 July 2015 at www.registrationmallgalleries.org.ukPRE-SELECTION: 17 July 2015RECEIVING DAY: 15 August 2015EXHIBITION: 14-25 October 2015 at Mall Galleries, London SW1

Society of Wildlife ArtistsPaintings evoking the natural worldSUBMIT: 4 May to 7 August 2015 at www.registrationmallgalleries.org.ukPRE-SELECTION: 14 August 2015RECEIVING DAY: 12 September 2015EXHIBITION: 29 October to 8 November 2015 at Mall Galleries, London SW1

Artists of the Year 2015Our annual search for fresh talentSUBMIT: Online from 22 May 2015 at www.artistsandillustrators.co.ukRECEIVING DAY: September 2015 (tbc)EXHIBITION: January 2016 (tbc) at Mall Galleries, London SW1

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Submitting artworks to open exhibitions is a great way to build your reputation. Here are the details for 12 major UK competitions to enter in the next six months.

>

19 Enter an Art comp.indd 19 26/11/2014 18:11

Share your work 4

Bag a bursary5

RSA RESIDENCIES FOR SCOTLANDWHAT? The Royal Scottish Academy’s residency programme provides the chance for artists to conduct research or develop a body of work at one of more than 25 venues across Scotland. Successful participants can request up to £5,000 in bursary monies.WHEN? Apply before 21 January 2015.HOW? Applications and guidelines are available at www.royalscottishacademy.org ROME SCHOLARSHIPWHAT? The Federation of British Artists offers this valuable award to fi gurative artists who can demonstrate a good standard of draughtsmanship. This bursary includes a four-week stint at the British School in Rome, complete with fl ights and half-board accommodation.

WHEN? Apply online before 31 December 2014.HOW? Visit www.royalsocietyofbritishartists.org.uk for more details. DISCERNING EYE DRAWING BURSARYWHAT? First awarded in 2002, this annual bursary provides UK artists with the chance to develop their drawing practice in their chosen direction. A £1,500 fi rst prize is up for grabs, alongside runner-up prizes of £150 each.WHEN? Details for 2015 will be announced soon.HOW? Visit www.parkerharris.co.uk for more details.

Times are hard so why not apply for one of these three funding opportunities to help kick start your 2015

Keen to take the next step in your journey as an artist? Establishing an online portfolio is a great way to raise your profi le and fi nd a new audience for your artwork

The Portfolio Plus scheme on www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk has been designed to help you share, showcase and even sell your work to a monthly audience of more than 104,000 unique users. Sign up today to receive a personalised web address and start uploading your artworks. Portfolio Plus members receive many additional benefi ts, including: • SELL YOUR ARTWORK We take no commission so you can sell your work with maximum returns

• SHOWCASE YOUR TALENT Take part in regular online exhibitions and be featured in Artists & Illustrators

• PUBLISH YOUR OWN BLOGShare your thoughts and inspirations with tens of thousands of like-minded artists and art lovers

• ENJOY A HOST OF EXCLUSIVE BENEFITSMembers will receive discounts on art materials, exhibition tickets and more If you want to sign up for your personalised Portfolio Plus account today, simply go online and visit www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/register – it only takes a few minutes to register and then you will be ready to begin sharing your work with friends, family and even potential clients.

RESOLUTION S

20 Get Online.indd 20 26/11/2014 17:17

Every January, Jane Moore vows to make a New Year’s resolution worth sticking to, whether that’s abstaining from chocolate or taking up a particular sport. Like many of us, her good intentions tend to fi zzle out after a few months. However, Jane was adamant that 2014 would be different when she decided to keep a daily sketching journal.

“I love drawing and I felt the project could help generate concepts for my current role as a storyboard artist,” reveals the 33 year old. “It’s really developed my drawing skills immensely. I can see it clearly when I look back.”

It hasn’t always been easy for Jane to fi nd the time to sketch, but even on hectic days she’ll allow herself a few minutes to honour her resolution. “I normally draw in the morning before I start work. I fi nd I’m fresher and I can generate better ideas,” says the Belfast-born artist. “Plus, it gives you something to look forward to the night before.”

Jane’s enthusiasm is infectious and she’s received a fl ood of support for her project on social media. “I upload my pictures onto Twitter and I love reading the feedback,” she explains. “It gives me encouragement to keep going and do better ones.”

Jane’s mission to sketch every day is nearing its climax but this isn’t really the end. With hopes to continue drawing every day in 2015, and for every year that follows, her artistic adventures have only just begun. Jane’s Sketch a Day exhibition runs 23-28 January 2015 at Shapes, London E9. www.sketchadayproject.com

draw every day6

>

Try sketching in the morning when you feel fresher

21 Sketch A Day.indd 21 26/11/2014 17:15

RESOLUTION S

Draw in colourNel Whatmore and Rebecca de Mendonça’s Foundation Course in Pastels (6-8 March, 18-20 April, 10-12 July) is a great way to truly get to grips with the medium.The New Pastel School, Yorkshire. www.thenewpastelschool.co.uk

Make a new markKeen to dabble in printmaking but don’t know which technique to try? An Introduction to Printmaking (2-23 February) teaches monoprints, linocuts, drypoint and screenprinting on four consecutive Monday evenings. Green Door, Derby. www.greendoor-printmaking.co.uk

Sketch like a masterThe London Atelier of Representational Art (LARA) is renowned for teaching the traditional skills. Travis Seymour’s Classical Figure Drawing (19-23 January) is a perfect introduction to LARA’s approach, as it focuses on comparative measuring.LARA, London SE11. www.drawpaintsculpt.com

Pare things backAs your paintings develop, learning what to leave out can be an important skill to learn. Emma McClure’s Simplicity and Form (26-27 February) shows you how with a still life project, while The Art of Keeping It Simple (2-6 March) turns to the St Ives modernists for inspiration. St Ives School of Painting, Cornwall. www.schoolofpainting.co.uk

TRY7

Five practical workshops to broaden your artistic skills

newsomething

1

23

4 5Embrace abstractsWith Freedom in Painting (19-25 April and 4-10 October), experienced abstract artist Ashley Hanson combines study work in the harbour with in-depth critiques and demonstrations in the studio.Lifeboat Art Studio, Porthleven. www.ashleyhanson.co.uk

22 Try Something new.indd 22 26/11/2014 17:22

• Drawing • Painting • Sculpture • Calligraphy • Textiles • Stone Carving

[email protected] www.artinaction.org.uk

07980 091 297 Organised by the School of Economic Science Registered Educational Charity no 313115

Art Courses 2015 May to September

Untitled-26 1 25/11/2014 16:06


swap career

8

24 Swap Career.indd 24 27/11/2014 14:44


resolutions

Sitting down with former psychiatrist Vic Harris in the Saatchi Gallery’s café, we suddenly feel a little self-conscious. What if an accidental scratch of the

nose says something negative about our character? Until 2009, Vic had made it his life’s work to analyse

human behaviour, but these days his attention is focused entirely on painting, especially portraits. So we’re eager to discover whether Vic’s years of studying people in a professional capacity has helped him understand how to capture a good likeness. However, we soon gather we’re not the only ones feeling vulnerable today. “I’m not used to talking about my art if I’m honest. I just do what I do. I understand personality types and human nature but there’s no magic to it,” says the 60-year-old, who has twice been shortlisted in our Artists of the Year competition.

The candid Welshman began painting in 2010 after his son Stefan declared he wanted to become an artist. At the time, Stefan was excelling in sciences and the decision to do a foundation year at Blackburn College came as shock to his parents. Vic warned of the difficulties trying to make a living from art and hoped his son would change his mind but a few months later, it was Stefan’s turn to give his father some worthwhile advice.

“He said to me, ‘Dad, you like drawing. Why don’t you have a go at painting?’ and so I began with oils. I wish I had done it years ago, but I needed my son to get me going and inspire me. We joke it’s because I’m a competitive father, but we bring out the best in each other.”

Though you’d never guess from his realist portraits, Vic hasn’t had any formal training. In 1989, he bought himself an airbrush but that was about as artistic as it got until his son’s recent intervention.

An avid reader of Artists & Illustrators, Vic has learned how to paint by spending hours looking at paintings in galleries (the Musée d’Orsay in Paris is a particular favourite) and wondering how exactly they were created.

“I’ve tried to learn the traditional techniques but now I’m building my confidence, I want to loosen up and do more alla prima paintings,” he says. “However, the difference between a good portrait and a great one is how you use colour, which I’m still finding my way with. I look at someone like [19th century French artist William-Adolphe] Bouguereau and he painted with lots of greens and greys rather than flesh tones. My paintings tend to be quite monochromatic but that’s something I want to change.”

As well as taking tips from the greats, Vic enjoys receiving feedback about his own work from his contemporaries and finds YouTube to be the perfect way to share his paintings. “Stefan encouraged me to upload time-lapse videos of myself in the studio and they’ve had a fantastic reaction,” explains Vic, whose first clip has been

ABOVE Stefan 3,

oil on canvas,

51x61cm

OPPOSITE PAGE

Carla 3, oil on

canvas, 50x70cm

Give up your job to focus on art full-time can take confidence, but after switching psychiatry for painting Vic Harris tells us: “I wish I’d done it years ago”

viewed over 55,000 times. “People ask if I give lessons but I reply saying I don’t know what I’m doing myself!”

While Vic protests ignorance in some areas of his craft, he has an interesting theory about what makes a successful portrait that might surprise his YouTube followers. “They say the eyes are the windows to the soul but I don’t think it’s true,” he says. “It’s the mouth. When you’re talking to someone, you spend little time focused on the eyes. I’ve worked with schizophrenics and they often make eye contact too much because they think that it equates to having good social skills, but if there’s any part of the face that drives me mad when I paint, it’s the mouth.”

Vic’s former occupation is clearly informing his newfound passion for painting. He’s swapped Sigmund Freud for Lucian Freud and, in doing so, proven once and for all that it’s never too late to make a change.www.vicharris.co.uk >

Could your old job help inspire a new career in art?

24 Swap Career.indd 25 27/11/2014 14:44

Clockwise from top: Norman Rockwell 16-month calendar, £9.99, www.calendarclub.co.uk; Redstone The Art of Simplicity diary, £15.95, www.theredstoneshop.com; New English Art Club calendar, £15, www.newenglishartclub.co.uk; Royal Academy of Arts

desk diary, £12.99, www.flametreepublishing.com; Tessa Galloway City Illustrations calendar, £14, www.notonthehighstreet.com; Charles Rennie Mackintosh Decorative Designs calendar, £10.99, www.calendarclub.co.uk

Centre: The Glasgow Boys calendar, £9.99, www.flametreepublishing.com

Plan your year in style with one of these arty calendars and diaries

Get organised9

Never miss another competition

deadline

26 Calendars.indd 26 27/11/2014 10:37


Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts

Free admission to permanent collectionsOpening Times Tuesday - Friday 10am-6pm, Saturday - Sunday, 10am-5pm *Temporary exhibition, charges apply

Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia, Norwich,NR4 7TJ 01603 593199 www.scva.ac.uk Ph

oto:

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Current Exhibitions:REALITY: Modern and Contemporary British PaintingUntil 1st March 2015*

Over 50 works celebrating the strength of British painting with some of the best and most influential artists of the last 60 years. Henri Matisse Sculpture: The BacksUntil 1st March 2015

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Jeremy Gardiner Mupe Rocks Dorset (detail)

Victoria Art GalleryBy Pulteney Bridge Bath BA2 4AT Tel 01225 477233 www.victoriagal.org.uk Tue to Sat all day, Sun pm, all works for sale

Jeremy GardinerJurassic Coast17 January – 1 March 2015

27_A&I_0115_.indd 27 24/11/2014 11:51


PASTEL CORRESPONDENCEAND STUDIO COURSES

Designed and taught by renowned pastel artist and teacher Annabel Greenhalgh, either online or in my cottage studio.

Learn to make the most of your pastels with Annabel’s personal guidance.

Free course notes, price structure and testimonials.Please e-mail - [email protected]

Or Tel 01834 831 633

www.annabelgreenhalgh.com

28_A&I_0115_.indd 28 21/11/2014 15:49

talking techniques

farm

the

Founded by a frustrated artist in the 1980s, Unison Colour now produces a quarter of a million pastels by hand each year. We paid a visit to see how they do it

Words: terri eaton PHoTos: richard kenworthy

olourc

29 Unison.v2.indd 29 27/11/2014 15:01


painting projects

L ifting the lid off a fresh set of Unison Colour soft pastels is like opening a jewellery box of gems – they’re wonderful to admire but best enjoyed when

put to good use. Each and every one of the company’s 400-plus vibrant shades is made by hand so we decided to visit them and find out how it’s done.

Unison Colour is based in Tarset, a remote parish set deep in the Northumberland National Park. We’re welcomed on the doorstep of the beautiful Thorneyburn Old Rectory by four dawdling chickens. “Come in,” says Unison Colour director Kate Hersey, as she shoos away the chooks. “I’ll make us some tea.”

The Old Rectory was built in 1818, along with the neighbouring St. Aidan’s Church, to provide a living for ex-Royal Navy chaplains after the Napoleonic Wars, but it has been Kate’s home since 1980 when she moved here with husband and artist John Hersey.

John was the founder of Unison Colour. He was inspired to create his own pastels because he felt the other mass-produced options failed to cut the mustard.

“John gave up doing any of his own artwork while we were creating the first batch of colours,” says our hostess as we follow her into the kitchen. “He worked solidly on that for years and he wouldn’t stop on a colour until it was perfect. They became his art.”

We sit at a large farmhouse table. There’s a pan of homemade soup simmering away on the AGA and a sense of calm in the air, unexpected for somewhere that produces around 250,000 pastels every year.

We’re joined by Dan, one of Kate’s three sons and the only one to have joined the pastel-making trade. He has taken over from the now-retired Kate as head of business and marketing.

above left

Rolling out the

pastels; jars of

raw pigment; the

Coach House

opposite page,

clockwise from

bottom left

Following the

recipe; dollops of

colour mixture;

freshly-rolled sticks

“I helped dad early on making pastels when he first started. Out of my other brothers, I was the one who most interested,” he says.

“It’s exciting to take it on, to create a product that people love and people aspire to use – that’s

the lovely thing about it. That would have pleased Dad.”John sadly passed away in 2008, but Kate and Dan were

adamant his legacy would live on through Unison Colour. They pay special thanks to their close-knit team of eight staff too, who they consider to be more like friends than employees as they share John’s passion for perfection.

“Every morning and afternoon, we all sit around this table for a tea break and a catch up,” she says. “There’s not much time for chat during the day – everyone is very hardworking – and so this quality time together is essential.”

Dan takes this as his cue to introduce us to some of the individuals who make the magic happen here at Thorneyburn Old Rectory, as we make our way towards the coach house, where John first began making pastels three decades ago.

The stone steps leading up to the first floor workshop are weathered and worn from nearly 200 years of use, but the space inside is still in fine form with its wooden beams overlooking rows of pastels lined up perfectly on the tables. Oliver Coats is one of Unison’s three pastel-makers and he considers it a good day if he can make 600 pastels.

“I’ve worked here for 10 years and so I can tell by the look or texture of a batch whether it’s going to turn out right or not, which is a time-saver,” he says, as he scoops out dollops of fresh pigment mixture onto blotting paper. “Some of the recipes have up to eight varieties of pigment in them therefore a few grams of colour here and there can make all the difference.”

CO

ACH

HO

US

E PH

OTO

: DA

N H

ERS

Ey

28 Unison.v2.indd 30 26/11/2014 16:52

talking techniques

on a good day each person makes

600 pastels by hand

28 Unison.v2.indd 31 26/11/2014 16:52


The pasTelsare made wiTh a loT of hearT

and soul

28 Unison.v2.indd 32 26/11/2014 16:53

talking techniques

The secret recipes were originally concocted by John, but are followed meticulously by the makers on site to ensure the colours remain vibrant. Once the pastels have been dried and tested, they are sent to the packing room downstairs to be labelled, boxed and shipped – all by hand, of course. The walls are lined with shelves of unlabelled pastels waiting to be dressed.

“We’ve got to make sure we get them on tight enough to ensure the label doesn’t move, that no fingerprints are visible and that it’s equidistant from top to bottom,” explains Cathi Dixon, who is in charge of the packing room and is Unison’s longest-serving employee, working here for 24 years. “No machine could replace what we’re doing unless you get a machine to make them in the first place – then it would be a completely different product.”

The stillness of the packing room is broken when Dan pops his head through the door and invites everyone to join him and Kate in the kitchen for their afternoon refreshments. We meander to the room in which our tour of Unison Colour began and there’s a selection of cups and saucers lined up on the counter. Everyone is chatting and chortling – sometimes about pastels, sometimes about another topic altogether – and it feels more like a party than a tea break.

And why shouldn’t it? Unison Colour is something to celebrate and not just because they make lovely handmade pastels but because, as we’ve discovered today, they’re made with a lot of heart and soul too.Discover our step-by-step guide to how Unison Colour Soft Pastels are made at www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/unison

CLOCKWISE frOm

tOp A welcome tea

break (with Kate

Hersey, centre);

each pastel is

carefully labelled

by hand; the sign

in the lane; the

finished products

UN

isO

N C

OlO

Ur

sig

N p

HO

TO: O

livE

r C

OAT

s


28 Unison.v2.indd 33 26/11/2014 16:53


CALLFORENTRIES

Receiving Day: Monday 23 FebruaryEntry schedules available by SAE from SBA 2015,

1 Knapp Cottages, Wyke, Gillingham, Dorset SP8 4NQ

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The Society of Botanical Artists

Annual Open Exhibition 17 to 26 April 2015Westminster Central Hall, London SW1

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Winter light in Wensleydale Landscape paintingat Simonstone Hall

Come and join us for a fabulous painting break at Simonstone Hall!

You will be immersed into the lyrical beauty of the Yorkshire dales, with carefully structured teaching, cosy indoor painting and brisk outside sketching. As a bold beginner or aspiring amateur,

learn the methods used by professionals.In the evenings, relax in convivial surroundings, with fine food and wine.£395 for three nights B&B with a welcome dinner & wine and a tutored two day course. 1st - 3rd February.

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We sketch and paint our way around famous Kyoto, meet local artists,

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*Rates include accommodation and some meals, all entry and land transport costs listed in the itinerary. Airfares and travel insurance are not included. Rates are subject to seasonal variations.

Sketch Book tour starting datses. Booking now

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of all levels with a sense of adventure will enjoy this expierence.Small groups of 12-16 persons staying in 4 Star quality boutique traiditional styel accommodation with all the luxuries you would expect. A 1 night option to experience a traditional style machiya house.

34_A&I_0115_.indd 34 27/11/2014 11:24


colu mnist

While I wouldn’t say that I am naturally a party animal, I do both enjoy and actively seek out the chance to meet other artists. Being an artist can be a lonely business, but there are many reasons for mixing with fellow

artists beyond the pleasure of meeting like minds.When meeting other artists, don’t restrict yourself to your own area of interest or

skill: the broader your network, the more useful it can be and there are several ways to make good connections. I started with local art groups and fairs. Some I joined and others I just visited. Getting involved in my local open studio event was the easiest way to meet a huge variety of local artists.

I am also on the mailing list for various art organisations that run networking and career development meetings for artists. A quick search of the internet will throw up plenty of opportunities local to you. Finding events is often the easy part, harder is to go along and actively make contact.

Be bold, it does get easier with time. Do swap business cards or some form of contact details and do follow up with a friendly email or call if you’ve found a friend or enjoyed their work. I also drop people an email if I like their website, which has led to some good friendships.

A wide network of artist friends will greatly improve your chances of hearing about opportunities or being recommended for your skills or work. You might find yourself with an unexpected chance to collaborate on a project or show. You will also have the means of asking for a wide range of advice and opinions. At the very least, you will find people who truly understand you and that alone has to be worthwhile!www.lauraboswell.co.uk

Art can be a solitary pursuit at times, but socialising with other creative types is worth the effort says our columnist Laura Boswell

i wouldn’t say that i am a party animal but i do enjoy meeting

like-minded artists

artist

ABOVE Laura Boswell, Mistletoe, Japanese water-based woodblock print, 73x34.5cm

35 Columnist.v2.indd 35 27/11/2014 14:44


Kirsty is a full-time floral painter and art tutor. She graduated from London’s Goldsmiths College in 1992, before going on to work as a hospital arts co-ordinator and arts education consultant. For the past 10 years, she has focused her time on painting flowers, as well as running regular workshops. In 2008, she moved

into a studio on platform 2 of Ladybank railway station in Fife.

Trust, Business Gateway and Fife Contemporary Arts and Crafts, as well as putting in some of my own money. In the end it took me a year from finding the space to getting into it.

How did you divide up the space?I have two large interconnecting rooms: the old station restaurant and a waiting room. The larger one I tend to use as a classroom for workshops and the other as my studio where I paint. I also have the old gents’ toilet down the platform, which I use as my toilet and storage. Is the station still in use? Yes, the station is still functioning – there are over 60 trains a day stopping here, even though it’s quite a sleepy place. The occasional high-speed train flashes through without stopping and makes my brushes rattle but on the whole I don’t really notice the trains any more.

Words: steve pill PHoTos: gill murray

lorenzkirsty

What first brought you to Fife?After living in Edinburgh for 17 years, I wanted a life closer to nature and the changing seasons. Some friends introduced me to the area and it’s a real hidden gem, very lovely landscape and near to beautiful coastline. How did you find this space at the station?Amazingly I found it during my first week. I’d asked around and put notes in newsagents’ windows. Someone told me about unused rooms at the local railway station, so I went to meet the station master. As soon as I walked into the room, I knew I was meant to be there. What did you do to convert it into a working studio?On a practical level, the space needed new windows, electrics, plumbing and heating, as well as a toilet and functioning sinks, various repairs, a massive clean and a redecoration. ScotRail runs an excellent scheme called Adopt a Station that encourages local communities to use disused railway buildings, this meant that although I had to raise the money to renovate the space, my rent is nominal. I raised funds from The Railway Heritage

in the s tu dio with

36 In the studio.indd 36 27/11/2014 09:22


in the studio

What do students and clients make of the studio?They love it. It’s a very creative and fun space to be in, and it really suits my work. Not only that, but they can get the train when they come! When it comes to your works, do you collect specimens from the area surrounding the studio? I paint flowers from everywhere, close by and further afield. Fife is wonderful for wild flowers. The local woods are literally like a florist’s in May, full of wood sorrel and forget-me-nots. My most recent body of work, Flowering on the Edge of the World, was inspired by a field trip to the Outer Hebrides to visit the Machair – the crofted land between moor and sea, which is abundant in wild flowers. What types of flower make better subjects?I couldn’t choose! Different flowers invite a different interpretation so sometimes I paint isolated flower heads, sometimes very large or small, sometimes in chains or formations adding symbolic meaning, some within compositions set within the flower’s environment. How does a new work typically begin?New work begins by taking photos and making sketches. Though I am a painter, photography is an important part of my work. I photograph flower images to work from – oil paintings in particular takes weeks and months to create, so working from life isn’t possible.

Are there particular materials that you swear by?When I’m teaching, I use Lascaux’s Sirius Primary range because it’s excellent for colour mixing and the consistency is lovely – my students love it. I’m really enjoying acrylic inks at the moment too, great with a bamboo dipping pen to free up my drawing. Do you keep regular hours in the studio? Yes, I work around school hours. I like to do half an hour of yoga or take a half hour walk in the countryside before I start work in the studio. I find that really helps me to settle down and focus on my work, and make the most of the time I have got. When you are teaching a course, do you have particular techniques you like to focus upon?My workshops usually combine a flower theme with particular materials. My next course in January is Orchids in Inks and Washes, in which we will look at different artists’ approaches to representing these strange and beautiful flowers and then focus on creating work with Indian and acrylic inks.www.kirstylorenz.com

36 In the studio.indd 37 26/11/2014 16:57



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COMPETITION

EAST ANGLIAN PRIZE DRAWName:

Address:

Postcode:

Email:

Telephone:

Please tick here if you subscribe to Artists & Illustrators The closing date for all entries is 5 March 2015

Please tick here if you prefer not to be contacted by Artists & Illustrators or our competition providers

As we approach the end of the year, it is time to stock up the studio for winter and start planning new ways to be creative in 2015. And this month we have a bumper East Anglian painting prize to help!

THE PRIZE If your name is chosen at random from our prize draw, you will win a place for you and a friend on a course with Paint ‘n’ Canvas Holidays. Based at Norfolk’s Broad Skies Gallery, experienced tutor Linda H Matthews hosts a range of workshops and holidays in the UK, France, Morocco and beyond. You can choose from the spring (5-6 May), summer (21-22 July) or autumn (13-14 October) courses hosted at the Old Vicarage Gardens in East Ruston, Norfolk. For more information on these and other courses hosted by Linda, please visit www.paintncanvasholidays.co.uk

In addition to this, The Art Trading Company is offering two bumper packs of art

equipment and materials worth £500. Both will contain a range of paints, inks, brushes, pastels, supports and an artist’s knapsack.

Based in the picturesque market town of Bungay, The Art Trading Company is Suffolk’s premier art materials shop. In 2015, it will be moving to new premises and offering a series of practical art workshops. For more details, visit www.thearttradingcompany.co.uk

HOW TO ENTER For your chance to win, enter online at www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/competitions by 5 March 2015. Alternatively, fi ll in the form on the right and return it to:East Anglian Prize Draw, Artists & Illustrators, The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd, Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London SW3 3TQThe winner will be announced in the June 2015 issue of Artists & Illustrators, on sale 24 April 2015. Terms and conditions apply. For more details, please visit www.chelseamagazines.com/terms

get

in 2015Crea t i ve

Enter this month’s prize draw for the chance to win £1,000 worth of courses and materials for you and a friend

WORTH£1,000

39 Competition.indd 39 26/11/2014 15:54


Dawn Cruttenden,

Irish Shoreline

(detail)

Sophie Penstone,

Hydrangeas

As molorrum

wertwet iscidio

nseditatum ipid

As molorrum

wertwet iscidio

nseditatum ipid

Sally Prendergast,

Lottie’s Apples

Portfolio Plus is an

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40 Portfolio Plus.v2.indd 40 27/11/2014 15:15


Fiona Mitchell,

Self-Portrait in

the Yellow Room

As molorrum

wertwet iscidio

nseditatum ipid

As molorrum

wertwet iscidio

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Stephie Butler,

Believe

Heather Howe,

Summer’s Last

Bouquet

40 Portfolio Plus.v2.indd 41 27/11/2014 15:15

New

Untitled-4 1 24/11/2014 10:21


notebook

QoR is an acronym that stands for “Quality of Results” but it is also something akin to the noise you might make when you paint your next masterpiece with these new watercolours from Golden. QoR is the first brand to replace the traditional

watercolour binder of gum Arabic with Aquazol, a water-soluble synthetic resin that is used by conservators.While Golden claims the main advantage of this switch is greater tint strength (in other words, the ability to create bolder, more saturated colours), we were more impressed with the different hues and textures they offered. In like-for-like comparisons with

other brands, QoR’s colours were often more subtle and earthier, particularly in traditionally brighter pigments like Viridian Green or Hansa Yellow. Likewise, the easy-flowing colours increased our options for experimentation. www.qorcolors.com

QoR WateRcolouRs

43 The Notebook.indd 43 27/11/2014 15:23


• Date:22ndMarch,18thOctoberand29thNovember2015for7days

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You will see many things that everyday tourists don’t have access to such as a private tour of the Accademia delle Arti del Disengo, the Varsari Corridor with private guide and visits to special artisan shops in Florence – we know you will love this special holiday.

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44_A&I_0115_.indd 44 25/11/2014 09:46


notebook

turns tutor in umbria‘one to watch’

A2 drawing pad Daler-Rowney, £15.95, www.daler-rowney.com / Artist’s charcoal Dorset Charcoal Co., £7.99, www.frankherringandsons.com / Chamois leather Jackson’s Art Supplies, £13.45, www.jacksonsart.com / Fixative Sennelier, £12.95 for 400ml, www.sennelier-colors.com /

Studio sketching set Conté à Paris, £21, www.conteaparis.com

tips

After being selected among our ‘ones to watch’ in 2014, James Bland has been signed up by Arte Umbria to host a week-long painting holiday with them on 10 June. The Grimsby-born painter has previously scooped the first prize in the Winsor & Newton Oil Painters Awards so his colourful and inventive approach to both oils and acrylics should make for a particularly inspiring stint in the Italian sunshine. www.arteumbria.com

Brick texturesFor a weathered look when

painting buildings, work wet-on wet. Drop in splashes of colour

and let them bleed.

Value rangesEstablish four values: two light and two dark. Make the darkest value very strong to make the

painting “sing out”.

Cloud effectsTo create clouds or mist, apply watercolour neat from the tube

with a finger. “Use the spray gun if you want to diffuse it.”

Three top tips we learned from Alvaro Castagnet’s latest DVD

These tips are taken from Alvaro Castagnet’s The Passionate Painter in Havana – Part 1 (APV Films, RRP £28.55). www.apvfilms.com

1

2

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Starting figure drawing in January? Here are five life class must-haves



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OF THE MONTH

Royal Society of Portrait Painters Open ExhibitionBrief: Annual open submission of portraiture. Individual awards include the £10,000 Ondaatje Prize and the new £15,000 7IM Conversations Prize for portraits containing two or more figures.Submission closes: 9 January 2015Receiving day: 14 February 2015Fee: £15 per artworkEnter online: www.registration mallgalleries.org.ukMore info: www.therp.co.uk

Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize 2015Brief: International law firm Ashurst LLP sponsors this new award. First prize includes £3,000 cash and a solo exhibition at the Ashurst Emerging Artists

Gallery in London.Submission closes: 1 February 2015Receiving days: 25-29 March 2015Fee: £20 for a first artwork, £10 for each additional one (up to a maximum of five)Enter online and more info: www.artprize.co.uk

Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers Associate MembershipBrief: This prestigious society, whose previous members include Dame Laura Knight and Edward Bawden, is inviting applications to become an associate member.Submission closes: 11 February 2015Receiving day: 27 February 2015Fee: £30Enter online and more info: www.banksidegallery.com

After 19 years and hundreds of workshops, tutor Tony Hogan is swapping Yorkshire for Cornwall and moving south. He will continue to run courses in the Lake District and Scarborough, while hosting workshops at his new Wadebridge studio. www.hoganart.co.uk

When you read this, artist Carol Marine will have been creating one small painting a day for

2,984 days and counting. Her new book, Daily Painting (Watson-Guptill, £16.99), collects together

a range of simple strategies and exercises to help improve your skills at a steady and enjoyable pace.

dates diary

heading south

Books such as Lessons in Classical Drawing and Classical Painting Atelier have made Juliette Aristides an international

star with artists thirsting after a more traditional grounding in techniques. In something of a coup, the Edinburgh-based

Academy of Realist Art has secured her services for a summer workshop. Painting the Figure runs 8-12 July –

book your place today at www.academyofrealistart.co.uk

Classical coup for Edinburgh academy

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47_A&I_0115_.indd 47 25/11/2014 14:45

On the eve of her new exhibition at the House of Illustration, the grande dame of British art shares her painting and printmaking methods with Steve Pill

Paulatalking techniq u es with

rego PH

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48 Talking Technique - Paula Rego.indd 48 27/11/2014 10:48

talking techniq ues

There is always something immensely satisfying about that moment when you discover that the personality of an artist you admire dovetails perfectly with the

works that they produce. After all, great art requires character and honesty, so matching that to a person is reassuring in a way. You want to imagine that Van Gogh was colourful and troubled, for example, or Salvador Dalí was wild and surreal. It validates their work and makes it appear more truthful somehow.

In much the same way, it is pleasing to know that, even as Dame Paula Rego approaches her 80th birthday next month, the Lisbon-born, London-based artist is every bit as fanciful and imaginative as her many hundreds of paintings and prints.

Ask her what, on the most basic level, makes a great illustration and her answer reaches back to the beginnings of her career and the haunting memories of a favourite artist. “The first illustrations I liked were in the American comic books which my father bought me. They were simple, they told a story even before you could read words, and all the lines joined up all the way round. I preferred it when the line was definite not suggestive.

“For the sheer terror they inflicted on me I loved Gustave Doré’s [illustrations for] Dante’s Inferno best,” she adds. “It’s all there: agony, writhing bodies, dark caves and demons. Doré nailed that vision of hell. It terrified me but there was also pleasure in the terror.”

That combination of wonder and fear has proved a key theme in Dame Paula’s art. Over the years, she has openly tackled topics such as death, violence and sexuality in her work that have attracted controversy elsewhere, but what is often overlooked in all of the hullaballoo is the sheer accomplished nature of her draughtsmanship skills.

Born in 1935, she drew from an early age. In 1952, she enrolled at the Slade School of Art where she met her husband-to-be Victor Willing, who encouraged her to keep a secret sketchbook in which she could draw from the imagination without fear of others seeing. “The first Dog Woman was in one of those sketchbooks,” she says, referring to her 1994 series. “She was more of a dog then and less of a woman. I don’t have secret sketchbooks any more. Don’t have many secrets either.”

While Dame Paula has mastered a variety of mediums across her career, her early works were mostly made in collage. One of her favourite subjects during this time was the political situation in her native Portugal under the conservative rule of president António de Oliveira Salazar. She would cut up her grandfather’s magazines and newspapers on the subject, colouring them with gouache or crayon. “By cutting the material up and reassembling it, I could deal with a topic in a more lyrical way. I got away with things during the dictatorship, a time of censorship, which I wouldn’t have done otherwise. And in the cutting and reassembling there was a violence that seemed right.”

TOP The King’s

Death, pastel

on paper,

119.4x180.3cm

OPPOsiTe Page

Dame Paula Rego

at the opening of

her new House of

Illustration show >

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TALKING TECHNIQ UES

MATERIALSDame Paula buys her pastels fom L Cornelissen & Son in London. “I never smudge the pastel,” she says. “I draw with it. It is hard but you can draw

with it while still making a picture.”

INFLUENCESDame Paula is a great admirer of many artists including Honoré Daumier and Francisco Goya. One art movement does nothing for her though:

“I’ve never liked the Impressionists.”

TECHNIQUES“I don’t usually amend etchings,” says Dame

Paula. “If the image isn’t working or I want to try something else I just do another one. Sometimes I reject them and they don’t become an edition.”

1 2 3

I PREFER IT WHEN A LINE IS DEFINITE NOT SUGGESTIVE


talking techniq ues

top right

Scarecrow,

2006, lithograph,

101.5x69cm

right The Fat

Cook, 2012,

watercolour on

paper, 52x35.6cm

opposite page

Unhappy Courtship,

2006, lithograph,

89x65cm

Since that time she has explored pastels, watercolours and printmaking, but there is one medium that she has never got to grips with. “I always felt I should be painting in oils because oils are ‘proper’,” she explains. “I even had lessons a few years ago, but it doesn’t feel right. The wobbly bit of the paintbrush gives me the willies!”

For her latest exhibition at London’s new House of Illustration, the 79-year-old artist’s etchings will be shown in tandem with the lithographs of Honoré Daumier, the 19th-century French caricaturist. Scandal, Gossip and Other Stories explores the common ground between the two artists and Dame Paula found much to admire when she helped curator Catarina Alfaro select prints for the show. “I love the way that Daumier captures expressions with a gesture, or in the way that people are standing. You just know what’s going on. Two women are gossiping and you know they are saying something catty. He’s not poetic like Goya, but he’s very human and his work is full of humour. He draws cruelty without being cruel himself.

“I don’t think I’ve learned from his technique although I’ve always admired how well he draws – the fluidity and ease of his line. I’m amazed to find we had so much in common as I hadn’t seen these prints of his before.”

A double-header exhibition of prints was an apt choice as Dame Paula enjoys the collaborative element of the process. Her first attempts at the Slade were derailed by her tutor’s insistence on only focusing upon the lines, but collaborations with Barto Cid dos Santos at Slade and later with Stanley Jones at Cambridge’s Curwen Studio have been much more rewarding experiences. “I really started to learn with Barto,” she says. “He was a printmaker, an artist and a marvellous teacher. He taught me to use aquatint.”

The technicians can assist when it comes to creating the editions, but the images themselves are purely down to the artist herself. “Getting the drawing right is the bit I have to do, then we work on backgrounds and effects together.”

Reflecting on the prints featured in Scandal, Gossip and Other Stories, she talks us through the refinements she made on her 1989 etching Baa, Baa, Black Sheep, which was part of her Nursery Rhymes portfolio. “I wanted the sheep to be bigger, more menacing,” she says of the original etching. The solution was to add aquatint.

“It allowed me to make severe changes and add drama.”In contrast, some of her other series required much more

reworking. “The background to the Peter Pan print of the children flying took ages to get right,” she says of a work from her 1992 series. “I think I stole one of the poses from a Titian and I wanted them floating against a clean blue.”

With the prints collected together at the House of Illustration, Dame Paula is now able to appreciate the sheer breadth of her achievements. “Oh boy!” she says. “We got there though, it’s worked out well.”Paula Rego and Honoré Daumier: Scandal, Gossip and Other Stories runs until 22 March at the House of Illustration, London N1. www.houseofillustration.org.ukA

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I llustrationThe iconic illustrator shares his guidelines for making great pictures

1. LOSE YOUR INHIBITIONSEverybody can draw something. Some people are embarrassed because they think they’re not very skillful, but what I say to them is: “Draw what you can see in front of you”. If you look at it later, you’ll be surprised at what you brought away from that person, that situation, that landscape. You’ve grasped something. It may not be what you thought you’d get to begin with, but that degree of concentration is very good for the system. I’ve been doing it for 75 years and it’s continuously interesting.IN

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2. MEET YOUR CHARACTERSIntroduce yourself to your characters by drawing them. If you’re creating the character yourself, keep thinking about that character and the situation you’ve invented. The illustration will start to take on the character and you sort of meet them by drawing them. By the time you’ve finished the book it becomes somebody you know.

3. play up to the authorA good illustration is one that both complements and contrasts with the text. You need to form a double act with the author. The author is the main character though; as an illustrator, you have to play up to them. I had to do a lot of that with Roald Dahl’s books. There’s a point in Matilda where Trunchbull is so cross that she picks up a plate and smashes it over Bruce Bogtrotter’s head. I chose to draw the moment when she lifted up the plate, not the bit where she hits him with it, because that’s the writer’s moment. Your job is to work around that.

4. DON’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER……But do always appreciate its significance. This is an important

aspect of good illustration and very interesting to me because drawing book covers is one of the most difficult things. You need to make the book look interesting and give a feeling of its atmosphere and flavour, but at the same time you don’t want to say too much. It needs to stimulate your appetite without satisfying it.

5. TAKE INSPIRATION FROM YOUR SURROUNDINGSI’m influenced by the landscape in France, where I live. One of my books, Cockatoos, is set around a house in France. I normally leave out backgrounds if I don’t need them, but in that book each spread is set in a different room of the house. I enjoyed drawing in all the French detail.

6. DON’T BE PRECIOUSI didn’t know Roald Dahl very well for the first book or two. Somebody said he was a formidable personality but this wasn’t really a problem. I started visiting him at his home in Great Missenden and I’d do rough drawings of what I thought the characters would look like. We established a very good collaboration: we talked about the drawings and I was ready to change things. I’m not fussy like that – it’s part of the job, after all – but we wanted the drawings to do part of the work. We were very different, but a lot of the humour was the same.

7. BE ADAPTABLEWith Roald Dahl you never knew what was going to come next. For example, The Twits is a very stringent caricature sort of book, while others, like Danny, the Champion of the World are almost lyrical. The contrast is interesting – you have to adapt yourself to a new book each time.Quentin’s latest book, The Five of Us, is published by Tate Publishing, RRP £11.99. www.tate.org.uk/shop

QUENTIN BLAKE’S 7 GOLDEN RULES OF

TIPS



AtmosphereADDING

AtmosphereADDING

Artist Mark Harrison shows you how to turn a grey urban landscape into a colourful, imaginative scene

PROJ EC T

54 Mark Harrison.v4.indd 54 27/11/2014 09:23

PROJECT

My primary interests as an artist are mood, atmosphere, strong design and interesting colours. If these four elements are all in place, I feel I stand

a chance of painting a successful picture. Chrysler Blues is the latest in a short series of paintings

of buskers. The main reference for the painting was a photo of Fifth Avenue in New York.

EMBRACE THE RAINAs you can see from the fi nal painting, however, I completely changed the weather conditions and time of day to suit the atmosphere that I wanted to create. For some reason paintings of cities always look good in poor weather, particularly when raining as you get all the lovely refl ections of the shop windows and traffi c lights on the wet pavements and roads.

I wanted a soft atmosphere to this picture both in terms of the colour and tonality with an almost out-of-focus look to the edges, so I decided to paint this on canvas as it is naturally suited to soft lines and edges.

MOODY BLUESI had two earlier pieces of mine in mind that infl uenced how I wanted this painting to look: a pastel study of the Chrysler Building and another complete painting that had the misty,

rainy look that I wanted here.I fi nd it fun thinking of

titles, a good one can add something extra to a picture. Chrysler Blues features a busker playing a blues guitar in front of the Chrysler Building, but I also thought it sounded like the title of a typical blues song. It also refers to the predominance of blues in the fi nal painting.

SKETCHY BEGINNINGSThe original rough sketch shows the basic composition and placement of the foreground content with notes to remind myself as to how I want the picture to look. When sketching out ideas, I usually try to settle on a strong and relatively simple design like this one

in which the foreground traffi c light post is set against the strong perspective of the street. The composition is also based around the ‘rule of thirds’ – the horizon line and the traffi c lights post were placed approximately one-third of the way into the frame from the bottom and right edges.

LEFT Chrysler

Blues, oil on

canvas, 41x41cm

ABOVE Mark’s

original thumbnail

T h e Ch a l l e n g eIf you think you’ve found the perfect

subject but the weather is bad or the

lighting is wrong, it’s time to use a

little artistic license.

To show you how, we challenged

Mark Harrison to put his former

career as a fantasy illustrator to

good use and turn a grey city view

into a colourful narrative painting.

>




“A softness

of edge is key

to the dreamy

atmosphere.

Drag your

brush across

the surface

to create this

effect. Thicker

paint can then

be reserved for

the highlights.”

4. ADD ATMOSPHEREI defined the buildings in the background further. Many were painted from my imagination, rather than slavishly working from the reference photo. I wanted a kind of Gotham City look to the painting with the rainy weather providing a darker horizon to enhance the atmosphere. I also scrubbed colour over the buildings and the street.

5. BALANCE THE HIGHLIGHTSThe left side of the street was finalised with a last layer of a quite rich blue-grey. Permanent Orange and Cadmium Golden Yellow were scrubbed quite thinly over the illuminated shop windows and road reflections to retain

1. PLOT THE COMPOSITIONI drew out the basic composition with a small bristle brush using Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin so it would dry overnight. I recomposed the placement of the buildings from the original reference photo so that it would fit within the square format. The figure playing the guitar was mostly invented. I kept the initial drawing and subsequent underpainting quite minimal, otherwise it is easy to start painting up to the lines like a ‘paint-by-numbers’, resulting in a somewhat lifeless picture.

2. CONTRAST COLOURSI wanted the final painting to be predominantly blue so I applied an orange underpainting. For paintings that need to have a glow to them, try using a complementary colour for the underpainting – when little flecks of that colour show through the final layers of the painting, it can make the picture surface more interesting.

3. WORK SOFTLYI began painting the buildings with blue-grey mixes, not worrying too much at this stage about working up to the lines. I wanted many lost edges, particularly in the corners of the painting, to give the appearance of a slight vignette effect. In the interest of colour harmony, it is good to include a touch of the same colour in adjacent areas of the painting, as well as letting some of the underpainting show through. This all helps to link the different areas of the painting together.

Edges


luminosity, the colour being a nice near-complementary to the blues and purples around them.

I chose to paint over the windows at the top of the building on the far right – I thought they would be too distracting in the overall composition. The traffi c lights were painted with a dark blue-grey mix for the post and an Alizarin Crimson-Titanium White one for the red light.

6. REFLECT ON YOUR PROGRESSI painted the refl ections on the road and pavement at the end, as they were dependent on the lighting and colours that I was inventing in the rest of the picture. I wanted to emphasise the wet and misty atmosphere, so I decided to ‘knock back’ most of the picture a little bit to lessen the contrasts. To do this, I scumbled some thin, semi-opaque mixes of blue-grey over pretty much all of the picture except the illuminated windows and the sky.

“The painting’s title is Chrysler Blues so I wanted it to be based around the blue end of the spectrum. I combined Permanent Orange, Dioxazine Purple, Ultramarine Blue and Titanium White for the blue-greys of the various buildings. The lighter sky was painted with Kings Blue Light, Titanium White and Cadmium Lemon, while the windows were illuminated with Permanent Orange and Cadmium Golden Yellow.”

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TEXT: John Duncalfe and Dr Hilary Diaper, foreword by Alexandre Nadal‘Works on Paper’ shows many of Nadal’s preparatory oeuvre, many executed ‘en plein air’ with updated chronology and exhibition information from the Nadal archive and the authors.This new publication follows the most successful 2010 book, ‘Nadal An English Perspective’

58_A&I_0115_.indd 58 24/11/2014 14:59

talking techniques

What kit would you recommend?For oil painters, palette knives and small cooking spatulas are lovely for sweeping paint across the board or canvas. Wide, soft watercolour brushes are marvellous for delicately sweeping paint without leaving a line at the end of the stroke. The addition of linseed oil can help this further.

Should I sketch first before painting? Yes, looking and sketching is valuable, but I wouldn’t recommend making a

above Peter

Rush, Sandbanks,

Dorset – After the

Rain, oil on board,

76x53cm

>

Which mediums are best suited to painting seascapes?Most mediums work well, depending on the skill set of the person using them. Pastels, which are dry and dusty, would hardly seem suitable for relaying liquid translucency, but artists such as Ros Harvey can use them to produce dynamic results.

My preference is oil on board, because the paint will slip and slide, as well as moving from opaque to transparent within the same stroke.

seascapesPainting Skies and Seascapes author Peter Rush reveals

everything you need to know to tackle this nautical subject

Can you suggest a palette of colours for painting seascapes?For myself I prefer a small palette of Chrome Yellow, Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine, Permanent Green, Viridian, Raw Umber Light, Titanium White and Ivory Black. It is possible to paint almost every aspect of a seascape from these eight colours.

yo u r q u es tio n s

>

53 Your Questions_Seascapes_3.indd 59 27/11/2014 10:49


painting projects

foreground can help to give an idea of scale. Likewise, shafts of sunlight illuminating patches of the sea near the horizon or distant shore lights at dusk can add to the feeling of depth.

The thing to remember about these objects is that the attention of the viewer is likely to go straight to them. My approach is to put in objects that can’t immediately be recognised. In the distance, draw the eye into the picture with a suggestive mark that might be a buoy or a ship’s mast.

What do I do if the light or weather changes during a sitting?Try getting down as much information as possible and then finish it back at the studio. Alternatively, work on a smaller scale and start a fresh painting in this new light right away.

Unless your object is meant to be a key feature of the painting, avoid making things easily identifiable.

What elements should I focus on getting down first?An overall background tone wash is a useful place to start. Even though this will be mostly painted over, it will set the mood for the whole picture.

This also helps tie a painting together. There is a tendency for artists to carefully paint each set of waves separately, but the final image can appear disjointed. Having that initial sweep of colour may help here.

Also, remember the colour of the sea can range from near black or dark green through to light turquoise, orange or even pink. Be brave – paint the colours as they appear to you.

What can I do to vary my marks?Try mixing the sizes or types of brush you use and vary the directions of the strokes. You could imitate flat seas, clear skies or soft clouds by using wide watercolour brushes to blend and fuse the oil paint more pleasingly. Change to palette knives and cooking spatulas for cliffs, rocks and waves.

I sometimes use a spray diffuser to create a light mist of turpentine in

larger painting from sketches. In my experience, all the insight and spontaneity in the sketches fail to transfer to the final painting.

If you want to paint a seascape at home, I find it better to do plenty of direct observation first and then trust your visual memory.

How do I add variety to large expanses of sea and sky?There are several things you can do – for example, adding objects in the

above Peter Rush,

Incoming Wave, oil

on board 46x37cm


talking techniques

places over the wet paint. This softens the edges of the marks and fuses one colour with another. (Be sure to have the painting flat when you do this.)

What are the benefits of painting en plein air versus working from photos?The movement of seas and skies is so ephemeral that they are best painted alla prima and direct from life to capture their spirit. If we labour over the painting of waves, isn’t there a danger of them becoming stiff?

Photographs are a marvellous aid to memory but I don’t recommend painting directly from them for the reason that they are not always truthful. It is quite easy to recognise a painting done from a photograph.

Waves are very detailed. What should I do to simplify them? Try and work out the physics of them. Why are they behaving as they do? Which wave is affecting which? What happens when a wave hits the beach or a rock and turns back on itself? It is a most difficult thing to paint the white foam on top of the wave in such a way that it explains the movement of the wave on which it is riding and not contradict it – but it is also the most satisfying element when you get it right.

What techniques can I use to create more dramatic seascapes?There’s nothing quite as exciting as a storm whipping up the waves: huge seas crashing against harbour walls and lighthouses, sea birds being wildly blown about. However, you can add drama in more subtle ways.

A viewer will always look for the story in a painting. However, that story can be something as simple as the interplay of light between different objects. If you see a huge cloud that is white because the sun is hitting it full on, it is interesting to then see where this whiteness is being reflected. This kind of observation gives a painting an authority that is not particularly obvious at first but will be appreciated by the viewers without them knowing.

My seascapes are all blue. What can I do to add variety to my work?Try painting in different conditions: go out in winter, perhaps, or at dusk. Bad weather can vary things too – find shelter and working in fog or rain.

Should I follow any rules when it comes to composing a seascape? For me, there shouldn’t be any rules regarding the composition of a painting. After all, I believe that a good composition is more the result of instinct than logic.

A composition that is clumsy and awkward in theory might also be the most dynamic option and the one that tells the story most effectively.

An extreme cure might be to ban blue from your palette for a while. Or at least just lay down a blue wash at the start and try to complete the rest of the painting without it – you could leave it showing through at the parts where the image wouldn’t make sense without it.

It is difficult not to use blue because it is the shortest wavelength of the colour spectrum – it is the colour that is dispersed first as it penetrates our atmospheric shield, which is what gives us blue skies. It does take courage to paint just what you see, as you see it, regardless. It then shows respect for Nature and the vastness of worlds that we can’t possibly know.Peter is the author of Painting Skies and Seascapes, published by Crowood Press, RRP £14.99. www.peterrushart.co.uk

clockwise from

top Sandbanks,

Dorset, oil on

board, 96x70cm;

Inlet, Cumbria, oil

on card, 50x27cm;

Rocks, North

Devon, oil on

board, 61x54cm.

All paintings by

Peter Rush




Hands are our way of reaching out and interacting with the world; through their gestures they can be as expressive as the face and to leave your model’s hands out of a drawing is to neglect an important part of that person’s identity. When I’m teaching a life drawing class and students tell me they can’t draw hands, what they often mean is that they haven’t allowed themselves the time to really look at them.

If you’re drawing a full fi gure you might have only a few moments to capture the shape and gesture of the hand and so spending some time making focused studies will allow you to concentrate on the shapes they can create.

Simplifying the hands into manageable structures will help you break down what you see, creating a framework on which you can ‘hang’ your observations.

As with all drawing instruction, this is just one way to solve the problem; there are no right and wrong ways to draw, just better and worse ways of achieving certain kinds of drawing.

Whichever technique you use, drawing should always start with observation: look at your subject and draw what you really see, not what you expect to see. Follow my approach below by copying the drawings below and adapting the method to suit your own drawing style. There’s an exercise at the end for you to put it into practice too.Jake’s new book, Draw People in 15 Minutes, is published by Ilex Press, RRP £9.99. www.jakespicerart.co.uk

FIGUREDRAWING HANDSIn the fi rst of our new series, best-selling author and art tutor Jake Spicer explains a simple-to-follow method for this trickiest of subjects

S PECIAL: PART ONE

1

2

Esta b l i s hSpend 10 seconds really looking at the hands you’re about to draw, then quickly and loosely establish the overall shape and gesture of the hand.

Co ns t ru c t Build on the previous layer, erasing some of it if you need to. Look for the position of the wrist, mass of the back of the hand or palm, knuckle line, mass of the fi ngers and the thumb shape.

68 Jake Spicer.indd 62 26/11/2014 16:10

FIG URE DR AWING

EXERCISEA quick challenge to help you improve

Make three different studies of hands. Time each study to take just fi ve minutes. Draw your own hand as you see it, draw it in a mirror for variety, or ask a friend to keep their hand still while you chat.

Think of the hand as if it were a little fi gure striking poses. Find and accentuate characterful shapes in the fi ngers, checking the relationships between knuckles and fi ngertips. Assess and adjust your drawing until you’re happy with the structure. Keep your marks energetic and consider how you can maintain a sense of movement and gesture.

Practice and develop a process to work through. Try this exercise as often as you can to improve.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED* A hand (your own or a friend’s)

* Your preferred drawing medium

* Paper or a sketchbook

DURATION15 minutes

3

4Ela b o ra t eUnify the study by elaborating on the outline with a confi dent line, partially erasing the previous layers if necessary and selectively adding tone where you see it and where it is needed.

Rem o veWork like a sculptor, taking your simple, generalised shape and chipping away with your pencil to fi nd greater detail. Divide the mass of the fi ngers with lines or ‘negative spaces’ to create an impression of the fi ngers in between the abstract shapes.


68 Jake Spicer.indd 63 26/11/2014 16:10


masterclass

64 Masterclass.v2.indd 64 26/11/2014 16:43


In my mind, there is a very important difference between a fashion image and a conventional portrait. While the aim of a

portrait is to capture something of the person, a fashion illustration is all about conveying the glamour of the subject.

Beauty and glamour is something that people aspire to and want to share; whether it is a vintage look or a modern bag or pair of shoes, fashion represents a way of life that we may not all have.

I’ve always had a passion for fashion. My appetite was whet by years of reading Vogue, Vanity Fair and Harper’s Bazaar, while following the careers of great designers such as Tom Ford, Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen or the major fashion houses like Dolce & Gabbana, Chanel and Versace. Not only that but also seeing stars such as Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn and

Grace Kelly made me want to dedicate my art to capturing that amazing beauty.

I’ve attempted to couple this with a love of artists that celebrated the fashions of the day, such as James Tissot, John Singer Sargent and Toulouse Lautrec, as well as 20th century talents, such as René Gruau, Bob Peak and Kenneth Paul Block.

The key to a great fashion painting or illustration is what you leave out. As I always say: “Less fuss, more impact”.

In the demonstration that follows, I have purposely illustrated all manner of beads, sequins and jewels to show you how it is done, but in truth l would normally keep these elements to a minimum. The same goes for fabric patterns and feathers, which can all be painted using similar techniques to the ones I’ve used here. www.maxwellndj.co.uk

YOU WILL NEED

• WATERCOLOURMars Black, Yellow Ochre Light, Quinacridone Gold, Turner’s Yellow, Cadmium Yellow, Winsor Blue, Winsor Green, Winsor Violet, Winsor Red Deep, French Ultramarine, Rose Madder, Permanent Rose, Purple Madder, Indigo and Payne’s Grey

• GOUACHEPermanent White

• BRUSHESRound, sizes 1, 3, 7, 10 and 12; Taper point colour shaper, size 2

• PAPERNOT Cold Pressed 300gsm, 30x40cm

• COLOURED PENCILS • MASKING FLUID

>

3 PIck OUt hIghLIghts

Sequins, lame, bugle beads, jewels and lipgloss all have one thing in common: sparkle! To reserve these highlights, I applied colourless masking fluid with a colour shaper (a sort of ‘rubber’ brush). Doing this will protect the paper and leave the required white shape for later.

2 skEtch aND PLaN

Remember, this isn’t a conventional portrait – we’re trying to communicate the fashion element so it pays to be as minimal as possible in your thinking.

One way is to sketch out your painting first. I wanted to use the gold bow as the centrepiece of the painting so I cropped the portrait off-centre to emphasise this.

1 cOLLEct rEfErENcEs

Hiring a top model isn’t an option, so gathering plenty of reference material is essential. Inspiration can come from anywhere and your painting needs to be draped in finery. Looking back can bring us forward too, so vintage pictures from old magazines can be referenced to create our very own sense of glamour.

Contemporary fashion illustrator Maxwell shows you how to create a glamorous portrait with a stylish, retro twist

mas tercl as s

fashion



8 DEFINE THE FEATURES

With the previous layer dry, I stepped back to look at the piece as a whole. I decided to add a bit more defi nition to the face. Remember, however, you are not looking for a traditional take on the features so be delicate with the colours and shading. Refer back to your earlier colour sketch to check you’re on track.

7 PAINT WHAT YOU SEE

Having painted in the light tones of the bow, I let them dry, before masking over the sequins and painting over the area again. A good tip here is to look at the shapes of the refl ections not at the bow itself – in other words, paint what you see and not what you think is there. This approach will seem awkward but it will help when you stand back at the end.

6 BUILD OTHER AREAS

I added in the eye colours with Ultramarine and Winsor Blue, along with the earrings and the lipstick with Winsor Red Deep and Rose Madder Genuine. When painting make-up, try to imagine you are actually applying it to the model’s face. Think about the overall effect of the colour and be delicate – don’t just slap it on! I also started to paint the bow with Turner’s Yellow, Cadmium Yellow, Yellow Ochre Light and Quinacridone Gold.

5 COLOUR THE BEADS

I wanted the beads and sequins to sparkle in different colours, so I painted in just a few using Antwerp Blue, Indigo, Winsor Violet and Winsor Green. Once these were dry I masked over them to protect them as before so that they will shine through the later purple washes and add interest to the surface.

4 PLACE THE SHADOWS

When the masking fl uid dried, I added a dilute Mars Black wash to my painting to convey some very delicate shadow areas. This stage helped me think about tones and forms. As I mentioned before, this painting is all about the clothes and the make-up so I don’t want to place too much emphasis on the skin tones or overall likeness.



MASTERCL AS S

12 FINISHING TOUCHES

Coloured pencils are a great way of adding a little fi nal defi nition to a watercolour painting. In this painting, my trusty Caran d’Ache pencils were perfect for picking out the pupils, eyelashes, sparkles and lips.

Twinkles of light can always glitz up an image. I painted in a series of six-pronged stars with white gouache for this and added an extra ‘glow’ with a circle of white pencil – a circle template ruler is great for this.

Top t i pREFLECTIONS NEVER MAKE SENSE SO GO

WITH YOUR EYE – IT’S A TWINKLY LEAP OF FAITH!

10 REMOVE HER MASK

Make sure all your washes are completely dry before removing all of the masking fl uid. This is such an exciting stage – you begin to have an idea of how much (or how little) there is left to do. I added in light washes to the hair and dress, as well as adjusting the tonal ‘levels’ of certain areas, including the eyes, lips and bow.

9 ADD BOLD COLOUR

I applied a main wash of Winsor Violet across the dress area using my largest, size 12 brush. While the area was still wet, I lightly added some stronger colours (Antwerp Blue, Indigo and Purple Madder) to bring some variety to the wash. Be careful not to blend these colours too much or they will lose their dynamic effect.

11 HEIGHTEN THE IMPACT

For a true vintage fashion look, the impact most defi nitely needs to come from the make-up so I focused on this in particular. Adding in highlights with white gouache will better defi ne the eyes, the lips and the hair. You can also start to put in any sparkles needed on the sequins. Remember, the devil is in the detail.



painting projects

When added to a drying wash just as the shine is disappearing, salt will leave white marks that can be really useful for suggesting many things. When the salt hits the wet paint, it pushes the pigment out, creating a little white speck or star shape. Larger, coarser grains of salt, such as rock salt, leave bigger markings.

The success of this technique depends on the amount of pigment used and how much water has been added; too

much or too little and it will not work as well. While paint remains wet, you can use a brush to draw away some of the paint, a process called lifting out. The sparkling effects left by salt added to a watercolour wash are useful for water, skies, landscapes and fl ower paintings. Experiment and you will fi nd this useful technique can help almost any type of painting. Generally, adding salt is done early in a painting, as a way of adding interest to the background.

JUST ADD Jane Betteridge reveals a simple technique for lifting out watercolour

68 Short Demo_Tulips.v2.indd 68 26/11/2014 17:12

1. Use a 2B pencil to lightly sketch a flower and then prepare your colours. Use a size 16 round wash brush to wet the paper and stem, but leave the petals of the flower dry. Pick up some of the first colour and touch it on the paper, letting the colour flow. It will bleed into the wet area, but will not enter the dry part.2. Draw the colour around a little before lifting the brush away, but do not use full brushstrokes – the appeal of this technique is the loose, random quality.

3. While the surface is wet, drop in a second colour in a few places nearby, letting it bleed out into the water and also the wet first colour.4. Pick up the paper and gently tilt it to encourage the colours to blend.5. Repeat across the rest of the paper, using different colours and longer brushstrokes at the bottom to echo the stems.6. Using a size 8 round brush, draw a little of the wet paint into the flower itself to create some shape and shadow.

7. Allow the painting to dry a little. Once the wet sheen has faded, but before the painting has dried completely, lightly sprinkle a few salt crystals over areas of the painting.8. Allow the painting to dry. As the paint dries, the salt will absorb a little of it, creating an interesting effect. Once dry, you can use your fingers – make sure they are clean and dry – to brush away any salt crystals.9. To finish the painting, lift out the stem using a wet 10mm angled flat

brush, drawing the brush up towards the flower.This is an extract from Watercolours Unleashed, published in Spring 2015 by Search Press, RRP £14.99. www.searchpress.com

1

4

7

2

5

8

3

6

9

j u st add salt


68 Short Demo_Tulips.v2.indd 69 26/11/2014 17:12


the diary

EvEr fEEl likE you’rE

trEading watEr with your art?

70 How to survive.indd 70 26/11/2014 17:47


career advice

As an artist, have you ever felt like you’re treading water? Or desperately trying to stay afloat against a rising tide of pressures and commitments? The good news is that you’re not alone. With a few subtle changes, you can transform your practice to ensure you not only survive in the artistic world, but also thrive in it too.

Ask yourself whyFirst and foremost, look at what you’re producing and how happy you are with it. A frequent foible for many people is that they work within their comfort zone, which neither challenges nor satisfies. Sure, you can knock out a painting in a matter of hours but where’s the fun in that?

Rosalind Davis is an artist and co-founder of Zeitgeist Arts Projects (ZAP). To keep your work feeling fresh, she recommends that you pinpoint the rules you’ve been conforming to and then break them. Thinking about how you work day-to-day is also as important as considering the bigger picture. There’ll be times when inspiration fails you but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should question everything you know and do. “If this happens, I look at books or reference material or I take myself to see an exhibition,” says Rosalind. “Returning to the source is very important. It can [remind you of] the reason and inspiration behind your motivations in the first place.”

Ask for feedbackYou don’t have to work alone either. ZAP’s other co-founder Annabel Tilley is a firm believer that two heads are often better than one. Arranging an informal meeting with a tutor or peer group, for example, is a handy way to receive feedback about your work and give a new perspective on it. “For two years, I felt like I was going up a blind alley, but I sat down with a former tutor and he revolutionised the way I was thinking,” reveals Annabel. “It was a fantastic opportunity to spend an hour showing my work to another person, talking through it and receiving professional, constructive criticism in return.”

Another easy and enjoyable way to connect with fellow artists is to attend exhibitions and events, such as private views. Recruit a buddy or a group of friends and make a pact to attend such occasions together in the future. Not only will you have strength in numbers to chat to other people, you’re likely to find inspiration in the works and artists around you.

Got that sinking feeling? Terri Eaton takes tips from Zeitgeist Arts Projects

and thriveas an artist

A more hands-on method of challenging your practice is a collaborative project. With Catalyst, for example, Annabel and Rosalind asked five artists to spend a month in turn developing a single piece. “When you’re given someone else’s artwork to work on, there’s a different set of rules,” says Annabel. “There was a lot of pressure, but people would up the ante month by month.”

Keep in touchSocial media has transformed the way the world communicates and the art sector is no different. Rosalind is a huge advocate of Facebook, Twitter and such like, but suggests a cautious approach if you are new to it all: “Sometimes it’s good to stick to one social media platform that you feel comfortable with. Start off by watching. Join a conversation, don’t feel pressured to start it.”

E-newsletters are another useful way to tell the world about you and your artwork. This can be as simple as sending out an email with an image of your latest paintings or as complex as using a specialist newsletter builder, like Dotmailer or MailChimp. Build up a database of interest contacts by leaving a notebook out at exhibitions and open studios for people to give you their email addresses.

Respect yourselfSo what about actually showcasing your work? There’s a whole world of opportunities out there ready for the taking but it pays to be realistic. “Getting a solo exhibition is hard early on and it’s an awful lot of pressure,” says Annabel. “Whereas with an open or group exhibition there is more of a dialogue between you and the other artists. There’s more support.”

While both Annabel and Rosalind agree that guidance from your peers is imperative, the most important person you should look to for reassurance is you. A continued belief in your own objectives will improve your chances of success. “I always say I’m ‘going to work’ rather than ‘going to my studio’ because it’s giving your practice the respect it deserves. It places a different emphasis on it and places a value on your work and yourself,” says Rosalind.

Annabel agrees. “It’s easy to lose your focus and feel guilty for having a few hours to yourself but you’ve got to nurture it. If you make the time to sustain your practice, it feeds positively into everything else you do.”www.zeitgeistartsprojects.comIl

luS

TRAT

ION

: BE

TT N

OR

RIS

70 How to survive.indd 71 27/11/2014 09:23

72 Artists & Illustrators +My neighbour’s girlfriend posed for this photo... ...I then found a suitably repetitive backdrop...

DECISIONSFor The Fall, I wanted

the architecture to

be repetitive and

monotonous, so that

it reflected the

woman’s mood.

Michele del Campo shows how to combine photos with artistic license to create striking narrative paintings

The creative use of photographic references can take artists to new frontiers and can empower them to tackle themes and compositions that have the complexity of reality blended with imagination and memory. I believe, however, that the practice of drawing and painting from life is essential, even to artists that work from photos, so that we can acquire the knowledge necessary to fill in the gaps when working from flat reference pictures, to interpret the source and give life to a painting.

In this article, I will explain what is, for me, one of the most fascinating stages of painting: the conception and development of an idea and the subsequent gathering of the visual information needed for a realistic finish.

THE CONCEPTMy paintings might appear as if originated from lucky candid snapshots, but they are often a construct of several staged photos and sometimes even elements painted from life. What drives me is the need to say something with my paintings – be that suggesting a story, a feeling or a mood. Ideas can come to me at any time and they can be inspired by all manner of things: a person, a location, a movie, a conversation, a book or even another artwork.

Sketching from the imagination is a great way to develop your ideas; as you draw, you have the chance to reflect on what you want to do and what you want to say. In my experience, even the silliest idea in your sketchbook has the potential to be developed into a solid artwork. You never know when you might best resolve the idea, it may take months or even years, but by sketching it you are able to ‘fix’ it for possible future reference.

For The Fall, the first of a series of paintings about fallen people, the initial idea was conceived after reading a novel of the same name by Albert Camus. In my painting, an elegant woman stares blankly at the ground after falling from a bicycle. Echoing themes in the book, I portrayed her in that moment of pause that we often take after an accident or a traumatic event, when we look back to find the origin of the mistake. In doing so, we might find a wider spectrum of answers through a deeper introspection.

COMPOSING

=...and combined the two images in Photoshop

IN DEP TH

>


locationFor The Other

Side, I used

photographs

I’d taken in New

York, London

and Valencia.

themesI developed the idea

for The Other Side

during a period of

economic crisis.

I wanted the wall

to be a symbol of

social divide.

72 In Depth_Michele Del Campo.v3.indd 74 27/11/2014 15:45

IN DEPTH

PHOTO SHOOTI find the process of sourcing reference material a very creative one. When you go around looking for the right places, people and all the elements that you need to collage together for a certain painting, you enrich your imagination with new findings. In doing so, your initial, imagined idea can take new, unexpected turns.

I often plan my photo shoots to coincide with visits to Mediterranean cities. I grew up in Italy and also lived in Spain, so I often return there. The Mediterranean environment is deeply rooted in me and I often conceive my paintings with those settings in mind.

These places also suit my interest in strong, direct sunlight – I find it suggests more interesting contrasts and compositions, as well as giving me the opportunity to enhance certain shapes and colours.

I very rarely use professional models, most of the time I invite people that I meet in the street or in public places, but also friends. If I cannot find the right person I just ask my friends or relatives if they know of anybody with the right characteristics. In the case of The Fall, I was looking for a blonde, distinguished woman in her mid-30s. At the time, I was renting a flat in Valencia and I thought my neighbour’s girlfriend would be perfect. She happily agreed to pose for the painting.

COMPOSITE PICTUREOnce I have studied the various possibilities for the image through sketches, researched the subject thoroughly and taken photos of the places, objects and models, I use Photoshop to put together a rough collage for my own reference. I cut out the various elements and paste them together in various layers of the same file. They will often need flipping or scaling up or down.

Combining several reference images together takes time to get right. It helps if the direction of the light source is consistent in all of your photos, although this can be corrected in the final painting. Pay close attention to the relative sizes of your images too – the scale and perspective needs to be accurate here in order that the final painting looks plausible.

Above all, remember to be playful and experiment. This composite stage can open new possibilities that you did not contemplate in your sketches and result in an image that surprises you.

With the composite image complete, I am still only halfway through the process. I will use the Photoshop image as the basis for further modifications on the canvas – this time with my beloved paintbrushes and starting with a very loose free-hand drawing.

Digital technology is a very useful tool but it can’t work magic. It is only effective when it is pared with a solid idea and the knowledge of a traditional artist, able to control and modify perspective, composition, harmony of colour, consistency of light and values. Next month, I will show you how to develop your composite image into a fully-fledged figurative painting.www.micheledelcampo.com

FIGURESI rarely use models and

prefer to photograph

friends or people I meet

in the street.

ORIGINAL SKETCHI drew this from my

imagination. I was

inspired by films

about class divide

such as La Haine

and The Zone. >


COMPOSING A PICTURE

LOCATIONThe painting is set along a

beach wall in Barcelona.

I met the two women on

the beach and asked if I

could photograph them.

COMPOSITIONI created the digital

image below by cutting

and pasting my photos

together in Photoshop.

ADDING FIGURESI met this man separately to the other two women as

he was walking along the seafront. He allowed me to

photograph him and I was able to place him into the

scene using Photoshop back in my London studio.

PAINTING The fi nished canvas, pictured below, is

called The Reading. Using my Photoshop

image as reference (right), I began it while

demonstrating at Art in Action this summer.


72 In Depth_Michele Del Campo.v3.indd 76 27/11/2014 15:03


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promoting skills and craftsmanship for the next generation of professional sculptors.


Portrait & Animal sculpture techniques. Suitable for beginners and professionals alike

GIFT VOUCHERSYou can choose the course of your choice for yourself

or a loved one - the perfect gift for Christmas and special occasions!




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One and Two Day Art Courses Tutors include: Roger Dellar, Keith Morton, Charles Evans, Margaret Glass,Richard Taylor

and many more...• Friendly, rural studio with good home cooking

• Excellent local accommodation

Call Allison Bond for details: 01255 820466

Email: [email protected]

St Clere’s Hall Lane, St Osyth, Clacton on Sea, Essex, CO16 8RX

GASCONY PAINTING HOLIDAYS

Tuition offered to all levels in idyllic surroundings.Enjoy good company and delicious food at our

18thC farmhouse in SW France. Non-painting friends welcome. Airport collection.

Est. 1994Tel: 0033.562.64.80.35

www.gasconypainting.com

Domaine Saint Hilaire

Enjoy creative drawing and making alongside yoga, taught by experienced

practitioners on a vineyard in the sunshine of the Languedoc-Roussillon region,

South of France.For further details and enquiries email: [email protected]

Website: www.artandyogainfrance.com 02072776930 / 07725705421

Foxford Lodge & Studio, �e Painters Paradise, Pontoon. Co. Mayo; West of Ireland

Tel: 00353 94 9257222 • Email: [email protected] www.relaxwithwatercolour.com

Welcome to a new experience . . . Our purpose built Lodge & Studio are tailor made to suit painting groups and societies big or small. We also enjoy meeting individuals and new comers to painting. We o�er many special o�er breaks and courses, just too numerous to pack in here. You tell us what you would like to do,

how long of a stay and we’ll put the package together to suit. We o�er an all year round painting programme that includes Watercolour, Acrylics, Oils and Bob Ross Courses…. Check us out on Tripadvisor.Tutor & TV presenter Harry Feeney has been on national television in Ireland for a number of years, with his own TV series “Relax with Watercolour,” his DVD’s, Books and Brush Sets

are available on the website. Call or email for a free information pack

Residential Art Courses in magnificent and inspiring scenery – mountains, sea, rivers, lochs. Warm hospitality & good food. Non-painters welcome.

Tutors 2015: Ray Balkwill, Katharine Holmes, Bettina Schroeder, Jonathan Shearer, David Tress and Eleanor White. Please see our website for dates and further details.

www.nwhighlandsart.co.uk, [email protected], Nicola: [email protected], 01520 733 227 / 459

SCOTLAND

Richard Holland Landscape ArtistWorkshops ~ Commissions ~ Art Holidays

Easter painting holidays on the stunning Scilly Isles

Commissions of your home or your favourite places

Available for workshops & demonstrations at art clubs & shows

Oil & watercolour classes in Mansfield, Selston and Tansley nr Matlock and day workshops at

In the Flow Art Shop in Matlock & Ashbourne.Tel: 01629 583359

Email: [email protected]

Richard Holland Landscape Artist painting at the Patching Festival in June, I take

orkshops and demonstrations throughout the ds, further afield by arrangement. I also take oils atercolours classes in the Mansfield and Matlock e Flow art shop Matlock and also Ashbourne. Contact me on: 01629

[email protected], or visit:www.richardhollandlandscapeartist.co.uk

Richard Holland Landscape ArtistI will be painting at the Patching Festival in June, I t

workshops and demonstrations throughout the Midlands, further afield by arrangement. I also take and watercolours classes in the Mansfield and Matl

eas. Day workshops at In the Flow art shop Matlock and also Ashbourne59 e-mail me at: [email protected], or visit:www.richardhollan

Workshops ~ Commissions ~Art HolidaysEaster painting holidays on the

stunning Scilly Isles~

Commissions of your home or your favourite places

Available for workshops & demonstrations at art clubs & shows.

~Oil & watercolour classes in Mansfield,

Selston, & Tansley nr Matlock & day workshops at In the Flow Art Shops in

Matlock & Ashbourne.

Tel: 01629 583359Email: [email protected]

www.richardhollandlandscapeartist.co.uk

Richard Halland_12.indd 1 20/08/2014 16:31:53

Artist & IllustratorArtist & Illustrator

www.mikeskidmoreonline.comT: 01367 252 206

STILL LIFE in OILS with Mike Skidmore

Weekend workshops in the Cotswolds for all levels - materials supplied

ClassicalPORTRAITS in OILS


Mike Skidmore’s classical


Artist & IllustratorArtist & Illustrator


STILL LIFE in OILS with Mike Skidmore


ClassicalPORTRAITS in OILS


Mike Skidmore’s classical





To advertise in the Classified Directory please call 020 7349 3739

PORTRAIT WORKSHOP

WALES

WALES WORLDWIDE

WORLDWIDE

HOLIDAYS

SPAIN

All levels welcomewww.creativeholiday.co.uk

Expert Painting Tuition20 years experience from

University of the Arts, London

Traditional Spanish village beside the sea near Granada

painting holidays

• Professional tuition for all levels

• 3 and 5-day full board residential courses

• Superb home cooked cuisine

• 4 Star en-suite accommodation

• Small groups, large studio space

• non painting partners welcome

e: [email protected] w: www.indigobrown.co.uk

Where better to develop your painting skills than in beautiful Pembrokeshire

...be inspired

t: 01348 840 177 Andrew and Maggie Brown

Black Mountains WalesNr Hay-on-Wye

Painting, drawing, life classes landscape,2-5 day courses. Beautiful surroundings,

very spacious studio. Excellent food. www.artcourseswales.com

Tel: 01874 711 212

ART SAFARI www.artsafari.co.uk

Paint & travel the world!!

ATOL 9916

Join Art Safari with tutors Mary-Anne Bartlett, John Threlfall, James Willis, Julia Cassels & Karen Pearson on exciting painting holidays worldwide.

NEW DESTINTATIONS: UK, Jersey, Crete, Norway, Turkey, Italy, Morocco, Zambia, Namibia, Malawi, Cambodia, Japan, Bhutan, India, Galapagos, Arctic & Antarctica. We take small group tours and tailor-made safaris to stunning destinations. Learn to paint with experts, take photos, watch wildlife, absorb culture & enjoy the holiday of a lifetime.

Ring us now for tour details: 01394 382235Email us today: [email protected]

“Your First & Best Choice for aPainting Holiday”

Somerset (inc Cheddar, Wells &The Mendips), Exmoor (incNorth Devon Coast), WyeValley, Lake District

In the UK

01934 733877

ovelyaintingolidaydventure

The Algarve &Andalucia

Wildlife and PetPortraiture

Workshopswith Cate Wetherall

Using pastels learn how to create realistic portraits of animals

•1or2dayworkshopsintheBuckinghamshirecountryside

•Confidencebuildingclassesfrombeginnerstoadvancedlevels

•£85perday–Allmaterials,lunchandplentyofteaandcoffeethroughouttheday!

•SmallfriendlyWorkshops,amaximumoffourpeople•OnetoOneworkshopsalsoavailable

Email:[email protected]:07702060113

www.wildandtame.co.uk

Gi� Cards

available

Art Courses in Murcia

co-createarts.com/art-courses

Dates, details & prices on

WORLDWIDE

WNAC SUPPLEMENT OCT 14_Layout 1 29/08/2014 15:39 Page 1

ART WEEKEND WORKSHOPS WITH ALAN LONGMORE•Portraits&Animals•Oils&Acrylicsusingclassical

techniques•Pastels&Graphiteusing

contemporarytechniques•Developyourskillsinrealism•Cost:£150E:[email protected]:+44(0)2392388449www.alanlongmore.com





THE ART SHOP DIRECTORY

PRINTING

PRINTING STUDIO SPACE

THE BLUE GALLERY16 Joy Street, Barnstaple EX31 1BSTel: 01271 [email protected] www.bluegallery.co.uk

SOUTH WEST ARTOld Fore Street, Sidmouth EX10 8LPTel: 01395 514717info@southwestartmaterials.co.ukwww.southwestartmaterials.co.ukQuality fine art materials, gallery and picture framing.

LAWRENCE ART SUPPLIES Huge range of art supplies – Sussex Art Shop, Mail Order and Online Shop208 Portland Road, Hove BN3 5QTTel: 01273 260260www.lawrence.co.ukCustomer car park. Everything from painting to printmaking. Fast mail order service.

MILLWAYChapel Hill, Stansted MountfitchetEssex CM24 8APTel: 01279 812009/01279 816659Fax: 01279 812741 [email protected]

PEGASUS ART – suppliers of the finest art materialsGriffin Mill, London RoadThrupp, Stroud, Glos GL5 2AZTel: 01453 [email protected]

THE ART SHOP (MONS)8 Cross StreetAbergavenny NP7 5EHTel: 01873852690 [email protected]

GILBERT & CLARK FRAME AND PRINT65 High Street, MaidstoneKent ME14 1SRTel: 01622 [email protected]

ATLANTIS ART MATERIALS– UK’s largest and one ofEuropes biggest art stores 68-80 Hanbury Street, London E1 5JLTel: 0207 377 8855Fax: 0207 3778850www.atlantisart.co.ukCar parking, open 7 days.

LONDON ART132 Finchley Road, Swiss Cottage, London NW3 5HSTel: 020 7433 [email protected] sell a wide range of Art & Craft materials.

RUSSELL & CHAPPLEThe Canvas Specialists68 Drury Lane, London WC2B 5SP UKMoving to 30/31 Store Street, London WC1 in December 2014Tel: +44 (0)207 836 7521Fax: +44 (0)207 497 0554www.randc.netCustom canvases, linens, cottons and stretcher bars.

L. CORNELISSEN & SON19th century shop near The British MuseumPigments,Gilding & Etching supplies, tubed colour, brushes, paper, pastels.105 Gt. Russell Street, London WC1B 3RY Tel: +44 (0)20 7636 1045www.cornelissen.com

STUART R. STEVENSONArtists & Gilding Materials68 Clerkenwell Road London EC1M 5QATel: 020 7253 [email protected]

DEVON GLOUCESTERSHIRE

GWENT

KENT

SUFFOLK / NORFOLK

WEST MIDLANDS

EAST SUSSEX

ESSEX

LONDON

LONDON LONDON

INTAGLIO PRINTMAKERThe Specialist Supplier of Fine Art Printmaking Products9 Playhouse Court, 62 Southwark Bridge Road, London SE1 0ATTel: 020 7928 2633Fax: 020 7928 [email protected] range of tools available to try in our store (near Tate Modern).

THE ART TRADING COMPANY55 Earsham Street, Bungay NR35 1AFTel: 01986 897939 [email protected]

HARRIS MOORE Fine Art SuppliesUnit 12 Minerva Works, 158 Fazeley St, Birmingham B5 5RTTel: 0121 633 3687sales@harrismoorecanvases.co.ukwww.harrismoore.co.ukSpecialists in Artists Canvases and Professional Painting Supplies.

To advertise in the Artist & Illustrators Art Shop Directory please call 020 7349 3739or see our website www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk

dpsdigital.co.uk

• Greetings Cards• Postcards• Giclée Printing

01529 [email protected]

Project6 30/11/09 09:19 Page

Fine Art Giclée PrintingHahnemühle and Somerset PapersPhotography and Scanning ServiceGreeting Cards and Postcards Professional and Friendly AdviceNo Set Up Fees + Free Art Guides

Call us on 01656 652447www.geminidigitalcolour.co.uk/offer

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Making Art Work

Reproduce your oil, water, pastel, and pen & ink paintings, into prints, cards or posters, in 4 colour with light fast inks. Sizes from A6 105mm x 148mm up to B1 707mm x 1000mm. Short run specialists • limited quantity 10-500 copies.

Highest quality litho printing on many varied paper stocks.Prism, Unit 28, School Close, Chandlers Ford, Eastleigh, Hampshire, SO53 4RA

023 80 266256 • prism.proofi [email protected]

Reproduce your oil, water, pastel, and pen & ink paintings, into prints, cards or posters, in 4 colour with light fast inks. Sizes from A6 105mm x 148mm up to

FINE ART REPRODUCTIONSPrinted by litho graphic printers

PRISM PROOFING 3X1 3.indd 1 8/12/10 15:05:29

Wimbledon Art Studios020 8947 1183,

www.wimbledonartstudios.co.ukDynamic artist community with

studios available from £40 per wk,open 24/7 with good natural light

WIMBLEDON 3X1 8/9/08 11:15 Pa

Short RunGreeting CardsHave your own Original Artwork reproduced as Greeting Cards,

Mugs, IPhone covers etc.Whether its to test new markets or to send to friends and family, we offer low minimum orders at sensible prices and sample packs.For the full range of products and prices visit:

www.shortrungreetingcards.co.ukemail: [email protected]


watercolour tutorial


ricks

My early inspirationWhen I was a student, I was more of a sculptor and Barbara Hepworth was a fundamental artist for me. She did such beautiful drawings. Her use of line was so pure and so disciplined.

My dreaM painting to ownThe Love Letter by Johannes Vermeer (1). It is that feeling of tranquillity and introspection that is really so compelling. I could sit in a room for the rest of my life looking at a Vermeer.

My place to find new artI do like Pallant House Gallery (2) in Chichester. I went there last summer when they showed the work of Eduardo Paolozzi.

My coffee-table readNorbert Lynton’s monograph of Ben Nicholson (3) is wonderfully well-written – and it’s so big it might even make a good coffee table!

My studio bibleHazel Harrison’s Encyclopedia of Watercolour Techniques (4) is one I always recommend to my students. She shows a whole range of approaches and it’s backed up with useful explanations on how to achieve certain effects.

My favourite art shopGreen & Stone in London. I like the creaky floorboards and it’s got lots of interesting little nooks and crannies. The staff are very helpful.

My essential art productI’m enjoying using Schmincke Aero Color Professional acrylic inks (5) at the moment. They are very fresh, intense colours – it’s like using watercolour without the annoying habits.

My last favourite exhibitionHenri Matisse: The Cut-Outs at Tate Modern. I was struck by how the shapes were laid out on the walls so they became part of the room.

The Heatherley School of Fine Art Staff Show runs 28 January to 1 February 2015 at Bankside Gallery, London SE1. www.heatherleys.org

Watercolourist and principal of Heatherley School of Fine Art

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house gallery

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82 Artist Recommends_Veronica Ricks.indd 82 26/11/2014 17:48

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Live | Learn | CreateDistance learning for a one-o� course or a BA(Hons) Painting

0800 731 2116oca-uk.com

Open College of the Arts

The OCA enables me to study �ne art to a high standard in a �exible manner so that I can carry on working full time. They are continually �nding ways to improve the distance learning experience, for example using on-line forums and by study visits. During my studies I have been able to pursue my own interests and develop a deeper theoretical understanding, unlocking my ability to produce personal, meaningful work. As a result of my work with the OCA I have now been accepted on an MFA �ne art course.

Jim LloydBA(Hons) Painting

Untitled-27 1 18/11/2014 13:24

artist and illustrators january 2015

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