Innholdsfortegnelse for No 179 i Artist's Palette

In the course of my painting career, I have taken thousands of photographs. The biggest challenge after a ‘gathering information’ trip is deciding which image to select, from the thousands of photographs taken, to use for a painting. Often, one will stand out from a series and say, “Paint me.” Yeppoon Ebb was one of those photographs. The combination of late afternoon light; the colours; and the composition of the boats was a bit flukey … but then, after all, serendipity is the guardian angel of an artist. As all of my photographs are digital, they get the computer treatment. They’re cropped and enhanced. I used to have a hangup about using the computer as an artistic tool – but I reasoned that if the computer was a tool available…

Josh Reid was born in the small town of Narrogin, in Western Australia. He lived there until he graduated from high school. As a young man, he moved to Penrith in New South Wales and joined a Christian theatre company called Covenant Players – to spend the next five years being trained in the craft of acting and directing. During that time he also travelled extensively. He spent around two years in India and the surrounding countries (Pakistan, Bangladesh and Thailand). While in India, Josh was given a small box of watercolours. He enjoyed painting flowers on whatever paper he could find. At that stage in his life he was not taking art very seriously and certainly didn’t consider himself to be an artist. While working with Covenant Players he…

It seems I have been painting for a very long time. But for a major part of that time, it was a love/hate relationship. To say the least! My early art training was with Gloria Ransom and Allan Fizzell. Both were generous with their knowledge and their encouragement. I knew I couldn’t give it up … that wasn’t an option. I was hooked. But I just wasn’t getting anywhere; not making any progress. I was making the same mistakes over and over again. And wasting an embarrassing amount of paint and canvas. The wasted energy was even worse. I remember looking at other people’s paintings and thinking, “Now, that’s the way to do it. I’ll try that!” But, of course, copying an idea – without knowing why that idea works…

Ross Wymark worked as a signwriter in his twenties, but he had not put brush to board in more than 30 years when he found himself in hospital in the New South Wales town of North Richmond. Ross was referred to an Art Therapist as part of his treatment plan. He discovered that the aim of this therapy was not to produce aesthetically beautiful artworks … but rather to express emotions through various mediums such as collage, painting, and clay modelling. Creating symbolic art helped him to become more aware of his thoughts, feelings and memories – which enabled him to address unexplored issues through this special form of communication. Over time, Ross noticed subtle changes in his emotional and mental wellbeing. With emerging self-confidence and a positive outlook towards…

The view in this painting is from the Hawkesbury region, which is known for its atmospheric and beautiful farmland. I decided to infuse the scene with more light than the photograph and to let the viewer see that you can improve a scene with your own impression. I chose to use a limited palette because this creates a harmonious painting; and I used transparent artists’ quality pigments. STEP ONE I commenced by drawing a simplified version of the scene with a 4B clutch pencil on a half sheet of Arches Torchon Rough 300gsm – because I like the rough texture of the paper surface and I feel it’s great for an impressionistic style of painting. I laid the paper down on Perspex. Starting with the back of the drawing I…

AT CHROMA, IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PAINT! Chroma is an Australian company that has been committed to providing high quality paint for artists, teachers and students for over 40 years. Founded in 1965 by artist and school teacher, Jim Cobb, Chroma’s focus has always been on the development of innovative new products rather than being tied down to old conventions and limitations. As a result, the company has created some of Australia’s most loved paint brands. Atelier Interactive Professional Artists’ Acrylic is highly pigmented and lightfast with a thick and creamy consistency that dries to a beautiful matte/satin finish. This versatile paint has a unique formula that allows it to be re-opened for extended wet-in-wet blending techniques; or it can be used just like a conventional fast drying acrylic as…

STEP ONE I drew the basic outline of the painting with charcoal, marking where I wanted some of the major detail such as the house – just trying to get locations on the canvas. STEP TWO I painted over the charcoal sketch with a light coat of oils in four basic background colours; and got rid of all the white canvas. For the sky I used Monastrel Cerulean (light blue) mixed with Titanium White. For the mountains I used Sap Green mixed with Prussian Blue. For the fields I chose Sap Green mixed with Titanium White; and the front grass area was done with Titanium White mixed with Medium Yellow and Burnt Umber. I also went over all the parts with a larger ‘turpsy’ brush and blended the background colours…

STEP ONE I drew in (with a turpsy line) the most basic drawing. This was only to place the shapes on the canvas. Too much detailed drawing at this stage would restrict the freedom of brush strokes and the application of paint. Life is too full of restrictions already … let’s have a bit of gay abandon with our painting. I feel that if we adjust and correct the drawing in paint as we go along we are not tied down to a ‘perfect and detailed drawing’ so utterly correct that we are nervous about putting paint onto it. STEP TWO Here I placed in the shapes of the shadows and the darker sides of the fruits. See how I selected a colour for the shadows that would sit well…

STEP ONE I applied one coat of purple paint with the roller; then allowed it to dry before applying a second coat. STEP TWO I made several sketches on paper before drawing my design onto the canvas. This allowed me to rearrange my composition a few times to get the final design. I laid out the design of my leaves on paper and then marked out the layout onto my canvas with the Chinagraph pencil. STEP THREE Beginning with the background leaves, I applied the Ochre base and blended in White, with a wet-on-wet technique (blending the colours before the paint dried). STEP FOUR I continued the process of adding in varying colours wet-on-wet: Mid Green with Warm Yellow, and so on. STEP FIVE I added a more complex combination…

Nick Fedaeff was born in Russia in 1965. He moved to New Zealand in 1996. This man lives in Auckland and works as a full-time artist. His studio is ten kilometres from his home. As a youngster, Nick studied music at school, and he thought he would become a professional musician; but after completing school he studied Technology at university. “Music was my hobby. I played in a rock band with my friends,” he reveals. “I also used to go to an evening art school, but I didn’t finish it. In 1996, I studied at an Audio Engineering school and got a diploma as a Multimedia Producer. My circle of friends has always included lots of artists – and I have been doodling away since I was little. My decision…

London-born Chris Blake has been drawing all his life, and has been an artist for over 20 years. He works mostly in oils, pastels, and pen-and-ink. Chris is a Master Pastellist with the Pastel Society of Australia. He is also a member of the Royal Queensland Art Society. He has won numerous awards including the Ken Farrer Award for Artistic Excellence at the 2003 Maleny Arts Awards; and the Most Outstanding Painting at the Sunshine Coast Immanuel College Art Exhibition in 2004. He started teaching art in 1992 at the Caloundra Learning Cooperative. Since then, Chris has been conducting workshops and classes throughout south-east Queensland on a regular basis. This man is very clear about his creative direction. “As a pastellist, my main concern is not to produce a photographic…