Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 50 i Artists Drawing and Inspiration

The natural world gives me immense pleasure. I have my mother to thank for teaching me, as a child, to appreciate nature. I have enjoyable memories of clambering over rocks with her on sunny days, catching skinks for her aquarium or playing with the many different dogs she bred. Coupled with an adventurous nature, I soon exchanged dolls for climbing trees, collecting birds’ eggs or moulding animals from clay, sourced from my backyard. All these experiences fashioned me into the person I am today – a wildlife artist. When not exploring my surroundings I immersed myself in drawing. Growing older I found work and later family life crowded out the time to pursue my art. From time to time I caught a glimpse of where I wanted to be when…

STEP ONE Pencil sketch for composition While the initial rough sketch usually takes the least physical time of the whole painting process, it can take a considerable period to settle on the right composition before putting pencil to watercolour paper. The composition for this portrait was relatively simple and was based on a few of my reference photos stitched together (to obtain the best combination of bird facial expressions). I use watercolour paper that I have pre-stretched and taped to a plywood board. I use graphite pencils in a soft, sketchy, semi-loose technique to outline and add details to the birds and branch. I’m not concerned about neatness at this stage, however, for wildlife portraits, form and perspective are particularly important – details around the focal point (usually the face…

MATERIALS • Art Spectrum Colourfix pastel paper, Aubergine. The artwork measures 15cm x 19.5cm with a 1.5cm border for framing.• General’s Charcoal pencil, HB• Faber-Castell PITT Pastel Medium 1122-101 (White)• Derwent Pastel sharpeners• Faber-Castell Knetgummi Art Eraser• Winsor & Newton Designers Gouache, Permanent White• Mont Marte Taklon Detailer 5/0 brush• Art Spectrum Pastel Primer, Aubergine.• A4 tracing paper (to rest drawing hand on)• Artist Tape.• Reference photo.• Drawing slant board and/or table/studio easel. REFERENCE PHOTO I have selected one of my own photos featuring my muse, the Arabian horse. Technically speaking this photo is not focused correctly, but is good enough as a reference. I know I have a great photo reference when I keep going back to it and feel excited and inspired to start drawing! The more I…

Remember When – Series by Ellen Lee Osterfield I remember when school and public holidays were spent “up the river” camping. There were many rivers to choose from only a few hours drive from our home in Bendigo. The Murray, Wakool, Loddon and Campaspe were a few favourites, depending on how long the break was. We did also go to the Murrumbidgee a good half days drive away! The early morning wake up, the long drive and the winding river road that threaded it’s way through the trees was the tiresome part of the journey, but once we arrived and chose our camp site, it was all fun for us kids who whilst the adults put up tents and made a safe swim spot for us (by cutting some saplings…

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I have been painting since 1975, using in order: oils, watercolours, pencils, and more often nowadays, pastels. Painting for me started at primary school, along with a few Saturday morning classes after my teacher said I should take some formal lessons. Some years later, during High School, I found a strong liking and talent for Technical Drawing and, although having achieved good marks and several suggestions from my schooling tutors, I diverted away from a career along those lines due to a lack of confidence with my ability to conquer the maths required for that topic. Immediately after leaving school I was employed with an advertising agency, but within a matter of months I changed horses and became employed in the oil industry. That was year 1952. That career, in…

Born in Nepean Hospital in 1965, I grew up in Glenbrook in the Blue Mountains of NSW. Our house backed onto the National Park, so my playground was the bush. Up to now, I’ve done quite a few Australian landscapes with eucalyptus trees, and I feel this fascination stemmed from my childhood. Very early on I was drawn to the arts. I could pick out tunes and play them on the piano before I was taught. Projects throughout school focussed more on the visual than the written. I remember getting in trouble in history once because I drew the heads of Roman statues instead of writing about them. It seemed more important to me to understand the tonal grading of the face than to discover which town they had ransacked.…

I didn’t actively decide to pursue art until I was 13 years old and I entered (and won) an art competition run by the local community newsletter “The Village Journal”. Although always encouraged to dabble in art by my talented mother, until then I hadn’t developed any particular aptitude – the diverse array of art materials I had been preciously hoarding remained largely untouched! The competition called for a border design for the newsletter’s back-page calendar, and, ever ambitious, in that first attempt with a black felt-tipped pen, I managed to include a rough sketch of no less than five native Australian animals – a koala, platypus, echidna and quoll, with a pigeon to top it all off! It’s quite possible that I was the only contestant to enter the…

I want to take you back to 1993. I am a horse-mad girl with long brown hair and utterly lovesick. I love horses. Then along comes the Arabian horse. On the outside, this breed of horse is famous for its beauty, refinement and movement. This is all very enchanting to me, but what I come to know is what is on the inside of this magical and mesmerizing breed; they are sensitive, people-loving and kind. I am now 14 and Arabian horses are my world. I read and collect magazines about them. I do little sketches of them instead of doing my schoolwork. An opportunity arises for me to be connected with a purebred Arabian gelding. I catch the bus to the stables after school and ride until dark. School…

MATERIALS • Black 180gsm paper• Faber Castell Hard Pastels• Carbothello Pastel Pencils• Art Spectrum Soft Pastels• Using colours of various hues of blue, green, aqua, beige, cream, white, red and black.• Rag cloth• Erasers• Spray fixative This demonstration follows a series of art which I’ve done in pastels, on 180gsm black paper which does not have a heavy texture, but sufficient to create “highs and lows” with the pastel application. The use of black coloured paper is the cue here, because the idea is to create something ‘heavy, deep and very strong’… in this case it’s the surf and imagined at night time. Nighttime surfing here in Queensland is a growing activity and taking on the best of surfers. ( Not me....). STEP ONE Very basic application here of a…