Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 56 i Artists Drawing and Inspiration

I was born in Russia and as a child I always spent my spare time painting and drawing. At that time in the former Soviet Union, art materials were quite expensive and hard to find. But thanks to my mother I have always had good brushes and paints to work with. Later in my teenage years I visited Moscow’s and St. Petersburg’s famous art museums and was fascinated with the masterpieces of Russian, Dutch, Italian, English and Spanish masters. As a keen dressage rider at that time, I was especially deeply impressed by paintings depicting horses and riders. So it was quite a challenge for me later to learn to paint and draw something else, not only horses. I started my career as a visual arts teacher in Almaty (Kazakhstan)…

MATERIALS • Sanded card (26 x 20 inches). • Reference photographs from my garden. • A range of soft and hard pastels in suitable tones. • Fine sticks of vine charcoal. • Pastel paper stumps in various sizes. • Masking tape. • Baking paper. STEP ONE My selection of colours is chosen from autumn flowers in my garden. These are set up on a plate. The colours may change as the work progresses. After taping the card to a padded board, I’m ready to start. The masking tape gives a clean edge to the finished painting and makes framing easier. A quick charcoal sketch places the flowers and helps to keep them clean and fresh. STEP TWO For the background, I layer a few tones. When I’m happy with the…

All artists need to be able to conceptualise their final work in their mind. To ensure your compositions are correct you need to be able to draw well enough to ensure your perspectives and tonal variations are true. I have hung up my brushes for the past two months and reverted to the world of monotone; re-honing my drawing skills to speak. I have commissioned myself to draw 36 portraits in pencil before moving back to the canvas and splashing the paint around again. This should act like changing the oil in a car before driving off again. To ensure I had quality equipment I went online and purchased a good set of Faber Castell drawing pencils (4H to 8B), an A5 Helix Pencil Sharpener which I believe is the…

MATERIALS • 8”x10” Art Spectrum ColorFix paper – Raw Sienna colour • Saral Yellow transfer paper • Premier Prismacolor coloured pencils • Kneaded eraser • Wide soft drafting or watercolour hake brush • White gouache paint • Round synthetic brush size 1/0 • Workable Mat Fixative • Permanent Gloss or Satin finish For this demonstration I have chosen to do a close-up portrait of a beautiful Australian Shepherd dog which I photographed some time ago at a dog show. This Blue Merle coloured dog has a unique “painted” coat pattern and intelligent golden eyes, so I needed to decide what colour of the paper would be better to use. I love to use dark or strong colours for my art, which are base colours of the subject. For this portrait…

ELIZABETH GUZSELY GALLERY Cooktown School of Art Society Inc operates the Elizabeth Guzsely Gallery at 125 Charlotte Street, Cooktown, in far north Queensland. This history has been compiled with the assistance of member Elizabeth Johns. THE HISTORY OF OUR GALLERY In 1979, Elizabeth Guzsely with several other very enthusiastic artists decided to start an art society in Cooktown. Elizabeth was born in 1934 in Budapest, Hungary – into a family of painters, musicians, singers, actors and writers. So, from an early age, art became a way of life. Surviving the Russian invasion of Hungary during the World War II, she gained a Diploma of Fine Art at the Hungarian National Institute, and worked as a graphic artist within the main Hungarian Military Academy – surrounded by Old Masters and teachers…

Although I have lived in Queensland for most of my life, I was born in Wagga Wagga where my father was in the Air Force. As children, my brother and I both loved to draw and ‘colour in’. I remember my mother keeping the plain white butchers’ paper so that we could use it for drawing. She also kept the inside wrapping paper from biscuits for us to use as tracing paper. I have always been interested in art, as far back as I can remember. At the age of seven, at primary school, I won a first place for Art and Craft (my brother excelled at Technical Drawing). Some years later with encouragement from my mother who was my greatest supporter, I entered an oil painting in a YWCA…

PEROCI DRAWING RANGE FROM ARTWORK ESSENTIALS… BUT WHICH ONE IS BEST? Pencils are often associated with schoolchildren and many of us were proud owners of pencil sets and pencil cases when we first started school. Of course, sooner or later we begin to use ballpoint pens and pencils become something representative of our younger years. But a quick look in any art store typically displays rows of shelves containing an array of pencils and sketching equipment, each with its own unique uses and finishes. Graphite (lead) Pencils Graphite is commonly used in the manufacture of these types of pencils and it is typically derived from carbon. Once called lead pencils (not the metallic element lead), graphite pencils are readily available in a range of grades. The core of the pencil…

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…

Shelena Russell’s life of painting started in early 2002 following her move from New Zealand a year earlier … while in the later stages of pregnancy with her first child. It was at this time that her partner Warren asked her what she wanted to do with her life once the baby was born. While her working life had previously consisted of holding down office administration jobs, Shelena said her dream was always about a ‘creative’ future such as fashion design. Warren immediately bought her a sketch pad, with the first page etched with the words ‘let the creative juices flow’. The drawing of fashion garments quickly gave way to a more artistic bent as Shelena began to sketch and colour artworks. After buying Shelena all the equipment she needed…

I was born in Swan Hill in Victoria. I attended the local primary school. I later went to Swan Hill High School where I was fortunate to have an art teacher who was happy to let me explore my painting, and encouraged me to develop my own style. After I left school, I moved to Melbourne to study nursing. I did not know it at the time, but I was not destined to return to art until after retirement. I spent some time living at Nelson Bay and at Darwin; then returned to Melbourne to have a family and continue working. Upon retiring, I moved to Phillip Island where I was able to attend art classes. A six week drawing class started me on the way to exploring other mediums.…

We all have fond memories of drawing on scraps of paper when we were kids. Smudging those messy oil crayons around a giant sheet of butcher’s paper drawing Mum, Dad and your brothers and sisters in front of that square house with the mandatory smoke billowing chimney was where it all started. It was here and throughout school that most young artists were inspired enough to pursue art as a career. Some of us loved those art classes where others loved mathematics and chemistry. But once the call of art is heard, it is nigh impossible to deviate from that calling. To be a good artist I believe one must be able to draw proficiently first and those skills need to be honed on a regular basis; pulling them out…

Ampersand Claybord is a Masonite board which is covered with white Kaolin clay and this is then covered with India Ink. Scratch art is a form of etching which is done by scratching lines and dots with the white areas being achieved by removing the black ink to show the white clay underneath; and for very dark shading, the black is left ‘as is’. There are a number of tools that can be used for scratching. I have used a craft knife that has a number of different blades (which can be purchased from the ‘dollar’ stores). Animals with fur and hair are ideal subjects for scratch art; although portraits and still lifes can also be done. Scratch art is very unforgiving if a mistake is made during the progress…