Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2015 i Artists & Illustrators

How quickly the seasons change. No sooner has the warm flush of summer died down than the chilly nip of autumn is catching us all unawares. The plein air painting kit is being packed away for another year (apart from a few hardy folk) and we’re getting ready to close the studio doors behind us. With this in mind, we’re in a quieter and more contemplative mood this month. It’s most obvious in Brazilian painter Fábio Cembranelli’s gorgeous watercolours of the British countryside, made as part of his jetset world tour of workshops, and in the rich palette of artist Gareth Brown’s paintings of fallen leaves and dried grasses. In keeping with that spirit, I hope you enjoy our profile of the brilliant and sometimes overlooked Gwen John, whose solemn…

Inspirational courses for both beginners and serious artists in Umbria with exceptional tutors Situated in the idyllic Umbrian hills, the ‘green heart of Italy’, our private 220 acre estate is the stunning backdrop for our painting, printmaking, drawing and stone carving courses. These residential holidays include seven days’ accommodation in our home, an 18th century country house, where the atmosphere is relaxed and stress-free, offering the perfect setting for you to enjoy and develop your creative skills under expert tuition from leading artists and tutors such as Andrew James, Antony Williams, Yara Damian, Grahame Booth, Paul Alcock, Mitchell Albala, Kelly Medford, Caroline Bays, Patrick Cullen, Adele Wagstaff, Simon Keeley, Francesco Fontana, Belinda Biggs and Claudia Tulifero! Prices start from £985 for a general course and £1,285 for a Master Class,…

BOOK ILLUSTRATION COMPETITION 2016 Brief: Participants are invited to illustrate Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse. Long-listed entries feature in a House of Illustration exhibition, while the overall winner receives a £5,000 commission from the Folio Society. Deadline: 18 January 2016 Exhibition: 29 January to 6 March 2016 at the House of Illustration, London N1 Enter online: www.foliosociety.com RBA ANNUAL EXHIBITION 2016 Brief: The Royal Society of British Artists requests up to six artworks in any media (including sculpture and original prints) that display a high standard of skill and expression. Deadline: 11 December Receiving day: 23 January 2016 Exhibition: 17 March to 2 April 2016 at Mall Galleries, London SW1 Enter online: www.mallgalleries.org.uk MUNCH ON A MUNCH If you’ve got an appetite for great paintings, the Art Fund’s Edible Masterpieces could…

Leighton House was once home to Frederic, Lord Leighton, a Victorian painter and president of the Royal Academy. He acquired the plot in 1864 to showcase his fabulous collection of paintings in suitably grand setting. The house’s decadent Arab Hall was inspired by Leighton’s travels to Turkey, Egypt and Syria. The Grade II-listed building opened to the public in 1929 and today holds 81 oil paintings by Leighton in its permanent collection, as well as artworks by John Everett Millais, GF Watts and John Singer Sargent. www.rbkc.gov.uk/museums…

By rights, American painter Suzanne Brooker should be one of the world’s most confident artists. Her first book, Portrait Painting Atelier, remains on the bestseller lists some five years after it was first published, while places on the courses she teaches at the prestigious Gage Academy of Art in her home city of Seattle are constantly in demand. Her own art has flourished during this period too, so it is reassuring for the rest of us to discover that she still struggles with certain fundamental aspects of her practice. In her forthcoming second book, The Elements of Landscape Oil Painting, she asks a question that doesn’t often feature in such expert guide books, yet almost every artist will find themselves pondering at one point or another: can this be painted?…

What sketching materials would you recommend for a budding fashion illustrator? Cheap A2 and A3 paper – the more the better. It helps if it’s slightly transparent so you can see the previous drawing and incorporate anything good about it into the next one. I use graphite pencils – 6B or 4B – and a brush pen with ink cartridges. I’m not precious about anything when sketching and assume most attempts will fail. Should I plan my pictures with sketches or try to work more intuitively? I plan everything with endless sketches and revisions. When the drawing looks right, I put it on a lightbox and let it guide me towards the final piece. The drawing is the foundation stone. Once I have that, I can afford to let things…

CRETACOLOR SANGUINE PENCIL The terracotta hues of sanguine are used to create mass and atmosphere in life drawing. The material has been used for centuries by the masters and if it was good enough for Da Vinci, it’s good enough for us! £1.60 each.www.apassionforpencils.com COATES WILLOW CHARCOAL This high-quality charcoal is favoured among artists because it’s soft to use and the wider sticks are great for larger areas. It’s also a kind medium, as it erases easily. £7.90 per set.www.coatescharcoal.co.uk VIARCO ARTGRAF XL This water-soluble graphite stick weighs in at a whopping 250 grams! The unique ergonomic shape, which handles similarly to tailor’s chalk, makes it perfect for gestural strokes. £19.70 each.www.cornelissen.com WOLFF’S CARBON PENCIL Carbon produces a deeper black than graphite pencils and has a smoother finish to charcoal…

Whether the central theme or a secondary idea, figures can add complexity and depth to a composition. It is always a good idea to practice your figures before adding them to a scene and plan out carefully where to include them. Keep it simple. For a more suggestive painting, treat figures as silhouettes with no obvious facial features and unresolved feet. Draw what you see, not what you think you can see. Consider the whole composition and what it requires. HEAD The head is perhaps the most important part of the human body as it can be used as a unit of measurement for the rest of the figure. In the average standing figure, there are between seven and eight head lengths. This unit of measurement can be used to…

Founded in 1890, Blackpool-based Granthams has 125 years worth of experience in the graphics and art business. The company’s ArtDiscount website is one of the UK’s leading destinations for art and graphics materials, offering savings of up to 70% off local art shop prices. Artists & Illustrators readers can save even more this month as we have teamed up with ArtDiscount to offer a set of seven Mastertouch Reflex Oil/ Acrylic brushes for just half price, plus free postage and packing – a saving of £10.97. Perfect for both oils and acrylics, these professional long handle brushes come in a range of round heads, from size 2 to size 14. For your chance to buy a set of seven Mastertouch Reflex Oil/Acrylic brushes for the offer price of £7.48 (RRP…

Finding somewhere to retreat from the distractions of modern life to focus on work amid inspirational surroundings is something of a dream for most artists. So it’s no surprise that, as word gets out about a residential creative workspace on Cornwall’s spectacular coastline, applications are flooding in to spend time there. Perched on the cliffs of Cape Cornwall about 10 miles west of St Ives, Brisons Veor offers artists of all persuasions, from painters to musicians, a place to stay and work for periods of one to four weeks. The property was originally part of the boiler house for the local tin mine, but was since adapted to provide accommodation for up to four people (six at a squeeze), along with two studio spaces. In 1978, the building was converted…

Top tip SIMPLIFY THE BACKGROUND OF YOUR PORTRAITS TO CREATE A MORE CONTEMPORARY FINISH A self-portrait can be a trickier proposition than painting a portrait of someone else. When you paint another person, it is easier to simply paint what you see, but with a self-portrait, the temptation is to try and convey much more about yourself and your personality. Also, if you try to paint yourself in a mirror, you are only seeing the reverse of the real you. Despite regularly painting portraits of other people, it has been 10 years since I last attempted a self-portrait so I thought it was time to set myself the challenge again. In this demonstration, I will show you how to keep your skin tones clean and how to use masking fluid…

This autumn, Tate Britain will stage a major retrospective of the work of British painter Frank Auerbach, bringing together around 70 drawings and paintings from the 1950s through to the present day. Auerbach’s heavy and impasto application of paint is immediately recognisable; his paintings are wonderfully tactile. Born in Berlin in 1931, Auerbach arrived in England in 1939 as a refugee and he has lived and worked in London ever since, based in the same studio in Camden Town for more than 60 years. He is part of the generation of leading British figurative painters that became known as the ‘School of London’ and included the likes of Lucian Freud, Michael Andrews and Francis Bacon. Auerbach’s uncompromising portraits of people and the urban landscape have been the artist’s preoccupation now…

Having first heard about Pintar Rapido through your magazine I was delighted to hear that the event was coming to Glasgow. Not being accustomed to painting outside, I admit feeling out of my depth but needed to get out of my comfort zone so I signed up. I needn’t have worried. Highly organised, very friendly and involving artists of all levels, the weekend was as much fun as I’d hoped. The weather, the pressure of time constraints, the interested tourists and the challenge of framing a wet oil painting all added to the buzz. I didn’t expect to win and my work didn’t sell but I’ll certainly enter again. I would encourage anyone to get involved in Pintar Rapido next year, whether as an artist, volunteer or as a buyer…

Gwen John made a momentous journey during her lifetime, not in distance, but rather in environment and culture. Born in 1876 in Haverfordwest, a small town in Victorian Wales, she made her way into the artistic tumult of Paris in the first decade of the 20th century via the creative seedbed of London’s Slade School of Fine Art. Although her work shifted in style from the rigorous, detailed draughtsmanship of her art school training to the loose dabs and strokes of pale, chalky paint on canvas that characterise her later paintings, her gaze remained intensely focussed on female sitters, sometimes herself, and sometimes accompanied by her much-loved cats: a seemingly quiet and rather conventional subject matter. Yet in recent years she has come to be seen as an artist who…

What’s the concept behind your first exhibition, Now I Am An Artist? I’m a jobbing illustrator and I was quite scared – I’ve been in group shows but I’ve never had a full gallery to play with before. I came up with this idea of drawing my own galleries on paper and creating works within them. It was a way of making work that I felt comfortable with. How did you make the artworks? I drew the galleries and sent them out to a digital printer to make fine art giclée prints. I then hand-finished each print with collage and paint. I spotted some unusual tins of paint in your studio. What do you use them for? It’s called 1 Shot. It’s sign-writer’s paint – enamel paint, basically. It’s got…

When Winsor & Newton first previewed its new pigment markers range at Frankfurt’s Paperworld trade fair in February, the company did so with a level of secrecy and security normally reserved for NASA blueprints or nuclear weapons. Kept behind closed doors, only invited guests could view the products and confidentiality agreements were signed. The message was clear: this is a major launch. At first glance, it wasn’t entirely clear why. Paint pens have been the launch of choice for art manufacturers in recent years, from Liquitex’s Paint Markers and Derwent’s excellent Line Painter range, to Winsor & Newton’s own Water Colour Markers. Where the Pigment Markers are advancing the cause is in terms of the quality of pigment and versatility in the blend. While we can’t verify the claims that…

Rather than arranging your objects in a traditional way – that is, lining them up to be viewed at eye level or slightly above – try thinking about more quirky viewpoints. Experiment by pushing the boundaries. If possible, view your composition from above, either directly over the objects, or at a slight angle. Even mundane objects take on an extra dimension when seen from an elevated position. A slightly more abstract painting can be produced when thinking outside the box. When setting out your objects, try to think of a way to entice the viewer’s eye into the picture. KEVIN’S MATERIALS • Permanent White, Raw Sienna, Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow Light, Cadmium Orange, Burnt Sienna, Cobalt Blue and Lamp Black gouache • Bockingford 190gsm NOT watercolour paper • Size 1,…

MY FAVOURITE PAINTING Benjamin West’s The Death of General Wolfe is thrilling and continues to fascinate. He was very much overshadowed by Reynolds and Gainsborough. MY DRAUGHTSMAN INSPIRATION I am delighted that people are rediscovering the value of drawing skills. Leonardo could draw, but I’m most inspired by the work of the young people at the Royal Drawing School (1). MY FAVOURITE PERIOD OF ART The 18th century was my Celebrity Mastermind specialist subject. Sometimes it looks placid and elegant, but it was a period of extraordinary turmoil as people struggled to cope with the huge intellectual, social and economic changes that were taking place. MY TOP ART BIOGRAPHY John Richardson’s A Life of Picasso (2) remains a great read. It’s a monument of diligent research and illuminating insight. MY…