Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2023 i Artists & Illustrators

… for you to get stuck into in this issue of Artists & Illustrators with stories that will both inspire and enthuse. Highlights include a feature on the life and work of Dame Barbara Hepworth, to mark a new exhibition in her beloved St Ives. Then, we celebrate Quentin Blake as the great illustrator approaches his ninetieth year. Practical features take shape with a London street scene in watercolour, a lively portrait in oil as well as an informative feature on how to sketch people with confidence when you’re out and about. We also reveal the winner of the British Art Prize’s People’s Choice Award – chosen by you – which rounds off a super successful competition and exhibition. We’re now excited for next year’s event – and hope you…

ART IS LIFE By Jerry Saltz Jerry Saltz is one of the most-watched writers about art and artists, and a passionate champion of the importance of art in our shared cultural life. Since the 1990s, he has been an indispensable cultural voice: witty and provocative, and has attracted contemporary readers to fine art as few critics have. Now, in his new book Art Is Life, Jerry Saltz draws on two decades of work to offer a real-time survey of contemporary art as a barometer of our times. The result is an openhearted and irresistibly readable appraisal by one of our most important cultural observers. Ilex Press, £25.00…

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DAME BARBARA HEPWORTH WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST SCULPTORS and artists of the twentieth century. Unlike her friend and contemporary, Henry Moore – whose sculpture remains close to the human figure – she decided that representation was not the aim of sculpture and she became one of the first British sculptors to make completely non-representational works. Yet, for many, the wraithlike Dame Barbara was the artist who put the hole in modern sculpture, who introduced emptied space as an element in her compositions and made it her signature. The event occurred in 1931, when, in a flash of daring (for which she was renowned) she pierced a hole in a small carving to give the figure a sense of flow and lead the viewer’s eye around it. “When I first…

IN THIS FINAL INSTALMENT of our series exploring colour pencil portraits, we’ll explore an expanded palette of colours, using hues from every part of the spectrum. In the earlier articles of this series, I have focused on limited palettes of colours for two reasons: firstly to show that you don’t need to buy a large set of coloured pencils to make a developed portrait and secondly, to use colour in a more versatile and experimental way. Using a red-blue palette can help you to become more sensitive to the warm and cool qualities of skin, a CMYK palette can help you to improve your colour mixing and a complementary palette can encourage you to be more experimental in your non-representational colour choices. In this final article, we’ll look at what…

REETA LOI is someone I have long admired for their commitment to raising awareness around gender, race and LGBTQ+ equality. They are the CEO and founder of Gaysians which supports LGBTQ+ South Asians and promotes a network of organisations that span different faiths, gender identities and sexualities. Music and writing are also at the core of Reeta’s work. I am currently partway through painting a large, full-length portrait of Reeta in which they sport pink trousers to match their pink hair, wonderful shoes and a long and luxurious deep blue coat, with gold detailing. Reeta has such a stylish and bold look that I thought they would make the perfect subject for this dynamic, expressive portrait. sarahjanemoon.com 1 ESTABLISHING THE COMPOSITION I often start a painting by drawing in using…

JIM FORD Jim is a US artist and designer based in Milwaukee. An award-winning type designer, he is responsible for some of Monotype’s most iconic typefaces. In his art practice, Ford’s work is mercurial and diverse, spanning from abstract collage and painting to sculpture and installation. AMANDA HODGES Amanda is a freelance Arts writer specialising in biography. Highlights have included interviewing the late Sir John Mills and Paddington author Michael Bond; here she delves into the illustrious career of a man similarly renowned in his field: illustrator Quentin Blake. MAX PANKS Max has always been influenced by dramatic light and movement, and his style in watercolour lends itself perfectly to capturing the spontaneity which surrounds us. Having lived in the Cotswolds, various cities and even on the sea, the stark…

11 DECEMBER The Visual Art Open competition aims to give artists the ultimate platform to develop their artistic passion and career. Prize funds total over £3,000. visualartopen.com 11 DECEMBER The Royal Highland & Agricultural Society of Scotland invites artists to transform a fibre glass sheep. 35 artists will recieve an honorarium of £1,000. royalhighlandshow.org 16 DECEMBER Enter your 2D and 3D artworks for Art Gemini Prize 2022. The first two winning artists will be awarded a two-week residency in Bali. Prize funds total £4,000. artgeminiprize.com…

Brought to you by the team behind Artists & Illustrators, every reader will have access to an edited extract taken from the book of the same name by London-based artist Susie Johns. We’ve cherry-picked three completely different How-To features from the book, to give you the chance to study three different types of still life subjects in different mediums. Each tutorial has a list of the materials and tools required, step-by-step photographs of the work along with informative text, tips and strategies for getting the best results. By working through the tutorials, you will gradually develop your skills and build confidence until you feel equipped to attempt any still life. This is a useful guide to painting simple compositions using everyday objects you’ll find at home. Still life will help you…

Paris & Normandy River Cruise Embarking 23 March 2023 Sailing Paris Roundtrip Including complimentary flights & transfers Sailing onboard AmaLyra Fares from £2,352pp Including savings up to £850 per stateroom The Itinerary At A Glance Experience the colourful splendour of Claude Monet’s magnificent gardens at his former home in Giverny, and be inspired by Honfleur, the charming town where impressionism is said to have originated. Walk through the life of Vincent van Gogh and the masterpieces he completed during his time in France, including a visit to Auvers-sur-Oise, the last home of this renowned Post-Impressionist painter. Onboard AmaLyra Price based on the following cruise: Paris & Normandy, AmaLyra, 23/03/2023. Full Terms and Conditions can be found at AmaWaterways.co.uk/terms-conditions What’s Included? €100pp Onboard Credit exclusive to Artists & Illustrators’ Readers on…

EVER SINCE I FIRST SAW THE SUN setting over London’s St Martin’s Lane, it has been my favourite place to paint. There’s so much happening there: from the iconic London architecture seen in Trafalgar Square’s St Martin in the Fields, to the flash of red in the canopies below, which give this road an almost juxtaposed, Parisian feel. This landscape lends itself so effortlessly to the artist who would describe its beauty on paper. I love the balance in hue, temperature and shapes, and with a little artistic licence, one can achieve a work of art that has the viewer’s eye dancing around the painting, wishing they could step through into the warm summer evening of the city. This tutorial aims to describe my approach to a watercolour landscape. I…

MY PASSION FOR ART started at a young age. I was encouraged by my grandmother who was a watercolour artist. We would rummage through her green satchel full of art supplies and spend many hours learning how to paint loose washes of colour to create a coastal or countryside landscape whilst she accidentally dipped her paintbrush in her mug of tea instead of her water. While my early attempts at painting were landscapes, I started focusing more on portraiture and figure work. I remember loving the challenges of capturing someone’s likeness, and how each attempt was a unique experience. Around the age of 16, I began using oil paint, practising the techniques I’d seen in paintings by artists such as Egon Schiele, Jenny Saville and Lucian Freud, all of whom…

Things we love… Visitors to Compton Verney, Warwickshire can enjoy a new touring exhibition showcasing 10 masterpieces until 15th January 2023. Dutch Flowers examines the origins of Northern European flower painting, the height of its popularity in the Dutch Golden Age and its final flowering in the late 18th century. At the turn of the 17th century, Netherlandish artists were among the first to produce paintings that exclusively depicted flowers. This period saw the establishment of botanical gardens in the Netherlands as well as a booming international trade in exotic cultivars. comptonverney.org.uk GIFTS INSTEAD OF FLOWERS Visit this online virtual exhibition stand where artists and small businesses show their unique but affordable products. Everything shown on the site is £80 and less, which is the same price as a large…

WITHOUT HANDS: THE ART OF SARAH BIFFIN Until 21st December 2022 Artist Sarah Biffin (1784-1850) came from humble origins yet rose to fame in the 19th century as a remarkably talented miniaturist, undertaking commissions for royalty. As a working-class, disabled female artist, her artwork – many proudly signed “without hands” – is a testament to her talent and life-long determination. But despite her prolific artistic output and appearance in numerous published memoirs, letters and literary works by leading figures of her age, Sarah Biffin’s remarkable life has been largely overlooked by art historians. Until now. A new exhibition at Philip Mould & Company – the first to focus on Sarah in a century – hopes to rectify this. 18-19 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5LU philipmould.com FAIR GROUND Until 8th January…

BUILDING MY CAREER as a full-time artist was strangely not something I ever really expected or planned for. It was all a bit sudden in the spring of 2020; during that first COVID lockdown. I’d bought a tin of pastel pencils and a few sheets of Clairefontaine Pastelmat at the beginning of the year, so lockdown gave me the perfect opportunity to practise and learn as much as I could. Within a very small space of time, I’d built up a solid three months of commissions. My husband suggested I quit my full-time job as a vehicle inspector and ‘make this my job.’ That’s exactly what I did, and I’ve never looked back. At the start of this year, I began hosting pastel pencil workshops at my local coffee shop…

DELICIOUSLY SCRAWLY, FREQUENTLY JOYFUL and always utterly distinctive, Quentin Blake’s drawings have enlivened many classics of children’s literature, from Roald Dahl’s The BFG and Matilda to modern stories Mr Stink and The Boy in the Dress by David Walliams. In 2021, Blake’s Mr Filkins in the Desert saw a man, approaching his 90th birthday, embark upon a long-distance celebration. Despite obstacles, Mr Filkins achieves his goal, perhaps a metaphor for Blake’s own enduring artistic vibrancy. As he’s acknowledged online, “Not many men celebrate their 90th by crossing a desert but for me, it’s an excuse to draw fantastic landscapes and creatures. That’s what it’s really all about. Although you’ll notice there’s also a moral about being nice to other people.” Herein lies much of Blake’s enduring appeal as an illustrator.…

A BIGAIL WADDELL WANTED to get over the hurdle of putting her work out to be judged by other artists and peers. She always looked at artists who had won competitions with great awe. And although somehow a win seemed unattainable, she was thrilled with the result of entering her work into The British Art Prize competition. After 30 years of working as a rheumatologist and medical school lecturer, Abigail now works part-time and spends the rest of her week painting. “We all need something to help us deal with the pressures of our chosen professions. In my case, art has helped over the past few years, and I feel unbelievably lucky that it has now become a second career that can run alongside my NHS and tutoring role.” She’d always…

MESSAGE OF THE MONTH Jane Kelly I haven’t done any alla prima landscape painting for some time, not since before the pandemic. I have mainly been inside, painting self-portraits and attending life drawing groups. I was really interested in your feature, ‘A direct approach’ by Al Gury in the October issue and decided to follow his advice, from composition to brush strokes, step by step for some paintings of Iffley Village Churchyard, in Oxford. I worked from sketches in situ, a painting half done en plein air some years ago, a charcoal sketch and a photo. I found it tricky but interesting to try to adjust the photo and the other images into one, the scale was different, but it was a real learning exercise. I was also attracted by…