Australian How To Paint magazine chooses a topic or style of art each issue and gives you a comprehensive guide for you to develop your skills. Over the series we will cover all major painting technques plus popular paint ideas.
Though I’ve been drawing since I was a child, it’s only been recently that I’ve been able to invest myself in my art, as I’ve long hoped. As many self-taught artists find, mine has been a winding journey, driven by an undercurrent of passion, dedication, and hard work. It has been intermingled with other priorities, interests and needs at different times, and only really developed when permitted. Encouraged to pursue a customary vocation, I’ve worked as a paediatric Occupational Therapist, assisted in Health Research and have a Masters in Tropical Environmental Management. This background has tendered me knowledge and experiences that have influenced the art and the artist I am now. Darwin is my home, and has been for most of my life. It is a beautiful place, unique and…
Using soft pastel on suede paper, Janelle took some photos of her youngest, Quinn, when he was three days old. “I remember that beautiful night, when having fallen asleep in my arms I laid Quinn on our bed and photographed him. I thank myself often for pulling out the camera when I too should have been sleeping. A memory beyond measure preserved.” STEP ONE I work from reference images I’ve photographed either printed as photos or on my computer. I draw the image on white paper, and transfer it on to my final paper with tracing paper. I use white pastel pencil on the underside and trace the image with a graphite pencil. I do this gently as I find the suede readily indents, but need the graphite point to…
• Paper Art Spectrum Colourfix suede paper – Tasman Sky • Pastels I use pastels of the following brands - Art Spectrum(AS), Rembrandt (R), and Faber Castell. And pastel pencils - Faber Castell and Derwent. Colour list • Skin Dark: Mars Violet R 538/5, Burnt Umber R 409/3, Flinders Blue Violet AS D520, Caput Mortuum Red R 343/3 Middle: Burnt Sienna AS T548, Caput Mortuum Red R 343/7 Light: Burnt Sienna AS V548 and AS X548, Caput Mortuum Red R 343/9 • Fabric Dark: Flinders Blue Violet AS D520, Mars Violet R 538/5, Mouse Grey R 707/5 Middle: Raw Umber R 408/7 and R 408/9 Light: Yellow Ochre AS X540, Yellow Ochre R 227/10, Warm White AS P501 • Pastel pencils Faber Castell 1122 – 199 Black 122 – 177…
Sarajane Hinton was born at Kyabram in Victoria but she grew up in a small town on the mid north coast of New South Wales. After completing her schooling, she moved to Newcastle to earn a Bachelor of Design (Visual Communication) at the University of Newcastle. After she completed her university course, she moved with her husband to Bourke … where they met local gallery owner Jenny Greentree. “Jenny encouraged me to continue with my art,” says Sarajane. “Now, after spending three years exploring the area around Bourke, we have moved again to live at Yamba on the New South Wales north coast.” This pastellist is enthusiastic about animals and wildlife which she loves to use as subjects in her work. She loves to capture unique details of her subjects,…
STEP ONE To do the initial sketch, I create a scaled drawing of the subject on paper (working from photographs). I concentrate on key lines around the eyes, nose and ears. Getting these details correct now is essential to creating a real likeness to the subject. Often I will use a few grid lines to help scale up a subject. I then transfer this sketch onto my Colorfix pastel paper. STEP TWO In establishing a connection with the subject, I always start with the shading of the eyes. I then work my way around other key facial features such as the nose, ears and mouth; or any other feature that defines a particular subject. At this stage, I am using ‘Cretacolor’ pastel pencil – a harder variety of pastel –…
MATERIALS • Half sheet of ‘pinkish’ pastel paper with a smooth surface.• Six shades of Caput Mortuum pastels.• Caput Mortuum pencil.• Pastels in Blue and Lamp Black.• Newspaper photograph. There are times when something hits me in the eye and I know I have to draw it. The moment I saw this man’s face in a newspaper, I knew I had to have a go! As I am now a confirmed user of pastels, I decided to approach the painting from a different angle. I always seem to have difficulty using the method of measuring the different lengths and spaces required, so this time I used the grid method. For a change, I used one colour (mainly) with just a touch of black in the eyes. The colour I chose…
