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.
I have always loved to draw, and have done so since early childhood. My Dad sketched, and I know that his interest and praise of my early attempts made me even more determined to practice. At seven years of age I won First Prize for my flower drawing for the local Floral Festival (Mildura, Victoria), and I felt so proud. I kept on drawing a lot, often to the annoyance of my teachers. I decorated every page of every subject in my class books. At the start of secondary school (Ballarat High) I submitted some drawings to the Ballarat School of Mines Art Department, and received an ongoing position to attend classes of my choice - what an opportunity! Geoff Mainwaring (Official War Artist in the Pacific, and then Head…
MATERIALS • Winsor and Newton Artisan Oil Paint• Canvas - fine weave• Mixed brushes, mainly synthetic flats• Acrylic Black• Acrylic Maroon• White coloured pencil• Reference sketches and photographs My plan is to create a story … an interaction between the horse, the man, the cattle, the dog, and the environment. The sunlight and textures will be important elements, and the lost and found edges will give the overall unity to the painting. I am familiar with the subject, having ridden horses with cattle in the Gippsland High Country. I have filled sketch books, and taken many photographs. I visualise the artwork in my head before I begin to work. I try to “see” the finished painting before I start. STEP ONE I tint the selected canvas with an acrylic mix…
Draw, draw, draw! Draw everything! Fill your sketchbooks. You will improve if you do more. Observe the real world, think about your eye height (eye level) and how it controls your view of your subject. • The lights are so powerful. Plan their placement with care. Your photographic reference is often wrong … You don’t want your lightest light on the outside edges. You must change your photographs with the shadows also, they are often much too dark and lacking colour! • Paint the subjects that you enjoy. Don’t be influenced by the comments of others who try to persuade you to select other items. Be yourself, remember it is how you design and paint your favourite subject that will improve your artwork, not just changing your subject. • Art…
I was born and raised in Chandler, a suburb of Brisbane. I am the third child of seven. Every member of my family has artistic talent, either visually or musically. My mum saw in each one of her children potential of some sort and encouraged us to reach it. I tended to be crafty, always making something. I never thought of myself as an artist. In year 9, the art class received a drawing exercise. The teacher had cut up a black and white photocopy of a woman’s face into twelve squares. Each student was allocated one square. Mine was the right nostril and part of the lip. We were to reproduce this square in a tonal value charcoal drawing on a larger scale. The student drawings were reassembled. A…
MATERIALS • Stretched linen canvas• Artist’s oil paints: Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, Permanent Blue, Spectrum Red Liquol Medium• Variety of hog hair and synthetic brushes I enjoy working from life. Occasionally though, I find a photograph that grabs my attention. I was captivated by the straightforward gaze of Marnie in this photo. Her eyes and body language told of the quiet confidence of her personality. My goal was to capture those eyes and create a likeness. The original photo was taken on a holiday in the Solomon Islands. We were visiting Marnie’s identical twin sister. Wherever the twins went the Islanders would stop them. “Same same?” (Twins?) , was constantly asked. Thus the title, “ Same same. The other twin” I loved the photograph as a photo, yet I did…
Born in Sydney in 1945, John’s early life was something of a Huckleberry Finn existence. Surrounded by large tracts of land, parks and rivers, he was relatively free to roam during his schooling years, and explored the surrounding areas extensively, developing a love of nature in the process, and a familiarity with many of its aspects. John’s early drawing skills were evident even at four years of age when he would attempt to capture many of the scenes that he saw on holiday, and around where he lived, on large sheets of butchers’ paper. By age 11 he was entering and winning art competitions at the local theatres and schools, winning free movie tickets for himself and his friends. Many of his holidays were spent with friends and relatives in…
