Innholdsfortegnelse for June - July 2017/ No.115 i International Artist

One of the things that artists seem to bring up time and time again when they talk about their process is the importance of solid technique, concept, composition or reference materials. It can even be a combination of all or some of those elements— whatever they deem to be the most significant aspects of their work. Take for instance metalpoint artist Gordon Hanley who finds composition to be the most important element. He explains, “I spend more time on this component than any other. If your composition is flawed, there is very little that can be done to retrieve a painting or drawing. Even when working in a medium where colour is an option, reducing your image to monochrome makes compositional issues much simpler to resolve.” Then there is Anne…

Third Prize is a one-page editorial feature in American Art Collector magazine Third Prize My Inspiration I have often seen from afar or through thick foliage this most beautiful Australian bird. My photographic images collected so far in the wild are not quite adequate enough to be able to portray it accurately. Captive birds photographed from a number of free flight aviaries have however given me the accurate detail that I needed for this painting. High in the rainforest canopy of the Lamington National Park on a recent trip looking across the heavily timbered mountains, the idea for this painting grew. At the time a native species of lilly pilly was heavy with fruit a favourite of many native birds. My Design Strategy Having collected many great images of the…

Finalist My Inspiration I am a self-taught artist, having painted for most of my adult life. I have exhibited in London, and received awards for my wildlife paintings. Inspiration for my work comes from my travels after having lived overseas for a number of years, the seasons, and my love of nature and all that surrounds me. In planning a painting there is always a trigger, a feeling, a moment in time or an experience that I look to share with others. My Design Strategy Initially, I decide what I want to say about the subject, sometimes it is placed in a very intricate background to provide a necessary environment. For other paintings, it is the object that is the most important element of the piece so that background is…

FULL COLOR DIGITAL PRINT-OUTS Use the Official Entry Form over the page ONLINE Visit our website to upload digital files of the images you want to enter and pay for them using our secure server. www.internationalartist.com To upload your entries you need to prepare your image files to be at least 400 pixels at the shortest edge. Once you are in the Official Online Entry page simply select which challenge you wish to enter then follow the prompts and finally pay the entry fee via our secure server. There you can also see other entries received along with past winners of our competitions. HINTS FOR PHOTOGRAPHING YOUR ARTWORK • Set your camera to the highest quality available. • Shoot your paintings dead square on and fill the frame as much as…

During the past decade I’ve been a witness to a renewed appreciation for the traditional skill of rendering light and form through drawing. My professional work as an artist is primarily in animated movies, which has given me the great luxury of creating charcoal portraits in my spare time. But as it turns out, the draftsmanship and sensitivity to character and form required to draw people has made me a far better animation artist. Artists who want to create imaginative visual storytelling are flocking to life drawing classes to develop the skills that will bring a compelling believability to their artwork. They also do it as a refuge; putting pencil to paper is once again considered a great joy, and the handmade quality of a drawing is prized in the…

The farmer carefully studied the rural landscape on display at the state fair. Sometimes he stood closer, sometimes he stepped back, and sometimes he just shook his head. The artist himself was nearby, and noticing the farmer, he sidled up to hear his comments. Finally the farmer gave his judgement; “I wouldn’t give 35 cents an acre for that land.” The artist in this story was Grant Wood (famous for American Gothic) and the painting was Stone City, which he displayed at the Iowa State Fair in 1930. The point of this story, for me, is that when it comes to art, most people are much more interested in content than they are in technical matters. This farmer wasn’t interested in how much Wood’s technique owed to Dutch painters or…

As a self-taught artist, my technique is the end result of a long, frequently messy, evolutionary process. I work from photographs viewed on my computer monitor. A great deal of time is dedicated to composing and editing these images. Working from the computer display allows me to zoom in on an image to see subtle details, and zoom out for an overall view of the composition to evaluate tonal values and color. My surface material is determined by the size and complexity of the composition. Large compositions will be painted on canvas. For smaller or very complex images, I will use a hardboard panel. I prep the panels by sanding off the manufactured texture in the gesso, then I round over the edges to prevent chipping. Finally, I tone canvas…

I have always loved birds. My mom often reminds me that I wanted to go watch and feed the ducks at our hometown pond when I was 3 years old. By the time I was 5, I was drawing birds for the family and all of our neighbors, so I imagine it is no surprise that my love of painting birds continues to this day. The slogan for my life is, “All birds, all the time.” I am either looking for birds, working with birds, presenting birds to the public or painting birds! Part of my ongoing learning process for understanding birds comes from observation in the field. I am also fortunate to be an 18-year education volunteer at Liberty Wildlife in Phoenix, Arizona. I spend many hours each week…

Although the medium I choose to work in is admittedly a little esoteric, the general concepts discussed here are valid across a wide range of art media from pencil and charcoal to fine art black-and-white digital photography. My career in art was established as a realist painter in watercolours and oils, but over the past decade I have found myself working increasingly in metalpoint- a monochromatic medium. The biggest adjustment was not so much of a change in technique and process, but rather a way of thinking—of seeing the world a little differently. Most of us see our surroundings in colour. It shouts at us, begs for our attention. This is also true of much of modern art—images evermore colourful, outsized, clamouring to be noticed. But what if colour as…

Stylus (clockwise from top left) » 2mm silver stylus » 0.9mm version silver stylus » 0.9mm gold stylus » 2 mm gold stylus with the gold wire Other Materials » 800 grit piece of wet and dry » kneadable eraser Support » stretched Arches 300gsm HP watercolour paper Papers If you are using watercolour paper, it will need to be stretched. This is because you will be preparing it with a liquid drawing ground and your aim should be to produce a flawless surface. Stretch your paper out on a board or a frame. The Arches is easily tough enough for this and really doesn’t need a solid support underneath. For this demonstration drawing, I used a 72-by-52-centimeter sheet of Arches 300gsm HP watercolour paper stretched out on a wooden…

Grand Prize Queensland, Australia, Cockatoo Canapes, acrylic, 24 x 20" (61 x 51 cm) Grand Prize is a four-page editorial feature in American Art Collector magazine Subtleties of Nature Since 1991, Stephen Jesic has focused his artwork solely on wildlife. His years of practicing his painting technique have allowed him to render wildlife in the same realistic style that is often used for a still life. He elaborates, “As I said, my first training was still life, nearly 12 years of private lessons. The color and vibrancy of the Australian birds attracted my attention and I developed my wildlife paintings to a high degree of detail as I would for still life.” Jesic has worked on acrylics since the late 1980s, and he has developed his technique to the point where…

Finalist FINALISTS Each receives an Award Certificate and a one-year subscription to International Artist magazine PLUS having their work seen worldwide by international galleries looking for new talent. My Inspiration Since childhood I have had a strong passion for nature. A large part of my life has been spent walking coasts, forests and mountains, observing, photographing and sketching. When I began painting at a young age, the love of nature made choice of subjects easy. More than five decades later this basic passion still drives my art, mostly painting landscapes and wildlife. For the Pheasants painting the inspiration was the pure thrill of observing local pheasants courting, the rich splashes of color fearlessly displayed in dry fields, the amazing camouflage of the hens candidly admiring the rooster’s courtship. After a long Swedish…

ENTER OUR NEW ART COMPETITION CHALLENGE No. 101 Florals & Gardens See your work published in International Artist magazine and also receive a 4-page Editorial Feature in American Art Collector, the prestigious magazine read by collectors and galleries looking for new art work in the world’s biggest art market. Winners and Finalists in our competitions don’t just win awards to hang on their walls The real value of entering and being one of the winners is that your work will not only be seen by hundreds of thousands of readers worldwide but also by leading galleries and collectors in America, the biggest art market of all. Our Grand Prize Winners receive a 2-page spread in International Artist magazine and a 4-page Editorial Feature in American Art Collector. Publicity at this…

Have you ever heard people comment on how artists live long and remain active? It seems to be a cultural phenomenon. In the early 1800s, the critic William Hazlitt, fascinated by what he called “the old age of artists,” wrote, “One feels they are not quite mortal, that they have one imperishable part about them.” Intriguing, but do you suppose it’s simply because we are never bored? No matter what our favorite subject matter, we artists can draw or paint anything that light reveals to us or that lives in our heads as memory, thought or feeling. If the weather prevents working outside, or no still life or environment inspires us indoors, or if our imagination fails us, there is always a mirror and that universal powerful motivation—self-interest. We always…

There is no artist vehicle where the practice of mindfulness is not the core method. With the most primitive means the artist creates something that the most ingenious and efficient technology will never be able to create. Great art begins with great themes and to express them poetically through mastery of all aspects of technique. Apart from theme, it begins with the courage to express draughtsmanship and paint handling simultaneously; but in order to allow freedom to be the source of my creativity, I don’t like fully discussing the process until it happens. It is important to me my process is visceral not intellectual, as over-thinking is the nemesis of art. I’m young and last of the free, and I seek legions with those who feel the same way as…

Using modern technology I always use Photoshop to edit the picture I take before I do sketch and paint. I crop the picture, adjust the brightness and contrast, change the tone and color balance, and get rid of the elements I don’t want to balance the composition. Solving the value problem first Many times, the composition problem is not a color problem but a value problem. Drawing a sketch before you paint will help you fix the problem. It is like a black-and-white photo. Without color, you can easily tell the unbalance of the image. Getting a harmony color tone If you use too many primary colors and secondary colors, your painting may look chaotic. To solve this problem, you need to analyze your subject and your reference pictures. Before…

We all like to produce nice finished paintings, but in order to do that it often requires a lot of scribbling, note taking and sketching. Sometimes those notes and sketches can turn into finished works in their own right. Sometimes they are triggers more related work. Filling a dedicated book with all this preparatory work allows you to look back over ideas and reconsider them. It is amazing how fresh ideas are generated when sketches and notes are revisited. VISIT JOHN LOVETT ONLINE www.johnlovett.com www.johnlovettwatercolorworkshop.com It doesn’t really matter what you include in these journals and sketchbooks. The important thing is to have them and use them. Anything—your breakfast, the family dog, potted plants, tools, buildings, buses, trains—you encounter is fair game. The sketches don’t have to be masterpieces either—some…

This is the question I hear more than any other,” What colour paper should I use?” It is a good question. Choose the wrong colour paper, and while your picture will probably still work, it can often be hard work. Get your choice right and the picture seems to almost paint itself! For this reason it is important to consider right colour for your subject. There are several ways to choose your background colour. A commonly used approach is to choose a paper colour that fits your subject. As a general rule you should be able to see the paper colour somewhere in the subject. Some areas can be left bare or with a minimal amount of pastel on it, because the paper’s colour will do the work for you.…

About Your Tutor Richard Robinson was a graphic designer until 2001 when he became a full-time artist. He’s best known for his idyllic New Zealand beach scenes. In the past few years he also has built a highly successful Internet business with his popular instructional painting videos on www.livepaintinglessons.com. John Singer Sargent was born in Florence in 1856 to American expatriates and he spent his childhood traveling around Europe. He entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris as a young man. After his formal training he became very well known for his portraits. Later he painted landscapes in the impressionist style. He became good friends with Claude Monet around 1876 as they developed similar ideas. San Vigilio is a small fishing village on a point at the southern end of…

Visit www.internationalartist.com and click on the Virtual Art Academy® button to access instant downloads needed to master the art of painting. There are around 700 key discoveries in the complete Virtual Art Academy program organized into nine Building Blocks. The program is written for all levels of painters, from beginners to intermediates and expert painters, and who work in any media, whether your interest lies in oils, acrylics, watercolors, or pastels. Building Blocks There are nine key Building Blocks in the Virtual Art Academy program each containing around six individual Course Units. Each Course Unit explores an important area of key discoveries to a level of detail that you would normally only get in a master class with an experienced artist or at an art academy. Get individual Building Blocks…

Second Prize is a two-page editorial feature in American Art Collector magazine Second Prize My Inspiration For me, animals are fascinating. I am captivated by the colours, mannerisms and movements of all animals whether they are wild or domestic pets. Each animal has their own individual characteristics they express through facial expressions, body positions and actions. Those characteristics affect how we feel, creating a bond between us and them. It’s that ability to express/ create emotions that I try to encapsulate and translate into all my paintings. I choose my subjects based on photos that connect with me on a personal level, inspire me to capture the colours/textures, make me imagine the animal’s next movement, make me itch to paint and this chimpanzee connected with me on all these levels.…

Finalist My Inspiration My inspiration for painting comes from the beauty of the animals with whom we share this planet-from the leopard of the African plains to the badgers in the field at the bottom of my garden. I aim to help the viewer connect through the eyes and face of my artwork to explore the true nature of these magnificent creatures. I endeavour to take the viewer on a journey of understanding to appreciate why we need to defend and preserve these animals. Ingwe the leopard personifies my inspirational ideals, as she was part of a project to bring awareness of the leopards’ plight to local people in South Africa. My Design Strategy Wherever I can, I begin by observing the animals as close to their natural habitat as…

CHESAPEAKE FINE ART STUDIO THE PERFECT PLACE FOR ARTISTS TO GATHER WE BRING IN THE BEST Instructors •Mary Whyte •Daniel Gerhartz •John Michael Carter •Kevin Macpherson •C.W. Mundy •Scott Christensen •Rose Frantzen •Quang Ho •Kenn Backhaus •Max Ginsburg •David Shevlino •Andy Evansen •Kevin Beilfuss •Marc Hanson •Colin Page •Hai-Ou Hou •Romel de la Torre •Vladislav Yeliseyev •Barbara Jaenicke •William Schneider •Calvin Liang •Dave Santillanes EVENTS: •Weekly Classes •Competitions •Exhibitions •Lectures & Demos •Online Classes & Demos •Gallery by Appointment Only Chesapeake FineArtStudio.com 609 Thompson Creek Road, Stevensville, MD 21666 410-200-8019 Selling the occasional painting now and then can earn money. » But unless your works are highly priced, you’ll still need another source of income. Commissions can be an opportunity for multiple sales, both now and in the future. »…

The Portrait Society of America Chairman’s Letter A university art student recently called my studio to inquire if I mentor student artists in sculpture. I replied yes, that I have and do mentor students, not only for sculpture but for all disciplines of art. I told him the first step is to bring his drawing notebooks to the studio so I could evaluate if his skill level was at a point that he was ready for a mentor. In a surprised voice he said, “but don’t you want to see my sculptures? Painting doesn’t interest me and so I don’t really do much drawing; I just make notes and then sculpt!” Not being a person to turn their back on any art student asking for help, I agreed to look…

STAGE 1 The preliminary oil sketch was started on a 14-by-18-inch canvas panel with some raw umber, burnt sienna and yellow ochre. I thinned the pigment with a small amount of turp and oil medium to turn it into a transparent wash and worked right into it with a bristle brush and raw umber to create a block in of the large basic shapes, just thinking in terms of light and dark values. In the first sitting with the model, I try to get a broad feeling for the gesture of the pose and the energy in the design, working to get the entire character of the pose without getting too bogged down in any details that would have to be changed later anyway. STAGE 2 After the model returned…

I consider my work to be a blend of abstraction and realism. The amount of abstraction I add to a painting varies. It depends on the nature of the image and what I am trying to convey. It is not my attempt to reproduce reality in a photographic sense, but rather to reveal its elusive and spiritual nature. Color and composition anchor my paintings in realism. The abstraction is developed through brushstroke and stylization. My process starts with the use of a camera to “sketch” ideas for paintings. After reviewing hundreds of photos, only a few are chosen to become paintings. I premix the colors and values that are important to the painting. Having the colors premixed allows me to paint more fluidly and intuitively. I start the painting by…

Xi Guo I was born and raised in Shanghai, China. I studied Chinese painting in my early years as a child and I have been spellbound by the Eastern philosophies due to my background, especially Taoism and Zen that have been comforting my struggle of seeking the meaning of life. Lately, my obsession of death and after death became the main concept of my paintings although I still paint plants, landscapes and architectures from time to time. I have been sufficiently exposed to post- modern influences while staying true to my cultural roots. Although I am mainly a painter I still cherish the experience of studying photography in my graduate school of Savannah College of Art and Design. It gives me the chance to study contemporary art history systematically. It…

PART 4-Loosening up By now you are familiar with my alla prima traditional realist impressionist way of painting. Reiterating, this means making every brushstroke matter, painting with thought and sensitivity and creating a piece of art rather than just a painting. When confronted with an image you want to paint whether it be a photo or en plein air, don’t paint it as it is. Even painting something like St Marks Square Venice requires total manipulation of the image, otherwise you will have a stagnant record of the image which is not art. The reality was a million windows and bricks; I chose to paint none. To let go of your need to draw and fill-in requires trusting yourself to loosen up; then real art begins. In this article I…

As a landscape painter, I believe that nature is a subject that speaks to the viewer in a visceral way, tapping into universal memories and emotions, and the human connection to the world around us. While I have long focused on realist imagery, my painting style has undergone an evolution over the last 20 years. In my earlier work, I used a much more intense palette, incorporating very vibrant, exaggerated chroma, with a heavy emphasis on primary colors. In more recent years, as I have shifted away from the studio into working much more in plein air, I have also shifted to a more naturalistic palette. The act of direct observational painting has fostered a love of the more subtle colors of nature and a fascination with the ways that…

I must emphasize that my works are characterized above all by trying to achieve a good atmosphere—one which is realistic but not devoid of the charm that can give it. In addition to looking for a good drawing, color and composition, I consider it very important to ensure that all elements of the work are integrated and unified between them. In short, that light and color will influence in all the elements of the work and that they will see as a whole and not as the sum of several independent elements. Similarly, I would say that the treatment of light, although I try to be as credible as possible, does not obey to physical criteria but artistic criteria, handling it to my taste, as it interests me.…

The first time I saw scratchboard art in a show almost 50 years ago, my question to the artist was, “What is this?” That is the same question I am asked at every art show to this day. After the artist explained the process to me, I bought the supplies and became totally hooked. Products available today are far superior to the thin cardboard product I used for years, and through years of experimentation, my results have changed dramatically. For years, the only thing I used to scratch the board was an X-Acto knife, and I never added color. Now, I use three different Ampersand boards—Scratchbord, Claybord (smooth) and Aquabord. Most of the time I add color, but sometimes I leave the board black and white. For those of you…

By their very nature, metalpoint drawings can take a fair amount of time to complete. For a reasonably sized portrait in photorealist style, such as the one in the current demonstration, it would take around 100 hours or more to complete. It is possible of course to draw in a sketchier, more immediate style, and these can be a lot of fun to do. I like the immediacy that is more usually associated with graphite or charcoal, but it must be remembered that metalpoints, cannot be altered or erased in any way. This feature has interesting ramifications for the artist and you often need very steady nerves knowing that one slip could prove fatal for the drawing. You should accept that there will be a high failure rate, particularly in…

Evolvement in art includes so much more than understanding the technical and aesthetic sides. I remember when a group of us artists would annually get together in the Rocky Mountains to paint scenery and animals for two months; every day, sunrise to sunset. One memorable time, we set aside several days when we would sit in a circle and talked about ourselves. Our daily lives in art, philosophic reflections, concerns, inspirations, friends and family...sharing all sorts of thoughts that streamed through our minds. That special connection with each other was quite historic. When we went back to painting the trees and sheep, our artistic passions were tenfold. Those few days were not a break from our art, they were a reawakening to the reasons we became artists. And why we…