Innholdsfortegnelse for April - May 2018/ No.120 i International Artist

For your convenience there are three International Entry Points. You can pay your Entry Fee by Visa or MasterCard. 1 USA/CANADA THE AMERICAS Send your entry and payment of US $9 per entry/picture to: International Artist magazine Challenge No. 106: People & Figures 7530 East Main Street, Suite 105 Scottsdale, AZ 85251, USA Enter your Credit Card details on the Entry Form below or include a Check/Money Order made payable to International Artist. (Checks must be in US Dollars and drawn on a US bank) 2 UNITED KINGDOM/EUROPE AFRICA Send your entry and payment of £5 (or ∊8) per entry/picture to: International Artist magazine Challenge No. 106: People & Figures 7530 East Main Street, Suite 105 Scottsdale, AZ 85251, USA Enter your Credit Card details on the Entry Form or…

Recently, my passion for painting the figure has become an exploration of unconventional poses, color harmonies and compositions. Whenever I go somewhere that is part of everyday life, such as a park, a restaurant or the gym, I begin to muse about what those ordinary places would look like if they were the setting for an interesting and carefully designed painting. Such was the case last summer when I started working out at a local CrossFit gym. There, I had the pleasure of getting to know some extraordinary people, including Jeremy, one of my coaches and the subject of this article’s demonstration piece. In this painting I tried to unite a sense of classical timelessness with a contemporary subject. Strength and Stormclouds depicts a modern man but is reminiscent of…

STAGE 1 MAKING THE FIGURE FLY So, this was a very vigorous painting. And in this first photo of the painting, I am trying to get down the figure flying with very active, painterly strokes. I was not concerned with color yet, but had a very good idea of what I wanted. It was painted directly over a failed painting that I allowed to interact with the new painting. My thinking was the figure needed to be bold and broad, encompassing the entire canvas. Baby steps as they say; one step at a time. What I could understand and express in paint at this moment. Not the entire painting as of yet. More energy than you can ever imagine. When you give someone a brush after they have been painting…

My aim is to take paper or canvas and create an emotion. Let me get this straight, I’m not an art lover for whom birds and animals are a handy subject. I’m a wildlife geek who feels compelled to try to capture the amazing beauty of nature inside the limits of a picture frame. The single most important part of my work process is being outdoors, walking and working always with my camera, sketching gear and binoculars. This is an everyday, rain-or-shine, no-excuses necessity, the importance of which cannot be overstated. Not only for collecting reference. Watching birds, stumbling across a fox’s den or counting the seasons by the wildflowers that come and go, this is what creates the charge, the excitement of connection, a feeling that you’ve been accepted…

The following demonstration intends to show how to use the “Color Pouring and Blending” technique in depicting my impressions of the Sahalie Falls. The result of the painting is what I want to see, but not what I actually see. Waterfalls are a common subject in my watercolor painting but it is not easy to do, especially in capturing the spirit of the dropping and floating water. Unlike conventional watercolor painting methods, color pouring and blending starts with saving the water and detail areas by applying masking fluid on them. After the masking dries, I pour the color liquids on the painting. I then use brushes, my fingers and a water sprayer to blend them into each other to acquire the desired effects. Also, I use my mouth to blow…

Literature and films are my sources of inspiration As a long-term reader, I find that literature can echo the scenes in some pictures, and it can also give me ample room for imagination, which is an important reference for me to choose models and subjects of painting. In the process of reading, I always combine the visual experience I developed in my early years with what I feel recently. I walk down streets and alleys or participate in different events to find the materials needed for my creation. Then I will take photos to make visual record of the materials for my painting. Arranging the composition first I think masterpieces of the ages all benefit from flawless composition. The artists usually take time to make repeated efforts in the composition…

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. In this lesson we will learn to invent our own beautiful sunset lighting effect from a midday reference. Tricky, but can you do it!? Follow me in the video on my website, stage by stage, as I show you the techniques I use to paint this inspiring sunset beach scene. Painting a large glowing light effect, translucent water, atmospherics and simplifying complex structures are all demonstrated in the video. Reference photo Workshop Challenge Feel free to follow me through the video…

There is a long tradition of sketch artists documenting political rallies, military battles and sporting events. Artists have been reporting as journalists for centuries, going back to the time before photography, when there was no other way to capture images for newspapers and magazines. In the 20th century, painted illustrations started to give way to photography and video. But painters still had a role to play when they could provide a perspective that the lens could not. On TV news programs, artists served wherever cameras were banned, such as in the law courts. Now it’s my turn to file a report from the court, except I’ll be covering the kind of court they make out of maple hardwood. NBA® AND ESPN® ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS BELONGING TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS. GURNEY…

In this six-part series, artist Robert Hagan will provide insight on ways to amplify your artwork. 1 Use drama to power your painting 2 Connect with an emotional storyline 3 Power up your Western art with action and dust 4 The magic of water 5 Make the absolute most of light 6 Be an impressionist with mauve Drama grabs attention. Making elements like waves, cliffs, mountains, gorges and clouds relatively big with strong contrast can do it. Likewise dust, rain, lightening and splashing water are tools of drama. I use all of these but one I love is looking up or down on something—it’s an instant knock out! How do I do it? I climb a ladder, get up a tree, rent a cherry picker or hang out the second…

I like to work with brushes and oil paint because this traditional technique survives everything and is much more flexible than any other medium when used correctly. I use Belgian portrait linen of the finest quality that I sand and prepare 10 times, until the surface is smooth enough. I use Old Holland and Talens Rembrandt oil paint with a wide range of brushes, from squirrel to nylon. I don’t work from life directly, the subject would vanish away during the days of painting. I take and use the combination of many photos. I integrate them into a new rough image in Photoshop to be transferred to the canvas and to be painted finally. But when I look at the work of some photorealist painters they do not add anything…

At the beginning of my journey as a professional artist, I knew that I wanted to paint the sea. My family comes from the Channel Islands, and I’d always been in love with the wilder coasts of the U.K. I did some sketching outside, but since I was a photography graduate I mostly worked from my landscape photographs. I’d learned a lot about composition through photography, but I felt that my work was lacking in life and movement. Early on, I bought an inspirational book by E. John Robinson with the lengthy title of Paint the Sea in Oils Using Special Effects. It was exactly what I needed. I avidly studied the paintings within and copied several, developing my understanding of waves, tone and light on water. This gave me…

When our paintings are based on a specific subject there is often a tendency to rely too heavily on what we see. Sometimes it is good to step back and ask ourselves just how much reliance on what we are seeing is really needed to express what we are feeling. Making a conscious effort to reduce our reliance on what appears in front of us is the first step in learning to extract the essence of the subject without the clutter and distraction of unnecessary detail. It is surprising just how little information is needed to describe a subject. More emphasis can then be placed on color, tone, texture, line and shape to amplify what it is we wish to say about the subject. This painting, called The Workings, reduces…

The Making of an Artist Master the principles of painting that took Barry John Raybould from raw beginner to prize-winning professional in only five years. Barry's work is proof that mastering these key discoveries really works, it worked for him and it can work for you too. It is difficult to represent round forms because of the large number of small value changes. If you try to represent these value changes by blending, it is easy to lose the sense of form. Too much blending also destroys the color. To solve this problem, square off all round forms before painting them. How to do it: Think of the round form as an apple you have just cut with a knife to remove the peel. Cut it in such a way…

Friday 31 May to Wednesday 12 June, 2019 13 days painting, exploring and enjoying romantic Umbria and Tuscany, from your base at our delightful painting retreat in the enchanting village of Bagno Vignoni and the beautiful town of Spoleto, Italy. This workshop has the lot, spellbinding locations, visits to famous sites, some surprising historical facts all wrapped into lively paintings led by the innovative approach of impressionist artist Robert Hagan. About your tutor One of the best-known international impressionist artists Robert Hagan presents a refreshing and unique approach to painting for both the studio and outdoor artist. Robert is totally self-taught, paints in oils and focusses on scenes of everyday life that feature figures at work and play. He has developed techniques and shortcuts in oils that makes his way…

A vast, former tobacco warehouse in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA, is home to Mana Contemporary, which “unites artist studios, exhibition spaces, and ancillary services in a single location, facilitating conversation and collaboration among its burgeoning creative community.” Jordan Sokol, academic director of the U.S. branch of Florence Academy of Art, which has its home at Mana, compared life at FAA in Italy and here in New Jersey. “Here it’s challenging seeing so many diverse types of art. You’re seeing the different ways people are pushing the visual language and I find that inspiring. You never know what’s going to inspire you. Here I see things I could never see myself doing but there may be aspects of what I see that change the way I think.” Stephen Bauman, director…

We can certainly learn from others, but know when to jump the ship and find your own path. Too many artists start out learning and never learn to find their own personal interpretation. If you wait too long to begin exploring, you will never want to give up the safety of the easy path. I am currently using an exploratory approach for developing a painting. You will need to use your creative eye to help you evaluate and make good visual decisions based on training and your developed visual aptitude. At times, the decision process will flow from one decision and paint mark to the next. Other times there may be pauses and even stops while you ramp up for your next group of painterly choices. It will be a…

Photo Reference This is Lake Wanaka in New Zealand, and was a commission. I’d never been there myself, but I’ve spent a fair bit of time around Scottish lochs in the Highlands, so drew on memories of their light and feel. STAGE 1 SKETCHING I pick the tone of the mountains to sketch out the bones of the painting, which is a mix of ultramarine, white and phthalo blue. It is the only time I water down the acrylic. At this point I am simply laying down the design, with a few salient marks to help me get things right later on in the process STAGE 2 FROM DARK TO LIGHT I’ve established the background’s darkest shades, and start to move forward through the midground to the foreground. I generally…

My father is a furniture designer, and during my childhood I saw him produce Chinese ink paintings in his spare time, a job he was good at. I often imitated the way my father painted, but really I just leaned my body over the drawing board and produced nothing but some graffiti. My father spotted my talent and gave me formal guidance of sketching when I started learning. Because of the father’s early education, I developed a sense of “volume” of the subject. Chasing my dream of art, I often participated in competitions. When I was 11 years old, I painted a 4-foot long Chinese painting of a peacock and submitted it to a competition in the district, and the comment turned out to be, “This painting is not done…

We continue a series of watercolour tutorials by a master watercolourist Aura, atmosphere, ambience, mystique, feeling, sensation; these are words that describe a piece of art that has a viewer intrigued, moved and affected. The viewer becomes more involved with the painting because the piece of art will continue to emit its ethereal hold, creating questions, fascination and imagination. Th is type of advanced watercolour looks simple but is actually much more difficult to execute than a straight “copy the photo and fill in the lines” painting. Atmospheric paintings involve manipulating the paint, adding more and more saturated washes, all the while leaving out the magic negative spaces that cause the intrigue. Edges are softened where necessary. Lost and found areas are exaggerated. “No detail” areas are also employed so…

We continue an instructional series on the use of pastel, which also has application to artists using all mediums Over the past few issues in this series, we have looked at a number of topics: trees; grasses; seascapes; water; cloudscapes; and painting en plein air. This time, I’d like to take the opportunity to revisit and reflect on a few of these topics. Using pastels and sketches from beautiful Norfolk Island, and some other special areas near my home in south eastern New South Wales, I’ll share the ideas and technique underpinning my work. Tips, thoughts & pointers I was painting during the middle of the day, so shadow movement did not have a significant impact on the view. I generally paint my trees in the negative space—I paint the…