Innholdsfortegnelse for October - November 2018/ No.123 i International Artist

From day one, this magazine has embraced all forms of creative expression. And even today we divide the magazine by mediums. We’ve done drawings, oil paintings, pastel, acrylic, whatever artists are choosing to work in these days we follow through with useful and applicable information on that subject. One medium that has always fascinated us, though, is colored pencils. And now you will be able to find it in every issue of the magazine. We’ve been working with the nearly 2,000 members of the Colored Pencil Society of America, and in this issue we have an article highlighting the winners of their 26th annual International Exhibition. We are also including a demonstration article by Jesse Lane. Lane is a past Grand Prize winner in the International Artist challenges and he’s a current…

Third Prize is a one-page editorial feature in American Art Collector magazine My Inspiration From the time I was young, I had always dreamed of going to Africa. In 2002 and 2005 I was able to make that dream come true, and it was 100 times more than I had expected. I had painted all kinds of wildlife, but after Africa, I knew I had to concentrate my efforts on African wildlife. The big cats of Africa are beyond compare, and to me the leopard stands out. It’s not big like the lion and not fast like the cheetah, but its beauty and actions set it apart. The leopard is usually seen in trees during the day, waiting for prey or sleeping. I love painting leopards, always trying to show…

Finalist My Inspiration The kopjes of the Serengeti create water and shelter oases on the African plains. They are also a perfect spot for lions to rest in the shade and still keep watch on potential prey. My Design Strategy To create a more dramatic setting and portray the height of the rock outcroppings on the African plains, I thought a vertical format would work best. The lowest part of the rocks shows the rounded nature of the kopjes and leads the viewer’s eyes up to the lions. It also gives one a sense of access—where you or the lions could climb up. In the upper left, the strangler fig tree, common to these remnant rocks, provides shade and makes the dappled last light of the day on the male…

For this article I’m going to paint a dog and a horse from life. These domestic friends make good artists’ models, because they don’t mind if I set up my easel close by and quietly observe them. But you can’t expect any animal to hold still for long stretches of time. Dogs will stay alert for relatively short sessions. But then they go to sleep, scratch an itch or walk away. It’s a good idea to observe them for a while to identify a habitual resting pose. Horses shift their weight, and they return to grazing or dozing. If there’s a handler to hold them by a lead rope, they can at least remain in an approximate position. Why paint live animals? Of all the plein air subjects, animals sharpen…

Pramod Kurlekar INSPIRATION In a developing country like India, the lives of most of the people are consumed in fulfilling family responsibilities. Many sacrifice their own dreams and desires, and those are the people that were the inspiration for this painting. The person in the portrait has reached the threshold of old age, fulfilling all his familial responsibilities. In the dusk of his life, in a gloomy mood, he can be seen reminiscing all the “what might have been” and lost opportunities. He is looking toward us all with hope and desire that someone might provide the panacea to revive all his dreams, which have been laid to rest in his mind. I’ve tried to capture the state of his mind, which is represented by the cigarette waiting for a…

The most enjoyable experience for me is still Plein Air painting (literally, open air) and its natural companion, Alla Prima (painting from life, usually in one session). What could be more exhilarating than getting out under a great sky and feeling a fresh breeze while I paint the delights of nature? Painting on the spot from life is the method I learned from the start of my training, and the one I regard as the most challenging and therefore most rewarding. Of course, almost anything imaginable can go wrong. We cannot control the weather, or rearrange the scenery, or give ourselves more time, or more light, or be more comfortable, or tell the bugs to go elsewhere, and so on. Landscape painters therefore must be imaginative and resourceful. Fortunately, there…

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 There’s an old saying of “pulling color out of grey.” I like to be more specific and say pull a painting out of mauve. It’s really six of one and half a dozen of the other, as mauve is really a variation of grey but on the pale purple side. It comes from mixing blue like ultramarine with a red, say alizarin crimson. Look at the following paintings and see just how much…

STAGE 1 Even though this stage is mostly about drawing, this particular scene is saturated with a strong yellow ochre colour theme, so I’ll be making sure that my sky colour will complement the yellows. STAGE 2 The shadows play a huge part in the execution of a painting; I need to make sure that I’m taking this into consideration. Colour is such a powerful tool in my painting, I’m sure that I won’t leave any stone unturned. STAGE 3 Now that the sky is in place, I can get a true and accurate reading on the overall colour temperature. I’m always thinking I’ll go one value darker and one value warmer. STAGE 4 Final Stage This stage will involve fine-tuning and looking for variation in colour and tone. I’m…

STAGE 1 PHOTO SHOOT In a dark room, I set a single light above the subject’s head. I took photos with the eyes open and closed. I chose closed eyes to show a more thoughtful moment. STAGE 2 EDITING THE PHOTO I made the face brighter and the hands darker to give the face emphasis. I added water, drawing out where I thought the streams might be. STAGE 3 ESTABLISHING VALUES I begin a piece with a small area of black to judge my values as I work. This lets me compare future values to the black and white I’ve already established. STAGE 4 BEGINNING SKIN TONE I create my skin tone with light layers of beige sienna and seashell pink, which I mix with splotches of yellow, lavender and…

It has always been the painters of the 16th and 17th centuries that have guided my interests in painting. Principally painters of the figure, of the flesh, these painters relied on calculated, layered systems of painting to arrive at luminous properties in the depiction of the human body. In my studies, my training, and subsequently my work as a painter, I have always hoped to achieve a flicker of the brilliance they brought to painting. Paintings by Caravaggio, Rubens, Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Ribera and Velázquez can be categorized using a contemporary term, indirect painting, which utilizes underpainting techniques such as imprimatura (an earth tone wash to map out the painting) and velatura (semitransparent layers of lead white to build up form in the light), as well as applications of transparent…

Antarctica & Chilean Fjords Cruise Tuesday 29 January – Friday 25 February, 2019 Visiting Santiago, Puerto Montt, Castro Isla Chiloe, Punta Arenas, Chile; Ushuaia, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Stanley, Falkland Islands; Montevideo, Uruguay. This is a once-in-a-lifetime workshop like no other. South America and Antarctica are brimming with so much to see and paint. The workshop starts in Santiago before we board the luxury Holland America MS Zaandam. During the cruise you will see some of the most spectacular glaciers in the world. You will also sail through the Straits of Magellan as we make our way through the Tierra del Fuego Archipelago and around Cape Horn, the southern most tip of South America. We then cruise through the Palmer Archipelago and spend three days in the Antarctic with its spectacular…

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. "In the process of becoming a professional painter, I have spent countless hours and tens of thousands of dollars gathering and organizing knowledge to help me personally grow as an artist. I have searched out key discoveries from a wide variety of sources including apprenticeships with several world-class contemporary artists, a personal library of over 100 contemporary and out-of-print historical textbooks on painting, and my own personal discoveries in color harmony. I have found that if you want to learn to paint well, there are at least 700…

Grand Prize is a four-page editorial feature in American Art Collector magazine Beauty in Nature Cher Anderson says her wildlife artwork can be described as “an interpretation of what I see filtered by the emotion of the moment.” She paints realistically with the aim of rendering the creatures and environments as accurately as possible. She will analyze her paintings by reviewing and correcting the elements that are critical to the composition. Anderson elaborates, “I think it is important to represent my subject accurately in its environment. Seasons change, plumage, fur and the colors surrounding the animals, and it is very easy to make a mistake by placing an animal in the wrong surroundings with the wrong coat for the season. Birds go through plumage changes not only during the seasons,…

Finalist My Inspiration The Great Dividing Range along the north coast of New South Wales, Australia, is one of my favourite places to escape to in pursuit of all those authentic backgrounds and props for my wildlife artworks. As you stop to take in the natural beauty along the back roads in the ranges, your senses come alive to the colour and earthy smells that you’re immersed in. Taking time to sit and walk very quietly along hidden tracks always reveals little pockets of beautiful colour and light or opens up to vistas of distant mountain ranges and deep misty valleys. Such a vista revealed itself to inspire me to produce Hidden Paradise. Australian king parrots inhabit these mountain hideaways along with a myriad of other birds and animals all…

Finalist My Inspiration I spend most of my time on a Dutch Barge in the beautiful Avon Valley in North Somerset. This great location allows me closeness to the wildlife where I sit for hours observing and sketching. Although the local wildlife is mainly mallard ducks, moorhens and mute swans, there are occasionally pipistrelle bats, otters and a kingfisher, which likes to sit on the tree near me and fish. There is a disused railway path close by and it’s perfect for studying rabbits, squirrels, foxes and roe deer as it is completely surrounded by fields and woodland. My Design Strategy A friend out walking spotted the deer in the nearby fields and knowing how much I loved painting wildlife phoned me and led me to the location. There sleeping…

Finalist My Inspiration I have been working on a series of animal portraits in pastel for the past five years and never visit a zoo without my camera in hand. The more I study animals I realize they each have a soul as we do. They can be quite expressive as well. During a visit to the Cheyenne Zoo in Denver, Colorado, with my best friend of almost 50 years, this particular giraffe caught my eye. The giraffe was in solitary and the juxtaposition of the wall behind him/her and the rectangular shapes of the brick against the geometric shapes on the skin of the giraffe really captured my imagination. I instantly knew this would be a painting when I arrived home. My Design Strategy The rectangular bricks behind the…

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. Enter our Art Competitions from anywhere in the world HINTS FOR PHOTOGRAPHING YOUR ARTWORK • Set your camera to the highest quality available. • Shoot your paintings dead…

Some people say all art is a niche market. In the overall scheme of things, they’re probably right. That means artists should position themselves as artists. There’s no point being a shrinking violet so only your family knows you’re a professional artist. You really should live the profession. Positioning is about how you present youself. Do this so you are clearly identified by your target market, which is important if you’re aiming to fill a niche market. Most of us start as a local artist. » People buy because it’s what they want and they have no alternatives. » But you can only guarantee the lack of alternatives if you live where no other artist does. » We have to be seen as different from others who may seem to…

Writing articles does not come easy for me. I struggle to get my thoughts organized and then shaped into something resembling a readable form that, hopefully, is both clear and concise. Being an accomplished procrastinator doesn’t help one bit. I can easily waver on facing up to the task at hand or caving to the Siren’s bewitching song of any of my current studio art projects. However, when the subject is an issue that I am passionate about and has concerned me for years, and in listening to the complaints of college art school students I mentor has unfortunately not improved, I find the task at hand flows easily. I have listened to story after story of university art school instructors pushing the importance of the intellectual content of the…

I have always been attracted to “direct painting” as a method for working in oil. It allows me to express a visual interpretation of my subject while at the same time retaining the characteristics of the paint, application process and artistic decisions I made while creating it. This “painterly” approach lends a quality of spontaneity to the work as well as allowing the viewer to visually participate in my process as I translate my visual experience into the language of paint. However, don’t make the mistake of confusing “painterly” with fast and reckless paint strokes made in a passion of creativity because this method actually requires a process of thoughtfully considered applications of paint, and it only appears to be quickly executed due to the economy of those paint applications.…

Any artist can reap benefits through the study of multiple mediums. My visual and tactility sensations were enhanced through the use of various mediums in my continued development as a visual artist. Sounds very serious. It is. Introducing the study of different mediums has had a direct effect on the building of my skills as an artist in oil painting, watercolor painting, pastel painting, drawing and casein painting. I have produced and still produce in numerous mediums. I want to address the benefits of this experience in my life’s work. Very early on, in the infancy of my studies, was the introduction of numerous mediums. My skills were developed through these various mediums and their continued use. I benefited and still benefit through this process. I still use all these…

DIAMOND DONOR $5,000 Colored Pencil Society of America GOLD DONORS $1,000 Caran d’Ache / Creative Art Materials, Ltd. Conté à Paris / ColArt Americas, Inc. Derwent / MacPherson’s Art Dixon Ticonderoga / Lyra / Canson Faber-Castell USA Legion Paper Corp. CPSA District Chapter: Chicago, IL—DC 103 SILVER DONORS $500 CPSA District Chapters: Los Angeles, CA—DC 214 Metro Washington D.C.—DC 109 Portland, OR—DC 201 Seattle, WA—DC 207 BRONZE DONORS $300 UART Premium Sanded Papers CPSA District Chapters: Atlanta, GA—DC 107 Detroit, MI—DC 104 Gainesville, FL—DC 113 Greater Cincinnati, OH—DC 119 Raleigh/Durham, NC—DC 114 San Diego, CA—DC 202 San Jose, CA—DC 210 St. Augustine, FL—DC 117 We also thank our many Friends of CPSA donors up to $300…

At my current solo exhibition, on view at Museum of Art Fort Collins, in Colorado, the walls are covered with paintings of one woman, in various guises, poses and narratives. I was asked to speak about the work. It was clear that one question had to be first addressed: why the self-portrait? I must answer this question for you before I tell you about my technical process, because the why and the how are intrinsically linked. It started with a practical problem: I needed a model. As an art student 20 years ago, models were expensive, and I found in my always-at-the-ready reflected image a means to taking on the problem I was obsessed with: how to paint a face. This began a 20-year inquiry into the purpose and meaning of…

I graduated from the department of oil painting at Shandong Arts Academy in 1963. The same year, I was assigned to an enclosed military unit on the Qinghai Prairie (3,500 meters above sea level) and engaged in work completely unrelated to painting. One day I encountered Tibetans. Wow! I was so shocked and impressed. Ever since then, I developed a love to paint Tibetans. However, due to the military regulations, I was prohibited to paint, which left me with an everlasting regret. After 35 years of service in the unit, I finally retired at the age of 61. I started painting figures in watercolor. What figure should I draw? Of course, the first, the most exciting and touching impression of my encounter with Tibetans 35 years ago was calling me.…

I grew up in a place that was typical of Australian country areas of the times—dirt roads cut through patchworks of open fields and dry eucalypt scrubland, sporadically dotted by weatherboard and fibro houses perched on stumps, no running water or sewerage, outside toilet, a veggie patch, chooks on acreage and generally economically depressed. Not surprisingly, as a budding artist I simply drew and painted what was around me, so I began drawing and painting birds, wildlife and the landscape. Our circumstances meant that art lessons were just not affordable, and art colleges were an impossible dream, so I ended up being self-taught. Your art will always be shaped by your experiences. I got into wildlife art largely because of my own interests and background. At university, I illustrated other…

Part 12-Underpainting Technique In the last issue we discussed underpainting using pastel, water and odourless medium. This time, I would like to look at underpainting using paint—primarily the water mediums. I don’t like to mix my oil and water mediums much. I like to underpaint some of my pastels using water-based paints—watercolour, acrylics and gouache can all be used. I steer away from oils, as I mentioned last month I am wary of the long-term damage they may do to the paper. Watercolour is OK if you are underpainting on white paper, but it gets lost on many coloured papers. Unlike watercolour, gouache and acrylic are opaque, so they are perfect for underpainting on both white and coloured paper. They will however need to be diluted, so as not to…

Sunday 8 September to Friday 20 September 2019 About your tutor Internationally renowned colorist and painting instructor Camille Przewodek’s approach to plein air painting is all about capturing the illusion of light through color. She has won many awards including the Vanishing Landscape Award two years in a row at the Plein Air-Easton Arts Festival & Competition. USA: 503 387-5549 • AUSTRALIA: 1800 033 436 (Toll Free) • ALL OTHER COUNTRIES: +61 3 9729 8722 Website: www.paintingworkshops.net • Email: sales@paintingworkshops.net…

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. Follow me step-by-step through the vide on my website as I show you the techniques I use to paint this charming Tuscan scene with reference to Monet’s painting of Poppy Fields from 1837. Workshop Challenge Feel free to follow me in painting the same scene or use the photos below or your own resources to design a piece that is more your own. You can paint this any size or shape you like using any medium. Happy painting! Reference photos Painting…

www.internationalartist.com Visit www.internationalartist.com and click on the Virtual Art Academy® button to access instant downloads needed to master the art of painting. The Virtual Art Academy® Apprentice Program A structured four-year program of 192 lessons that will help you systematically build up your foundational skills from the ground up to help you master painting. A key element of this program is series of 350+ assignments specially structured to help you build your skills, and an Online Campus where you can meet other students from all over the world to share your artistic journey, and support you along the way. Each lesson includes an overview of the principle or technique, one or more short videos to demonstrate the skill you are learning, many examples of how to do it, and one…

Is there a real downside to art? Not that I can think of. In my art life, I’ve learned through difficult moments; they’re part of the creative world. My obsessions got more intense with each year. I didn’t mind that the days and weeks seemed to get shorter when I got wildly into my pastels and pencils. And now, well, the past two decades have flown by like Captain Marvel on steroids. Believe me, when you find your way, it will be like no one else’s. You’re making your personal path through the tangled forest of existence. Bravo! By good fortune, I never tried to be “better” than other artists. I’ve simply wanted to be better than I was last year. Rating myself with myself. I’ve never tried for perfection…

This work started in an instant with no planning. Just me at the easel letting it happen, each minute being a revelation to my conscious mind. What it means, I’m not sure except something within telling me to “get out of the way. We’re coming through!” Who am I to argue with my inner self? But here’s the part that still has me in a slight daze. As the piece was progressing, it brought out all sorts of past moments in my life: encounters, travels, celebrations, highs and lows. On and on they came and went. Then, just as I started this piece in a jolt, something within had me suddenly stop. So there I stood rather shaken. Was this Balinofski or some spirit taking over and guiding my eyes…

Finalist My Inspiration My inspiration for any given piece is its natural beauty! I have always been infatuated with Nature and this piece was no different. With this subject, I was drawn to the fact that this toucan did not represent what most people think of when considering this type of bird. Specifically, its beak not having the array of colors we associate when picturing a toucan. Second, what stood out for me was all the wonderful blue around the eye and how that tied into the blue in the feet. Lastly, the Bokeh background occurring in the reference photo allowing the focus to be solely on the toucan and how this pulled the toucan more forward allowing for more definition and isolation among all the colors. My Design Strategy…

ENTER OUR NEW ART COMPETITION CHALLENGE No. 109 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…

My instructional DVD, My Acrylic Method, is an insight into how I paint a representational piece of art using acrylic paints on canvas. It is an “over my shoulder” look at how I create a gallery piece over several days in my studio from concept through to presentation. “This DVD set is not just a demonstration; it is more like a workshop you can do in your own environment at a time that suits you.” I show each step of my process, which is divided into chapters and designed to be watched in stages for a more thorough understanding of my ideas. Painting a representational subject using the medium of acrylics is generally avoided because of how fast the paints dry. the speed with which acrylics dry doesn’t allow enough…

STAGE 1 With every scene being different, it means every approach needs to be tailor-made for each individual painting. Before starting, I’m formulating how I’ll sculpt and mould the painting. I see this process as similar to doing a math equation, making sure that everything collates. STAGE 2 When it comes to this scene, the one thing I like to keep in mind is to analyse the different planes. This will educate me to what will be required to execute the painting. Notice the fact that the headlands, water and land areas are on very different planes. STAGE 3 By the time I’m at this stage, I will have used my hog hair brush, mongoose brush and palette knife. This will ensure that I’ve got a variety of marks. STAGE…

When most people think of colored pencil, they recall something they did as children with scribbles of color. Traditional painting is seen as much more refined. It is richer in color, value and subject matter. However, more and more over the last few decades, fine artists are turning to colored pencil, and thus colored pencil is gaining recognition in the fine art world. Colored pencil and paint are more alike than you may realize. Both are made with a combination of pigment and binder. At their cores, these two media are essentially the same. So what separates a colored pencil drawing or doodle from a colored pencil painting? One is the type of pencil, but more importantly, it’s the artist’s approach. In colored pencil painting, there’s a level of richness…

STAGE 1 THE SETUP The initial mannequin setup with potted plants, cake and a lit backdrop. STAGE 2 THE BLOCK IN I begin by blocking in the large masses of the entire composition. Looking at both the mannequin setup and at my mirror reflection, I cover the entire canvas quickly. At this stage in the painting I use large mixtures of grays, browns and greens, not troubling too much with the precise hue, but more interested in setting up a value structure. I know that the painting will have many layers, so the purpose of this first layer is to cover the whole painting and have some compositional shapes to respond to and move around. I use a limited palette of three or four colors plus white. In this case,…

1. Use of Modern Technology I use Photoshop to help me with my compositions. Photoshop helps me to adjust the layout of the black, white and gray elements of the entire picture; as well as the tone of the picture and the color balance; cutting images, removing or adding elements to highlight the subject. 2. The Contrast of Details and Large Amounts of Colors My belief about art is that art without details is not art. There are two ways to describe details. One is a meticulous portrayal for key areas such as the face, hair, accessories, etc. The other is: use a large brush with dark or light colors to summarize background, clothing in one tone, which makes a contrast with the carefully depicted key features, as the result…

One of the most important aspects of watercolor painting is the control of edges. Every mark we place on our paper bears some kind of edge—from the hard, contrasting edge of dark paint applied to dry paper, to the soft edge of pale pigment dragged across a wet wash. The adjustment and control of edges should become a subconscious action, executed the moment a mark is made. We are going to examine the variety of edges we can produce, adjustments we can make to these edges and the things that can go wrong. HARD EDGES The most common type of edge we can use is a simple hard edge. This is made by loading a brush with pigment and running it across dry paper. The pigment must be fluid enough…