Innholdsfortegnelse for April - May 2019/ No.126 i International Artist

As I’m sure you know, International Artist magazine also publishers four other art titles: American Art Collector, Western Art Collector, American Fine Art Magazine and Native American Art. Through working on these magazines every month we get to know collectors, art dealers, auction professionals and museum curators across the country. What we are hearing is that now is the time to buy and invest in art. We are in the midst of the strongest art market in the last six years. So what does that mean for all of you budding artists out there? It means now is the time. Now is the time to work on your skills, to find the time and direction you need to take the next step and become a professional painter. And, remember, you…

Finalist My Inspiration Over the last couple of months I have been very intrigued by our earth and how beautiful it looks from the sky, something I keenly observed during my many travels around the world over the past few years. The vivid colors that are visible are so unique and vibrant that I immediately desired to capture those colors on my canvas. Additionally, climate change is a phenomenon that has often concerned me so I started painting a new series called Our Earth. As I work mostly from imagination, the only thing I knew about this painting when I started working on it was my color palette. As I began laying the colors it all came to together naturally on the canvas. My Design Strategy As I stared at…

ENTER OUR NEW ART COMPETITION CHALLENGE No. 112 Favorite Subjects 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 level…

Find art workshops near you » Choose Your Tutor » Choose Your Medium » Choose Your Dates BLACKALL, CENTRAL WEST QUEENSLAND/AUSTRALIA/ Blackall Cultural Association The Blackall Cultural Association presents a fun and uplifting five-day retreat in the heart of Outback Australia with Lyn Diefenbach. Come and expand your knowledge in pastel painting techniques while also experiencing the amazing culture of a small outback town. The accommodation and workroom are located under the one roof in a fully self-contained building. Meals are professionally catered for and non-painting partners are welcome. You will leave feeling invigorated and inspired. UPCOMING WORKSHOPS Five-day “Out There” Retreat / Pastels / Lyn Diefenbach / August 7-11, 2019 Contact Details blackallcultural@bigpond.com, www.blackallcultural.org.au /blackallcultural @blackall_cultural_association BLACKALL, CENTRAL WEST QUEENSLAND/AUSTRALIA/ Blackall Cultural Association Craig Penney returns to the Blackall Cultural Association…

Natalia Fabia I’m OK, oil, 10 x 8" (25 x 20 cm) INSPIRATION The subject of my painting is my now 5-year-old daughter Peribeau. She is a very emotive, strong willed, rambunctious and whimsical little girl. She was 4 years old when I painted this, and she is always curious and adventurous, which can lead to mishaps, but every time she falls we hear her exclaim from anywhere in the house “I’m OK!”, and that is where the title of the piece came from. ARTISTIC PATH As far back as I can remember I have been drawing and fascinated with the female form in particular. In junior high I would spend the breaks drawing my fellow classmates. There were always art books at my home growing up since my father…

What I would like to share about my painting process is not as much about how I paint, although that is addressed in the next section of the article, but how to keep painting despite difficulties all artists are facing in creating art. There is a lot to learn in the area of representational art, but what an artist really needs—besides some talent, good creative skills, willingness to learn and a lot of practice—is encouragement. You have to encourage yourself to keep going in spite of all roadblocks and difficulties you will face in the process of creating a good painting. Otherwise, you would throw your brushes away and use your free time to do something less challenging and maybe less fulfilling in the long term. The encouragement may come…

STAGE 1 THE SKETCH I started the painting by adding a splashy abstract background with ultramarine, burnt sienna and yellow ochre. I changed the angle of the head and chair, removed the earring, then sketched the finished composition on top of the abstract background and fixed it with fixative. I loosely sketched in paint (ultramarine and black) the basic shape of the dress and shoulder and included the buttons using a flat hogs hair brush diluted thinly with paint medium. I wanted at this stage for the dress to disappear into the background. STAGE 2 SKIN TONES I blocked in the pale skin tones in a watercolour like technique so I could compare the pale tones to the dark dress. I used titanium white, burnt sienna, yellow ochre and a…

The problem we usually face as painters is that we just love to simplify things, to make symbols of things, we love putting things in little mental boxes and labelling them so we don’t have to expend so much energy figuring them out every time we see them. We do this with everything we encounter, even people. If we didn’t do that we’d be overloaded with new information all the time and it would be exhausting. When we are learning new things our brains are busy trying to slot the information into boxes we already have available—relating new information to old information. If you see a new type of tree on your travels to a tropical island, there is already a box waiting labeled “trees.” It may be the most…

The luminosity of transparent watercolor and the rich darks that are possible with their staining pigments are a constant fascination for me. I strive to keep my colors clean and fresh, to let them mix wet into wet on the paper in order to bring my closely focused still lifes and natural subjects alive. At the same time, I try to use striking value contrasts to move the viewer’s eye around and through the painting; or to bring more focus to the center of unterest. My plan is to make a powerful design as it is affected by light and shadows. An unusual perspective of a usual scene or object gives impetus to my purpose of action and lends power to the painting. Patterns, colors and textures all call upon…

In September of last year, I lead a painting tour to Tuscany Italy, organized by Travelrite International and International Artist. With 20 keen students and a local tour manager we visited some of the most stunning places in Italy. I would like to share this article on some of my experiences on this amazing painting tour. The first half of the tour was spent on Cinque Terre or “five lands,” which is a remarkable stretch of land along the Ligurian coast consisting of five fishing villages spanning just over six miles. Thanks to a combination of spectacular views, great weather and an abundance of painting subjects, the hardest job was picking the best view to paint! Cinque Terre Monterosso, is the biggest and the oldest of the Cinque Terre’s villages.…

Colored pencil returned me to my love of drawing. I transitioned back to the medium after seeing the strides made by other artists using a myriad of “CP” techniques in a magazine in 2005. It was easier to pick up pencils and get straight to work than to mix oils, work and clean up while raising young children. I particularly like the transparency of colored pencils, and often layer 20 or more colors to create the effects I’m looking for. I’ve learned numerous techniques for applying and removing pigment, and love to push myself in developing my use of the medium, including using watercolor layers and solvents. The Colored Pencil Society of America has been instrumental in my successes with this medium, through attending their convention, meeting other CP artists…

What is a series on pastel without a discussion about the paper we work on? There are so many different pastel papers on the market now, and everyone seems to have their favourites. Choice of paper is a very individual process. On one hand, we can all agree on some characteristics such as paper quality and its capacity to hold pastel. However, paper choice also depends on personal preference—what you feel comfortable with, and what you think works well with your style of painting, or choice of subject. I know of artists who prefer to work using only one particular colour or brand. Personally I feel it is good to mix it up and not get too stuck in one’s comfort zone. Over the past few years, some brands and…

Key Discovery: Wet Painting Carriers These are boxes or frames for carrying your paintings while they are still wet. They prevent your painting from getting damaged while you are traveling. There are two types of systems: frame systems and box systems. The Frame System This is a single frame that is similar to a picture frame with a rabbet cut into it in order to keep two paintings separate. They are designed to carry just two paintings back to back. This is my favorite way of transporting wet paintings. Pros Youcan carry many different sized panels. Itis a lot lighter than a wooden drying box. Itis stronger than a plastic drying box whose sides can easily bend and damage a painting if pushed. Cons Youhave to have two panels of…

www.internationalartist.com Visit www.internationalartist.com and click on the Virtual Art AcademyR 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…

Grand Prize Grand Prize is a four-page editorial feature in American Art Collector magazine Pulling from Emotions Historically, Vince Natale has painted contemporary representational works with narrative or allegorical imagery that also has an emotional charge or mystery. Natale previously worked as an illustrator where the messaging had to be very clear in this work he created. Over time, in his personal artwork, those messages have become more subtle as he experiments with techniques and style. Natale elaborates, “I’m not constrained by that requirement and I can be as obvious or as obscure as I like. But I don’t want to be so cryptic as to be dismissed as nonsense. I also paint a lot of landscapes now which I never really got to do outside of little background vignettes…

Finalist My Inspiration My foundation for artistic inspiration comes from my family. I developed a strong appreciation for art at a young age, as both of my grandmothers were extremely talented artists across several mediums. My work is mostly inspired by my affinity for rich, bold colors found in nature. My Design Strategy The vision in my mind begins with a premeditated color palette. I also strategize a layering technique that will bring about elements of contrast once the paint is poured on the canvas. In terms of execution, a large part of the process is embracing unpredictability. My Working Process When mixing acrylics with pouring medium, I like to experiment with the paint density. Using various densities for each color gives me more control in how the colors blend…

What if your focus is on an exhibition as one in a series of exhibitions? Most artists tend to focus on individual paintings, but an exhibition is a collection of paintings. This might require a different mindset. A career can be an ongoing stream of exhibitions, and you can be proactive about generating this income stream if you know what to do. However, you might not have enough time to do this yourself. You don’t need to actually do the work, but someone does. The key element is finding people willing to buy your work; without that you have no future. That is where you need to begin. Youneed the sales and marketing strategies a major gallery provides to its main artists. There’s a lot of day-to-day tasks to do.…

Painting is an exploration of the known and the unknown, which can be realized in a myriad of ways. When beginning a new work an artist may have an idea of the final result, but then during the process can arrive in new exciting territory. This can be completely unexpected, and for me, discovering new, surprising ways of making a mark has become part of my process. As an academically trained painter, I have always felt most comfortable remaining in the methods I know so well, which include careful observation and rendering of each element in the painting process. However, fully realized representational painting does not always interest or satisfy me, so I’ve been exploring how I can push up against my preconceived notions in realistic painting. In my current…

STAGE 1 DESIGN, COMPOSITION AND DRAWING I already had the design for my zodiac paintings that I created years ago. Once again, I made a drawing of a golden wheel with zodiac symbols of my own design all around. Next, using photos of my daughter-in-law, Taejin, posing as an archer, and some other photos from her traditional Korean wedding as a reference for the dress, I made a sketch in pencil. It would be nice to have everything in one perfect photo, but I rarely have that kind of reference for my projects. At least my imagination and a good visual memory can come in handy and substitute for the lack of great shots. In the close-up, you can see my love for painting portraits. First, for a better judgment…

I love to paint from nature and I love the challenge of plein air, but with portraiture, I only work in the studio and I have to say it’s my favourite subject. It’s exciting when you not only show the likeness of a portrayed person but go deeper and show their real character and thoughts, so the viewer can know the person without having met them. My grandfather is an artist and my father is a photographer so my work methods reflect this. I am always taking photos, even just with my phone, sometimes for inspiration, sometimes for future reference. Other times I will shoot specifically for a series like this one. I used a high-end CSC camera and exposure bracketing to catch different details, shadows and structure. These photos…

Grisaille is a painting technique by which an image is executed entirely in shades of gray. It is often used to create the underpainting or first layer of a painting. It allows you to establish the different values clearly. Value is the relative lightness or darkness of color. That’s how we see and understand objects. It defines form and creates spatial illusion. Contrast of value separates objects in space, while gradation of value suggests mass and contour of a continuous surface. I decided to use only acrylic black and white paint because I felt color might weaken the dramatic effect of the wood’s nuanced surfaces. By taking away color I was able to concentrate on the minute details, composition, and brush stroke, which gave me a complete understanding of the…

When beginning a new painting, it is important to make decisions by asking myself a few questions. Why do I want to paint this? What do I want to emphasize? What is my center of interest? The first step is to make several thumbnail sketches of the scene to be painted. This allows me to eliminate and reposition anything to enhance the design. I then do a value study to be sure of how I plan to show off my center of interest, by leading the viewer’s eye through my design with darks or lights. STAGE 1 PREPARATION AND GLAZES After I did my sketches and value studies, I selected a full sheet of Winsor & Newton 140-pound cold pressed watercolor paper. I soaked it 10 or more minutes in…

» Work from all angles. While my work is representational, I like to work on my pieces from every angle—upside down, sideways, right side up. It helps to clarify the shapes, colors and allows me to see areas more clearly. » Always layer colors to achieve more depth of color. This is especially true for the darkest areas. I never use black, and instead prefer to use a minimum of dark brown, sepia or dark umber combined with dark grape and indigo blue. Lighter areas benefit from multiple layers as well. Colored pencils are transparent and the layers of color, when applied lightly, create stunning results. » I vary the direction of my pencil strokes to fill in the paper texture better. Basically there are five levels of pressure for…

Growing up in China, I lived with my grandfather who was an academic. He was excellent at Chinese calligraphy and inspired me to study calligraphy and traditional Chinese brush painting. As early as I can remember, I have always been drawing, painting and creating. I was very lucky that my grandfather not only inspired me, but also supported my study of art. With this support, I started taking art classes when I was 7 years old, and after graduating from high school at age 17, I moved to the United States to further my education. Attending the Academy of Art University in San Francisco provided me with a solid technical foundation in realistic visual representation, which gave me confidence in my art practice. Upon graduating and completing a solo exhibition…

I no longer try to convince myself and others that I understand modern art. You know that, but let us go further: novels and dramas with too many characters and plot twists. Music? It seems melodies are optional. OK, there are a few non-objective works of today that move me. It’s not often, but I see heart and soul and talent trying to reach out to my eyes. I see them in galleries, homes and publications like International Artist. What I’m saying here is that I’m channeling my life in a way that is tuned into what really inspires me. I’m even open to be dazzled. I’ve got no limit in likes. Just limits in patience. In my studio, when I reached the age of 45 years, from that moment…

Finalist My Inspiration I grew up in Cheshire, England, and as a child, often helped with the sorting and planting of bulbs, rhizomes and corms. Although I have often drawn and painted bulbs, they have been fairly representational with the subjects in different stages of development. I had no actual subject for this painting, just a memory of a bulb’s heft, tactile sensation and the intricacies of its layers. I wanted the painting to convey all the promise of life contained within the bulb. I thought of the amaryllis and the way its dead and withered leaves transform themselves into long, delicate, faded ribbons. When handling earth, one often finds interesting insects among the roots, though not quite so colourful as these imaginary ones! My Design Strategy All I had…

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 possible.…

Rosemary Thompson and her team have been hand making brushes for more than 35 years and selling them directly to artists via mail order. “In dealing with artists directly, we are able to offer exactly what you want in terms of quality, price and delivery. We’re proud to be a small family business, who can extend an ‘old fashioned’ approach to conducting my business,” says Rosemary. “We believe this to be a major strength and although the 21st century offers valuable technology, we feel it is important to remember the courtesies in life, day to day, between each other. We endeavour to offer a high-quality product at a competitive price and if you compare our brushes ‘like for like’ in the high streets shops, we can often be 50 to…

For all of my paintings, a great deal of preparation and thought is involved. The most important stage of a new painting is by no doubt the thinking period before even starting anything at all. There are so many elements to consider. What should I paint and why? How do I paint it and on what and with what? Does my subject matter evoke a special memory or emotion? Will the viewer feel the same connection or familiarity with the subject? What kind of mood do I want to create? Then comes the all-important lighting, composition, sketching, adjusting, photographing and experimenting. Is there a story to tell or not, what is it that makes me so passionate about this particular idea and do I really love it? The process of…

STAGE 1 UNDERPAINTING AND COMPOSITION The outlines of the body are not precise in this first stage. I will be correcting the anatomy subtly during the whole process of painting slowly. I used a #22 Escoda Filbert (4729) hog bristle brush, which is pretty stiff. On this underpainting stage I placed the swimming girl the way I want—centrally and paint the white canvas with roughly the palette I am looking for. The colours are the base to work above so on this stage they might be a little duller than on the final painting. STAGE 2 CORRECTING THE OUTLINE AND COLOUR Next, I am correcting the outlines of the body, and I start to work on the details of the face and glasses. I switched to a thinner, rounder Raphael…

Inspiration I look at my subject. If it is too inclusive, I use an old slide mount and extending my arm to decide on just what I want to include. Or I do the same with my camera focal adjustment. I take several photos to decide if any more is to be excluded, or if there is something extra to include. I am always conscious of where my center of interest will be. Then I begin a sketch and value studies. Position I paint standing at a 31-by-42-inch tilted drafting table to have freedom of movement to give rhythm to my strokes. For my demonstration painting I sat only to do the stamen detail. Composition I work and think hard to find the best composition. This means using the Golden…

Monterosso Al Mare – New Town We were privileged to have been given access to a private sailing club, which was situated in heart of Monterosso. It offered us some unique views of the town away from the crowds with up-close views of the sailing dock. After experiencing some early morning rain, this proved to be an excellent location as it also provided us with some shelter. What really drew me to this subject was the contract between the rugged mountains in the background to the calm, still water on the foreground. I made sure the colours used in the background were repeated in the foreground boats and reflections. Little touches of pure red were added to the tops of boats to draw attention to that area.…

There is often a temptation to be led blindly by the subject we are painting when it comes to decisions regarding color. A much more effective approach is to extract only what we need from the subject then carefully consider how best to tie these selected colors to the rest of the painting. Two useful tools to aid our color decisions are the use of complementaries and balancing saturated color with compound colors. Saturated Colors Saturated colors contain either one or two primary colors and no black or white. They are the purest colors of each hue. For our purpose, we use a 12-part color wheel containing three primaries (red, yellow and blue), three secondaries (orange, green and violet) and six tertiaries that sit between the primaries and secondaries. Compound…

STAGE 1 INITIAL LINE DRAWING WITH SHADOWS ADDED A simple line drawing is executed with Prismacolor Col-Erase grey, which erases easily and cleanly, if needed. The deepest shadows are laid out with dark brown, which allows me to better visualize further color application. STAGE 2 FIRST LAYER OF LIGHT COLOR Muted initial colors are laid down, sometimes two colors per stone. The middle stone has 30 percent cool grey and mountain blue combined. These layers will be blended with solvent and a brush, so I keep them light. STAGE 3 GAMSOL BLEND The top four stones have been blended with Gamsol; the bottom stone is untouched, making it easier to see the color intensity achieved by this type of application. The drawing needs to dry at this point. STAGE 4…

AMANDA HYATT ‘In the footsteps of Hans Heysen’ Flinders Ranges, Clare Valley and Hahndorf Sunday 5 May – Friday 17 May, 2019 This workshop offers 13 days of painting and adventure in spectacular South Australia. Highlights include the rugged scenery of the Flinders Ranges, one of Australia’s oldest wine regions the Clare Valley and historic Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills. JOHN LOVETT Australian Outback Darwin to Kununurra Sunday 26 May – Friday 7 June, 2019 This workshop offers 13 days of painting and adventure in the spectacular and Katherine before crossing the border into Western Australia to discover the Outback laid out before your easel, who better to lead this tour than John Lovett. Experience adventure and the best of teaching, don’t miss this workshop. VIVI PALEGEORGE AND CRAIG PENNY…