Innholdsfortegnelse for December-January2023/ No. 148 i International Artist

Welcome to the December/January issue of International Artist magazine! Happy Holidays! In this issue we have a very fun and timely feature on painting Santa Claus with our own renowned artist, James Gurney. It truly is a must read if you are wanting to learn more about capturing the spirit of your subject. Editor Alyssa Tidwell takes it a step further in her editor’s letter (next page), discussing the idea behind elevating art beyond a mere copy and making each piece its own. While strolling through the pages, the big artist challenge “reveal” this issue is our most popular Landscape Competition. Landscapes are interpretations of nature, time and space. We can safely say that landscapes are the most popular painting genre for collectors. Almost everyone has a landscape in their…

Vincent Miller, founder of International Artist magazine, is our Chief Judge for our challenges. He has judged art for more than 40 years worldwide, including in the USA, Singapore, Australia, Canada and the U.K., to name just a few countries. In addition, he is an artist and sculptor himself. Mr. Miller works with many of the greatest living artists and art schools. He supports great art by judging our challenge program. If your art is selected you are among the elite in the world to be selected by Vincent Miller. We welcome you to submit your entries for the next challenge judging.…

SCOTTSDALE ARTISTS’ SCHOOL: What inspires you? TED NUTTALL: I’m inspired by many things such as good books, writing, great movies, acting and beautiful music. Each of these can have a significant impact on my work. Most of all, I am inspired by the work of accomplished, celebrated figurative painters using different mediums. SAS: Have you always been drawn to the world of fine arts? TN: Although I drew a lot when I was younger, I don’t remember ever consciously thinking that I wanted to be an artist. However, I was lucky enough to have a great art teacher when I started high school. She began to introduce me to the work of great artists of the past and encouraged me to explore art in a way that was very fulfilling…

I have said before, I believe portraiture is one of the most important branches of fine art, not only for its own sake but for its historical significance to humankind. I truly believe that. For instance, the Mona Lisa is considered to be the best known, most visited and most written about work of art in the world with visitors to the Louvre waiting up to two hours to view it for just a few minutes before being asked to move on. It is also known as one of the most valuable works of art and holds the Guinness World Record for the highest known painting insurance valuation in history—and it’s a portrait! I recently interviewed six leading artists about how to compose works of art that tell a story…

Kris Kringle. Babbo Natale. Saint Nick. Papa Noel. They all refer to the same man—Santa Claus, a beloved character who embodies a spirit of warmth and giving. And no doubt, many artists throughout history have painted their interpretations of the jolly man in the big red coat, from Haddon Sundblom’s iconic Coca-Cola illustrations, to Thomas Nast, Norman Rockwell and J.C. Leyendecker, to modern-day artist Tom Browning’s depictions of Santa enjoying everyday life. That cheerful countenance, those bright rosy cheeks, the classic bobble-topped stocking hat—we all have our own visions of Santa nestled in our imaginations. In this issue, artist and regular International Artist contributor James Gurney recalls his experience capturing the aura and personality of this much-loved figure. Think of it: the best known man in America, making an appearance…

When I think about the course of my art career, I’m reminded of that scene in Friends when Ross is trying to move a couch up a winding staircase. At each turn he screams at Chandler, “PIVOT!” My path has also been determined by a series of pivotal moments. Since childhood I’ve known I wanted to be an artist. My first pivotal moment came at the age of 18 when I left home due to a bad family situation. Suddenly on my own, and dreams of art school on hold, I took a job as a nursing assistant at an institution for the mentally disabled. Years later some of the nurses I worked with convinced me to go to nursing school. After I had worked a number of years as…

I fell in love with painting glass after completing my first still life that included a glass bowl full of apples. I got lost in all of the colors and shapes that fit together like an abstract puzzle up close, but from a distance a highly detailed painting emerged. Initially I drew from childhood memories, and a series of bottle and jar paintings were the result. My works were inspired from summers with my grandmother canning in Ball jars. My lightbulb series began after learning that incandescent bulbs were in jeopardy of being banned due to government phase out programs. My teapot series started shortly after our move from the United States to Japan. I began collecting glass teapots and incorporating items from Asia in my compositions. A constant theme…

My name is Sarah Piro, and I’m a French watercolor artist based in Paris. I’m passionate about travel and I am also an architect, so my watercolors enable me to highlight monuments I meet every day, as well as those that catch my eye during my various trips. My work always begins with a very precise, controlled pencil preparatory drawing; then when the time comes to set the color, I leave room for the uncontrollable side of watercolor, as pigments melt, bringing a fantastical element. Most of the time, the base of the watercolor remains unfinished, which makes buildings feel like they are floating, as though straight out of a dream or fantasy. In this way, I am combining realism and surrealism. Architectural heritage is my main inspiration, but I…

My art life has been wonderfully filled with unforeseen moments. I was in a location I would soon have to leave. I love to draw wherever I am, and started sketching that fellow. I liked the shape of his cap and facial shadows; there was a mystery about him. Then, all of a sudden I saw this woman’s mesmerizing face. I needed to draw her, and there was very little time. Here was the problem: All I had was this one page left in my drawing pad. Without further ado, I started drawing her. The pencil strokes as you see them makes her face relatively larger. Not a bunch of room, but under those circumstances, you do what you can and how you feel. I was excited as her facial…

Here’s a question for every artist: how do you elevate a painting beyond simply recreating what you see? What makes it a work of art? In this latest issue, Christine Egnoski, executive director of the Portrait Society of America, asks a form of this very question to several prominent portrait artists as part of our “Art of the Portrait” column. Turn to page 32 for this issue’s “Art of the Portrait” to dive in (Egnoski’s article begins on page 34). The idea of capturing the essence of your subject—of moving beyond mere copy—can be applied to all subjects. How do you depict the life of a flower, in bloom for perhaps just a season? How do you distill the energy of an animal with a personality as unique as a…

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. We…

Arresting. Enchanting. Delicate. Alluring. Transfixing. Beautiful. Vulnerable. A young woman seems to turn her head at the sound of a voice. A quick glance. A figure almost in action. Who is she? Why does she capture our imagination so? Girl with a Pearl Earring, a work by Johannes Vermeer, looks back at us from a canvas painted over 350 years ago and almost breathes in our very presence. What is her story? What clues do we find in the painting? Possibly the simplicity and absence of objects tell us a great deal. Believed to be in costume for her moment to be immortalized by the brilliance of a gifted artist’s brush, a simple figure comes to life on a canvas with little more than a certain expression and a delicious…

I have always been a figurative artist at root, finding myself searching out and homing in on the human qualities of any painting. I’m simply inspired by people. I gravitate to them, and my goal is to capture and train the viewer’s attention on what’s sometimes inexpressibly human. As for working with a model like John A. Carrasco, what can I say? Every figurative artist should leap at such an opportunity! There was something very special and captivating about this image, with his downward and contemplative gaze. That said, while the soul of a figurative piece often lives in the eyes, here it seemed to live in the story written on Carrasco’s arm. I wanted to make that story the focal point for the viewer, which was my main challenge.…

The piece Naissance V continues a series of paintings paying homage to some of my very favorite works of art. I began the series referencing Botticelli’s Birth Of Venus with its mysterious ode to the divinity of physical and intellectual love. As someone who spent 26 years living in Brighton next to the sea, I feel its pull everyday and I am fascinated by it as a vehicle for creation, how just to be near it can fire the imagination. And so my series continues here by looking at the Victorian painter John Bulloch Souter’s The birth of Venus. As he references Botticelli, so do I, and it feels like a conversation continued. I’ve already made studies of the composition, working up the final drawing in graphite and liquid charcoal…

Creating my paintings allows me to share my personal interactions with nature in a manner that will make the viewer feel a part of what I have experienced. My goal is to simulate the feeling of actually being present in the painting. I was fortunate to spend my childhood along the banks of the Credit River in Southern Ontario, Canada. This beautiful creek has probably had the most influence in the subject matter I have chosen to pursue in my painting career. The desire to be able to replicate the feeling of standing in water has always been overwhelming. My paintings are value based. Understanding the importance of value in realistic painting is crucial to its success. Value is the quality of light and dark. In my paintings there is…

My work is shared equally between the studio and the outdoors. When working in the studio, of course, I always use reference photographs that I have previously studied and that I use with photo retouching programs. Outdoors I work on the subject directly, but I also rely on an image I’ve taken, which allows me to establish the composition and fix the lights and shadows that will inevitably change throughout the working session. In most cases, the works I do outdoors are during quick “painting competitions” (as they are called in Spain). I like that water is the undisputed protagonist of the landscape. For that, I lower the horizon line with a point of view almost at the level of the pond or the river that I am going to…

One of the great appeals of watercolor as a painting medium is the fact that it is quick and responsive. It is also very portable and combines well with ink, charcoal, gouache and other mixed media. The fast drying nature of watercolor can create problems. Unwanted hard edges can cause distractions. Blooms, where a damp brush or drop of water touches a drying wash, can spoil a nice flat sky or simple foreground. Tonal adjustments can take some getting used to, especially if you are coming from oil or acrylic where white is sometimes added to make a color lighter. In this article we will examine the seven most common problems I see with people moving into watercolor. We will also look at simple solutions to these problems. Preserving White…

If you’ve seen the latest news about artificial intelligence (AI) you may have seen some truly jaw-dropping advancements in the areas of image generation, including the worrying development of “deep fakes” where an AI can make anyone appear to say or do anything on video. You may have also read headlines like, “art is dead” and “AI replacing artists.” These I take with a big pinch of salt. Far from replacing artists, AI can be a power tool for those artists willing to include AI in their workflow. The result by all appearances is art that is leaping ahead in giant strides. It only requires artists to take that first step. What are AI Image Generators? An AI image generator is a digital tool that allows you to generate images…

This is another example of the artist (me) revealing as much of himself as the subject. I had not seen this pastel for quite a while and right away, I sensed another Harley behind it. It’s good, yes, but done with a somewhat different mind and approach. I do remember those days and as some of you might know, I was rather a different person. My mind was eccentrically buzzing every minute of the day. It buzzes now, but only when I want it to. Look at artists over their lifetime. You can see the periods they evolve through. With SMOKEY: You observe much of the design is from cast and form shadows. A few lost edges causing interesting dark shapes. Overall warm hue with the dash of blue scarf…

Grand Prize Grand Prize is a four-page editorial feature in American Art Collector magazine A Love of Nature Pushpa S. Mehta’s artistic style often shifts depending on the subject she’s painting, though she commonly works in the realm of realism. Formerly an obstetrician and gynecologist, Mehta has loved art since she was a child and has taken formal art classes throughout her professional medical career. Since her retirement in 2003, she has consistently attended art classes, workshops, conferences and demonstrations conducted by master artists. “With encouragement from my loving family I continue to learn and do art,” she says. “I am always keen to learn not only technical and stylistic parameters from master artists, but also how they use light sources, composition, brushstrokes and carefully chosen colors to make an…

Finalist My Inspiration Painting trees from unusual perspectives has been a passion of mine for over 15 years now. Looking up into the tree canopy above is a fascinating and unique perspective of a tree that we only catch fleeting glimpses of, unless you are prepared to lie down and soak up the view above—which I highly recommend! Silver birch trees are some of the toughest survivors, happily growing in harsh arctic environments, and I wanted to portray the unique visual character of this silver birch tree with its rugged twisting trunk winding its way up into the leafy golden crown above. My Design Strategy The trunk of the tree launches itself into the painting, helping to give a dynamic composition and leads the viewer high up into the branches…

ENTER OUR NEW ART COMPETITION CHALLENGE No. 134 Abstract/Experimental Art 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…

Need to work on your drawing skills? How about learning how to create strong compositions, discovering the fundamentals of successfully composing a portrait, learning practical methods to building personal expression on a solid foundation, or how about watching Rose Frantzen and Jeff Hein demonstrate together on stage? This is just a small taste of our program being offered on May 11 to 14, 2023, in Washington, DC, at the Hyatt Regency Reston providing the largest event in America today featured solely on portraiture and figurative work. Whether you’re a full-time professional artist or looking to take your art to the next level, we have a program to benefit every artist. Twenty-eight internationally known faculty artists demonstrating, and teaching include: Scott Burdick, Suchitra Bhosle, Jared Brady, Louis Carr, Rick Casali, Rose…

The changing colors and shapes of the botanical world enrich our senses and offer the opportunity to engage more deeply with the varied aesthetics of nature. I get my inspiration for painting flowers from the surrounding nature—from forests and fields, gardens and parks. It is an enormous challenge to fully grasp the richness and nuances of color. This requires precise and careful observation of the botanical object to be painted. When looking at the plants, one very quickly realizes that the play of colors is particularly important for two aspects of painting. On the one hand, the nuance of color is important to represent form and three-dimensionality. On the other hand, with the tints of my chosen colors, I manage to depict the surface structure of the plants. This is…

I have to be inspired in order to paint. I find that I need those personal moments, whether it’s from a trip or simply driving in the dark rain and noticing the dramatic reflections on the road, to inspire me. Or the memories of a family trip, a hike up the mountains with close friends or a road trip in autumn. I admire artists that set a specific time to go into their studio and paint with dedication every day. Although I wish I could do that, when I force the creative process I tend to get into my head too much and second guess everything I do. So, if I am in that mindset, I have to break the cycle and use that time for inspiration by taking many…

I discovered the watercolor medium when I went to art school in the mid ’90s. It wasn’t instant love at the time. I remember my teacher telling me I couldn’t do any small details, only use big brushstrokes. We were supposed to paint a still life of a red onion. As I recall the painting turned out OK even though I found the process very frustrating. About seven years ago, my oldest daughter started art school. One day she brought a palette with watercolors home from school to finish a project. As the palette remained on the kitchen table, I decided to try painting with watercolor one more time. I hadn’t been painting for some time due to lack of inspiration, but this time it was instant love. Since that…

Having a degree emphasizing graphic design, my art has a definite graphic sense to it. I like bold complementary colors and lots of blacks, which I attribute to growing up on comic books. If you can get the viewer’s attention that’s half the job. In my artwork, most of the time I’ll start with big solid fields of colors to see what works. I focus on keeping color elements as simple as I can with complementary/analogous/triad color schemes. I heard a long time ago to be as big and broad as you can, and once that works, all the little details will fall into place—and I believe that. I take my own photos for inspiration as much as I can, whether that’s doing a photoshoot with family and friends or…

During my time teaching in art workshops, every individual I worked with had something special within their art that could be brought out. For years, life’s images and thoughts continue sweeping through our minds, waiting to be realized on paper or canvas or clay. What is needed is on the technical and creative side with especially good mentor guidance; much like the images and words in International Artist. It can happen to anyone who has a powerful desire in art. I’ll repeat two serious words: “powerful desire.” My Art Circle I began my life fairly “low key.” Then starting at age 20, I went through an eccentric artist/fantasy period for nearly two decades. After that, I entered into the second half of my life in art. I slowly became confidently…

SHE looks at us, curious and at the same time knowing. We look back, smiling. As you look at SHE, you also see the joy I had creating throughout with bold and small, fussed strokes. Reality is art and not simply duplicating. Her face is developed with delicate form shadows. Much work was done around her expressive eyes and eyebrows. I took tender care with all her features—eyes, lips, nose. The very softness of her cheeks. Her teeth, finely shaped with the light gently touching them. Lost edges in the chin area. Accuracy with forms as well as subtle light values to dark values. My rendering of this pastel was inspiring and captivates me each time I visit with her image.…