Innholdsfortegnelse for April-May 2025/No. 162 i International Artist

Welcome to the April/May issue of International Artist magazine! In this issue we have two star artists from our sister collector titles. First, in our own American Art Collector, Emily Copeland is a master charcoal artist with an amazing collector following. She uses charcoal to capture photorealistic antique objects. The relationship between subject and medium create a visual experience that makes you feel like you’ve captured a memory of a different time. A Canadian artist, you can find Emily’s work at RJD Gallery in Romeo, Michigan. Editor Alyssa Tidwell has put together an excellent feature starting on page 32. If you haven’t heard of Emily Copeland you need to follow her work as an artist. She will inspire you. Karen Clarkson is another celebrated artist who has appeared many times…

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…

The Portrait Society of America is thrilled Tto celebrate another year of creativity and excellence in portraiture and figurative art at our 27th annual Art of the Portrait conference, taking place May 8 to 11 in Washington, D.C. This year’s program is packed with exciting opportunities, including a lineup of new and returning faculty artists, along with some of the most anticipated events like preconference workshops, the opening night Face-Off demonstration, portfolio critiques, open drawing sessions and the highly anticipated 6x9 Mystery Art Sale. A highlight of the weekend will be the exhibition of the top 20 finalists in the International Portrait Competition—recognized as the premier portrait competition worldwide. These exceptional artists will showcase their work, competing for the prestigious Draper Grand Prize and a $50,000 cash award. Leading up…

SCOTTSDALE ARTISTS’ SCHOOL: How did the opportunity arise to teach at the Scottsdale Artists’ School? JILL CARVER: Having taught a lot of outdoor workshops, I realized that many students were missing some of the design fundamentals that, frankly, are best suited to being taught indoors, not in weather or moving light. So I was looking for an excellent indoor facility and Scottsdale Artists’ School is the premier facility in the Southwest. I had taught a few times alongside Matt Smith for Plein Air Painters of America. He knew of my deep commitment to the craft and to teaching, and so recommended me to the school. I have been teaching there twice a year ever since. SAS: What do you look forward to most when teaching your workshop? JC: I feel…

My curiosity about color began Mat an early age. As a young child, I would walk through the fields between home and my grandma’s house, eyes wide open, viewing the world in vivid color. I spotted pinks in the grasses and purples in the sky and wondered how I could paint what I was seeing. This fascination developed into my life’s passion: studying the properties of color and teaching what I’ve learned. Throughout my years of teaching, I realized that one of my students’ biggest struggles was in making clean color. They seemed fine with identifying and making secondary colors, but when it came to adding the tertiary to neutralize or gray a color, they often ended up with mud. So, I began having them eliminate the tertiaries from their…

Reference photos are great, but they usually tell us both too much and not Renough. I appreciate how photos can bring me back to a place and time—but remembering and including other sensory information, such as how I felt, what I heard, what the air was like, is essential. This is why I insist on using my own photos. The visual is only part of the story. Most photos also contain too many details and too much information. (This one is an exception; it was so blurry I nearly overlooked it). Knowing what we want to express when choosing a reference makes the job easier. Eliminating detail gets easier when your reason for painting is clear. STAGE 1 THUMBNAIL SKETCH With black and white General’s charcoal pencils on Strathmore toned…

Years ago, art was always part of my life, Ysomething I was good at, but not a real passion. I experimented with graphite, charcoal, watercolor and pastels, but the problem was not the medium, it was the subject. I tried drawing human portraits, landscapes, architecture and fantasy. I have so many unfinished pieces from those years, because even though it was fun for some time I was drawing things I had no connection with, so I got easily bored. But one day I decided to focus on something else, something that I had a true love for since I was a kid: animals. Animals are so fascinating to draw because of their vast variety of textures: feathers, fur, scales. Colored pencils seemed the best medium to accurately depict their beauty.…

While we continuously strive to bring you new artists and perspectives from around the world in every issue, over the course of this magazine’s 27-year history we’ve been lucky to have many incredible artists contribute their artwork and ideas more than once. We develop a rapport with these artists—each of which I value deeply. The features and demonstrations you read in each issue are a result of back and forth conversations, brainstorming and workshopping with artists who take time out of their busy and vibrant lives to share what they know with us. Those conversations are often as rewarding as the articles that result from them. I’m delighted to point readers toward the cover artist of this issue, Mark Hobson, who not only shared a demonstration with us way back…

A continuing series of art competitions designed to encourage the best talent working in the world today open to any painting or drawing medium. ENTER OUR NEW ART COMPETITION CHALLENGE No. 148 Wildlife 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…

For many artists, the next step in their careers is finally taking that leap and entering an art show. While it may seem daunting at first, it’s also empowering. Every year, fairs big and small are taking place around the world, inviting artists to take a chance, enter their work, and share their unique processes. You never know what might happen next. Art fairs are often described as some of the most rewarding aspects of the art world, due in large part to the feeling of community that grows from them. These events allow artists to share their stories and form meaningful relationships with fellow artists and collectors. Among some of the many fantastic shows out there is the Reno Tahoe International Art Show held in Reno, Nevada. This four-day…

Once you have developed your skills as an artist in the medium of your choice and have Oa certain style you paint in that is your own, it’s important to think about your subject matter. There are so many talented painters and sculptors out there, and what sets an artist apart from others is often their choice of subject matter. As artists, we tend to find beauty in everything. A simple still life of a brilliant red apple, the light on the top of a tree. Of course, it’s fine to want to capture those things, those moments, but as a professional fine artist hoping to sell artwork, you will want to consider what your viewers might like on their walls, as well as what a gallery might be looking…

For years I have painted portraits on Fhistorical documents relating to my family’s journey as Native Americans (Choctaw tribe). In 2016, these images were painted on my ancestors’ birth and marriage certificates, land title deeds and blood quantum registrations, also known as the Dawes Rolls. I was gratified to learn this information was embraced not only as art but also as a transformative learning experience. The series is called “A Choctaw Story of Land and Blood” and as the audience for my art grew, I realized very few people were aware of our shared history of forced assimilation and its implications in today’s world. It was then I decided I would bring today’s Native people into today’s narrative and focus on their inherent strength and beauty. In 2019 I created…

STAGE 1 HOW I SEE Here I used my iPad and colored in shapes to amplify the color averages to show you how I see. Abstracting from the landscape is simple but not easy! I try to find anywhere from three to five simplified shapes to start. These simplified shapes are what I call “averages.” A color average is the color that most consumes the shape when you squint at it, like mixing it all up and editing out the details. STAGE 2 STRATEGIZING EACH COLOR AVERAGE Time to strategize using letter codes. Using a primary limited palette plus white, I decide what the secondary color of each average is. Is it greenish, purplish, or orangish, relative to one another? To choose which letter goes first, determine which primary color…

love watermedia—watercolor, ink and I gouache—and I always feel a euphoric sense of wonder when observing the way pigments move through water, how they travel and develop on the paper while they are drying. I aim for naturalism in my work, but I don’t aim for a photographic emulation of nature. Instead, I strive for what Buddhists describe as “right action,” the natural distribution and settling of pigments that reveal a sense of light and atmosphere with as little interference from the brush as possible. I live in a forest in the West of England, and every day I observe the changing light and seasons—spring’s transparencies, summer sunlight glancing through the oaks, autumn colors, winter’s gnarled and twisted branches. Inspiration is everywhere. In my tree and landscape paintings, I strive…

STAGE 1 PAINTING FROM LIFE I nearly always paint from life, often setting up my own still life or heading outdoors for a plein air session. I’m drawn to the richness of values and colors that only real life offers. I do work from photos occasionally though, especially during the colder months of the year. In this case I clipped off a branch of tomatoes that were growing in my garden and placed them on a white piece of paper to accentuate the graphic design the leaves were making. I considered their shape and movement and tried to arrange them in a natural and balanced way. STAGE 2 VIEWFINDER Using a viewfinder, I moved my subject and finder around until I settled on a pleasing composition. I was squinting my…

Subscribe today to get the most comprehensive magazine filled with demonstrations, workshops and creative inspiration from the best international artists working today. International Artist is the only educational magazine by artists for artists devoted to sharing voices from across the world, along with special features, columns and more. In every issue, you’ll find: » 6 issues a year, each one featuring a diverse range of work from artists around the globe! » 8+ artist demonstrations and workshops, featuring mediums, styles and subject matter that will inspire you. » Special features that dive deeper into the world of art and the artists. » Regular columns from famous artists such as James Gurney and Harley Brown. » Enjoy features from esteemed organizations including the Portrait Society of America every month. Join our…

Don’t let past problems, mistakes or Ddark days affect what is happening with you now. Now you are fairly cleared of those times, and you can go straight ahead with your wondrous art life. Yes, there might be bungles here and there, but they’re not hindered by off moments of the past. In fact they’ll be erased by grand experiences and by doing what’s inspiring your mind. In the beginning, do areas that must be truly accurate. Enjoy each moment for its own sake, also focusing in general on where you want to go—general and not overly specific because you might find interesting little side roads on the way. Once in a while, you might drift slightly off your usual nature. This may open up territories that you were hesitant…

Scan for larger reference image For artists, inspiration can strike anywhere at any time. In this section, we’ll present a different photo prompt in each issue for artists to use as inspiration for their next piece. Rather than a reference, this photo is meant to be interpretive. It’s a jumping off point—a means to spark creativity and get the imagination going. Capture the image exactly as you see it, or take elements of it to create something entirely new. Submissions can be fully completed artwork or rough sketches. Every approach is the right approach. In the following issue of International Artist, we’ll highlight several Editor’s favorites (including your Instagram username), along with the next photo prompt. Chosen submissions also receive a free six-month digital subscription to International Artist. Happy painting/drawing/sketching!…

Wanning Liao Ontario, Canada, Chinese Tea Table 2, fabric surface, oil on canvas, Xuan paper and quartz sand, 431/3 x 35½” (110 x 90 cm) Grand prize Grand Prize is a four-page editorial feature in American Art Collector magazine Soft and Subdued Born and trained in China, Wanning Liao’s art career took off in 2008 with her debut solo exhibition in Hong Kong, which marked the beginning of her recognition in the art world. Known for merging tradition with contemporary narratives, Liao’s artwork is grounded in realism with hints of abstraction blended in, as seen in works like her recent Back to Canaan 1 and Back to Canaan 2, as well as in her winning piece Chinese Tea Table 2, fabric surface. “I often pay attention to the living conditions of…

In the art world, opportunities for growth, Irecognition and connection often don’t come easily, but they are all things the Portrait Society of America strives to provide to our members. One way we do this is with the Members Only Competition. Offering a variety of categories, this yearly competition is a chance to gain exposure and recognition. The process of preparing for a competition also forces the artists to push their creative boundaries, helping them refine their skills and explore uncharted territories in their work. As I’ve mentioned before, not winning a competition isn’t necessarily a setback. In fact, it can be an invaluable learning experience. It is an opportunity to reflect on your work, receive feedback and identify areas for improvement. Competitions such as this aren’t just about winning—they…

Cwith a photoshoot to capture fleeting expressions and dynamic poses, especially for children. The face serves as the cornerstone, establishing likeness, spirit and emotion to guide the entire work. These stages outline my initial approach to crafting the face into a larger, more intricate portrait. STAGE 1 STUDY SKETCH: The process begins with a study sketch on toned gray paper, using hard charcoal pencils. This step helps me simplify complex elements and interpret the subject with an artistic lens while keeping my drawing skills sharp. The study sketch is not just a preparatory stage but an essential part of the process, allowing me to explore the subject’s features and create a more personalized interpretation, breaking away from reliance on the photo. STAGE 2 PANEL PREPARATION AND BACKGROUND: For the next…

STAGE 1 PREPARING THE BACKGROUND I begin by knocking out the white of the canvas with a layer of hooker’s green. STAGE 2 CONTINUING TO PREP THE BACKGROUND Using jars of premixed acrylic paint and soft hake brushes, a streaky blended background is created. Phthalo green (yellow or blue shade), phthalo turquoise and phthalo cerulean blue are mixed with varying amounts of titanium white to create at least three tones for the background kelp forest. These are stored in plastic jars. STAGE 3 NEGATIVE SPACES IN THE KELP FOREST The phase seen in the next three steps is crucial in setting the mood and sense of depth. Using a bit more white and phthalo cerulean blue, a lighter mixture of the same background color is applied, painting the negative shapes…

COLORED PENCIL SOCIETY OF AMERICA’S 2026 EXPLORE THIS! Each year, the Colored Pencil Society of America sponsors an exciting and innovative online exhibition called Explore This!. Artwork must be predominantly colored pencil but must also include some additional media, element or technique to encourage artists to explore a broad range of applications for colored pencil. The exhibition offers more than $5,000 in awards including the prestigious $2,000 Best of Show (EXPY) Award. The show is open to artists 18 years and older, regardless of geographic location. Artwork must have been created in 2023 or after, and CPSA membership is not required to enter. Submissions for 2026 Explore This! will be accepted from September 15 to November 15, 2025, and acceptances will be announced January 15, 2026. The show opens and…

When I came across this scene of a Wrow of quince trees by a pond, I was immediately captivated and knew I had to paint it. In moments like these, I ask myself a crucial question: Why do I want to paint this? Whether it’s the interplay of light, an intriguing mood, contrasting forms or something else, the answer becomes the core idea of the painting. For this piece, it was the stark contrast between the vibrant yellow strip of reeds and the luminous reflection of the sky in the water. This central idea guided me throughout the process, helping me amplify its impact while eliminating distractions by thoughtfully adjusting the key elements of the painting: shapes, values, colors, edges and textures. Design lies at the heart of my painting…

Painting is my life. I painted for Pmany years by brush but since then my style has evolved, and now the palette knife is my tool of choice. When I paint and create I am lost to all the outside distractions. I have lived in warmer climates my whole adult life, and I believe this shows through in my paintings. The atmosphere in my studio is also very important to me—I love painting on warm sunny days with soft music in the background that matches with my subject I am about to paint. I begin with an idea and a composition in mind. My desired palette consists of cool and warm primary colors and a few special colors depending on the subject, then I relax and let my knife start…

1. Johnny “Cash”, my French bulldog. My little shadow, Cash, is always by my side in the studio. He follows me everywhere, keeping me entertained with his huge personality and keeping me company during long painting sessions. Cash is usually curled up at my feet, snoring away, or watching me work with that sweet little face of his. 2. My first oil painting. I still have the very first oil painting I ever created, Sweet Tooth. I painted it when I was 16 during my sophomore year of high school. I was incredibly fortunate to have Raymond Knaub as my art teacher, a talented professional artist who also happened to be an inspiring high school educator. He created an “honors” art class, where he mentored just two students: me and…

Here’s the great, renowned drummer Buddy Rich, giving us his knowing smile between creative drum chops—an interesting moment that I’ve brought here with my brain cells reacting in two parts. One part took a good bit of fuss time getting his features just right, and the other part had his head surrounded with eagle winged pastel strokes, each part naturally guided by my eccentric faculties. As you’ve often seen, I’m quite motivated as to what happens with my art through my approaches. Yes, my outer and inner minds had a battle with this portrayal. The best with all this is that they both inspiringly won.…