Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2018 i Artists Magazine

keiko Tanabe and Thomas W Schaller are two of today’s leading watercolorists. Their paintings are held in notable private and public collections, they exhibit globally and, as instructors, they have followers worldwide. Here, Tanabe and Schaller, both of whom attended the Fabriano in Aquarello Watercolor Invitational this year, share their experiences and understanding of watercolor’s essential materials. PIGMENTS “I expect pigments to be pure and vibrant on paper and to contain no fillers,” says Tanabe. “Permanence and lightfastness are equally important so that pigments don’t fade over time or when exposed to light.” She advises painters to look for paints that are of a professional grade and from a reputable manufacturer, and that have excellent reviews. Schaller says that when it comes to selecting a set of colors, a painter…

A watercolor wash is simply watercolor pigment mixed with water to a thin, transparent consistency and distributed across a substrate, typically paper, with a paintbrush. It's one of the foundational techniques of watercolor painting, expressed in a multiplicity of ways. One could argue that nearly every watercolor painting is mainly comprised of washes. The following exercises will help you master the three types of washes that every watercolorist should be familiar with: flat, variegated and gradated (also known as "ombre"). First, gather your materials (listed at right). Then use a pencil to draw three 2½x5-inch “windows” on your painting surface. These windows form the boundaries for each of the three wash-painting exercises. Make sure your surface is propped up about 2 to 3 inches on the side farthest from you.…

1 Paper prep: Thoroughly load a 1½-inch flat brush or a large round brush with water all the way to the ferrule. This time, though, do not add paint—brush only water over the entire second window. 2 First color: Again, thoroughly load the brush with fresh water, but this time add one paint color. Gently brush the paint in an area at the top of the wet paper. You can rotate the surface, if you wish. 3 Second color: Rinse the brush and then repeat step 2 using a different color of paint and applying it in a different area. You can repeat this step with additional paint colors. Again, for variation, you can rotate your surface 90 degrees or so and watch gravity do its work.…

SURFACE: • 20x16x³/₁₆ black gator board primed with Art Spectrum Colourfix Pastel and Multimedia Primer in deep black PASTELS: • Two light-colored pastel pencils • An assortment of high-quality hard, medium and soft pastels, such as Prismacolor NuPastel, Holbein, Rembrandt, Terry Ludwig, Diane Townsend, Great American or Mount Vision OTHER: • barrier cream, such as Kerodex 51, or vinyl gloves • 2-inch house-painting brush of good quality • yardstick or other long straightedge • fine-line marker for creating a grid on the reference photo • old small- and mid-sized oil-painting brushes for erasing mistakes • mahlstick…

making A list DERWENT LIGHTFAST PENCILS: Available in a range of 36 colors, these pencils are thick, smooth and creamy, with a beautiful dense laydown of rich, vibrant color that stands up to UVA radiation, helping your work remain lightfast for years. DERWENTART.COM GENERAL’S® BLACK AND WHITE PENCIL SET: Ideal for bold designs and bright white values, this set includes three specialty drawing pencils: Primo® Elite™ Grande Pencil #5000 (extra soft, bold charcoal), Kimberly® 525-9xxB (extra dark graphite) and Charcoal White® Pencil #558 (bright white)—all handcrafted from sustained yield genuine incense cedar wood. GENERALPENCIL.COM MUST HAVE ART KITS FABER-CASTELL POLYCHROMOS COLORED PENCIL SET: Polychromos colored pencils offer a smooth laydown for blending, layering, highlighting and transitioning. Water-resistant, smudgeproof, 3.8 mm cores are bonded to premium California cedar. High-quality pigments ensure…

Pigment, brush and paper may be of paramount importance to a watercolor painter, but other materials also matter, none more so than pencils and other drawing instruments. “The pencil is critical,” says Schaller. “I even love seeing a bit of the loose pencil sketch through the transparent watercolor. For me, it’s all connected. I collect pencils and have many different types, from very precise mechanical pencils to chunky aluminum clutch pencils to more standard types. If I had to choose just one, it would probably be the traditional wooden, soft-lead sketch pencil that’s been around for ages. It just feels right.” The pencil is equally important to Tanabe. “It’s my favorite tool,” she says. “I usually start with a drawing as the first step of my painting. I use my…

1 Paint prep: Wet a round brush thoroughly, all the way to the ferrule, and then pick up a dollop of paint. Mix the paint and water on your palette. Be generous—you don’t want to run out of your wash mixture halfway through the application. 2 First stroke: Gently move the loaded brush across the top of the first drawn window. Use light pressure. 3 Overlap and repeat: Picking up the bead of paint at the bottom of the first stroke, apply a second stroke. Continue adding strokes until you reach the bottom of the window, always overlapping your previous stroke. Remove any excess paint from the bottom of the window by blotting the surface with a paper towel. Let the paint dry without repositioning the paper. Hint: Remember to…

1 Darker strokes: Wet the brush and the third window as you did for step 1 of the variegated wash. Then load the brush with a fresh water-and-paint mixture and stroke the color across the top of the window. Continue with overlapping strokes as you did for the flat wash, but stop about a quarter of the way down. 2 Lighter strokes: Now lightly blot the brush, removing a small amount of paint. Then pick up a small amount of water to dilute the mixture in the brush. Apply a stroke overlapping the area last painted and picking up the bead of paint. Repeat this action until you’ve achieved the desired degree of gradation. With a paper towel, blot excess paint from the bottom of the window. Let the paint…

1 The Japanese concept of nōtan has to do with compositions created with black and white elements. Use black and white paper to collage an abstract nōtan design. 2 Now create a piece of representational artwork using only black and white. Any number of media will work for this—paper, pen and ink, marker, scratchboard, paint or digital applications. 3 Turn down the lights and set a candle aglow. The darkness enhances the flame, which gives off a halo of light. Paint or draw the lit candle, paying special attention to the gradual value changes around the flame. 4 What do owls, raccoons, coyotes, mice and your pet cat have in common? They’re all nocturnal. Paint or sketch one of these creatures in a nighttime setting or in a manner that…

midnight blue is instantly associated with great expanses of night sky. Gazing at the world’s evening cover is an exercise both inspiring and overwhelming; it’s certainly innately human, and the blue spaces between the bright stars have been the source of many a philosopher’s conundrum and epiphany. The color seems to foster introspection. Cafe Terrace at Night was the first of Vincent van Gogh’s paintings to feature a starry sky, distinctly painted in blue. In a letter to his sister, he expressed his excitement: “The gables of the houses on a street that leads away under the blue sky studded with stars are dark blue or violet, with a green tree. Now there’s a painting of night without black." He wrote that he enjoys painting en plein air at night…

Art as an action means that the object is the result of an artful, holistic, meaningful lifestyle. Without an intentional approach to life, art as an object is meaningless. Katelyn Wolary CINCINNATI, OHIO KATELYNWOLARY.COM This self-portrait was number 10 in a series of 12 portraits for my senior thesis exhibition. Until this point in the series, I’d painted friends with their eyes cast down or just off-center. I wanted to capture an introspective state of mind that we all share. Once I made the decision to include myself in this body of work, I knew that I wanted it to feel like a milestone. It was diffi cult to forget about what I thought I wanted to see and, instead, look closely at my face in an objective way for…

SURFACE: 140-lb. cold-pressed watercolor block or paper taped to a hardboard panel PAINT: tubed watercolors (permanent rose, aureolin yellow, Winsor or thalo green and Winsor or thalo blue work well for these exercises) BRUSHES • round brush in a size from 10 to 16 (Winsor & Newton scepter gold recommended) • 1½-inch flat OTHER • No. 2 or 2B pencil • watercolor palette (a kitchen plate will do) • two pint-sized, widemouthed jars of water—one for mixing with paints and one for rinsing brushes • small object to prop up your painting surface to about 2 or 3 inches • paper towels…

Finding what lies between the shadows of darkness and reflective lights is what drives my excitement for painting the night. Explorations of the colors that are imperceptible to the naked eye are endless. The creativity begins when the barely visible collides with light. Pigments, transitions and reflections all play their part. My goal is to have my viewers fall into that dimly lit world to discover what they normally wouldn’t take time to see. For most artists, painting scenes like Cover Charge (opposite) necessitates working from reference photos. One common problem my students experience when painting in this way is an inability to properly scale the photo to the size of their painting surface. The grid method I explain in my demonstration simplifies this process. CHRIS IVERS earned her BFA…

Safety First! Peripheral vision declines at night. Choose a safe location where you can see and be seen—and please don’t paint alone. The Shadow Knows Warm, rich lights and amber-tinged shadows make us think of hearth, home and signs of life. Cool shadows of blue and green with diffused fields of light can have an otherworldly feel that invites you to lean into the mystery and tension. Get the Light Right ● Your canvas and palette should both be in the light or both be in the shadow. ● Painting at twilight means dealing with changing light. Seek steady light if you can’t wait until full dark: a downtown scene or a site with a porch light or streetlight aglow. Color in the Dark ● Artist John Hulsey recommends starting…