Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2019 i Artists Magazine

“I guess I’m not very human,” said Edward Hopper. “All I really want to do is paint light on the side of a house.” Indeed, though the sea and sky certainly make their appearances, Hopper was inspired to include buildings—both interiors and exteriors—in his work. While a great many painters are drawn to the serenity of green pastures and lazy winding rivers, others seek out a populated landscape as their subject of choice. Sometimes, the preferance is aesthetic, but often, it has more to do with an emotional connection—the heart tug—of one or the other. Our “Anatomy of a Painting” columnist, artist Jerry N. Weiss (page 12), has long felt the pull of New York City as a subject for his art. He recalls a happy summer in 1991 when…

The paper with which you make the sketchbook should be supple for ease of folding. I recommend Fabriano, Rives BFK, Stonehenge printmaking paper, Arches watercolor paper and Annigoni all-media paper. 1 On a sheet of paper, place hash marks to indicate where to make the scores and folds. Create eight leaves by dividing the sheet in half vertically and into quarters horizontally. Here’s a shortcut to avoid using a ruler: Cut a thin strip from the short edge of the paper and another thin strip from the long edge. Then fold the short strip in half and the long strip into quarters. Use the fold marks on the strips to see where to fold the paper. Next, align a metal ruler against the hash marks, and score the paper using…

Painting a floral still life allows a relatively controlled opportunity to work from life while offering a welcome relief from what can seem like visual chaos when painting outdoors. In a studio setting, the artist can determine the arrangement of the flowers; the inclusion and distribution of additional objects in the setup; and the strength, direction and temperature of the light. This is a great benefit, considering that the flowers themselves never stop moving. They’re either opening or closing, dropping petals or wilting—all within a relatively short period of time. COMPOSITIONAL GOALS The creation of an intriguing still life arrangement—one that will retain interest throughout the painting process, requires serious thought. An inspired composition is more than an accidental association of parts. The arrangement may tell a story, make a…

Map It Out Use Google Maps’ street view feature to plan your sketching excursions. While part of the fun of urban sketching is exploring your city, a street view can provide you with a solid starting place. Street views can also help if you get home and realize your sketch is missing some essential detail. The axis of the earth sticks out visibly through the centre of each and every town or city.—OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, SR. Weather Wisdom ● If you’re sketching in the sunshine, be sure to wear sunscreen. A wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses can further protect you from the sun—and they’ll help you keep a low profile if you’re feeling self-conscious. ● Have a few sketching spots in mind in case of rain: Outdoor cafés with awnings, or…

Since many galleries have limited resources for hiring public-relations support and an increasing number of artists are curating group shows in community spaces, it has become important for artists to know how to write a press release. The main purpose of this document is to get people to see a show, but it can do more. It provides an opportunity to communicate with local media about the arts, so a well-written press release boosts awareness not only of your project, but also of the relevance of the arts in general. WHO, WHAT, WHERE AND WHEN A press release has some basic formatting elements. At the top of the page, sometimes beneath an image, you’ll usually find the words, “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE,” followed by the headline—often the show title, also in…

although some creative professions combine aspects of fine art with architecture and design, few give designers the ability to work directly with iconic paintings from the past and present. Melanie Taylor, the Director of Exhibition Design at the Whitney Museum of American Art, in New York City, has that rare privilege as someone who decides how exhibitions are presented to the public. Her vocation requires all the observational sensitivity of a fine artist, the spatial and mathematical understanding of an architect, a vast knowledge of art history and the cinematic vision of a set designer. Most crucial to the position is the ability to make a curator’s thesis come to life while customizing the exhibition experience to a vast range of viewers. ROAD TO WARHOL How exactly does one get…

A good way to begin sketching is to study shapes and the light that renders them. Look for contrasts: juxtaposed geometric architectural elements against organic shapes of trees and people. In Calistoga, I found lots of these contrasts, including a steaming geyser and a rectangular pool, and bathers and palm trees. 1 I selected buff colored paper to hide dirt and smudges, and sketched the pool scene from direct observation with pencil. 2 Next, I blocked in the shadows. I added small amounts of titanium white to all the colors, which makes them look bright and luminous on the buff paper. 3 My pocket Moleskine cahier and pencil go with me everywhere. During a mud bath treatment, I drew the interior and my sister in sulfate water. I referred to…

There are moods that attach themselves to cities—feelings that emerge from the characteristic light and atmosphere of a particular locale. The thick, watery light of London, with its days and weeks of overcast skies and sudden fresh breaks of sunshine falling on old gray stone, tends to create a sense of somber solidity. Paris light, on the other hand, is warmer and more playful, its buildings more ochre; a somewhat sensual promise hangs in the air. Venice, meanwhile, is often bathed in golden light shimmering in the soupy haze of the lagoon, giving off a sense of soft resplendence. New York City light can be blaring, harshly industrial with beautiful yellow and orange sunsets improbably hammering through air polluted by the petrochemical plants of New Jersey. Few people are more…

Favorite Painting Spots The Black Canyon, in southwest Colorado, is an extraordinary but largely unknown place. You can drive for a long time amid flat expanses of pinons and junipers, and then suddenly you can see down into a 2,000-foot-deep, narrow canyon of dark, uplifted metamorphic rock. It could be the stage set for a Wagner opera. Vertical slabs, angling up from the Gunnison River, are almost black in the shade but reveal burnt sienna and ochre tones in the full sun. I never tire of painting versions of this dramatic canyon, the shifting sun creating a totally different composition each time. —DOUGLAS ATWILL (New Mexico) New Mexico is the place that first sparked my decision to go into the arts, and it continues to be a major well of…

Netherlands HOCKNEY—VAN GOGH: THE JOY OF NATURE VAN GOGH MUSEUM • AMSTERDAM VANGOGHMUSEUM.NL THROUGH MAY 26 “Hockney—Van Gogh: The Joy of Nature” presents evidence of the great influence Vincent van Gogh had on David Hockney’s artistic pursuits. Both artists loved nature and used a combination of bright color and unique perspective. The exhibition shows 120 works from both artists and even a portrait of Hockney at 81 years, by photographer Rineke Dijkstra, commissioned just for the show. “Hockney is one of the most inspirational artists of our time,” says Axel Rüger, director of the Van Gogh Museum. “This is the first ever exhibition to explore how van Gogh influenced his work. It’s an absolute honor to have the opportunity to organize an exhibition such as this.” Massachusetts BOTTICELLI: HEROINES AND…

James Abbott McNeill Whistler (American, 1834–1903) was a worldly fellow before he even turned 18. Born in Lowell, Mass., he lived in Connecticut; St. Petersburg, Russia; London; and began an ill-fated military education at West Point. After stints in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., he moved to Paris to study art. In 1859, Whistler settled, more or less, in London. Upon arriving there, he drew and painted the city with a keen interest in its rougher edges; by the mid-1860s, he took to painting the Thames in smog, becoming the first artist to celebrate the atmospheric effects of the Industrial Revolution. Whistler, by turns, charmed and fought with just about everyone, including the English art establishment. A primary point of contention was the popularity of sentimental narrative. He insisted that a…

I began figure drawing more than five decades ago to develop my understanding of the human form and improve its use in my paintings. But as time went on, I continued a figure drawing practice for its own sake. I now draw primarily for the simple joy of observing and translating three-dimensional forms to a flat surface, as well as to attempt to answer questions I have about how to better render the form, create gesture and energy—or to simply fine-tune my skills. I share six of my primary reasons for drawing here. Maybe one or more of them will resonate with you—and encourage you to pick up a pencil more often. TO STUDY ANATOMY I’ve been studying human, animal and tree anatomy since I was a child. I still…

Plein air painting is, at best, an unpredictable endeavor. Light, wind and temperature are in constant flux as the artist works to capture on canvas a fleeting effect of a subject that he or she is powerless to keep from changing. It was with a mix of trepidation and expectation, then, that I jammed my backpack with brushes, paints and a panel to attempt to paint in a quiet neighborhood in Berkeley, Calif., over a winter holiday in the Bay Area. I was fortunate in my location, though, since winter in Northern California resembles spring in my home city of Chicago. This December in Berkeley, I found bushes full of flowers, trees laden with ripening fruit and a gently warming sun traversing the cloudless sky. I ventured away from the…

A city is more than its buildings. For London artist Stephen Wiltshire, however, the fervent energy of the skyline or the looming peak of a landmark building captures the heart and soul of a metropolis. Wiltshire has earned acclaim for his finely detailed pen-and-ink drawings that portray the minutiae of cityscapes around the world. Drawing quickly and often without referencing his subject matter, he’s able to capture hundreds of landmarks, streets and buildings. Remarkably, he creates many of his pieces from memory with exacting perfection. The artist sketches on the street, from the top of a skyscraper or, in the case of his larger panoramas, after a helicopter ride over the city. CHILD ARTIST Born in London in 1974, Wiltshire created his first panorama, a 6½ -foot wide depiction of…

Given the close association between Amsterdam and Rembrandt, it’s fitting that the Rijksmuseum has chosen to mark the 350th anniversary of the famous Dutch master’s death, in 1669, with a special exhibition. “All the Rembrandts,” which runs February 15 through June 10, will exhibit 22 paintings, 60 drawings and more than 300 prints from the museum’s own collection. The exhibition is just one element of the Year of Rembrandt, a 12-month-long extravaganza with events taking place throughout the city, each paying tribute to an artist whose impact on the world of art cannot be overstated. HOME TOWN ARTIST Anyone who has studied the history of Western art has studied Rembrandt. Some art historians consider him the greatest painter of all time. Without question he’s the most accomplished painter to represent…

“Edward Hopper (American, 1882–1967) painted this work not to represent an existing lobby, but as a pastiche of familiar hotel elements. The lobby, a space between the public street and the private room, suits his attentiveness to places of transience and anonymity. The design features that guide a hotel visitor through a lobby also guide the viewer through this painting—the green floor line, for example, leading us inside from the revolving door. The line cleaves the composition into discrete spaces, each with its own set of perspective lines, to psychologically distance the figural groups and build Hopper’s characteristic silence and loneliness.” ANNA STEIN Assistant Curator of Works on Paper Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields…