Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2020 i Artists Magazine

“All gardening is landscape painting.” —WILLIAM KENT The 18th-century Englishman William Kent is most famous as a landscape architect, originating what became known as the English Landscape Garden style. The innovative designer began his career, however, as a painter, serving as a court artist before venturing into other fields. When you consider that good garden design relies on a skillful use of form, line, texture, scale and color, is it any wonder that so many fine artists discover—as Kent did—they’re also well adapted to the art of horticulture? In this issue, we explore the glories of a garden, which is, of course, a reliable source of seemingly endless painting subjects—not only for the landscape artist but also for the still life artist who delights in the fruits of the garden.…

Blue-Ribbon Blueprint Every eye you paint or draw can start the same way: 1. Draw a trapezoid where the eye socket will go. 2.Inside the trapezoid, draw a circle for the eye socket. 3. In the center of the circle, draw two concentric circles—like the bull’s-eye of a target. Find the Light Draw a small arrow near the eye that shows the direction of the light. This cue will remind you to incorporate the shadow shapes and highlights, created by your light source, on the surface and adjacent areas of the eye. Put a Lid on It ● Put one triangle above the eye and another below it. Voilà! You have the upper and lower eyelids. ● Paint or draw the shadowed side of the eyelid first (top and bottom)…

Olive trees roll across the hills in the background, and roses weave across the fence along the dirt road that leads to the studio of Lucy MacGillis, located in the Italian region of Umbria. A palette table caked with remnant paint dries in the sun. The trees rustle in the breeze, and the dirt from the fields floats across the gravel to the door of the old stone building where the artist lives and paints. This landscape makes nature prominent, and so it seems fitting that MacGillis is dedicated to using natural earth pigments in her paintings. FROM LABORATORY TO STUDIO MacGillis hadn’t always aspired to become an artist. Certainly, she drew and painted as a child, but she also volunteered through high school at a pathology laboratory in Pittsfield,…

gallery representation is the goal of many artists, and conversations on the topic usually focus on what artists hope to get from the association. Recognizing that gallery representation involves investment on both sides of the relationship increases the chances for success and mitigates misunderstandings. A gallery doesn’t simply accept your work; a gallery embraces you as an artist, both now and in the future. Gallerists represent artists as well as individual works. They meet with collectors, pitch to curators, cultivate press and develop shows. The daily work of a gallery also involves the inevitable staffing, accounting, emailing and management issues of most other businesses. Just as good gallerists try to support the studio practice of their artists, artists can help galleries by recognizing the demands of that work. GALLERIST CHALLENGES…

egmond is a village—actually three villages, now part of the municipality of Bergen—situated near Amsterdam and overlooking the North Sea. Historically, Egmond was bound to its fishing industry until it became a seaside spa in the late 19th century. Its greatest claim is that René Descartes, the philosopher and mathematician, settled there in the 1630s after his theories were condemned by the University of Utrecht. Whatever its attraction for Descartes, Egmond doesn’t seem to have caught on as a creative retreat for another 250 years, when a couple of American painters chose it as the site of an art colony. George Hitchcock (1850–1913) moved there in the early 1880s and was followed soon thereafter by Gari Melchers (1860–1932). Both were engaged by Holland’s culture, people and landscape. Each was influenced…

“Camille Pissarro [French, 1830–1903], because—while I may not like his paintings as much as I like Monet’s—from everything I’ve read, I think he had a more generous personality.” MARION BODDY-EVANS ARTIST, INSTRUCTOR AND WRITER Spring Morning, Cloudy, Eragny 1900; oil on canvas, 25¾ x32 by Camille Pissarro TOKYO FUJI ART MUSEUM, TOKYO, JAPAN (WIKIART VISUAL ART ENCYCLOPEDIA) “I would love to spend time with Chuck Close [American, 1940–]. He has the ability to cut through to the essence of what is required to create art, and he never lapses into ‘art speak.’” JOHN SALMINEN ARTIST AND INSTRUCTOR “I’d choose J.M.W. Turner [English, 1775–1851]. I’d love to spend a day painting outdoors with him—to see, talk, listen and learn, watching how he creates light and space using ‘vapors of steam and…

The objective of the landscape painter is to guide viewers deep into a space through the use of color and composition. I believe that colors and textures are key to informing the seasons—particularly the transitional seasons from fall to winter and winter to spring. My own appetite for silver, blue and lavender, for example, tends to spike as winter approaches, while my desire for pink and green emerges with the approach of spring. In addition to color, a composition that leads viewers through a painting is crucial. In all of the wintry works featured here, you’ll see that the painter has the viewer “enter” the scene from the lower right and follow a serpentine route of ascension—whether a physical road or path or a visual illusion—or meander across a flat…

Ohio GOLDEN NEEDLES: EMBROIDERY ARTS FROM KOREA THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART CLEVELAND, OHIO CLEVELANDART.ORG MARCH 8 THROUGH JULY 26, 2020 “Golden Needles: Embroidery Arts from Korea” will show loaned textile pieces from the Seoul Museum of Craft Art, including ceremonial robes, folding screens, gift-wrapping cloth and wedding fans, all created at the hands of anonymous women artists from Korea. The textiles mostly belonged to philanthropic collectors Dong-hwa Huh and Young-suk Park, a couple renowned for their passion for textile preservation. The pair donated their entire collection to the Seoul Museum of Craft Art in May 2018, and this exhibition honors their legacy. The women artists celebrated in this exhibition lived during the Joseon period, a dynastic kingdom that lasted from 1392 until 1910, known for its patriarchal policies and…

World famous neurologist, philosopher and writer Oliver Sacks acknowledged the mysterious healing power of gardens: “I cannot say exactly how nature exerts its calming and organizing effects on our brains, but I have seen in my patients the restorative and healing powers of nature and gardens … . Gardens and nature are more powerful than any medication.” The garden has maintained an influential position throughout the history of philosophy, art and literature—a potent symbol of an ordered life and an ordered mind. The 18th-century French philosopher Voltaire filled his ribald satire Candide with gardens, both fanciful and practical. The novel famously ends with the oft-stated dictate, “We must cultivate our garden.” Fine artists have envisioned the biblical Garden of Eden in a variety of styles and media, from the painting…

When Artists Magazine asked North Carolina-based artist Rachel Campbell to be part of its garden issue, she admits she was skeptical. “I never considered myself a painter of gardens,” says the New Zealand-born artist, laughing. “But, once I started thinking about it, I realized my paintings are full of gardens and objects that relate to nature and growth.” Botanical imagery abounds in Campbell’s work, from interiors teeming with floral patterns to front porches replete with potted plants. Towering trees and lush lawns set scenes in suburban America, while twisting vines and colorful blossoms reveal beauty in unexpected places. “Plants are often an integral part of the stories I wish to tell,” she says. Gardens are cultivated by people, and when seen uninhabited, they bear the presence of their creators. In…

Paul B. Dixon Cape Town, South Africa facebook.com @ Paul B Dixon wildlife studio Morning Drinks, Tsumcor oil on linen, 32x63 “Morning Drinks, Tsumcor depicts a herd of kudu at the Tsumcor waterhole, in Etosha, Namibia. I’ve spent many hours at this place with sketchbook and pencils in hand and camera at the ready, soaking up the atmosphere that’s unique to Africa. The painting took me about six weeks, working about eight hours every day. There was a good amount of wiping off, redrawing and repositioning before I was satisfied with the composition.” Jeri Greenberg Leland, North Carolina jerigreenbergart.com It’s Always Orange at the Goody Goody Omelet House pastel on paper, 18x24 “We had just relocated and were making many trips to home improvement stores when we decided to stop…

Water Lily Pond by Claude Monet ca 1917/19; oil on canvas, 51½x79½ THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO “If ever an artist lived an existence that followed his unique design, it was Claude Monet [French, 1840-1926]. This passionate gardener fulfilled his unsurpassed vision in magnificent scale with the execution of a series of monumental water lily paintings—work that this Father of Impressionism would eventually gift to his home country. Water Lily Pond, although not as large as other work in the series, communicates serenity, though painted during a time of world war. The texture of Monet’s fluid impasto gestures signify floating blossoms and imply the underlying pond fauna in horizontal infinity. As a grateful voyager permitted to paint in the solitude of Monet’s beloved gardens, I’ve seen the lavender sky and…