Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2020 i Artists Magazine

What’s an art book that’s on your reading list this year? “Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Art (2018) by Mary Gabriel.” JIMMY WRIGHT ARTIST AND PRESIDENT, PASTELSOCIETY OF AMERICA “Sam Francis: The Artist’s Materials (2019), by Debra Burchette-Lere and Aneta Zebala. I had the pleasure of helping the authors identify art material brands from photos taken in Sam Francis’ studio several decades ago. It was a challenge to decipher the manufacturers and media he used from the tubes and jars of paint.” MICHAEL SKALKA CHAIRMAN, ASTM D01.57, ARTISTS’ MATERIALS STANDARDS “The first volume of The Lives of Lucian Freud, (2019). Intriguingly, in the U.S., this volume is called ‘The Restless Years, 1922–1968,’…

I confess that I’ve had a love-hate relationship with thumbnail sketches throughout my painting life. The more I paint, however, the more I love doing my thumbnails. Done right, they capture the kernel of inspiration that steers me through the whole painting process, and they keep me inspired and focused when I inevitably start to lose my way. If you’re a planner, you likely don’t need convincing of the value of thumbnails. If you prefer to wander and see what the day brings, then you may need a little persuasion. While I like to be organized, I dislike being held to predictable schedules—itineraries make me nervous. Yet I am a thumbnail convert because, to me, they’re not prescriptive and rigid but clarifying and inspiring. Even better, they free me from…

These are a few measures that can make the drawing experience less stressful and more rewarding: • As an artist who relies on original photo references for many of my projects, I’ve found it helpful to elevate the photo from the drawing surface. To do this, I constructed a small angled box out of foam board. I then attached the photo to the box with a strip of artist tape. • Studio drawing sessions can be taxing on the eyes—and mind—so I make it a habit to take regular breaks. In recent years, I’ve found it beneficial to work on several parts of the drawing instead of concentrating on only one area at a time. This helps me to stay fresh, focused and motivated. • I make it a point…

The 10 women who served on our nominating panel are all inspiring artists in their own right. We supplied little criteria, simply asking each panelist to name a woman artist—no longer living—who has been significant to their creative life. It’s interesting to see how artistic influence passes forward and to consider how these 10 artists supply inspiration to new, emerging artists today. MARY SAUER (marysauerart.com) is a contemporary realist painter and two-time recipient of an Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant. She spent three years as a studio painter for Jeff Koons in his Manhattan studio and has served on the faculty of The Portrait Society of America’s Art of the Portrait Conference. Her work is represented by Sloane Merrill Gallery, in Boston, and Meyer Gallery, in Park City, Utah. MARY WHYTE…

Over the years, Crump has refined his methods and generously shared his insights with his many students and on instructional videos. He offers these tips for great compositions: 1. Choose a canvas that suits the shape and layout of your subject. It can be easier to fit a subject into a square panel, but I find a panoramic shape to be more exciting. A vertical panel can work well with the right subject. 2. Generally, a central horizon that divides a panel equally can be a problem (although there are exceptions). Try something outside the norm. A low horizon with a big, stormy sky is always exciting. Alternatively, try a high horizon with a low focal point and a foreground with strong lights and darks. 3. Don’t forget to include…

Paint: Acrylic paints of various brands. The artist uses matte or ultra-matte medium to create a flat, rich surface that’s sometimes mistaken for gouache. Brushes: Winsor & Newton series 7 sable brushes for delicate work; less expensive brushes for other work Support: Clayboard panels, YUPO synthetic paper, Arches 300-lb. watercolor paper or Rives BFK printmaking paper Miscellaneous: An airbrush, which the artist uses on occasion to spray fluid acrylics for soft passages…

In his short life spanning just 37 years, Raphael (née Raffaello Santi de’ Urbino, 1483–1520) accomplished incredible feats not only in painting and architecture but also in drawing, design and archaeology. Like fellow Italian Renaissance artists Michelangelo (1475–1564) and Leonardo da Vinci, (1452–1519) there was no limit to the accomplishments this prolific artist and inventor made in multiple disciplines; each quantum leap forward in one field only served to advance the collective accomplishments of the others. It was this great meeting of intellect and ingenuity that Raphael and his contemporaries cultivated in the early 16th century that helped lift humanity out of the Dark Ages and into the heights of the High Renaissance—when wisdom, invention and sublime art reigned supreme. The National Gallery in London is honoring the life and…

Mandalay ... the name alone evokes faraway, exotic lands, as expressed in Rudyard Kipling’s 1890 poem, Mandalay, which inspired Frank Sinatra’s 1958 hit On the Road to Mandalay: “Come you back to Mandalay, Where the old Flotilla lay: Can’t you ‘ear their paddles chunkin’ from Rangoon to Mandalay?” Mandalay is the second largest city in Myanmar (also referred to by its British colonial name, “Burma”). Both city and country remain an exotic world apart. Myanmar is one of the few places on the planet that has not been overwhelmed by the tides of global homogenization. Its largest city, Yangon (British colonial Rangoon) is one of the few historic Asian capitals to retain its colonial urban fabric—albeit faded and crumbling. It provides a picture of what Singapore, Bangkok and Penang must…

Like most artists, John Crump has experimented with several media. For a time, he painted with acrylics, using them like watercolors on large canvases, but once he started painting outdoors, acrylics frustrated him. “A friend of mine went up high in the mountains and painted with acrylics. It was so cold that the paints froze on the canvas. He placed his finished work on the back seat of his car, and drove home. When he got there, he found that the heat of the car had thawed the paint, and it had run all down the canvas. So now I work only in oils. I love them, anyway. To me they seem to get to the meat of what painting is about.” Crump had considered trying a more contemporary style,…

Eleanor Crow has no difficulty pinpointing the time when she realized what she wanted to do with her life. At age 11 she was painting a sprig of holly in her first year at secondary school. “I remember attempting to mix the three primary-colored powder paints we were given in order to use them in more interesting ways,” she says. “I was looking for dark blues in the shadows and deep glossy reds while trying to capture the fluctuations of light and shade. That’s probably when I realized I wanted a future in art of some kind.” Awakened to Color Fast forward a few decades, and Crow’s fascination with color and the impact of light, or lack of it, has become ingrained in her work. Everyday objects are elevated to…

FIND THE CENTER In her book, Mindful Thoughts for Artists: Finding Flow and Creating Calm (Leaping Hare Press), artist, lecturer and yoga instructor Georgina Hooper says “Over a thousand years ago, the Chinese Chan Buddhists practiced a system of art that incorporated concentrated meditation into their method of painting. ... It was believed that painting could bring clarity to the mind, shape and fortify character and even lead to enlightened states.” Through 25 reflective essays, Hooper helps readers tap into a practice of mindful creativity that enhances well-being and increases the pleasure of art-making. UP, DOWN AND ALL AROUND Admit it. Haven’t you ever wished you could pick up a museum piece, examine it within an inch of your nose and turn it around in your hands. sketchfab.com offers the…

there was a time when I thought art was simply about putting paint on canvas or like surfaces. Art schools taught little more than that, and all the great masters were painters. Who was I to argue? I got my start in painting with watercolor, quite enjoyed it and even began to show some proficiency. I dabbled with oils briefly, but I’m not the most patient sort, and they seemed to take forever to dry. Then I discovered acrylics, which combined the best of both worlds. I was hooked. There was another revelation to come when I stumbled upon matte medium. I like to call it “goop” because, well, it’s goopy. Matte medium comes in liquid form, but once it settles, it’s unequaled as a fixative. That changed everything for…

On August 26th, 1920, the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote, became law in the United States. In celebration of this centennial year, we invited 10 award-winning women artists to nominate a female artist from history whom they’ve admired and from whom they’ve drawn inspiration directly or indirectly. While some of the names have become as familiar as many of their male contemporaries, others are less known and illuminate the struggle for recognition that many talented women artists experienced in the past—a reality that is slowly being rectified today. Cecilia Beaux AMERICAN: 1855–1942 NOMINATED BY MARY SAUER The realist portrait painter Cecilia Beaux split her time between Paris and Pennsylvania. The artist considered herself a “new woman” and declared she’d never marry, choosing instead to devote her time…

Long before COVID-19 wreaked havoc around the globe, Cleveland, Ohio artist Amy Casey was consumed with the plight of the planet, the precariousness of civilization and the fragility of our way of life. Using images of buildings as stand-ins for human action and endeavor, Casey has made a large series of paintings that explores and exposes various mechanisms of catastrophe. In some images, piles of buildings are stacked so high, they begin to topple under their own weight; in others, they explode into the sky, or we find them lying wrecked and shattered into rubble. Some recent images show buildings more or less subsumed by floods and surrounded by oceans of water. “My work,” says Casey, “frequently touches on or is driven by my anxiety and hopes for the world.…

1. Draw every day. 2.Paint every day. When you have several paintings going, it doesn’t matter so much when one of them doesn’t work out. 3. Regularly look at and learn from the work of artists you like. Study not only single works, but the whole development of a painter. 4.Don’t worry if you have to take on a job outside your painting—so did Vermeer. 5. Frequently gather and reassess your work. 6.After you’ve painted something, paint it again—differently and under other conditions. 7. Tutor-led classes are of value no matter what stage you’re at in your skills. Musicians take master classes; they’re useful for artists, too. 8.Don’t worry about exhibiting your work until you feel you have enough to show. 9.It’s more important to explore what interests you than…

Don’t obsess about picking the perfect location. Instead of looking for a super-interesting subject to draw, look for what’s super-interesting to draw in the subject at hand. Keep your gear simple. Pare down your kit to those materials you really love and trust. If you don’t have the perfect pen with you, be creative and improvise with what you have. It doesn’t have to all happen on location. Spend time observing and drawing as much as you can, but if you get interrupted by weather or an impatient companion, just take a few reference pictures. Think of them as memory joggers, not as images to slavishly copy when you’re back home. Fit your approach to the time allotted. If you don’t have time to draw every detail, look for the…

“All one has to do is take one look at this masterful oil painting by Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917) to understand why the artist is so revered. Painted when he was 46 years old, we see in this work the amalgamation of the artist’s classical academic training and his fascination with ukiyo-e. Translated literally as “pictures of the floating world,” these Japanese paintings and woodblock prints featured radical compositional placement, an approach that heavily influenced the French Impressionists, as evidenced here in Degas’ daring placement of the seated figure and the dancers who fall out of the composition on the right. With his use of bold contrast in value and color intensity in the outlining of the instructor and his counterbalancing placement of the three dancers in the upper left…