Innholdsfortegnelse for January/February 2022 i Artists Magazine

Dean Cornwell (1892–1960) was best known for his dramatically composed and richly painted magazine illustrations. His nickname, “Dean of Illustrators,” reflected his reputation among colleagues and publishers. In the mid-1920s, Cosmopolitan magazine signed Cornwell to a contract for $100,000 a year, more than Babe Ruth was being paid at the same time to play for the Yankees. “In the mid-1920s, Cosmopolitan magazine signed Cornwell to a contract for $100,000 a year, more than Babe Ruth was being paid at the same time to play for the Yankees.” Cornwell was born in Louisville, Ky., and moved to Chicago to study at the Art Institute with Harvey Dunn (1884–1952). Dunn’s influence was powerful, but Cornwell was more suited to urbane and exotic subjects than the American frontier themes favored by his teacher.…

“Setting the table” before painting brightens the ritual and enhances creativity. Like the careful precision of a Japanese tea ceremony or the laying out of china and silverware before a special meal, making a conscious effort to set the table paves the way for new possibilities every time you enter the studio. Setting the table in a consistent fashion each time you begin painting will help your hands and body become more fluent with where things are in your space, so you can spend more time and energy painting. You should never have to think about where you need to lay your hand to grasp for what you want in a moment. Imagine how disorienting it would be if, every time you went to drive your car, the steering wheel…

THE POWER OF THE PORTRAIT Russian-born Zhenya Gershman, originally from Moscow, is a Los Angeles-based artist who focuses primarily on portraiture—a natural outcome of her lifelong curiosity about and empathy for people of all walks of life. “I want to connect with people on a deeper level,” she says. “I always want to know more. When you reach below the surface—past the mundane, the everyday—you start lifting things that are deeper and universal and beautiful about each individual.” Gershman refers to the intimacy of the portrait-painting process as a “tango”—a dance that begins with the connection between artist and model but then extends to the interaction a person has with the artwork. “The viewer continues the dance,” she says. Part of the power of Gershman’s portraiture is the scale, which…

recently I’ve found myself painting at a particular place again and again. This secluded location, which I’ve lovingly named Willow Pond, is a couple of hundred yards behind my house. At first it was just an interesting and convenient area to paint, but over time it has become so much more. I’m drawn to this beautiful pond, surrounded by willow trees and providing home to beaver, fish, turtles, birds and butterflies. Here, I’ve found my muse. Have you ever wondered what drew Claude Monet to paint the lily ponds in his gardens for so many years—or why Andrew Wyeth painted so close to home in the ordinary setting of his neighbor’s Kuerner Farm? I’ve discovered that, for artists, the pull to certain places is like a magnet. A familiar painting…

“If you’re meant to be an artist, nothing will stop you. People tell you to work hard, but what does that mean? Art doesn’t even feel like work if you really love it. You’ll need to be determined, patient, resourceful and flexible. No one is going to hand you a career. You might, however, get handed an opportunity. If that happens, make the most of it. Commit totally to becoming the best artist you can be. Figure out how to do a lot of different things—framing, videography, graphic design, photography, for example—so that you can do more than draw and paint. JAMES GURNEY ARTIST AND AUTHOR OF THE ILLUSTRATED BOOK SERIES DINOTOPIA “You get out in proportion to what you put in. Raw talent is great, but discipline trumps talent.…

Many contemporary figurative artists regard the late 19th-century as a high watermark of realism. Artists at the crest of this wave include the London-based John Singer Sargent, Joaquín Sorolla (Spanish) and Anders Zorn (Swedish). All three manifested a technique of bold paint application, exquisite form modeling and exacting drawing—producing an international style that hasn’t been equaled since. By the turn of the 20th century, however, new talents and visions quickly eclipsed these achievements, and new technologies and Modernist ideas turned painting toward a more subjective direction. I recently was reminded of those 19th-century painters with the passing of Chuck Close. I find his work in sympathy with at least one of his realist predecessors: the Italian artist Antonio Mancini (1852–1930). Mancini, a native of Rome, was a gifted art student,…

CAITLIN WINNER Craryville, New York caitlinwinner.com Is There Anything New? (oil on linen, 60½ x48) IRENA ROMAN Scituate, Massachusetts irenaroman.com Wayne (transparent watercolor on paper, 32x21½ ) WILLIAM A. KARAFFA Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Instagram.com/billkaraffa The Modern Human (oil on canvas, 72x48) JANVIER ROLLANDE Harpswell, Maine instagram.com/janvierrollande Leo, Dreaming on the Edge of Time (graphite on paper, 12⅛ x14) KERRI WARNER Plumas Lake, California kerriwarner.com The Ladies Who Lunch (collage of book pages, maps, printed papers and found objects with textured background with acrylic paint on wood panel, 36x36)…

CATHERINE MEIN Virginia Beach, Virginia catherinemein.com Celestial Blue (acrylic, collage and gold leaf on watercolor paper; 41x29) MORGAN TAYLOR Northbrook, Illinois instagram.com/mxrgantaylor As I Grow (mixed media on canvas, 20x16) PAT DEWS Hobe Sound, Florida patdews.com Arctic Thaw (black gesso, white gesso and ink on printmaking paper, 22x30) MARGARET LARLHAM San Diego, California margaretlarlham.com Monkey Bush Chatter (pastel on sanded paper, 18x24) MARC SCHIMSKY Yardley, Pennsylvania marcschimsky.com Horsehead (oil and cold wax medium on cradled board, 30x30)…

The Journey Begins From the moment I arrived at Paddington station, in London, every bit of my trip was special. After a quick Sherlock Holmes-inspired pilgrimage to 221B Baker Street, in London, I boarded a train for Manchester. My heart fluttered with excitement as I observed the passing landscape out the window. The cricket fields were expected, but I was surprised by the architecture of some of the buildings, train stations and bridges—even the way the barbed wire was wound. It reminded me of India, and I realized that much of the imagery and motifs I’d always believed to be Indian when I was growing up are actually British. I traveled solo on this trip, which is always an adventure—and not so unlike the process of creating a watercolor. Much…

The interior paintings of Kenny Harris focus our attention on the wonderful mystery of the spaces we inhabit in this world. Many of the spaces depicted in the interior paintings of California artist Kenny Harris show signs of age. These are rooms with history—rooms that might have been grand once upon a time. With little in the way of decoration or furnishings, and largely devoid of people, these empty interiors beg a host of questions for the viewer: Who used to live here and where have they gone? What happened in this room? Often, the artist’s compositions include a doorway, as seen in Tuscan Interior With Chair, Borgo Finocchieto (left), so that viewers see not just a single room but another space beyond—and occasionally still another beyond it—leaving them to…

LEARN PLEIN AIR FROM THE BEST Artist and plein air workshop instructor Michael Chesley Johnson knows a thing or two about the joys and challenges of painting on site. In his book Beautiful Landscape Painting Outdoors: Mastering Plein Air (Get Creative 6) he shares what he has learned from his 45 years of experience—along with insights and lessons from an additional 14 of today’s leading landscape artists. Hundreds of images, 19 demonstrations and generous tips address a variety of techniques and approaches for capturing the inspirational outdoor moment and include all major media—watercolor, acrylic, pastel, oil and gouache. ONE-STOP RESOURCE Wouldn’t it be nice to have an endless, at-your-fingertips supply of art inspiration and resources? That’s what an Artists Network Membership is all about. Enjoy exclusive access to more than…

Surface: Blick Premier stretched cotton canvas Paints: Rembrandt Artists’ Oil Colors: titanium white, Naples yellow, yellow ochre, burnt umber, raw umber, burnt sienna, raw sienna, cadmium red light, cadmium red medium, permanent madder deep, turquoise blue, ultramarine blue deep, ultramarine violet, earth green and Van Dyck brown Brushes: Princeton synthetic flats, sizes 6 and 8 Miscellaneous: Princeton Catalyst Contours and Wedges, Utrecht artist-grade white gesso, Holbein Acryla colored gesso, Grumbacher poppyseed oil, Utrecht NOOD odorless paint thinner Learn more about Gershman’s favorite supplies at zartacademy.org/resources. All materials are available at dickblick.com.…

Chances are you already have a special place where you enjoy drawing and painting—or you can think of a nearby place you’ve been meaning to visit for an artist’s outing. Over the next few weeks or months, embrace this place as your muse by following one or more of these prompts: • Experiment with different views. Zoom in and out to find intriguing compositions. A leaf might be of interest one day, a distant horizon line the next. • Do a 360-degree painting session during which you paint a view from all directions. • Paint a series of works. You could create a new work for 30 days straight or paint the same view during different seasons. You might concentrate on a certain subject, such as trees, water reflections, rocks…

“If it’s truly what you wish to do, be patient. Set your ego aside and accept that it won’t be easy. At the same time, realize that if you put in the work, it will all be worth it. I always say, ‘It only took 10 years to become an overnight success!’ ” —ELLEN BRENNENMAN “See your art career first in your imagination. Think and act like your future artist self. Take action by creating as much art as you can, all the time realizing that you’ll never stop learning and never stop meeting challenges that help you grow.” —JILL WASEY…

In the images of Portrait of Emily in step 10 and on page 31, the string grid remains attached to the canvas board, but once the paint dried, I removed the strings. You can see a video of that process at bit.ly/graticola-removal. My graticola experience was one of both difficulty and ease. The grid removed the struggle for accuracy in drawing and color-matching because I had only to examine and match a series of 1x1-inch squares. The difficulty, though, was also due to the grid—in particular, the one on the painting surface. I often chafed at the presence of the string, which tended to hamper my ability to render forms across grid sections. On the whole, however, I came to appreciate the power of the grid’s simple but effective ability…

Year after year, as entries for the Annual Art Competition come pouring in, we editors of Artists Magazine think, How can we possibly choose a few winners from such an array of exquisite artwork and inspired artists? Fortunately, we don’t have to. Five distinguished jurors take on the challenge of selecting first-, second- and third-place winners plus five honorable mentions within their respective categories of expertise. The editors—and you, our readers—get to enjoy the results. You’ll find them revealed on the next few pages, but before celebrating these talented artists and their award-winning works, here’s an introduction to this year’s jurors, who have enabled Artists Magazine to continue the tradition of presenting the best-of-the-best in contemporary art. MEET THE JURORS JEAN PEDERSON PORTRAIT/FIGURE Jean Pederson (jeanpederson.com), recipient of the 2013…

The role dogs have played in human survival from our earliest days of hunting and dragging our prey home can’t be overestimated. People have recognized the value of our canine friends and paid homage to this relationship with innumerable images—from those etched on cave walls more than 9,000 years ago to the millions of cute canine photos we see posted on Instagram. Dogs are ferocious defenders against our enemies and loving companions in times of need. Artists from every century have found that dogs—much like our fellow humans—offer artists rich opportunities to express psychological, social and cultural meaning about specific moments in history. The Ancient World One of the earliest and most well-preserved sculptures of a dog is an endearing terr-cotta piece from ancient Greece, Dog With Puppy (opposite), which…

Missouri WOODLANDS: NATIVE AMERICAN ART FROM ST. LOUIS COLLECTIONS ST. LOUIS ART MUSEUM ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI THROUGH APRIL 24, 2022 SLAM.ORG “Woodlands: Native American Art from St. Louis Collections” is the St. Louis Art Museum’s first exhibition of indigenous art from eastern North America. It includes pieces from private collections, local institutions and its own collection. The exhibition displays carved wooden weapons and vessels, grass weavings, wood splints and embroidery made with porcupine quills and moose hair. “To harvest and process these varied materials, artists responded to radical changes in ecologies and landscapes linked to the long history of colonial settlement in the region,” says a museum spokeperson. “Most works in the exhibition date to the 19th century, an era of territorial displacement during which artists developed a robust souvenir…

Artists never stop learning. Each new painting or drawing can bring another revelation, but when you want to learn more about a specific technique, medium or style, you can’t do better than to take a workshop. Start planning now. On the following pages, you’re sure to find one or many workshops just right for you. Workshops Bob Ross Make that dream finally come true, take a Bob Ross painting class with a certified instructor, even if you’ve never painted before. These classes are local, virtual, or at the Bob Ross Art Workshop in Florida. Visit bobross.com and click Take-a-Class or call 1-800-262-7677. Year round for your convenience. D’Ambruoso Studios Classical art instruction in best locations in Italy as well as the USA. Small classes, plenty of one-on-one attention, we have…