Innholdsfortegnelse for March/April 2022 i Artists Magazine

July 2020 was the first time since the beginning of the pandemic that I took to the air to cross the country. The notion of sitting in a too-small seat gazing out a tiny porthole at the world below seemed a great novelty and release from captivity. I passed the time by sketching what I saw (see Airliner Sketch, below). On that summer day, the country was blanketed with thunderclouds, and their backlit forms from above were spectacular. The next day, in the comfort and convenience of my studio, I was able to decant the experience of the clouds from my sketches and photographs. Wanting to awaken the dormant studio and my own equally dormant facilities, I set for myself another fast exercise: capturing the amazing forms of the previous…

Painting a tangible object, such as a skull, is fairly straightforward. Basically, you look at it carefully and paint what you see, as I did with Skull Study (left), but how do you paint a realistic picture of something that you can’t observe or photograph? That’s a challenge I often face when painting dinosaurs or scenes from history or fantasy. The process I use follows five foundational steps: 1. Plan the basic idea with rough sketches and words. 2. Develop the best compositional idea from imagination. 3. Gather references such as maquettes, figure models and image clippings from various printed materials. 4.Plan the final image with a comprehensive line drawing, charcoal drawing or color studies. 5. Execute the final oil painting. This process comes from studying the working methods of…

TWO OF NOTE The folk-art style of artist Doris Lee (1904–83) and her depictions of uncomplicated enjoyments resonated with Americans worn out by the Great Depression. Later, her artistic progression toward even more simplified forms meshed well with the post-World War II rise of abstract art. Her work, once extremely popular and also collected by major museums, is featured in the book Simple Pleasures: The Art of Doris Lee (D Giles Limited), by Melissa Wolfe, curator of American Art, St. Louis Art Museum, plus other contributors. An accompanying exhibition can be viewed at the Figge Art Museum, in Davenport, Iowa, February 6–May 8; the Vero Beach Museum of Art, in Florida, June 5–September 18; and the Dixon Gallery and Gardens, in Memphis, Tenn., October 30, 2022–January 15, 2023. Laura Knight…

artists and other seekers often refer to the arc of their work as their “journey.” When writing of painters, art historians trace such journeys from painting to painting, chronologically marking growth as a linear progression punctuated by internal and external forces of change. Extended months of self-isolation due to the pandemic plus the societal unrest of the last year were surely such catalysts for change. As was true for many others, the cancellations of shows, travel, classes and conventions altered the infrastructure that supported much of my creative life. Positive and negative emotions waxed and waned; however, during one period of creative energy in the summer of 2020, I found not only great solace in my studio practice but also a deeper understanding of my personal aesthetic. The progression was…

“The Brandywine River Museum of Art, in Chadds Ford, Pa. The gallery of work by Andrew Wyeth is of particular interest to me. While the artist’s work has been widely collected by museums around the world, it’s rarely shown as a large collection. The Brandywine is the place to go to immerse oneself in the work of one of America’s foremost painters of the 20th century. MARIO ROBINSON ARTIST “Designed to echo its desert environment, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, in Santa Fe, N.M., is a favorite single-artist museum. Opened in 1997, in the area where the artist lived and worked, its plain white walls provide the perfect backdrop for O’Keeffe’s bold abstractions.” JAYNE YANTZ INSTRUCTOR OF ART HISTORY, PENNSYLVANIA ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS “I love the Morgan Museum, in…

Anne Abgott CORTEZ, FLORIDA Palm I (watercolor on paper, 30x22) My inspiration for Palm I was an old photo I found when going through my reference stash. Yes, a printed photo—not digital! I loved the drama and movement of the composition. It had all the elements I look for: papa, mama and baby shapes, a range of values from one to 10 and places where I could leave the white of the paper. I had yet to use the photo for a painting because I didn’t like the color—too much green. So, after loading the photo onto my smart phone, I used the editing tools to play with various color combinations until I found one I liked. I also cropped, flipped and played with the image. I knew from the…

1 Abstract studies (oil on board, 4x9 each): The process for creating Garden of Hope began with an elusive feeling. I imagined myself witnessing a festival or a procession taking place in a flower garden at twilight, with humans and dinosaurs interacting in a mysterious way. I experimented with two abstract studies in oil. With these painterly pieces, I considered the emotional effect of the colors and the light. I tried the idea in a horizontal format for an epic, wide-screen feeling. 2 First thumbnails (pencil and gouache on gray paper, 8x9 each): I decided to zoom in on a single female figure and her saurian companion passing through a garden of flowers. 3 More thumbnails (pencil, gouache and markers, 2x3 each): At this stage, I began thinking about calling…

It came down to one last available campsite late in the day. Without it, artists Ellie Wilson and Charity Anderson would have driven back to their San Francisco Bay-area homes and not met with their mentor, John Burton, the next morning at his studio in Carmel, Calif. And had Burton not looked over their paintings, he might not have had that spark of inspiration that led to the formation of The Storytellers, a group consisting of four talented young artists: Ellie Wilson, Charity Anderson, Trijsten Leach and Tad Retz. They did find a campsite. Burton did suggest they form a group, and recently, more than two years after meeting with Burton, they’ve gathered with me via Zoom to share the experience of painting and growing together. “Burton critiqued our work,”…

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 Annie Strack June 2022, Bretagne, France With a special invitation to visit the Sennelier and Raphael companies. June 2023, Fabriano, Italy Visit AnnieStrackArt.com for a complete listing of workshops, classes, and demos. Email info@AnnieStrackArt.com for more information. Art Center Sarosata March 10, 2022, Batik – Essentials - Judy Lyon March 11, 2022, Mixed Media & Collage, Elena De La Ville March 17–18, 2022, Painting Water and Beaches - Joseph Melançon March 22–24, 2022, All…

my awareness and appreciation of clouds began years ago when I moved from New England to California. In New England people say, “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes; it will change.” Hardly a day goes by there without a dynamic and dramatic display of cloud activity. Coastal California isn’t without dramatic weather, but it tends to be concentrated in the winter months. The rest of the year offers long spells of clear blue skies or days on end of flat gray skies, due to coastal fog. Absence only made my heart grow fonder, so the cloud formations I observed during my travels became all the more cherished. My life as an artist grew from my work as an architect, for which the drawing of buildings is stock-in-trade.…

“Visiting The Frick Collection in New York was a magical day for me. I loved seeing Vermeer up close.” —KATE FOWLER “The Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida.” —ALI K PAPA “Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design. It’s organized in such a way that you can see one culture’s influence on another’s. ” —LINN RICHARDSON “The Rothko Chapel, in Houston, is a peaceful, inspirational space for reflection. I’d visit it daily if I lived there.” —ESTON W. MCGEE…

1 I selected a neutral tone for my support: acid-free book binder’s board. Then I double-coated the surface with rabbitskin glue. (Clear acrylic gesso is a good substitute for a traditional hide glue.) After drawing shapes in vine charcoal, I blocked in the shadows using raw umber thinned in solvent. 2 I painted the forms in the light area using titanium white, lemon yellow, ochre, Indian yellow, magenta, cadmium yellow green, manganese blue, raw umber and black. 3 The purple pattern was added using a soft nylon brush. I removed the cut artichoke at the left with a rag dipped in solvent. 4 Once the layer was dry, I cut a sheet of acetate and clipped it to the board (4a). Next I applied a mixture of red and black…

In 19th-century French ateliers, initial sketches were called première pensées (first thoughts). The goal was originality, spontaneity and sincerity. Art critic Denis Diderot (1713–1784) said a sketch should be “a work of fire and genius” and the finished picture should be the result of patient study, long toil and consummate experience. Before you start drawing or painting your little color sketches, spend time mixing a family of colors with a palette knife. Lay the colors down with a bristle brush or a painting knife. Paint quickly without thinking too much.…

For Ellie Wilson (artellie.com), life as an artist started at a young age. She was born and raised in the Wasatch Mountains, in Utah, which instilled in her a passion for natural and beauty. After graduating with a BFA, Wilson’s first solo show sold out and launched her into her career as a professional artist. Since then she has been painting tirelessly, working to master a variety of scenes in more than six states and 18 countries. She recently moved back to Utah, where she’s excited to be painting the landscape of her home state once again. Charity Anderson (charityandersonfineart.com) graduated with a BFA from Brigham Young University, Idaho in 2015. One year later she moved to Northern California where she enjoyed capturing the diverse landscape in the San Francisco…