Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2019 i Watercolor Artist

for me, and I suspect for many of us, our visions of world-famous cities are significantly shaped by painters’ legendary portrayals of these places—the Parisian views of Camille Pissarro and Claude Monet, for example, or Gustave Caillebotte. At the root of these memorable interpretations are artists with a personal connection to the places they’re painting. Tim Saternow is an artist who identifies with that kind of personal connection. Though he can appreciate the grandeur of other urban hotspots, he’ll never find anything that captivates him like the visual excitement of New York City—a subject that offers plenty of technical challenge. On page 56, Saternow describes the value-centric strategy he uses to make sense of the city’s overwhelming “cacophony of color, texture and shapes.” Artist James Toogood thinks of his city…

The elements of a standout painting are sometimes elusive. What’s puzzling to one person might be enlightening to another. This layering of meaning is part of what makes looking at artwork such an individual experience, and it’s part of why each year’s grouping of the best paintings is unique from every other year’s. In this batch we have abstract, figurative, landscape and still life; we have joyful color and muted palettes; we have small- and large-scale works. Altogether, we have 21 paintings that evoke that gorgeous palimpsest of emotions so indicative of the best art. “My inspiration for this painting was my mom. I traveled to Hong Kong in 2014 and saw an old lady when I was strolling down the market. At the time, I was deeply impacted by…

We’re very grateful to the following art manufacturers and retailers for their material donations for the Tuscany Retreat participants. Your art products added greatly to the excitement of the ArtistNetwork’s “Retreat to Tuscany.” • Maimeri (maimeri.it) professional watercolors • Blick Art Materials (dickblick.com) canvas backpacks • Stillman & Birn (stillmanandbirn.com) mixed-media sketchbooks • Fabriano (fabriano.com) Artistico watercolor paper • General Pencil Company, Inc.(generalpencil.com) drawing pencils and erasers We’d also like to thank Silvia Pigozzo, Spannocchia program director, and all the other wonderful people at the property. And, of course, a big thank you to Thomas W Schaller for sharing his time and talents.…

Wendy Artin ( wendyartin.com ) was born in Boston, and was an avid artist as a child. “Drawing was a way to keep myself entertained in the museums where my parents brought me, a way to express myself as an awkward teenager,” she says. She attended a liberal arts college “for practical purposes,” majoring in French literature at the University of Pennsylvania while filling her free time with art classes. Afterward, she attended art school, first at the École des Beaux-Arts, in Paris, and then for a master’s of fine art at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, in Boston. She spent some time traveling and painting in Central America and Europe before settling in Rome. She has since exhibited her work widely…

In his large urban watercolors, award-winning artist Tim Saternow ( timsaternow.com ) reveals the fleeting beauty of the old factories and gritty streets of New York City. His work has been exhibited in numerous galleries throughout the U.S. and internationally, and has been featured in a number of art publications, including the competition series, Splash , Volumes 12, 13 and 18 . Saternow teaches workshops on painting, drawing and linear perspective in New York City, and in workshops at the Art Students League of New York. The artist is represented by the Kobalt Gallery, in Provincetown, Mass.…

John Bayalis ( bayalistudio.com ) has been the recipient of numerous awards and has painted abroad in Ireland, England and France. Noted for his distinct realist style, his skill at handling contemporary themes and subject matter has earned him acclaim from art critics and collectors throughout the United States. His work is featured in both private and public collections, and is available at Leslie Levy Fine Art Gallery, in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Woodfield Fine Art Gallery, in St. Petersburg, Fla.…

I think of my landscapes as if they’re portraits—“portraits of places.” Some of my most constant landscape muses have been the cities of New York, Philadelphia and Venice, plus the island of Bermuda. These distinct locations have provided me with the opportunity to explore an endless variety of atmosphere, light, color and texture, enhanced by seasonal variations and changing times of day. Water is integral to both Venice and Bermuda, in more than one way. For instance, both Venice and Bermuda are humid. The moist air impacts visibility constantly in both locations, whereas it only occasionally affects Philadelphia and New York City in a significant way. Humidity can both intensify and diminish visibility. On the other hand, a location’s latitude, or how far it is from the equator, affects how…

“The human figure is a source of endless inspiration,” says Susan Weintraub ( susanweintraub.com ). “Every figure and every pose is unique. As soon as this model stood on the platform in my Friday figure painting class, I knew I’d have fun painting his dreadlocks. I was also struck by the contrast of his long, flowing hair next to his angular features. Generally, I find a profile pose less interesting than a three-quarter view, but the clearly defined planes of the model’s face made it easy to see and render the forms.” YOUR TURN! Share a watercolor sketch painted from a live model. @ArtistsNetwork on Instagram: #everywatercolor_figure “OPEN BOOK” SPONSORED BY…

Located on a nature reserve amid the rolling hills of Tuscany in central Italy sits Tenuta di Spannocchia, a 1,100-acre organic farm and guest house. This is the site where, last September, 18 painters gathered for the “Retreat to Tuscany,” a week-long painting workshop, presented by ArtistsNetwork.com. The verdant hills, dotted with ancient cypress, the olive groves and vineyards, the farm’s charming villa and outbuildings, all made for magical vistas. But the main attraction for these artist-travelers was the opportunity to learn and paint with celebrated watercolor artist Thomas W Schaller. On a typical day, Schaller would demonstrate his techniques in the morning and afternoon, and also provide one-on-one assistance. Participant Candace Stephens loved hearing Schaller explain his thought process while he painted. “One thing I learned is the importance…

Unity. It’s the basic building block of any visual composition. It’s what makes a painting a harmonious, integrated whole. In both representational and abstract painting, there are many ways to achieve unity: placing elements close together; using repetition; continuing a line, an area or an edge of a pattern; using a grid; or using a dominant color, texture, line, size, shape or value. How an artist unifies a painting is a highly personal aesthetic choice. I love to paint New York City, but it’s a cacophony of color, texture and shapes that can be overwhelming to the eye and brain. I’ve found that using value to unify my watercolor paintings helps me grapple with this complex landscape. Value is the structure that holds my paintings together, and it’s the first…

FOR THE HOME Orpington Linen Tea Towels [$34] This set of two tea towels features the paint-swatchy design “Watercolor Polka Dot In Indigo” by artist “dinaramay” and includes a hanging tab. Use them as studio workhorses to keep hands dry, and the towels will soften with use.ROOSTERY.COM Gauze Robe/ Watercolor [$280] Hand-painted with a limited run, this cotton double-gauze robe is just right for early mornings in the studio and ready-made inspiration. Wear it with the belt, or keep the sides open for a full-day use duster. STATETHELABEL.COM ON THE SHELVES Watercolour Flowers [$25] Perfect for the budding artist, Julie King’s Watercolour Flowers includes detailed instructions and six pieces of watercolor paper with drawings of tulips, hibiscus, sweet peas and other flowers. Just supply the paint! SEARCHPRESSUSA.COM Watercolour Landscapes [$25]…

as a watercolor instructor for many years, I’ve observed that some students fall too easily into what I call the dreaded “mid-tone crisis”: Once they’ve painted over a white surface, they don’t know where to place the darks. In short, they have a mid-tone mess on their hands. I’m particularly aware of this because I’m passionate about notan, a Japanese concept focused on the balance between light and dark—and because I’m a shape and value painter. I like drama and contrast and interesting shapes defined by values. Here’s my super-simple technique for using a three-value notan study and India ink to take the guesswork out of the painting process and produce work with impact. IN THE INK After selecting a subject and locating the light source, I create thumbnails that…

• Use complements to help liven up shadows. This was an eye opener! — Katherine McGah • Find the light. And then play with it through watercolor. — Janet Weir • Put gravity to work. I never considered painting watercolor with my paper tilted vertically, although I’ve seen others do it. Tom’s statement was ‘Gravity is your friend.’ I found it to be so true. — Margaret Park • Find meaning. And that will lead me to find my “voice” with which to express on my canvas what I see and feel. — Janet Weir • First, decide what’s most important. Plein air can be difficult. There’s just so much out there to choose from! Tom showed us how to decide what’s important and then build the painting around that…

The airy quality of Artin’s cityscapes and landscapes is a result, in part, of the variety of edges that she maintains in a single piece. “If you’re working in monochromatic watercolor, there just aren’t that many elements that you’re controlling, but edges are one of them,” she says. “I love edges—soft edges; edges with a bit of blossom; crisp, watery edges; and ragged edges. Different parts of the brush, and different brushes, make radically different edges.” The main challenge, of course, is determining which edges will be soft and which will be hard. “My basic rule of thumb is that you follow what you see in front of you,” the artist says. “Where you see a crisp line, you want a crisp edge. Where you see a fuzzy line, you…

There are many fascinating examples of grisaille from the medieval and Renaissance periods. The 1305 frescoes of Giotto (Italian, 1276-1337) in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy, for example, contain grisaille figures of “vices and virtues.” Michelangelo (Italian, 1475-1564) painted grisaille putti—beautiful cherubic babies, holding up the entablatures in the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Perhaps one of the most astonishing examples is the work on the outside hinged panels of the Ghent Altarpiece, painted by Flemish artist Jan van Eyck (1390-1441). The altarpiece, which depicts Christian saints, was commissioned for St Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium. In many churches, triptychs were displayed with panels closed, and visitors had to pay a fee to see the color paintings inside.…

SURFACE Bayalis prefers Arches hot-pressed watercolor paper. “I’ve got to use 300 pound,” he says, “because it’s thick enough that I can really soak it and saturate it with layers of color. My fog paintings require a lot of wetting. They’re soaked with water and carefully layered to get those irregularities I want in the sky, and even in the foreground.” PAINTS Bayalis likes Sennelier’s tube watercolors for their density. “Their warm colors, in particular, are rich and bright.” He also uses Holbein and Winsor & Newton, especially cooler hues such as cerulean blue, manganese blue and violet. Green tube colors run the risk of appearing too artificial in a landscape painting, Bayalis says, so he rarely uses them alone. “I almost always use a yellow hue to begin, and…