Indholdsfortegnelse for Issue 11 Volume 3 i Artists Back to Basics

I remember my senses being enticed by art as a young boy, when my mum would sit at her easel and create her oil paintings. Even the smell and feel of the buttery consistency of the paint appealed to my senses. I remember thinking how, someday, I wanted to be able to bring my own visual interpretation of the world to life on canvas. I would draw and draw as a boy. My main focus then was trucks. Living near the highway at Narrabri gave me plenty of firsthand experience with them. “If I had to choose one thing that has helped my art the most, it would be painting outdoors. The lessons to be learnt are invaluable and just can’t be taught formally.” In 1985, my family moved to…

No colour in nature is pure white but may be subtly warm or cool or even have the very softest hue. White can contain colours reflected from surrounding leaves, stamen or other plants. The white of the paper is the white colour of the flower and a more distinct shadow coloured edge is applied to accentuate the white of the flower. Think of your white as a “blush”; the merest hint of colour. No white paint is used in botanical watercolour painting. Experiment and record suitable colours for your reference. When painting shadow colours which are also used on the outside edge of the flower, dilute the colour with water and blend onto the outside edge of the white paper. Mix your own Neutral Tint colour, from which you can…

Judy Kurtz was born and schooled at Condobolin in New South Wales. She has since lived in various parts of the State including Sydney, Katoomba and Orange. A passion for art began when she was a child – drawing on anything she could find (including the edges of newspapers, when other paper was not available). She won prizes for her work when she was at school. At the age of 13, she enrolled in a correspondence course with the Art Training Institute of Melbourne – studying commercial art. After leaving school, she worked for some time as a tracer and draughtsperson for a corporate business. These days she lives and works on a sheep grazing property near Mudgee, where she and her artist husband have built a mud brick home…

STEP ONE After a few thumbnail sketches to get a visual plan worked out, I drew up an accurate drawing that could be gridded and transferred to the canvas. I rarely do this; however given that accuracy for this kind of subject is paramount, it best suited my needs in this case. Before the drawing was transferred, I gave the canvas a light turpsy wash of purple (made with French Ultramarine and Permanent Crimson) in order to get rid of the whiteness of the canvas. This helped evaluate colours and tones more accurately once the painting process started. “Before the drawing was transferred, I gave the canvas a light turpsy wash of purple (made with French Ultramarine and Permanent Crimson) in order to get rid of the whiteness of the…

Chroma makes a number of well-known and respected paint brands ideal for art students of all levels and on any budget. BACK TO UNI WITH CHROMA Names like Chromacryl, A2, Atelier and Jo Sonja’s are synonymous with quality and value among Australian artists. Chroma paints are not only very popular with Australians, they are also made by Australians at the Mt Ku-ring-gai factory which has been in operation for nearly 50 years. The choice of paints is sometimes difficult for inexperienced art students. There are so many different options available and such big differences in price between the brands - it is an easy thing to get wrong and unfortunately a lot of students do. However with a little bit of information, choosing the paint that is right for your…

We had a wonderful summer at Mudgee, and I am painting in a paddock with dry grass about a metre high. I have a good view of my subject – the original homestead built on our property about 100 years ago. I am deliberately sitting with the sun to the front of me, to avoid light shining on the surface of the painting. The play of light on the house enables the geometric shapes of the roof to contrast with the rounded forms of trees. A soft atmosphere forms a good backdrop, giving the scene a lot of depth. I will reduce the size of the trees on the right-hand side to give a triangular shape to the composition. Always remember that you are in charge when designing your paintings.…

STEP ONE I sketched in the initial figure with the tree and a rough guide of where the light parts of the clouds would be. In this initial stage the tree was in its natural form. After staring at it for a while I decided it needed more. I started adding random mechanical parts to the tree and a compass. The compass seemed to naturally mould around the branch and an accidental ode to Salvador Dali was born. Sometimes it’s good to let the work evolve and not be too bogged down by your initial plan. Of course this can backfire as well, but that’s just the nature of creating something. STEP TWO Using Flinders Blue Violet, Prussian Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Blue and Titanium White I then block in…

Houghton Winery lies in the shadows of the Darling Ranges, one of many wineries that call the Swan Valley home, Houghton’s has an international reputation for fine wine, together with a place in WA history, the old wine cellars now play home to this and many other exhibitions, together with a museum of old wine making machinery, huge oak wine barrels and old photos, the cellars notoriety comes from the last century when out law Moondyne Joe hid in the cellars to evade capture and imprisonment, Moondyne was a lovable rogue, and spent many years hiding out in the Swan and Avon Valleys to evade the law, but was also imprisoned several times. This joint exhibition was held with two other hang up artists, a glass artist, and three fabric…

I’ve always included pastels as belonging among the drawing mediums. I regard rendering pictures with great blunt lumps of colour as drawing as opposed to spreading wet coloured liquid around with bristles held in a wooden handle which is of course painting. I realise that the common school of thought is that pastels are “paintings” and I am sure my view might cause a bit of spluttering and throwing of hands in the air by some but for the life of me I remain baffled at how drawing can be so easily confused with painting. I s’pose in the bigger picture it really matters not at all what you ‘call’ it. I want to explain some finer points of finishing in both of my favourite “drawing” mediums so opine away…

• Stretched canvas – 76cm x 50cm (I get my canvases from Gemel art Supplies www.gemelart.com.au)They are good quality hand stretched canvases, but very affordable. You can order on line and they deliver. One of the key tricks to being an artist is finding quality materials at a good price. And the quality is important. You want your work to have longevity and using high quality materials will provide this as well as a better artistic result. • Paints Art Spectrum and Windsor and Newton oil paints: Flinders Blue Violet, Prussian Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt blue, Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, Naples Yellow, Vandyke Brown, Mars Violet, Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Magenta, Flesh Tint, Light Flesh Tint, Permanent Crimson. • Brushes Roymac – round brushes for the detailed work Renoir flat…

We’ve all done it. Spent hours pushing paint around with this vague sense of trying to achieve something, not quite sure what. Or, a clear sense of wanting to achieve something and still not being able to. The nuances between these different levels of frustration we won’t go into here, suffice to say it’s usually not a great place to spend your painting time. We’re going to break the painting process down into three areas. Looking at our painting process this way, will give us an ability to find solutions. While this article is supposed to be focussing on brush technique, I think that this strategy will still be relevant when you discover what my solutions are to solving most of these problems. Part of the problem with painting is,…