Indholdsfortegnelse for July 2023 i Artists & Illustrators

SATURATION MIGHT be Michelle Condrat’s watchword. She has created a niche for herself in a very saturated genre, landscape painting; in a very saturated market: the desert, southwest of the United States; in a place where the very landscape is saturated in bold natural colour. Artists are drawn to landscape painting in the southwestern United States because of the overwhelming vistas in the very places where Michelle paints. At the Grand Canyon, for example, one can see for thousands of square miles from a single point on the walkway. In Zion National Park, a tower of striking red rock cliffs soars toward an ultramarine blue sky; and that’s just the view from the parking lot. But Michelle didn’t have to transport herself to a new world to find inspiration. She…

Painting still life is something that’s only come to me in the past couple of years, having previously painted mainly landscapes. I always prefer to paint directly from life, but when the weather becomes cold and wet, this can be difficult. Initially, I set up still life in my studio to keep me occupied during the winter months but quickly found myself absorbed in the process of creating realistic-looking images. This painting is typical of my work. I prefer very simple subjects, often fruit and pottery or silver with a simple background. Simple pieces of fruit can often appear to have their own ‘character.’ When I arrange the set-up, I consider the interplay of light, shadow and the relationships of size and position within the canvas. I try to avoid…

OLLIE’S MATERIALS Michael Harding Oil Paint Titanium White no. 2 Lamp Black Raw Umber Ultramarine Blue Cadmium Red Light Cadmium Yellow Cadmium Yellow Golden Yellow Ochre Yellow Lake Kings Blue Mediums Gamsol Odorless Mineral Spirits, Zest It Clear Painting Medium Brushes Winsor & Newton Professional Oil Synthetic Hog Round Brushes; size, 4, 3, 2 Surface Gesso primed MDF panels, Winsor & Newton Galleria Gesso Other Rags; I prefer to recycle old clothes and sheets to use as rags to wipe my brushes THERE IS POSSIBLY no colour combination that speaks of summer more than blue, white and yellow. A warm yellow sun in a bright blue sky is what we wish for through the dark winter months and when, the sun finally arrives, we head outside and our mood collectively…

Growing Up is one of my most favourite raven paintings I’ve painted. I like the way the raven’s piercing gaze seems to fixate on the viewer, adding a mysterious atmosphere. My goal was to create a piece that would evoke a sense of mystery and intrigue in the viewer. This artwork was runner-up in The Artists for Painted Dogs exhibition. It represents a significant personal milestone in my artistic journey; showcasing my growth as an artist and my ability to convey deeper meanings and emotions through my work. I remember spending time in the studio, working on this piece; fine-tuning details and experimenting with different lighting techniques to achieve the desired effect, while I was really unsettled by an unplanned move to a new home. It was a challenging but…

Although it may seem easy, selling prints of your work online can be time-consuming and expensive, which discourages many artists and prevents them from earning as much as they could. To help artists sell prints directly from their websites, Artists & Illustrators and MakeRoom have come together this month to offer five lucky winners an opportunity of winning an annual subscription each, which will allow them to sell their prints directly from their own website. MakeRoom by RoomFifty has been reinforced by time-proven techniques and a wealth of expertise from designers. It eliminates all the bother associated with art sales and offers dedicated artists the assistance they typically want. Now, artists can maximise their revenue streams by utilising the MakeRoom worldwide network of printers. They will not only print your…

In my early days, I avoided full-time work like the plague. The time to develop my art always came first, so I lived very frugally. My first studios out of art school were my bedroom and then a disused factory in East London. I did a sandwich round in the mornings for a while where I tried to upsell paintings with people’s coffees. I taught life drawing part-time for years, which was a better fit and still do the odd bit of lecturing when asked. My break came when I got a high-profile artist residency in Aberdeen, in 2007. It was my first official gig as an artist (which was featured in this very magazine back in the day). That residency led to exhibiting with the Modern Artists Gallery and…

SOMETIMES IT’S INTERESTING to revisit an old photograph, one you painted years ago and then create it with a new take. I took this photograph of Trafalgar Square over 20 years ago, yet the photograph is just a guide for me. I’m wanting to recreate what I was thinking and feeling when I took the photograph, turning it into a very real memory. Our memories are more vibrant and colourful than photographs and this can be portrayed in our painting. Wanting to create a painting with drama and impact, I was attracted to this scene because of the bright light and the strong dark shapes. I love the energy of London and this needs to show up in my painting. The figures may be small, but they set the scene…

ROGER TURNER’S INTEREST IN ART was inspired by a studious first cousin at a young age. “She was often to be found painting during our weekly family visits. The interest in painting rubbed off and was reinforced by praise at school when I was 10. For years afterwards, I would dabble in oils from time to time, never really considering art as a profession.” Roger’s late father worked in engineering and perhaps he subconsciously pursued a career that mirrored his father’s. It was only in 2009 after semi-retirement that he picked up a paintbrush in earnest. Technical drawing from his engineering pursuits gave him a good grasp of perspective and detail, which Roger has carried forward in his creative process. With the surname of Turner, it was only natural for…

When she was a young art student, Anna Rose Bain learned many of the painting and drawing basics: how to draw, how to look at a subject in terms of line, light and shadow shapes, and simple concepts about design, colour and value. But what she didn’t realise was that she was also being imbued with a specific worldview, one that was being blueprinted into her psyche and art. Since then, she’s learnt that much of what she was taught did align with her core values – but some didn’t. As a professional artist, she is now slowly “un-training” herself from some of the classical dogma she was taught back then, trying to embrace a wider variety of artistic styles and philosophies, and applying what she feels fits her as…

I’M LUCKY ENOUGH to have grown up in New Zealand and now live in California, where the sweeping coastal vistas stretch for endless miles and offer amazing material for artists. In the following painting, I use a series of steps to complete a small landscape painting, starting with the sky and background mountains, before moving forward to the cliffs, water, and flowers. This can be scaled larger and the steps applied to any landscape scene. Start with your background and move forward, applying another layer as you go and ending with the most texture in the foreground. Another good rule to follow is to keep your brightest, most saturated colours in the foreground. This will add depth and really make your painting shine. ▸ LISA’S MATERIALS Palette knives Pan Art…

MESSAGE OF THE MONTH Sue Ayres Creating bold and vibrant colour mixes with watercolour is my passion. For me, painting is about emotion; my creative heart explodes when my brush starts a journey. My recent work is abstract with an atmospheric feel of land or sea. I have been reading Artists & Illustrators for many years now and it is a great resource for inspiring techniques and all that is new with practising artists and emerging talent. I am constantly learning and evolving in my creative journey, and the magazine is an important part of that process. Lena Auxier I’m a self-taught artist but I love seeing other people’s techniques. It’s inspiring to see so many talented and gifted artists grace the magazine, and the different styles and mediums people…