Indholdsfortegnelse for Issue 21 i Australian How To Paint

The last time we featured ‘Birds’ as our theme was in Issue 5. We have covered many topics since that issue and we thought it was time to take another look at the wonderfuldemonstrations by artists who love to draw and paint birds. We chat with seven talented artists in this issue of Australian How to Paint and have amassed eight demonstrations of birds using different techniques, skills and tips to make your art more pleasurable. We would love to see your creations so please send us an email or letter with photos of your work. Please send them to Woodlands Publishing, PO Box 8035 Glenmore Park NSW 2745 or simon@wpco.com.au . If there is a particular topic or area of art you would like us to cover please send…

I began my journey to painting in 1987 at a Council of Adult Education watercolour course. At that stage I had no idea what I wanted to paint, but felt that being able to create a painting would be a great creative outlet. I had this misguided idea that watercolour would be easy. Wrong! While on the course, I also learnt about gouache, or opaque watercolour, as opposed to transparent watercolour. That was a medium that I had never heard of. I tried various subjects, mainly landscapes, but eventually settled on wildlife, as I have always loved birds and animals and felt I could be more passionate about these subjects. Wildlife presented a problem in that you have to seek it out. Unlike a landscape, which sits and waits for…

MATERIALS • Triple primed, medium weight, cotton canvas – 50 x 55 cm • Heat set paints: Titanium White; Genesis Yellow; Genesis Red; Yellow Ochre; Burnt Umber; Dioxazine Purple 04; Phthalo Blue 04; Ultramarine Blue; Phthalo Green 01. • Brushes: Taklon flats, sizes 2 to 8; a large blender; size 12 flat bristle brush; taklon liners size 0. • One heat gun • Genesis Air Dry Gloss Varnish • Thinning medium STEP ONE This is the hardest step; finding a subject. Once that hurdle is overcome, I complete my drawing on tracing paper as it’s much easier to rub out mistakes or even turf out the drawing and start anew. Also, it’s easier to correctly align the drawing onto the canvas. Once I’m happy with the result, I trace over…

• Start with the biggest brush you can handle and leave the small brushes to the very end. This stops you getting too detailed, and forces you to concentrate on tone. When the major shapes and tones are correct you will be surprised by how little detail you actually need. With experience, you can learn to use a very limited range of brushes to make your marks accurately. • Always use an Acrylic Painting Medium that has a binding component to dilute acrylic paints instead of water. Too much water breaks down the binding properties of the paint, which means the paint can be rewet even after it has dried. This can be become a problem when you are using multiple glazes like I have in this demonstration. During my…

• Always buy quality canvas you can afford. • Always undercoat your canvas with at least of two coats of Gesso, or acrylic paint, and sand in between coats. Sometimes you can pick up ‘miss- tints’ at very economical prices from local hardware and paint stores. • Always plan your paintings with a pencil/ tone /colour sketch ie if you are going to put a lot of detail in the foreground you will need a high horizon line, whereas if a BIG BLUE SKY (so typical of the outback) is your intention, then a low horizon line is best - remembering that the 1/3rd- 2/3 rule gives a much more interesting picture a -way . • Always take breaks during your painting, and when you think it’s finished or if…

MATERIALS • Good quality canvas professionally prepared on stretcher bars • My favourite brushes are Flat Brushes 4 to 12. Sable and synthetic sable • Cheaper scrubbing in colour (scumbling techniques) • I use sable liner brushes for small detail sizes 10-0 to 4 Paints • Australian made Atelier interactive acrylic: • Titanium White, Dioxazine Purple, Naples Yellow, Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna, Cadmium Yellow light and medium, Red Gold, Pthalo Blue, French Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Scarlet, Raw Umber, Carbon Black, Payne’s Grey, Burnt Umber, Raw Umber, Permanent Green Light, Permanent Sap Green, Pthalo Green. STEP ONE I start by preparing the canvas with two coats of acrylic backing paint. For this painting I have used straw colour, as it will help to bring out the light filtering through the rainforest…

• All the tips and ideas you need for drawing landscapes • Full of hints and advice • Meet creative artists • Easy to follow demonstrations k for it in your newsstand soon – r become a subscriber to ensure that you never miss an issue! On Sale Soon We would love to hear your views on almost anything to do with art. Please don’t hesitate to write to us at Australian How to Paint. Send your letters to: The Editor, Australian How to Paint magazine, PO Box 8035, Glenmore Park NSW 2745.…

The chatter of eastern Rosellas permeates the solitude of an artist’s studio through an open window on a sunny July day. They’ve settled in the winter seed grass outside – left long on purpose to attract many parrots to the garden. King parrots, grass parrots and James Hough’s favourite – the eastern Rosella. Known locally by his moniker Jim, silently he stops work, reaches for his SLR camera – ever present by his side – and begins to photograph. It’s the beginning of yet another wildlife original masterpiece – an acrylic on clayboard. After the Rosellas move on James puts down the SLR and goes back to his easel to paint. His studio is surrounded by photographs he uses to get exact details of his subjects correct. As James develops…

My ‘art’ journey was restricted initially to dabbling in hobbies and crafts including decoupage, paper tolle, folk art, pottery, woodworking and lead lighting, until my two sons reached secondary college. Utilising my skills in tracing, gridding up, machine sewing embroidery and patchwork, I began operating a ‘boutique industry’ from home designing and manufacturing ‘wearable art’, (3D appliqué clothing with matching Fimo earrings for women and children), selling under the label “Rozzie’s Ozzies” - naturally! When a silk painting weekend workshop was organised by the college, I volunteered as a ‘parent assistant’. (Thank you, Jaden). I was absolutely fascinated by the art tutor’s contagious enthusiasm..... and the silk-painting technique. The tutor, Barbara Grollmus, exposed me to a world previously unknown to me, and my passion for painting and all things art…

MATERIALS • Arches watercolour paper. • Drawing tools. • Gouache. • Artists’ quality watercolour paints. • Selected brushes. This particular painting was commissioned for someone moving overseas. The scene depicts the view from their family home. The client wanted the dam, windmill and gum tree in the painting. The swamp hens in the foreground are frequent visitors to the house. They are local characters. Given a chance, they will make a mess on the verandah and steal the apples from under the apple tree. For the painting I used my preferred medium which is gouache and watercolour on Arches watercolour paper. STEP ONE Before I began the drawing, I washed the paper blue and let it dry completely. I accurately drew the swamp hen in first – from a series…

MATERIALS • Range of pots and tubes of selected paints, eg Windsor & Newton, Derivan Matisse, Art Spectrum, Atelier, Jo Sonja, etc. • 3 x 1” Flat bristle brushes • 1 x size 8 round brush • 1 x ¼” flat brush • 1 x Rigger or Fineliner Although I generally work with oil paint, I have chosen to do this demonstration in acrylic because the colours are very bold, dry more quickly and can easily be painted over if alterations are needed. As backgrounds take quite a lot of paint, I find the sample pots the most economical. If needed they can be easily tinted, and it is more than likely that you will use all the contents of the pot before it has time to thicken and or…

• Spray two or three coats of a workable, waterproof matte fixative onto a good watercolour paper. It makes an ideal support for gouache. It allows me to wipe out and correct frequently. The seal keeps the pigments n top of the paper, so they can be wetted, blotted and layered. • Mix Zinc White gouache with watercolours instead of purchasing a big range of gouache colours. • Fine felt-tipped pens like W&N Water Colour Markers allow me to make fine, clean marks on eyes, beaks and claws. Being watercolours, they blend, mix and dilute. • Attend as many group classes and tutorials as you can. • Make a mark every day. Sketch before sleeping, by the phone, anywhere. • Use digital technology as an aid. iPad’s Pen & Ink…

My earliest memory of painting was of a sailing boat on the bay, whilst in primary school. My teacher could not believe I painted it myself. my friends I was with young drawings I of popular cartoon characters. Living on Moreton Bay near Brisbane, Queensland, I developed a close affinity with native wildlife. I continued to draw throughout my young life, but did not begin to paint until after a motorbike accident, when I was house-bound with a broken leg. Sensing my boredom, an artist neighbour introduced me to painting. I soon began to express my love of wildlife through my art. I am a self-taught artist, developing my own technique by trial and error, with tips I picked up from art publications such as “Artist’s Palette”. In the beginning…