Indholdsfortegnelse for Issue 27 i Australian How To Paint

Advances in painting product technology have led to some of the greatest changes in art history. For example, in 1841 oil paint became available in capped tubes, allowing artists the flexibility to paint outdoors. This in turn lead artists such as Monet and the impressionists to paint en plein air (outside). Without this newfound freedom offered by portable paint tubes, the popularity of this new painting style would not have led to the Alla Prima or ‘wet on wet’ technique of painting which formed the basis of the style of artists such as Monet. In fact, Pierre August Renoir said “ without tubes of paint there would haven been no impressionism.” Perhaps the greatest technical change since this time has been the invention and widespread use of acrylic paint .…

Di Tarrant was born in Adelaide in 1938, the younger of two children. During her early working life she did some nursing, but after marrying and starting a family she undertook clerical duties in the automotive field. She has memories of one art teacher who ‘lit her fire’ when she was a young student. “The art teacher was my favourite, and I remember her after all these years with warm feelings,” Di says. “I guess she kindled the flames that would be fanned later in life – to create the passion I now have for all things artistic.” In 2000, Di Tarrant moved to the far south coast of New South Wales. Prior to this she had seen few opportunities to explore the many fields of art. Unsure of what…

STEP ONE What came first: The title or the painting? For me, it can be either. There is nothing worse than staring at a blank canvas. Normally I will rough out a couple of layouts (on A4 or A3 layout paper) of the subject I am going to paint. I’d visualised my subject characters and what they might look like. I sketched the characters roughly … this is where things end up in the file (bin). I like my paintings to be moving and not standing still. This was the first time I had painted a boat in one of my paintings, so I was hoping it was going to work. STEP TWO Painting the background – this was where I placed the canvas on the easel and looked at…

During Ashley’s short life he was keen on snow boarding, and he had incredible artistic talent. I particularly admired the Onimbo logo he created. I came up with the image I wanted to paint, and included Ashley’s Onimbo logo on the board as it accentuated the composition, mimicking the heels of the shoes and drawing viewers’ eyes up to the bum – while the fine finger off the right of the logo brought the eyes back down. The logos on the ends of the board are my initials. STEP ONE I collated all my reference material and sketched out the image and the position of the body. I rarely do elaborate sketches, and I limit initial drawings to basic shapes. I always try to place an odd number of shapes…

Ross Wymark worked as a signwriter in his twenties, but he had not put brush to board in more than 30 years when he found himself in hospital in the New South Wales town of North Richmond. Ross was referred to an Art Therapist as part of his treatment plan. He discovered that the aim of this therapy was not to produce aesthetically beautiful artworks … but rather to express emotions through various mediums such as collage, painting, and clay modelling. Creating symbolic art helped him to become more aware of his thoughts, feelings and memories – which enabled him to address unexplored issues through this special form of communication. Over time, Ross noticed subtle changes in his emotional and mental wellbeing. With emerging self-confidence and a positive outlook towards…

STEP ONE Prime the canvas support with vigorous strokes of gesso, leaving textural lines. Cross-hatch brush marks. Allow this to dry thoroughly. STEP TWO With binder medium, glue randomly-placed roughly-cut pieces of rice paper or textured paper onto the lower third of the canvas. Textured paper should be torn (not cut), to give a better transition of edges when glued. Again, dry thoroughly. STEP THREE Grid the canvas roughly into thirds or quarters, mainly as a guide for applying paint in the colour transitions which are about to take place. Grid lines are used as a guide only and they need to be only lightly drawn or they will contaminate the clarity of the paint. STEPS FOUR AND FIVE Start applying random patchwork style areas of warm and cool ‘yellow…

A traditional way to approach a subject in most mediums is to paint the background first, then move towards the foreground. We see some oil painters put on a thin layer to start, using broad strokes and building up the background and eventually moving into the foreground – building form and using thicker paint. We see some watercolourists and acrylic painters start from the top of the page and paint to the bottom, painting the large background shapes first, moving to the smaller foreground shapes; again starting with thin washes and finishing with thicker detail work. But there is another method you can use depending on how important your background is. I call this method painting ‘inside out’. Painting ‘inside out’ (as the name suggests) is starting with the smaller…

Painting with a brush held in the mouth, I work in sections. I begin with the sky, as I prefer to work from the sky to the foreground. I usually do not do preliminary sketches. My normal method is to complete a base and/or a complete section in one sitting. Fast drying acrylics can sometimes be an asset in my style of painting; while occasionally presenting problems. Working ‘forward’ from the sky means that I sometimes need to paint over completed sections to progress the work. Steps 6 to 11 continues on page 28. MATERIALS • Canvas pad. • Artists’ acrylic paints: Burnt Sienna; Red Oxide; Yellow Oxide; Mid Yellow; Brilliant Alizarine; Cadmium Red; Cerulean Blue; Prussian Blue; Ultramarine Blue; White and Black. • Various brushes.…

STEP ONE I applied one coat of purple paint with the roller; then allowed it to dry before applying a second coat. STEP TWO I made several sketches on paper before drawing my design onto the canvas. This allowed me to rearrange my composition a few times to get the final design. I laid out the design of my leaves on paper and then marked out the layout onto my canvas with the Chinagraph pencil. STEP THREE Beginning with the background leaves, I applied the Ochre base and blended in White, with a wet-on-wet technique (blending the colours before the paint dried). STEP FOUR I continued the process of adding in varying colours wet-on-wet: Mid Green with Warm Yellow, and so on. STEP FIVE I added a more complex combination…

The subject is the Paddlesteamer ‘Rodney’ which rests on the bottom of the Darling River on the property of the homestead ‘Polia’, around 30 kilometres north-west of the ‘Port of Pooncaria’. In 1894, the ‘Rodney’ was bringing non-union shearers upriver to ‘Tolarno’ (a property 70 kilometres upstream of Pooncarie), when it was intercepted by striking shearers who burned it to the waterline. All that remains is the keelson, stringers and ribs protruding skywards like a gaunt skeleton that has been almost fossilised. The client downloaded an A4 image from his computer. After I outlined my approach, size and quotation, the client not only paid a deposit, but also purchased two of my plein air paintings (the junction of the Murray and Darling Rivers at Wentworth, and a Murray River Gum).…

I mainly paint from photographs as most of my subject matter is animated and will not stay still for very long. Bess is a golden retriever in her prime. I loved the expression on her face. STEP ONE I explore my options with some sketches. This helps me work out my composition and the abstract pattern or design. I felt the head was turned slightly too far to the dog’s right and the tip of the nose touching her back was distracting – so I moved the head a little, back towards the viewer. STEP TWO After a careful line drawing onto 300gsm rough watercolour paper, I taped this with masking tape to a light-weight ‘Gator’ board – allowing me to move the work around easily if required. I decided…

A true Queenslander, Lee Porter was born at Townsville in the sixties. As a child she lived in a variety of interesting places including Tindal (near Katherine in the Northern Territory), Sydney and Malaysia. She completed her secondary education at Ipswich in Queensland, where art teacher Alan Kinna introduced her to many styles and forms of art and encouraged her to be creative. After leaving school Lee became a nurse and developed a particular affinity with geriatric nursing. She loved to hear about the lives of the elderly people who she worked with. At 22 years of age, she went to college in Brisbane to undertake ‘sports studies’ and pursue her sporting passions. She developed a career in scuba diving which led her to Cairns in Far North Queensland, where…

Glenn Barnett of Port Lincoln in South Australia is a Member of Mouth & Foot Painting Artists Pty Ltd. He delights in painting beautiful landscapes with brushes held in his mouth. Like many artists, Glenn has developed his skills over the years and experimented with a whole range of mediums. “After a few years of painting with watercolours, I turned to oil paints. I enjoyed their flexibility; the way they worked into each various colour, and the ability to wipe off a mistake,” Glenn explains. “Then, in the mid 1970s, I tried acrylics. At this time I was talking to schools and community groups and demonstrating how I painted. It did not take long before I found it very difficult to actually achieve much of a result painting quickly with…

AN IMPRESSIVE SELECTION FROM S&S WHOLESALERS Oil Primed Linen was one of the first surfaces developed for ‘modern day’ painting. For hundreds of years, oil painters have recognised that traditionally prepared oil-primed Belgian linen is the ultimate support for their artwork. With the advent of acrylic and watercolour paints, along with the development of faster production methods for less expensive cotton fabric canvas, the use and popularity of traditional oil primed linen has steadily declined over the past 50 years. Now, with the introduction of cheap (poorly constructed) non-archival canvas, many oil painters are turning back to the original (and best) painting surface for oil painting. Oil paint is a combination of pigment and linseed oil, which is derived from flax. Linen canvas is also made from flax, thus making…