Innehållsförteckning för May 2023 från Artists & Illustrators

There’s plenty of inspiration and advice in the May issue of Artists & Illustrators. Our contributing artists include this month’s cover star, Canadian landscape artist Brigitte Granton who tells us how outdoor art shows helped propel her career. Lucy Marks shows you how to create a moody landscape piece en plein air while James Bland shares his guidance on becoming a full-time artist. Elsewhere in the issue, Annie Morris tells us how she uses various mixed media, comprising oil sticks, highlighters and stitching to create her energetic pieces, with watercolour and pigment as firm favourites. You, too, can experiment with watercolour by following Philip Huckin’s step-by-step guide on creating a beautiful Welsh bay. With Spring just around the corner, Sky Portrait Artist semi-finalist Fatima Pantoja enthuses with a bright, floral…

This is an absorbing group biography revealing how exiles from war-torn France brought Surrealism to America, helping to shift the centre of the art world from Paris to New York and spark the movement that became Abstract Expressionism. Thames & Hudson, £25.00…

“I’VE BEEN MAD ABOUT PRE-RAPHAELITES since I was a schoolgirl, and one of the things I really love about them is the way they turn the viewer into a detective.” Dr Carol Jacobi is in the final stages of preparation for The Rossettis – a forthcoming show she has curated at Tate Britain – and is naturally a veritable font of knowledge about a family who embodied romance and radicalism of what is often referred to as the Pre-Raphaelite movement. “The paintings are just so full – exploring not just what you see on the outside but what [the subjects] are thinking, too,” she says. “I think they’d have made brilliant filmmakers today.” Certainly the Rossetti siblings – Maria, Dante Gabriel, William Michael and Christina – an Anglo-Italian clan born…

Portraiture is a new journey for me; I am hoping to add this genre to my portfolio focussing on the beauty of overlooked wildflowers or castaway antique treasures I have collected over the years. I have always had a love for wildflowers, articles of the past and the great master painters, and feel this has been woven into my artwork. My great niece’s personality was my inspiration for Innocence at Dawn. I tried to capture that slight smirk and tilt of the head which is so subtle but spoke so profoundly. I hope this painting’s essence captures the viewers’ attention as much as it did mine, and they are drawn in by these little subtleties and question what she might be thinking. She is so inquisitive and expressive, already showing…

JAMES BLAND A visual artist and writer originally from Grimsby, James exhibits in leading galleries in the UK and USA. He’s a member of the NEAC and Contemporary British Portrait Painters (CBPP). His work straddles memory, storytelling, abstraction and evocations of space and light. BRIGITTE GRANTON Brigitte Granton is a Canadian landscape painter. Her oil paintings reflect her passion for the natural world and focus on the interaction of light and colour. She has won numerous awards, is represented by several galleries and her paintings can be found in collections throughout the world. PHILIP HUCKIN Philip Huckin was born in 1952, Oxford and spent 33 years teaching Art and Design. In 2010, he moved to Wales where landscape became the focus of his work, inspired by the names and deep…

Where do you gather inspiration for your art? Let Cornish artist Kitty Hillier show you how to look at your everyday surroundings afresh and create experimental and abstract compositions in collage and paint. Learn fresh ideas and approaches to liven up your practice and be more intuitive. Join her in the amazing studios at St Ives School of Painting and be inspired by the Cornish coast. Can’t escape to St Ives? Watch her online courses on demand and enjoy a little bit of St Ives magic in your studio. From 17 to 19 April 2023. schoolofpainting.co.uk…

Works by the Old Masters give Strawberry Hill House a sense of how it was in Horace Walpole’s time. As part of an ambitious project – through acquisitions and loan agreements, including the partnership forged with Dulwich Picture Gallery – Strawberry Hill House, the remarkable former home of the writer, antiquarian and politician, Horace Walpole (1717–1797) is endeavouring to return some of the 6,000 objects from the collection he amassed during his lifetime. Where possible, the aim is to recreate the original atmosphere of the house, when the rooms were filled with fantastic works of art. strawberryhillhouse.org.uk…

ANNE REDPATH AND HER CIRCLE 20 May to 8 October 2023 This exhibition is the first dedicated UK show of the life and art of Anne Redpath (1896-1965) for 15 years. Redpath was one of Scotland’s finest mid-20th century artists, whose formative years were spent in Edinburgh but mainly in the south of France where she painted alongside Scottish colourists Samuel Peploe and Leslie Hunter. Characterised by an abiding passion for colour in their art, the group – consisting of William Gillies, John Maxwell and Sir William MacTaggart – were recognised both in London and Scotland as cutting-edge transformers of traditional genres. Her work from the late 1950s responds to Abstract Expressionism in the free and expressive handling of paint. Works by fellow Edinburgh School artists will hang alongside Redpath’s.…

MARTI HALL WAS ALWAYS SURROUNDED by art in one way or another. Whether it was from her father creating huge paper sculptures or her art teacher who went to school with John Lennon; it was inevitable that art would be a major factor in her life. “I have a photo of me, aged four, painting at an easel and looking terribly earnest. Art school was a bit of a disaster as, at the time, conceptual art was very much the thing and painting definitely wasn’t. Any smattering of ability I thought I had, seemed irrelevant. So, I buried myself in the depths of the sculpture department. I emerged clutching a Fine Art degree and happily became an art teacher.” She went on to do an MA in Art History and…

1 Learn to say no Don’t be afraid to say no to galleries, for instance, if it doesn’t feel like the right thing. There will be more opportunities. No one else will look after your interests if you don’t. But relationships are also vital. Respect galleries who promote you and appreciate the friends who support you. 2 You can make mistakes No one cares. In fact, I think it’s important to make mistakes. 3 Many artists have side jobs Some are lucky to have independent wealth but many full-time artists take on commissions unconnected to their main research area while others balance a second, totally different career. Their art is no less valuable for that.…

THIS PAINTING SHOWS A VIEW of a small Welsh estuary in winter, situated near the village of Aberarth on the coast of the popular Cardigan Bay, around five miles north of the Georgian town of Aberaeron. It’s one of the most beautiful bays in Wales and a site of special scientific interest. The coast is renowned for its stunning sunsets and maybe one day I will attempt one, although the challenge will be daunting. philip-huckin.com Instagram: huckin.philip 1 DEVELOPING IDEAS These studies provided the opportunity for me to develop ideas before starting the final composition. In the exploratory sheet, I developed the main details to be included in the painting; both the composition and the techniques I was thinking of using. I experimented with the techniques for creating light and…

Would you like to get your hands on artwork previously featured on the cover of Artists & Illustrators? Art for Charity Collective (ACC) is collaborating with The Print Space, making numerous artists’ works now available as prints. Several artists are participating; some of whom have been featured in this magazine, including Lucy Kent and Christabel Blackburn. Each work is exclusively available on ACC’s new website at a much lower price, 10% of which goes to charity. artforcharitycollective.com…

29 MARCH Submit your works for the Wildlife Artist of the Year 2023. It’s open to UK and international artists aged 15 years and over Prize funds total £13,000 and it costs £25 to enter. davidshepherd.org 30 MARCH Enter your artworks for a chance to win £2,000 and exhibit at The D Contemporary Gallery in Mayfair, London. Entries cost £10 per work. hampsteadartsociety.uk 31 MARCH Create an artwork on the topic of Reuse, Recycle or Repurpose for entry in the Reminiscence Art & Design Competition with $50,000 worth of prizes. reminiscencecompetition.com 31 MARCH Enter the Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize by this date and you could win £10,000. It’s open to UK and International artists of all ages. £35-45 to enter. ruthborchard.org.uk…

AFTER THE LAUNCH of Van Gogh oil paints in 1963, this Royal Talens range expanded to include watercolours, acrylic paint and pastels. Now, the collection offers an extensive range of high-quality art supplies at an affordable price. It’s a one-brand solution covering various art techniques, beloved by artists in over 90 countries worldwide. In essence, the Van Gogh range of products sits between student and professional levels; there for every artist – from beginner to professional – who’s looking for high-quality products at an affordable price. Every artist has their own challenges to overcome. They follow their own creative path and are open to learning, discovering and experimenting; this is where the Van Gogh range comes in. Their watercolours are a student and artist-level range of paints featuring brilliant, transparent…

“AN ARTIST SHOULD AVOID falling in love with another artist.” So said the Serbian conceptual and performance artist Marina Abramovic, who in the 1970s gave us her manifesto for life and art. Multimedia artists and husband and wife, Idris Khan and Annie Morris have successfully busted that myth. The art power couple met in 2007, moved in together after a month, were engaged within five and have – they say – spent 24 hours a day with each other ever since. Still, they are familiar with the quote and even have it on their stairs at home, perhaps as an act of playful defiance. A new exhibition at Newlands House Gallery in Petworth, West Sussex, Two Worlds Entwined: Annie Morris and Idris Khan is the UK’s first exhibition to explore…

WHAT DO THE WORDS ‘IMPRESSION’ and ‘After Impressionism’ conjure up in art? Possibly Impression, Sunrise, 1872 (Musee Marmotan Monet, Paris) by Claude Monet (1840-1926) and Mont Sainte-Victoire 1902-6 (Philadelphia Museum of Art) by Paul Cezanne (1839-1906)? Monet’s ‘impressionist’ painting, and Cezanne’s artwork 30 years on, share a period in art history that altered the perception of what ‘art’ is. A period from the 1870s that consolidated Paris as the heart of modern art breaking free from the established tradition. It attracted painters to the city from across Europe, Russia and America. They came to study, to receive professional artistic training and to learn from other artists. A major exhibition, After Impressionism: Inventing Modern Art, at the National Gallery, London investigates the diversity of European art from this era in a…

STILL LIFES ARE ONE of my favourite subjects, particularly if they have fresh flowers in them as they change session after session, adding a sense of urgency to a subject that is often static. Due to their bright colours, daffodils are my absolute favourite to paint. They offer a subtle variation of yellows and greens that will slowly change towards different shades of gorgeous ochres and siennas as they dry out while I paint them. For this painting, I placed them in a glass vase with water so I can play with the sense of transparency which is always interesting. For me, the process of painting using a still life as a reference starts long before the brush touches the canvas. I need to consider the composition, play with the…

MESSAGE OF THE MONTH Shanddonn Blunden I primarily create coloured pencil portraits and I found Artists & Illustrators during my Fine Arts degree a few years ago. Your magazine inspired me and my artworks then and continues to do so now; with the How-To guides and wonderful artworks which encourage me to create. I still have the issues from 2018 which have various wildlife works and guides. My art journey began by drawing different animals. As well as having the physical magazine to enjoy, I also love the online guides. I am especially interested in the watercolour section as I want to practise those techniques. I am currently looking at the ‘How to Create Texture with Watercolour’ feature and I plan on putting the techniques into practice. The guides are…