Innehållsförteckning för November 2023 från Artists & Illustrators

… “Smile!” practically every time someone takes our photograph. So why are signs of happiness so often missing from portrait paintings? In past centuries, due to poor hygiene, sitters kept their mouths firmly clamped shut to hide their rotten, decaying teeth. These days, there’s the question of expecting a sitter to smile for hours on end. Noticing the lack of merriment in portrait paintings, London-based oil painter Roxana Halls decided to create a series of ‘Laughing’ portraits, featuring women gleefully “getting away with things.” They are in stark contrast to classic or modern portraits. “Most of my figurative paintings are made from life over a multitude of hours. But, not knowing who to ask, my first laughing painting was a self-portrait from life, and I held that laugh in the…

HOLBEIN AT THE TUDOR COURT 10 November 2023 to 14 April 2024 This winter, a major exhibition at The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace will bring together over 100 works from Henry VIII’s court, including drawings, paintings and miniatures by Hans Holbein the Younger, drawn from the Royal Collection, one of the most important surviving groups of the artist’s work. Together, they will form the largest group of Holbein’s works from the Royal Collection to be exhibited in more than 30 years. Holbein at the Tudor Court will highlight works from Holbein’s time at court in the first half of the 16th century when he rose to become the most important artist in Tudor England. This exhibition will tell the story of Holbein’s career in England, from itinerant artist to King’s…

ROXANA HALLS GREW UP wanting to be an actress, and her love of drama is obvious in the theatricality of much of her work. She did a foundation course in art, but spent most of her time at home, painting by herself. Fellow students probably suspected she’d dropped out until she turned up at the end-of-year show with a haul of work she’d created. At the age of 17, she moved alone from Devon to London and established her first studio in a former theatre in south London. Her work is now in many private and public collections, in the UK and abroad, and she was featured in the BBC’s Extraordinary Portraits, painting twin sisters who survived a crocodile attack in Mexico. She was also commissioned by Disney to create…

PAINTING A PET PORTRAIT can be a daunting task, especially if it’s for someone else as there are so many variables. Can I achieve a likeness? Will I do a good Job? Will they like it? So, naturally, the thought of painting a double portrait is even more of a worry. More than one animal can be a big challenge, not just because you have double the work and double the likenesses to get right, but the reference is always going to be an issue. Obviously, you can’t ask the animals to sit for a painting, so you have to rely on photographs. I always think it’s better to try and take the photographs yourself, In these days of smartphone cameras it’s an easier task than it used to be.…

Copyright Make sure that you own the copyright to your design. Copying another painting, someone else’s photograph or even another composition will be considered a breach of copyright. Apart from being unethical, it could land you in a world of trouble. Research printers The difference in prices between printers can be huge. But the price is not the only consideration. I used to use a very competitive printer, but their customer service was terrible. I now use a more expensive one, but I know they will help resolve any issue. Print a mock up Use your printer at home to print your card on paper and fold it to see the way it will look. Seeing the design flat on a computer screen is not the same as having the…

Things we love… In July 2022, James Hart Dyke (b.1966) – the leading mountain painter of his generation – climbed Mont Blanc via its rarely attempted north face in order to paint from the summit at sunset with an objective to re-enact and emulate as closely as possible the conditions under which the legendary French painter of the Alps, Gabriel Loppé (1825-1913) made his pair of summit paintings at sunset in August 1873. MONT BLANC: The Summit Paintings is on until 8 October 2023 at Cromwell Place, London, SW7 2JE. jameshartdyke.com Don’t miss… Elias Sime is one of Ethiopia’s leading contemporary artists and Eregata is his first major solo European exhibition. Sime’s work involves transforming carefully sourced materials – from piles of electrical wires to broken mobile phones and computer…

The in-person workshops held by international artists at Raw Umber Studios are its most well-known feature. They operate brief, concentrated workshops where they teach the skills required to produce representational art. A non-profit art school and studio based in Stroud, it also features a huge selection of online materials that are appropriate for artists of all skill levels. To celebrate its online image library, Raw Umber Studios is offering a cash prize of £1,000 for the best drawing or painting based on one of its image references. Raw Umber Studios has around 2,000 photographic image references of portrait and figure models, searchable by model type, pose type and more. You can easily find what you need on its website owing to a searchable database of numerous high-resolution photographs and video…

BORN IN BRIGHTON in 1982, Patrick Bremer went to Wimbledon School of Art. In 2007, he won the Royal Society of Portrait Painters’ DeLazlo Award for best portraiture by an artist under 35. Having taught art in secondary schools for a few years, he went to Berlin and became a full-time artist. On his return to the UK, he set up a studio in Exmoor. He has taught collage workshops here and abroad and will be running one in November at East Quay Watchet, a gallery and artist’s hub and studio in West Somerset. As well as commissions, he has done commercial work for Google, the BBC and Cadillac, and his pieces have been used to illustrate articles in Der Spiegel and The New Yorker. patrickbremer.co.uk Being an artist was…

WHAT DOES A FAMILY LOOK like? Is it easily-conceived, rosy-cheeked children and devoted parents living in a detached suburban house? This was, in the West at least, the goal. But today, thanks to advances in science, law and social attitudes ‘family’ means a myriad of things. These are explored by some 120 artworks in the forthcoming Real Families exhibition at The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge including works by the likes of Tracey Emin, Joshua Reynolds, Grayson Perry and Lucian Freud. These paintings, drawings and sculptures show that there are countless ways a family can look, something the show’s curator Professor Susan Golombok knows only too well. “I’m not a usual curator; I’m not an art historian, I’m a psychologist,” she says, explaining that she is the director of the Centre for…

15 OCTOBER Jameel Prize 7 has a thematic focus on moving image and new media work inspired by Islamic art, culture, history or ideas. Winner recieves €25,000. Free. vam.ac.uk 16 OCTOBER Submit your work for the New Emergence Art Prize, an artist-led platform to support and showcase underrepresented artists from around the world. Free. newemergenceart.com 27 OCTOBER There’s no theme for the LST 13th Annual Open Art online exhibition. It is $16 for up to two entries and a lower entry fee for students. lightspacetime.art 1 NOVEMBER 'Light and Shadow' is the theme for Fusion Arts online exhibition, open to 2D and 3D artists worldwide. Entries in colour or black and white. $25 for two images. fusionartps.com…

1 Discover Your Niche Find what ignites your passion. For me, it’s colour-drenched florals and birds. 2 Engage with Your Audience Utilise platforms like Instagram to showcase your work and connect with your followers. 3 Diversify From online art classes to oracle decks, explore various ways to express and monetise your art. 4 Keep Learning Whether it’s a formal degree or workshops, never stop learning and honing your craft. 5 Be Authentic Your art is an extension of you. Stay true to your style and voice.…

FROM 14 OCTOBER 2023 until 18 March 2024, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice – located in the stunning Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, on the Grand Canal – is presenting Marcel Duchamp and the Lure of the Copy. The exhibition is devoted exclusively to the French artist Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) who was a friend of Peggy Guggenheim for many years. Duchamp is legendary for challenging the cult of an original work of art by producing duplications and copies in different media and varying sizes and limited editions of art. He redefined what constitutes an original artwork and the role of the artist. This exhibition brings together 60 artworks that date from 1911 to 1968 and includes radical pieces that challenged the art world in the 20th century. Born in Normandy…

Whether you want to run a small batch of greeting cards from one of your favourite paintings or have your designs distributed by a large card company, producing a greeting card requires a good design and needs to follow a few rules to be successful. The first step is to produce the artwork. It can be a drawing, a painting, a piece of textile art, or anything that can be photographed. sandrinemaugy.com Instagram @sandrinemaugy 1 FIT YOUR COMPOSITION INTO A STANDARD FORMAT The way you compose your picture is crucial. The space is limited, but even more importantly, a set format is required. The cards will have to fit into standard envelopes and a printer will offer a limited range of greeting card formats. If your composition doesn’t fit one…

I remember returning from the studio one day and seeing a parcel on my doorstep. It contained the most beautiful red roses that my sons had sent me for my birthday. I was thrilled to be receiving so much love and care. Those beautiful roses filled me with joy and I was especially inspired by their deep red colour. The mental, emotional and social advantages of receiving love and affection speak for themselves, helping us to maintain positive, long-lasting relationships. Giving love is every bit as crucial as receiving it in our quest for happiness. I wanted to express my inner feelings of love, joy and happiness through this piece. Bold colour composition and a variety of shapes and forms of buds and petals improve the sense of freedom in…