Innehållsförteckning för June 2024 från Artists & Illustrators

… and improve your drawing skills with step-by-step guides from art masters such as Adebanji Alade – a convert of the medium ever since his childhood – Becca Barron and Mike Roberts. Each has their own unique approach and subject matter when using the coloured pencil. I hope their stories and demonstrations show you that anything is possible with this exciting medium to create luminous colour and eye-popping results. Elsewhere Al Gury shows you how to work with a limited palette in oil whilst Emma Beale shares her stories on getting creative with the fun medium of collage: it allows you to play with colour and shape in its purest form. Then, we have artists at the top of their game sharing how they got there. It’s an intriguing mix,…

26 APRIL Submit your public art ideas for the Blunden Prize. It’s a whopping £75,000 cash prize plus commissions. Open to UK artists. Free entry. stonewater.org/blundenprize 30 APRIL Submit your paintings to The Alwani Exhibition 2024. Prize fund totals £9,000. Open to residents of Gibraltar, UK, Spain, Portugal and Morocco. £20 entry. culture.gi 2 MAY Compete in Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year for your chance to win a £10,000 commission. It’s open to UK residents and is free to enter. skyartsartistoftheyear.tv 5 MAY Submit your entry for the COAL Prize 2024 exploring ‘Being Transformative’. It’s a €12,000 prize fund and art residencies await. Open to all artists. projetcoal.org…

AFTER SUMMER SCHOOL AT THE SLADE Summer School and then completing a foundation course at the Chelsea School of Art, Debbie Urquhart did a BA in Fine Art at Newcastle University. She then got a job working on the shop floor at Colefax and Fowler on Kings Road and whilst there, the director, Emma Burns, saw her work and purchased one of her paintings. A friend of Emma’s, who owned a gallery, saw the painting and offered Debbie a solo show. She was still in her early 20s and her career snowballed from there. Debbie has since had several solo shows and exhibited in galleries and art fairs across the world. From an early age, I had an instinct to separate my colours. I was first encouraged to do this…

“WE WERE ONLY A GROUP OF FRIENDS who shared a common passion for painting as a form of self-expression. Each of us was interested in the work of the other, in the health and happiness of the others.” It’s a warming statement from Gabriele Münter in 1958, reflecting on Der Blaue Reiter (the Blue Rider), a Munich-based network of both German and international artists to which she and other Expressionists, including Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee, had belonged from 1911 until 1914. Münter also noted that the Blue Rider seemed much less competitive than other art collectives or schools active during the same period. This central theme of friendship – rather than ambition – is at the heart of the forthcoming Expressionists: Kandinsky, Münter and the Blue Rider exhibition at…

I LOVE THE FACT that you can just pick the coloured pencil up – without any mixing – and just apply them, and the results are almost instant. I have always felt that painting involves too much thinking, but with drawing with dry media, you just have to pick and apply. That’s what I enjoy about coloured pencils. The other advantage is that they aren’t messy. Pastel pencils are great, but they rub off easily. Coloured pencils just do the job without any fuss, and I love them for that reason. Now that you are aware of my devotion to this medium, let’s go into the exact ones and other materials I’m going to be using for this portrait, which is of a little girl I’ve known for a while.…

I BRING MY LOVE FOR ANIMALS and art together by creating the highest quality realistic drawings of animals, capturing the characters of each subject. I choose to create my portraits in coloured pencils as they allow for accuracy and depth through an incredible control of detail. I find the timely process of building up layers to be relaxing, as I’m totally captivated and engrossed in the animal I’m drawing. There’s a sense of calmness to being fully focused on every delicately placed pencil stroke, as I strive to bring the subject to life on the paper through intricate techniques, patience and precision. Working from carefully selected photographs – which often capture a close-up personal moment of the subject in a strong light – enables me to achieve an exceptional amount…

MIKE ROBERTS As a freelance illustrator, Mike specialises in natural history subjects, using traditional techniques along with Adobe applications. He’s also co-founder of United Tales of America, a project that creates new stories with a positive message for children, to encourage literacy and understanding. SHARON MOSELY Sharon is a self-taught coloured pencil artist who learned to draw in 2020. She soon developed a passion for creating hyper realistic art. Experimenting with subject matter, Sharon is obsessed with capturing fine details and endeavours to blur the lines between reality and artistry. ANDREW BARROWMAN A painter of landscapes and seascapes, Andrew works en plein air and from his studio at Krowji, Redruth. He spends many hours walking and observing the varied Cornish landscapes whilst he was also a main artist in Sky…

BERYL COOK / TOM OF FINLAND 15 May to 25 August This major new exhibition will bring the two cultural icons’ – Beryl Cook and Tom of Finland – works together for the first time, and will reveal interconnected ideas surrounding gender, sexuality, taste and class. It will explore the perhaps unexpected parallels in the artists’ practices – connected by their distinct ways of hyperrealising the body, both artists produced works that celebrate pleasure and deny shame. A self-taught painter, Cook (1926-2008) was renowned for her exuberant images of everyday life, particularly her portrayals of larger than-life women in nightclubs, pubs and at hen parties. Tom of Finland’s (1920-1991) pioneering depictions of homosexual machismo broadly represented queer, leather and muscle communities and influenced the likes of The Village People, Robert…

CAPTIVATED BY THE VARIOUS FORMS of art growing up, Flavia Birsan realised she naturally possessed an artistic eye which fuelled her passion for painting. Known for her gestural painting style, her favourite theme explores the flow of time which enhances the depth and beauty in us and our surroundings. As a child, Flavia was exposed to art in various forms every day, mesmerised by the historic buildings and beautiful architecture that surrounded her in Romania. She acknowledges the beauty of the buildings as a symbol of ‘passages of time’ which ignites her passion to dig deeper to produce art. While she doesn’t inherently come from a creative family, she has proudly passed on her creative genes to her eight-year-old son, who is an amazing artist. “He’s the real creative in…

LONG BEFORE HIS ACCLAIM AS AN ARTIST, Francisco Fonseca spent his early mornings sketching by the light of dawn, a habit that shaped his artistic passion from a young age. Born and raised in the serene landscapes of Paço de Sousa, Portugal, his artistic journey began at the tender age of five, armed with a set of gifted Caran d’Ache pencils and a passion for sketching. From those early sunrise sketch sessions to his bustling studio in Porto, Francisco’s artistic evolution has been nothing short of inspiring. The secret behind the 30-year-old’s enchanting artworks is the whispered tales of bygone eras from his hometown; the winding streets and quaint storied houses fuel his imagination and infuse his art with both character and charm. As he paints, Francisco effortlessly blends personal…

LIMITED PALETTES ARE DEFINED by the use of two to six colours, plus white, but can and often are, extended to eight or 10 pigments. An important factor is that the hues the artist chooses, offers the creator the opportunity to mix warm and cool temperatures, a value range of colours and varieties of chromatic intensity in a practical and reliable manner. Favoured by many artists for their economy of use and practical qualities of mixing, limited palettes in oil, acrylic and watercolour have been the hallmark of painters from the early Renaissance to the modern era. Painters such as El Greco, Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, Jean Simeon Chardin, Thomas Eakins, Eugene Delacroix, Camille Pissarro, Pablo Picasso, Giorgio Morandi and countless others opted for limited palettes that allowed them…

Things we love… Displayed publicly after a decade, this painting along with Flowers in a Vase with Crown Imperial and Apple Blossom at the Top and a Statue of Flora (1731-2) unveils Dutch painter Jan Van Huysum’s masterful still life compositions in Look closely – can you spot the butterfly? Rarely separated, these paintings – believed to be conceived as pendant pieces – epitomise his intricate artistry. Exceptionally preserved, they offer viewers a close look at Van Huysum’s meticulous brushwork, often as fine as a single hair. With vibrant colours and transparent layers, these two artworks underscore why Van Huysum was one of the most sought-after still life painters in 18th-century Netherlands. The show is on from 18 May to 8 September 2024. strawberryhillhouse.org.uk Don’t miss… This spring, immerse yourself…

GROWING UP IN A TOWN on the outskirts of the countryside in the West Midlands, I spent many family days out on walks around the beautiful places that surrounded us. The hills, forests, fields and rivers felt magical to me – like imaginary places from fairy tales. When I was very young, my mum would ask me to hunt for things whilst we were out, and I developed an eye for finding very small objects. I spent a couple of years after art college not really knowing what I wanted to do and experimented with mixed media and collage. It was a creative and intuitive process that was fun and exciting. I worked with so many different mediums and ultimately fell in love with watercolour, coloured pencils, pen and ink.…

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO PAINT AND CREATE 1 Lots of Patience Coloured pencils are a very slow medium. Taking time is key. Realistic portraits take a long time and a lot of layers. Getting to know your pencils and a light hand in building the layers are essential. My go-to paper is PastelMat. 2 The Ugly Stage When you think your drawing isn’t coming together, it can be really discouraging and off-putting. A lot of people give up at this point. However, trust the process, keep motivated, keep going, keep layering and watch it emerge. It will make you smile. 3 Experiment and Make Mistakes Get to know your pencils, practice and get out of your comfort zone. Draw something unusual to get you thinking about your approach and develop your…

MESSAGE OF THE MONTH Martin Barge I subscribe to your wonderful magazine and also to your mailing list, from which I previously received the free ‘Lunchtime Still Life’ tutorial by Felicia Forte. I followed the tutorial, as I’m in the early stages of learning to paint with oils. Here is my finished painting and I wanted to thank you and Felicia Forte for the tutorial. It’s at the right level for my ability and I found it very enjoyable to follow the steps. Thank you again for your marvellous magazine and free guides! Ewa Webb On my travels, especially in the month of May, I am on the lookout for poppy fields to paint. The poppies have a special meaning for me. As I am Polish, I grew up listening…