Innehållsförteckning för September 2024 från Artists & Illustrators

…is to fill the space. Our contributing artists and all those featured have done just that in this jam-packed issue. Kicking off the practical section, we welcome back Jake Spicer who starts a new six-part series on drawing different parts of the head in coloured pencil. The first instalment? The face as seen from the front and profile. Matthew Jeanes and Sarah Simon paint two very different scenes from their travels in watercolour, whilst Hazel Soan shows you how she captured a busy sunlit London street scene in oil. Then, we’ve got David Hockney, one of the most influential British artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, musing about art along with an in-depth look at an exhibition on still life paintings in Britain. Incredibly, it was once thought of…

30 AUGUST Submit your artwork by this date for a chance to exhibit at the ING Discerning Eye show. The prize fund totals over £10,000 and it’s £15 to enter. discerningeye.org 31 AUGUST Enter your ‘Connection’ themed artworks for a chance to win €5,000 first prize and exhibit internationally for the Emerging Artist Prize 2024. Entry is €30. scan.art 2 SEPTEMBER If you are a visual artist within five years of graduation from a UK-based art school, enter your works by this date to be selected for The Ingram Collection. ingramcollection.com 15 SEPTEMBER Artists in the Highlands and across Scotland, submit your 2D art completed in the last year for a chance to win £1000 in the Highland Art Prize. Free entry. highlandartprize.org.uk…

Sergio Scilironi’s passion for art ignited at the age of 12 in the picturesque town of Sondrio, Italy. Though he couldn’t attend art school, he refused to let that diminish his commitment. “I was sad not to be able to go to art college, but I never lost my passion for art,” he recalls. As an apprentice welder, he used his hard-earned wages to buy oil paints and canvases, balancing his artistic ambitions with household contributions. Who knew welding could spark such creativity? At 24, Sergio moved to the enchanting island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands and dived into the hotel industry. The cramped accommodation stifled his painting for a while but meeting his wife and buying a house changed everything. With more space, Sergio’s brushes and canvases came…

IN A CARDBOARD BOX IN MY ATTIC, there is an aural record of the very first conversation I ever had with David Hockney. It was the autumn of 1995 and I was interviewing him ahead of an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. We had never met before, and he probably had to talk to several other journalists that same morning. And yet, from our first exchange, he was astonishingly eloquent. Epigrams and insights cascaded out of his mouth. There is the authentic voice of David Hockney: pithy, original and profound. His is a voice so distinctive that it rings off the printed page. When you read his quips and observations, you can almost hear him speaking. Just as he has an absolutely characteristic line – no one else…

OUR SENSITIVITY TO THE SUBTLE DIFFERENCES in shape that govern likeness and expression in a face can make us especially critical of our portrait drawings. In this new six-part series, I’d like to help you become more confident in approaching the face as a subject, working through an in-depth exploration of each feature in isolation. This month we’ll begin by tackling the face as a whole, starting with a practical, observational approach to a three-quarter profile that could be applied to any angle of the head, before looking at some of the challenges you’ll come across when you’re drawing the head in profile and from the front. If you’re new to drawing people, this series should be a good place to begin and if you already have some experience, I…

As an artist, you are always on the lookout for your next shot of inspiration. If you look for it, it’s hard to find but if you let it find you, the results can be inspiring. With that said, being open to a challenge makes it all the more exciting. Braving summer storms in the Cornish village of Polperro, I saw an opportunity and seized it. Avoiding the rain, a couple were walking up a hill as a shaft of sunlight hit the newly wet street. I quietly ran up behind them taking photos until they hit the middle of the scene which put them into a perfect silhouette in the sunshine. My next painting had been captured. matthewjeanes.co.uk 1 GETTING STARTED This is a very complicated scene. Firstly, I meticulously…

When we are at a portrait class or sketch club, everything is set up for us and it can be tricky to translate it into our own homes. Here, I will look at the practicalities of painting a portrait from life at home. I love working from life and feel we learn so much more and make so many more creative decisions if we are working from life than if we are just copying a photograph. We are much more likely to find and develop our own style working directly from the life model. Working from home, gives us the freedom to experiment and practice without feeling self-conscious about the watchful eyes of others. Make sure your model is willing and comfortable. Perhaps they can be reading, listening to a…

HAZEL SOAN Hazel is a popular and successful artist who divides her time between London and Cape Town, South Africa. She exhibits her work widely and has her own gallery in Fulham, London. She is the author of several bestselling books and was an art expert for the popular TV series, Watercolour Challenge. DAVID STOREY David is a British figurative artist based in East Sussex. His psychologically-charged paintings are an exploration of memory and feature half-remembered figures. After graduating from the Hornsey College of Art, he worked as a record sleeve designer and has since been a full-time painter. JAKE SPICER Jake is a best-selling author, artist and art educator. He is the founding tutor of the independant drawing school Draw Brighton and teaches online classes for Draw and the…

THE HIDDEN LIVES OF PLANTS Until 10 November 2024 This show features a collection of stunning botanical illustrations spanning from the 16th to the 20th centuries. Curated by Art History and Curating MA students at the University of Birmingham, this collaboration – with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the University’s Department of Art History, Curating and Visual Studies – showcases 25 intricately detailed depictions of flowers. These artworks not only capture the inherent beauty of plants but also delve into the fascinating interplay between art and science, offering a unique perspective on botanical imagery across centuries. Accompanied by historic printed herbals and related materials, the show presents a comprehensive exploration of botanical illustration over 400 years. University of Birmingham, B15 2TS. barber.org.uk LOUISE BOURGEOIS: NATURE STUDY Until 6…

TOBY MICHAEL’S EARLY LIFE, among the neoclassical beauty of Buckinghamshire’s Stowe Gardens, shaped his understanding of aesthetics and human interaction with nature. This environment and his father’s role as a housemaster at Stowe School instilled in him an appreciation for art from a young age. “My early understanding of how humans interact with nature was heavily curated and predicated on the idea that aesthetics and beauty were important, even when devoid of practical utility. I grew up believing that human interaction with nature was fundamentally good. It wasn’t until much later that I saw this was not the case in many places. Only as I have grown as an artist, have I understood that the beauty I witnessed held utility in its own right; it was psychological,” says Toby. At…

BROUGHT TO YOU BY SUPPORTED BY WE’RE EXCITED TO BE BACK with our annual British Art Prize, brought to you by Artists & Illustrators and supported by Raw Umber and Caran d’Ache. This renowned international art competition will expose winning artists of all levels to a far-reaching platform to gain valuable publicity and recognition for their work. Open to everyone – whether you’re an amateur, hobbyist, emerging or professional artist – all styles, media* and techniques will be considered. The British Art Prize offers an unique level of national exposure and the chance for artists to sell their artwork to a combined audience of almost a million art lovers and collectors. There is also a generous prize fund worth more than £10,000, which includes great cash prizes and art gift…

The same observational approach can be applied to all angles of the head, but it can often help your drawing if you can anticipate the characteristics of some turns and tilts. Here are some things to notice when you’re drawing the head from the side and the front. The front view of the head is the view we see most in the mirror and conversations with friends; it is broadly – but not entirely – symmetrical. EYE LINE The eye line sits roughly halfway through the vertical height of the head when the face is looking directly towards us. IRIS TO NOSE TIP Look at the triangle created by the round shapes of the iris and nose tip when checking the proportion of the head. EARS When you see both…

This step-by-step is the perfect taste of watercolour wanderlust to instantly transport you to a lush windowsill scene and enjoy the beauty of watching paint and water sing on your pages. It features overflowing botanicals where you get to practice several foundational watercolour skills, all taught in the pages of my new book, Watercolor Workbook 3: Café in Bloom. Featuring 25 brand new painting projects, my art lines are drawn right onto watercolour paper bound inside your book so you can sit down right away and paint. These projects are filled with soft garden scenes, café views, and an abundance of glorious flowers you would see strolling on a carefree jaunt on a sun-kissed holiday abroad. 1 THE BRICK BUILDING With a medium-sized round watercolour brush (Round 4 is preferred), add…

MESSAGE OF THE MONTH Catherine Embleton I am a mixed media artist and musician based in West Yorkshire. I was inspired to begin painting during lockdown when a friend gave me a copy of Artists and Illustrators and I haven’t stopped since. I love finding out about different mediums and techniques and then experimenting myself. Using acrylics and self-printed collage papers, I create colourful, semi-abstract art inspired largely by the Yorkshire landscape. Painting really has brought me so much joy. Ewa Webb I never considered fish as a subject to paint until visiting the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill where they have an aquarium. They were swimming and their colours were exquisite. I was glued to the glass tank to the amusement of some visiting school children when suddenly, one…

Things we love… Celebrating the rich connections between love and creativity, an upcoming exhibition entitled Cupid features works by nine artist couples and one duo. Curated by Maria do Carmo, the show invites visitors to explore the dynamic interplay within creative partnerships. Through collaborative and individual works, Cupid delves into how romantic relationships influence artistic expression, offering a unique glimpse into the personal and professional lives of these artists. From 16 August to 14 September 2024 at Elizabeth Xi Bauer Gallery, 8-12 Creekside, London SE8 3DX. elizabethxibauer.com Don’t miss… Come As You Really Are, an exhibition revealing thousands of objects crafted or collected by hobbyists across the UK. Each hobby represents a deliberate choice to live authentically in a society dominated by consumerism. Hetain Patel’s work challenges viewers to see…

I STARTED DRAWING AS SOON AS I COULD hold a pencil in my hand. Acting, Cambridge University and motherhood intervened and – although I’d sketched and painted throughout – it was only in middle age that I realised my true vocation. From joining local art societies to sketching in galleries to discovering the thriving life drawing scene, I’ve clocked up thousands of hours of practice. When lockdown happened and everything went online, I was drawn to Raw Umber Studios through their free monthly portrait tutorials. To begin with, I just did my own thing, hardly heeding the tutor’s instructions. But to help a dear friend who’d become seriously ill with schizophrenia, I suggested we both subscribe as a kind of therapy. That’s when I started listening properly and the bombshell…

WALK INTO ANY CLASSROOM of young children painting and you’ll be met by shrieks of delight. Most of us start off loving the self-expression that comes from drawing and painting. Yet, so many adults completely stop making art after finishing school. Why? Somewhere along the way, that feeling of sheer delight morphs into something heavy and far less pleasant. Shame and vulnerability researcher Brene Brown has conducted thousands of interviews with diverse groups of adults. She found that “85 per cent remember something so shaming that happened in school that forever changed the way they thought of themselves as learners. For 50 per cent the shaming experience was around creativity, resulting in art scars. They can point to a specific moment in time where they were laughed at or put…

A well-observed profile is instantly recognisable to the friends and family of the subject, but often less familiar to the model themselves, who will rarely see themselves from the side. FACE, NECK, HAIR In profile, notice how much of the head, neck, hair and face fill in relation to one another. CENTRE POINT The ear often sits remarkably far back in the face in profile, with a lot of space behind it for the back of the head and in front, for the cheek. NOSE, LIP, CHIN Check the vertical relationship between the bottom of the nose, front of the lip and front of the chin – it will vary hugely between sitters. NEXT MONTH Drawing eyes…