Innehållsförteckning för November 2024 från Artists & Illustrators

It could be watercolour, oils, coloured pencil or charcoal but, whatever the medium or style, there’s plenty in this issue to spur you on to experiment and explore on your art excursions. Take the third instalment of his portrait series, where Jake Spicer focuses in on the nose, or what he refers to as “the handle of the face” in coloured pencil, or Becky Gouverneur’s demonstration of drawing a cute pair of lemurs in charcoal. Maybe you are inspired by Tamsin Dearing who splices together a couple of photographs to create a pencil portrait of a man and his dog, or John Harrison’s depiction of an old barn on a country lane in Cumbria in pen and wash. For culture vultures, we have an edited extract from a new book…

24 OCTOBER Submit your entries for The New Emergence Art Prize 2024 to win £1,000 and gain permanent visibility in their online gallery. Open to all artists worldwide. newemergenceart.com 31 OCTOBER Enter The Homiens Art Prize for a chance to showcase your work in an online exhibition. The prize fund totals $24,000. Open to all artists. $20 to enter. homiens.com 1 NOVEMBER Calling all artists to submit their best representational or abstract art of natural landscapes for the 9th Annual Landscapes competition. $25 to enter. fusionartps.com 25 NOVEMBER The John Ruskin Prize is open for all artists to enter from around the world. Works in all mediums accepted, for the theme ‘From The Eye To The Hand.’ ruskinprize.co.uk…

THE REFLECTED SELF: PORTRAIT MINIATURES, 1540-1850 Until 23 February 2025 For centuries, miniature paintings served a multitude of purposes, from sentimental keepsakes and gifts from powerful benefactors, to forming part of the European aristocracy’s marriage market and playing an intimate role in private and ritual mourning. Small portraits they may have been, but for the people who commissioned and received them, they held huge significance, as a new exhibition reveals. Compton Verney, Warwick CV35 9HJ. comptonverney.org.uk THEODORE EREIRA-GUYER: SLEEPING LIONS Until 9 November 2024 This upcoming solo exhibition focuses on an expansive body of work that sees the artist push the boundaries of printmaking by exploring innovative techniques and delving into themes surrounding memory and time. Theodore Ereira-Guyer’s printmaking process, largely etching on paper or plaster, involves a loss of…

CHARLIE PICKARD, A LONDON-BORN FIGURATIVE ARTIST AND ILLUSTRATOR, has a knack for turning classical training into something refreshingly modern. His work, rooted in the expressive use of colour and bold brushwork, captures the human form with a spontaneous flair that keeps it both timeless and current. His dedication to the expressive potential of oil painting has made his work a staple in the art scene, with exhibitions across England and Portugal, and pieces held in collections worldwide. Beyond the canvas, Charlie is also an accomplished author, having penned two acclaimed books on anatomy for artists. Whether creating, teaching or writing, his passion for art shines through, making him a distinctive voice in the contemporary art world. From his London studio, he continues to push the boundaries of figurative art, sharing…

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO PAINT AND CREATE 1 Invest in your materials Using the wrong ones may lead to you feeling frustrated as the process becomes difficult and you feel like you are failing at it. Take the time to find the pastel brand that works best for you by trying a few out until you find the one that feels most natural. I personally love Sennelier. 2 Don’t be afraid to undo your hard work The process can involve so many layers of putting pastels on and taking them off again, whether through rubbing, brushing or washing them off. This is all part of the process and those layers all form part of the final piece. Stay confident in your decisions! 3 Manipulate the medium You can experiment with…

KELLY GROVIER Kelly is a columnist and feature writer for BBC Culture, and his writings on art have appeared in the Times Literary Supplement, Independent, The Sunday Times, Observer, RA Magazine and Wired. He is the author of 11 books, including How Banksy Saved Art History of which we have an edited extract in this issue. JOHN HARRISON Yorkshire-born and bred, John is a trained graphic designer with a strong illustrative style. Largely self-taught, he doesn’t consider himself a painter but does use the medium of watercolour to highlight his drawings. Much of his artwork features built structures in the landscape. BECKY GOUVERNEUR Becky is a Buckinghamshire-based, professional artist specialising in realistic animal drawings, primarily in charcoal. She is known for her intricate detail, quirky compositions and high-contrast images. Becky’s…

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BROUGHT TO YOU BY SUPPORTED BY WE’RE EXCITED TO EXTEND the deadline for the British Art Prize, supported by Raw Umber and Caran d’Ache, by a further 12 days giving you that added chance to enter! 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. There is also a generous prize fund worth more than £10,000, which includes great cash prizes and art gift vouchers along with the chance to be included in the exhibition at gallery@oxo from 4-8 December 2024. Prizes The British Art Prize has five fantastic prizes. They are:…

Melancholic intensity often surrounds Vincent van Gogh, so it’s refreshing to see the National Gallery’s exciting new exhibition – its first ever of his work – given the lyrical name Poets and Lovers. “It was in Provence,” says co-curator Cornelia Homburg, “that the poetic imagination and ideas associated with love evolved into central themes for the artist. In Arles he designated the public park in front of the Yellow House a Poets’ Garden, envisioning Renaissance poets Petrarch and Boccaccio strolling there. Some of Van Gogh’s most glorious paintings and drawings of the time are associated with this idea, and pairs of lovers appear in paintings such as Starry Night.” “I don’t know anything with certainty, but seeing the stars makes me dream,” said Van Gogh, who’d begun painting in earnest…

‘THE NOSE IS THE HANDLE OF THE FACE’ was a phrase imparted to me by a fellow drawing tutor. Aside from implying a concerning treatment of his portrait models when directing their poses, he meant that the nose directs the head, its shape an indicator of the degree to which the head is turned or tilted. The nose is the most important structural feature of the face; by paying attention to its characteristics, you’ll be able to use it to establish and check the proportions of the head. If you disregard it in favour of more attention-grabbing features like the eyes and mouth, your drawing is likely to slip out of proportion, with the nose becoming far too long or too short. The nose changes more than any other feature…

MESSAGE OF THE MONTH Grazyna Martin I am a fashion designer. Just over a year ago, I was persuaded by my sister-in-law to attend an art class which she recently joined. I always had a deep desire to draw and paint but never seemed to find the time or confidence to pursue this journey. Attending an art class and being coached by a ‘Landscape Artist of the Year’ finalist gave me this confidence. I particularly enjoy charcoal drawing and watercolour, pen and ink; mediums which best suit my style. I recently submitted one of my charcoal drawings to the ‘Harley Open,’ and to my surprise, my picture was shortlisted out of 1200 entries. Unfortunately, it wasn’t chosen for the exhibition, but this was a great boost to my confidence. Hilary…

Things we love… Coinciding with Frieze London, Cadogan Gallery will open its new flagship space in Belgravia with A Group Exhibition. This major group show features new works by both established and emerging artists, emphasising the gallery’s dedication to contemporary abstraction. Curated by Freddie Burness, Managing Director, the exhibition highlights 21 artists from the gallery’s roster, showcasing a unified artist-centred ethos and distinctive aesthetic. From 3 October 2024 to 8 February 2025. cadogangallery.com Don’t miss… …the upcoming auction at Bellmans, featuring a rare signed study of The Ratification of the Irish Treaty in the House of Lords, December 1921 by Sir John Lavery (Irish, 1856-1941). Best known for his portraits, Lavery also excelled in depicting contemporary history and this study captures one of the most pivotal moments of the 20th…

PETRA RICHARDS IS A COLOURED PENCIL ARTIST based in Oxfordshire. She was born in the Czech Republic and moved to Britain in 2007. She initially focused on people portraiture but has broadened her work and now regularly produces fine detail artwork of animals as well as classic and retro still life. Her works have been exhibited at various annual exhibitions, including those of the Pastel Society and the Society of Graphic Fine Art. petrarichardsartist.com Growing up in a Communist country, everything was grey. All the buildings were grey and people didn’t have the freedom to choose the colours of their houses. Life felt really bleak. Then, as a child, I remember getting a German Disney picture dictionary and I loved the colours in it – we rarely saw anything like…

Stripes and polka dots join with silky expanses of green or blue: lace, netting and cotton are stretched, gathered and stitched to form scenes of domesticity, intimacy, hardship and joy within the Roma community. Polish-Romani artist Małgorzata Mirga-Tas ‘paints’ with textiles. Her pieces are crafted from fabrics which once belonged to people she knows personally or bought from charity shops. Each fabric – from handkerchief to tablecloth, curtain to blouse – contains its own story: it’s lived a life already. When Małgorzata sews together these fabrics to create a new work it’s imbued with emotion and context which gives everything she makes not only a startlingly unique patchwork aesthetic but a whole new dimension. She calls them ‘microcarriers of history’. “She works in a variety of ways,” explains Anne Barlow,…

I’m particularly drawn (unintended pun) to characterful structures and buildings as subject matter for my work. So, when I spotted this group of barns down a lane on a recent visit to the Lake District for a workshop, I instantly knew how it could work as a line and wash piece. The scene is in a tiny hamlet called Dockray, on the western shore of Ullswater. I saw the lane as I slowly drove through the village: it was the meandering nature of the path and the tiny glimpse of sunlit greenery in the distance, coupled and contrasted with the stone buildings that marked it as a potential future drawing. Whenever I take a photograph for use as a reference for a painting, I’m always conscious that I pre-compose the…

I am inspired by Gaston Bachelard’s statement: ‘Inhabited space transcends geometric space.’ Being in bed reading a book is pretty ordinary but simply changing the perspective makes it extraordinary. My series, ‘From the Perspective of the Angels’ explores figures in spaces but as seen from the heavens. Into the Wide Blue Yonder was a breakout piece in the series. Conceiving it was a real challenge. It shows an everyday scene but allowing the stripes and the colour blue to dominate felt exciting when the piece came together. It went further than others in highlighting a core theme of the series, namely the abstractness of the everyday world when our perspectives are flattened. I wanted to capture that feeling of making time for oneself, the sense of meditation and being lost…