Capturing Time

“Childhood Memories” 33 × 42 cm, Nitram Charcoal

WITH NITRAM CHARCOAL

”Developing a fascination towards the works of the masters hanging in museums as well as works
done today by contemporary artists, motivated me to start doing art with charcoal.
Since I came to Japan, my grandmother has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. This made me realize
the importance of enshrining memories: we should not take them for granted.
I hope my art is able to represent how things may exist just for a moment; that life passes by quickly
and is constantly in motion.
We can not always recall exactly how things were but we can retain the emotion attached to such
memories. We should appreciate every second of our lives.
I use Nitram charcoal sticks because of the variety of shapes, sizes and levels of hardness available.
They enable me to produce subtle variations in tone and they don’t shatter like some, when pressing hard
on paper to create dark tones.”
~ Ruben Hiraga

The Nitram Starter Kit contains:

1 x 5mm H, 1 x 5mm HB, 1 x 5mm B and 1 x 6mm B+ charcoal, and 1 Limited Edition Sharpening Bloc with 1 set of replacement pads

My name is Ruben Hiraga. I’m a self-taught artist. While I do art full-time these days, this was not the always the case. I have loved creating art since I was young, yet when I became an adult,
I worked in more conventional jobs in order to make ends meet. During these years I worked as a factory laborer, computer teacher, bartender, sales manager and concierge on a cruise ship.
I was fortunate enough to experience life in different ways and see events from different perspectives. I lived in three different continents: I spent my formative years living with my grandmother in
Brazil, moved to Japan in my teens and spent part of my twenties in Mozambique. Then I began to recall how art made me feel when I was young, so I decided to rekindle my relationship with
the art world. I have discovered the joys of digital art, and worked as an illustrator for games and books. Currently I am being represented by Octala, a gallery which celebrates works digital
artworks, and my personal artworks are being sold as limited edition prints on high quality aluminum. www.hiragaruben.com @hiragaruben

NITRAM
TM
MC

www.nitramcharcoal.com FINE ART CHARCOAL

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TOM LANDSCAPES
HOVEY A 15-step plan to better compositions
Meet the Great
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How to
paint…
•Realistic reflections
•Old photos in colour
•A floral doorway

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ISSN NO. 1473-4729

AN ARTIST'S STUDIO IS
WHERE MAGIC HAPPENS
Artists' studios are wonderful places. I'm lucky enough in this job
to have visited plenty of them and they never cease to amaze me.
The smell of turps, the splashes of paint, the untapped potential in
every sketchbook and unfinished canvas... They are fascinating places
for sure. Yet while it is easy to think of more established artists such
COVER ARTWORK JASON MORGAN as Rembrandt, Monet or Kahlo as untouchable icons, a visit to their
studio can also remind us that they were human after all. Once you've
seen their unsent letters to their paint supplier or their paint-covered smock
stay inspired draped over a chair, it is much easier to imagine the person behind your
by subscribing favourite masterpieces. With that in mind, we've produced a guided tour of
Artists & Illustrators 12 of the best artists' studios around the world, so you can find out more about
Tel: +44 (0)1858 438789 them from the comfort of your sofa.
Email: And due to the various Covid restrictions, we have decided to extend the
artists@subscription.co.uk deadline for the British Art Prize 2021 to give everyone a chance to enter.
Online: This new open art competition is the successor to our popular Artists of the
www.artistsand Year search and it is open to all. Head to page 35 to find out how you can
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Post: Artists & Illustrators, prizes, art materials vouchers, a solo exhibition and a Van Gogh-inspired river
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Artists & Illustrators 3

 Contents 46
L ea rn h o w t o

42
p a in t re a li s t ic
re f le c t io n s

What is interesting about

green is its relationship
regulars
with other colours
5 Letters
Share your artistic stories with us
6 Exhibitions
54 – FFIONA LEWIS, PAGE 74

o
H ow t s
February's best art shows
9 Sketchbook 34 British Art Prize 54 Painting Fur orie
Quick tips, ideas and reviews Enter this fantastic new open art Wildlife master Jason Morgan t e ll s t ur
o
13 Prize Draw competition with £10,000 of prizes reveals a three-step approach with y ok s
hb o
Win a painting holiday in Norfolk 36 In The Studio 60 Composition s ke t c 50
29 The Working Artist With Sunday Times Watercolour Paint better landscapes with – page
With our columnist Laura Boswell Competition winner Mark Entwisle our 15-point plan for success
82 10 Minutes With... 66 Watercolour
Tom Hovey, the illustrator behind techniques Textures
The Great British Bake Off's cakes 42 Masterclass Improve your mark making
Create variety in repeated forms skills with Rob Dudley's help
inspiration with Fabio Cembranelli's workshop 70 Demo
20 Masters at Work 46 Project Update a vintage photo
Explore the studios of a dozen of The Pastel Society's Liz Balkwill with watercolour
the world's most popular artists sets an exercise on reflections 74 How I Paint
30 Art Histor y 50 Sketching Artist Ffiona Lewis reveals
Revisit the charming pastoral Add text and themes to improve how she developed the works in
scenes of Mary Newcomb the usefulness of your drawings new exhibition Green Tapestry

4 Artists & Illustrators

 Letters Write to us!
Send your letter or email
to the addresses below:
LET TER OF THE MONTH
POST:

FOUR- COLOUR Your Letters,

Artists & Illustrators,
CHALLENGE The Chelsea Magazine
I bought the January 2021 issue of Artists & Company Ltd.,
Illustrators [Issue 425] and found it full of great Jubilee House,
information and challenges. In response to Jake 2 Jubilee Place,
Spicer’s challenge number 6, about drawing in London SW3 3TQ
layers, using the colours CMYK (Cyan, Magenta,
Yellow and Key, which is black), I tinkered a bit with EMAIL: info@artists
my colours. I used Staedtler Mars Micro pencil andillustrators.co.uk
leads in graphite and blue with yellow and red
watercolour pencils. The writer of our ‘letter
I normally like to draw using just the Mars Micro of the month’ will receive
colours, so I was a little out of my comfort zone. a £50 gift voucher from

WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO EDIT LETTERS FOR PUBLICATION

I enjoyed the challenge. It is an archival pencil
drawing in my A5 sketchbook.
Gudrun Ståhl Sharpley, via email
A BIRTHDAY IN STYLE
My little sister had a very big
birthday recently and I wanted to
paint her a picture which told a
story of her school days.
My dilemma was that I normally
paint in an “Impressionist” style,
although my artist friends would say
“miserable” since I am attracted to
industrial subjects. It had to be a
cheerful attempt and so I decided
to have a go at a “naïve” style.
The result is a scene looking
south on Victoria Road in Glasgow
with my sister bottom left about to
get into the yellow Consul [above].
My biggest challenge was staying
in style; I frequently lapsed into
Impressionism. I have to say I did
enjoy doing it, it gave me a totally
different mindset and I shall
certainly try again.
Dennis James, via email
HISTORY PAINTING
I have found the most interesting
paintings were inspired by some
current or past events. When I get
my monthly copy of Artists &
Illustrators, I look for the pictures
that are more than just a specific
view or portrait.
Art started out this way. From
cave murals to biblical scenes, and
as with JMW Turner’s paintings,
there was always a story and an
atmosphere behind the works. This
invisible story or message triggers a
thought process which causes the
viewer to look harder, and to
contemplate what a particular
painting is all about.
We are presently living through a
period in history unlike any we have
experienced. In some paintings, for
historical reasons, perhaps artists
should reflect the loneliness and
GreatArt, which offers
the UK’s largest range of
art materials with more
than 50,000 art supplies
and regular discounts
the sadness of the times which has and promotions.
covered our planet for the past www.greatart.co.uk
year? Terms like “lockdown” and
“self-isolation” appeared in
everyday language overnight.
I have painted a few views
depicting the Covid-19 pandemic
[below left]. For exercise, on most
mornings, I walk some nearby public
footpaths for approximately an hour.
I had never walked here prior to
lockdown. It is a time for reflection.
Derek Stark, via email
PURR-FECT TIMING
Having just read issue 425, I arrived
at creative challenge number 19,
“Place your pets”. With that in mind,
I thought I’d share a painting I did
of our youngest cat, Mitsy [right].
I followed it up with a portrait of
our eldest cat, Pepper, too.
Heather Bentley, via email
Share your stories and get a daily
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ArtistsAndIllustrators
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Artists & Illustrators 5

 Exhibitions
FEBRUARY'S BEST ART SHOWS
Richard Hamilton: Respective
Until 18 April 2021
When you think of Pop Art, Richard Hamilton
may not be the first artist to spring to mind,
but he is in fact the founding father of the
movement – hence his moniker, Daddy Pop.
In this retrospective, you can see how the
British artist drew from mass media, such as
in the screenprint Swingeing London ’67
(above, based on a paparazzi shot of Mick
Grayson Perry:
The Pre-Therapy Years
12 January to 16 May 2021
After keeping the nation entertained during
the first lockdown with his Channel 4 TV show,
there’s a chance to travel back in time and
re-live Grayson Perry’s formative years in this
survey of the ground-breaking ceramics the
artist made between 1982 and 1994.
A public appeal helped bring the pots,
plates and sculptures back together from
across the country to demonstrate the
dissonance Perry created by adorning
traditional forms of pottery with depictions
Jagger handcuffed to gallerist Robert Fraser), of modern-day concerns. A rare chance to
© RICHARD HAMILTON 2020. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, DACS
as well as how he adopted imagery from see the origins of the artist’s clever, playful
cultural sources, like adverts, in works and politically engaged perspective.
including Just What is it That Makes Today’s Sainsbury Centre, Norwich.
Homes so Different. His collaboration with www.sainsburycentre.ac.uk
Marcel Duchamp, Oculist Witnesses, also
included here, proves his disregard for the
distinction between high and low art.
Pallant House Gallery, Chichester.
www.pallant.org.uk
The Art of Devotion:
Sacred Illuminations,
Prints, and Drawings
Until 26 June
There was a time when monarchs
believed in the “divine right of kings”, a
© GRAYSON PERRY. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND VICTORIA MIRO
claim that their absolute authority was
derived from God. Less widely known yet
no less unlikely is the idea that artists of
that time also saw themselves as
anointed illustrators of the divine, as
BARBER INSTITUTE OF FINE ARTS
explored in this newly extended exhibition
of vellum, woodcuts and intaglio prints.
The Barber Institute of Fine Arts,
Birmingham. www.barber.org.uk
 The Human Touch:
Making Art, Leaving Traces
6 January to 3 May 2021
Many of us have missed the
comforting touch of loved ones this
year as Covid-19 restrictions have
come into force. So, this exhibition
illuminating the fundamental role
that touch plays in the human
experience, through 4,000 years
of art, feels timelier than ever.
Exploring anatomy and skin, the
relationship between hand, eye and
creativity, desire and possession,
and reverence and iconoclasm, the
150 or so objects on show range
from medieval manuscripts and
panels, to classic paintings by
Rembrandt, Turner and Degas.

FITZWILLIAM MUSEUM, CAMBRIDGE

There are also works by
contemporary artists including
Frank Auerbach and Judy Chicago.
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk

EA Hornel:
From Camera to Canvas
Until 14 March 2021
There’s much debate surrounding the merits
of painting from a photo, as opposed to
painting from life. However, for an insight
into how the camera can be crucial to the
development of an artist’s technique, look
no further than this showcase of Edward
Atkinson Hornel’s paintings, displayed
alongside his photographic collection.
The influence of photography on the
late Scottish artist’s paintings can be traced
back to 1890. Not only did it give him access
CITY ART CENTRE, MUSEUMS & GALLERIES EDINBURGH

to people and places, but it also helped

him stylistically. For example, the vertical
composition of the Yokohama shashin print
that he collected is mirrored in a number of
his paintings, such as A Japanese Musician
Playing a Shamisen.
City Art Centre, Edinburgh.
www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk

Artists & Illustrators 7

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 sketchbook

February TIPS • ADVICE • IDEAS

SC RE E N T E S T
AIN E D IVIN E suggest s
six things to consider when
booking an online ar t course

1 Look through the tutor’s artwork online.

Does it feel alive to you? See if you can find
progress photos on Facebook or Instagram to
see their process. You don’t necessarily have to
love a tutor’s work but want someone who will
facilitate you in nourishing your own practice.

2 Find out how a tutor relates on screen.

What is their delivery like? Do you warm to
them? Seek them out on YouTube to get a feel
for their teaching style and personality. If you
can’t find any videos, ask if you can call them.

3 An attitude of experimentation is key,

whatever the medium. I take umbrage at
any teacher dictating a rigid set of rules as
though they are gospel. We humans thrive in
an atmosphere of support – not hollow praise,
but a focus on what works and ways to evolve.

4 Course structure is important. Is one-to-

one interaction welcomed? Find out how
it takes place. How will you be supported? Is
there a materials list? If in doubt, ask. None of
this should be ambiguous: you are entitled to
know what is part of the course and what isn’t.

5 How much screen time will there be? I find

one Zoom call a week was a good use of
screen time. You want the focus to be on the
creative practice itself, not endless videos.

6 Think about course length. How many

hours can you devote to painting each
week? And for how long? Look at your diary
and be honest with yourself. Honour your own
ebb and flow. Recognise the need for care and
kindness during this fertile, creative time.
Aine runs six-week courses in watercolour
PHOTO: JIM MACKINTOSH

portraiture (24 January), mixed media flowers

(7 February) and landscape painting (March
tbc). www.ainedivinepaintings.co.uk

Artists & Illustrators 9

 “IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO KNOW YOUR
CRAFT, YOU HAVE TO HAVE FEELING.
SCIENCE IS ALL VERY WELL, BUT
FOR US IMAGINATION IS WORTH
FAR MORE.”
PRISM, 2020, PASTEL ON LINEN, 200X160CM. © JENNY SAVILLE. PHOTO: PRUDENCE CUMING. COURTESY GAGOSIAN

pencils have a biodegradable seed capsule on the

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MASTER TIP: JENNY SAVILLE

The painting te chniques of the world ’s b es t ar tis t s
Elpis, Jenny Saville’s recent exhibition at New York’s Gagosian Gallery,
Dates for the diary
Artists using water-based media have until 5 February
continues her claims to being the finest British figurative artist of her
to enter the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours’
generation. Though the surface of a portrait such as Prism, pictured, is filled
209th Annual Exhibition at London’s Mall Galleries.
with intriguing passages of mark making in various unlikely colours, Saville is
www.mallgalleries.oess1.uk • The British Art Prize 2021 is
still able to create a convincing sense of form by ensuring the hues are tonally
the most exciting new open art competition to launch in
correct. Squint at those electric red lines describing the subject’s cheek or
years. Enter before 18 February to win cash prizes, art
the outline of the neck and they soon settle into place. It’s a great technique
vouchers, a solo exhibition and a Van Gogh-inspired river
to try, swapping out tonally similar colours to create surface interest.
cruise. www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/britishartprize
www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/2020/jenny-saville-elpis

10 Artists & Illustrators

 A DV E R T I S I N G F E AT U R E

Unison Colour
5-Day Pastel
Challenge My ‘Bailey’ Experience
by Anca Lowe

A
s a child I had been mesmerised by an
actor in a children’s programme who
was always drawing a nice character
in each episode. I wanted to draw like him…
but life works in mysterious ways, so after
30 years of working in a technical field in a
major corporate, I decided to follow my
childhood dream.
Pastel has been a favourite medium and
when I started getting Unison Colour
pastels, the world has become a better
place. Unison pastels are a bit like the
Pokemon theme: You got to get them all!
Upon discovering the Five-Day Pastel
Challenge, organised by Unison Colour with
the brilliant artist and tutor, Sue Kerrigan-
Harris, I could not
resist and signed
up. We painted
a lovely dog
called Bailey.
Although I
didn’t have
all the
materials
listed, I made
do with similar
colours.
Sue started with
the background and the eyes. I’d always left
the eyes and any fiddly bits on my paintings
for the end, Those beautiful ears were a challenge and
but now I I am really happy with the result.
can see The live Question and Answer sessions
how a in the evenings have been very helpful and
painting given me even more insight into how to work
becomes with pastel to get the best results.
more vivid It was an amazing experience and I am
if you have really happy I joined the Five-Day Pastel
the eyes Challenge. I will continue to follow Unison’s
down first. It’s workshops and Sue’s work since there is so
almost like the much to learn from them both.
animal is already looking at you and giving Below is me and my lovely finished dog
you feedback on how you’re doing (see the portrait after the five days. Thank you all at
picture! Is Bailey not looking at you, a bit like Unison Colour, for organising and facilitating
a Cheshire cat that only had the smile this series of workshops, you are all amazing.
visible?). I loved this and it’s a tip I will
continue to use in the future.
I’m a messy artist, I work all over the
paper, and that leads to smudging
sometimes, or simply forgetting some things
I had in mind to finish off later. Sue has a
very progressive style, where she moves
on the paper in a defined direction. Another
lesson learned that I will try to keep in mind
going forward.
There are plenty of great tips on how to
work that I have taken from Sue and I am
forever grateful, including how to sharpen
and use the edge bits of the pastels for the
highlights. Due to how creamy they are, they
overlay great onto existing layers of pastel.

Don’t miss the next

Unison Colour Five-Day Pastel Challenge It ’s
Join the ‘Unison Colour Pastelling Community’ Facebook page f r e e!
for details on how to register
 sketchbook

EXPAND YOUR PALETTE

Rose Madder
Discover a new colour ever y month

THE COLOUR
Dyes made from the madder root date back to 1500BC.
This variant is a soft yet complex pink.

THE PROPERTIES
Rose Madder is a natural organic lake pigment that is
very transparent and granulates well in watercolour form.

THE USES
Although superceded by the less-fugitive quinacridone
pigments or synthetic alizarins, Rose Madder was used
by the likes of Vermeer, Whistler and Constable. As such,
it remains prized for its richness and glazing qualities.

TEA-BREAK CHALLENGE PAINTING

3. ADD AND S UBTR AC T
We tend to think of a drawing as adding dark marks to a white page,
so here’s a little test to help you think differently. Next time you make
WITH IMPACT
HA S H IM AKIB on the b enef it s of
a 10-15 minute sketch, use two tools instead: one, your pencil as normal,
working quickly and conf idently
and two, an eraser pencil. As well as building up with the graphite, think
with larger brushes
about how you can “draw” with the eraser to pick out highlights. Don’t just
use any old rubber – making both positive and negative marks is key. Investing in large brushes has so many advantages.
ISTOCK

You can save time and build confidence as they

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A peer of Norman Rockwell, Andrew Loomis
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This new slipcase edition collects together
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allow you to create more productive strokes.
Expansive applications of acrylic paint mean
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My preference is for brushes with a flat head,
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contrast well with more thoughtful and refined ones
in the latter stages, especially when applied quickly.
In my painting of a simple tree, for example, the
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12 Artists & Illustrators


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Artists & Illustrators 13
 Fresh
Paint
Inspiring new artworks, straight off the easel

Norma Stephenson
Sprawling across northern Lancashire into the western
edges of Yorkshire, The Forest of Bowland is a rather
forgotten landscape to all except the more adventurous
locals. The name is rather misleading too, as much of this
designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is no longer
covered in woodland, but rather gritstone fells and open
moorland warmed by a blanket of heather.
It is also home to what artist Norma Stephenson rather
poetically calls “a moorland community of scattered farms
and barns, crisscrossed by a pattern of dry-stone walls”.
Her own home and studio are here too, from which she
also hosted workshops for 30 years until she took the
decision to retire in 2018 and concentrate on her own art.
The Scottish artist’s expressive, pastel-based paintings
are fascinating for a number of reasons, not least the ways
in which she interprets the landscape on her doorstep.
“My paintings recognise the location, but perhaps not
photographically,” she says.
“I do enjoy being out in the landscape, but this is almost
always just to sketch. I almost never pre-plan a painting.
I mostly have my attention captured by the unexpected
or brief glimpse. The sudden burst of yellow of spring
gorse spotted on a daily walk or the rich burnt sienna in a
moorland view often draw me back to investigate further.”
In this respect, her work is part of a lineage that takes in
Barbara Rae and the Scottish Colourists, artists who all
delighted in wrong-footing the viewer with inspired palette
choices. A new painting will begin back in the studio with
all the sketch notes and reference photographs set aside.
She starts with a clear gesso layer which “leaves a varied
texture, brushed in the direction of the landscape”, before
an underpainting, usually in acrylic or watercolour. Then
subsequent layers are built up vigorously, first drawing with
pastels, conté crayons and charcoal, then occasionally
splashing or dribbling water-based paint. If things don’t go
according to plan, Norma is content to wipe away progress
with her hand. “This has the effect of simplifying and
blurring the image, allowing for more time and space to
rework or leave the painting space to breathe,” she
explains. Finished compositions are often cropped from a
large board, after fixative and a final layer of clear gesso
has been applied.
www.normastephenson.co.uk

14 Artists & Illustrators

 Fresh Paint

NORMA’S
top tiP
“A painting should have
areas of busy texture
and mark making,
balanced with calm,
quiet passages”

LEFT Norma
Stephenson,
Spring Gorse 2,
pastel on board,
54x54cm

Artists & Illustrators 15

Fresh Paint

Timur D’Vatz, Dream

and a Dreamer, oil on
canvas, 127x183cm

16 Artists & Illustrators

 Fresh Paint

TIMUR’S
top tiP
“Create a woven effect
by mixing multiple dry
brush layers with areas
where the canvas is
simply exposed”

Timur D’Vatz
The Fisher King is an important character in Arthurian
legend. This injured monarch is the last in a long bloodline
of custodians of the Holy Grail, yet the wound on his leg
has left him unable to stand and forced to spend his time
fishing on the river beside his castle. While many knights
travel to visit the Fisher King, the only thing that will heal
him is being asked the right question.
Over the years, the story has inspired all manner of
cultural responses, from a Wagner opera and a Terry
Gilliam movie to TS Eliot’s epic poem The Waste Land.
Added to that list now is Timur D’Vatz’s latest painting,
Dream and a Dreamer. “The sleeping figure represents the
king, the grail keeper, in his malady,” explains the artist.
“The grail is a beautiful flower growing in the middle of the
garden and the sphinx guards it with questions. There are
many symbolic details, since the story merges ancient
Celtic mythology and medieval Christianity.”
The complex yet intricately plotted scene is typical of
Timur’s figurative work. “The concept dictates the
composition. Everything, like in tapestries, appears
simultaneously on the surface, as a kaleidoscope of
events.”
Dream and a Dreamer is one of 22 new works in his
recent exhibition of (almost) the same name at Cadogan
Contemporary, the London gallery that has been
representing the Russian artist for the last 28 years. His
latest collection of work includes figurative pieces based
upon other myths and legends, such as the Lady of the
Lake and the Green Knight, alongside a series of works
that offer a 21st-century take on Monet’s water-lily
paintings and were inspired by the discovery of a Giverny-
esque pond while on holiday in Maine, USA last year.
Patterns play an increasing role in these latest
figurative works. “I am inspired by textiles of all periods,
including early Byzantine, medieval, and also patterns
from the 60s and 70s. Again, it’s all like a tapestry or a
Persian rug – full of motifs talking to each other, most of
them inspired by nature.”
Timur’s use of a coarse linen canvas for these patterned
works also adds to the effect of these being vintage
textiles rather than a contemporary painting.
His recent influences reflect that interest too: “Among
many artists, William Morris and Édouard Vuillard, who
also experimented with textiles and patterns that allowed
them to create amazing tapestry-like paintings, have been
a significant influence.”
www.timurdvatzstudio.com

Artists & Illustrators 17

Fresh Paint
Vivian Riches
When Vivian Riches relocated across the country last May,
from the north east of England to the south east coast, her
address was not the only thing to change. As the towering
chalky cliffs, undisturbed stretches of coast and rolling
grasslands near the Portfolio Plus member’s new home
began to catch her imagination, she put aside her interest
in painting flowers in watercolour and branched out into
landscapes instead. Vivian’s latest paintings are vibrant,
impressionistic depictions of the Kent Downs using bold
acrylic strokes. “Wow, what a different landscape,” she
says of the Kent countryside. “The White Cliffs are just
so stunning and evocative. It’s really inspired me.”
Each painting starts in a similar way, with a rough sketch
in gesso straight onto a board. For Sunset over Dover
Lighthouse, the artist laid down an orange ground with a
18 Artists & Illustrators
Every month, one of our Fresh Paint
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issue, sign up for your own personalised
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illustrators.co.uk/register
two-inch decorating brush before reaching for her
acrylic brushes, small rollers and palette knifes to build
up the scene.
Vivian has developed some interesting ways to create
different marks as well. “I’ll often use a bamboo skewer to
drag through the paint to create more lines,” she explains.
“I’ll also use the side of a piece of cardboard dipped in
paint to create the foreground grasses.” Texture gels
and structure gels are also mixed with the acrylic when
painting the flowers. “It gives an impasto feel in contrast
to the foliage,” she explains. ABOVE Vivian
“I want people to feel like they want to be in the painting, Riches, Sunset
like they want to know what is at the top of the hill if they over Dover
took that path,” she adds. Likewise, we can’t wait to see Lighthouse,
where Vivian’s artwork takes her next. acrylic on board,
www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/vivian-riches 60x60cm
 Multi-technique paper

One pad for all techniques!

250gsm - 115 lb

C O

Available from all good online and high street art retailers
For more details please visit www.clairefontaine.com/en
E
a
craft. We picked out 12 of the best that you can visit

© FONDATION CLAUDE MONET GIVERNY/CARLOS ALEJANDRO/DBIIMAGES/ISTOCK

20 Artists & Illustrators

 MASTER STUDIOS

S
OPPOSITE PAGE, pending time in the studio of a favourite artist can
CLOCKWISE FROM be something of a pilgrimage, a chance to
TOP LEFT Japanese celebrate their genius and get closer to the source
prints in Claude of their creativity. Doing so can help to further bring to life
Monet’s Giverny the paintings that were created there too, as you get to
dining room; experience the same views or be close to original objects
Andrew Wyeth’s that appeared in them. A visit can prove inspiring for your
Pennsylvania own practice too, as it humanises these legendary figures.
studio; Frida To make it easier to discover these spaces, the Watts
Kahlo’s desk in Gallery Trust launched the Artist’s Studio Museum
La Casa Azul Network (ASMN) in 2016. Recognising that there are
hundreds of museums established in the former homes or
studios of visual artists, the Trust wanted to bring these
uniquely charismatic spaces to a wider public. Single-artist
museums, house museums and studio museums can
be found across Europe, often sited in remote locations
where artists sought seclusion in which to work. The ASMN
website, www.artiststudiomuseum.org, allows you to
search for a destination by location, artist or medium.
The launch coincided with the opening of Watts Studios
at Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village, the former Surrey home
of Victorian artist George Frederic Watts, one of more than
150 spaces listed on the site.
Below is a dozen of the most prominent, fascinating and
comprehensive artist’s studios to visit around the world,
with an introduction to what you will find in each.

1 GUSTAVE CAILLEBOTTE
Favouring a more realistic approach to his Impressionist
contemporaries, Gustave Caillebotte is perhaps one of the less
celebrated 19th-century French masters here in the UK. He is
revered in the US, however, where his works inspired a generation
of American painters and his masterpiece, Paris Street, Rainy
Day, is a highlight of the Art Institute of Chicago’s collection.
More than 80 of Caillebotte’s paintings were created in the
SÉBASTIEN ERRAS/ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO

garden of his home on the outskirts of Paris where he lived for

20 years. Open to the public as Propriété Caillebotte, the
neoclassical house and 11 hectares of surrounding parkland
were restored in 2017. You’ll be tempted to follow in his footsteps
by painting trees in the gardens, while the modest pastel-blue
studio still has his easel, palette and paint-covered smock laid out.
Propriété Caillebotte, Yerres, France
www.proprietecaillebotte.fr

Artists & Illustrators 21

MASTER STUDIOS

2 PAUL CÉZANNE
At some point in the early 2010s, the legendary New York
photographer Joel Meyerowitz visited Paul Cézanne’s
former studio in Aix-en-Provence. Rather than poring over
the usual artefacts, Meyerowitz was fascinated by the
studio walls. Darkened over time, they had been painted a
pale grey by the artist to absorb the bright Provence light.
Meyerowitz noted how this hue had provided a “precisely
keyed background hum” to the still life objects featured in
Cézanne’s final paintings. “I was sure that this grey light
box of his must have become an important and sustaining
element in his overall work,” wrote the photographer.
Meyerowitz’s 2017 photography book Cézanne’s Objects
pays homage to the French painter, depicting his plaster
casts, bottles and other still life subjects against that grey
JEAN-CLAUDE CARBONNE
wall. You can explore them for yourself in the purpose-built
studio in which Cézanne spent his final reclusive years.
Atelier de Cézanne, Aix-en-Provence, France
www.cezanne-en-provence.com

3 FRIDA KAHLO
The self-portraits of Frida Kahlo are so revealing that one
might feel as if there is nothing left to discover about the
famous Mexican artist. Yet one visit to La Casa Azul – the
“Blue House” – proves that there is still much to learn.
Her upstairs studio is a fascinating place, piled high
with brushes, pigments and an easel gifted by her friend,
Nelson Rockefeller. Frida’s wheelchair is also pulled up to
it, as if she were still at work on the unfinished canvas.
Yet Frida’s creativity wasn’t confined to the studio.
The mirror on the ceiling of the bedroom, put there by
her mother, is a reminder of the months spent recovering
from a bus accident, during which time she first began to
paint portraits. Her collections of folk art and jewellery
speak of her hoarding tendencies and busy compositions.
Museo Frida Kahlo, Mexico City, Mexico
www.museofridakahlo.org.mx/en

RM NUNES/DBIMAGES/M SOBEIRA/ALAMY

22 Artists & Illustrators

 MASTER STUDIOS

4 RENÉ MAGRITTE CARVING OUT A NICHE

THREE GREAT SCULPTORS’
The surrealist painter René Magritte’s career was at a crossroads in 1930.
Having been exhibiting in Paris alongside Picasso, Dalí and Miró the previous
STUDIOS TO EXPLORE
year, his gallery contract had since ended and he returned to Belgium to You can often get a better sense of the finished
resume a career in advertising. He moved into an apartment on Brussels’ rue works made in a visit to a sculptor’s studio. Take
Esseghem with his wife Georgette and spent the next 24 years here, during the HENRY MOORE STUDIOS AND GARDENS
which time his international reputation grew exponentially. (Perry Green, Hertfordshire, UK. www.henry-
A friend of Georgette’s, André Garitte, bought the house in 1993 and moore.org). There are five preserved workspaces
recreated the artist’s ground-floor apartment according to photographs. on the property, including an etching studio, a
The top two floors house a museum that collects together rare photos, his summer house used for informal drawing, and the
advertising designs, a dozen paintings and a surrealist rug made with Georgette. Bourne Maquette Studio [below], which remains
Magritte Museum, Jette, Brussels, Belgium filled with tiny prototypes. Several full-size pieces
www.musee-magritte-museum.be dot the Pear Tree Paddock, while guided tours of
Moore’s Hoglands home can also be booked.
BARBARA HEPWORTH MUSEUM AND
SCULPTURE GARDEN (St Ives, Cornwall, UK.
www.tate.org.uk) is similarly filled with maquettes
and full-blown sculptures. The artist said that
finding Trewyn Studio was “a sort of magic” and
that sense of enchantment extends to a garden
filled with pieces that can be walked around.
In 1895, the French sculptor Auguste Rodin
bought the Brillants Villa in Meudon on the
outskirts of Paris and he continued to live and
work there until his death in 1917. Today it houses
one of the two MUSÉE RODIN (Meudon, France.
www.musee-rodin.fr), the other being in central
Paris, yet this one is worth a visit to see his
recreated plaster gallery laid out with tools and his
iconic The Thinker musing over the sculptor’s tomb.
© THE HENRY MOORE FOUNDATION/JONTY WILDE
ANDREA ANONI

Artists & Illustrators 23

MASTER STUDIOS
5 CLAUDE MONET
Claude Monet was born in Le Havre
and made his name in Paris, yet he
famously settled halfway between
the two, after he spied the village of
Giverny from a train window. The
Impressionist painter first rented the
Maison du Pressoir in 1883 and he
would eventually stay there until his
death 46 years later, cultivating a
vast watery Eden that inspired his
best paintings.
Monet’s son left the property to
the Academie des Beaux-Arts and
it opened as a tourist attraction in
1980. While most visitors come to
24 Artists & Illustrators
admire the lush gardens, water-lily
ponds and Japanese bridge subjects
so familiar from his paintings, there
is much you can learn about his
technique here too. The house is
dotted with Monet’s collection of
Japanese ukiyo-e prints, which no
doubt influenced his approach to
composition and desire to paint the
changing seasons. His bold approach
to pure colour is also reflected in the
house’s interior, from the yellow
dining room to the blue kitchen.
Fondation Claude Monet, Giverny, France
www.fondation-monet.com
© FONDATION CLAUDE MONET GIVERNY/NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON
6 ALFRED MUNNINGS
Though his reputation as an equestrian painter places him
second only to George Stubbs, Sir Alfred Munnings was
also an accomplished landscape artist equally capable of
producing portraits every bit as elegant as those by John
Singer Sargent. In 1920, he settled with his wife Violet at
Castle House, deep in Constable Country on the Suffolk-
Essex border. For the next 40 years, until his death in
1959, Munnings lived and worked in what he called “the
house of my dreams”, during which time he was elected
president of the Royal Academy of Arts and produced his
best works from his garden studio.
Though closed for the winter, the museum houses a
seasonally-shifting selection of 150 major paintings, while
MUNNIINGS ART MUSEUM
in 2021, the studio will display 30 studies of the local
landscape alongside the artist’s materials and props.
Munnings Art Museum, Dedham, Essex, UK
www.munningsmuseum.org.uk
 MASTER STUDIOS

7 GEORGIA O’KEEFFE
The best artist studios and houses to visit are those that
were clearly a labour of love – and Georgia O’Keeffe’s
5,000-square-foot Abiquiú home and studio was exactly
that, “a house of her own”. The artist bought the ruined
property from the Catholic church in 1945 and spent the
next four years overseeing the restoration process
undertaken by her friend Maria Chabot. Before it was
finished, the house had already become a subject in her
paintings, starting with In the Patio I in 1946.
Parts of the building date back to 1744 and it was
extended in the traditional adobe style around a central
plazuela – or open courtyard. It provided a calming
sanctuary for the artist who remained here for 37 years
after the death of her husband, the photographer Alfred
Stieglitz. Her studio was sparse save for a large crank
easel and a collection of objects dotted across a
windowsill that looked out across the New Mexico plains.
Today the Abiquiú home and studio is maintained by the
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, which is located about 50
miles south in Santa Fe.
O’Keeffe Home and Studio, Abiquiú, New Mexico, USA
www.okeeffemuseum.org

8 JACKSON POLLOCK
AND LEE KRASNER
The walls and floorboards of Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner’s former
JOHN GRIFFIN/STONYBROOK UNIVERSITY/WEBER VISUALS/HELEN A HARRISON

studio are like a crime scene, splattered with the evidence of past activity.
He initially painted here, laying out canvases on the floor as he poured
and flicked liquid pigment. This former fishing tackle room had no heating,
but that was not a problem for an artist who worked in such an energetic
© GEORGIA O’KEEFFE MUSEUM/KRYSTA JABCZENSKI

manner. The marks were preserved for posterity after a new flooring was
put in shortly before his death in 1956.
When Krasner moved into the studio following her husband’s death, she
preferred to work standing up with her similarly abstract canvases pinned
to the walls. One can still admire the ghost shapes left behind from where
the finished paintings were removed, while a pair of her boots are equally
encrusted with spots of pigment like a pointillist painting.
Pollock-Krasner House, East Hampton, New York, USA
www.stonybrook.edu/pkhouse

Artists & Illustrators 25

MASTER STUDIOS
10 JOAQUÍN SOROLLA
Valencia’s “Master of Light”, Joaquín
Sorolla, settled in the Spanish capital
in the 1880s, eventually purchasing a
plot at Paseo del Obelisco on which
his final home was built in 1911.
The artist took an active role in the
design of the building and the
planting of the garden, which featured
in a number of his late works –
several of which featured in the Royal
Academy of Arts’ 2016 exhibition
Painting the Modern Garden.
Today the house – overshadowed
by blocks of flats, yet no less
impressive – is the site of the Museo
26 Artists & Illustrators
9 REMBRANDT VAN RIJN
The great Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn lived on
Amsterdam’s Jodenbreestraat for 17 years, during which time
he created some of his best-loved works including 1642’s The
Night Watch. The artist lived beyond his means during this time
however, to the extent that he only moved out in 1656 after he
was forced to declare bankruptcy and sell off all his belongings.
Thankfully, while that auction was no doubt difficult for the
artist at the time, it also provided art historians with a valuable
document with which to recreate the contents of his studio.
The house was restored and opened as the Rembrandt House
Museum in 1911, with a gallery later added next door.
The recreated studio remains pride of place in the house,
Rembrandt’s large easel angled so that his own shadow would
not fall on the canvas from the north light pouring in. His art
room meanwhile is filled with plaster casts, weaponry and other
artefacts owned by the artist, a very real reminder of the
mundane objects that inspired his otherworldly paintings.
Rembrandt House Museum, Amsterdam, Holland
www.rembrandthuis.nl
KEES HAGEMAN /KIRSTEN VAN SANTEN
Sorolla, something of a tribute to the
artist and largely untouched since his
death in 1923. The centrepiece of the
house is his double-height studio, lit
by skylights and a large south-facing
window, while still covered with many
of his original paintings.
A closer look at his materials
reveals a fondness for large filbert
brushes, which allowed him to make
those elegant thin-to-thick lines and
also blend the paint to create soft
MUSEO SOROLLA
edges that suggest depth.
Museo Sorolla, Madrid, Spain
www.museosorolla.mcu.es
 MASTER STUDIOS

11 GF WATTS
The great Victorian painter George Frederic Watts and his artist-designer wife
Mary had a rather utopian vision. The couple believed that art should be
available to all and that one’s life would be improved with easy access to the
arts and crafts. Rather than simply espousing these theories, they put them
into practice with the creation of the Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village in Compton,
Surrey in 1904. Among the highlights of a visit to Compton today are the
chance to admire paintings in the dedicated Watts Gallery, pay respects in the
grade I listed chapel, and take tea in the former Compton Pottery building.
Perhaps of most interest to artists is the newly-restored studio in the east
wing of their Arts & Crafts house, Limnerslease. As well as seeing his
palette, dry pigments and brushes out on display, one can also read his
correspondence with the directors of Winsor & Newton that suggest the
lengths to which he went to get exactly the right materials.
In one revealing letter, he even asks the suppliers whether rubbing potatoes
or onions on his canvas to create a pleasant moist surface may have a
detrimental effect on the finished painting! Don’t try that one at home.
Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village, Compton, Surrey UK
www.wattsgallery.org.uk

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

ARTIST PAUL RAFFERTY ON WHY
HE COLLECTS PALETTES AND
EASELS USED BY THE MASTERS
“Artists’ tools are a natural curiosity, even if they
are just a worn-out old brush. I began by finding old
large studio easels, as I felt they were better made
and had charm and history. Then opportunities
arose where I could acquire tools used by some of
the artists’ I most admired. Most would throw
these items away feeling there is no worth to them
– and from a monetary point of view this is true.
However, when you visit a famous studio, you
imbibe with the artist, it is a pilgrimage in art.
“John Singer Sargent’s paintbox and two palettes
are the pinnacle of my personal collection. I also
have one of Alfred Munnings’ palettes [below] and
all of Edward Seago easels and materials. As a 12 NC WYETH
representational painter, I have learned a lot from
these great artists. Mixing the right colour and About an hour west of Philadelphia use to reach the top of his largest
tone and laying it on boldly, without touching it lies Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, canvases. Down the lane from his
again; that is what I most admire from Old Masters the site of the bloody Battle of home and studio lies a 19th-century
and strive to do myself – with mixed results!” Brandywine in 1777 during the schoolhouse that later belonged to
American Revolution. his artist son Andrew for almost 70
It was also here that, 134 years years until his own death in 2008.
later and flush with the proceeds from Here Andrew’s squeezed paint tubes
his illustrations of Treasure Island, still lie on the floor, while sketches
NC Wyeth purchased 18 acres of remain pinned to the wall.
rural land along the Brandywine Both studios are maintained by
ANDY NEWBOLD PHOTOGRAPHY/PAUL RAFFERTY

Creek. The location was, he said, “the
most glorious sight in the township”
and the artist duly set about having a
home built for his young family.
Wyeth’s studio steps down from his
office into a barn-like space that looks
out into the woods and contains a
moveable staircase that he would
The Brandywine Conservancy &
Museum of Art, which also has an
exhibition space filled with original
paintings by the Wyeth family,
including Andrew’s own son, Jamie.
NC Wyeth House and Studio,
Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, USA
www.brandywine.org

Artists & Illustrators 27

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 COLUMNIST

Family and friends are usually

quick to exploit any creative talent on
tap, so be prepared. Mates rates are
yours to decide but avoid working for
free unless you are entirely happy
with the gift. Your time, materials
and skills all come at a cost and a
little outlay will ensure you aren’t
taken for granted.
Taking commissions can be fun, challenging
If the commission goes ahead,
and lucrative. Our columnist LAURA BOSWELL get your client to use examples of
shares her tips for making them run smoothly your work and any other visuals they
need when describing their brief and

H
ave you ever thought of taking would need to deliver a commission do keep the visual conversation
a commission? If you share and how you would fit the work flowing with plenty of photos of work
your artistic achievements, around other commitments. in progress. Clear communication
chances are that you’ll be asked to When it comes to pricing, work throughout is essential, whether the
work to order at some point. However, out some figures in advance based client is a stranger or your mum –
it’s a good idea to think the idea on your usual work, materials and it keeps the work on track for a
through before anyone puts you time. Balance that with some online successful outcome.
on the spot. research and ask among your peers. Lastly, if you do decide to take the
Decide up front how you feel about This will give you a starting point for commission, be sure to enjoy the
working to commission. If the mere costing commissions. Think through experience and revel in bringing
idea appals you, you’ve made your how you will take payment, work out someone else’s dreams to life. BELOW Laura
decision. If asked, you can say a clear what percentage to charge in Laura co-hosts a podcast, Ask an Artist. Boswell, Birch and
and cheerful no without apology or advance, and when the remainder Listen to new episodes at www.artists Winter Sky, linocut,
excuses. Do be prepared for a little should be paid. andillustrators.co.uk/askanartist 51x43cm
opposition; people often assume that
a commission is the highest form of
compliment with very little idea of
what’s involved in their request.
If the idea of a commission
appeals, think through your options.
Every request will be different, but
it will help if you have a few rules
up front. Decide on your creative
boundaries; clients often flatteringly
imagine artists can – and will – make
anything. In reality, you need to feel
comfortable; rising to a challenge
is one thing, being out of your depth
is quite another.
Be careful about time too. Think
through what kind of time period you

Clear
communication
is essential,
whether the
client is a
stranger or
your mum

Artists & Illustrators 29

 Mary
A R T H I S T O RY

Newcomb
This self-confessed “country artist” developed a cult following for her post-war
paintings of everyday life. KATIE MCCABE revisits the inspirations behind her art
30 Artists & Illustrators
 A R T H I S T O RY

Instead of observing
nature from the outside,
Mary Newcomb firmly
lived within it, and
approached it without
pretension

S
omething strange is at play in the paintings of Mary
Newcomb. In one of her better-known works, The
Lady with a Bunch of Sweet Williams, a landscape
painted in 1988, we meet a woman as she passes through
a golden clearing in a field, the dark shadow of a church
spire visible in the distance. So far, so pastoral. Nothing
unusual to see here. That is until our eyes adjust and
we realise the woman’s whole body is dwarfed by her
enormous bouquet – size-wise, it’s practically on par with
that church spire. Only her legs poke out beneath a
firework-blast of red and white blooms that she holds
before us like a hypnotist’s wheel. In the Victorian era,
when the language of flowers (known as “floriography”)
was used to communicate certain meanings, Sweet
Williams symbolised gallantry, which could explain
Newcomb’s courageous choice of size, but really, it’s about
capturing a burst of feeling – the kind you might get when
marching across a village to a friend’s house to proudly
present them with a bunch of hand-picked flowers.
Like so many of Newcomb’s paintings, it stays true to
the intentions she laid out in her diary in 1986: “I wanted…
to remind ourselves that – in our haste – in this century
– we may not give time to pause and look – and may pass
on our way unheeding”.
As a self-taught artist who never followed conventional
rules of proportion and perspective, Mary Newcomb is
sometimes aligned with British folk artists like Alfred
Wallis, but she preferred to be known as a “country artist” ABOVE Mary looking, note taking and sketching of the landscape is
– a term that more accurately reflected her approach to Newcomb, something that would later become a central part of her
life. She was born Mary Slatford on 22 January 1922 in Dandelion, date artistic practice. It was also where she met her husband,
the outskirts of northwest London but spent much of her unknown, pencil Godfrey Newcomb, then a young farmer-in-progress.
childhood in the Wiltshire countryside. and watercolour on After they married, the couple set up a small farm and
Mary showed early artistic promise but the Second paper, 31x23cm pottery in the Waveney Valley on the Suffolk-Norfolk
World War caused her to choose a natural sciences degree border. Between the demands of rural life and caring for
at the University of Reading instead. Even then, she would her two children, Hannah and Tessa (the latter now a
© CRANE KALMAN GALLERY/ESTATE OF THE ARTIST

find ways to explore her interests, spending time in the art
history library drawing studies of specimens – always
halfway between scientist and naturalist.
After graduating, she worked as a teacher and
volunteered in a post-war initiative to teach children about
nature through direct, on-the-ground observation at the
Field Studies Council’s original centre at Flatford Mill,
Suffolk, in the heart of Constable Country. All that intense
well-respected artist), Mary would carve out time to paint.
She had some success exhibiting the works she produced
OPPOSITE PAGE locally, selling as part of the Norwich 20 Group (which
Mary Newcomb, continues today – see www.norwich20group.co.uk). It gave
The Lady with a her the confidence to take her paintings to Andras Kalman,
Bunch of Sweet a Hungarian-born art dealer for the likes of LS Lowry.
Williams, 1988, oil Kalman saw something in her uniquely surreal country
on board, 54x51cm scenes and took Mary on at his Crane Kalman Gallery in

Artists & Illustrators 31

West London, where she staged solo exhibitions from
1970 onwards. Later in life, he also encouraged Mary to
start keeping the diary that gives us insight into her work.
Moments from her days on the farm rarely went to waste
– she seemed to study her surroundings like a textbook.
The artist’s writing shows the minutiae of the details she
kept: “A new painting… It will be difficult to do, but I will
try… On the common a lady walks stiffly along in her best
suit and hat. The sky is mediaeval blue. The clouds are
white. The lady stops and takes off her jacket and reveals
a soft yellow blouse. She stoops to smell flowers that have
no scent and goes on her way – her stiffness gone.”
32 Artists & Illustrators
It is this same diary – kept by Mary for a year in 1986 – CLOCKWISE FROM
that will inform Mary Newcomb: Nature’s Canvas, an ABOVE Kew, The
extensive exhibition of her art at Warwickshire’s Compton Delicate Jungle,
Verney this February. Extracts from her writing will 1979, oil on
accompany her paintings and the show will also include canvas, 91x76cm;
works from artists she namechecks in the diary pages – Foaming Water,
such as Stanley Spencer and Milton Avery. An obsessive 1975, oil on board,
love for the countryside is something all three artists 62x58cm; Ewes
share, but Newcomb is an outlier with no obvious peers. Watching Shooting
“She wasn’t really part of an artistic coterie of fellow Stars, 1990, pencil
artists, she was very much working on a farm, [and] with and watercolour on
her family in the evenings,” explains curator Amy Orrock. paper, 28x25cm
 Mary Newcomb
shunned the art world
in lots of ways... She
always said she wasn’t
an artist with a capital A

“When she’d done all the other jobs, she’d start painting.
She kind of shunned the art world, in lots of ways.”
“Mary always said she wasn’t an artist with a capital A,”
she adds. “Her paintings are kind of a blend of metaphors,
observations, and memories.”
Instead of observing nature from the outside, Mary
firmly lived within it, and approached it without pretension.
Perhaps her scientific understanding of the countryside,
combined with a personal connection to it, gave her the
freedom required to abandon literal representations and
blow her world out of proportion, resulting in paintings of
Mothra-like butterflies perched on treetops.
Mary’s artistic career tragically came to an end in 2003,
when she suffered a severe stroke. She passed away
five years later on 29 March 2008. While it’s fair to say
Mary’s work is still not widely known, Amy points out that,
“She’s almost like a cult artist – people who know about
her really, really love her.”
Mary’s respect for the natural world and desire to
represent it in the most honest way possible has made
her a favourite among nature writers such as Richard
Mabey and Ronald Blythe, a friend of the artist who once
said of her work: “She points us to things we know all
about but haven’t looked at properly. When you look at
them, you think, ‘Why didn’t I notice that before?’”
The few snapshots we have of Mary’s writing possess
a poetry of their own and many of her paintings’ titles
could easily be lines plucked from a John Clare verse.
Animals and foliage are important to her work, but
human figures simply coexist with the countryside, falling
in line with its pre-existing machinations, instead of taking
precedent. “She didn’t have a picturesque thing about
her,” says Amy. “She would put pylons or a blue plastic bag
or a workman in an orange jacket in her paintings. It’s not
like she’s denying the existence of modern life, it’s just
that the world in which she was living was quite timeless.”
It’s that timelessness you feel when you are alone by a
riverbank, drinking in the quiet, and a butterfly lands on
your leg. You’ll stop everything to stare at it – and study
the lysergic pattern of its wings. The moment itself is
ephemeral, but that feeling of reverence remains. With her
scaled-up portraits of Herculean dandelions, cosmic sheep
and colossal aphids, Mary is giving voice to that feeling.
© MARY NEWCOMB ESTATE

With her fantastical, warped perspective on the world, she

gives us no choice but to stop and smell the Sweet Williams.
Mary Newcomb: Nature’s Canvas runs 13 February to 13 June
at Compton Verney, Warwickshire. www.comptonverney.org.uk

Artists & Illustrators 33

THE VIKING CRUISES
BRITISH
ART PRIZE
2021
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
ENTER THIS MAJOR NEW OPEN ART COMPETITION
WITH PRIZES WORTH MORE THAN £10,000
SUPPORTED BY
A
rtists & Illustrators is proud to support
The British Art Prize 2021, in association
with Viking, the award-winning cruise
line. This major new national open art
competition will provide artists of all ages and
abilities with a platform to gain exposure and
recognition for their work.
The British Art Prize 2021 is open to everyone.
Whether you are a hobby painter, an emerging
artist or a seasoned professional, all styles,
media, ideas and techniques will be considered.
The British Art Prize 2021 offers artists an
unprecedented level of national exposure
across four major magazine brands and the
chance to sell their artworks to a combined
audience of almost 1,000,000 art lovers and
collectors. In addition, there is a prize fund
worth more than £10,000, which includes art
vouchers, cash prizes, a Viking river cruise worth
£7,000 and the chance to work towards your
own solo exhibition with London’s Panter & Hall.
The British Art Prize 2021 culminates with the
shortlisted works being exhibited at a leading
London gallery in Spring 2021 (tbc). Shortlisted
artists will be invited to a prestigious opening
evening reception alongside artists, collectors
and other VIP guests. Everyone who enters will
receive a +1 invitation to the exhibition too.

MEDIA PARTNERS
Nick Grove, Life
Drawing Class,
oil on canvas,
70x40cm
THE PRIZES
The British Art Prize 2021 has four fantastic
prizes on offer for the winning artists:
•First Prize: The overall winner of the British Art
Prize 2021 will receive a £2,000 cash prize, a
feature in Artists & Illustrators, a solo exhibition
with Panter & Hall, and a Viking river cruise
worth £7,000, which visits Lyon, Provence and
Arles, following in the footsteps of Van Gogh.
www.vikingrivercruises.co.uk
•Second Prize: A £500 cash prize and £250
voucher from Rosemary & Co., the Yorkshire-
based company that produce the finest quality
handmade artist brushes.
www.rosemaryandco.com
•Third Prize: A £250 voucher from
Rosemary & Co. www.rosemaryandco.com
•The People’s Choice Award: A £1,000 art
materials voucher from Zieler, the family-run art
supplies company that work with artists to
stock the best products. www.zieler.co.uk
HOW TO ENTER
Entering the British Art Prize 2021 is easy. Visit
www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/britishartprize
BRITISH ART PRIZE 2021
DEADLINE
EXTENDED
BY POPULAR
DEMAND!
and simply fill out the online form. Attach digital
photographs of your artwork(s) when requested
and click the “submit” button to complete your
entry. The entry fee is £15 for the first artwork,
£12 per additional artwork.
Terms and conditions apply – please visit
www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/britishartprize
SELECTION PROCESS
The deadline has been extended to 5pm on 18
February 2021. The British Art Prize 2021 judging
panel will include artist and BBC presenter
Lachlan Goudie, Viking’s Wendy Atkin-Smith,
Panter & Hall’s Tiffany Hall and Artists &
Illustrators editor Steve Pill. Our panel will select
a shortlist of 50 artworks, including the three
top prize winners. A fourth prize, the People’s
Choice Award, will be decided by a public vote.
The British Art Prize 2021 shortlist will now be
announced online on 1 March 2021. If you’ve
entered, visit www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk
after that date to see if your work has been
shortlisted. Readers will also be able to vote
for their favourite shortlisted artworks at
www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/britishartprize
ENTER FOR FREE
Members of Portfolio Plus can
enter the British Art Prize
2021 free of charge
Portfolio Plus is an exciting
online community that allows
you to share, showcase and sell
your art via a personalised web
page for as little as £2.49 per
month. As well as free entry to
the British Art Prize 2021, other
membership benefits include:
• Sell artworks commission-free
to an active audience of more
than 100,000 monthly visitors
• Access exclusive competitions,
opportunities and offers
• Appear in our magazine, social
media, newsletters and more
Sign up to Portfolio Plus at
www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk
Artists & Illustrators 35
 IN THE STUDIO

Mark T
he moment Mark Entwisle
spotted the paper bag that he
painted for the 2020 Sunday
Times Watercolour Competition will
Gallery. It had the subtle light filtering
through a big, high window on the left,
but instead of illuminating a female
figure playing the harpsichord, it softly

Entwisle
The Sunday Times Watercolour
Competition winner talks to
REBECCA BRADBURY about being
a frustrated oil painter and working
in his “man cave” garden studio
not be forgotten in a hurry – not
because the artwork went on to scoop
the top prize, but because his eldest
son won’t let him live it down.
Mark was accompanying his then
teenage son on a prospective student
tour of the Camberwell College of Arts
when he was stopped in his tracks
by a scene that reminded him of
Vermeer’s A Young Woman Standing
at a Virginal in London’s National
lit up a brown paper bag, branded
with red graphic letters.
Reaching for his Leica film camera
– and ignoring his son’s protestations
– Mark took the shot. Unbeknown to
him, however, it was the last shot of
the film, kicking into action the
camera’s (extremely loud) automatic
rewind feature. The pair found
themselves the centre of attention
among the quiet group of strangers.

36 Artists & Illustrators

 IN THE STUDIO

For illustrations, it’s got to be clear what

the story is… Whereas my paintings are
definitely about nothing happening

ABOVE Shoes “Everyone turned around to see what

on the Stairs, the noise was,” the artist recalls. “My
watercolour on son was clutching his head. It was
paper, 20.5x29cm just excruciating. I’ve tried to reason
with him that it was worth it, but I
think he’s still doubtful about that.”
It was the photo on which Mark
based his award-winning Paper Bag,
an artwork developed back in his
North London studio that he thought
was perhaps too modest to make a
big impression. Yet that’s where the
RIGHT Negligee, magic lies in the 58-year-old artist’s
watercolour on still life paintings – it’s his ability to
paper, 33x19cm render the sublime in something

Artists & Illustrators 37

ABOVE Paper Bag, many of us would not give a second
watercolour on glance, like a pair of Converse
paper, 44x35cm trainers on the stairs or a dress
hanging in a shower.
Indeed, feeling like he had stepped
into a Vermeer painting was not the
artist’s sole inspiration for Paper Bag.
The scene also appealed to his love
of seeing the beauty and functionality
in simple things, as well as the
chance to paint some graphics,
something he admires in the work of
20th-century British watercolourist
Kenneth Rowntree.
Mark’s first foray into watercolour
was as a 17-year-old boarder,
when he bought an unused set of
RIGHT Chinese Rembrandt paints at a car boot sale.
Money Plant, “I took it back to school and just
watercolour on found I could paint with them,”
paper, 38x28cm he says. “Up until then I had been
38 Artists & Illustrators
drawing my friends a lot and I
just started colouring them in.
It’s something that came
automatically and naturally.”
Going on to study illustration in
Brighton under the tutelage of
Raymond Briggs and John Lorde,
Mark began his career as an
illustrator by designing book covers
– his first commission was for Penguin
– but, keeping up his own art on the
side, the freedom of the fine art world
came calling around 15 years later.
“I started entering competitions,”
he explains. “Some oil paintings got
picked up by Beaux Arts in Bath,
and I did a one-man show there with
watercolours [in 1990] and they
sold every last one. That was when
I thought: I prefer this, I can pick what
I want to paint.”
 IN THE STUDIO

Well and truly shedding his

illustrator skin, Mark has abandoned
all narrative devices. “For a lot of
illustrations, it’s got to be clear
what the story is,” he explains. “It’s
impacted me in reverse, as a lot of
my paintings, like Paper Bag, are
definitely about nothing happening.”
There was a time too when Mark
deserted his watercolours in favour
of oil paints, despite having no formal
training in the medium. “From quite
early on, even at Brighton, I would
always say I was a frustrated oil
painter,” he reveals. “I would say
it’s odd because all of my favourite
artists like Vermeer, Degas and
Manet paint in oils, yet I paint in
watercolour, and I paint them too
thick because I’m trying to make
them look like oil paintings.”
“Eventually I started trying oil
painting and it seemed like really
hard work. Unlike my experience with
watercolour, it didn’t seem to come
naturally. It seemed like painting with
mud. I had to slowly work it out, I’d go
to the National Gallery and look at
Vermeer. That was my big desire:
to get better at oil painting.”
It’s hard to believe the artist ever
struggled with oils. In 2020 alone, he
had Fitou – a figurative oil painting of
his teenage daughter in the South of
France – accepted into the Royal
Society of Portrait Painters’ annual
exhibition, while his oil portrait
Nantobeko was selected by David
Remfry RA to appear at the delayed
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.

Artists & Illustrators 39

IN THE STUDIO
Mark, however, returned to his
original medium around four years
ago, when his son started flicking
through his old sketchbooks of
watercolours and encouraged him
to “just stick them on Instagram and
see what happens”.
“I think I was shy of them,” Mark
recalls. “But I started putting them up
[online] and it was really surprising
the people who did like them. I’ve just
started doing more and more of them
alongside oil paintings. It’s been a
rebirth in my interest in them.”
No matter the medium, the artist
does all his work in a lean-to studio in
his garden. Also known as his “man
cave”, it was built by his father-in-law,
an architect, when Mark and his
wife moved into the North London
Victorian terrace. With a glass roof
40 Artists & Illustrators
and windows on two sides, the space
is bathed in year-round natural light
to the envy of many artist friends.
Rather than surround himself with
his completed artworks, Mark prefers
to store them elsewhere so he can
focus on what he’s about to do next.
So instead, the space is filled with
grey boxes of art materials
(Schmincke is his favourite brand,
both for watercolours and oils),
batons for storing in-progress oil
paintings, a drawer for his French pen
knife collection, Playmobil figures
painted in khaki patterns, and a big
stockpile of paper bags, as well as
paper cups from coffee shops that
have long since shut down.
To help keep his practice fresh,
the artist rearranges his studio every
couple of months, but background
noise of some sort remains a ABOVE Fitou,
constant, whether it’s a Spotify oil on canvas,
playlist or the radio. The day tends 110x132cm
to begin with Lauren Laverne’s BBC
Radio 6 Music breakfast show, before
switching to an ambient film
soundtrack or more melancholy
artists like Nick Drake. Then there’s
Woman’s Hour or even an audiobook
on Audible.
When the UK went into its first
lockdown last spring, Mark’s family
members began to join him in his
studio – something he wasn’t too
keen on, preferring to have it to
himself, despite his two sons,
daughter and wife (who is also his
“fiercest critic”) appearing to be his
go-to subjects. But are people his RIGHT Nantobeko,
favourite subjects to paint? “Normally oil on board,
if I sit down to draw something, the 23x18cm
 IN THE STUDIO

Oil painting
seemed like
really hard
work. Unlike my
experience with
watercolour,
it didn’t seem
to come
naturally

first thing I’m looking for is a person,”

he says. “And if I can see their face,
the first thing I’m looking for is an eye.
I love drawing faces and trying to work
out what it is that I like about the way
they look. Without anyone in the
room, I’m looking for the next
inanimate object that looks good.”
What is not so predictable are
Mark’s methods. Pre-pandemic he
taught at the National Portrait Gallery
(which has now closed for
refurbishments until 2023) and he
has also run virtual watercolour
classes throughout much of the
lockdown. One thing that the tutoring
has taught him is that he is unable
to give any “hard and fast rules”
to students.
“Sometimes you just start by
painting the shadows under the eyes
and under the nose, and the next
week you’ll just paint the whole face
first and then work into it,” he says by
way of explanation. “I think just to
keep myself lively, I’d hate to fall into
a routine of [saying] this is how you do
it every time. I do have certain little
formulas that I teach my students
now, but they’ve made me much more
self-conscious about things I used to
just do spontaneously.”
Perhaps one shouldn’t really expect
to bottle up Mark’s artistry into a
one-size-fits-all formula. Whether
it’s a paper cup, a house plant or a
person, this award-winning artist has
a flair for tenderly transforming
fleeting moments into monumental
artworks, and that’s inimitable.
www.markentwisle.co.uk

Artists & Illustrators 41

42 Artists & Illustrators
 MASTERCL ASS

Light
and
ShadeFinding variety in repeated forms is
the key to creating interesting pictures.
FABIO CEMBRANELLI shows you how with a
gorgeous wisteria-covered doorway in France

Fabio’s materials
•Paper
Arches Aquarelle 300gsm
cold-pressed watercolour
paper, 58x48cm
•Brushes
Synthetic round brushes,
sizes 6, 10 and 16; synthetic
flat brushes, size 1/2”, 3/4”
and 1”; synthetic rigger brush,
size 2; fan brush, size 4
•Paints
Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna,
Burnt Umber, Permanent
Alizarin Crimson, Rose
Madder, Quinacridone
Magenta, New Gamboge,
Green Gold, Sap Green,
Undersea Green, Manganese
Blue Hue, Cobalt Blue, French
Ultramarine, Ultramarine
Violet and Shadow Violet,
all Daniel Smith Extra Fine
Water Colour
•Pencil
Derwent watersoluble
2B sketching pencil
I
visited Chédigny a couple of years ago,
a small village known as “The City of
Roses”. I love painting doors, balconies
and windows with flowers, the play between
light and shade attracts me so the wisteria
subject was perfect for me. I took hundreds
of photos and made a few sketches.
Wisteria is not an easy subject to paint in
watercolour. If you suggest round shapes
instead of drooping clusters, for example, it’s
going to look like a climbing rose instead.
Colour choice is important: the most
well-known shades of wisteria are lavender,
pink, violet and white but the pink is not so
vibrant. Most of the time the flowers have a
softer, pastel look. The leaf colour is also
important – it’s not a dark green; it’s an
intermediate shade, often with a yellow bias.
My approach to watercolour is intuitive
and I like to paint loosely. I try to take the 1 Work the verticals
essence of the subject and interpret it so I
don’t pay too much attention to the number I began by sketching out my composition. I used a water-
of flowers in each cluster. The general soluble pencil so that when I started painting my sketch
concept is much more important than a would disappear – the water works as a natural eraser.
single detail. Instead of trying to paint flower I began adding the wall colour with a size 16 round brush
by flower, try to focus on the play between and a mixture of Burnt Sienna, Quinacridone Gold and
light and shadow. You will create a stronger Shadow Violet. If the building wall is a vertical plane, try to
focal point and draw the viewer’s attention. move your brush in a vertical or diagonal way. If you apply
www.fabiocembranelli.com the first layer vertically, it’s going to look more natural.

Artists & Illustrators 43


2 Pick out colours
Here I started adding colours to the windows,
doors, and roof. I used a size 10 round
synthetic brush and mixed different shades
of grey-brown: mostly Burnt Umber mixed
with Shadow Violet, Ultramarine Violet,
Cobalt Blue and Burnt Sienna. For a scene
like this, don’t paint all doors and windows
with the same colour mixture: using different
shades in different doors and windows will
make for a more appealing painting.
3 Vary the marks
I started adding a few greens, mixing up
Sap Green, Quinacridone Gold and New
Gamboge. Remember it’s only the first layer
so don’t add darker greens at this point.
Try to leave a few soft edges between the
green leaves and the wisteria clusters.
I like to use different brushes when
painting greens so I can create a diversity of
brushstrokes and marks. My brush choice
here was a size 10 round and sometimes a
size 4 fan brush, too.
4 Start on the wisteria
I began painting the wisteria clusters using
a size 10 round brush loaded with a mix of
Quinacridone Magenta, Rose Madder and
Alizarin Crimson. For variation, I sometimes
added a little bit of Cobalt Blue to the mix
to stop it becoming too pink.
Suggest a few clusters, working with
the paper upside down. Try and really think
about the cluster’s structure, it’s not a
square or round shape, but rather a conical
arrangement, pointed downwards.

Top tip
Soften the hard edge
of a still-wet stroke
by gently grazing the
edge with the tip of a
moist brush

5 Soften edges as you go 6 Tone it down 7 Add greenery

I continued working on the wisteria clusters
with the size 10 round brush, using different
combinations of Quinacridone Magenta,
Rose Madder and Alizarin Crimson, still with
a subtle touch of Cobalt Blue. The more I
added clusters, the more I tried to soften a
few edges between them and the leaves. A
good balance between hard and soft edges
is crucial to enhance the sense of depth in a
painting so blend, connect and mix clusters
and leaves sometimes.
I added darker values to the wisteria clusters
and leaves. I used a mix of Quinacridone
Magenta, Alizarin Crimson and French
Ultramarine for the clusters and a mix of Sap
Green and Undersea Green for the leaves, all
with the same size 10 brush. I also lifted out
some pigment from the clusters using a 1/2”
flat brush to create a few highlights. Try to
suggest different forms within the wisteria –
avoid making the same shape everywhere,
otherwise it’s going to look like a stamp.
I continued to work with greens, suggesting
a few distant hues on the left-hand side.
For these, I mixed Sap Green, Undersea
Green, Ultramarine Violet and Shadow Violet,
and applied them with the size 10 round and
size 4 fan brushes.
Think about values here: all the greens
added to this left-hand side of the painting
were a bit darker than the wisteria clusters,
so the focal point (in this case, the wisteria)
was further enhanced.

44 Artists & Illustrators

8 Work on contrasts
Using a size 10 round brush, I added a mix
of Burnt Umber, Shadow Violet, Burnt Sienna
and French Ultramarine to the doors and
windows. The main door in the middle of the
building was darker than the wisteria clusters
around it, so painting this added to the value
contrast and made the wisteria seem more
highlighted in comparison.
At this stage of a painting, I like to step
back and take a look at the overall balance
so I can decide where to add more details.
Thinking ahead about the next steps in any
composition is quite important.
9 Bring in details
It’s time to add a few more details to my
composition. I painted the streetlamp using
the size 10 flat brush and a mix of Shadow
Violet, Burnt Umber and Burnt Sienna.
Adding a few details is important to create
interest but don’t overwork them. It’s just a
streetlamp – it should be part of the
composition, not the focal point.
I also added a few very subtle darker
values to the window and doors, using a
colourful grey mix of Burnt Umber plus
Ultramarine Violet.
10 Darken the flowers
I added darker colours to the wisteria, mixing
Quinacridone Magenta and Cobalt Blue for
the flowers, and darker greens made with
Sap Green, Ultramarine Violet and Shadow
Violet. I used three different brushes for this
stage: the size 10 round, the size 4 fan and
the size 2 rigger. It is important to add
different brushstrokes and marks to create
interest, as well as dots and other tiny marks
to suggest single leaves or flowers.

11 Gently add shadows

I added shadows under the wisteria using the

size 10 and 16 round brushes with a mixture
of Ultramarine Violet, Burnt Umber and Burnt
Sienna. Don’t make the shadow mixtures too
thick. If this layer is too saturated, it’s going
to look like a texture on the wall instead of a
soft cast shadow. These shadows were just
strong enough to suggest the play between
light and shade. They conveyed a sense of
drama to the composition and drew attention
to my chosen focal point: the wisteria.
12 Finishing touches
By this stage, almost all the shadows had been added. I added a final few using the larger
two of my round synthetic brushes (sizes 10 and 16) again with the same mix of Ultramarine
Violet, Burnt Umber and Burnt Sienna. Note that all shadows follow in the same direction
and they were added according to the direction of the sunlight. This helps to create a rhythm,
connecting everything together and enhancing the focal point.

Artists & Illustrators 45

Shiny and see-through surfaces are a daunting challenge to replicate, so the Pastel
Society’s LIZ BALKWILL has set an exercise that will help you simplify the process
M
any years ago, I was set a
task that was to accompany
my application for a place at
art school. I was asked to make a
drawing of an apple, together with
peel and paring knife, that must be
placed on top of a mirrored surface.
At the time I remember feeling a little
overwhelmed and rather intimidated
by the whole idea. Little did I know
that decades later I would be making
an artistic career out of painting
reflections in their many forms.
Many of my own students are
initially daunted when confronted by
a still life that contains glass or metal
as they often find it too advanced
or difficult. However, once they have
learnt how to break down and
approach the rendering of reflective
surfaces, there has been no holding
them back – and it is this approach
that I want to show you here.
Creating a convincing impression of
reflective objects does require careful
observation of the subject. The most
pleasing aspect when suggesting any
reflective surface, is the abstract
quality of the shapes and the mark
making that results. If you are a less
experienced artist, you may like to
start with a coloured glass object as
it has more solidity than clear glass.
Recycled glass is my personal
favourite, it is thicker and has the
lovely turquoise edges that is fun to
suggest. Jars of foodstuffs provide
us with two challenges: not only the
glass receptacle with its contents,
but also the reflections and
highlights. Metal or enamel jar lids
give us the opportunity to explore
colours for different metal finishes
and their highlights. You could also
consider tarnished or rusted
enamelware if you wanted more
interesting textures to depict.
With metal objects, a fairly matt
surface such as pewter is a good
choice if you require a confidence
builder, perhaps moving on to
brushed stainless steel, and then
some of the coloured metals, brass
and copper. The highly polished
metals, such as silver, have the
strongest tonal contrasts with the
brightest highlights and therefore
pose a greater challenge.
EXERCISE
AIM
To make a still life painting of reflective
objects, perhaps also on a reflective
surface, while approaching these
reflections in a methodical manner that
helps you to simplify what you see.
DURATION
The example took 2-3 hours, but spend as
long as you need on this exercise initially
while you get used to each individual stage.
MATERIALS
Pastels are a good quick way to approach
this exercise, though colour pencils or
paint would also work. If using pastels,
a blending tool is also helpful.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
When it comes to painting reflections,
simplification is key. The inclusion of too
much detail will destroy the illusion.
Suggestion is more powerful than over
describing. This exercise will teach you
how to accurately render complicated
reflections by breaking them down into
individual stages that are easier to
focus upon.
Artists & Illustrators 47
PROJECT

PROCESS

1 SET THINGS UP
It is important to control the
way the light falls on a still life
arrangement. It needs to stay
constant. I use a “shadow box” most
of the time – you can make a simple
version using two sides of a
cardboard box to “trap” the light.
I like to think that this is like the
stage in a theatre, that provides a
space where I place my objects and
adjust elements until I find something
that pleases me. An alternative
approach is to use natural light
coming through a window, preferably
a northlight that will stay constant.
If you want to have subtle
reflections on the tabletop, try using
either a piece of varnished wood, a
marble chopping board, a sheet of
glass or even a piece of acetate to
produce the desired surface
reflection.

2 MAKE A VALUE SKETCH

This next stage will help you
be selective and learn to simplify a
composition before you start painting.
Look closely at the set-up and squint
your eyes. This limits the amount of
detail you can see and reduces the
information to just the main shapes
and values.
In order to help you remember
this simplified version of the subject,
it is useful to make a value sketch –
known as a “notan”. Focus purely
on recording the basic tones of your
subject in this sketch and forget
about colour. This notan will then
become a road map for how to
proceed with the finished painting.
colour to the mix once the value has
been determined.
Repeat the process with each
object in turn, once again starting
with the darks before moving onto
the lighter and brighter hues. Placing
a whiter highlight at this stage can
assist in both showing the direction
of the light source and also helping
to create the illusion of the reflective
surface. In this example, I added
highlights to the clear glass and the
skin of the cherries.
4 BUILD SOLID
REFLECTIONS
If you’ve placed your objects on a
reflective surface, their reflections
must be in alignment with the objects

3 BLOCK IN THE
OBJECTS
Start your main painting by drawing
up the main structure of the
composition. With your notan for
reference, begin to lay in the darkest
shapes, letting the value sketch help
you to calibrate how dark or light each
of the shapes should be.
Try not to use pure colour here, but
rather layer a few pastels together,
often a warm colour with a cool one.
Once blended, they will neutralise
each other and give a greyed mix.
Blend with your finger, using the
lightest of pressures. Add more
above. In comparison to objects,
these reflections will appear duller,
softer at the edges and have less
contrast. Everything shifts closer
to the mid values.
This results in darks becoming
lighter, the lights darker and the mid
values staying as they are, albeit
duller. The reflections of the whiter
highlight spots will line up with the
actual highlights too, but they will
also be much softer – aim for just
a suggestion.
To recreate these tabletop
reflections, blend the layered pastels
as before, using your finger with light

48 Artists & Illustrators


pressure. Place areas of the
background down as you block-in the
reflections, making sure to replicate
the same value relationships. Adjust
the warmer and cooler areas
produced by the light source.
Look for any “lost and found edges”
– either out-of-focus or sharp edges
– as they can play an important role
in establishing form and allowing
objects to exist within a space. If an
edge needs softening more than just
your finger allows, try using a blending
tool instead.
PROJECT
5 BUILD THE SEE-
THROUGH AREAS
Now start to work on the parts of the
objects that are purely see-through,
such as the parts of a glass bottle
that doesn’t contain liquid and
instead shows the background
behind. When looking through clear
glass, shapes may appear distorted
and will possibly be a fraction darker.
Pay close attention to the sides of
the glass and the fruit where the
background is reflected on them.
Use small pieces of pastel to
suggest these detailed areas. Twist
and break a small conte stick to give
a sharp edge with which to draw. I use
generous amounts of pastel on my
work and I find pastel pencils often
remove rather than place pastel on
the surface. These small broken
pieces lay nicely on top of the pastel
and work well together.
6 ADD SUITABLE
HIGHLIGHTS
Finish by addressing the highlights
and any other surface reflections.
The nature of highlights is a great
indicator of whether a surface reads
as tarnished, dull or highly polished.
For example, a textured surface
(such as the peel of a citrus fruit)
can break up a highlight, whereas
a softer surface (such as the skin of
a peach) produces a highlight with
a softer edge.
This stage may seem insignificant,
yet the quality of a highlight and what
it conveys about an object’s surface
texture is a hugely important final
touch to the illusion we are trying
to achieve.
www.lizbalkwill.com
Artists & Illustrators 49
 SKETCHING

Telling
Stories
Urban sketcher ISABEL CARMONA ANDREU
shows how adding texts and setting themes
can improve the usefulness of your drawings

WRITING IN DRAWINGS sensations, in a way completing

There are various ways in which
writing on an urban sketch can
complete the information given by
the drawing itself. Firstly, it can help
writing up expectations (before) and
reflections (after) the sketching takes
place, pointing out where there might
be changes between them,
highlighting any surprises that were
noticed whilst drawing.
Secondly, it can complete the
drawing, capturing non-visual signals
such as sounds, conversations,
smells or other multisensorial
experiences, tastes or tactile
the visual recording of the event
witnessed.
Thirdly, writing can be part of the
story recorded, picking up on urban
graffiti or other written text as the
main part of the drawing.
Finally, writing notes and thoughts
about a drawing, before, during or
after drawing, links the act of drawing
with the thinking process, distils
memories and emotions that the
drawing itself evokes and
communicates them to the viewer
alongside the image, enriching the
meaning and adding complexity.

50 Artists & Illustrators

TOP Victor Swasky, My Hometown
Square, Barbera del Valles, pen
and watercolour on paper
In this sketch, Victor presents
a feeling of weather and cold in
the shadow over his hometown
square. The trees are also bare of
leaves and there is a large, blue
winter sky. Consciously, he left a
space on the page to write about
squares and what they represent
as communal spaces, personal
thoughts that make the drawing
and the square his.
LEFT Isabel Carmona Andreu, View
from the Lock Stock and Barrel,
watercolour, pigment and colour
pencil on paper
The blank space was perfect for
adding a short story about how
the sketch came about. It enriches
the drawing, helping to remember
aspects like company and method.
Now the memory is stronger, it is
easy to remember we took cover
from the rain here and enjoyed
trying out the natural pigments.
EXERCISE: WRITING UP
THOUGHTS, MEMORIES
Choose a drawing you did a while ago, a week
or a month is sufficient. Look at it and remember
the story. Write a few notes evoked by the drawing
about things that were not drawn up. It could be
a person that you remember, or how it felt to be
there, or what mood you were in.
If there is space on the page add your notes,
there or on the opposite side of the page. Leave the
drawing aside a few more days and look at it again.
Now reading your notes as well as looking at the
sketch – does the writing complete the story?
As noticed above, writing can be part of
the drawing process and as such, if desired,
space can be left blank or set aside for writing
during the sketching experience or to be completed
afterwards.
Sometimes it pays to give one’s thoughts
some time before putting them down, allowing
the memory to settle a bit before remembering it.
This way writing is also a little creative and not
too analytical, losing its stiff, factual nature and
becoming part of our creativity.
There are various ways to develop your own
writing style on a drawing. Your lettering, the
practice of writing will be very personal. Some
sketchers write a neat version of their own
handwriting, others do a few scribbled notes, and
some develop their own lettering for the purpose.
Artists & Illustrators 51
SKETCHING

ABOVE Isabel Carmona Andreu,

Jardin de Lujo, pencil on paper
The space was left on the drawing
to write the story, premeditating
while drawing on the qualities of
the garden and the pleasure it
gives, describing other feelings
that the drawing inspires.
The drawing itself is focused on
mark making of the foliage and
recording of textures within the
garden, trying to convey the feeling
of the garden using tone and
textural marks in greyscale.

RIGHT Isabel Carmona Andreu,

Berlin Wall fragment at the
Imperial War Museum, pencil and
colour pencil on paper
This drawing is as much about the
object drawn as the story written
that captures the information on
the explanation board. The graffiti
was done by a well-known artist
and adds even more meaning to
the already historical piece of the
Berlin wall that was taken from
near the Brandenburg Gate.

52 Artists & Illustrators


THINK OF THEMES,
PROJECTS
A way to gather ideas and research
on any topic of interest is to present
them as a collection of urban
sketches, focused on a theme.
Complexity in a themed sketch can
be explored in many ways, for example
by varying the focus while spending
time in a space and sketching various
aspects of the same scene in smaller
drawings, creating a series of
vignettes of the space. In a big space,
or a big city, storyboarding may be a
useful technique to explore different
viewpoints of the same scene quickly.
The same space or experience can
be explored in various ways; a long-view
sketch can give you the moment in
time, whereas a more fragmented
series of vignettes, put together as a
storyboard, can add information at
other levels, from architectural details
to action details (what else was
happening?) to companions’ portraits
(who is there?). The effect is much
more dynamic. Our minds read the
time that it took to make the
sketches, like in a film, and the mini
stories complete the long-view sketch.
The world is a complex environment
and so is the urban sketcher’s mind,
where thoughts and memories are
triggered by the act of drawing.
Complexity also derives from the
diverse feelings that any situation
can produce and that want to be
communicated by drawing, such as
elation and energy, fun and surprise.
The exploration of that complexity
through repeated drawing on location
and communication to others of the
findings of the drawn experiments is
at the heart of urban sketching.
This is an edited extract from Isabel’s
new book, Urban Sketching – An Artist’s
Guide, published by The Crowood Press.
www.crowood.com
SKETCHING
ABOVE Isabel Carmona Andreu, Warsaw Square (long
view), fountain pen and colour pencil on paper
There are many tourists coming and going on the square,
learning about the city’s demise during the Second
World War when Warsaw was completely destroyed. The
buildings here are all reconstructions following the original
plans that were miraculously saved. The bar terraces at
ground level are now the main source of income. It is a
classical urban sketch of a square inhabited by tourists,
pretty and complex but static – it lacks some action.
BELOW Isabel Carmona Andreu, Warsaw Square
(storyboard), fountain pen and colour pencil on paper
This urban sketch was much more fun to do than the
previous sketch. Here, there are only details, salient
points, the mini sketches zoom into the action, picking
up things of interest, doing a quick portrait, collecting
elements of the overall story. It complements the earlier
wide panorama of the square with minutiae that inform
about the here and now.
Artists & Illustrators 53
 DraFurng
UE

Wildlife artist JASON MORGAN has spent more than 20 years

perfecting his technique for rendering animal fur. Discover
his simple, three-stage approach with stunning results

M
ABOVE Jason any artists are apprehensive
Morgan, Clouded about drawing and painting
Leopard, animals. They might really
Panpastel and want to draw their own pet for
pastel pencils on instance, but all that fur just
paper, 28x21cm overwhelms them. So where do you
even start?
I vividly remember struggling to
paint animals when I started more
than 20 years ago. Instruction was
almost non-existent back then, and
what did exist sorely lacked in detail
and techniques, almost as if the
artists were keeping secrets back.
It was so frustrating. I made it my goal
LEFT Jason to share everything I learnt myself, so
Morgan, Lion Cub, others could progress quickly.
Panpastel and When you are confronted with
pastel pencils on something difficult, I have found that
paper, 28x21cm it’s best to try to simplify it, to break it
down into more manageable and
achievable parts. With regards to
animal fur, the first stage is the basic
tone and colour. I try to make this
layer just slightly darker than I want
the finished artwork to be, so the
lighter details will show up when
placed on top.
The second stage is where I start
adding the shadow areas of the fur
texture, these are the small areas you
sometimes see in between the lighter
hairs – something I will explore in
detail in the lion demo below.
If the lighter hairs only need to be
moderately lighter than the darker
“under fur” textures, then you won’t
need the stage above.
The third stage is where I begin to
add lighter, more detailed fur and
TECHNIQUE
hairs on top of the first two layers.
This final stage might take many
layers, maybe four or five, before I
have built a painting to the stage
where it looks like realistic fur.
Let me show you my process using
some examples.
THE RIGHT MATERIALS
To create realistic, finely detailed fur
using pastels, you need to be able to
apply multiple layers on top of one
another. After extensive testing a few
years ago, I decided that
Clairefontaine’s Pastelmat paper and
boards were by far the most suited to
my style and I now use them for all of
my drawings.
I generally choose a mid-tone
paper, like a brown or dark grey, for
Artists & Illustrators 55
DEMO 1: SOFTER COATS
Knowing when to place the background is tricky.
Should it be first, as it is the element that is furthest
away? Or should it go in last and risk overlapping the
subject? I find that the background plays an important
part in my ability to accurately judge the colours and
tonal value of my subject. Likewise, the subject is always
being influenced by its surroundings and the reflected
light. With this in mind, I almost always put at least a bit
of the background colour in early. Only adding a little
means that I can still accurately judge other colours 1
without risking smudging a thickly applied colour.

56 Artists & Illustrators


1 I began by transferring my image to the
pastel paper. I never draw directly onto
the paper as I don’t want to be erasing on
its surface. When blocking in colour, it’s also
important to remember that if an area needs
to be very dark or very light, you should avoid
putting anything underneath it that might
contaminate the top layer.
For example, avoid laying down a mid-tone
grey under an area you later want to be
pure white. This does not apply to drawing
whiskers as these will go fine on top at the
end of your drawing.
2 An underlayer, such as the one you can
see here below, can be made using pastel
pencils on smaller drawings or PanPastels
or soft pastels on larger drawings. Notice how
this layer appears a little darker than the
completed left side. I did this so the lighter
details show up when added on top later.
I always blend and bed in this underlayer
with my fingers by gently rubbing the pastel
2 tooth of the paper is full.
3 www.wildlifeart-online.com
in the direction of the fur direction. (If you
want to really smudge the pastel, use a paper
stump instead.) Rubbing the pastel pushes
it into the tooth of the paper, creating a
smoother look. I almost always start with the
areas furthest away from the viewer (in this
case the ears) and then gradually work my
way forwards towards the closest area (here
it’s the nose) to create a sense of overlap.
Once complete, I used Clairefontaine’s
Pastel Revolution Freezer to completely seal
this underlayer.
3 By now I had completed both sides of
the head and also the nose. Notice how
I slightly blurred the nose. I don’t always do
this, but on this particular drawing I wanted
to attract more attention to the dog’s eyes,
so I kept the eyes in sharp focus and blurred
the nose. It’s not difficult to blur in pastels,
just use a gentle touch with a finger. The
secret is to have no sharp edges showing in
any area you want to appear out of focus.
TECHNIQUE
everything except very light or
extremely vibrant and colourful
subjects. Using a mid-tone paper
means that both my lights and darks
show up immediately – remember
white pencil won’t show up on
white paper.
You might assume that a rougher
paper could take more layers, but my
testing showed otherwise. I found
that sanded papers created far more
pastel dust, which then sat on the
paper surface and made detailing
much more difficult. Personally, I find
sanded papers are more suited to
either very large drawings or a more
painterly look, but every artist is
different, so it is definitely worth
testing out for yourselves.
I also favour Stabilo’s CarbOthello
pastel pencils, Faber-Castell’s PITT
pastel pencils, Rembrandt’s soft
pastels and PanPastel’s ultra-soft
artists’ painting pastels – the latter
are available in a dedicated Jason
Morgan Wildlife Painting set. I blend
them with either a paper stump (the
softer ones blend more fully) or a
Jackson’s Art Rubber Blender.
I have never sealed my finished
drawings as all fixatives can alter
tones and colours to varying degrees
and very few fixatives actually fix the
pastel to the paper anyway, but I have
used Clairefontaine’s new Pastel
Revolution Freezer to completely seal
the underlayer on some recent
drawings. It can alter some colours,
but it allows you to work on top of
them without smudging, even if the
www.jasonmorgan.co.uk
REFERENCE IMAGES
If you don’t have a pet to
draw or you are worried about
copyright issues when painting
images found on the internet,
Jason has collected together
a vast online library of more
than 900 high-resolution
reference photos that can be
used with no copyright worries.
These include not only wildlife
subjects, but also flowers,
landscapes and more.
Download the perfect
reference image today at
Artists & Illustrators 57
TECHNIQUE
DEMO 2: THICKER FUR
For this drawing, I wanted plenty of
impact and detail, so it needed a
larger scale. Pastel pencils can’t be
sharpened as finely as coloured
pencils otherwise they break, so bear
that in mind when thinking about the
scale of your artwork.
The advantage of pastels, however,
is that we can easily put light details
on top of darker underlayers, which
makes it much faster to make
paintings on a large scale.
1 Thicker animal fur has a greater
depth to it, partly it’s made up of
layers of not only hair but also air. In
order to recreate that effect on a 2D
surface, we must work in multiple
layers. On the right you can see how
I used PanPastels to block in the
initial layer, both the very dark areas
and also that vibrant flash of colour.
I didn’t want to muddy colours in that
vibrant area initially, otherwise I’d
struggle to make the colours rich
again when I started adding details.
2 I added the first layer of texture
to the underlayer here. I usually
begin by putting in the darkest
shadow areas, the areas between
the highlights that will follow. 1
It is critical at this stage to study
a subject thoroughly and ensure
that these marks are going in the
direction the fur and hair is flowing
and growing in. This is what gives the
animal its structure, shape and form.
3 On top of those darker marks,
I began to add layers of lighter
detail with sharp pastel pencils here.
Each new layer was generally lighter
than the one underneath. I made
sure to twist and turn my pencil to
leave more natural marks, as the last
thing you want is regimented marks 2
that look more like a fence than fur.
3
 ART
& ACTION
Making Change in Victorian Britain
Now open, on until 21 March 2021

Pre-booking online required

wattsgallery.org.uk | Guildford, GU3 1DQ

Thomas Kennington, The Pinch of Poverty, oil on

canvas, 1891. Coram in the care of the Foundling
Museum, London.

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Artists & Illustrators 59

COMPOSITION

Thomas Gainsborough,
Mountain Landscape with
Bridge, c.1783-’84, oil on
canvas, 113x133.4cm

60 Artists & Illustrators

 COMPOSITION

1. e
In the first of a three-part series on composing paintings,
AL GURY begins by introducing a more responsive approach
to landscapes with his 15-step guide to success

A
“composition” is an compositional devices, influenced by balance in the landscape painting and
arrangement of the formal nature but not controlled by it, have a personal response to nature.
and informal visual elements aided some of the finest classical While not denying the earlier
of art within a pictorial frame. The painters of images of the land such formulas for making strong, balanced
formal elements include shape, line, as Titian, Rembrandt van Rijn and compositions, this modern approach
form, value, colour, texture, geometry Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. takes nature as one finds it and
and movement. The informal (or The second great tradition of organises it into an interesting image.
subjective) elements refer to emotion, landscape composition, the plein air Earlier ideas of what made a beautiful
expression, content, creative or observational approach, has come landscape were replaced by very
improvisation and response. to us through painters such as John subjective modern preferences.
The long, and varied tradition of Constable, Théodore Rousseau, the In light of that, below are 15
landscape painting in Western art is French Impressionists and the long compositional concepts that will help
framed by two large approaches to list of perceptual artists of the last you to strengthen your decisions with
composition. One is the idea of the 150 years. This tradition depends regards to composition and aide in
land “perfected”. Arguably the oldest upon an awareness of subjective and the designing, editing and revision
aesthetic tradition in landscape creative elements to build visual process of a painting.
painting, this form of composition
re-envisioned the chaos of the earth
into a rational and managed visual
form. These compositional strategies
were taught in the studios and
academies from the Renaissance
until the 19th century as the rules
that made art and, in particular,
beautiful and harmonious landscapes.
The idea of painting nature as it
actually appeared was shunned.
Landscape studies done en plein air
were thought of merely as preparatory
works to be discarded. Composition
in this ancient tradition incorporated
the rules of ideal geometric and aerial
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, WASHINGTON/ANDREW W MELLON COLLECTION

perspectives, as well as a repeated

set of visual balances within the
pictorial frame – for example, a grove

of trees might be balanced by a hill on
the opposite side of the image. The
viewer’s eye might be led through the
image and into the distance by a
winding road or a picturesque stream.
Visual focus would be created by a
patch of intense light on the horizon
or the bright red spot of a shepherd’s
cap tending his flock of sheep. These
1
CONSIDER POSSIBILITIES
When choosing a scene to paint, consider the compositional possibilities.
A viewfinder may be useful to get a general sense of the extent of the
potential image and help frame the boundaries of the painting. Decide if you
are going to be faithful to the scene or if you are going to move elements
around for the good of the composition. This may mean changing the position
of trees, distances between objects or the size of objects. Weed out distracting
elements you may not want.

Artists & Illustrators 61

COMPOSITION

2 DON’T RELY ON
PHOTOGRAPHY
Using a photograph as
reference for the composition
4 SELECT A FORMAT
Decide on a vertical or horizontal compositional format and the size and scale of
the canvas or panel. These decisions will have a strong impact on both the composition’s
balance and the number of elements that can be included. An asymmetrical composition may feel
more organic and casual, whereas a symmetrical composition may suggest formality and stronger
and image can be both helpful geometry in the composition.
and problematic. The image
may be captured in a way that
everything seems to be visible,
but a camera has limits.
A camera lens does
not describe a true and
perceivable sense of optical
depth, for example. The
lens may also distort the
sizes of elements and the
character of the actual clarity
of foreground, middle ground
and distance.
Analyse the photograph
thoroughly for distortions,
lack of focus and perspective
problems.
Bear in mind that not
all photos make sense as
reference material. Some
scenes or photos are just too
chaotic or vague to provide a
good outcome as a painting.
Edit and add to the photo
image to create a stronger
composition.

3 TEST IN
MINIATURE
Make thumbnail sketches of
the scene with a drawing tool
like a pencil or pen.
This is a safe way to work
out the basic compositional
idea and to re-organise the
visual elements into an image
that suits your goals.
The thumbnail sketch is
a format in which to answer
a variety of compositional
questions: Do you want
symmetry or asymmetry in
the large shapes? What is in
the foreground, middle ground
and distance? Where will you
place objects, value contrasts,
textures, lines of movement
through the composition, and
so on?

62 Artists & Illustrators

 COMPOSITION

6 FIND A
WEAKNESS
When the landscape image
is first placed on the canvas
or panel, take time to look
for major weak spots in the
composition.
These may include a clumsy
imbalance in the primary
shapes, elements being
awkwardly cut off or running
off at the edges of the canvas,
or the horizon line being in
the wrong place. (Cropping of
objects is fine as long as the
image does not feel awkwardly
cut off).
These problems can be
easily corrected early on,
rather than neglecting to
consider them and being
dissatisfied with the
painting later.

7 CONTROL
THE DEPTH
Consider the depth of field
(from near to far) in the
composition. The rule of
aerial perspective commonly
used in landscapes – namely
that sharper, darker, clearer
and larger elements come
forward relative to fuzzier,
lighter, vaguer and smaller
elements which recede – is a
sound guideline for gauging
and constructing depth in the
composition.
This rule applies to colour
also. Colours that are sharply
defined will come forward
relative to colours with softer
edges that recede in space.
Dark objects can recede if
their edges are softer relative
to dark objects that have
sharper edges coming forward.
The relativity of “if this, then
that” suggested by the optical-
perceptual guidelines laid out
above is extremely flexible and

5
of great benefit to a successful
START SMALL landscape composition.
If possible, do a preliminary, small-scale painted sketch of the view to work out the best
desired qualities of the image, as well as any potential problems. These qualities will include
geometry of shapes, colour arrangement, value, brushwork and aerial or geometric perspective.
The small sketch will provide a practical bridge for the composition to move from thumbnail idea to
full-scale painting. Many alla prima, plein air painters forego this step, whereas studio painters might
find the sketch very helpful and confidence building.

Artists & Illustrators 63

COMPOSITION

9 LOOK FOR
STRONG LINES
It is important to plan
the lines of movement
throughout the composition.
These can range from
literal lines created by a
stream, a path or a fence, for
example, to more generalised
movements of patches of
land, arcs of hills and spots
of colour – anything that can
lead the viewer’s eye through
the landscape and around
the pictorial frame.

10 AVOID OPEN
SPACES

8
Evaluate the large or open
PLAN YOUR CONTRASTS spaces in the composition.
Decide on a focus of light or dark and the Avoid too much blank space,
hierarchy of values throughout the landscape. especially near the edges
These spots will provide a focus for the viewer’s eye, of a canvas, as this allows
as well as lending strength to the overall composition. the viewer’s eye to wander
out of the canvas frame.
This also weakens all of the
other elements of balance,
organisation and movement
within the confines of the
pictorial frame.

11 TUCK IN THE
CORNERS
Check the four corners of
the composition. Corners are
often weak, vague and allow
the viewer’s eye to wander
out of the pictorial frame.
Consider any options
for stopping the eye from
drifting out through these
vague areas, such as a cast
shadow, a branch, or the
curving movement of a path,
perhaps – any truthful but
useful device that will send
the viewer’s eye back into
the composition.

12 ASSESS THE FOREGROUND

Another common problem is that the bottom 25 percent
of the landscape composition may be so empty and
vague that the composition – and, in turn, the viewer’s eye – drops out
of the bottom of the canvas. This can cause the foreground perspective
to fail and cause another weak spot in your landscape composition.
To prevent this, try to gauge whether or not the bottom of the
composition (the foreground) appears to come forward correctly. Be
creative about what will solidify this area and continue to bring the eye
forward effectively in space.

64 Artists & Illustrators

 COMPOSITION

13 COMPOSE WITH COLOUR

Organise the colour blocks, colour balances and
chromatic intensities throughout the composition. What
is the best palette of colours to achieve your goals? The harmony and
balance of colours will create varying visual and aesthetic effects in
your landscape composition, depending on your colour plan. This will
also have consequences for the development of depth – or lack of it.

14 PLAN MARKS AND TEXTURES

Consider and plan the qualities of brushwork and layering of
paint, from the first layer to the last touches. The planning and
use of brush effects can have a strong effect on the composition. A rich variety
of brushstrokes will not only create texture variation in the scene, but also aid in
moving the eye through the composition from more active to less active areas
via the kind and quality of brushstrokes you choose to use. As with the optical-
perceptual guidelines in step 7, bolder, thicker and sharper brushstrokes will
appear to come forward relative to softer, smaller or more subtle strokes.

15 CRITIQUE
TO FINISH
Finish by critiquing the entire
landscape composition for
all of the elements that I’ve
outlined above. You should
only consider the painting
“finished” when all the
compositional elements are
in a good visual balance.
The editing and revising
of the composition along
the way – and particularly
near the end of a session –
is critical and will create a
confident and considered
landscape painting.
www.algury.com

Artists & Illustrators 65

 TECHNIQUE

Watercolour
TEXTURES ROB DUDLEY shows you how to
build up a vocabulary of painting
techniques to describe the textures
found in wintry British landscapes

A
s primarily a painter of landscapes, my work
has often featured stone and its many textures.
From shiny, worked granite and natural field
boulders to stone rows and rocky coves, it seems as if
I’ve painted stone in all its forms and guises. Living and
working on the edge of Dartmoor and close to the coastal
cliffs of south Devon, I have an almost never-ending
source of subject matter to fill sketchbooks and
subsequently canvases back in the studio.
Over the many years of painting stone, two
characteristics seem to stand out above all others. One is
the colour – or more accurately, colours – found in the rock
itself. The variations of hue seen in just a few pieces of
granite are almost impossible to record. The other
important characteristic, and probably the one I find the
most interesting, is the varied and often unexpected
textures and surface features of the stone itself. From the
smooth, almost mirror-like facets, to surfaces so pitted
and dimpled that they resemble the surface of the moon,
to dark, shadowy cracks and crevices, all are a joy to paint.
I find watercolour seems to lend itself almost perfectly
to this exploration of texture. Not only can it be used to
recreate the rich colours of stone, but it can also create
its own texture as it settles and granulates. With pen or
fine brush, it can define rich, dark sharp lines too.
As ever with watercolour, careful consideration must be
given to the choices of paints and papers used, particularly
if you want to achieve specific effects. For example, a
“rough” paper and a heavily granulating pigment will
doubtless create a very different effect than a staining
pigment used on a smoother “cold pressed” paper.
Ultimately, a successful painting should contain a range
of textural effects and marks. Over the next few pages are
five key techniques to try, followed by an example of how
I combined them in a finished painting. A heavy reliance on
the same brush marks can often lead to a rather stilted
end result. Time spent in the studio experimenting with
paint and paper will often lead to some unexpected and
unusual effects, often by accident. And these in turn will
lead to more interesting and engaging paintings.
www.moortoseaarts.co.uk

66 Artists & Illustrators

 TECHNIQUE

PAIN T SPAT T E R
I’m always surprised at how
much paint this particular
technique requires, so be sure
to mix a decent puddle of your
chosen watercolour before you
begin. Keep the colour strong
as it will dry much paler.
The trick is to either flick or tap
a loaded brush over the
section to be painted. Once
they are dry, cover adjacent
areas with scrap paper if you
don’t want them to be painted.
If you spatter before the first
layer has completely dried, the
paint droplets will run into one
another and the effect will be
lost. Add further spatters with
a different colour. The example
shown on the right was
spattered on to dry paper
using a size 4 sable brush, but
interesting effects can also be
achieved when spattering onto
previously dampened paper.

MASKING
SPAT T E R
Spattered masking fluid
produces a wonderful base on
which to build other effects.
It creates almost a reverse of
the previous technique. If used
straight from the bottle, masking
fluid can be too thick to flick
easily and it’s often necessary to
add a little water – just enough
so that it resembles the viscosity
of single cream for it to work.
I use a nylon masking brush
dipped in a little soapy water. The
soap helps to prevent the bristles
from clogging up, which would
make a decent spatter almost
impossible.
Remove off any excess soapy
water with a sheet of kitchen roll
and then carefully load your
brush with masking fluid. Either
flick or tap the brush over the
area to be masked. As before,
cover any areas that are not to
be masked with scrap paper.

Artists & Illustrators 67

TECHNIQUE

DRY BR USH
The drybrush stroke is one of
the techniques that I use more
than any other when painting
stone-like textures. The aim is
to create a broken (rather than
a solid) brush mark. This works
more effectively with stronger,
darker colours than it does
with paler ones. Load a brush
(I used a size 6 sable in the
example on the right) and
remove excess paint with
kitchen roll. Scuff the side of
the brush lightly across the
surface of the paper. Test the
effectiveness of the stroke on
some scrap paper first.
Be careful not to go back
over previously painted areas
as the broken parts will be
filled and the effect will be lost.

C AUL IFL OW E RS
For many watercolourists, a “cauliflower” is
something which causes a certain degree of
angst. Dropping wet paint or even clean water
onto a semi-dry wash will cause a blooming
effect that looks like the head of a cauliflower.
The effect increases as it dries too.
In the wrong place, a cauliflower can be quite
annoying. However, when used in a controlled
manner, it is extremely useful – particularly for
creating stone-like textures. In the example
below, I’ve dropped both water and Ultramarine
Blue into Burnt Sienna. Try spattering over with
other colours when the cauliflower is completely
dry to create some interesting textures.

DR AWN L IN E S
Lines can be drawn with a brush, dip pen or even a sharpened stick.
In the example above, I used both a size 2 sable brush with a fine point
and an old-fashioned dip pen. Note how the brush leaves a slightly
broken, more textural line. When using a pen, I will often get the paint
flowing on some scrap paper first before attempting to draw on the
painting. This helps to stop unwanted blobs of paint from ruining the line.
I’ve used watercolour paint in this example, but acrylic inks can also
work well, particularly for really dark lines.

68 Artists & Illustrators


FINAL PAINTING
UP ON THE BEACON,
WATERCOLOUR ON TWO RIVERS
ROUGH 300GSM PAPER, 45X25CM
Drybrush
The rough surface
of the paper helped
to accentuate these
drybrush strokes.
Cauliflowers
I let these cauliflowers
form their own textural
details within the shadows.
Allowing paint to do its
own thing creates a more
organic, less contrived feel.
TECHNIQUE
Masking spatter
The white of the
paper was reserved
to indicate sunlight
hitting the stone.
Paint spatter
Multiple layers of spattered Drawn lines
paint create sharply These sharper, darker lines
detailed textures, which in act as a contrast to the
turn set these rocks firmly looser and more random
in the foreground. nature of the spattered paint.
Artists & Illustrators 69
 Back to
t h
Matt’s materials
e f u t u r e
•Paints
Winsor Orange (Red Shade), Scarlet
Lake, Cadmium Red, Rose Dore,
Quinacridone Magenta, Winsor
Violet (Dioxazine), Antwerp Blue,
French Ultramarine, Cobalt Blue,
Cerulean Blue (Red Shade),
Cerulean Blue, Manganese Blue
Hue, Winsor Green (Blue Shade),
Viridian, Hooker’s Green, Naples
Yellow, Naples Yellow Deep, Gold
Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber,
Indigo, Payne’s Gray and Neutral
Tint, all Winsor & Newton
Professional Water Colour pans;
Permanent White, Winsor & Newton
Designers Gouache
•Paper
Winsor & Newton 300gsm cold
pressed watercolour paper, A2
•Brushes
ProArte Prolene Series 007 round
brushes, sizes 1, 3, 10 and 20;
ProArte Prolene Series 008 flat
brushes, size 1”
•Masking Fluid
•HB pencil
C l d il
DEMO
Short of inspiration during lockdown, MATT JEANES needed
a new challenge. He turned to vintage photographs and tried
to add some fresh colour to forgotten images of the past
I
f there’s one great thing about being an artist
during lockdown, it is that we have our talent
and creativity to keep us occupied. I had
paper, I had paints and, crucially, I had time.
The drawback, of course, is that we are forced
to stay indoors and look for our own inspiration.
After painting my dog, the view from my window
and plenty of still life, I wanted something
different – a subject I hadn’t tackled before.
For several years I have been fascinated by
vintage photographs. At car boot sales (back
when we could have them) I’d bought several
boxes of photographs that date from the
Victorian and Edwardian periods. Each of these
snapshots of the past – taken by people of
people who are long since gone and forgotten –
contain a life, a story, a history. In lockdown,
I started to think about how to give these
tattered and forgotten images their due.
I had picked out several images that I thought
would make great paintings, pictures that
captured a moment or told a story. What would
happen if, in 2020, I took one of those images
and painted it in my style? This became my
lockdown challenge. I took black-and-white
images and added colour or found tattered
fragments of photos and pieced them back
together as larger paintings.
This particular painting, The Red Parasol, is
based upon a 1903 photo by Adolf Miethe and
I chose to crop it differently and add a bit of
Sargent-esque colour.
If you want to try a similar project, why not ask
relatives for old meaningful photos or look on
eBay for lots being sold? You may also find
plenty of them on the internet too. Some vintage
pictures taken as early as 1900 even have a hint
of colour to guide you with your choices.
1
1 My copy of the photo only had a
hint of colour. With the dunes
mostly in shadow, I gathered some
other reference material to help me
along on colour choices. I chose a
sheet of cold-pressed 300gsm
watercolour paper as I find it takes the
water really well. It lets me lay wash
after wash while keeping the colours
bold and fresh.
I usually draw the composition with
an HB pencil but, aside from the
woman, the direction of light and the
dunes, there was little to actually draw
so I simply plotted a few key points.
I protected a few highlights in the
sea, the dress and the light source
with the masking fluid and let it dry.
I then applied some pale colour
washes using first Manganese and
Cobalt Blues, then Naples Yellow
and Gold Ochre.
Artists & Illustrators 71
 To p t i p
When pain
vintage pho
il a r m o d ern scene s
s im
to inform d
on colour
2 coloured pencils to pick out extra
3 Get to a point where you are happy
2 Once my first washes were dry,
I added more masking fluid to
the rocks and dunes. I didn’t want to
highlight every ripple, so I just masked
the lightest areas. Getting the shapes
of the sand right was a challenge, so
instead of drawing what I thought
I saw, I was careful to draw the shapes
as I saw them in the photo. Once dry,
I added stronger, bolder applications of
Gold Ochre, Winsor Violet (Dioxazine),
Antwerp Blue and French Ultramarine.
3 Looking hard into shadows can
help you decipher how they are
composed. Remember they are made
up of all sorts of reflected colour and
light. I like to add splashes of various
colours when I am painting large, fairly
monotone areas – I think of it like
adding spices to food; they round out
the flavours. I built up my shadows
here with Indigo, Rose Dore, Burnt
Umber, Burnt Sienna, Gold Ochre,
reds, violets and a touch of Viridian.
When the paint was fully dry, I masked
out larger areas once more.
72 Artists & Illustrators
ting a
to, look at
4
6 Having added Cadmium Red and
Winsor Orange to the parasol and
face, I painted larger washes over the
foreground. I used stronger colours for
ecisions
this, such as Neutral Tint, Antwerp
Blue, Indigo, Viridian and Burnt Umber.
I masked out highlights on the dunes,
let it dry, then added a darker wash.
7 I used Titanium White gouache to
accentuate the strong light source
and detail of the dress, then I used
areas of detail, such as the folds in
the dress and the grass in the dunes.
with your painting and walk away from
it for a day. Come back to it later and
add a little more detail only if needed.
5 This will stop you over-working things.
www.matthewjeanes.co.uk
6
4 The lady’s dress was white, but
she was in shadow, so I used
blues and violets with hints of Naples
7
Yellow to keep things looking fresh.
Details on the face were mostly
missing from the reference, so adding
in light areas of definition guided me
at this stage – avoid trying to guess a
face if it’s not there in the reference,
just leave it ambiguous.
5 I removed all the masking fluid
here and assessed my progress.
It can look more of a mess when this
is rubbed away, but don’t worry –
remember big areas of shadow and
colour still need to be added.
Remember by taking your time and
building stages in masking fluid, you
are creating a more complex and
interesting piece of work. The devil is
in the detail – and that’s the exciting
part, still to come.
 ov

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Artists & Illustrators 73

 H OW I PA I N T

Ffiona Lewis
A new studio has brought new challenges and big opportunities for this architect-
turned-artist as she scales up to make her largest and most ambitious paintings yet
74 Artists & Illustrators
 F
fiona Lewis was born in Devon in 1964.
She qualified as an architect before taking
courses at Central Saint Martins and
working in the props department at the National
Theatre. Ffiona’s first major solo exhibition took
place in 1993 and she has been selected for group
shows including the Royal Academy Summer
Exhibition and the Sunday Times Watercolour
Competition. Her new solo exhibition, Green
Tapestry, features her largest and most ambitious
paintings to date and runs until 29 January at The
Redfern Gallery, London. www.redfern-gallery.com
ABOVE Pink Pizzazz, FINDING NEW SPACE
oil on board, Green Tapestry has been four years in
92.5x102.5cm the making and it has coincided with
us moving to a dilapidated farm in
Suffolk. The land was very rundown,
so we’ve been building that back up
with planting and hedging, and then
working with Suffolk Wildlife Trust to
reinvigorate the landscape. These
paintings pretty much emerged as
we worked on the farm and the land.
OPPOSITE PAGE Moving into a new barn studio
Pots, oil on board, enabled me to work on the larger
152.5x122.5cm works in the show, which are these
large foliage-based diptych canvases,
like Puff Ball Potager. They are
collages, if you like, of me walking
through and being in the greater
garden and pasture fields around us.
When I’m out there, these glimpses of
construction occur to me. They build
up in my head and I carry them
around until I get back to the studio,
where they go down on paper very
quickly. I keep drawing and redrawing
the subject until I’m almost drawing it
with my eyes closed and then I can
build up the scale.
I like to start by doing a lot of
drawing and collage work or playing
with paint on a very small scale. I tend
to work in books at first. They aren’t
sketches, they are works in their own
right, but they also help me kickstart
the paintings at a larger scale. I have
a lot of these books laid out and they
sort of hold my hand while I’m working
on a larger painting. I need that
reference, that energy on the paper to
push me through into the next realm.
When the painting takes over, I don’t
have to refer to them as much.
What’s magic about this new studio
is that I’ve got plenty of layout space.
There’s a station for pastel, a station
for wax crayons and acrylic work, and
another area for monoprints. It’s a
frenzy as I’m moving around my
studio and ping-ponging between
all these activities.
Artists & Illustrators 75
H OW I PA I N T

76 Artists & Illustrators

 Smaller works
like Striped
Razzmatazz
are usually
done at the end
of the day when
I am tidying up

I’ve got a huge array of trays of

various colours lying on the table, a
tray of red pastels of various shades,
a tray of blues, and so on. All of that
is arranged so I can just grab them
when something comes into my mind.
If I just let it take hold of me and I go
with the flow, as it were, what comes
at the end of that period is very
exciting – and completely absorbing.

PUTTING DOWN PAINT

When I walk through the studio door
in the morning, it can be quite
intimidating meeting all that work.
I try not to be too prescriptive about
what I’m going to do each day, I just
know that somewhere down the line
there’s a deadline that I’ve got to
meet. I might do a few drawings just
to loosen me up – it’s like getting fit,
you’re warming up.
I put the mobile on silent and make
sure everything is ready, so I’ve got
the confidence to just paint for a few
hours and get really supple and brave
with the marks. The large pieces
typically start on the floor, only
because at the early stage it’s just
about putting down paint. Once I’ve
got rid of that ghastly white canvas,
the paint is quite thinned down, with
turps or whatever medium I am using,
and then the image starts emerging.
I’ll put the canvas vertical on the wall
once I’ve got a relatively fixed idea
about the composition and the detail.
The paint then starts becoming more
gloopy and thicker.
It’s been a real leap for me to work
on canvas. It’s really only for my last
two exhibitions that I’ve started
painting large canvases, whereas
before I was working mainly on
primed panels. I could be quite robust
with a panel, I could scrape and
gouge the paint quite heavily,
whereas with canvas you’re laying
down thin glazes of paint the whole
time and you’ve got to be careful to
avoid puncturing the material. It has
forced me to paint differently, not only
because of the nature of the surface,
but also the scale. Once I got up to
that larger scale, the action of
painting was much more expressive
and much more physical – and much
more fun. There was a different level
of control needed. I work on maybe
12 pieces at a time and that gives me
room to manoeuvre. If I get stuck on
one, I move to another. If I get caught
down a cul-de-sac, I can bring myself
back up via the drawing table.
The smaller works like Striped
Razzmatazz are usually done at the
end of the day when I am tidying up ABOVE Striped
and something occurs to me to have Razzmatazz, oil on
a go at. They are usually very quick gesso board,
exercises, going in with paint and 30x24cm
pushing it around to see if it works.
Then if I come back to them the next
day and they are still interesting to me,
I might rework them a bit. They are an
antidote to the big works which can
take weeks to formulate and finish.
ENDLESS COLOURS
Green is a colour of the landscape so
it’s something that I’ve had to get my
head around. What is interesting
about green is its relationship with
other colours – although there is a OPPOSITE PAGE
huge range of colours within “green” Maidens on
itself, what it gets juxtaposed with is Marigold, oil
almost more important. A Viridian on canvas,
green sits really well with a Lemon 150x120cm

Artists & Illustrators 77

 ABOVE Puff Ball Yellow, for example, or a Phthalo
Potager (Diptych), Green becomes almost a beautiful
oil on canvas, turquoise when it’s mixed with white.
152x152cm What I find is so interesting,
particularly now that we’ve planted
up these flower meadows around the
farm, is that nature has got the most
amazing way of composing with
colour. I’ve been able to go out and
investigate what beautiful shades of
green go with other colours – for
example, a primrose is a wonderful
shade of Lemon Yellow and it has got
a Sap Green leaf. It’s those other
hues which give the character to the
greens. So, all I’ve got to do is look at
what Mother Nature is doing and then
do what she tells me to do.
I’ve got into the habit of buying
these vast five litre tins of artists’
paint that I order from Spencer
Coatings. I don’t like to worry about
running out of paint. That really does
78 Artists & Illustrators
curtail one’s energy and once you feel
precious about something, you lose
the energy to keep being playful. I
can’t just develop something in my
head, I’ve got to get there through the
act of painting. I like to start with
something clumsy and then refine it
until you arrive at a balance.
MAKING A MARK
Pots was painted on primed board.
With paintings on boards, I’ll have
sessions where I’m building up the
paint, then I will leave it somewhere
for a couple of days, without looking
directly at it. After it has dried, I’ll
start scraping into the paint. I have
various spatulas and tools to take off
the layers and bring through the
underpainting. Lots of lovely foreign
colours come through as you
excavate down. I can go as far as
using sandpaper or even a power-
sander, depending on how long I have
left it to dry. Once I have scraped the
whole surface, I can then focus on a
lot of very nice happy accidents and
conjure up an image from those.
I paint on top of the accidents and
the final painting becomes a marriage
of those two layers.
When a painting is scraped back,
I might glaze over a large area. Like in
Pots, there is the large yellow area
that runs right up the painting, but
then on the right there are very subtle
colours. I love what is going on in
those pinks, with yellow and eggshell
blue coming through. I had to be quite
light and not paint in between the
spaces too much. That was a good
day’s work; a bad day is when you
haven’t read it very well or you haven’t
been in the right mood for it, so
you’ve lost the lightness and you have
to paint over the whole thing again.

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To
10
HO
The Great British
Bake Off illustrator
on drawing for TV,
laughing at cakes and
his three inspirations.
Interview: REBECCA
BRADBURY
HOW DID YOU GET STARTED
IN ILLUSTRATION?
I left school at 16 and did a national
diploma in art. I had never really
heard what an illustrator was, but
I discovered the work of Ralph
Steadman and Gerald Scarfe.
Their work introduced me to
illustration, and I went on to study
it at Arts University Bournemouth.
WHAT DID YOU DO AFTER
GRADUATING?
I met some collectives that were
bringing together illustrators and
graffiti artists via [social media
network] Myspace. We would do live
drawing and mural shows – us
illustrators would collaborate on big
areas of drawing or painting.
HOW DID YOU GET THE JOB
DRAWING CAKES ON THE
GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF ?
A friend worked for the production
company and I luckily got a job helping
82 Artists & Illustrators
Y
to edit the footage. It was the
first episode of the first series.
Illustrating GBBO’s
They needed illustrations to help
viewers understand what the bakers
celebrity cake busts
were intending to create. I pitched for was funny as so
it and got the gig.
many went wrong
DID YOU ADAPT YOUR
DRAWING STYLE FOR TV? WHAT ONE ART PRODUCT
Yes. You can’t have thin black lines CAN’T YOU LIVE WITHOUT?
next to each other on TV as they’ll just My tablet. It’s a Wacom Cintiq Pro
strobe, so I had to think about how 24. It is the main thing I
much line to put in. It was just a case use to draw, but I also
of ironing out those little niggles. use an iPad Pro as a
digital sketchbook.
WHAT’S THE PROCESS FOR
ILLUSTRATING A BAKE? WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE
Producers will take photos of the ILLUSTRATOR?
bakes on set and send me a big file I’ve got a top three and I love them
of them after each episode is filmed. all equally: Robert Crumb, Ralph
I used to draw all the line work by Steadman and Gerald Scarfe.
hand and scan it in, then colour it I studied Crumb at university and still
digitally, whereas now the whole pore over all his
process is done digitally to save time. work. Ralph
Steadman has
WHAT HAPPENS IF A BAKE just released a
GOES WRONG? new compendium
The producers send over their notes of work [A Life in
on what things have gone right and Ink, left] which is
what things have gone wrong, so amazing.
I know if things need to be included
or taken off. HAVE YOU READ ANY OTHER
GOOD BOOKS RECENTLY?
WHICH HAS BEEN YOUR A guy I shared a studio with, an
FAVOURITE BAKE TO DRAW? illustrator called David Biskup, has
It was fun doing the episode where just published a graphic novel called
the contestants had to bake celebrity There’s Only One Place This Road
cake busts for the showstopper. Ever Ends Up. His girlfriend developed
They were funny as so many went a chronic illness and disability, and it’s
wrong and didn’t look like the based on their experience of this.
actual celebrity. www.tomhovey.co.uk
 THE VIKING CRUISES
BRITISH ART
PRIZE 2021
This new national open art competition is
looking for emerging artists to
submit their latest masterpieces

WIN. . .
• £4,000 of cash
prizes and art
shop vouchers

• A solo exhibition in
a London gallery

• An inspiring

ENT E R T ODAY! Viking river cruise

worth £7,000

ustrators.co.uk/britishartprize
In association with Suppor ted by Media par tner s

Submissions close at 5pm on 18 February 2021. Terms and conditions apply – for details, please visit www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/britishartprize