Artists &

FOR ARTISTS OF ALL ABILITIES

I L L U S T R A T O R S
TIPS • TECHNIQUES • IDEAS • INSPIR ATION December 2021 £4.99

Be more WIN!
Coloured pencil
creative sets worth
£1,200
Mark Hearld's secrets
to painting every day

Winnie-the-Pooh
Redrawing
a classic

• Layered portraits • Colourful still life • Collage flowers

 FLUID SHAPES & LINES

“Wild Rose”, 12”x12”. Nitram Fusain Aquarelle, Nitram Liquid Charcoal and Nitram Bâtons on hot press paper

NITRAM FUSAIN AQUARELLE

“My work is a semi-abstract interpretation of the natural world with a focus on fluid shapes and lines.
It’s the constant movement throughout the piece that I am interested in creating; to keep the eye lingering
and coming back for more.

For this piece titled Wild Rose, I used three Nitram products:
the new Nitram Aquarelle, Liquid Charcoal & Charcoal Bâtons.
The performance of each product was remarkable.
The particles of dry charcoal from the sticks were easy to
blend and added detail and texture. The Liquid Charcoal and
Aquarelle watercolor charcoal mediums dry well and the
blacks retain their strength and density. I love the combination
of depth and subtle softness.”
Nitram Fusain Aquarelle
~ Pamela Harnois Charcoal Watercolor

Learn how Pamela Harnois used Nitram Fusain Aquarelle, Nitram Liquid Charcoal
and Nitram Bâtons to create her artwork.

Go to: https://bit.ly/3DDkgif or scan the QR code to watch the video now!

A classically trained fine artist, Pamela Harnois has been experimenting with her craft for over 25 years working primarily in watercolor, charcoal, graphite and ink. Pamela graduated with honors from the
University of Massachusetts at Amherst and holds a degree in Fine Arts. Pamela’s signature style is light and loose and she has created a varied art collection of florals, still lifes, landscapes and seascapes.
A longtime resident of Southern California, Pamela now lives and works in beautiful Northwest Connecticut, where she gives online art lessons and maintains an active Instagram following of more than
24K artists from around the world. www.pamelaharnois.com | www.Instagram.com/pamelaharnoisart | www.facebook.com/pamelaharnoisart

NITRAM
TM
MC

www.fusainaquarelle.com FINE ART CHARCOAL

Artists & Illustrators, The Chelsea
Magazine Company Ltd., Jubilee House,
2 Jubilee Place, London SW3 3TQ
Tel: (020) 7349 3700
www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk

EDITORIAL
Group Editor Steve Pill
Acting Art Editor Andrea Lynch
Assistant Editor Rebecca Bradbury
Contributors Martha Alexander, Grahame
Booth, Laura Boswell, Kirsten Britt, Lizet
Dingemans, Aine Divine, James Fox, Sally
Hales, Peter Keegan, Sarah Nisbett and
Jake Spicer

ONLINE ENQUIRIES
support@artistsandillustrators.co.uk

ADVERTISING
Advertising Manager David Huntington
(020) 7349 3702
david.huntington@
chelseamagazines.com
Group Sales Director Catherine Chapman
Advertising Production
www.allpointsmedia.co.uk

MANAGEMENT & PUBLISHING

Chairman Paul Dobson
Managing Director James Dobson
Publisher Simon Temlett
PETER QUINN

Chief Financial Officer Vicki Gavin

EA to Chairman Sarah Porter
Subs Marketing Manager Bret Weekes
Group Digital Manager Ben Iskander

Welcome
BACK ISSUES
www.chelseamagazines.com/shop

ISSN NO. 1473-4729

Life is hard. And so is drawing. In fact, sometimes I think drawing

might be the harder of the two. Just the other day, I was staring at
my hand and struggling to quite work out why the arrangement of
stubby digits in front of me did not in any way match the mish-
mash of graphite lines on the paper to one side. Surely it shouldn't
COVER ARTWORK MARK HEARLD
be this difficult, I thought: you see a thing, you draw that thing. Yet
if we could all do it first time, where would the fun in that be?
STAY INSPIRED BY Hands have always been my artistic nemesis. My life drawings, especially the
SUBSCRIBING quicker ones, tend to stop somewhere along the forearms. I like to kid myself
Artists & Illustrators that it's a nod to ancient Greek sculpture – the Venus de Milo looked just fine
Tel: +44 (0)1858 438789 without hands – yet in truth, I'm simply avoiding that trickiest of subjects.
Anyway, there is a point to me sharing my artistic shortcomings. In a
Email:
artists@subscription.co.uk forthcoming issue, we will be looking in depth at the various subjects or
techniques that you find the hardest – but first we want to know what it is and
Online:
www.subscription.co.uk/ why you struggle with it. Write to us and we'll commission our experts to
chelsea/solo answer the most common or unusual problems and give you all the practical
Post: Artists & Illustrators, advice you need. At Artists & Illustrators, we're always here to offer you a
Subscriptions Department, helping hand... Just don't ask me to draw it for you.
Chelsea Magazines, Tower
House, Sovereign Park,
Steve Pill, Editor
Lathkill Street, Market
Harborough, LE16 9EF
Renew:
www.subscription.co.uk/
Write to us!
Which subject or technique do you find the trickiest? Share your thoughts, we're here to help:
chelsea/solo
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES info@artistsandillustrators.co.uk @AandImagazine /ArtistsAndIllustrators
UK £72, US: $126, ROW: £84
@AandImagazine @AandImagazine

Artists & Illustrators 3

 Contents
64 46
Learn to layer
up portraits in
watercolour

Survey's show that in almost

every country in the world,
people's favourite colour is blue
– D R JAM ES FOX , PAG E 30

l u s t r ator
I l
REGULARS
6 Letters
Win a £50 Atlantis Art voucher
68 Mar
is
cla
u
k
p
s s
B
d
i
u

8 Exhibitions
The five best art shows this month
11 Sketchbook
Quick tips, ideas and inspiration
16 Fresh Paint
New artworks, fresh off the easel
28 The Working Artist
With our columnist Laura Boswell
43 Prize Draw
Win £1,200 of Caran d'Ache sets
82 Meet the Artist
With Cos Colours' Ameenah Begum
INSPIRATION
22 Feature
Illustrating classic Winnie-the-Pooh
characters for a modern audience
30 Art Histor y
From Turner's yellows to Monet's
purples, Dr James Fox looks at the
favourite hues of the great artists
36 In The Studio
Artist-designer Mark Hearld
invites us into his shared York
studio ahead of a major new show
TECHNIQUES
46 Masterclass
Kirsten Britt explains how to build
a portrait in economic layers of
pure colour and simple lines
52 Principles of Depth
Jake Spicer's six-part series looks
at how to use linear perspective
c
r gess
ating
a
serie s
– pag e 22
56 Technique
Learn about the classic Loomis
method of drawing the head
60 Demo
Cloudy days needn't mean dull
paintings, says Grahame Booth
64 Mixed Media
It's time to rip it up as Aine Divine
shows you how to incorporate
paper collage into mixed media art
68 How I Paint
Royal Watercolour Society
member Peter Quinn shares his
street scene painting techniques
74 Still Life Workshop
Our three-part series continues
with a focus on vibrant colour

Artists & Illustrators 5

 Letters
LET TER OF THE MONTH
Write to us!
Send your letter or email
A PROFOUND CONNECTION to the addresses below:
I just wanted to write to thank you for the most
wonderful moment of reconnection. My four-year-old POST:
daughter heartbreakingly died in hospital with Your Letters,
pneumonia in July this year. Since then, I have Artists & Illustrators,
struggled to connect with any artwork until I bought The Chelsea Magazine
the November issue of Artists & Illustrators and saw Company Ltd.,
The Flight of the Swallows by John Henry Lorimer in Jubilee House,
your Exhibitions. I’d not seen this work before but felt 2 Jubilee Place,
instantly drawn to it. I connected with it on a deep level. London SW3 3TQ
When my daughter died, I’d looked out of the
hospital window to see some swallows dancing in EMAIL: info@artists
the sky. The figures in Lorimer’s painting spoke to me andillustrators.co.uk
as different aspects of myself: the crying child, my
despair at the loss; the excited child, my hope for The writer of our “letter of
her freedom; the central child, the numbness of the month” will receive a
bereavement, and the mother figure, a resolution £50 gift voucher to
of all these emotions into a sense of acceptance, spend with Atlantis Art,
balance and peace. I immediately ordered a print the UK’s largest art
of the image online and will display it somewhere materials store.
I can see it daily to remind me of this profound www.atlantisart.co.uk
reconnection and the validation of the complex
mixture of emotions we all carry with us, particularly
following the death of a child.
I don’t know what Lorimer had intended for the
image, but maybe that’s largely what art is: the
viewer taking from it what they need in the moment.
I’m guessing he may never have thought how helpful We are so sorry to hear of your loss Dawn and very
his artwork could be this many years later for a grateful for you sharing your story. I do hope you get
grieving parent. Thanks for the exposure to this the chance to experience John Henry Lorimer's
piece of artwork. painting in person at Edinburgh’s City Art Centre
Dawn Starley, via email as the exhibition runs until 20 March 2022.

READY TO COMPETE I’m totally enthused and sometimes I had forgotten.

I was so thrilled to learn, from
the recent Artists & Illustrators
newsletter, that one of my artworks
had been featured in last month’s
competition. I can’t tell you how
overjoyed I am, as to be honest,
upon entering this competition
(the first art competition I have
ever entered), I was very blasé and
encouraged to keep going,
learning and producing more art.
Manos Felice, via email
Thanks for your entry, Manos.
Readers can sign up for our
newsletters at www.artists
andillustrators.co.uk for the
chance to enter more great
Many years ago, previous
generations kept autograph
books. My mother had an
autograph book which had Share your stories
illustrations as well as words by and get a daily
contributors. These beautiful dose of Artists &
illustrations are a mirror into Illustrators tips,
her young adult years – pictures advice and inspiration
showing the landscape as it was by following us on
WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO EDIT LETTERS FOR PUBLICATION

almost didn’t want to put my work
out there yet, as I didn’t consider
my style cemented or by any means
ready. I am feeling so grateful to you
for choosing my work, it’s an honour
to be considered by such a
prestigious publication.
Thank you to all at Artists &
Illustrators for making my day,
month or possibly even my year.
competitions.
FUTURE HISTORIES
I have really enjoyed reading about
sketchbooks used by artists and
the suggestions of different ways
we can record information. I have
kept sketchbooks for a few years
and revisiting them brings back
memories and incidents which
then, and the travel taken or the our social media
fashion of the time. There are channels...
some light-hearted entries
depicting the humour of that era. @AandImagazine
They give me enormous pleasure. ArtistsAndIllustrators
Maybe in the future our
ancestors can revisit our lives
AandImagazine
through the illustrations we AandImagazine
have recorded?
Alison Petley, via email

6 Artists & Illustrators

Introducing SoFlat, a paint that helps artists create
immersive fields of colour without the distraction of
texture and glare. The paint has a flowing consistency,
offering exceptional coverage and a leveling capability
as it dries. This unique combination of qualities can
only be found in GOLDEN SoFlat Matte Acrylic Colors.
Learn more at goldenSoFlat.com.
For retail availability in the UK,
contact Global Art Supplies Ltd.
Phone: 01980 625 625
Email: mail@globalartsupplies.co.uk

©2021 Golden Artist Colors, Inc., 188 Bell Road, New Berlin, NY
 Exhibitions
DECEMBER’S BEST ART SHOWS
LIFE BETWEEN ISLANDS: CARIBBEAN-BRITISH ART 1950S TO NOW
1 December to 3 April 2022
Marginalised voices regularly get left out of the
art history books but seeking to shine a light
on some oft-forgotten stories is this collection
from artists of Caribbean heritage or those
inspired by the region. Artists from the
Windrush generation, including Denzil
8 Artists & Illustrators
BETSY BRADLEY:
CHASING RAINBOWS
3 December to 13 February 2021
Artists have a knack for finding beauty in the
mundane and this includes Betsy Bradley,
who has taken inspiration from things such
as patinated billboards and light pollution
for her latest body of work.
What sets the Midlands-based abstract
painter apart, however, is the voile and
organza she uses as supports. These
translucent fabrics will interact with the
gallery lights in a way unlike one you may
have ever experienced before.
Ikon, Birmingham. www.ikon-gallery.org
COLLECTION SHANE AKEROYD, LONDON © DENZIL FORRESTER
Forrester, will have paintings [above] on show
alongside political pieces from the Black
Power Movement, while work from either side
of the new millennium and today’s emerging
names continue to illuminate themes relevant
to the Caribbean-British population and beyond.
Tate Britain, London. www.tate.org.uk
DÜRER’S JOURNEYS: TRAVELS
OF A RENAISSANCE ARTIST
20 November to 27 February 2022
In this digital age of connectivity, it’s easy
to forget how far artists would have had to
venture to seek out new influences. Case in
point is German-born artist Albrecht Dürer,
© NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, WASHINGTON
who travelled across Europe from the
mid-1490s onwards. This show chronicles
the journeys he took, via paintings such as
COURTESY THE ARTIST
Madonna and Child, making its UK debut.
National Gallery, London.
www.nationalgallery.org.uk
 Visited an
exhibition lately?
Write to us with
your opinions and
recommendations
via the addresses
on page 3

ALISON WATT: A PORTRAIT

WITHOUT LIKENESS
Until 9 January 2022
Alison Watt is best known for her
large-scale, detailed paintings of folded
drapery, a subject she was not content to
leave in the background of her acclaimed
figurative work. Here she brings still life
to the fore, taking subjects not from her
own work, but that of 18th-century
painter and fellow Scot Allan Ramsay.
Closing in the New Year, this is
your last chance to see Watt’s delicate
brushwork up close in subjects such
as ribbon, lace and flowers, reimagined
from Ramsay’s portraits of women,
also on show.
© ALISON WATT

Scottish National Portrait Gallery,

Edinburgh. www.nationalgalleries.org

MYTHS AND MONSTERS

27 November to 27 February 2022
Our first encounters with the
immersive power of art are likely
to be through the picture books
we devour in childhood.
Celebrating this magical mode
of storytelling is this family-friendly
showcase of mythical characters
drawn by our nation’s favourite
illustrators, from established talent
like The Gruffalo’s Axel Scheffler and
How to Train Your Dragon’s Cressida
Cowell, to Chris Mould, recently
acclaimed for his reimagining of
Ted Hughes’ The Iron Man [right].
© CHRIS MOULD

Victoria Art Gallery, Bath.

www.victoriagal.org.uk

Artists & Illustrators 9

 How to paint a stunning portrait
Taught by Rosso Emerald Crimson

Give the gift of knowledge

Treat your family, friends and colleagues to the gift
of knowledge from some of the world's biggest
names, including award-winning portrait artist Rosso I am addicted to
Emerald Crimson. painting portraits. I am
tremendously fascinated
Meet enthusiasts from around the world and try
by how a tweak of the
project-based learning with personalised feedback
brush can translate into
from the experts, all in our interactive online classroom.
a whole range of
Whether you're a budding artist, a green-fingered different human emotion
gardener or the foodie of the family - we've got online
courses for everyone. - Rosso Emerald Crimson

Instant gift cards available at:

learningwithexperts.com
 SKETCHBOOK

December TIPS • ADVICE • IDE A S

HOW TO BUILD CURIOSITY

Tired of staring at the same four walls?
SAR AH N IS B ET T has f ive tips for live
sketching and seeing the world anew

1 Think of yourself as a visual storyteller.

Your drawings are your stories. Curiosity will
inspire empathy, which is how we imagine
feelings and stories outside of our own.

2 Evaluate your work by joy,

not excellence. Use your drawing
time as an artistic meditation to
discover a more meaningful world
hidden in plain sight. If you keep
your creative process free of
judgment and full of wonder, your
drawings will always add to the view.

3 Consider the “feelings” of an

an object. Can a clock be sad?

4 Overlook the obvious. As you scan for

inspiration, imagine you’re a camera zooming
It can if you’re waiting for someone
to return. Likewise, a teacup can
be joyful if it brings you happiness.
in on smaller details or zooming out to the Objects may not possess emotions,
larger scene. Bring the background to the but they do reflect them. It’s worth
foreground. At a café, for example, focus on contemplating what they may reveal.
the coffee cup in front of you, or zoom out to
the first date happening at the next table.

5 Draw the same scene

three times. Zoom farther
out with each sketch. Look
for small details that suggest
a bigger story. The front hall
might look like a mess, but Sarah’s new book,
focus your drawing on one Drawn on the Way:
detail – say, a pile of shoes A Guide to Capturing
– and make a smaller, faster the Moment Through Live
sketch that perfectly Sketching, is published
represents the joyful chaos by Quarry Books.
of family life. www.drawnontheway.com

Artists & Illustrators 11

The Finest Quality Handmade Artists’ Brushes
 SKETCHBOOK

The Diary
1 DECEMBER
Providing context to new exhibition Late
Constable, the Royal Academy of Arts
will be hosting a ticketed online event
(starting at 6.30pm) dedicated to the
great British landscape painter.
www.royalacademy.org.uk

31 DECEMBER
The World Reimagined is an open call
looking for visual artworks that will
transform our understanding of the
transatlantic slave trade. The judging
panel includes artist Chris Ofili.
www.theworldreimagined.org

4 JANUARY 2022
Enter the Derwent Art Prize before 5pm
on this date for a chance at winning
£12,500 in prizes and exhibiting your
work at London’s Gallery@OXO.
www.derwent-artprize.com

BOOK OF THE MONTH

The Art of Doris & Anna Zinkeisen by Philip
Kelleway, Emma Roodhouse and Nicola Evans
Coming of age in the Roaring Twenties, the
glamorous Zinkeisen sisters led fascinating
creative lives. Whether designing for
Wedgwood, painting murals on ocean liners, EXPERT TIP MARY BEALE
or winning medals at the Paris Salon, the pair This overlooked 17th-century portrait painter, celebrated in Observations: The Mary
defied expectations and left behind a legacy Beale Collection at Moyse’s Hall Museum in Suffolk until 30 January 2022, was skilled
that is richly explored in this delight of a book. at leading the eye. In this self-portrait, her averted gaze encourages our eye to follow the
£30, Unicorn. www.unicornpublishing.org direction of her arms along the bright blue clothing instead, which was, as Dr James Fox
reveals on page 30, a statement of the artist’s wealth and standing. www.moyseshall.org

Top Tip
GUSTAVO LEIGHTON/UNSPLASH/WEST SUFFOLK HERITATE SERVICE

Improve your colour mixing

skills by choosing an object
from nature and creating
swatches in your
sketchbook that match
each distinct hue.

Artists & Illustrators 13

 SKETCHBOOK

“ART IS NOT WHAT YOU

SEE BUT WHAT YOU
MAKE OTHERS’ SEE
”
— Edgar Degas

CINCINNATI ART MUSEUM © EDWARD B SILBERSTEIN

NEW HUES
MANGANESE VIOLET
Discover a new colour ever y month
Often overlooked, this warm, reddish
violet provides a particular hue whose

WIN
richness is tricky to obtain via mixing
alone and lacks an obvious
complementary. It was first developed in
A NEW FRIDA KAHLO DVD Germany in 1868, before being
Five copies of Frida: Viva La Vida to give away introduced to the UK some 22 years
A new documentary about the artist Frida Kahlo opened in cinemas this later. With a low tinting strength, it is
month and we have five copies of the DVD to give away. Frida: Viva La weak in the mix, though adding larger
Vida, which charts her life in Mexico via reconstructions and her many quantities to Viridian creates a complex
self-portraits, is available on DVD and download from 25 October. grey-blue hue. It survives mostly in
To enter, visit www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/frida-comp watercolour ranges, where it has a
useful granulating texture.

Learn at home
After the success of
Unison Colour’s Five-Day
Challenges last year,
the pastel manufacturer
has launched a new
online-learning
subscription service.
The Unison Colour Pastel
Why not try… Academy features PDF
SoFlat Matte Acrylics guides, live Q&As and
If you like your paint glare-free, you are going to love these new, workshops led by
velvety-smooth acrylic colours developed by the team at Golden. Associate Artists
Thanks to a unique formulation, brushstrokes are minimised in including Cath Inglis
return for uninterrupted fields of rich, matt colour. Pick from 40 [right] and Peter Wood.
different hues. www.goldenpaints.com Find out more online at
pastel.academy

14 Artists & Illustrators

 A DV E R T O R I A L

The Winsor
& Newton
Tate Collection
Let the greatest artists guide
your creative journey

G
et inspired by the greatest artists and learn from them with
this collection of sets, brought to you by Winsor & Newton and
Tate. Perfect for gifting a loved one or for treating yourself.
Available from www.winsornewton.com and selected retailers

John Singer Sargent sketching set
Drawing is the basis for all forms of art and
the precursor to major works. Sargent was
renowned for his portraiture, using a variety
of lines and marks to describe form. Try this
sketching set containing a range of soft leads
and tools for life drawing. RRP £16.50
Wilhelmina Barns-Graham acrylic set
Barns-Graham’s work is inspired by
landscape. A member of the St Ives School of
abstract painters, she is known for colourful
brushwork that was full of life. Explore and
experiment with colour for yourself in
response to her work with this complete
acrylic set. RRP £65.50
JMW Turner watercolour set
Turner was innovative in his use of colour and
expressive response to nature. He worked
closely with Winsor & Newton in the
development of his palette. Try this set
carefully curated with 24 highly pigmented
watercolours in a lightweight travel tin.
RRP £63.50

Wassily Kandinsky oil colour set
Kandinsky was one of the founders of
abstraction, turning upside down the
established idea about art. Like Winsor &
Newton, innovation and the use of colour was
at the core of his practice. Convert your home
into a studio with this complete oil set.
RRP £54.50
Victor Pasmore drawing inks set
Pasmore worked in a variety of media, which
included ink. The beauty of ink is the
versatility it offers, from fine lines to large flat
areas of colour. Winsor & Newton drawing
inks can be applied with a brush or pen and
are widely used by illustrators, designers,
calligraphers and artists. RRP £33.00
Edgar Degas pastel set
Degas was unique in his use of pastels,
creating beautiful layers of marks and colour.
Experiment with colour and mark making
with this metal tin of 30 highly pigmented
colours, beautifully formulated to maximise
blending and layering. RRP £38.50

Artists & Illustrators 15

 Fresh
Paint
Inspiring new artworks, straight off the easel

Tim Benson
While portrait painting can just be about achieving a
likeness of a person, it can also be a license to explore the
world around you and an opportunity to highlight the
cultures and stories that may otherwise be overlooked.
Tim Benson is one such painter who uses his role
smartly. As a former director of the portraiture diploma at
Heatherley School of Fine Art and a member of the Royal
Society of Portrait Painters, he would be forgiven for resting
on his laurels and taking lucrative commissions, yet he has
instead embarked on a number of projects that he hopes
will build awareness through paint. The 43-year-old began
with portraits of ebola nurses and doctors in Sierra Leone,
while more recently he has worked with the sight charity
Orbis to paint patients in Zambia. “Orbis offers surgery,
predominantly in low-income countries, to people with
reversible eye conditions,” explains Tim. “This elderly
gentleman had come to Kitwe from the provinces to receive
surgery for a cataract. The white patch above his left eye
simply lets the surgeons know which eye to operate on.”
The artist is also making worthy contributions closer to
home. As president of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters
(ROI) since 2018, he has successfully navigated the society
through trying times, particularly in the last 18 months. He
is keen to tap into what he sees as a renewed sense of
optimism in the world with the forthcoming ROI show
having a mini theme of ‘rebirth’. “The beauty of the theme TIM’S
is that it is fully open to interpretation,” says Tim. “This has TOP TIP
been reflected in the work seen during the pre-selection
“When painting thickly,
process. Work has shown physical rebirth in the form of
it is critical to clean the
spring landscapes to more introspective, personal portraits brushes with white spirit
that reference the sitter’s state of mind at the time. My and apply paint swiftly
painting of the cataract patient is all about the new to stop colours blending
opportunities that his transformative surgery will afford on the canvas”
him; in essence his ‘rebirth’.”
Tim’s style reads initially like a contemporary take on
Lucian Freud’s long impasto faces, yet there is less fretting
to the brushwork as he sidesteps any psychological
interrogations in favour of rendering the world as he sees
it with a confident economy and a pleasing directness.
The ROI Annual Exhibition 2021 runs from 24 November to
5 December at Mall Galleries, London. www.timbenson.co.uk

16 Artists & Illustrators

 Fresh Paint

LEFT Tim Benson,

Cataract Patient,
Kitwe, Zambia,
oil on canvas,
102x76cm

Artists & Illustrators 17

Fresh Paint

Tony Foster
The vast, immersive watercolour landscapes of Tony
Foster are about as far removed from the knowing Pop
Art collages of Richard Hamilton as art can possibly get,
yet it doesn’t stop the former quoting the latter when
asked about his process: “A good painting should reveal
the process of its making”.
This quoting of the late artist comes as Tony is trying
to explain why large-scale works like Steamboat Rock –
A Bend in the Green River, which are clearly destined for
a gallery, still contain the various pencil notes of the sort
you’d more often find in a sketchbook. “My work is about
recording time spent in wild places,” he says. “It is not
merely what the place looks like, but what it felt like to be
there, how I got there, encounters with people and wildlife
and weather… The process of making the work is part of
the record, part of its story, so I make no attempt to
conceal it.”
His current retrospective, Fragile Planet, is filled with
examples of those stories. Whether he’s climbing Everest,
expeditioning to the Arctic or overlooking the Grand
Canyon, Tony works in much the same way: he finds
shelter from the elements and works on a large sheet
of paper during all available daylight hours, mixing
watercolours on a Tupperware lid drawn from a simple
Winsor & Newton Bijou No. 2 box.
Drinks are important too. He carries a stove for regular
tea breaks – “it allows you to take stock and rest your
brain” – as well as gin, not to drink but to mix in the paint
water when it freezes in Arctic conditions: “This works
down to about minus 10 degrees.”
Perhaps Tony’s greatest challenge of late came when
the lockdown deprived him of access to the far-flung
locations that characterise his paintings. His strenuous
pre-breakfast walks switched from being a daily exercise
to a search for potential subjects near his Cornwall home,
which became the subject of his Lockdown Diary, also
featured in the show. “I paid attention, often to tiny things
I would formerly have yomped past,” he reveals. “I found
subjects every day during the 161 days of the three
lockdowns and realised that I could have gone on for ever.”
Fragile Planet: Watercolour Journeys into Wild Places runs
until 24 December at Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro.
www.tony-foster.co.uk

18 Artists & Illustrators

 Fresh Paint

TONY’S
TOP TIP
“Hunt around for the
perfect location - don’t
start a big painting
until you’re sure
you are in the
right place”

LEFT Tony Foster,

Steamboat Rock
– A Bend in the
Green River,
graphite and
watercolour on
paper, map and
Green River fossil
fish, 122x132cm

Artists & Illustrators 19

Fresh Paint

Peter Bashford With the palette and main shapes in place, instinct ABOVE Peter
Rusty old chains, scratches of paint and fraying strands leads the mark making that follows. “I tend to use a lot Bashford, Harbour
of discoloured rope are not usually attributed as sources of very small marks, a lot of tight marks, as well as the Wall, Staithes,
of artistic inspiration. Yet for Portfolio Plus member Peter big gestures, so there’s a contrast and hopefully the acrylic on canvas,
Bashford these objects took centre stage in his recent various lines and shapes take the viewer’s eye 25x25cm
series of abstract paintings focused on the harbour wall around the painting.”
in the North Yorkshire fishing village of Staithes. Balancing the composition is
“It’s really interesting if you take a closer look,” the obviously a key consideration
Buckinghamshire-based artist says of his chosen subject. here, but how can artists strike Every month, one of our Fresh Paint
“There are lots of textures, lots of colours, lots of different a similar equilibrium between artists is chosen from Portfolio Plus,
shapes. I wasn’t trying to make a copy but to paraphrase abstraction and our online, art-for-sale portal. For your
it, to take the integrity of what I saw and make it more of representation? chance to feature in a forthcoming
a feeling, more of a sense of place.” “It’s important to keep issue, sign up for your own personalised
Although producing an accurate depiction isn’t the aim, the sense of a place in your Portfolio Plus page today. You can also:
Peter’s practice still relies on a keen observational eye. mind when you’re working,” • Showcase, share and sell unlimited
His landscape work always begins as plein air charcoal he replies. “I hope that if artworks commission free
sketches, which he uses as references back in his studio, somebody visited Staithes • Get your work seen across Artists &
picking out certain shapes to replicate in the final piece. today, there would be Illustrators’ social media channels
“I start by laying down a couple of black areas,” he something about the • Submit art to our online exhibitions
explains of his process. “I’ll plan where the focal point is harbour that reminds • Enjoy exclusive discounts and more
going to be, so in Harbour Wall, Staithes that’s the big them of my painting.” Sign up in minutes at www.artistsand
splash of orange. My palette is always chosen before I www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/ illustrators.co.uk/register
start. Colours come first when I want to express a place.” peter-bashford

20 Artists & Illustrators

 Sarah Butterfield
Oceans, Lights and Beyond
An exhibition of recent paintings

Mall Galleries
The Mall, London SW1

Tuesday 2nd November – Saturday 6th November 2021 10am – 5pm

Sunday 7th November 2021 10am – 1pm
www.mallgalleries.org.uk www.sarahbutterfield.co.uk

Give the gift of Learning, with

a Pastel Academy subscription.
• Learn and grow with the world’s best pastel artists
• Suitable for all levels, from beginner to expert
• Fresh new courses every month
• Join a community of like-minded artists and chat with the tutors

Perfect for the pastel lover in your life, or

even as a treat for yourself!

Go to pastel.academy/gifts

Artists & Illustrators 21

22 Artists & Illustrators
LEFT, RIGHT AND
BELOW Mark
Burgess's new
illustrations of
Winnie-the-Pooh
for Once There
Was a Bear

F E AT U R E

Revisiting
A CLASSIC As one of Britain’s best-loved storybooks turns 95,
MARTHA ALEXANDER talks to illustrator Mark Burgess
about updating the legacy of Winnie-the-Pooh

A
s far as iconic characters
in fiction go, Winnie-the-
Pooh – he of red t-shirt
and Hundred Acre Wood
PROPERTIES AND THE ESTATE OF EH SHEPARD
occasion Harper Collins has released surroundings of the Hundred Acre
a brand-new story collection. Once Wood and Ashdown Forest, but rather
There Was a Bear is a beautiful in central London. The new stories
hardback written by Jane Riordan begin in the luxury department store

fame – and his pals have got to be and illustrated by artist and writer Harrods where Pooh was bought as
some of the most easily recognisable, Mark Burgess. While neither author a present for Christopher Robin, who
© 2021 THE TRUSTEES OF THE POOH

best loved and enduringly popular.
This year marks the 95th
anniversary of the publication of
AA Milne’s first book of Winnie-the-
Pooh stories, illustrated so vividly by
EH Shepard – and to celebrate the
nor illustrator are attempting a direct
imitation of the original, both are
clearly taking stylistic cues from it.
The new collection is actually a
prequel to the original 1926 tales:
it is not set in the bucolic East Sussex
was only a baby – yet to grow into the
flaxen-haired little boy who gets into
mischief with his friends. Readers are
taken on a tour of the capital’s most
famous landmarks through the eyes
of the honey-loving bear, following

Artists & Illustrators 23

 F E AT U R E
There’s a little bit of me in there…
While I imitate EH Shepard ’s style,
it’s not to the point of slavish copying
him to both the Natural History
Museum and ZSL London Zoo.
At the latter, he meets his
namesake, Winnipeg, a Canadian
bear known as Winnie. Beautifully
rendered by Mark, Winnipeg is not
entirely a work of fiction: he was
a real bear that Milne and his son
would visit and was said to be the
inspiration for Winnie-the-Pooh.
However, slightly confusingly,
Shepard’s original illustration was
based on a teddy that belonged
to the illustrator’s son.
This isn’t Mark’s first time getting
to grips with Winnie-the-Pooh. Born
in Chislehurst, Sussex in 1957, the
illustrator has in fact worked on
© 2021 THE TRUSTEES OF THE POOH PROPERTIES AND THE ESTATE OF EH SHEPARD
a number of books depicting the
cuddly, often muddled bear, including
2009’s Return to the 100 Acre Wood,
written by David Benedictus – the
first authorised sequel to Milne’s
original books.
Mark also illustrated The Best Bear
in All the World, a 90th anniversary
anthology of four new short stories
written by Paul Bright, Jeanne Willis,
Kate Saunders and Brian Sibley, as
well as helping to adapt EH Shepard’s
illustrations for other projects,
including colour editions of When We
24 Artists & Illustrators
Were Very Young and Now We Are Six
back in the 1980s, as well as a lift-
the-flap edition of Is That You, Winnie-
the-Pooh. So, despite it not being new
territory, there must still be pressure
to get such iconic characters, right?
“My personal take on that is that
rather than do a pastiche – there’s a
little bit of me in there,” says Mark,
who worked on Once There Was a
Bear in a fairly intense period that
only finished early this year. “So, while
I imitate Shepard’s style, it’s not to
the point of slavish copying. My own
personal style is not a million miles
away from Shepard’s anyway.”
Any suggestion that having to echo
another artist’s work is restrictive
is instantly brushed off, not least
because Mark admits to absolutely
loving the characters and finding
this role “a pleasure, really”.
He acknowledges this sort of work
might seem fairly unusual yet in
reality, he’s had plenty of experience
working in other people’s styles aside
from Shepard, including stepping into
the shoes of Paddington illustrator
Peggy Fortnum for 2008’s A Bear
Called Paddington.
“I’ve had some fairly extraordinary
jobs actually. I did one book where

I was required to finish off the
illustrations after the illustrator had
very sadly died [midway through
working on it]. It was tough.”
That said, Mark’s brief for Once
There Was a Bear was not a complex
one. “I’d be given spaces to fill with
illustrations and they’d give me some
indication as to what they wanted,”
he explains. “The general brief was to
follow Shepard’s style fairly closely.”
However, there is one prominent
element that sets the new book apart
from the other tales of Pooh and the
gang. While Mark and other fans of
Winnie-the-Pooh are familiar with the
rural, arcadian landscape depicted
F E AT U R E
in the Hundred Acre Wood, the latest ABOVE One of
book covers London in the 1920s. Mark's illustrations
Mark relished digging up reference for Once There
images that would help him recreate Was a Bear
buildings, fashions and transport LEFT Classic spot
from yesteryear. He paid particularly illustrations from
close attention to the clothing of the Mark's 1994 series,
period. “The endpapers [of the book] Hannah's Hotel
are the front of Harrods in the 1920s
so I had to find photographs of that
and work from those,” he explains.
The process of illustrating any book
is a long and intricate one but in the
case of Once There Was a Bear this
was especially true. After research,
the task of illustrating was piecemeal
as Mark only received the book
Artists & Illustrators 25
26 Artists & Illustrators
 F E AT U R E

a few chapters at a time. He then

produced pencil-drawn roughs before
a lengthy approval process followed,
involving the publishers and the
estates of both Milne and Shepard.
“They might come back and say, ‘We
think Pooh’s legs should be longer in
that illustration’ so I lengthen Pooh’s
legs in that illustration,” he says.
Mark believes the most difficult
part of working in someone else’s
style is that everybody has their own
idea of what the characters look like
and the real challenge is how you
navigate the demands of the clients.
“Shepard himself was not
particularly consistent, particularly
in the way he drew Piglet,” he notes.
“He varied quite considerably in the
illustrations between the books.
And you have to somehow bring that
together and satisfy everyone who
has a say in what they look like.
That is very difficult.”
Once Mark has received feedback
on his pencil drawings, he would
remake them all in black ink. These
then would go through the same
© 2021 THE TRUSTEES OF THE POOH PROPERTIES AND THE ESTATE OF EH SHEPARD
The most diff icult part of working
in someone else’s style is that
ever ybody has their own idea of
what the characters look like
Does he have any advice for any
would-be illustrators?
“One of the most difficult things for
anyone starting out is developing your
style,” he says. “It really helps to have
a recognisable style because this is
what makes you famous.”
Mark acknowledges the wealth of
brilliant-yet-unknown illustrators out
there, something he suspects is simply
down to each having yet to settle
upon their own distinct aesthetic.
With this said, he warns against
being too hasty when cultivating
and committing to a given style:
“You don’t want to get stuck with
develop your own style, according to
Mark, is to practise making drawings
of other peoples’ work.
“You can learn a lot by copying,”
he says. “There’s always a lot of work
in that, because there are always
spin-off publications like colouring
books and so forth.”
Often, the original is the best and
any attempts to recreate a classic
will simply flop. But with Once There
Was a Bear the process was so
painstaking, the writing so charming
and the illustrations such a lovely BELOW One of
echo of the past that reading it feels Mark's illustrations
simultaneously like experiencing for Once There

approval process once again before something you aren’t comfortable the very old and the brand new all Was a Bear
moving on to colour. “Quite a bit of with later on. Basically, you want a at once. And we’d say that’s a brief OPPOSITE PAGE
back and forth,” he says cheerily. style you can live with long term.” perfectly fulfilled. Taken from Mark's
In fact, despite having more than Although it may sound counter- Once There Was a Bear is published by 1994 book series,
30 books to his own name as well intuitive, one of the best ways to Harper Collins. www.markburgess.co.uk Hannah's Hotel
as countless illustrations for other
authors, Mark is under no illusions
about his chosen profession.
“Children’s books are hard work
because they are not paid as well
as advertising, but it is pleasurable
work,” he says. “Although deadlines
can be quite tight, by and large and
you have to work very, very hard.”

Artists & Illustrators 27

 Writing an artist’s
statement is
an effective
way to focus
your attention

mind of the artist and their creative

process. There is plenty of good
advice available on how to write for
an audience, but suppose you write
one just for yourself? A simple set of
bullet points will do. Explain how you
make your work, identify the kind of
work you create, describe why you
make it and how you see it developing.
Putting down your thinking on paper
will push you beyond the simple fact
that you make your artworks because
you enjoy the process, and prompt
you into thinking constructively about
your creativity instead.
Knowing your motivation and
understanding why you pick your
subject matter, your materials and
your methods is key to developing
your personal style. Writing a short
statement will make you question
your work and consider where it is
going. This all sounds very cerebral,
but the exercise is a good practical
way of pinpointing your interests and
ambitions. Noting where you have
come from and where you plan to go
will clarify what to do next, whether
that’s a plan for new artwork, booking

Artist
a class, or reading up on the right

The Working inspiring artist.

An artist statement is good for
confidence too. If you review your
previous work with a view to jotting
down a statement, you’ll gain an
overview of your entire output, rather
than the usual snapshot of the piece
Struggling to develop your personal style? It’s time to you are currently making. Chances
make a statement, says our columnist LAURA BOSWELL are you’ll find your creativity is more
cohesive and better developed than

H
ave you ever written an
artist’s statement? Doing so
may seem an irrelevance if
Laura Boswell, you have no intention of selling or
Skye to the showing work in public, but I hope
Mainland, linocut, to persuade you to put pen to paper.
46x73cm Aside from telling the world about
your work, writing a statement is an
effective way to focus your attention
on your creative output. We should all
do it, even if it is just a few scribbled
ideas on the back of an envelope.
The point of an artist’s statement
is to give viewers an insight into the
you imagine and, if you should find
you are in a bit of a rut or lacking in
motivation, your statement will help
you to recognise the problem and
focus on constructive ways of moving
forward to benefit you and your work.
www.lauraboswell.co.uk

28 Artists & Illustrators

BOXES OF DELIGHT
Spread the joy of art this
Christmas with Faber-Castell

Your be
s
deserve t sketches
the high
quality p est
aper

n a rt
i n g a ful
w r i t e a u ti
b
Make these y Pens
with lligraph
Ca

Soft
P a s t e ls
w it h
in t e n s e
c o lo u r s
Alb the lour
are terco

A gift s
rec ul Pe
Wa

everythi et with
ht tim ncil
Dür ate s

ng
to colou you need
er

r in sty
le

Pencil, Pen and Pastel Sets make the perfect present for art lovers of all abilities.
Since 1761, Faber-Castell has been known and trusted by artists around the world for the excellence
of their products; never compromising on quality to ensure you always get the best results.
 ART HIS TO RY
Colour
Obsession
Author and broadcaster DR JAMES FOX explores our
changing tastes in pigments and why the favourite hues
of leading painters has had a profound influence on their art
O
n 2 October 1866,
the Pre-Raphaelite artist
Ford Madox Brown invited
some friends over for a
dinner party. After the meal they
played a parlour game called
Favourite Things. The rules were
simple: each player was bombarded
with a series of questions and had to
respond with the first thing that came
to their mind. Extraordinarily, Brown’s
answers from that night survive.
Favourite costume? “Bathing dress”.
Favourite amusement? “Flirting”.
Favourite artist? “Afraid to say”.
Favourite dish? “Thunder & Lightning:
a Cornish dish prepared with
pilchards, mutton, treacle & garlic”.
He was then asked to name his
favourite colour. After a moment’s
thought, he picked up his pen and
wrote the word “magenta”.
Most sensible artists would refuse
to answer such a question. Painters
need lots of colours to work from, just
as poets need lots of words; ultimately
Painters need lots of colours, ju st as
poets need lots of words… Ultimately what
matters is how they’re combined
30 Artists & Illustrators
what matters is how they’re combined. RIGHT Gustave
But history tells us that colours do Klimt, Portrait
go in and out of fashion. The earliest of Adele Bloch
artists appear to have had a clear Bauer I, 1907,
preference for red. Prehistoric humans oil, silver and
living all over the world were making gold on canvas,
red ochre on a near industrial scale, 138x138cm
sometimes to the exclusion of
everything else. A staggering 94
percent of all surviving pigments
from Stone Age Africa are red.
Admittedly, our early ancestors
didn’t have many colours to choose
from: prehistoric people made most
of their pigments from materials dug
from the earth. Over time a wider
palette of colourants developed, with
different societies forming different
preferences. Chinese artists devised a
vast spectrum of reds from cinnabar;
Indian artists made radiant yellows
from turmeric and saffron; and Middle
Eastern artists became masters of the
intoxicating space between green and
blue: a territory inhabited by jade, teal,
aquamarine, peacock and turquoise.
NEUE GALERIE, NEW YORK
Artists & Illustrators 31
A R T H I S T O RY
In medieval Europe, artists became
obsessed with the colour blue perhaps
J M W Turner was always because good ones were notoriously
hard to find. The only genuinely
on the lookout for new flawless blue was ultramarine, the
raw material – a stone called lapis
kinds of yellow, harassing lazuli – for which came from a remote
shopkeepers and artists quarry in Afghanistan. This made the
product eye-wateringly expensive;
the finest ultramarine cost up to
a hundred times more than other
pigments. In 1515, the Florentine
artist Andrea del Sarto paid five gold
florins for a mere ounce of high-quality
ultramarine – the equivalent of five
years’ rent for a Tuscan labourer.
It’s around this time that we begin
to see artists expressing their own
personal colour preferences:
Michelangelo appeared to have a
penchant for baby-blue and candy-
floss pink, George de la Tour liked
red-hot orange, Diego Velázquez used
vast quantities of black, while the
18th-century French artist Jean-
Baptiste Oudry spent his entire career
thinking about white. In his famous
painting of a white duck (which was
tragically stolen in 1992 and hasn’t
been seen since) he attempted to
32 Artists & Illustrators
CLOCKWISE FROM
LEFT JMW Turner,
The Burning of
the Houses of
Parliament, 1835,
oil on canvas,
92x123cm;
Claude Monet,
Waterloo Bridge,
1903, oil on
canvas, 86x121cm;
Jean-Baptiste
Oudry, The White
Duck, 1753, oil on
canvas, 95x64cm;
Ford Madox
Brown, The Last of
England, 1855, oil
on panel 83x75cm
capture the many shades of this
supposedly colourless colour.
Across the English Channel, JMW
Turner was infatuated with yellow.
He used more yellow pigments than
those of any other colour – so many, in
fact, that scholars haven’t yet finished
counting them. He was always on
the lookout for new kinds of yellow,
harassing shopkeepers, fellow artists,
friends and even strangers to obtain
them. When one man bumped into
Turner before making a trip to Italy,
he politely asked if there was anything
he could do for the artist while abroad.
“No,” Turner barked. “Unless you will
bring me some Naples Yellow.”
THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART/BIRMINGHAM MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY
In the years after Turner’s death,
yellow’s complementary hue finally
rose to prominence. Before the
mid-19th century, purple was
curiously absent from the history of
art (one study found it was present in
only 0.06 percent of paintings), but in
the 1850s the Pre-Raphaelites placed
it at the heart of their pictures. Our old
friend Ford Madox Brown was
particularly drawn to the reddish-blue
end of the palette. The real star of The
Last of England, his 1855 portrait of
 an emigrating couple, is a magenta
ribbon that took him a month to paint.
The Impressionists soon joined the
purple bandwagon. The first specks of
violet appeared in the works of Claude
Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and
Camille Pissarro in the late 1860s,
before spreading like veins through
a slab of Roquefort. By the beginning
of the 20th century, Monet’s paintings
at times became swirling oceans of
purple. This new colour scheme
wasn’t well received. Critics, who had
grown accustomed to warm golden
tones, claimed that the Impressionists
were suffering from “violettomania”,
which they believed was a symptom of
a much larger psychological disorder.
In the 20th century, the monomania
spread to other colours. Many modern
artists adopted a signature hue: think
of Gustav Klimt’s gold, Henri
Matisse’s red, Ben Nicholson’s white,
Pierre Soulages’ black and Gerhard
Richter’s grey. Other artists even tried
to take ownership of specific colours.
DENVER ART MUSEUM
In the 1950s, Yves Klein devised and
patented his own hue – International
Klein Blue (IKB) – then applied it to
everything he could get his hands on.
A few years ago, the British sculptor
Anish Kapoor provoked other artists’
rage when he secured an exclusive
licence to the blackest black ever made.
Today’s world is saturated with
colour. There are now more than
40,000 dyes and pigments on the
market, with new ones hitting the
shelves almost every week. Colour
has become so common, and so
cheap, that we can’t help taking it
for granted. A few centuries ago, a
basic box of crayons, with its hues
lined up like a rainbow, would have
sent emperors and alchemists into
raptures; nowadays, it can barely
even keep a toddler occupied. Paint
manufacturers, meanwhile, offer so
many tints and shades that they’ve
run out of sensible names for them.
And yet despite this huge diversity
of colours, our preferences don’t
seem to be much more varied than
they used to be. Surveys show that
in almost every country in the world,
people’s favourite colour – by some
margin – is blue.
James’ new book, The World According to
Colour – A Cultural History, is published
by Allen Lane. www.drjamesfox.co.uk
Artists & Illustrators 33
 A DV E R T O R I A L

Welcome to the

Sakura Universe The Japanese pen manufacturer SAKURA

stands for creativity and innovation

E
xactly 100 years ago, Sakura, the
manufacturer and distributor for
writing instruments, was founded
in Osaka, Japan. The company was
named after the beloved Japanese
cherry blossom, a symbol of fragile
beauty and the highest possible quality.
The ultimate pursuit of perfection – also
known as monozukuri in Japan – has
been consistent in Sakura’s colouring
and writing materials since 1921.
Sakura products are all about making
drawing and writing possible, while also
realising the potential ideas and
dreams of illustrators, architects and
artists – anyone who wants and needs
to express themselves.
Sakura makes no distinction between
home, office or industry. Sakura keeps
on striving towards innovation. Sakura
is limitless in terms of products, but
also in terms of ability. When it comes
to drawing, sketching or painting,
Sakura can help you express yourself
creatively in every possible way.
www.royaltalens.com/en/brands/sakura

34 Artists & Illustrators


Pigma Micron
Pigma ink, invented by Sakura over 30 Introducing…
years ago, continues to be the most
The Gelly Roll range
reliable permanent ink on the market
today. It is a fade resistant, chemically
stable and pigment-based ink that will
not bleed or run. Pigma Micron pens
leave a mark that last a lifetime. The Gelly Roll Classic White
nibs come in several sizes, from 003 In the 1980s, Sakura
to the new 10 (60mm) and 12 (70mm). created the first gel-
based ink and original gel
Pigma Graphic pen. The Gelly Roll
The Pigma Graphic family consists of Classic White comes in
three pens, each with different nib three nib sizes: 05 Fine,
sizes. Pigma Graphic 1 contains a 08 Medium, and 10 Bold.
1mm bullet nib, great for shading or The opaque white ink
texturing. Both Pigma Graphic 2 and 3 stands out on dark or
have chisel nibs that can make both coloured paper. It also
thin and thick lines to achieve stylised makes for beautiful
strokes and creative lettering. highlights that pop in ink
drawings.
Koi Colouring Brush Pens
These bright, blendable pens have a Gelly Roll Metallic
durable tip that quickly springs back Gelly Roll Metallic pens
to the original shape like a paint leave a distinctive
brush, allowing for fine, medium, or reflective sheen. They
bold strokes. Odourless and water- have a unique opaque
based, they are perfect for adding shine that, when written
vibrant colour to any sketch, on light or coloured paper,
journal or illustration. creates a glossy effect.
Gelly Roll Moonlight
Moonlight 06 and the
new Moonlight 10 both
have fine and bold nibs.
The opaque ink is perfect
for writing in journals,
pattern drawing, and
detailed accents. The 10
bold 0.5mm nib is ideal
A DV E R T O R I A L
for colouring and creating
paint-like effects, while
the 06’s fine 0.3mm nib
allows for the ink to dry
quickly, minimising the
risk of smearing.
Gelly Roll Stardust
These stunning pens
capture sparkle and
glitter, creating unique
effects in your art or
highlights in illustrations.
You can give refreshing
touches to your writing
and drawing, or even add
them to watercolour
paintings.
Gelly Roll Soufflé
and Glaze
Soufflé and Glaze gel
pens produce a
wonderfully glossy,
embossed 3D effect on
all smooth surfaces, such
as paper, rubber, glass,
and metal. Whether you
choose opaque Soufflé or
transparent Glaze, these
inks have a slightly longer
drying time and are ideal
for mixed media work.
Artists & Illustrators 35
36 Artists & Illustrators
1

IN THE STUDIO

Mark
Hearld
The ever-curious artist-designer welcomes SALLY HALES
into his shared York studio to preview his new exhibition
and reveal the secret to staying creative on a daily basis

M
ark Hearld is an artist in that has propelled him through his
daily search of joy – and successful career to date. Born in
1 Colourful he finds it. Whether it is York in 1974, Mark studied illustration
talking about his delight at Glasgow School of Art before an
PHOTOS © RED PHOTOGRAPHY/JONTY WILDE

borders are
a feature of in the natural world and his latest MA in natural history illustration at the
Mark’s painted muse – his new dog, Brio – or how he Royal College of Art, which has led him
collages finds inspiration in his shared studio to make work in various media that
2 The artist space, his curiosity and creative explore a fascination with nature.
with his work determination shines through. It is this work ethic that has also
at Yorkshire That the artist-designer refuses to guarded him against the creativity-
Sculpture Park wait for the muse to strike is a trait stifling effects of lockdown. Mark has

Artists & Illustrators 37

IN THE STUDIO

3 feature new collages, linocuts,

screenprints, letter-press prints,
and even a large-scale mural.
Mark is detailing his desire to dispel
the myth of the lightning-flash idea in
a book, also called Raucous Invention:
The Joy of Making, that will be
published by St Jude’s and accompany
his YSP show. “In my view, the best
ideas come in the doing,” he says.
“Creativity happens at the pit face.
The making is the way into creativity.
It’s really about moving the hands
and, particularly if you work every day,
you can’t wait to have a devastating
idea before you sit down at the desk.
You’ve got to find your way into it.”
Mark coined the term “raucous
invention” both to banish the idea
that creativity is a slick activity and
to express the “brash rough-and-
readiness that goes into the most
audacious, commanding work”, of
5
which “good taste” is the enemy.
“In my experience creativity is a
The best ideas come in the messy business,” he says. “[It’s
about] rolling your sleeves up and
doing… You can’t wait to getting stuck in. The energy and

have a devastating idea before freedom in my work come from

quite a chaotic way of working.”
you sit down at the desk Mark’s studio is an 18th-century
workshop in the heart of York, which
he shares with other artists, makers,
writers and filmmakers. “I choose to
work in a shared space because I am
topped up by interaction rather than
4
introspection,” he says. “I like that
people make each other’s tea and
that, if you go in and you’re having a
bit of a struggle, other people getting
on with their creative life around you
can be really energising. Even if you’re
working quietly and nobody’s talking,
the fact that other work is happening
in the space is stimulating.”
Mark feels privileged to work in this
“warren-like” building, which has a big
window that looks out on a courtyard,
but his creative day starts before he
arrives there. “The walk to work is
lovely,” says the artist, who lives just
3 Mark arranges continued to create art throughout who knows how to tap into the outside York’s city walls. “My dog
PHOTOS © HERMIONE MCCOSH/RED PHOTOGRAPHY

painted pieces of the pandemic, first making prints at wellspring of inspiration. His next comes with me to the studio, so I take
cut paper for his home and then returning to his studio exhibition, Raucous Invention: a long-cut, dropping down to the river,
latest collage as soon as possible – even when he The Joy of Making, opens at Yorkshire and exhaust her on the way in.”
4 His studio was the only one there. And with his Sculpture Park (YSP) in November Brio, a one-year-old lurcher-poodle
is filled with Covid-delayed shows now being and celebrates the value he finds in cross, features in many of the YSP
art materials rescheduled in quick succession, collaborating with like-minded makers works. “She’s incredibly drawable
5 Brio waits he has been “on the hop” ever since. and organisations, as well as his and her silhouette is strong,” he says.
patiently in the The need to create a substantial belief that inspiration can be found in Mark’s distinctive style focuses on
stylish kitchen body of work does not faze an artist the act of making. The exhibition will exactly such energetic and graphic

38 Artists & Illustrators


silhouettes depicting the vitality of
the natural world, variously inspired
by the particularly English visionaries
Edward Bawden, Eric Ravilious and
John Piper, the neo-Romantic
illustrators of the 1940s and 50s,
such as Keith Vaughan and John
Craxton, and anchored by a love of
Pablo Picasso’s confident mark-
making. “Somebody once said it was
more important to be unique than
skilful, and I kind of agree,” he adds.
Mark arrives at his studio at around
10am every day and often works
until 6pm. “I’m supposed to have a
designated area in a room, but I tend
to spill out onto the communal table,
partly because I am a very messy
worker and partly because I quite
like to work at the centre of things.”
IN THE STUDIO
Then it is a matter of working with
what is on hand on the table, which
is where he finds his ideas amid the
potential of mess. He has various
tactics for “suspending disbelief” and
pushing through the “pain barrier of 6 Painted
not knowing” to be able to create collage Owl
daily. “I take a big brush with a Bough features
neutral colour and banish the white in Mark’s new
paper and then cut out an animal YSP exhibition
Artists & Illustrators 39
IN THE STUDIO
7
silhouette, place it, and respond to it,”
says Mark. “Or it might be that I’ve
seen something on my dog walk the
night before and, in that instance,
I have got a rather fully-formed idea
for an image that I want to make.”
Working with a wide range of media
is also part of this slightly chaotic
process. Mark will often start with
gestural scene setting, before using
oil pastel, paints and pencils to add
percussive, textural marks later to
create plumage, feathery marks or
spots, specks and spatter. “I find that
working between media really adds to
what I do. I feel like you’re energised
by moving from one thing to another
and I think the processes feed into
each other.”
Mark enjoys using traditional art
materials such as Rohrer & Klingner
Antique Ink and Sennelier pastels,
but he will also use tester pots of
household paints to give strong
colours over large areas. He doesn’t
invest in “fancy brushes”, instead
40 Artists & Illustrators
opting for the cheapest he can find as
he invariably leaves them to dry out.
Among the many striking artworks
in the forthcoming exhibition is a
mixed-media work of an owl perched
on a branch. While it is a beautiful
example of Mark’s concern with using
graphic, cut silhouettes to represent
wildlife, it also showcases his use of
colourfully painted borders, which, he
says, help him turn an image into an
object. “Painting the whole thing, it
becomes yours,” he explains. “You’re
in full control of it. If you get it right, it
amplifies what’s going on in the image.”
As someone who views themselves
as an artist-designer, “it’s natural for
me to want to work on all of it and
make that part of the image,” he says.
Despite revelling in the busyness of
working towards his YSP show, as well
as York Open Studios, in which he
regularly takes part, and an exhibition
scheduled at The Scottish Gallery in
Edinburgh towards the end of next
year, Mark is looking forward to a
8
I choose to work in a
shared space becau se I am
topped up by interaction
rather than introspection
period free from immediate work
pressure, when he can experiment
and try new things. That said, he
acknowledges that he finds it hard to
break away from his deep-rooted
attachment to the natural world as
a subject. “I often think that I’d like
to do other things but because the
nature thing runs so deep, it’s quite
hard. When I was 11, we moved from
a main road in the centre of York to a
little village right on the edge of York,
which in the 1980s had working
farms on the main streets. I got really
stuck. I rode people’s ponies and
looked after hens, and I loved all of
that. It runs deep. I’m so much better
at doing nature than anything else.” 7 Mark
Whatever he tries next, his joyful contemplates
approach to creativity will no doubt frames in his
continue to burst forth from his York studio
PHOTO © HERMIONE MCCOSH
artworks to the delight of viewers. 8 The new
Raucous Invention: The Joy of Making show includes
runs from 13 November to 6 February a collaboration
2022 at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. with Leach
www.stjudesprints.co.uk Pottery, St Ives
 THE HEATHERLEY
SCHOOL OF FINE ART
Chelsea • Established 1845

Part Time Day & Evening Courses

Enrolling now!

HEATHERLEYS
JONATHAN FARNINGHAM

A range of courses for beginners as well as more experienced artists

Also: Full time Diploma courses in portraiture and sculpture
Painting • Ceramics • Life Drawing • Watercolour
Printmaking • Portraiture • Sculpture

www.heatherleys.org
$#$#$# # $
!$!$

""# "$!!$$!$$$$ # """#
 Give a subscription this Christmas
THE PERFECT GIFT FOR
FRIENDS AND FAMILY

THE GIFT
THAT LASTS
ALL YEAR

Save
up to
33%
Derwent Paint
Fre

nd

Pen Palette set

eg

rie

to
rf
ift

u
ke worth £17.50* yo
ep o
for y givet
ourself or

UK EUROPE AUSTRALIA REST OF WORLD USA & CANADA

£42.95 €71.95 AUD $109.95 £63.95 USD $81.95
 P R I Z E D R AW
£1,139 WORTH OF
COLOURED
PENCILS
Discover the wonders of CARAN D’ACHE’S light-loving
Luminance range, courtesy of TURNHAM ARTS
Not only are coloured pencils perfect for
those who love to draw, but they’re also a
match made in heaven for artists obsessed
with colour. This month Artists & Illustrators
has teamed up with Swiss brand Caran d’Ache
and Chiswick-based art supplies company
Turnham Arts to offer three lucky readers the
chance to get creative with a huge set of
artists quality, coloured pencils.
The prizes on offer are three boxes of 100
Caran d’Ache’s Luminance 6901 pencils,
retailing at £379.99 each. With a track
record of providing creatives with the
finest-quality drawing and writing experience
for more than 100 years, Caran d’Ache is
world-renowned for the purity of its pigments
and elegance of its design.
The Luminance 6901 range is equally
prized for combining the highest
lightfastness ratings with an exceptionally
smooth lead. Such a formula banishes any
sign of a waxy build up, making these pencils
ideal for mixing, gradations, blending,
shading and burnishing. Artists can expect
clean, accurate lines of intense, highly
pigmented colour from the 3.8mm wax lead,
as well as maximum coverage, no matter
what the support.
Luminance 6901 pencils can be mixed
with other media, such as fibre-tipped pens,
or used to perform the sgraffito technique
– the act of revealing intense colours by
scraping. To find out more about Caran
d’Ache, visit the UK’s sole distributor, Jakar
International Ltd., at www.jakar.co.uk
This high-class set and many more great
products can be found at Turnham Arts, a
specialist in professional art supplies. For
more details, visit www.artistmaterial.co.uk
THE PRIZE
Three winners, chosen at random, will
receive a box of 100 Caran d’Ache
Luminance 6901 pencils (RRP £379.99),
distributed in the UK by Jakar and courtesy
of Turnham Arts.
CARAN D’ACHE
PRIZE DRAW
Name:
Address:
Postcode:
Email:
Telephone:
The closing date for entries is 23 December 2021.
Please tick if you are happy to receive relevant information from
The Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd. via email , post or phone
or Caran d’Ache, Jakar and Turnham Arts via email
HOW TO ENTER
Enter online by noon on 23 December 2021
at www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/
competitions or fill in the form above and
return it to: Caran d’Ache Prize Draw, Artists &
Illustrators, Chelsea Magazine Company Ltd.,
Jubilee House, 2 Jubilee Place, London SW3 3TQ
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Prize is non-transferable. No cash alternative
or alternative products available. Competition
for UK residents only, prize cannot be
delivered overseas. For full terms, please
visit www.chelseamagazine.com/terms
Artists & Illustrators 43
 The whole experience has
increased my sensitivity when
drawing a subject

Disappearing world
Amy takes drawings,
like the puffins
above, and erases
the elements she
can no longer see

44 Artists & Illustrators

 A DV E R T O R I A L
Amy's story
When a brain haemorrhage left young portrait painter Amy Izat
partially blind, she never gave up on her passion for art.
Here she reveals how she turned a tragic loss into a creative gain...
I
n 2014, Amy Izat collapsed from
a brain haemorrhage whilst
working and living in Sardinia.
The 20-year-old’s parents flew out
immediately and were told she had a
50/50 chance of survival. After two
weeks and an emergency operation,
Amy’s condition stabilised and she
was flown to hospital in the UK and
underwent numerous operations.
After a year recovering at home,
Amy enrolled onto the drawing and
painting course at The Sarum
Studios. Her ambition was to become a classically-trained
portrait painter, using traditional methods to capture
likenesses in oils. However, a pattern of migraines, shunt
pains, vision disturbances, extreme fatigue and a constant
fear of a relapse was still present, making a huge impact
on her quality of life and the amount of energy and focus
Amy could give to the course.
Since then, Amy’s health has improved but trying to
get back to a normal life was much harder than she could
have imagined. Further complications from several more
operations left the young artist almost completely blind –
a terrifying and completely devastating moment. She had
lost her central point of focus on top of the left side,
making it difficult to see a whole figure now – particularly
frustrating because it seemed to dash her dreams of
finishing her training in portraiture. Amy says her vision now
is like looking through a window and only seeing out of the
top right-hand panel. With no focus, everything moves and
becomes confusing in her brain, resulting in tiredness and
dizzy spells, especially in busy, crowded places.
After hitting a real low point and becoming angry at
experiencing all this at an age when everyone else she
knew was out having fun, a visit from the local vicar
reminded Amy about having trust and faith in life again.
Choosing life – and to really live it – was the hard option,
but it was the choice she wanted to make. The next
Ways of seeing morning, she woke up her mum and asked her to take her
The erased parts of to the beach to watch the sunrise. It was the first time Amy
the drawings are an was able to feel a sense of gratitude for still being able to
attempt to reflect see where the sun hit the water – even in a distorted way.
Amy’s experience Amy may not see a whole face anymore, including her own,
of a subject but the gratitude of what little she has left hasn’t stopped
her from learning how to make
sense of what she does see and
putting it on canvas.
“Perhaps strangely, the whole
experience has increased my
sensitivity when drawing a subject,
making me able to somehow capture
a character better with a softness
to my mark making,” she explains.
“People often comment on the
detail and sensitivity of the character
I have drawn. I have so much more
determination, so much appreciation
for the vision I have left. These are gifts I don’t think I would
have had without everything I’ve survived through.
“I have spent the last few years drawing people’s
animals, spending days creating an exact likeness of the
subject by using grid techniques to try and create a
well-proportioned figure. This exhibition is making me
explore not what I see, but what I experience, in the fuzzy
interactions between what I can and cannot see and what
this means for my perspective on the world. Imagine a large
drawing with a huge amount of blank space but still framed
as though it was there.”
For her new touring exhibition, Windows of the Soul, Amy
has produced a series of wildlife artworks based on her
own visual experience. She has drawn each subject with
painstaking detail and precision. However, in a twist, a fellow
artist then erases the parts of the drawing that she couldn’t
see clearly if she was looking into the eyes of a subject.
“The idea of having someone I trust take away something
that was once beautiful and perfect and whole symbolises
the process of every time I went into the operating room,
having a bit of vision taken away,” she explains. “By letting
people into how I experience the world now, I hope to feel a
sense of internal peace at last, knowing that my experience
is being recognised and understood, presented alongside
other artists living with visual impairments.
“Through my work, I hope to turn a loss into a gain:
something completely unique and individual that has been
gifted to me by dint of never giving up... My work consists of
specific subject matters that have helped me along the way
and hold symbolic meaning to every stage of my journey.”
www.amyizat.com, www.instagram.com/amyizat_art
Windows of the Soul details at www.windowsofthesoul.art
Artists & Illustrators 45
46 Artists & Illustrators
 Layered
Kirsten's
materials
•Paper
Strathmore 300gsm Toned Mixed Media paper
in grey, 29.7x35.6cm
•Paints
Quinacridone Gold Hue, Transparent Orange,
Cadmium Red Light, Permanent Carmine,
Ultramarine Finest, Prussian Blue, Helio
Turquoise, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna and Burnt
Umber, all Schmincke Horadam finest artists’
watercolour half pans
•Pencils
Titanium White, Ivory, Carmine Red Middle,
Purple, Magenta, Turquoise Blue, Emerald
Green Light, Light Flesh Tint, Neutral Black and
Payne’s Grey, all Stabilo CarbOthello chalk-
pastel coloured pencils; Faber Castell 9000
graphite pencil, 2B
•Pen
Edding 1800 Profipen black fineliner, 0.3mm
•Brushes
Polina Bright Series 1 round brushes,
sizes 0 and 3
•Eraser
Faber Castell kneadable eraser
MASTERCL ASS
PORTRAIT
If you have patience as you follow KIRSTEN BRITT’s
methodical technique for painting in mixed media, you’ll
be rewarded with a bright, bold portrait full of life
F
or as long as I can remember, I have It is important to have confidence. This
been drawn to portraiture. I especially
love melancholic or contemplative
technique looks unfinished for a long time
and then suddenly comes together at the
expressions; ones in which it’s not last moment, so have faith and keep going.
obvious what the sitter is thinking, and so IG: @kirsten_britt_mixedmediaartist
viewers are left to make their own
interpretations. When I’m looking for a new
sitter, I often use the Museum by Sktchy app
(available on a smartphone or iPad) and I
subscribe to the reference image library from
the New Masters Academy (see www.nma.
art), which both provide photos of models.
For this masterclass, I created a portrait of
my friend, Jocelyn. The reference photograph
was a beautiful example of an intriguing
wistful expression, looking off into the
distance – it reminded me of vintage travel
posters advertising holidays at the beach.
I’m excited to share my technique, using
pastels over the top of watercolour. I chose a
smooth, 300gsm mixed-media paper for this
painting to ensure that the surface not only
held the watercolour without buckling, but
also allowed the pastels to glide on easily.
I love this method because it allows me
to express a wide range of emotions in my
subjects. I especially enjoy the magical
moment when the highlights are added, and
ORIGINAL PHOTO
each new portrait suddenly comes to life.
Artists & Illustrators 47
1 Sketch it o ut
I began with a pencil sketch on grey toned paper. In general, I find
that a 2B pencil is dark enough to be seen clearly on this paper and
can be easily erased. As I sketched, I constantly flicked my eyes back
and forth between the photograph and the drawing. I imagined axis
lines running vertically and horizontally around the head to help me
figure out angles and proportions. I was constantly measuring by eye:
comparing shapes, distances and relationships.
2 S ele c t yo ur lin e s
When I was happy with my pencil sketch, I drew over it with a
waterproof fineliner. I have a variety of tools for finelining, but I keep
returning to my favourite Edding 1800s. I was selective about which
pencil marks became permanent ink lines – at this stage, I always try
to strike a balance between accuracy of line and gestural quality.
After the pen lines were complete, I erased the initial pencil sketch.

3 Apply a n e utral wa sh
My first layer of watercolour was a typically neutral,
mid-toned wash. I often lean towards a purple or greyish-
purple for this stage, but here I chose a neutral blue mixed
with Ultramarine Finest and a touch of Transparent Orange.
(I find this orange can have quite a kick, so use it sparingly,
4 Fin d co oler ar e a s
My choice of colour for the second layer of paint always varies. Pink tones
were prevalent in my original photo, so I decided to get some of those down
but it brings a lovely warmth.) early. With a mix of Permanent Carmine and Cadmium Red Light, I painted a
I applied the neutral blue mix wherever I saw a shadow, light pink wash on the lips, nose, cheeks and ears, as well as the neck, jawline
including the skin, the hair and the whites of the eyes. I used and brow. I included some pink in the hair too. I always keep an offcut of paper
my size 3 brush for this and adopted a fairly loose approach. to hand so that I can test colours – especially useful when using toned paper.

48 Artists & Illustrators

 MASTERCLASS

5 Add warm er ton e s

Having applied cool pinks, I decided to counter them with
a warm gold mixed with Quinacridone Gold and Raw Sienna.
The result when dried was more brass than bronze, which didn’t
feel right to me, so needed adjustment later on.
Always keep in mind there are no mistakes; keep a positive mindset
and trust in your ability to drive through any surprises. My portraits
often come together at the very end and I’ve learned to embrace the
creative journey, responding to both the source photo and the painting
itself. It’s important to enjoy the process as much as the outcome.
6 D e ep en yo ur f o cus
Having established the less dominant hues, I was now ready for
the focal colour of this portrait. With a mix of Transparent Orange, Burnt
Sienna and Burnt Umber, I created a rusty tone which was applied
mostly to the hair. A thinner wash of the same mix brought warmth to
the lips and nose. I switched to a mid-sized Polina Bright brush for this.
These beautiful handmade brushes have an incredible water-holding
capacity and I find them perfect for loose, gestural mark making.

Top tip
Try resting your
drawing hand on
a small piece of
scrap paper to
avoid accidental
smudges

7 Repre s ent th e sha dows

The longer I spent with the photo, the more
colours emerged. Some bluer shades became
apparent, so I decided to include these next.
While looking at a photo, I always try to paint
colours instinctively wherever I see them, without too
much analysis. I chose to represent the turquoise
shadows with a stronger teal shade, mixing Prussian
Blue and Helio Turquoise, which sat beautifully next
to the orange. Adding darker values in a strong
colour gave the painting more depth and character.
8 Unite yo ur colo ur s
My final layer of watercolour was a thin mix of Cadmium
Red Light to bring the neck, face and hair together with a
touch of blush. I was ready for the pastels. Often, when I get to
what feels like the end of the watercolour stage, I will leave a
portrait and come back to it the following day. Applying chalky
pastel can be a point of no return, so seeing a portrait with fresh
eyes helps me to be certain I’m ready to put my brushes away.

Artists & Illustrators 49

MASTERCLASS
9 Fin d th e brighte s t highlight s
The pastel pencil stage involved defining the highlights
with both cross-hatching and freestyle marks. Squinting while
examining the source photo helped me to see where the light
touches the skin and hair. The advantage of using toned paper
should now become apparent. Using Titanium White, Ivory and
Light Flesh Tint pastel pencils on toned paper provides strong
highlights that help the portrait to bounce off the page.
11 In cr e a s e cont ra s t s
Although there were no true blacks in the source photo, I had
used a black fineliner at the start, so I wasn’t afraid to add black
pastel pencils here either. In any case, I like striking contrasts in my
portraits and using pure black, white and exaggerated, vibrant
colours give me joy. Turquoise Blue and Payne’s Grey added depth
to the shadows and Neutral Black strengthened some outlines. I
tried to avoid focusing on a specific area and instead moved around
the piece, adding marks all over to keep a sense of balance.
50 Artists & Illustrators
10 Ad d a lit t l e f ir e
After the patience required for the earlier stages, it is a great feeling
to be playful with vibrant colour. For this portrait, I chose to bring out the fiery
sunset shades of her hair. I used Carmine Red Middle, Magenta and Light
Flesh Tint pastel pencils to accentuate the hair, lips and nose. I varied the
pressure, as well as the style of lines – some areas, such as the cheek and
neck, required soft cross hatching, while others could take bold freestyle lines.
12 Finishin g to uch e s
I like to leave finishing the eyes until the very end as they can
really breathe life into the face. I finished the lashes, being careful not to
make them too uniform and paying attention to their direction. I added
specks of the palest turquoise to the irises, a touch of light catching the
lower waterline, and pure white highlights hitting the eyeball. To finish,
I looked at the whole portrait, as if trying to see it for the first time and
I made some final touches using all of the coloured pencils.
 ARTISTS’ ARTIST’S TALE
An

VALUE ART FOR ALL AGES

BRUSHES
(]HPSHISL[OYV\NOHZLSLJ[NYV\WVMZ[VJRPZ[Z
You don’t have to be Picasso
to become an artist. All you
need is your imagination.
In An Artist’s Tale, British
author and artist Sue Exton
^^^HY[PZ[ZIY\ZOLZJV\R offers a journey into the joy
MVYM\SSPUMVYTH[PVUVUYHUNLZZL[ZWYPJLZ of art.
.YLH[]HS\LIPNZH]PUNZ
Focusing on the use
of watercolour pencils,
specifically Inktense, a new
collection by Derwent, she
shares how to get started
creating your own drawings.
In this work, she presents
a collection of a variety of
her drawings from flowers,
to landscape, to abstracts.
Exton discuses the creation of each piece and gives tips, tricks,
advice, and techniques for creating on your own.
An Artist’s Tale includes more than sixty colour pictures
accompanied by short stories, encouraging people of all ages to
pick up a colour pencil and get started scribbling.
This book can be purchased from Amazon for £32.11
plus most other booksellers or direct from lulu.com

ov

FR
sh £45
er
i p to
pi
ng UK
EE on m
or ain
de la
Here at Pro Arte, we never stop. Last year saw the introduction of two new lines,

rs nd
Sablene and Sablesque, both created as an alternative to expensive Sable.

*
This year sees the introduction of another new synthetic product…

Bristlene Available through all good retailers ARTSUPPLIES.CO.UK

Bristlene is a fully synthetic version of a traditional Hog or Bristle brush, GREAT DISCOUNTS UNBEATABLE SERVICE
designed for Oil and Heavy Acrylic painting. Joining the ‘Prolene’ and
‘Sablene’ stable, this is a brush that fulfils its brief superbly.
The brushes contain a variety of
filaments of different grades and
natural hues to give a pleasing
NEW
FRAZER PRICE
bristle look-a-like whilst Brass Watercolour
performing in a truly Palette Box
magnificent way. The bend
FROM £100
and spring that the fibres
exude and the sharpness of
point and edge allow precise control.
All in all, they are a joy to use and
a sight to behold! It’s another
breakthrough for animal lovers
and it takes bristle brushes
to a whole new level.

£ 5
Z{Œ{‚…†ƒ{„Šy…„Š„‹{‰w„z{wˆ{w‚w‰‚……„}wŠ„{
…††…ˆŠ‹„Š{‰B‰…x{‰‹ˆ{Š…|…‚‚…‹‰…„‰…yw‚ƒ{zwD
^{ˆ{…‹yw„z‰y…Œ{ˆƒ…ˆ{wx…‹Š~wŠ{w‚ˆ{wzz…B READER your first order
AIM110
‡
~‚{x{„}{†Š|‹‚‚„|…ˆƒ{zwx…‹Šxˆw„z„{†ˆ…z‹yŠ‰D
O F F E R OFF †
when you quote:

 TEL: 01204 690 114  EMAIL: sales@artsupplies.co.uk

Pro Arte Ltd, Park Mill, Brougham Street, Skipton, BD23 2JN
admin@proarŠ{Dy…D‹©.proarte.co.uk  KenBromleyArt  KenBromleyArt  KenBromleyArt  kenbromleyart
\…‚‚…‹‰…„_„‰Šw}ˆwƒV†ˆ…wˆŠ{xˆ‹‰~{‰ \…‚‚…‹‰…„fˆ…WˆŠ{Xˆ‹‰~{‰
* See shipping policy for full details † No minimum spend, one use for new customers only ‡ Expires 31/12/21

Artists & Illustrators 51

 PRINCIPLES OF DEPTH
4. Linear
Perspective
To continue his series on creating a sense of depth in drawings,
JAKE SPICER shows the benefits of adding perspective lines
O
f the five aspects of depth
that we are exploring in
this series, it is linear
perspective with which
students struggle the most. However,
rather than viewing linear perspective
as a rigid set of rules that must be
learnt by rote, we should see them as
cues to aid observation, helping us to
better understand our perception of
the space that we inhabit.
52 Artists & Illustrators
Our visual experience is more like
one of David Hockney’s “joiner” photo
collages than it is a flatter depiction of
events, such as Leonardo da Vinci’s
Perspectival Study of the Adoration of
the Magi. Like Hockney’s work, our
brains stitch together the snapshots
made by our blinking eyes to create a
fallible, working impression of space.
Linear perspective takes the
distortion of depth and packages it
into a neat set of rules that can help
us to construct the illusion of space
on a flat page, but we must never be
tricked into thinking that is really how
we see the world.
A drawing that attempts to record
the human experience of space as
something inhabited, holistic and
fragmentary might lean upon the
principles of linear perspective but
should not be limited by them.
Missed
parts 1-3?
Order a back issue
at www.chelsea
magazines.com
/shop

VP VP
One-point perspective Two-point perspective
One-point Perspective
One-point perspective is the simplest
expression of linear perspective.
It occurs when we are looking at
VP VP our subject plane-on, assuming our
horizontals and verticals to be parallel
with only the third dimension receding
away towards a vanishing point (VP).
Two-point Perspective
Two-point perspective best reflects
our experience of the world at street-
level or inside a room. It places us
edge-on to the subject and typically
Three-point perspective VP
assumes that the verticals in the
PRINCIPLES OF DEPTH
Basic principles
Linear perspective stems from the
principle of diminution: that an object
close to us appears larger than a
more distant object of the same size.
A magazine cover is a rectangle,
made up of two sets of parallel edges;
each pair being of equal lengths. If we
place the magazine on a table and the
distant top edge appears smaller than
the closer bottom edge; this makes
the left and right edges appear to tilt
in towards one another. If we extend
those diagonals they would eventually
meet at a “vanishing point”. If that
magazine is lined up with the edge
of a table, and that table is lined up
with the edges of the room, then
every single edge that is parallel to
those left and right magazine edges
will also point towards that same
vanishing point, providing a point of
reference from which an illusion of
the space could be constructed.
Linear perspective is most usefully
applied to the built environment and
we tend to use three conventional
systems for representing a subject
within linear perspective, which I will
explain below.
VP
scene remain parallel in appearance
– the other two dimensions have their
own separate vanishing points along
the same horizon line.
Three-point Perspective
A three-point perspective drawing
approaches the subject point-on,
often from above or below – it is the
superhero’s view of New York from
above or a mouse’s view up at a
towering farmhouse. In a three-point
perspective drawing, all three sets
of parallel lines have their own
vanishing points.
Artists & Illustrators 53
PRINCIPLES OF DEPTH
When making an observational
drawing of a space, an understanding
of linear perspective is of similar
importance to an artist as the
knowledge of anatomy is to someone
in a life drawing class – in other words,
linear perspective should support,
rather than detract from, observations
of the subject. Here are a few practical
ideas to support your sketches:
1. Informal perspective
When a student making observational
drawings says that they need to “learn
perspective”, it is often a
misdiagnosis; what they really need to
do is to learn to see the shapes that
make up the subject in front of them.
Whether working from life or a
photo, start an observational drawing
with the shapes you see in front of you,
not a rigid set of construction lines.
2. Recognise parallel lines
Take a moment to look for known
parallels in the scene in front of you.
54 Artists & Illustrators
1 2
3 4
Are the rows of houses on both sides
of a street parallel to one another, for
example? Is the table lined up with
the edges of the room or does it have
its own set of parallels? If you can’t
see many natural occurrences, linear
perspective might not be the tool to
apply to this drawing.
3. Establish extremes
Once you have noticed which lines are
parallel, find the highest, lowest and
middle lines in a set of parallels and
sketch them on your drawing, carefully
judging their respective angles by
using a pencil or other straight edge
held up in front of you. Think of each
angled edge as the hand of a clock
– what time is it pointing towards? The
three lines should roughly converge on
a single vanishing point.
4. Find an eye-line
The phrase “horizon line” is used to
describe the line on which the
vanishing point sits, but it can be
misleading, as it doesn’t necessarily
refer to the horizon of the landscape.
Standing on a flat plane that you share
with your subject – a street, say, or the
floor of a room – the horizon line of
receding two-point perspective will sit
exactly at your eye level. You can test
it by sticking tape to a wall at eye
height at the end of a room with
floorboards or tiles; as you step back
their vanishing point will be in line with
your eye line, whether you are lying on
the floor or standing on a ladder.
Because of this, you’ll see the
underside of parallel surfaces that are
above your eyeline and the top side of
parallel surfaces below your eye line.
READER OFFER – SAVE £9!
Artists & Illustrators readers can buy
Jake’s new book, Figure Drawing, for a
reduced price of £16, including UK P&P.
Order by calling (01235) 759555 and
quoting the code: “9952100052”.
Offer ends 20 January 2022.
 PRINCIPLES OF DEPTH

EXERCISE
Points in a room
Take a photograph of a familiar room.
Print it out on an A5 piece of paper
and then stick it onto a larger sheet
of A3 paper. Using a ruler, extend the
lines of the scene, using a different
colour for each different set of
parallel lines. The meeting point of
each set of parallels will provide you
with a vanishing point, which in turn
will suggest the height of the horizon
line, set at the same height at the
camera’s viewpoint.
Next, return to the spot where you
took the photograph and make an
observational, freehand drawing of
the same room. Make it intuitively,
focusing on your observation of
shapes rather than an understanding
of linear perspective, but allow those
observations to be informed by your
earlier exploration of the photo.
Next month: Jake looks at atmospheric
perspective in the landscape.
www.jakespicerart.co.uk

Artists & Illustrators 55

 The Loomis
TECHNIQUE

METHOD
Golden Age illustrator Andrew Loomis developed a structured way of
drawing. LIZET DINGEMANS gives a primer to his enduring techniques

A
rtists have always been
fascinated by the endless
variety of the human face and
features. Some artists made it their
primary pursuit, while others have
used the art of portrait drawing as a
means to an end. One of these artists
was Andrew Loomis, who rose to fame
in the 1920s and 1930s, during the
Golden Age of Illustration in America.
Loomis was part of a select group
of illustrators, such as Harvey Dunn,
Dean Cornwell and, of course,
Norman Rockwell, whose names
remain an inspiration to this day.
Many of these great illustrators were
also accomplished teachers and
much can still be learned from their
approaches today.
Of these methods, one of the most
famous is the “Loomis method” for
drawing heads, which was laid out in
his 1943 book, Drawing the Head
and Hands. This method can be a
useful way to break down the human
head into understandable blocks and
gives you the freedom to add the
portrait to your own work without
getting lost. In this article, I will cover
the basic rules and proportions of
Andrew Loomis’ approach, giving you
a structural method for drawing the
head that you will be able to use
either as supplemental knowledge
when working from life or when
creating standalone paintings.
Before we start, I want to take you
through the basic proportions of the
head as outlined in more detail in
Drawing the Head and Hands. I have
made a schematic drawing of the
human head, superimposed on a
photograph, using his standard
approach to measurements. Note
that these proportions are idealised:
there is a huge amount of variety in
portraiture and these measurements
are by no means one size fits all, but
rather a place to start making sense
of each sitters’ individual differences.
In the diagrams below are some
things that will help you structure the
head, such as the eyeline tending to
be located halfway down the skull.
The Loomis method also involves
splitting the head into halves and
thirds to simplify the structure.

The width of The eyeline

the head is is located
two thirds halfway
of the total down the
height skull

The mouth
area,
The face between
can be split the chin and
into thirds, the bottom
dividing at of the nose,
the bottom can also be
of the nose divided into
and the top thirds
of the brow

56 Artists & Illustrators

 TECHNIQUE

LEFT Andrew
Loomis, Frances
Herdlinger, 1930s

Artists & Illustrators 57

TECHNIQUE

DEMO
A Loomis-style portrait
Now we have established the main
principles, let’s get drawing. The
Loomis method allows you to build
a structural head on which you can
place the features and it allows you to
draw a head from any angle. I drew on
newsprint paper with Coates willow
charcoal and a General’s Peel &
Sketch charcoal pencil. I also used a
Faber-Castell kneadable eraser and a
Cretacolor paper stump for blending.

1 Let’s begin with measuring. Start

by placing the top and bottom of
the block of the skull on the page.
This will decide where the portrait
will sit on the page and also be the
measurement with which all others
will relate. Follow this by placing the
centre line and dividing the face into
thirds, while also marking where the
main features will sit.
Instead of drawing from the wrist,
try standing back a bit further and
use your whole arm to shade. This will
let you apply even pressure on the
charcoal and make it easier to create
1 3 long, flowing lines.

2 Now start adding the main planes

of the face, as well as the “wheel”
of the skull. When figuring out the
width of the front compared to the
side planes, keep in mind that,
generally, the skull will be about two
thirds the width compared to the
height. Drop down some vertical lines
to find the sides of the nose and start
adding some features too.

3 If you are happy with the

placement of the features and
main planes of the skull, it is time to
2 start adding volume. Make a note of
the direction of the light source and
start shading the basic shadow
shapes in order to make the features
feel voluminous. In my example, the
light came from the top left and
therefore I shaded the planes turning
towards the bottom right.
At this point, don’t worry about any
details, the main thing is to establish
some volume to your forms. Always
work from big to small shapes.
Imagine yourself as a sculptor,
chipping away at a block of marble –
you wouldn’t start with the eyelashes!

58 Artists & Illustrators

 TECHNIQUE

WHAT IS “COMPARATIVE
4 5
MEASUREMENT”?
In this article, I am using a system called
comparative measurement. This involves
measuring different parts of the subject
against one another. For instance, note
how I was able to divide the face into
thirds. In order to measure and compare
this on your drawing, lay your pencil
across your drawing and mark the length
with your thumb and the tip of the pencil.
With this first measurement in place,
you can move your hand across various
areas of the drawing to see how other
parts compare in size.

4 Having shaded the main blocks

of the face, it is time to build up
the tones. Form is the key thing to
6

look for here. Keep imagining the

shapes underneath the features
and try to continuously preserve
and build on that form.
Switching to a compressed
charcoal pencil will allow you to go
darker in the shadows. Try not to
work inside the shadows at this point;
instead, work alongside the shadow
edge, building up the tone there.

5 Now it’s time to add smaller

shapes. If you are drawing on
toned paper, add in some highlights
using white chalk. If you are using
white paper, as I am in this example,
you can also tone the paper by going
over the whole drawing lightly with
tissue, so the drawing still shines
through. This will allow you to pick
out the highlights using an eraser.
Connecting light and dark shapes
makes the drawing stronger. For
example, the highlights in the eyes
are not isolated dots, but rather
extensions of the whites of the eyes.

6 To finish the drawing, keep adding

smaller and smaller volumes as
you did in steps four and five.
Pay particular attention to the edge
of the shadow shapes. Shadows don’t
need much internal information but
distinguishing between form and cast
shadows can really make a difference
to the realism of your drawing.
Let your pencil or charcoal lines
follow the underlying forms when
shading. Note how the lines around
the mouth follow around the lips.
www.lizetdingemans.com

Artists & Illustrators 59

 DEMO

CLOUDY
Days
Dull weather shouldn’t mean dull paintings.
GRAHAME BOOTH shows how looking a little
harder to find strong light and dark shapes ORIGINAL PHOTO
can add interest to even a mediocre scene
60 Artists & Illustrators

Grahame's
materials
• PAINTS
Winsor Yellow, Indian Yellow,
Winsor Red, Quinacridone
Magenta, French
Ultramarine, Winsor Blue
(Green Shade) and Burnt
Sienna, all Winsor & Newton
Professional Watercolours
• PAPER
St. Cuthbert’s Mill Millford
300gsm cold-pressed (NOT)
watercolour paper, 31x41cm
•BRUSHES
Rosemary & Co. Series 170
squirrel mop, size 14;
Rosemary & Co. Series 402
round brushes, sizes 4; an
old worn sable brush, size 7
• PAPER TOWEL OR
KITCHEN ROLL
1 2
3 4
1 M ake a light w a s h
I always begin a painting with
a simple overall wash using any
large soft brush, such as a
squirrel mop. This first wash is
effectively the lightest part of the
painting, so I try to make it strong
enough to be worth doing but not
so strong that I compromise my
highlights. I don’t draw anything
at this stage, I simply lay in colour
roughly where it is in the subject.
Here I used a mix of Winsor
Blue (Green Shade) and
Quinacridone Magenta for the
sky, adding a little Burnt Sienna
for the buildings. I dropped in
spots of stronger Indian Yellow
and Winsor Red where the boats
were, which looked strong but
remember that watercolour dries
lighter. I used a piece of kitchen
roll to lift out some highlights on
the roof windows and on the
transom sterns of the boats.
2 Pick o ut clo u d s
While the sky wash was still
wet, I could lift out slightly lighter,
soft-edged clouds. I used a
scrunched-up paper towel for this,
but I held it as it were a brush:
back from the tip and without
pressing too hard. It is important
that you don’t leave dry paper
where you want your clouds to be;
the watercolour paper must be
wet for this lifting out technique
to work correctly. This is easy with
practice but take care as you can
easily end up with disconnected
clouds all over the sky.
3 F o cu s o n s hap e s
At this early stage I tried to
avoid detail. Instead, I used my
size 14 brush to apply a light
background wash, varying the
cool colour and softening parts
of the upper edge. This wash was
based on a stronger version of my
DEMO
sky colour with a touch of Indian
yellow to add a green tinge in
places. For the buildings, I again
used a stronger sky colour, but
this time with more Burnt Sienna
to create varied greys. I created
hard edges along the outside but
allowed everything to blend within
the area of the buildings so that I
essentially created a single darker
shape. I took great care to ensure
that I didn’t paint over the lightest
parts of my subject.
4 Comp ar e ton e s
It was important to
continually compare tones.
I could see in the subject that
my pontoons and walkway were
lighter than the water and so
I added a second wash over the
water, again using Winsor Blue
(Green Shade) with Quinacridone
Magenta, painting around the
light pontoons. I left a few light
Artists & Illustrators 61
DEMO
lines from the first wash showing
to suggest a little movement on
the water.
5 Pun ch up colo ur s
I used stronger versions of
the previous washes to hint at
more detail. I was careful not to
completely cover the previous
washes as I would lose my
precious light.
I also used a strong orange mix
(Indian Yellow and Winsor Red)
as well as Winsor Red and French
Ultramarine to suggest the boats.
I treated the boats simply as
shapes, trying to paint only as
much as I saw with my eyes
half-closed, rather than what
I knew to be there.
6 Pick out details
It was time to paint what
little detail I planned to add.
Using Burnt Sienna, I hinted at the
62 Artists & Illustrators
5 6
7 8
planks of the walkway and the
nearer pontoon, taking care with
my perspective. A touch of Winsor
Red and French Ultramarine gave
me a hint of the ensign and
Winsor Blue (Green Shade) with
Winsor Yellow created the bright
green of the pennant.
7 Shap e th e f orm s
I add a weak shadow of
“palette grey” – the muck in the
corner of my mixing wells! – to the
yellow building. This was strong
enough only to give a little shape
to the building, not to compete
with the stronger darks I added
around the boats.
I added masts and posts with
a mix of Burnt Sienna and French
Ultramarine, using an old worn
size 7 sable brush to lift out
colour where the lines passed
over a relatively dark background.
Lifting out can be achieved with
T t
a simple scrubbing action and
a damp brush. Even staining
colours will lighten as long as they
o p ip
have been applied gently. a s s een a t
The light are
re painted in
8 Change perspective
I added a stroke of water to
the end we
the first wa
sh – take
care not to
lose
the upper part of the millpond and them !
immediately painted a wash of
French Ultramarine and Burnt
Sienna into the bottom of it.
I continued the wash down the
paper, strengthening as I went.
I left a few light areas for variety.
To complete my painting,
I turned my board upside down (to
avoid the risk of runs) and I added
a similar wash-in-water over the
sky, keeping everything softer
and slightly biased more towards
Burnt Sienna. I added a couple of
barely noticeable figures as well
as a few final dark dots and
dashes to finish.
www.grahamebooth.com
 Brand New Products
from your favourite brushmaker!
Here at Pro Arte we’ve been busy, very busy! Costs of both Squirrel and
Sable hair have risen dramatically, necessitating a need for alternatives.
After painstaking research and development in order to solve this problem,

Sablene
we bring you a brand new product...
CREATE YOUR MASTERPIECE

Sablene is a fully synthetic version of Sable, fashioned from

brand new synthetic filaments which mimic many
of the properties that nature created.
TOOLS YOU NEED TO

Pro Arte have taken a variety of these

new filaments and blended them
into brushes that now emulate
both the look and the feel
of sable like never before.
For Sable lovers this is
a breakthrough,
for synthetic lovers these
go to a new level and
for animal lovers
this is utopia!
Development continues
at a pace. We have lots
of new ideas for 2021 and
beyond, so be sure to follow us on
social media. Here you can discover more about
artist brushes whatwe already do, while being kept fully informed
painting knives about Brand New Products!
travel bags
artist aprons Pro Arte, Park Mill, Brougham Street, Skipton, BD23 2JN
Tel 01756 792929 • Fax 01756 790909
pencil cases
admin@proarte.co.uk • www.proarte.co.uk
CONNECT WITH US
Follow us on Instagram @proartebrushes Follow us on ProArteBrushes
www.panartglobal.com | info@panartglobal.com

Be inspired by
the natural world
Visit us this December and get crafty on
one of our festive art and craft courses:

ȊȱŠž›Š•ȱ‘›’œ–Šœȱ›ŽŠ‘œ
ȱȊȱŠ’—Žȱ •Šœœȱ‘›’œ–ŠœȱŽŒ˜›Š’˜—œ
ȊȱŠ’—Žȱ •ŠœœȱŠ›œȱ
ȊȱŽŠŸŽȱ‘›’œ–ŠœȱŽŒ˜›Š’˜—œ
ȊȱŽŠŸŽȱŠ—ȱ—Ž•
Ȋȱ‘›’œ–Šœȱ’—ȱŽ—ȱŠ—ȱ—”ȱ

ŽȱŠ•œ˜ȱ‘ŠŸŽȱŠȱ›Š—Žȱ˜ȱŒ›ŽŠ’ŸŽȱŒ˜ž›œŽœȱ
ŠŸŠ’•Š‹•Žȱ’—ȱœ™›’—ȱŘŖŘŘȱ’ȱ¢˜žȂ›Žȱ•˜˜”’—ȱ
˜ȱ•ŽŠ›—ȱœ˜–Ž‘’—ȱ—Ž ȱ’—ȱ‘ŽȱŽ ȱŽŠ›ǯȱ
ȱ
Visit:
   ǯꎕȬœž’ŽœȬŒ˜ž—Œ’•ǯ˜›ȦŠ›œ

Artists & Illustrators 63

 MIXED MEDIA

3. Collage
Your paintings can be enhanced by using more
than one media at a time. AINE DIVINE’s experimental series
concludes with a floral painting using cut-up elements

F
ew subjects contain as much
joy as flowers; they are so
alive, richly coloured and
deeply attractive to paint.
The spirit of play is a very useful thing
to have in your creative practice and
flowers encourage that in me every
time. In fact, during the lockdown,
I believe it is what kept me on an
even keel and also kept a sense of
harmony at home. Working in the
living room, I was surrounded by
flowers, or paintings of them, and it
was a lovely atmosphere to be in.
One of the main ingredients in my
recent floral work has been collage.
I could only satisfyingly explain the
free, dancing action of the various
flowers by adding bits of torn
paper extending beyond the page –
a nightmare for the framer, but a joy
for me. It felt like the shackles were
dropped when I was making those
paintings, as the flowers’ yearning
for light and freedom merged with
my own.
Another medicine for the soul is
playing with colour. When setting up
my floral compositions, I’d often tune
in to how I felt: what colour tablecloth,
vase and flower combination did I feel
like painting today? These decisions
were the beginning of the creative
process for me. I’d often set up the
night before, sometimes even
splashing on a colour for the
background or cloth so it was already
on its way and I could launch right
in after breakfast.
Our focus this month is the joy of
PHOTOS JIM MACKINTOSH

collage. You can’t beat the childlike

playfulness of tearing and sticking,
yet you can still achieve impressive
results if it is done in the right way.

64 Artists & Illustrators

 Begin by setting up your subject
on a table: flowers, a cloth, a teacup.
Choose anything with a pattern or
colour that you love. No matter my
mood, I am always inspired by this
little blue jug, so I picked some
flowers from the garden to put in it
and embellished the bunch with some
rowan berries from my morning walk.
I wanted harmony in the painting and
so I chose a blue velvet tablecloth.
I set the flowers and easel up so
that the light falling on the flowers
appealed to me. Then I made sure
that there was nothing distracting
in the background.
The flowers were deliberately set
at eye level. I like to look across at
them, to witness the spaces between
the flowers and the shape of the jug
clearly. The next consideration was
to set myself up, so I felt comfortable.
I needed enough light on my easel
and to be close enough to the flowers.
I also wanted a large surface near
me for all the collage paraphernalia
– there are a lot of options in mixed
media, so make some space so that
you can easily access what you need
when you start to create.
Collect together collage papers,
anything will do. I often use snippets
from gardening magazines – once
there’s a layer of PVA glue over them,
the pages retain their colour well.
Origami papers are also lovely. I used
paisley-patterned origami papers in
the background for this painting.
Tearing appeals more than cutting, as
it engenders a feeling of confidence
as I rip the colour I want with a
flourish. Often the ripped piece is
just the shape needed; if it needs
adjusting the edge can be easily
restated with oil pastel, paint or a
simple line of ink drawn with a stick.
Artists & Illustrators 65
MIXED MEDIA
1
DEMO
Jug of flowers
1 Pla ce t h e s h a p e s
I started with a Payne’s Grey
background applied with a large flat
brush. This provided the main shade
behind the flowers and allowed me
to begin to explain the volume of the
flowers as well as the shape of the
jug. This stage is as much about
removing paint as it is adding it –
the bulge of the jug was indicated
by removing the paint with a wet rag
before it dried
2 D raw t h e lin e s
Placing masking tape along the
tabletop allowed me to paint the grey
background cleanly. I then covered
the grey with tape in order to paint the
Cerulean Blue tabletop with freedom,
knowing I’d keep the clean line.
I like varying the consistency of
paint in different parts of the painting,
so the runs of blue served to contrast
with the drybrush background swipes.
3 B e g in t o colla g e
The swiftest way I know to
explain a jumble of leaves in a still life
2 3
66 Artists & Illustrators
is to paste on torn pieces of greenery
from gardening magazines. You’ll
notice some painted paper collage
too. I love to use up old paint by
preparing sheets of paper for use as
collage. These inky green and blue
pieces were just what I needed here.
4 D r op an an ch or
I felt like the bright yellow flower
facing me was significant, so I wanted
to establish it early on as an anchor
to the painting. I could then locate
other flowers in space according to
their relationships with this yellow
one. The stronger colour was also
useful for relating other colours to it.
The orange flashes were also
important to establish early on, as
they danced on the outskirts of the
group and expanded the whole image.
Collage was ideal for this as the
pieces are movable and bright; they
stood out in relief from the support
to help further describe the three-
dimensional petals.
5 Int r o du ce p at tern s
I used a stencil to stipple on a
pleasing pattern for the jug. This
helped set it apart clearly, as the
geometry of the pattern contrasted
with the organic, chaotic marks
elsewhere.
It’s worth noting the dark green in
the leaves here. Hookers Green mixed
with Ultramarine Blue and Vandyke
Brown gave me a good dark to hang
the composition together and to
contrast with the brighter flowers.
6 G e t yo ur h a n ds dir t y
As I continued to make order
from the chaos of marks, I painted
a thicker application of Payne’s Grey
onto the background between the
flowers. As the tone in the wall varied,
I mixed it with white to lighten the
grey in places. My aim is always to
keep my brushstrokes lively and
loose, while responding as faithfully
as I can to the shape of the negative
spaces I see. The purple daisy-like
flowers were placed with collage
paper and I used my fingertips to
dance on the red rowan berries over
the dark green foliage.
I often use my fingers to manipulate
the paint. If the first mark you make
isn’t quite what you want, see if you
can change the shape with a swipe
 MIXED MEDIA

4 5

T to p ip
Torn shape
s needn’t
ccurate –
be wholly a
em further
describe th
n
with a draw
mark

of a thumb rather than a brush. It can

6
feel good to physically engage with
your artwork and get your hands dirty.

7 B e dynamic
I highlighted the brightest berries
with red ink on my fingers, while oil
pastels embellished the orange and
purple flowers. A thin stick dipped in
Indian ink also helped me clarify the
petals of the yellow flower and various
leaves. Soft pastels came in useful
for the bright green sunlit leaves and
another stencil created some
patterns in the bottom left corner.
I wanted to keep the action on the
tablecloth to one side only, as it felt
more dynamic this way. I also sought
to establish the energetic direction
of every flower and leaf – there were
so many curves, arcs and angles in
each, I aimed to find the single most
dynamic direction and swept it in
with conviction. 7
www.ainedivinepaintings.co.uk

Artists & Illustrators 67

 H O W I PA I N T

Peter Quinn
The Royal Watercolour Society member tells STEVE PILL
his tips for drawing complex subjects, balancing bold
colours, and suggesting details in just a few simple marks

68 Artists & Illustrators

 H O W I PA I N T

P
eter Quinn was born in Dumfries in 1960. He studied painting at
the Glasgow School of Art before later completing a PhD in the
history of art from the University of Sunderland. He now lives in
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where he both paints and teaches art history.
Peter is a member of the Royal Watercolour Society and also the chair of
the Bewick Society, dedicated to promoting the life and work of the great
Northumberland artist Thomas Bewick. His latest exhibition, Voyages,
runs until 20 November at Gallagher & Turner, Newcastle.

Your new exhibition is called a standard watercolourist who would

Voyages, but presumably you’ve not
had many of those in the last 18
months. Are the paintings all based
on previous travels?
Yes. In 2020, before things locked
down, I had already been to Malta,
to the carnival, and then as things
were in the process of locking down
here, we were in South Africa.
And then when I got home,
I decided to take time to go through
older things – things that I’d put to
one side, projects that had been
shelved, or ones I wanted to go back
to when I had more time. I generally
work in the studio from sketches and
photographs that I gather on site, so
that was a normal thing for me to do.
Which was the most interesting
destination to revisit?
There are a number of paintings of
Paris and I’ve always been interested
in it as a place. It’s so steeped in the
history of painting and I’ve always
made short visits there. One of the
things that I did with my adult
learners during lockdown was a short
course on the city of Paris in art
history, so arts, photography and film.
It was something I was reading about
and thinking about as well.
Do you ever look at other artists’
work to see how to solve problems
LEFT Boatyard, or achieve certain techniques in
Koroni, Greece, your own paintings?
watercolour on I suppose, I do and I don’t. I have
paper, 35x53cm a slightly haphazard approach to
technique and I’m not by any means
build up a picture from very light
washes. I sometimes experiment with
acrylics and inks as well, so I do have
a slightly idiosyncratic approach and
that may be because I look at so
much art.
I quite like the idea that a
watercolour bears the traces of its
history. I always draw in pencil before
I start using paint, so I’ve got an
outline of the composition beneath
and I sometimes look upon the
painting as blocks of colour in quite
an abstract way.
Tell me about your process of finding
new subjects. If you’re setting out for
a walk in Cape Town or Paris, say, do
you have a particular aim in mind?
Sometimes I might have an aim: for
instance, to visit a historic place or to
make some sort of record. Often what
I find myself doing is putting that to
one side and looking for accidental
inspiration.
In Greece, I had the idea that there
might be a wonderful fishing port with
lots of activity and such like. I was
never there at a time of day when that
was demonstrated to me, but actually
there were quite a lot of lovely details,
like nets and ropes and upturned
boats, which I made a number of
pictures of. It’s about leaving yourself
open to finding things and not having
too preconceived an idea, really.
When you’re trying to draw a more
complex subject, like fishing nets,
what goes down first?

Artists & Illustrators 69

H O W I PA I N T

I have a slightly haphazard approach to technique…

I’m not by any means a standard watercolourist who
would build up a picture from very light washes

Most recently I’ve been using a

combination of pencil and pen and
[a sketch on location] tends to be an
outline of an idea which means
something to me – and that might be
something very scribbly, very rough
and really quite unattractive. I don’t
develop a more considered drawing
until I’ve got a bit more of an idea that
this is something I want to focus upon
in my painting.

What part does photography play in

composing your pictures?
It varies. I do take an awful lot of
photographs. With some of the
paintings, you could find a photograph
in my collection that is pretty close.
The best is to have six or eight
reference photos. If I have too many,
RIGHT Steps, Koroni, it gets confusing; if I have too few, it
Peloponnese, may feel like something is missing.
Greece, watercolour
on paper, 53x34cm Boulevard Malesherbes has a rather
BELOW Boulevard overwhelming perspective. How did
Marguerite de you come up with that composition?
Rochechouart, It was a kind of patchwork. They are
watercolour on wide boulevards and I do have a
paper, 24x53cm number of panorama shots.
The passersby came from
sketchbooks and one or two of them
appeared in the photographs. I quite
liked the idea of the grand façade
with the trees dancing across it,
that was the visual treat of it.
Since you’ve been revisiting
sketchbooks to find new source
material for paintings recently, have
you become better at knowing what
works and what doesn’t?
I’ve always been very jealous of
people who have very complete-
looking sketchbooks. Mine look a
bit more spasmodic. That’s partly
because sketchbooks aren’t
something I use in the studio;
I use them out and about, and they
become like notebooks, so that
includes writing down the name of a
place or the name of a bus that gets
you there. They live a bit longer,
because they are a diary, if you like,
of a period of time spent in a place.
I don’t make finished pictures in the
sketchbooks. I have very rarely torn
something out of a sketchbook and
put it in a frame.
You’ve said previously that you often
have a lot of “preparatory drawings
and false starts” in the studio. What
things will cause you to start again?
A common thing would be an open
and enthusiastic use of a great block
of colour, that then becomes really
quite dominant in a way that I don’t
intend it to. Or a piece of drawing that
looked good when I was doing it in the
evening, but then the next morning it ABOVE Boulevard
looks like I’ve gone wrong somehow. Malesherbes, Paris,
I do tend not to throw things out. I like watercolour on
to put things to one side and see if paper, 115x80cm
something could be made of it.
I prefer to be working on a group
of pictures too. At the moment, I’ve
got a dozen quite big paintings that
I’m trying to do. If I tried to just
concentrate on one, things may go
wrong in relation to everything else,
so I like to move in and around and
between them. And it means if seven
do go wrong, I’ve still got five left.
You seem unafraid of bright
passages of colour…
Yes, I probably seek them out.
The place that is not represented in
this current exhibition, but which I’ve
Artists & Illustrators 71

I’ve always been very jealous of people
who have very complete-looking
sketchbooks… Mine look more spasmodic
painted many, many times, is Malta.
My solution to painting Malta is big
areas of colour because the island
has bright sunshine most of the year
and a great contrast between a very
blue sky, a very green-blue sea and
72 Artists & Illustrators
a very pale, yellow land. Colour has
always been the way in which I solved
painting there.
It can be difficult for bold colours to
not look childlike though, and you
handle that well. Is there a secret?
I suppose the paintings that go right,
as opposed to the ones that go
wrong, have often got an element of
quality in the way in which the bold
colour is placed on. That may be that
a colour has been placed sensitively
in relation to the rest of the drawing
or it might have a serendipity which
I can just retain, a splash of yellow
wall or whatever.
That said, you never seem to paint a
consistent block of colour, there are
always variations in there. How do
you control those areas?

ABOVE In the Sometimes what I would do would be
Bo-Kaap, Cape to paint on damp paper. I might damp
Town, watercolour the entire sheet or with a larger
on paper, 34x52cm stretched sheet of paper, I might
TOP RIGHT dampen a section and allow the paint
Rue du Faubourg, to fill it. If you [experiment like] this, it
Montmartre, Paris, becomes important to realise what
watercolour on you’ve done, leave it alone for a while,
paper, 39x53cm and then come back to it.
Are you particular about the paper
you use?
I most often use a smooth Saunders
Waterford 300gsm paper, which
I would stretch using gum strips.
I sometimes use a rougher Saunders
Waterford paper, which is 450gsm.
I use that for smaller pictures and,
because that’s heavier, I don’t need
to stretch that.
I gather you stand up to paint.
What are the benefits?
Not slumping off to sleep, I suppose!
I have the watercolour paintings on a
raised flat surface. It’s a standard
trestle table, but it is higher than you
would have a desk.
It encourages you to not get
involved in the finicky details and to
think promptly. And you do work more
from the shoulder rather than the
wrist if you’re standing.
There is lots of lovely black line work
in Rue du Faubourg, Montmartre. Is
that ink?
No, that’s all watercolour. I suppose
the way in which I could add
observations and bring the
composition together was to work
with a smaller line, but I rarely use
pen or ink on a painting; it’s always
paint of some sort.
So, the detailed work, where you’ve
added areas of lighter colour over
darker passages, is that all
watercolour as well?
Yes, it may well be. For larger
pictures, I would often block-in using
a wash of acrylic paint. I use Golden
Fluid Acrylics, it’s quite intense paint
that you get in little bottles.
H O W I PA I N T
I use less gouache now than I have
done in the past, but I quite like the
quality of it in isolation – it can add
an extra flat texture, which can be
quite interesting.
The shop windows are painted with
just a few choice marks. How do you
plan those out?
I suppose it is a question of showing
the depth of a scene, about making
equivalent marks for the dark interior
and the things in the foreground,
without thinking: Is it a book? Is it a
dress? Is it a shoe?
I’m not the sort of person who would
record exactly what was in the shop
window, I’m much more interested in
the overall impact and effect.
You’ve maintained an experimental
approach, yet always produce
gallery-quality paintings to sell.
Are there certain things you always
ensure you do to achieve this?
It’s probably time and thought spent
with the painting. The things that do
find their way to a gallery are generally
things I’ve spent time and thought
with. I stopped oil painting because I
didn’t like the materials, they didn’t
agree with me, really, so I decided I
would specialise in watercolour.
The clamour for my watercolour
paintings has never stopped and I’m
happy with the variety of marks and
the freedom that watercolour allows.
www.peterjquinn.org
Artists & Illustrators 73
 STILL LIFE WORKSHOP

2.
Glorious C
olour offers us a rich
spectrum of potential
and excitement in our
paintings. For many

Colours
Ask an Artist’s PETER KEEGAN continues his
three-part still life painting workshop by
sharing a foolproof way of mixing colours
based around two simple questions
artists, the allure of colour can be the
sole reason to pick up those paint
brushes. Unfortunately, simply playing
with colour without having a deeper
understanding of how different
pigments interact can often lead to a
paint surface that is dull and muddy.
However, colour does not have to
be a scary or complicated subject
either. In fact, approaching it by

74 Artists & Illustrators


asking just two simple questions can
lead us to make better choices and
give us the ability to mix accurate
colours that are rich and delicious.
Colour has several properties, but
the most important here are tonal
value (how light or dark it is) and
temperature (how warm or cool it may
be). The trick is to ask yourself if the
colour in the subject appears lighter
or darker and warmer or cooler than
the one in your palette. In doing so,
you will find the right way to mix a
colour, accurately, first time.
How to mix colours
When I’m mixing a colour, the first
thing I do is ask myself which colour
on my palette is closest to my chosen
subject. In the example on page 76,
I was trying to match the colour of
an orange (fruit) with a palette of
primaries – red, yellow and blue.
I didn’t have a pre-mixed orange and
I saw the fruit as more of a yellowy-
orange than a reddish-orange, so
I began my mix by moving some
yellow into the centre of my palette.
(If two colours are equally close, my
STILL LIFE WORKSHOP
tip is to start with the lighter colour.)
Looking at the yellow, I asked myself
the two important questions: Do I
need this to be lighter or darker? And
do I need this to be warmer or cooler?
I could see the fruit was warmer in
temperature and darker in tone, so
the obvious choice of pigment to
introduce to my mix was red, as it is
both warmer and darker than yellow.
I now had a good, rich orange but it
was not yet an exact match. It would
be tempting to accept that it’s near
enough, but if you’re aiming for
Artists & Illustrators 75
STILL LIFE WORKSHOP

HOW TO MIX COLOURS

greater accuracy, it’s essential to
keep asking those two questions and
refining further until you really do
have a closer match.
When I compared my orange paint
mixture and the fruit (and compare is
the important word here), I could see
that my paint was too intense. I also
notice that my mixture seemed too
hot and could be cooled down a
touch. When getting to this point,
there are a few options. Adding white
may cool a mixture, but it can also
lighten it too much. Overuse of white
can also lead to chalky, flat colours.
What I really needed was a colour
that was cooler in temperature and
lighter in tone. This is where blues
come into their own. By adding a little
blue, the intensity of my orange
mixture was knocked back a bit
without over lightening the tone.
Adding a touch of a complementary
colour (those are the colours found
opposite each other on the colour
wheel, such as orange and blue) is
always a clever way of keeping any
colour in check.
So next time you are struggling to
mix a colour, ask yourself those two
simple questions and constantly
compare your mix until you manage
to achieve your target colour.

ORIGINAL SET-UP DEMO wiped away the greasy moisture

Subject
For this painting, I chose to paint a
bowl of colourful fruit, fresh from the
farmers’ market. I’ve arranged the
fruit in a way that provided me with
a range of different tones and colour
temperatures that would prove a test
to recreate in paint. From the warm
colours of the oranges to the cooler
greens of the pears and almost-blues
of the plums, there was plenty of
mixing to be done with my limited,
primary-biased colour palette.
of the residual oil paint to give a
smooth, thin and even coverage.
Using the same Yellow Ochre
mixture with a little solvent on a size
2 brush, I divided the board into four
equal sections and began plotting
what I saw before me. I started with
the bowl, followed by the fruit,
keeping the drawing as simple as
possible. I then shaded the darkest
tonal areas.

Materials
2 I started painting the brightest,
boldest colours on each fruit –
in this case, the oranges. I made the
Paints bright orange colour with a mixture of
Titanium White, Yellow Lake, Yellow Yellow Lake and a little Scarlet Lake
Ochre, Scarlet Lake, Alizarin Crimson, with a size 8 flat brush. Where the
Transparent Oxide Red, Cobalt Blue orange became darker, I added more
and Ultramarine Blue, all Michael Alizarin Crimson to the mixture. As I
Harding oil colours work, I’m constantly checking the
Brushes mixes on my palette against the fruit
Rosemary & Co. Ivory short flat in front of me, adjusting as necessary.
brushes, sizes 2, 4, 6 and 10
Support
Primed plywood board, 21x21cm
Low-odour solvent
3 I treated all the oranges as one
single, large area to paint, putting
all the bold, strong colours down first,
Rags followed by the darker ones, and then
finally all the lighter marks. I used a
Process dash of the Ultramarine and Scarlet

1 I began by giving the board a wash

of Yellow Ochre to match the
wooden bowl and bring a warmer
Lake mix to get the warm dark
shadow under the oranges and more
Yellow Lake with a dash of Titanium
1
quality to the whole painting. I then White to show where the highlight will

76 Artists & Illustrators

 STILL LIFE WORKSHOP

2 3

be placed. I held off painting the

darkest shadows at this stage, as
I knew I could apply these with the
dark purples I was intending to use
when painting the plums.

4 I now began the process of

painting the plums, which I
considered the next most important
fruit – and colour – in the picture.
I achieved the deep purple using a
mixture of Alizarin Crimson with a
little Ultramarine, adding more of the
latter where I needed the shadows
to be a little darker. The highlights on
the plums were made with a beautiful
mixture of Cobalt Blue, Alizarin
Crimson and a dash of Titanium
White. To make the dark shadow
colours around the plums, I used a
50/50 mix of Alizarin Crimson and
Ultramarine. I then took this colour
up into the gaps around the oranges,
adding a little Scarlet Lake where
required to make the mixture
a little warmer in temperature.

5 Next I wanted to establish the

apples and pears. The apples at
the top were very lightly suggested
with a rosy mixture of Scarlet Lake,
Yellow Lake and a bit of Titanium
White. To make the colour of the
pears, I started with Yellow Ochre 4
(my lighter primary), adding a bit of

Artists & Illustrators 77

STILL LIFE WORKSHOP

5 6

the cooler Cobalt Blue and just a little

Yellow Lake too. To make its shadow,
I mixed a bit of the purple colour that
I used for the plums into the green
pear mix. The highlights on the pears
were simply made by adding more
Titanium White to the green mixture.

6 I finished blocking in by
establishing the wooden bowl
and its shadow, using a mix of
Titanium White with a little Yellow
Ochre. I also tinted some of this
mixture slightly green (using the
pears mix) and lay this near the red of
the plums; having a complementary
colour nearby helped the reds look
redder. The dark background was
made with Alizarin Crimson and
Ultramarine, plus a little Yellow Ochre
to push the colour towards brown.

7 I finished off the painting by

finding the areas that needed
fine tuning, softening, adjusting and
restating. I restated the intense
oranges that had been lost a little
during the block-in. I also suggested
the subtle, reflected light, as you can
see where I’ve used pale blues and
purples both on the orange fruit and
in the shadows they cast. I did all this
with a soft size 2 brush which allowed
me to achieve melty brushstrokes. 7
www.peterkeegan.com

78 Artists & Illustrators

THE CLASSIFIED DIRECTORY

ARTISTS MATERIALS

D O N ' T F O R G E T Y O U R 



THIS CHRISTMAS


ZZZURVHPDU\DQGFRFRP


ART FOR SALE

Jacqueline
Midgen

PEGASUS ART
Artist
Commissions
and products
Finest Art Materials since 2005
www.pegasusart.co.uk 07854 734 290
Workshops - Art Classes- Canvas Making - Stretcher bars jackiemidgen@hotmail.co.uk
01453 886560 info@pegasusart.co.uk
www.jacquelinemidgen.wordpress.com
Visits by appointment only at
ARTISTS WANTED Studio 126, Wimbledon Art Studios or Couture Collective, 659 Fulham Road

RANDOLPH KELLMAN ART TUITION FRAMING

CONTEMPORARY ARTIST
Visit my online galleries
www.rakeart.co.uk
JONATHAN NEWEY
Pearmans Glade, Be Your Own Framer
Shinfield Road, Start-up In Framing is a complete
www.artists.de set of expert online tutorials
Reading RG2 9BE
Telephone 020 8889 4714 for beginners.
T: 0118 931 4155
Mobile 07979842456
E: jnewey210@gmail.com Equipment and Materials are part
of the package + ongoing support.
W: www.jonathannewey.com
Distance: 75 Miles Visit:
To advertise in Artists & Illustrators Media: Watercolour, Acrylic, Pencils startupinframing.teachable.com
Online live workshops and demos Call: Mark Higgins
please call David on 020 7349 3702 07545 089886
running on Zoom

To advertise here please call 020 7349 3702

COURSES
Watershed Studio
Celebrating our 20th year!
• Busy and varied programme of art and
ĐƌĂŌǁŽƌŬƐŚŽƉƐ
ͻKƵƌƐƉĂĐŝŽƵƐƌƵƌĂůƐƚƵĚŝŽǁŝƚŚĞdžƚĞŶƐŝǀĞ
grounds, pantry and undercover area are
perfect for social distancing
ͻ&ĂďƵůŽƵƐƚƵƚŽƌƐ͕ĞdžĐŝƟŶŐĐŽƵƌƐĞƐ͕
great food!
ͻWĂŝŶƟŶŐĂŶĚĐƌĞĂƟŶŐŝƐLJŽƵƌĞƐĐĂƉĞ
Call Allison for details:
01255 820466
Email: allison@watershedstudio.co.uk
www.watershedstudio.co.uk
St Clere’s Hall Lane, St Osyth,
Clacton on Sea, Essex, CO16 8RX
FOR SALE
Major George A2 etching press
Est. 15 years
£899 (no VAT) +
FREE blanket set worth £130
peter@majorgeorge.co.uk
www.majorgeorge.co.uk
HOLIDAYS
UK & BEYOND
THE ART SHOP DIRECTORY
DEVON
SOUTH WEST ART
Old Fore Street, Sidmouth EX10 8LP
Tel: 01395 514717
info@southwestartmaterials.co.uk
www.southwestartmaterials.co.uk
Run by artists, for artists –
extensive range of quality fine art
materials & professional bespoke
picture framing service. Friendly &
knowledgeable service. Delivery or
store collection of orders online or
over the phone.
GLOUCESTERSHIRE
PEGASUS ART – suppliers of
the finest art materials
Griffin Mill, London Road
Thrupp, Stroud, Glos GL5 2AZ
Tel: 01453 886560
info@pegasusart.co.uk
www.pegasusart.co.uk
GWENT
THE ART SHOP & CHAPEL
8 Cross Street
Abergavenny NP7 5EH
Tel: 01873852690
admin@artshopandchapel.co.uk
www.artshopandchapel.co.uk
Fine art supplies, exhibitions,
workshops, talks, concerts and
creative food from our Chapel
kitchen.
LONDON
JACKSON’S ART
The UK’s leading supplier
of fine art materials
1 Farleigh Place London, N16 7SX
Tel:+44 (0)207 254 0077
sales@jacksonsart.co.uk
www.jacksonsart.com
LONDON
INTAGLIO PRINTMAKER
The Specialist Supplier
of Fine Art Printmaking Products
9 Playhouse Court,
62 Southwark Bridge Road,
London SE1 0AT
Tel: 020 7928 2633
Fax: 020 7928 2711
info@intaglioprintmaker.com
www.intaglioprintmaker.com
Wide range of tools available to try
in our store (near Tate Modern).
SOMERSET/ DORSET
ART4ALL & ARTYCRAFTY
5 Market Square
Crewkerne TA18 7LE
Tel: 01460 78574
www.art4allframing.co.uk
www.artycraftysupplies.co.uk
Bespoke framers, art, craft, hobby
supplies. Open 6 days a week
EASY PARKING.
SUFFOLK / NORFOLK
GOSLINGS
50 Station Road, Sudbury,
Suffolk C010 2SP
Tel: 01787 371932
A family run business specialising in
Bespoke Picture Framing and Artist
Materials
NORTH YORKSHIRE
THE ARTIST’S PALETTE
1 Millgate, Thirsk,
North Yorkshire YO7 1AA
Tel: (01845) 574457
Independent artist-managed
stockists of quality materials by
Winsor & Newton, Sennelier etc;
Crafts, kits and models.

Ǖ Dedicated to sourcing and

providing the finest art materials
in the world, catering to the unique
WEST MIDLANDS
HARRIS MOORE
Fine Art Supplies
needs of every artist.
ǔǔǕǕ Ǖǔ,
,

 Unit 12 Minerva Works
ǔ 
 ATLANTIS ART MATERIALS 158 Fazeley Street
– UK’s largest and one of Birmingham B5 5RT
Europes biggest art stores Tel: 0121 633 3687
ǗǗ
H
 Ǘ
ǘ Unit 1 - Main Shop sales@harrismoorecanvases.co.uk
Unit 6 - Office & Warehouse www.harrismoore.co.uk
ǕǕ02ǔ
Ǖ*ǕǓ#Ǖ Unit 7 - Paper Department Specialists in Artists Canvases and
ǔǕǔ Ǖǔ
ǔ Bayford Street Industrial Centre Professional Painting Supplies.
Ǖ 



Bayford Street, London E8 3SE
ǔǔǕǔ
Ǖ
ǕǕ
Ǖǔ

Ǖǔ
ǔǔ

Tel: 020 7377 8855

www.atlantisart.co.uk
FRAMING DIRECTORY

ŔǕǔǔǕ
Ǔ
Car parking, open 7 days. FELLOWS FRAMING
 ǔǕ
[
Ǔ Make your artwork sing
ƺʼnʼnŘŅřōōŎŊʼnňŌōŇō
STUART R. STEVENSON Brook Cottage, Ayleford, Soudley,
Artists & Gilding Materials Cinderford GL14 2UF
68 Clerkenwell Road Tel: 07800 666094
PRINTING London EC1M 5QA www.fellowsframing.co.uk
Tel: 020 7253 1693 FATG Member & Guild Commended
www.eyeswidedigital.com info@stuartstevenson.co.uk Framer. Specialising in box,
• Giclée Fine Art Printing
• Greeting Cards
Making Art Work www.stuartstevenson.co.uk conservation & museum framing.
The difference is in the detail.
G Fine Art Giclée Printing Service
LONDON GRAPHIC CENTRE
• Canvas Prints G Hahnemühle Papers & Canvas 16-18 Shelton Street THE PICTURE GALLERY
• High Quality Reproductions G Photography and Scanning Service Covent Garden WC2H 9JL Unit 17 Kingfisher Business Park
G Greeting Cards and Postcards Tel: 020 7759 4500 Bedford MK42 0NY
Produced From Original G www.londongraphics.co.uk www.picturegalleryuk.com
Professional and Friendly Advice
Artwork Or Digital Files G No Set Up Fees & Free Art Guides The largest Art & Graphic supplies Picture Frames and Mounts Made
01306 875 150 retailer in Central London. to Measure. Printing and Framing
Call us on 01656 652447
info@eyeswidedigital.com www.geminidigitalcolour.co.uk
Thousands of products across of artwork, photos etc. Canvas and
hundreds of brands at great prices! art board frames

To advertise here please call 020 7349 3702

 I hope Cos Colours
shows there are more
creative ways to deal
with your waste

I studied product design at the University of Sussex.

The course involved a placement year at [clean energy
provider] ENGIE UK. I started to think about how I could
combine my passion for sustainability with my love of
art and design.

Cos Colours began as a university project. While

researching, I realised €180 million worth of make-up
was going to waste across Europe. My solution was to
find a way to upcycle waste cosmetics into paint.

This project is not here to guilt anybody. I hope

Cos Colours shows there are always better, more

Ameenah
MEET THE ARTIST sustainable, and more creative ways to deal with
your waste.

My zero-waste paints add a unique shimmer. They’re

designed to be used with watercolours, but I combine
them with biro or fineliners, as I love mark making and
creating really intricate, detailed pieces of art.

BEGUM
The Cos Colours founder on how she turned her
Bic and Paper Mate are my go-to pen brands.
They’re not perfect, but they feel smooth on the paper
and are easy to find.

Scribbles and mistakes make my work feel more

upcycled paint project into a growing business energetic and exciting. I love the challenge of turning
Interview: REBECCA BRADBURY something irreversible into something beautiful.

If you’re interested in making pigments, Jason

Logan’s Make Ink is fab. Jason is founder of the
Toronto Ink Company and the book is about how to
forage for and make your own natural inks.

I now have more time to paint. Not only has securing

investment at the Deutsche Bank Awards for Creative
Entrepreneurs given me more credibility, but it has also
enabled me to devote more time to Cos Colours and
develop my career as an artist.

My artistic role models are those who have fun with

their work. I’m currently inspired by the colours Shaz
Serene uses in her botanical artworks, as well as the
simple aesthetic of Sharone Stevens’s watercolours.

When I’ve got a creative block, I turn to The

Watercolour Ideas Book by Joanna Goss. It allows you
to have fun with colour while forgetting about trying to
make a perfect piece.
www.coswatercolours.com

82 Artists & Illustrators

Atlantis Art, Unit 1, Bayford Street Industrial Centre, Bayford Street, London E8 3SE
Tel: 0207 377 8855 | www.atlantisart.co.uk | office@atlantisart.co.uk
 ®
L U M I N A N C E 6 9 0 1

Specifically desied with colour image amateurs and professionals in mind, the Luminance 6901® pencils reaffirm Caran d’Ache’s
quali standards. Their smooth texre and exceponal covering power make them the ideal means of achieving colour overlays
and adaons. With Luminance 6901®, Caran d’Ache has produced the most lighast colour pencil ever desied.
They are available in collecons of 12, 20, 40, 76, 100 and 20 Por ait colours.
Luminance colour pencils are also available individually.
Caran d’Ache Swiss Made Excellence since 1915

carandache.com

For addional informaon and stockists please contact: JAKAR INTERNATIONAL LTD 410 Centennial Avenue, Centennial Park, Els ee WD6 3TJ Tel: 020 8381 7000 Email: info@jakar.co.uk