Artists & Illustrators 2022. 4 April

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Artists &
Rob Adams, Thames
EDITORIAL at Hammersmith,
Editor Niki Browes
2016, oil, 15x25cm
Art Editor Stuart Selner
Assistant Editor Rebecca Bradbury Plein air. Private
Contributors Martha Alexander, Laura
collection. Page 70
Boswell, Colin Brown, Adrian Mourby,
Lancelot Richardson, Laura Ryan,
Laura Smith, Jake Spicer
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Artists &
FOR ARTISTS OF ALL ABILITIES
TIPS • TECHNIQUES • IDEAS • INSPIR ATION April 2022 £4.99
LIFE
The iconic DRAWING
Start of our
art of inspiring new
series
Constable
His six foot
paintings
Donald
Robertson
The
Masters
Their tips on
WRITE TO US!
Meet fashion’s painting
favourite practises
artist
Cover
artist
Sarah
Maycock
Confidence
tricks
Dealing with
tricky clients
Send us your latest paintings, tips or artistic discoveries and you could win a £50 voucher:
How to: Paint lively acrylics O Draw flowers O Master the art of framing
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COVER ARTWORK SARAH MAYCOCK Artists & Illustrators 3

Contents 34
Esteé Lauder's
creative director
46 shows us his
work
14
I often start with
a sketch that helps
me see positive and
negative spaces,
rhythms and motifs...
– STEPHEN QUILLER, PAGE 71
REGULARS
5 Sketchbook
Quick tips, ideas and inspiration
10 Exhibitions 20 How I Paint 52 In-Depth
The UK's top art shows in April Illustrator Sarah Maycock on how Jake Spicer begins a new five-part
13 The Working Artist she overcomes painters block series on life drawing with pastel
With our columnist Laura Boswell 28 Anniversar y 58 Drawing Workshop
19 Prize Draw Constable's 200-year-old, six-foot Laura Smith looks at how flowers
Win a year's worth of art tuition canvases get put in the spotlight were painted in four masterpieces
26 We Present... 34 The Big Inter view 62 Demo
New work from Portfolio Plus A chat with fashion's favourite Loosen up with this step-by-step
79 Letters illustrator, Donald Robertson guide to painting an expressive
Win a £50 Atlantis Art voucher 46 Art Histor y city scene with artist Colin Brown
82 Meet the Artist How artists around the world have 68 Technique
With illustrator Sophie Ward been united by Surrealism Learn how to paint in gouache
with these demos from Lancelot J a ke S
INSPIRATION TECHNIQUES Richardson and Laura Ryan s h ow picer
sh
14 In The Studio 40 Extract 72 Tips
g e t t o ow t o
g
w it h p rip s
Figurative artist Amy Dury invites Printmaker Laura Boswell shares Four masters of different mediums
us into her home studio in Hove a chapter from her new book share their approach to painting astel
–page 5
4 Artists & Illustrators 2
ED ITED BY REBECC A BR AD BURY
EXPERT TIP
In his recent street paintings of
some of London’s most legendary
music venues, David Edmond
showcases how the close cropping
of a building can emphasise its
abstract and geometric qualities.
Notice, too, how the front-on view
of the façade creates a startling,
still presence, and it’s no surprise
to discover these venues were
captured during the lockdown
months of the pandemic. The
series will go on show from
20 to 24 April at the rescheduled
London Art Fair, forming part of
a curated section that explores
the theme of music and its part
in contemporary visual arts.
londonartfair.co.uk
Artists & Illustrators 5

MINDFUL CREATIONS
Watercolour ar tist TE RRY
RU NYAN shares f ive ways
to harnes s the power of
the present while painting
Pay attention
As you paint, take time to focus in on the colour, the
brush swirling in the water, mixing the paint, the feel of the
paper, the touch of the brush, and the stroke of colour.
Ideas from the past and future will bubble up, and we can
mindfully see them for what they are as we continue
paying attention to what is present.
Be curious
Moments of curiosity are ignition points where
creativity pokes through our often automatic thinking. Pay
attention to these moments and follow them as they arise.
They put you into the unknown, the open learning mode,
where creativity thrives.
Keep inspired
Noticing moments of inspiration, no matter how
quiet and nuanced, will make all the difference to your
creative output. These moments are bursting full of
possibility and ripe for creating something new. Learn to
stop scrolling, to move to your paints and paper, and jump
in. This is when the magic happens.
Show up
We often know we want to create something but lack
the inspiration. Maybe nothing is coming to mind to create,
or everything that comes to mind feels uninteresting.
During these times showing up anyway is the magical
doorway and invitation for creativity to join you.
Banish negativity
I almost always go through a ‘hate it’ phase, when
my inner critic gets very loud protesting things are not
going right. Because I now know what these thoughts are,
I let them move along, often with a chuckle. They pass by
more quickly if we recognize them, do not engage, and
continue with our process.
This is an edited extract from Terry’s

new book, Painting Happiness:
Creativity with Watercolours, published
by Leaping Hare Press. quartoknows.com

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5 APRIL
Wells Art Contemporary (WAC)
is an open competition for
innovative visual arts. Paintings,
drawings and original prints must
be entered before today for the
2022 exhibition.
wac.artopps.co.uk
6 APRIL
XXXXXXXXX
Channel 4 TV show
Grayson’s Art Club is now taking
art submissions for its third
season. The final deadline
closes at 5pm on this day.
graysonsartclub.com
30 APRIL
The New English Art Club’s
annual exhibition is open to
members and non-members
THINGS WE LOVE... alike. Just be sure to enter by this

deadline for a chance to win over
It’s been nearly two years since Tom Croft’s Portraits £11,000 in prizes.
for NHS Heroes initiative took social media by storm. mallgalleries.org.uk
But filling the gap is the work of Gilly McLaren, an
artist whose new series of work, Portraits and Tales
from a Hospital Bed, honours the NHS workers
behind her recovery from stage three ovarian
cancer at just 33 years old. gillyartist.com
WHY N OT TRY…
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M OV I E O F T H E M O N T H
The Duke Our new look website is now live!
Swap your paintbrushes for popcorn with this new With a fresher, more
film based on the true story of Kempton Bunton, a contemporary feel, it remains
60-year-old taxi driver, who stole Goya’s portrait of one of the biggest resources for
artists on the internet, packed
ILLUSTRATION: BETT NORRIS
the Duke of Wellington from London’s National

Gallery in 1961. Starring Jim Broadbent and Helen with competitions, interviews
Mirren, the charming comedy is out in cinemas and practical advice.
© PATHE UK
from 25 February. artistsandillustrators.co.uk

Exhibitions
APRIL’S BEST ART SHOWS
KUNICHIKA: JAPANESE PRINTS

15 April to 4 September
When Vincent van Gogh died in 1890 among
his fitfully few possessions were two prints by
Toyohara Kunichika. The hand-printed works
of this important 19th-century Japanese
printmaker, however, are only just coming to
mainstream attention in the UK.
Giving Kunichika’s profile an even bigger
boost is this 50-print-strong display. Best
known for his depictions of the Kabuki
theatre, expect behind-the-scenes dressing
room views, dramatic moments on stage and
close-up portraits of actors.
Lady Lever Art Gallery, Liverpool.
liverpoolmuseums.org.uk
IMAGE COURTESY OF THE BRITISH COUNCIL COLLECTION. © THE LUCIAN FREUD ARCHIVE/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES. PHOTO: © THE BRITISH COUNCIL
© NATIONAL MUSEUMS LIVERPOOL, IMAGE COURTESY OF FRANK MILNER
POSTWAR MODERN: NEW ART works being brought together at the Barbican
IN BRITAIN, 1945-1965 to provide a timely reassessment of the era
3 March to 26 June through a post-Covid lens.
As the world continues to face the challenges As well as paintings from big names,
of the pandemic, it calls to mind other including Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and
moments in history where societies have David Hockney, there will also be little-known
struggled to overcome crisis. The aftermath of works from more marginalised artists.
World War Two is one such example, with 200 Barbican, London. barbican.org.uk
10 Artists & Illustrators

Dates may
change due to
ongoing Covid-19
restrictions
Check gallery
websites before
you travel
IMAGE COURTESY OF THE KATRIN BELLINGER COLLECTION. PHOTO: MATTHEW HOLLOW

ABSENT ARTISTS
2 April to 29 August
There’s something so curiously fascinating about getting
a sneak peek inside another artist’s studio, particularly if
WALTER SICKERT impacted his radical approach to painting it’s an artist you love and admire. That’s why we can’t
28 April to 18 September is this major retrospective at Tate Britain. get enough of the concept behind this new exhibition,
From painting performers in music halls to Works on show such as Brighton Pierrots, which explores artists’ studios in works where the artist
nude figures staged in intimate domestic The Front at Hove and Pimlico will also themselves are conspicuously absent.
settings, Walter Sickert had a fascination for reveal how the artist evolved over his artistic Expect paintings, prints, drawings and photographs
all things theatrical. It’s no surprise then career and how, much like the man himself, from the likes of David Hockney, Michael Craig-Martin,
that the 20th-century artist was a former his art was complex, creative and colourful. William Hogarth, and James Ensor.
actor and exploring how this background Tate Britain, London. tate.org.uk Charleston, Firle, East Sussex. charleston.org.uk
© TATE
CANALETTO’S VENICE
REVISITED
1 April to 25 September
With its glittering canals, shiny marble
palaces and beautiful gothic piazzas,
Venice has, unsurprisingly, been
immortalised by many an iconic artist
during its 800-year existence. Arguably
the most famous depictions of the
Italian city, however, are courtesy of
18th-century painter Canaletto.
Commissioned to paint 24 Venetian
views in the 1730s, the Italian master’s
FROM THE WOBURN ABBEY COLLECTION
cityscapes will go on show alongside

contemporary works of the destination,
drawing attention to the damaging
impact of mass tourism on the city.
National Maritime Museum,
XXXXXXXX
London. rmg.co.uk

COLUMNIST
The working Problem solving is core to being

human, as is leaping to share the
solution. It’s only natural, but there is
ABOVE Laura
Boswell, Sun on
the Stacks, linocut,
artist
a big difference between sharing an 51x34cm
idea as a question and telling people
what to do. I have a couple of stock
responses for the latter approach.
“Talk me through how that would
work?” is a useful one. It’s respectful
and tends to divide the sheep from
Everyone has an opinion on your art and learning the goats. In my experience the less
how to accept them gracefully is useful, says our useful the advice, the flimsier the
columnist LAURA BOSWELL explanation and many give up almost
immediately. Those that persevere
U
nsolicited advice: so easy to penguins to my prints to boost sales. have given their idea more thought
give and, mostly, hard to take. Sometimes the advice has a germ of and I follow up with, “Have you run
I’m sure you will have sense. While I don’t love the idea of tests?” A fair question as I always run
experienced the generosity of others abandoning my handheld tools for tests myself. If the advisor hasn’t, ask
keen to share their brilliant ideas for power tools – often I’m informed this them to let you know how they get on
your artistic improvement, regardless would be a great improvement – there when they do. Just occasionally they
of your desire to be informed or their is potential for experiment as an will, which is always impressive and
understanding of your craft and add-on to my cutting. sometimes rewarding.
experience. To quote my neighbour, Then there are those who fear
“I don’t want to give you advice, but…” for your wellbeing, your use of time or
Here are a couple of ways to field your physical safety. Sometimes they
unsolicited advice with grace. will be a genuine expert with a
I’m often told what I should do People genuinely valuable point, but usually this says
when I’m at shows. Even if you don’t believe they are more about the advice giver’s
exhibit, I’m willing to bet you have concerns than it does you. I find a
someone in your life who thinks they
helping… Like the smile and a simple “Thank you for
know better than you about how you woman who urged your concern” is a neat and kind way
should be making your artwork. The me to add penguins of acknowledging their comment
important thing to remember is that while avoiding the need for further
people believe they are helping. to my prints discussion. Acting with grace avoids
Sometimes they are entirely wrong, any potential awkwardness.
like the woman who urged me to add lauraboswell.co.uk

HOW I WORK | IN THE STUDIO
Thirst, oil on
canvas, 60x60cm
ALUN CALLENDER
IN THE STUDIO
Dury
The former printmaker talks to REBECCA BRADBURY about
her vintage references, power balances and how a cancer
diagnosis led to her burgeoning portrait painting career
P
earl-wearing, chain-smoking perceptions are the unrendered facial
grandmas, boys in white cotton features, unfinished bodily forms and loose
socks buckled into T-bar shoes, and flourishes of abstraction.
bouffant-haired beauty queens Abandoning the rules of realism in certain
armed with bouquets: the haunting subjects sections, the work of the Hove-based artist
of Amy Dury’s figurative works fizzle with awakens within us a longing for a time and
nostalgia for days gone by. place that cannot quite be grasped in its
The retro colour schemes help, too. From entirety. It leads us to question the reliability
the bold shades of the sixties – think grape, of our memories. Many of us can recall a
olive green, plum and garnet – to the particular moment from our childhood, for
sunshine hues of the seventies, not-so-long- example. Yet on closer inspection, many of
ago eras are called to mind with an ever- these ingrained images will have been
changing palette. Yet fragmenting our formed by exposure to a certain

|

Holding Out for
a Hero, oil on
canvas, 80x60cm
Stay All Day If
It’s a constant battle

You Want To,
oil on canvas,
to know when to stop 120x100cm
a painting... I think
it’s a lifelong journey
photograph, probably taken by a parent.

Darker themes are also at play in the artist’s
figurative work, especially the family scenes.
Group photos are often reserved for those
more special occasions, but the unclear
expressions on the faces of Amy’s subjects
hint at potentially harmful family dynamics
brewing beneath the surface.
“I do think about relationships a lot and
how sometimes people are maybe not as
happy as the photograph might suggest,” the
artist reveals. “People usually take
photographs when there is something fun or
nice happening, but as we know from real
life, that’s not the whole story. I suppose

children and working as an art teacher, but

in 2017 could no longer resist the urge to
pick up her paintbrushes again.
“I’ve still got the first three paintings I did,”
she says of her rediscovery of oil paints. “I
just found some horrible old canvases in a
charity shop and painted over them. It was
very exciting to suddenly see my ideas
coming out onto the canvas and, really, they
weren’t as bad as I thought they’d be… I
suddenly realised I wanted to do lots more.”
While this trio of paintings hang upstairs in
Amy’s house, her studio takes up what was
formerly the dining room. It’s a paint-
spattered haven; a freeing space where the
artist is at her most fruitful during the early
hours. Being at home, it’s also possible to
sneak in for limited snatches of time later in
the day, something she missed while hiring
a larger space at Brighton’s Phoenix Studios
for a few months in early 2020. As she
continues to teach at a local sixth form
college for four days a week, time is not
something the artist has an abundance of
and painting from home has proved to be
the most productive.
Often the planning stages are the most
time-consuming part of Amy’s process. A
composition might need to be manipulated,
as in Personality, Character, Intelligence,
where hands (modelled by Amy’s daughter)
were added to connect the figures and
enhance the narrative element. And when
the painting process begins, the less time
taken to reach completion, the more
successful the finished product usually is.
“If I’m lucky it will go very quickly,” she says
of laying down the paint. “My favourite
[paintings] are often ones I will do in a day
Personaility, and feel confident about when to stop. It
Intelligence, doesn’t always go quickly though; some I
Character, oil have to work on for quite a long time.”
on canvas, This is often the most enjoyable part for
150x100cm Amy, particularly the more instinctive,
abstract passages. “I don’t want to replicate
a photograph,” she explains. “Therefore, it’s
I allude to more difficult things happening in “Because of their age,” she adds, “the important to show the painterliness of the
the background. Quite often it’s to do with photos and videos will often be bleached painting and have fun with the mark-making.
the power balance, between parents and out or discoloured in some way, which gives My biggest influence is probably Degas.
children, or men and women.” you an idea for the colours and techniques When you look at his work, he’ll have quite a
Looking through this series is like diving to use in the painting. So, the actual quality lot of detailed areas and then some really
into an old family album, and the references of the [reference] is inspiring as well as the sketchy unfinished areas in there as well.
Amy uses are in fact vintage photos from the subject matter.” And I find that combination of realism and
1960s and ‘70s, found while rifling through Before seeking out her subjects in the expressive painting really exciting.”
charity or antique shops or researching Brighton University library, Amy referred to It’s a mix the artist also brings to her
social documentary photographers. old family shots of her mum, brother, and portrait paintings, as she replaces the
Another method is to sift through old husband. This happened to be the artist’s mystery of her figurative scenes with the
amateur video footage. “Most libraries first foray into oil painting for 25 years, more direct presence of a face captured
around the country have archives of home having studied printmaking at the Glasgow with lifelike luminosity. Remaining, however,
movies,” she explains. “I look at them and School of Art. She had kept up the are big buttery brushstrokes bringing out
freeze frame stills to use.” screenprinting, in-between having two unexpected flesh tones, uncovered areas

of the support and thick drips of oil paint left

unattended as they run down the canvas.
The result is portraiture that pulsates with
energy, but this magic can sometimes prove
elusive. “It’s very easy to start overworking
things and then suddenly everything looks
too tight or too detailed,” she admits.
“There’s a skill to being economical with your
brushstrokes and to work in a more
expressive way, which I’m striving for now
and it’s not easy. It’s a constant battle to
know when to stop and when to add or
withhold detail. I think it’s a lifelong journey.”
Like any good artist, these inward
struggles are absent from the final piece.
What is particularly impressive, however,
is Amy has been painting portraits for just
three years, only turning to it seriously in
September 2020 after being diagnosed with
breast cancer. Taking eight months off work
to recover, she was able to spend more time
on her art, racking up credentials, such as
leading a livestream portrait painting
session of Cornelia Parker for Tate’s
Instagram and appearing as a contestant in
2021’s Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year.
“The whole experience led me to work
harder and finally do the painting I wanted to
do,” she reflects, having been clear of cancer
ABOVE We Only since January 2021. “It was a weird blessing
Leave a Mark, in disguise. All the great things that
oil on canvas, happened for my art that year arose from
120x100cm that experience.”
RIGHT Self What Amy has achieved in such a short
Defence, charcoal space of time is remarkable, and there is
and acrylic on more to look out for. Her portfolio also
paper, 80x60cm features a series of drawings, including
Self Defence, which was selected for last
year’s Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize
exhibition. New work will also go on show
at the Cameron Contemporary in Hove this
spring, as she continues her exploration of
power and identity, as well as gesture and
atmosphere, and uniforms and bodies
– Holding Out for a Hero being one such
example of the paintings to be included.
This title is, of course, taken from Bonnie
Tyler’s iconic eighties power ballad, with
song lyrics often playing a part in Amy’s
naming process. “A title can definitely
influence how an artwork is viewed,” she
says. “People can choose to look at my titles
or totally ignore them. It doesn’t really
matter, but I hope it gives another layer of
access into what I think is happening in the
picture.”Indeed, just like life itself, Amy’s
work manages to manifest a multitude of
different meanings.
Amy’s new work will go on show at the
Cameron Contemporary in Hove from
4 to 20 March. amydury.com

P R I Z E D R AW
P R I Z E D R AW
THE PRIZE
Four winners, chosen at random, will each
win a 12-month Bonny Snowdon Academy
Ignite Membership, worth £250.
HOW TO ENTER
Enter by noon on 15 April 2022, either at
artistsandillustrators.co.uk/competitions
or by filling in the form below and posting
it to: Bonny Snowdon Academy Prize Draw,
£1,000 WORTH Artists & Illustrators, Chelsea Magazine

Company Ltd., 2 Jubilee Place,
London SW3 3TQ
OF ANIMAL ART TERMS AND CONDITIONS
TUITION
Prize is non-transferable. No cash
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coloured pencil art can flourish with the
help of the BONNY SNOWDON ACADEMY
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ACADEMY PRIZE
F
rom achieving the utmost precision to theory and drawing white fur, are tackled in
creating pigment-packed layers, almost the monthly Skills Club while every Tuesday
anything is possible with coloured afternoon pupils can login to the Art Club
DRAW
pencils. And showing students exactly what session to draw along with Bonny in real time Name:
the medium is capable of is award-winning while meeting other community members.
animal artist and in-demand tutor Bonny Two new tutorials are released every Address:
Snowdon, who we have teamed up with for month, too, and Ignite members also have
this issue’s unmissable prize draw. access to the academy’s entire back
As part of the Bonny Snowdon Academy, catalogue of videos and step-by-step guides.
the coloured pencil pro runs a regular roster With subjects ranging from dogs and cats to
of online tutorials, sketch clubs and live Q&A hares, horses, reptiles and birds, pupils will
sessions. Access to all these animal-drawing adore the resources on offer as they learn to
activities – and more – are available as part realistically render animals, big and small.
of the art school’s Ignite membership (worth Not only does Bonny help students improve
£250 a year), which we are offering four their drawing skills, but she also strives to Postcode:
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Email:
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All subscribers to the Ignite community are coach. By channelling positivity, the art tutor Telephone:
well-catered for, with Bonny’s signature has created a safe space which encourages
The closing date for entries is noon on 15 April 2022.
foundation course perfect for beginners learning and development among a Please tick if you are happy to receive relevant information from
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ABOVE Napoleon
Tasting Notes,
for client Ron
Abuelo Rum

H O W I W O R K | H O W I PA I N T
H O W I PA I N T
PICTURE CREDIT: Chiron Cole

Maycock
S
The illustrator arah Maycock comes from a family
and author tells of painters. Her grandfather was the
NIKI BROWES Principle at Eastbourne Art College
about working from 1953-1980 whilst her grandmother
as a full-time taught painting and life drawing. Her
professional mother also went to art college and worked
creative and in the Print Department at Sotheby’s. A
gives her tips on Kingston University graduate, she was soon
how to overcome snapped up by Handsome Frank, a UK-
imposter syndrome, based illustration and animation agency.
overcoming Career highlights to date, include her
painters block and painting of Liberty London for their luxury
on the job skills advent calendar, her whale paintings for the
she’s learnt along Natural History Museums’ Beneath the
the way Surface exhibition, and her portraits of
Guerlain’s five perfumers over their
190-year history. She has just published her
second book, Love Is… for Big Picture Press.
Do you look for clients or do they contact

you?
Almost all my work comes through
Handsome Frank. I really enjoy working with
them so if anyone contacts me directly, I
bring them in as it makes the whole process
much smoother. I’d rather concentrate on
making the work than negotiating contracts.
Is it better to have a studio at home or

away?
If you’d asked me a year ago, I would’ve said
having a studio away from home is much
better. However we’ve just moved house and
I now have room for a studio at home. I really
loved my old studio, and I was very sad to
leave, but I think working from home again
will suit me better for the next stage in my

RIGHT Orangutan RIGHT Map of

Caring, from Paris, for client
Sarah’s new book, Madame Figaro
Love Is...
RIGHT Panda
Protection, from
Sarah’s new book,
Love is...
life and give me maximum flexibility. I would sometimes. I’m not sure how to describe the a temporary exhibition about whales,
recommend to anyone that they try both if feeling other than ‘the ick’ when I’m trying dolphins and porpoises. It was a
they can. Having some sort of separation is something over and over and it’s not working monumental amount of work but seeing my
important, which is harder when you’re for whatever reason. Sometimes it’s the work on posters on the tube, banners on the
working from home. I’ve put my studio right wrong material, the wrong reference or the outside of the museum and used throughout
at the top of the new house, so I still have wrong paper. It’s horrible when I have a the exhibition was so thrilling. Everything I
some sort of commute, albeit only up a few deadline looming, but in a way, it forces me made had to go through different layers of
flights of stairs. to battle with it and find a solution. approval. I worked with a specialist who
could give me guidance so the illustrations
You have said you suffer from imposter What’s been a favoured project? were accurate. Then the designers needed it
syndrome, which I’m sure many can relate to. Creating a whole exhibition’s worth of work to work with their concept for the space, and
I’m sure everyone in the arts suffers with for The Natural History Museum in London the museum also had a tick list. I’d never
this on some level. No matter how many was an absolute dream. To accompany the worked on a job of this scale and it felt like a
times I work on similar jobs, I always think unveiling of ‘Hope’ the blue whale skeleton in big responsibility. I had to zoom out on that
“but what if I can’t do it again?” and this Hintze Hall in July 2017, the museum opened element as it felt overwhelming at times and
almost paralyses me. I find that often just focus on making the work.
the things that clients like about
another piece of work were How do you deal with clients critiquing
spontaneous and unplanned and I
can’t work out how to replicate a similar
Seeing my work on the your work?
For me, illustration can be an odd mix
feeling. I try and remember that, at one tube and on the outside of of being very solitary and self-
point, that piece of work of mine that sufficient but also having to present
the client references was the first time I the museum was thrilling yourself and communicate with people
tried something. So, it’s a balance of in completely different worlds. Often, a
trying to do what you’ve done before, lot of people are relying on you which
but also allowing yourself to do can be daunting especially at the start
something a bit different if you think it of a job. I find it easier now to explain
might serve the subject matter better. to clients what I need from them in
terms of clear briefing and reference
Do you ever get painters block? material. My agents are so helpful with
Definitely. I do a lot of blind drawings this and are very good at interpreting
with a single pen or crayon of things my problems. Sometimes I receive
around me to help overcome it. A plant, feedback that upsets me or makes me
a pot of brushes, nothing special. It just frustrated or angry. I have a little moan
helps break the inertia. I also find and then try to be logical and work out
giving yourself boundaries like only how to move forward and try
working in a single colour, or only something else. My advice is to not
working in a square can help. I can get take it personally (easier said than
bamboozled by too many possibilities done, I know) and never be afraid to

clarify something with the client before
leaping in.
What mediums do you work in?

In one way, I’ve developed a core kit of black
Indian ink, watercolour ink, watercolours and
masking fluid with dip pens and brushes. In
another, I’m not extremely choosy, I like to
mix things. A bit of pencil, some scratching
with a scalpel, some wax resist with an old
candle. A client once asked me to make the
drawing quality “less good” so my solution
was to use the disposable wooden cutlery I’d
used for my lunch to draw with. I also really
love using decorating brushes that are odd
shapes with wonky bristles; they create nice
drips and surprises.
What skills have you learnt along the way?

It can be difficult to create something out of
nothing and put it forward for criticism over
and over again. It’s most certainly a skill to
not let that grind you down. My university
was pretty good at preparing us for what it’s
like working in the real world but a lot of that
side of things is learnt on the job. Liaising
with clients and presenting ideas in different
ways differs a little bit from job to job. I’ve
also learnt to trust my gut: when a brief is
put forward to me, I either feel excited, or a
horrid knot of dread tangles inside my
stomach. Guess which jobs I turn down!
Do you get lost in your work?

This often happens. With jobs, it tends to
feel like that about three quarters of the way
through the project, when I’m comfy with it
and can see how it might piece together. And
with my own work, it’s at the beginning. I
don’t know why that is. Perhaps it’s because
the latter is fuelled by some sort of spark of
an idea rather than a brief. But I enjoy
both. People who work in the arts often talk
about that feeling. I find it incredibly
rejuvenating and fulfilling and it makes me
happier afterwards.
Do you have to ‘rest your eyes’? RIGHT Jaques

I have to be able to walk away, especially Guerlain, for
with jobs as I can become a bit numb to client Guerlain
what I’m making actually looks like. I find
living by the sea gives me a lot of switching
off space. On really foul, blustery days, it’s
fun to walk to the end of
Hastings Pier and blow
away the cobwebs.
Love Is… by Sarah

Maycock is available
online and from all good
bookshops now

LEFT Landmarks
Along The Thames,
for client 1735
Park Place, Canary
Wharf Group
RIGHT Whippet,
personal work
made to exhibit
at Pick Me Up at
Somerset House
BELOW Oloroso
Tasting Notes,
for client Ron
Abuelo Rum

In each issue, we introduce you to a Portfolio
member. This month, we put the spotlight on
talented watercolour artist RAJAN DEY
T
here is more to rendering rain in an artwork
than painting skies awash with gloomy, grey
clouds. More subtle is the glistening, mirror- Rajan Dey,
like surface of a wet pavement, the abstract Paris Cityscape,
refraction of a streetlamp, the hazy mass of watercolour,
distant architecture and the palpable scurry of 19x28cm
a crowd as they go about their business, dashing
hurriedly through the damp and into the dry.
All these features are handled with aplomb in
Portfolio member Rajan Dey’s wet weather scenes,
which includes his recent watercolour Paris
Cityscape. It’s a painting charged with atmosphere,
one that hints at the French capital, without
revealing any of the big landmarks which, for
most people, immediately give the city away.
“You don’t have the Eiffel Tower in the
background,” the Surrey-based artist agrees, “but
with the roads, the traffic lights and the buildings,
it should have the feeling that it’s Paris.”
An approach Rajan often takes is to conjure up a
composition in his imagination, putting together the
memories of a particular place he has visited. “I try
to pull things from here and there,” he explains.
“When I think of painting, the main ingredients are
water, sky, buildings and cars. If I can put them
together in one frame, that gives me satisfaction.”
Once the focal point and mood have been
decided, the choice of support comes next. Rainy
day depictions call for extra applications of water,
so Rajan opts for a rough textured, 300gsm paper,
which is less prone to buckling. He also increases
the tilt of his board to 20 degrees or so, enabling
the first layer of water and subsequent layers of
paint to distribute evenly down the page.
“I put my colour in the top area so it can creep
down towards the lower end of the paper,” Rajan
explains. “Fluidity is something you can achieve in
watercolour paintings which is not possible in any
other medium.”
“I’m also fond of the unpredictable nature of
watercolour,” he adds. “Every time I do the same
subject, it always gives me a different result.”
However, what can be relied upon are Rajan’s
wonderfully evocative, skilfully executed pieces,
come rain or shine.
portfolio.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/RajanDey

Rajan Dey,
Arundel Castle
02, watercolour,
28x19cm
Rajan Day, Boats

at Staithes Beck
01, watercolour,
28x19cm
View on the
Stour near
Dedham, 1822,
oil on canvas,
130x188cm

Big sky
ANNIVE RSARY
thinking
John Constable’s art was shaped by one dominant
theme: the world of his rural childhood as depicted in
his huge ‘Six-Footer’ canvasses, says ADRIAN MOURBY
T
wo hundred years ago John
Constable (1776-1837) had
embarked on what many see
as the defining project of his
career. Between 1819 and 1825
he painted six unusually large rural
canvasses, pictures he referred to as
his ‘Six-Footers’. Each of the views
depicted scenes on the River Stour
as it flowed from Cambridgeshire to
Essex through Dedham Vale, an area
known today as ‘Constable Country’.
Here the Constable family owned
property. It was also where John was
born and where he most often chose
to sketch and paint.
THE HUNTINGTON LIBRARY, ART MUSEUM, AND BOTANICAL GARDENS
Constable, like Thomas

Gainsborough before him, loved the
Suffolk countryside. The two men
were born 50 years, but only 15
miles, apart. Whereas Gainsborough
accepted that he could never make
a living from what he called his
‘landskips’, Constable kept trying.
He was fortunate to be building on
what Gainsborough had achieved by
making the English countryside a

LEFT. PHOTO © ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS, LONDON; PHOTOGRAPHER: PRUDENCE CUMING ASSOCIATES LIMITED. RIGHT: THE NATIONAL GALLERY.
Constable
devoted
him self to
depicting his
home county
from his
earliest days
THE NATIONAL GALLERY
TOP: The Leaping suitable subject for English artists. and ink, pencil, and watercolour. In all, Constable painted six
Horse, 1825, The older man had set many of his From 1800 he worked up these Six-Footers in the six years
oil on canvas, portraits in rural settings rather than sketches in oil. between 1819 and 1825,
142x187.3cm studios (his Mr & Mrs Andrews, a Many years later in 1819 at the including Stratford Mill (1820), The
society portrait of 1750 against a age of 43, Constable painted his Hay Wain (1821), A View on the
BELOW: Stratford verdant Suffolk landscape, remains first Six-Footer. Large canvasses had Stour near Dedham (1822), The
Mill, 1820, oil one of the National Gallery’s most always been popular with wealthy Lock (1824) and The Leaping
on canvas, popular paintings). patrons but had hitherto not been Horse (1825). All six featured ordinary
127x182.9cm Gainsborough lamented into his the medium for English landscapes. life on a stretch of river with men
old age that he would rather be out Why devote so much canvas to and animals going quietly about
in rural Suffolk painting the views, something you could see any time you their work. Devoting so much canvas
rather than imagining them from his opened your front door? Undeterred, to such undramatic scenes was
house in Pall Mall, but Constable Constable exhibited 52 inches by novel, as was naming the paintings
devoted himself, from his earliest 74 inches of canvas at the Royal after the location they depicted,
professional days (the late 1790s) to Academy calling it A scene on the something Constable was to further
depicting their home county in pen River Stour. develop. Constable, like JMW Turner,

his almost exact contemporary, in a storm. Constable was rarely of the Napoleonic Wars resulted ABOVE: The Hay
was committed to recording the dramatic. His White Horse shows a in agrarian protests. Constable’s Wain, 1821,
British countryside en plein air and static creature being ferried across Dedham correspondents wrote to oil on canvas,
identifying each location. Turner the Stour, Stratford Mill shows the him of riots and “fires every night” 130.2x185.4cm
however travelled widely – even into children of the mill-owner fishing in its and the squire and rector having
Europe – and became increasingly foreground, The Hay Wain pictures a recently fled the mob.
mystical in his work. Turner never saw cart fording a river. The View on the Today Constable’s pictures tell
a rock that couldn’t be higher nor a Stour shows two barges approaching us that rural life goes on regardless.
valley that couldn't be painted deeper a bridge, The Lock a canal gate In 1830 – while the elderly Constable
while Constable tried to be true to the being worked by a bargee, and The was working on his last rural Six-
view, even though he wasn’t above Leaping Horse a mounted rider urging Footers – Delacroix painted a bare-
moving buildings around a bit to his horse to bound over a fence chested Liberty Leading the People
improve on composition. on the towpath of the Stour. The over barricades in Paris, but that
Turner poured drama into his timelessness of these quiet scenes melodrama tells us nothing about
views – avalanches, shipwrecks contrasts with the reality of Suffolk life as it is lived, only how it is lost.
and slaves being thrown overboard life in the 1820s where the aftermath The sky is always big in

The White
Horse, 1819,
oil on canvas,
127x183cm

A N N I V E R S A RY
Constable’s canvasses, occupying

at least half of the canvas, usually
more. It’s a changeable sky, neither
transcendent nor terrifying like many
of Turner’s canvasses but full of
variable spring and summer weather.
Constable was criticised by his
London contemporaries for devoting
so much space to skies and clouds
but stood his ground, replying: “That
landscape painter who does not
make his skies a very material part
of his composition neglects to avail
himself of one of his greatest aids.” In
this respect Constable absorbed the
influence of the Dutch masters who
had had such an impact on Thomas
Gainsborough.
Why did Constable set out in 1819
to make his Dedham Vale landscapes
so large? One argument runs that
he wanted to assert that the English
landscape was a subject worthy of
major artistic endeavour, not just
a pleasing diversion for sketches,
watercolours or backgrounds. If
this was his intention Constable
succeeded. The White Horse got him
elected to the Royal Academy and his
work, though increasingly saleable
in England was positively lionised
in France, where he sold even more
pictures and was awarded a gold
medal by King Charles X.
In 1824 Constable’s work was
exhibited at the Salon de Paris,
influencing many younger artists of
the time who became known as the
Barbizon School: Théodore Rousseau,
Daubigny, Jules Dupré, and Jean-
François Millet. Constable’s style
inspired them to draw inspiration
directly from nature and, in doing
so, very much endorsed Constable’s
credo. He once told a friend, “When
I sit down to make a sketch from
nature, the first thing I try to do is to
forget that I have ever seen a picture.”
This son of a Suffolk corn merchant
was a quiet rebel who shifted not only
how we perceived nature but how the
English saw their own countryside.
Constable never gave up on his
COURTESY OF THE FRICK COLLECTION NEW YORK
Six Footers. His later work, Salisbury

Cathedral from the Meadows (1831),
is another much loved 150x188cm,
but the six paintings (1819-25) were
his calling card, a remarkable series
that established, soon after his death
in 1837 at the age of 60, the term
‘Constable Country’.

PICTURE CREDIT: Elizabeth Lavin
THE BIG INTERVIEW
Robertson
The Canadian-born, Dallas-based You’re the Creative Director behind Instagram as @drawbertson and
one of the biggest beauty brands in with over 225k followers – also
artist and illustrator dropped out of
the world – Estée Lauder Companies have time to be a prolific freelance
art school but is now fashion’s Inc – and the man responsible for artist, who counts the likes of Sarah
favourite illustrator. He catches up the branding of several beauty labels Jessica Parker as a firm fan? We got
with NIKI BROWES over Zoom to such as Clinique, Bobbi Brown, and a masterclass on this, how he paints
talk about his colourful and creative Smashbox. So, you might think you (quickly, it turns out) what inspires
world can take your foot off the gas and him as well as why it’s important to,
kick back. But, then, you’re not really “not bury the crazy”. Put the kettle
a 'sit back and relax’ kind of guy. So, on and put your feet up, friends. Let
how does Donald Robertson – on Mr. Robertson entertain you.

Being a creative director and company, were really suprised to find I’d started working on this new ABOVE: She Has
freelance artist: out that 45 percent of their gamers brand called Glamglow, a skincare a Run in Her
“I have this thing where I don’t were women when they’d been line for women. So, whilst I was Stockings, 2018,
think Creative Directors should be predominantly marketing to young turning in the fashion illustrations, I paint on paper,
sitting at a desk. I work with this boys. They were in shock. They were suggested to John that we do a Sonic 61x91cm
very interesting character called trying to work out how to have some the Hedgehog facemask that these
John Dempsey, the executive group connection to female gamers and ladies can wear whilst gaming. Which
president, who lets me go off and were in a panic. So they contacted wouldn’t have dawned on me in a
get up to no good because a lot of me to do fashion illustrations of million years had I not been out and
the time I’ll bring it back to the table. their famous character Sonic the about as a freelance artist. All women
For instance, Sega, the gaming Hedgehog. At the exact same time, are multitaskers so it took off.”

THE B I G INTERVIE W
ABOVE Coco
Von Trap, 2018,
paint on paper,
61x91cm
ABOVE RIGHT
Hermes and
Hotdogs, 2020,
paint on canvas,
122x122cm
RIGHT P.R.J.G,
2018, paint on
paper, 71x91cm

My kids plug me
into ever ything.
They keep me
forever young
His first major lightbulb moment:

“I was the founding Creative Director
for M.A.C Cosmetics. We came
up with Viva Glam lipstick – M.A.C
Cosmetics’ charitable campaign
that was founded in 1994 to raise
money and awareness for HIV
at a time when the disease was
terrifying – and it was completely
revolutionary. The department stores
were all completely against stocking
something associated with HIV but it
was an immediate hit. It taught me
that women are very smart.”
The first art influence in his life:

“I come from the most proudly basic
family, but I had a very creative
grandfather, who tutored me. I would
take him drawings that I thought
were incredible and he’d be like,
‘This drawing’s fine but there’s no
idea.’ I’d be like, ‘Old man, I’m seven
years old.’ He was an advertising
guy and he burned it into my head
that, if there’s no big idea, why even
bother. So, I’d say I’m an ideas person
who paints rather than a painter.
I’m always looking for the schtick;
I’m not painting shadows. I’d rather
paint people in the news. My current
obsession is Kim Kardashian and
Pete Davidson, in fact all the sisters ideas and am forever young because The 16-year-old is not exactly his ABOVE Good Grief
who have suddenly switched from my children are such different ages. biggest fan: Iris is 100!, 2021,
dating basketball stars to bad boys.” At work I have the youngest ideas in “He’s a hard-edged computer kid paint on a cereal
the room and it's because my kids who thinks I’m the worst illustrator box, 21x30cm
How his kids inspire him: plug me in to everything. My 16-year- who’s ever lived. He’s like, ‘I don’t
“My children are all creative in some old will be like, ‘Dad, Taylor Swift’s even understand for one second why
way. I have a daughter, 25, whose just released an album on dating people like your work.’” [laughs]
working with Charlize Theron in and Adele just dropped an album on
Hollywood, I have another son, 22, divorce.’ So, I went and did a painting His studio:
who’s creative in different ways and of the two women called Dating and “I’m an absolute pig. My space is
then another boy, 16, who’s a clone: Divorce. It's a perfect example of not quite as chaotic as that of, say,
he’s just got the lead in the school how, when you’re driving home from Francis Bacon but it could become
musical. Like, a full clone. Then I have school, they give you these gems. like that very quickly. I had a very big
very creative eight-year-old twins. It’s And then it’s off to the races with studio in LA, which was huge. When
always fascinating and I have endless my paint brushes.” we moved to Dallas, my wife wanted

THE B I G INTERVIE W
ABOVE American me out of the house so quickly and

Dream Queen, badly that she got me a studio that’s
2018, paint and
book pieces
set over two floors.” Keep your childish instincts.
on cardboard, His painting habits: Don't tr y to please people
56x79cm “My paintings don’t take very long
to complete. I think I have self-
RIGHT London/LA diagnosed raging autism. I can really
Day & Night, 2020, capture a likeness very quickly and I
paint on canvas, don’t break a sweat. Although I can’t
152x152cm really paint hands or feet. I have no
real formal training having dropped
out of art school so it’s all kind of on
the fly. Still, I paint all day long, every
single day. I think I might be the only
Creative Director who paints through
business meetings. I’m influenced
by the news, and I’m influenced
by money. I. Love. Money. When I
dropped out of college I was like, ‘This
starving business is bullshit.’ I wanted
to be able to live large. I had no trust
fund or education to fall back on, so I
knew it was all down to me. Along with
my illustrations, I also do fun family
portraits, which pays the rent. They’re
kind of like a challenge which I love.
I paint everyone 10 to 15 pounds
thinner and let me tell you something:
nobody ever complains. That’s why
they love it because it's flattering.
When I was at college, we used to

have regular life drawing classes, but brushes, the cheapest brushes you favourite subject. I also love the royal ABOVE Clean Up
my work was always criticised as I’d can buy. I hate anything poncy or family. I did one of Prince Andrew Aisle 4, 2020,
always make the models too long and fancy and often when I’ve used a recently and put him on the cover of a paint on canvas,
thin. Now it’s my MO.” brush, I’ll just toss it off.” box of Cheerios as in, ‘Cheerio!’” 122x152cm
His mediums of choice: On enjoying lockdown: His diehard mantras:

“I work very specifically with “The worst thing you can say to me is, “Keep your childish instincts. Don’t
coloured gaffa tape, which I love ‘go outside’. When I was a kid, I hated try to please people. Don’t bury the
because it’s very fast and very bright it when my mum would tell me to play crazy. It’s all very basic but it works.
and very photogenic. Then I work with outdoors. I’d be like, ‘What the hell If you watch the way a three-year-old
acrylic paints because they dry fast. am I going to do there?!’ Telling me kid approaches a pen and paper,
Because of Covid, the acrylic paint I had to stay inside for a whole year, nobody’s stressing out. They’re just
delivery dried up, so I started using plus, was heaven.” diving in. Also, humour sells faster
flat matt house paint by Sherwin than dark and heavy, and art and
Williams. I also follow these guys What he likes to paint: fashion sells faster than just art.”
on Instagram called “I’m influenced by culture. I like
@colourmakespeoplehappy – a paint subjects that are characters. I love His self-proclaimed artistic legacy:
store in London, and it’s incredible. the fact that Anna Wintour never “That anybody I painted was always
My fantasy is to live next to these changes. I love the fashion icon Iris 10 to 15 pounds lighter than they
guys and use their paint all day. Apfel; we have a great collaboration were in real life. Who doesn’t want
It’s the most British thing you’ve coming out for H&M, which I’m to leave that behind?!”
ever seen – and all Canadians are very excited about. I was sad when
wannabee Brits. But I use garbage Karl Lagerfeld died as he’s another donalddrawbertson.com

LEFT The Sisters.
"The heavy frame
and colour scheme
for this multiple
block linocut are
designed to give
the print the cosy
feel of a book
illustration"
RIGHT The Workers

Hands. "Heavy
framing and a
bold, graphic feel
gives a powerful
addition to these
studies of hands
at work in the
indistrial setting
of an enamelling
factory"
E X T R AC T
In the frame In an extract from her new book, LAURA BOSWELL talks about the different
ways of using frames and borders to really help your paintings pop
Y

ou’ll know me best among when planning any artwork with A frame outlining the work
these pages for my monthly a frame or border, whatever the A frame consisting of a line or lines
column, but here I am medium of choice. outlining the work gives a sense of
delighted to share an extract containment and formality. It isolates
from my new book Linocut and FRAMES AND BORDERS the image and holds it within a space,
Reduction Printmaking. The book is in Would your design benefit from a often giving a kind of gravitas to the
three parts: section one covers tools frame or border cut and printed as artwork. A frame may be the making
and materials and how to use them, part of the picture? I define a frame of your picture or annoyingly
section two is devoted to drawing and as a surrounding line of some kind, restrictive. A bad frame can even
design for print, while section three and a border as something more ruin a piece of artwork.
details the step-by-step printing of ten complex and decorative. Adding any Frames change the work
assorted linocuts. The edited extract kind of surrounding edge to your enormously depending on their size in
below comes from the design section design will have a big visual impact proportion to the subject. Altering the
of the book and the advice is helpful on the resulting artwork. width of the frame can make a big

XXXXXXXX
E X TR AC T
Avoid being too timid: it's

better to have your subject
conf idently bursting out of
the frame
ABOVE difference to the appearance of the

Buckinghamshire work it surrounds. It is always worth
Beeches. "Here, trying several widths when adding a
the slim inset frame to a design drawing. Using a
frame in a mid- linear frame to outline your design is
tone works with the often successful when you are
landscape rather working in a more stylised, playful or
than enclosing it" formal way, or as a means to link
RIGHT Between prints together when working on a set
the Cliffs. "White or series. However, a frame can pin
space acts as a work down and will not suit all
partial frame for subjects. My landscapes would be
this linocut print, hampered by banging up against a
focussing the formal frame, so I very rarely use
eye into the gully frames in my work.
between the cliffs" Frames need not be a single solid
line or a dark colour. A frame might
consist of double or even triple

printed lines if something more another part of the composition, nervously dipping a toe over ABOVE "A
dramatic suits the subject and design rather than just an edging so take the edge of it. decorative border
of the work. Empty space can also the time to experiment with several and frame can
work well as a frame where the versions to find out what works best Decorative borders work well for a
finished artwork is made up of for your subject matter. Going a step further than a frame by festive design,
multiple small images surrounded Frames where part of the design is adding a decorative border can work especially where
by space. overlapping or breaking through the very successfully with designs that the contents are
Partial frames or inset frames are frame can work well with graphic have a graphic feel. Depending on bursting boldly out
worth considering. This approach is a designs and for greetings cards. your design, borders can consist of over the edges"
more relaxed option if you want to The resulting impression is lively and almost anything from a simple
avoid the more formal feel of a abundant. The sense of generosity it geometric repeating design, a step
complete frame. If you go for this type gives is always nice in a decorative away from a frame, to a themed
of frame, it is important to get the image. Be careful with the balance extravaganza larger than the design
balance right for the overall design. In between the design and the frame, at its centre. Combining a decorative
these situations, the frame needs to however. Avoid being too timid; it's border with a linear frame works well.
interact with its content and enhance better to have your subject confidently Outlining a border will give it more
the overall design. It should become bursting out of the frame than drama. The linear frame element will

E X TR AC T
ABOVE Birch and anchor the border and help to edge a design, but they can also of unprinted space, you can make
Winter Sun. "The separate it from the design. become a dynamic part of the image, the paper a part of the design and
minimal design of Borders can be designed into working within it as well as edging the make the most of its quality. I like to
this winter linocut the artwork itself and be very finished prints. This approach can be do this with handmade papers that
showcases the understated and paired back. I have very appealing and playful if the sometimes have a slightly irregular
delicate handmade often used branches, rocks or hedges frame or border you create is fluid quality or are the natural colour of
Japanese paper to edge my prints as a subtle border. and full of movement. the paper’s material.
with decorative This approach works well when you Think about having a border down Blank space is also worth
deckled edges" want to add strength to the design or along one side of the design, to considering planning in if you are
without the formality of an obvious split or balance the space. Illuminated using a paper with a deckle that you
border or frame. manuscripts and bordered textiles want to keep as part of the finished
As with all aspects of designing are excellent sources for ideas about artwork. Experimenting with breaking
your print, watch out for overkill. borders and especially so if you want up the edges of the artwork with
Borders are so entertaining to design to integrate a partial or asymmetric white space and breaking away from
that they can become disconnected border into your work. the conventional rectangular or
from serving their contents and square edge can be very effective,
dominate. If you really fancy a huge UNPRINTED SPACE drawing attention to the paper and
decorative border, try playing a game Leaving part of your design as blank the deckle.
of contrasts. A wildly baroque border space is very much a matter of
surrounding simple, minimal contents personal preference. It is something Linocut and Reduction
often works extremely well, especially I have learnt to value through my Printmaking: Design and
if the colours are contrasting. studies in Japan, and can be a Techniques by Laura
powerful visual tool if you get it right. Boswell is published by
Integrating frames and borders Blank space works well if you are The Crowood Press Ltd
Convention says frames and borders using a special paper. By having areas and is out in Spring 2022

PISSARRO
FATHER OF IMPRESSIONISM
18 FEB – 12 JUN
BOOK NOW
www.ashmolean.org
Free for Members

Beyond
ART HIS TO RY
Surreal
To celebrate a new exhibition at Tate
Modern, we single out six artists with
paintings in the show and their unique,
and often overlooked, positions within
Surrealism. By MARTHA ALEXANDER
I
n Paris 1924, poet André Breton wrote the Surrealist
Manifesto, a call to arms for artists, thinkers and writers,
which promoted creative freedom, without much concern
for reason or logic.
What followed was art that possessed a dreamlike quality,
where proportion is manipulated and subject matter strange,
unsettling and illogical. Surrealist paintings in particular often
include unexpected associations between objects. Surrealism
has always sought to challenge the status quo and authority,
often driving towards revolution. In this way, Surrealism has
always been political.
It’s easy to understand why, for so many people, Surrealism
is Paris-centric with a singular narrative: Breton and Surrealism
are synonymous for good reason. But it’s not the full story, as a
new show at Tate Modern aims to reveal. Surrealism Beyond
Borders reframes Surrealism as a complex movement – rather
than a style or cultural moment – which connected countries
all over the world from Mexico to Japan and continues to
influence and inform painters today.
With over 150 works from 50 countries and spanning
80 years, visitors will have a visual history of Surrealism
and be able to see how it is a story of many narratives,
understandings, concerns and comprehensions.

A R T H I S T O RY
LEFT Untitled, 1937
Asger Jorn
Denmark (1914 – 1973)
In 1936 Asger Jorn set off from
his homeland of Denmark for
Paris on a motorcycle he’d
bought as a result of selling his
stocks to his friends. Jorn’s
painting career had begun with
his traditionally rendered
portraits and landscapes but,
by 1934, abstract painting and
Cubism had piqued his interest.
He was on a mission to make
a name for himself in the art
world’s epicentre under the
tutelage of Wassily Kandinksy.
In fact, he didn’t get Kandinsky
as a tutor or mentor but instead
was accepted by Fernand Léger
whose style and politics had a
huge impact on Jorn.
Jorn painted Untitled (1937)
which features clearly defined
areas of thick block colour
totally distinct from a darker
© DONATION JORN, SILKEBORG. DACS, 2022
background. The sense of the

surreal in the painting is clear
but this aesthetic didn’t last.
Jorn’s work began to include
less crisp features where colour
bled and mixed and smudged. It
is this later work that gained
him the most acclaim.

A R T H I S T O RY
TATE © LUCID ART FOUNDATION

Gordon Onslow-Ford Great Britain (1912 – 2003) Tatsuo Ikeda Japan (1928 – 2020) ³
Although he had no formal training, Onslow-Ford came from an With the simplest of materials – black ink and paper
artistic family – his grandfather Edward Onslow Ford had been a – Ikeda’s drawings are elaborate and frightening,
prominent Victorian sculptor – and Gordon began painting as a child. featuring obscure, angry-looking creatures, and reflect
He was also a military man, attending Dartmouth's Royal Naval his pacifist beliefs. In 1943, at the age of just 15 he
College, and served in the Navy, which goes some way to explain was selected as a kamikaze pilot for the Japanese
the ocean and water motifs within his paintings. Navy Air Service but never had to fulfil a mission.
But by 1939 Onslow-Ford had left the Navy and joined the Instead, he went to art school and afterwards began
Surrealists in Paris becoming friends with the founder of the to create work that spoke to the suffering and pain
movement, André Breton. And while the group inspired him, caused by war and nationalism.
his ideas also influenced the group – he was undoubtedly a key Ikeda was familiar with various US military bases in
part of a collective shift towards metaphysical and mystical Japan and used their existence among ordinary Japanese
concerns within the Surrealist movement. civilians as fuel for his work. He was, like many, uneasy
Like many Surrealists he spent time living and working in Mexico. about the American presence and yet he made money by
A Present for the Past (1942) was painted there and was, in part, painting portraits of the servicemen.
a means of or attempt at exploring the unknown. Mask Bird is part of his series Birds and Beasts
“When this painting was made, I was haunted by what went on Chronicle which was made following – and partly in
beyond dreams in the psyche,” Onslow-Ford explained in 1979. response to – the 1954 US nuclear bomb testing in the
“My approach to the unknown was through numerous automatic Pacific. The landscape is dark and obscure: both warped
drawings that were distilled on to canvas. From here, the painting and otherworldly. Meanwhile the eponymous bird is at
slowly grew out of itself. All was there, but seen in a new way, a once familiar and entirely distorted, a commentary,
merging and interlacing of sky, mountains, plants and creatures.” perhaps, on how damaging nuclear warfare really is.

LEFT A Present
COURTESY OF FERGUS MCCAFFREY, NEW YORK AND TOKYO © TATSUO IKEDA. PHOTO © CHRISTOPHER BURKE STUDIO, NEW YORK
From the Past,
1942
THIS IMAGE
Birds and Beasts
Chronicle, an
Extra Edition:
Mask Bird
Kinjuu-ki bangai:
Masuku dori ,
1958
FRANCISCO & SHIRLEY VINCENTY © 2022 RAFAEL FERRER/LICENSED BY VAGA AT ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NY.
PHOTO BY JOHN BETANCOURT
Rafael Ferrer Puerto Rico (1933 – present)
Rafael Ferrer’s career has been long and fruitful, influenced not
only by his homeland of Puerto Rico and an early introduction to
Surrealism but also by his work as a musician and a love for the
Caribbean and its culture.
Like many Surrealist painters, he also has a military
COLECCIÓN ANDRÉS BLAISTEN, MÉXICO © 2022 ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK / SOMAAP, MEXICO CITY
background: he attended Staunton Military Academy in Virginia
but his heart was always in music, painting and literature.
It was while he was studying at Universidad de Puerto Rico,
that he met exiled Spanish Surrealist Eugenio Fernández Granell
and became familiar with the movement. He visited Europe in
the mid-1950s and met André Breton.
Shortly after, he painted La escuchamos callar (1957) which
has both a vibrant palette and an unsettling sense of sadness.
He has painted both deeply abstractly and figuatively. He has
used materials including ice and leaves in his installations. He
has addressed colonialism and race in his work. All of which is
to say Ferrer’s artwork cannot be easily categorised.
Wolfgang Paalen Austria and Mexico (1905 – 1959) ³

His father collected Old Masters paintings and so art was very
much part of Paalen’s childhood. By the mid-1930s he was
closely connected to the Surrealists – first with André Breton
and Salvador Dali in Paris, and later with Frida Kahlo in Mexico.
In 1938 he worked with the likes of Man Ray and Marcel
Duchamp to put on the International Exhibition of Surrealism at
the Palais des Beaux Arts in Paris. One of his own contributions
was an installation featuring a strange doll wearing a dress
rendered out of leaves. This image would reoccur in paintings
he created using ‘fumage’, a unique technique he invented. It
was essentially a method that used soot and smoke from a lit
candle to paint indistinct patterns on canvas or paper. It was
as much about the ritual as the result.
In 1939, Paalen arrived in Mexico, having fled the Nazi ABOVE LEFT La
invasion of France and soon after this his work changed tack. escuchamos
He abandoned fumage and much of the romance that the callar, 1957
process had held for him.
The Messenger (1941) is an example of his new approach THIS IMAGE The
both technically and in terms of subject matter and philosophy. Messenger, 1941
It was, like much of his work of the early 1940s, connected with
TATE © RESERVED
the cosmic and unknown.

Having suffered bouts of poor mental health throughout his
life, Paalen died by suicide in 1959.

María Izquierdo Mexico (1902 – 1955) In the late 1920s she studied at San Carlos ABOVE Allegory
When it comes to famous female Mexican painters, Academy of Fine Arts and was mentored by Diego of Work, 1936
chances are Frida Kahlo is the first name that springs Rivera. He described her and her painting as
to mind. And yet her contemporary María Izquierdo was “classically Mexican” but his endorsement of her
similarly talented: it was she, not Kahlo, who was the talent cost her any potential friendships with her peers.
first Mexican woman to exhibit her work in the US. One of the main themes of her paintings was
Mexico City has historically been fertile ground for identity: both through her connection to her
female artists, particularly those with roots in or links motherland and her place within a patriarchal world.
to Surrealism. It was Kahlo’s native home but painter In Allegory of Work (1936) one striking feature is the
Leonora Carrington OBE made it her adopted one. strong, clearly male legs straddling both a dramatic
Izquierdo was born in rural Mexico, raised by her mountainous terrain and a crouching, timid woman.
maternal grandparents and pushed into marrying at That the area where the legs join is covered by a planet
14 years old. By 1926 she was a single mother, living complete with cosmic motifs tells us all we need to Surrealism
in Mexico City with her three children. Needless to say know about how she viewed men and their power. Beyond Borders
this was an unconventional, even radical path for a Unlike Kahlo, she died poor and uncelebrated, will show at Tate
woman at that time but it shows the amount of despite having produced what are now clearly Modern from
autonomy and self-possession Izquierdo had. She significant contributions to art, feminism and the 24 February to
sought to live life on her own terms. cultural landscape of Mexico. 29 August 2022

IN-DEPTH
LIFE
DRAWING
IN JAKE SPICER returns to Artists & Illustrators
with a five-part guide on life drawing using
different pastel mediums
PASTEL
T
he history of drawing in pastel is inextricable from the
history of depicting the human form or drawing in its own
right. The ‘red chalk’ used in the delicate renaissance
figure drawings of Raphael or Leonardo were precursors
of the hard pastels we use today and even the chunks of hematite
with which our prehistoric ancestors marked cave walls could be
imagined as pastel in its rawest state. Manufactured in their current
form from the 16th century, coloured pastels were a popular medium
of society portraiture in the 18th century before truly coming into
their own in the drawings of Edgar Degas and Odilon Redon in the
19th century. The substantial pastel works of Paula Rego – from the
momentous Dog Woman series to her brief and eloquent self-
portraits with a black eye – prove that pastel remains a medium of
serious artistic endeavour today.
In daily language pastel colours are pale and desaturated, but the
modern medium is certainly not limited to a subdued palette. Pastels
are made up of near pure pigment in a vast range of hues and tones,
and contemporary pastel drawing is vibrant and exciting with some of
its best examples found in a life room. It is here that pastel is at its
best, when the urgency of the model’s pose demands a dynamic
response, and the pastel becomes a means of translating the artist’s
physical gesture into a confident mark on the page.

IN-DEPTH
PASTEL MEDIA
Over this new five-part series we’ll be looking at approaches to
figure drawing using four pastel mediums: soft pastel, conté crayon
(hard pastel), pastel pencil and oil pastel. In this introduction I’d
like to pin down their definitions. Most materials sold as pastels
are either dry, chalky media like soft pastels, hard pastels and
pastel pencils, or oily media like oil pastels. Although it isn’t
impossible to mix the two, it is rarely advisable; the chalky family
of pastels mix well with one another, can be easily smudged and
combine effectively with similar charcoal and chalk while the oil
pastels combine best with oil paint or oil painting mediums.
Pastel pencils
Pastel pencils have cores made of pastel-like media.
They are strong enough to sharpen to a fine point but
retain the chalky texture associated with hard and
soft pastels and come in a wide range of colours.
Hard pastels
Like soft pastels, hard pastels are made
from pigment, binder and clay. They are
formulated to be harder and stronger than
soft pastels and as such they are firmer to
draw with and hold a point when snapped
or sanded. Their durability means they are
usually sold as slim, square-profiled
coloured sticks, typically more uniform than
their soft counterparts – the popular,
branded ‘Conté crayons’ are essentially
a form of hard pastel.
Soft pastels
Soft pastels are made from
pigment, binder and clay. Varying by
brand, they are sold as round or
square profiled ‘half sticks’ or ‘full
sticks’. Under the bracket of soft
pastel, we could include the
pan-pastel – potted disks of soft
pastels used as a powder reservoir
much like a cake of make-up. As
their name suggests, the pastels
are too soft to be sharpened, so
must be snapped in half and used
on their edge to give a finer line.
Oil pastel
A very modern medium developed in the 20th century,
oil pastels are comprised of pigment, wax and binders
– the sticks have a buttery texture, are soluble in oil
and can be combined with oil painting media. They
have a larger cousin, the oil bar. They do not mix well
with their chalky pastel predecessors and their quality
varies hugely depending upon their manufacturer.

COLOUR MIXING
IN PASTEL
Highly finished pastel works are often described as ‘pastel
paintings’, a phrase intended to elevate the status of pastel
from a time when painting was held in higher esteem. It
seems less necessary at a time when drawings are
increasingly recognised as valuable outcomes and, in my
view, pastel drawings are at their most exciting when their
marks admit the draftsmanly manner of their making.
Different pastel approaches often hinge on the markmaking
methods used for mixing colour and, in all pastel drawing,
colour mixing takes place on the page. We’ll delve deeper in
future instalments but for now it is worth noting the three
main mixing methods that apply to all pastel mixing. The
distinctions between the methods of mixing are as blurred
as the soft edged marks of the pastels themselves but
recognising their different applications can help you to
clarify your own pastel-drawing process.
TECHNIQUES
O Smudging O Optical mixing O Layering
When two colours are laid next to one At a distance, marks of two or more colours One colour is layered directly over another,
another a smudging tool can be used repeatedly built up next to one another the scrubbing together of the two colours
to draw pigment from one into another. appear to mix. This ‘optical’ mixing allows mixing the pigment on the page. Repeated
The main distinction between smudging the colours to remain distinct from one layering will increase mixing, with the tooth
and layering is that the former requires another but creates an overall effect of of the paper dictating how much material
an additional tool to do the dragging, mixing and is common in the work of Edgar the surface can hold.
combining colours without adding more Degas, and in impressionist and post-
pigment to the surface. impressionist pastels.

IN-DEPTH
COMBINING
PASTELS
This gestural exercise is intended to help you move
away from outlines in your figure drawing. You will
need a soft pastel in a favourite, non-representational Stage 2
colour and a hard pastel or pastel pencil in a dark Your following marks
colour. Aim to work large so that you can employ your should elaborate
whole arm in your mark-making and use the exercise on that first mark,
to make several drawings in response to poses of 30 recording the shadows
seconds – 2 minutes in length. on the figure in broad,
calligraphic dashes.
Stage 1
Make your first mark using the
broad side of your coloured
pastel – it should be a broad,
confident stroke which follows
the most prominent line of
action in the body, from the top
of the pose to the bottom.
Stage 4
Finally, switch to a hard
pastel or pastel pencil
– something capable
Stage 3 of a sharp, dark
Lightly scrub the pastel clarifying mark – and
back into the page draw in a minimum of
using the broad edge of marks to clarify the
an eraser, or the blade contours of the body,
of your hand. seeking to follow the
flow of the body.
Next month:
Figure Drawing
in Soft Pastel
jakespicerart.co.uk
This page: Vincent
Van Gough, Irises,
1889, oil on canvas,
71x93cm
Top right: Edgar Degas,

A Woman Seated
Beside a Vase of
Flowers, 1865, oil on
canvas, 73.7x92.7cm

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
D R A W I N G I N D E TA I L
Part 3:
Flowers
LAURA SMITH continues her four-part series and
this month tackles flowers, a popular topic that
can be surprisingly challenging
I
teach a still life painting class once a From the blue lotus flower in Ancient
week at Heatherley School of Fine Egypt, through to the tulips of the
Art and, of all the various objects I Dutch Golden Age, artists have
present the students with to work included flowers in their paintings for
from, flowers are the most thousands of years and painters are
enthusiastically received. That is until still drawn to them. The contemporary
the paintings are underway. After a bit artist Jennifer Packer creates
of struggling, someone will inevitably hauntingly beautiful paintings of
turn to me and cry, “How do I do this?” flowers from funeral bouquets.
The reality of painting them can be Once you start looking for them, you
difficult. In this series, I have so far see flowers taking supporting roles in
made drawings from details of a vast number of paintings as formal
paintings of eyes and hands. These elements to introduce colour or
drawings of flowers, I found far more sprinkled under foot to draw the eye
difficult. This is because of a back into space. Next time you see a
combination of factors. With flowers, flower in a painting, think about
you are dealing with mostly abstract whether it was likely to have been
shapes so it can be hard to keep track painted directly from life or from
of precisely which petal you are drawings, photographs or other source
drawing. They are very complicated material. It may look like the depiction
structures, made up of tiny, intricate of a fresh flower, but could the artist
facets. Although there may be a clear perhaps have used dried, fabric,
centre to the head of a flower – and it paper (like Vanessa Bell) or even
is a good idea to make yourself aware embalmed flowers (like Rachel
of its orientation – there is often a Ruysch) in order to have more time
great deal of asymmetry and with them? This helps when painting
unpredictability in the passages. them out of season.

EXERCISE
What I want to do is look at these four depictions of flowers and work out what we
can learn by drawing them. Drawing from paintings slows down our looking and
gives us a deeper understanding of how a picture has been created. I never fail to
see more than I would from just looking.
For these drawings, I decided to use coloured pencils. Mine are non-water-soluble
because I find they have a satisfying intensity. These details are so much about
colour that I thought I would be limiting myself if I used graphite or charcoal. Colour
matching makes it easier to keep track of which flower you are drawing. Coloured
pencils have the advantage of colour combined with the precision of a fine point so
you can make more intricate marks than you might be able to with pastels.
Drawing 1: Zain al-‘Abidin ³

Let’s look at the detail from the mirror
case decorated by Zain al-‘Abidin. It’s
not just the fact that there are a lot of
³
detailed petals but that each one looks Drawing 2: Van Eyck
like a portrait of an individual, unique The lilies in Van Eyck’s The
petal. When I first saw this, the main Annunciation may superficially look
flower head looked quite circular, simple, but there is far more tonal
symmetrical and stylised and I assumed nuance than it first appears. Each
there might be a lot of repetition. In creased petal has a sheen, each
other words, I thought there would be a stamen is beautifully articulated.
formula. But no. There are surprising These flowers have a sculptural
acutely observed shapes and forms and quality with each petal clearly
these really are illusionistic, solid forms delineated in a clear, concrete way.
in space. This makes it very interesting This contoured three-dimensionality
to look at. It made me feel like I was is not what springs to mind when I
looking at a very real flower. think of flower painting.
³
Drawing 3: Degas
In Degas’ A Woman Seated beside a Vase of Flowers,
the vase of flowers takes centre stage and seems to
push the figure out of frame. I found this one difficult to
draw because so much of the beauty of it is the •Really
individual brush marks and speed of application. You scrutinize
might want to try using watercolour or acrylic instead of
pencil to work from this. It is extraordinarily delicate. So •Remind
much is happening spatially, but it is hard to stay aware yourself of the
of the overall because of all the feather-like flurries of overall form
paint. Each touch is made lightly and fluidly but is also •Look for
bewilderingly closely observed. irregularity
• Treat a bouquet
like a tree
• What do the
shapes remind
you of?
•Don’t forget
Drawing 4: Van Gough ³ the complexity
After the minutiae of the Degas, I found it a relief to draw of flowers
from van Gogh’s Irises because it is made up of such crisp,
bold marks. This is partly due to the fact that it looks as
though it was made more quickly. It does not rely on the
build-up of semi-transparent layers and is therefore less
mysterious in its construction. There is such a strong sense
of an underlying structure, emphasized by the dark lines.

D R AW I N G I N D E TA I L
Zain al-'Abidin, 1206, Exterior: pasteboard, papier-mache, opaque

watercolour, gilden and laquered, Interior: mirror, 23.5x13.5cm
Make four drawings (or paintings) from these paintings focusing on

just one, small area. I couldn’t resist using colour but use whatever
material you think would be appropriate. Try and use a larger scale
than you think is necessary, so that you can really zoom in. You will
be amazed how much there is going on in every area. Give yourself
time to get lost in the landscape of the flower but, from time to time,
try to remind yourself of the overall form.
What I’ve taken away is how carefully observed these paintings
are. These artists have noticed the smallest changes in colour, the
tiniest crumple in a petal, a broken stalk glimpsed in between some
leaves. It has made me want to pay more attention so that I can
THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART,
make richer paintings. The more you look, the more you see. There
Jan van Eyck, The is a whole flowery world to explore!
Annunciation,
1434/1436, oil on Next month, in her final part of the series, Laura focuses on animals from
canvas, 90.2x34.1cm mid master paintings. laura-smith.com

MASTERCL ASS
Going under
With a reference photo
from a busy London tube
station, COLIN BROWN
shows you how to paint
loose using acr ylic paint
straight from the tube
I
like to approach my paintings in a loose way
using broad brush strokes so that the
finished work looks interesting when viewed
hung on a wall. Colour is an important factor
to bear in mind, but not so much the detail, as I
think that too much can be lost when looked at
from a few steps away. My paintings don’t have
a focal point as I give everything the same
value. The idea is to concentrate on the light
and colour and capture the mood and feeling of
the scene, adopting an impressionistic eye, just
as if I had taken a glance at the scene and
then painted that image. Heavy bodied acrylics
are very good as you can get a varied selection
of strong colours, and they have the advantage
of drying quickly, too. For this purpose, they can
be used directly from the tube.
I always get a lot of inspiration from London
as it is a fantastic place to paint, with all the
life on the streets and the iconic landmarks.
I have selected a photo of Turnham Green
underground station in Chiswick. When
choosing which image to paint, I look at the
overall colour, tone and the life that’s in the
image. Perspective also plays an important
role. People, cars, signs, flags are all things
which add that touch of extra interest and
colour. I paint in a loose way, using a large
brush to give me the broader strokes for the
movement and feel that I am looking for.
For more information on Colin and his work,
visit: bucksfineart.com
ORIGINAL
SCENE
ground Artists & Illustrators 63

Colin's
materials
• Paints
Heavy Bodied Liquitex Acrylics:
Brilliant Purple, Ultramarine
Blue, Light Blue Permanent,
Brilliant Yellow Green, Cadmium-
Free Yellow Green, Medium
Magenta, Cadmium Free Red
Medium, Alizarin Crimson, Raw
Sienna, Neutral Grey 5, Titanium
White, Ivory Black
• Brushes
Da Vinci Impasto Acrylic No 50
and No 20 flat headed brushes,
Sizes 1, 2 and 6 round headed
Winsor and Newton Cotman
brushes, Size 6 round Liquitex
Free Style
• Support
Winsor and Newton 91cm x 65
1 D raw o ut t h e im a g e
Do this using watered down black acrylic paint
with a no 2 paintbrush. At this stage, make sure
head to the feet to see where the feet lie in relation
to the head. This will give you the correct balance
stretched cotton canvas, you have the necessary detail drawn in: the and movement of the figure. I draw lighter first and,
mid grain people, the train and the basic structure of the when satisfied, draw the darker lines. It is also
• Ruler station. This will save you time at the end. When important to look at the shape of the space
drawing people, I often draw a vertical line from the between objects to get an accurate drawing.
2 S et t in g t on e
Paint the canvas
with a wash of a bright
contrasting colour
leaving the light areas
blank; you need the line
work to show through.
The idea is that some of
this colour will show
through the brushwork
at the end. For this
painting, I used orange.
You may want a different
colour. Then paint in the
basic tonal area. This
will set the feel and give
you the overall structure
of the painting before
you begin.

MASTERCLASS
3 St ar t t h e
p aint in g
When starting to apply
the paint, first
squeeze enough
colour onto your pallet
so that, when loading
the brush, you have a
substantial amount on
it to give you the long
brush strokes you
need. Then tick in a
few edges using a size
6 round head brush;
this will make it easier
when going on to use
a larger brush for the
next stage.
4 A p p l y in g t h e p a int
Use a 5’ flat headed brush to start to paint the
overall colour. Start anywhere you like; I went with
covering the whole of the canvas in this way, making
sure that you leave the orange background showing
the mid tone grey to begin with by dipping the brush in places. Don’t worry about getting the colour right
into three colours – blue, red and yellow – all at once. at this point as it can be altered after the first stage
Apply the colour using single strokes. Carry on has dried.

MASTERCLASS
5 Fin din g t h e
detail
In order to go on to the next
stage, I redraw any detail
that has been obscured
by the paint. Most of the
time you will still see the
structure lines. For this,
use a no 1 paintbrush with
white paint, or any colour
that suits you. The idea is
that you then go on to paint
these lines.
6 H o m e s t r e t ch
To complete the painting use a smaller round
headed brush. Use long straight lines to enforce the
the people, the lettering of the station sign, and
the railings, bike handlebars and flower stall. Do
structure of the station and train, again dipping into not put in every bit of detail or highlight. Leave your
two or three colours at once. You can then put in painting to dry and go away and leave it alone for
more detail by using smaller random strokes with a a while. After a few hours, stand back and assess
smaller 2’ flat head brush, always going in different for accuracy. I found I needed a bit more texture
directions. This helps to break up the image. on the blossom (top right). Little things can make
Hone in using a small no 2 brush on the faces of a lot of difference.

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Marcia Burtt,
Mendocino
Overlook, 2016,
acrylic, 51x76cm
Plein air

TIPS
How we approach Marcia Burtt •

painting is different “I set up with the biggest canvas I can handle in the time I
for everyone. But have. I identify several interesting things and try to figure
hearing about how out how to fit them into the size and shape of my canvas. I
other people go about want my painting to be dynamic, so I may crop things on
it is always fascinating. one edge or choose subjects that work against each other.
Here, four masters of The landscape begs me to find relationships in the
their mediums share subject, but I’m not always able to see them. If I can, I use
their painting journeys a gestural approach. If I can’t, I paint big shapes with a
two-inch brush, looking for rhythms and relationships. I
join and refine shapes, working positive against negative. I
never draw, since acrylic dries quickly enough for me to
correct things. Once I cover the canvas, I move to a smaller
brush and work on each patch until satisfied. If I correctly
create the shapes, colours and values, I end up with a
finished painting. But I repaint areas if needed. My best
tool is a damp cloth rag for wiping. I paint as long as I can,
and then take the picture home and put it up where I can
see it. Over time, I develop an understanding of what
needs to change, and then work on it more.”

Rob Adams •
“Once I’ve decided on my subject, I consider
general placement. I usually start by scaling
and positioning my centre of interest, trying
variations. I then draw, which varies with the
subject. For example, an urban street scene
will need much more careful drawing than a
landscape. I draw with thin paint because I
can wipe it off and change things easily.
After this, I organise my tones. I place my
darkest, middle, and lightest notes, often
blocking in with warm and cool grays. I don’t
use much colour initially. Monochrome tone is
more important than colour. If the values are
high in contrast, I might dive straight in with
colour, but if the range of values is subtler,
Rob Adams, Thames then I am more likely to start in monochrome.
at Hammersmith, Only after the tones are established do I then
2016, oil, 15x25cm start to drop in colour. I try not to let any part
Plein air. Private get ahead of any other. Finally, I add the
collection darkest darks, lightest lights, details, and
colour accents.”
Stephen Quiller, Autumn,

Loch Morar, View of
Bracorin, 2007, watercolor
and gouache, 54x74cm
Plein air. Private collection

TIPS
Tony Allain, Devils

Cauldron, 2020,
pastel on sanded
board, 51x66cm
Studio from location
sketch. Collection
of the artist.
³ Stephen Quiller • Tony Allain •

“I like to start in the early morning and turn my easel “I favour the light and mood of the early morning and late
away from the sun. For watercolor painting, there is more afternoon. More often than not, the immediate appeal of
humidity in the air then, and facing the painting away from a particular subject is governed by a special light effect at
the sun gives it a longer time to dry. the time of viewing.
I often start with a sketch, a contour drawing that helps I start by making thumbnail sketches with three values
me see positive and negative spaces, rhythms, geometric with either markers or graphite pencils. Once I’m happy
motif, and placement of elements. Positive space consists with these monochrome impressions, they play an
of active areas of emphasis; negative space, quiet areas important role in exploring values and composition. This is an edited
that allow you to see the active areas. Squinting helps me to cut out all the unwanted detail. extract from
How I begin depends on the subject and direction of I use a mid-value pastel pencil to map out a few Beautiful
the expression. I might start with dry, rough paper or wet, important guidelines, including the horizon and main Landscape
less-textured paper. I choose whatever helps best express shapes. Next, I block in my darks. It’s important to get Painting
the subject. When I start, I have a vision of where I want these initial values just right. Once I’m happy with this Outdoors by
to go. But as I work, I remain open to opportunity. If stage, I add local colour. I paint from dark to light and Michael Chesley
something unexpected happens, I can react and take from thin to thick ‘paint’. Johnson, published
the painting where it needs to go. Once I’ve established the main colours, I work from the by Sixth&Spring,
I stop when the painting is 80–85% complete and return background to foreground. I save the detail and highlights £25, available
to my studio. By setting it up on an easel in my studio, until last to keep the painting fresh and clean. I paint alla online and from all
I can see it with fresh eyes. I then take it where it needs prima (at first attempt, in a single session) as this suits my good bookshops,
to go and call it good.” enthusiasm for keeping the work fresh and alive.” from May ‘22

Gouache is a wonderfully
versatile medium for
approaching landscape
painting as demonstrated in
this step-by-step guide by
LANCELOT RICHARDSON
W
hat do we know
about gouache?
It can produce
Lancelot's
broad colour materials
notes and atmospheric effects
• Paints
using thin washes, whilst more
Winsor & Newton
opaque applications can produce
gouache: Permanent
complex, naturalistic textures and
White, Lemon Yellow,
refined details. For those getting
Yellow Ochre, Magenta,
started with landscape painting,
Ultramarine Blue,
it’s a little more forgiving than
Phthalo Blue, Burnt
purely working in watercolour
Sienna
and is simpler to set up than
oils. Although well-suited to • Coloured pencil
studio paintings – like this Faber Castel (Albrecht
demonstration – gouache is also Dürer) water-soluble
an excellent choice for en plein coloured pencil: Deep
air painting. The necessary Scarlet Red
equipment is portable, lightweight • Brushes
and easy to clean up when Synthetic: 1 inch flat,
finished, which is extremely 3/8 inch flat, and
handy when painting outside. 8 and 4 round
Gouache is best used for
• Paper
smaller paintings. The opacity
Saunders Waterford
and quick drying times are useful
watercolour paper
for working in layers too. The
cold press
paint’s thickness is ideal for
producing textured effects • Jars for water
common to landscapes, such as • Plastic palettes
the leaves found in this scene.
lancelotrichardson.com

GOUACHE SPECIAL

St ep 1: Init ial p en cil sketch St ep 2 : Add a tran sparent wa sh
Using a water-soluble pencil, I sketch out the major elements of the Covering the white of the paper as early as possible helps later layers
composition. I stick to big, simple shapes of tone and colour. Don’t of colour look more consistent. Depending on the scene, I may keep
worry about adding detail now, as most of the sketch will be covered some areas white to achieve more intense highlights, or to break up
by layers of paint. I prefer water-soluble pencils as they melt into the flat areas.
wash to accent it with colour, but a firm graphite pencil, or coloured The colours chosen for a wash may either match or contrast with
pencil, would work too. the scene as a whole. Here I follow the major areas of colour, using
When composing this painting, I tried to cultivate the diagonals of bright mixtures to help the layers on top look more vibrant.
the footpath that lead the eye into the image and nudged the door to Picking a complimentary colour to the scene can result in speckles
the right to ensure it wasn’t dead centre. Don’t be afraid to crop or of the wash peeking through for extra contrast; this is a possible
adjust the scene to better serve composition. technique for spicing up darker or greyer scenes.
Step 5 : Fo cus on th e light s St e p 6 : B rin g in dr y-b r u s h t ex t ur e s

Typically, lights are painted with much thicker, opaque gouache, with Dry-brush is a painting technique that is well-suited to gouache. It
the lightest whites often produced from paint mixed directly from the involves taking a flat brush that has very little moisture in it, loading it
tube. I lay in the sky with White gouache mixed with the tiniest with paint, dabbing off any excess, and dragging it along its side over
amounts of Phthalo Blue and Lemon Yellow. The darker base of the paper, almost parallel to the surface. This results in a textured look
green for the flowerbed has been layered with a bright, lighter green to the paint as it catches onto the tooth of the paper and is great for
containing more yellow, characteristic of spring growth. Now the adding a naturalistic texture to a subject. This technique is especially
shapes of the plants start to become defined. effective on textured watercolour papers.
With the lighter tone of the path added as well, most of the base Here I’ve used dry-brush to add texture to the flint wall at the back of
wash is gone, though it still peeks out with specks of colour. the garden. Extra definition will be added with a small round brush.

G O UAC H E S P E C I A L
St e p 3 : E s t a b li s h s h a dows St ep 4 : B uild up opa que colo ur

Using thinned out gouache, I add the shadow areas. To get a I imply large areas of greenery with broad brushstrokes of more
chromatic black, I mix Ultramarine Blue with Burnt Sienna and opaque paint. I’m using a variety of greens and allowing the bright
a little Magenta. This helps the shadows look richer than using wash underneath to break through in places for a bit of vibrancy.
pure black paint, and the Magenta contrasts with the yellow-greens Though spring scenes tend to have more saturated, yellow-leaning
in the lighter areas. greens, I need a base of duller, cooler greens for these to stand out on.
The details in a scene can be seductive, especially when there are To mix a range of different greens, I’ve used different combinations
lots of leaves, but one must try and be patient. I’m still working with of Ultramarine Blue, Phthalo Blue, Lemon Yellow and Yellow Ochre.
large areas and focusing on the composition as a whole. I’m using Ultramarine and Ochre produce a very dull green, whilst Lemon Yellow
a 1” brush to restrict myself to large brushstrokes that cover the and Phthalo Blue result in a luminous lime, far brighter than anything
page swiftly. we see in nature.
St ep 7: D evelop detail an d s t ruc t ur e St ep 8 : Finall y, f lower s

Most of the painting in this stage is done with a small round brush. I’ve saved the flowers for the end for a couple of reasons. First, there is
The shape of plant masses are defined, especially where they catch no chance of their bright colours being contaminated with additional
the light. In particular, wherever the leaves, or blades of grass stand layers of greens. The other reason is that by placing the flowers on the
out against darker elements, I refine the shape. By prioritising these topmost layer, they’ll appear to sit above the green in space.
areas, the rest of the plant is implied. The tulips were painted with a small round brush, with Opaque
I add the tree branches. To make sure that they remain crisp, I try Yellow added on top of the red. The blue and white flowers were
to load up the brush with slightly watered-down paint so each branch created by using a dry-brush technique to lay in the blue, and then the
can be created in a single brushstroke. This prevents the white paint white centres were added by hand. The complex dry brush texture
underneath from reactivating and contaminating the line. helps imply the presence of many tiny flowers.

GOUACHE SPECIAL
Heraldic artist L AU R A
RYA N regularly uses
gouache for her work
replicating coats of
arms. Here, she shows
you how she painted
this jolly portrait
G
ouache is a wonderful
graphic medium, which
dries quickly with a matte
finish. I use it daily in my
work as a heraldic artist, creating
Laura's materials
intricate designs and replicating coats • Paints
of arms onto record pages for the Winsor & Newton gouache: Windsor Violet,
College of Arms. My creative practice Brilliant Violet, Cobalt Turquoise Light,
is also figurative in nature. I enjoy Turquoise Blue, Cadmium Yellow, Lemon Yellow,
working from figures and faces to Cadmium Orange, Bengal Rose, Flame Red,
make illustrations. Alizarin Crimson, Perylene Violet, Burnt Umber,
In this article, I’ll demonstrate how I Permanent White, Paynes Grey, Jet Black
would approach a portrait in gouache. • Brush
The most common mistake made by Round brush in size 8 Pro Arte Nylon
newcomers to gouache is to use the
paint too thickly, which will cause it to • Surface
streak and dry with a texture. In my Watercolour paper in medium St a g e O n e : D raw
opinion it should generally be used at cold press 350gsm Start off by making a careful and observed
a consistency which is equivalent to • Pencil drawing. Firstly, place the printout on a light box
single cream, except for the first layer HB mechanical pencil, 2B pencil or window so that the blank side is facing
which should be a bit thinner. • Ceramic dishes upwards. Use a 2B pencil to trace around key
Gouache is a forgiving medium areas and shapes. Next, place the printout
compared to watercolour due to the • Clean water pots image-side-up onto the watercolour paper and
opacity which allows you to paint over • Tablet or screen to draw from secure it with masking tape, using a mechanical
the top of errors and can be used on • Lightbox or bright window pencil to trace over the printout which presses
heavyweight paper as well as on lots the graphite into the watercolour paper. Make
of different surfaces like wood, • Black and white print out a detailed line drawing which delineates the key
cardboard and even canvas. of an image details of the face using the traced marks as
lauraryan.co.uk well as the printout as a guide.

St a g e Two : B a s e L ayer
Mix some colours whilst referring to the colours on screen and the
printout for tonal values, thinning the paint so that the drawing is still
visible underneath. In the example, I’ve covered most areas –
including the background – but left the clothing pattern and the
lightest lights blank to deal with later. Try to cover the whole surface
of the paper quickly; changes can be made later.
St a g e Th r e e : E s t a b li s h
The aim will be to establish an ecosystem of warm and cool colours
as well as lights and darks. Experiment with painting on top of both
wet and dry layers, ignoring fine details, and use a damp brush to
soften edges and blend areas together. Refer regularly to both the
screen and print references; you’ll notice colours like light greys,
pastel oranges, lilacs and pinks usually dry a little darker.
St a g e F o ur : Ch a n g e a n d co n s o li date
It’s important to make big changes regularly, squinting your eyes to
identify which areas look incongruous. In the example, I’ve begun to
mix the light turquoise background colour into the cool flesh tones.
This helps to create a sense of cohesion and indicates a cool light
source. The image is now coming together but is not complete. It’s
important to take your time consolidating the painting, saving the
lightest highlights until last, using the final brush strokes to add the
darkest darks. Working towards a coherent whole, I added pale
pinks, yellows, lilacs, oranges and white at this stage and found the
darkest darks to be in the eyes, hair and mouth. I added the stripes
in the example with a flat brush using bold single strokes and worked
towards a point at which the work felt finished.

You tell us
LET TER OF THE MONTH
Send your letter or email

HELEN RAISBECK
to the addresses below:
I thought I would share the results of my
response to Hashim Akib’s ‘Paint From
POST:
the Tube’ prompt in your ‘New Year, New
Your Letters,
Challenges’ section of the January issue.
Artists & Illustrators,
I painted it using canvas, brushes and
The Chelsea Magazine
paints I'd received as gifts for Christmas,
Company Ltd.,
and set to work on New Year’s Eve. I only
Jubilee House,
used colours that were in the set I’d been
2 Jubilee Place,
given, adding another dimension to the
London SW3 3TQ
feat ahead. Fortunately, the fresh flowers
lent themselves to these colours, which
EMAIL: info@artists
was a happy coincidence. This was both
andillustrators.co.uk
a scary and exhilarating challenge, during
which I got carried away with my mark
The writer of our “letter of
making and almost forgot the point of the
the month” will receive a
exercise! I’m not sure I balanced the
£50 gift voucher to
colours, but I did learn I could mix some
spend with Atlantis Art,
new and wonderful hues with Phthalo
the UK’s largest art
Blue, something I would not have found
materials store.
out if it hadn’t been for this task. Thank
www.atlantisart.co.uk
you Hashim and Artists & Illustrators for
introducing me to more possibilities.
What a great way to start the new year!
JUDITH JONES With my own work, I focus on the it. One wanted it as a gift for his
Having received the March issue of light and shade areas and then let wife’s wedding anniversary, the
Artists & Illustrators, I was amazed, the drawing work itself out from other as a birthday present for his
surprised and delighted to find, in there. I layer up greys and blacks, daughter. I decided not to sell to
my opinion, three of the very best and then go back and add pops of either rather than have one party
modern artists featured amongst its white. I then sometimes add a disappointed. At the time, I could
pages. As if it wasn’t enough to see splash of colour to brighten it up. have done with the extra pocket
Alvaro Castagnet (Masterclass) and I find this free approach is good for money but, 45 years later, I’m
Thomas Schaller (Fresh Paint) but my emotional health. I love to focus happy with my decision.
then to also see Bill Jacklin (The Big on the work and be in the moment, Fifty years ago there was much
Interview) was truly a bonus. As an this alone is a relaxing self-care tool. debate as to the longevity of acrylic
elderly amateur artist, I so look What’s more I enjoy the end result. paints. I have photographed this
forward to your magazine; it pushes today and feel the quality speaks
me on to try pastures new. Thank PHIL LYONS for itself. Thank you Daler Rowney
you for all the very helpful guidance. I painted this 16th-century library for your outstanding materials. Share your stories
You inspire me to keep going! [right] when I was 14-years-old on a and get a daily
family holiday in France. The building dose of Artists &
AMANDA PEARSON was by the swimming pool where I Illustrators tips,
I really feel Pascale Rentsch was spent much time on warm sunny advice and inspiration
onto something when she said in days. One afternoon I took out my by following us on
the March issue (Sketchbook) that: set of Daler Rowney Cryla acrylics our social media
“For me it is important not to follow and a sheet of A4 cartridge paper. channels...
a rigid plan but to enjoy the Four hours later, sitting cross-legged
freedom of painting, just on the ground, I put my brush down @AandImagazine
trusting in the feel of the moment. and stretched my legs. ArtistsAndIllustrators
I never know what will happen or That evening representatives of
AandImagazine
what image will appear on my two different families came calling
piece of paper.” at our tent; they both wanted to buy AandImagazine
THE CLASSIFIED DIRECTORY
ARTISTS MATERIALS COURSES
THREE DAY PORTRAIT

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My work explores how
life is about riding the
rollercoaster… It’s an
OK mentality
Realising I could do art as a career blew my mind.

I grew up in quite a creative household, but I have a
vivid memory of when I was about 12 years old, and an
art teacher told me I could do art as a job. It was a very
defining moment for me.
I worked for Henry Holland while studying fashion

illustration. Even now I can’t believe he gave me
that job. He was a big deal at the time and had just
launched his slogan tees. Originally it was just a work
experience thing, but when he saw my sketchbook,
he let me take the lead on his next t-shirt collection.
Painting as a therapy led to my text-based art.

MEET THE ARTIST
After I had my daughter, I no longer wanted to draw
models and figures and gritty fashion images. I started
to relax and paint again, and the text-based stuff was
just what came out of me.
Life isn’t always rainbows. My work explores how

life is about riding the rollercoaster, and seeing
through a bad day, so you can get to a good day.
It’s an OK mentality.
WARD
The former fashion illustrator on her return to
I fuse traditional and digital methods. Everything is
painted using acrylics, then I vectorise the artwork in
Illustrator to give it this very flat effect. Sometimes I’ll
paint over it again and I’ll often use a mix of digital and
hand-painted typography.
painting and rolling with life’s punches.
Interview: REBECCA BRADBURY If I’m in a rush, I’ll use my children’s paints. If I need
to get an idea down quickly, I’ll just grab them. Cheap,
dry paintbrushes can sometimes be the best tool!
David Shrigley is a big influence on me. I love his

super basic style and the humour and simplicity he
brings to his illustrations. I love having them hanging
up in my house.
Patti Smith’s memoir, Just Kids, is so inspiring. It’s

all about being an artist and having integrity by not
always chasing the money and the best clients. It’s
so beautifully written; it’s a work of art.
Community is everything. If you’re just starting out in

illustration, I’d suggest building up a social circle on
and offline. It’s great to grow your online following, but
it’s also important to collaborate and meet up in real
life. I don’t think we should lose that as creatives.
sophiewardstudio.com

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Questioning how order and chaos coexist through scaffoldings underpins Kishwar’s visual arts practice. She believes that they are a synonym of work in progress and a reminder of temporality.
Despite following orderly geometric rules, they disturbed our perceived orderly surroundings because they are imposing in size, brutal in appearance and chaotic. Yet, they have a poetic
dimension too. They offer a bridge between order and chaos - a hyphen between destruction and creation. With her illustrated/technically elaborate drawings of people falling out of a crumbling
maze and sculptures on the verge of complete disintegration, she toys with chance in hope to find new ways of keeping the viewer at an edge, hanging, predicting the outcome. As every work
takes its form from the previous one, the order that once stood separate becomes systemised within chaos as a linear narrative. @kishwarkiani
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Artists &

FOR ARTISTS OF ALL ABILITIES

MANAGEMENT & PUBLISHING

ISSN NO. 1473-4729

Artists & Illustrators, The Chelsea

COVER ARTWORK SARAH MAYCOCK Artists & Illustrators 3

Artists & Illustrators 5

This is an edited extract from Terry’s

Artists & Illustrators 7

THINGS WE LOVE... alike. Just be sure to enter by this

the Duke of Wellington from London’s National

from 25 February. artistsandillustrators.co.uk

Artists & Illustrators 9

KUNICHIKA: JAPANESE PRINTS

© NATIONAL MUSEUMS LIVERPOOL, IMAGE COURTESY OF FRANK MILNER

10 Artists & Illustrators

IMAGE COURTESY OF THE KATRIN BELLINGER COLLECTION. PHOTO: MATTHEW HOLLOW

cityscapes will go on show alongside

Artists & Illustrators 11

The working Problem solving is core to being

Artists & Illustrators 13

14 Artists & Illustrators

Artists & Illustrators 15

Stay All Day If

It’s a constant battle

to know when to stop 120x100cm

photograph, probably taken by a parent.

16 Artists & Illustrators

children and working as an art teacher, but

Artists & Illustrators 17

of the support and thick drips of oil paint left

18 Artists & Illustrators

£1,000 WORTH Artists & Illustrators, Chelsea Magazine

OF ANIMAL ART TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Artists & Illustrators 19

20 Artists & Illustrators

PICTURE CREDIT: Chiron Cole

Do you look for clients or do they contact

Is it better to have a studio at home or

Artists & Illustrators 21

RIGHT Orangutan RIGHT Map of

22 Artists & Illustrators

What mediums do you work in?

What skills have you learnt along the way?

Do you get lost in your work?

Do you have to ‘rest your eyes’? RIGHT Jaques

Love Is… by Sarah

24 Artists & Illustrators

Artists & Illustrators 25

26 Artists & Illustrators

Rajan Day, Boats

28 Artists & Illustrators

Constable, like Thomas

Artists & Illustrators 29

30 Artists & Illustrators

Artists & Illustrators 31

32 Artists & Illustrators

Constable’s canvasses, occupying

Six Footers. His later work, Salisbury

Artists & Illustrators 33

THE BIG INTERVIEW

34 Artists & Illustrators

Artists & Illustrators 35

36 Artists & Illustrators

Artists & Illustrators 2022. 4 April

Artists & Illustrators 2022. 4 April

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

iwx{{w|~{y{|iwx{B|w~{z Drawing/painting a live model,