CELEBRATING THE ARTIST’S 90TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR

artist
www.painters-online.co.uk April 2021 £4.80

THE PRAC TICAL MAGAZINE FOR ARTISTS BY ARTISTS – SINCE 1931

Paint trees &

woodlands in
acrylics with Barry Herniman

Enter our
TALPOpen 2021
& 90th anniversary
front cover

Plus � How to capture shiny objects in still lifes in oils

� Paint a poppy field in gouache
� Top tips on capturing your portrait sitter’s expression
� Techniques for painting wildlife in watercolour
competitions

AND MUCH MORE!

04>

770004 387193

PASTELS WATERCOLOUR MIXED MEDIA

Capture big skies & open Use layering & glazing techniques Combine oil pastel & other
spaces in soft pastels for successful portraits media for expressive landscapes
9
 1931–2021
artist‘S
90 th
ANNIVERSARY
FRONT COVER
COMPETITION
HELP US TO CELEBRATE OUR 90TH The Artist was first
ANNIVERSARY YEAR BY ENTERING OUR published in March 1931
NEW FRONT COVER COMPETITION and to celebrate we are
looking for entries from
which to select an image
to be featured on the front
cover of a forthcoming
2021 issue. The selected
artist will see their work
featured on the front cover
of our print and digital
issues, online, and seen
by our huge worldwide
audience.

Upload a
digital image of a recent
drawing or painting of any
subject, in any medium, for
the chance to feature on
the front cover of a
2021 issue of
artist
ENTER ONLINE AT http://bit.ly/39rHkD6
Entry is FREE and the closing date for entries is Friday July 9, 2021. JUDGES
Sally Bulgin, editor The Artist
The winning artist will be notified soon afterwards and asked to supply Dawn Farley, online editor PaintersOnline
a high-resolution image suitable for reproduction purposes. and members of our publishing team
 artist WELCOME artist
incorporating ART & ARTISTS
First established 1931
ISSN 0004-3877
Vol.136 No.4
ISSUE 1093

Publishing Editor:
Sally Bulgin PhD Hon VPRBSA
Deputy Editor:
Deborah Wanstall
from the editor
Want to comment on something you’ve
read, or seen?
Email me at theartistletters@tapc.co.uk
or visit our website at
www.painters-online.co.uk/forum
90ANNIVERSARY
1931 – 2021
TH

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www.painters-online.co.uk
THIS MONTH’S COVER
T
o celebrate our 90th year since our first issue was published in March 1931, last
month we invited you to participate in the first of our online 90th Anniversary
Challenges. Details of our second 90th Anniversary Challenge can be found
on page 71. In addition, we are also launching our new 90th Anniversary Front
Cover Competition, details of which can be seen on page 2, left. Please help us
to celebrate this significant milestone by joining in with our monthly challenges, and by
entering for the chance to see your work published on the front cover of The Artist.
Ninety years on is a good time to reflect on our long history. Our first issue was published
by Harold Sawkins in London in March 1931 and for many years The Artist and The Studio
were the only magazines available for the practising artist. By 1956 our International
Amateur Art Exhibition had become the second largest art exhibition in London, and we
also ran a series of sketching holidays and summer schools in France. In 1957 The Artist
took over the Heatherley School of Fine Art, and our offices moved to Warwick Square in
Pimlico, London, from where the magazine and the school were run in tandem for the next
18 years.
The owner before me, Irene Briers, was involved with the magazine for her entire career,
alongside Frederick Parkinson, managing editor for over 25 years until his retirement in
1975, when the title was sold to American publishers. Irene bought the title back into her
ownership and a new UK company in 1979, which I joined in 1986 as assistant editor on The
Artist. By then we were also publishing our sister title Leisure Painter, launched originally
in 1967 as a quarterly house magazine by Reeves Colourmakers. I purchased The Artists’
Publishing Company, publisher of our titles, in 1998, and ran the company for 18 years,
until selling the business to our current owners, Warner’s Group Publications, in 2016.
Over our long history we have experienced many significant changes and technological
developments, which have seen us launch our community website www.painters-online.
co.uk, our digital editions and e-newsletters. Plus, the ever-expanding social media
opportunities have enabled us to communicate more easily with artists worldwide and
share our content in myriad new ways. Our magazines are obviously very different today
to how they were produced and presented in the past, but our aims remain consistent
with our founding editor’s original aims, outlined in his first editorial in our March 1931
issue: ‘The Artist sets out on its career with the definite and sincere object of assisting in
the practical education and training of art students. Every contributor to this magazine
will be a practical artist, in the front rank, capable of giving sound advice and help to the
ambitious student…students will be shown exactly how famous professional artists build
up their pictures, how they have solved the many problems facing them…. Students
will be told what to aim for and taken step by step along the path by artists who can
sympathise with ambitious art workers.’
These original aims continue to guide the planning of today’s issues, in discussion with
our contributing artists and always, of course, informed by the invaluable feedback and
requirements of our readers. Enjoy our latest issue, and we look forward to seeing more
of your work in all our current competitions, including our annual TALPOpen competition
with over 35 prizes worth over £13,500 to be won. See full details and how to enter this
competition on pages 14–15.

Best wishes

Let us know what you think at

Barry Herniman Morning Light, Early Frosts, acrylic
on mountboard, 1421in (35.553.5cm).
See pages 35 to 37
• theartistletters@tapc.co.uk
• www.painters-online.co.uk/forum
• www.facebook.com/paintersonline Sally Bulgin Publishing Editor
• twitter.com/artpublishing

www.painters-online.co.uk artist April 2021 3


CONTENTS
FEATURES
16 Visual effects and textures
in watercolour
Susie Hodge talks to Linda Saul, winner of
The Artist Award in the 2020 Royal Watercolour
Society Contemporary Watercolour
Competition, about her working methods
59 Be your own best critic
Mike Barr offers some sensible advice about
criticism, both constructive and destructive.
He explains why there is only one critical voice
you need to listen to – your own
60 How to sell your work
online
Marine Costello’s five top tips will help you to
sell your work online by getting it in front of
potential purchasers
PRACTICALS
20 Put a shine into your still life
Lotta Camilla Teale shares her tips as she
delights in painting still lifes that include shiny
objects, such as silver or iridescent ceramics
24 Create a dramatic
landscape in pastel
Cheryl Culver demonstrates how she
captures the beauty of big skies and open
spaces using pastel and includes her top ten
tips for pastellists
4 artist April 2021
20
16 42
28 Bring wildlife to life in
watercolour
Jake Winkle explains how you can use a variety
of watercolour techniques to bring movement
and narrative to your wildlife paintings
32 The expression
In her final article in this series, Ann Witheridge
considers how best to capture the sitter’s
expression
35 Painting trees and woodlands
In the third of four articles on the elements of
the landscape, Barry Herniman demonstrates
how to paint trees and woodlands in acrylics
39 Make a tone study of a
still life
In her new three-part series Adele Wagstaff
explores the fundamentals of making the
transition from drawing into painting. She
begins by focusing on tone, using black and
white to make a still-life painting in oils
39
46
42 Taking the medium further
In his final article aimed at newcomers to
gouache, Robert Brindley explains that
the medium is not only suitable for plein-air
sketching, but also for mixed media with acrylic
46 Scumbling and glazing
This month Alan Bickley focuses on a few
traditional techniques that will help to add
interest to your oil paintings
50 Explore the creative
possibilities of oil pastels
Robert Dutton shows that oil pastels are
versatile to use and an essential part of the
artist’s creative tool kit
55 Paint watercolour portraits
that glow
Jo W Pickering demonstrates a watercolour
portrait using layering and glazing techniques
PLUS THIS MONTH
6 Your views 9 The Art World
63 Opportunities 65 Books
66 Exhibitions
www.painters-online.co.uk
 Join our friendly art community
PAINTERSONLINE Next month in
l Create your own portfolio
of artworks in our online
gallery
l Create your own Studio
artist
Wall mood board and
share with other artists
l Chat with other artists on a
wide range of
art-related topics
l Connect with art tutors
DETAIL A
and art clubs With this closeup you can see how
the colours merge into each other
when keeping the paint wet

l Find details of art courses,

art shops, galleries, framers
and more
l Be inspired by practical painting and drawing
demonstrations
l Enter our competitions with great prizes up for grabs
FEATURES p IN CONVERSATION
Liz Wright reveals how she
Join our new Studio membership creates her fantasy artworks
today. Try it for FREE for 30 days at inspired by her observations
https://www.painters-online.co.uk/membership/freetrial of the Dorset landscape

PRACTICALS
NEWS & OFFERS
2 Enter our new 90th Anniversary Front Cover
Competition for the opportunity to see your work published
on our front cover
14 Enter our TALPOpen Competition 2021 for the chance
to see your work exhibited, published and promoted
worldwide, and to win one of over 35 prizes worth over
£13,500!
38 Enjoy additional features from The Artist archives
58 Subscribe to The Artist, save money and enjoy free p Anne McCormack discusses p Learn how to draw boats in
delivery direct to your door what to paint and how as she perspective and capture water
64 Save money on discounted practical art books from our demonstrates an acrylic painting and reflections in harbour
online bookshop of an interior scene, inspired by a scenes in watercolour, with
70 See your work published in The Artist. Simply upload magazine photograph Paul Weaver
your work to our PaintersOnline gallery for the opportunity
to be selected for our monthly Editor’s Choice feature PLUS
71 Help us to celebrate The Artist’s 90th anniversary l How to paint a virtual portrait in oils, using Zoom, by
year by entering our monthly online challenges for the William Mather
opportunity to win £50 vouchers to spend on Search Press
art and craft books l Alan Bickley concludes his oil-painting series with
advice on how to make and frame your own paintings
l How to capture reflections in pots and pans in your
EDITORIAL CONSULTANTS watercolour still lifes, with Diana Boanas
l Kevin Scully emphasises the importance of drawing
people in your sketchbook, with advice on materials and
techniques

Ken Howard OBE, RA
studied at Hornsey School
of Art and the Royal
College of Art. He is a
member of the NEAC, ROI,
RWS, RWA and RBA. He
exhibits extensively and
has won numerous awards.
David Curtis ROI, VPRSMA
has won many awards for his en
plein air and figurative paintings
in both oils and watercolours.
He has had several books
published on his work as well as
DVD films, and exhibits his work
extensively.
PLUS
Haidee-Jo Summers l Advice from Penny Harris on how to write about
ROI, RSMA our work to help promote it online
has won many awards for her
plein-air and alla-prima oil l Bending the rules, by Mike Barr
paintings. She is an elected
member of the Royal Institute
of Oil Painters, the author of
Vibrant Oils and also has a
DVD with the same title.
And much more! Don’t miss out:
our May issue is on sale from March 19

www.painters-online.co.uk artist April 2021 5

YOUR Email theartistletters@tapc.co.uk or write to The Editor,

VIEWS LETTERS, EMAILS AND COMMENTS

The Artist, 63/65 High Street, Tenterden, Kent TN30 6BD
Please note we may have to edit letters for reasons of space

else for me. Right now, I am considering

STAR LETTER opting out but how can I find a reliable
and truly committed gallery? Is there any
Lessons online hope for emerging artists like me?
With lockdowns being a prominent feature in our lives since March 2020, many of us At this moment I feel like I can only try
have benefitted tremendously from online teaching. For me this form of learning has with competitions and, thanks to The
been very useful and inspiring, and kept my creative juices flowing throughout the Artist, I now have a few on my list – but
pandemic. then I think there are so many artists
However, I have come to realise that there is a danger of trying to emulate the participating that my chances are not too
teaching too closely and, in so doing, losing the style that is our own. After watching a big. I will try anyway.
really good demonstration the temptation is to repeat the exercise in the style of the Barbara Kozyra, by email
teacher, which often results in failure. By taking the salient points out of the lesson we
can apply them to our own paintings – this enables us to learn how to Thank you for sharing your experiences with
adapt and expand our own unique style. In that way, we have all the us. We’d love to hear what other readers'
enjoyment of observing a professional at work and also experiences have been. There’s plenty of
the challenge of finding ways of using the knowledge really useful advice about how to promote
gained in our own artwork yourself and sell your work online in our new
Professional Development series – see our
Alison Petley, by email
February and March 2021 issues and pages
60–61 of this issue. Ed

This month’s star letter writer

will receive a Sennelier portable
watercolour palette, worth
£29.95.
Art on Zoom
I am a member of the North Cotswold
Art Association, which usually meets
monthly in Burford. We are trying to keep
our members entertained, interested and
motivated during these dark days. It is a
little difficult to contact every artist who
appears in The Artist on the off-chance
that they could do a Zoom presentation
for us. I’m sure that there are other
societies in a similar position, and that
there may be artists who are happy to
share their knowledge and enthusiasm,
and even to earn a little, given the current
lack of exhibitions.
Jeni Smith, by email
Artists who are willing and able to give
Zoom presentations to art clubs can contact
us via our email address at theartistletters@
tapc.co.uk and we will be happy to pass on
the details. Ed
Vanity galleries
I used to work for a corporation but I
always wanted to be an artist – it had
been my dream since I was a little girl.
Finally, my husband convinced me to quit
my awful and very stressful job and focus
on art.
It has been almost a year and I would
like to sell my artwork – but how? When
I decided to post on Instagram, I soon
Old shop fronts
I enjoyed the excellent article on old shop
fronts by Michelle Heron in the January 2021
issue. In the back streets of Malaga, where
I now live and work, there are many small
received some messages from people businesses that date back to the 1930s or
who wanted to promote me. I was earlier. This is true wherever you go in Spain.
quite suspicious and I declined in most When I was in Madrid in the 1980s I bought
cases but I decided to pick one offer. a book entitled El Sol, which covered the
Everything seemed to be legitimate. It iconography of old shop fronts, many of
was a gallery based in London, they had which are probably long gone. I too paint
their own premises and website. I asked in acrylic and have been drawn to this
for more information and they promised subject quite a few times, the latest being
fair conditions, for example promoting the Panaderia (below), which doubles as the
my art in newsletters, their Instagram tuck shop for a local school.
account and website. I had to pay for this Derek Worthington, by email
service, which was ok with me. When my
profile was ready I was asked to check
everything and approve it. I thought this
was the start of something nice coming
my way. I did not expect too much – but
I am disappointed.
It has been eight months now and
nothing has changed for me. Only two
of my paintings were presented on
Instagram but not as regular posts. They
were put as a part of the story, which
disappears rather quickly, so if you miss
it, you cannot see these paintings again.
My profile still exists on their website but
I was not promoted as a newcomer in
any way. It is almost impossible to find
me on the website because you have
to know my name to be able to find the
profile. Without it, I am lost on there.
Also, they have not been in touch to tell Derek Worthington Panaderia, acrylic on
me whether they have done anything canvas, 391/2391/2in (100100cm)

Subscribe at www.painters-online.co.uk or telephone 01580 763673

Become a fan on Facebook www.facebook.com/paintersonline. Follow us on Twitter@artpublishing

6 April 2021 www.painters-online.co.uk

Enjoy images in brilliant detail
with the digital edition
See for CELEBRATING THE ARTIST’S 90TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR

artist
www.painters-online.co.uk April 2021 £4.80

yourself by
downloading
the FREE THE PRAC TICAL MAGAZINE FOR ARTISTS BY ARTISTS – SINCE 1931

SAMPLE ISSUE Paint trees &

woodlands in
NOW! acrylics with Barry Herniman

Enter our
TALPOpen 2021

� Additional content & 90th anniversary

front cover

� Automatically adjusts Plus � How to capture shiny objects in still lifes in oils
� Paint a poppy field in gouache
� Top tips on capturing your portrait sitter’s expression
competitions

to fit your device � Techniques for painting wildlife in watercolour

AND MUCH MORE!

� Adjustable text size
Convenient links from
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�
articles
770004 387193
� Instant access to your PASTELS
Capture big skies & open
spaces in soft pastels
WATERCOLOUR
Use layering & glazing techniques
for successful portraits
MIXED MEDIA
Combine oil pastel & other
media for expressive landscapes
magazine
9

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Digital editions are available at:

 FINISHED PAINTING
Morning Light, Early Frosts, acrylic on mount board, 1421in
(35.553.5cm),
I just love doing the last bits of detail, the finishing touches. I
have mixed up my white paint to a creamy mix and, with a loaded
rigger, started to develop the highlights on the tree trunks and

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Saturday 27th March, 12pm - 6pm
Sunday 28th 11am - 5pm
Tuesday 30th & Weds 31st 12pm - 6pm
@ The Empress Suite, The Grand Brighton,
97 - 99 Kings Road, Brighton BN1 2FW
Easter Saturday 3rd April 11am - 6pm
Easter Sunday 4th April 12pm - 4pm
Easter Mon 5th, 6th & 7th April 11am - 6pm
ENTRY FREE
Enquiries: spiritoftherainbow@yahoo.co.uk

8 artist April 2021 www.painters-online.co.uk

THE ART WORLD
NEWS, INFORMATION AND ONLINE EVENTS IN THE ART WORLD
Aliza Nisenbaum:
PAINTING THE NHS
p Installation view of Aliza Nisenbaum at Tate
Liverpool, December 2020 to June 2021, showing
Team Time Storytelling, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital
Emergency Department, Covid Pandemic 2020
www.painters-online.co.uk
compiled by Jane Stroud
Mexican-born painter, Aliza Nisenbaum uses her bright large-scale
art as a form of social practice – or art that has a social purpose. An
exhibition of her recent work celebrating Liverpool’s frontline staff will
go on show at Tate Liverpool when the gallery reopens. Throughout
August, Nisenbaum got to know the NHS staff, talking to them via
video link from her studio in the United States. ‘When I paint these
small passages of people’s skin,’ she writes, ‘it becomes a reflective
space where I have a memory of the conversations we had. I think
about what they must be going through.’ The exhibition features two
large-scale group portraits and 11 individual portraits as well as other
work. A film showing how the artist uses settings and objects to reflect
personal stories can be seen at www.tate.org.uk
April 2021 9
ONLINE
EVENTS & EXHIBITIONS
p Manuscript cutting, There are many online courses to look forward to
Lombardy, Italy this spring, in particular those run by the Wallace
c.1500 at the Wallace Collection, London. Look out for Drawing the
Collection, London
Figure: Gods Entwined on Saturday March 27,
11am to 4.30pm via Zoom. This one-day drawing
course, led by art lecturer and educator, Karly
Allen is suitable for all levels and explores the
human body in art. Participants will use paintings
and sculptures from the collection as inspiration
q Peter Paul to experiment with speed and mark making
Rubens The Rainbow exercises. The afternoon session includes a
Landscape more sustained exercise to develop a two-figure
c.1636, at the Wallace composition exploring tone and colour.
Collection, London To coincide with Easter Week, Dr Richard Stemp’s
10 April 2021
p Jacky Cowdrey Red Wine, Chartiers, acrylic ink,
19¾315¾in (50340cm) at the Dorking Group of
Artists’ online exhibition
two-day course on March 30 and 31 (11am to
1pm), The Passion of Christ in Art, explores
paintings, sculpture, manuscripts, ivories and
jewellery in the collection that tell the story of
Christ’s Passion. He will be looking at ways each
was interpreted and its wider implications for art
and faith. Once again this is suitable for all levels.
Looking ahead, bookings are now being taken
for the gallery’s major conference, Rubens’ Great
Landscapes, on May 17 and 18, 2 to 5pm daily,
which focuses on two of Rubens’ landscapes –
A View of Het Steen in the Early Morning and The
Rainbow Landscape (below left).
For more information, prices and to book
tickets for any of these events go to
www.wallacecollection.org
l West Dean College of Arts and Crafts
is planning a series of virtual open days on
Wednesdays March 10, 17 and 24, running in
the morning from 10am to 12.15pm and evening
from 5 to 7pm. These free sessions will enable
prospective students to meet with some of
the tutors and discuss study options, giving
a real sense of the courses and opportunities
the college offers. For more information email
admissions@westdean.ac.uk or telephone
01243 818291.
l The Dorking Group of Artists is holding its
second online exhibition, which will be available
to view until May, featuring a completely new
range of paintings by group members in a wide
variety of styles and media. To see the exhibition
and find out more about the group, go to
www.dga.gallery
www.painters-online.co.uk
 p Jill Leman working on

RWS Springtime painting ideas for this year’s RWS

spring exhibition at the Bankside
Gallery, London from mid-March

Plans are afoot as we go to press for the Bankside Gallery’s annual RWS Spring Exhibition,
which will, hopefully, open mid-March. Members have been busily preparing work to
submit to the exhibition – including the president, Jill Leman, who shares a taster of her
work with us here (above). Jill paints in watercolour and acrylic, working from her studio
in north London. Keep a look out on the Royal Watercolour Society’s website for updated
information at www.royalwatercoloursociety.co.uk

David Hockney in Normandy

Spring Cannot be Cancelled is a new publication based on correspondence
between David Hockney and the art critic Martin Gayford. The book is lavishly
illustrated with the artist’s drawings and paintings made during lockdown from his
home in Normandy (see the exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London from
March 21 to August 22), as well as works by other artists, such as van Gogh, Monet,
Bruegel and others. The book reveals Hockney’s fascination for northern France
and the themes of light, colour, space, perception, water and trees. ‘We have lost
touch with nature,’ he writes, ‘rather foolishly as we are a part of it, not outside it.’
Spring Cannot Be Cancelled by David Hockney and Martin Gayford is published
on March 25 by Thames & Hudson, £25.

www.painters-online.co.uk April 2021 11

Challenging LAING ART GALLERY
New Bridge Street
Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8AG

Convention ☎ 0191 278 1611

www.laingartgallery.org.uk
p Laura Knight A Dark Pool, c.1908-1918,
oil on canvas, 18318in (46346cm)
t Dod Procter Girl in
Blue, 1925,
oil on canvas, 24318in
(61345.5cm)
www.painters-online.co.uk
Challenging Convention at the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, explores
the work of four women artists – Vanessa Bell, Laura Knight, Gwen John and Dod
Procter. The artists were all working at the beginning of the 20th century during an age
of modernism, transformation and increasing emancipation. Working amongst fellow
artists and intellectuals, the exhibition looks at the challenges they faced to stand up to
the conventions imposed on them by the patriarchal society of their day and the ways
they were able to make their mark in a previously male-dominated world. The exhibition
brings together work from over 40 UK public collections.
Challenging Convention is at the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, from
March 27 until June 19. For more information visit www.laingartgallery.org.uk
April 2021 13
 ORGANISED BY

TALP &
2021

OPEN CALL FOR

We are looking for the best two-dimensional works in
any media including drawings, paintings, printmaking and digital
artwork from amateur painters in the Leisure Painter category, and
from more experienced and professional artists in The Artist category.
Up to 140 selected works, 70 from each category, will be exhibited in
galleries at Patchings Art Centre*, from August 21 until September 26,
2021
* Covid rules permitting

Over 35 individual PRIZES WORTH OVER £13,500 will be awarded to selected artists including:

artist Purchase Prize Award

worth up to £3,000

WIN!
One prize to purchase a work up
to the value of £3,000
www.painters-online.co.uk

artist Exhibition Awards worth

£1,700
Up to 10 selected artists from the 2021
Over 35 prizes
The Artist’s category will be awarded a
mixed exhibition at Patchings Art Centre in
2022, worth £1,700
to be won,
www.patchingsartcentre.co.uk

artist Highly Commended Award worth over

A subscription worth £100
www.painters-online.co.uk

Batsford Awards worth £600

£13,500
Four prizes of Batsford art books
to the value of £150 each
www.pavilionbooks.com/batsford

BritishContemporary.art Award
worth £1,800
One year’s representation by
BritishContemporary.art, the JUDGES
(All art materials prizes are quoted at the rrp)

online gallery featuring the best

of British artists PROARTE AWARD 2020 David Curtis ROI, VPRSMA
Mike Barr Town Hall Bus Stop, acrylic, 17¾x11¾in (45x30cm)
www.britishcontemporary.art Adebanji Alade VPROI
Caran d’Ache/Jakar Awards Sally Bulgin,
worth £500 Daler-Rowney Awards worth £500 editor The Artist
Two prizes of £250 worth of art materials Three prizes of sets of materials to the
www.jakar.co.uk total value of £500 Ingrid Lyon,
www.daler-rowney.com editor Leisure Painter
Clairefontaine Awards worth £500
Two prizes of £250 worth of art products Derwent Awards worth £500 Liz Wood,
selected from the Clairefontaine Two prizes of £250 worth of Derwent artist and co-owner of
Graphic & Fine Art range art materials Patchings Art Centre
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TO OUR AWARD
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in partnership with
HOW TO ENTER

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photographs must have been taken by the
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www.talp.co.uk incorporated into collage, is not acceptable.
1 The entry fee of £25 covers up to THREE
Closing date for entries entries of two-dimensional works in any
extended to media. To give more amateur artists the
CLAIREFONTAINE & THE ARTIST EXHIBITION AWARDS chance to exhibit, just ONE work per entrant
2020 Jenny Aitken Oystercatchers, oil, 8x12in (20x30cm)
June 3 will be accepted for exhibition in the Leisure
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correct category. Artists can enter either The
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- NOT both. The Leisure Painter category is for
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www.talp.co.uk. Closing date for entries
has been extended to 12 noon on June 3,
2021.
4 Entries will be judged after June 3, 2021 and
selected works called for exhibition. These
must be framed (canvases excepted) ready
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selected.
CARAN D’ACHE/JAKAR & THE ARTIST EXHIBITION AWARDS 2020 Estelle Robinson Self Portrait, pastel, 12x16½in (30x42cm) 5 Successful entrants will be notified in late
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IN CONVERSATION
Visual effects and
textures in watercolour
Susie Hodge talks to Linda Saul, winner of The Artist Award in
the 2020 Royal Watercolour Society Contemporary Watercolour
Competition, about her working methods
L
inda Saul is especially fond of
both the urban landscape and
the coast as she paints ‘the
interaction of the elements with
the built environment, the structural
geometric forms of buildings and the
passage of time – decay, weathering,
adaptation, repair or ruin.’
Mainly working with watercolour and
mixed media, Linda frequently features
high-rise office blocks, cranes, water,
16 artist April 2021
boats, lighthouses and harbours and
regularly explores both London and
Cornwall. Fascinated by the visual
effects created by various textures
in the environment, she creates
unique images that blend reality with
abstraction. ‘I find I am particularly
drawn to construction sites and cranes,
as modern structures engulf the
architecture of previous centuries. In
2018, I did a residency at the Wood
Wharf construction site in Canary Wharf,
London.’
Largely self-taught, Linda grew up on
the Isle of Wight, but did not consider
being an artist then; as a child I enjoyed
drawing, but hadn’t really painted. I
never formally studied art but have
attended numerous art workshops
with contemporary artists. In 2017
I completed the Newlyn School of
Art mentoring course, which I found
very inspirational. It was when I met
professional artists at workshops and
demonstrations that I found myself
drawn to the idea of becoming a
professional artist. I have spent a lot of
time experimenting with materials and
techniques and I have developed my
own techniques for producing certain
textures with water-based media that I
incorporate as collage in my work.’
The Making a Mark blog described
her painting Pendeen Clifftop (left) as one
of the top ten works in the 2019 Sunday
Times Watercolour Competition. In 2020
Linda won The Artist Award in the Royal
Watercolour Society’s Contemporary
Watercolour Competition for her
painting Battersea Dance (above right).
Paint, collage and
unpredictability
Linda produces her paintings in the
studio, basing them on sketches
and photographs that she has made
on location. ‘I love watercolour. The
medium has such lovely characteristics
such as granulation and runbacks.
Typically my paintings will be 95-per-
cent watercolour and most of my colour
mixing is done on the paper. However,
I am neither a purist nor traditional
t Pendeen Clifftop, watercolour and collage
on paper, 161/23141/2in (42337cm).
‘This Cornish view uses flowing, granulating
washes to suggest the texture of the ground.’
www.painters-online.co.uk
p Battersea Dance, watercolour and collage t Fisherman’s
on paper, 17¾317¾in (45345cm). Hut, Priest’s Cove,
‘This is a view of Battersea Power Station watercolour
from across the river. A dance is one of the and collage on
collective nouns for the feathered variety of paper, 15312¼in
cranes, but it seems to me to be a fairly good (38331cm).
description for a collection of tower cranes, ‘This uses a mixture
too.’ of paper surfaces
to give a variety
of textures for the
in my approach and use collage, oil rock. Parchment
pastel and other water-based media has also been used
– gouache, acrylic and acrylic ink – in the collage.’
when it suits. I use collage in varying
amounts, particularly so I can mix paper
surfaces to get different effects, so most
of my collage material is paper that I
have painted. This also allows me to
juxtapose different effects that require
different techniques as well as different
paper types.
‘I developed my own techniques
and style from countless hours
experimenting. Visual texture in my
paintings is important to me and I’m
excited by the often unpredictable
marks obtainable as a result of the
physical properties of watercolour, such
as the rivulets formed by flocculating

www.painters-online.co.uk artist April 2021 17

IN CONVERSATION

q London Construction, u Reflections in Canary Wharf

watercolour and collage on paper,
22½38¾in (57322cm).
‘This is another painting based on
views from the top of the Blavatnik
building at Tate Modern.’
Construction, watercolour and collage
on paper, 15312½in (38332cm).
‘This painting was completed after
my residency at Canary Wharf in
2018.’

pigments. With collage, I tear back and
scratch the paper surface repeatedly
to produce rich, layered effects. I tend
to start with an initial background
wash, which is the sky if there is a sky
in the picture. I then draw out the
main elements and paint the major
shapes and then add detailing. This
last process may include painting,
collaging, stamping, tearing, scratching
and linework.
‘When I’m out looking for material, I
look for compositions that I think will
work. It doesn’t usually take me long
to choose – I usually have something
I want to tackle, although it took me
a long time to learn to see the sort of
compositions I like in a city. There was
one particular view across the River
Thames that I revisited several times
over about two years before I managed
to figure out how to paint it. I often
suffer from block – a lot of my paintings
have a long gestation period.
‘I don’t tend to paint outside. I visit
the coast and London as much as I can
and when on site I sketch and take
photographs to work from later back
in my studio. I usually have a finished
idea in mind but the end result is never
completely predictable. Sometimes
I do experimental work that is less
predictable. I use all sorts of things to
apply paint sometimes – card, credit
cards, rubbers. When I apply collage,
I nearly always work into it afterwards
– usually painting, but also sometimes
tearing bits back.’
Style
‘I’ve never knowingly forced a style.
Early on I was worried that I did have a
style, one that I didn’t like! I attended a
lot of workshops with the same artists –
David Bellamy and Jenny Keal. They are
wonderful tutors but I became aware
that if I carried on, I might just become
a pale imitation of them, so I made
a conscious decision then to attend
different workshops with different
artists. I had to trust that if I exposed
myself to lots of different approaches, I
would find my own way of doing things.
So I think my style is still evolving
slowly. Style to a large degree arises
from techniques, and I frequently find
myself adapting techniques to solve
a particular problem in a painting. My
coastal and urban paintings may look
like they are slightly different styles,
but that is because there is more
opportunity to use weathered textures
in the coastal paintings. The approach is
similar in both.
‘I have a core palette of colours, which
currently comprises hematite, indigo,
ultramarine, burnt sienna and blue
apatite Daniel Smith watercolours. I will
usually use two or three of these a lot in
any specific painting. I use a lot of other
colours for accent and the base palette
varies from time to time and depending
on the subject matter.’
Linda’s largest paintings are usually
about 40340cm and take her about ten

18 artist April 2021 www.painters-online.co.uk

p Red Door, Port Isaac, watercolour and collage on paper, 11310¼in (28326cm).
‘Wharves are one of my favourite subjects; watercolour is great for achieving textures that suggest rock and concrete.’
hours, from start to finish, to complete.
However, she says ‘I have false starts,
lots of paintings that I reject. If I divide
the amount of time I spend producing
work in a year by the number of
finished paintings I produce, then it is
more like 50 hours per large painting.
I also produce small experimental
watercolours – typically about 10cm
square that are quicker and quite
therapeutic to create.’
Opportunities and
communication
‘I frequently exhibit locally with the
Reading Guild of Artists and take part
in my local art trail in Henley. I usually
have work in other exhibitions during
the course of a year – often the Royal
Watercolour Society Contemporary
Watercolour Competition. I’ve also
exhibited in the Discerning Eye, the
www.painters-online.co.uk
Sunday Times Watercolour Competition,
the Royal Institute of Painters in Water
Colours and the St Barbe Open in
Lymington. It can be restricting working
for an exhibition if there is a theme that
doesn’t fit with my usual practice, and
it can be a hard decision whether or not
to accept such challenges. On the one
hand it can be very time consuming, on
the other it’s healthy sometimes to be
forced outside your comfort zone. Such Linda Saul
opportunities have to be weighed up studied computer science at university
very carefully. and worked in the IT industry for many
‘I haven’t painted to commission, years. She is an exhibiting member
although recently I have been and vice chair of the Reading Guild of
producing illustrations for a book Artists and has exhibited at the Royal
for which I am also co-author. I use Watercolour Society Contemporary
social media, Facebook and Instagram Watercolour Competition, the
specifically. I don’t really post enough Discerning Eye and the Sunday Times
on them, but I do think they are very Watercolour Competition.
powerful for visual artists, Instagram www.lindasaul.co.uk
particularly.’ TA
artist April 2021 19
 OILS
Put a shine into
your still life
Lotta Camilla Teale shares her tips as she delights
in painting still lifes that include shiny objects, such
as silver or iridescent ceramics
W
hile I enjoy painting
other subjects, 2020 was
a particularly good one
for still lifes. They have
provided months of entertainment.
Crude as it may be, I find reflections
on silver and ceramics particularly
enjoyable to paint. Silver is less a
colour than a reflection of all the colours
in the room and thus changes every
time, and it has a wonderful way of
bringing together the different objects
in the still life, as they’re reflected in its
surfaces. Ceramics often have surprising
20 artist April 2021
TA04p20_23_Lotta.indd 20
iridescent colours, which photographs
can fail altogether to capture but come
out deliciously when painted – see
Mustard Pot with Tangerines and Knife,
(below).
Composition
I like to include something alive in
each painting to keep it fresh – a
vegetable or eggs for example – but
then the rest can be my usual props in
various permutations. I tend to avoid
complicated shiny objects such as silver
with lots of facets, or cut glass, both of
p Three Malian Spoons, oil on canvas board, 838in
(20320cm)
t Mustard Pot with Tangerines and Knife, oil on canvas
board, 12312in (30.5330.5cm).
Lotta Camilla Teale
has exhibited at the New English Arts
Club, Royal Institute of Oil Painters,
Society of Women Artists, Royal Society
of Marine Artists, Royal West of England
Academy and the Russell Gallery. She
won both the Royal Talens Award and The
Artist exhibition award in the 2020 The
Artist Open Competition. For details of
exhibitions planned for 2021, please visit
www.lottateale.com
which can look beautiful in life but can
be really hard to paint and are often
disappointing: one simple highlight can
often achieve more than a multitude.
I will often spend two or three hours
setting up a still life, arranging and
rearranging, and often completely
giving up on the props and starting from
scratch. If the composition isn’t right at
the outset the painting will never work,
however good the technique – I have
wasted many a day only to find the
composition was wrong. I photograph
compositions as I go along to work out
www.painters-online.co.uk
02/02/2021 13:54
 PRACTICAL

roughly where I want each element to
appear in the painting, cropping them
to reflect the size of the board I want to
use.
I stop moving things around when
the composition works for me – if I
stop before that point the painting
will invariably fail. For me, good
compositions include: having a focus
away from the centre or the edges,
probably around the third line; having
a clear depth (lines can contribute to
creating this); having the light from one
side, usually from the left – this helps
create depth; simple colours, possibly
two opposites or more restrained – too
many bright colours can detract from
the subtlety of a painting. I also prefer
to have objects overlapping in some
way and to have some space around
the objects to let them breathe. When
painting shiny things, I make sure to
note the shiniest spot in the painting
to make sure it’s not accidentally in the
middle of the composition.
of odourless solvent and wait a couple
of minutes before brushing it off with
a cloth or paper. I like to paint loosely,
and doing this first means I won’t risk
having hard white sections showing
through at the end. I then map out
the key elements of the drawing using
ultramarine and raw umber.
My next step is to map out the key
dark areas, usually in a thin wash of
ultramarine and raw umber, and then
start blocking in the colours. As I start
to apply the paint, I’m keenly aware of
where the darkest and the lightest areas
are and that even though something
p Lemon and Silver Teapot in the Sun, oil on
canvas board, 12316in (30.5340.5cm)
may look white, if something else is
brighter, the apparently white thing will
need to be painted darker, as with the
backdrop in the demonstration painting
(pages 22-23). I try to get the colours
accurate first time, as it helps keep the
brushstrokes loose if you don’t go over
them again, but that needs to be held
in balance with getting all the colours
down speedily, as it’s hard to have a
sense of their respective tone until
most of them are down. w

Getting started
I tend to use gesso-covered panels. As
a vegetarian I try to avoid oil primer,
which tends to be made with animal
bones. It’s a shame as I love the texture
but it’s a sacrifice I think it’s only right to
make (if anyone has any suggestions on
good alternatives do let me know!).
I start by mixing and applying a
relatively neutral base colour with lots p Local Eggs with Moroccan Bowl, oil on board, 8315¾in (20340cm)

www.painters-online.co.uk artist April 2021 21

OILS
DEMONSTRATION Persimmon with Teapot

MATERIALS
l Oil paints: Michael Harding or Jackson’s: cadmium
yellow, lemon yellow, cadmium red, alizarin crimson,
ultramarine blue, raw umber, alkyd fast-drying white
l Panels: Jackson’s or Belle Arte, or I make my own
using Jackson’s gesso primer
l Brushes: always filberts, usually Jackson’s Akoya
range (synthetic)

p STAGE ONE
This set up worked for me

LOTTA’S TOP TIPS FOR PAINTING

SHINY OBJECTS
l Be prepared to spend as long on composition as painting – it’s
equally important.
l Be careful where any highlights fall.
l Minimise the use of highlights to focus attention.
l Keep colours simple.
l Keep it loose to allow the viewer’s eye to do the work.
l Be careful not to allow strong contrasts or hard lines in a place
that is not designed to capture the viewer’s attention.

p STAGE TWO
I used my paint brush to measure distance
between key points in the composition, then
drew the key elements with ultramarine and
raw umber

u STAGE THREE
The dark areas were mapped out and I began
to block in the colours. For colours that I
find tricky, such as the red shadows on the
persimmon, I sometimes leave it and move
onto other colours, as here

Adjustments
Once all the colours are in, as in Stage
Four (top right), the long phase of
adjustments starts. I aim to keep the
brushstrokes as loose as possible, while
introducing the subtleties that make the
painting sing. It’s about this stage that
I’ll pick the painting up and move it to
a different place to look at it, as well as
photographing it. Somehow seeing it
in a different spot, and in a photo, can
help give you fresh eyes and notice
what is working and what is not. In the
next phase of adjustments I try to keep
a number of ideas in mind:
• I stand back and double-check the
shadowed areas of the painting to
make sure they have maintained an
appropriate level of darkness.
• In areas not intended to be the main
focus, I try to make sure the contrast
between colours is not too strong and
crisp and that the paint is thin, or it will
draw attention.
• A variety of edges can make a painting
more interesting and alive, as well as
add depth.
• Areas of the same tone are often best
with a hardly perceptible edge between
the two.

22 artist April 2021 www.painters-online.co.uk

 PRACTICAL
u STAGE FOUR
I finished blocking in the colours. Reflections in silver tend to
be a bit darker than the original colours and can be warmer if
the silver could do with being cleaned. Whenever I paint, I try
to forget the subject matter and just paint the colours I see in
front of me, roughly where I see them

q FINISHED PAINTING
Persimmon with Teapot, oil on canvas board, 153/43193/4in
(40350cm).
For paintings of this size I will often do them over two days,
coming back to check and improve on them the second day.
If nothing else, it can sometimes be good to go over the shiny
patch with one stroke the next day when the painting has
dried to accentuate the highlight, which can have a tendency
to get muddy

• I try not to add too many highlights –
restraint in highlights can help focus the
viewer’s eye.
• Even the brightest part of a reflection
might not be pure white – on silver
it will often be golden tinged, and to
paint it white may put the painting out
• It’s particularly important to get
highlights right first time, rather than
having several attempts, as crispness
makes it ‘pop’. If it’s not in the right
place, scrape it off and do it again.
• It shouldn’t be ‘perfect’. Stand back
frequently to see how it all comes
so the audience’s eye has to do some
work to make it out.
Finally, I leave most paintings as they
are, although I do like to varnish dark
paintings afterwards as it brings out the
depth of the dark – and thus the shine
of the highlights. TA

of kilter. together. I prefer to have looser strokes

www.painters-online.co.uk artist April 2021 23

PASTELS
Create a dramatic
landscape in pastel
Cheryl Culver demonstrates how she captures the
beauty of big skies and open spaces using pastel
and includes her top ten tips for pastellists
A
t the start of the first lockdown
of 2020 I really wanted to
paint open spaces, the sea
and rolling countryside with
big skies. But there were the travel
restrictions, so I began searching
through old sketchbooks to find
drawings I could work with, that could
be regenerated. Fortunately I was able
to patch together three drawings, made
over the last two or three years, to
create Ever Changing.
The process
I always work from drawings made on
the spot and which are very precious to
me, as painting reference, but also as
a memory of a particular moment and
place. Photos don’t help me one little
bit.
My drawing is the structure on which
I can hang the colours; it is the catalyst
for the painting and has to make sense
in terms of normal logic and realism.
Perspective, scale and a sense of place
are really important to me but hyper-
realism is not. It is a matter of being
aware of the light, how it changes the
DEMONSTRATION Ever Changing
24 artist April 2021
landscape/seascape, alters the mood
and the colour, making each day alive
and different. Every walk or drive
through the countryside adds imagery
to the memory bank.
I work on Arqadia Conservation
Mountboard, putty 8009. For stability
I glue two pieces together with neutral
pH glue, pile weights on top and leave
it overnight. Next the board is primed
with Golden Acrylic Pastel Primer using
a 2in house painter’s brush. This gives
loads of texture, sometimes in very
inconvenient places, but overall the
effect is in keeping with my work. After
drying overnight it is ready to work on.
The initial drawing is made on the
board using a Derwent Pastel Pencil;
errors can be removed with a wet cloth
and dried with a hairdryer if necessary.
I like to walk away from the completed
drawing before the next stage as any
mistakes seem to jump out when
looked at with a fresh eye. If all is well
I then underpaint with acrylic paint,
diluted like watercolour. This helps to
seal the drawing and hold the structure.
It also sets the direction of light. The
Cheryl Culver
studied fine art at Leicester College of Art
and Design. She is a past president of the
Pastel Society and a member of the Royal
Society of British Artists. She has exhibited
throughout the UK and France and won
awards for her work.
pastel will cover this completely.
I like to start painting a sky in the
morning, perhaps I feel it has to be
a fresh day, I’m fully alert and have
no interruptions. I try to let the sky
paint itself and keep the marks free
and flowing. Recently I have started
to rub some of the initial colour into
the board. Later layers of colour are
allowed to do their own thing and
benefit from showing the mark making
of the pastel. If it goes well, that
tingle of excitement is there and it’s
worth getting up early to crack on the
following day.
Woe-betide those who demand my
attention for the next few days. The
world has to wait! TA
THE LOCATION
Samphire Hoe is a favourite spot of mine, a
spit of land created from the spoil from the
Channel Tunnel. At low tide it is possible to
walk to the Warren at Folkestone and from
there to Folkestone itself, but it is important
to check the tide timetable!
t My composition drawings,
made using black marker pens
www.painters-online.co.uk
 PRACTICAL

p STAGE ONE
After drawing the image on the textured
board, the image was underpainted with
Winsor & Newton acrylic cerulean blue hue,
gold ochre, yellow ochre, cadmium orange,
raw umber, cadmium red light and some
white

t STAGE TWO
I often use Rembrandt gold ochre 231.5 as the
undercoat for the sky – it helps to enhance
the glow of the golds and greys and give life
to the sky. It is also not too juicy and can be
laid on in a very thin layer

u STAGE THREE
Building the sky, I worked in some rough
strokes of colour using Schmincke vanadium
yellow light 008 M and permanent yellow 3
deep followed by Unison grey 10, quite thinly,
to allow for more layers to be added without
over clogging the work. If the golden horizon
feels too strong, some gentle dragging of
the greys, using my fingers, takes the steam
out of it. The horizon was drawn back with a
pastel pencil after the excess pastel had been
brushed off

PASTEL COLOURS USED TO PAINT THE SKY

Rembrandt Schmincke Schmincke Unison Unison Unison Unison Unison Unison Unison Unison Unison
gold ochre vanadium permanent blue blue blue blue yellow additional grey 9 grey 3 additional
231.5 yellow light yellow 3 violet 14 green green green green grey 48 grey 11
008 M deep 15 earth 3 earth 16 earth 2

www.painters-online.co.uk artist April 2021 25

?????????

CHERYL’S TOP TEN TIPS

FOR PASTELLISTS
l Find a support that suits you. There are
many choices available but you won’t know
whether you like it without trying it.
l Find pastels that suit you. Each brand has
a unique quality and colour range.
l Try to buy from an art shop where you
can see the pastels, or use a hand-painted
colour chart such as that from Unison Colour,
especially when you have to purchase
online.
l Keep a note of the colours and brands you
like. Once you have removed the wrapper
it is very difficult to identify the colour from
p STAGE FOUR online or printed colour charts.
The sea was the next major area requiring freedom of movement and spontaneity. The
l Try to keep colours in separate containers.
most difficult bit is to retain the crispness of the horizon; it doesn’t matter if the marks
wander over the boundaries elsewhere as long as the water has movement and my I find that once they escape they all start to
horizon is left intact. look brown. When working on a piece, I try
There is often a dark line of water on the horizon and, to enhance the luminosity of the sky, to keep my colours grouped, eg sky colours,
I used Schmincke greenish grey 94D, dragged onto the board, moving to Schmincke etc, so that I can locate them easily.
greenish umber 30O to take the blue-greys into blue-greens, both thinly applied. A tiny l The joy of pastel is the high pigment
touch of Rembrandt gold ochre 231.5 underlies the greenish grey 94D content and the colours really glow. I tend to
work from dark to light.
l Keep a small piece of primed mountboard
to make quick colour test marks. Colour has
the annoying tendency to change its identity
when the underlying colour is changed.
Bit by bit, experience will help with this
challenge.
l Glazing is another important aspect of
dealing with a pastel painting. I use UltraVue
UV70 Anti Reflective Glass, which I buy in
packs of two sheets measuring 36348in. It is
not cheap, but there is virtually no reflection
and there is no problem with steaming up,
should the work catch a strong beam of
sunlight.
l When framing a pastel, ensure the work
doesn’t touch the glass. A spacer, a slip or
a mount will ensure this doesn’t happen.
If your work is heavily laden with pastel, I
p STAGE FIVE advise avoiding mounts – after the slightest
The Unison colours shown in the chart (below) were used to build the colour changes of movement they are dotted with pastel dust
the sea, with the marks becoming more lively as they near the shore and less pronounced and, even worse, potential buyers will think
near the horizon. This helped to give a sense of distance. Picking up the white foam of that the whole painting could shed itself in
the waves added movement. It also helped to indicate the curve of the beach as well as the night and disappear.
making the immersion of the rocks more convincing. To achieve the translucent effect of l Be proud of your pastels. Don’t be
water flowing over the beach/pebbles, I worked in the beach colours and the pebbles and treated as second-class citizens of the art
then dragged some greenish blues over that before finally adding some whitish foam world. Pastel is a wonderful medium and
has qualities that outshine all the other
traditionally accepted media.
PASTEL COLOURS USED FOR THE SEA

Schmincke Unison Unison Unison Unison Unison Unison Unison Unison Unison Schmincke
greenish grey ocean blue green blue green blue green blue green blue green blue green grey 23 blue green greenish
94D blue 6 14 earth 4 earth 2 earth 3 earth 16 17 10 umber 30O

26 artist April 2021 www.painters-online.co.uk

u STAGE SIX
The White Cliffs of Dover and surrounding coastline
are not really white. When chunks of chalk break
away the clean breaks look white, especially in
bright sunlight, but when a section of cliff tumbles
it takes with it topsoil and grassy vegetation, hence
it is quite normal to see patches of green half way
down the cliff face and streaks of brown mud
staining the chalk. To create the grainy solidity of
the rocks, I began with a fine layer of Faber-Castell
Polychromos Pastel walnut brown 177. The rough
surface of the primer was enhanced by the mark
making of the pastel

PASTEL COLOURS USED FOR THE ROCKS AND CLIFFS

Faber-Castell Schmincke Schmincke Schmincke Schmincke Unison Schmincke

walnut greenish greenish brown ochre mossy green grey 23 titanium
brown 177 umber 30B umber 30D 32B 75B yellow 007M

t STAGE SEVEN q FINISHED PAINTING

I constructed the
sections of rock in
stages, dragging the
underlying colours to
build the textures and
shadows of the surface
You can watch Cheryl’s painting
of the rock, finishing
come to life in this video:
with the highlights on
http://bit.ly/2Xc2I9P
the facing edges
Ever Changing, pastel on primed mountboard, 193/43351/2in
(50390cm).
Finally I attempted to convey the thousands of pebbles.
Faber-Castell walnut brown was used as an undercoat,
followed by Schmincke brown ochre 32B and Schmincke
greenish umber 30D to indicate areas of sand. The pebbles
were a combination of most of the colours used in the rest
of the work, using scale and highlights to show distance and
contours. I thought rhythms, ebb and flow when doing this

www.painters-online.co.uk artist April 2021 27

WATERCOLOUR
Bring wildlife to life in
watercolour
Jake Winkle explains how you can use a variety of watercolour techniques to
bring movement and narrative to your wildlife paintings
W
hat do you want to paint,
why do you want to paint
it and what emotions do
you want to stir? These
are three critical questions for any artist
and for me, the answers kind of found
themselves. As a child I would sketch
endlessly, trying to recreate the three-
dimensional world around me on a flat,
two-dimensional surface. I puzzled over
perspective and shape in my attempts
to make things look real and the more
real they looked, the better.
My true training, however, began in
my late teens at Bournemouth College
of Art and Design where I undertook
my foundation year. It was the most
intense year of my life because I was
exposed to many different aspects of
picture making and I remember it as
a whirlwind of ideas and tasks. I am
eternally grateful that I was taught the
p Rocky Raccoon, watercolour on Arches Rough 140lb (300gsm), 12½318½in (32347cm).
A fairly monochromatic painting made using the direct approach
28 artist April 2021
importance of observation, colour,
shape and design.
The built environment
In adulthood my painting career started
with the landscape and the built
environment. Not feeling comfortable
with landscape I became more
fascinated with the effects of light and
shade on form in the built environment.
I started to explore different ways to
interpret it including wet-in-wet, direct
dark-to-light painting and also the
more traditional approach of layering
colour from light to dark. As my painting
developed, I would work with increasing
intensity of colour, trying to get the
paint on the paper – rich and fresh
with as little fuss as possible. I would
explore the individual effects that could
be made by the brushstroke rather
than using it as just a tool for ‘filling in’
the shape, and soon discovered the
powerful impact achieved by retaining
the white of the paper.
I have always had a love and respect
for wildlife and from the outset would
be commissioned to paint animal
portraits alongside my ‘serious’ art. It
was only a matter of time before I would
combine my developing techniques
into wildlife art. Nowadays I still paint
the built environment, with Venice
being one of my favourite subjects,
but my interest lies more in animal
and wildlife paintings and human
portraiture. So this explains ‘what I
want to paint’. ‘Why’ is because I can
relate to the subject on a personal level
but also on an artistic one, too. I enjoy
the freedom of colour and expression
of mark making afforded by wildlife
and portraits, in a way I don’t with the
natural and built environment. Thirdly,
evoking a feeling for me means that
each picture should create a mood, tell
a story, or allow the viewer to interpret
their own story through it. So rather than
just a catalogue of what an animal looks
like, a portrait should be characterful
and hint at a back story, too.
Spontaneous and loose
Rocky Raccoon (left) is a curious little
fellow, maybe he’s about to steal your
lunch! Rather than using a rainbow of
colours the painting relies on design
and mark making; it deals with how to
select in terms of detail and definition.
The body and posture are clearly
important but have been understated
to allow the head and eyes to come
forward. The most intense contrasts are
in the head and that’s where you will
find the white of the paper and also the
only vestige of primary and secondary
colour. The body is full of lost-and-
found edges and movement created by
spatter.
In contrast, Please, Sir, I want some
more… (top right) encompasses shape
www.painters-online.co.uk
 PRACTICAL
and colour – the silhouette of the little
dormouse tells the story. Both these
paintings use the direct method, which
is very spontaneous because everything
happens on the paper all at once.
Lights and darks combine wet-up-to-
wet and rich colour is also added wet-
in-wet. By holding the brush further up
the handle, away from the bristles, I can
make marks instead of ‘colouring in’,
the result being a combination of hard
and soft edges and white paper. I like
to use colour temperature and detail to
effect depth, so the ear and leg that are
furthest from the viewer are rendered in
dark but neutral colour compared with
the nearer ones, which are painted with
more detail and colour.
p Please, Sir, I want some more…., watercolour on Arches Rough 140lb (300gsm),
12½318½in (32347cm).
Creating movement
Holding the brush away from the bristles enabled me to ‘open’ the brushstrokes to reveal Movement can be achieved by simply
rendering a subject which is moving,
but the illusion can be enhanced with
different techniques and approaches.
A leaping hare will move across the
paper but it can appear a little more
static if too much emphasis is placed
on detail. Think about sprinters in a
100M race – they appear more of a
blur than anything else. It’s useful to
know which elements are important to
show and which can be left unpainted.
Sometimes it’s the overall silhouette I
want to suggest and what’s inside is left
‘undone’ and out of focus. Leaping Hare
(left) was largely painted wet-in-wet.
The head and legs were painted on dry
paper so the silhouette is discernable
but the body is wet-in-wet. Like most of

p Leaping Hare,
watercolour on
Arches Rough 140lb
(300gsm),10½318½in
(27347cm).
Working wet-in-wet I
painted the body as a
blur whilst retaining on
dry paper the shape of
the head and legs

u Zebra Stampede,
watercolour on
Arches Rough 140lb
(300gsm), 12½318½in
(32347cm).
I wanted the legs
to be a blur and
concentrated on the
stripes inside the body

www.painters-online.co.uk artist April 2021 29

?????????
t Searching Snowy Owl, watercolour on
Arches Rough 140lb (300gsm), 121/23181/2in
(32347cm).
Using pale mixes of cobalt blue, alizarin
crimson and cadmium orange I painted

This works in watercolour because of

my paintings, the image is fragmented
to allow the white of the paper to be
part of the picture. Fragmentation
increases light and also movement,
so even a static image like Please, Sir, I
want some more… has an energy! In Zebra
Stampede (page 29) I have subdued the
silhouette and instead concentrated
on what’s happening inside. Again, the
image is fragmented but this time it’s
the stripes in the body that I wanted
to retain. In this instance the legs
are moving so fast that they blur or
disappear. The sense of movement is
enhanced by the soft-edged horizontal
shapes in the background.
Colourful greys
I like to retain the white of the paper
to create light and energy and find
this is enhanced when combined with
subtle changes in colour temperature.
Rather than thinking of shadows as
‘grey’ I see them as having a warm or
cool temperature; often when shadow
areas are pale I will use unmixed cool
blues alongside pure warm crimsons
and oranges to create colourful greys.
the transparency of the medium. For
instance, cobalt blue makes a clear
deep blue when applied rich and
creamy, but watered down it becomes
not only a paler colour but also less
intense (or ‘greyer’). I really enjoyed
painting Searching Snowy Owl (left); it is
a beautiful design that makes use of
lost-and-found white paper between
the owl and the background, and also
uses colourful shadows. Mixing on the
paper, I let cobalt blue run against
crimson alizarin or cadmium orange and
then back to blue again. The effect is
similar to that of the paint before it has
dried, it shines with luminosity. To make
the most of this technique you mustn’t
overstate the tone of the shadows; it
works best if you can juxtapose these
with jots of very dark, such as the tips of
the wings.
Design
I am drawn to simplicity when it comes
to design. Too much background can
distract from the subject, which is

DEMONSTRATION Mother and Daughter

A wonderful subject and the challenge was to not get overwhelmed
with orange!
t STAGE ONE
Having sketched the
orangutans, I worked on
dry paper and made use of
wet-up-to-wet. Strong light
and shade help to create
form and you will always
find interesting colour in
the darkest shadows if you
look for it. I started in the lit
area below the nose – when
working quickly, mixing
wet-up-to-wet, I like to do
the darker colours second.
Holding the brush up the
handle enabled brushstrokes
that left spaces of white
paper. I made use of cool greens and violets against p STAGE TWO
warm oranges and browns. Rendering the correct I continued into the face of
tone is most important and allows you to be free the baby, ‘locking’ it into the
with your choice of colour. This part of the painting mother’s with a soft edge. In
progressed into the dark area around the cheeks this way lost-and-found edges
and eyes and up to the pale forehead. As with most were achieved in the darks.
portraits, the eyes were very important so I took my I fused colour wet-in-wet to
time to get them right develop depth

30 artist April 2021 www.painters-online.co.uk

 PRACTICAL

p Elephant Mirage, watercolour on Arches Rough 140lb (300gsm), 10½318½in (27347cm).

why I like to keep these simple. A detailed
background can compromise the silhouette
of the subject so I usually don’t include one. I
painted Elephant Mirage (above) because I was
drawn to the overall shape of the subject. There
is very little detail but the shape of the ears
and the light catching the trunks are enough to
suggest the herd ambling towards us. I made use
of colourful greys and the legs disappear lost-
and-found into the ground, making a peaceful
and understated image.
A simple composition of one major shape comprising a group of elephants
Jake Winkle
Jake’s work can be viewed on his website www.winkleart.
com. He has been the subject of a book by Batsford Books
and has several teaching DVDs available from Town House
Films (https://townhousefilms.co.uk). Jake uses the Luxartis
range of kolinsky sable brushes available from
www.luxartis.biz
TA

u STAGE THREE
Mother And Daughter,
watercolour on Arches
Rough 140lb (300gsm),
12½318½in (32347cm).
The most challenging
part was the orange-
brown fur. I didn’t
want to overwhelm
the painting with a
blanket of warm colour
so elected for a loose,
broad brush approach
to encourage the shape
to vignette towards
the edges. I opened up
the brushstrokes and
made use of diagonals
to create energy. Finally
I applied a pale wash
of raw sienna to the
background and a little
watery spatter when dry

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B E YO N D A L I K E N E S S – T U R N I N G A P O R T R A I T I N TO A PA I N T I N G : 4T H O F 4

The expression Ann Witheridge

In her final article in this series, Ann Witheridge studied art history at Christ’s College,
considers how best to capture the sitter’s expression Cambridge before moving to Italy
to study art full-time. She has been
teaching drawing and painting in the

W
hen we think of
expressions, we think
particularly of facial
features, and yet so much
of the expression is first determined by
the overall mood of the painting. My
previous three articles looked at the
background, the hair and the clothes,
all of which add to the mood of the
painting and, therefore, the expression.
Mood
The mood of the painting can be
conveyed both through the subject
matter, as well as painting style and
paint handling. In this article we will
consider naturalistic expressions as
opposed to the artistic movement we
refer to as Expressionism*. Within a
naturalistic tradition we can use many
elements to help convey a mood, a
feeling and therefore an expression.
As always we should first consider the
big shapes, the large topics before we
delve into the details.
I have a very systematic approach
to my painting and to teaching; rather
than juggling all the elements of a
painting in the first brushstroke, I like
to break it down into simpler steps:
shapes, values, colour, edges and
paint handling. We can use this same
approach to build the mood we want in
the painting. When thinking about the
overall plan for your painting, consider:
• The shapes, which includes the
overall composition and the pose. Is it
formal or relaxed? This is conveyed with
atelier tradition for over 20 years. Ann
founded London Fine Art Studios to
teach the craft of drawing and painting
to dedicated artists.
http://londonfineartstudios.com
http://annwitheridge.com
the pose, the scale, the clothing and the
hairstyle.
• The angle or viewpoint. Is it from
above, below or straight on? This can
add a sense of tenderness, grandeur or
directness.
• The direction of the sitter’s gaze,
looking down, looking up or directly
at the viewer. This can also convey
different emotions in the sitter.
• The values, whether we go from
strong contrasting values, or soft subtle

Each of the five small oil painting sketches shown here were done in one sitting,
but each has a very different mood.

p Sideways glance p Eyes closed

1036in (25.5315cm). 535in (12.5312.5cm).
Although the sitter is not looking directly at us, the The sitter has closed her eyes, which adds
expression is still strong and confident to the mood of gentle sensuality

32 artist April 2021 www.painters-online.co.uk

April 2021
p Portrait of a male u Raised
1036in (25.5315cm). eyebrows
Despite the fact there is no information in 1036in (25.5315cm).
the eyes, there is still a sense of strength and The eyebrows here are
directness raised, which gives a
slightly anxious and
alert look
values. Think of the difference between
Manet and Morisot’s palettes. t Portrait of a
• The colours. Are they vibrant and woman
chromatic, or soft and harmonious? 835in (20312½cm
• Your own painting style. Is it sharp In this portrait I think
and edged, well refined, or softer and there is a gentle mood.
more impressionistic? This might be because
All these elements will help clarify it was the only one for
a mood in the painting, which in turn which I had a little more
helps the expression, adding to the time and so moved
emotions we believe the sitter is feeling beyond a block-in. I
or conveying. could be a little more
nuanced with the
Expression
modelling and move
Having worked out the mood of the into the highlights of the
painting with the big shapes, let us eyes and the modelling
move onto the small and subtle shapes, of the lips
zooming specifically into the portrait,
into the eyes, the nose, and mouth, to
determine the expression. *The artistic movement
When starting a portrait, I think the that we refer to as
shape and structure of the nose is your Expressionism is the
one fixed point. Of course, a nose can use of free energetic
be very characterful, but it is also static paint application with
and therefore such a good anchor to a a less than naturalistic
portrait likeness. When we move to the use of colour – think
eyes, or more specifically the eyebrows of Van Gogh, Munch,
and the mouth, there are so many Schiele and Kokoschka.
variables, which really help us give an However, as a movement
expression to the portrait. The simple it is pushing expression,
large shapes and the five essential where expression is
darks lock into the likeness. But the beyond naturalism, using
expression of the sitter is a much more emotions to express
nuanced and subtle art. TA oneself with paint. w

www.painters-online.co.uk artist April 2021 33

 B E YO N D A L I K E N E S S – T U R N I N G A P O R T R A I T I N TO A PA I N T I N G : 4T H O F 4

EXERCISE: DRAW SIMPLE EXPRESSIONS

I often sketch and doodle in my
sketchbooks. I am frequently trying
portraits out, working out how much
information I need to put on a piece
of paper before it is recognisable as a
portrait. Is it the oval of the head; is it
five lines indicating the eyes, nose, and
mouth; or is it the five essential darks: the
two eye masses, the shadow shape under
the base of nose, the upper lip and the
shadow shape under the lower lip – the
five underplanes of the portrait? With these
drawing exercises I am not trying to get
a likeness, I am seeing if it is the eyes, the
nose or the mouth that can guide.
Do some drawings in your sketchbook,
simple ones, which don’t describe a specific
person, but change their expression. Just
from your imagination create a little portrait
and see how easily the expression can be
changed.

In this page in my sketchbook, I have

worked from my imagination to see
what it is that really changes the
expression.
TOP TO BOTTOM:

Eyebrows
I have omitted the mouth but changed the shape of the
eyebrows. The mouth will help with the expression, but we
can say so much with just the eyebrow line.

Upper Lip
In the second line I have left the eyes but changed the shape
and placement of the upper lip. It is amazing how we can
leave the eye neutral and yet the mouth can change the
mood so much.

Nose
In the third line I have changed the shape of the base of
nose. I feel the nose is really just the character. It doesn’t
help with the expression, like the mouth or eyebrows.

Mass as opposed to line

In the fourth line I have had fun with mass and tried to see
if this helps clarify the expression further. We always want
to move into mass and colour as this helps the painting and
mood, but I do find it amazing just how much we can convey
at the very start. Even at the initial stage of lines, before we
have contemplated mass, values or colour, we can already
describe so much of the expression.
Experiment with expressions, pencil on Strathmore toned paper,
14311in (35.5328cm)

HERE ARE MY TIPS FOR PAINTING THE SMALLER SHAPES

When the large picture is established and
we move into the details of the portrait,
these easily adjustable edits will help to
alter the expression of your sitter:
l If your sitter looks
(a) Melancholy, the mouth is too low
(b) Anxious or surprised, the eyebrows are
too high
(c) Cross, the eyebrows are too low, too close
together or too angled
(d) Not happy enough, you can extend the
corners of the mouth
l The cliché says that the eyes are windows
to the soul, but we can create such clear
expressions without the eyes, even with
closed eyes. I would say it is the eyebrows
rather than the eyes that create more their faces are more expressive, having the
expression. lines of time. When I was little I used to
sit with my eyes scrunched up, as I really
l When I am painting a portrait commission
wanted smiling wrinkles. I definitely have
I don’t think intentionally ‘this is the mood
these in abundance, along with all the
I am planning to capture’ or ‘this is the
other wrinkles age has offered me.
sitter’s psychology, which I need to express
The reason we love painting portraits
in my painting’. It happens very naturally
is because of the subtleties and the
with the sitter in front of you. If we capture
psychology and stories that we read into
a likeness it is hard to avoid the character
works of art. It isn’t like still-life painting or
and expression. And an expression is even
landscape, which has a much larger room
subtler than a likeness – a small brushstroke
for error and therefore gives us much
to the left or right can change an expression.
more freedom with paint handling. As
In essence, it is all about the placement of
Sargent told Lady Radnor ‘Ask me to paint
shapes, but this placement is in its minutiae
your gates, your fences, your barns, which
when we are dealing with expressions.
I should gladly do, but not the human
l Older people are often easier to paint, as face’.

34 artist April 2021 www.painters-online.co.uk

 PRACTICAL

Painting trees
Barry Herniman
organises and tutors painting holidays
in the UK and abroad and is available for and
woodlands
workshops and painting demonstrations to
art clubs. To join his mailing list for future
events email bazherrflick@gmail.com.
Barry’s Cloverleaf Paintbox is available
online at: cloverleafpaintbox.com. His
books Painting Mood and Atmosphere in
Watercolour and Painting Landscapes in
Acrylics are available at discounted prices
from our online bookshop:
In the third of four articles on the elements of the
http://bit.ly/3cw1AUX.
www.barryherniman.com
landscape, Barry Herniman demonstrates how to
paint trees and woodlands in acrylics

U
nless you live in a treeless
landscape like the Orkney
islands or Patagonia in
Argentina, two places I have
visited, you won’t be far from trees and
woodland. I live in the Wye Valley and
am lucky to have an abundance of trees
and woods that I never tire of painting
in all their different moods throughout
the seasons.
With all the travel restrictions imposed
due to Covid-19 during 2020 and so far
in 2021, I have taken to painting a series
of local views that are inevitably heavily
biased towards all things woody. I love
painting trees, whether singularly or as
a group, as they are so much a part of
our native landscape. A lovely quotation
from Khalil Gibran – ‘Trees are poems
that the earth writes upon the sky’ –
conjures up feelings in words that we, as
painters, can reproduce in paint.
Greens without green
Skeletal winter trees are a joy to paint
as a fair amount of drawing is involved,
especially when outlining the filigree
patterns of the branches and twigs.
Until recently I would always shy away
from painting trees in verdant summer
foliage. All those greens! Now I
realise that I was missing out on some
wonderful British landscape scenes
because of it.
By getting away from painting greens
with green, instead using an array of
blues and yellows plus a combination
of different colours, I found I had
opened up a whole new palette of
both subtle and exciting greens. I have
held workshops on this very topic and
students have produced some really
exciting paintings, once they got over
the fact they would not be using the
colour green to produce their greens. TA w

DEMONSTRATION Morning Light, Early Frosts

Whilst on one of my early morning walks

that takes me past a secluded house, I
caught this lovely scene with the sunlight
catching the trees and long shadows over
the ground frost.

MATERIALS
l Schmincke PRIMAcryl acrylics:
transparent golden yellow, Indian
yellow, transparent orange, carmine,
burnt sienna, cobalt turquoise, cobalt
blue, ultramarine, phthalo green blue,
transparent violet, titanium white.
l Clear painting medium
l Brushes: Stirling flat 6/4, DaVinci round
No. 4, rigger No. 2
l White gesso
l Mountboard
p STAGE ONE
l 2B pencil After coating a piece of off-cut mountboard with white gesso I waited for it to dry then pencilled
in the main outlines of the subject with my 2B pencil

www.painters-online.co.uk artist April 2021 35

WATERCOLOUR

p STAGE FOUR
To pull areas of the foliage together I
mixed up my red/orange hues with the
painting medium and then started to
glaze these colours over the foliage.
This medium makes the paint even
more transparent – as you can see
from the close-up photo all the lovely,
underlying textures still show through.
Once most of the foliage had been
p STAGE TWO established I moved into the trunks
Using my yellows, orange and a touch of violet, I started to flick some basic textures into the
and branches. With my rigger and a
left-hand trees with the No. 4 brush. When flicking/spattering in a confined space, don’t use too
rich blue/brown mix I painted in the
springy a brush as the paint will go everywhere. Moving across the painting, I began flicking in
dark trunks around the scene. You will
the basic colours of all the different trees. With turquoise and a touch of violet I mixed up a fairly
see that by this stage I had built up the
fluid wash to build up all the cold, horizontal shadows over the frosty field, varying the mixes
strengths in all the shadow areas of the
as I moved across the painting. To paint the undergrowth beneath the trees I used a dark mix of
foliage, with relevant shadow colours
burnt sienna, ultramarine and violet, leaving a few white tree trunks
mixed with the painting medium

u STAGE THREE
Working into the tree areas, I spattered in
the basic colours of each tree, then gently
blended some of the spatters together with
the tip of the brush – I was still leaving lots of
white spaces within these areas. I also started
to paint in some of the branches here and
there.

36 artist April 2021 www.painters-online.co.uk

 PRACTICAL

p FINISHED PAINTING
Morning Light, Early Frosts, acrylic on mountboard, 14321in (35.5353.5cm).
I just love doing the last bits of detail, the finishing touches. I mixed up my white paint to a
creamy mix and, with a loaded rigger, started to develop the highlights on the tree trunks and
branches. Still using the white paint I fashioned all the fence post highlights, together with the
gate on the left of the picture. I also touched in some of the light leaves within the dark areas of
the copse, which added a bit of sparkle to the painting. And that was it !

Next month: Paint a seascape in watercolour

Digital readers can paint along with Barry as he demonstrates wintry trees in gouache.
To subscribe to The Artist digital edition go to https://bit.ly/2yW77Fe

www.painters-online.co.uk artist April 2021 37

DIGITAL ISSUE EXTRA CONTENT
Paint wintry trees
in gouache
Barry Herniman invites you to join him in this quick, 30-minute exercise to
make a postcard-size painting in gouache
MATERIALS
l Schmincke Horadam gouache:
Indian yellow, cadmium orange,
burnt sienna, cobalt blue light,
ultramarine deep, violet,
titanium white.
l Cold-pressed watercolour paper,
roughly 638in (15320.5cm).
l Brushes: DaVinci round No. 4 and
rigger No. 2.
l 2B pencil.
37i April 2021
I tend to favour
Schmincke Horadam
gouache as this medium
is so versatile. You can do
transparent watercolour
washes in one stroke
and opaque passages in
another.
t STAGE TWO
With dilute cobalt blue, p STAGE ONE
paint in the sky, leaving With your 2B pencil draw the tree lines, field boundaries and the
some white areas around foreground dark area
the tree tops
u STAGE THREE
With a mix of orange, burnt
sienna and violet spatter some
paint into the foreground area
t STAGE FOUR
Using the same mix,
spatter paint into the
tree areas and, whilst
the paint is still wet, use
the end of the brush to
pull paint up into the tree
tops. At this point all basic
textures have been built up,
ready for the next stage
www.painters-online.co.uk
 PRACTICAL
q u STAGE FIVE
With a dilute violet, start to paint in the
shadow areas within the trees. Then use
a dilute mix of Indian yellow to paint in
a swathe of foreground, going over all
the previous spatter texture. Do not over
brush or you will lift all the underlying
paint . Take a mix of burnt sienna and
violet and paint in the V-shaped area in
the foreground

u STAGE SIX
With a juicy mix of
ultramarine and
burnt sienna, start to
fashion the numerous
tree trunks, working
from the ground level
upwards

p All the basic textures and foreground areas have been

developed p STAGE SEVEN
Take some semi-dry violet and dry brush the tops of the trees. Then, with
the rigger, weave the ascending branches up the into dry-brushed area with
the same blue/brown mix used for the trunks

p STAGE EIGHT
With a brush full of fairly dilute white, start to paint over
the lower area of the trees, taking care not to be too
heavy-handed or you will dislodge all the underlying
paint. This will produce the lovely early morning mist
that cloaked the scene

u FINISHED PAINTING
Morning Mists, gouache on paper, 638in (15320.5cm).
To finish off , use your blue/brown mix to paint the bush
in the left-hand corner and add some dead grasses to
the foreground

www.painters-online.co.uk April 2021 37ii

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Inspiration from The Artist

archives
Since our first issue was published in 1931 we have
When to stop
painting
Learn more from
Liz Seward about the
developed a huge resource of inspiration, advice, right time to stop fiddling
practical demonstrations, tips and information from and finish a painting in
past features, which today’s readers can enjoy on this feature from our
our website at www.painters-online.co.uk. To March 2011 issue
access this great content click on the links below
each of the highlighted features
http://bit.ly/38d4xbt
2011
Underground subjects Flowers in watercolour
Looking for new sources of subject In this demonstration article in our March 2001 issue,
matter for his Elizabeth Blackadder shows how to paint tulips and
watercolour irises in watercolour. http://bit.ly/3nv2ypn
paintings,
John Lidzey
documents
how he went
underground
and found
inspiration in
observing travellers in settings of bright
lights and colours in this feature from our
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38 artist April 2021 www.painters-online.co.uk
 DRAWING INTO PAINTING: 1ST of 3

Make a tone study

of a still life
In her new three-part series Adele Wagstaff explores the fundamentals of
making the transition from drawing into painting. She begins by focusing on
tone, using black and white to make a still-life painting in oils

Adele Wagstaff
trained at Newcastle University and the
Slade School of Fine Art. She has taught in
Belgium, Germany, Italy and the UK. Adele
has been shortlisted for the Jerwood
Drawing Prize and the BP Portrait Award,
and her work has been exhibited in the
National Portrait Gallery, ING Discerning
Eye, Royal West of England Academy and
the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.
Adele has published two books. For more
details, see www.adelewagstaff.co.uk

I
am using the same still-life
arrangement throughout this
series; in the first two parts the
oil sketches will demonstrate how
very simplified palettes can be mixed
to explore tone and temperature
relationships before beginning to use
colour. In the last part I will incorporate
colour. Analysing the tone values
through using a palette of black, white
and mixed greys is a helpful exercise
for the painter who wishes to study and
understand the relationships of light
through to dark within the composition,
before beginning to work with colour.
Working with black, white and a
hierarchy of greys will give you time to
closely observe the shifts of tone over
the surface of an object, or the tone of
one object when placed against another
and the relationship of tones of the
background, surface, drapes or wall that
your still life will be positioned against.
Using only black and white oil paint Hyacinth, oil on board 113/438in (30320cm).
allows you to quickly mix a range of When painting this oil study of a hyacinth, I replaced black with raw sienna. When mixing a
contrasting tones to use as you explore range of tones with white it gives a warmer and softer range of tones, much more like sepia than
how light falls on and describes your black and white, which I prefer to use when making tone studies. You may prefer to use another
objects. darker pigment to mix with white: umber, Payne’s grey or blue black w

www.painters-online.co.uk artist April 2021 39

DRAWING INTO PAINTING: 1ST of 3

THIS MONTH’S EXERCISE
You can use any black and white oil paint for
this exercise, although some blacks will give
a subtle hint of blueish-purple, as you see in
my demonstration. In this oil sketch I used
titanium white and ivory black; the black may
give a subtle blue hint to each mix rather than
a flatter grey.
This small, still life of a shell placed on top
of sheet music provides many contrasts of
the more organic, curved lines against the
straight sharper defined edges of the music.
The still life is lit by natural light and the shell
casts a soft-edged shadow leading to the
right of the composition.
All drawing will be made with a brush
and paint from the very start, no need to
use charcoal or pencil to draw out your
composition. It’s always worth making a
small exploratory drawing in a sketchbook
if needed to gain understanding of the
basic shapes and weight of composition
before you begin to use paint.
Any studies made in oil in preparation
for a longer sustained painting of your
still life may be quickly painted, with a
spontaneous and direct response. The
paint that you apply on the surface may
be a little thicker than it would be for
a longer painting, so that it is opaque
from the start. You may prefer to layer
the marks, applying thicker paint over
earlier thinner applications. Let each mark
describe and provide as much information
as possible: it’s scale, direction, shape,
length, speed and pressure will all
broaden the language of your mark-
making.
The surface I used for this oil sketch is a
gesso wood panel, which is incredibly
smooth to work on. There is no tooth
on the surface so the brush glides over
the primer. The gesso by nature is very
absorbent so the paint tends to sink in
quite quickly. This helps to apply the paint,
and layer areas if needed quite quickly.

 Before beginning to paint, pre-mix a number of grey tones on the palette. Here,
white was placed on the left, and black on the right. Using a palette knife, a mid-
grey tone was mixed and placed in the centre. Judge the mid-tone visually, as using
exactly half white and half black in equal measure doesn’t make a ‘mid’, it tends to
be darker. Make quite a generous amount of this mix as it will be used for the lighter
and darker grey mixes. These are placed in between the white-mid, and mid-black
so that you have a total of five tones that can be used during the early stages of your
oil sketch.
The tone that has
been placed beneath
the main row is a
small amount of the
mid-tone diluted
with a small amount
of Sansodor. This
thinner mix is used to
make the first marks
when drawing out the p This shows the four grey mixes that were made
composition. from the initial hierarchy of five greys. A small
amount of each grey has been mixed to extend
the palette, resulting in seven mixed greys

p STAGE ONE
The first lines of the composition were made with a
fine rigger brush with the mid-grey mix diluted a little
with Sansodor. This sketch, made by drawing directly
with paint, focuses on positioning the main shapes
and angles of the objects within the rectangle and is as
much concerned with the space around the still life as
the objects themselves
p STAGE TWO
Using a larger filbert-shaped brush, the first areas of tone were patched, selecting
greys that had been pre-mixed on the palette as shown (above). These first
applications are very simplified as light, mid and dark tones, and taken directly
from the palette

40 artist April 2021 www.painters-online.co.uk

 PRACTICAL

p STAGE THREE
Patching-in continued over the entire surface so that most of
the gesso primer was covered. Lighter tones were then added to
the shell and the brushstrokes began to follow the direction of
the form, which began to suggest its volume. As more paint was
applied, shapes and edges were adjusted with contrasting tones/
mixes

p STAGE FOUR
Before going any further the darkest and
lightest values were added; the design on the
cover of the music is the darkest tone within the
composition so once this had been painted all
the surrounding tones could be checked and
adjusted. The shapes and proportions of the
objects were continually checked, as were the
diagonals of the edges of the sheet music, which
were redrawn. The lightest mixes of grey were
now used to pick out the highlights within the
shell and also to delineate the short, scalloped
curves along its edges

p STAGE FIVE
I began to look at the smaller areas of tone and
some of the more subtle changes of light within
the composition – the way the light falls on the
back wall and the contour and smaller tonal
changes across the top of the shell. Directional
brushwork follows the shape of the shell to
suggest its volume, using a larger flat brush
alongside a smaller round bristle. The text on
the music cover was suggested with a few fluid
brushstrokes

u FINISHED PAINTING
Shell with Manuscript, oil 83113/4in
(20330cm).
Attention was given to the surface of the
table and to the wall. There was too much of
a jump in tone from the lighter part of the
wall to where it became darker, creating too
sharp an edge, so this transition was softened
by scumbling over a tone in between the two
areas. The edges of some of the shapes and
shadows on the tabletop were also picked out
and given a little more definition Next month: Tone and temperature

www.painters-online.co.uk artist April 2021 41

GOUACHE
Taking the
medium further
In his final article aimed at newcomers to gouache,
Robert Brindley explains that the medium is not
only suitable for plein-air sketching, but also for
mixed media, as he demonstrates here
G
ouache is ideally suited
for small plein-air works or
sketches. Like watercolour,
the equipment required is
minimal and extremely portable: a
sketch pad, four or five colours, two
or three brushes and water are all
that is needed. In hot conditions it is
advisable to paint small as the drying
time is almost immediate; however,
unlike acrylics, any paint left on the
palette can still be used by rewetting it
at a later date.
I painted one of my first plein-air
gouache paintings almost 25 years ago
on a warm, early summer day and, as
with all my plein-air work, I remember
the day perfectly. The painting,
Windbreaks, Sandsend Beach 1 (above), was
done directly onto the paper, with no
tinted ground.
42 artist April 2021
Before you accept any of your
paintings are finished, I advise you to
consider the following points:
• Does the composition work? A
successful painting should have a visual
path through the painting, leading to
the focal point.
• Does the tonal sequence work? Tone
is all important, therefore it is prudent
to carry out a few small, tonal studies
before starting to paint.
• Does the colour harmony work? After
tone it is important to ensure that the
colour harmony works. Never have too
many strident colours opposing each
other in your paintings.
• Do the edges work? Too many hard
edges scattered around the painting
will destroy the balance and lead-in.
In general, eliminate most of the
harder edges around the outer areas of
p Autumn Field Near Malton, North Yorkshire,
gouache on Arches Not paper, 7371/2in
(18319cm).
After applying a light coat of texture paste
to the paper I began by introducing red and
yellow washes over the entire surface. When
dry the details were added using progressively
thicker mixes of gouache. Finally, a little spatter
was used to texture the foreground
p Windbreaks, Sandsend Beach 1, gouache
on Not watercolour paper 140lb (300gsm),
31/2391/2in (9325cm).
The background darks were painted very
quickly and, when dry, the hints of detail
were overlaid carefully with lighter tones. The
foreground was painted by using three or
four variations of colour applied almost wet-
into-wet. When dry, small flecks of light were
added to suggest texture. The windbreaks
were added last, using very simple, almost
crude, blocks of colour
your painting. It may help to squint your
eyes to identify the worst offenders.
By softening a few edges and retaining
some of the harder ones, you will
be able to move the emphasis and
strengthen the focal point.
www.painters-online.co.uk
 PRACTICAL

p Cafe Foscarini, Academia, Venice, gouache on acrylic-primed and heavily
textured mount board, 51/2351/2in (14314cm).
Painted en plein air, I didn’t have to think about the composition of this
painting as the light draws the viewer’s eye directly to the figures under the
umbrella that is creating a focal point
p Beehives, Bank of The River Esk, Whitby, gouache on Arches
Not paper, 140lb (300gsm), 171/23191/2in 45350cm).
Before any gouache was used I applied a loose, colourful,
acrylic block-in. When dry, gouache paint was then built up as
described in Windbreaks, Sandsend Beach 1

DEMONSTRATION Poppies near Windrush, the Cotswolds

MATERIALS
l Arches 140lb Not paper, painted with
one coat of white acrylic primer.
l Winsor & Newton acrylic colours: raw
sienna, cadmium red, Winsor violet,
alizarin crimson and ultramarine blue.
l Winsor & Newton Designer Gouache:
primary yellow, permanent yellow
deep, yellow ochre, spectrum red,
primary red, ultramarine blue,
primary blue and white.

p MY REFERENCE SKETCH
I observed this subject whilst driving to the Cotswolds to teach
a painting course. There was no possibility of parking anywhere
nearby, so I pulled into a lay-by a few miles down the road and
made a quick sketch as a memory-jogger. On considering the pros
and cons of the subject, I felt that it lacked a focal point. There was,
however, an effective lead-in created by the deep gully running
from the foreground into the picture plane. To make full use of this
I decided to place a cottage at approximately a third in from the
left and top border. To add vibrancy to the work, I also decided to
underpaint the paper with bright purples using acrylic paint

u STAGE ONE
I drew out a very simple outline in 2B pencil

www.painters-online.co.uk artist April 2021 43

?????????
t STAGE TWO
I began the acrylic underpainting. I used mixes of raw
sienna plus a touch of cadmium red applied as a very
diluted, warm wash in the sky and distant fields. For the
distant left-hand trees and the right-hand foreground I
used two mixes of Winsor violet, one diluted more than the
other. The distant right-hand trees and the dark gully are
a mix of Winsor violet, ultramarine blue and yellow ochre,
and the pale foreground areas are alizarin crimson and
ultramarine blue

u STAGE THREE
For the gouache block-in I started to develop
the greens throughout the painting using
the following mixes: ultramarine, a touch of
spectrum red and a touch of yellow ochre
(for the extreme darks), ultramarine blue,
primary yellow, a touch of primary red and a
touch of white; primary blue, primary yellow
and a touch of white. Care was taken not to
cover all of the acrylic underpainting, which
was needed to increase the vibrancy of the
finished painting

p STAGE FOUR
Continuing the gouache block-in I also
worked on the distant fields and cottage.
The following new mixes were used in
conjunction with those from the previous
stage: yellow ochre, ultramarine blue and
white; primary yellow, primary blue and
white; primary yellow, primary blue, a touch
of spectrum red and white (distant fields);
yellow ochre, a touch of spectrum red, touch
of ultramarine blue and white for the cottage
p STAGE FIVE
I continued to develop the painting, especially the foreground grasses. I
used the previous mixes with the addition of the following for the details
in the grasses: permanent yellow deep and white; primary yellow, primary
blue and white; primary yellow, primary red, a touch of primary blue and
white. I used a Pro Arte Series 203 No. 2 rigger for the fine details. For the
cottage roof I used ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson and white and, for the
windows, ultramarine blue, spectrum red and a touch of yellow ochre

44 artist April 2021 www.painters-online.co.uk

 PRACTICAL

t STAGE SIX
Continuing to develop the texture and
grasses throughout the painting, I introduced
the first poppies with mixes of primary red,
spectrum red, alizarin crimson, a touch of
yellow ochre and white. I then painted the
sky using very loose brushmarks. For the top
of the sky I used white and ultramarine blue;
in the centre I used white, primary blue and
a touch of alizarin crimson and, keeping it
extremely light near the horizon, I used white,
yellow ochre and a touch of alizarin crimson

q FINISHED PAINTING
Poppies near Windrush, the Cotswolds, gouache, 113/43153/4in (30340cm). Robert Brindley
To finish I continued to paint the poppies as before, being careful to paint large poppies in the is a member of the Royal Society
foreground, reducing the size as I moved further into the painting, indicating drifts of poppies in of Marine Artists. His book Painting
the distance. Landscapes in Oils is published by
The positioning of flowers can be a bit tricky as they can look too ‘placed’ and unrealistic. I use Crowood Press (www.crowood.com) and
his four DVDs are available from Town
what I call a ‘random dotting’ technique where I squint, almost shutting my eyes, then dot them
House Films
in at speed without placing them with any care. It’s important that many of the foreground
www.townhousefilms.co.uk
poppies overlapped naturally as too many separate flower heads wouldn’t look natural. Finally, www.robertbrindley.com
additional details to the fields and trees were added

www.painters-online.co.uk artist April 2021 45

TA04p42_45_Robert Brindley.indd 45 01/02/2021 10:40

OIL PAINTING MATERIALS & TECHNIQUES: 3RD OF 4
Scumbling and
glazing
This month Alan Bickley focuses on a few traditional techniques
that will help to add interest to your oil paintings
S
cumbling and glazing are two
traditional techniques that will
increase the visual interest
in an oil painting; both were
used extensively by JMW Turner but
they are as relevant today as they
were then. They can, if used correctly
and selectively, help to create greater
interest in a painting, and aren’t too
46 artist April 2021
difficult to master with a bit of practice.
Scumbling
Scumbling is a dry and broken
application of paint that involves
dragging fairly dry and sticky paint
over an existing layer of (preferably)
dry colour. It’s generally more effective
optically if you scumble a lighter colour
over a darker one, and a warm colour
over cool, although this doesn’t have to
be the case.
The result will leave the lower area
of colour exposed – complementary
colours work particularly well. If
necessary, you can add your paint to
a piece of absorbent material such as
unwaxed cardboard; any surplus oils
will leach out to give a drier consistency
of paint that will drag over the surface
and break up far more easily.
Use a large flat brush – I find that a
stiff hog bristle brush works well – then
lightly drag your loaded brush across
the area to be scumbled, keeping it
fairly flat to the canvas. A painting knife
will also give you some interesting
textures, and you can thicken your oil
paint with a pinch or two of chalk dust if
you find that it’s too wet.
Glazing
The second of these useful techniques
is glazing, which is often used in
combination with scumbling – these
two techniques complement each
other rather well. Glazing is a method
t This close-up shows how scumbling can
be used for sky and land
www.painters-online.co.uk
 PRACTICAL

A selection of glazing mediums

t q Lichfield Cathedral, plein-air oil sketch on board,

111/4391/2in (30324cm).
Here you can see the difference between the original,
unglazed sketch (left) and after glazing (below)

of adding a thin layer of transparent

paint over a dry layer; optical mixing
occurs and the colours appear to have
more luminosity and depth, and also
reflect light. Waiting for the layers to
dry can be a little time-consuming but
the intensity of colour that is created
by this process can’t be achieved by
mixing colours on your palette. You
need to use a soft brush and my choice
in general is a Jackson’s Black Hog,
which has soft bristles and is perfect for
the job.
Linseed oil is too thick for glazing, so
opt for one of the many purpose-made
mediums that are available. Winsor &
Newton Blending & Glazing medium
will give you good transparency; Liquin
is another. I also like Gamblin Neo
Megilp oil painting medium, which
gives a satin gloss finish. You can apply
numerous separate layers to achieve
your desired colour and luminosity.
Work on just the specific areas that are
required – these can either be large or
quite small passages in your painting
that you feel would benefit from glazing.
In Lichfield Cathedral (above and right),
which was a plein-air oil sketch, you can
see the luminosity and subtle colour
changes that glazing can achieve.

Knife painting
This is a really expressive direct
application technique that is sure to
bring out the best of your creativity –

www.painters-online.co.uk artist April 2021 47

OIL PAINTING MATERIALS & TECHNIQUES: 3RD OF 4
you can develop a whole new range
of styles and add inspirational mark
making to your repertoire. A painting
knife (which generally has a cranked
handle, palette knives don’t, they
are designed to mix paint) is a great
tool for adding heavy impasto and
texture. The paint can be thickened
by adding a modifier such as Gamblin
Cold Wax Medium or Winsor & Newton
Oleopasto, but there are numerous
brands for the artist to experiment with.
Choose a metal knife that has a flexible
spring to it – you will only get this in a
quality branded metal knife. Avoid the
plastic ones. Different sizes and shapes
will give different effects, so buy a small
selection to experiment with.
It’s not essential that you complete a
whole painting using a knife, although
this can be great fun. Use it for areas
that need a bit of ‘beefing up’, perhaps
a cloud structure or just to add a few
layers of texture to a foreground. They
aren’t the easiest tool to use though,
and they certainly aren’t good for detail,
but with practice some useful effects
‘Value is the relative lightness and darkness
of a specific colour’
48 artist April 2021
can be obtained. Don’t layer the paint
on too thickly or it may start to crack in
the future. You can add broken colour
over a drier layer (scumbling), leaving
interesting underpainting to show
through.
Correct any mistakes by scraping
the paint off, rather than adding more
paint. The finished work will (or should
have) a lively, spontaneous and fresh
look with clean vibrant colours. Knife
painting isn’t about detail, it’s a way of
applying paint in way that is different
from a brush, and it may help those
artists who want to loosen up their
painting – too much detail can often be
the artist’s Achilles heel!
Underpainting and coloured
grounds
This is often referred to as imprimatura.
I’m generally looking for a degree of
unification in my paintings, so working
on a coloured ground is an important
first step to achieving this. I often leave
small areas of this ground to show
through in the finished piece, and these
A value finder
help to create an overall colour balance
throughout my work.
A mid-tone grey ground is a good
option as it will allow you to judge your
tonal range both up and down the tonal
scale. I like to start by blocking in my
darkest tones, then work progressively
towards the lightest areas. You don’t
have to limit yourself to a neutral grey
of course, raw sienna, burnt sienna and
other variations will all provide you with
a useful ground to start your painting
on. Selecting a colour that gives you
a degree of harmony throughout your
painting is one way of proceeding, but
quite often a contrasting ground colour
can also work well.
Importance of tonal values
Although this isn’t actually a technique,
this important aspect of constructing a
painting is worthy of a few paragraphs.
I touched on this in my first article
(February 2021), but its importance
cannot be overstated. Tonal values
will occur naturally in a painting, but
the secret of a successful painting is
to further exploit these values to help
create an illusion of depth – as though
we’re looking at a three-dimensional
image, when we know that it’s actually a
flat plane.
Value is the relative lightness and
darkness of a specific colour. It’s worth
bearing in mind that simply relying on
strong colours alone is not necessarily
the way to achieve a strong visual
artwork. Tonal values are not shades of
grey – many of us get confused here. All
colours have a value and with the help
of a tonal scale such as the one shown
(left), it should be simple enough to
establish these values.
Don’t confuse tonal value with colour.
Tone or value refers to how light or dark
a colour is, from black at one end of
the scale to white at the other and the
mid-tones in between. Colour can have
an infinite number of different tones.
It’s important to have tonal contrast
and balance; paintings that have little
contrast by just relying on mid-tones
can often look flat and without life. If
you photograph a finished painting and
convert it digitally to greyscale, you will
be able to see how successful you’ve
been in mastering tonal value. Selective
use of these values will go a long way to
creating visual impact in your work.
Chiaroscuro, which is basically the use
of clear, strong tonal contrasts of both
light and dark, will achieve the illusion
of three-dimensional volume on a flat
surface, generally using a single light
source with strong shadows, giving a
clear contrast. Interiors with figures will
feature prominently in chiaroscuro, as will
www.painters-online.co.uk

p Valletta Harbour, oil on board,16320in (40.5351cm).
I painted this using a selection of painting knives in two studio sessions, working from my
plein-air sketchbook studies
still life. It’s a useful way to learn about
value and tone at its widest spectrum of
light and dark. Caravaggio is one of the
most notable painters who used this
method and it’s worth having a look at
his work.
Making corrections
One of the many benefits of painting
with oils is that you have the ability to
correct problematic passages of work as
you progress. Not that I’m advocating
fiddling around with areas all over the
painting, you should never get to that
stage. Often you will get a build-up of
thick unmanageable paint that you just
can’t do anything with, generally in the
foreground region, but skies can also
have a tendency to be overworked.
The easiest and quickest method
is to scrape off any excess paint with
a painting or palette knife, which
will generally leave a ghost image
underneath that can be left or removed
www.painters-online.co.uk
entirely with white spirit. For larger
areas that have become too difficult
to work over, and which could include
the bulk of your painting, the top layer
can be removed with a process known
as tonking. To do this, place a sheet
of absorbent paper, such a newsprint,
over the work and gently rub the surface
of the paper – you should find that a
whole layer of top paint lifts off.
If you follow the tried and tested
methods of building up a painting using
either the direct or indirect approach,
none of this should be necessary,
but inevitably issues will occur at
some point, but which can be easily
addressed with little or no detriment to
your painting.
Next month: how to prepare and present
your finished oil paintings for display by adding
a home-made frame.
PRACTICAL
Alan Bickley
studied fine art and graphic design
at Stafford College of Art and spent
many years as a designer and
editorial artist in the newspaper
industry. He has won many awards in
The Artist Open painting competitions
and is a regular contributor to the
PaintersOnline e-newsletter*. Alan’s
TA more recent work can be seen here:
www.painters-online.co.uk/artists/
alanbickley
*To receive Painters-Online e-newsletters,
sign up here:
www.painters-online.co.uk/register
artist April 2021 49
OIL
PASTELS

The Last Snows of Winter in the Pennines, mixed-media on Canson Heritage 300lb (640gsm) Not
100-per-cent cotton watercolour paper, 20322in (51356cm).
Having created the initial foundation with acrylic inks, acrylic spray paints and photo montage
techniques combined in several layers, oil pastels were used to add contrast as drawn areas.
Masking techniques were used to create straight edges, which the oil pastel helped to sharpen
up. Scumbling techniques with lighter colours were used in the foreground, which allowed
saturated ink washes to be absorbed between the open drawn marks of lighter oil pastel
colours. The close-up, left, shows these creative techniques in greater detail. The final painting is
one of intrigue, with lost and found shapes and forms throughout

Explore the creative

possibilities of oil pastels
I
new and rewarding ways of using the
Robert Dutton shows am constantly surprised that oil
pastels are often regarded as a medium, especially with mixed media.
that oil pastels are medium that is second rate, difficult
Quality
to work with and thus overlooked
versatile to use and an for painting and drawing, yet they I advise using professional quality oil
essential part of the make a great contribution to the artist’s
repertoire. Getting to understand the
pastels, even for the beginner, because
they have a high ratio of top-quality
artist’s creative tool kit properties and advantages of using pigments to binder. Cheaper brands
oil pastels to paint with is an exciting contain lower-quality pigments and
journey – I’m constantly discovering far too much binder; wax is often used

50 artist April 2021 www.painters-online.co.uk

 PRACTICAL
u Moorland Coppice in Evening Light, oil
pastel and acrylic on Canson Heritage Not
watercolour paper, 300lb (640gsm), 30322in
(76356cm).
Expressive washes of acrylic ink and paint
created the initial layers on gesso- and
pumice-primed heavy-duty watercolour
paper. Using large and medium size Sennelier
oil pastels, I switched between dark and light
colours, using the pastels on their tips and
sides. To create details and further expression,
heavily saturated areas were painted into
with different brushes loaded with Winsor &
Newton Sansodor low-odour solvent. The
same solvent was applied to different palette
knives, which were used to press oil pastel
deep into the textured surface and to mix
and blend the soft oil pastels in areas and to
create sgraffito drawn marks between all the
final oil pastel layers. This study will now form
a reference for a much larger mixed-media
studio painting

as the binder, which is why they are

often described as being like children’s
crayons. Fundamentally you get what
you pay for.
My go-to brands of oil pastels are
Sennelier and Royal Talens Van Gogh.
Both brands are highly pigmented,
a joy to work with and available in
many different gorgeous and useful
colours. Sets are also offered by both
brands; these are a good idea and are
an affordable way to acquire some oil
pastels.
Royal Talens Van Gogh oil pastels
are made with pure pigments, mineral
oils and some wax binders and have a
remarkably soft and smooth application
on all sorts of supports – paper, card,
canvas, board, even stone. They have a
wonderful tinting strength and are easy
to use because of their softness.
Sennelier oil pastels have an
extraordinarily high pigment content
that gives a high colouring and covering
potential, excellent brightness and a
high degree of light stability throughout
the colour range; they are a joy to work
with. There are metallic oil pastels
too, which I also use. Three sizes of
Sennelier oil pastel are available:
normal, standard and giant. The colours
mix beautifully to create so many
variants of tone and shade that you’ll
always find the perfect match for what
you need. The white is very soft and
creamy and perfect for creating lighter
tints and shades with colours. The black
and the white pastels are the perfect
drawing tools for sketching monotone or
to use with other drawing media such as
graphite and ink.
For artists requiring a harder pastel,
Caran d’Ache Neopastels are a great
choice. There are two types – Neocolor
I and Neopastel. Neopastel is slightly
softer than Neocolor I. Transitions of
colour on all types of surfaces are soft
and the medium easily responds to
solvents such as turpentine, to thin it
and blend it for wash effects. Finger
blending is easy with Neopastel but
with Neocolor I you have to work that
bit harder. Colours remain sharp and
clean with both types of Caran d’Ache
oil pastels and radiate from the support
– especially on white.
Combining with other media
Dry drawing media such as graphite
is fantastic to use with oil pastels. I
intermix. The graphite cuts through
the oil pastel to make interesting and
expressive ‘shiny’ drawing marks and oil
pastel over graphite covers it.
Another exciting way to use oil pastels,
oil sticks and related oil bars is to use a
painting solvent with them, such as low-
odour thinners or turpentine to soften
and paint with them. The professional
brands of oil pastels discussed here
readily mix with solvents. A coloured
ground or base layer of acrylic inks
and paints allowed to show through
subsequent translucent and semi-
opaque layers of oil pastel creates
really exciting mixed-media paintings,
too.
Supports
Oil pastels can be used on many
different supports but the oil content
will weaken and leach through un-
primed supports (card and paper in
particular). To increase longevity, there
are a number of options for paper and
card supports. I advise stretching all
papers below 140lb (300gsm) and, when
dry, coating them with a gesso base.
This protects the paper and thickens it;
the oil pastel oxidises outwards rather
than back into the paper when drying

www.painters-online.co.uk artist April 2021 51

OIL PASTELS
1 2
4 5
IDEAS FOR USING OIL
PASTELS EXPRESSIVELY
1. Thick acrylic paint on canvas board primed
with gesso and pumice. Heavy applications
of soft oil pastel were worked into the
surface in layers to create impasto and
scumbled effects.
2. Oil pastel washes (thinned with solvent)
on canvas paper. This underpainting with oil
pastel acts as a resist to thin applications of
white acrylic paint to create scumbled colour
effects with both media.
3. Oil pastel was loosely applied to Canson
Mi-Teintes ‘Touch’ pastel paper, allowing the
colour of the support to show through and
become an integral part of the painting.
Acrylic inks were applied next. The result is
both transparent painted areas and impasto
drawn marks in the same painting.
4. Toning and blending with oil pastels on
Canson Mi-Teintes ‘Touch’ pastel paper.
Heavy pressure creates a dense heavily
saturated area of oil pastel on the support.
Lighter applications create an implied lighter
tone. Different coloured supports will give
different optical effects, making the applied
colours appear warmer, darker and so on. On
the right, white oil pastel was used with the
red to create a lighter opaque tint.
5. Hatched layering with oil pastels both
soft and hard. By varying the pressure and
52 artist April 2021
7 8
direction of the strokes, oil pastels create
depth in drawing with colour.
6. Graphite with oil pastel on Canson Mi-
Teintes ‘Touch’ pastel paper (white). Graphite
was applied first, then oil pastel, then
graphite again to cut through the oil pastel.
A soft light green oil pastel was applied last
of all. IMPORTANT: wipe the pastels and
graphite sticks with a soft cloth between
applications to keep both media clean.
7. Diluted water-soluble graphite applied
on a prepared textured ground (Wallace
Seymour ‘Bone Ash’) on acid-free card, which
was allowed to dry, then drawn into with a
scalpel blade. Oil pastel was applied next
then drawn into as well with a scalpel to
reveal the graphite under drawing. Harmony
in layering.
8. Masking techniques with thin
3
6
photocopier-type papers are a great way to
create straight-edged shapes when working
with oil pastels. Masking tape is useful for
masking out areas before oil pastel is applied
if you want to work hands-free without
holding the paper. In this example soft oil
pastel colours were blended, working one
into the other with firm strokes. Other areas
were blended with fingers to create smooth
transitions. The two central areas were then
protected with strips of masking tape and
red soft oil pastels applied. The top colour
and middle were finger blended and the
bottom section left as open, drawn strokes.
Once the masking tape was removed,
pink oil pastel was then applied to an area
between two pieces of torn paper to give
a contrasting shape with a ragged edge.
A good example of how to achieve sharp
edges and layering with oil pastels.
www.painters-online.co.uk

out. Gesso is available as white, black
and clear. I use all three depending on
my creative directions.
White gesso can be used on its own
or tinted with a colour and texture
gel mediums can be used to create
extra tooth for more expressive oil
pastel painting. Clear gesso is perfect
for protecting coloured textured card
when you want the colour to become an
integral part of the painting.
Papers above 300gsm do not need
stretching as they are heavier, but still
need a coat of gesso to protect them. In
place of gesso, acrylic inks, acyclic paint
and Derwent Inktense are ideal media
to use for an oil pastel underpainting.
The advantage of using these in place of
gesso is that the surface of your paper
support can be utilised much more.
Dedicated oil pastel papers and
mixed-media papers are available
and are my preferred support for oil
pastel, as the surface textures are
not so prominent that they become
intrusive in your work. Canson Figuras
(290gsm) is perfect for oil pastels.
Designed especially for oil painting,
it has a high-performance barrier to
absorb oil and bonding agents evenly,
while guaranteeing superb resistance to
pigments leaching through. Uncoated,
the paper has a natural texture similar
to that of canvas.
Canson Acrylic paper 400gsm is one
of my favourites when I require a strong
paper support for oil pastels and acrylic
www.painters-online.co.uk
PRACTICAL
Spring in the Pennines, oil pastel on Canson Mi-Teintes ‘Touch’ 350gsm black pastel paper,
193/43251/2in (50365cm).
Oil pastels are an excellent medium for drawing with – especially on location. They are
lightweight, don’t dust or easily smudge, are quick and efficient to use and water-resistant. I
quickly capture a scene with little fuss, preparation or set up, with enough visual information to
create a mixed-media painting
painting techniques. It is slightly creamy
(a little off white) in colour and adds
warmth to washes, and is cold-pressed
(Not), so the texture is similar to
watercolour paper and not as intrusive
or as prominent as some canvas-type
oil pastel and painting papers.
Canson Mi-Teintes ‘Touch’ is another
ideal paper for oil pastels. The slightly
sanded surface is unique as it allows
detail and looser, more expressive
techniques when required. It’s a very
receptive surface that works with you
as you paint. Available in 10 different Robert Dutton
colours it is very much a pick-up-and- is an associate member of the Society of
go-type of paper for oil pastels and Graphic Fine Art. He teaches mixed-media
mixed-media painting. The white colour drawing and painting techniques in the
is particularly useful for graphite and Lake District, the Peak District, the Wirral
oil pastel in combination – the high and north Norfolk as well as workshops
white background enhances drawn and and masterclasses online (www.
painted graphite marks especially. shopkeeparty.com). Robert has won many
awards for his work. His book Drawing
Oil pastels are versatile, exciting and
Dramatic Landscapes, New Ideas and
rewarding to use and offer unique and
Innovative Techniques using Mixed Media,
inspirational new creative directions published by Search Press, rrp £19.99, is
for your work. They add an exciting available to purchase at a discounted price
dynamism to my work, especially in from our online bookstore:
my mixed-media paintings, for adding http://bit.ly/3cw1AUX
wonderful textured and broken colour www.rdcreative.co.uk
effects over base colours. TA
artist April 2021 53
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9

2

Paint watercolour
portraits that glow
W
hen I teach my older
students, who have more
often than not taken the
decision to rekindle their
passion for art since retiring, I ask
which medium they first painted with.
The answer is invariably watercolour.
And one of the questions, as a portrait
tutor, I used to dread being asked was
‘Can you demonstrate watercolour
techniques?’
As an oil painter for most of my career
I have always considered watercolour
painters to possess some sort of
magical qualities – to be able to create
such watery masterpieces with just
the fine flick of a brush! In short I have
always struggled with watercolours and
found that my paintings lacked any
sense of depth or richness.
Build layers of colour
About a year ago, however, I decided
to face my watercolour fears head-
on by researching watercolour
techniques in depth and practising
on several watercolour paper samples
www.painters-online.co.uk
Self Portrait, watercolour on Aquaboard, 16320in (40.5351cm)
Jo W Pickering demonstrates a watercolour
portrait using layering and glazing techniques
in building layers and even glazes of
colour to achieve the required depth
in my paintings. Who knew we could
build layers of glaze in a watercolour
painting? Not I!
As an oil painter I like the ‘process’
of oil painting, from sketching to
underpainting to ‘building’ layers. I
mistakenly thought that watercolours
had to be a one-layer wonder.
I also began experimenting with
different surfaces and discovered
Ampersand Aquaboard, which is
essentially a fine layer of clay over
a board, which holds watercolour
extremely well and will never buckle. It
can be expensive, so I only use it for big
projects. The same effects, however, can
be achieved with watercolour papers.
I prefer to use watercolour pan sets as
tubes can often be too vivid for portrait
painting. Rather than work across the
entire painting I prefer to work on one
section at a time in building layers. I
usually begin with light flesh tones.
Remember with watercolours to build
from light to dark. When one layer
is completely dry I work glaze layers
over the top, which will strengthen the
underlying colours. A glaze is simply
a watery layer with a touch of colour
added. You can add as many glazes
as you wish in order to achieve the
required density of colour. For the flesh
tones I use a mix of white, yellow ochre,
cadmium red (I find crimson shades can
be too harsh for portraits) and a very
small amount of Prussian blue to tone it
all down and become less ‘peachy’.
Although I consider myself a relative
newcomer to watercolours, I now
thoroughly enjoy taking my time, and
building layer upon layer of colour in
building intensity. TA w
artist April 2021 55
DEMONSTRATION Alex in Shades

MATERIALS p STAGE ONE p STAGE TWO

� Reeves watercolour pan set of 24,
including cadmium red, yellow ochre,
titanium white and ultramarine blue
for the flesh tones
� Brushes: sizes 2 and 6 and a micro
detail series 25 fine brush
� Support: Aquaboard
I began, as is necessary with
Aquaboard, to apply a layer
of water over the entire
board and then left it to dry
completely. This brings any
air bubbles to the surface
and gives a smoother finish
to the painting
I selected a really colourful photo of my aunt and used the
grid system to achieve accurate results with a light pencil.
There are various drawing grid apps but I still prefer to
print my photo, which gives the advantage of being able
to fold it and only draw one section at a time. I really like
to take my time with the drawing stage as it saves a lot of
time when starting the painting process. I was careful after
drawing to erase any grid lines

p STAGE THREE p STAGE FOUR

I began as always with a large area of skin tone and wet that area of the painting I worked around the face, in turn painting an
first, which is the wet-on-wet technique. I then lightly added my flesh tones, which area with water and adding wet-on-wet or
I mixed in the pan set. I used a dragging technique of moving the paint around the revisiting a now dry area and adding further
area. I then left this area to dry completely before adding further layers glaze layers

56 artist April 2021 www.painters-online.co.uk

 PRACTICAL

p STAGE SIX
This close-up shows the effects of glaze layers over a dry area
on the t-shirt

p STAGE FIVE
The rest of the painting was done by simply
working around the different sections,
building layers before moving onto another
area

u FINISHED PAINTING
Alex in Shades, watercolour on Aquaboard,
20316in (51340.5cm).
I decided to leave the background plain for
this piece as I thought a background might
take away from the highlights in the face;
I also think it makes for a more contemporary
look

Jo W Pickering
graduated from Duncan Of Jordanstone
School of Art, Dundee and is currently
Head of Art at a Stockton secondary
school, having taught art to secondary
school students for 30 years. She also
teaches adult workshops in portrait
painting. Jo has exhibited widely in her
local area and also featured on Sky Arts
Landscape Artist of the Year in 2017
and 2018.

www.painters-online.co.uk artist April 2021 57

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 PRACTICAL

Be your own best critic

Mike Barr offers some sensible advice about criticism,
Mike Barr both constructive and destructive, and urges you to
is a Fellow of the Royal South
Australian Society of Arts and a
take a hard look at your own output. If you can be
member of The Australian Guild of honest with yourself there will only be one critical
Realist Artists. Mike has won over 80
awards, including 17 first prizes. You
voice you need to listen to – your own
can find more of Mike’s work at
www.mikebarrfineart.com

C
ritique is a big word in the world
of art. From the humblest painting
done on the back porch to art worth
millions, there is always a critic at
hand and they are more than ready to offer
a few words of their wisdom! Criticism is
nothing to artists at the top of their game –
their success is enough encouragement for
them. However, for most artists criticism can
be crippling.
There are three main types of criticism.
l There is the unsolicited critique. We all
know how annoying this is! Being on the
receiving end of it can be very discouraging,
particularly if it is in earshot of those around
us.
l Constructive criticism always seems to be
to believe it! Although family and friends
are being polite, they are actually setting
up an artist for mediocrity. However,
encouragement is a different thing
altogether and it can be done without
resorting to gushing untruths!
Having just started painting as a hobby
or career, it’s almost impossible to improve
when we already believe our work to be
great! The answer is to be our own best critic.
But how do we do that?
Firstly, get on the internet and look at
some amazing art – trawl through sites like
Pinterest and you’ll come to the realisation
that there are many artists in the world
who produce amazing work. This is not to
put ourselves down, but just to put our
art in perspective. The next big step is to
put our work into open exhibitions. When
our work is hung with the works of others,
our paintings are seen in a completely
different light. What may have seemed like
a masterpiece at home, suddenly doesn’t
seem quite so good. This is not self-inflicted
cruelty, it’s self-imposed honesty! When we
realise that we can improve, improvement
is possible. When we think we’ve made it, it
just means we’ve stopped learning.
Critique other artists’ works by all means,
but keep it to yourself! Private critiquing is a
great way to learn. Take note of what is good
and what is bad in other’s paintings and see
if it applies to you. Painting truly is a journey
and it never stops – enjoy that journey. TA

available from our peers. Many of

us even seek such opinions, but
asking for such critiques will often
just bring in a flood of conflicting
personal views that add nothing
for the artist.
l The most devastating of

critiques, though, are the

dishonestly kind ones given by
family and friends. You know,
the ones that tell you how
talented you are, how wonderful
the painting is and many other
buttery things, which may
be completely untrue. The
devastating thing about this is
that artists can actually begin

Storm Cocklers – Goolwa,

acrylic on canvas, 29½339½in
(753100cm).
There is one place criticism
shouldn’t take place and that is at
an art show with potential buyers
in earshot! One artist tried to
give me a ‘constructive critique’
in such a situation and it wasn’t
appreciated. The painting sold
and won a special award

www.painters-online.co.uk artist April 2021 59

A R T I S T S’ P R O F E S S I O N A L D E V E LO PM E N T: 3R D O F 6
Marine Costello,
Communications Officer at Parker Harris
Parker Harris was created by Emma Parker
and Penny Harris in 1990 and it is now one
of the leading visual arts consultancies in
the UK. Parker Harris manage some of the
most important art prizes and exhibitions
in the UK and mentor artists through all
aspects of their careers. To learn more about
their professional development and online
marketing coaching programmes,
email info@parkerharris.co.uk. You can
also stay in touch with Parker Harris
on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook at
@ParkerHarrisCo.  on these sites already, and that they work
A
sk any art professional how the
market has changed in the last
few years, and they’ll answer one
thing: online sales are rising and
are here to stay. Although the
internet has been around for a while now
most art galleries, artists and collectors have
taken a while to embrace online avenues.
This all changed when the Covid-19 crisis
forced brick-and-mortar galleries to close
their doors and made it impossible not to go
online. Today, collectors expect to be able
to purchase art online – and actively look
for new artists to follow – so, how about
getting your work in front of them? Here
are five ideas you can look into right now to
start selling work online or to up your digital
marketing strategy.
Enter open exhibitions
If you’d like to sell your work online and
reach new audiences, look for open
exhibitions that complete their physical
presence with a virtual gallery, or that are
100-per-cent online. A few examples of
successful on and off-line open exhibitions
are Wales Contemporary and Wells Art
Contemporary (usually call for entries until
the summer), the Sunday Times Watercolour
Competition (closes in September) and the
ING Discerning Eye (until early October)
as well as the TALPOpen Competition (see
pages 14-15 for full details). I am a little
biased as we manage most of these shows
at Parker Harris – but these events do drive
thousands of pounds worth of online and
off-line sales each year.
60 artist April 2021
How to sell your
work online
Marine Costello’s five top tips will help you to sell
your work online by getting it in front of potential
purchasers
Get your work on
marketplaces
Another avenue to explore is an online
marketplace. Sites such as Artsy and
Saatchi are the major players for visual
arts, but you will also find a marketplace
specialised in any type of artworks you
might sell: prints, multiples, crafts, etc. The
key advantages of online marketplaces are
that a lot of people use them daily, which
means your target audience is most likely
like search engines, so buyers can browse
through pieces by keywords, sizes, price –
making it more likely for the right collector
to find the right work: yours.
Find the right buyer
It’s important to point out here that
everyone – yes, everyone – is potentially
a buyer. We often hold this idea of an ‘art
collector’ as someone with vast sums of
money, an encyclopaedic knowledge of
visual arts, and a collection worthy of the
MoMA. Those collectors do of course exist
but the majority of people who buy art
do not necessarily fit this mould or have
the same reasons to purchase an artwork.
People may buy a piece from you because
it reminds them of something they love,
it fits with the décor in their living room,
or they want to gift it to someone special.
You need to get your work in front of these
everyday art collectors. So, put yourself in
your buyers’ shoes, think about what might
drive them to take a look at your work, and
use the right key words to attract them
– with #hashtags on social media, and
search-engine-optimised text on your site.
Create an online exhibition
Now that you’ve attracted people to
your site, show them the work that is
waiting in your studio. With the help
of the internet (and maybe a couple of
contacts who know how to write and
design a website), you can create your
very own online exhibition. Here are the
first steps you should take: first, curate a
coherent selection of recent pieces, get
high-quality pictures of your art, and write
an introduction to this body of work. Then,
start building (or updating) your website
to support not only a virtual gallery but
also online sales. It is crucial to make the
payment process as safe, and the purchase
as seamless, as possible. This entails using
an easy and secure payment method –
there are plenty to choose from, including
PayPal and Stripe, being clear on any
additional costs and timings – namely for
framing and shipping. Do be responsive
when potential buyers email you – you
should have a contact form on your website
and an email address through which
viewers can easily reach you.
Harness the power of social
media
An online exhibition has many advantages
– not the least being able to reach collectors
from around the world – but it doesn’t
provide you with a buzzy – and sometimes
boozy – private view. You will need to find
new and innovative ways to create events
that draw attention to your show and make
buyers feel like they have to get their hands
on your work now…before it sells out! A
few ideas you can explore are: hosting an
online talk with a curator or fellow artist,
giving select prospects a virtual studio
tour, or granting your email subscribers an
exclusive preview of the upcoming show.
In order to get the most out of your online
exhibition, you will also want to drive
traffic to it through your own social media
pages. Use all the tools in your tool box!
First of all, make a link from your profile to
the most relevant page of your website, ie
where people can look through your works
for sale and purchase them in a couple of
clicks. Secondly, write a call to action in your
bio – the part of your profile that shows up
at the top of your Instagram and Twitter
profiles, and at the top left of your Facebook
page – such as ‘click below to see my online
exhibition’ or ‘follow this link to purchase
my latest works’. It may seem elementary,
but the easier you make it for people to find
your work, the more likely they are to buy
it. Last but not least, schedule regular posts
leading up to and during your exhibition. TA
www.painters-online.co.uk
 CASE STUDY Lucy Marks
Q How did you get the idea to launch
your first online solo exhibition?
A My online exhibition, Quiet, Beauty &
Space, showcases a group of paintings
inspired by local National Trust sites.
During the first lockdown in 2020, I started
to think about putting the whole show
online without looking for any face-to-
face exhibition. I was not going to let a
global pandemic stop me painting or offer
my work to be seen!
Q Why did you make the decision to go
online?
A The decision to go exclusively online
was driven out of the need to get my work
seen and to give my viewers an insight
into my process. It is amazing how the
world really turned digital in 2020. Now,
my website and social media are a way for
me to share artwork with a new and much
bigger audience.
Q How did you choose a body of works
for the exhibition?
A I put together a story that reflected
www.painters-online.co.uk
what I had achieved before, during and after
lockdown. I wanted to show a number of
beautiful locations in East and West Sussex
through a mix of oil and watercolour works.
They picked themselves.  going online, I’d say ‘do it’. Like it or not,
Q How did you go about creating the
exhibition?
A I realised that putting on an online
exhibition, creating a quality catalogue and
accepting sales online required a different
skillset to mine. And it takes time, too. As an
artist, it was sensible to focus on what I do
best – paint – and look to others who deliver
online experiences every day. The public is
very sophisticated today and expectations
are high for online viewing.
I contacted Parker Harris, who made the
whole process of creating an online show
straightforward. It was a great experience
and the end product is wonderful. The
exhibition definitely has a feeling of me, my
personal style and art process within it and
that’s thanks to Parker Harris taking time
to listen to what I wanted and helping me
technically achieve that vision.
Q Any tips for artists who would
like to sell online or launch a virtual
exhibition?
A To any artists out there thinking about
we are in a digital age. And we are a
creative bunch who are good at moving
with the times.  
Q Anything else you’d like to add? 
A Whilst the virtual experience will not
replace galleries and gallery shows, I do
think it’s important for an artist to have
an online presence in today’s world.
And if you work with a good website
developer, it can come pretty close to
giving a flavour of the experience. It’s
like an old-fashioned business card – you
need a place for people to be able to see
your work and potentially buy.  
https://www.lucymarks.co.uk
Next month: Talking/writing about
your work
artist April 2021 61
Share the joy of painting
and give a subscription to
Leisure Painter is
the UK’s best-selling
THE UK ’ S B E S T-SE L L ING L E A R N -TO - PA INT M AG A ZINE
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How to paint
It is written especially for
from photos
beginners and amateur
painters, and is brimming over
APRIL 2021 £4.80
with tutorials, demonstrations
and practical advice
HOW DO I...
finish a painting? Paint winter Paint along with LP

landscapes Paint along with LP

Painting project
Paint along with LP

Part 1 Chris Pendleton introduces this month’s painting from a photograph

– a delightful kingfisher – and discusses how to plan the painting

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
■ How to prepare to paint a portrait
of a bird
■ Consider composition, background
and layout of your painting

MEET THE ARTIST

 Sketch 1 A thumbnail of the
kingfisher looking to the left

I love painting kingfishers and, although
Sketch 2 Here I experimentedthey’re  Sketch along
with quite common
placing the bird on a branch. and canals andshading
and ponds, they’rebird,
3 This isour
optionby
sometimes and
whichpretty
usually I placed
therivers
least likely background
it’s unbalanced with the
lakes
shytooand
far to the left.

TALP Open winner difficult to sketch. Often all you see is a

 Sketch 4 This isn’t much
better and the bird is still
too far to the left.
ARMCHAIR TRAVEL Composition
Paint from sketches Many of you will be familiar with the ‘rule
of thirds’, which, like all rules in art, is made
to be broken, but there’s no doubt that
placing the focal point of a painting roughly
a third of the way into an image often leads
to a successful composition. We are so used
to seeing images designed with this rule
in mind it goes unnoticed, but it’s worth
looking around to see how ubiquitous it
is in our visual culture, from advertising to
television and films.
EXPLORE ACRYLICS
04>
dab of electric blue on whirring wings as
it whizzes past, low over dark water. They
are vocal birds though, so listen out for
their shrill whistles, or you might hear a
little splash as one dives for a fish from an
overhanging branch. If you can get close,
they are sometimes good subjects, posing
beautifully as they gaze down into the
water, their gorgeous colours often set off
by dark foliage behind.
It is this extraordinary tropical colour
combination of hot orange and exquisite
 Your reference material for this project: a copyright-free photograph of a kingfisher, taken
blue and turquoise that makes them
unique amongst all our native birds. from www.pixabay.com
For years I used a Victorian stuffed
specimen for detailed reference, together The subject handling software, like Gimp, for image
with gestural sketches made in the The photo (above) is extremely sharp and manipulation or just use Paint in Windows
 Sketch 5 This is a possibility. Ifilike
eld,the
butidea
there are lots of free sources
 Sketch has the bird in a typical pose, perched
6 My final decision. Accessories, which will do a basic job.
of the tips of the twigs becoming ofbuds, just
photographs for artistsNotice
nowhow andthe
I’dbird’s headover
is water, looking for fish. You could, Image handling is memory-intensive so
coming into leaf and showing well against a dark
recommend Pixabay, wherenicelyimages
aligned are
one third ofof
thecourse, print the photo, but why not feeble old pcs are best disconnected from
background below. The bird’s position
free toisusebetter.
for domestic way from the top.
or commercial set up an old computer in your studio the internet and emptied of any other
purposes. instead? You can download image software and files; you can also load the
images on from a memory stick.
I began by making loose thumbnail
sketches using cheap drawing paper and
a 7B pencil (above right). A soft dark
lead like this lets me place basic areas of
light and shade quickly. At this point, I
wasn’t bothered about making accurate
drawings, but I did sketch the borders of
the thumbnails to help fix elements of the
composition within its frame.
From a commercial point of view I prefer
portrait-shaped designs, because, if I

I wanted my subject to be quite large in decide to publish them as greetings cards,

the composition so, when I placed it in the this is the shape that displays best in card

Develop your middle of the painting, the focal point of

its head would be about a third from the
top. I also positioned the bird somewhat
racking in shops. For the same reason,
I usually place the bird’s head, the most
interesting part of the design, towards the
brushstroke skills to the left-hand side so the strong line of
its beak wouldn’t lead the eye out of the
top of the painting, as that is often the
770024 071195

 House Sparrows, only part of a greetings card visible in the

composition. watercolour on Goldline racking. SHOW YOUR WORK
Next, I needed to think about the 200gsm cold pressed paper, Although I made one thumbnail of the
background of the painting. It’s good to 12x9½in. (32x24cm). The How did you get on? Please send a jpeg image of
bird pointing from right
your finished to left
painting as seen in
to dawn@tapc.co.uk along
Chris Pendleton
provide some habitat context and I wanted background wash is expressly the original Find out more about Chris
withphoto, for no
a few lines reason
on how other this project,
you found
FIND YOUR SUBJECT the bird to be perched on something more

 Photo 2 is another view of plum tree twigs

lively to help indicate the
birds’ nervous tension.

than personal
the imagewebsite,
preference,
for inclusion
horizontally
I decided
on the painting to flarea
project
so the bird now
PaintersOnline.
ip of our and his work by visiting
www.pendleton.co.uk

Be inspired by www.painters-online.co.uk APRIL 2021 21 www.painters-online.co.uk

faced right, which is easy to do in Gimp.
ƒ Photo 2 To help with the composition, APRIL 2021 23
nature & wildlife here is a photo of twigs on a plum tree

20 APRIL 2021 www.painters-online.co.uk

9

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01778 395174 and quote LPAI/TALP2104 MEET THE ARTIST
TALP Open winner

For a digital subscription or to learn more ARMCHAIR TRAVEL

Paint from sketches

about Leisure Painter, you can download EXPLORE ACRYLICS

04>

Develop your

a FREE issue now. Subscriptions are available brushstroke skills

770024 071195

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9

Go to www.pocketmags.com/leisurepainter
OPPORTUNITIES & COMPETITIONS
Check out the latest competitions to enter and make a note of important deadlines
Sending-in days
Bath Society of Artists
Details: 116th annual open
exhibition of works in all media,
except photography. Two works
may be submitted. Selected
works will go on show at the
Victoria Art Gallery in Bath in
June/July; dates to be confirmed.
Closing date: Submission dates
still awaiting confirmation. Please
check the website for details.
Contact: www.bsaorg.uk
Broadway Arts Festival
Open Art Competition 2021
Details: Open to all artists in all
media, including photography,
sculpture, ceramics and design
makers. Up to three entries per
artist, with fees of £15 for the first
piece entered and £10 for the
subsequent three. A top prize of
£1,000 is offered plus many more
prizes. The exhibition runs from
June 4 to 21.
Closing date: Registration now
open; closes on April 23.
Contact:
For details and to download
entry forms go to www.
broadwayartsfestival.
com/artcompetition/
or email competition@
broadwayartsfestival.com
Chelsea Art Society
Details: Artists of all levels of
experience and any age are
eligible to submit work in all
media including painting,
sculpture, drawing and prints,
for the exhibition at Chelsea Old
Town Hall, from June 14 to 21.
Closing date: Submission forms
available from March/April.
Contact:
www.chelseaartsociety.org.uk
Holly Bush Emerging
Woman Painter Prize
Details: The prize is aimed at
supporting, encouraging and
mentoring emerging women
painters. Each year 21 artists
are chosen from a competition
to exhibit at Burgh House,
Hampstead in July, with a first
prize awarded to a painter who
has demonstrated exceptional
potential to become an
established professional artist.
Closing date: Opens for entries
March 1 to June 1.
Contact: www.
ecclestoneartagency.com
www.painters-online.co.uk
The John Ruskin Prize
Details: A multi-disciplinary art
prize with the values of John
Ruskin at its core. Sign up to the
website to receive up-to-date
news.
Closing date: Submissions
open in February. Awaiting
confirmation - check website for
details.
Contact:
www.ruskinprize.co.uk
New English Art Club
(NEAC)
Details: The NEAC seeks
work that demonstrates
excellence in both concept
and draughtsmanship. Artists
over the age of 18 may submit
paintings, drawings, pastels
and original framed prints, not
photography or sculpture. All
work to be submitted online.
The exhibition will take place at
the Mall Galleries, London from
June 17 to 26.
Closing date: Submissions open
on Monday February 22 and
close on Friday April 23, 12 noon.
Contact:
https://mallgalleries.oess1.uk
Postcards from the
Trafalgar Way 2021
Details: The competition invites
you to take a photograph or
sketch, paint or design a postcard
scene along the Trafalgar Way
from Falmouth to London. Open
to all ages.
Closing date: April 16.
Contact:
www.thetrafalgarway.org
Royal Academy Summer
Exhibition 2021
Details: The Royal Academy of
Art’s Summer Exhibition is the
world’s longest running and
largest open-submission show.
The initial round of selection will
be from digital images. Please
see website for full details. The
exhibition of selected work
will go on show at the Royal
Academy of Arts, Piccadilly,
London W1, from June 15 to
August 17.
Closing date: Open for entries
from mid-January; deadline for
registration and submission of
work digitally is 23.59 on Monday
February 22.
Contact: Full details available at
https://summer.royalacademy.
org.uk/
Royal Institute of Painters
in Water Colours (RI)
Details: Annual open watercolour
exhibition. Acceptable media
include watercolour or water-
soluble media – including
watercolour, acrylic, ink or
gouache (excluding water-
soluble oils) painted on paper or
paper-based support. This year is
the RI’s 209th exhibition, which
takes place at the Mall Galleries,
London, from May 20 to 29.
Closing date: Closing date
extended to Friday March 5.
Contact: Enter online at
https://mallgalleries.oess1.uk
St Barbe Museum & Art
Gallery Open Exhibition
Details: Now in its 21st year,
anyone can enter up to two
works of art, including sculpture
and textiles on any theme. An
exhibition of selected work will
go on show at St. Barbe Museum
& Art Gallery, Lymington,
Hampshire, May 17 to June 6.
Closing date: Submissions open
on March 5 and Close on April 2.
Contact:
Enter online at https://www.
stbarbe-museum.org.uk
Sketch for Survival
Introducing
Details: Sketch for Survival
Introducing is a charitable
initiative organised by Explorers
Against Extinction to help
raise awareness about species
extinction and habitat loss
while also raising vital funds for
nominated frontline conservation
projects through the sale of
artworks. The exhibition is free
to enter. One hundred selected
artworks join the Sketch for
Survival exhibition alongside
invited artists and celebrities and
are included in the end of year
auction.
When: Now open for submissions
until June 30.
Contact: Enter online at www.
explorersagainstextinction.co.uk/
Sky Arts Landscape Artist
of the Year Series 7
Details: Open to amateur and
professional artists, Landscape
Artist of the Year is a televised art
competition from Sky Arts, which
celebrates artistic talent. Artists
are selected on the basis of a
landscape submission artwork.
Contestants take part in one of
six heats at various locations
across the UK and Ireland, where
they have four hours to complete
their artwork. Prizes include a
£10,000 commission.
Closing date: April 30,
12 noon.
Contact: To apply visit
www.skyartsartistoftheyear.tv
Society of Equestrian
Artists Open Exhibition
Details: Annual The Horse
in Art open exhibition, held
at Sally Mitchell’s Gallery,
Nottinghamshire in September,
invites entries. Check the
society’s website for up-to-date
information.
Closing date: July, tbc.
Contact:
www.equestrianartists.co.uk
TALPOpen2021
Details: Organised by The Artist
and Leisure Painter in partnership
with Patchings Art Centre, the
TALPOpen is looking for the
best two-dimensional works in
any media including drawing,
painting, printmaking and digital
artwork – from amateur painters
in the Leisure Painter category
and from more experienced and
professional artists in The Artist
category. Up to 140 selected
works, 70 from each category,
will be exhibited at Patchings Art
Centre, in two separate galleries,
Covid rules permitting, from
August 21 until September 26.
Prize awards worth over £13,500,
include The Artist Purchase Prize
of up to £3,000.
Closing date: extended to June 3.
Contact: Full details on pages 14
and 15. Submit entries online via
www.talp.co.uk
UK Coloured Pencil
Society
Details: Annual international
exhibition open to all artists.
Each work must comprise at least
50-per-cent dry coloured pencil.
Closing date: Online entry dates
open March to June, tbc.
Contact:
www.ukcps.org.uk
Wells Art Contemporary
Details: Wells Art Contemporary
is an open competition for visual
art based in Wells, Somerset.
Closing date: Spring 2021 – dates
awaiting confirmation.
Contact:
https://wac.artopps.co.uk/
April 2021 63
 The online home of
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AVAILABLE FROM
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closing date 30th June 2021
 ART BOOKS Reviewed by Henry Malt

The Whole Story – painting
more than just the flowers
Christina Hart-Davies
Books on
natural
history
painting are
not exactly
thin on the
ground.
Many of
them cover
very similar
ground,
albeit from slightly different perspectives
and different hands. Only the most
dedicated enthusiast would rush to add
each new one to their burgeoning library.
So, why should you consider this one?
Well, for a start, it’s magnificently done. The
small format and limited extent prevent
an anything-and-everything scattergun
approach and, while the range of subjects
is actually quite wide, the way the material
is presented is nicely focused. Christina,
who has written for this publisher before, is
a sensitive artist with a light touch.
Here are flowers, leaves, fruit, fungi,
lichens, butterflies, moths and even a
cat. There’s very little instruction as such,
mostly just short descriptions of each
subject. You’re left largely to draw your
own conclusions and learn by example. A
few demonstrations help to point the way,
though.
Two Rivers Press £15.99, 76 pages (P/B)
ISBN 9781909747630
John Nash: The Landscape of
Love and Solace
Andy Friend
Unlike his older
brother, Paul,
John Nash had
no formal art
training, but
nevertheless
managed to
emerge more
or less fully-
fledged into
the London art
scene in 1913. He
became highly
regarded by his contemporaries, including
Walter Sickert, Dora Carrington and
Harold Gilman and, in his turn, went on
to influence Eric Ravilious and Edward
Bawden.
Working in both oils and watercolours,
Nash was also an illustrator, cartoonist and
wood engraver. As well as his extensive
and sensitive work on landscape, he was a
fine botanical painter. Inevitably, perhaps,
for someone of his generation, he was also
a First World War artist.
This extensive and thorough account
of Nash’s life looks at both his artistic and
personal relationships, particularly with
his wife, Christine Kühlenthal. She takes a
major part in the story, as revealed in her
letters and journals, published here for the
first time. The complete tale is here.
Thames & Hudson £30, 352 pages (H/B)
ISBN 9780500022900
Painting Animals in
Watercolour
Liz Chaderton
There is no shortage
of books on painting
animals, but this
pleasant general
introduction should
suit those who
are not looking
for detailed
explanations of
individual species.
This is not to
suggest that it
is superficial,
rather that Liz Chaderton avoids the
complication and over-explanation that
can mar understanding in larger tomes.
This is a compact book, both in format
and extent, but it is genuinely surprising
how much Liz manages to pack in.
Crowood books are often characterised
by longer writing than some alternatives,
but here they show that their designers
are adept at creating visually attractive
pages that convey a great deal even at a
glance.
Liz’s style is pleasantly loose, but by
no means lacking in detail, and her
explanations, concise as they are, are
complete and easy to follow. Examples,
exercises, hints and tips complement
a good variety of species and details
including textures and features.
Crowood Press £9.99, 112 pages (P/B)
ISBN 9781785007873

Addictive – An Artist’s Sketchbook

Adebanji Alade
Looking at another artist’s sketchbook can feel like an
invasion of their privacy. It can also be unenlightening
as you look at half-worked ideas and visual notes that
had so much meaning for their creator and tell the
viewer precisely nothing. When the artist is Adebanji
Alade, however, it’s a different ball-game altogether. The
work here is surprisingly complete because sketching
is what he does. These are real people, captured in
real time and they live, breathe, even move on the
page. The images are mostly faces, and they’re active,
attentive, thoughtful, in repose. To catch the subtlety of
expression requires quick working and you’ll be amazed
by what Adebanji – and you – can achieve.
This isn’t an instructional book, but the sheer volume
of work and the busyness of the pages is inspiring.
Search Press £19.99, 288 pages
The spiral binding could make it seem mannered, but
(Spiral Bound)
actually conveys the feel of a much-used sketchbook.
ISBN 9781782218739

For a huge range of inspiring practical art books that can be purchased by our UK readers from our
online bookshop visit www.painters-online.co.uk/store and click on the link for books

www.painters-online.co.uk artist April 2021 65

EXHIBITIONS
GALLERY OPENING TIMES AND EXHIBITION DATES CAN VARY; IF IN DOUBT PHONE TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT
LONDON
Bankside Gallery
48 Hopton Street SE1.
☎ 020 7928 7521
www.banksidegallery.com
Spring Mini Picture Show;
online exhibition of
small, unframed work by
members of The Royal
Watercolour Society and
the Royal Society of Painter
Printmakers,
until March 14.
RWS Spring Exhibition;
new work by members
of The Royal Watercolour
Society,
March 18 to April 24.
Barbican Art Gallery
Silk Street, Barbican EC2.
www.barbican.org.uk
Jean Dubuffet: Brutal
Beauty;
until May 23.
Gallery@OXO
Oxo Tower Wharf, Barge
House Street SE1.
☎ 020 7021 1600
www.oxotower.co.uk
Wales Contemporary/
Cymru Gyfoes;
international open
competition,
February 25 to March 7.
Mall Galleries
The Mall SW1.
☎ 020 7930 6844
www.mallgalleries.org.uk
The Pastel Society;
annual exhibition,
available to view online.
Words Made Beautiful;
celebrating the centenary
of The Society of Scribes &
Illuminators;
dates to be confirmed.
Dandelion; work by Ed
Burkes, winner of the
Jonathan Vickers Fine
Art Award; dates to be
confirmed.
Royal Society of British
Artists; 304th annual
exhibition,
March 4 to 20. All dates to
be confirmed, check website
for details.
Messum’s
28 Cork Street W1.
☎ 020 7437 5545
www.messumslondon.com
In Arcadia; online exhibition
of oil paintings and sketches
from the estate of Henry
Lamb, RA (1883-1960),
until March 13.
66 April 2021
National Gallery
Trafalgar Square WC2.
☎ 020 7747 2885
www.nationalgallery.org.uk
Dürer’s Journeys: Travels of
a Renaissance Artist;
March 6 to June 13.
National Maritime
Museum
Greenwich SE10.
☎ 020 8312 6608
www.rmg.co.uk
Tudors to Windsors: British
Royal Portraits; exploring
the changing nature of royal
portraiture over 500 years,
February 26 to October 31.
National Portrait
Gallery
St. Martin’s Place WC2.
☎ 020 7306 0055
www.npg.org.uk
Closed for essential building
works until the spring 2023,
but you can still explore the
collection online.
Royal Academy of Arts
Piccadilly W1.
☎ 020 7300 8000
www.royalacademy.org.uk
Tracey Emin/Edvard
Munch: The Loneliness of
the Soul; until February 28.
Francis Bacon: Man and
Beast; until April 18.
Michael Armitage: Paradise
Edict; exploring East African
culture and folklore,
March 13 to June 6.
David Hockney – The
Arrival of Spring,
Normandy, 2020;
iPad drawings,
March 27 to August 22.
Tate Britain
Millbank SW1.
☎ 020 7887 8888
www.tate.org.uk
Turner’s Modern World;
a fascination with
industrialisation, until March 7.
Tate Modern
Bankside SE1.
☎ 020 7887 8888
www.tate.org.uk
Zanele Muholi;
until May 31.
The Wallace Collection
Hertford House, Manchester
Square W1.
☎ 020 7563 9500
www.thewallacecollection.org
Rubens: Reuniting the
Great Landscapes;
April 19 to September 13.
William Morris Gallery
Lloyd Park, Forest Road,
Walthamstow E17.
☎ 020 8496 4390
www.wmgallery.org.uk
Within the Reach of All;
exploring the aesthetics and
legacy of The Century Guild
– an influential association
of artists, designers and
craftspeople,
February 27 to May 31.
REGIONS
BATH
Victoria Art Gallery
Bridge Street.
☎ 01225 477244
www.victoriagal.org.uk
Kurt Jackson: Biodiversity;
paintings, sculptures and
mixed-media works,
March 29 to April 11.
BRISTOL
Royal West of England
Academy
Queen’s Road, Clifton.
☎ 0117 973 5129
www.rwa.org.uk
168 Annual Open
Exhibition; postponed
until further notice, but is
available to view and works
can be purchased online at
www.rwa.org.uk
CHICHESTER
Pallant House Gallery
8-9 North Pallant.
☎ 01243 774557
www.pallant.org.uk
Richard Hamilton;
until April 18.
Degas to Picasso:
International Modern
Masters;
until April 18.
COOKHAM
The Stanley Spencer
Gallery
High Street.
☎ 01628 531092
www.stanleyspencer.org.uk
Love, Art, Loss: The Wives
of Stanley Spencer;
until the autumn 2021.
GUILDFORD
Watts Gallery
Down Lane, Compton.
☎ 01483 810235
www.wattsgallery.org.uk
In Print: 20/20 Vision; 4th
annual print show, featuring
20 artists working in a
diverse range of printmaking
techniques, until April 25.
Art & Action: Making
Change in Victorian Britain;
until May 23.
KINGSBRIDGE
Harbour House
The Promenade.
☎ 01548 854708
www.harbourhouse.org.uk
Collective Beginnings: An
Emergence of Practice;
work by eight graduates
from the Totnes Art and
Design Foundation course,
March 9 to 14.
LIVERPOOL
Walker Art Gallery
William Brown Street.
☎ 0151 478 4199.
www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk
John Moores Painting
Prize; selected work by
established and emerging
talent, until June 27.
NEWCASTLE
UPON TYNE
Laing Art Gallery
New Bridge Street.
☎ 0191 278 1611
www.laingaartgallery.org.uk
Changing Convention;
exploring the lives and
works of four women artists
– Vanessa Bell, Laura Knight
and Dod Procter,
March 27 to June 19. See
pages 12 and 13.
NORWICH
Norwich Castle
Museum & Art Gallery
Castle Hill.
☎ 01603 495897
www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk
A Passion for Landscape:
Rediscovering John Crome
(1768-1821);
April 23 to September 5.
www.painters-online.co.uk
PENZANCE
Penlee House Gallery
Morab Road.
☎ 01736 363625.
www.wisegal.com
Newlyn School Interiors;
bringing together work
from the Newlyn School of
Painters, including Walter
Langley, Stanhope Forbes,
Elizabeth Forbes and Frank
Bramley, and providing
a snapshot of the living
conditions in Victorian
Cornwall,
extended to April 17.
SHERBORNE
The Jerram Gallery
Half Moon Street.
☎ 01935 815261;
www.jerramgallery.com
Patrick Cullen, Tom
Hoar and Leisure Painter
consultant, Pamela Kay;
March 13 to 31.
Vanessa Bowman, Lynne
Cartlidge and Emma
Haggas;
April 24 to May 12.
STOW ON THE
WOLD
Fosse Gallery
The Manor House, The Square.
☎ 01451 831319;
www.fossegallery.com
Pamela Kay: New Paintings;
until February 27.
Anthony Yates: Out of
Darkness;
March 1 to 27.
Seren Bell: New Works;
April 11 to May 1.
WAKEFIELD
The Hepworth Gallery
Wakefield
Gallery Walk.
☎ 01924 247360
www.hepworthwakefield.org
Vision & Reality: 100 Years
of Contemporary Art in
Wakefield; exploring how
the collection has been
strategically developed since
the gallery opened. The
exhibition was to have run
until April 24 but has been
postponed. Check
the website for updates.
 The
Jerram
Gallery
Dorset

Restored; online exhibition.
WOKING Mondrian; major exhibition
featuring work spanning
The Lightbox Mondrian’s entire career.
Chobham Road. Check with the gallery for
☎ 01483 737800 updates.
www.thelightbox.org.uk Zurich Portrait Prize 2020;
shortlisted portraits available
Hubert Arthur Finney: Out
of the Shadows; to view online.
until March 21. Living with Art: Picasso to
Bridget Riley: Pleasures of Celmins; a British Museum
Sight; celebrating the artist’s touring exhibition,
90th birthday, until May 16. until May 30.
IRELAND SCOTLAND
DUBLIN EDINBURGH
National Gallery National Gallery of
of Ireland Modern Art
Merrion Square. 75 Belford Road.
☎ +353 1 661 5133 ☎ 0131 624 6200
www.nationalgallery.ie www.nationalgalleries.org
Murillo: The Prodigal Son New Arrivals: From
Salvador Dalí to Jenny
Saville; a showcase of
the gallery’s most recent
acquisitions including
paintings, sculpture and
films by artists such as
Damien Hirst, René Magritte,
Oskar Kokoschka, John
Bellany, Marie Harnett and
Pablo Picasso,
March 27 to March 20, 2022.
Check website for up-to-
date information on gallery
reopening times.
Scottish National
Portrait Gallery
1 Queen Street.
☎ 0131 624 6200
www.nationalgalleries.org
You Are Here / 2020:
Stories, Portraits, Visions;
exploring issues currently
facing Scotland. Postponed.
Check with the gallery for
updates.
Queen’s Gallery
Palace of Holyroodhouse,
Canongate; www.rct.uk
☎ 0303 123 7306
Victoria & Albert: Our Lives
in Watercolour; a touring
exhibition of the collection
of hundreds of watercolours
built up by Queen Victoria
and Prince Albert,
March 5 to September 5.
WALES
CARDIFF
National Museum
Cathays Park.
☎ 0300 111 2333
www.museum.wales
Artes Mundi 9; 9th bi-annual
Artes Mundi international
exhibition and prize,
until June 6.
p Vanessa Bowman
Hellebores & Tangerines,
oil on card, 14316in
(35.5340.5cm) at the
Jerram Gallery, Sherborne,
Dorset, from April 24 to
May 12
Check before you visit
In these uncertain
times we advise that
you check all exhibition
details before making
journeys as exhibition
schedules are subject to
change at short notice.
Please keep an eye on
gallery websites for
up-to-date information
on gallery reopening
arrangements and
online exhibitions.

www.painters-online.co.uk April 2021 67

 UK ART SHOPS Support
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Stockists of: Winsor & Newton,
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Opening times: Monday to
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Stockists of: essential high-quality
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68 April 2021 www.painters-online.co.uk

THE ARTIST’S DIRECTORY OF COURSES, MATERIALS & SERVICES
To advertise contact Jayne Notley Telephone 01778

ART COURSES & HOLIDAYS

391189 Email: jaynen@warnersgroup.co.uk
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www.painters-online.co.uk artist April 2021 69
PaintersOnline editor’s choice
Meet this month’s editor’s choice winner from our PaintersOnline gallery

W
arren Sealey began
his art training in
Toronto, Canada,
before moving to
Florence, Italy where he stayed
for four years studying classical
painting techniques. ‘After leaving
Florence,’ he writes, ‘I returned to
my home city of Bristol and
started painting on commission,
producing works for sale, teaching
classes and demonstrating for art
societies.
‘I paint a variety of subject
matter including portraits,
landscapes and still life. I mainly
paint in oil, which is the medium
I trained in, but I also paint in
watercolour and pastel. Raining in
Bristol (right) was a recent
commission. My client had seen
some of my rainy-day scenes on
Instagram and wanted a picture of
his street in the rain. I didn’t have
to wait too long!
‘Painting it on location wasn’t an
option as my easel would have
completely blocked the
pavement, so I made a series of
sketches and notes and took
reference photographs. I was so
glad the campervan was parked
where it was as it gave a really
strong point of interest. However,
to make this work I had to omit a
car that was blocking the front of
the campervan. As well as
removing some things like the car,
I also wanted to add some figures
to give the scene more life. I
decided to invent the cyclist and
introduced the bicycle’s light
reflecting in the road to help
describe the soaking wet street.
‘I drew the scene out carefully
back in the studio, knowing that
the row of Victorian terraced
houses would be tricky. I painted
it in the traditional way – blocking
in the darks first and working my
way to the light. After much WIN £50 TO SPEND AT JACKSON’S!
p Warren Sealey Raining in Bristol, oil, 15¾311¾in (40330cm)
refining I arrived at a result I was happy
with and, more importantly, my client
was very pleased with it. on my website and I am available for To upload your own images to our online
‘I teach watercolour and oil painting commissions.’ For more information gallery, with an opportunity of being selected
both as group classes and one-to-one, go to www.warrensealey.format.com or as the editor’s choice, visit
in person and online. Work is for sale Instagram @warrensealeyartist TA www.painters-online.co.uk

70 April 2021 www.painters-online.co.uk


£50
Search Press
voucher
to be won each
month
We’ve selected these key monthly events of 1931, below, to inspire your entries
FEBRUARY
1931
Malcolm Campbell sets the
world land speed record of
246.08 mph driving his famous
Blue Bird car at Daytona
Beach, Florida.
ONE OF THE ENTRIES FROM THE
JANUARY THEME OF FLIGHT
Ghostly Hunter by Alison Perkins
FUTURE CHALLENGES
MARCH
Charlie Chaplin receives France’s
distinguished Legion of Honor.
YOUR MARCH CHALLENGE: Paint on the
theme of, or inspired by silence.
APRIL
Bridget Riley is born in London.
YOUR APRIL CHALLENGE: Focus on colour
and/or paint in the style of artist Bridget
Riley.
MAY
Empire State Building opens in New York.
YOUR MAY CHALLENGE: Paint a NYC or
any other iconic city scene.
1931– 2021
artist &
90
ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
COMPETITION
TH
PaintersOnline
In association with
To celebrate The Artist’s 90th year, we invite all artists to join in
with our series of monthly challenges, hosted on our website at
www.painters-online.co.uk. Simply draw or paint an image in any
media, inspired by some of the key events that took place during
1931, the year of our launch. Each monthly winner will receive
a voucher worth £50 to spend on art and craft books from Search
Press and the opportunity to see their work featured online and in
our magazine.
YOUR FEBRUARY 2021
CHALLENGE:
Paint on the theme of, or
inspired by speed
FOR FULL DETAILS AND TO ENTER OUR
FEBRUARY CHALLENGE GO TO
http://bit.ly/3soZgXv
JUNE SEPTEMBER
Salvador Dalí opens his second solo RCA Victor introduces the LP record
exhibition at the Pierre Colle Gallery in YOUR SEPTEMBER CHALLENGE: Create a design
Paris. for an album cover.
YOUR JUNE CHALLENGE: OCTOBER
Be inspired by the Surrealists to paint from Dick Tracy comic strip by Chester Gould debuts.
your imagination YOUR OCTOBER CHALLENGE: Have fun and
draw a cartoon character.
JULY
Trans African railway in use. NOVEMBER
YOUR JULY CHALLENGE: Maple Leaf Gardens opens in Toronto.
Paint an African scene, which could YOUR NOVEMBER CHALLENGE: Paint an autumn
feature wildlife or simply a typical African garden scene.
landscape.
DECEMBER
AUGUST New York’s Metropolitan Opera broadcasts an
Yangtzee river floods in China. entire opera over the radio.
YOUR AUGUST CHALLENGE: Paint a YOUR DECEMBER CHALLENGE: Paint on the
scene featuring or inspired by water. theme of, or an image inspired by music
 “JUST BE YOURSELF”

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Marco Feray Ridolfo comes from Milan in Italy. As a son of an artist, Marco developed admiration and interest for classic art and portraiture since an early age. Marco received an academic
training in classic art at the Liceo artistico Caravaggio in Milan and kept expanding his knowledge by also attending the Atelier ‘Voli d’arte’ of the ‘Maestra’ Valeria Vieti in the province
of Monza. According to Marco’s opinion under the teachings of the Maestro Enzo Rossi (Bujinkan ninjutsu) to whom Marco will always be grateful and in the Atelier of the Maestra Valeria
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