Table of contents for Issue 26 in Creative Artist

I had the urge to doodle and draw from a young age, which was an unformed process until I met an artist who lived on the street where we lived. I had always been a rational person, tending toward science rather than the arts, and had started a physics degree at university. When I was seventeen or so, I had the privilege of seeing one of his exhibitions in the making. It opened up my world and later on I switched my studies from science to art school. That artist became a mentor of sorts, allowing me to sit in his studio and watch him paint every afternoon. It was the early 1980s and large canvas art was prevalent. Under his guidance, I learned how to stretch and prepare a…

As a teenager I loved painting and did a lot of it. I was encouraged by others and earned money from it. Selling artwork supported my teenage fashion habit and this was naturally a great motivator. I even won art prizes and had my work displayed in Parliament House at the age of 16, facts that I didn’t fully appreciate until much later. After this promising start I stopped painting completely in favour of study, travel, teaching, raising children and dealing unsatisfactorily with domestic chores. I find the lack of painting puzzling now, but I think the absence of a dedicated place and uninterrupted stretches of time to paint in became excuses for me not to do it, so I drew when I had a creative moment rather than painted.…

Step One Draw out the composition in pencil and fix it to a rigid surface with artist’s tape. Artist tape detaches more cleanly than masking tape, and taping down the composition ensures that it remains flat and that any excess water is contained. Step Two Using a saturated large brush, wash the background with clear water, avoiding areas of future detail, and begin dropping in background pigment, playing with ‘wet into wet’, ’dry into wet’, ‘wet into dry’, and ‘dry into dry’ techniques. Letting salt dissolve into wet areas can create interesting textures. Step Three After the background dries, using a fine detail brush and Paynes Grey, block in the detail outlines. Blot brushes on paper towel as needed to achieve the desired saturation. Nearly dry brushes work best for…

Since Adam and Eve were both sent down to the Earth because of the forbidden fruit, the endless story starts and will remain forever as the Tree of life story. Man and woman. What are they, and why, each alone and if together? How much they are alike and different? How much the differences are due to nature, how much to culture? This latest series of works, Tree of Life, questions about the relations between men and women, and the fear, from the society and from failure, that stereotypes their relation. Tree of Life is about what keeps men and women apart or together. Tree of Life expresses phases of love, confrontation, emerging, separation, self-confidence and being one. Marwa Adel’ s artworks combine carefully posed photographs of models with symbols…

I can´t really answer why I started photography, it was more a matter of if. I think I have always had an artistic side to me; when I was young I did draw a little and loved doing so, but that fell away through the school years, only for me to pick it up again at an adult age. Hyper realism in my drawings was immediately where I started. I wanted my drawings to be as accurate as possible, and when a friend of mine decided to upgrade his camera and sell his old one I bought it. A Nikon D90, it just felt natural in my hand from the first picture. What I had picked up through drawing immediately translated into photography, and compositions, rules and terms within photography…

I haven’t painted a beach painting for some time, and thought it an ideal subject for a painting demonstration. I needed new source photos for the painting, so I organised family members and their dogs to meet me at the local Perth dog exercise beach on the Easter weekend for a photoshoot … and then it rained. It kept raining solidly for 10 days, which is unheard of in Perth, so I started on the background of the painting, occasionally peering out of the shed to curse myself for leaving things to the last minute. When I did finally make it out between showers for some photos we got wet - but I did get some useful photos. STEP ONE Background, sky, sea, sand A handy canvas had previously been…

Materials • Wood panel as support/ surface • Rotary sander with smooth and extra-smooth sandpaper sheets • Acryic paint for entire surface (background) • Paint tray and roller for consistent acrylic application • Titanium white oil paint for imprimatura • Solvent • Extra fine brushes for detailed imprimatura • Several soft flat brushes for colour glazing • Refined linseed oil/GalkydLite/solvetmixture for paint medium • Several transparent oil hues for colour glazes • GalkydLite for high-gloss layers • Glass jars to hold medium mixtures and Galkyd application • Safety/protective gear from fumes and debris • Several foam brushes for Galkyd application Step One Panels are constructed with solid birch frames, tops and adequate back bracing. (They are each made installation-ready with sturdy hardware.) Step Two Bare panels are first coated in…

Braden Duncan is an artist and curator by trade, imperfect by choice, and a cog in the machine of human mythology by default. She draws her inspiration from the peculiar minutiae of the human form, symbolism and mythology, the empty spaces left by missing friends, and the intricate elegance created by the convergence of biological and mechanical elements. Raised by a couple of creatives, Braden grew up immersed in the imagery of classical arts and literature. She began drawing as soon as she was old enough to hold a pencil, and honed her skills in photorealism and portraiture before attending Cornish College of the Arts to pursue a BFA in oil painting and photography. Following graduation, Braden adopted a pair of inquisitive kittens who are fantastic at getting into everything,…

The autumn exhibition at the lower Belvedere’s Orangery was devoted to Claude Monet, one of the principal practitioners of Impressionism, and the profound impact of his painting on Austrian art. Besides Edouard Manet, the Viennese art scene of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries regarded Monet as the central and formative figure of French Impressionism. His works were on display in exhibitions at the Künstlerhaus, the Secession, and the legendary Miethke Gallery, and were known to his contemporaries from periodicals and books. The most outstanding show, entitled The Evolution of Impressionism in Painting and Sculpture, was held at the Vienna Secession in 1903, where the modern gallery (the institution preceding today’s Österreichische Galerie Belvedere) acquired Monet’s painting The Chef (Monsieur Paul); later on, Fishermen on the Seine at Poissy…

The Marian Goodman Gallery recently held an exhibition of selected works by Juan Muñoz from 1984-2001. Curated by Russell Ferguson, it was accompanied by a catalogue. Three key works by Muñoz were featured: the sculptural installations Thirteen Laughing at Each Other, 2001, Many Times, 1999 and a Figure Hanging from One Foot, 2001. These were accompanied by works on paper and early wall sculptures. Including works such as empty or occupied balconies, isolated figures, and those laughing and in conversation, this group of works often puts viewers in an ambiguous position, looking but also seemingly being looked at. The work suggests, as Russell Ferguson writes, “the tension between the comfort of the group and the desire for individual autonomy.” Regarded as one of the most important sculptors of his generation,…

I’m unable to recall the “beginning” of my creative pursuit, as I have been deeply involved with visual arts since early childhood. Early on I used “amature” materials and simple mediums, such as school markers for comic strips and No 2 pencils for shaded drawings. I went on to exploring acrylics throughout high school until I entered undergrad when I was introduced to oils and charcoal, by way of figurative and still life observation. After a few years working as an Art Director and instructor in my home state, I was accepted into the Graduate Program along with scholarships to the New York Academy of Art in Manhattan. Grad school provided for me a broad range of reference, opening my eyes to technical and conceptual possibility. Relocating and living in…

Today I’m visiting outstanding artist Penny Maddison in her rammed earth studio high in the Darling Range, east of Perth, Western Australia. I love that feeling you get as you climb into the Perth hills, leaving the restless city far below to its own devices, where red traffic lights and busy people give way to tree lined lanes with nice houses, many draped with foliage and partly camouflaged from any casual passers-by. The local residents go about their lives quietly, partly hidden away, while bandicoots and goannas forage along the verges. Gooseberry Hill is a typical Darling Ranges community high in the hills above Perth, with a strong community feeling, yet most residents live very private lives with their houses set well back from the roads. I found Penny’s place…