Tabla de contenidos para Issue 6 Volume 3 en Artists Back to Basics

The team at Artist’s Back to Basics is always striving to provide you with new techniques and ideas to help to develop your artistic abilities. As we move into 2016, we hope to continue to help you improve your talent. We would also love to see your work so please make it your New Year’s resolution to send us your artwork and get yourself published. We hope you enjoy our latest edition of Artist’s Back to Basics. Not only are there some great artists to meet, we also have a fantastic easel buyers’ guide, so you can check out the latest ideas in your local art store. Brett continues his drawing technique series and Leonie Norton has another wonderful demonstration for you to admire. We love to receive your feedback…

• It is important to get to know your subject or better still have a passion for it, as the more familiar you are with the subject the better you will paint it. Do lots of thumb nail sketches to get your design right first as I feel this is one of the fundamentals of a good painting, patterns of light and dark. Look for soft and hard edges in your subject. • When beginning a painting (I find this is a most exciting time, I can’t wait to get the paint out), I tend to start my paintings with a feverish momentum, covering the canvas so there is no white glaring at me, usually with acrylic as it has brilliance and intense colour as well as drying very fast,…

There are three distinct processes to a botanical art painting. These are: • A full tonal master drawing or detailed line drawing• Colour match and a colour study• The final painting One thing to remember with botanical art is there are no shortcuts. Each process encourages accuracy, which is what botanical art is all about. The processes ensure the drawing is precise, the colour matches are correct and the colour study of various components of the subjects have been completed using the correct painting techniques. The Drawing If you are building a house and the concrete slab foundation is not level, the house would not be level and the walls could be crooked. It is the same with the botanical drawing. If the drawing does not have botanical accuracy, is well balanced both…

Like most artists, the love of art started at a very early age. I was born in Holland in 1951 and migrated to Australia at the age of three with my family; my father couldn’t assimilate into the Australian way of life and left my Mum with a young family of four children. The Catholic Church found Mum work and accommodation in Daylesford in Victoria, which is where I began my schooling. (The school is now an art gallery, “The Convent Gallery”, and I have been fortunate enough to have a joint exhibition there.) I loved all the art works, paintings and sculptures that were everywhere in the school and the church. Being good at drawing meant being asked to draw on the blackboard. It was most enjoyable, and often…

• I use a white plastic bucket lid as my palette. When working with acrylics, it is advisable to spray the paints often with a spray bottle of water. Once I’ve finished for the day I place a spare plastic lid (sprayed) over my palette (also sprayed) and weight them down. This provides an adequate air-tight seal and ensures my paints are still usable over the next few days. This is helpful, as sometimes I can’t replicate the exact palette of colours I mixed the day before. • Leave your colours very loosely mixed. By doing so, you keep the viewer interested! • As others have mentioned before, you can check for balance, angles and proportions by using a mirror; or by simply turning your painting to the side or…

• When using an airbrush it is vital that you mix your paint to the correct consistency. For instance don’t make your paint too thick or it will simply clog up the nozzle and you will have a hard time cleaning it out. What you are looking for is a milky consistency. Also if you want softer colours in your background add a little White to your colours and mix thoroughly before pouring them into your airbrush tank. • If you feel your background colours are not dark enough, allow the paper to dry a little then re spray over with the same colour, if you spray over too soon the colour will run and you may have to start again on a new sheet of paper.…

• Don’t be too ‘precious’ about your pastels. Remove the wrappers, they get in the way. Don’t be afraid to break them into smaller pieces if that makes them easier to work with. Breakages also provide some nice sharp edges useful for details. • Fresh white bread squished into a ball works really well as an eraser, and doesn’t affect the paper surface – especially good for papers such as Canson; whereas the sanded surfaces such as Colourfix can take more punishment and a putty eraser will work fine. • Make a chart when buying new pastels, by putting a sample of the colours onto a sheet of pastel paper; and write the brand, colour name and reference number beside each colour. This is invaluable when you want to obtain…

Singapore is the country where I was born. I now live in Mount Isa (in Queensland) where I work as a Veterinarian. And having decided that my job is not challenging (or stressful) enough, I am also venturing into full-time motherhood. I have not received any formal art training. I started Chinese Painting classes as a child (from about 10 years of age) for a couple of years – mainly, I suspect, because I had to keep up with my cousin in a bit of friendly family rivalry! She learnt piano, so I learnt piano; she did ballet, so I had to do ballet. She did Chinese Painting … I started attending some art classes here in Mount Isa. The classes were run by local artists Rick and Patricia D’Arcy…

Easel selection Choosing the right easel is an integral part of the painting process. The importance of having the correct easel is often overlooked but having a firm and steady easel can be as important to the finished painting as choosing the correct paint, canvas or brush. One of the first considerations when selecting an easel is the type of material it is constructed from. Timber is primarily used for the majority of easels although some easels are constructed from aluminium. Whatever material is used, the object is to create an easel that doesn’t move, shake or vibrate when in use. North American Red Oak, or any Oak for that matter is the finest material for constructing easels. It is an extremely hard wood, so glue and screws do not…

After a lifetime of waiting for the chance (and time) to delve deeply into pastels I finally got serious a few years or so ago and made the deliberate moves necessary to get the ball rolling. For me that meant setting myself up materially to start with and then finding someone appropriate to smash some solid knowledge about pastel technique and methods into my box head, with as brutal a learning curve as possible as I really couldn’t let lumps of colour interfere with or supplant the ever growing and ongoing commitment to the 2B graphite. A Place to Start I just wanted a solid place to begin so I could take it from there whenever I saw the slightest gap in the time cloud. I had always intended to…