Tabla de contenidos para Volume 13 Isse 4 en Artists Back to Basics

I had the good fortune to be born to an artistic mother who had been one of Australia’s early women potters, running a studio in Clarence Street, Sydney, where she employed 10 people. That came to an end with WW2 when she was obliged to contribute to the war effort. I was born towards the end of the war and we lived in what was quite an artist’s colony in Northwood, Sydney. Neighbours included John and Marie Santry, Roland Wakelin, Lloyd Rees, George Lawrence, William Pidgeon, and Lorraine Haines. My mother, Marguerite Moloney, joined these artists in a group known as the ‘Northwood Group” that Marie Santry had initiated. Marie also ran art workshops for local children and I remember painting at these and also running through various artists’ studios,…

Birds or other pollinators can enhance a painting with added information and interest. They can add life to an otherwise basic painting and can make your work glow and stand out from the crowd. They are a definite enhancement for any botanical painting, and the same detailed painting techniques and processes are used for birds as for botanical. OBSERVATION is the key to drawing and painting birds, as well as clear photographs. It is important to research many photographs of the one species to achieve an impression of the characteristics and colours. These features can change from Male, Female and Juvenille. Do not copy directly from a photograph unless you have taken it. Build up a composite drawing based on many photographs. You must be able to see the exact…

When I decided on this subject I had a picture in my mind (as I so often do) of the finished painting. However my journey to capture this on my paper took considerably longer than I could have imagined! I didn’t want the plums to outshine the birds or visa versa but rather wanted each subject to be enjoyed individually but also compliment each other. Drawing on a wonderful childhood memory I have of picking plums from our trees in the back yard (eating more than I put into the basket) I started on my sketch, I had to include our old paling fence after all this was our ladder to reach a little higher into the tree once all the lower branches had been stripped. STEP ONE Once my…

I’ve travelled extensively, pursuing subject matter to capture and translate onto canvas. I’ve covered thousands of kilometres on foot and have slogged my way through the Barrios of Spain, the medinas of Morocco and across the provinces of France, Cuba and Vietnam. My paintings reflect my passion for colour, texture and formal composition, and the excitement of travelling to new countries. I am interested in the dislocation of European architecture to foreign lands, such as Cuba and Vietnam, and the dramatic contrasts between the buildings, both grand and humble, and the people who inhabit them. It’s the colours and textures of the man-made that intrigue me. The crumbling render, faded pigments, verdigris, scrapes and scratches - the buildings scar tissues that stand witness to moments in time and history. Using…

It’s autumn and the ornamental grape vines are turning the most beautiful shades of purple and red. I’ve picked some of these lovely leaves and I’m going to do a watercolour painting showing some of the colours. I will include a number of superb blue wrens who frequent the grape vines to seek out insects. I’ve chosen to do this subject in a formal manner and to keep it botanically correct. I will also use references to ensure accuracy in the rendering of the wrens. I’ve chosen a long narrow format for the painting as I feel it suits the long stems of the grape vine. Above the paper I have taped one of these stems. I’ve wrapped some wet tissue around the stem of the vine so the leaves…

Born in Paddington, NSW, Kim Staples grew up mainly in the northern beaches of Sydney. Here is her story. My first introduction to art was in high school. Unfortunately our art education was more about history and not much on practical. Our instructions for painting were, “here is a paint brush, paint something”. As a teenager I showed a natural affinity for art and my early works were dominated by geometric shapes and ink work. I designed and sold business cards and greeting cards while still at high school, and then continued to utilise my creative skills in the world of drafting for the next 15 years. In the 1970s I worked as an interior decorator in England. The training I acquired in colour during this period still impacts my…

Contributed The imposing neo-gothic building in which the Arts Centre is housed has a fascinating and varied history spanning more than 150 years. Starting its life in the 1860s as a convict-built lunatic asylum, this evocative limestone building has also served as a US Navy submarine depot during WWII, a Women’s Home, a technical college and a museum. The building was also the focus of one of WA’s first heritage struggles. For the past 40 years the site has been home to Fremantle Arts Centre, a vibrant creative, community hub which presents a rich program of contemporary art exhibitions, live music, art classes and events. Fremantle Arts Centre began in 1973 with Ian Templeman appointed its first Director, who established FAC as a major supporter of literature and the arts…

The Other Ravenous Time Monster I was always going to include half a dozen pastel articles in this issue but I really had to ‘lay my cards on the table’ as well to give the full account of actual drawing practice, round here anyway. Although the freehand graphite will always be the biggest monster in my head, the whole cards thing has also been taking far too many huge chomps out of my allotted heartbeats on too many levels for too many years to be able to do any more here than try and give you a big fat glimpse of the world within. Drawing is as drawing does including playing cards and my overall memory of them is nothing BUT relentless drawing for what must have been many thousands…

MATERIALS • Canvas (182 x 122cm)• 10cm brushes• Large brush• Rags• Tape or Blu-Tack• Old toothbrush• Acrylic paints• Raw Umber• Raw Sienna• Red Oxide• White INSTRUCTIONS STEP ONE Preparing your canvas is just as important as the artwork. Most canvases you buy today are already primed; I still prime my canvas again to stop it from being so porous. This allows me to use less of my artist quality paint and provides more tooth to the canvas surface. Prime your canvas by painting two coats of Gesso with a 1” flat brush. Add a little water to the gesso to stop it from being too dry. Allow time between coats to dry. While your canvas is drying, mix with a stirrer or plastic knife Pthalo Blue and Cadmium Yellow in…

Nowadays all of a sudden there seems to be a whole world of newly designed playing cards out there, the scene has changed hugely since I began doing it only a short decade ago (before things like social media, crowd funding, and custom deck programs at card manufacturers changed everything forever). As usual I can only describe the whys and wherefores of my own experiences though (figure 1) so away we go...... Design Foundation You can’t draw anything without having some kind of a reference. That can just as easily be an ‘idea in progress’ in your head as an actual reference image printed on photo paper, or a mixture of both (figures 2 & 3). But no matter what the source of inspiration, the fact I would be using…

Teacher’s Pet But you can’t see the wood for the trees (Hang in there) photo 1556 For me, watercolour painting is all about the fusion of colours, much more so than any other paint medium. Its beauty lies in this fusion and the translucency of the colours as they blend and self mix on the damp or wet paper, often creating effects that no artist could possibly hope to create with a brush alone. It’s this unpredictability that many of our leading water colourists rely on for that extra something that lifts their work above us mere watercolour apprentices. The painting I’ve used here to illustrate my article is a rainbow of colour, haze and light that almost painted itself in about 10 minutes. It’s just a simple composition leading…