Tabla de contenidos para Volume 15 Issue 2 en Artists Back to Basics

Before painting the waterdrop, observe the reaction of water on the plant surface. Different surfaces hold different shaped drops and some surfaces repel water so no drops form. Take some water and drop it on to the leaf surface and observe the shape and size of the drop the water forms. Think about suitability. Some flowers and leaves are not associated with waterdrops, while others such as camellias or roses are often represented with drops. The drops should not be too focal. The outline should be darker than the surface colour and the initial outline should be very fine. If the colour is too dark, or the final drop is too dark, the area will become very focal and the eye will be drawn directly to the drop. Waterdrops should…

With Darling Ranges as a back drop and the upper reaches of the Swan River and Swan Valley just a short drive west from my studio in Wanneroo. I have historical towns, vineyards and the Perth hills on my doorstep and this area has much to offer an artist. While to the east Lake Joondalup and the Yellagonga Regional Park abound with wildlife, especially birds, and are just a stone’s throw away. I often stand mesmerised in my studio doorway watching Pelicans and Hawks as they circle high above riding the thermals and wish I could get much closer to photograph them and then draw them. Often I search through magazines looking for articles on wildlife, these magazines use professional photographers with the time, expertise and equipment required to maximise…

Watercolour paper can be very forgiving. Once you learn how to manipulate the paper, you will be able to effectively remove any paint spills or splatters on your work. As a botanical artist, my work is done with no painted background, so any dropped brush, accidental paint spots or overpainting on an area is very easily seen on the clean paper. How do we correct mistakes and retain a pristine background? Murphy’s Law (“if anything can go wrong it will”) says that if you have spilled any paint, the spots will not be where you can cover them up with a leaf or an insect. They will be very apparent. Firstly, prevention is crucial. Cover the paper you are working on with tracing paper or baking paper. This allows the…

I have written about hatching and crosshatching before (issue 2-1) but I am going to keep adding to it as we go along as it’s such an important and integral part of my style of freehand drawing. I’ve developed my own particular way of drawing naturally over many years which has proven to not only bring real results but also allowed me virtually unlimited control over my all time favourite medium of 2B graphite. Results in both each finished drawing and the potential to keep on improving my skill level, and control over the way I interpret each new challenge as far as expressing light effects and fine details and subtle textures with graphite. I can’t explain how or why other people draw the way they do, only how I…

In Part one of ‘Setting Up Your Space’ I talked about how to organise your home to accommodate a studio, well in this article I would like to talk about setting up a mobile ‘plein air’ kit for those outdoor projects. In July this year I set off on a 12 month Art excursion around Australia with the aim of completing two large travelogue style books which will be handed down to my family and kept ‘hopefully’ as an heirloom for our future generations. I also took some quality Archers hot pressed 360gsm paper which I cut into roughly A3 sizes to paint some special places in Australia. On this trip I decided to take only my pencils (graphite and colour) and my watercolour kit including the watercolour pencil range.…

When talking about the nature of the actual lines that are used when drawing any freehand composition, there are to my way of thinking five clearly separate stages you go through to take your layout from a blank piece of paper to the precise and accurate linework drawing you need to achieve before any hatching (toning) is started. Rough Sketch (fig. 1) The initial marks made on the paper to decide the relative size and position of the largest identifiable shapes in any composition. Sketching (off the shoulder) with a blunt pencil is the only technique to use at this early stage. All lines are soft and speculative and quite often two or three (or more) can be laid down side by side to visually “home in” on the rough…

Situated on Queensland’s beautiful Sunshine Coast, Mandy’s Sundrenched Studio is an inviting gallery space and home to the amazing creative work of artist Amanda Shadforth. “As an artist selling work in galleries, you often don’t get to hear the stories of where your paintings have been hung or why the new owners purchased one of your hard-earned pieces,” Mandy says. “You often also work from home and have no need to get dressed properly … and you usually end up painting all day in ugg boots with unbrushed hair.” “This of course is only a small issue – as you don’t interact with the public – so it doesn’t really matter what you wear,” she continues. “It is for these reasons that quite a few years ago when I transferred…

Contributed The Queensland Wildlife Artists Society recently presented the Faber-Castell 250th Anniversary exhibition at the Richard Randall Studio Gallery, Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens in Toowong, Brisbane. Count Andreas and Countess Virginia von Faber-Castell are patrons and major supporters and sponsors of QWASI and, certainly, 250 years operating as a family company is something to celebrate! Over fifty paintings from QWASI members and non-members were hung and subsequently judged by acclaimed artist Judy Scotchford and Faber-Castell representative Anne Wilsteed. The judges were very impressed by the standard of the work and the diversity of subject and media used. Native flora and fauna worldwide as well as wild places were the subject matter and entry was restricted to work produced using at least 80 per cent Faber-Castell product. Paintings in pastel, ink,…