Table of contents for Creative Artist Annual 2016 in Creative Artist

It would be fair to say my whole life has been dedicated to discovering and painting animals, in particular birds. For the naturalist and artist in me, the 15,000 plus species worldwide is an endless stream of the beautiful, the elegant and the extraordinary. It is not only the external appearance of birds I find fascinating, but their behaviour in executing bizarre physical feats in flight, courtship and hunting strategies, and it’s these reasons that have kept me spellbound since childhood. The excitement of venturing into the field to witness and absorb wildlife in such an obsessive way may seem strange to most people, but underlying this is the fulfilment that comes from dreaming up ideas for future paintings. Now, with two small children to raise, my days of venturing…

From November 2015 until March 2016, the Museo del Prado and Fundación AXA, with the special collaboration of the Musée du Louvre and the participation of the Musée Ingres in Montauban – lenders of the most iconic works by this master – presented the first monographic exhibition in Spain on the work of Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780–1867), one of the most influential milestones in nineteenth century painting. Only one of his works is preserved in Spanish collections: ‘Philip V of Spain Investing the Marshal of Berwick with the Golden Fleece’, the preparatory drawing to be enjoyed at the exhibition. The more than 60 works featured in the exhibition, which also included pieces from Belgian, British, Italian and North American institutions, traced the chronological development of Ingres’s career. The exhibition began…

I am a proud fifth generation Kiwi. I was born in Auckland and bred in the Far North of New Zealand in a pristine environment second to none. I am the eldest of a large family, and in between helping with eldest-daughter chores, I drew. I drew pictures for anyone who took an interest in my masterpieces, and if that interest waned, then I convinced them, by way of persuasive spiel, to enjoy my etchings and creations. My mother was an avid drawer/sketcher and a fabric painter, and my father was a talented carver. I grew up surrounded by artists. Art is a part of who I am. When growing up, I dreamt of becoming a “famous artist” who would make a mark in the international art community. I yearned…

What Lies Beneath ‘What Lies Beneath’ is an arts-as-inquiry project taking place over winter at Burrinja Gallery, in the Dandenong Ranges of Victoria. It is facilitated by Embodied Arts Collective (EAC), a collaboration between eco-printing artist and therapeutic arts practitioner Jacqueline Grace and Rebecca Funk. Together they offer participants the opportunity to immerse in the process of eco-printing, a form of natural dyeing where leaves are wrapped with cloth, paper or leather around metal, tied up with string to create a bundle and steeped in water to create close contact prints. In this immersive experience, participants are invited to stay present to the “not yet knowns” as they create, following threads of curiosity that emerge to develop a body of work. Exhibited artworks will not be limited to eco-printing but…

Materials • Paints Transparent Black– Lamp Black– Lemon Yellow– Cadmium Yellow– Cadmium Red– Alizarin Crimson– Ultramarine Blue– Cerulean Blue– Cobalt Blue– Manganese Blue– Sap Green– Emerald Green– Cadmium Orange– Raw Umber– Burnt Umber– Raw Sienna– Burnt Sienna– Yellow Ochre– Titanium White • Equipment – Baker’s wrap– Palette knife– Graphite pencils (hard to medium soft) • Brushes – Bristle (Hog hair) 1 to 10 Filbert and square tip – Robert Wade Taklon (Synthetic) 1 to 6 • Liquids – Mineral turpentine– Dishwashing liquid– Olive oil– Liquin W&N (fast drying medium)– Fixative (aerosol)– Varnish (aerosol or tin) Artist’s Tips & Hints: • Don’t be afraid to keep a good choice of colours on hand, and don’t accept advice that a painting miraculously comes to life using a limited palette of five or…

“It’s the instantaneous light. If you get it right then you get it in the total present tense - that’s what you’re going for, that’s eternity.” (Alex Katz) The Serpentine presents the work of renowned American painter Alex Katz (b. 1927, Brooklyn, New York). Coming of age as an artist in the 1950s in New York, Katz developed his unique approach to contemporary representational painting during the height of Abstract Expressionism. Since his first exhibition in 1954, Katz has produced a celebrated body of work, including paintings, drawings, sculpture and prints. Establishing himself as a pre-eminent painter of modern life, he was influenced by films, billboard advertising, music, poetry, and his close circle of friends and family. His portraits and landscapes are characterised by their flatness of colour and fluidity…

Materials List • Stretched canvas 92 x 76cm• Brushes: 50, 12, 8, 1• Medium 1• Gesso• Pure turpentine• Linseed oil• Brushes• Rags (lots)• Palette knives• Ruler (1 metre)• Fingers!• Art Spectrum Oils– Titanium White– Ultramarine Blue– Indigo Blue– Payne’s Grey– Burnt Sienna– Indian Red– Red– Yellow– Orange– Ochre Step One Apply 2-3 coats of Gesso onto a canvas. Ensure that the canvas is completely dry. (Prepare a few canvases in advance so that a prepared canvas is always available when you are ready to work and feeling inspired.) Step Two Draw quick thumbnail(s) using a soft pencil or markers. (It does not have to be detailed or accurate, but detailed enough to be able to see the composition in basic shapes.) Step Three Block in your painting by scrubbing out work on the canvas with the biggest brush you have. (A popular…

I jammed both large format film and digital equipment into my pack, with as little camping gear and food as I could get away with, and trekked to a familiar mountain-top with wide vistas of wilderness and interesting foregrounds. Through the late afternoon and evening I wandered around the cliff-tops, scoping possible compositions and even getting a few pleasing images. I went to bed hoping for clear dawn light. Before sunrise I woke to a gloomy, engulfing fog. I usually relish fog, but this wasn’t the best place for it to be. Disappointed, I set up my tripod anyway, looking for alternative ideas. As the light grew, I noticed variations in the gloom – and suddenly the clouds parted. The rising sun poked briefly through a gap in the clouds.…

My technical approaches are often a result of limitations. Small studio meant paper and watercolour. Overexposure to fumes meant staying with acrylic. I am about to inhabit a wonderful shearing shed so I can paint the scale I have always wanted! My biggest drivers are colour, simple forms and energy. Usually a project consists of many works over a long period, and I just get better and more relaxed at making the images. Because I like working with fluids and with enormous brushes, I work a lot on the floor and put things on the wall to decide on the next step. I am a colourist, and I use one colour at a time, even with oil paint, using a watercolour technique of the white ground underneath and light colours…

Shane Moad This year’s studio review started in the small Western Australian wheat belt town of Beverley, about 90 minutes east of Perth, across the Darling Ranges and into the Avon Valley where the small town straddles the Avon River, as do many of the small towns dotted along the length of the valley. I had met Shane Moad by chance, having had a note published in the local paper saying that I would be their artist-in-residence, and would like to meet artists with a view to publishing their story. As it turned out, Shane was a wonderful artist working from his small studio in his garden, which is close to his rustic timber cottage. I found Shane waiting for me out on the verandah. He had some wonderful work…