Table of contents for December 2016 in Paint & Draw

Since working on Paint & Draw, I’ve started using my eyes a bit more. That may sound silly, but whether I’m on the morning train commute, or looking out of my office window (it’s good to have screen breaks at least 100 times a day, I’m told), I’ve just been soaking in all the detail around me. It all seems worth painting – whether it’s my fourth-floor view of the changing sky and textures in the Bath Stone buildings that peer over the Avon river, or the sluggish trail of cars that I cycle through on my way home! Hopefully looking through this issue of P&D will have a similar effect on you. We’ve put together a selection of styles, subjects and techniques all tied together by the sheer joy…

The Brewery The Brewery art centre in Kendal offers a diverse programme of courses, classes and workshops, from life-drawing to pottery, across a wide range of media. All aim to help both professional and nonprofessional artists to develop their skills and techniques, and are appropriate for all ages. Prices range from £39 to £99, on average. bit.ly/brewery-arts Email: tess.baxter@breweryarts.co.uk Kate’s Courses Award-winning artist Kate Bentley runs two-day workshops covering watercolour and acrylics at beginner and improver level in the Lyth Valley in the southern Lake District. Materials can be hired and prices start at £175. She also offers private tuition when time allows. www.katebentley.co.uk/ painting-workshops Email: kate@katebentley.co.uk Contact: 01539 568079 Lake District Water Colour Painters Steve Taylor and Jane Morris run a variety of…

Keep a sketchbook ready “I would advise any artist visiting the area to explore Grasmere before walking around the lake,” says Keith Melling, “and to perhaps climb Loughrigg Terrace with a sketchbook ready in your rucksack to capture the amazing view over the lake to the shapely fells.” Don’t miss the galleries “Upfront gallery and puppet theatre is a wonderful venue for exhibiting, and Castlegate House Gallery in Cockermouth, specialising in 20th century and contemporary art, is worth a visit,” advises Sue Glassford. “Also, the Heaton Cooper Gallery in Grasmere has a lovely art shop and exhibits the work of three generations of the Heaton Cooper family.” Walk the shore footpath “I once heard a respected artist say that in paintings ‘sheep sell better than horses’, but my tip is…

The artist Sylvia Paul has exhibited her oil, acrylic and collage works across the UK for more than 30 years. She’s recently attracted interest with her Japan-inspired abstracts, one of them being hung in The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. She is exhibiting at the Craole Gallery in Japan in early 2017.www.sylviapaul.com “I soaked up so much of the colour and feel of the place – not just the tourist areas” The first time that Sylvia Paul visited Japan, she took an early evening walk through the streets of Yokohama. In this most modern of cities – skyscrapers, shopping malls, neon lights – the artist saw hundreds of young people dressed in traditional clothes. Women filled the streets wearing sandals, colourful kimonos and flowers in their hair. Sylvia made that first…

About SCOTT North Carolina, US Award winner Scott says some of his ideas for paintings are “as simple as stopping at the sight of something interesting, while others may take more time to research than to paint”. www.scottburdick.com Symphonies would lose their impact if they were all cymbals or violins, and the same is true with a painting. If every object is detailed to an equal degree, our eye doesn’t know where to look, and the visual message is lost in the clutter. Often, combining a realistic centre of interest with a more abstract and textured background can act as an interesting balance. A realistically painted face will stand out and appear even more engaging against an abstract background, rather than set against a backdrop with every detail meticulously put…

About CHRIS Pasadena, California, USA Chris is a painter, illustrator, videogame concept artist and health nut with more than 20 years of drawing, painting and teaching experience. www.drawwithchris.com Drawing the human head is a difficult and daunting task. This is especially true when drawing from life, because there is the added pressure of time. Before I draw, I always take the time to observe and process the shape, planes and rhythms. I always start my head drawings by capturing shape and gesture, by drawing the major shapes using big strokes and long marks. I can then position features using the vertical and horizontal centre of the face, making sure the angles are correct. Next, I build in the major planes: front, sides, and either top or bottom. The secondary planes…

DIDIER LOURENCO Didier, from Barcelona, prints his own lithographs, having learned to print and paint in his father’s lithograph studio in the 1980s. Also working in oil on linen canvas and on paper, he has exhibited his artworks at galleries worldwide. www.didierlourenco. 1 Guests Oil on linen, 47x43in Didier has produced a number of artworks of women in settings that are intimate yet always have an open window or door “where the light can enter, allowing me to paint,” says Didier. 2 Brooklyn 2 Oil on linen, 48x36in “My faces of women have been in constant evolution since 2007,” Didier says, “In this piece, the marks of colour are made larger to build the face.” 3 People Oil on linen, 51x51in The marks build this piece, with the textures, colours…

Five Minute Sketching: Architecture Author: Liz Steel Publisher: Apple Press Price: £9.99 Web: www.quartoknows.com A MASSIVE art-making trend in recent years has been the rise of urban sketching. In cities around the world, groups of artists meet up to go on ‘sketch crawls’ where they draw what they see, then share and critique their work online via social networks. It adds to the fun if you can draw quickly, so professional architect and urban sketcher Liz Steel has put together this book explaining how to sketch a building in five minutes. That may sound like an impossible feat, but the author explains how to ‘read’ buildings to help you capture them on paper much faster than you might think. If you’re willing to put in the effort, this 130-page book…

“An icon of 19th century British art that is endlessly reproduced and disseminated around the world” FLAMING JUNE RETURNS TO LONDON Lord Frederic Leighton’s masterpiece finally returns to its origins LEIGHTON’S ICONIC Flaming June – the portrait of a graceful, sleeping figure swathed in a sheer orange dress that echoes the warm Mediterranean sun behind her – has returned from Puerto Rico, where it has been displayed for over 50 years, to the studio where it was painted. One of the most famous and widely reproduced Victorian artworks, the portrait stars in an exhibition at Leighton House Museum in Kensington called ‘Flaming June: The Making of an Icon’. The exhibition also features the other paintings Leighton showed in the 1895 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, which was his final submission before…

Heaton Cooper Studio Widely recommended, the Heaton Cooper Studio in Grasmere has a fantastic art shop selling everything from brushes to books, inks, easels and children’s materials. Run by father and son watercolourists, the studio also displays rare, original watercolours in its gallery section. www.heatoncooper.co.uk Email: info@heatoncooper.co.uk Contact: 01539 435280 Youdells Art Shop Kendal-based Youdells has one of the most comprehensive ranges of art materials in North West England, stocking everything from paints, pencils, pastels, papers and brushes to gift sets, easels and portfolios. There’s also a gallery on-site to offer visitors inspiration. www.youdells.co.uk Email: info@youdells.co.uk Contact: 01539 723728 Silverdale and Arnside Art and Craft Trail The annual Silverdale and Arnside Art and Craft Trail happens on the last weekend of June. With open studios, large…

As a young painter, Matisse’s subject matter of languid women, artful objects clustered about them, pretty colours and decorative fabrics all smacked of the drawing room and felt way too middle class and bourgeois for my young and rebellious eye. But then I discovered that it was Matisse who goaded that other 20th century master, Picasso, into his experiments with Cubism. And while Matisse may have called Picasso ‘the boss,’ Picasso referred to Matisse as ‘the magician.’ Magician, he certainly was. Matisse’s handling of colour and space had cast a spell on the world of art and design and influences us to this day. But how did he do this? Matisse said that he didn’t paint a subject literally, but rather he relayed the emotion it evoked for him; a…

1 I USE HANDMADE papers of different texture, some decorative paper, a piece from an old book and some sheet music. I apply them to the paper with PVA glue, painting the acrylic in layers to pull the image together. The paint picks up the texture of the papers. 2 I BUILD up the layers of paper and paint to create more specific shapes. I introduce a champagne glass in the foreground and other objects on a table. The dark shape creates depth and the bottle label (top left corner) creates interest. Some of the first layers are still showing through, too. 3 USING COLLAGE, I add more objects to create the party table. Ideas come as I work, and the colourful bunting is made from tiny pieces of paper.…

JONATHAN EDWARDS Widely published in magazines and newspapers, Jonathan specialises in comics and character design, as well as illustrations and watercolours www.jonathan-e.com Keeping a sketchbook is great. I sit with it at night and draw things from photos or from my imagination. And when I’m out I draw from real life as much as I possibly can. My approach to drawing from life is more about reinterpreting things into my illustration style rather than slavishly copying what’s in front of me. I like to take brand new A6 and A4 sketchbooks with me when I go away, and set myself the task of filling the entire book in one trip. This usually involves some frantic sketching at the airport on my way home! My kit consists of my faithful Pentel…

About JENNIFER Northwest Georgia, USA Watercolour artist and lifelong teacher Jennifer Branch travels the world with her husband and two sons, to find inspiration for her next painting. paintingwatercolor.com Painting water can sometimes seem overwhelming. Water moves constantly, so capturing a moment without the aid of a camera may appear impossible. But paintings can convey the constant movement of water in a way that photos struggle to, as long as you have a good water-painting technique that ensures your pictures are as full of life as the real thing. The following top ten tips explain a few basic skills and techniques you can use to paint water that looks spontaneous and vibrant. Although I use watercolours, these tips also translate to the medium of your choice. Practise en plein air…

WINIFRED NICHOLSON Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art brings together 20th century Cumbrian artist Winifred Nicholson’s landscapes, still lifes and portraits – including her experiments with abstraction and colour – from across the breadth of her career and her travels around Europe. The ‘Liberation of Colour’ exhibition runs until 12 February. www.visitmima.com OUT OF CHAOS The Ben Uri organisation was founded by Jewish immigrants in London in 1915, to nurture art and creativity. This celebration of its centenary features impressive artworks that explore their enforced journeys and struggles with identity and acceptance, among other themes. The exhibition at Newcastle’s Laing Art Gallery runs until 26 February. www.twmuseums.org.uk/laing MATISSE: DRAWING WITH SCISSORS This exhibition features 35 prints of Matisse’s cut-outs from the last four years of his life, including iconic images such…

Beckstone Art Gallery Located near the ancient village of Greystoke, Beckstone Art Gallery exhibits some of the finest contemporary artists in the UK and covers a varied spectrum of style, media and subject matter. www.beckstonesartgallery.co.uk Email: enquiries@ beckstonesartgallery.co.uk The Upfront Gallery As well as presenting a changing programme of exhibitions ranging from painting to sculpture, ceramics and textiles, Upfront Gallery near Penrith stages an annual open exhibition from mid-January until early March. www.up-front.com/gallery  Email: info@up-front.com Abbott Hall Gallery Kendal’s Abbott Hall Gallery boasts nationally acclaimed 20th century artists, plus 18th century and 19th century paintings, and a strong schedule of exhibitions. Entry is £7/£6.35 for adults and free for children. www.abbothall.org.uk  Email: info@abbothall.org.uk Lakeland Arts Gallery Grasmere village-based Lakeland Arts Gallery specialises in Lake District prints…

TIM BURNS Tim retired from teaching in 2013 to focus on his art. Initially using charcoal, he now prefers working with oil paint to produce colourful landscapes, still lifes and figures. He says he solves problems in his paintings. www.timburns.co.uk Looking out onto the garden, Tim’s studio is filled with the smell of oil paint and turpentine, as well as “mess and clutter”. He says he wouldn’t want the mess or odours in his house, preferring to go to this dedicated space to work. Tim moved into his house in Alton, Hampshire, eight years ago, and built the studio immediately, which he calls “the centre of my creative endeavours” and “my base”. In the last three years he has drawn and painted there every day, for a couple of hours…

About PETER Los Angeles, USA Peter lives in LA, where he works for Sony Pictures Animation. Previously he was at Pandemic Studios as a concept artist, and has also worked for DreamWorks. www.pixelp.tumblr.com Painting outdoor scenery is the best way to learn how to capture the essence of natural lighting. One of my favourite exercises is painting urban street scenes with cars. It may seem complex at first, but if you treat them as just simple shapes – either squares or box-like forms – they become a lot less intimidating. To help simplify the shapes and focus your attention on the lighting in your scene, group big masses of value shapes together and don’t worry yet about the likeness of each element. This also helps you narrow down your composition…

About RODNEY Bath, UK Rodney has been framing for over five years, first as a way to save money on framing his ever-growing collection of prints and art, developing the traditional techniques and methods with every new commission. Getting your art professionally framed can be expensive. Ready-made frames are a cheaper alternative, but they’re only suitable if your work is a standard size such as A4 or A3. If you want a cost-effective solution, with the flexibility to accommodate unique-sized art, then make your own frames. It’s not as hard as it sounds. In this guide (part one of two), I’ll explain how to frame your art at home, without using the expensive automated equipment you see in a professional workshop.With a little practice and an eye for detail, there’s…

Developer: Johnny Byrnes Price: Free Android: bit.ly/posebook_android iOS: bit.ly/posebook_ios Created by artists for artists, PoseBook 3D is an app that has been developed to help you draw three-dimensional human forms. It aims to help you effectively draw the human head in multiple angles, focusing on perspective changes as the face rotates. It also features a tool that enables you to rotate a light around the head, to visualise how the light and shadow fall in different ways. The app offers some great free content to help to get you started, including video tutorials by Stephen Silver, veteran character designer in the animation industry, who has designed animated shows such as Kim Possible, Danny Phantom and many more. In-app purchases extend the options. If you want to improve your understanding of…