A&I_0221

Capturing Time

“Childhood Memories” 33 × 42 cm, Nitram Charcoal

WITH NITRAM CHARCOAL

”Developing a fascination towards the works of the masters hanging in museums as well as works
done today by contemporary artists, motivated me to start doing art with charcoal.

Since I came to Japan, my grandmother has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. This made me realize
the importance of enshrining memories: we should not take them for granted.

I hope my art is able to represent how things may exist just for a moment; that life passes by quickly
and is constantly in motion.

We can not always recall exactly how things were but we can retain the emotion attached to such
memories. We should appreciate every second of our lives.

I use Nitram charcoal sticks because of the variety of shapes, sizes and levels of hardness available.
They enable me to produce subtle variations in tone and they don’t shatter like some, when pressing hard
on paper to create dark tones.”

~ Ruben Hiraga

The Nitram Starter Kit contains:
1 x 5mm H, 1 x 5mm HB, 1 x 5mm B and 1 x 6mm B+ charcoal, and 1 Limited Edition Sharpening Bloc with 1 set of replacement pads

My name is Ruben Hiraga. I’m a self-taught artist. While I do art full-time these days, this was not the always the case. I have loved creating art since I was young, yet when I became an adult,
I worked in more conventional jobs in order to make ends meet. During these years I worked as a factory laborer, computer teacher, bartender, sales manager and concierge on a cruise ship.
I was fortunate enough to experience life in different ways and see events from different perspectives. I lived in three different continents: I spent my formative years living with my grandmother in
Brazil, moved to Japan in my teens and spent part of my twenties in Mozambique. Then I began to recall how art made me feel when I was young, so I decided to rekindle my relationship with
the art world. I have discovered the joys of digital art, and worked as an illustrator for games and books. Currently I am being represented by Octala, a gallery which celebrates works digital
artworks, and my personal artworks are being sold as limited edition prints on high quality aluminum. www.hiragaruben.com @hiragaruben

www.nitramcharcoal.com NITRAMMTMC

FINE ART CHARCOAL

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I L LUS T R ATO R S
TIPS • TECHNIQUES • IDEAS • inspir ation
February 2021 £4.75

TOM LANDSCAPES
HOVEY
A 15-step plan to better compositions
Meet the Great
British Bake Off

illustrator

How Studio
paint… special

•Realistic reflections Learn from Monet,
•Old photos in colour Magritte and more
•A floral doorway

Creating

Paint lifelike fur and other effects

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Artists & Illustrators, The Chelsea MARK ENTWISLE Welcome
Magazine Company Ltd., Jubilee House, AN ARTIST'S STUDIO IS
2 Jubilee Place, London SW3 3TQ WHERE MAGIC HAPPENS
Tel: (020) 7349 3700
www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk Artists' studios are wonderful places. I'm lucky enough in this job
to have visited plenty of them and they never cease to amaze me.
EDITORIAL The smell of turps, the splashes of paint, the untapped potential in
Group Editor Steve Pill every sketchbook and unfinished canvas... They are fascinating places
Art Editor Lauren Debono-Elliot for sure. Yet while it is easy to think of more established artists such
Assistant Editor Rebecca Bradbury as Rembrandt, Monet or Kahlo as untouchable icons, a visit to their
Contributors Hashim Akib, Liz Balkwill, studio can also remind us that they were human after all. Once you've
Laura Boswell, Fabio Cembranelli, Aine seen their unsent letters to their paint supplier or their paint-covered smock
Divine, Rob Dudley, Al Gury, Matt Jeans, draped over a chair, it is much easier to imagine the person behind your
Katie McCabe and Jason Morgan favourite masterpieces. With that in mind, we've produced a guided tour of
12 of the best artists' studios around the world, so you can find out more about
ONLINE ENQUIRIES them from the comfort of your sofa.
[email protected] And due to the various Covid restrictions, we have decided to extend the
deadline for the British Art Prize 2021 to give everyone a chance to enter.
ADVERTISING This new open art competition is the successor to our popular Artists of the
Managing Director, Sales & Create Year search and it is open to all. Head to page 35 to find out how you can
Steve Ross submit your latest masterpiece for consideration and the chance to win cash
Advertising Manager David Huntington prizes, art materials vouchers, a solo exhibition and a Van Gogh-inspired river
(020) 7349 3702 cruise worth £7,000. Good luck!
david.huntington@
chelseamagazines.com Steve Pill, Editor
Advertising Production
www.allpointsmedia.co.uk Share your stories, thoughts and latest artworks for a chance to win a £50 voucher...

MANAGEMENT & PUBLISHING [email protected] @AandImagazine /ArtistsAndIllustrators
Managing Director Paul Dobson @AandImagazine @AandImagazine
Publisher Simon Temlett Artists & Illustrators 3
Chief Financial Officer Vicki Gavin
Director of Media James Dobson
EA to Chairman Sarah Porter
Subs Marketing Manager Bret Weekes

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Contents 46

42 Learn how to
paint realistic

ref lections

regulars 54 What is interesting about
5 Letters green is its relationship
with other colours
Share your artistic stories with us
– FFIONA LEWIS, PAGE 74
6 Exhibitions
34 British Art Prize 54 Painting Fur stkewHelli–ottpscwhtahogybteroooi5ueo0srks
February's best art shows
Enter this fantastic new open art Wildlife master Jason Morgan
9 Sketchbook competition with £10,000 of prizes
reveals a three-step approach
Quick tips, ideas and reviews 36 In The Studio
60 Composition
13 Prize Draw With Sunday Times Watercolour
Competition winner Mark Entwisle Paint better landscapes with
Win a painting holiday in Norfolk
techniques our 15-point plan for success
29 The Working Artist 42 Masterclass
66 Watercolour
With our columnist Laura Boswell Create variety in repeated forms Te x t u r e s
with Fabio Cembranelli's workshop
82 10 Minutes With... Improve your mark making
46 Project
Tom Hovey, the illustrator behind skills with Rob Dudley's help
The Great British Bake Off's cakes The Pastel Society's Liz Balkwill
sets an exercise on reflections 70 Demo
inspiration
20 Masters at Work 50 Sketching Update a vintage photo

Explore the studios of a dozen of Add text and themes to improve with watercolour
the world's most popular artists the usefulness of your drawings
74 How I Paint
30 Art Histor y
Artist Ffiona Lewis reveals
Revisit the charming pastoral
scenes of Mary Newcomb how she developed the works in

4 Artists & Illustrators new exhibition Green Tapestry

Letters Write us!

Send your letter or email
to the addresses below:

LETTER OF THE MONTH POST:
Your Letters,
FOUR- COLOUR Artists & Illustrators,
CHALLENGE The Chelsea Magazine
Company Ltd.,
I bought the January 2021 issue of Artists & Jubilee House,
Illustrators [Issue 425] and found it full of great 2 Jubilee Place,
information and challenges. In response to Jake London SW3 3TQ
Spicer’s challenge number 6, about drawing in
layers, using the colours CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, EMAIL: info@artists
Yellow and Key, which is black), I tinkered a bit with andillustrators.co.uk
my colours. I used Staedtler Mars Micro pencil
leads in graphite and blue with yellow and red The writer of our ‘letter WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO EDIT LETTERS FOR PUBLICATION
watercolour pencils. of the month’ will receive
a £50 gift voucher from
I normally like to draw using just the Mars Micro GreatArt, which offers
colours, so I was a little out of my comfort zone. the UK’s largest range of
I enjoyed the challenge. It is an archival pencil art materials with more
drawing in my A5 sketchbook. than 50,000 art supplies
Gudrun Ståhl Sharpley, via email and regular discounts
and promotions.
HISTORY PAINTING the sadness of the times which has www.greatart.co.uk
I have found the most interesting covered our planet for the past
paintings were inspired by some year? Terms like “lockdown” and
current or past events. When I get “self-isolation” appeared in
my monthly copy of Artists & everyday language overnight.
Illustrators, I look for the pictures
that are more than just a specific I have painted a few views
view or portrait. depicting the Covid-19 pandemic
[below left]. For exercise, on most
Art started out this way. From mornings, I walk some nearby public
cave murals to biblical scenes, and footpaths for approximately an hour.
as with JMW Turner’s paintings, I had never walked here prior to
there was always a story and an lockdown. It is a time for reflection.
atmosphere behind the works. This Derek Stark, via email
invisible story or message triggers a
A BIRTHDAY IN STYLE thought process which causes the PURR-FECT TIMING
My little sister had a very big viewer to look harder, and to Having just read issue 425, I arrived
birthday recently and I wanted to contemplate what a particular at creative challenge number 19,
paint her a picture which told a painting is all about. “Place your pets”. With that in mind,
story of her school days. I thought I’d share a painting I did
We are presently living through a of our youngest cat, Mitsy [right].
My dilemma was that I normally period in history unlike any we have I followed it up with a portrait of
paint in an “Impressionist” style, experienced. In some paintings, for our eldest cat, Pepper, too.
although my artist friends would say historical reasons, perhaps artists Heather Bentley, via email
“miserable” since I am attracted to should reflect the loneliness and
industrial subjects. It had to be a
cheerful attempt and so I decided Share your stories and get a daily
to have a go at a “naïve” style. dose of Artists & Illustrators tips,
advice and inspiration by following
The result is a scene looking us on our social media channels...
south on Victoria Road in Glasgow
with my sister bottom left about to @AandImagazine
get into the yellow Consul [above].
ArtistsAndIllustrators
My biggest challenge was staying
in style; I frequently lapsed into AandImagazine
Impressionism. I have to say I did
enjoy doing it, it gave me a totally AandImagazine
different mindset and I shall
certainly try again.
Dennis James, via email

Artists & Illustrators 5

Exhibitions

FEBRUARY'S BEST ART SHOWS

Richard Hamilton: Respective Jagger handcuffed to gallerist Robert Fraser), © RICHARD HAMILTON 2020. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, DACS Grayson Perry:
as well as how he adopted imagery from The Pre-Therapy Years
Until 18 April 2021 cultural sources, like adverts, in works
When you think of Pop Art, Richard Hamilton including Just What is it That Makes Today’s 12 January to 16 May 2021
may not be the first artist to spring to mind, Homes so Different. His collaboration with After keeping the nation entertained during
but he is in fact the founding father of the Marcel Duchamp, Oculist Witnesses, also the first lockdown with his Channel 4 TV show,
movement – hence his moniker, Daddy Pop. included here, proves his disregard for the there’s a chance to travel back in time and
distinction between high and low art. re-live Grayson Perry’s formative years in this
In this retrospective, you can see how the Pallant House Gallery, Chichester. survey of the ground-breaking ceramics the
British artist drew from mass media, such as www.pallant.org.uk artist made between 1982 and 1994.
in the screenprint Swingeing London ’67
(above, based on a paparazzi shot of Mick A public appeal helped bring the pots,
plates and sculptures back together from
across the country to demonstrate the
dissonance Perry created by adorning
traditional forms of pottery with depictions
of modern-day concerns. A rare chance to
see the origins of the artist’s clever, playful
and politically engaged perspective.
Sainsbury Centre, Norwich.
www.sainsburycentre.ac.uk

The Art of Devotion: BARBER INSTITUTE OF FINE ARTS
Sacred Illuminations, © GRAYSON PERRY. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND VICTORIA MIRO
Prints, and Drawings

Until 26 June
There was a time when monarchs
believed in the “divine right of kings”, a
claim that their absolute authority was
derived from God. Less widely known yet
no less unlikely is the idea that artists of
that time also saw themselves as
anointed illustrators of the divine, as
explored in this newly extended exhibition
of vellum, woodcuts and intaglio prints.
The Barber Institute of Fine Arts,
Birmingham. www.barber.org.uk

CITY ART CENTRE, MUSEUMS & GALLERIES EDINBURGHEA Hornel: The Human Touch:
FITZWILLIAM MUSEUM, CAMBRIDGEFrom Camera to CanvasMaking Art, Leaving Traces

Until 14 March 2021 6 January to 3 May 2021
There’s much debate surrounding the merits Many of us have missed the
of painting from a photo, as opposed to comforting touch of loved ones this
painting from life. However, for an insight year as Covid-19 restrictions have
into how the camera can be crucial to the come into force. So, this exhibition
development of an artist’s technique, look illuminating the fundamental role
no further than this showcase of Edward that touch plays in the human
Atkinson Hornel’s paintings, displayed experience, through 4,000 years
alongside his photographic collection. of art, feels timelier than ever.

The influence of photography on the Exploring anatomy and skin, the
late Scottish artist’s paintings can be traced relationship between hand, eye and
back to 1890. Not only did it give him access creativity, desire and possession,
to people and places, but it also helped and reverence and iconoclasm, the
him stylistically. For example, the vertical 150 or so objects on show range
composition of the Yokohama shashin print from medieval manuscripts and
that he collected is mirrored in a number of panels, to classic paintings by
his paintings, such as A Japanese Musician Rembrandt, Turner and Degas.
Playing a Shamisen. There are also works by
City Art Centre, Edinburgh. contemporary artists including
www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk Frank Auerbach and Judy Chicago.
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk

Artists & Illustrators 7

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sketchbook

February
TIPS • ADVICE • IDEAS
PHOTO: JIM MACKINTOSH
SCREEN TEST
AINE DIVINE suggests
six things to consider when
booking an online art course

1Look through the tutor’s artwork online.
Does it feel alive to you? See if you can find
progress photos on Facebook or Instagram to
see their process. You don’t necessarily have to
love a tutor’s work but want someone who will
facilitate you in nourishing your own practice.

2Find out how a tutor relates on screen.
What is their delivery like? Do you warm to
them? Seek them out on YouTube to get a feel
for their teaching style and personality. If you
can’t find any videos, ask if you can call them.

3An attitude of experimentation is key,
whatever the medium. I take umbrage at
any teacher dictating a rigid set of rules as
though they are gospel. We humans thrive in
an atmosphere of support – not hollow praise,
but a focus on what works and ways to evolve.

4Course structure is important. Is one-to-
one interaction welcomed? Find out how
it takes place. How will you be supported? Is
there a materials list? If in doubt, ask. None of
this should be ambiguous: you are entitled to
know what is part of the course and what isn’t.

5How much screen time will there be? I find
one Zoom call a week was a good use of
screen time. You want the focus to be on the
creative practice itself, not endless videos.

6Think about course length. How many
hours can you devote to painting each
week? And for how long? Look at your diary
and be honest with yourself. Honour your own
ebb and flow. Recognise the need for care and
kindness during this fertile, creative time.
Aine runs six-week courses in watercolour
portraiture (24 January), mixed media flowers
(7 February) and landscape painting (March
tbc). www.ainedivinepaintings.co.uk

Artists & Illustrators 9

“IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO KNOW YOUR
CRAFT, YOU HAVE TO HAVE FEELING.

SCIENCE IS ALL VERY WELL, BUT
FOR US IMAGINATION IS WORTH
FAR MORE.”

PRISM, 2020, PASTEL ON LINEN, 200X160CM. © JENNY SAVILLE. PHOTO: PRUDENCE CUMING. COURTESY GAGOSIAN MASTER TIP JENNY SAVILLE pencils have a biodegradable seed capsule on the
end, so that once you’re done drawing you can plant
The painting techniques of the world’s best artists the other end in soil and watch as anything from
Elpis, Jenny Saville’s recent exhibition at New York’s Gagosian Gallery, sunflowers to cherry tomatoes emerge over time.
continues her claims to being the finest British figurative artist of her £10.95 for a pack of 8, www.sproutworld.com
generation. Though the surface of a portrait such as Prism, pictured, is filled
with intriguing passages of mark making in various unlikely colours, Saville is Dates for the diary
still able to create a convincing sense of form by ensuring the hues are tonally
correct. Squint at those electric red lines describing the subject’s cheek or Artists using water-based media have until 5 February
the outline of the neck and they soon settle into place. It’s a great technique to enter the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours’
to try, swapping out tonally similar colours to create surface interest.
www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/2020/jenny-saville-elpis 209th Annual Exhibition at London’s Mall Galleries.
www.mallgalleries.oess1.uk • The British Art Prize 2021 is

the most exciting new open art competition to launch in
years. Enter before 18 February to win cash prizes, art
vouchers, a solo exhibition and a Van Gogh-inspired river
cruise. www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/britishartprize

10 Artists & Illustrators

ADVERTISING FEATURE

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5-Day Pastel
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My ‘Bailey’ Experience
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As a child I had been mesmerised by an for the end, Those beautiful ears were a challenge and
actor in a children’s programme who but now I I am really happy with the result.
was always drawing a nice character can see
in each episode. I wanted to draw like him… how a The live Question and Answer sessions
but life works in mysterious ways, so after painting in the evenings have been very helpful and
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childhood dream. if you have
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when I started getting Unison Colour almost like the Challenge. I will continue to follow Unison’s
pastels, the world has become a better animal is already looking at you and giving workshops and Sue’s work since there is so
place. Unison pastels are a bit like the you feedback on how you’re doing (see the much to learn from them both.
Pokemon theme: You got to get them all! picture! Is Bailey not looking at you, a bit like
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I’m a messy artist, I work all over the
Harris, I could not paper, and that leads to smudging
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up. We painted I had in mind to finish off later. Sue has a
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all the
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listed, I made work that I have taken from Sue and I am
do with similar forever grateful, including how to sharpen
colours. and use the edge bits of the pastels for the
Sue started with highlights. Due to how creamy they are, they
overlay great onto existing layers of pastel.
the background and the eyes. I’d always left
the eyes and any fiddly bits on my paintings

Don’t miss the next

It’sUnison Colour Five-Day Pastel Challenge
f ree!Join the ‘Unison Colour Pastelling Community’ Facebook page

for details on how to register

sketchbook

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TEA-BREAK CHALLENGE ISTOCK PAINTING
WITH IMPACT
3. ADD AND SUBTRACT
HASHIM AKIB on the benefits of
We tend to think of a drawing as adding dark marks to a white page, working quickly and confidently
so here’s a little test to help you think differently. Next time you make
a 10-15 minute sketch, use two tools instead: one, your pencil as normal, with larger brushes
and two, an eraser pencil. As well as building up with the graphite, think
about how you can “draw” with the eraser to pick out highlights. Don’t just Investing in large brushes has so many advantages.
use any old rubber – making both positive and negative marks is key. You can save time and build confidence as they
allow you to create more productive strokes.
BOOK OF THE MONTH Expansive applications of acrylic paint mean
quicker drying times too, and you’ll probably
Drawing the Head and Hands & Figure produce a better painting as it is much harder to
Drawing for All It’s Worth by Andrew Loomis fuss with details.
A peer of Norman Rockwell, Andrew Loomis
was a US illustrator who worked for the likes of My preference is for brushes with a flat head,
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fame producing rigorous books on technique. effect they help me create. Initial expressive strokes
contrast well with more thoughtful and refined ones
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methodical teachings is both timeless and
hugely encouraging. Titan Books, £59.99

12 Artists & Illustrators

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for 2021? Maybe it’s to finesse a painting artists are catered for at Big Sky Art, with
technique, loosen up your style or learn a courses offered in a variety of media One winner, selected at random, will win
new medium entirely. Whatever your creative including watercolour (often en plein air), a residential place on a four- or five-night
aims are for the year ahead, however, a pastel, oil and acrylic. tutored art break with Big Sky Art worth up
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Artists & Illustrators 13

Fresh
Paint

Inspiring new artworks, straight off the easel

Norma Stephenson

Sprawling across northern Lancashire into the western
edges of Yorkshire, The Forest of Bowland is a rather
forgotten landscape to all except the more adventurous
locals. The name is rather misleading too, as much of this
designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is no longer
covered in woodland, but rather gritstone fells and open
moorland warmed by a blanket of heather.

It is also home to what artist Norma Stephenson rather
poetically calls “a moorland community of scattered farms
and barns, crisscrossed by a pattern of dry-stone walls”.
Her own home and studio are here too, from which she
also hosted workshops for 30 years until she took the
decision to retire in 2018 and concentrate on her own art.

The Scottish artist’s expressive, pastel-based paintings
are fascinating for a number of reasons, not least the ways
in which she interprets the landscape on her doorstep.
“My paintings recognise the location, but perhaps not
photographically,” she says.

“I do enjoy being out in the landscape, but this is almost
always just to sketch. I almost never pre-plan a painting.
I mostly have my attention captured by the unexpected
or brief glimpse. The sudden burst of yellow of spring
gorse spotted on a daily walk or the rich burnt sienna in a
moorland view often draw me back to investigate further.”

In this respect, her work is part of a lineage that takes in
Barbara Rae and the Scottish Colourists, artists who all
delighted in wrong-footing the viewer with inspired palette
choices. A new painting will begin back in the studio with
all the sketch notes and reference photographs set aside.
She starts with a clear gesso layer which “leaves a varied
texture, brushed in the direction of the landscape”, before
an underpainting, usually in acrylic or watercolour. Then
subsequent layers are built up vigorously, first drawing with
pastels, conté crayons and charcoal, then occasionally
splashing or dribbling water-based paint. If things don’t go
according to plan, Norma is content to wipe away progress
with her hand. “This has the effect of simplifying and
blurring the image, allowing for more time and space to
rework or leave the painting space to breathe,” she
explains. Finished compositions are often cropped from a
large board, after fixative and a final layer of clear gesso
has been applied.
www.normastephenson.co.uk

14 Artists & Illustrators

Fresh Paint
NORMA’S
top tiP

“A painting should have
areas of busy texture
and mark making,
balanced with calm,
quiet passages”

LEFT Norma
Stephenson,
Spring Gorse 2,
pastel on board,
54x54cm

Artists & Illustrators 15

Fresh Paint

Timur D’Vatz, Dream
and a Dreamer, oil on
canvas, 127x183cm

16 Artists & Illustrators

Fresh Paint

TIMUR’S
top tiP

“Create a woven effect
by mixing multiple dry
brush layers with areas

where the canvas is
simply exposed”

Timur D’Vatz

The Fisher King is an important character in Arthurian
legend. This injured monarch is the last in a long bloodline
of custodians of the Holy Grail, yet the wound on his leg
has left him unable to stand and forced to spend his time
fishing on the river beside his castle. While many knights
travel to visit the Fisher King, the only thing that will heal
him is being asked the right question.

Over the years, the story has inspired all manner of
cultural responses, from a Wagner opera and a Terry
Gilliam movie to TS Eliot’s epic poem The Waste Land.
Added to that list now is Timur D’Vatz’s latest painting,
Dream and a Dreamer. “The sleeping figure represents the
king, the grail keeper, in his malady,” explains the artist.
“The grail is a beautiful flower growing in the middle of the
garden and the sphinx guards it with questions. There are
many symbolic details, since the story merges ancient
Celtic mythology and medieval Christianity.”

The complex yet intricately plotted scene is typical of
Timur’s figurative work. “The concept dictates the
composition. Everything, like in tapestries, appears
simultaneously on the surface, as a kaleidoscope of
events.”

Dream and a Dreamer is one of 22 new works in his
recent exhibition of (almost) the same name at Cadogan
Contemporary, the London gallery that has been
representing the Russian artist for the last 28 years. His
latest collection of work includes figurative pieces based
upon other myths and legends, such as the Lady of the
Lake and the Green Knight, alongside a series of works
that offer a 21st-century take on Monet’s water-lily
paintings and were inspired by the discovery of a Giverny-
esque pond while on holiday in Maine, USA last year.

Patterns play an increasing role in these latest
figurative works. “I am inspired by textiles of all periods,
including early Byzantine, medieval, and also patterns
from the 60s and 70s. Again, it’s all like a tapestry or a
Persian rug – full of motifs talking to each other, most of
them inspired by nature.”

Timur’s use of a coarse linen canvas for these patterned
works also adds to the effect of these being vintage
textiles rather than a contemporary painting.

His recent influences reflect that interest too: “Among
many artists, William Morris and Édouard Vuillard, who
also experimented with textiles and patterns that allowed
them to create amazing tapestry-like paintings, have been
a significant influence.”
www.timurdvatzstudio.com

Artists & Illustrators 17

Fresh Paint

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Vivian Riches two-inch decorating brush before reaching for her ABOVE Vivian
acrylic brushes, small rollers and palette knifes to build Riches, Sunset
When Vivian Riches relocated across the country last May, up the scene. over Dover
from the north east of England to the south east coast, her Lighthouse,
address was not the only thing to change. As the towering Vivian has developed some interesting ways to create acrylic on board,
chalky cliffs, undisturbed stretches of coast and rolling different marks as well. “I’ll often use a bamboo skewer to 60x60cm
grasslands near the Portfolio Plus member’s new home drag through the paint to create more lines,” she explains.
began to catch her imagination, she put aside her interest “I’ll also use the side of a piece of cardboard dipped in
in painting flowers in watercolour and branched out into paint to create the foreground grasses.” Texture gels
landscapes instead. Vivian’s latest paintings are vibrant, and structure gels are also mixed with the acrylic when
impressionistic depictions of the Kent Downs using bold painting the flowers. “It gives an impasto feel in contrast
acrylic strokes. “Wow, what a different landscape,” she to the foliage,” she explains.
says of the Kent countryside. “The White Cliffs are just
so stunning and evocative. It’s really inspired me.” “I want people to feel like they want to be in the painting,
like they want to know what is at the top of the hill if they
Each painting starts in a similar way, with a rough sketch took that path,” she adds. Likewise, we can’t wait to see
in gesso straight onto a board. For Sunset over Dover where Vivian’s artwork takes her next.
Lighthouse, the artist laid down an orange ground with a www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/vivian-riches

18 Artists & Illustrators

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E © FONDATION CLAUDE MONET GIVERNY/CARLOS ALEJANDRO/DBIIMAGES/ISTOCK
a
craft. We picked out 12 of the best that you can visit

20 Artists & Illustrators

MASTER STUDIOS

OPPOSITE PAGE, S pending time in the studio of a favourite artist can uniquely charismatic spaces to a wider public. Single-artist
CLOCKWISE FROM be something of a pilgrimage, a chance to museums, house museums and studio museums can
TOP LEFT Japanese celebrate their genius and get closer to the source be found across Europe, often sited in remote locations
prints in Claude of their creativity. Doing so can help to further bring to life where artists sought seclusion in which to work. The ASMN
Monet’s Giverny the paintings that were created there too, as you get to website, www.artiststudiomuseum.org, allows you to
dining room; experience the same views or be close to original objects search for a destination by location, artist or medium.
Andrew Wyeth’s that appeared in them. A visit can prove inspiring for your The launch coincided with the opening of Watts Studios
Pennsylvania own practice too, as it humanises these legendary figures. at Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village, the former Surrey home
studio; Frida of Victorian artist George Frederic Watts, one of more than
Kahlo’s desk in To make it easier to discover these spaces, the Watts 150 spaces listed on the site.
La Casa Azul Gallery Trust launched the Artist’s Studio Museum
Network (ASMN) in 2016. Recognising that there are Below is a dozen of the most prominent, fascinating and
hundreds of museums established in the former homes or comprehensive artist’s studios to visit around the world,
studios of visual artists, the Trust wanted to bring these with an introduction to what you will find in each.

SÉBASTIEN ERRAS/ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO 1 GUSTAVE CAILLEBOTTE

Favouring a more realistic approach to his Impressionist
contemporaries, Gustave Caillebotte is perhaps one of the less
celebrated 19th-century French masters here in the UK. He is
revered in the US, however, where his works inspired a generation
of American painters and his masterpiece, Paris Street, Rainy
Day, is a highlight of the Art Institute of Chicago’s collection.

More than 80 of Caillebotte’s paintings were created in the
garden of his home on the outskirts of Paris where he lived for
20 years. Open to the public as Propriété Caillebotte, the
neoclassical house and 11 hectares of surrounding parkland
were restored in 2017. You’ll be tempted to follow in his footsteps
by painting trees in the gardens, while the modest pastel-blue
studio still has his easel, palette and paint-covered smock laid out.
Propriété Caillebotte, Yerres, France
www.proprietecaillebotte.fr

Artists & Illustrators 21

MASTER STUDIOS JEAN-CLAUDE CARBONNE

2 PAUL CÉZANNE

At some point in the early 2010s, the legendary New York
photographer Joel Meyerowitz visited Paul Cézanne’s
former studio in Aix-en-Provence. Rather than poring over
the usual artefacts, Meyerowitz was fascinated by the
studio walls. Darkened over time, they had been painted a
pale grey by the artist to absorb the bright Provence light.

Meyerowitz noted how this hue had provided a “precisely
keyed background hum” to the still life objects featured in
Cézanne’s final paintings. “I was sure that this grey light
box of his must have become an important and sustaining
element in his overall work,” wrote the photographer.

Meyerowitz’s 2017 photography book Cézanne’s Objects
pays homage to the French painter, depicting his plaster
casts, bottles and other still life subjects against that grey
wall. You can explore them for yourself in the purpose-built
studio in which Cézanne spent his final reclusive years.
Atelier de Cézanne, Aix-en-Provence, France
www.cezanne-en-provence.com

3 FRIDA KAHLO

The self-portraits of Frida Kahlo are so revealing that one
might feel as if there is nothing left to discover about the
famous Mexican artist. Yet one visit to La Casa Azul – the
“Blue House” – proves that there is still much to learn.

Her upstairs studio is a fascinating place, piled high
with brushes, pigments and an easel gifted by her friend,
Nelson Rockefeller. Frida’s wheelchair is also pulled up to
it, as if she were still at work on the unfinished canvas.

Yet Frida’s creativity wasn’t confined to the studio.
The mirror on the ceiling of the bedroom, put there by
her mother, is a reminder of the months spent recovering
from a bus accident, during which time she first began to
paint portraits. Her collections of folk art and jewellery
speak of her hoarding tendencies and busy compositions.
Museo Frida Kahlo, Mexico City, Mexico
www.museofridakahlo.org.mx/en

RM NUNES/DBIMAGES/M SOBEIRA/ALAMY

22 Artists & Illustrators

MASTER STUDIOS

4 RENÉ MAGRITTE CARVING OUT A NICHE
THREE GREAT SCULPTORS’
The surrealist painter René Magritte’s career was at a crossroads in 1930. STUDIOS TO EXPLORE
Having been exhibiting in Paris alongside Picasso, Dalí and Miró the previous
year, his gallery contract had since ended and he returned to Belgium to You can often get a better sense of the finished
resume a career in advertising. He moved into an apartment on Brussels’ rue works made in a visit to a sculptor’s studio. Take
Esseghem with his wife Georgette and spent the next 24 years here, during the HENRY MOORE STUDIOS AND GARDENS
which time his international reputation grew exponentially. (Perry Green, Hertfordshire, UK. www.henry-
moore.org). There are five preserved workspaces
A friend of Georgette’s, André Garitte, bought the house in 1993 and on the property, including an etching studio, a
recreated the artist’s ground-floor apartment according to photographs. summer house used for informal drawing, and the
The top two floors house a museum that collects together rare photos, his Bourne Maquette Studio [below], which remains
advertising designs, a dozen paintings and a surrealist rug made with Georgette. filled with tiny prototypes. Several full-size pieces
Magritte Museum, Jette, Brussels, Belgium dot the Pear Tree Paddock, while guided tours of
www.musee-magritte-museum.be Moore’s Hoglands home can also be booked.

BARBARA HEPWORTH MUSEUM AND
SCULPTURE GARDEN (St Ives, Cornwall, UK.
www.tate.org.uk) is similarly filled with maquettes
and full-blown sculptures. The artist said that
finding Trewyn Studio was “a sort of magic” and
that sense of enchantment extends to a garden
filled with pieces that can be walked around.

In 1895, the French sculptor Auguste Rodin
bought the Brillants Villa in Meudon on the
outskirts of Paris and he continued to live and
work there until his death in 1917. Today it houses
one of the two MUSÉE RODIN (Meudon, France.
www.musee-rodin.fr), the other being in central
Paris, yet this one is worth a visit to see his
recreated plaster gallery laid out with tools and his
iconic The Thinker musing over the sculptor’s tomb.

ANDREA ANONI
© THE HENRY MOORE FOUNDATION/JONTY WILDE

Artists & Illustrators 23

MASTER STUDIOS

5 CLAUDE MONET

Claude Monet was born in Le Havre admire the lush gardens, water-lily
and made his name in Paris, yet he ponds and Japanese bridge subjects
famously settled halfway between so familiar from his paintings, there
the two, after he spied the village of is much you can learn about his
Giverny from a train window. The technique here too. The house is
Impressionist painter first rented the dotted with Monet’s collection of
Maison du Pressoir in 1883 and he Japanese ukiyo-e prints, which no
would eventually stay there until his doubt influenced his approach to
death 46 years later, cultivating a composition and desire to paint the
vast watery Eden that inspired his changing seasons. His bold approach
best paintings. to pure colour is also reflected in the
house’s interior, from the yellow
Monet’s son left the property to dining room to the blue kitchen.
the Academie des Beaux-Arts and Fondation Claude Monet, Giverny, France
it opened as a tourist attraction in www.fondation-monet.com
1980. While most visitors come to

© FONDATION CLAUDE MONET GIVERNY/NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON

6 ALFRED MUNNINGS MUNNIINGS ART MUSEUM

Though his reputation as an equestrian painter places him
second only to George Stubbs, Sir Alfred Munnings was
also an accomplished landscape artist equally capable of
producing portraits every bit as elegant as those by John
Singer Sargent. In 1920, he settled with his wife Violet at
Castle House, deep in Constable Country on the Suffolk-
Essex border. For the next 40 years, until his death in
1959, Munnings lived and worked in what he called “the
house of my dreams”, during which time he was elected
president of the Royal Academy of Arts and produced his
best works from his garden studio.

Though closed for the winter, the museum houses a
seasonally-shifting selection of 150 major paintings, while
in 2021, the studio will display 30 studies of the local
landscape alongside the artist’s materials and props.
Munnings Art Museum, Dedham, Essex, UK
www.munningsmuseum.org.uk

24 Artists & Illustrators

MASTER STUDIOS

7 GEORGIA O’KEEFFE

The best artist studios and houses to visit are those that
were clearly a labour of love – and Georgia O’Keeffe’s
5,000-square-foot Abiquiú home and studio was exactly
that, “a house of her own”. The artist bought the ruined
property from the Catholic church in 1945 and spent the
next four years overseeing the restoration process
undertaken by her friend Maria Chabot. Before it was
finished, the house had already become a subject in her
paintings, starting with In the Patio I in 1946.

Parts of the building date back to 1744 and it was
extended in the traditional adobe style around a central
plazuela – or open courtyard. It provided a calming
sanctuary for the artist who remained here for 37 years
after the death of her husband, the photographer Alfred
Stieglitz. Her studio was sparse save for a large crank
easel and a collection of objects dotted across a
windowsill that looked out across the New Mexico plains.

Today the Abiquiú home and studio is maintained by the
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, which is located about 50
miles south in Santa Fe.
O’Keeffe Home and Studio, Abiquiú, New Mexico, USA
www.okeeffemuseum.org

© GEORGIA O’KEEFFE MUSEUM/KRYSTA JABCZENSKI 8 JACKSON POLLOCK
JOHN GRIFFIN/STONYBROOK UNIVERSITY/WEBER VISUALS/HELEN A HARRISON AND LEE KRASNER

The walls and floorboards of Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner’s former
studio are like a crime scene, splattered with the evidence of past activity.
He initially painted here, laying out canvases on the floor as he poured
and flicked liquid pigment. This former fishing tackle room had no heating,
but that was not a problem for an artist who worked in such an energetic
manner. The marks were preserved for posterity after a new flooring was
put in shortly before his death in 1956.

When Krasner moved into the studio following her husband’s death, she
preferred to work standing up with her similarly abstract canvases pinned
to the walls. One can still admire the ghost shapes left behind from where
the finished paintings were removed, while a pair of her boots are equally
encrusted with spots of pigment like a pointillist painting.
Pollock-Krasner House, East Hampton, New York, USA
www.stonybrook.edu/pkhouse

Artists & Illustrators 25

MASTER STUDIOS

9 REMBRANDT VAN RIJN

The great Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn lived on
Amsterdam’s Jodenbreestraat for 17 years, during which time
he created some of his best-loved works including 1642’s The
Night Watch. The artist lived beyond his means during this time
however, to the extent that he only moved out in 1656 after he
was forced to declare bankruptcy and sell off all his belongings.

Thankfully, while that auction was no doubt difficult for the
artist at the time, it also provided art historians with a valuable
document with which to recreate the contents of his studio.
The house was restored and opened as the Rembrandt House
Museum in 1911, with a gallery later added next door.

The recreated studio remains pride of place in the house,
Rembrandt’s large easel angled so that his own shadow would
not fall on the canvas from the north light pouring in. His art
room meanwhile is filled with plaster casts, weaponry and other
artefacts owned by the artist, a very real reminder of the
mundane objects that inspired his otherworldly paintings.
Rembrandt House Museum, Amsterdam, Holland
www.rembrandthuis.nl

KEES HAGEMAN /KIRSTEN VAN SANTEN

10 JOAQUÍN SOROLLA

Valencia’s “Master of Light”, Joaquín Sorolla, something of a tribute to the MUSEO SOROLLA
Sorolla, settled in the Spanish capital artist and largely untouched since his
in the 1880s, eventually purchasing a death in 1923. The centrepiece of the
plot at Paseo del Obelisco on which house is his double-height studio, lit
his final home was built in 1911. by skylights and a large south-facing
window, while still covered with many
The artist took an active role in the of his original paintings.
design of the building and the
planting of the garden, which featured A closer look at his materials
in a number of his late works – reveals a fondness for large filbert
several of which featured in the Royal brushes, which allowed him to make
Academy of Arts’ 2016 exhibition those elegant thin-to-thick lines and
Painting the Modern Garden. also blend the paint to create soft
edges that suggest depth.
Today the house – overshadowed Museo Sorolla, Madrid, Spain
by blocks of flats, yet no less www.museosorolla.mcu.es
impressive – is the site of the Museo

26 Artists & Illustrators

MASTER STUDIOS

11 GF WATTS

The great Victorian painter George Frederic Watts and his artist-designer wife
Mary had a rather utopian vision. The couple believed that art should be
available to all and that one’s life would be improved with easy access to the
arts and crafts. Rather than simply espousing these theories, they put them
into practice with the creation of the Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village in Compton,
Surrey in 1904. Among the highlights of a visit to Compton today are the
chance to admire paintings in the dedicated Watts Gallery, pay respects in the
grade I listed chapel, and take tea in the former Compton Pottery building.

Perhaps of most interest to artists is the newly-restored studio in the east
wing of their Arts & Crafts house, Limnerslease. As well as seeing his
palette, dry pigments and brushes out on display, one can also read his
correspondence with the directors of Winsor & Newton that suggest the
lengths to which he went to get exactly the right materials.

In one revealing letter, he even asks the suppliers whether rubbing potatoes
or onions on his canvas to create a pleasant moist surface may have a
detrimental effect on the finished painting! Don’t try that one at home.
Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village, Compton, Surrey UK
www.wattsgallery.org.uk

TOOLS OF THE TRADE 12 NC WYETH
ARTIST PAUL RAFFERTY ON WHY
HE COLLECTS PALETTES AND About an hour west of Philadelphia use to reach the top of his largest
EASELS USED BY THE MASTERS lies Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, canvases. Down the lane from his
the site of the bloody Battle of home and studio lies a 19th-century
“Artists’ tools are a natural curiosity, even if they Brandywine in 1777 during the schoolhouse that later belonged to
are just a worn-out old brush. I began by finding old American Revolution. his artist son Andrew for almost 70
large studio easels, as I felt they were better made years until his own death in 2008.
and had charm and history. Then opportunities It was also here that, 134 years Here Andrew’s squeezed paint tubes
arose where I could acquire tools used by some of later and flush with the proceeds from still lie on the floor, while sketches
the artists’ I most admired. Most would throw his illustrations of Treasure Island, remain pinned to the wall.
these items away feeling there is no worth to them NC Wyeth purchased 18 acres of
– and from a monetary point of view this is true. rural land along the Brandywine Both studios are maintained by
However, when you visit a famous studio, you Creek. The location was, he said, “the The Brandywine Conservancy &
imbibe with the artist, it is a pilgrimage in art. most glorious sight in the township” Museum of Art, which also has an
and the artist duly set about having a exhibition space filled with original
“John Singer Sargent’s paintbox and two palettes home built for his young family. paintings by the Wyeth family,
are the pinnacle of my personal collection. I also including Andrew’s own son, Jamie.
have one of Alfred Munnings’ palettes [below] and Wyeth’s studio steps down from his NC Wyeth House and Studio,
all of Edward Seago easels and materials. As a office into a barn-like space that looks Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, USA
representational painter, I have learned a lot from out into the woods and contains a www.brandywine.org
these great artists. Mixing the right colour and moveable staircase that he would
tone and laying it on boldly, without touching it Artists & Illustrators 27
again; that is what I most admire from Old Masters
and strive to do myself – with mixed results!”

ANDY NEWBOLD PHOTOGRAPHY/PAUL RAFFERTY

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COLUMNIST

Taking commissions can be fun, challenging Family and friends are usually
quick to exploit any creative talent on
and lucrative. Our columnist LAURA BOSWELL tap, so be prepared. Mates rates are
shares her tips for making them run smoothly yours to decide but avoid working for
free unless you are entirely happy
H ave you ever thought of taking would need to deliver a commission with the gift. Your time, materials BELOW Laura
a commission? If you share and how you would fit the work and skills all come at a cost and a Boswell, Birch and
your artistic achievements, around other commitments. little outlay will ensure you aren’t Winter Sky, linocut,
chances are that you’ll be asked to taken for granted. 51x43cm
work to order at some point. However, When it comes to pricing, work
it’s a good idea to think the idea out some figures in advance based If the commission goes ahead,
through before anyone puts you on your usual work, materials and get your client to use examples of
on the spot. time. Balance that with some online your work and any other visuals they
research and ask among your peers. need when describing their brief and
Decide up front how you feel about This will give you a starting point for do keep the visual conversation
working to commission. If the mere costing commissions. Think through flowing with plenty of photos of work
idea appals you, you’ve made your how you will take payment, work out in progress. Clear communication
decision. If asked, you can say a clear what percentage to charge in throughout is essential, whether the
and cheerful no without apology or advance, and when the remainder client is a stranger or your mum –
excuses. Do be prepared for a little should be paid. it keeps the work on track for a
opposition; people often assume that successful outcome.
a commission is the highest form of
compliment with very little idea of Lastly, if you do decide to take the
what’s involved in their request. commission, be sure to enjoy the
experience and revel in bringing
If the idea of a commission someone else’s dreams to life.
appeals, think through your options. Laura co-hosts a podcast, Ask an Artist.
Every request will be different, but Listen to new episodes at www.artists
it will help if you have a few rules andillustrators.co.uk/askanartist
up front. Decide on your creative
boundaries; clients often flatteringly
imagine artists can – and will – make
anything. In reality, you need to feel
comfortable; rising to a challenge
is one thing, being out of your depth
is quite another.

Be careful about time too. Think
through what kind of time period you

Clear
communication

is essential,
whether the

client is a
stranger or
your mum

Artists & Illustrators 29

NeMwacroymbART HISTORY

This self-confessed “country artist” developed a cult following for her post-war
paintings of everyday life. KATIE MCCABE revisits the inspirations behind her art

30 Artists & Illustrators

ART HISTORY

Instead of observing
nature from the outside,

Mary Newcomb firmly
lived within it, and

approached it without
pretension

© CRANE KALMAN GALLERY/ESTATE OF THE ARTIST S omething strange is at play in the paintings of Mary ABOVE Mary looking, note taking and sketching of the landscape is
Newcomb. In one of her better-known works, The Newcomb, something that would later become a central part of her
Lady with a Bunch of Sweet Williams, a landscape Dandelion, date artistic practice. It was also where she met her husband,
painted in 1988, we meet a woman as she passes through unknown, pencil Godfrey Newcomb, then a young farmer-in-progress.
a golden clearing in a field, the dark shadow of a church and watercolour on
spire visible in the distance. So far, so pastoral. Nothing paper, 31x23cm After they married, the couple set up a small farm and
unusual to see here. That is until our eyes adjust and pottery in the Waveney Valley on the Suffolk-Norfolk
we realise the woman’s whole body is dwarfed by her OPPOSITE PAGE border. Between the demands of rural life and caring for
enormous bouquet – size-wise, it’s practically on par with Mary Newcomb, her two children, Hannah and Tessa (the latter now a
that church spire. Only her legs poke out beneath a The Lady with a well-respected artist), Mary would carve out time to paint.
firework-blast of red and white blooms that she holds Bunch of Sweet She had some success exhibiting the works she produced
before us like a hypnotist’s wheel. In the Victorian era, Williams, 1988, oil locally, selling as part of the Norwich 20 Group (which
when the language of flowers (known as “floriography”) on board, 54x51cm continues today – see www.norwich20group.co.uk). It gave
was used to communicate certain meanings, Sweet her the confidence to take her paintings to Andras Kalman,
Williams symbolised gallantry, which could explain a Hungarian-born art dealer for the likes of LS Lowry.
Newcomb’s courageous choice of size, but really, it’s about Kalman saw something in her uniquely surreal country
capturing a burst of feeling – the kind you might get when scenes and took Mary on at his Crane Kalman Gallery in
marching across a village to a friend’s house to proudly
present them with a bunch of hand-picked flowers. Artists & Illustrators 31

Like so many of Newcomb’s paintings, it stays true to
the intentions she laid out in her diary in 1986: “I wanted…
to remind ourselves that – in our haste – in this century
– we may not give time to pause and look – and may pass
on our way unheeding”.

As a self-taught artist who never followed conventional
rules of proportion and perspective, Mary Newcomb is
sometimes aligned with British folk artists like Alfred
Wallis, but she preferred to be known as a “country artist”
– a term that more accurately reflected her approach to
life. She was born Mary Slatford on 22 January 1922 in
the outskirts of northwest London but spent much of her
childhood in the Wiltshire countryside.

Mary showed early artistic promise but the Second
World War caused her to choose a natural sciences degree
at the University of Reading instead. Even then, she would
find ways to explore her interests, spending time in the art
history library drawing studies of specimens – always
halfway between scientist and naturalist.

After graduating, she worked as a teacher and
volunteered in a post-war initiative to teach children about
nature through direct, on-the-ground observation at the
Field Studies Council’s original centre at Flatford Mill,
Suffolk, in the heart of Constable Country. All that intense

West London, where she staged solo exhibitions from It is this same diary – kept by Mary for a year in 1986 – CLOCKWISE FROM
1970 onwards. Later in life, he also encouraged Mary to that will inform Mary Newcomb: Nature’s Canvas, an ABOVE Kew, The
start keeping the diary that gives us insight into her work. extensive exhibition of her art at Warwickshire’s Compton Delicate Jungle,
Verney this February. Extracts from her writing will 1979, oil on
Moments from her days on the farm rarely went to waste accompany her paintings and the show will also include canvas, 91x76cm;
– she seemed to study her surroundings like a textbook. works from artists she namechecks in the diary pages – Foaming Water,
The artist’s writing shows the minutiae of the details she such as Stanley Spencer and Milton Avery. An obsessive 1975, oil on board,
kept: “A new painting… It will be difficult to do, but I will love for the countryside is something all three artists 62x58cm; Ewes
try… On the common a lady walks stiffly along in her best share, but Newcomb is an outlier with no obvious peers. Watching Shooting
suit and hat. The sky is mediaeval blue. The clouds are “She wasn’t really part of an artistic coterie of fellow Stars, 1990, pencil
white. The lady stops and takes off her jacket and reveals artists, she was very much working on a farm, [and] with and watercolour on
a soft yellow blouse. She stoops to smell flowers that have her family in the evenings,” explains curator Amy Orrock. paper, 28x25cm
no scent and goes on her way – her stiffness gone.”

32 Artists & Illustrators

© MARY NEWCOMB ESTATE Mary Newcomb
shunned the art world

in lots of ways... She
always said she wasn’t
an artist with a capital A

“When she’d done all the other jobs, she’d start painting.
She kind of shunned the art world, in lots of ways.”

“Mary always said she wasn’t an artist with a capital A,”
she adds. “Her paintings are kind of a blend of metaphors,
observations, and memories.”

Instead of observing nature from the outside, Mary
firmly lived within it, and approached it without pretension.
Perhaps her scientific understanding of the countryside,
combined with a personal connection to it, gave her the
freedom required to abandon literal representations and
blow her world out of proportion, resulting in paintings of
Mothra-like butterflies perched on treetops.

Mary’s artistic career tragically came to an end in 2003,
when she suffered a severe stroke. She passed away
five years later on 29 March 2008. While it’s fair to say
Mary’s work is still not widely known, Amy points out that,
“She’s almost like a cult artist – people who know about
her really, really love her.”

Mary’s respect for the natural world and desire to
represent it in the most honest way possible has made
her a favourite among nature writers such as Richard
Mabey and Ronald Blythe, a friend of the artist who once
said of her work: “She points us to things we know all
about but haven’t looked at properly. When you look at
them, you think, ‘Why didn’t I notice that before?’”
The few snapshots we have of Mary’s writing possess
a poetry of their own and many of her paintings’ titles
could easily be lines plucked from a John Clare verse.

Animals and foliage are important to her work, but
human figures simply coexist with the countryside, falling
in line with its pre-existing machinations, instead of taking
precedent. “She didn’t have a picturesque thing about
her,” says Amy. “She would put pylons or a blue plastic bag
or a workman in an orange jacket in her paintings. It’s not
like she’s denying the existence of modern life, it’s just
that the world in which she was living was quite timeless.”

It’s that timelessness you feel when you are alone by a
riverbank, drinking in the quiet, and a butterfly lands on
your leg. You’ll stop everything to stare at it – and study
the lysergic pattern of its wings. The moment itself is
ephemeral, but that feeling of reverence remains. With her
scaled-up portraits of Herculean dandelions, cosmic sheep
and colossal aphids, Mary is giving voice to that feeling.
With her fantastical, warped perspective on the world, she
gives us no choice but to stop and smell the Sweet Williams.
Mary Newcomb: Nature’s Canvas runs 13 February to 13 June
at Compton Verney, Warwickshire. www.comptonverney.org.uk

Artists & Illustrators 33

THE VIKING CRUISES

BRITISH

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Artists & Illustrators is proud to support chance to sell their artworks to a combined
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oil on canvas,
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entered, visit www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk Sign up to Portfolio Plus at
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Entering the British Art Prize 2021 is easy. Visit for their favourite shortlisted artworks at
www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/britishartprize www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/britishartprize Artists & Illustrators 35

IN THE STUDIO T he moment Mark Entwisle Gallery. It had the subtle light filtering
spotted the paper bag that he through a big, high window on the left,
Mark painted for the 2020 Sunday but instead of illuminating a female
Entwisle Times Watercolour Competition will figure playing the harpsichord, it softly
not be forgotten in a hurry – not lit up a brown paper bag, branded
The Sunday Times Watercolour because the artwork went on to scoop with red graphic letters.
Competition winner talks to the top prize, but because his eldest
REBECCA BRADBURY about being son won’t let him live it down. Reaching for his Leica film camera
a frustrated oil painter and working – and ignoring his son’s protestations
in his “man cave” garden studio Mark was accompanying his then – Mark took the shot. Unbeknown to
teenage son on a prospective student him, however, it was the last shot of
36 Artists & Illustrators tour of the Camberwell College of Arts the film, kicking into action the
when he was stopped in his tracks camera’s (extremely loud) automatic
by a scene that reminded him of rewind feature. The pair found
Vermeer’s A Young Woman Standing themselves the centre of attention
at a Virginal in London’s National among the quiet group of strangers.

IN THE STUDIO

For illustrations, it’s got to be clear what
the story is… Whereas my paintings are

definitely about nothing happening

ABOVE Shoes “Everyone turned around to see what
on the Stairs, the noise was,” the artist recalls. “My
watercolour on son was clutching his head. It was
paper, 20.5x29cm just excruciating. I’ve tried to reason
with him that it was worth it, but I
RIGHT Negligee, think he’s still doubtful about that.”
watercolour on
paper, 33x19cm It was the photo on which Mark
based his award-winning Paper Bag,
an artwork developed back in his
North London studio that he thought
was perhaps too modest to make a
big impression. Yet that’s where the
magic lies in the 58-year-old artist’s
still life paintings – it’s his ability to
render the sublime in something

Artists & Illustrators 37

ABOVE Paper Bag, many of us would not give a second drawing my friends a lot and I
watercolour on glance, like a pair of Converse just started colouring them in.
paper, 44x35cm trainers on the stairs or a dress It’s something that came
hanging in a shower. automatically and naturally.”
RIGHT Chinese
Money Plant, Indeed, feeling like he had stepped Going on to study illustration in
watercolour on into a Vermeer painting was not the Brighton under the tutelage of
paper, 38x28cm artist’s sole inspiration for Paper Bag. Raymond Briggs and John Lorde,
The scene also appealed to his love Mark began his career as an
of seeing the beauty and functionality illustrator by designing book covers
in simple things, as well as the – his first commission was for Penguin
chance to paint some graphics, – but, keeping up his own art on the
something he admires in the work of side, the freedom of the fine art world
20th-century British watercolourist came calling around 15 years later.
Kenneth Rowntree.
“I started entering competitions,”
Mark’s first foray into watercolour he explains. “Some oil paintings got
was as a 17-year-old boarder, picked up by Beaux Arts in Bath,
when he bought an unused set of and I did a one-man show there with
Rembrandt paints at a car boot sale. watercolours [in 1990] and they
“I took it back to school and just sold every last one. That was when
found I could paint with them,” I thought: I prefer this, I can pick what
he says. “Up until then I had been I want to paint.”

38 Artists & Illustrators

IN THE STUDIO

Well and truly shedding his
illustrator skin, Mark has abandoned
all narrative devices. “For a lot of
illustrations, it’s got to be clear
what the story is,” he explains. “It’s
impacted me in reverse, as a lot of
my paintings, like Paper Bag, are
definitely about nothing happening.”

There was a time too when Mark
deserted his watercolours in favour
of oil paints, despite having no formal
training in the medium. “From quite
early on, even at Brighton, I would
always say I was a frustrated oil
painter,” he reveals. “I would say
it’s odd because all of my favourite
artists like Vermeer, Degas and
Manet paint in oils, yet I paint in
watercolour, and I paint them too
thick because I’m trying to make
them look like oil paintings.”

“Eventually I started trying oil
painting and it seemed like really
hard work. Unlike my experience with
watercolour, it didn’t seem to come
naturally. It seemed like painting with
mud. I had to slowly work it out, I’d go
to the National Gallery and look at
Vermeer. That was my big desire:
to get better at oil painting.”

It’s hard to believe the artist ever
struggled with oils. In 2020 alone, he
had Fitou – a figurative oil painting of
his teenage daughter in the South of
France – accepted into the Royal
Society of Portrait Painters’ annual
exhibition, while his oil portrait
Nantobeko was selected by David
Remfry RA to appear at the delayed
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.

Artists & Illustrators 39

IN THE STUDIO

Mark, however, returned to his and windows on two sides, the space noise of some sort remains a ABOVE Fitou,
original medium around four years is bathed in year-round natural light constant, whether it’s a Spotify oil on canvas,
ago, when his son started flicking to the envy of many artist friends. playlist or the radio. The day tends 110x132cm
through his old sketchbooks of to begin with Lauren Laverne’s BBC
watercolours and encouraged him Rather than surround himself with Radio 6 Music breakfast show, before RIGHT Nantobeko,
to “just stick them on Instagram and his completed artworks, Mark prefers switching to an ambient film oil on board,
see what happens”. to store them elsewhere so he can soundtrack or more melancholy 23x18cm
focus on what he’s about to do next. artists like Nick Drake. Then there’s
“I think I was shy of them,” Mark So instead, the space is filled with Woman’s Hour or even an audiobook
recalls. “But I started putting them up grey boxes of art materials on Audible.
[online] and it was really surprising (Schmincke is his favourite brand,
the people who did like them. I’ve just both for watercolours and oils), When the UK went into its first
started doing more and more of them batons for storing in-progress oil lockdown last spring, Mark’s family
alongside oil paintings. It’s been a paintings, a drawer for his French pen members began to join him in his
rebirth in my interest in them.” knife collection, Playmobil figures studio – something he wasn’t too
painted in khaki patterns, and a big keen on, preferring to have it to
No matter the medium, the artist stockpile of paper bags, as well as himself, despite his two sons,
does all his work in a lean-to studio in paper cups from coffee shops that daughter and wife (who is also his
his garden. Also known as his “man have long since shut down. “fiercest critic”) appearing to be his
cave”, it was built by his father-in-law, go-to subjects. But are people his
an architect, when Mark and his To help keep his practice fresh, favourite subjects to paint? “Normally
wife moved into the North London the artist rearranges his studio every if I sit down to draw something, the
Victorian terrace. With a glass roof couple of months, but background

40 Artists & Illustrators

IN THE STUDIO

Oil painting
seemed like
really hard
work. Unlike my
experience with
watercolour,
it didn’t seem

to come
naturally

first thing I’m looking for is a person,”
he says. “And if I can see their face,
the first thing I’m looking for is an eye.
I love drawing faces and trying to work
out what it is that I like about the way
they look. Without anyone in the
room, I’m looking for the next
inanimate object that looks good.”

What is not so predictable are
Mark’s methods. Pre-pandemic he
taught at the National Portrait Gallery
(which has now closed for
refurbishments until 2023) and he
has also run virtual watercolour
classes throughout much of the
lockdown. One thing that the tutoring
has taught him is that he is unable
to give any “hard and fast rules”
to students.

“Sometimes you just start by
painting the shadows under the eyes
and under the nose, and the next
week you’ll just paint the whole face
first and then work into it,” he says by
way of explanation. “I think just to
keep myself lively, I’d hate to fall into
a routine of [saying] this is how you do
it every time. I do have certain little
formulas that I teach my students
now, but they’ve made me much more
self-conscious about things I used to
just do spontaneously.”

Perhaps one shouldn’t really expect
to bottle up Mark’s artistry into a
one-size-fits-all formula. Whether
it’s a paper cup, a house plant or a
person, this award-winning artist has
a flair for tenderly transforming
fleeting moments into monumental
artworks, and that’s inimitable.
www.markentwisle.co.uk

Artists & Illustrators 41

42 Artists & Illustrators

SLhiaganhddteMASTERCLASS
Finding variety in repeated forms is

the key to creating interesting pictures.

FABIO CEMBRANELLI shows you how with a
gorgeous wisteria-covered doorway in France

Fabio’s materials Ivisited Chédigny a couple of years ago, 1 Work the verticals
a small village known as “The City of
•Paper Roses”. I love painting doors, balconies I began by sketching out my composition. I used a water-
Arches Aquarelle 300gsm and windows with flowers, the play between soluble pencil so that when I started painting my sketch
cold-pressed watercolour light and shade attracts me so the wisteria would disappear – the water works as a natural eraser.
paper, 58x48cm subject was perfect for me. I took hundreds
•Brushes of photos and made a few sketches. I began adding the wall colour with a size 16 round brush
Synthetic round brushes, and a mixture of Burnt Sienna, Quinacridone Gold and
sizes 6, 10 and 16; synthetic Wisteria is not an easy subject to paint in Shadow Violet. If the building wall is a vertical plane, try to
flat brushes, size 1/2”, 3/4” watercolour. If you suggest round shapes move your brush in a vertical or diagonal way. If you apply
and 1”; synthetic rigger brush, instead of drooping clusters, for example, it’s the first layer vertically, it’s going to look more natural.
size 2; fan brush, size 4 going to look like a climbing rose instead.
•Paints Colour choice is important: the most Artists & Illustrators 43
Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, well-known shades of wisteria are lavender,
Burnt Umber, Permanent pink, violet and white but the pink is not so
Alizarin Crimson, Rose vibrant. Most of the time the flowers have a
Madder, Quinacridone softer, pastel look. The leaf colour is also
Magenta, New Gamboge, important – it’s not a dark green; it’s an
Green Gold, Sap Green, intermediate shade, often with a yellow bias.
Undersea Green, Manganese
Blue Hue, Cobalt Blue, French My approach to watercolour is intuitive
Ultramarine, Ultramarine and I like to paint loosely. I try to take the
Violet and Shadow Violet, essence of the subject and interpret it so I
all Daniel Smith Extra Fine don’t pay too much attention to the number
Water Colour of flowers in each cluster. The general
•Pencil concept is much more important than a
Derwent watersoluble single detail. Instead of trying to paint flower
2B sketching pencil by flower, try to focus on the play between
light and shadow. You will create a stronger
focal point and draw the viewer’s attention.
www.fabiocembranelli.com

2 Pick out colours 3 Vary the marks 4 Start on the wisteria

Here I started adding colours to the windows, I started adding a few greens, mixing up I began painting the wisteria clusters using
doors, and roof. I used a size 10 round Sap Green, Quinacridone Gold and New a size 10 round brush loaded with a mix of
synthetic brush and mixed different shades Gamboge. Remember it’s only the first layer Quinacridone Magenta, Rose Madder and
of grey-brown: mostly Burnt Umber mixed so don’t add darker greens at this point. Alizarin Crimson. For variation, I sometimes
with Shadow Violet, Ultramarine Violet, Try to leave a few soft edges between the added a little bit of Cobalt Blue to the mix
Cobalt Blue and Burnt Sienna. For a scene green leaves and the wisteria clusters. to stop it becoming too pink.
like this, don’t paint all doors and windows
with the same colour mixture: using different I like to use different brushes when Suggest a few clusters, working with
shades in different doors and windows will painting greens so I can create a diversity of the paper upside down. Try and really think
make for a more appealing painting. brushstrokes and marks. My brush choice about the cluster’s structure, it’s not a
here was a size 10 round and sometimes a square or round shape, but rather a conical
size 4 fan brush, too. arrangement, pointed downwards.

Top tip

Soften the hard edge
of a still-wet stroke
by gently grazing the
edge with the tip of a

moist brush

5 Soften edges as you go 6 Tone it down 7 Add greenery

I continued working on the wisteria clusters I added darker values to the wisteria clusters I continued to work with greens, suggesting
with the size 10 round brush, using different and leaves. I used a mix of Quinacridone a few distant hues on the left-hand side.
combinations of Quinacridone Magenta, Magenta, Alizarin Crimson and French For these, I mixed Sap Green, Undersea
Rose Madder and Alizarin Crimson, still with Ultramarine for the clusters and a mix of Sap Green, Ultramarine Violet and Shadow Violet,
a subtle touch of Cobalt Blue. The more I Green and Undersea Green for the leaves, all and applied them with the size 10 round and
added clusters, the more I tried to soften a with the same size 10 brush. I also lifted out size 4 fan brushes.
few edges between them and the leaves. A some pigment from the clusters using a 1/2”
good balance between hard and soft edges flat brush to create a few highlights. Try to Think about values here: all the greens
is crucial to enhance the sense of depth in a suggest different forms within the wisteria – added to this left-hand side of the painting
painting so blend, connect and mix clusters avoid making the same shape everywhere, were a bit darker than the wisteria clusters,
and leaves sometimes. otherwise it’s going to look like a stamp. so the focal point (in this case, the wisteria)
was further enhanced.
44 Artists & Illustrators

8 Work on contrasts 9 Bring in details 10 Darken the flowers

Using a size 10 round brush, I added a mix It’s time to add a few more details to my I added darker colours to the wisteria, mixing
of Burnt Umber, Shadow Violet, Burnt Sienna composition. I painted the streetlamp using Quinacridone Magenta and Cobalt Blue for
and French Ultramarine to the doors and the size 10 flat brush and a mix of Shadow the flowers, and darker greens made with
windows. The main door in the middle of the Violet, Burnt Umber and Burnt Sienna. Sap Green, Ultramarine Violet and Shadow
building was darker than the wisteria clusters Adding a few details is important to create Violet. I used three different brushes for this
around it, so painting this added to the value interest but don’t overwork them. It’s just a stage: the size 10 round, the size 4 fan and
contrast and made the wisteria seem more streetlamp – it should be part of the the size 2 rigger. It is important to add
highlighted in comparison. composition, not the focal point. different brushstrokes and marks to create
interest, as well as dots and other tiny marks
At this stage of a painting, I like to step I also added a few very subtle darker to suggest single leaves or flowers.
back and take a look at the overall balance values to the window and doors, using a
so I can decide where to add more details. colourful grey mix of Burnt Umber plus
Thinking ahead about the next steps in any Ultramarine Violet.
composition is quite important.

11 Gently add shadows

I added shadows under the wisteria using the 12 Finishing touches
size 10 and 16 round brushes with a mixture
of Ultramarine Violet, Burnt Umber and Burnt By this stage, almost all the shadows had been added. I added a final few using the larger
Sienna. Don’t make the shadow mixtures too two of my round synthetic brushes (sizes 10 and 16) again with the same mix of Ultramarine
thick. If this layer is too saturated, it’s going Violet, Burnt Umber and Burnt Sienna. Note that all shadows follow in the same direction
to look like a texture on the wall instead of a and they were added according to the direction of the sunlight. This helps to create a rhythm,
soft cast shadow. These shadows were just connecting everything together and enhancing the focal point.
strong enough to suggest the play between
light and shade. They conveyed a sense of Artists & Illustrators 45
drama to the composition and drew attention
to my chosen focal point: the wisteria.

Shiny and see-through surfaces are a daunting challenge to replicate, so the Pastel
Society’s LIZ BALKWILL has set an exercise that will help you simplify the process

M any years ago, I was set a making that results. If you are a less EXERCISE
task that was to accompany experienced artist, you may like to
my application for a place at start with a coloured glass object as AIM
art school. I was asked to make a it has more solidity than clear glass.
drawing of an apple, together with To make a still life painting of reflective
peel and paring knife, that must be Recycled glass is my personal objects, perhaps also on a reflective
placed on top of a mirrored surface. favourite, it is thicker and has the surface, while approaching these
At the time I remember feeling a little lovely turquoise edges that is fun to reflections in a methodical manner that
overwhelmed and rather intimidated suggest. Jars of foodstuffs provide helps you to simplify what you see.
by the whole idea. Little did I know us with two challenges: not only the
that decades later I would be making glass receptacle with its contents, D U R AT I O N
an artistic career out of painting but also the reflections and
reflections in their many forms. highlights. Metal or enamel jar lids The example took 2-3 hours, but spend as
give us the opportunity to explore long as you need on this exercise initially
Many of my own students are colours for different metal finishes while you get used to each individual stage.
initially daunted when confronted by and their highlights. You could also
a still life that contains glass or metal consider tarnished or rusted MATERIALS
as they often find it too advanced enamelware if you wanted more
or difficult. However, once they have interesting textures to depict. Pastels are a good quick way to approach
learnt how to break down and this exercise, though colour pencils or
approach the rendering of reflective With metal objects, a fairly matt paint would also work. If using pastels,
surfaces, there has been no holding surface such as pewter is a good a blending tool is also helpful.
them back – and it is this approach choice if you require a confidence
that I want to show you here. builder, perhaps moving on to WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
brushed stainless steel, and then
Creating a convincing impression of some of the coloured metals, brass When it comes to painting reflections,
reflective objects does require careful and copper. The highly polished simplification is key. The inclusion of too
observation of the subject. The most metals, such as silver, have the much detail will destroy the illusion.
pleasing aspect when suggesting any strongest tonal contrasts with the Suggestion is more powerful than over
reflective surface, is the abstract brightest highlights and therefore describing. This exercise will teach you
quality of the shapes and the mark pose a greater challenge. how to accurately render complicated
reflections by breaking them down into
individual stages that are easier to
focus upon.

Artists & Illustrators 47

PROJECT colour to the mix once the value has
been determined.
PROCESS
Repeat the process with each
1SET THINGS UP object in turn, once again starting
It is important to control the with the darks before moving onto
way the light falls on a still life the lighter and brighter hues. Placing
arrangement. It needs to stay a whiter highlight at this stage can
constant. I use a “shadow box” most assist in both showing the direction
of the time – you can make a simple of the light source and also helping
version using two sides of a to create the illusion of the reflective
cardboard box to “trap” the light. surface. In this example, I added
highlights to the clear glass and the
I like to think that this is like the skin of the cherries.
stage in a theatre, that provides a
space where I place my objects and 4BUILD SOLID
adjust elements until I find something REFLECTIONS
that pleases me. An alternative
approach is to use natural light If you’ve placed your objects on a
coming through a window, preferably reflective surface, their reflections
a northlight that will stay constant. must be in alignment with the objects
above. In comparison to objects,
If you want to have subtle these reflections will appear duller,
reflections on the tabletop, try using softer at the edges and have less
either a piece of varnished wood, a contrast. Everything shifts closer
marble chopping board, a sheet of to the mid values.
glass or even a piece of acetate to
produce the desired surface This results in darks becoming
reflection. lighter, the lights darker and the mid
values staying as they are, albeit
2 MAKE A VALUE SKETCH duller. The reflections of the whiter
This next stage will help you highlight spots will line up with the
be selective and learn to simplify a actual highlights too, but they will
composition before you start painting. also be much softer – aim for just
Look closely at the set-up and squint a suggestion.
your eyes. This limits the amount of
detail you can see and reduces the To recreate these tabletop
information to just the main shapes reflections, blend the layered pastels
and values. as before, using your finger with light

In order to help you remember
this simplified version of the subject,
it is useful to make a value sketch –
known as a “notan”. Focus purely
on recording the basic tones of your
subject in this sketch and forget
about colour. This notan will then
become a road map for how to
proceed with the finished painting.

3BLOCK IN THE
OBJECTS

Start your main painting by drawing
up the main structure of the
composition. With your notan for
reference, begin to lay in the darkest
shapes, letting the value sketch help
you to calibrate how dark or light each
of the shapes should be.

Try not to use pure colour here, but
rather layer a few pastels together,
often a warm colour with a cool one.
Once blended, they will neutralise
each other and give a greyed mix.
Blend with your finger, using the
lightest of pressures. Add more

48 Artists & Illustrators

PROJECT

pressure. Place areas of the 5 BUILD THE SEE-
background down as you block-in the THROUGH AREAS
reflections, making sure to replicate
the same value relationships. Adjust Now start to work on the parts of the
the warmer and cooler areas objects that are purely see-through,
produced by the light source. such as the parts of a glass bottle
that doesn’t contain liquid and
Look for any “lost and found edges” instead shows the background
– either out-of-focus or sharp edges behind. When looking through clear
– as they can play an important role glass, shapes may appear distorted
in establishing form and allowing and will possibly be a fraction darker.
objects to exist within a space. If an Pay close attention to the sides of
edge needs softening more than just the glass and the fruit where the
your finger allows, try using a blending background is reflected on them.
tool instead.
Use small pieces of pastel to
suggest these detailed areas. Twist
and break a small conte stick to give
a sharp edge with which to draw. I use
generous amounts of pastel on my
work and I find pastel pencils often
remove rather than place pastel on
the surface. These small broken
pieces lay nicely on top of the pastel
and work well together.

6 ADD SUITABLE
HIGHLIGHTS

Finish by addressing the highlights
and any other surface reflections.
The nature of highlights is a great
indicator of whether a surface reads
as tarnished, dull or highly polished.
For example, a textured surface
(such as the peel of a citrus fruit)
can break up a highlight, whereas
a softer surface (such as the skin of
a peach) produces a highlight with
a softer edge.

This stage may seem insignificant,
yet the quality of a highlight and what
it conveys about an object’s surface
texture is a hugely important final
touch to the illusion we are trying
to achieve.
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Artists & Illustrators 49