The Art of Watercolour Magazine 7th issue

The Art of Watercolour No. 7

Watercolour

7 th I S S U E

THE ART OF

T H E A R T M A G A Z I N E F O R W AT E R C O L O U R I S T S

DMITRY RODZIN

CAPTURING INTIMATE

SAMPLE

THE INTERNATIONAL WATERCOLOUR SCENE LEARN HOW YOU CAN BREAK INTO THE INNER CIRCLE STEPHEN QUILLER

YUKONAGAYAMA

Landscapes in living colour

The delicacy of floral poetry

COVER STORIES CHRISTOPHER ST LEGER

LAMBERT V. BOMMEL

Discover an inverse watercolour technique

Choosing paper to create texture

Marie-Line Montécot Paul Jackson Jean Martin David McEwen Georges Artaud…

KNOW-HOW: Jean Martin explains how to set your creativity free with mixed-media

QUARTERLY - JUNE/AUGUST 2012

FR: 7.50 € - BE: 8.80 € - CH: 15 FS - LU: 8.80 €- ES: 9.50 € - IT: 9 €- GR: 8.90 €- PT CONT.: 8.80 €- UK: £ 6,50 - NL: 9 € - DE.: 9.50 € - AT: 9 € - MA: 97 MAD

MOMENTS

Contents IN THE NEWS 8 FOCUS The RWS Contemporary Watercolour Exhibition 2012.

6 INTERNATIONAL NEWS Watercolour events from all over the world.

10 READERS’ LETTERS Our answers to your questions.

12 REVELATIONS Discover our selection of noteworthy artists.

38 DMITRY RODZIN

Scenes of happy family life, or where tenderness meets simplicity.

68 PRACTICAL GUIDE

14

Scottish artist Jean Martin has developed an approach which incorporates different techniques: watercolour, acrylic and collage.

76 TECHNICAL ADVICE Preparing your work for art competitions and choosing the events that best suit your painting.

80 WATERCOLOUR LESSON Tips on how to improve your paintings.

88 WHAT’S ON Exhibitions, shows and fairs around the world.

91 IN THE NEXT ISSUE… Printed in France -17, avenue du Cerisier Noir 86530 Naintré – France Tel.: Editorial Office: +33 5 49 90 37 64 - Fax Editorial Office: +33 5 49 90 09 25 E-mail: editorial@artofwatercolour.com - EDITORIAL STAFF Editor-In-Chief: Jean-Philippe Moine Deputy Editor-In-Chief: Laurent Benoist - Editorial assistant: Manuella Pineau - Chief subeditor: Élodie Blain - Sub-editor: Marie-Pierre Lévêque - Art Director: Janine Gallizia - Graphic designer: Audrey Salé - Graphic design team: Nadine Tillet, Hervé Magnin - Translation and adaptation: Simon Thurston - Scanner Operator: Franck Sellier - Manager: Jean-Paul Cyr ADVERTISING Tel.: (00 33) 5 49 90 09 19 - Fax: (00 33) 5 49 90 08 29 E-mail: advertising@artofwatercolour.com - SALES, MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION Frédérik Favier Tel.: (00 33) 5 49 90 09 19 - Distribution France: MLP - MANAGEMENT Financial Director: Fabien Richard - Export: Export Press contact@kdpresse.com +33 142 46 02 20 THE ART OF WATERCOLOUR Published by DIVERTI Éditions S.A.R.L. with a capital of 15,000 € 490 317 369 RCS Poitiers 17, avenue du Cerisier Noir 86530 Naintré, France - Main Shareholders: CAPELITIS Group and CAP DEVELOPPEMENT - Photo-engraving: DIVERTI ÉDITIONS - Printers: MEGATOP, 86530 Naintré, France - Sending text or photos implies the author’s agreement for publication free of copyright and supposes that the author has in his/her possession any authorisation necessary to publication. - All rights reserved for documents and texts published in The Art of Watercolour. Any reproduction of articles published in The Art of Watercolour, either in part or whole, is strictly forbidden without the express written agreement of Diverti Éditions, in compliance with the French law on literary and artistic property of March 11th 1957. Articles and photos, which are not retained for publication, shall not be returned. The editorial staff shall not be liable or responsible for the content of texts, nor for illustrations and photos that they receive.

- Publication registration: 0316 K 90760 - ISSN: 2114-3498 - Legal deposit on date of release - Quarterly – No. 7 – June-August 2012.

4

W ATERCOLOUR N O .7 / J UNE -A UGUST 2012

Yuko Nagayama Flowers symbolising life... and death.

A touch of zen philosophy combines with a very personal and poetic view of painting.

62

Lambert van Bommel A German artist living in the Canary Islands: objects which bear the traces of the hot climate and the passing of time.

No.7 June-August 2012 FEATURED ARTISTS

48

Christopher St. Leger

He has set himself the difficult task of capturing movement and youthful high spirits… life itself.

14 YUKO NAGAYAMA Still lifes She likes the stunning beauty of flowers and their vibrant energy, but her works are more complex than they seem.

22 PAUL JACKSON Multi-subject If many artists choose to focus on one theme, Paul Jackson needs the challenge of diversity.

32 STEPHEN QUILLER Landscapes During his career, he has developed a colourful art where shapes are merely suggested as opposed to being carefully rendered.

38 PORTFOLIO: DMITRY RODZIN Portrait and genre scenes

22

Paul Jackson

Architecture, still lifes, full-length portraits… no challenge is too great for this artist who sets the bar very high.

Using his wife and child as models, the Russian artist invites us into a serene and intimate world.

48 CHRISTOPHER ST. LEGER Urban scenes The inventor of the inverse watercolour technique sets himself free from the rules to render urban scenes where liberty and life prevail.

56 MARIE-LINE MONTÉCOT Landscapes, still lifes She shares with us in all simplicity the fruits of her recent thoughts on colour, composition and subject matter.

62 LAMBERT VAN BOMMEL Still lifes Rather than paint idyllic landscapes, he prefers to portray discarded objects and rundown houses.

82 DAVID MCEWEN Figures and animals He paints what he sees around him on a day-to-day basis: horses, neighbours and even people in uniform!

W ATERCOLOUR N O .7 / J UNE -A UGUST 2012

5

F E AT U R E D A R T I S T

Paul

KEY DATES 1989 BFA Mississippi State University.

1992 MFA University of Missouri.

1999 Signature member of the American Watercolor Society; Grand Prize Winner- Paint Your Way to Paris Competition.

2000 Author/Illustrator, ‘Painting Spectacular Light Effects in Watercolor’.

2001 Governor and First Lady of Missouri portrait commission; Created ‘Spot’, a 30’ diameter tiger mosaic.

2002 Winner of Missouri’s Commemorative State Quarter design competition.

2006 Dong Kingman Award, American Watercolor Society 2008 Featured speaker at the International Watercolor Masters Invitational, China; Walser Greathouse Medal, American Watercolor Society 2009 Juror for American Watercolor Society’s 142nd international exhibition; Marjorie Soroka Memorial Award, American Watercolor Society.

2011 Invited Artist at the International Art Meet Kolkata 2012 Judge for the International Watercolor Society, Izmir Turkey.

This page: Paul with Giraffe.

Opposite: Suspense.

“Always be true

Jackson THE SUBJECTS OF PAUL JACKSON’S WORKS ARE EXTREMELY VARIED, FROM CHURCH SPIRES AND PORTRAITS TO LANDSCAPES AND FLOWERS… IF MANY ARTISTS CHOOSE TO FOCUS ON ONE THEME, HE ON THE OTHER HAND NEEDS THE CHALLENGE BROUGHT BY EVERY PARTICULAR MOTIF.

to yourself” W ATERCOLOUR N O .7 / J UNE -A UGUST 2012

23

ON…

FOCUS

Yuko Nagayama SHE LIKES THE STUNNING BEAUTY OF FLOWERS AND THEIR VIBRANT ENERGY. BUT THE WORKS OF THIS JAPANESE ARTIST ARE FAR MORE COMPLEX THAN THEY SEEM. HER APPROACH TO PAINTING IS BOTH PHILOSOPHICAL AND SPIRITUAL AND SHOWS A HIGHLY PERSONAL VISION OF THE WORLD.

14

W ATERCOLOUR N O .7 / J UNE -A UGUST 2012

Opposite: Turn Around.

KEY DATES 1963 Born in Tokyo.

1985 Graduated from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music.

1987, 1991, 2008 Exhibitions at Taimei Gallery (Tokyo).

1990 Exhibition at Weber Gallery (Switzerland).

1991 Exhibition at West Gallery (Switzerland).

1992, 1993, 2008 Exhibitions at Gallery Saou (Japan).

2002 Exhibition at Kumsum Gallery (Korea).

Contemporary art fairs (Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Seoul, Pusan).

2007 Exhibition at Tokyo Central Art Museum.

2012 Exhibitions at Takashimaya (Yokohama, Japan) and Isetan (Tokyo) department stores.

2012 Two books to be published 2013 Future exhibition at Tokyo Central Art Museum.

Contact www.nagayamay.com

SUN RAY When you have a very nimble, energetic and tireless child, you start to appreciate those rare moments when she is asleep and just as she goes off for her afternoon nap, it occurs to you to capture this magic moment. A multilayered watercolour.

38 X 59 CM. 2009.

Dmitry Rodzin The strength of intimacy

USING HIS WIFE AND CHILD AS MODELS, RUSSIAN ARTIST DMITRY RODZIN INVITES US INTO A SERENE AND INTIMATE WORLD WHERE TENDERNESS AND SOFTNESS FIND THEIR FULL EXPRESSION IN WATERCOLOUR.

KNOW HOW

THROUGHOUT HER CAREER, THIS SCOTTISH ARTIST HAS DEVELOPED AN ART WHICH INCORPORATES A MULTITUDE OF DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES: ACRYLIC, WATERCOLOUR AND COLLAGE. AN ENTIRELY PERSONAL APPROACH WHERE EACH MEDIA IS ALLOWED TO FULLY EXPRESS ITSELF…

MIXED TECHNIQUES IN WATERCOLOUR WITH

JEAN MARTIN

very painting starts off with watercolour. It is a technique that suits my working style as I love the translucency and brilliance of colour that can be achieved with it. It also allows me to be delicate and sensitive when I am dealing with flora, particularly with flowers. I use its translucency as a contrast to the opacity of acrylic. Occasionally I mix watercolour with gum arabic as it enhances the brilliance of a colour. It also enables me to wash back easily when I am seeking to convey form and tone within the subject. When I use a ‘washing back’ technique to create form, I work with

E

Lilies in the Cathedral.

70 x 100 cm.

When I paint a church interior I quite often amalgamate a number of churches to give the impression of the inside of one. I am trying to capture a sense of space, the glimpses of light and hidden mysteries. In ‘Lilies in the Cathedral’, part of the church was taken from a church in England, part from one in Venice, while the carvings were based on ones in a church in Torcello.

I combine all these different parts to try and recreate the building’s atmosphere and mystery. I am more interested in conveying the atmosphere or memory of a place, or my experience of it rather than a faithful representation.

a square brush, water and tissues, pushing and dabbing the paint until I get the light or the tone I am seeking. Sometimes I use ox gall if I want to enhance the spread of the paint. Otherwise I just use the watercolour as it is. This watercolour start is very important. Working just off the horizontal, I lay in the colours. There are usually areas that I intend to keep. I always intend keep the plants, which I develop to the point of completion in watercolour, and often areas of colour that I think give a sense of the atmosphere of the painting.

DEMONSTRATION 1 Before the actual painting process begins, I think quite carefully of the atmosphere I am seeking to convey.

Colour is very important and I work with watercolour at this stage. I try to keep a sense of the atmosphere throughout the painting. In ‘East Coast Tribute’ I wanted to use the warm roofs of the fishing cottages as the starting point of my colour scheme. I used the orange wash across the top half of the painting and the pink dried flowers were painted in a sympathetic colour harmony.

1

I collaged the gold and paper cloth at an early stage and worked on top of them in acrylic. I scraped the surface in order to dig up the underlying gold.

2

Still keeping the idea of the town through the window I changed the proportions of the bottom half of the painting as I decided to include objects which were related to the history of the fishing village. I added the artefacts as reminders of the history of the town’s

3

68

W ATERCOLOUR N O .7 / J UNE -A UGUST 2012

fishing activities. The starfish and feathers represent the present, whereas the dried flowers are a reminder that some occupations, like the fishing trade, have dried up. The fossils symbolise the many changes that have taken place in the past but throughout it all, the footprint of them remains.

A BSTRACT OR FIGURATIVE ?

I find that working with a variety of objects, not set up in space to be recorded, helps me to keep an abstract quality within my work.

I am probably naturally a figurative artist and although I like my work to be expressive, I don’t like it to be clumsy. I therefore use good drawing and figurative painting within my work.

I usually work out a

diagrammatic composition before I start, but I sometimes move away from it entirely if the painting demands change.

I tend to flatten the picture space and distort the perspective, but still try to keep a sense of space within the painting by combining an impression of a landscape or further view within the work.

1

KEY DATES 1964-1968 Studied at the Glasgow School of Art. 1967 Awarded a scholarship to the Hospitalfield School of Art. 1969 Teacher training at the Aberdeen College of Education.

1986 Solo exhibition at Gallery Quin, St. Andrews.

1988, 1991 and 1994 Solo exhibitions at Flying Colours Gallery, Edinburgh.

1997 and 2001 Solo exhibitions at Gatehouse Gallery, Glasgow.

2002 Solo exhibition at Queens Gallery, Dundee.

2003 Elected a professional member of the Royal Society of Watercolour Painters.

2005 Solo exhibition at Flying Colours Gallery, London.

2007 Solo exhibition at Frames Gallery, Perth.

Elected Honorary Treasurer of the RSW. 2009 Flying Colours Gallery London.

2012 Solo exhibition at Richard Hagen Fine Art, Broadway.

Over the course of her career, she has received numerous awards and prizes: the John and Mabel Craig Bequest, Hutcheson Drawing Prize, Harry Vaughn Award, International Artist Award, Anne Redpath Award and the Morton Fraser Award.

2

3

Contact www.jeanbmartin.co.uk jeanmartin@mail2artist.com

W ATERCOLOUR N O .7 / J UNE -A UGUST 2012

69

To contact us: 00 33 549 900 916

www.artofwatercolour.com PRIVILEGED ENCOUNTERS The Art of Watercolour is face-to-face with the artists, and all those who love watercolour and have something to say about it.

Subscribe now

and learn more about the world of watercolour

A BEAUTIFUL PORTFOLIO Admire in each issue the works of a great watercolour artist.

WATERCOLOUR LESSONS

WHY SUBSCRIBE: BE SURE NOT TO MISS A SINGLE ISSUE

Janine Gallizia offers constructive criticism based on watercolours sent by our readers, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses.

The Art of Watercolour magazine is available by subscription so that you won’t miss a single issue.

YOUR MAGAZINE IS DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR Your subscription makes sure you don’t miss a single issue and also ensures each edition is delivered directly to your door as soon as the magazine is released.

CHANGE OF ADDRESS To make sure you receive all 6 issues, please notify us well in advance should there be any modifications to your postal address.

Inside every issue you will discover: • An exclusive portfolio from a major international watercolour artist.

• Face-to-face encounters with watercolour artists worldwide.

• Step by step painting instructions.

• Tips and technical advice from your favourite artists.

• In-depth answers to your questions from our panel of professional artists and art critics.

• The most reliable information straight from the manufacturers on watercolour materials.

• And much, much more…

TO CONTACT US: The Art of Watercolour – 28 rue Denis Papin – 86530 NAINTRÉ – FRANCE Tel: +33 549 900 916 – Email: subscriptions@artofwatercolour.com