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All the latest goings-on in the world of art as well as 'how to' articles written by our in-house artists, artist and customer interviews and much more.
The word Hue - When we refer to a colour by its name we are referring to its hue, this is most clear when using colour charts, and colour wheels as names of hues are dominant and familiar to us, for example RED, BLUE, YELLOW, GREEN, etc...
Our Interview for June is with Bristol based Illustrator Miriam Latimer. Miriam illustrates Children's Books and had great success with her editorial work, working in various magazines. We find out about her juggling the creative process with her family life and how that lead her to the successful career she has now.
Wood Panels have been used as supports for paintings by artists for centuries, however the advantage of having an additional deep cradle attached at the back of the board will provide a more rigid and stable support for your medium.
Jarvis Brookfield studied Fine Art at De Montford University and without previous exposure to art, he was heavily inspired to explore painting as a key medium and discovering his process that has developed since graduating taking inspiration from the mysterious nature of the internal world of being human.
Gouache pronounced 'gwash', is an amazingly versatile water-soluble, water-based painting medium. It has a very similar pigment and binder structure to watercolor paint; a finely ground pigment with a Gum Arabic binder. However, Gouache paint contains opacifiers such as chalk/white pigment which gives the paint a matte and more velvety opaque finish once dried.
'Glue Gesso' or "Italian Gesso" commonly known as Traditional gesso contains rabbit skin glue, chalk and white pigment. Some artists still use this gesso ground, mainly professional artists. Thankfully we have many synthetic equivalents at our disposal.
We talk to David Mankin, a contemporary Artist based in Cornwall, whose work is a direct response to his environment. David explores texture, colour, shape, sound, movement and spaces, communicating a sense of the freedom, the vastness, the rhythm and the ebb and flow of nature, which is characteristic to his home in Cornwall.
Trees have been the theme and inspiration for artists over many decades! What could be more satisfying than capturing the natural beauty and splendour of a tree or collection of trees!
Acrylic paint is regarded as one of the most versatile and most popular mediums on the market, used by traditional and contemporary artists, beginners, intermediate and professionals.
Habib Hajallie is a multi media artist, living and working in Northwest Kent, currently exploring the use of antique texts and maps as the canvases for his works. Habib talks to us about his influences and how his eclectic music tastes influence his mark making.
Stretching watercolour paper is a technique used to prevent your paper warping or cockling. Unstretched paper that is less than 200lb or 425gsm may move and create hills and valleys while you are working on it especially if you use a lot of wet-on-wet or wash techniques, resulting in your pigments pooling in one place.
There are many Watercolour Brush pens/markers on the market and a lot of them perform differently to each other, this can be somewhat confusing for the novice or beginner who would like to add them to their repertoire of art materials in their tool box! Doing your research is vital for saving time and money.
Lucy Naylor shares with us her inspirations, creative processes and obsession with colour. taking inspiration from Architecture, Lucy works primarily with ceramics and more recently has explored other 3D forms using textile
MATERIALS & TECHNIQUES Watercolour pencils differ greatly from non-watercolour pencils. The difference is in the binder that holds the pigment. Whereas normal coloured pencils have a waxy or oil based binder, watercolour pencils have a water-soluble binder offering a wide variety of application from dry to wet. Once the colour has been laid down and water added, the vivid and vibrant hues are released, dissolving into beautiful washes or deep areas of colour.
Valerie Ellis, born in the UK, with many years spent in Australia, Valerie is now residing back in the UK. After spending 20 years as a therapist in Australia, Valerie began rediscovering her artistic talents by teaching herself oil painting and developing the skills to make realistic portraits and figurative paintings.
John is a contemporary artist based in the city of Liverpool, growing up in Kirkby, he was extremely proficient in art and loved it during his time at school, he did not consider making it a career until his road to recovery lead him back to his childhood passion......
