Fresh Paint
Inspiring new artworks, straight off the easel
Thomas W Schaller
With movement often restricted during the pandemic and international travel severely curtailed, artists have had to rely much more heavily upon their imagination when it comes to painting certain subjects. Nevertheless, a dark interior is possibly the one subject we have all had easy access to recently, so it comes as a surprise to hear that Here and There was an invented composition.
“The past two years have been trying for us all,” says the picture’s creator, Thomas W Schaller. “This painting speaks to some of our collective experiences during the time of the pandemic: isolation, the need for connection, the familiarity of the known interior world, and the bright allure of the unknown distant future.”
The in-demand Californian watercolourist would normally be jetting off to teach workshops or judge prizes across the US, Europe and Asia, and the experience has given him a strong perspective on what makes a successful artwork. “The most common mistake I see that painters tend to make is failing to inject a sufficient range of value within a painting,” he explains. “No brilliant idea or dazzling brushwork will have much effect if in the end, the work appears dull and monotone.”
The trick, according to Thomas, is to think of a composition in terms of three basic areas of tonal value: a light, a mid-tone, and a dark.
“It is the single most effective way to establish depth and create a sense of narrative and presence. Certainly, I don’t mean to suggest that the darkest dark needs to be black, nor the lightest light pure white.
But there must be three distinct values present.”
Before tone comes into play, Thomas sketches out his design in pencil first, allowing the linework to show through the subsequent transparent layers of watercolour and provide a structure for the more expressive passages of brushwork. In fact, design is the driving force of his practice. “I am always striving to edit away anything that does not support or enhance the overall initial intent of my work,” he says.
With that in mind, he recently launched the year-long course Design and the Power of Imagination with Seattle-based online art tuition platform Terracotta. “The emphasis of my curriculum is in the belief that finding answers that others provide may not be the best way to develop and evolve as artists. Rather, I think the key is in being able to ask better questions of others and of ourselves.” www.thomaswschaller.com
John Hammond
With its beautifully crumbling architecture and sparkling reflections, Venice is a place in which finding moments of visual magic is a common occurrence. Even boats lolling in a side street offer a multitude of potential subjects to a perceptive artist such as John Hammond.
“In the Sun is one of those paintings that present themselves to you from time to time as a kind of still life in the world of landscape. The proportions and composition, placement of subjects, and colour combinations have been laid before you as if by some unseen hand. Add to that the glorious sunshine baking the ancient façades and dancing off the lazy canal water and it just has to be painted.”
Like many great artist tutors, the effortless way in which John describes the process of translating a subject onto the canvas is in danger of doing himself a disservice. In truth, he puts in the hours in each new destination that he visits. “My own practice is to fully immerse myself in a location, explore and soak up the atmosphere. This way I find new subjects present themselves fairly easily as long as you’re receptive to them. And of course, as a painter of light, I have the added bonus that it continuously changes and throws new and exciting challenges my way.”
Although inspired by the works of John Singer Sargent, Ken Howard and Bernard Dunstan, John is keen to keep things fresh and try to encourage his audience to see things from his perspective. “Ultimately, I’m trying to capture not just the visual [appearance], but also the very feel of a place,” he explains. “I want the viewer to feel the sun, hear the water, smell the food from the cafés, to stand in front of my paintings and be there.”
It has been 18 years since John published his first book,
Capturing Light in Acrylics, which remains one of the best practical guides to the medium. The text prides universal truths and hard-won advice over amateurish gimmicks, yet the artist has also developed his methods since that time.
“I think a few things hold true,” he says, looking back. “Observation is key, light is so specific, so characterful and so unique, that it’s impossible to invent or generalise, paint what you observe.”
“Of course,” he adds. “I’m learning all the time and very much hope that I never stop learning.”
John’s next exhibition runs from 26 March to 8 April at
Marine House at Beer, Devon. www.marinehouseatbeer.co.uk
Hayam Elsayed
Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is as famous for her steady gaze as she is her enigmatic smile. This portrait’s uncanny ability to fix the viewer with her expressive stare falls in line with the Renaissance painter’s philosophy that the eyes are the window to the soul – a belief shared some 500 years later with Portfolio Plus member Hayam Elsayed.
“One of the most important – and most intimidating – parts to paint or draw are the eyes,” explains the Egyptian artist of her portrait painting practice.
“When a viewer looks at a portrait, the eyes are what draws them in or keeps them interested. The eyes are vital for communicating the emotions, character and inner thoughts [of a subject].”
For Hayam, the eyes can form the point of entry into one of her representational portraits, a place from which to begin the initial sketch. She stresses, however, how crucial it is to avoid making a hard outline of the entire eye and to remember that no face is symmetrical. “Left and right eyes are going to have subtle differences,” she says. “If I want a more realistic eye, it’s better to match what I see in the person, rather than trying to make the eyes match.”
When it comes to colour, the Florence-trained artist is keen to point out that the whites of the eye are never actually pure “white” in reality. Subtle shadows and other variations need to be accounted for and a similar restraint and delicacy, seen in a portrait such as Free Me,
is executed in the subdued colour palette, simple clothing and plain background.
“While painting Free Me,
I was moved by the subject a lot, I was overwhelmed by emotions of belonging and emotions of warmth,” says Hayam. “I felt that anything more would take away from those feelings.”
“I know you want to technically try everything,” she adds, “but sometimes less is more.” www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/hayam-elsayed