Clare McNamara -

Articles posted by Clare McNamara

Inside the Sketchbook of Katie Moody

Katie Moody is a mixed media artist based on the south coast of England. Her work takes a joyful approach to absorbing the world around her, favouring playfulness and experimentation over the pursuit of perfection. In this article, she discusses the vastly important role sketchbooks play for her as an artist, the broad range of materials she uses, and how her intuitive approach leads to finished pieces within her sketchbooks. Inside the Sketchbook of Katie Moody I have so many sketchbooks on the go! I fill them all with a variety of subjects rather than ones with specific themes, though I do love the idea of seeing the progression more clearly that way. They are very mixed, and I reach for them based on media and size. There are some I know work better with wet mediums, with paper that holds up to the amount of layers and materials I throw at it. Others work better with thicker paint layers or dry materials. Most have smooth hot-pressed paper, which I love for brush pens. Sometimes I just want something small that’s easy to carry when I’m drawing outside. I have many half-filled sketchbooks, but they’ll get …

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Artist Insights: Richard Ayodeji Ikhide

Richard Ayodeji Ikhide is a London-based artist, who works with large-scale watercolours and drawing. He visited Jackson’s Studio to discuss his practice, and how he seeks the intangible qualities of the human experience through movement and colour in his work. Artist Insights: Richard Ayodeji Ikhide Contents 0:00 “I’m trying to dispel these hierarchies within painting.” 0:10 “The marks I’m making are quite intuitive.” 1:12 Introduction 1:30 “Having lived half of my life back home in Lagos, and then living half of my life in England, you get this amalgamation of different experiences.” 3:14 “My approach to painting with watercolours is unconventional.” 4:04 “There’s a long history of sequences and sequential narrative, which has evolved into forms like film, animation, and video games.” 5:26 “For me, drawing is largely about problem solving.” 6:56 “There’s something amazing about a squirrel brush on hot press paper – the way it moves and glides across the surface is like a chef’s kiss. It’s just incredible.” 8:50 “There is no mysticism behind the way the piece takes shape.” 9:09 “That pure joy of making a line, or painting, or using colour, you get lost in the flow of the process.” 10:40 “You’re …

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Artist Review of the Golden Open Slow Drying Acrylic Paint

Golden Open Slow Drying acrylic paints are high quality acrylics with an extended working time that allows artists more time to work before the paint dries. Ideal for blending techniques, glazing techniques, fine detail, and more. In this Artist Review of the Month, Fay Howe shares how the paints are perfect for using in her mono printing practice. Artist Review of the Golden Open Slow Drying Acrylic Paint by Fay Howe I first started painting using acrylic paints because I found them easier to use than watercolours, which I sadly never managed to master. I continued with acrylics for years, but eventually was frustrated by the speed with which they dried and the difficulty of blending with them. So I changed to oil painting, which resolved those difficulties, and then rarely returned to using acrylic paint. However, last year, I took an online printing course in which the recommendation was to use Golden Open acrylics. For that course, I was only using two forms of black, Carbon Black and Bone Black, the latter of which is more transparent, and a couple of other neutral colours. Prior to that, when using acrylics, I used heavy body or …

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