Janie George: Insistent Colour

Janie George won Andrew Torr’s Choice Award in Jackson’s Art Prize this year with her work Pine Cone. In this interview, she discusses her practice of writing to help realise an idea, the perfection of indecision, and turning to ceramics to slow her down. Above image: Janie in her studio     Josephine: Could you tell us about your artistic background? Janie: I owe a lot to my mother who was very good at making things and had a good sense of style. We were a large family and had little money. Everything was pretty much handmade and hand-grown. She taught me how to sew, cook, and garden. She also bought me a sketchbook to record the wild flowers that I found. That experience of drawing to identify and know things was the beginning for me. I still draw things gathered from the fields. I was lucky in my art college experience; it was a more formal time, but people were pretty nurturing and kind. Although I paint now, I studied printmaking at college and lithography in particular. It was how I learnt to be very precise about colour. After college, I had longish periods without a studio. However, when …

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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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Blending Techniques in Oil, Acrylic, Pencil, Pastel, Charcoal, Watercolour, and Ink

In this article I explore the technique of blending, referring to examples from Sfumato paintings in the Renaissance, through to Symbolist pastel drawings. Followed by practical demonstrations for blending in a variety of mediums – oil, acrylic, pencils, soft and oil pastel, charcoal, watercolour, and ink – and give tips for achieving a seamless finish. Articles in the Painting Techniques Series define the meaning and context of art making processes and give practical tutorials on how to work with them.     Blending Techniques in Oil, Acrylic, Pencil, Pastel, Charcoal, Watercolour, and Ink   Definition Blending refers to the mixing towards, or transition between, two or more different colours or values, to create a smooth gradient between them. A successfully blended area will have a consistent, melded-together finish, without any hard edges, lines, or random marks.   What is the Effect of Blending? The visual effect of blending may help to achieve realism, or simply add a pleasing gradient to an artwork. Whether a work is naturalistic or abstract, areas of blending often provide a sense of depth, be it blended tone across a glass on a table or blending between bright colours. It’s a technique that’s doable in all …

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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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win £1000 to spend on jewellery tools, materials or training – the jewellers academy support fund for july

Every other month, we award £1,000 to one jeweller to invest in their
business and how you use it is completely up to you. Whether it’s tools,
materials, training, or something else that will support your growth, this
fund is designed to help you move forward with purpose.

Plus, the winner also receives a 1-hour 1:1 mentoring session tailored to
their needs, whether that’s business strategy, marketing, or hands-on
jewellery making support.

Find out how to enter.

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