Painting an abstract
Above: Orange and Blue abstract by John Dumergue Many artists after placing a canvas on an easel find staring at a white canvas a daunting experience, and getting started is…
Marine Art
Above: Yacht with spinnaker - John Dumergue By John A Dumergue During September this year the Royal Society of Marine Artists in the UK held their 80th Annual Exhibition. Included…
Roller Ball Art
By John A Dumergue When I was about nine or ten years old, (goodness me, that's seventy years ago,) we used to play marbles at school. It involved drawing a…
Abstracts in Autumn
By John A Dumergue It may be Autumn, but things are hotting up in the studio, in fact I don't think I have ever been this happy while painting a…
Art of Chair Making
By John A. Dumergue Making chairs Art comes in many forms, not just in painting and sculpture but also in furniture making, and in particular chair making. Once while looking…
Oil Paint Brushes
CHOOSING THE RIGHT OIL PAINT BRUSHES Choosing the right brush is important and with 150 years of brush making experience Winsor & Newton offer a number of brushes that are…
Creative Room Update
Above: Womans Face - Watercolour by John Dumergue John writes about recycling Looking around our house recently I discovered items that could be recycled as part of something artistic. I…
Sketch Club 18 – Dougie Chowns
ABOVE: 1985 ‘Embryo’ watercolour - Dougie Chowns. Birthing New Zealand as an adult embryo to the world. Stanley Kubric enjoyed this work, always sitting beneath it having dinner in Great…
Sketch Club 17 – Dougie Chowns
ABOVE: Detail: ‘Arnolfini Portrait’ (below) - Jan van Eyck - 1434. Is this mirror a clue? SINGLE POINT PERSPECTIVE AND WHY YOU DON’T NEED IT The difference between observed drawing…
Sketch Book 16 – Dougie Chowns
ABOVE: ‘Child of Llyr’ - Dougie Chowns. Currently in the Timor-Lesté Presidential Suite - Life-size figure. As the boy metamorphosis into a swan, his face and the hand changing into…
Sketch Book 15 – Dougie Chowns
ABOVE: Henry Moore’s ‘Draped Reclining Figure 1978. Reproduced by permission of The Henry Moore Foundation. ART IS MANY THINGS TO MANY PEOPLE Robert Hughes said, “the purpose of art is…
Sketch Book 14 – Dougie Chowns
ABOVE: Marine Reflections - by Dougie Chowns A CELTIC PHILOSOPHY Once the first flush of making artwork passes, like other creative endeavours such as music, architecture, dance or fashion, the…
Sketch Club 13 – Dougie Chowns
ABOVE:Dougie’s sketchbook - Isle sur la Sorgue, Avignon 1989. Left: Life-size bronze by Cor Zitman. Right: Diana Vierny - from a drawing by Matisse. ¡DALI IS NOT CRAZY! A close…
Sketch Club 12 – Dougie Chowns
ABOVE: LEFT: Sir Stanley Spencer. RIGHT: Dougie Chowns. Do you notice in the photo, the signs of a dedicated artist? I am definitely looking more and more like SIR STANLEY…
Sketch Club 11 – Dougie Chowns
ABOVE: Lucien Freud appears to have denied an early portrait from his art school teens. A DELIGHTFUL SIDE TO DRAWING AND PAINTING How embarrassing but how nice! I was invited…
Sketch Club 10 – Dougie Chowns
ABOVE: ‘For Christ’s Sake’ - charcoal. By Harvey Cox, January 1970. Thousands of clergymen have asked for reprints. AN ARTIST’S PASSION “Hello young man, I am an artist, and you…
Sketch Club 9 – Dougie Chowns
ABOVE: Gottfried Bohumir Lindauer self portrait. Painted in oil in 1916 DOUGIE’S 80th BIRTHDAY RAVE! The Lindauer Art Heist after a ram raid in Auckland is news as I write,…
Sketch Club 8 – Dougie Chowns
Cereal grain and juniper berries versus pine sap VODKA AND GIN VERSUS REFINED TURPS I was more than a little shocked when buying a small bottle of refined turpentine. WOW!…
Sketch Club 7 – Dougie Chowns
PRINTING PROCESSES - Is it Silk Screen or Serigraphy? Limited edition art prints on paper are potboiler income for artists. They allow you to produce very saleable original artwork that…
Sketch Club 6 – Dougie Chowns
ABOVE: A 12 minute conté drawing of Sue at Kauri Mountain, Northland. NOTHING TO DO WITH SEX - EVERYTHING TO DO WITH ANALYSIS - figure drawing and the life class…
Sketch Club 5 – Dougie Chowns
LEARNING IS EASIER WITH A VISUAL DEMONSTRATION By Dougie Chowns Pictures speak louder than words and a demonstration teaches students much faster than talking about how to draw or paint…
Sketch Club 4 – Dougie Chowns
MORE ABOUT SKETCHBOOKS, BUT THIS TIME, SAME SIZE By Dougie Chowns So that you may better appreciate sketchbook sketches I am devoting this issue to actual size sketches as if…
More Monet Memories
By John Dumergue Even nine years after visiting Claude Monet's house and gardens, and writing an article for AOTEAROA ARTIST The New Zealand Artists Magazine, I am compelled to submit…
Shapes in Work History Evident in Art
By John A Dumergue Someone said to me recently that an idea I had was very clever, to which I replied jokingly: "Just as well I stayed on those extra two years…
A-Z Glossary of Artistic Terms
ABRADED Having a worn or rubbed appearance as a result of mechanical or chemical action. An abrasion is a localized abraded area. ABSORBENT GROUND A chalk ground which absorbs oil…
Art Hanging Tips
By John Barry I recently listened to an expert describing how to arrange paintings for an exhibition. Producing a pleasing arrangement of paintings where all aspects are considered, involved a…
Hanging Artwork
You’ve bought a masterpiece, or you are hanging one of your own works. Why is it always so intimidating to look at a blank wall and decide where to hang…
The Business of Art – John Botton
During my recent visit to Sydney I popped into one of my favourite hangouts, the Art Gallery of NSW and headed straight down to the photographic exhibitions (why do galleries…
Sketch Club 3 – Dougie Chowns
SEE FOR YOURSELF AND SKETCH IN MUSEUMS By Dougie Chowns Painting is only drawing with a brush, and there is no better way to improve your painting than getting into…
Presentation
By John Botton I’m not sure about you but I always feel a bit self-conscious when exposing myself to other people, especially in public. What I have found over many…
Sketch Club 2 – Dougie Chowns
ASTONISH ME! By Dougie Chowns Art is many things to many people. My ex 1950’s writer colleague, a London poet, art writer and critic in 1991, when lecture touring in…
Confessions of a Couch Photographer
10 WAYS TO GET YOUR FOJO WORKING By John Botton As I staggered to the summit of North Ridge on my daily dog walk (OK, it was a hill that…
Sketch Club 1 – Dougie Chowns
ONCE UPON A TIME ART WAS POWERFUL By Dougie Chowns In the early world some 30,000 BC, art birthed when Paleolithic humans conceived the idea to make images of the…
Before you push the button
PRINTING BETTER LANDSCAPE IMAGES Many photographers I print for often ask for tips on how best to prepare their landscape images for printing. In reality, good prints start before you…
What is Millefiori?
WHAT IS MILLEFIORI Millefiori is a glasswork technique which produces distinctive decorative patterns on glassware. The term millefiori is a combination of the Italian words ‘mille’ (thousand) and ‘fiori’ (flowers)…
Japanese Paper
WASHI PAPER At the beginning of the second century AD, Cai Lun, a eunuch of the Han court, observed a gossamer-like material on a coastal pebbled beach where it had…
Adult Colouring In – Mitchell Manuel
COLOURING IN - ALSO AN ADULT PAST-TIME Colouring in books have moved from the children’s toy-box into the hands of adults all over New Zealand and the world. A number…
Why Print?
WHY PRINT? By John Botton You push your chair back from your workstation and admire your handiwork. “Another masterpiece and in record time” you declare loudly to Phatt the ginger…
Camera Obscura
CAMERA OBSCURA Artists using photographic references have long been accused of laziness, or even worse, excelling in technical capability while lacking in creativity. Others feel that it is a legitimate…
Te Kowhai Print Trust
TE KOWHAI PRINT TRUST Over the last three decades Te Kowhai Print Trust has built up a significant and unique lithography facility with two presses and over twenty of the…
Paper for print
SELECTING PRINT PAPER By Randal Scott, the proprietor of Fine Art Papers, importers and suppliers of fine art and conservation papers throughout New Zealand and the South Pacific. The day…
More about Giclée Print
MORE ABOUT GICLÉE PRINT Established by recognised artists to provide a dedicated high-end archival reproduction service to fellow artists, NZEditions is arguably New Zealand’s leading specialist provider of archival prints…
Presentation Wins the Day
Had a rejection slip recently? According to the popular US-based online gallery, Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery, if artists have not been getting into as many exhibitions as…
Sorting white from white
WHICH WHITE IS WHICH Some would say that the most important colour choice artists make is the white they choose to include in their palette. So here is some information…
Online Galleries
Over the last 25 years the growth of Internet and the social media have irrevocably changed the face of the modern world on personal, social and business levels. The way…
Artists Easels
A GUIDE TO EASELS A decent studio easel is a long term investment, and should offer you stability and flexibility. You don’t have to go for the most expensive wood…
Giclée Printing
GOING GICLÉE Giclée (pronounced zeeclay) art prints produced by artists in New Zealand are becoming increasingly popular and more widely available. Coupled to this, the printing of fine art prints…
Packing for Post
HOW DO YOU ENSURE YOUR PRECIOUS CREATIONS WILL REACH THEIR DESTINATION UNHARMED? Shipping your artwork can be a stressful process no matter how well you plan. Getting your work from…
Time for a Spring Clean
CLEANING YOUR STUDIO Time to sort out, clear out and clean away those cobwebs and face a new season. You can kick off by tidying up the studio. Come now,…
Creative Burnout
It’s two-o-clock in the morning, you are standing in front of your easel, you can’t remember when you last had a decent nights sleep or even a proper meal for…
Tonal Values
GETTING YOUR TONAL VALUES RIGHT “Tonal values are critical. The lights and darks contribute more to the success of a painting’s composition than any other factor, including colour. In fact…
10 Tips from an Art Teacher
TEN TIPS FROM AN ART TEACHER By Kim Kerr Drawing is important Learn to look closely, allow your eye to find the edges of objects and record them, Keep a…
Stretching paper over a canvas
ALTERNATIVE TO MATTING AND FRAMING WATERCOLOUR PAINTINGS By Charlene McGill This process can be fun and rewarding as an alternative to matting and framing your watercolour paintings. I prefer to…
Perspective in Composition
GETTING A HANDLE ON PERSPECTIVE by Morgan Riekert In this article on drawing basics we will be dealing with one of the more technical and perhaps harder to grasp principals…
Stretching Watercolour Paper
STEP BY STEP - STRETCHING WATERCOLOUR PAPER If you have ever painted on a sheet of well-stretched watercolour paper, you will know why it is worth the time and effort…
All about Palettes
WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS FOR PALETTES? Traditionally, an artist’s palette was a wooden board with a hole for the thumb, so that the artist could hold it whilst painting. These…
Curating Exhibitions
HOW TO CURATE AN EXHIBITION By Donna McKellar Being an artist I am by no means a professional gallery curator, but I have made a point of learning as much…
History of the Paint Tube
JOHN GOFFE RAND'S INCREDIBLE INVENTION “A metallic vessel so constructed, as to collapse with slight pressure and thus force out the paint or fluid confined therein through proper openings for…
Get Your Art Out There
FINDING OPPORTUNITIES TO SHOW AND SELL YOUR ARTWORK Some people find galleries scary - firstly they take a large percentage of your sales, secondly some of them are pretty snobbish…
Watercolour Paper
CHOOSING YOUR WATERCOLOUR PAPER By Charlene McGill Choosing your watercolour paper is more important than you think, and can definitely affect the outcome of your painting. It is important to…
What do Gallery Owners expect from Artists?
Approaching a gallery to accept your work, or to consider you for an exhibition is a daunting task and many gallery owners are put-off by artists, although it often has…
The Golden Mean in Composition
CONTROLLING YOUR COMPOSITION It is extremely frustrating pouring hours of time and effort into a project only to find it wanting. As artists it is our very nature to break…
Reading Oil Paint Labels
ARTIST QUALITY PAINTS Every pigment has a unique Colour Index Name, consisting of two letters and some numbers. It’s not a complex code, the two letters stand for the colour…
Watching Oil Paint Dry
UNDERSTANDING THE DRYING TIMES FOR OIL PAINT Traditional oil paints are bound with drying oils. This is what gives them their unique working properties and makes them much slower drying…
Anatomy of a Frame
Ten things you should know about FRAMING 1) Types of moulding Today there are more types and varieties of mouldings for frames than ever before. Traditionally frames were made from…
Acrylic vs Oil
Acrylic paints were made commercially available in the 1950’s but they only became popular in the 1960’s when artists such as Andy Warhol, Helen Frankenthaler and David Hockney were among…