The Artist - UK (2021-03)

48 artistMarch 2021 http://www.painters-online.co.uk

T

he quest for perfection and the

fear of making mistakes inhibits

many an artist from expressing

their inner creativity. All artists,

even great ones, make ‘mistakes’. It

is part of the creative process and,

once this is accepted, you can be more

relaxed with your art and enjoy it rather

than thinking everything has to be so

perfect

Exploratory works of art are

interesting, honest and have something

to say. In their own right they attain a

level of excellence and reveal an artist’s

character. Exploratory drawings are

great to keep. As you begin to develop

as an artist the learning process comes

in floods but as you acquire more

skills there may be times when you

feel you are not progressing in leaps

and bounds. Looking back on previous

works to see how far you have come

can provide a confidence boost. So,

don’t chuck out your past attempts, be

honest with yourself and build on your

Reveal something new

Subtractive techniques are an invaluable tool for

drawing and painting. Robert Dutton explains how

they can create positive outcomes in your work by

restoring the light and revealing hidden layers

imperfections. Indeed, when I walk

into my studio I don’t expect to create

a perfect piece of work every time. If it

happens then great; if it doesn’t, well,

that’s a real bonus as I’ll be learning

something and not become complacent

with any creative process or media I

engage with.

Erasers – flexible drawing

tools

The paintings and drawings that are

worked on over time tend to be the

better ones. It is all part of the joyful

creative process and I use erasers to

draw with – to enhance passages of

paint and drawn marks, not to disguise,

nor to remove them because I’m

embarrassed by their presence in my

work.

Let’s think of an eraser as a drawing

tool. Erasers allow you to model shape

and form to adjust tonality in many

exciting, creative and subtle ways.

For example, in the mixed-media

painting Winter Reflections – Wastwater,

the Lake District (above), the streaking

light effects would not nearly have

been so effective, if at all, if I’d tried to

create an equally luminous effect by

adding paint. It is precisely because

these passages are translucent that the

painting feels more atmospheric – the

removal of pigments in select areas give

the painting its drama.

Thinking ahead

Drawing and painting involves so much

more than building a light-to-dark piece

of art. During the process there are

times you may want or need to make

a select part of your drawing lighter

and an eraser is, I find, the perfect tool

for this part of the creative process.

Subtractive drawing – the removal

of pigment from the support – is a

recognised technique in its own right

and works equally well with charcoal,

graphite and coloured pencil.

By varying the pressure of your

subtractive techniques you can achieve

many different tones that add very

special effects. For example, beautiful,

richly toned greys can be created with

charcoal media on different textured

drawing paper.

Another use for an eraser is to help

t Winter Reflections –

Wastwater, the Lake District,

mixed media on Canson

Heritage Not 300lb (640gsm),

203 22in (51 3 56cm).

For this atmospheric studio

painting I used a variety of lift-

out techniques to create soft,

diffused passages of paint and

hard rubbing with an eraser

to evoke the shafts of light

appearing from behind the

winter clouds