50 Artists & IllustratorssketchbookSmoke painting or ‘fumage’ is unlike other mediums
and can be tricky at first. artist Neil Higton
offers his advice for creating beautiful scenes1
Pick a piece of glass at least
3mm thick and large
enough to give you a border
around the image to hold.
Choose a subject, in this case
I’ve decided on a tree.2
Hold the glass as if you are
looking through it towards
the sky. With the candle, slowly
but carefully, move the fl ame
over the surface leaving soot
behind. Take your time and
allow the glass to cool between
applications. Place it on white
paper to view progress. Try to
build a light tone to start. Theprocess is quite forgiving, so if
you are not happy, just wipe off.3
When you are happy with
the tone, begin drawing
using wooden kebab skewers.
At this stage you are only trying
to make a solid silhouette.
Next, clean the soot from
around the silhouette leaving a
solid form.4
Now comes the tricky part.
You will need to take off
the soot between leaves and
branches, again using a
skewer. Like a two-dimensionalsculpture, you are trying to take
away negative space.5
Using the candle, build the
tone in front of the tree,
then, using brushes to take off
the soot, mimic the fi eld’s
textures and movement. In the
background are hills, so I turn
the piece on its side and make
a long mark across the picture.
Mark the tops of the hills and
clean excess soot above them,
around the tree and the
negative spaces in the tree.
Neil’s paintings are available
to buy at http://www.etsy.comSomething new...
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http://www.daler-rowney.comGet an arty alter ego
As a professional artist who is constantly adapting to the
needs of clients, it can be diffi cult to fi nd your own voice
or develop a passion. It is easy to get pigeonholed by
clients and critics: if you show them something new, it
can get sidelined. A great way to avoid this is to create a
‘new you’, as a crime writer might moonlight as romantic
novelist, changing name and gender. A new identity can
invigorate and provide a new audience. I did just this.
My main work as MJ/PA (Matt Jeanes Professional
Artist) made way for Maxwell: Nom Du Jour, a fashion
artist. With my love of illustrators David Downton and
Bob Peak, I changed style and developed a new brand,
getting published and landing an exhibition at Bath In
Fashion – a door that would have been closed to me.
I still work as me, but feed my fashion-passion as Max.
Check out Matt’s work at http://www.matthewjeanes.co.uk
and http://www.maxwellndj.co.ukARTIST’S TIP
Smoke painting or ‘fumage’ is unlike other mediums
and can be tricky at first. artisthttp://www.daler-rowney.comwww.daler-rowney.com
Why not try...
SMOKE PAINTING
47 Sketchbook.indd 50 10/04/2017 11:49