Artists & Illustrators - UK (2020-03)

(Antfer) #1

MASTER TECHNIQUES


most truly great artists learned their
craft by painting in a detailed way and
then, having exhausted the potential
of detail, learned to leave it out to
make things feel more “real”.
Titian and Rembrandt would be good
places to start if you’re interested
in seeing how this process plays out.
In the meantime, let’s take a look
at how to create details without
resorting to painting in a detailed way.


SUGGESTING DETAIL
So, assuming you can paint well
enough to get a picture about right,
how do you add the necessary details
to make a painting look convincing
without reaching for those size 000
brushes? The answer is to be


selective, to add apparent complexity,
and to rely on the powers of
suggestion and serendipity.
I suspect 21st-century painters are
uniquely disadvantaged compared to
the Old Masters as a constant diet of
photographic images has led us to
forget how to see the world without
the aid of a lens. We are accustomed
to see virtue in high-resolution detail,
where they would only see artifice and
so it’s harder for us to learn to see
imperfectly. In my longer courses
at Norfolk Painting School, we run
session after session on this as it’s
not easy to get away from the idea
that painting precisely what one sees
is the answer to “realistic” images,
so don’t expect to crack it right away.

Selectivity starts
by identifying what,
in visual terms, makes
any given form what it is.
Windows suggest houses,
for example, while the defining
form on a figure is the head.
Observational selectivity is the key
here and that’s why artists such as
Matisse and Picasso became so
critical of careful observation and
sight-size academic study. Viewed in
this light, there’s more important
pictorial information in a quick glance
than a day of rigorous observation.
When JMW Turner painted Rain,
Steam, and Speed – The Great
Western Railway, he also gave us a
masterclass in selectivity. The whole

ABOVE Martin
Kinnear, Assembly
of Recalled
Landscape (Dales),
oil on canvas,
122x91cm
The significant
form in this
Derbyshire Dales
inspired landscape
is the distant spire

Top tip
Select your tools
according the level
of accuracy you need
at each stage of the
painting
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