The Artist's and Illustrator's Magazine (regarding water-colours)
The Old Dog (Ceci)
Illustrator's Magazine (AIM). AIM is a British magazine. Here is what
I thought about it, and some questions.
What struck me first when I got home and browsed through AIM, was that
the water-colours presented as examples weren't very good. One series
by an artist called Ashley Jackson was showing good composition and
Alan Lockwood painted a landscape from Robin Hood's Bay. Both of them
have a rather 'edgy' look to them, without being very interesting.
They seem to use a lot of black or gray paint, something that makes
for pictures with too much contrast between dark and light, in my
opinion. The pictures in the presentation of Steve Goodall are better,
I think. Is it typical of AIM to show water-colour examples with
'black holes' in them? Or is it typical for British artists; I seem to
recall this use of black/gray paint from some British instruction
books too. (I mean the habit of mixing lamp black or Payne's gray into
virtually all washes.)
What I found the most interesting in the issue of AIM, was the
advertisements. There were very many of them, and most of them seemed
to be serious and probably interesting to people who work in the
respective fields. A plus is the attached leaflet on which you can
tick the advertisers you want to get in touch with and send the
leaflet (free of charge in GB) to AIM.
A question about painting holidays: How serious are these courses?
What kind of people attend them? If there is anyone with personal
experience from summer schools/painting holidays (or whatever your
tutor preferred to call it) I would appreciate to hear about them. The
sums charged for them don't seem outrageous, but still, it's a lot of
money. Recommendations and warnings are welcome.
There is an advertisement for the Art Materials Exhibition, taking
place in London on June 18-21. I could give my right arm to be able to
go there, unfortunately nobody seems very interested in buying it. ;)
Is anyone of you going there? Especially the seminars held by Michael
Wilcox about _Colour mixing and harmony_ seem very interesting. Has
anybody got his book: Blue and Yellow Don't Make Green? What do you
think of it?
There was a leaflet about AIM's book club _Art&Design Book Club_ in
the magazine too. Some of the books seem promising. Does anyone have
any experience with this book club? The titles I was wondering about
are:
Painting Nature in Watercolour by Ferdinand Petrie
How to draw the Human Figure by Victor Ambrus
Intimate Landscapes by Paul Riley
I would be very happy if someone posted a review about these books.
Repliers are expressedly promised not to be bitten by me. :)
--Ceci
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"Convictions cause convicts." Robert Anton Wilson
"But don't let that become a conviction!" Ceci
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