The Art of Watercolour Magazine 49th issue PRINT Edition

CONTENTS:

Portfolio: Myint Nainga. Particularly drawn to nature, the artist experiments with different techniques and tries new things to create these graceful landscape paintings.

MEET THE ARTISTS:

• Mary Whyte. Her latest series pays tribute to American veterans.
• Ron Thurston: After a career in illustration, the American artist turned to watercolour. His daring compositions featuring his trademark bright blue sometimes border on abstraction.
• Prasad Beaven: Paintings at the crossroads of East and West in which the artist combines ink and watercolour to achieve a kind of formal simplicity.
• Louise de Masi: The Australian artist and nature lover is passionate about the fauna of her continent, in particular its birdlife, which she loves to render in delicate transparent washes.
• Didier Georges: In parallel to working in his studio, he also paints travel diaries, especially in Morocco, a means of expression he appreciates for its spontaneity.
• Jansen Chow: His colourful paintings are instantly recognisable. Not only is he an experienced artist, he is also an outstanding teacher who enjoys sharing his knowledge.
• Sterling Edwards: After decades of figurative painting, the American artist decided to turn his back on figuration and embark on the road to abstraction.
• Pam Mclaughlin: She has been painting watercolour portraits for many years, finding her favourite models amongst friends and family. She talks about the challenges of this particular genre.
• Ray Balkwill: Representative of the English watercolour tradition, he likes combining pastel, gouache and watercolour to paint the effects of light on the beaches in an original way.
• Michael Reardon: An expert in architectural views, he paints wet on wet, using blurred contours and effects of light to paint sensitive, skilful watercolours.
• Revelations: Ivan Yanev and Alexandros Pintilii Karciucas.

Special New Readers’ Competition: The results of our “Wildlife” themed contest.
Competition winners: Wiebke Meier, Ruth Andrews-Vreeland and Jane Fritz.
History: Anders Zorn. The Swedish master painted both highly detailed, realistic depictions of people and places and more impressionistic works.
What’s on: Watercolour exhibitions around the world.
Call for entries: try your luck in the next international competitions.

EDITO:
The Importance of Being Earnest Giorgio Vasari, the 16th century Italian painter who wrote about the lives of Renaissance painters, was one of the first people to address the notion of progress in art (and notably the unsurpassable brilliance of Michelangelo) in his famous book Lives of the Artists, which was first published in 1550. Of course, the idea of perfection wouldn’t be taken so seriously nowadays – didn’t Oscar Wilde write that perfection’s biggest drawback is that it leaves no room for developments? And yet perfection remains a more or less conscious objective for many artists.
To put the question differently: Should we be happy with what we already know or, on the other hand, challenge our knowledge and continue to make progress? Watercolourist Iain Stewart, whom we interviewed in ‘The Art of Watercolour’ No. 10, compared his evolution as an artist to a succession of “plateaux” and “ascents”, saying that: “During the ascent phase, I struggle with a problem for a few weeks and feel that I am painting badly. Experience however has taught me how to get through such periods. I sometimes even add a further difficulty, such as a new colour, brush or type of paper. At one moment or another, things just fall into place: I then discover that my process has evolved to a certain extent and my work has changed. I enjoy painting more. I paint more quickly and with a higher success rate. That’s what I call the “plateau”, a time when I am feeling confident in my painting. After a while however, I no longer feel satisfied with how things are going and it’s time to begin the ascent once more”.
This vision of art and more particularly watercolour sums up pretty well the approach of the various artists that you have been discovering from one issue to the next for more than ten years. Although they have all developed their own styles and chosen their own unique means of expression, they don’t hesitate to take a good look at themselves, to reassess their work and challenge what they know and what they believe by trying new things and exploring new avenues. Perhaps at the end of the day, the secret of painting “earnestly” is to be found in challenging your beliefs.
We hope you enjoy the magazine. Happy painting!
The editorial team.