Jenny shares things here she has found useful and interesting, from technical information to books, articles, exhibitions, sites for painting and drawing, websites or what ever. For more information, contact Jenny by email or use Your say.

Minor revelations

Things I've learnt that I wish I'd understood long ago.

Material thoughts

  • The importance of good materials Good materials, like good ingredients to a cook, make all the difference.
  • A few things to be aware of Paint names/colours, 'acid-free' paper
  • Parkers: Best place to get art materials in Australia Parkers Sydney Fine Art Supplies, 3 Cambridge St, The Rocks, Sydney. (02) 9247 9979. This is the gourmet deli of art stores.
  • Neil Wallace Art Supplies, Melbourne Printmaking and other supplies and lots of interesting papers--much like Melbourne Etching Supplies but the prices seem a lot more reasonable on some items. Again, very helpful staff, including Mr Wallace himself, who is a fount of information about printmaking and how it came to be introduced into Australia.
  • Melbourne Etching Supplies For all things printmaking (and some drawing and painting products) including a very wide range of papers of various kinds. Helpful and knowledgeable staff.
  • Chapel Art Supplies, 108-110 Johnston Lane, Annandale. (02) 9660 1182. Small, very friendly and individually owned, with a good range of papers, including many you won’t find easily in the larger stores.
Worth seeing

We're never too old or experienced to stop seeing, absorbing, learning. Here are some things I recommend.

  • The Arts of Islam Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 22 June - 23 September 2007. A dazzling exhibition, with an unexpected variety of works in all media from regions throughout the Islamic world and covering 1000 years. Includes much secular work and art depicting (against expectation) figures and animals, including a Persian-looking Jesus astride a donkey. Deserves more than one viewing.
  • Studio Now on at the State Library of New South Wales, Macquarie St, Sydney, until 12 October 2008. Originally shown at the National Portrait Gallery, Commonwealth Place, Canberra, 13 July - 2 September 2007. This is a compelling look at the studios and working habits of 61 painters. Put together over 5 years, these striking photos by R. Ian Lloyd coupled with interviews by art critic John McDonald give great insight into the creative process. If you miss the show, get the book or DVD instead. The DVD is worth having if you’re an artist suffering from artist’s block or looking for reassurance that other artists also suffer through ‘the agony and the agony’ of making art.
  • George Lambert Retrospective National Gallery of Australia, Parkes Place, Canberra 29 June – 16 September 2007. This is a very impressive, large exhibition that recovers for new generations the work of long-forgotten, unusually talented (but not at all tormented) George Lambert (1873 - 1930). It ‘is the most comprehensive showing of Lambert’s work for over fifty years’. I was particularly impressed with his drawings, their incredible delicacy and variety of line and sense of life and character, which would put some Renaissance artists to shame. Also very notable are his fresh and dazzling watercolours.
  • Portraits by John Brack National Portrait Gallery, Old Parliament House, Canberra, 24 August - 18 November 2007. This exhibition of portraits by John Brack (1920-1999) shows a strong and expressive painter who never flattered his subjects and worked tirelessly to capture their psychological essence and to perfect his compositions. A very interesting colourist, as well as a perceptive and unique portraitist. Some powerful drawings too. The catalogue unfortunately doesn’t do justice to the beautiful quality of these works.
  • David Fairbairn Stella Downer Fine Art, Sydney, 28 August - 22 September 2007. Though familiar with Fairbairn’s work, I had no idea how good he was before seeing this show. He appears to have wrung himself out producing these works, which are in two separate rooms. The first shows huge portraits done on paper (up to 12 attached sheets) in mixed media, mainly of one man, whom we sense (and later read) is gravely ill. These pictures are tremendously alive and sing with line, tone, texture and muddy but powerful colour. In the second room, the smaller pictures are even more impressive in their use of mixed media, evoking in startling colour schemes and strong ink lines the look of European expressionist woodcuts or of Egon Schiele in a very dark mood.
  • Grace Cossington Smith retrospective Cossington Smith (1892-1984) was an important post-Impressionist/modernist painter who, like so many women artists, seems to have been neglected, at least until recently. Well worth seeing for her brilliant earlier works, influenced by Paul Gauguin, Franz Marc and others. On until 15 January 2006 at the Art Gallery of NSW, then elsewhere.
  • Pissarro: The first Impressionist, Art Gallery of New South Wales One of those blockbusters that actually deserve the label. Camille Pissarro was mentor to so many: Monet, Gauguin, Cezanne to name a few. It's a rare treat to see so many influential works from this time period on exhibition in Australia. No visual artist within 200 miles should miss this exhibition, on until 19 February 2006. See John McDonald's review, 'Great mentor stands alone', Spectrum, Sydney Morning Herald, 26-27 November 2005.
Worth reading

Titles on aesthetic, historical and technical subjects I encourage you to read.

  • Master Class in Figure Drawing by Robert Beverly Hale, compiled and edited by Terence Coyle. A collection of the teachings of one of America's foremost teachers of artistic anatomy and drawing. An excellent way to get a handle on life drawing. For anyone wanting to get a deep understanding of figure drawing, you couldn't do better than to study a book like this, combined with any basic 'anatomy for artists' book, plus Bridgman's book as noted below. Add in weekly or more frequent life drawing classes multiplied by many years of pain and struggle! Well, luckily there are moments of fun and pleasure sprinkled in every so often to keep one going, but in truth, life drawing can seem like the most frustrating and challenging of all fields of art study.
  • Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life by George H Bridgman. I've had several Bridgman books over the years, and always resisted studying them, because I find his style of drawing off-putting. But having finally stopped resisting or perhaps just finding the right Bridgman book, I'm now finding his approach very useful. The body 'in the flesh' (rather than on a page) is a profoundly confusing and confounding subject at times, so it's great to have someone break it down and make it understandable. Of course the idea is not to draw like him, or become formulaic, but to have a system of seeing and understanding to call on when confronted by that mass of wierd angles and bulges that is the human form.
  • The Painter's Handbook by Mark Gottsegen. A must-have guide to painting materials and their use. It's extremely user-friendly, being well set out and logically organised, and provides a great deal of information about the sound use of painting materials. Mark Gottsegen also runs the tremendously useful art materials information and education website: www.amien.org where you can post questions. I consult both the book and the website regularly. Art materials are complicated and confusing--and reliable information is extremely hard to come by, but Mark G and colleagues provide the best source around.
  • The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques by Ralph Mayer. This now rather old book is a slow read and not as user-friendly as Mark Gottsegen's book (see above) but still an important book. It's more comprehensive and far more detailed than the Gottsegen book, embracing all art techniques/materials. It covers more about actual technique than Gottsegen's work though not in great detail. However it does not lend itself to a 'quick dip when needed' style of reading, having been written in a more old-fashioned way in an era when people had time to read a large book from beginning to end. For a detailed, in-depth explanation of the principles of sound oil painting, this book is unsurpassed.
  • Brushes: A Handbook for Artists and Artisans by Jacques Turner. This should be prescribed reading at every art school. I wish I'd learnt about the importance of brushes much earlier. This book clearly but comprehensively explains brush types, shapes, sizes and hair types. Slim but essential reading.
  • The Book of Fine Paper by Silvie Turner. Serious lovers of paper will find this extremely useful and well worth having. It explains everything you need to know about paper and helps the artist understand exactly what the features of a fine art paper add up to. A great reference book that cuts through much of the waffle that befuddles us poor artists. Also a beautifully produced book, with some lovely samples of fine paper. Extremely comprehensive.
  • Hilary Page's Guide to Watercolor Paints. Another must-have book. If you want to see the actual colours behind manufacturers' obscure and confusing colour names, get this book. For the watercolourist, it's invaluable, giving a comprehensive rating to each paintmaker's version of each particular colour (and providing comparison charts). But it's not just for watercolourists--all other artists using colour will find this book an essential reference. The colours will look somewhat different in oil paints, admittedly--somewhat darker and duller--but in the absence of a book like this specifically for oil painters, this is the book to get. Another source of similar information is available on the Handprint website--see Worth surfing.
  • Colour by Victoria Finlay. Like Bright Earth, reviewed below, this is a compelling and very enjoyable read--a journey into the history of colour and pigments 'from mascara to violin varnish, from nomadic carpets to stained glass, from pillar boxes to crayons' to quote the back cover. Packed with fascinating detail and anecdotes.
  • Bright Earth: The Invention of Colour by Philip Ball. A fascinating history of the use and meaning of colour in the arts, particularly painting. It's brilliantly written and deserves a wide audience.
Worth doing

My studio is great, but there are times I have to get out from within its cloistered walls.

  • Classes at Royal Art Society There are a number of excellent and reasonably priced classes available here--in life-drawing, portrait painting/drawing, life-painting, pastel, still-life and landscape painting. Don't be put off by the rather stuffy look of the home page. RAS is a fun place to study but still a venue for serious study; a great place to meet fellow artists and notable for its highly qualified, experienced tutors. I've been taught by Ann Cape, Leyla Spencer and Yve Close and found them all excellent. The studio is well lit and equipped, and close to North Sydney Station. Parking is also available. It's very difficult to find quality tuition in art, but I've learnt a great deal from the courses I've done here.
  • Bundanon, near Nowra, New South Wales South Coast The country residence of the Boyd family and Arthur Boyd's studio for many years on the banks of the Shoalhaven River. A beautiful spot, it's open to the public regularly and also available for artists to do day visits for painting and drawing en plein air. An artist-in-residence program is also available.
  • February 2007 trip Three weeks in the US northeast with partner and friends, ‘squeezing in’ a few dozen galleries and exhibitions.
Worth surfing

Artists' and other web links I think you should try.

  • May Street Studios New, beautifully appointed artists' studios with great light--and at a reasonable cost! Jenny is in studio 27.
  • Wet Canvas artists' forums/information website On this massive site you'll find forums and articles on every style and medium used in art. Some of the information you'll glean will be extremely useful--and sometimes you have to take it with a good sized pinch of salt. A great place to check out fellow artists' opinions and experiences--or just to have an argument! It's amazing how heated the discussions can become. Unfortunately, lately the site has experienced a lot of technical difficulties.
  • www.amien.org The Art Materials Information and Education Network website. AMIEN is a non-profit organisation. In their own words: 'AMIEN is a resource for artists dedicated to providing the most comprehensive, up-to-date, accurate, and unbiased factual information about artists' materials.' This site is run by Mark Gottsegen, author of the extremely useful Painter's Handbook, which I review in Worth reading above.
  • Handprint The watercolour section of this site contains comprehensive, tirelessly researched and hard-to-find information about watercolour paints, papers, brushes, techniques, the science of colour and optics and retailers of watercolour materials. Some of the information is of a highly technical nature: there may be more detail than you could ever want, but there is a great deal here that is useful for artists and anyone interested in colour. Hats off to Bruce McEvoy for making the fruits of years of research freely available and comprehensible on this attractively set-out website.
  • FONAS I was put on to Friends of the National Art School by an artist friend. NAS is still fighting a life-or-death struggle to preserve its teaching methods and independence. Find out more!
  • Wayne Roberts Wayne’s paintings and drawings show his technical skills and wide-ranging creativity and inventiveness. More recent work ties in with his theories connecting colour, science and music.
  • Bronwen Bassett Bronwen’s semiabstract, meditative paintings based on natural patterns derived from rubbings from trees, leaves, etc., have a fascinating, almost mathematical beauty.
  • Helen Duley Helen has a unique style and vision. Her work is informed by strong feelings for the land and its forgotten history. With a focus on trees, her richly coloured, semiabstract paintings exude atmosphere and mystery and reveal a deep connection with indigenous people.
  • The Thin Green Line A documentary film about the work of Park Rangers around the world trying to conserve habitats and animals from poachers and other profiteers.
  • Viscopy The copyright agency based in Australia for visual artists.

Contact Jenny