Expressive Texture

146 Pages·2017·27.86 MB·English

by  Rachel Rubin Wolf

ART TECHNIQUES | DRAWING
“Texture in a drawing shows the hand
About the Editor of the artist.”
—CYNTHIA HAASE (P97)
Rachel Rubin Wolf is a freelance editor and artist. She
has edited and written many fi ne art books for North genius
Light including Watercolor Secrets; the Splash: Best
of Watercolor series; the Strokes of Genius: Best of | 8
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Drawing series; The Best of Wildlife Art (editions 1
and 2); The Best of Portrait Painting; Best of Flower
Painting 2; The Acrylic Painter’s Book of Styles and
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Techniques; Painting Ships, Shores and the Sea;
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and Painting the Many Moods of Light. She also has
acquired numerous fi ne art book projects for North TTHHEE BBEESSTT OOFF DDRRAAWWIINNGG
Light Books and has contributed to magazines such
as Fine Art Connoisseur and Wildlife Art.
▼ BASILICA by Chris Breier (p37)
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▲ SOPHIE by Cynthia Brunk (p6)
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A celebration of creative drawing, the
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Strokes of Genius series showcases standout work
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from today’s top artists. This 8th volume focuses
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AA on how artists use texture to bring life and depth to
WW subjects ranging from soulful portraits and expressive
II still lifes, to beautiful landscapes and pulsing city
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scenes. Texture plays an essential role in each of these
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drawings—capturing character, building mood and
paying homage to everyday moments that often go
unnoticed.
ee These pages serve up a tantalizing buffet of tactile
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pp impressions, from rough tree bark and silky fur
rr to peeling paint and timeworn fabrics. Complete
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ss with fascinating, fi rsthand insights on the drawing
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techniques behind the textures, Strokes of Genius 8
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offers hours of browsing and inspiration for artists
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and art-lovers alike.
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• Inspiration fresh from the studios of 131 master
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ee • 139 magnifi cent works in charcoal, pencil, pastel,
“The purpose of texture is not fi lling colored pencil, scratchboard and pen+ink
up space, but creating meaning and WW • An exciting range of styles and approaches
presented in subject-themed chapters
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substance.” —LYUDMILA TOMOVA (P43) US $37.00 LL • A behind-the-scenes look at the tools and methods
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T8449 (CAN $47.00) used to evoke a wide range of natural and manmade
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0 FnL1 04 0120 01 JUYrVyBQdWJsaWNhdGlvbnMsIEluYyAo 02 SW9sYSBkaXZpc2lvbikPR3JlZ29yeSBL 03 cnVlZ2VyAFcQxWYCMTMDMTAwATEFVVBD 04 LUEMMDM1MzEzNjY0NjMy8A== 35313 66463 2 9 FnL1 04 0124 01 JUYrVyBQdWJsaWNhdGlvbnMsIEluYyAo 02 SW9sYSBkaXZpc2lvbikPR3JlZ29yeSBL 03 cnVlZ2VyAFcQvIEEMTAuNAI4MAExBkVB 04 Ti0xMw05NzgxNDQwMzQyNzY5AA== 781440 342769 edited by RACHEL RUBIN WOLF
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genius
| 8
of
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expressive texture
edited by
RACHEL RUBIN WOLF
CINCINNATI, OHIO
artistsnetwork.com
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Contents
Introduction 5
Contributors 138
Index 142
About the Editor 143
1 2
Fabulous Faces 6 Scenes from Town &
Country 34
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3 4 5
Animals: Home, Farm & The Still Life 88 The Human Spirit 108
Wild 58
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Introduction
To many artists, texture is where the fun comes in! Though often a key aspect of the fi nished
piece, it is added after the work of building the foundation. “With a strong composition, texture
is the icing on the cake,” is Bill Shoemaker’s way of saying this. The diverse range of drawing
materials and techniques allows for endless possibilities for textural elements as exhibited in
the collection of drawings in Strokes of Genius 8. These include replicating natural or man-
made textures, creating imagined textures, or interpreting emotions in a textural way. Texture
can be defi ned as: surface quality, feel, grain, character, fi nish, weave, personality, nature,
makeup, appearance. We can even create textures that are not there or could not exist—
witness Karen Neal’s drawing on the facing page.
Texture can tell a story. “I think of texture as beauty marks,” says Christine Swann. “There
is something so beautiful about a deliberate, descriptive mark when it clearly tells the story.”
Further, “A sensitive scribble with a pencil can make magic,” according to Deb Hoeffner.
How does texture happen? To James W Voshell: “The illusion of texture is created by a light
source raking across the surface particulars of a subject.” Steve Wilda continues this thought:
“In creating texture it’s important to observe the surface, substance, lighting and shadows.”
For Steven Rockwell, sounding rapturous as a wine connoisseur, “Texture is a spice that
when mixed in one’s drawing can develop deep rich complexities, subtle apparitions and
brave bursts of interest.” Summing it up, Mandy Boursicot says, “Texture is the fi nishing touch
and the crowning glory of excellent drawing.”
—Rachel Rubin Wolf
◀ DO MY STRIPES LOOK BIG IN THIS?
Karen Neal
Scratchboard
36" × 24" (91cm × 61cm)
This is my favorite piece so far because of
its quirkiness! Scratchboard is a subtractive
medium that involves the use of abrasive
tools to directly remove the top layer of black
India ink to expose a secondary layer of white
kaolin clay. I use tools such as tattoo needles,
fi berglass brush and no. 11 craft knife blades.
These sharp instruments produce meticulous
strokes.
“Art makes the impossible
possible.”
—KAREN NEAL
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1
Fabulous
Faces
◀ SOPHIE
Cynthia Brunk
Graphite on Strathmore 500 bristol board
12½" × 20" (32cm × 51cm)
In recent graphite portraits, my focus has
been on integrating textural and patterned
elements in a way that both aesthetically
and metaphorically enhance the composi-
tions. To create meaningful backgrounds
I’ve incorporated elements that relate to the
subject’s history or areas of special interest.
In this portrait of Sophie, a Russian adop-
tee, I’ve combined repeated, similar pat-
terns of the Cyrillic and English alphabets
to complement and contrast with the soft
textures of her face and to represent her
transition from one culture to another.
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On a family vacation I took a picture of my son. It was a lucky moment: His eyes were a lot more
▼ ADOLESCENCE
telling than posed smiles. I aimed to depict the intensity of his gaze, the look of adolescence seen in
Veronica Winters
the thoughtfulness and contemplation of that moment. Colored pencil drawing requires the use of
Colored pencils on Canson pastel paper
smooth paper. Here I deviate from the norm and draw on pastel paper instead. The unfi lled spaces
9" × 12" (23cm × 30cm)
of the colored, slightly textured paper mix optically with the colored pencils, revealing the texture of
skin and hair. I work on details with very sharp Caran d’Ache Pablo pencils and shade everything
else using soft, permanent Caran d’Ache Luminance and some Lightfast Premier Prismacolors.
I was struck by this image taken at a local multicultural festival of an
▶ THE OLD GENTLEMAN
Italian singer; it depicted so many different surfaces—skin, a bristly
Kelly Just
moustache, metal, glass and cloth. I painted my heavily textured red mat
India ink and Prismacolor pencils on red mat board
board with black India ink, leaving some of the red to show through. The
15½" × 12" (39cm × 30cm)
surface tooth allowed me to apply many layers of colored pencil while the
underlying texture emphasized the weathered skin. A year or so later, one
of my students showed a friend this image on my website. That friend
turned out to be the daughter of the gentleman in the painting, who then
bought it as a gift for him!
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