Bill Jacklin
Artists & Illustrators|March 2022
Chatting over Zoom as he recovers from appendicitis, the Royal Academician tells STEVE PILL about classic scrapes in New York and his recent experiments with illustration
STEVE PILL
Bill Jacklin
As many of us have found ourselves unable to focus on bigger artistic statements during the pandemic and embarking on unexpected little creative projects instead, it is perhaps reassuring to find one of the western world’s leading painters has been doing just the same. Bill Jacklin is famed for his vast urban canvases that hang in the Tate, the Royal Academy and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and he has regularly completed major projects for the likes of the Bank of England, The Ivy restaurant and Washington National Airport, where a 24-foot mural graces the north terminal. Like the rest of us, however, he found himself scaling back his ambitions during the Covid restrictions and returning to more personal ideas closer to home.

For years, Bill had been working off and on in private on a graphic novel about an “animal creature” for his adopted daughter. With about 100 drawings stockpiled, he was keen to flesh out the story further, so he approached Simon Astaire, his son-in-law from his first marriage and a novelist in his own right. The first draft captured the artist’s imagination in unexpected ways.

“It turned out that, more and more, his story was strong in its own right, so we chose to put that [first idea] to one side,” Bill explains. “Gradually, as his story strengthened, I enjoyed finding images and visuals that complemented and pushed the story, which is something that’s very different from what I normally try to do.”

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FLERE HISTORIER FRA ARTISTS & ILLUSTRATORSSe alt
Still life IN 3 HOURS
Artists & Illustrators

Still life IN 3 HOURS

Former BP Portrait Award runner-up FELICIA FORTE guides you through a simple, structured approach to painting alla prima that tackles dark, average and light colours in turn

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5 mins  |
March 2022
Movement in composition
Artists & Illustrators

Movement in composition

Through an analysis of three masterworks, landscape painter and noted author MITCHELL ALBALA shows how you can animate landscape composition with movement

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6 mins  |
March 2022
Shane Berkery
Artists & Illustrators

Shane Berkery

The Irish-Japanese artist talks to REBECCA BRADBURY about the innovative concepts and original colour combinations he brings to his figurative oil paintings from his Dublin garden studio

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7 mins  |
March 2022
The Working Artist
Artists & Illustrators

The Working Artist

Something old, something new... Our columnist LAURA BOSWELL has expert advice for balancing fresh ideas with completing half-finished work

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2 mins  |
March 2022
Washes AND GLAZES
Artists & Illustrators

Washes AND GLAZES

Art Academy’s ROB PEPPER introduces an in-depth guide to incorporating various techniques into your next masterpiece. Artwork by STAN MILLER, CHRIS ROBINSON and MICHELE ILLING

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7 mins  |
March 2022
Hands
Artists & Illustrators

Hands

LAURA SMITH continues her new four-part series, which encourages you to draw elements of old master paintings, and this month’s focus is on capturing hands

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7 mins  |
March 2022
Vincent van Gogh
Artists & Illustrators

Vincent van Gogh

To celebrate The Courtauld’s forthcoming landmark display of the troubled Dutch master’s self-portraits, STEVE PILL looks at the stories behind 10 of the most dramatic works on display

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6 mins  |
March 2022
BRING THE drama
Artists & Illustrators

BRING THE drama

Join international watercolour maestro ALVARO CASTAGNET in London’s West End to paint a dramatic street scene

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7 mins  |
March 2022
Serena Rowe
Artists & Illustrators

Serena Rowe

The Scottish painter tells STEVE PILL why time is precious, why emotional responses to colour are useful, and how she finds focus every day with the help of her studio wall

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8 mins  |
March 2022
Bill Jacklin
Artists & Illustrators

Bill Jacklin

Chatting over Zoom as he recovers from appendicitis, the Royal Academician tells STEVE PILL about classic scrapes in New York and his recent experiments with illustration

time-read
8 mins  |
March 2022