TO PAINT - The Firefly Innovations

privileged
“As a boy, I used to watch Mr Lesley Elliott,
possibly one of the best and most generous
artists that I have ever known, painting in his
studio in Queenstown and knowing then,
that this was what I needed to do. His sense
of colour was always magic. He would paint
Sienna skies and deep Rose Madder shadows
that would be so unexpected and yet so right. I
am forever grateful for the exposure to his hours
at the easel.”
TO PAINT
Eastern Cape artist, BOB MCKENZIE, who has been
painting for over fifty years, says “Having painted in
oils since the age of 13, the journey has been one with
many twists and turns, but then in many ways there is
a thread that has remained unbroken and reasonably
constant through these fifty odd years”.
For many years colour was Bob’s biggest
stumbling block and he remembers painting
sepia pictures which were quite appealing, but
inevitably the reality of coming to terms with
colour crowded out that phase of his painting
journey. “The concept to be obedient to your
eye is something that was born then, and I
started to learn the importance of not only
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looking, but also learning to see. One of the
most common responses that I get from my
students is now that they are painting, they
are seeing colour through new eyes.”
Even though he
considers colour to
be highly important, for Bob the most
important element in a painting is capturing
light. “Without quality light you haven’t
got anything to paint, regardless of how
spectacular your subject may be.” When
his students claim that they have run out of
painting subjects, he tells them to go and
find where the light falls and they will find a
painting subject.
“Light produces shadows, shadows produce
contrasts and drama. It is these that drive me
to paint. Chiaroscuro contrasts, which, while
they are exhilarating need to be used in a
limited way, often your focal point. It is the
subtle contrasts that carry the work and keep
it fresh rather than jumpy and electric.”
Bob describes himself as an “Impressionist /
Realist”. “Because of some of the subjects I
paint, there is always the need for realistic,
accurate and recognizable drawing, but the
whole is carried by light, tone value and
context as loosely described as I can.”
He strives to capture the subject in the
context of its surroundings, where maybe
an animal is positioned partly obscured by
something that is naturally in front of it. “I
feel that this creates a sense of authenticity.”
Balancing the subjects and having a definite
focal point is vital, he says: “As in the
movies the leading roles are played by the
best actors who take the limelight, yet in a
really good movie, the supporting actor is
very often equally talented except that in
this case, his or her role, is to be there in a
supporting sense not taking the limelight and
very often having very little to say. They are
unobtrusive yet relevant and the show would
be poorer for them not being there. So too
in your painting: the supporting subjects
are less stated so as not to compete. Don’t
create multiple focal points. If you manage to
capture this concept, your painting will have
comfortable synergy.”
Throughout his work, Bob manages to lead
the viewer into the painting and take them
where he wants them to go – they don’t
have to trip over obstacles in the foreground
on their way to the point of interest in the
middle distance. “Errol Boyley, another
painter whose work sets me alight, is the
genius of the unresolved. Some may say he
painted ‘lazy foregrounds’, but to me he was
making a brilliant statement.”
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Above right:
Limina 2
1.2 x 2 m
Oil on paper
Above left:
Limina 3
1.2 x 1.8 m
Oil on paper
Top:
???
80 x 80 cm
Oil on paper
This page
Left top to bottom:
Rawsonville
1000 x 700 mm
All paintings are
oils on board unless
otherwise stated.
Page 24:
Our Rhinos
1000 x 700 mm
Page 25 top to
bottom:
Scratch
400mm x 300
Heads and tails
900 x 600 mm
Clutch
600 x 450mm
Ankle Deep
900 x 600 mm
Bitterwoods Mountain
600 x 450 mm
Monument to life
900 x 600 mm
This page
Right top and bottom:
Power and majesty
1200 x 800 mm
In front of Haga Haga Hotel
600 x 450 mm
“I believe there should be a feeling of rightness about
composition and often, breaking some of the rules creates
tension that is exciting and often contributes to that special
work. Having said this there are definite “no no’s” which
need to be avoided if your work is to be valid. Try not to
paint two similar subjects one after another. I rather paint
something totally different in between in order to arrive fresh
at the easel with a new subject each time.”
Bob runs four day workshops from his studio and gallery
in Port Alfred. He also travels extensively and presents
workshops for groups all over the country.
He markets his work through exhibitions and only on a
very limited scale through other galleries. He enjoys the
interaction with his clientele when the attention is focused
for a set period at an exhibition. Commissions make up a
large part of his work and where possible he prefers to go
and take his own reference photos.
After more than fifty years, Bob says the advice of one of his
greatest influences, Dino Paravano, sums up the philosophy
he has applied to his own career: “Dino once told me: ‘Paint
anything and everything. Don’t become known as the painter
who paints the cottages at Arniston, or just the sea. You will
learn the most when you are out of your comfort zone.’”
When asked about who has influenced him as an artist he
says: “I think one’s painting evolves through time, however
there is always the evidence of something in one’s work
which can be recognized as an influence from those whose
work you have admired. Artists whose work have had a
profound effect on my painting are L. B. Elliott, W. G. Wiles,
Errol Boyley and of course Dino Paravano. Each in their own
way have painted not only pictures, but captured mood, dust,
smells, heat, poverty and all the other important emotions
that contribute to any great work. Thankfully, on the artist’s
road there is no destination, only the journey.”
Bob has his own sage advice for new artists: “Always paint
what pleases you. Only when you are enjoying what you are
painting, will that extra dimension shine through. If you paint
from your own experiences and references, you will relive
the moment and hopefully this extra dimension will become
the soul of the work, separating it from a purely mechanical
reproduction of someone else’s experience.”
Regarding working according to “rules”, Bob says he tries
not to be tethered to rights and wrongs in composition.
ON THE COVER
Nguni Autumn
900 x 600 mm
oils on board
ABOUT BOB
Birthplace: Queenstown, E Cape
Current city: Port Alfred, E Cape
Bob regularly holds workshops
throughout South Africa. Contact
him for more information:
Galleries:
The Green Gallery - Durban
any other galleries Bob?
Cell: 083 693 2442
e-mail: [email protected]
Facebook: RD MC KENZIE STUDIO
ART WORK SHOPS AND ART
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2. Using my drawing colour, (a mix of Burnt Sienna and
Ultramarine diluted with turps), I block in the darks in a wash
rather than thick paint.
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3. Start identifying the main darks. Block in the next darkness
tempering your drawing colour with a mix of either ochre and
white or yellow and white, depending on what the next colour
range of semi darks are. Recognize the intensity of darks: Work
through all these areas of mid-tones and lights gradually getting
to the point where the whole board is blocked in.
4. Start finding the mid-tones: Compare the reference with what
you have on your board – these should be comparable in light
and dark distribution and in proportion. No details, no sharp
edges and no strong darks or lights.
5. Use cross-hatch brush strokes - this keeps them interesting.
6. Introduce more colour into shadow areas. Grow the painting
all over – like developing a photograph in a darkroom. No one
area should be complete while others are still lagging behind.
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7 & 8: Details of the highlights and darks.
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9. Open your eyes somewhat more to take in the
edges and sharper contrasts and start working
through these on your whole painting. Start to bring
in more colour.
Ideally all the elements should come together at the
end of the painting when the highlights are applied.
Find the lights and crunchy edges.
Continue introducing highlights and intensifying
the darks. The highlights are fat and rich and I end
with bolstering up my darks with, for example, rich
greens and crimson lake.
10. (opposite) Remember that you brighten a
painting when you add darks. Once I am satisfied
with the overall tones, I add the last touches and
finally sign the finished painting.
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