Artist Insight: Dawn Harries
We spoke to this months winner of the Portfolio Plus Artwork of the Month, courtesy of Artists & Illustrators magazine. Dawn is primarily a landscape painter working in oils, based in Pontypridd South Wales. She is inspired by the rugged coastline of Wales and the stunning natural beauty of the English countryside. I wanted to ask a few questions about her winning painting and how she got started! Here goes….
You won the Artwork of the Month £50 Pegasus Art Voucher
What inspired your winning painting? Tell us about the process and materials too please!
I was on a painting holiday to St Ives, Cornwall, with my friend and fellow artist Sally, where we walked around St Ives with our sketchbooks. We stopped to make watercolour studies whenever we saw an interesting subject or scene. It was so nice just to paint all day every day for a week.
This particular scene was one I found as we walked around large rocks on the cliffs of Porthmeor Beach. The August afternoon light bouncing off the sea and the contrast of the dark foreground rocks excited my senses and I knew I wanted to paint it. I took lots of reference photos, as it was a bit too precarious to perch on the rocks to paint. Needless to say, I came back from this trip with an abundance of reference material for future work. But this scene stuck in the forefront of my mind as one I had to paint.
As a landscape painter my main objective was to capture the light effect that bathed the scene. I decided to use oil paint on canvas board. The creaminess of oil paints is lovely and they’re the perfect choice for keeping control of tonal values, as the drying shift tends to be quite small. That was going to be quite important for this painting. I used a combination of synthetic brushes, made up of filberts and flats. My palette consisted of two blues, two reds, two yellows, in warm and cool, plus cobalt teal and white. I let the first layer of paint dry before adding a few more layers, until I was happy with the effect. I added the lightest lights last in order to achieve the sparkle effect on the water.
Are you a full time artist, or do you balance your painting with other jobs?
I work as a Finance Administrator by day, but in the last few years I’ve reduced my hours slightly so I can dedicate more time to landscape painting. This means I have my evenings and a three day weekend in which to paint. It works very well for me.
What is your preferred medium and which brands do you favour?
My parents bought me a starter set of oil paints for my 16th birthday. I found them quite scary to start with. It was a few years before I plucked up the courage to use them. They soon became my preferred medium, and remain so to date. I tend to use a combination of brands depending on my colour preferences, but my top brands are Daler-Rowney Georgian, Michael Harding or Jackson’s. Usually I paint on canvas boards or stretched canvas, but I’ve recently started to try out wooden boards as well. I also like to use Acrylics, Inks and Watercolour.
Were you formally trained or self taught and do you think this matters?
I am largely self-taught, but I attended oil painting night classes at the Cardiff Metropolitan over ten years ago to learn the basics. It was really helpful, as I learnt a lot from both the tutor and my fellow students. I received a good grounding in techniques I might otherwise not have tried. I don’t think it matters if you’ve had formal training or not, but I do think you should seek out and try new techniques that interest you. Always endeavour to improve upon your previous work, never stop learning and improving your processes. It feels like I learn something new from every piece I make.
Do you paint every day? Do you attend art classes yourself?
Ideally I would paint every day, but in reality it isn’t always the case. Working full days through the week means there’s often not a lot of time left in the evenings. However, my weekends are usually quite busy with planning and painting.
I haven’t attended classes myself for a number of years, but I have organised a few of my own independent painting workshops. Being a regular guest tutor for Pure Artwork Studios teaching one day Acrylic workshops in recent years has always been a lot of fun and very rewarding. I love to teach and it’s always a joy to see peoples amazement at what they can produce within a short period of time and to see their confidence grow.
Which websites can you recommend for resources and support for a landscape painter.
There’s so much information online it can feel overwhelming, but I regularly visit the Artists & Illustrators, and Painters Online websites for news and interesting insights. Plus I’ve recently discovered Artwork Archive Art Inventory Software – Easy Art Management | Artwork Archive which is a brilliant site for organising your portfolio. There are lots interesting and helpful blogs. I would also suggest that Facebook and Instagram are great platforms for contact with fellow artists and for sharing your work.
Is it important to be part of a group, society or club? How do you stay in the loop?
I think it’s important to connect with other artists and makers, as producing art can be quite an isolating pastime or job. It’s good to meet up with like-minded people in a creative space. It can broaden your practice, and in some cases give you the opportunity to exhibit your work in group shows, which can be a real confidence boost. I’ve been part of a society in the past, although not at the moment. I’ve been lucky enough to have made friends with some lovely artists over the years. Social media is also a great way to connect with other artists when you’re not able to attend groups in person.
Are you represented by a gallery? Do you think galleries are still important for artists in the age of social media?
I’m not represented by a gallery at the moment, but I’ve exhibited with a number of local Welsh galleries over the years. I think galleries are still very important, as they offer the customer an experience you can’t get online. It’s difficult to portray the true colour, scale or texture of a piece digitally, so it’s great when customers can visit a gallery to see your work in person and get the full effect.
It can be difficult to get your work into galleries consistently, so having your own website and/or social media pages are a must. It’s also a great tool for artists to promote their work directly to an audience.
What keeps you motivated?
Sometimes life gets in the way and the drive to create wanes a little, but it never leaves me completely. I find that as soon as I start painting, I can usually get into the zone fairly quickly. The key for me is to just start, and not wait for inspiration.
The world is an amazing place and I find you don’t need to look far for inspiration, plus I have a lot of reference material to work from, so I’m never stuck for subject matter.
I recently started working on a series of paintings of skies, which was very motivating as I had so many ideas and planned pieces, that the work flowed much easier than usual. This was the first time I’d worked on a series like this, but I’m sure it won’t be the last.
Find out more here: www.dawnharriesart.co.uk
Facebook @dawnharriesart
Instagram @dawnharriesart