privileged 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 fi fty odd years. 24 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. 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
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. 25
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
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. 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. Regarding working according to rules, Bob says he tries not to be tethered to rights and wrongs in composition. 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. 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. 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. ON THE COVER Nguni Autumn 900 x 600 mm oils on board ABOUT BOB Birthplace: Queenstown, E Cape Current city: Port Alfred, E Cape Galleries: The Green Gallery - Durban any other galleries Bob? Bob regularly holds workshops throughout South Africa. Contact him for more information: Cell: 083 693 2442 e-mail: macstudio@isat.co.za Facebook: RD MC KENZIE STUDIO ART WORK SHOPS AND ART 27
2 3 4 5 5 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. 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 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. 29
7 7 & 8: Details of the highlights and darks. 8 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. 9 30 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.
My Profile Demo_8