Of Penguins, Whales and Polar Bears meeting 18th April 2017
by Ralph Keller
It is always with much anticipation that I look forward to a meeting where an accomplished, successful wildlife painter talks about his or her work. Last month with Brett Jarrett we had the pleasure of listening to such a person.
Brett has practiced wildlife art for many years. He progressed from watercolour via gouache and acrylics to oil painting. He creates great paintings, many of which have won valuable awards at prestigious art shows in Australia and overseas.
Brett is an artist captivated by the polar regions of our world. He has spent a considerable time in these cold areas, with much of his work now directed towards depicting the fascinating mammals and birds that call these extreme habitats home.
However, his presentation to us - via electronic images on the big screen - started not with cold water creatures, but with several charming portraits of dogs - a Collie, two Kelpies, a Spaniel and the friendly face of a Labrador.
Here are Brett's points and suggestions on painting such portraits:
- Give shape to an animal's head or body by strong use of light and shade. Use backlighting occasionally for a more interesting look.
- Keep the background simple and let some of the animal's fur blend into it to soften the outlines.
- Showing the head in a position where you can see both eyes tends to make for a better composition.
- The eye itself, of course, is always of prime importance. Work on it to achieve the liquid look which makes an eye come alive. The highlight is vital but is never just one or two simple dots (photo flashes create this unnatural effect). Realistically, the eye should reflect some of what it looks into.
Contd…….
Then we came to Brett's main sequence on cold ocean animals - Penguins in the Antarctic, Polar Bears from the northern regions and whales and dolphins from both hemispheres. As a tour guide on cold water cruises he spent much time in these latitudes and had plenty of opportunities to observe and photograph the fascinating animals there.
His first striking painting example showed a flock of Adelie Penguins 'porpoising' in blue Antarctic waters. You could clearly visualise the speed of the sleek, wet bodies 'flying' through the icy waters.
A visit to one of the Emperor breeding colonies allowed the gathering of reference photos of these impressive penguins, birds which raise their young in the depth of the Antarctic winter in what must surely be the most extreme conditions imaginable. One absolutely delightful painting of Brett's showed three Emperor chicks - they would have to be the most appealing of young birds - inspecting an egg on the ice.
The other end of the world, the Arctic, inspired Brett to produce some eye-catching works of the majestic Polar Bear - another animal making a living in an incredibly hostile environment, in this case at the top of our planet.
Marine mammals form another important part of Brett's artwork. He has received commissions to paint many plates of these ocean creatures for guide books.
We also had the pleasure of seeing two great examples of his dolphin paintings. One was of a pod of Common Dolphins cleaving the water at speed and showing the characteristic yellow flank markings - a rather unusual colour amongst marine mammals. The other was of a group of Hourglass Dolphins, so named because the equally striking white markings resemble the shape of this old timing device.
Brett's recommendations on this segment:
- If you find yourself in a situation to photograph these elusive ocean animals, have your camera gear always ready to seize every fleeting opportunity.
- Where possible collect reference material on body features and markings from dead or stranded animals.
- Use unusual lighting conditions to add visual interest. Here again, Brett emphasized the value of backlighting to give maximum difference between light and shade, thus emphasising the animal's shapes.
- In group paintings of marine animals at sea, it is important to create depth in your composition by painting some animals closer, sharper and more dominant whilst others are shown less distinct - either further away or swimming deeper down.
As a versatile painter, Brett finished his presentation with a selection of horse portraits being two massive Clydesdales to a study of the great racehorse Black Caviar in full gallop.
contd….
In addition to the digital images Brett also brought along a selection of his framed paintings :
* the head portrait of a Polar bear - you felt like burying your hands in the thick white fur (perhaps not wise though!)
* a cute young koala riding on its mother's back, showing the bemused and slightly vacant expression typical of the species.
* an equally delightful cheetah cub
* the elegant head only of the champion racer Black Caviar
* a panel showing a large selection of whale and dolphin species for inclusion in a field guide (frankly, I can never look at one of these multiple species plates without thinking: "Fancy stuffing up the last animal to be painted on the panel")
Brett Jarrett lives and works at Narrawong in s-w Victoria and he has just opened his own Bay of Whales Gallery/studio to showcase his work, from which he also sells greeting cards.
Brett's paintings can also be viewed on his website
On behalf of WASA and the audience - thank you Brett for a great evening, entertaining, highly interesting and also very inspiring.