Walter Magilton

Walter Magilton

FVAS. AGRAF. DIP. ART

Walter Magilton was featured on the front page of The Age last December for his replica painting of Anzac Christmas by Violet Teague. The work was for the burnt out Kinglake Anglican Church and was a “most exciting and rewarding project” for him.

At 76, Walter is a full time artist with a teaching studio in Warrandyte which has about 40 adult students.

He trained as an art and craft teacher after completing a Diploma of Art at RMIT University and then taught art and craft for 27 years before resigning to paint and teach full time.

“From the art point of view my time at Carey was a disaster as there was no art or craft in the Senior School.

“It was a great surprise during my second year out of teacher’s college to receive a letter from Carey asking if I was prepared to establish an art department. As I was very inexperienced I declined. My life could have been so different!

“I have two of my works at Carey – the bronze plaque of William Carey outside the Chapel and a portrait of my lifetime friend, teacher and mentor Llew Evans in the LH Evans Library.

Walter is a Fellow of the Victorian Artists Society and the Australian Guild of Realist Artists. He has held many exhibitions both here, interstate and in England and has won over 500 awards, the best being the Australian Guild of Realist Painters Medallion Award in 2005.

For August 2011 Walter is planning a major exhibition at the Manningham Gallery with an indigenous artist friend from Mildura.

Artist's touch restores faith of Kinglake flock

LORNA EDWARDS

December 23, 2009

The Age

WHEN Walter Magilton saw an Age photograph of the Reverend Stephen Holmes with a white cross erected beside the ruins of Kinglake's Anglican church after the Black Saturday fires, he was moved to action.

He wanted to do his bit for the St Peter's congregation by reproducing one of the church's prized features: a painting called Anzac Christmas created by acclaimed artist Violet Teague when the church was built as a war memorial in the early 1920s.

The original was moved to St Paul's Cathedral in the 1990s over concerns about arson and bushfires and replaced with a large photographic reproduction that retained pride of place in the small church.

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Mr Holmes, the parish priest of the Kinglake and Whittlesea Anglican churches, gratefully accepted Magilton's oil reproduction last Thursday. It will be unveiled at a service marking the first anniversary of Black Saturday at the church site on February 7.

''To my flock, having that painting is a sign of a new beginning and the first major item that we have as part of the new church,'' Mr Holmes said yesterday. Plans to rebuild the church at Kinglake have been stalled by a shortfall in funding.

The 1921 painting depicts a nativity scene with the adoring shepherds replaced by soldiers from the ''war to end all wars'', which had deeply affected the community. The Kinglake church's first vicar had lost his nephew on the Western Front and the artist herself had lost many friends and family in the conflict.

Mr Holmes said the painting's image of hope resonated with Kinglake's recovery from the fires. ''I see symbolism in the resilience of the Anzac soldiers, in the mateship and in the strength of people who work together, such as the volunteers,'' he said.

Painting the reproduction was an ''absolute privilege'' for Magilton, but not without huge logistical problems. ''I thought it would be an easy matter of going into St Paul's and picking up a painting and bringing it back to my studio but it wasn't like that at all.''

Because of its size and insurance issues, the painting could not be moved from its dimly lit position high on a St Paul's wall. Magilton had to examine its details using binoculars in the cathedral and rely on a print of the work from a book while working in his Warrandyte studios.

''It was painted under a degree of hardship and really tested my artistic skills,'' he said. ''But it's been an absolute delight to produce this painting and I feel like I've done something really worthwhile.''

Now with an oil painting as an improvement on the photographic copy lost to the fires, Mr Holmes hopes the history of the painting will both inspire his flock and draw visitors to Kinglake.

''We have a historical connection with a great Australian artist and I hope someday we'll be on a tourist trail,'' he said.

Stephen Holmes, Peter Cook and Artist Walter Magilton with the painting in Christ Church.

Photo: Justin McManus

Stony Creek Studio Newsletter

January 2010

2009 has generally been a very active and rewarding year for those associated with Stony Creek Studio.

A number of students have won awards in a variety of art shows, have sold their work or have been selected for prestigious exhibitions or membership into Art Societies, particularly the Australian Guild of Realists or the Victorian Artists Society. Quite a number of students are active members of district Art Societies or the Pastel Society. Many ex-students are now very well established in their chosen field of art – both professional and amateur - very gratifying for any teacher.

The annual Student Prize was won for the second time by Joan Smith with two superb small paintings, one a small realist drawing of a dog’s head; the other a cubist style painting of a lady. The show was judged by well-known artist and Art Teacher Maxine Wade – it was a pleasure and a privilege to have her. This year we hung over 118 paintings for our annual exhibition at the end of the year and our ‘open day’ was very well attended. As usual there was an immense range of subject, style, media and size in the work exhibited – this is a real feature of Stony Creek Studio and what it stands for.

My year had two highlights in particular. The first was an exhibition with a long-time friend and colleague Barbara McManus in August in the AGRA galleries in Camberwell on the theme ‘Rhythms of Life’; sales were good and the attendance most gratifying

My second highlight was painting a replica of a nativity scene for the burnt-out Anglican Church at Kinglake. Delivering this finished work for safekeeping to the sister church at Whittlesea just prior to Christmas was a real buzz – especially as it appeared on the front page of the ‘Age’.

2010 also promises to be a very full one for both Denise who continues to keep both her studios (Warrandyte and Beijing) active and myself. I have an exhibition in Box Hill in April on the theme of ‘Harvest Festival’ and in October I have a major exhibition in the Manningham Gallery. This will be shared with a long time aboriginal friend Lance Atkinson from Mildura. We occasionally both work on the same paintings.

CLASSES

Classes are conducted in most media (oil, watercolour, gouache, pastel, drawing etc.) at all levels (beginner to advanced) and some vacancies exist.

Times of classes are Monday evening 7.30-10, Tuesday AM 9.30-12, Tuesday PM 1-3.30 and Tuesday evening 7.30-10. All classes are 2.5 hours duration.

There are four (4) Terms per year of nine (9) weeks each and the cost per Term is $168.00 including tea, coffee and biscuits.

Classes begin on February 1/2 but of special interest will be a demonstration painting of substantial size, painted over the period of the first four (4) classes during that week on the theme for the Studio Prize. All students or potential students are welcome to attend all or any of these four (4) special sessions. If you are interested in attending classes during 2009 please let me know ASAP as vacancies are limited.

All the best for a great 2010, whatever you are doing.

Walter Magilton

stonycreek@pacific.net.au

www.denisekeele-bedford.com

GO GOUACHE – BY WALTER MAGILTON

Well-known Victorian realist artist and teacher explains why gouache has become a favoured medium and why you too could enjoy the advantages of this ancient and well-tried form of painting.

In my thirty something years as a committed artist (not counting the thousand or so years I was an art and craft teacher in Victoria and England) I have enjoyed working in many mediums – oil, watercolour, pastel, pen and wash, charcoal and so on. In whatever medium I am working I try to understand its unique qualities and exploit its strengths and respect its weaknesses.

A chosen subject can often suggest an appropriate medium and vice – versa – horses for courses. Being a reasonably versatile artist some subjects or size of paintings strongly lean towards one medium or another.

Prior to an overseas painting trip with my artist wife Denise Keele-bedford in 1997 I had a discussion with a trusted art supply dealer and she suggested gouache as an appropriate medium for my needs. How right she was! Its advantages for travel far exceeded oil, pastel and watercolour that I had used on previous painting trips.

Ten weeks in Italy, France and England painting and sightseeing and I had completed some 43 paintings plus drawings, many of which formed the nucleus of my next solo exhibition. Admittedly I practised at home several times to get used to this new art form – for me at least.

Smallish paintings, about 23 x 30cm usually took about 1 – 11/2 hours depending on the complexity of the subject leaving plenty of time to enjoy doing all the wonderful things one does while touring abroad.

All my gear with the exception of my screw-top plastic water container packed into a standard folding French easel fitted with very comfortable wide back straps.

It was easy to hike cross-country, pack into a small hire car or make your way through the Paris Metro with and a simple outfit. Setting up only takes a few moments, even on sloping or rough ground.

Cleaning up after a painting is an absolute cinch – you can even wash your brushes and palette in your dirty water if you need to. In this regard gouache is so much more forgiving than watercolour as a little grot on palette and brushes is no real disaster and, of course, your painting can be packed away almost instantly.

Since my first essay into working with gouache on that 1997 trip I have been on other painting excursions including Central Australia and have given numerous demonstrations to Art Societies as well as at the annual Camberwell Rotary Exhibition.

Painting plein-aire is a lovely experience that I also like painting much of my work in the studio. Here I work either direct from nature (portraits and still-life) or from sketches (often with colour notes) photos, small on-site paintings or any combination of these three. I can even sit down for my smaller work – something I never do while working in oil or pastel.

Anyone who is familiar with acrylic painting should find transferring to gouache very easy indeed. /they are very similar – the main difference is that acrylic when dry is waterproof and gouache is always soluble – so brushes and palettes can be treated quite differently.

Do not mix acrylic and gouache together – they fight. However gouache can be thinned down to a semi-transparency but why would you want to – watercolour does this so much better.

Extract from Australian Artist Magazine

Some Advantages of Gouache

1. Very quick drying – ideal for travel and small to medium size paintings.

2. Exceptionally good for fine detail – being opaque and quick drying

3. Simple kit – brushes, paint, watercolour paper, water, sponge.

4. No smells, dirty rags, messy paint scraps, dust – wash it all away!

5. Very permanent. Artist’s quality gouache has exceptional light fastness in most colours, however read the labels on the tubes, as you should do for all mediums.

6. Easy to make changes – just paint over your mistakes.

7. Colours, both strong and subtle are very easy to mix. Use lots of white paint.

Some Disadvantages

A. Very quick drying – blending time is short (unlike oil, pastel) Harder to get soft edges so adapt your style of painting.

B. There may be some buyer resistance – like pastel a couple of decades ago. We must educate the public as we did with pastel.

C. Raindrops and water splashes damage subtle surfaces making repairs difficult as wet paint darkens slightly as it dries.

D. As paint is opaque it tends to cover up any drawing underneath so you paint more from memory. This can also be an advantage as you may free up. Heaven forbid!

E. Like all works on paper the completed work must be framed under glass.

A PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY on GOUACHE

Experiment, experiment, experiment! As with all mediums there is no one wet of correct rules. One of the marvellous things about practicing art in all its forms is that there are usually several correct answers for any one problem.

The more you experiment the more failures may come your way but, equally, the more exciting successes are yours.

Brands, paints, colours, brushes, papers and other equipment can all be a personal choice. If, whatever seems to suit you and works for you stay with it. Don’t be put off by dogmatic people. Results are always more important than technique.

The rich textures of oil painting and beautiful transparencies of watercolour are not really the realm of gouache. It has its own look – exploit it.

SOME TIPS ON GOUACHE

A. Paint

Use good quality Artists Gouache such as Windsor and Newton or Art Spectrum and avoid (like the plague) cheap Asian or student’s paints – they may fade. Do not mix Acrylic and Gouache

B. Painting Surfaces

I prefer heavy grade medium smooth watercolour paper, as it is quicker to work on and won’t expand so much when damp. However gouache can be painted on many surfaces such as canvas – I have even used off-cuts of mount board.

C. Palette

Any watercolour palette, old plate, ice-cream dixi lid. It will wash off.

D. Brushes

I suggest any good quality nylon brushes in a range of sizes. My favourites are Pro-Arte Series 201 and Pro-Arte series 101 and generally flat or filbert rather than round – a personal choice. Bristle brushes can be too stiff and scratchy and watercolour brushes, especially wash brushes are too soft. I have separate sets of brushes for oil, gouache and watercolour.

E. Minor Equipment

Much of the equipment usually found in a studio can be help, such as tape, rubber, B or 2B pencil, painting board etc. I use a damp sponge constantly to wipe areas of my palette and to control the amount of paint on my brush.

A water spray is handy to dampen the paper at the start and to keep the paint in the palette moist.

ART IN THE MAKING

WHAT THE ARTIST USED

SUPPORT 600GSM medium rough watercolour paper taped to a board 45 x 31cm

BRUSHES Stirling acrylic Pro Arte 201 various sizes - mainly flat plus several Prolene Pro Arte 101

COLOURS Titanium White, Naples Yellow, Flesh Tint, Lemon Yellow, Raw Sienna, Cadmium Orange, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Alizarin Crimson, Violet, Ultramarine, Sky Blue, Middle Green

OTHER MATERIALS Damp sponge, water spray, masking tape, mirror, pencil

STEP 1. After drawing direct from nature and making colour notes I redraw on taped-down paper. This is also backed up with several photographs taken at different times. The scene I know really well, as it is virtually at my studio doorstep.

STEP 2. I always start any landscape (in any medium) with the sky as this is the farthest distance and then work down and forward, eventually finishing with the fine details mainly found in the foreground. The sky has to be very carefully painted and smoothed of brushstrokes in this subject.

STEP 3. The landscape in progress I have now painted further down and further forward. The glare of the early morning sun through the trees has begun to appear plus some of the base colour of the reflections.

STEP 4. By now I have applied paint to all of the paper and am starting the fine details with smaller brushes. This is a very exciting and important time for me in any painting. Same sparkle on the water is also evident. There is no trouble to put white over dark with gouache!

STEP 5. The finished painting “Morning Light” 45 x 31cm.

This very familiar stretch of the Yarra River beside my property was the scene of Victoria’s first gold rush but is now the haunt of platypus, wombats, koalas and innumerable birds. During the mid-1800’s it was part of an aboriginal reserve and was painted by Penleigh Boyd during the 1920’s. We are so honoured to be its “caretakers”.

My final work on this painting included more fine detail such as the glitter on the water and checking in a mirror, which can reveal all sorts of composition “mistakes”. I will let it sit around my studio for a time before framing as I may find small alterations to do, particularly after my students have had their say!

Barbara McManus and Walter

exhibited together to express their thoughts and observations on the 'Rhythms of Life'.

The theme is some of the wonderful rhythms of life we experience every day of our lives.

Sunrise to sunset, high tide and low, waning, rain, drought, flood and fire, the seasonal changes and the fruits and flowers that accompany them.

Life begins, flourishes and ceases - everything eventually returns to the earth. Man-made structures decay and are reclaimed by nature for its landscape - mountains erode, valleys are formed, cities fade, new ones grow - the cycle continues.

This thought-provoking exhibition features paintings and drawings in a number of mediums from such exotic locations as the Orkneys, outer Hbrides, Portugal and France to more familiar places like the artists own gardens.

We feel proud and privileged to present this though-provoking exhibition and hope you enjoy the "journey".

‘Rhythms of Life’ is showing Wednesday 19th August until Sunday 30th August2009

AT:

AGRA – 1 Inglesby Road – Camberwell

Phone: 9882 5859