1. INDIRECT PAINTING

Ever been stopped in your tracks by a painting and wondered: how was that done?

Over the next four issues I’ll be letting you in on a few of the amazing things that only paintings and paint can do in the hands of the old (and not so old) masters. If you think that learning technique is old-fashioned, then think again.

“If you intend to work in layers, it’s important that they are orchestrated together”

The entry requirements for the John Moores Painting Prize, perhaps the most prestigious contemporary award for painters, emphasises that artists’ entries should, above all, demonstrate what paint and painting alone can do. A stroll around the Tate Modern will also show you that the best ideas are the ones that are powerfully presented and forcefully brought to life by strong visual art. The