Artists Down Under – August 2026

Artists Down Under – August 2026

Summary

August 2026 rolls into Issue 113 of Artists Down Under with editor Pam Henderson noting that another month has passed and the artists' skill levels keep climbing — this time driven by Robyn McLauchlan and Marina Hobbs's new Whispers of Trust series, Andrew Haysom's Vectorscope tutorial for Adobe Camera Raw 18.4, and the Coffee and Pixels challenge themed "Frustration." The cover image by Andrew Haysom (Paranoid Eyes II) signals another issue heavy on digital photo-art manipulation for the Australia-New Zealand community.

Artist portfolios fill the bulk of the issue: Trish Hoskin (pages 6-7), George Koncz (pages 8-9), Denise Hunter Logan (page 10), Andrew Haysom (pages 16-17) with ORGANIC, ORBITAL FLUX and YINYANG, Penny de Jong (pages 18-19), Louise Smith (page 20), and Christina Brunton (pages 21-27) with a substantial spread including THREE CUTIES and WINNY'S BOOKS. Hemant Kogekar (pages 28-29) contributes End Of Day and LE CHATEAU FRONTENAC. Ilona Abou-Zolof (pages 35-41) continues her regular portfolio presence. The Art Buddies Quotes Challenge theme was "Whispers of Magic," and the Redlands Digital Group's Chinese Whispers Series returned. Eight members had work selected for Living The Photo Artistic Life, including Rosa Perry's Stillness Before The Song and Maureen Maxwell's A Peaceful Day.

Andrew Haysom's Photoshop Inspiration feature (pages 50-52) covers the new Vectorscope tool in Adobe Camera Raw 18.4 — a circular colour-grading display familiar to Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve users, now available in raw processing for stills. The tool plots colour distribution on a circular graph, helping photographers balance hues and detect colour casts with precision. The Coffee and Pixels challenge results (pages 73-82) showcase how members interpreted "Frustration" across varied photo-art styles. Monthly Artistic Photoshop Challenge (pages 96-108) returns with the "One Tree" theme. WhiteLaneStudio's Diane Stafford provided the August prize kit won by Ngaire Danvers and Sandra Dann.

Editor's Take

August 2026 is a solid mid-year issue that maintains the magazine's community-first formula without pushing any boundaries. The strongest feature is Andrew Haysom's Vectorscope tutorial — it covers a genuinely new tool (Camera Raw 18.4) that most readers won't have explored, and the circular colour-grading explanation is clear. The weakest section is the Coffee and Pixels challenge spread: the "Frustration" theme produces repetitive dark-toned entries, and 10 pages of similar mood pieces exhausts the concept. Pages 53-67 are absent from the directory, which continues the structural gap seen across recent issues. This is for the ADU Facebook group regular who wants to see their community recognised in print.

Strengths
• Andrew Haysom's Vectorscope tutorial introduces a genuinely new Camera Raw 18.4 tool
• Whispers of Trust series by McLauchlan and Hobbs adds fresh narrative photography
• Strong community prize program with WhiteLaneStudio kits

Weaknesses
• "Frustration" challenge entries are visually repetitive across 10 pages
• Pages 53-67 absent from directory — ongoing structural issue

Verdict: Selective read — A community portfolio issue for ADU Facebook members; limited standalone value for non-subscribers.

Disclaimer: All original content on this site is protected; reproduction without written consent is prohibited. We do not host files and only provide automated links to publicly available resources. If you believe any content infringes your rights, please contact us for prompt removal or resolution. We respect copyright and are committed to cooperating with rights holders.