Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers

I went to the Bankside Gallery yesterday to see the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers. The exhibition has a diverse collection of different types of print-making - all of which have excellent explanations about the processes involved in the exhibition catalogue.

Supermarket Man
(Hector Purchase Prize and UWE Prize)
Gerry Baptist
70 x 70cm
hexachrome digital print
with screen print varnish

In particular, it was very interesting to see that the Society welcomes innovative techniques as well as traditional practices.
Gerry Baptist's Supermarket Man, a satirical comment on our civilization's wastefulness, is a many-layered computer-generated image. A complex collage, its background is a scanned in abstract painting by the artist; the target-like motifs are created with illustrator software; the advertising slogans are snipped from a book dating from the 1930s; the gestural sweeps of pink and orange were first dripped in black on the paper and subsequently transformed digitally into colour, the bin bag was photographed; and the drawing of the figures and the shopping trolley were made with the aid of a graphic pad. Finally a hand-prepared silkscreen deposited a varnish on the line-drawing and the bin bag.
Catalogue
Gerry Baptist's website provides further explanations about his artwork and processes. He was elected an associate member of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers in 2008.

I gather the only form of print-making which the Society frowns upon and which is not eligible for show is the reproduction (ie a giclee digital print created of an original work of art.)

Overall, the work represented is of excellent quality and you have until 1st June to visit to see for yourself. During exhibitions, the Bankside Gallery is open daily from 11am until 6pm.


Featured Artist - David Gluck RWS RE (1939-2007)

The featured artist is David Gluck RWS RE who sadly died just over a year ago died shortly after winning the 2006 Singer Friedlander/Sunday Times watercolour competition (see today's other post RWS/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition - call for entries for details of this year's competition).

His large etchings and aquatints of evening scenes in Venice are absolutely superb. There are three on show with unframed prices between £350 and £550.

Late Evening Gondolas, Venice
David Gluck RE, RWS
etching and aquatint

A Yorkshire man, he studied at Wakefield College of Art and Leeds College of Art before taking a postgraduate diploma in printmaking in 1962 at the Royal College of Art. In 1974, he was appointed Head of Printmaking at Central St Martin's College of Art and Design - becoming Director of Studies of the Fine Arts Course. For eight years, from 1985 to 1993, he was also a member of the Printmaking Panel of the British School of Rome. He was also a member of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, the London Group, the New English Art Club, and the Society of Landscape Painters. (For further information see links at the end of this post)
Over many years I have found that etching, monoprint and watercolour give me the necessary flexibility and stimulation I require to resolve images that evolve through the open-ended use of the process .
David Gluck - London Group
Prizewinners

I'm going to include the prizewinners - but it'll take a me a little time to track down websites - so that will be an update to this post. [Update - now completed - Links are to websites or galleries which reference the artist. Note the very distinct gender difference in who has their own website!]

The prizewinner whose work absolutely stood out for me was Harry Brockway's The Pearl Necklace which won the Wood Engraver's Prize and the Aberstywyth University School of Art Collection Purchase Prize. This is simply stunning to look - the wood carving technique is exquisite!

The Pearl Necklace
Harry Brockway ARE
wood engraving
Harry Brockway is one of a growing number of younger artists making wood engravings. Originally trained as a sculptor, he was taught wood engraving at the Royal Academy Schools by Sarah van Niekerk. He is also a stonemason and now lives in Glastonbury.
The Gregynog Press
The prizewinners are listed below.
Events

The RE have a number of events running during the course of the exhibition. The remaining ones are:
I use both very traditional Japanese methods of printing, similar to those used by ukiyo-e printers, and also very modern techniques, materials and tools.
Nana Shiomi - talking about technique
As always Frank Kiely RE (see Frank Kiely - an Irish artist in London), who works part-time at the Gallery was extremely helpful and informative about the various painter-printmakers and I enjoyed seeing his new works - one of which includes a view of The Globe Theatre (click for a larger image)

The Globe - crop
Frank Kiely
screenprint

Purchases

It is now possible to buy original prints by Members of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers online. Click here to view prints available for sale. Unfortunately, this commerce facility doesn't include David Gluck's etchings of Venice which are stunning. For those you need to go to the Bankside Gallery and view and buy!

Links:

Posted by Katherine Tyrrell on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 0 comments Who's linking to this post?

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RWS/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition - call for entries

The Royal Watercolour Society (RWS) is the new sponsor and host of the watercolour competition previously known as "the Singer and Friedlander". (See The RWS / Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2008 invites entries).

Permanently, Temporary
(2nd prize 2007)
Angus McEwan

This post covers:
  • the formal Call for Entries by the organisers
  • a summary of details for those wanting to submit work
  • who was shortlisted for prizes in 2007 and links to their websites and the article in the Sunday Times about their work of the prizewinners
  • an insight into what it's like to be a prizewinner - according to the blogs posts of Angus McEwan, the Scottish artist who won second prize last year (see right)
Now generously sponsored by the Royal Watercolour Society & The Sunday Times, this prestigious competition aims to encourage the use of watercolour and water based media paintings among both amateur and professional artists.
Call for Entries

Details for the competition are now available as follows:
Overview of details for submitting work
  • What is the deadline for entries? 20 and 21 July 2008.
  • How many will be accepted and shown? Approximately 100 works will be exhibited at Bankside Gallery from 10-21 September 2008.
  • Who are the 2008 judges? The judges are:
  • What can be submitted?
    • paintings in a water based medium on a paper based support
    • paintings by all artists born or resident in the UK (no age limit)
    • original and recent paintings - carried out in the last three years and not previously exhibited
    • paintings including frames which do not exceed 122 x 122cm
    • work which is the sole and original work of the entrant - it must be an original composition and the artist miust own the copyright
    • up to 4 works
  • How should work be submitted?
    • fully completed entry forms plus entry fees of £15 plus (unwrapped) works of art to St Mary's Abbot Centre or regional; hand-in centres by on 20th or 21st July 10.ooam-5.00pm
    • regional handing-in centres are in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Cornwall, Edinburg, Exeter, Glasgow, Kendal, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Norwich, Southampton and Yorkshire.
  • What is not allowed?
    • works on canvas
    • non-reflective glass, metal, plastic or clip frames
    • projections from the back of the work
Artists will be notifed by 24th July - at which point a list of accepted names will be viewable on the Parker Harris website.

Who was shortlisted for a prize in 2007 and who won?

Thanks to Angus McEwan for a list of the artists who were short listed for the six prizes on offer in the 2007 exhibition with their final placings. Links given provide images of more works by the artists on either their websites or on the websites of their galleries.
You can read more about what The Sunday Times has to say about the prizewinners work in this article Pictures of every stripe. This includes interviews with the prizewinners.

You can also see images of all the winning works on a Kaupthing Singer Friedlander news page about the competition and the winners. This contains comments on why the judges likes the work and how artists approached their work.

What's it actually like being a prizewinner?

You can read more about what it was like to go through the process of being shortlisted and then being awarded a prize Angus McEwan's in the posts last year on his blog Angus McEwan, Scottish Artist
This is the largest watercolour competition in Britain so to be selected is an honour, but to be short listed for a prize is beyond belief.
Angus McEwan
I loved the comment in the latter post about being able to tell the difference between the artists and the bankers! I guess that won't be an issue now that the RWS is sponsoring the prize!

Exhibition

The exhibition is being hosted by the Royal Watercolour Society and the Sunday Times at the Bankside Gallery, London SE1 between 10 to 21 September 2008. Open 10am to 5pm daily. Admission free

During the exhibition there will also be a series of workshops and discussions.

Links:

Posted by Katherine Tyrrell on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 1 comments Who's linking to this post?

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Monday, May 19, 2008

Call for entries to The 10th Annual Pastel 100


The call for entries for the 10th Pastel 100 competition has been published! I've lost track of whether this is the

  • Pastel 100 2008 because the deadline is 1st September 2008
  • or the Pastel 100 2009 because the results are announced in April 2009
The Pastel Journal is an American magazine and I think the work which has achieved Pastel 100 status in the past has been done overwhelmingly by American artists. It certainly provides an excellent insight into pastel painting in the USA. It'll be interesting to see whether the increasingly active presence of the Pastel Journal online - in blog and website and forum terms will generate a more international entry this year.

The Pastel Journal
April edition 2008
You can read my blog posts about previous Pastel 100s:
Prizes: As always there are significant cash prizes being awarded by the sponsors plus a major product-oriented prize. I gather that this year there is more cash on offer than ever before.
  • $5,000 Jack Richeson/Unison Pastels Best of Show Award
  • a product oriented award - Ruth Richeson/Unison Pastels Award, featuring a 402-piece set of Unison Pastels— worth $2,067, plus 750 worth of Richeson Co. products!
  • $2,500 The Pastel Journal Grand Prize
  • $1,500 The Art Spirit Foundation/Dianne B. Bernhard Gold Medal Award for Excellence
  • $1,000 The Art Spirit Foundation/Dianne B. Bernhard Silver Medal Award for Excellence
  • Plus cash awards in each of the 5 categories:
    5 First Place Awards: $500 each
    5 Second Place Awards: $250 each
    5 Third Place Awards: $150 each
    5 Fourth Place Awards: $100 each
    5 Fifth Place Awards: $50 each
All top prize winners will be featured in the April 2009 issue of The Pastel Journal. In addition there will be 70 Honourable Mentions - to make up the Pastel 100.

I'm not sure what the odds are - but back in 2005 my blog post records that there were some 4,000 entries. It would be interesting to know whether that figure has increased or stayed the same.

Judges
Entries will be prejudged and then finalists will be chosen by the magazine staff. Award winners and honorable mentions will be selected by the jurors named above. All properly prepared entries will be viewed and judged. The jurors and editors reserve the right to recategorize the entries.
Pastel 100 Competition - Call for Entries
Judges this year are detailed below and you can find descriptions on them in the Pastel 100 Call for Entries. Note that although it is a panel of judges, they seem to be operating on the basis of only one judge per category with presumably some consultation in relation to the top prizes.

At this stage of a competition I always take a jolly good look at juror's websites. After all a lot of what judging is about is very often down to personal preferences - a work which can't even get juried into one show might win the top prize in another! Below you can find my summary of what I found from the website review.
  • Landscape & Interior—juried by Lorenzo Chavez (www.lorenzochavez.com) - a very committed plein air pastelist with a lot of splendid pastel landscapes on his website. Plus I love it when people include their pastel workshop supply list!
  • Portrait & Figure—juried by Desmond O'Hagan (www.desmondohagan.com) a painter who is very interested in figurative work and who is described as painting in pastels and oils - although at a rough estimate (based on a lot of 'clicking') I'd say 80% of his work is in oils - as is all his gallery work.
  • Still Life & Floral—juried by Christina Debarry (www.debarrystudioarts.com) - is an award winning pastel artist and teacher. She has juried for many art societies and prizes in the past and is a past President Emeritus of the Pastel Society of America (1998-2001). I couldn't find website links to recent paintings or workshops.
  • Animal & Wildlife—juried by Dustin Van Wechel (www.dustinvanwechel.com) - a prizewinning nature artist and a signature member of both the Society of Animal Artists and the Pastel Society of America. He has a number of excellent pastel works in his archive but now seems to work mainly in oils.
  • Abstract & Non-Objective—juried by Frank Federico (www.frankfederico.com) an artist whose website suggests he likes colour and works in a variety of media. I'd say his emphasis is on abstracting from reality and pushing the boundaries on colour.
While it's perfectly normal for artists to work in more than one medium (eg Albert Handell - juror for the 7th Pastel 100), I did find it rather odd that there weren't more jurors who are currently actively painting painting in pastels. I'd be interested in your comments on my take of 'personal preferences' and whether or not judges should be actively painting in the medium they are judging especially when they are the sole juror for category prizes.

How to enter: You can enter work in any and all of the categories; there is no limit to the number of entries.You may submit your entry online or via mail using:
Digital Image files cannot exceed 500KB or a height or width greater than 800 pixels. The file format must be JPEG.

All entries are $12.50 per slide or image with a $10 for all returned checks or declined credit cards. All entries must include a properly completed official entry form. Incomplete entry forms and information sheets, and improperly marked slides or CDs will be disqualified.

Overview of Rules and Submission: Below you can find links to
Rules for eligible works include - which means 'read the rest of the small print too! ;)
  • Artists must be age 16 or over.
  • Work must be at least 80% soft pastel; no oil pastel. Nupastels and other "harder" pastels are considered soft pastels.
  • The contest is open to artists in the U.S. and abroad.
  • All works must be original. Compositions based on published material or other artists' work are NOT considered original and are not eligible.
  • Paintings executed in a workshop under another artist's supervision or paintings based on another person's photograph (even if copyright-free) are NOT eligible.
  • Work previously published at the time of submission to this contest in any national publication or receiving an award at a national-level exhibition is NOT eligible. (I'm assuming this means in a newspaper or another art magazine rather than forums or blogs which publish internationally - but it would be nice to have clarification)
  • All entries must be postmarked no later than September 1, 2008.
  • Entry is online or via mail using slides or digital images.
Again we are back to the 'all the artist's own work' topic. Interestingly the competition appears to have dropped the requirement that source material must be available upon request - although it's now quite clearly stated that works based on other people's photos are NOT eligible. This aligns to the position taken in the recent debate about works being submitted to the annual exhibitions of the coloured pencil societies - and in my view is absolutely correct - although it may impact on the animal and wildlife category.

There's a lot more to it than that and, as ever, I do urge people to read the details, then read them again - and to read them again in advance of submission. Plus don't leave it to the last minute - said by the person who ALWAYS swears she'll never ever ever ever do that again! ;) It's so easy to fall foul of the rules by just forgetting what they said or failing to read something properly or losing track of dates.

The Pastel 100 Book I'm not sure whether there any plans for a book this time around. I haven't seen any reference to a book since the 8th Pastel 100. Has anybody else seen a book for the last one?

Data protection

Finally, on another matter, I'd strongly recommend that The Pastel Journal gives some thought to how it asks people to say 'No' to being included in lists of names and addresses circulated to other parties when the contacts are generated online.

Their current practice (ie you have to sit down and write and then post a letter to a different address in the USA in order to get yourself removed from the list of names and addresses circulated to other parties ) looks to me very much like a hangover from an old paper process. It certainly doesn't take account of the personal privacy and identity data requirements of current data protection legislation. Stating that you do NOT wish to have your address circulated to other people also needs to be online. Good practice also suggests that the default position is that addresses are not added unless the tick box gets ticked and that you should be able to detail all your requirements on the entry form. (ie one form covering the processes for both submission and data protection)

Links:

Posted by Katherine Tyrrell on Monday, May 19, 2008 1 comments Who's linking to this post?

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Sunday, May 18, 2008

18th May 2008 - Who's made a mark this week?

There have been quite a few people drawing a cat this week! Jeanette Jobson (Illustrated Life) and Rose Welty (Rose's Art Lines) have banded together to participate in a virtual sketch date each week.

The idea is to have fun but also to see how each person responds to working from the same photograph. The idea has taken off and a small group of people now participate each week - including me this week (see right).

Tripod
pencil (fine and 4B)
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This week everybody is working from a photograph supplied by Jeanette of her cat Tripod (he's got three legs!). The participants are - as at 15th May 2008 - Jeanette, Rose, Jeanne, Stacy, Belinda, Jennifer, Gayle, Teresa, Katherine and Paulette.

I don't normally draw at all from other people's photos - but I like Tripod and liked this week's photo! It's also really interesting to examine options for how you can translate photo to sketch and then to see how your interpretation compares to those of other people.

Tripod
Graphite, graphite dust and indian ink

You can see mine above and see other completed sketches in the following posts:
Now for the rest of 'who's made a mark this week' - and it's a long one!

Flowers in art

With the Chelsea Flower Show coming up this week, I'm keeping an eye on the 5 day weather forecast and am in the middle of a spate of posts about flowers, painting flowers and botanical art. So read on for a few more related links that I found for 'who's made a mark this week'
Art Blogs
  • First - very many thanks to Jana Bouc (Jana's Journal and Sketch Blog) for telling me that Making A Mark had been listed as a 'Hot Blog' by the June edition of The Artist's Magazine - I can't wait for my copy to arrive so I can see for myself! However I've just discovered I'd inadvertently let my subscription lapse. I say inadvertent - it's mainly because I ignore all their subscription reminders because they usually start about a fortnight after I renew and then carry on for a year - so I just stop reading them!!! At the moment I'm having to content myself with being listed on the June 2008 links page for that edition. If anybody would like to scan and send me a jpeg or pdf of the mention I'd be most grateful!
  • Please all go and take a look at the brand new Printsy blog of the group of Printmakers who sell on Etsy. It includes a great interview with a printmaker called Fustian. You can also see their work in their new Printsy Flickr group
  • Martha (Trumpetvine Travels) has been in New York and has posted her sketches in New York Sketchbook, 2008, Part One (I recognise the back views of Shirley sketching!) and New York Sketchbook, 2008, Part Two (You've got to go look at the sketch of the Koons Balloon Dog!) You can see a photo of Shirley and Martha in New York in Every Day in May-3 on Shirley's blog Paper and Threads and also see Shirley's sketches too.
  • I also love Shirley's new series of drawings of "My Homes" - what a great idea! I went to see the second home I lived in just recently to see if it was still the same - but it wasn't - it looked much better than before!
  • Lindsay Non-Linear Arts has done a 'best of' for her waterways project Waterways Project: One Year Later
  • Jonathan Jones (amongst others) commented on the death of Robert Rauschenberg on the Guardian Art Blog.
  • more posts from blogs in "tips and techniques" and other sections below.
Art business and marketing
  • I keep trying to find time to write about The Orphan Works Act of 2008 and it looks like Charlie over at Lines and Colors has been stuck as well. Although it's not as comprehensive as he would have liked neverthless he gets to the guts of the issue which I'm repeating below - as it's pretty much my take on the whole thing. Follow up the links in this post and make representations.

I’m not opposed to the original stated intention of the bills, to provide for the use by museums, libraries and other cultural institutions of works for which the copyright is no longer being actively defended; but the bills as they are worded don’t put the necessary definitions in place to restrict the provision to those kind of institutions and non-profit use, and go way beyond that into the creation of a bureaucratic nightmare for visual artists, who will now have to devote unreasonable time and resources to defending their art against opportunists, image thieves and copyright sharks.

The bills as they stand basically undermine many of the copyright protections we now enjoy and blithely take for granted. They need to be changed to protect those of us who don’t have the resources of Warner Brothers or Disney to constantly monitor use of our work with armies of lawyers.
Charlie Parker - Lines and Colors - The Orphan Works Act of 2008

Art competitions and prizewinners
Art exhibitions
  • The National Gallery of Australia in Canberra has the unique distinction of having one of the best and worst website introductions to its exhibition Turner to Monet - The Triumph of the Landscape that I've ever seen.
    • First the worst - there is the introduction to the public - which is in Flash and, if it doesn't crash your browser as it did mine (twice), has lots of images of female with swirling hair and soulful brown eyes floating around an art gallery. In my opinion it looks very like an advert for a chocolate bar. What do you think?
    • Compare this (if you ever get to see it) with the more educational site. This has an excellent introduction to the exhibition, a very good video and it's a very nice touch to actually have all works in the exhibition also available to see as a digital display. A further plus is that you can enlarge up to a decent size plus can 'select by artist'. The contrast between the two 'views' of the exhibition is simply staggering! Any other comments?
  • Hilliard Society InternationalMiniature Art Exhibition - This is one of the few major UK miniature shows and a great chance to see some of the finest work in the field from Britain and abroad. It opens to the public on Saturday May 31st at the Town Hall at Wells in Somerset and then runs through the first week of June.
  • MuseumsonUs has changed and now provides free admission to a very large number of museums and art galleries in the USA on the first weekend of every month if you have a Bank of America card. Check the website and click for details of which museums are participating amd what are the dates of the first weekends.
Art Supplies
  • You may have missed my review - with photographs of the art supply heaven that is Green and Stone in the Kings road, Chelsea - see Art shops in London - Green & Stone. Judging by the comments I've received it seems like it has many international fans!
Tips and techniques
Websites and blogging
and finally..........

I love typography is a website for all typography addicts (that'll be me!). It has the rather difficult font game - which is very difficult to avoid if you are an addict and I can imagine it would be easy to get hooked! However it's excellent for a quick 5 minutes time out. I got 21 out of 34 first time round - but I will do much, much better very soon!

Posted by Katherine Tyrrell on Sunday, May 18, 2008 11 comments Who's linking to this post?

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Saturday, May 17, 2008

Techie Saturday: Fair play returns for eBay sellers

Laurie Borden wrote to me this week - to tell me about a new website based service for artists (and others) who are still selling on eBay.

eBay recently announced a change in the rules which caused an absolute storm of protests from eBay sellers which was reported in the national press. Sellers were very agitated about the fact they would no longer be allowed to leave negative feedback about bidders who messed about or didn't 'play fair' (see What happens when you annoy eBay sellers).

Fabio #2
coloured pencils on Saunders Waterford
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Well the changes come into effect in May - and Laurie is an ex-powerseller on eBay who is taking a stand on the matter!

She is introducing a new service which is specifically designed to address the problem caused by eBay preventing negative feedback about bidders circulating amongst sellers on eBay. It's called RepXchange, short for Reputation Exchange.
When selling on eBay, you rely on fair trade. For those who choose to make selling on eBay your business & livelihood, you understand the rules of the game. You have customers who bring you merchandise; you then have to research it, write about it, photograph it, price it, post it, answer questions of potential buyers, ship it and then pray that the buyer is happy so that they leave you positive feedback. As an ex-power seller, I can attest that the process is incredibly time consuming and quite a bit of work. As a seller, that’s your end of the bargain. Getting fair feedback has been what equalizes the process and creates fair trade (aka, Karma) and keeps you in the selling game.

.....eBay has decided to remove fair play from the fair trade business. They have decided that the customer isn’t just “always right” but has the power, if they so deem, to hurt the seller without any repercussions. Again, some sellers deserve this treatment, but for the most part, they don’t.

That’s why we created RepXchange.com - as a way to bring fairness and transparency back into selling on eBay. With this site, you can (for FREE) share and download custom blocked bidders lists that will help protect you against bad bidders. Email us and let us know what you think. We’re always looking for better ways to improve the service.

Our email is: info(at)repxchange .com
Fair Play Blog - Where is the Karma for good eBay sellers?
On Wednesday they went live and you can now take a test drive at www.repxchange.com and give them feedback on your experience. There is a very helpful FAQs page plus an associated Fair Trader Auction Edition Blog

I took a good look at the site and it seemed to me to be well designed, consumer oriented and business-like - although obviously only time will tell if this is the case. It also does not appear to be about making money in a direct way so much as benefiting a community of eBay sellers through a process of reciprocity.

We fully confess that the site is not perfect, flashy or slick, however it’s free and we hope that at least in the short term, it’ll do the job. We expect the beta period to uncover both technical and potential legal challenges (although we don’t foresee any) that we’ll have to deal with and we welcome any advice and criticism as long as the dialogue remains focused on improving the lives and profitability of eBay sellers everywhere.

I encourage sellers to sign up and take it for a test drive and tell us what you think!
Fair Play Blog

My initial impression from the overall approach which has been adopted was that they seem to have done their homework and checked out the basics relating to the fine print of membership agreements with eBay and the scope to download and move data from one site to the other.

Legal challenges strike me as being the only thing which I can think of which might scupper what otherwise seems to be a very practical response. When I queried this with Laurie she assured me that they have reviewed eBay agreements in detail and are not proposing that the website itself will download any data from eBay.
The service simply accepts manual entry of blocked bidder IDs that sellers have collected at their own discretion, which is rightfully the property of the sellers. Although eBay allows sellers to maintain a list of blocked bidders, eBay doesn't claim to own this data anywhere in the agreements we have reviewed, nor does it state that this information is non-transferable.
Laurie Borden
Of course, the reality is that eBay sellers have always exchanged information about problem bidders in order to avoid the grief and wasted time and money that they can represent. I've seen it happen in forums and heard about it happening in e-mails. I can imagine this new service could become a popular way of continuing this existing practice.

As well as reading more about the new service on their new linked blog Fair Trade: Auction Edition this also includes Video demos of RepXchange.

All sellers on eBay with better than a 98% feedback rating are eligible to join and use this site for free.

Leave a comment below if you take it for a test drive and want to provide any feedback.

Posted by Katherine Tyrrell on Saturday, May 17, 2008 1 comments Who's linking to this post?

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Friday, May 16, 2008

NEW - Automatic publication of future-dated Blogger posts

I used the Blogger scheduling publishing function - announced on 1st May 2008 - to set up the previous post Book Review: Besler's Book of Flowers and Plants to publish automatically at 8.00am this morning.

I was, of course, sat at my computer and 'reloaded' my blog at 8.01am to see what had actually happened - and the post duly appeared - as did a big smile on my face!

Late white tulip,
Golden garlic, Mountain garlic
Basilius Besler (1561-1629)
Plate: 79 Hortus Eystettensis 1613

So, having mastered that new trick, here are some tips for people wanting to use this new function in Blogger to schedule posts for publication in the future.
  • ESSENTIAL Read the Blogger Buzz post about how to schedule future-dated posts Blogger now schedules future-dated posts
  • Make sure that you have your Blogger Settings set up correctly - in the "Formatting" tab check that you have got:
    • the correct time zone selected. That way when you select the date and time options for posting (see post options underneath the text entry window) in the 'create' tab you'll be selecting correctly for your time zone and the time you actually want to publish
    • the Date Header Format and the Timestamp Format set up the way you want it. I don't think that either of these actually make any difference to the time of posting but I do suspect it will make it a lot easier for you to see what you have done and whether posts publish correctly if these are set up properly
  • Make sure, once you are happy with your post, have your settings set up correctly and have selected the future date and time, that you PUBLISH the post rather than 'save' the draft. It's this last action which actually makes the difference between saving a draft of a post which relates to a future date and actually publishing it.
  • Next check to see that it now appears in the Scheduled Posts tab (inbetween 'Draft' and 'Published'). If it doesn't then you have either published or it is still a draft!
  • Do a test run. Try this function out for the first time to 'future publish' a post which publishes when you are around - just to check that everything works OK. Once you know everything works fine then you can 'future publish' blog posts without any worries.
Who benefits from this new function?

I can imagine that this function could work very well for people who are marketing their art through Blogger. For example, you will have noticed that the more well known 'names' in the daily painting / painting a day world always tend to publish at the same time each day.

Another benefit is for those busy people who tend to write a set of posts in advance and all in one go - and who then publish them one by one as they get a couple of minutes at their computer during the day. Now you can to set them up to future publish as you complete them and only need to visit the computer to read any comments.

People who don't want to lose their regular readership traffic while on holiday or taking a break could, if you wanted to, set it up so that it maybe posts one post a week.

However I would NOT try to write a whole set of posts to cover every day that you are away unless they are incredibly quick to do and don't leave you really needing that break from blogger burnout!

I'm adding this post into the tools, tips and techniques section of Blogging for Artists - Resources for Artists

Posted by Katherine Tyrrell on Friday, May 16, 2008 0 comments Who's linking to this post?

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Book Review: Besler's Book of Flowers and Plants

Caltha palustris flore by Basilius Besler (1569-1629, Germany)
Hand colored print. From 'Hortus Eystettensis'

Besler's Hortus Eystettensis is a momentous book.
In 1611, the Prince Bishop of Eichstätt in Germany was already terminally ill when he determined to record for posterity the spectacular garden he’d created at his palace in Bavaria with plants from around the world. Hundreds of his favourite flowers where carefully drawn and engraved as they bloomed through the four seasons. Published in 1613, the finished catalogue was the largest and most magnificent florilegium ever made.
British Library - Online Gallery - Landmarks in printing - Hortus Eystettensis
Some 5,000 plants in Germany's famous garden at Eichstätt were recorded in copperplate engravings. These were later published in Hortus Eystettensis (which is Latin and means ‘The Garden at Eichstätt’) by Basilius Besler.
The Hortus Eystettensis changed botanical art overnight. The plates were of garden flowers, herbs and vegetables, exotic plants such as castor-oil and arum lilies. These were depicted near life-size, producing rich detail. The layout was artistically pleasing and quite modern in concept, with the hand-colouring adding greatly to the final effect. The work was first published in 1613 and consisted of 367 copper engravings, with an average of three plants per page, so that a total of 1084 species were depicted. The first edition printed 300 copies, which took four years to sell.
Wikipedia - Basilius Besler
Besler's Book of Flowers and Plants: 73 Full-Color Plates from Hortus Eystettensis, 1613
(Dover Pictorial Archive Series) - by Basilius Besler

As before, this is a book which is heavy on images and light on text. This A4 sized book contains 73 full-colour plates - one per page - from the Hortus Estettensis 1613. You can see the type of image in the full page plate in the image at the top of the page - although that particular image is not included. The plants and flowers chosen represent a wide variety.

It has an extensive index at the back of the book for locating different images by both common (English) and Latin plant name. The quality of the reproduction is excellent.

The publisher's note indicates that although Besler documented the garden, he also employed as many as ten engravers to produce the engravings for the book. Although the drawing style appears consistent throughout, the engraving styles do seem to vary slightly - which makes one wonder why we don't know more about the engravers who were employed.

In my opinion, this is the sort of book which will appeal to a real fan of the history of botanical art. It's certainly very interesting from the point of view of studying classical portrayals of plants and flowers. I also found it really interesting to see the difference between the woodcuts seen in the book reviewed yesterday and how the nature of the illustrations changed as they started to use (1) copper engraving and (2) colour.

There are quite a few more books which might interest botanical artists and printmakers in Dover's Pictorial Archive series.

Posted by Katherine Tyrrell on Friday, May 16, 2008 1 comments Who's linking to this post?

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Thursday, May 15, 2008

Book Review - 1001 Plant and floral illustrations from early herbals

I'm going to the Chelsea Flower Show next Wednesday and in order to keep me in a state of peak anticipation I'm having a bit of a binge on a botanical art/flowers/gardens theme. (You can see my latest sketch of a garden in Spring at Sissinghurst on Travels with a Sketchbook in......)


Following my visit last month to the new Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew Gardens (Kew opens the world's first dedicated botanical art gallery), I bought three books in the excellent shop at Kew Gardens last week. I found the examples of early herbals in the exhibition to be very interesting and alll the books I bought illustrations of early illustrations of plants and flowers found in herbals and florilegia. I'm going to review each of them in turn.

All the books are essentially 'picture' books and they are:
  • 1001 Plant and Floral Illustrations: From Early Herbals (Dover Pictorial Archive Series) - Richard G Hatton
  • Besler's Book of Flowers and Plants: 73 Full-Color Plates from Hortus Eystettensis, 1613 (Dover Pictorial Archive Series) - by Basilius Besler
  • Merian's Antique Botanical Prints CD-ROM and Book (Pictorial Archives) by Maria Sybylla Merian
As I enjoy pen and ink I'm intending to study the techniques used to both design for a rectangular space and how flowers, plants and insects are being rendered as engravings or wood cuts. I can already see some similarities with the way I draw - which I suspect is because I've studied historical drawings in the past!

I like the idea of starting to develop a series of drawings of flowers found in English gardens in the style of an early herbal. My main problem is going to be about drawing plants when I don't have them with their roots in front of me!

1001 Plant and Floral Illustrations: From Early Herbals (Dover Pictorial Archive Series) - Richard G Hatton

If you click the link (to Amazon) you can see inside this book. In reality there's very little text and an awful lot of engravings and illustrations used in early herbals. I find the herbals to be very attractive in their simplicity.

Richard G Hatton compiled a book of illustrations taken from his earlier book The Craftsman's Plant Book. I found a first edition leather bound first edition (1909) of this being offered for £150 on the internet so this paperback version for £17 is something of a bargain!

This version includes the captions from the 1909 edition in their original form.

Hatton had taken the images from the most prominent sixteenth century herbals or 'Books of Healing".

Kreuter Buch (Strasburg 1546)
Heironymus Bock 1498 - 1554
Cornelius J Hauck Botanical Collection
Cincinatti Historical Society Library

An example of what one looks like is on the right. This is the Kreuter Buch ("Plant book") by Hieronymus Bock - one of the three German fathers of botanical art. The first edition describes German plants, including their names, characteristics, and medical uses but was not illustrated. Later editions were illustrated with 550 woodcuts by the Renaissance artist David Kandel.
These early herbals were painstakingly drawn from first hand observations by their authors, accounting for the variety of styles present in the illustrations. Many follow a simple stylised formula that reduces the irregular appearance of wild plants to a more aesthetically pleasing symmetry with leaves, branches and flowers carefully arranged in a vertically oriented patterns. At the other end of the spectrum are the more complex illustrations that attempt to capture the uncontrolled nature of their subject while still rendering an accurate likeness.
Publisher's Note
The illustrations are all arranged according to scientific classifications and families - with scientific descriptions of each.

I think I can now well understand why William Morris (Flowers in Art: William Morris - herbals, flowers and making patterns July 2007) was such a fan of herbals. I'm also trying to remember which other artists liked and collected herbals - and Monet and Mackintosh spring to mind but I can't find a reference to confirm.

All the books are now listed in the book modules relating to early flower drawings on my information site Botanical Art - Resources for Artists - along with a number of other books about herbals and early flower illustrations and antique botanical prints which are produced by Dover Publications and others for a very reasonable price.

Plus I have a new development in hand - more of this later...........

PS You can also read more about the Chelsea Flower Show - including its blog - on the special BBC Chelsea website

Posted by Katherine Tyrrell on Thursday, May 15, 2008 2 comments Who's linking to this post?

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Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Drawing Day is June 7th

Drawing Day on Saturday June 7th is officially launched today.

This brand new initiative aims to:

  • submit a million drawings to various social networking sites - in one day!
  • promote the different ways artists can use various social networking sites to display and/or promote their drawings.
In a world where computer-generated replaces handmade, people often take creativity and artistic skill for granted. Drawing Day hopes to change this perspective by reminding people of the joy of drawing, regardless of their artistic ability.
Drawing Day Press Release
The front end website for Drawing Day can be found at http://www.drawingday.org/ and is very slick.

However, as one might expect with any new initiative which is getting off the ground for the first time, there are a few gaps with the participating sites (see links and my comments below) and not everything is presenting as well as I'm sure it will be as it gets nearer to June 7th.

It's free and simple to get involved - although it might involve having an existing account or becoming a new member or joining a group in advance at one of the various participating sites.

I've detailed what you need to do on the day itself - this is how you can upload drawings to participating social networking sites which are:
  • Draw on Deviantart.com (the largest drawing forum in the world). You need to become a member first. Then on Drawing Day create drawings either in your favorite graphics software or draw on paper and scan and then upload to your DeviantArt account (choose the drawing category) with a description saying "Created for Drawing Day - www.drawingday.org"
  • Draw on RateMyDrawings.com - You need to join the community first. It is going to have a special Drawing day section - although it doesn't appear to be in place as yet. Use the online drawing tool to create drawings through your browser. Drawings will then be available for people to watch animated stroke-by-stroke. I'm just wondering how their website will cope on the day if everybody tries to use the webware at the same time.....
  • Draw on AmateurIllustrator.com. This art and illustration community is one of the new kids on the block in terms of number of members. I've not visited it before and to be honest although I note the instruction to "Make sure drawings are uploaded to the Drawing Day 08 Genre" I'm puzzled as to how to do this/find this. You can create drawings either in your favorite graphics software or draw on paper and scan
  • Draw on You Tube - Subscribe to the YouTube Channel and Join the Group. On Drawing Day, record videos of you drawing on paper or take video screen captures of you drawing on any graphic software such as Photoshop. Then upload your video to You Tube with the title and tags Drawing Day to appear in related videos of other Drawing Day videos. You can also Download the Drawing Day intro video or intro image to place at the start of your video to spread the word about Drawing Day
  • Draw on Facebook.com If you're a member of Facebook, you can either use the Grafitti application or upload drawings to your profile and Post photos of your digital or scanned drawings and/or Post videos of you drawing to the Facebook group. Even if you're not planning on drawing on Drawing Day, Join the Facebook group NOW! The more members it has, the more Drawing Day gets noticed by people on Facebook.
  • Draw on MySpace You need to have a MySpace account and then you can use the MySpace Grafitti application or upload drawings to your profile or your photo gallery.
  • Upload drawings to Flickr - Join the Flickr group On Drawing Day create drawings either in your favorite graphics software or draw on paper and scan. Then upload to your Flickr account with the words "Drawing Day" in the title of your drawings or create a Flickr photostream called Drawing Day and upload all your drawings to this stream. Finally, organize your drawing day photos and add them to the group.
I think I'm probably going to use the Flickr option - but you never know - you might see a video of me drawing on YouTube!

The success of Drawing Day will depend on artists spreading the word. The idea is that whether you’re a professional artist or you just enjoy scribbling, the biggest contribution could be making sure that all your friends know about Drawing Day.

Here are a few tools to help.
  • find out more on the Drawing Day website
  • spread the word and get buttons and banners to display on your website and blog. Check that you are happy with the code before downloading. I saved the image rather than using the code.