Sunday, December 19, 2010

19th December 2011: Who's made a mark this week?

Enjoying the Ice (c. 1630-34) by Hendrick Avercamp
Oil on canvas (25 x 37.5 cm)
This week the UK and Europe have again been deluged with snow due to the artic air jet stream which is currently visiting this part of the world.  I'm minded to go and study those artists such as Hendrick Avercamp who created such interesting paintings of The Little Ice Age in the seventeenth century. The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam currently has an exhibition of his paintings of Dutch Winter Landscapes in the seventeenth century at Schipol Airport - Winter mood at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.  This is
This Amsterdam-born artist was born deaf-mute, and you can picture him standing apart from the crowd, observing it unnoticed. His paintings are in fact suspended between joy and stillness: the fast-moving figures skate and sledge under iron and silver skies. It's like seeing a little world enclosed in a bottle.
So if your flight gets delayed and you get stuck at the airport, maybe ask why your airport doesn't have art exhibitions!

Making A Mark Awards - deadline for nominations 24th December 06:00am GMT

The nominations for the Making A Mark Awards are coming in but I'd love it if more of you nominated the people you think deserve an award.

These are the complete set of links to all the threads about the various awards:

YOU can Nominate the Best Art on a Blog in 2010:
PLUS you can nominate established art blogs for the various awards in the following categories
I'll be adding my own nominations when I announce the shortlists after the nominations have formally closed on 24th December.

Make somebody feel good before the end of 2010 - and tell them you like their blog by nominating it for an award!

Don't forget!
  • you can nominate your own blog for all categories awards and/or artwork for the best artwork category
  • nominations formally close at midnight GMT on Friday 24th December.  I'll then publish:
  • my review of those who have been nominated on the Friday
  • the shortlists for the voting on Saturday 25th December.  So after you've eaten your fill and need a break from the family, pull up a seat and start reviewing and voting.
Art Blogs

Coloured Pencils and Pastels
Painters and Painting
  • People painting snow include:
    • Painting Snow by Armand Cabrera provides advice on how to go about it
Snow is almost impossible to photograph effectively so your only real alternative is to paint it from life. Colors must be organized for maximum effect, compositions carefully thought out and value ranges keyed for each picture.
Watercolour 20cm x 50 cm or 8 inches x 20 inches 
by Sarah Wimperis
Adebani Alade presenting "The Circus" 15 x 120 cm oil on board. 
It is a complete panorama of one of Bath's uninique landmarks and archutectural highpoints
  • Check out the Painter's Table - which is aggregating links from different sources to create a site about painting.  It looks very promising but I'm guessing it's true value will depend on how it develops.
Miniature Art
Art Business and Marketing
Art and the Economy / Art Collectors
Art Competitions and Art Societies

Calls for Entries
Prizes
  • I don't formally cover photography - but I always make an exception for Landscape Photographer of the Year 2010 because of the great pics!  Click the lick to read more about the prize and the other award winners.
Landscape Photographer of the Year 2010: Antony Spencer - Winter mist at Corfe Castle, Dorset, England copyright Antony Spencer - all rights reserved / used with permission
Art Education / workshops / Tips and techniques

art workshops and classes
tips and techniques
There is one aspect that all successful painters share: a dedication to frequent artistic exercise. Exercise may be no fun, but the long-term benefits are well worth the effort. With a little discipline and hard work your painting muscles will bulge with confidence.
Art History 
Big Think tackles a knotty subject and a question which should/could be asked more often A Matter of Interpretation: Is All Art History Western Art History?

Books and Book reviews
Book publishing is changing. It’s changing faster than it has in a hundred years. I’ve been persistent enough to be part of that change, provoking and poking and wondering about what comes next.
Websites, webware and blogging
  • Portland Plein Air & Studio Painters have developed a new feature on Blogger blogs - the use of a Google Calemndat imported into the footer of their blog to record their outings. That's the sort of thing which might be useful to those of you using blogs to market workshops.
  • In Email List Building for Bloggers I've recommended that you should read the series of posts being written by written by Phil Hollows, the Founder and CEO of FeedBlitz .
  • I came across an art blog this week which using a coloured font on a dark background for titles and links - and I have to tell you I couldn't make out a word!  It's absolutely essential that you have good contrast between background and foreground.  Two colours of the same value just merge.
  • 9 Tips to Managing and Growing a Successful Facebook Community. Essential reading from someone who's grown her community organically to 12,000 friends on Facebook and over 20,000 Twitter followers.
Forbes said: “Facebook, the largest social networking tool in the world, is dominated by women,” with 57% of members female and women being more active (aka: social) on Facebook.
 and finally........
I celebrated five years of blogging on Monday last week.  More about this tomorrow (which is of course today as yet again I'm late publishing this post!)

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the mention here, Katherine. I have just had the breathing space to read it through.
    Wishing you a wonderful Christmas!

    ReplyDelete

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