Sunday, January 30, 2011

30 January 2011: Who's made a mark this week?

A Daily Self Reflection by Gillian Holding
Art Blogs

There's rather more of my posts in this "who's made a mark this week" and that's because of the hiatus caused by my domestic emergencies and the fact that we've missed two Sunday posts. So this one is making up for it........

I'll start with the fact that it still gives me great pleasure to reiterate the fact that Making A Mark achieves #2 in Top Ten Blogs of 2010!

NEW art blogs

  • A Postcard from my Walk is a new group blog.  I'm very happy to say that during my short respite from blogging I helped give birth to a new group blog.  This one is a spin off from Sketchercise which I founded in 2009 and this is my post on this blog Introducing 'A Postcard from my Walk'. 
    • A Postcard from my Walk aims to provide "the real thing" and not just the digital version to those of us who have been involved in a group which focuses on sketching and exercising.  
    • Postcards will be posted in the last week of every month - and will appear on the blog when received by the person they were posted to.
    • I've got a major challenge which is that I rarely sketch as small as 7" x 5" and I think I'm going to get group dispensation to deliver bigger postcards!  My very first effort certainly left me with a new found respect for those who produce small works of art!  Next week there will be a post about sketching small on Travels with a Sketchbook
  • By way of contrast, I've been fascinated by Gillian Holding's blog #adailyselfreflection - partly because it involves the production of an artwork daily  - a daily digital self-portrait - but also because it involves the use of digital software which is beginning to interest me as I load my iPad with art apps!  This is a link to her gallery of artwork produced this month.  This is her other blog Life and Art
The dishwasher - by Gillian Holding
    #adailyselfreflection began when I realised there was a great forum in cyberspace for showing digitally generated work, and I loved the idea that artwork with no tangible existence could be viewed in the exact form in which it had been created.
    • New artinfo blogger Karen Archey comments on the naurte of art blogging in Addicted to Hits: On Art Blogging.  However I think she forgets that not everybody who has an art blog does it for commercial reasons and not all content on art blogs is always driven by the need to make a buck or get a speaking engagement.  
    About the Artist

    This is a new section devoted to posts about the artist in conceptual or practical terms.
    Emerging is a coded term that is supposed to alert collectors and the public that the artist is all set to earn some serious cash. 
    • I also liked Robert Genn's (The Painter's KeysThe Feminine Mystique - particularly the list of characteristics and attributes at the end which he observes in highly optimistic, ambitious women who value education and are willing to put in time and treasure (when they have it) to achieve their goals.
    Coloured Pencils and Pastels
    Awake by Sally Strand
    Pastel on paper 13" x 17"
     Drawing and Sketching
    Nature Drawing and Botanical

    Painting landscapes

    Paintings of Bali by Julian Merrow Smith

    January 12th - Snow by Loriann Signori
    9x6 pastel and watercolor on Uart
      Painting - Challenges

          Art Business and Art Marketing
          Art Economy and Art Collectors
          • Clicking on a Masterpiece The Wall Street Journal discusses whether collectors are now ready to buy million-dollar artworks online.
          Art Competitions and Art Society exhibitions
          Art Exhibitions 
          •  Major Art Exhibitions in London in 2011 has proved to be a very popular post.  
            • It was quite amazing after I'd finished listing everything out to realise my stunning good fortune to have all this art on my doorstep!  
            • If you know somebody who is visiting London who likes art you can email this post to them - use the link at the bottom of the post
          • This will be a major exhibition in London next year to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee - The Queen: Art and Image.  In the meantime it's touring the UK and will be visiting Edinburgh, Belfast and Cardiff. 
          • Anish Kapoor: Turning the World Upside Down in Kensington Gardens a Royal Parks video - which has Anish Kapoor explaining his sculptures and how they fit into the park and also how they are animated by the skyscape.
          • Reviews of the  Norman Rockwell's America at the Dulwich Picture Gallery  include: 
            • Norman Rockwell's America – review - Norman Rockwell idealised America and America idolised him in return – but this stunning survey reveals a deep knowledge of art at the heart of his work, writes Laura Cumming
            • while Peter Preston reflects on what has changed since the cheerful escapism of Rockwell's day in a comment piece in the Observer today The norms of Norman Rockwell
          Art Galleries and Museums

          There are two new Directors of Art Museums in London.  Artinfo covered both appointments in articles:
          Art History
          Art Supplies
          Art Education 
           
          Workshop and Class
          Art Apps
            Book Reviews

            Two book reviews by Martin Stankewitz (How to draw a tree) - about books which tell you how to draw trees
            Colour
            Copyright 
            • The Google Public Policy Blog recently addressed issues to do with Making Copyright Work Better Online.  I'll comment on this in a future post but here's the guts of the changes being made.  The four key items which Google has undertaken to do to reduce piracy and copyright infringement are as follows:
              • act on reliable copyright takedown requests within 24 hours.
              • prevent terms that are closely associated with piracy from appearing in Autocomplete.
              • improve the AdSense anti-piracy review
              • experiment to make authorised preview content more readily accessible in search results. 
            • In Google search and search engine spam, (on The Official Google Blog) Matt Cutts has announced that new developments are getting even better at detecting spammy content.  Those of us who have problems with content being stolen from blogs should feel a bit happier that things are moving in the right direction.
            Opinion Poll
            • The results of the January Making A Mark Poll were published yesterday in Are you a left handed artist? (Poll Results).  I'm not sure whether the very nigh number of people voting was because of lots of new visitors to this blog in January, the accessibility of the questions and answers or what.  However 31% of 262 people said they were left handed artists.  
            • There's a slightly different version of the poll on  new "resources for artists" site - Are Left Handed People more likely to be Artists?  
            • After the poll and the research, I've come to the conclusion that rather a lot of artists are said to be left-handed with very little evidence to support this.
            Websites, webware and blogging
            and finally......

            Do you ever have one of those phases where everything goes wrong - one after the other?

            After being Out to Lunch, no sooner had I researched, located and had a new microwave and cooker delivered for those that broke down within half an hour of one another (!!!) - but my car failed to start. It's now gone to the garage to be tested with the old microwave sat in the back! I just dread the times when the same thing happens as I'm getting ready for an exhibition.........  

            What's been your worst ever experience in terms of sequential mini-disasters?

            6 comments:

            1. Very kind of you to mention my blog.
              Love,
              Linda

              ReplyDelete
            2. Our apartment is 100 years old and last year one after another room became dark. The whole electric system needed to be replaced. Then the hoover gave up and that is where I thought: well can't see the dust bunnies anyway.
              Paula

              ReplyDelete
            3. Wow, MAM is looking great these days---so colorful, so clear! Thanks for calling attention to my interview and to Kate's new blog in general---isn't it a WONDERFUL resource?! I think it's going to become a very big deal this year!

              ReplyDelete
            4. Thanks for mentioning my "Another Project" and Journal Angst posting. I'd love to know how others get past the preciousness of some journals or projects.

              ReplyDelete
            5. This is a knockout blogpost!-rich, informative and enlightening as always!

              ReplyDelete
            6. H Katherine, Thank you for your kind mention. I appreciate the new visitors you have sent my way! Each day I am a little better.
              Thanks also for the reminder of Sally Strand, I must get to one of her workshops.

              ReplyDelete

            COMMENTS HAVE BEEN CLOSED AGAIN because of too much spam.
            My blog posts are always posted to my Making A Mark Facebook Page and you can comment there if you wish.

            Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.