Aeonium "Zwartkop" 30x20xm, coloured pencil on Arches HP
copyright Katherine Tyrrell
Every week I see lots of interesting blog posts and web articles. I post about some but obviously not all, mainly because of time commitments and wanting to get on with my own projects. Today I'm introducing a new way of sharing some of these with you.
I'm going to try and publish my round-up once a week - probably Sunday - but if I'm not being very organised and/or I'm busy it will be less often. At least if I start with the notion of having a regular update then I've got somewhere to park 'interesting' URLs until I can post them!
So, grab a fresh cup of coffee, here's what I stopped to look at and read last week..........
Artists' work
- A dozen eggs: Duane Keiser posted the egg painting to end all egg paintings. Read some of the reasons why he started painting eggs.
- 500 Years of Women in Western Art: Somebody left a comment last night on my 31st May post about this video which everybody has been looking at and talking about. It provides the answer to who painted all of the paintings in the video compiled by eggman913.
- Nicole Caulfield reviewed Derwent Coloursoft Pencils in this post
- Plein air painters and pastel artists may be interested to know that Michael Chesley Johnson of A Plein Air Painter's Blog has published a book - Through a Painter's Brush: A Year on Campobello Island (softcover or download). It has 140 pages and over 150 images -- 55 oils and 20 pastels of maritime scenery - including two demonstrations in oil and pastel and Michael's thoughts on plein air painting. For a sample of Michael's views on plein air painting as expressed on his blog - try his post on Reference Photos - Help or Hindrance.
- Empty Easel highlighted the apparent demise of Artist Rising in "Is Artist Rising Dead?". Artist Rising is the relatively new arm of art.com (art.co.uk in the UK) and is supposedly aimed at marketing the original work of artists. Art.com is a major online print gallery site where artists can sell fine art or poster prints. It's a bit worrying that something as big as art.com appears to have got their delivery so badly wrong. You can check out the archives of Empty Easel here.
- Susan Borgas (Arts and Stuff) has a post about how to Test your template in different size browsers. If you tweak your template you can test out what the column widths look like in different size browsers or how much scrolling will be involved for your visitors.
- Van Gogh - the last landscapes opens at the Museo Thyseen-Bornemisza in Madrid. Do take a look at the paintings - some are less well known but I found them very impressive.
Van Gogh's Auvers period was brief but extremely productive: in just seventy days the artist produced more than seventy paintings and around thirty drawings. This frenzied rhythm suggests a desperate race against time, as if the artist himself felt his days to be numbered. Before his arrival in Auvers, Vincent had spent three days in Paris at his brother's house where he had been able to see his own paintings, which literally covered the walls of the apartment and were piled up under the bed, the sofa and under the cupboards. This experience of seeing all his work together for the first time had a profound affect on Van Gogh and would determine his work over the following weeks, the last of his life. His final paintings would be a sort of recapitulation or epilogue to his entire career.What's coming up next week
- Take a virtual workshop next week - starting June 18th - with Ed Terpening of Life Plein Air. He's starting a three week trip which kicks off with a week long workshop with Ovanes Berberian. Ed is now an accomplished blogger of workshops and will be blogging about what he's doing each day.
Also, if you want to draw my attention to anything new that you've seen which might deserve a mention in my weekly round-up then leave a comment below and I'll take a look before posting next week's round-up.
Finally - the coloured pencil drawing at the top is the latest in my Georgia O'Keeffe month - and it's almost notan like. I think it's a Aeonium "Zwartkop" (I'm getting quite good at finding my way around cacti and succulent websites!). Anybody got a better suggestion?
Thanks so much for your kind words, Katherine! - Michael
ReplyDeleteWhat a marvelous drawing Katherine! I have a plant in my garden that looks similar only it has 'fat' leaves to it. Since the drought here I have taken to planting more succulents and your drawing has given me lots of ideas. ;)
ReplyDeleteYour weekly round-up is a post I am going to look forward to and do hope you are able to keep it going. Thanks for the mention about my post and do hope it is of some value to your readers.
What would we do without you? Your blog is absolutely the best on the web of any bar none. I'm graateful for this new feature and will be following the links but most of all I love your work, especially with this month of close up flowers. I have some photos of this plant I've thought about painting from and couldn't quite get a grip on what I wanted to do with it. Now I'm inspired to give it a shot, close up. Seriously Katherine, you provide such a wonderful service to artists of all levels and all media. I hope it brings you rewards of all sorts! Is a book in the works perhaps? Or a paid subscription? I'd certainly sign up!
ReplyDeleteP.S. The way the colors in this drawing progress is wonderful, spreading from warm in the center to cool on the outside edges. It's a deeply satisfying piece to view.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Katherine. I'm sitting in the airport at SFO waiting for my plane to Idaho. Should be a great week! I wish I had a week off between the class and Telluride, but at least I'll be warmed up and ready to go.
ReplyDeleteYou have been blogged! :D
ReplyDeleteA post about you
Katherine,
ReplyDeleteI like you idea for the weekly roundup.
As always, your blog is top drawer.
Love,
Linda
Just found your blog and it is a good read and your colored pencil work is some of the best I've ever seen!
ReplyDeleteAnother stunner! You should be thrilled with this cacti series, Katherine.
ReplyDeletetally hoo katherine
ReplyDeletewhat a beautiful drawing!
i particularly like the way you've dealt with the 'fringing' on the petals. The little white line that illuminates each petal. Is the white of the page? Thinking about notan is a great way of also thinking about how you deploy the white of the page.
Wonder what this would give if it were done in monochrome, say using only four pencils?
thanks for all your research. especially interesting to watch how you are integrating it into your own drawing style.
Linda - your blog will be one of the ones appearing in a future round-up. It's ones like your's that I had in mind when I started this.
ReplyDeleteHarriett - glad you like the blog and thanks for the comments on the CP work
Adam - some of the light edges are just paper but mostly it's just lighter colours and 'scuffed colour' lightened using the battery powered eraser (put fresh batteries in so it's on top speed before starting!). The challenge was to keep simplifying and leaving out all the tiny tiny detail except in a very few places.
I entirely agree with you notan is great for working out where to leave white or unmarked paper - see the Learning Notan #3 for a practical example
I've got a software programme which allows me to reduce images to a different number of values and I use it from time to time - generally when I get stuck.
'leaving the unmarked paper' - yes.
ReplyDeletenot surprising when you think that notan partly comes from ukiyo-e woodcuts...woodcuts are what we used to call ' a suicide technique' in the bristol printmakers workshop UK. when you cut the wood away you can't replace it (make a mistake & you 'suicide' or wreck the piece). it is a substractive technique in the sense you take elements away, which normally means the white of the paper showing in the next stage of the print (or the next colour separation).
FYI, there's a three tone notan ink drawing of mine over on my blog.
For my interest - that software sounds like a great toy! what's it called ? 'andy warhol/richard hamilton' version x.5.6 ? no honestly, please what's it called?