26th August 2007: Who's made a mark this week?

Mullet Creek

(2007 Dobell Drawing Prize Winner)
Ana Pollak
(Dobell Drawing Prize exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales 24th August - 4th November 2007)

Congratulations to....

• Ana Pollak - who has won Australia's prestigious Dobell Prize for Drawing worth AUS$20,000. Her drawing "Mullet Creek" (above) depicts an oyster farm on the Hawkesbury River and was drawn on rice paper. Her drawing is minimal and seemingly abstract. Reeds, water atmosphere are rendered with spare but delicate marks of charcoal. Ana Pollak studied at Byam Shaw School, London, Tom Bass Sculpture School, Sydney National Art School and Alexander Mackie College, Sydney. She is a painter, sculptor and printmaker as well as draughtswoman - and is currently a resident of Dangar Island on the Hawkesbury River. This article "Up the creek without a paddle; sketch takes prize" from The Sydney Morning Herald pictures her in front of her work. This is what the judge had to say about this work.
  

'This is an articulate and generous drawing that clearly refers to a river landscape. Also, the work says something about the general language of drawing through the quality of line - the juxtaposition of both relaxed and tense lines.'
Colin Lanceley, Artist and Judge

• Sally Strand - who is the artist selected by The Pastel Society to be honoured by being added to their Hall of Fame in 2007. You can see one of Sally's work's on the website page for The Pastel Society Annual Exhibition. This runs from 7th -30th September at the National Arts Club - with the PS Weekend and Awards Dinner being held 14-16th September. (You can also read about my workshop last year with Sally in "The best ever workshop - pastel painting with Sally Strand")
  
• Neil and Karen Hollingsworth - who are both featured in the September 2007 edition of Art Collector. They have an Artist Recption at the Wynne/Falconer Gallery in Chatham, MA on 8th September with a preview online for pre-sale starting September 3rd. Click in the links to see the artwork of Neil Hollingsworth and Karen Hollingsworth or visit their respective websites here and here

Art competitions

Two more competitions worth noting are:

• The Lynn Painter Stainer Prize - with awards totalling £22,500. The First Prize £15,000 and there are 5 Runner-Up Prizes each at £1,000 and a Young Artist Award £2,500 for an artist who is 25 years of age or under on 3 September 2007. Artwork needs to be delivered to the FBA at Carlton House Terrace on 2nd-3rd September.

This is the third year of the Prize. The purpose of the Prize is to encourage creative representational painting and promote the skill of draughtsmanship. The 2006 Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize attracted nearly 700 entries from all over the UK, from which 71 paintings were selected for an exhibition held at Painters’ Hall, City of London in November 2006.

The Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize is open to living artists over the age of 18 on 3 September 2007, who are resident in the United Kingdom, Channel Islands or Isle of Man. Only original, two-dimensional works in any painting media, that have been completed in the last three years, and that have not been previously exhibited, are eligible. All works must be for sale, except commissioned portraits.

• The Pastel Journal's 9th Annual Pastel 100 Competition is accepting entries - including online - in five categories but has a deadline of 4th September. Image files cannot exceed 500KB. The file format must be JPEG. See here for eligibility criteria and more details about how to enter and prizes worth $15,000 including a top prize of $5,000.
  

Great Comp Garden
pen and sepia ink and coloured pencil in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell
(see Travels with a Sketchbook blog for yesterday's solitary sketchcrawl sketch)

Artists and sketchbloggers

These are all new artists and sketchbloggers people that I came across for the first time this week.

First two artists with a keen interest in the natural world and great drawing skills.

• Debby Kotter Caspari (Oklahoma and the tropics) - her website and her blog Drawing the Motmot (check out the Tropical Sketchbooks)
• Sherrie York (Colorado) - website and blog Brush and Baren

More sketchboggers

• Suzanne Buchanan (North Carolina) - an open [sketch]book
• Nina Johansson (Stockholm, Sweden) ninajohansson.se

Finally, last week I mentioned Vivien Blackburn and her blog post about doing art degree as a mature student. This week I'd like to give a bit of exposure to Sue Smith and her blog Ancient Artist: Developing an art career after 50. Are there any more ladies aged 50+ out there who are actively working at developing their art? And do we need a virtual club?

The Art Business

Tina Mammoser ( website and blog The Cycling Artist) has an online presence in various places - one of which is Etsy.

• Last week she highlighted an article on 18th August "A virtual, virtuous revolution" by Jenny Dalton in the Financial Times about the indie handcrafted credentials of Etsy as an alternative to e-bay.
  
• Tina also has the widget for UK etsy sellers who blog webring on her blog. I have to say I've always found the presentation and aesthetic of Etsy much more appealing than e-bay.

Websites, blogging and squidoo lenses

• Another blogger I came across this week courtesy of Tina Mammoser (The Cycling Artist) is Kirsty Hall - artist and curator ("Up all night again") is developing a VERY nice set of articles about the online aspect of being and artist and available tools
  
• why artists need to be online
• why artists should blog
• Why Flickr?
• Setting Up Your Flickr
• Making The Most Of Flickr: Part 1
• Making The Most Of Flickr: Part 2
• Does Flickr Work As A Promotional Tool?

• Anna at See.Be.Draw has got a poll on her blog which is proving to be very interesting (see below). I'm hoping Anna may have a few tips to offer the poll finishes of things to think about when setting up a poll. For me this one is currently proving the impact that participating in Everyday Matters has on blog traffic. (Anna also has a very interesting post about the processes of drawing and painting)

The polls just closed and the results are in! From the votes I learnt that the majority of my readers come from EDM, do not subscribe to this blog but visit regularly, and bookmark a blog based on contents and posting regularity. They are mostly interested in artwork, watercolors, the creative process, and other artists.
See.Be.Draw - The Poll Results are in

• Belinda Lindhardt has started a new coloured pencils squidoo lens for Australian artists - which I'ved added into my squidoo group - Resources for Artists Headquarters Group.
  
• If youve got a squidoo lens which you think might be appropriate for this group please check out the criteria in "Joining this Group: what you need to know" before submitting a request to join
  

Note:
The Dobell Drawing Prize was instituted by Sir William Dobell Art Foundation to encourage excellence in drawing and draughtsmanship. The prize in 2007 is aquisitive and valued at $20,000. Entry conditions are as foll0ws:

Medium: Unique work on paper or other suitable support in any medium or combination of media. This includes those media and materials traditionally associated with the practice of drawing (pencil, pen and ink, charcoal, etc.) and those which are part of contemporary drawing practice, including pastel, watercolour, collage etc.
Other information: Applicants must have been born in Australia or hold Australian citizenship, and have been a resident in Australia for a period of 12 months prior to the closing date. Works are to be completed during the 12 months preceding the closing date.