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Sunday, August 31, 2008

31st August - Who's made a mark this week?


Tomato Tuesday by Daily Paintworks
copyright the artists

Did anybody else spot the Tomato Get Together which was going on this week amongst some of the daily painters? I managed to get a screen dump before it changed! Above is the effort by the Daily Paintworks people. I also spotted a Cut Tomato on Duane Keiser's blog A Painting A Day while Julian Merrow Smith (Postcard from Provence) had Tomato, Goats Cheese and Bottle on Wednesday as well! (Note: I think Duane is experiencing blogspot problems at the moment.)

Titian created the big art story of the week in the UK - with arts correspondents battling it out to come up with a new angle. There are two Titian paintings (valued at some £300 million) which are available to the nation to buy at a bargain price £50 million each

There's now a big debate about whether the money can be found in time and whether it should. - see The battle of the Titians

However what I find interesting is the added focus on who are the new art collectors see Who might buy the Titians? Meet the new collectors of the art world and comments such as the following
There used to be an accepted wisdom that you couldn't put a price on great art. But that was before creativity became a commodity; before it became an asset so bankable that investors could be virtually guaranteed a three-fold return in the space of a year. Now, with a new generation of self-made collectors with an eye for talent and money to burn, art is big business and everything has a price tag.
By way of contrast The Times chose to highlight Tracy Emin's take on who should fund the purchase of the in Threatened Titians draw in crowds to central Edinburgh
“The British, Scottish, Irish and the Welsh people should get together and buy them. It would be a pound each. The price of a packet of biscuits. Tomorrow, if ten million people put in a fiver, we're covered. It's not that much. It just depends what people's priorities are. People shouldn't confuse spending on hospitals and education with art and culture and sport. It comes from completely different pockets.”
Tracy Emin reported in the The Times Online
Art Blogs
I've been advocating that art societies start blogs to communicate with members and those interested in their particular sort of art for very nearly a year now - and it seems to be working..........
However, I was sad to hear in news from the coloured pencil world about the recent deaths of both
In the meantime
Nearly sitting on zero
(The Greenwich Observatory and the Prime Meridien)
pencil and coloured pencils in sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Artists
  • Charley Parker (Lines and Colors ) is still in plein air mode and has a really interesting and informative post (as ever) about Richard Schmid. This is Richard Schmid's website but do go take a look at Charley's post as he has a loooooong list of useful links about Schmid and his work. Incidentally I hadn't realised before that Schmid owns his own publishing company........
  • I've started to study Andrew Wyeth - see my blog post Andrew Wyeth - Resources for Art Lovers - and the new information site of the same name Andrew Wyeth - Resources for Artists has raced up the charts of popular art sites on Squidoo.
  • I know we all feel like destoying work from time to time. But how would you feel if one of your clients destroyed one of your paintings? It came to light this week that somebody decided to destroy a painting by Lucian Freud - see Inconvenient truths which was followed up by a reflective piece by Jonathan Jones Lucian Freud: Art without the feel-good factor
Art business and marketing I've got a separate post tomorrow which comments on the results of the poll - which is now closed - about What's the MAIN way you sell your art?.

Plus a new poll starts - which I think you'll find very interesting..........

I had the next link under websites and blogging to start with - and then I thought it has implications for marketing art!
  • The BBC reported last week that Two thirds of UK homes are now online Those most likely to be online are
    • homes in the south east
    • adults aged under 70 who have a university degree or equivalent qualification - 93% of this group had internet access.
Communications regulator Ofcom said earlier this month that PC and laptop use had grown fourfold since 2002.
If your marketing strategy or your art society have not taken the growth of online access and activity on board maybe it's time to take stock. Other art marketing stories I spotted included:
If no one knows your artwork is for sale, how can you expect people to buy it?

I know most artists don’t like to promote their artwork for sale. Whether it’s because they’re timid, shy, unsure about their talent or just don’t want to be pushy, most artists don’t like this idea at all. However, I hope to explain three of the simplest, most passive ways to market your work online; no bullish sales pitches needed.

Imagekind Blog

Art competitions Art exhibitions
Colour Some links to useful sites found as part of the Colour Project Tips and techniques Websites and blogging and finally...... For all of us who enjoyed our youth, here's an article to savour from the Observer about The 50 Greatest Art Videos on YouTube. Here are just a very few highlights - check out the article for more. Those were the days..........
on

2 comments:

  1. AnonymousMonday, September 01, 2008

    Great stuff this week (as always). Thanks for pointing out the parade of tomatoes. I wish mine would hurry up and turn at least orange (they're all still green right now).

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMonday, September 01, 2008

    (did my comment come through?) I can't tell if it was sent or not.

    ReplyDelete

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