14th September 2008 - Who's made a mark this week

Julie Oakley 'at home' with One Mile From Home - the Exhibition

curated by Flo and Tom Oakley

Walk a minimum of one mile from home. Record where you’ve been with a drawing, sculpture, photo or painting and then walk back. Every day for a year.
Julie Oakley - The One Mile From Home Challenge

On Friday night I went to a preview of the One Mile From Home Exhibition at the Oakley household in Sandridge, Hertfordshire.

At the end of 2006, Julie Oakley (Julie's Pictures) earned my Get off your Blogging Bottom and Sketch Award for being an artist who not only qualified for the stickability bit of my Painting a Day Stickability Prize but also deserved her very own award for doing it all OUTSIDE in all seasons and all weather. Julie's aim is as stated above.

Julie (One Mile from Home) was not alone in her endeavour. She was also joined by Alison (Five K Radius) and Penny (With my boots and sketchbook) on an epic journey in more ways than one. Alison was the first to have an exhibition of the work which resulted with as you can see in The Sketchexercisers.

The One Mile From Home Exhibition has been the idea of Julie's two eldest children Tom and Flo Oakley, who have set up the Oakley Gallery. This now has its own domain name and a blog.

The Oakley Gallery is Tom and Flo Oakley

• Check out the local press coverage they got for their exhibition.
• Plus you can also pay a virtual visit to the Oakley Gallery by watching this video in which Flo Oakley shows you round the exhibition.

I got to meet the Oakley family on Friday - although I have to say Xavier, now aged 5, and Rufus the dog who also participated in the daily outings stole the show. Was it ever thus?

I went late and stayed to the end and was able to get an update on how well the Preview had gone - and the answer is very succesful. Packed at 6.30pm (standing room only) with brisk sales and very nearly half the original paintings sold by the end of the evening with even more sales coming from the colour prints (see right) of the sketchbook drawings and paintings.

So there you go - start a blog, get healthy exercise, demonstrate you have commitment and stay the course, introduce your children to the finer points of gallery ownership and curating an exhibition and let them generate funds to subsidise their university careers! It's quite something isn't it? It's certainly the sort of creativity (see yesterday's post) which creates a unique venture and it certainly has made a mark! I understand the featured artist may also be talking to a few people about commissions as a result of the exhibition! ;)

The One Mile From Home exhibition is on 13-15th September (venue details here) so you have until the end of tomorrow to bid on a painting - or maybe even request a print of your favourite picture - you've got 365 to choose from........... Leave a comment on the Oakley Gallery if you'd like to buy a picture or enquire about prices. Read Julie's take on the Private view here Exhausted but on a high

Congratulations to...

• Casey Klahn (The Colorist, Pastel) who had his 50th birthday very recently - on the same day as Michael Jackson and Donny Osmond! Who would have guessed?
  

Art Blogs

• Learning to See is a new blog to me but the artist comes highly recommended by Julian Merrow Smith (Postcard from Provence). The site tells the story of Paul Foxton, an artist who came back to painting in 2005 after a break of many years.
  
• Jelaine Faunce (Jelaine Faunce Studio) and friends came up with a very neat idea which you can read about in 4 artists, 1 subject (September) Thanks to Belinda Del Pesco for the tip-off!
  
• Now I don't want to encourage you all to do this but Lisa Call has found a new way to get some artwork done at the weekend! Read her post Unplugging on her blog Lisa Call - Contemporary Textile art. For those who like textile arts, check out Lisa's squidoo lens on Contemporary Art Quilts which is excellent.
• Linda Warner Constantino has updated her website and started a new blog for her her small watercolours and sketches - Wet Watercolor
  

Art Business and Marketing

• Continuing the theme of family getting involved in your artwork and associated business matters, Edward Winkleman (edward_winkleman) has an open thread about the role of the spouse. The Artist's Spouse : Open Thread has some provoking thoughts about pros and cons of behaviour exhibited by the spouses of artists plus it's attracting some interesting comments
• Do read Alan Bamberger's excellent article about Selling art in a weak economy - a basic how-to

Economists pretty much agree that America is in a recession. Credit is tough to come by, the dollar is weak, stocks are down, personal debt's got a goiter, food and fuel prices are astoundingly upwardly mobile (yuk!), and that perennial bastion of ever-increasing value, real estate, has made a sharp u-turn and currently perks along in the opposite direction..........

Facts are that selling artwork isn't easy even in a healthy economy, and at times like this, it can seem downright impossible. But confronting adversity is a fact of life, especially for artists, and any artist who expects to be successful must continually adjust to prevailing conditions in order to survive.
Alan Bamberger - Selling art in a weak economy - a basic how-to

• Ignore everybody and be creative! was my post yesterday - which focused on Hugh McLeod (Gaping Void) and the applicability of his ideas to making art. It includes a comment from me on the painting a day phenomenon which kicked off in a major way two years ago. It's generated lots of comments - and even an assertion that it's my best blog post EVER!
  

Art competitions and calls for entry for juried open exhibitions

• Sending in dates for the Royal Institute of Oil Painters exhibition at the Mall Galleries in November are Friday 26th and Saturday 27th September - details of submission on the Mall Galleries site (menu: information for artists/Royal Institute of Oil Painters ).
• See my post Who's been selected for the ING Discerning Eye 2008? for a list of artists who have been selected for the exhibition.
  
• The Royal Watercolour Society has published its Call for Entries for 21st Century Watercolour - an exhibition. See 21st Century Watercolour 2009 - call for entries.
• Finally a salutary tale about submitting work to juried exhibitions and art competitions. Paul Foxton (Learning to See) has just had this work - Floating Sunfire - accepted for the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition. Do read his post - it's an education in what so often happens when you're getting ready to submit work an exhibition.
  

Art exhibitions

• In August I published the names of the artists selected for the RWS/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition and the prizewinners. On Wednesday last week, the exhibition opened at the Bankside Gallery on the South Bank in London and I went to see it. Read my review in RWS / Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2008 - exhibition review.
• On Monday, I wrote about our recent Royal Day out at Buckingham Palace and A visit to the Queens Gallery and the Royal Collection. It's really impressive.
  
• There's a bit of a baby boom at Chatsworth House
  

Art History

• Charley Parker (Lines and Colors ) highlighted the new website for the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
• I also loved his post about plein air Australian Impressionist painter Arthur Streeton (1867-1943)
  
• For all fans of Matisse, Casey Klahn (The Colorist, Pastel) has started a series of posts about Matisse - which include a video of the author of his biography.

Art Newspapers

• Who knew that Louis Armstrong was also a collage artist? See The Guardian's item about Louis Armstrong, the artist

Art materials and supplies

• This popped up courtesy of my Google Alert for coloured pencils - I've not seen Giant coloured pencils before

Art Tips and Techniques

• In what turned into a bit of a watercolour week I decided to post on Friday with A few tips about watercolour - and invited you all to do likewise. If you leave a link to any good instructional posts on your blog I'll include them in the new information site i'm developing for watercolour.
• Tracy Helgeson (Works by Tracy Helgeson) has provided tips about Gessoing Paper

Art Workshops

• If you've ever wanted to do a workshop with Kevin McPherson, one of America's foremost landscape painters, you can out more about how they work here on Linda Warner Constantino's blog (A Passion for Small Paintings) More on en plein air masters workshop . You can find out more about Kevin McPherson's workshops and instructional material on his website. I've got Fill Your Paintings with Light and Color!
  

and finally............

Yesterday, I took over as the new blogmaster for UKCPS News - the official blog of the UK Coloured Pencil Society.

This comes about because Bob Ebdon, Founder of UKCPS, has decided to retire from all active duty as a member of its Executive. Take a look at

• Bob's final post - So Long, Been good to know ya...
  
• and my first one - A new blogmaster for the UKCPS Blog

photo courtesy of Bob Ebdon

UKCPS won't be the same without Bob being around on the Executive and managing all its online communications. He's certainly made his mark on the coloured pencil world and I wish him all the very best for the future.