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Sunday, September 14, 2008

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... Art Blogs
Art Business and Marketing
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
Art exhibitions
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
Art materials and supplies
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
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
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.

11 comments:

  1. Who's made a mark this week is the highlight of the week for me, so I'll have to pick another day to stay offline! I'm fighting a constant battle with the addiction and drawing from digital photos is especially distracting if I've forgotten to turn the sound off! ;)

    Being pedantic, as an original seventies teenybopper, Donny's birthday is Dec. 9th and I think he was 50 last year...

    Julie's commitment and achievement is truly exceptional and inspiring!

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  2. I've just looked up August 29th on wikipedia and Casey actually shares his birthday with 50th birthday with Michael Jackson and Lenny Henry (and who knew that!?)

    I've still got a smile on my face!

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  3. Thanks for that Matisse/Spurling video link. I'm a great fan of her biography!

    The past month or so I've had great fun explaining to people why I selected Matisse for my current painting project. Not everyone's become a convert, but there have been a few. Several have said it's not as easy as he makes it look. LOL.

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  4. Just when I thought that I hadn't gotten much done lately, I see your post and realize that turning 50 is probably something!

    Thanks for the mention.

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  5. Katherine,
    Congratulations on becoming the UKCPS blogmaster! Dear lord, how do you manage to get so much accomplished in a week?

    Also, thank you for the posting (several weeks ago) about the Hammershoi show. I loved the post so much I ordered the catalog and have been drooling over it since it arrived.

    Cindy

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  6. Casey - Being 50 is great fun. I stopped doing all sorts of things which felt like a waste of time and effort and made enjoying the rest of my life a big priority!

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  7. Cindy - Glad you are enjoying the catalogue - it's so refreshing to see paintings where the emphasis is on subtlety rather than brash colour. It's making me rethink my approach to colour.

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  8. Marion - I hadn't spotted your latest project - but that gallery of paintings in the style of Matisse is absolutely amazing!!!!

    I started doing an information site about Matisse a while back - maybe I should join in and get it finished! :)

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  9. I am thrilled for Julie and her family at the show's success! Thank you so much for posting about it. I envy you your having gone to the preview, too! What an amazing family and how much fun it must have been to have met them all.

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  10. Thanks for this lovely post about the show. It was great to have you visit, and we were so pleased that you approved of what we had done

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  11. How could I not 'approve'? It was really impressive from the walls being freshly painted to getting the house ready to put on an exhibition, to framing all those works, getting all those prints done and creating all those wonderful flyers! Not to forget those really nice olives and the very tasty local cheese.

    Absolutely tremendous!!!

    I still want to come back and have a go at drawing Rufus properly!

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