10th May 2009 - Who's made a mark this week?

Spyglass Glare
18" x 24", Pastel on Archival Paper
copyright Kim Lordier

Kim Lordier is doing a couple of pastel demonstrations at the International Association of Pastel Societies convention at the end of this month. She's also been featured in national periodicals including Fine Art Connoisseur, Southwest Art, American Artist and The Pastel Journal and has won awards for her landscapes of local scenery in North California.

This week it's the Carmel Art Festival and Kim's got a solo show "Inspired by Light" at James J Rieser Fine art in Carmel-by-the-Sea which opens this week. Her pastels are amazing and are the sort of thing I'd hoped to do when visiting Carmel - but you can't beat a local artist for knowing the best locations and the right sort of light for capturing a scene! I had a lovely time looking through her works not only for the exhibition, but also those paintings which have already sold (gorgeous!).

Art Blogs

Drawing and sketching

• Roz (Roz wound up) has been writing about yet another of those Journaling Superstitions #6: You Must Stay on One Page Per Journal Entry
• Be. Draw. See. Know. by Anna T (who often makes me stop and think) at See. Be. Draw.
• Pete Scully (petescully ) is drawing back to front, left to right and aims to make it a square!
• it was great to see Felicity Grace's round-up of the rest of her visit to London London - the arty bits!
• Don't forget to vote in the poll (see right hand column) which asks the question Which media do you like using for drawing or sketching?

Australian Coloured Pencils Network on Ning

Coloured pencils and pastels

• Belinda Lindhardt reports (Australian Coloured Pencils Blog) that the numbers involved with the Ning Network of Australian Coloured Pencil Artists has been growing recently which is excellent news. I'm adding this into the Networks section of Art Colonies, Communities and Networks - Resources for Artists
• See the art competition section for news of the CPSA Annual Exhibition. In the meantime the Colored Pencil Society of America News blog reminds its members that its annual convention will include a MOCK JURY with Vera Curnow - “You Be The Judge”
 - the aim of which is to help members to understand better how the whole process of juried exhibitions should work from beginning to end.
• Read An interview with Margaret Edwards on the UKCPS News blog
  

Painters

• In Sunburst, Jacqueline Gnott (Contemporary Realism) provides a very useful tip about what she looks for when phtoographing flowers for reference photos.
• Jeanette Jobson (Illustrated Life) has been experimenting with oils and the Zorn palette - take a peek at Zorn palette and Portrait in Zorn
• see also some very interesting and educational posts about painting in the Art Education section
  

Printmakers

• Roz (Roz wound up) has a very long and detailed post about Sketch to Print: Turning a Journal Sketch into a Finished Silk-screened Print

Sculpture

• Richard Long has changed the face of British sculpture. His works are as simple as a track in the snow or a stone circle - left to nature and for passers-by. He told Guardian reporter Sean O'Hagan how walking has inspired his life's work in One step beyond. An exhibition of his work Richard Long: Heaven and Earth can be seen at Tate Britain from 3rd June until 6th September 2009. I've got it tagged as a recommended "must see".
  
• I adore Storm King Wavefield (in Mountainville, New York) by Maya Lin - seen here as part of slideshow of her work. It's seven rows of undulating rolliwng waves of earth and grass. Her website is very odd - but you begin to understand how it works with a bit of experimentation! :) Once you've worked out the chronology works so that the most recent are on the left rather than the right and that there is more information in the top right hand corner that is! ;)
  

Utilizing technological methods to study and visualize the natural world, Ms. Lin takes micro and macro views of the earth, sonar resonance scans, aerial and satellite mapping devices and translates that information into sculptures, drawings and environmental installations.
Maya Lin website

Botanical Art

• I had a couple of posts about botanical art this week:
• A Making A Mark Interview with Margaret Stevens - the current President of the Society of Botanical Artists
  
• and, on Making A Mark Reviews, I did a Book Review: The Art of Botanical Painting (which is the book which is the book written by Maragret Stevens and the SBA which acts as a text book for the SBA Diploma Course)

Art Group Blogs

• Charley Parker (Lines and Colors) has done a review of A Virtual Paint Out (which I mentioned in this post last week)
  
• Vivien Blackburn (Paintings, Prints and Stuff) has issued a challenge to draw/paint skies - see challenge!
• I started out wanting to find all the posts which linked to the EDM Challenge 222 - Draw your favorite drawing tool but didn't succeed. Whenever I try to find things to do with EDM I always end up feeling like there's got be a page somewhere which I haven't yet found. For example, when I go to The EDM Super Blog I never seem to see posts which are about the latest drawing challenge. Then I go to the EDM Flickr Group and can't find all the images posts linked to a specific challenge in either the gallery or the discussion group. I wonder if ti's possible to start a new blog just for those participating in the EDM challenges?
  

Art Business and Marketing

• Alyson B. Stanfield (ArtBiz Blog) has a post which is a must read for those getting into putting their art out there and on the internet. See Ask for what you want--the right way. I've added it to the Starting Out - what do you need to know? section of Art Business - Resources for Artists
  
• Barney Davey's blog Art Print Issues by Barney Davey has
• an old post I ran across this week for the first time Indie Art Intersection
• plus a post about the very popular and extraordinarily successful artist Jack Vettriano
• and a caveat emptor post about Art-Exchange.com Brouhaha Still Brewing

Art and the economy

• According to the New York Times A Scarcity of Goods Hovers Over Art Market
• Jonathan Jones (Guardian - Art and Design Blog) writes about Keep power cults out of art

Art Collectors

• I LOVED Ruth Jameson's take on the "(non-)subversive-graffiti-turned-nest-egg thing" and her analysis of who actually buys it in Urban art? Keep it on the street

Artists Communities and Art Forums

• I've added in a new section about artists' networks to Art Colonies, Communities and Networks - Resources for Artists - and included this link to the Lancashire Artists' Network which aims toconnect, support and promote the interests of all visual artists and craftspeople, including students, who live or work in Lancashire.
• AMIEN: Art Materials Information and Education Network is part of the education department of the non-profit Intermuseum Conservation Association. The latter is the oldest not-for-profit regional conservation center in the United States. Amien suggests that it is the only unbiased source of information about art materials. This is its Forum and here, by way of example is a thread about Alizarin Crimson
  

Art Competitions

Becca by Nicole Caulfield
coloured pencil
copyright Nicole Caulfield / used with permission of the artist

• My post on Wednesday highlighted the 17th Annual CPSA International Exhibition 2009 - successful entries and some of the entries by former prizewinners and others - including two portraits by Nicole Caulfield (Nicole Caulfield Art Journal) and UKCPS member Julie Douglas
• The Saatchi Gallery - Sunday Telegraph Art Prize for Schools 2009 is a new prize. Its aim is to promote art, encourage artists of the future and we want to showcase art from primary, secondary and sixth form schools. Submissions are invited from schools all over the world. Who wins the £10,000 first prize will be assessed a jury of leading artists and critics Antony Gormley, Andrew Graham-Dixon, The Sunday Telegraph’s art critic, and Ekow Eshun, the artistic director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts. The deadline for entries is Friday August 28, with the winners to be announced in October. More details about the competition and how to enter.
  

Art Education / Tips and techniques

• Here's a neat summary of the Formal Visual Analysis: The Elements & Principles of Composition by Jeremy Glatstein who teaches at the J Paul Getty Museum.
  
• Jana Bouc (Jana’s Journal and Sketch Blog) has posted about Painting a Still Life Using The Carder Method” - sounds fascinating and I'm grateful for all the photos of the set-up particularly the one of the still life set-up in the shadow box.
• ...and this is The Carder Method.
  
• Michael Chesley Johnson - on his NEW URL (A Plein Air Painter's Blog ) - has posted about Studio Painting from Reference Sketches. I like his ZipLoc bag tip! Michael also had a very useful post last week which, for me, provides an excellent example of the difference between an experienced tutor and people who skimp on workshop preparation. Read "Preparing for Class: Criteria for Workshop Painting Locations" to see what I mean
  
• Sarah Wimperis posted a very interesting work in progress - using Griffin Alkyds on black gesso - on Watermarks
• Canvas and Paint Process 1
• Canvas and Paint Process 2
• Canvas and Paint Process 3
• Canvas and Paint Process 4

• Could you be the next Melanie Phillips? is the question I asked yesterday. Only of interest to all UK coloured pencil artists who want to teach.
• Nita Leland highlighted this post about The Colours of Fog on the Colour Lovers Blog
  

Art Exhibitions

• I reviewed two exhibitions this week - both concerned with portraiture:

• Exhibition review: Royal Society of Portrait Painters 2009 - relates to their Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries which continues until 23rd May
• Exhibition review: The Intimate Portrait is about the British Museum exhibition of eighteenth century 'private' domestic scale portrait drawings which continues until 31st May.

Time out from viewing Kuniyoshi
8" x 11", pencil and coloured pencils in sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

• I also went to see the Kuniyoshi exhibition exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts - review on this blog next week - in the meantime here's Sketching people viewing Kuniyoshi (with a special tip about walking between galleries in London!)
• Announcements started this week about a major new Turner exhibition at Tate Britain later in the year. Turner and the Masters will run from 29 June until 29 November 2009. It will hang Turner's response to some great paintings alongside the originals by Claude, Canaletto, Ruisdael, Van de Velde, Poussin, Rubens, Rembrandt, Constable and Bonington. It should be absolutely amazing and I'm really looking forward to it. The Guardian comment is Turner on a collision course at Tateand you can preview some of the pictures in a slideshow as well.
  
• Kachōfūgetsu - the natural world in Japanese prints at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge finishes on 17th May. Sue Smith (Sue's Sketch Blog) alerted me to this exhibition This is her post about visiting it Kachōfūgetsu - the natural world in Japanese print.... You can also View Utamaro Books Interactive.

Art History

• Art Journalists were agog this week due to Art historians claim Van Gogh's ear 'cut off by Gauguin' - some were more sceptical Van Gogh gouged by Gauguin? I don't believe it
• An article in The New York Times highlighted Leonardo Unbound: Splitting the Master’s Tome to Save His Words
• This scourge of artistic apartheid is a thought-provoking article about the art of indigenous peoples and what are suggested to be the double standards exercised both in the art world and towards the protection of artistic artifacts.
• Classic Colors: Minimalism on the Colour Lovers Blog focuses on Frank Stella and his stripes
  

Art Museums and Galleries

• On Monday I wrote a review of Creative Spaces - the National Museums Online Learning Project
• Prince William will open my 'local' - the revamped Whitechapel Gallery tomorrow
• This article is a fascinating read but made my skin crawl just a tad! My Dream Is for Sale; Buy It for Me is all about the the annual Collectors Committee weekend at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Art Studios

• I am so impressed with Casey Toussaint's husband! Take a look at her studio with its 'black-out blinds in Latest Oil Painting on Rue Manual Bis. This is the blog post about the approach (the Carder method) which stimulated Jana's post above.
  
• If you'd like to see Nicole Caulfield's studio skip on over to her blog and be a late visiter to the Keene Art Stroll!

Art Supplies

• On Making A Mark Reviews I highlighted:
  
• the Artists & Art Materials USA 2009 Survey which is being run by The International Art Materials Trade Association (NAMTA) and "American Artist" magazine. Thanks to Nita Leland for highlighting this post on her blog Exploring Creativity and Color
  
• Art Shop Review: Falkiners Fine Paper / Shepherd Bookbinders
• and summarised Vivien Blackburn's recent review on her blog in Product Review: Moleskine Folio A3 Watercolor Album
• Roz (Roz wound up) had a couple of posts recently about My Schmincke Pan Watercolor Palette and More on Schmincke Pan Watercolors
• Marion Boddy Evans (About.com: Painting) has posed a question - What to Name a New Watercolor Paper? relating a new handmade watercolour drawing paper from Griffen Mill - which is made from hemp and handsized with gelatine
• Yesterday I completed a new survey about the Winsor and Newton website. I might win £250 of art materials as a result! Click Here to take survey. I generally find it a very helpful website in relation to information about products - but I don't think their blogs are working too well. I'd like to see one blog - using a proper blogging platform - for all new product information and hints and tips about how to use products. That way the onus is on W&N to keep the blog going rather than individual artists.
  

Book reviews

• Richard McKinley (Pastel Pointers Blog ) asks Art Books: What's On Your Shelf? His blog is of course sponsored by the people who bring you North Light Books.
• In the Guardian, Jo Littler reviews a new book by Hilary Spurling Matisse: The Life
• I had a very nice chat with the Manager of the recently redesigned and revamped National Gallery bookshop in the Saisnbury Wing on Thursday and I was allowed to take photos - so you can expect to see a review of this bookshop on Making A Mark reviews next week!

Copyright

• Cory Doctorow on Boing Boing has highlighted that the EU kills "3-strikes" Internet rule, affirms Internet is a fundamental right.

The "3-strikes" rule says that you can have your Internet connection taken away after a copyright holder accuses you of infringement three times -- but the rightsholder doesn't need to show any evidence that you've done anything wrong.

Websites and Blogging

• Two posts about Facebook:
• Read "How Not to Be Hated on Facebook: 10 More Rules."
• plus a Time article - The Downside of Friends: Facebook's Hacking Problem
• Darren Rowse of Problogger has more useful information and tips. These include: 17 Statistics to Monitor on Your Blog [Day 30 - 31DBBB] and How to Create Great First Impressions on New Readers and Convert Them Into Loyal Readers
• Dan at EmptyEasel.com wrote about How to Write Blog Post Titles (for Search Engines AND People)
• I've been reading quite a few articles of late which are beginning to indicate that the advent of YouTube and streaming TV is playing havoc with the Internet. This Guardian article Web providers must limit internet's carbon footprint, say experts argues that soaring online demand is stretching companies' ability to deliver content as the net uses more power and raises costs
• There's also a new version of Compete.com
  

and finally.........

Here's a problem posed by a reader. Can you help out with a way out of this dilemma? I've already sent her my suggestions but what do you think might be the best approach?

I have an odd sort of issue. I have one buyer who wants to be informed immediately every time I finish a (particular type of) painting. He bought the four I have made so far. That has been great, but now I have another person that wants to be the first to know when a new (same type of) painting comes out. I would love to gain another collector, but I do not want to lose the other one.

What would you do? I wasn't sure of where to look for my answer, so I thought I would go straight to you.

If you've got a dilemma, contact me via email to tell me all about it and we can see if the wisdom of crowds has a solution!