28th June 2009 - Who's made a mark this week? #102

Somebody said this weekend that there are going to be a lot of people who will remember where they were when they heard Michael Jackson had died.

I was out sketching in Hampstead on Friday. All day, all I heard was the sound of Michael Jackson coming out of cafes, houses and cars.

For those of us aged 50+, there's something very poignant about the loss of an artist who was part of our own childhoods and who was also younger than us when he died.

I've never ever been somebody who has been in the least bit interested in drawing celebrities - however I've always found it very helpful to draw somebody whose death has touched me in some way. For all of us who kept thinking all Friday about that very small boy on the Andy Williams show with the incredibly beautiful and soulful voice on "I'll Be There'', this is my drawing of a very young Michael Jackson. RIP.

Making a Mark Survey (June)

Before I start - a quick reminder that you have two days left to vote on Which is your preferred media for painting plein air? (or choose more than one if used regularly). The survey is in the right hand column (scroll down).

The results will be posted on Tuesday 30th June and a new survey will be posted on Wednesday 1st July.

Art Blogs

Some of my recent sketches of people in interiors in London
pencil or pen and ink and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

First an apology. I've had all sorts of problems with the feed and related statistics for Making a Mark reviews...... but since sorting the problem out I've discovered that my new blog now has very nearly 100 subscribers. Many thanks to all of you who have been subscribing - and welcome to my review blog! Sorry it took a while for me to catch up on just how many of you are reading it!

Drawing and sketching

• Danny Gregory (Danny Gregory) has joined Urban Sketchers. You can also check out this video of Danny Gregory and Richard Bell (Wild West Yorkshire Nature Diary)
• Lindsay Olsen (Non Linear Arts)shares how she makes Four Needle Coptic Bound Journal
• Sheona Hamilton Grant (Black on grey on white) has a detailed post about Some of my scribble friends
• I went sketching in Hampsead last Friday - see Hampstead - Flask Walk, Burgh House and John Constable. Plus I also posted about
  
• Lunch in the National Cafe #2
• Sketching at the RA - The Friends Room #4 and #5

Coloured pencils and pastels

• Gayle Mason (Fur in the Paint) has completed Another Miniature Cat on Hahnemuhle Paper and comments on the paper she used. She's now working on a fox!
• You can see how The Pastel Journal celebrated its 10th anniversary in The Pastel Journal's IAPS 10th Anniversary Celebration
• I'm loving Loriann Signori's (loriann signori's painting-a-day) plein air works in watercolour and pastel of summer woods and fields. It's always good to see people posting on their blogs about what they've been observing and creating plein air (and in the right season!)

Painters

• Duane Keiser (A Painting A Day) is going to be spending the month of July painting the ladnscape of Northeast Harbor in the Arcadia National Park in Maine - I'll be keeping an eye on his blog to see what pops up!
• Tracy Hall (Watercolour Artist Diary) has been producing miniature bird paintings of late - check out
• Blackbird miniature painting
• Pheasant miniature painting
• Oystercatchers miniature watercolour painting
• Collared Dove in Miniature
• Jeff Hayes (Jeffrey Hayes - Contemporary Still Life Paintings) reviewed painter and blogger Karin Jurick (A Painting Today) in June Guest Artist: Karin Jurick
• Nel's Everyday Paintingis looking good - some nice bright still life paintings of Forelle Pears.
• The BBC announced that a Banksy mural defaced with paint from paint balloons. One wonders whether it's connected with this Banksy reworking of an original Damien Hirst 'spots painting currently on exhibition in Bristol Museum. Paintrushes or paint balloons at dawn boys?
  

ALERT: On Tuesday 30th June, you can see a BBC programme David Hockney, A Bigger Picture (Tuesday, 10.35pm), he discusses moving back to his Bradford birthplace from Los Angeles after a personal crisis left him "feeling alone and empty".

Filmed over three years with unprecedented access, this documentary captures the return from California of England's favourite living artist.

Art Group Blogs

• Week 39 & 40 Challenge - Rower in Lake Michigan is the latest challenge for Different Strokes from Different Folks. I do love the way Karin provides pointers about things to think about with every challenge.
  
• Members of Watermarks have been observing and looking at patterns in Beach patterns and Looking at pattern in the landscape or seascape. I think I feel a challenge coming on!

Art Business and Marketing

• Seth Godin (Seth's blog) has been writing about fads and trends - their growth and decline - and 'stayers' in Fast in, fast out and about The paradox of the middle of the market. Can you see how this also applies to art?
• Tony Moffitt (Tony Moffitt's Art Blog) has a post offering insights into gallery perspectives - Gallery Prefers Older, Reliable Artists
• Joanne Mattera's post on her blog Joanne Mattera Art Blog in May about The Vanity Galleries has precipitated another post this month The Follow Up. Well worth reading
  
• If you've ever wondered about marketing via Twitter this example from an independent musician might give you some ideas as a starting point How an Indie Musician can make $19,000 in 10 hours using Twitter

Art Collectors

• Lisa Call (Lisa Call Textile Art) shows you how to live with the art you make and the art you collect in this post

Art Competitions

• For all those artists producing small works - take a look at my post about the ING Discerning Eye 2009 - call for entries. PLUS I've now had confirmation from the organisers that this art competition is indeed open to an international entry - if you can resolve the issues re logistics
  

Art Education / workshops / Tips and techniques

Art Education

• Michael Chesley Johnson (A Plein Air Painter's Blog) has developed an online study programe Prepare for Plein Air! You can check out his free value basics video
• This is the BBC on the topic of Painting with Acrylics
  

Workshops

• Drawing From Digital- Contemporary life drawing workshop Tate Modern I don't often see workshops like this - and yet this is significant new media influencing how art is developing

This experimental one-day workshop presents a contemporary take on the traditional life class. It incorporates hi- and low-tech digital media and performance to create an inspiring visual experience, presenting the life model in a completely new way. Participants creatively respond to the life model in the digitally manipulated environment using analogue techniques such as drawing and collage as well as simple digital tools (printed and photocopied images).

Tips - working plein air

• I wrote about The Magic Hour - which includes a link to a website which enables you to work out when this is on any day of the year anywhere in the world

The Magic Hour
8" x 10", coloured pencils on Arches HP
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Tips and Techniques - photographing artwork

• Guest Blogger Sarah Schoenfeld writes about How To Photograph Your Artwork To Sell Or Display Online on Tony Moffitt's Art Blog
  
• Stacey Petersen writes about her practical experience of Photographing Oil Paintings - with example images - in Blank Canvas (what a great name for a blog!)
• You can also find great tips in
  
• Photography Tech Tips from the New York Institute of Photography
• articles about photography in the Resources Centre part of Photography Corner
• the Photography Resources forum of the Online Professional Visual Artists Forum

Art Exhibitions

• I posted my review of the Summer Exhibition Exhibition review: The Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition 2009 and also highlighted the Not the Royal Academy exhibition at the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery.
• I went to see a couple of exhibitions last week:
• David Hockney - Drawing in a Printing Machine at Annely Juda Fine Art. This was very enjoyable and I'm now trying to work out how to get hold of an image I can use for a review.
  
• By way of contrast, I spotted the Tracey Emin: Those who suffer Love exhibition at Jay Jopling's White Cube as I walked down Duke Street and went to have a look. I didn't think I liked her work and this confirmed it. Quite a lot of it is graphic beyond belief, I do NOT recommend a visit and I don't think I'm going to bother looking at any more of her work. I also really do wonder about what sort of person buys it.
• I'm a huge fan of James McNeil Whistler's work and I wish I could get to see Portraits, Pastels, Prints: Whistler in the Frick Collection June 2 through August 23, 2009
• Gesa Helms (paint and pastel) has posted a useful review of what her art group learned from their recent exhibition in Exhibition rewind. She comments on preparation and logistics, who came, who bought, what took the time and what didn't get done. Good for those thinking of putting on group exhibitions.
• If you like The One Show you might be interested in The One Show's Summer Exhibition

Art Museums and Galleries

• I wrote about the National Gallery - new website and paintings for iphones
• The City of Cologne's Historic Archive was the richest collection of medieval records of northern continental Europe. It survived World War II but the building which housed it fell into a massive hole in March - created after tunnelling for a new Underground line generated a major collapse. The Salvage operation after Cologne archive disaster now estimates that 85% has been retrieved - but that recreating the catalogue for it all may take up to 30 years.
  

Art Studios

• You can see a panoramic way of looking at Roz Stendhal's studio in Roz's studio #1 and Roz's studio #2 on Gigapan - it's all looking very organised to me!
  

Art Supplies

• Michael Chesley Johnson (A Plein Air Painter's Blog) writes about his experiment with Grumbacher's Water-Miscible Oils

• Roz Stendhal of Roz Wound Up comments on
  
• More Commercially Made Sketchbooks
• Trying Out some Watercolors from Daniel Smith

Book reviews

• I found a new bookshop this week - see Art Bookshop Review: Thomas Heneage Art Books in Making a Mark reviews......
• Readers may recall a series of posts I did earlier this year which focused on what sort of art books we wanted - and had a go at the trend towards dumbing down books. I've no problem with there being good art instruction books for novices - just so long as there are good books for people wanting a more advanced level too. The Art Newspaper has an item this month on If arts journalism is in trouble, what about publishing? - it's written by the Managing Director of Thames and Hudson and it's a very interesting read

Websites and Blogging

• This is Mashable's compendium post about Tweetable Art: 10 Twitter Tips for Artists
  
• This is how Google Analytics collects data
• Harking back to Seth Godin - for every massive trend, there comes a crash in poplarity - see this article about how MySpace is forced to slash workforce as social network users flock to Facebook

and finally........

The Daily Telegraph has reports that Angel of the North sculptor and Royal Academician Antony Gormley will appear in The Archers - that well known tale of countryfolk on Radio 4. Now I've heard everything!