Hidden16 x 12 on Arches
copyright Gayle Mason
First, the Annual National Exhibition of Wildlife Art opened on Friday. Its excellent online gallery opened at the same time and is permits buyers to reserve works for purchase online. So sensible!Intensity
16" x 12" on colourfix
copyright Gayle Mason
16" x 12" on colourfix
copyright Gayle Mason
My good friend Gayle Mason has had two works accepted this year - which you can see above and on the right. You can follow how Intensity was developed on Gayle's blog Fur in the Paint
- Wolf in acrylic and coloured pencil
- Wolf - continued
- Mixed Media Wolf- part 3
- Wolf Continued
- Wolf Finished, Snow Leopard Started
- finishing with what it feels like to get that letter of selection... National Exhibition of Wildlife Art - NEWA
Art Blogs
Drawing and sketching
- Trees Challenge: Vivien (Painting Prints and Stuff) has a paint or sketch trees challenge.
The challenge is to produce sketches of trees done from life.
- Vivien will be producing a thread with links to responses at the end of the challenge - in the meantime here are a few of them:
- Jeanette (Illustrated Life) has Trees and sketching, Old Larch, Pond and Trees in Bulk
- Robyn has produced Early Tree Sketches and Tree No3
- Ronell has been drawing trees in ink
- Rocks Challenge: while Jeanette (Illustrated Life) has a draw/paint rocks challenge!
- Drawing on My Notes presents a wonderful word picture about drawing in the Amazon on Drawing the Motmot - as well as the great drawings in this post.
- I went to Highgrove - the home of Prince of Wales and his family - for a tour of what is a very impressive garden - all created in the last 30 years. My challenge was to try and sketch while on a garden tour. Absolutely no cameras or photographs are allowed - and I got very good at 2 minute sketches while on the tour!
- Downloading my colour memory is about one of the issues associated with sketches which only take 2 minutes while following a garden tour
- A visit to Highgrove - Thyme Walk and Lime Avenue views of and from the rear of the house
- A view of Tetbury - is what you can see front the front door of Highgrove
I like Karin Jurick's latest challenge - Week 41 - 43 Challenge - Man Resting on Metal Chair - on Different Strokes from Different Folks. It focuses on getting the figure right. I absolutely agree with Karin's point about people avoiding including figures because they don't feel confident drawing them. Practice is to my mind the only way forward on this one.
Images of sketching people in interiors in London- see Interior Landscapes - Drawings by Katherine Tyrrell
copyright Katherine Tyrrell
- Last week I posted 10 "Dos and Don'ts" for how to draw people while eating based on just a little experince. It focuses on the practical issues relating to keep your host happy.
I frequently draw people in public places while eating in public places as restaurants, cafes and gallery tea rooms. In fact I've drawn in cafes and restaurants all over the world - in the UK, Europe, North America, Asia and Australia.
- while Roz Stendhal (Roz Wound Up) wrote back in June about Being Happy with the Little Bits—or Keep on Pushing to See Where It Goes: Part One
- Watch a video of Tracy Hall painting a miniature work of art in watercolour - and just keep reminding yourself of the size of the work while you're watching - it's 2.25" x 1.75" watercolour on board. You can see the finished work in Rose painting in miniature on her blog Watercolour Artist Diary
- There's an interview with painter Joanne Mattera (who writes Art Marketing Mondays) on Making the Art Seen. This is a blog which is a non-commercial virtual gallery featuring art interviews. It's a fascinating account of the experiences of creativity in her life, her painting and blogging about art. She also has soem great advice for artists starting out. There are two posts:
- Take a look at the work of Erik Johansson who is the most highly rated artist on Artist a Day. Absolutely stunning work in terms of both concept and execution. This is an interview with an artist who is operating at the edge of reality.
- This is the the Prix Pictet - the world’s first prize dedicated to photography and sustainability - and the 2009 shortlist. It's sponsored by the Financial times and this is the FT article commenting on The 2009 Prix Pictet shortlisted photographs
- Annie Bisset (Woodcut Dream) shared a Woodcut Instructional Film (1968)
- I came across Matt Brown's work - traditional Japanese woodcuts of the New England countryside and coastline. He produces hand-rubbed color woodblock prints made using the Japanese hanga method. I then found his website Matt Brown Woodblock Prints - and his gallery of work. I particularly like his prints from the moutains and am very taken with Pemaquid from Little Thrumcap (as in finger hovering over the order button!) I then saw Annie had written about him in Workshop With Matt Brown. I also found another website about his moka-hanga work.
- Belinda Del Pesco has been showing us how to do monoprints and collographs
On Sketchercise most of us are losing weight and some of us are even getting into trousers a size smaller! (Preen!) :)
- Jana Bouc did us proud this week with her first bike ride in two years - read Amazing Grace: “Sketchercizing” on the S.F. Bay Trail on Jana's Journal. Just a quick note to those inclined to apply to join us. If you've not been sketchercising already then you'll be asked to join Sketchercise on Flickr first and show us your results. Experience to date is that people ask to join a group because it exists and not because they want to participate in the activity of a group.
Art Business and Marketing
I'm starting with two books which are getting good reviews. the first is aimed more at artists and the second more at galleries but also of interest to artists.
- First The Artist's Guide: How to Make a Living Doing What You Love by Jackie Battenfield (The Artist's Guide). This book is getting some absolutely fantastic reviews. Read Making a Living As an Artist by Annie Bisset - Woodblock Dreams and Joanne Mattera's - Joanne Mattera Art Blog review in this "Marketing Mondays" post.
- Next Ed Winkelman's (edward_winkelman) new book How to Start and Run a Commercial Art Gallery which was
published this week. Read Marketing Mondays: What Artists Should Know About Running a Gallery for why artists should read it too.
- Ed also highlights an article in The Art Newspaper (How to beat the recession: cut costs, slash prices, don’t lie and be creative (Archive) - which is only accessible to those who subscribe - however he provides some highlights in his blog in Your First Recession as a Dealer? Must-Read Advice in The Art Newspaper. It should give food for thought to artists who have not adjusted their own prices during the recession. he also references his earlier post about Starting a Commercial Art Gallery in This Economy
- Yey! Joanne Mattera (Joanne Mattera Art Blog) has also written about the other side of the gallery equation - Marketing Mondays: How to Reject a Gallery. Lots of great responses to turning down a gallery who might be interested. It's also a great potted education in the way some galleries can behave and why you need to do your research!
- Lisa Call has a new art business blog called MakeBigArt. It's about empowering artists and her early posts are chock full of helpful tips. Here's some examples:
- Facebook Fan Page – Practical Tips - masses of illustrated 'how to's
- The Power of Responsibility
- Motivation by Accountability
- She's also been writing about Following My Path on her main blog Contempoarry Textile Art. An interesting reflection on what happens when you don't get a good fit between coach and student. I have to confess I lean towards the transparenty ethos.
- Luann Udell (Luann Udell) has written about CUSTOMER CARE: Repair the Goods, Repair the Relationship
- for those interested in showing at the Ann Arbor Art Fairs, Anna (See. Be. Draw. ) has done a very interesting analysis of activity at these fairs in Art fair statistics 2009
With over 1,000 participating artists and over 500,000 visitors, the art fairs are together one of the largest art fairs in the United States.
Art Exhibitions
- The British Museum has announced a once in a lifetime show of Italian renassance drawings - you can see a slideshow in Italian Renaissance drawings at the British Museum: from Leonardo to Lorenzo di Credi
The 100 or so works will span the period 1400-1510 and artists including Jacopo and Gentile Bellini, Botticelli, Filippo Lippi, Mantegna, Michelangelo and Raphae
- Radical Nature Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet 1969–2009 is on at the Barbican until October. It includes an installation in Dalston which seeks to replicate the wheat fields planted in Battery park by Agnes Denes. You can see photos - but nowhere does it say where that wheat field is!
- On Tuesday I published my Exhibition Review of The Highgrove Florilegium at the Garden Museum. This is a 'must see' for all botanical art fans. This is a video report from report from BBC news about the 2nd edition of the Highgrove Florilegium - Expensive royal book on display published to coincide with the opening. Both volumes I and II form part of this historic exhibition. This is the Garden Museum's website.
- Holly Bedrosian (Holly Bedrosian Fine Art) has a post about the Salmagundi Club Non-Member Show Reception
- Tony Moffitt (Tony Moffitt's Art Blog) reminds us of the importance of recognising our exhibitions aren't the only thing which is happening and of Finding The Right Date
Artists Communities and Art Forums
- Wet Canvas has a new logo. The globe and the coloured paint splashes have gone and, if I'm honest, what's left is an extremely boring logo!
Art History
- After reading the prologue to Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo on the Wall Street Journal, I've decided to introduce a new section about Provenance to Art History & the History of Art - Resources for Art Lovers
- The Art Newspaper reports Royal Collection opts out of oil painting survey which based on the article seems like a very odd decision. See Art of the state - and the state of the art for more about the exercise to catalogue all oil paintings in public ownership.
- James Gurney (Gurney Journey) had a nice post Midday Near Moscow with great links about the Russian landscape painter Ivan Shishkin (1832-1898). I keep thinking I need to learn more about Russian artists!
Colour
- What Color Could You Use More Of? in Psychology Today by Karen Leland in The Perfect Blend
Copyright
On Friday my post about the National Portrait Gallery versus Wikipedia - Round Two! summarised a number of links in this fracas. I hope everybody works towards a constructive solution of this one.Tips and techniques
- Kelli Money Huff has written a really great post about Photo phobia on Hershberger & Huff Studios. This will give you a sense of the post.
My creative partner (in books, teaching, blog, Etsy, blah, blah, blah) Carlynne Hershberger had to learn to photograph our artwork for our first book(Creative Colored Pencil Workshop). I say "she had to" because if we had depended on me to do it, our publisher would still be waiting and I would be under my bed in the fetal position sobbing and mumbling to myself.
- Continuing the photography theme, a nice post by Jeanette showing how she is Making decisions with technology to review her photographs prior to creating her art
- Yesterday - I posted about another way of Correcting colour: another way to stop your white paper looking grey
Websites, webware and blogging
- Alyson B Stanfield (Art Biz Blog) has wrritten about What to tweet and How to reply to tweets on Twitter. For what it's worth, I'm no longer following people for one of two reasons - low content quality (ie what I'm interested in) to frequency of tweet ratio and staccato tweeting (you know the one - 6-8 tweets in quick succession).
and finally........
The very frequent mantra for artists when a recession bites is to focus on how you're marketing your art. The same holds true for the larger art organisations.Sales at the auction houses are some 70% down on last summer. However, following the success of bidding via its live website, Christies (the Auction House founded 1766) has come up with a new wheeze. It's created an iPhones app for its auctions. You can browse sales and catalogues and check auction results. A couple of articles about it follow:
I thought the same thing about the new WetCanvas logo. Too plain. What were they thinking?
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