What types of art book do you like best? (MAM Poll Results)

The April Making A Mark Poll looked at What types of art book do you like best?  

The headline results (below) completely contradict the direction art instruction publishers have been taking of late - towards 'dumbing down' and ever simpler books for beginners with lots of pictures and very little text. 

Right click the image to open a larger version of the chart.

Of the people who responded to this poll:

• over 90% emphatically do NOT want books for beginners!  Less than 10% wanted books about basic principles or step by step basic books
• over half of you (53%) want 'how to' books which target the 'advanced' level of artist
• just under half of you (47%) like 'how to' books which address a specific topic
• over half of you (53%) like books about an artist
• around a quarter of you collect exhibition catalogues

In other words the 74 people who provided 229 responses to the poll on this blog are artists who have moved quite a long way beyond first base, who want to improve their art but who look to the art and practice of other artists and advanced level instruction to do so.

You also like on average about three different types of art books!  It's clear you read art history books and collect exhibition catalogues just as much as you seek out the type of art instruction you favour.  That to me speaks of people who appreciate that there is much to learn from the practices of other artists in both the past and the present.  I expect you all probably go to a fair few exhibitions too!

Commentary on this poll

To my mind, these poll results amplify the very many comments you've made on this blog whenever I've written about art books in the past.  You have identified a lack of new books which adequately address your book buying preferences.  Again and again in the past you've commented on the lack of adequate instruction for advanced artists.

In my experience, I've noted that the very best in the advanced books tend to have quite a bit of text as well as excellent quality images - in complete contrast to the 'dumbed down' books which publishers plead is "what the market wants".

I'd suggest that what this poll indicates is that there is a market for books which place an emphasis on good quality in-depth information and are written for an intelligent and experienced audience.

I've personally found that my book buying and reading habits have completely changed in the last year.  I've now found an excellent source for library books, I've started exploring digital versions of old art books and I've started buying used books - as the quality of books published in the past often far exceeds the majority of current offerings.  It's also clear that when somebody does produce a book which is very specialised and provides good content to an advanced level that it will sell very well.

Consider for example James Gurney's book Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist.  On publication it became the #1 art instruction book on Amazon - and yet its structure and content was devised by its author and it is not published by one of the major art publishing houses.  Sometimes the artist/teacher/author does KNOW what's needed!

Resources for Artists

For those wanting to review the selections of art books that I've created in my 'resources for artists' series you may want to bookmark these sites which are updated on a regular basis.  They include: art instruction books, art history books and exhibition catalogues.

• Artists' Favourite Art Books (influenced by a poll on this blog)
• The Best Art Books - Colour (developed based on a project on this blog)
• The Best Art Books - Composition and Design  (developed based on a project on this blog)
• The Best Books about Drawing and Sketching (originally based on a project on this blog; it continues to be updated based on recommendations)
• The Best Books about Watercolour Painting (being developed using your recommendations)
• The Best Botanical Art Books (based on own collection and recommendations of others)
  
  

  The Best Reference Books for Artists 

  Art Bookshops - Resources for Artists

  
  

More Making A Mark Opinion Polls

You can find more Making A Mark Polls

• either by clicking on this blog category label opinion poll
• or by consulting this site which provides a quick overview of all the monthly Making A Mark Opinion Polls to date The Making A Mark Poll - Resources for Artists

The next post will be a new Making A Mark opinion Poll for May. 

Exhibition: RI Painters in Watercolour

 Paintings of the Hebrides by Bob Rudd RI
winner of the Turner Watercolour Prize for 'Skye from Arisaig' (top left)

The 198th Annual Exhibition of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours opened last week and continues at the Mall Galleries until 1st May.

I went earlier this week and I have to say it was a real tonic!  I don't normally indulge in comparisons but to my mind it was much better than the recent Spring Show by the Royal Watercolour Society.  The latter looks at times as if it's trying to too hard to be a contemporary gallery located right next to Tate Modern rather than playing to its strengths of focusing on a medium which many people really like

The features of this particular exhibition by the RI which I most liked were as follows:

• this was not a 'play it safe in the recession' exhibition of the kind I've seen of late.  There was a good mix of work of different sizes and lots of good big works with real impact.
• lots of work with really great colour - it really lifts the senses walking round.  I had a smile on my face much of the time!
• the framing on most of the works really helped with the overall impression.  Neutral or white frames really helped work bounce off the walls
• an exhibition by a watercolour society with lots of variety in the styles of watercolour painting on display
• pure watercolours that looked like watercolours!  In other words artists who were exploiting the using watercolour paints to achieve the different effects which are possible.  It's not an exhibition which has become swamped by acrylics to the detriment of pure watercolour.
• Using the Small North Room to display small paintings worked very well as they were not swamped by the larger paintings

The proof of course is 'in the pudding' and there were LOTS of red spots on the walls and I gather business has been brisk all week.  Thwere certainly a lot of visitors there when I was there.

I'm sorry I'm writing this with only two days left to see it - but if you have a chance do try and get to the Mall Galleries.  If you don't and you love watercolours I suggest you make a date for next year.  Plus if you enjoy painting watercolours why not try entering next year's exhibition.  This is how to exhibit with the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours.

TIP:  For the record, those who were candidates for admission as member had produced good quality suites of paintings generally on a theme.  These typically showed a strong unity of style across the suite and it struck me that most were representative of the type of subjects that each candidate prefers to paint

examples of paintings by candidates for RI membership

Now for who won what!

The most stunning set of paintings were Bob Rudd's paintings of the Hebrides (see top) which were amazing.  One of them won The Turner Award and was very well deserved.

 Wardrobe by Alice Hall

Alice Hall won the Winsor & Newton Young Artist Prize with her painting of Wardrobe.  What a brilliant way of painting a self-portrait!  Plus I admire the confidence to not even try and tidy up! ;)  Alice graduated in Fine Art from The University of Newcastle Upon Tyne in 2007.

The Anthony J Lester award went to Chris Myers RI, RBA for Snowed In

Snowed In by Chris Myers RI RBA

The Frank Herrings & Son Easel awards went to David P Williams for Eggingham before the snow

Eggingham before the snow by David P Williams

Terry McGivrigan RI won the Arts Club Award for Kensington Scenography.  He paintings using acrylics in the studio working from sketches which are generally done in watercolour. I really like his work.


Kevin Hughes RI won the Buzzacott Award for his watercolour painting of Heckwood Quarry, Dartmoor


As ever I liked I loved Colin Allbrooks very landscapes with very subtle coloured 'mouse' colours

paintings by Colin Allbrook 

Sofia Perina-Miller's large painting of Sunflowers was very exuberant Sofia was born in Leningrad and moved to Scotland in 2000 and has been very inspired by the floral art of Charles Rennie MacIntosh

paintings by various artists in North Gallery

Anna Dudley Neill RI's technique was very curious and resulted in me having my nose up close to her paintings trying to work out how she was making marks

Anne McCormack's figurative paintings in a sketchy style of acrylic were most attractive

Paintings by Anne McCormack RI SWA

BP Portrait Award 2010 - Shortlist announced

The National Portrait Gallery has announced a record number of entries for the 2010 BP Portrait Award which has enormous international prestige as well as a £25,000 first prize.

The Portrait Award aims to encourage artists to focus upon, and develop, the theme of painted portraiture within their work - and has been doing so very successfully for the last 31 years.

This year 58 portraits have been selected from the 2,177 entries in this 31st year of the award. International artists aged 18 and over submitted their work for a major exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery which runs from 24 June until 19 September 2010.

There were 276 more entries than last year making this a record year for entries.

The Annual Exhibition for the BP Portrait Award is one of the Top 10 Art Exhibitions in the UK and has helped the National Portrait Gallery to rank as the 17th most popular art museum in the world in 2oo9

The 2010 BP Portrait Award Shortlist

The three artists shortlisted for the 2010 award are:

• David Eichenberg for Tim II;
• Michael Gaskell for Harry and
• Daphne Todd OBE PPRP, NEAC for Last Portrait of Mother.

Below you can find the bios and narratives about the artists supplied by the National Portrait Gallery.

The birthdates after their name are relevant to the BP Young Artist Award of £4,000 for the work of an entrant aged between 18 and 30. None are eligible - which means it's going to be one of the other 55!

It's great to see a really excellent portrait of somebody of African heritage. I've got a high res image of this and this painting in egg tempera is meticulous and very fine.

The portrait of Daphne Todd's mother is shocking at one level and yet there is a long tradition of creating images of people on their death beds and this one carries huge emotional intensity.

It's difficult to call at the moment, without seeing the portraits in person, but my guess is that the award will go to either Michael Gaskell who placed second last year and has been shortlisted prior to this or Daphne Todd, former first female President of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.

David Eichenberg (21.03.72) for Tim II.

Tim II 2009 by David Eichenberg
Oil on Panel
13.25" x 12.75"(without frame)
21.25" x 20.75" (with frame)
Copyright: © David Eichenberg

David Eichenberg studied art at the University of Toledo in his home town. While he has exhibited throughout the United States, this is his first BP exhibited work. His portrait shows his friend, the sculptor Timothy A. Stover, seated at a metal bandsaw in the fabrication shop in which he works, located directly below the artist's studio in an old warehouse in Toledo, Ohio. The artist wanted the painting to read like a work by Holbein, where every item in the portrait represents an aspect of the sitter such as the highlighted shape on the wall representing a map of Ohio, where Tim was born and living at the time of the sitting.

Michael Gaskell (18.08. 63) for Harry

Harry by Michael Gaskell
egg tempera
Copyright: © Michael Gaskell

Gaskell, who has exhibited throughout Britain and was second prize winner at last year's BP Portrait Award is an artist from Sheffield, recently relocated to Leicester, who only got to know his sitter, Harry, when he agreed to sit for him. Having seen the sitter whilst he was out shopping with his family, Michael was persuaded to approach him by his wife. In the resulting portrait which was completed in a short burst of intense work over the winter of 2009-10, Gaskell tried to evoke a sense of what had drawn him to Harry, but he hopes that the image is also informed by what he gained from hearing about the sitter's experiences and aspirations.

Daphne Todd (27.03. 47) for Last portrait of Mother.

Last portrait of mother by Daphne Todd
Copyright: © Daphne Todd

Daphne Todd, from East Sussex, has been selected for the BP Portrait Award exhibition for the third time. This is her first BP shortlisted portrait (though she won 2nd prize in the Gallery's Portrait Award in 1984.) She attended the Slade School of Fine Art and was the first woman president of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. She has chosen to portray her mother Annie Mary Todd on her death bed and thereby to create a devotional study. Daphne says her mother, who had just celebrated her 100th birthday having lived with the artist for her last 14 years, had given permission for her daughter to paint her.

Judges and Prizes

This year's panel of judges made the selection from the original paintings submitted for the competition. The judges were:

• Sandy Nairne, Director, National Portrait Gallery, London (Chair)
• Sir David Scholey CBE, Senior Adviser, UBS Investment Bank and former Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery, London
• Ishbel Myerscough, artist and 1995 First Prize winner of the BP Portrait Award
• Christine Rew, Art Gallery & Museums Manager, Education, Culture & Sport, Aberdeen City Council
• Sarah Howgate, Contemporary Curator, National Portrait Gallery, London
• Des Violaris, Director, UK Arts and Culture, BP

In addition to a prize of £25,000, the winner of the BP Portrait Award will receive a commission worth £4,000. The second prize will be £8,000 and third £6,000. For the fourth year there will be a BP Young Artist Award of £4,000 for the work of an entrant aged between 18 and 30. The award and the winners of the prizes will be announced on the evening of Tuesday 22 June.


Note: BP PORTRAIT AWARD 2010 AND BP TRAVEL AWARD 2009

• Wolfson Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place, London, WC2H 0HE Admission free From 24 June until 19 September 2010
• In 2010-11 the exhibition will tour to Usher Gallery, Lincoln, and Aberdeen Art Gallery.

Links:

• Portraiture - Resources for Artists
• Past winners of the The Portrait Award
  

CPSA 18th Annual Exhibition: selected artists and work

The Colored Pencil Society of America (CPSA) has published the list of artists and work selected for its 18th Annual International Exhibition at Los Gatos in California (22nd July 2010 - 20th August 2010).

The Juror is entirely independent of the Society. This year the juror making the selection was Janet Bishop, Curator of Painting and Sculpture, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

I can see a lot of familiar names, a number which I don't know - but will be checking out - and some well known names which are missing this year.

However I'd like to offer my congratulations to all the artists selected this year as I know each and everyone will have worked hard to achieve their selection.

Artists and work selected for the
18th Annual exhibition of the Colored Pencil society of America

First Name	Last Name	Title of Artwork	State
Teresa	Allen	Tropic Sun	OR
Bonnie	Auten, CPSA	Labino Tribute	MI
Cecile	Baird, CPSA	Any Way you Slice It	OH
Jeffrey	Baisden, CPSA	Cross Creek	FL
Carole	Bardes	Giant Lily Pads on the Amazon	FL
Melinda	Beavers, CPSA	Sleepy Bears	NM
Holly	Bedrosian	Quiet Moment	NH
Jody	Beighley	Not a Through Street	WI
Pamela	Belcher, CPSA	Water Totem	WA
Kathryn	Belletire	Shinwazerie	IL
David	Billingsley	Seattle Ambience	OR
Jeannette	Buckley	From Marcia's Garden	FL
Pamela	Burroughs	Hannah's Bug Box	IN
Susan	Calderon	Silicon	GA
Mikela	Cameron	Too Close	CA
Jennifer	Carpenter, CPSA	Glass Harvest	VA
Susan	Casault	Double Gaze	Canada
J.Y.	Chang	Ribbons of Color	CA
Karen	Coleman, CPSA	Cecropia Moth	VA
Valerie	Coulman	Once Upon A Time	OR
Susan	D'Amico, CPSA	Image	OR
Julie	Douglas	Himself	Ireland
Shawn	Falchetti, CPSA	Opaline Dreams	PA
Jenn	Falcon	All is Quiet	MA
David	Fonseca	107 Cubic Inches	KS
Joan	Ganz	Homage to the Lady Yang	NY
Lori	Garner, CPSA	Head Rush	TX
Mary	Geissenhainer	Orange Crush	MD
Joan	Gelblat, CPSA	After the Storms	GA
Jeff	George, CPSA	Greetings from El	CA
Carolyn	Haas, CPSA	The Redeye	PA
Betty	Hafner	6:19 PM	MD
Shinji	Harada, CPSA	Grape in Basket	Japan
Janice	Hargrave	Crossed Legs	MO
Betty	Hendrix	Pie in the Sky	NC
Suzanne	Hunter, CPSA	Putting Down Roots	TX
Cynthia	Knox	Flame	NY
Maryann	Kot	Red Pears with Crock	AZ
Betty	Lehnus	New Mexico Sky, November	NM
Heidi	Lindberg, CPSA	Lime Light	WA
Betty	Love	Lord of the Dance	FL
Linda	Mahoney, CPSA	In Search of Rousseau	TX
Deborah	Maklowski	What's Next?	MD
Katya	Malkin	Abby	PA
Teresa	Mallen	Neptune's Leaves	Canada
Karla	Mann	Mister Big	VA
Suzanne	Marcil	In a Purple Haze	FL
James	Mateer, CPSA	Rooftops of Aubeterre	OH
Cynthia	Mazzaferro	Raindrops and Itsy-Bitsy-Spider	CT
Jane	McCreary, CPSA	Harmony	AZ
Karen	Merritt	Red Tag Sale	NE
Sheila	Minnich,CPSA	I Think I'm Seeing Spots	OK
Gene	Mlekoday, CPSA	Loons and Lillypads	MN
Rose	Moon, CPSA	Come to My House	AZ
Cynthia	Morris, CPSA	Look on the Bright Side	MO
Kay	Mowery	Tormented but Triumphant	NC
Glenda	Mullins	Petunia Profusion	OK
Rhonda	Nass, CPSA	Illuminated Lupine	WI
Melissa Miller	Nece, CPSA	Sunset Rider	FL
Eileen	Nistler, CPSA	Riding the Fence	WY
Gretchen	Parker, CPSA	Sunshine Shadows	SC
Paula	Parks, CPSA	Hot Stuff	WA
Elizabeth	Patterson, CPSA	Ventura Boulevard at Laurel Canyon, 10pm	CA
Elizabeth	Patterson	Waiting	ME
Carol	Pederson	Thoughts of The Future, A Senior Portrait	MN
Paula	Pertile	Twix Mini	CA
Sue	Porcaro	Red & Green #2	CT
Laurene	Puls, CPSA	Trudging Turtle	OH
Henry	Ransom	Earth Elements: Mesa	GA
Joan E.	Robertson, CPSA	Birds of a Feather - Not	IL
Dean	Rogers	A Moment of Wonder	MI
Barbara	Rogers, CPSA	Windswept	CA
Ester	Roi	The Lightness of Being	CA
Helen	Rowles	Desert Bride	AZ
Nadine	Saitlin	Imagination at Play	FL
Catherine	Sawner	Vertigo Canyon	AZ
Sheila	Scannelli, CPSA	A Diamond in the Rough	OH
Lynda	Schumacher, CPSA	The Hand of Man	MI
Terry	Sciko, CPSA	He Sailed Off into the Sunset	OH
Carol	Scott	Crystal #3	LA
Patricia	Scott, CPSA	The Mills Are Gone	MN
Megan	Seiter	Confections	CA
Patricia	Sharpe	Friend	TN
Gail	Shelton, CPSA	A Wrinkle in Time	LA
Judith	Shepelak, CPSA	Lady on Display	IL
Bill	Shoemaker	Aw Shucks	FL
Jill	Silver	Goldens Bridge Ruler	NC
Lee	Sims	The Three Graces	NY
Holly	Siniscal	Dreadful	NV
David	Smith, CPSA	When Opportunity Calls	CA
John	Smolko, CPSA	Passion	OH
Dianna	Soisson	Caught Up in the Moment	MI
Eileen	Sorg, CPSA	Track 1	WA
Laura	Sorrell	Red Shift	TN
Shirley	Stallings, CPSA	Water Colors	WA
Arlene	Steinberg, CPSA	Needs Repair	NY
Yvonne	Stemp	Pretty Little Punk	PA
Sabyna	Sterrett, CPSA	Who Is James Parkinson?	VA
Jerri	Strid	Seeing Clearly	CA
Daren	Sylvester	Solitude on the Lake	LA
Nancy Wood	Taber, CPSA	Key to Opportunity	NM
Terry	Tallis	Peggy's Cove	OR
Robin	Tewes	Winter	NY
Lisa	Thomas	Heirlooms	IL
Wendy	Thompson, CPSA	Eye of Nasturtium	OR
John	Tolomei	In the Bathroom	CA
Brent	Topping	Baja Sunset	CA
Amy	Turner	Summoning The Ancestors	IL
Wendell	Unzicker	On the Road #2	NM
John	Ursillo	The Venture	WA
Paul	Van Heest, CPSA	Monkey Shines	MI
Sandra	Vaughn	At Cedar Bog	OH
Ranjini	Venkatachari	Primary Colors	WA
Al	Vesselli	Self-Portrait 2010	NJ
Dee	Wagoner	Deep	OR
Linda	Ward	Attitude IsEverything	LA
Cathy	Ward, CPSA	The Girl From Damon Texas	TX
Adam	Welch	Head On	NM
Helen Hogg	West, CPSA	Feed Me	WA
Sylvia	Westgard, CPSA	Minuet	IL
Scott	Westgard	Cumulus Clouds	IL
Faye	Wilkins	Johnny Rocket	FL
Kenneth	Woodworth	Reproduction	CA
Debra	Yaun, CPSA	My Garden Tapestry	GA

The exhibition is at the Art Museum of Los Gatos on the outskirts of San Jose, California. Its address is 4 Tait Avenue at W. Main Street, Los Gatos, CA 95030 (Google Map/Streetview) Tel: 408-354-2646 Open Wednesday through Sunday, 12:00 to 4:00 PM

Top 10 Art Exhibitions in the UK in 2009

Earlier this month I wrote about the Top 30 art galleries and museums in 2009. It was based on an article in The Art Newspaper about attendances at art museums and art exhibitions. Most of the article in fact focuses on the exhibitions

It ranks these according to the average number of visitors per day - which I have to confess I find to be a very curious way of ranking exhibitions. Surely if you know you've got a blockbuster then you'll try and fit in as many days as possible? More days = more people through the door = more income.

However according to this method of ranking having more days means your exhibition will not rank as well as one with a smaller number of visitors held on fewer days.

Which means I officially don't 'get it'.

Here's some reasons why.

• A successful exhibition for any museum these days has to be one which makes money as well as being intrinsically a 'good' exhibition from an artistic perspective.
• The costs of a large exhibition will always tend to have astronomical fixed costs associated with transporting art to and fro irrespective of the length of the exhibition - unless the exhibition is largely based on a museum's own collection. Hence I would have thought (this is the professional accountant in me coming out) that any museum would want to maximise the revenue earning potential in order to offset those heavy fixed costs.
  

To be honest I'm also not sure I totally believe all the figures submitted to the Art Newspaper. I do know which ones have staff with counters counting people into the exhibitions. However I've noticed others which are (shall we say) not as vigilant. Hence why I've raised an eyebrow or two over some of the results.

I can well imagine there might be a few raised eyebrows around the Art Newspaper too - and amongst other visitors and museum management and exhibition organisers. Roll on the day when there is a common standard for counting and it's verifiable!

The Art Newspaper/s article also provides top ten rankings for different types of exhibitions around the world.

Top Exhibitions in the UK

Two of the images from the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2009
copyright the photographers

The top 10 exhibitions in the UK in 2009 were according to the The Art Newspaper's methodology, the following

1. Saatchi Gallery | The Revolution Continues: New Chinese Art
   
2. Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery | Banksy vs Bristol Museum
   
3. Saatchi Gallery | Unveiled: New Art from the Middle East
4. Royal Academy of Arts | Anish Kapoor
5. National Portrait Gallery | BP Portrait Award 2009
6. National Portrait Gallery | Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2009
7. Tate Modern | Rothko
8. National Gallery | Corot to Monet - a fresh look at landscape from the collection
   
9. Royal Academy of Arts | Byzantium 330-1453
10. National Gallery | Picasso Prints: Challenging the Past

Which means 9 were in London, of which 6 were hosted by 3 museums - the Saatchi Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery.

Which means that the #2 ranked Museum in the World (the British Museum) did not contribute a single exhibition to the top 10. (see Top 10 art galleries and museums around the world)

However if you rework it according to actual visitor numbers then the list goes like this

1. Saatchi Gallery | The Revolution Continues Unveiled
2. Saatchi Gallery | New Art from the Middle East
3. Royal Academy of Arts | Byzantium 330-1453
4. Tate Modern | Rothko
5. Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery | Banksy vs Bristol Museum
6. National Portrait Gallery | BP Portrait Award 2009
7. Royal Academy of Arts | Anish Kapoor
8. National Portrait Gallery | Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize
9. Tate Britain | Francis Bacon
10. National Gallery | Picasso Prints: Challenging the Past

In this listing the Tate does very much better but over two sites.

Plus there's still an overwhelming amount of interest in art which does not come from the conventional western world.

I must confess I was surprised by the performance of the National Portrait Gallery - but it's always packed with visitors so I guess I shouldn't be. Especially as it's one of my favourite museums.

25th April 2010 - Who's made a mark this week?

West Smithfield ( Smithfield market in background)

11.5" x 17", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The drawing above is from my sketching trip on Friday which is told in The Courtauld, Old Bank of England and West Smithfield. Now the weather has perked up I'm expecting to be able to get out and about and sketch for longer than I've been doing recently. (Mind you I'm not quite sure where the blue skies and 22 degrees forecast for today have gone - so far we've had an ash cloud sky and rain!

Art Blogs

Area Based Art Group Blogs

These are blogs run by and for members of art groups which are associated with a particular area. More and more art groups are realising the sense of having a group blog which can promote the activities of individual members as well as the activities which they engage in as a group. It's the 2+2=6 equation. The more they do to promote the group and each other the more benefit there is for individual members.

One such group is the the South London Women Artists Group and SLWA Showcase is their blog. It is used to highlight:

• open studios
• group and solo exhibitions in which individual members are participating
• various activities of group members

SLWA was launched at Dulwich Picture Gallery in June 2008 and has a growing community of talented artists and a highly successful on-line showcase at www.southlondonwomenartists.co.uk

Thanks to Tina Mammoser and Susan Wood for highlighting the work of this group and the upcoming exhibition (see exhibitions listing below). Do also click the link and take a look at Susan's wonderful glass work.

I just wish there was a similar group for those of us who live in North London!

If you've got an area based art group blog why don't you let me know and I'll feature it in one of my Sunday posts.

Botanical Art

More posts about the Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists which finishes today.

• Botanical art in coloured pencils
• Society of Botanical Artists 2010 Prizewinners
  

I gave Flowers in Art - Resources for Artists a bit of revamp this week and it's now much better organised - and has added videos (with more to come). If you've not visited it before this site is aimed more at the artist who loves drawing and painting flowers but doesn't aspire to botanical accuracy (in the botanical art sense).

Drawing and sketching

• Cathy Gatland (A Sketch in Time) has done a simply splendid drawing of My Hill with a Pentel Brushpen. I'm now feeling like having a go at using one!
  
• Urban Sketchers caught my eye this month
  
• Yong Hwan Lee from Korea has been sketching in Europe this month - as we can see from his post on Urban sketchers - Five sketches in Europe.
• and Operation Arctic Care: Riding the Blackhawk (not quite sure where the urban bit comes in on this one!)

Painters and Painting

• Marc Hanson (Painting My Way Through Life) is repeating the exercise he undertook last year and is spending all of April painting the sping colours plein air in April 2009 Painting Marathon Redux. You need to review all his posts in April to see what has been happening.

• Following on from last week's feature about Julian Merrow Smith's new book I remembered to go and look at his wife Ruth's blog (Meanwhile here in France...) to see what she's been writing about the big event. This is a lovely post with lots of pics called Location Location Location

It is five years since our last painting and lunch day out at Sormiou, one of the calenques near Marseille. Then it was to celebrate the beginning of a project. Painting number 102 to be precise. Now it is to celebrate the launch of a book of that project. Painting number 1309.

• Charley Parker (Lines and Colors) introduces an artist new to me Daniel Keys

Art Business and Marketing

• ArtBiz Blog has a useful post about A Strategy for Asking People for Their Contact Information I can certainly endorse the notion that it's a really bad idea to leave a list of people's email names around in public - I will never ever sign a list that does that.
  

Art Competitions and Art Societies

Art competitions

Two calls for entries on my blog this week:

• The Threadneedle Prize for Painting and Sculpture - Threadneedle - just another art prize in 2010?
• The Sunday Times Watercolour Competition - Call for entries: Sunday Times Watercolour Competition

The artists selected for the BP Portrait Award will be announced tomorrow - and will be the subject of tomorrow's blog post. They of course already know who they are!

Art Societies

• The 198th Annual Exhibition of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours opened last week and continues at the Mall Galleries until 1st May. Click on the link in their name to see a selection of works in the exhibition on their website. (Three cheers for an art society which has managed to get the images up on its website while the exhibition is still on! It's also very nice to see a website being kept up to date!). You can also find links to some of the participating artists on the Mall galleries website. There's an Art Event Evening (demonstrations, talks, tours) on Wednesday 28th April 5:00pm to 8:00pm. This includes a painting 'clinic' where visitors are invited to bring in their own paintings for an expert critique.
  
• The 2010 Guild of Natural Science Illustrators Conference will be at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC, from July 11 - 17, 2010.

Art Exhibitions and art fairs

Major exhibitions

• At British Museum (the 2nd most popular museum in the world): Fra Angelico to Leonardo: Italian Renaissance drawings opened last Thursday and runs until 25 July. This is a video about the exhibition.
  
• Dance has just opened at the National Galleries of Scotland and units Degas, Picasso and Diane Arbus - see the article by Art Knowledge News National Galleries of Scotland Explores the Theme of 'Dance' (and thanks to Sheona for highlighting this)
• The London Original Print Fair opens at the Royal Academy next week. - so far I've received three invites to the Private View on Thursday
• A World Observed 1940 - 2010: Photographs by Dorothy Bohm Saturday 24 April 2010 - Monday 30 August 2010 at Manchester Art Gallery

Other exhibitions

• Dennis Hopper is seriously ill with cancer - but he's going to get a retospective of his paintings entitled Art is Life

Art Groups/Art Bloggers

Below you can find details of some upcoming exhibitions by local groups of artists

South London Women Artists @ the Bankside Gallery

• South London Women Artists: See SLWA at the Bankside Gallery 28 April – 3 May 2010 - I'm hoping to get to the Private View on Wednesday evening and will be reviewing the exhibition on this blog next week.

Nearly 100 artists will be showing work covering a range of media and genres that includes prints, painting, photography and sculpture.
Tina Mammoser - South London Women Artists at the prestigious Bankside Gallery

• Gesa Helms is participating in the Eldon Group Summer Exhibition 2010 at St Andrew's Gallery in the University of Glasgow 1st - 12th May 2010. It will be displaying paintings in acrylics, oil, mixed media and works on paper. Venue: St Andrew's Gallery, University of Glasgow, Level 5, St Andrew's Building, 11 Eldon Street. The Gallery open Monday - Friday 10am - 5pm, Saturdays 10am - 1pm and closed Monday 3 May
• The Sweet-Voiced Bird has Flown: Portraits of Common Birds in Decline is an exhibition by the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators Finger Lakes chapter (based in Ithaca, NY) about common birds facing extinction. The exhibition at the Mann Library at Cornell University finishes April 30th. You can read about it in Bird Portraits in the Cornell Daily Sun
  

Art Education / workshops / Tips and techniques

Art Education

• I highlighted Talk and Draw at the National Gallery

Workshops and courses

• Botanical Painting in Umbria with Sandra Wall Armitage SBA While at the SBA Exhibition I met up with Sandra Wall Armitage SBA who told me about the holiday course she's running in early June, painting the wild flowers of Italy in the Sibillini Mountains National Park, Umbria which is apparently an area rich in biodiversity. Sandra was telling me she's been reliably informed that there are at least 11 different species of wild orchid in the grounds of Il Collaccio where they will be staying. Click the link to read more details about the course and the accommodation.

Art Galleries and Museums

• The Guardian has an article rrelating to the 10th anniversary of Tate Modern next month - Artists, critics and readers on 10 years of Tate Modern There are some very interesting questions and answers by Nicholas Serota with some answered better than others (as in no answer provided to the question asked!)

The sheer scale of Tate Modern has been its triumph. Forty-five million visitors have now ventured through its cavern-like entrance to be confronted by the strange wonder of the Turbine Hall

Art Supplies

• Jackson's art Blog did a post about Watercolour Paper Sizes

Book Reviews

I had planned to get Ann Swan's book Botanical Portraits with Colored Pencils reviewed this week but a combination of the Planning Hearings and then feeling really tired after the Hearings finished left me without a lot of concentration. So it's coming up in the very near future - hopefuly next week

Colour

Two more posts from James Gurney about colour and lightfastness

• Lightfastness and Alizarin Crimson - the colour which has caused more than a few problems. A great illustration of why different brands and relative lightfastness really matters
  
• Lightfastness: Final Thoughts - which provides a snippet of a view of what looks like a very helpful table in James' new book.

Copyright

Four posts about copyright and the Digital Economy Act in the UK

• Stop 43, the photographers campaign which stopped Clause 43 of the recent Digital Economy Bill from being enacted has three interesting posts last week
  
• Gone, but not forgotten which is a rebuttal to the assertion by Timms that the government intends to reintroduce it in a new parliament. (Mind you, first they have to win the election which isn't exactly looking like a foregone conclusion at present!)
  
• BAPLA, the aftermath, and the future which I found to be an absolutely fascinating and stimulating read about Big Culture and Big Media
• Stop 32 have now produced a guide for all legislators (some of whom clearly demonstrated a need to be educated during the course of debate in Parliament) in On Digital

Statements have been made by the Government to the effect that regulation of digital copyright is too complex for primary legislation, because too much remains unknown and powers must be granted in advance to regulate unpredictable future developments. This after more than four years of research and "consultation", starting with the Gowers Review in 2006 and continuing with the Lammy Review in 2009.

That is a patronising and lazy attitude unworthy of the intellects who took part in Clause 43's gestation and drafting. The primary characteristics of digital data, digital media and digital networking have been widely known, well understood and straightforward to describe for nearly thirty years.

• By way of contrast, according to the Guardian, Nick Clegg promises to repeal the Digital Economy Act. While clearly something needs to be introduced to legalise different aspects of the Digital economy it needs to be good law which has received proper debate as opposed to the very poor bill which was being rushed through at last knockings just over a week ago. Repeal followed by a decent Act would be a much better way forward.

Opinion Poll

Don't forget the opinion poll about What types of art book do you like best? - it's in the side column and will finish next Friday.

A new poll will be posted on Saturday - suggestions for poll topics are most welcome.

Websites, webware and blogging

• Nitecruzr's Real Blogger Status (tagged ' what blogger won't tell you') is very helpful. Over the years I've found his various sites to be the best source of expert comment whenever I've had problems with Blogger - plus he responds to comments! You can also find him in the Blogger Help Forum
• an interesting aspect of cartooning for Apple apps How Apple could bite the free press
• The next dotcom boom is predicted to be in websites which are safe for children (following concerns about the safety of Facebook et al). Now what does that mean for artists where children are the consumers?
  

and finally........

This is what design hell is like for website designers. Have you been guilty? I'm planning to post soon about Websites for Artists and usability criteria!

Society of Botanical Artists 2010 Prizewinners

This post highlights the botanical artists winning the various awards at the 2010 Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists - which closes tomorrow.

The banner for the Society of Botanical Artists Exhibition hanging outside Central Hall Westminster, with Westminster Abbey in the background.

The Joyce Cuming Presentation Award

This is a legacy award which this year went to Angela Stanford for a very large painting of an ornamental gourd.

Cucurbita peo - Ornamental Gourd 1 (gouache) by Anglea Stanford

The President's award for work in other media

The President's cash prize for work in media other than watercolour was awarded to Alison Holt Assoc SBA for Chartreuse (freehand machine embroidery ob painted silk). She's an artist who is enormously talented in machine embroidery. I didn't realise at first that it was embroidery at all.

The Margaret Stevens Award

This award for an artist whose work reflects their concern for the environment is awarded in 2010 to Marta Chirino SBA GM for Aquatic Plants (a drawing in ink). This is a link to a one person exhibition she had in Madrid in 2009

Aquatic Plants by Marta Chirino SBA, GM

The St Cuthberts Mill Award

Paper to the value of £100 has been given for an outstanding watercolour painting by Julia Trickey FCPGFS GM for watercolour painting of an Oal Leaf in Autumn at five times its actual size. Ms Trickey teaches workshops for those wanting to learn about botanical painting near Bath for beginners and improvers.

Quercus rober - Oak Leaf in Autumn x 5 by Julie Trickey

The Margaret Grainger Memorial Silver Bowl

The award is given to the best painting by a member elected in the previous two years. This year it was won by Eiko Hamada SBA GM CBM'09 who was admitted to full membership as a result of her entries in last year's show.

The image below shows all five works that she entered

Botanical artwork by Eiko Hamada SBA GM CBM'09

The Daler-Rowney Choice Award
Products from the Daler Rowney Catelogue for an award chosen by Daler Rowney went to Susan Dalton SBA CBM '03 and '04

The Society of Botanical artists Certificate of Botanical Merit

A number of artists won Certificates of Botanical Merit. The images are a sample of the work.

Passion Flower Bits (watercolour) by Tina Bone Assoc SBA

• Tina Bone Assoc. SBA
• Marta Chirino SBA GM
• Dianne Sutherland - Onopordium acanthum Scots Thistledown Head (graphite) - Dianne is a Scottish artist whose work can be appreciated more with a magnifying glass. This work was also highly commended for the Joyce Cuming Award.
  

Onopordium acanthum Scots Thistledown Head (graphite) by Dianne Sutherland

Sarracenia purpurea Huntsman's Cup (watercolour) by Beth Phillip

• Beth Phillip BSc GM CBM'08 - Sarracenia purpurea Huntsman's Cup (watercolour) This was part of a very attractive series of watercolour paintings which I liked very much indeed.
• Janie Pirie SBA GM - Cydonia oblonga 'Vranja' - Quince (coloured pencil). Janie runs workshops in coloured pencil near Colchester and other venues
  
• Marilyn Wheeler NDD DipSBA (Dist) Assoc SBA - Helleborus orientalis (watercolour)
  
• Sue Wickinson BA(Hons) SBA - Arisarum probosdicdeum (watercolour and pencil)

Cydonia oblonga 'Vranja' - Quince (coloured pencil) by Janie Pirie

Note:
If you would like to know more about Botanical Art and/or learn how to paint botanical art

EITHER see the website of the Society of Botanical Artists for a list of course tutors who are also SBA members or details of the distance learning diploma course

AND/OR check out all the links to resources listed in my information sites below

• A History of Botanical Art - Resources for Botanical Art Lovers
• Botanical Art - Resources for Artists
• Flowers in Art - Resources for Artists
• Gardens in Art - Resources for Artists
• The Best Botanical Art Books