Sunday, May 30, 2010

30th May 2010 - Who's made a mark this week?

I had a very enjoyable time at the evening reception for the Wildlife Artist of the Year 2010 at the Mall Galleries on Monday night.  See the prizewinners in Adam Binder wins Wildlife Artist of the Year 2010

Pensive by Tracy Hall (Highly commended)
8.2cm x 5.7cm, watercolour
copyright the artist

Congratulations to two gorilla artists I know.  Tracy Hall (Watercolour Artist Diary) got a Highly Commended with her very first entry to Wildlife Artists of the Year.  You can read her blog post here wildlife artist of the year exhibition


Leslie Evans (Chisaii) had three coloured pencil works in the show - shipped over from the USA.  She also got a Highly Commended for her gorilla and her giraffe - and both of them also sold which should help with the shipping costs!

Patches by Leslie Evans (Highly commended)
45.7cm x 71.1cm, coloured pencil (sold)
copyright the artist

The rest of this blog post has pictures from the exhibition - to give you an impression about just how many people attend on the Private View night and how fast the works now sell!  This is of course to encourage all you wildlife artists to enter next year's show!

Art Blogs

  • Not quite sure which category to out this blog in - but it's interesting.  My Third Eye Scratched describes itself as A satirical look at the neo-pop art scene as practiced today by the cool, tight and trendy pimp-celebrity, post-mod, bobo, hipster artists
Botanical Art
Drawing and sketching
  • Lynne Chapman (An Illustrator's Life For Me!) has been visiting the Antiques Road Show and of course sketched throughout!  Lynne also participated in her very first International Sketchcrawl recently - and you can see the result in Wakefield Sketchcrawl.  It all sounds as if it was really well organised and now Lynne is promising one for Sheffield.
Coloured Pencils and Pastels
Painters and Painting
I have been surprised at how difficult these little paintings are and my appreciation for them has grown substantially after this experience.
 Wildlife Artist of the Year 2010 - a wall in the main gallery
all art copyright the artists / all photos copyright Katherine Tyrrell
    Printmaking
    • On Watermarks, Jeanette Jobson (Illustrated Life) celebrates getting a grant for a A fishy project to produce a body of work in gyotaku (fish rubbing) using species found in Newfoundland waters.  She will also be offering a workshop next spring to share what I have learned with other artists.

    Art Business and Marketing

    "Since the material value of art is negligible, we’re paying for something - but what?"
     Wildlife Artist of the Year 2010 - main gallery
    all art copyright the artists / all photos copyright Katherine Tyrrell

    Art and the Economy / Art Collectors / Art Theft

    Art Exhibitions, art fairs and open studios

    art galleries and museums
    "Forty years of Glastonbury – I’ve been at most of them, I've painted over a quarter of them. Greenpeace has also been there throughout my life and their fortieth is coming up." Kurt Jackson
    art fairs and festivals
    • There apparently won't be a Zoo companion to the Frieze Art fair this year - see Zoo says no to 2010 edition
    • If you're planning a visit to the Patchings Festival 2010, (10th-14th June) make sure you go and visit Gayle Mason SOFA (Fur in the Paint) who is exhibiting there for the first time since she became a full time artist and tutor.
      open studios
      art bloggers

      Art Education / workshops / Tips and techniques

      Art instruction
      Tips and techniques
      A flat light for a flat surface: a good thing to use for this is two direct light sources that can be reflected off a white or bright surface. A perfect surface to use is a large sheet of paper to reflect the light source on the subject placing an even light onto what is photographed.
       Wildlife Artist of the Year 2010 - the awards ceremony gets underway
      all art copyright the artists / all photos copyright Katherine Tyrrell

        Art Galleries and Museums

        Art History

        A plant being held by a mischievous-looking satyr in the bottom right corner of the painting has been recognised as a specimen of Datura stramonium, a plant which causes madness and the urge to take one's clothes off.

        Art Holidays

        Art Supplies

        Book reviews

        I don't know quite why I'm so absorbed with understanding the real rankings behind the Amazon listings of art books.  I guess it's because I keep finding really good books that I'd have never known about without travelling around the categories in a bit more detail (ie doing more than just looking for more of the same of what I already own).  Two blog posts and two new websites have resulted this week as I've continued my quest to understand how the categories and rankings work

        Colour

        Copyright

        • Shepard Fairey's American Graffiti is an 'Atlantic' interview with the artist who raised issues about copyright with his portrait of Obama where he borrowed an image without permission
        Q. how many of your projects are sanctioned these days--and how many are, shall we say, extra-legal?

        Opinion Poll

        • Tomorrow is the round-up from this month's Making A Mark Opinion Poll about buying Art DVDs
        • On Tuesday, I'm launching the Making A Mark Opinion Poll for June.  I had a brilliant idea for this one - let's just hope I wrote it down somewhere as I can't remember what it is right now!

        Websites, webware and blogging

        Social media (including Facebook)
        • Facebook announced its new privacy settings yesterday - this is the official explanation Making Control Simple on the OFFICIAL Facebook blog.  That just left me thinking that Mark Zuckerburg (age 26 and a few days) needs to grow up and learn how to say "Sorry - we got it wrong!" 
        • You also need to read the tips at 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know on the UNOFFICIAL Facebook Blog All Facebook
        • Plus you can also download the much more detailed "holy grail" 24 page Privacy Guide
        Widgets
        • Is anybody else experiencing huge fluctuations in their Feedburner numbers?  I'm gaining and losing c.1,000 subscribers on a regular basis for the last week or and can't track down what the problem is.  It appears to be Google Reader which is causing the problem.

        and finally........


        My cyber chum and popular ex artist Maggie Stiefvater (Words on Words) is still finding time to make art inbetween morphing into a New York Times best selling YA author with her books now sold in 30 countries.  Her giveaway to mark the imminent launch of her 4th book Linger is a guitar decorated with celtic artwork based on the themes of "Linger" and done with Sharpies (some 12 to be precise).  The guitar will be raffled at the launch party at Barnes & Noble in Williamsburg Virginia on July 20th at 5pm.

        4 comments:

        1. Thanks for the mention Katherine. Always a pleasure to read your blog.
          Love,
          Linda

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        2. Just wanted to take the time to thank you for your work in producing this blog and your others. I always look forward to reading and learning from your posts. Thanks! jana

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        3. Thanks for the mention Katherine, it's always appreciated!

          On Saturday I did a day trip from the Isle of Skye to the isles of Harris and Lewis, to the Callandish Standing Stones and a blackhouse village (some of the cottages can be rented). Both made my fingers itch to paint (or perhaps it was the icy rain making them shiver) and would be a fabulous place for a painting holiday. In a week or so you'd probably have some sunshine days, though the rain does add lots of atmosphere.

          ReplyDelete
        4. Thank you so much for the mention Katherine, always a pleasure to read the weekly roundup, and feels great when mentioned :-)

          ReplyDelete

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