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

• This is Jan Harbon's blog - she won the People's Choice award at the recent Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists and was exhibiting last week at the Chelsea Show.
• UKCPS members have got one day left to have a chance of winning a free copy Botanical Painting with Coloured Pencils by UKCPS member Ann Swan SBA GM.  See A competition for UKCPS members for more details

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

• Charley Parker (Lines and Colors) recently wrote an appreciation of the very fine pastel portraits of German artist Simone Bingmer - this is her website.  The use of pastels for poirtraits has a very long tradition and it's one which has not yet received any coverage on this blog - so that's one topic sorted for the future!
• Three UKCPS members have got together to have an exhibition in Glastonbury - you can read more about how they are getting on in Glastonbury Exhibition on Pauline Longley's Art Blog.
• Ester Roi (Ester Roi) had her Artwork on the Cover of “Pratique des Arts”
• Deborah Secor continues with her Landscape Painting in Pastels book blog and has posted Chapter 16 - Water and Reflections

Painters and Painting

• Linda Blondheim (Linda Blondheim Art Journal) is a late convert to Learning with Minis - creating miniature paintings

I have been surprised at how difficult these little paintings are and my appreciation for them has grown substantially after this experience.

• It'a been interesting to watch Carol Marine (Carol Marine's Painting a Day) get accustomed to painting plein air in a different country

 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

• Art Business Book Opinion Poll:  Please respond to this survey Which is the most helpful art business book?
• edward_ winkleman writes about The Value of Nothing and The Dare of Anonymity - The Anonymous Art Show is an intriguing idea!  His article was prompted by an article on artnet - Dust to Dust by Matthew Bown about What we pay for art, what it means, and where that value comes from.

"Since the material value of art is negligible, we’re paying for something - but what?"

• Galleries: Barney Davey (Art Print Issues) posted about Visual Artist’s Challenge: Should I Work with Galleries, Go Direct to Collectors or Both?
• Blogging art: a nice post 6 Blog Post Ideas For Art Bloggers by Alyice Edrich on Empty Easel.  Succinct and to the point.

• Exhibiting art:  AIR - Introduction to One-off exhibition insurance - a Policy for AIR members who want to take out one-off insurance cover for artwork whilst in transit to/from and whilst on display at an exhibition.

 Wildlife Artist of the Year 2010 - main gallery

all art copyright the artists / all photos copyright Katherine Tyrrell

• Selling art:  How prepared are you to handle that FIRST sale? writes Nithya Swaminathan (A Splash of Colour). I know just what she means!  I remember being incredibly impressed with the personal touch used by some artists I've bought off and the variation in the quality of the packing and the impact that has on one's impression of the art.  You can read more about information and advice in How to pack, post and ship art - Resources for Artists (and I'm adding Nithya's post to this site)

Art and the Economy / Art Collectors / Art Theft

• The New YorK Times Room for Debate Blog asks Can Art Be ‘Priceless’ in Rocky Times?
• The Art Newspaper has been commenting this week on an important lawsuit between an art collector and an art dealer.  It identified that a Court battle fuels calls for less art market secrecy. Lines are drawn between those who favour openness and others who prefer a “handshake” culture.  It later reported further on the law case in which the Judge has denied the Art Collector's injunction against a New York Art Dealer.  The interesting bit for me were the words of the judg.  Latterly it has reported on how the Dealer and collector respond to judge's decision
  
  

  Judge Pauley also took the opportunity to deliver a harsh verdict on the art world: “This lawsuit offers an unflattering portrait of the art world—a realm of self-proclaimed royalty full of ‘blacklists’, ‘graylists’ and astonishing chicanery.”....In the end, Judge Pauley offered Robins and all collectors the ancient advice of “buyer beware” and “get it in writing”.

• Looks like Australian Art Dealers are none too happy about the royalty payable to artists on resale - see Dealers hang art levy out to dry.  The issue seems to be more about implementation than principle
• The Independent highlighted the fact that Banksy's works pawned by Europe's art patrons.  It appears pawning your assets isn't something just done by the less well off.

Art Exhibitions, art fairs and open studios

art galleries and museums

• Two landscape exhibitions in London and Christen Købke is my reminder that two exhibitions are about to end and my review of the exhibition of Købke at the National Gallery
• Kurt Jackson's paintings will be exhibited at The Bargehouse on London's South Bank (OXO Tower Wharf) from 2nd - 6th June, 11am-6pm (admission free). See Kurt Jackson - An artistic taste of Glastonbury.  He has created an amazing series of paintings and sketches from his residency at the 2009 Glastonbury Festival, which include portraits of Radiohead, Massive Attack, Lily Allen and Tinariwen as well as landscapes capturing the essence of the festival.

"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

• Have you tried the Modern Masters - Art Walks in UK Cities?  We had a discussion about it at my Drawing Group on Friday when one of my group learned all about what a podcast is!

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

• Surrey Open Studios runs from 5th - 20th June.  These are all the artists taking part.  This is where you can find them (on a map of Surrey). Check out Marion Willcocks a fellow member of the Drawing London Group and her husband Paul Wilcocks who produces wonderful pieces in wood.

art bloggers

• Diversity - an exhibition by three UKCPS members is in Glastonbury this week
  

Art Education / workshops / Tips and techniques

Art instruction

• James Gurney (Gurney Journey) explained Portrait Lighting: Three Quarter, Portrait Lighting: Broad, Portrait Lighting: Short, Portrait Lighting: Top, Portrait Lighting: Frontal and Contre Jour, Portrait Lighting: Split Lighting and Portrait Lighting: Underlighting.  Three guesses what the next book is about? ;)

Tips and techniques

• An a-n article for art students about Documenting your work

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.

• Stapleton Kearns (Stapleton Kearns) has a view about Projectors? 
• Ester Roi has got a great demonstration of the use of Sanded Pastel Paper and the Icarus Board or what happens when you use heat and colour shapers!
• Stephen Doherty (Drawing and Painting) provides 8 Tips on Painting Landscapes in Oil

 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

• The Art Law Blog has More on the Paris Art Theft and also highlighted the fact that USA Today spent some time asking 'experts' and Exploring the mind of an art thief following Paris heist.  Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal says This Is No 'Thomas Crown' Affair but rather a case of a malfunctioning alarm system and remarkably inattentive guards
• The Whitney stayed open late

Art History

• The Telegraph reports that an art expert opines that Botticelli's Venus and Mars were 'high on drugs'.  I shall start looking at plant specimens in paintings with a new perspective!  Meanwhile in the same paper it is suggested that From Botticelli to Hemingway, artists have always been seduced by drink and drugs.  I do get a bit miffed that there's an implicit 'all' in that sentence!

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

• Marion Boddy Evans the about.com:painting guide has written an article about Before You Select a Painting Holiday or Workshop.
• You can also read more about choosing a painting holiday in the articles I wrote in Art Holidays - Resources for Artists and in particular Making a Mark: How to choose a painting holiday

Art Supplies

• A little while ago Derwent sent me a new pencil wrap to try and on Monday I posted my Product Review: Derwent Pocket Pencil Wrap.  Definitely recommended for the minimalist artist.
• Tina Mammoser (The Cycling Artist) is reviewing her practice regarding varnish and would like some help with researching a better way of getting her paintings varnished and avoiding solvent based varnishes.

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

• What's your favourite Art Business Book?  On Wednesday, I published a new "resources for artists information site called "The Best Art Business Books". You can read the reasons why in this post in Making A Mark Reviews - but some of you will recall my recent rant about Amazon assigns ludicrous categories to Art Books (11 May 2010)!
• The Top Ten Best Art Books in May - I'd have never known about four of the best selling books in May if I hadn't idly decided yesterday to check out what were the top selling fine art books.  Which is why I have a new information website Makingamark's Top 10 Fine Art Books which I'm going to try updating once a month across 5 categories.  It's very much my version of the rankinsg after I've excluded all the books which aren't about fine art! Two books will be identified - the top ranked in critical terms and the best selling.  I'll be doing an amazon.co.uk version on the recommended art books page of my website.

Colour

• James Gurney (Gurney Journey) posted last week Introducing Color and Light, the book which follows his previous best selling book on Imaginative Realism

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.