So tomorrow is Spring! Unless you're the Met Office - who have decided that the Spring months are March, April and May!
Sarah Wimperis got a head start. with her painting of a Spring tide - and rather a lot of daffodils on her blog The Red Shoes
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| Springtide Polwheveral by Sarah Wimperis Oil on Board 44 x 30 cm or 17 x 12 inches copyright Sarah Wimperis |
Art Blogs
Botanical Art
After five weeks stuck at home with a very bolshie damaged foot, I finally got out today - and that was because the Annual RHS Botanical Art exhibition was on at the RHS Horticultural Halls. The really great thing about this show is that the artists are almost invariably in attendance and today I got to talk to five Royal Horticultural Society Gold Medal Winners! Blog post to follow tomorrow........ (and the foot is killing me - but it was worth it!)
Drawing and sketching
- Kumi Matsukawa (Urban Sketchers) has been posting about the Evacuation from Minami Souma, Hukushima
- Roz Stendhal (Roz Wound Up) has been commenting on sketching people using pen and ink - see
- Direct Sketching with Pen and Ink: Just Jump into the Deep End of the Swimming Pool.
- Direct Sketching with Pen and Ink: Drawing People from Life
- while Vivien Blackburn has been commenting on sketching moving people plein air or out and about
- and I commented on Sketching people with a brush
- Paula Kuitenbrouwer (www.mindfuldrawing.com) wonders whether people prefer darker or lighter backgrounds - read her post Dark or Light Backgrounds to see why
- Nicole Caulfield (Nicole Caulfield Art Journal) has started a new panoramic work - Heartbeat City - 80's Themed Still-Life
- On this blog:
- I announced A new Making A Mark Guide which relates to my recent article about sketching with coloured pencils for the Derwent LovePencils blog
- and highlighted a sketch After Bonnard I created of a painting which was knocked down at the auction at Christies (where I sketched it) for £6,400,000 which translates after all the "add ons" to £7,209,250 ($11,578,056)
- I missed the fact that Jelaine Faunce (Jelaine Faunce - contemporary realism) won a prize in the Richeson75 Small Works 2011 - 1st Place in Oil Painting
- Karin Jurick (A Painting Today) has returned to small works and auctioning paintings - this time it looks like we might be about to enjoy a series of landscapes
- Fancy painting in Provence in May? There's still a couple of weeks left for those who want to try painting the Provencal countryside
- Albrecht Rissler is using a blog as a website for his drawings of animals from life. No matter! See Rissler Animals for some delightful drawings and sketches of insects, birds, cats and other wildlife
- Gillian Holding (Life and Art) is, in future going to be contributing to a relatively new website/blog Millpond which aims to prompt and initiate critical debate and discussion of contemporary visual arts within Leeds.
(it) provides thoughtful, comprehensive and interesting reviews of a wide range of exhibitions around and about, together with interviews and essays on contemporary art. It fills a gap in the online world of arts in the city, and I look forward to contributing to it.
Art Business and Marketing
- Aletta de Wal has written an article for EmptyEasel about Navigating The Three Stages of a Professional Art Career. It's a very useful summary. Aletta is also offering a class about creating Artist Statements with Ariane Goodwin - who has written the definative book about Writing the Artist Statement which I highlight on How to write an Artist's Statement - Resources for Artists
- Robin Sagara (from the same blog as Alletta) wrote recently about How to Buy and Use Mailing Lists which is an exposition of the benefits of using a printed mailout.
- Alyson Stanfield (artbizblog) details how she manages her contact lists in Storing Your Contact Lists
- Social Voice provides 5 Top Facebook Marketing Tips
- Alan Bamberger's article You Can't Sell Your Art Until You Learn How to Sell It is a stimulating read - thanks to Alyson who highlighted this on twitter
- Stapleton Kearns (Stapleton Kearns ) has written Some thoughts on art and money. I have to say I agree with every word he says!
Allow me to rant a little tonight. I have a feeling I am going to upset you tonight. But I think this is important. There is a delicate balance to keep between your art and commerce.
Art and the Economy / Art Collectors
- According to the British Art Market Federation, China has overtaken the U.K. to become the world’s second-largest art market after the U.S. More about art markets next week.
Art Competitions and Art Societies
- The Spring Exhibition of the Royal Watercolour Society has opened at the Bankside Gallery. Click the ink to see images of some of the works on view. It's now possible to purchase works by giving the gallery a call.
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| Cat and cane sofa by Richard Bawden |
Art and Charities
Let me know if you are involved in any charitable endeavour which involves your art and I'll post a link in this weekly post. I need evidence of a blog post on your blog post first and then contact me in the usual way
- Keiko Tanabe (Keiko Tanabe Fine Art) is leading a "Help Japan" Challenge as the weekly challenge on The Daily Paintworks site. The theme is "home".
- So far 134 artists have responded to the challenge.
- Keiko is from Japan and you can read more about her painting here Spring in Kyoto, Japan IV, Japanese Landscape Painting. Keiko embarked on a professional art career in 2005 and has been painting non-stop ever since. Her paintings have been juried into more than 100 exhibitions and received over 40 awards.
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| Spring in Kyoto, Japan IV by Keiko Tanabe currently at auction for the Daily Paintworks Help Japan Challenge |
- Another artist who is auctioning a painting to raise funds for emergency relief in Japan is watercolour artist Jane Freeman (Watercolor Mania). The current bid on her Auction For Japan is $1,800
- Lesley Ninnes (Sea Blue Sky Abstracts) has donated a painting to a charity auction at the Exchange Gallery, Penzance on Saturday 26 March. This is supporting St Julia's Hospice Appeal, which is part of Cornish Hospice Care. To download a copy of the catalogue and view artworks available from a host of talented artists and makers, please click here
Tip and techniques
- We've been discussing holes in watercolour pans and blunt brushes a lot this week in the Sketchercise group - and thanks to Liz Steel for the tip about this excellent page of dry pan tricks from Bruce MacEvoy (Handprint - watercolors). He also discusses tube vs. pan
- Robyn Sinclair ( Have Dogs, Will Travel ) has a post about Reverse Piano Hinge Bookbinding
- Michael Chesley Johnson (Plein Air Painter's Blog) has some spaces left on his Utah Workshop
- Jane Haines (Watercolours With Life~Jean Haines) has a Painting Cats Watercolour Workshop 2011 next month
Art Exhibitions and art fairs
- Joan Miró: The Ladder of Escape - in pictures A look at the first major Miró exhibition in Britain for nearly 50 years
- I wanted to write something about Japan and in the end hit upon the notion of highlighting some of the Art Museums in Japan.
- The Top Five at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is my response to Tyler Green (Modern Art Notes) who recently posted about Museum collection top tens: The Metropolitan.
- The New York Times focuses on the impact of social media on museums in The Spirit of Sharing and how they are pursuing engagement through social media
- Marion Boddy-Evans, the Painting About.com Guide has announced the winners of the 2011 Readers Choice Awards for art materials and books
- Roz Stendhal has announced The Colors of Stonehenge—Four New Colors
- Elva (Elva's Field Notes) has a useful post about Exploring Fountain Pens and Ink for sketching.
- I did a Product Review: Derwent Black Book.
- Billie Crain (ArtbyCrain)has reviewed her new Epson 725 All-In-One Printer
Websites, webware and blogging
- Maggie Price (Painting Partners) has had an innovative idea about how to take colour charts on a painting trip - see Old and New Technology: Color Charts on the iPhone
- Did you know about CraftCult's widget? See it being used on Amie Roman's new Burnishings Tumblr blog and the widget to post her to highlight work by other people. Not surprisingly, many of the people highlighted are printmakers and specifically Printsy members. Her original blog Burnishings still does what it normally does!
and finally........
Nothing to do with art - just very funny! The Periodic Table of the Middle Class
I wonder what the Artists Periodic Table would look like?
Many thanks for mentioning my blog. Now I'll be very busy checking all the resources in this post.
ReplyDeletePaula
Thanks for including details of the St Julia's Hospice fund raiser in 'Arts and Charities' - I'll let you know how much is raised. Lesley
ReplyDelete