1st May 2011: Who's made a mark this week?

How can we have two bank holiday weekends in a row with wonderful weather - I thought this was against the weather lore of Britain?  Anyway, that's my excuse for all my posts now being a day behind.  I was out yesterday basking in the sun and enjoying the Spring flowers at Wisley - flagship garden of the Royal Horticultural Society - in Surrey.  I started but didn't finish a sketch inside the tropical zone of the glasshouse which is why you're getting photographs of spring having sprung instead.

May Day Flowers at Wisley (1st May 2011)

photos copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I'm now besotted with hosta leaves and rhubard sprouting which should generate some new artwork.  Plus I was reminded that I need to continue my allium series.  I need to find a format which works for drawings of the different stages

I wasn't overly impressed with the springtime Craft and Design Fair there and wondered where the botanical artists were - on the basis that if the Nel Whatmore lookalikes (this is Nel's blog Nel Whatmore) were out in force surely there could have been a bit more botanical art.  Or maybe the RHS view is that's this is best reserved for their botanical art shows?  Mind you I didn't get to go round it all as my other half kept muttering!

However does anybody know why there are never any botanical art shows at RHS Wisley?

Places where you should be able to see high quality botanical art in coming weeks include:

• The RHS Chelsea Flower Show May 24th-28th in the Chelsea Hospital Grounds, London.
• The Hampton Court Palace Flower Show July 5th-10th at Hampton Court, London
• The RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park July 20th-24th at Tatton Park in Cheshire.

Art Blogs and Artists

RECOMMENDED READ One of those very rare things - an in-depth interview with a living artist who is a NAME.  This is a link to the Financial Times interview with Jasper Johns - Meaning in the Making.  Johns is perhaps best known for painting Flag which is one of those works which is a lot more complicated than it looks in a small image.

“So much of the meaning to me is in the making. While that’s going on, there’s shifts of thought and associations and paths of development you want to follow and you want to avoid." 

Drawing and Sketching

The 1st May 2011 marked the start of Everyday in May - the EDM flickr group for EDM and the explanation on Wendy Shortland's site - which explains the list below.

101 - Draw a bar of soap
102 - Draw a power plug
103 - Draw some exercise equipment - what you use to stay fit.
104 - Draw some salt and pepper shakers
105 - Draw some scissors
106 - Draw something tart or sour
107 - Draw how you get your news - at a newsstand, vending box or on your porch
108 - Draw a light bulb109 - Draw a clock you have around your house
110 - Draw something with a flame or flames
111 - Draw a bowl
112 - Draw something fresh
113 - Draw or paint a fence
114 - Draw something ugly you love and keep for sentimental reasons. Journal about it, too.
115 - Draw a shopping cart or basket
116 - Draw something green
117 - Draw something round
118 - Draw some hair
119 - Draw some rocks
120 - Draw a flashlight
121 - Draw a coin or some coins and journal about memories about coins from your 
childhood.
122 - Draw something where shade is a prominent part of the subject
123 - Draw a bell
124 - Draw something yellow
125 - Draw a bird 
126 - Draw a sponge
127 - Draw a skyscape
128 - Draw a view through a doorway from one interior room to another.
129 - Draw people doing something.
130 - Draw some school supplies.
131 - Draw a spray bottle

Every Day in May - Day 1 - Soap

• Thanks to Jeanne Grant (Jeanne Grant) who reminded me about the The Sketchbook Project World Tour.  The only time people have ever got my sketchbooks off me is when they go straight into a locked display cabinet!  No travelling courtesy of the vagaries of Royal Mail involved at all!

Each participant receives a blank sketchbook that will be exhibited on the 2012 tour and cataloged permanently in the Brooklyn Art Library. 

• Cathy Johnson(Artists Journal Workshop) has uploaded the interview with Nina Johansson - see Artists' Journal Workshop: Meet Nina Johansson--Interview #10 .  You can find Nina's blog here - Nina Johannson.  Nina is giving a workshop together with fellow urban sketcher José Louro at the second Urban Sketchers Symposium in Portugal July. 
• Leibographics is a blog about pen and ink drawing by California artist Merv Leib.  Click on the drawings to see larger versions.  I particularly liked the drawing of Carmel Beach - as I've also tried drawing that same tree!

Carmel Beach by Merv Lei
pen and ink on three panels

• Sketches by me have included:
  
  • The Orangery at Dunham Massey
  • The Lake and waterfowl at Kew Gardens
  • The view from Greenwich Park Hill
  • A Cheshire Garden in Spring - and some new plants

Coloured Pencils and Pastels

• The Colored Pencil Society of America has now made its third (4th?) announcement about a delay in the posting of the names of accepted artists for the annual exhibition - until 30th April.  I trust there's a reasonable explanation as it's now 2nd May and there ares still no names in plain view.  What would you do if the titles of selected artwork were not back from the juror by the due date?  [UPDATE:  The names of selected artists have now been posted]
  
• I wanted to purchase a copy of the Pastel 100 edition of The Pastel Journal - in theory it's available as a digital download.  In practice if you don't live in the USA you try to download a  copy, get very frustrated with the process which doesn't work and then end up writing blog posts like this one - North Light Shop - Digital Download Deficiencies.  I gather I'm not alone in being completely amazed that American companies are happy to pass up on income simply because they can't get an effective payment mechanism in place

Painting

• RECOMMENDED READ Duane Keiser has been using his On painting blog to ruminate on the topic of On Painting and Algorithms which considers the technical processes - from computer algorithms to "step by step' to Chinese factory painters - which can be used to develop work and what makes individual artists different.  There's a lovely metaphor for artistic development at the end. 

The human algorithms I am referring to are those decision matrices we use by choice in course of a painting-- processes, techniques and methods that we learned in our training and practice. 

• Mat Barber Kennedy (Mat Barber Kennedy) writes about the process of creating a portrait of a house in Maine.  he chose to do it as seen through the window from the grandfather's workbench
• Weekend in Maine this is the visit and the set-up
• Wilson's Cove, Maine and this is the painting.  It's a portrait of the person as well as a house although there is no person in the painting.
• I've seen some heroic plein air painting in my time but check out Suncage (Suncage Blog) up halfway up a cliff in a cove with the tide coming in Wey Ya Boys a Hetton 

Printmaking

• Charlie Parker has featured Ray Morimura on his blog Lines and Colors. Ace woodblock printing.

Art Business and Marketing

• The Independent highlighted the Artisans who turn ideas into art: Who pickled Damien Hirst's shark and painted Ai Weiwei's seeds?
• Alyson Stanfield posted about The Artist’s No-Excuse Weekly Self-Promotion Routine

Art Economy and Art Collectors

Art Auctions and Collectors

• The Financial Papers have been commenting on what's been happening at the major auction houses - see 
• The Financial Times The Art Market: Bubble gazing
• Wall Street Journal - The Art Market Snaps Back

Art Fairs


I can't find the link where I read this but it's a message I've seen in a few places.  If this is you give a shout and I'll give you the credit.

it's almost impossible to find an art show or art fair scheduled, locally. Two years ago, I had to choose which to participate in; now, they're virtually non-existent, except for some very 'niche-themed' shows.

Art Competitions

Margaret Olley by Ben Quilty
Archibald Prizewinner 2011

• My post about the Threadneedle Prize 2011 - a new selection process highlights that this year the first round is all digital and selection will be done on the basis of images to reduce the number down to a second stage where people will be invited to submit their work
• I loved writing the post about Australia's Archibald Prize 2011 - see Ben Quilty's portrait of Margaret Olley wins 2011 Archibald Prize - and LOVED the painting too!
• There's been lots of interest in the BP Portrait Award 2011 Shortlist. I have to confess it's the first time I've felt it necessary to do a graphic to show people how the work compares.  I've since remembered that one of the shortlisted artists was shortlisted for the Threadneedle last year so I have seen his work before.  I still feel Ian Cumberland's portrait has the edge for me.
• On Thursday I published a post about the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2011 - Call for Entries
• I'll be doing a post next week about Artes Mundi - now how many of you have heard of that?

Art Exhibitions

International Exhibitions

• Paris's International Drawing Fair Spotlights a New Generation of Artists according to ArtInfo

After having received 410 applications from 67 schools of 22 countries, the jury has selected the 90 exhibitors that represent 40 schools of 14 countries Belgium Croatia Finland France Germany Great Britain Italy Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Serbia Spain Switzerland

Major Art Museums and Galleries

• I was really surprised as I went through the Art Newspaper's survey of art exhibitions in 2011 while writing Top 10 Art Exhibitions in the UK in 2010.  It struck me that the major art museums and galleries should have some tough questions to answer - I wonder if that will happen.  Well done to the National Portrait Gallery for doing well both in terms of attendance at the Museum by people wanting to see its permanent collection and the two major exhibitions it hosts each year associated with major portraiture competitions
• Here's the Top 10 art exhibitions of the week in the UK according to the Telegraph
• I'm always intrigued by American Museums which I haven't visited so was interested to hear that The Whitney has developed a series of six back-to-back permanent-collection shows at its present location.  The first of them is “Breaking Ground: The Whitney’s Founding Collection” You can read the New York Times review and see a slideshow of some of the works
• The British Museum is going Aussie this summer.  Its Australian season starts this month and one of the exhibitions is Out of Australia - prints and drawings from Sidney Nolan to Rover Thomas 26 May – 11 September 2011

The exhibition is the first big show of Australian art of any kind in London for over a decade, and it is the first exhibition of Australian works on paper of this scale and ambition to be held outside Australia.

Art Societies

Monochromatic works in the Pastel Society exhibition

• I updated my Review: The Pastel Society's Annual Exhibition - Colour 2011 to include the names of the prizewinners and in doing so included two more images
• Congratulations to Keiko Tanabe (Keiko Tanabe Fine Art) who has had work accepted for the National Watercolor Society 2011 All Member Exhibition Well done Keiko!  The show runs from May 15 to June 12 at the NWS Gallery (915 S. Pacific Avenue, San Pedro, CA). 

Marseille St-Charles, France II by Keiko Tanabe

Art Galleries and Museums

• I watched an excellent programme fronted by Ian McKellen about LS Lowry.  Bridgeman Art tweeted Reclaiming LS Lowry - the Guardian comment about The Tate being under fire for its neglect of the northern artist
• The Pencil Museum seems to have got itself a new website! 

Art History

• I loved the Google Logo to mark the 226th birthday of John James Audubon, famous painter of Birds of America - see John James Audubon's birth celebrated by Google doodle 

Art Education, workshops, tips and techniques

• Robert Genn's clickback is about The most challenging profession - it looks at the difficulties and triumphs of teaching art.
• There's a tutorial On Block Printing on Love and Reason
• There are workshops at the Pencil Museum from
• Janie Pirie, Artist of the Year (UK Coloured Pencil Society) - Spring botanical blooms in Derwent Artists Pencils on 12th May 2011
• Susan Christopher-Coulson, Gold RHS Award Winner - Botanical illustration using Derwent Artists Pencils on 9th June (fee £40 is very reasonable!)
• Plus Free demonstrations at the Pencil Museum of the use of Derwent Artists Pencils include 
• one by Janie Pirie - on the 10th and 11th May and 
• Derwent Artists Pencils with Susan Christopher-Coulson on 7th and 8th June 
• These are details of other artists demonstrating at the Museum

Creativity

How to be creative - or maybe how to make time to be more creative?  

• 99% is a blog/website which has three suggestions relevant to artists:
• Why creative people need to be eccentric
• How mundane routines produce creative magic
• The Key to creating remarkable things

Copyright

• Here's two perspectives on the decision of the Chicago Federal Appeals court which has refused to rehear a case in which Chapman Kelley claimed rights for damage to an artwork made of living wildflowers.  The case revolves around the notion that all artwork must satisfy basic copyright requirements and this was not possible in this case.  It's seen as an adverse decision by those using organic material in their artwork,
• First an article by the Art Newspaper -  Chicago court denies artist's copyright appeal
• Plus a post on the Art Law Blog - 7th Circuit Wildflower Decision (UPDATED)

Opinion Poll

• How much do you spend on exhibition frames on average? (Poll results) appears to indicate that American Artists tend to spend more on exhibition frames than UK artists - but there's lots of questions that the poll couldn't cover so all we know is practices are not the same both sides of the pond.

Websites and Blogging

• Microsoft's Office Web Apps enables people work using Office anywhere on the web anywhere in the world - however it's a subscription service and I think they've pitched the subscription a tad too high for most people
• If you like trying to get very wide panoramas try gigapan.  Especially useful if you want to get all your piggies in a row
• I've only just come across Joanne Mattera's Marketing Mondays You've been spammed - it's a recommended read for anybody who has ever had a problem with getting themselves unhooked from a mailing list and/or abusive spam 
• Taking Your Blog Off Topic

and finally......

Last Sunday Making A Mark notch(ed) up 1 million visits.  That's 5+ years worth of blogging and over 1,808 blog posts!

I use a postrank extension in Google Reader to help me get though all the sites I have bookmarked and this blog now seems to rate a 10! :D  I don't think it'll last!