17th July 2011 - Who's made a mark recently?

Winsor & Newton Choice Award
at the Society of Women Artists 150th Exhibition
Yellow Scarf by Sophie Ploeg
oil on linen, 40x50cm

A slight change in the post title to reflect that this is the first "Who's made a mark?" since 29th May!  It's been a long time.  I've had a splendid holiday but also needed a bit of a rest from the journey back.  Now I'm on catch-up.  I've been lobbing items into this post over the past few weeks so some are a little old.

In the near future, I'm also going to playing catch-up with exhibitions in London - notably the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and the BP Portrait Prize. 

Congratulations to Sophie Ploeg (Sophie Ploeg) whose painting Yellow Scarf features at the top of this post and won the Winsor and Newton Choice award at the Society of Women Artists 150th Exhibition.  It forms part of a series of paintings about fabrics which you can see on her website.

Art Blogs

Drawing and Sketching

• I've been doing a lot of sketching on my travels while holidaying in France - in Provence and the drive to and from the Vaucluse.  I've posted some of Four Go Painting in Provence but due to the loss of the internet due to a lightning strike, I'm going to be updating my sketchbook blog now I'm back with all the sketches and some of the photos I took while travelling with my sketchbook
• Once I got home I had to go and collect the cats from their hols in Cheshire - which meant another armchair sketch of my mother's garden - which is rampant in July - see A Cheshire Garden in July

A Cheshire Garden in July (2011)
10" x 14", pen and inck and coloured pencil in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

• Other people who have also been recording their holidays in sketches include
• Richard Bell of Wild West Yorkshire who has been to Switzerland.
• Jake Gumbleton (Jake Gumbleton) who spent time in Devon - see holiday watercolours
• Meanwhile people attending Drawn to Lisbon - Urban Sketchers Symposium (July 21-23) are beginning to assemble in or near Lisbon.   This is the symposium blog which includes posts from those taking sessions.  You wouldn't believe the number of people who have been posting about their sketching gear preparations for Lisbon! Here's some of them.
• Liz Steel (Liz and Borromini) has filled a complete sketchbook just with her preparations!  Take a look at her very many posts prior to leaving Sydney - which includes a sketch of her sketching kit!  See D-4_00 FInal daily sketching kit
• Pete Scully (Peter Scully) photographed his art kit in tomorrow never knows.  The same photo on Flickr is rather better as he's itemised every part of his kit!
• Gearing up for Lisbon! by Marc Taro Holmes 
• Drawing near by Nina Johansson
• The Urban Sketchers new book is also now available on Amazon The Art of Urban Sketching: Drawing On Location Around The World
• I was sent a link this week - for which many thanks - with the suggestion it was worth highlighting.  It's about a new book Think Inside the Sketchbook by Gillian Robinson, Alison Mountain and David Hulston.

Illustration

• A fascinating post by James Gurney (Gurney Journey) about a distant relative and what Howard Pyle, the American illustrator and writer, had to say about composition - see A Pyle student named Gurney.  Did you know there is a blog devoted to Howard Pyle?
• Escape from Illustration Land has listed lists which together provide 150 Useful Resources for Illustrators

Landscapes

• Who knew? The Landscapes of Georgio Morandi
• Plein air painters in the UK have formed a Plein Air Brotherhood.  They've got a website and a Twitter account - now all the need is a blog!

Painting

• Julian is back posting on Postcard from Provence - however last week he was posting from the bar in town as it appears the internet woes continue.  (I think I still have the wifi access code in my handbag!)  See the splendid still life paintings (lemon and blue bottle, apples and confit pot and peaches, bottle and copper mould) he's been working on - plus he was also painting the lavender near to Sault last week !  I've still not mastered the colour of lavender so asked him what he used.

House in the Lavender Fields

I used a micheal harding bright pink lake (which is a mixture) with ultramarine blue, permanent alizaron and some burnt sienna and possibly a little ochre with titanium white. The Lavender can be very gray or very pink purple depending on where you are positioned in relationship to the sun.

•  Have you come across the 100 Washes Challenge Blog yet?  It started in October 2010 but I've only just discovered it and it seems like a great idea.  Participating artists (some of whom are not regular bloggers) are Theresa Evans (Landscape and Nature Paintings) Maggie Latham (Maggie Latham Art); Christy Lemp (Watercolor wanderings) Suzanne Lindfield (Herborium); Vanda Massey (Vanda Massey); Jane Minter (Jane Minter) and Olivia Quintin (Olivia Quintin).
• Funnily enough, since I spotted this project, one of those bloggers has has revealed to me what you do when you get back to the painting and finish with the blogging - see Maggie Latham Art

Art Business and Marketing

• I've been noticing of late that more and more people seem to be using mailchimp for their newsletters.  For more information see Email Newsletter Software - Resources for Artists

Art Collectors and Art Crime

Art Crime

What is it with art crime - it seems to be everywhere!

• My jaw dropped recently when I began to appreciate the way the Wildenstein family operated in relation to the designation of a Monet - in defiance of academic opinion.  It dropped still further this week when I read that Guy Wildenstein, the billionaire Franco-American art dealer, had been arrested in Paris and accused of fraud.  See Billionaire dealer accused of fraud over missing art.  Wildenstein, Murdoch - which of "the untouchables" is next?  Note:  I went looking for a website link for Guy Wildenstein and ended up with wikipedia - which has been "hacked" with a vengeance!  Do take a read before somebody corrects it - click the link in Wildenstein's name! 
• More jaw-dropping stuff - The stolen Turners, the Serbian underworld, and a £24m insurance job According to the Independent this is the Tate's extraordinary coup in securing both a massive payout and the return of the masterpieces can be told at last.  
• Art Info and others have reported how Steve Martin was scammed - A Wild and Crazy Art Scam: Steve Martin Among Those Duped by Germany's Largest-Ever Forgery Ring 

Art Collecting

• Art Collecting - which looks like it might be a useful site - has an eminently sensible post about The Importance of Documenting your Art Collection.
• Jonathan Jones asks Are we a nation of abstract art snobs? and why people in Britain have such a different attitude to abstract art compared to Americans. 

For more information see Art and the Economy - Resources for Artists
 
Art Competitions

Lots to catch up on here!

• the BP Portrait Prize - I missed going to the PV for the announcement of the BP Portrait Prize while I was on holiday but will be doing a proper catch-up about the BP Portrait Prize shortly - once I've had an opportunity to see it.   In the meantime here's some posts about Wim Heldens win and the impact on those rejected for the exhibition.
• Dutch artist takes BP portrait prize
• BP Portrait award unlocks our passion for painting
• Dazed and Refused: the art of rejection - The painters who failed to make the shortlist of the BP Portrait Award have mounted their own exhibition called Dazed and Refused
• the Jolomo Scottish Landscape Painting Prize - see my post over on The Art of the Landscape -Scottish Landscape Painting and a £25,000 prize.  I hadn't come across this before - but that first prize is hefty!!
  
• the Northern Art Prize 2011 has announced the artists shortlisted for the £16,500 First Prize.  The winner will be announced in January 2012.  You can also see the artists longlisted on the website - and who they were norminated by.
• the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition - Artists selected were announced last week.  Some artists who entered the art competition for the Sunday Times watercolour exhibition have been less than impressed by the Panel's decision to choose a third fewer paintings than the number advertised in the prospectus.  At least one is asking for her money back and there's a prospect that it have implications for next year's entry.  
• See 2011 Sunday Times Watercolour Competition - selected artists and in particular the comments.  
• I'm thinking about doing a blog post about the how both parties need to satisfy the conditions of art competitions and would be interested to hear your views - leave a comment on the post.
• See also Chris Dunn's blog - and his entry Cracked Matador which was selected for the 2011 exhibition
• In London, the antitthesis of the art competition - the CGP London Open Exhibition, a leader in the field of the uncurated "hang the lot" art exhibition since 1984, will be holding its annual exhibition at the Cafe Gallery shortly.
• Meanwhile in the Guardian, Jonathan Jones wrote an article titled Rise of the prize: are juries taking over the arts?  which asked whether arts prizes and their judges should be allowed to shape our cultural landscape?

For more information about major art competitions in the UK see Art Competitions in the UK - Resources for Artists

Art Exhibitions

Major Museums

• Jonathan Jones and other journalists at the Guardian have written about Cy Twombley - who died this week in Rome age 83 - and the new exhibition of his paintings alongside Poussin at Dulwich Picture Gallery in the Guardian.  See  
• Artist Cy Twombly dies aged 83 in Rome 
• Cy Twombley obituary and Cy Twombly - a life in pictures
•  (plus the New York Times obituary - American Artist Who Scribbled a Unique Path
• Cy Twombly - an appreciation: Paintings about sex and death
• the slideshow - Twombly and Poussin: Arcadian Painters – in pictures
• the exhibition - Twombly and Poussin: Arcadian Painters (29 June - 25 September 2011) at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, London SE21 7AD
• Charley Parker (Lines and Colors) has highlighted a new exhibition about Rembrandt and Degas. Further details of the exhibition can be found at For the first time: Rembrandt & Degas, Rijksmuseum to 23 October 2011.
• You can preview the exhibition of Mervyn Peak's Gormenghast drawings at the British Library, London on Facebook.  The Worlds of Mervyn Peake Tue 5 Jul 2011 - Sun 18 Sep 2011 
• At Tate Britain, a new exhibition about the Vorticists has opened -  The Vorticists: Manifesto for a Modern World 14 June – 4 September 201. You can see a slideshow of works on display in the Guardian - The radicals return: The Vorticists at Tate Britain – in pic.  A number of the works featured in last week's British Mastres programme on the BBC - see below

Vorticism was a radical art movement that shone briefly but brightly in the years before and during World War I...The Vorticists forged a distinctive style combining machine-age forms and energetic imagery, embracing modernity and blasting away the staid legacy of the Edwardian past

• The Courtauld Gallery in London has a new exhibition about Toulouse Lautrec. Toulouse Lautrec  and Jane Avril: Beyond The Moulin Rouge Courtauld Gallery, WC2, to 18 Sep
• In Liverpool, Tate Liverpool has a new exhibition about Rene Magritte - René Magritte: The Pleasure Principle - 24 June-16 October 2011.  This is the biggest exhibition of the Belgian surrealist’s work in England for twenty years.  You can see a slideshow of some of the paintings in René Magritte at Tate Liverpool - in pictures.  Plus read the Guardian review René Magritte: enigmatic master of the impossible dream

Sad to report that yesterday at 5pm, a Poussin in the National Gallery has been sprayed with red paint obliterating the central section of the painting.  Poussin painted "The Adoration of the Golden Calf", in 1634

For more information about top museums see Top 10 Art Galleries and Museums

Regional Museums

• One for the calendar - I missed highlighting a major new open exhibition for fine art printmakers - whose receiving days were this week.  BITE is to be a new contemporary printmaking show in London, showcasing the most exciting prints by artists working in a range of different printmaking methods.  The exhibition will open at the Mall Galleries on Wednesday 24 August and closes Saturday 3 September.

Art Societies

• I had to miss going to the private view of the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition due to holiday preparation priorities.  It opened on 7th June and will close on 15th August.  I won't be taking "he must not be bored while I sketch" - as he's found it very boring in the past!  
• British Sculptor Alison Wilding RA has won the prestigious £25,000 Charles Wollaston Award - worth £25,000 - for the ‘most distinguished work’ in the Summer Exhibition 
• This year they've produced a Summer Exhibition app for the iphone
• The Guild of Aviation Artists: ‘Aviation Paintings of the Year’ Annual Summer Exhibition opens at the Mall Galleries on 19th July and runs until 24th July.

For more information see Art Society Exhibitions (UK) - Resources for Artists

Art Societies

• Two Opinion Polls about Art Societies:
•  Last month's Making A Mark Poll asked the question How many Art Societies are you a member of? (Poll results)
• This month's Making A Mark Poll is about POLL: How much do you spend on Art Societies?
• The Royal Society of Portrait Painters has a brand new website - see http://www.therp.co.uk/.  As with all new designs there are a few tweaks required.  I'm looking forward to doing a review of it and highlighting the lessons which can be shared with other art societies in the near future.  For example it includes several new features which are very customer-oriented in relation to sponsorship and those wanting to commission portraits.  It's also nice to see a society boasting about its visitor numbers too - which is so very helpful to artists trying to decide whether they should enter open exhibitions.  

For more information see Art Societies in the UK

Art History / Art Television

Two posts this week about the current surfeit of programmes about art on the BBC.  Could it be that "the silly season" now needs to be rechristened "the art history season"

• The latest Art on the BBC - about three programmes concerning British masters of the twentieth century; fake paintings and forgeries, art deco icons and another chance to see the programme about the story of British landscape painting.
• The Impressionists: Painting and Revolution - Gang of Four about two more programmes- a major new series about the Impressionists and another chance to see the programme about Van Gogh with Benedict Cumberbach playing Van Gogh

Watch out for a major post new week about another new development next week.

Art Museums

• How many of you have followed A History of the World in 100 objects - produced by the British Museum and the BBC?  It's just helped the Briotish Museum to win Britain's biggest prize for museums! See British Museum wins Art Fund prize
• Art Info has an article about 
• the Barnes Collection and its move to Philadelphia 
• plans by MFA Houston to create a Massive Project to Put Latin American Art History Online
• Artist biographer Jonathan Jones on the topic of biographies of artists Artist biographies: more than just cheap gossip

Public Art

• The Guardian art blog is taking a tough line on the overspending on Wallinger's latest project The fate of Wallinger's horse shows why public art cannot be good art

Art Education

Art classes and workshops

• The Princes Drawing School now has a blog - see The Prince's Drawing School Blog.  They also have free taster sessions available for new autumn classes.
  
• Sharon Lynn Williams (Almost Daily Art Blog) is very enthusiastic about her second Carol Marine workshop and has been sharing some tips and paintings on her blog

Art Materials

Art Equipment

• Stapleton Kearns (Stapleton Kearns) posted a lot of useful on his blog this week about 
• Brushes - specially Riggers, A worn out brush and New Brushes
• his panel boxes for carrying plein air painting boards.  Lots of images and lots of tips if you want to make your own as he has done. Anybody care to recommend a lightweight version that works well in the field?
• Carrying paintings onto location
• Have you seen the Daniel Smith article about granulating watercolour paints?

Websites and Blogging

• According to Mashable, apparently Blogger and Picasa get a rebranding towards the end of July as Google + comes online for all.  They become Google Blogs and Google Photos respectively.  In the meantime
• The  Blogger in Draft blog announced that Blogger has a new Interface (in draft)
• I'll be highlighting an awful warning next week re Picasa and what happened to Bill Guffey's pics. when he joined Google +
• Darren Rowse's Problogger provides sound advice about How to format blog posts effectively
• The Clustrmaps blog announced that they are now producing tweet maps!  I like Clustrmaps - it provides me with a very quick and simple way of understanding where my posts get read.
• Lori McNee (Fine Art Tips) retweeted about 25 Twitter Application that Help Promote Your Artwork 
• Beware the problems with people creating imposter accounts on Facebook and what you are faced with if it happens to you
• There's going to be an expansion of domain names Icann announces huge expansion of web domain names from 2012

and finally......

I vividly remember walking through Tate Britain once and coming across Mark Wallinger's reconstruction of the Brian Haw protest about the Iraq War in Parliament Square - which included the line on the floor to represent the one kilometre from Parliament inside no demonstrations were permitted.  The line bisected the "protest" exhibition.  Was this Wallinger, Haw and the Tate thumbing their respective noses at Parliament?  (Do Museums have noses?!)  Was this installation art which finally had some real meaning?

Brian spent 10 years living in Parliament Square - bang opposite the entrance to Parliament - protesting about the Iraq war.  In my view, Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, got it about right

"Brian Haw, the father of seven, anti-war loony who used to bellow at me on my bicycle . . . I thought his posters and general gubbins were a disgrace and spoiled the look of the place; and yet he . . . represented something dementedly British . . . Across the world, Britain still stands for a certain idea of liberty, a particular concept of the relationship between the citizen and the state."

Brian died recently and Mark Wallinger wrote about him in the Guardian and how they reconstructed his protest inside the Tate - Mark Wallinger recalls Brian Haw