Sunday, July 24, 2011

24th July 2011 - Who's made a mark this week?

I'm rather late in posting this week.  Two reasons for this:
  • Yesterday's post (Techie: How NOT to lose all your Blogger Pics!) was rather important and I wanted to leave it up in people's blogrolls for a bit longer.  I cannot imagine anything worse than losing all the images on my blog!  
    • Thanks to all those who are sharing the information around with bloggers reading their blogs.
    • I've been amazed since I first posted it how many people do not realise that all their Blogger pics are in Picasa albums - and more to the point how some people claim that they have got photos in their Picasa albums which they say they've not uploaded to the Internet!!
  • I ran out of steam!  I realised the problem is that now I'm back I'm reading back over several weeks of great posts and trying to squeeze them all in - which isn't possible.  So this is a bit of an odd edition of "who's made a mark this week?"
Lucian Freud Portrait - Docmentary (Part 1)

The big news of course this week was the announcement on Thursday of the death of Lucian Freud who passed away at home on Wednesday, after a short illness, at the age of 88.  See my post on Friday - Lucian Freud (1922-2011) - an appreciation.

His great contribution to British painting was that he continued to pursue figurative painting when everybody else was dumping drawing (and painting) and eagerly signing up to become members of an art movement which favoured the conceptual, non-figurative and abstracted.  He was a very key figure who contributed in a significant way to making figurative painting respectable again at the upper levels of the art market - which of course, in due course, filters down to benefit all other figurative artists.  I certainly chose to call my post "an appreciation" for more than one reason.

He's also got an absolutely great sense of colour and the muted palette.  He's one of very few painters who can fascinate all colour fans with a painting which makes a restrained use of colour.

Others bloggers who commented on him were as follows (Note: for those not used to looking at acres of flesh - or simply prefer not to - the posts with images include a number of paintings of nudes - Freud's area of particular excellence):
  • Charley Parker (Lines and Colors) has also done an appreciation - with lots of images of his paintings - see Lucian Freud
  • Julie Oakley (Julie Oakley Sketchblog) - Good-bye Lucian Freud which contains the sketch (below) of Lucian Freud done from life a couple of years ago as Julie had lunch next to the great man as he eat his fish at Clarke's restaurant in Kensington Church Street.  I have to say I'd have done exactly the same thing!
    • Portrait of the portrait artist
    Lucian Freud ate fish at the next table - a sketch by Julie Oakley
  • It's Nice That - Lucian Freud (1922 - 2011) - which comments on Freud's influence on the figurative art coming out of Scotland - and includes a large (nude) pic of Benefits Supervisor Sleeping
  • Another post with lots of images from across the decades and a commentary on his work is Lucian Freud in Pictures on J's Theater 
  • Museworthy - Farewell Lucian Freud is interesting because the blog is written by Claudia a life model in New York who has picked images of some great paintings.
  • There's a great explanation of one of his paintings of his women and children -  - in Lucian Freud
  •  (History is made at night)  
What's absolutely fascinating is how many bloggers who have written about him are not art bloggers - they're just people who appreciated his painting.

Other art websites posted obituaries and appreciations included 
Art Blogs

Drawing and Sketching

2nd International Urban Sketching Symposium - Lisbon 21-23 July 2011

Nearly 200 Urban Sketchers were at the 2nd International Urban Sketching Symposium in Lisbon for three days this last week - although several arrived early and I guess are staying late.  I'm not sure how that compares to last year - maybe somebody can tell me?

Here are some links which let you see what's going on.  Lots of sketching of sketch artists sketching in Lisbon by the look of it!
In addition, Urban Sketchers has this post about varios events around the world Drawing Attention: Summer Sketching Around the Globe
The 32nd world wide sketchcrawl turned out to be a very different day than I imagined. I joined Stella and Åshild in downtown Oslo where a large area was cordoned off and guarded by armed soldiers, a haunting sight in our relatively quiet city.
Coloured Pencils and Pastels
Graphics
  • Not really art or art blogs but some graphic designers are gifted and geeky and I couldn't resist sharing this Dr Who Tube Map by Crispian Jago which I found on The Londonist.  It has with one tube line per Doctor - and all the stops as characters in the series.  Every entry on the map is clickable, leading off to a wiki page about the adversary.  The Daleks interchange looks very busy!  They're defined as shouty galactic plumbers on castors! Should keep the kids occupied for a while!
    Art Business and Art Marketing
    Facebook Has a Click Through Rate of 287%. Twitter's Click Through Rate is a Staggering 1904%
    Art Collectors

    Artists who are mid-career professionals are experiencing the greatest downturn in sales of their careers. 
    Art Competitions and open exhibitions
    • Should I Enter Art Competitions and Shows? by Carolyn Henderson on (Fine Art Views) relates what helps her decide
    • The Bath Prize has announced that it has new prizes this year.  Entries for the competition close on September 6th 2011. Full details and entry form available via the link.  The new prizes are:
      • The £1,000 Circus purchase prize is offered for the work that best captures the unique character and style of the Georgian masterpiece, designed by John Wood the Elder and completed by his son in 1768.
      • The £500 Interior Prize is offered for the work judged to be the best painting depicting an interior in the City of Bath. The inspiration can be a well-known Bath landmark such as the Abbey, the Assembly Rooms, The Guildhall and the Roman Baths or it can be a less-familiar public or private building
      • The Porthleven Prize offers three painters the opportunity to spend a week in May 2012 (5th-12th) at the Lifeboat Art Studio, Porthleven, Cornwall together with accommodation provided by Porthleven Holiday Cottages.  These prizes will be won by works judged to best capture the character and style of The Guildhall in Bath.  This latter prize struck me as being a novel way of attracting sponsorship for an art competition and marketing a unique studio space for use by painters or for exhibitions.  Do you know of anybody else who sponsors art competitions with prizes like this?
    Converted from a fomer lifeboat station, built in 1894, the fully-equipped studio commands a magnificent location on the outer harbour with uninterrupted views out to sea.
    Art Books
    Art Copyright
    • An absolutely fascinating story about allegations of copyright infringement, new notions of what copyright should cover and, as usual, insightful commentary by Ed Winkelman (edward_winkelman) in Under the Influence
    Art Exhibitions

    Major Art Galleries and Museums

    National Art Societies
    Judge Sandra Schaffer selected 125 works by 107 artists for the 2011 exhibition. 30 states are represented in the exhibition.  A total of 349 artists entered 639 paintings. Entries were received from 42 states and the District of Columbia.
    • This is the Traveling Exhibition Schedule for the 144th Annual Exhibition of the American Watercolor Society.  It's currently in Waco, Texas and is due to open in Plainview Texas on September 4th - followed by Nebraska, California and Illinois.
    • High Watermark is turning into the equivalent of the Summer Exhibition for Watercolourists!  The High Watermark II Exhibition closes at the Bankside Gallery (home of the Royal Watercolour Society) today and moves to the Mall Galleries (home of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour) where it reopens on Tuesday 16th August.  I've not seen it yet - hence no pics.  Hopefully in time they'll develop a joint website to help promote sales.
    • The Armed Forces Art Society's 77th Annual Exhibition opens at the Mall Galleries on Tuesday 26th July and continues until next Saturday.
    See Art Societies Exhibitions in the UK for more details about other annual exhibitions

    Art Schools and Colleges
    • Unfortunately I spotted this too late - but I can see some very nice work.  I wish more people would images from their exhibitions on to a blog
    • The Rootstein Hopkins Foundation Drawing Exhibition took place between 11 May - 11 June at Morley Gallery and celebrated the artistic talents of the capital's adult learners. Over 211 drawings were submitted to the exhibition, and of these, 110 of the very best entries have been chosen for display by a distinguished panel of judges.  It's a very great pity that there is no website or slideshow anywhere of the winners' work.
      • Stephanie Greenslade of Morley College won the Drawing from the Imagination prize for her factastically intricate depiction of ‘Mother Autumn'
      • the Drawing for Design prize went to Sumi Perera of Kensington and Chelsea College for her piece ‘Shattering the Glass Ceiling II' 
      • Deborah Robins of the Mary Ward Centre and Rouhi Peck of Putney School of Art & Design were joint winners in the hotly-contested Drawing from Observation category.
        Art Bloggers
        Winter Grasses Loch Doon by Bridget Hunter
         See also:  Art Societies in the UK and Art Society Exhibitions in the UK
          Art Forums
          • Artists Network seems to have had a makeover while I was on holiday - I didn't recognise it when I got back 
          Art History and Art Museums
          • I highlighted a brilliant new website - sponsored by BBC which aims to put the whole national collection of oil paintings online - see Your Paintings
          • Collector as Artist: The Barnes Foundation has an interesting interactive tour of some of the old museum’s highlights - you'll recognise quite a few of the pics.
          Art Studios
          Art Supplies
          Creativity
            Internet and webware

            Google + Help Page - READ!
            This week I've seen a lot of people start to get to grips with Google+

            So this week I'm having a bit of a feature this week on Google + and short domain names and shortened URLs - with a few warnings thrown in....

            • Complete your Google Profile says Alyson Stanfield on ArtBizBlog with a view to joining Google+.  However before you do join.....
            • Beware all those wanting to join Google+  
              • It bears repeating!  My post yesterday is VERY IMPORTANT if you have not yet signed up for Google + See Techie: How NOT to lose all your Blogger Pics!
              • you have to use your real name ie the one everybody knows you by - see what happens if you don't I’ve been suspended from Google+ | Infotropism.  Also Google+ Users Irked at Surge in Deleted Accounts.  I hadn't spotted this aspect of Google + to start with and have now changed mine so it's got my name but also includes (makingamark).  Beware - some people have lost access to all their Google Account.  I suggest you make sure you have a second account linked to your blog with admin function if you want to indicate who you are beyond your real name.  (The Google directive was to use the name you are known as in real life and I do actually sometimes introduce myself to people in real life as being "makingamark" and people understand what that means since not everybody knows my real name.)
              • If you're thinking of using http://gplus.to/ to shorten your new google+ a/c to get web friendly address, do make sure you make and informed decision and protect your security by reading this first article on zdnet first Getting a user-friendly Web address on Google Plus
            • Did you know you can sign in to http://goo.gl/ to get a URL shortened? 
            • There are some new domain names which are shortened and Google Acquires G.co Domain for Its Shortened URLs
            "We'll only use g.co to send you to webpages that are owned by Google, and only we can create g.co shortcuts"
            • The BBC asks - Podcasts - who listens to them? 
            • Squareup was recommended by an arrtist in one of the Google groups I belong to

              "Square" is a device that apparently pops into the headphone jack of  
              an iPhone, iTouch or Android phone and allows for swiping credit cards  
              anywhere. It processes credit card payments, and the company will send  
              you a FREE swiper-jack when you sign up. 
            and finally..... 

            As I indicated at the beginning of the year, "He who must not be bored while I sketched" is retiring - as of now!  Which means my life changes as of this week!

            I'm not quite sure how as yet - but one bit will certainly involve starting to plan a move out of London.  The big question is "where to?".  Suggestions for areas with nice places to paint are welcome!

            Of course it also means I now have an extra pair of hands to carry stuff and I might just go and order that half French easel which Sarah used to such good effect on holiday! 

            In the meantime we're going out to lunch tomorrow to celebrate!  Sketch of lunch to follow.....
            Posted by Making A Mark on Sunday, July 24, 2011
            Categories , , , , , , , , , ,

            2 comments:

            1. Rose WeltyTuesday, July 26, 2011

              Enjoyed the round-up per usual Katherine. Congrats to "Not Bored", hope it's the beginning of a fun new stage for you both!

              ReplyDelete
            2. Marion Boddy-EvansWednesday, July 27, 2011

              The Scottish Highlands has oodles of gorgeous scenery! But you've also got to like cooler weather...

              ReplyDelete

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