31st July 2011 - Who's made a mark this week?

In June I greatly enjoyed posting a photo to this blog each day to show you a bit of Provence.  To my great surprise this turned out to be very popular!

So much so that I've decided to progress an idea I've had on the back burner for a while.  I'll be writing more about it in a little while but suffice to say Makingamark - The Daily Photo - starts up tomorrow [Update:  This is the first post -A is for Aeonium arboreum 'Atropurpurerum'].  The basic idea is explained below and at greater length in a text box on the blog.

The Daily Photo is about creating pictures rather than photography per se. It's all about the process of creating a personal visual identity.

My photographs are from the past and the present - from here and there - in the UK and abroad.

These photos reflect what particularly interests me - such as important elements of design like shape, colour and texture. Landscapes, flowers, plants and markets are also an abiding interest.

It's essentially image focused with just a few words by way of explanation where relevant.  If you think you might be interested there are all the usual ways to sign up and subscribe.

Do tell me what you think as the week progresses....and we'll see how this experiment goes.....

(note:  I've been suffering from a nasty cold at the back end of the week and consequently have been falling asleep rather a lot so apologies if there are mistakes in what follows!)

Artist Obituary

This summer seems to be taking its toll of highly respected older artists.

First Cy Twombley died age 83, then Lucian Freud age 88 and now Australian artist Margaret Olley has also died, also aged 88 with the funeral being held on Friday.

A a state memorial is to be held next month at the Art Gallery of New South Wales where a special display of her work has been installed as a special exhibition.

Margaret Olley by Ben Quilty

Margaret Olley besides being a well known and well respected artist in Australia is also the only person in Australia whose portrait won the Archibald Prize twice (in 1948 and 2011).  See Ben Quilty's portrait of Margaret Olley wins 2011 Archibald Prize.

These are slideshows of her work

• a slideshow of portraits - her and by her Margaret Olley - portraits of the artist
• Life and works of Margeret Olley

She was painting up to the end

The day before she died, aged 88, Olley was putting the final touches on more than two dozen new works for an upcoming exhibition.

These are the links to articles from the Australian Press about the artist.  It's very clear she played a significant role as a patron of other artists and as a philanthropist.  I rather liked the title of the first article.

• Olley dies as she wanted, with paint still on her fingers 
• Artist Margaret Olley dead 
• Friends farewell 'indomitable' Olley
• A colourful life, celebrated frame by frame 
• Tributes flow for a legendary artist and patron 
• Kind, fearless and a big heart

This is an article about her last painting - a view of Sydney Harbour - Picture postcard view becomes a work of genius.  Do read it - it's a fascinating story

Art Blogs

Drawing and sketching

• On Tuesday, we celebrated the retirement of "he who must not be bored while I sketch"  with a very leisurely lunch at the pub restaurant in North Essex run by Jamie Oliver's mum and dad - see Travels with a Sketchbook in.......: Lunch at The Cricketers, Clavering, Essex.  I hasten to add that we shared the antipasti and the cheeseboard! 
• On Thursday I started my new course of physio (for the foot which stopped me walking earlier this year) and decided to get a bit of exercise and walk home from the hospital vis the park.  The Drained Lake, Victoria Park is the resulting sketch - done in pen and ink from the Pavilion.  It's such a depressing sight and site.  So much so I succumbed to a very nasty cold when I got home!
• Wired this week had a post about Beautiful Data: The Art of Science Field Notes

The Drained Lake
8" x 10", pen and ink in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Coloured Pencils and pastels

• Loriann Signori has moved her pastels blog to a weekly blog post as she has a new self-imposed constraint on computer time - and is creating some new large pastels in the studio!
• UKCPS (UKCPS News) have announced the 10th Open Exhibition - List of successful artists.  In case you're wondering I didn't submit anything this year!  
• CPSA (CPSA News) has announced  - in Convention Recap - What's Next? - that its next conventions will be in:
• Covington KY (Greater Cincinnati area) in 2012 and 
• Brea CA in 2013
• Jeff George - twice winner of CPSA's top prize for coloured pencils - and Ester Roi (Ester Roi Fine Art) have both been selected to be artists featured on the Prismacolor website.  Jeff is not prolific - but what he produces wins prizes! Watch the slideshows (George and Roi) and you'll see photos of their artwork and their drawing studios 
  

Painting

• Not an art blogging post per se - but art bloggers will be involved in The Cornwall Big Paint In - on a beach!
• Lovely long post by James Gurney (Gurney Journey) about The Zorn Palette.  Anders Zorn is one those painters I keep wanting to find out more about - but easier said than done so this post is very welcome.

Landscapes

• Armand Cabrera (Art and Influence) highlights landscape painter Thomas Worthington Whittredge
• I've highlighted Robin Purcell's blog on Robin Purcell, Watercolors in the Plein Air Tradition before.  However I've only just spotted Robin Purcell's Point Lobos Series of watercolour paintings.  I've been to Point Lobos 9just south of Monterey) and these are wonderful paintings.  See what she has to say about working from photographs.  Robin is a "signature member" of the American Watercolor Society , the National Watercolor Society and the California Watercolor Association and is currently exhibiting in A Century of Landscapes: Selections from the California Art Club at the Calfornia Histprical Society
  
• The walkway street food market in Nuremberg is about a cityscape created by Albrecht Durer

Art Business and Marketing

• I posted this week about The NEW Daily Paintworks website which seems to be providing a useful option - including auctions - for selling art online.  I'll be updating with further reviews in future so do pipe up if you have any feedback.
• Lori McNee's very useful blog Fine Art Tips has been badly hacked this week (hence no URL) - and is still down.  However she is continuing to post on Facebook and Google+ and her website LoriMcNee.com is back in business again.
• Here's one of Lori's recommended links this week - Five Lies About Social Media Marketing - it provides "a cheat sheet to the dangers of absolutes when it comes to marketing online"
• The Secret to Attracting More Fans for Your Art by Alyson Stanfield on artbizblog focuses on how artisrs/art bloggers can contribute towards the art education of potential buyers

Art Collectors and Art Economy

• A report highlighted by The Art Newspaper indicates that the traditional gallery system is said to be in decline - Gallery system is structurally weak
• The Sydney Morning Herald has an article Hanging Offences which unpicks the pitfalls of disagreements amongst couples about buying artwork and has some practical proposals for how these can be addressed

disagreements arise among couples when one person has ''the mentality of a collector'' and the other has a ''mentality of a decorator''.

Art Competitions

• This week I highlighted The Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2013 which is open to all professional artists aged 18 and over who are currently living and working in the USA 
• Stapleton Kearns (Stapleton Kearns) has written a short series of posts about art exhibition juries
• A thought about juries for exhibitions
• More about juries 
• finishing with his proposal of how to address problems with juries - Elected juries
• The Jameel Prize is the V&A's £25,000 international art prize awarded to a contemporary artist or designer inspired by traditions of Islamic craft and design  This is the Jameel Prize 2011 shortlist.

Art Exhibitions

Major exhibitions

Lady with an ermine by Leonard da Vinci

• The Guardian has an interesting post Leonardo da Vinci painting is 'put at risk by loan from Poland to London'.  It suggests that a Polish owned painting which is in a very fragile condition should not now make the journey for the the National Gallery's blockbuster exhibition later this year - Leonardo da Vinci - Painter at the Court of Milan - following the recent paint throwing incident. Unfortunately it features on all the publicity and is even the image chosen for the front cover of the catalogue! 
• Faces Still Alive, Centuries Later is a review of a small exhibition of work by the 17th-century Dutch painter Frans Hals at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York - Frans Hals in the Metropolitan Museum.  Frans Hals is a slideshow of images from an exhibition of the artist’s work 

Regional Museums / London Galleries 

Lancashire Fair. Good Friday. Daisy Nook by L S Lowry
1946 Oil on canvas; 72 x 92 cm © The Estate of L S Lowry, 2010/courtesy of the UK Government Art Collection
Selected by Samantha Cameron 

• High profile public, political and diplomatic figures have chosen works from the Government Art Collection which can be seen in The Government Art Collection exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery until 4th September.  Above is the wonderful picture by LS Lowry which has been selected by Samantha Cameron and recently hung on the walls of 10 Downing Street.  I'm very fond of Lowry as there used to be a reproduction of one of his works in my primary school - once seen, never ever forgotten! I love the way we have a record of what parts of the north west of England used to be like purely because he loved painting. Click here to download an exhibition guide - it's absolutely fascinating to see who chose what without even seeing the paintings!  However as this exhibition is local to me I'll be trying to get to see it very soon.  It's very easy to get to - the Gallery is close to Aldgate East tube.
• Flower Drawings: Redouté and his Pupils opened this month at the Fitzwilliam Museum (Shiba Gallery) in Cambridge and runs until Sunday 30 October 2011
• This is the online catalogue for the Richard Long exhibition at the Haunch of Venison
• This is the Artrabbit Art Map of art events in the UK - note that it's incredibly Londoncentric!

Art Societies

• Opening at the Mall Galleries on 2nd August are two art society annual exhibitions, both of which run until Sunday 7th August
• The Horse in Art: Society of Equestrian Artists International Open Exhibition.  If the standard set by last year's prizewinner, Suzie Whitcombe is anything to go by this should be stunning show.
• Hesketh Hubbard Art Society Annual Exhibition - this is the annual exhibition of the largest life drawing society in London 

Marwari Mare by Suzie Whitcombe (Winner of Best in Show 2010)

Art Bloggers

• Tina Mammoser (The Cycling Artist) has two paintings - Smuggler Cliffs and Golden, Chesil Beach - which have been shortlisted for this year's Cork Street Open Exhibition which runs from 4th - 12th August at 27-28 Cork Street London W1S 3NG.  At least one will be hung. 
• Smile by Holly Bedrosian (Holly Bedrosian Fine Art ) has been accepted into the Salmagundi Club 34th Annual Juried Painting and Sculpture Exhibition for Non-Members. This show of original oils, watercolors, pastels, colored pencils, acrylics, mixed media, and sculpture will take place at the Salmagundi Club in NYC, and be on from August 8-19.  

Art Education

Tip and techniques

• Deborah Paris (Deborah Paris - A Painting Life) has two fascinating posts about artistic techniques
• Velatura is about glazing - or is that scumbling.  Anyway it's whatever Titian used to do!
• The 30-3-3 Rule - I've not heard it called this before but I've said it to people a number of times and I'm a big believer in it 
• Some excellent advice from John Singer Sargent - via James Gurney (Gurney Journey) in “Do not try to make a pretty picture” .  This is the sort of advice to print out and keep!

Workshops and classes As with exhibitions, I'm happy to alert people to the workshops and classes of proven art bloggers (only) who are producing good quality art. Here are the links to

• This is the listing for workshops run by The Transparent Watercolor Society of America
  
• Deborah Paris makes neat use of the pages function on Blogger to list her classes on her dedicated Online Classes and workshops blog.  There is a page dedicated to Online Class Descriptions and another to Online Class Schedule /Registration. The Autumn Schedule includes:
• Online - Field Sketching for Landscape Painters - September 30-October 28, 2011
• Online - Painting the Luminous Landscape - October 21-November 18, 2011
• Workshop - Painting the Luminous Landscape, Taos, New Mexico - September 19-23, 2011- a five day workshop is for landscape painters who are interested in learning about the aesthetics and techniques of the Tonalist style.

Art History and Art Museums

• The New York Times reports that The Museum of Modern Art Raising Admission and Membership Fees  is raising its fees

"The change takes effect on Sept. 1. Admission will remain free for children 16 and under; the charge for full-time students will rise to $14 from $12.  MoMA is following the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Art - Opinion Polls

• Yesterday I posted How much do you spend on art societies? (Poll results).  It poses three questions on which comments are invited
• What would make you spend more of your art budget on art societies?
• How do you think art societies could deliver better value for money? 
• How can art societies cut costs in ways which you'd find acceptable?

Art Societies

• Have you come across The Pure Watercolour Society before?  It describes itself as small and informal but I think it might more accurately be described as very small.  Nevertheless it's interesting to see a push behind a focus on pure watercolour.
• This is the link which allows you to a French watercolour blog http://masmoulin.blog.lemonde.fr/ in English 

Art Videos

• Coverage of the late Lucian Freud and his painting continues - Adrian Searle provides a video commentary which examines Lucian Freud's 1989 painting Standing by the Rags at London's Tate Britain 
• Back in may Matthew D. Innis (Underpaintings) highlighted this Video Tour of Daniel Greene's House & Studio

Internet and webware

The good news and the bad news this week for one artist - Richard Forster who draws and is based in Middlesbrough

• first his exhibition gets featured in and draws plaudits from the Guardian
• however his gallery didn't have the bandwidth to cope with requests to see the exhibition online - and hence all requests to see the exhibition met a virtual brick wall.

The moral of the story - make sure your gallery website can cope if you become a featured artist!  Here are some of Richard's Selected Drawings

Blogging

• Darren Rowse (ProBlogger) has yet another relevant post - How to Silence Readers From Commenting on Your Blog

Search Engines

• Different search engines do thing different things - the New York Times assessed A Search Engine Match-Up: How Different Are Google and Bing? - which seems to mean they are more different than I thought.  Which do you think is more potentially useful for artists?

Social Media- including Google+

• an interesting post about Google+ - Google +, Identity and SEO
• Do you know about Google Places?
• Did you know you can claim your studio space / art business on Google Places?  Note this tip from Google.

Tip: Before you create a business listing, think about which Google Account you are using. In the future, you may want to share this account with other people at your business. 

• Speaking personally I find it intrusive unless you have a dedicated workplace with a dedicated workphone
• Read, Write, Web also highlights a change re Google Places - Google Places Makes its Move, Pushes Other Reviews Into the Background (Updated With Google's Comment) - and excerpts from reviews on 3rd party services have now been removed. 
• Just a reminder for anybody who hasn't read this yet - and is about to get started on Google+ - Techie: How NOT to lose all your Blogger Pics!

and finally......

You might think that having a stroke might lead to the end of making art.  In fact it can ne just the beginning.  This week I read an article about Jon Sarkin 

• this is the story of how he started to draw following neurological trauma - The man who couldn't stop drawing
• this is Jon Sarkin's website
• this is his gallery
• this is the video which tells the story in brief