Sunday, July 31, 2011

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
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.

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
      Landscapes
        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
        Art Exhibitions

        Major exhibitions
        Lady with an ermine by Leonard da Vinci
        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
        Marwari Mare by Suzie Whitcombe (Winner of Best in Show 2010)
        Art Bloggers
        Art Education

        Tip and techniques
        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 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
            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
            Search Engines
            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. 
            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 

              8 comments:

              1. Wow, so much incredible and helpful information, all in one place. Thank you for all that you do to keep us informed!

                ReplyDelete
              2. Hi Katharine,
                I hope your cold clears up quickly! I was sad to hear that Margaret Olley had died but inspired that she did so with paint on her fingers from painting all day at age 88! I found a 2005 biography of her: "Far from a Still Life," by Meg Stewart online for $19 which I ordered. There are still copies available at reasonable prices though I imagine the prices will go up shortly.

                ReplyDelete
              3. Hi Katherine. Sorry to hear that you have caught a cold - I hope you feel better soon.

                I just wondered if you have heard of www.blipfoto.com ? It is a website that functions as a photographic journal. You can only put one picture up a day, and that photograph has to have been taken on the day you specify (they look at the photographic data). It is a great site because you can look at other people's blip accounts and comment on their photographs. It's quite inspirational!

                I use it to create a type of 'time-lapse film' to record how my paintings develop as the days go by (see 25th February - 23rd March on www.blipfoto.com/inkyleaves if interested).

                You can sign up for a free account without all the gizmo's.

                Thanks for all your incredible info on the art world this week. Always a pleasure to read.

                ReplyDelete
              4. Thanks Linda


                Jana - I'd heard of the book but never seen a copy. As you say they'll all probably get snapped up now. She sounds as if she's had quite a life!

                ReplyDelete
              5. Jessica - I did come across blipphoto and I was tempted until I realised it was all about creating new photos which have to have been taken that day.

                That wasn't my particular objective. I'm more interested in sharing the photos I've been taking in recent years and commenting on how they have contributed to my visual identity. Hence why I went with Blogger in the end.

                ReplyDelete
              6. Lifting my eyes from my iPad :) to say thanks for the mentions!

                ReplyDelete
              7. Hi Katherine!
                I always enjoy reading your juicy, informative blog and particularly enjoy delving into your "who has made a mark this week" post. I learn so much. Thanks for all you do.
                Thank you too for the mention about my blog and its recent change. I hope you are feeling better soon.-Loriann

                ReplyDelete
              8. Yes I totally understand Katherine - good to hear that you heard of it though. I have often found it really annoying when I have taken two really good photographs on one day and none on another and am forced to choose for blip. I am really looking forward to your photoblog.

                Get better soon K.

                ReplyDelete

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