Time spent on marketing by artists (poll results)

The Making A Mark Poll for November looked at what percentage of your art time you spend marketing art.

69 people responded to the poll and below you can see a chart of the results.  The main finding is that nearly half the respondents (46%) spend less than 10% of their time on marketing art.

Making A Mark Poll - November 2011

This poll took quite a while to get off the ground. I had a sense of people waiting to see what other people said before responding!

I'm left wondering whether people who don't market their art at all ticked the less than 10% box.  I'm very surprised at the very high percentage of people who are spending very little time marketing their art.

What would have been very interesting is to ask people to respond to different polls - which differentiated - for all those who sell art - between those people who make art for a living, those who do it on a semi-professional basis and those who pursue art as a leisure activity.  I'm certain that those who are successful at making a living as an artist spend more than 10% of their time on marketing their art.

Remember that TIME is money
Benjamin Franklin - in a letter "Advice to a Young Tradesman"

Time has an ambiguous value.  Its value varies depending on your perspective.  However all those running successful businesses know that the time not spent on realising your aims has an opportunity cost.  That opportunity cost is valued at the the income stream which might have resulted if you'd done something to generate it

I remember going to an art business workshop a few years back.  The artist had been a professional artist for around 30 years with consistent gallery representation.  One of his important messages - and one which stuck in my head - is never ever underestimate the amount of time required to market your art effectively.  He pointed out that nobody buys art because it's good - they buy it because they know it exists - and also think it's good!

He said that he still spent about 50% of his time on marketing activities.  In this poll only 7% spent over 50% of their time on marketing.

Marketing is a key activity of any independent entrepreneur - because without marketing there is no business.  No matter how good the product - or the art - unless people know about it, nobody is going to buy it.

Question: Do you have any thoughts on whether people who spend a lot or a little time on their art are doing "the right thing"? (if there is such a thing!)

Review of Specialist Art Couriers in the UK

This post reviews the services offered by specialist art couriers in the UK.  It's of particular relevance to:

• artists entering work for art competitions or art society exhibitions located outside their local area
• art collectors who need to pick up art they have purchased from a gallery at some distance from where they live

I'm first going list the specialist art courier services in the UK that I have been able to identify

Second I'm going to review the basic information we can find out about them online - and their compliance with the regulations relating to marketing services online.

Third, I'm going to review the responses of the services recommended by the organisers of art competitions and major art society exhibitions to my questions about their services.

Finally I'm going to explain my conclusions about the current state of the marketplace for specialist art courier services in the UK.

27th November 2011 - Who's made a mark this week?

Portobello Road by Peter Brown
Won the The Prize of the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers at NEAC Annual Exhibition

Peter Brown ("Pete the Street" - he paints plein air in towns)  won two prizes at the New English Art Club Annual Exhibition.  He has a couple of videos on this website.  One of then is Pete the Painter - filmed in Bath on the 6th January 2010 when the residents of Bath residents along with people across the UK woke up to deep snow.  Note there is snow on both painter and painting!



Artists and Art Blogs

Review: New English Art Club Annual Exhibition 2011

The 125th Annual Open Exhibition of the New English Art Club is currently on show at the Mall Galleries until 4th December.  It focuses in particular on figurative and representational artwork. You can also see the works by both members and non-members online on the NEAC website shop (The NEAC Trading Company Ltd)

Exhibition data

This year there are 488 works in the show out of c. 1,000 submitted.  Of these

• 372 (76.2%) are by NEAC members and 
• 116 (23.8%) are from 84 non members.  Of the latter two watercolour paintings are by HRH the Prince of Wales and a significant proportion of the others are by members of other Societies within the Federation of British Artists and other national societies.  

I'm told that work is presented to the selection panel with no reference to the name of the artist or their status.  Hence those artists who are not a member of any of the national UK art societies should regard the selection of their artwork for this exhibition as a real mark of achievement.  (At the end there are tips for entry in 2012)

Organisation of the exhibition

How you can generate a title for your art

On Wednesday I looked at Why you should give a title to your artwork. Today the topic is HOW to generate a title for art.

Before or after?

QUESTION: Are you an artist who creates a title before or after creating your art?

Before creation

Some people create a title for the painting as soon as they've seen what they want to paint or have an idea for a painting. This can help keep the brain focused on what the art is about.

While working something happens

It seems as if a lot of people get an inkling of what to call their artwork while working on it. They may not decide for certain until it's finished but a lot of pieces get a working title at the very least while they are works in progress.

After the art is finished

For most, the point at which people start to try and think about a title is the observation and reflection stage which comes when you think you may have finished.

Why you should give a title to your artwork

Two approaches to titling artwork and two posts this week about:

• WHY - Why you should give a title to your art
• HOW - Different ways of generating a title for your art

Have you ever scratched your head and had real difficulties finding a good title for art you have created?

I know I have.  It's very tempting at times like that to give up and just make it "untitled".  However I've personally always found art bloggers are very inventive when it comes to titles and have very often come up with something great when I've been leaning towards braindead!  So just post your piece and ask for suggestions - art bloggers love being asked to provide a title!

It's at times like that when I also try to remind myself of all the reasons why it's a really good idea to have a title for your art.

Why you should title your artwork

Here are some reasons why it's useful to title your artwork

How to get a visa to live in the UK as an artist

Have you ever wondered about the scope for you to live and work in the UK as an artist?  This post outlines the routes that artists can pursue if they want to live and work in the UK

The last of England by Ford Madox Brown

Beware there are quite a few constraints and hurdles to jump!

First of all, it's very clear that the government is reviewing its approach to immigration in the light of the very rapid increase in population in the UK in the last two decades together with the current deficit reduction plan and lack of affordable housing.  Government is looking more closely at the criteria for who can come and live and work in the UK.  There is a particular clampdown on the student route of entry which has been very much abused in the past.  On the other hand it is also looking to ensure that removing routes of entry which have been abused or are now irrelevant does not mean that those with real talent are also excluded - as will be seen if you read on.

Next all rules need to be complied with.  The UK Border agency (part of the Home Office) deals with all applications for visas.  Any application has to comply with all relevant law and regulation.

These are

• the rules for nationals in the European Economic Area and Switzerland.
• the rules for Commonwealth citizens with UK ancestry

Everybody else has to apply for a visa using the other routes of entry.  There is a Do you need a visa? quiz which helps establish whether or not you need one.

Artists wishing to get a visa to live and work in the UK can now apply for one of three categories of visa

• Tier 1 - Exceptional Talent
• Tier 2 - General 
• Tier 5 - Temporary worker

Below I briefly summarise the scope - and the constraints - that these tiers offer.

Cultural Olympiad 2012 - Artists taking the lead

You may have heard London is hosting the Olympics next year.  What you may not be aware of is that there is also a Cultural Olympiad 2012 - the culmination of which is the London 2012 Festival.

Below you'll find details of the 12 projects which relate to the Artists Taking the Lead strand of these cultural events.

The Boat Project collect wood from the Olympic Park Velodrome

I'll be writing about other art projects of the Olympiad between now and 2012.

20th November 2011 - Who's made a mark this week?

I can't quite believe that today I'm reporting the third artist to be burned out of their home this year.  After both Carol Marine and Jo Castillo got burned out of their homes which were totally devasted  in the Bastrop wildfires in Texas, I learned today that the home of Postcard from Provence painter Julian Merrow Smith and his wife Ruth Phillips and son Louis suffered a major fire on Friday night and is now uninhabitable - but will be repaired.

Les Couguieux - the Postcard from Provence House before the fire

In some sort of weird coincidence, Ruth shared photos of their home in Provence this week.  She'd put together a set of photographs for the New York Times - and I shared this slideshow on Les Couguieux on Four Go Painting In Provence which is the blog which recorded my painting holiday with Robyn, Sarah and Ronelle while staying in their home in June.

The really weird thing is that the slideshow image on the Flickr "stop frame" of the slideshow on the blog is of workmen getting ready to work on the Julian's studio which is attached to their home.......

Art blogs and Artists

Royal Society of British Artists: Call for Entries

The Autumn always brings lots of Calls for Entries - and this is the third this week on this blog - so apologies to my international readers!

This Call for Entries is for the Open Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of British Artists which will be held next year between 29th February and 10th March 2012.

I've missed the last two exhibitions due to a combination of problems with the winter weather and inability to walk any great distance - so I'm really hoping I can get to see this exhibition this year.

Who can enter?

This is an OPEN exhibition and is not limited to work by members.

International artists need to deal with a carrier which will unwrap the artwork, store the packing material and repack it at the end of the exhibition if the work has not sold. This service is not available at the receiving gallery.

A selection of works from the website of the Royal Society of British Artists
click here to see more work

What can you enter

The exhibition includes works from both members and non-members and represents every form of media including fine art, prints and sculpture.

See images of the work submitted by RBA members to the exhibition held in 2011.

How to avoid being labelled a spammer

Do you know how to avoid being labelled a spammer?

Today somebody sent me an email. It was spam.  It said Only 38 shopping days until Christmas....and books make great gifts! and attached links to art books she'd produced.

The artist concerned did not think it was spam - but she was wrong.

I'm sure it was a genuine mistake. I guess in all probability she hadn't done her homework and didn't actually understand what spam is - and how easy it is to be labelled a spammer if you don't know what you're doing.

That's when I began to wonder how many other people might make the same mistake - and get their email address labelled as generating spam.  So I wrote this post!

This post provides 15 top tips for how to avoid being labelled a spammer - plus some links to sites which provide more information and advice.

Who should read this post?

• Anybody marketing art or anything else for Christmas
• All those who are thinking about marketing their art and art products online on a more active basis 
• All the people who've never done any research about what you can and cannot do when marketing your art
• Anybody who communicates with people via a mailing list
• Anybody who hasn't checked what they actually do against a checklist of what not to do!

Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize 2012: Call For Entries

Normally at this time of year I'd be writing about who's just won the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize.  Instead I'm writing about the Call for Entries for the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize 2012 for representational painting.  

Paintings exhibited in the Lynn Painter Stainers Prize 2010 Exhibition

There are some significant changes in 2011 and 2012 - which a lot of artists are going to be interested in

The purpose of the Prize is to encourage creative representational painting and promote the skill of draughtsmanship. This annual exhibition is open to all UK artists with prize money totalling £25,000 and an engraved gold medal for the winner.

In 2010, some 800 paintings and drawings were submitted and 67 works were selected for the exhibition at Painters Hall in the City of London.

There is no competition in 2011.

Read on to find out about:

• the change in dates for the call for entries and the annual exhibition in 2012
• the change in venue for the exhibition in 2012

Georgia O'Keeffe's birthday is 15 November

Georgia O'Keeffe, 2012 (Wall Calendar)

Today is Georgia O'Keeffe's birthday.  She was born on 15 November 1887 and lived until she was 98.

I've been looking at the resource site I built back in 2007 when I did a major project about her.

What I didn't realise at the time (because I didn't do the maths!) was that although she decided she wanted to become an artist age 10, she actually didn't become a full-time artist until she was in her fourth decade.  She didn't abandon teaching and go to New York until June 1918 - by which time she was 31.

So - for other fans of Georgia O'Keeffe here is.....

...first of all the website I built which provides a wealth of resources for all those who love Georgia's work - Georgia O'Keeffe - Resources for Art Lovers

...and secondly here are links to the blog posts I wrote at the time I was learning about her art and how to translate it into what I wanted to do.  I've also included some posts I've written since.

• Making a Mark: Georgia O'Keeffe Month: Macro Flowers
• Making a Mark: Kew Gardens in June
• Making a Mark: Georgia O'Keeffe month: Two white irises (and three buds)
• Making a Mark: Georgia O'Keeffe Month: Cactus and quotations
• Travels with a Sketchbook in.......: 22nd July: Santa Fe and Georgia O'Keeffe
• Making a Mark: Georgia O'Keeffe Month: Learning about Notan #1
• Making a Mark: Georgia O'Keeffe Month: Learning about Notan #2
• Making a Mark: Georgia O'Keeffe Month: Learning about Notan #3
• Making a Mark: Georgia O'Keeffe month: "O'Keeffe" by Britta Benke
• The Art of the Landscape: Georgia O'Keeffe's landscapes of northern New Mexico
• Making a Mark reviews......: Book Review: Georgia O'Keeffe and New Mexico

If you can't get enough of her art, why not try a wall calendar - which is what I do (when I'm not buying books)!

John Moore Painting Prize 2012: Call For Entries

The John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize is the UK's best-known painting competition.  It's a competition which is open to all UK-based artists working with paint.

You can register to enter the John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize any time up until Friday 20 January 2012

Previous winners have included David Hockney (1967), Euan Uglow (1972) and Peter Doig (1993).  It also has an illustrious list of prizewinners who didn't win the first prize - Howard Hodgkin has come second twice!  In the last 54 years more than 2,000 artists have exhibited and more than 100 people have sat on the jury.  Selectors have included singer Jarvis Cocker, writer Germaine Greer and artists Peter Blake, Tracey Emin and Jake and Dinos Chapman.

Read on to find out more about how to enter.

13th November 2011 - Who's made a mark this week?

The Lady with the Ermine 1496 by Leornardo da Vinci
(portrait of Cecilia Gallerani)
Location: Gallery: Czartoryski Museum, Cracow, Poland

This week a blockbuster exhibition opened in London.  Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan is open until 5 February 2012.  It's unique because it has 9 of the 15 known paintings by Leonardo da Vinci still in existence,

Here's a link to a selection of blog posts and articles about Leonardo da Vinci which exploded last week.

First the queue - this is after all a once in a lifetime, never to be repeated exhibition!

• First - my post about The Da Vinci Queue for those thinking of turning up to see it without a ticket.  I guess it'll get better but I'd give it a little bit of time
• plus the Guardian's article which asks Are blockbuster art shows worth queueing for?

and then a small sample of the reviews

• Leonardo da Vinci, at National Gallery, Seven magazine review by Andrew Graham-Dixon
• Leonardo as you’ll never see him again by Jackie Wullschlager for the FT

I knew somebody wouldn't be able to resist a cute twist on Da Vinci connotations and so we have Art Info's article The Da Vinci Detective: Art Historian Martin Kemp on Rediscovering Leonardo's Tragic Portrait of a Renaissance Princess

Art Blogs and Artists

Review: ING Discerning Eye Exhibition 2011

I went to the Private View of the 2011 ING Discerning Eye Exhibition last night.  I was especially looking forward to seeing what two of the selectors had chosen.

The PV has closed but they don't want to go home!
End wall (on left) - Ossian Ward; wall on right - John Pluthero

The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition is a show of small works independently selected by six prominent figures from different areas of the art world: two artists, two collectors and two critics. Work is selected from open submission and from artists invited by the individual selectors. Each selector's section is hung separately giving the impression of six small exhibitions within the whole.

During the Artists' Private View - a very crowded gallery!

Over the nineteen years the exhibition has been running, around 30,000 works have passed through the open submission process and more than £1,000,000 sales achieved.  This during the good and the bad times.  Discerning Eye Chairman's Statement 2011

The selectors

I've listed this year’s selectors below along with some brief comments about the work they picked. The job of the selectors is to choose from publicly submitted works and also to invite artists to display work.

You can view the works selected by each of the selectors online.  A link to their selected works follows their profile

Review: Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2011

Jooney Woodward has won the £12,000 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2011 with her portrait Harriet and Gentleman Jack.

Harriet and Gentleman Jack, 2010 by Jooney Woodward
© Jooney Woodward

The portrait winning first prize is of 13-year-old Harriet Power.  It was taken in the guinea pig judging area at the Royal Welsh Show where she was stewarding.  It's part of a series of photographs developed since this photo relating to Cary (Guinea Pig) Shows around the UK!

‘I found her image immediately striking with her long, red hair and white stewarding coat. She is holding her own guinea pig called Gentleman Jack, named after the Jack Daniel’s whisky box in which he was given to her. Using natural light from a skylight above, I took just three frames and this image was the first.’
Jooney Woodward

I recommend you visit this exhibition if you are interested in any way in portraiture - whether you are a photographer or a portrait artist.  I saw the exhibition yesterday and thought it excellent.  It also provoked some thoughts about why it is better in my view than this year's BP Portrait Exhibition - which I explain in my detailed review below.

The exhibition associated with the Prize opened to the public today at the National Portrait Gallery and continues until 12 February.  Admission is £2.

You can NOT see all he images in the exhibition online but you can see selected images on the NPG microsite for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Prize 2011.

The Prizewinning Photographers

I had a chance to speak with Jooney Woodward who won the first prize of £12,000 yesterday about how she came to shoot the winning portrait and her approach to photography.

I'm sure the techies will be interested to know that the first prize portrait was shot on film with a Mamiya RZ medium format camera and using a tripod.  There was no pre-planning - it was an opportunistic shot which worked and this was the first of the photos she took.

I prefer the quality and depth you get from using film; unfortunately it’s a dying art. I don’t mess around with Photoshop so what you see is what you get. Enhanced images can portray a false sense of reality, whereas my work celebrates the people and places as they appear every day.

In terms of background, she was born in London in 1979, grew up in Dorset and studied Graphic Design at Camberwell College of Arts, specialising in photography in her final year.

Her degree show portraits of her parents were highly commended in The Observer Hodge Photographic Award in 2001 which gave me an immediate connection with Jooney given that David was a very near neighbour of mine prior to his death and he used to teach me about taking a good photo!  We both lamented the end of the The Observer Hodge Photographic Award as it was such a valuable way of highlighting emerging photographers

Woodward's first job after graduation was with the Vogue Photographic Archive of Condé Nast Publications. Just under two years ago she set up as a freelance photographer and her series Unhidden: Documentary Photographs of Contemporary Wales was exhibited at MOMA Wales, Machynlleth, in 2010.

My landscapes are generally devoid of people, but are full of signs of life. I try to capture the little things and it’s the same with my portraiture. The more you look at the portrait of Harriet, the more you notice the small details: her nail polish and mascara, the scratch on her hand.

The following artists have also been commended and received prizes from the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2011

• £2,500 Second Prize: Jill Wooster for Of Lili
• £1,500 Third Prize: Dona Schwartz for Christina and Mark, 14 months from the series On the Nest
• £1,000 Fourth Prize / The Elle Commission: Jasper Clarke for Wen
• £500 Fifth Prize: David Knight for Andie

Read on to:

• see the images by the other prizewinners 
• read more of my comments on the exhibition
• get tips for photographers entering the exhibition

The Da Vinci Queue

The queue on the Opening Day of the Leonardo da Vinci Exhibition
at the Sainsbury Wing, National Gallery in London

Just in case any of you want to see the Leonardo Da Vinci Exhibition at the National Gallery - above and on the right are a couple of photos I took of what the queue to get in looked like late this afternoon.

Da Vinci Exhibition Queue
photographed from inside the Gallery

Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan is open until 5 February 2012.  It is unique - having 9 of the remaining 15 paintings by Leonardo da Vinci on display.

It's a bone fide blockbuster of an exhibition - with queues to match.  It will be very crowded inside even with timed entry if my experience of other National Gallery exhibitions is anything to go by.

Recommendation - buy ticket in advance

Advance ticket booking (via the website) is strongly recommended by the Gallery and by me.

[UPDATE:  ALL ADVANCE TICKETS ARE NOW SOLD OUT

At present the National Gallery is saying to expect a three hour wait to buy tickets for the exhibition.

I will keep this post updated with the latest queue situation as and when I'm passing the National Gallery.  Feel free to send me your photos if you visit and take a snap]

Don't even think of coming to see it at the weekend or during the seasonal holidays without a ticket bought in advance! [no longer relevant - they're sold out.  Note that tickets bought from third parties will NOT be honoured by the National Gallery.  They're trying to stamp out ticket touts]

I very much recommend you order a ticket BEFORE you come to London to see it.

UPDATE:  just spotted this tweet by the National Gallery

just been confirmed that advance tickets available for dates in Jan&Feb only - this is now updated on our website.

You can order tickets via the National Gallery website.  Ticket Prices are as follows for Timed-ticket entry

• Gift Aid* adult £17.60
• Gift Aid* senior (60+) £15.40
• Full price £16.00
• Senior (60+)/concession £14.00
• National Art Pass (Art Fund) holders £8.00
• Students/Job seekers/12-18s £8.00

Opening times (for this exhibition ONLY) are as follows:

• Open daily 10am–6pm (last admission 5pm)
• Late nights including Fridays and Saturdays until 10pm (last admission 9pm)
• Sundays until 7pm (last admission 6pm)

Recommendation - download introduction to exhibition 

Here's:

• a slideshow of the works on display
• more about the artwork produced by Leonardo da Vinci on the Gallery website

You can also download an Introduction to the Exhibition as a pdf file from the National Gallery website


Download the exhibition guide [PDF 610kb – opens in a new window]

I took a look at the Da Vinci exhibition catalogue while in the Sainsbury Wing shop this afternoon and, as I expected, there's an awful lot of Da Vinci's drawings in the exhibition.  So good news for those of who enjoy drawing.

Now all I have to do is work out when is going to be the quietest bit of the week to get my ticket!

The ING Art Collection

On Thursday, the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition opens at the Mall Galleries in London and we find out who has won the ING Purchase Prize this year.

I wonder how many people think about what that actually means for the work that wins the prize - in a competition which is essentially about the choices which six very different individuals make about the art they like to see.

Recently I was invited to view the ING Art Collection in their London Offices on London Wall and learned a little bit more about the connection between banking and art from one of the archivists Lara Webb.

The art acquired through the ING Purchase Prize will find its way on to the walls of the UK offices of ING at 60 London Wall in the City of London.  It will join a collection of British Figurative Art.

ING Art Collection - London

ING Art Collection - United Kingdom

The ING company has a really strong corporate focus on art worldwide.  Sponsorship of the arts is one way in which fulfils its business principles and what it sees as its wider corporate responsibilities

There are two websites which relate to the Art Collections which ING cares for

The Big Artists Survey 2011

AIR (Artists Interaction and Representation) is the UK's leading professional body for visual artists and applied artists.  It's conducted a major survey of artists called the Big Artists Survey 2011.  The aim was to examine artists working conditions.

You'll recall that recently I've had blog posts - with an interesting discussion in the comments on each post - about:

• How do you earn the title of "artist"?
• How do you define a "professional artist"?

Well this survey tried to find out what it's actually like being an artist in the UK in 2011.

See how what you do compares to what artists in the UK are doing.

Big Artists Survey 2011 - Results

Here's a summary of the results.  I've recast some of the headings to make them a bit more precise in terms of relevance for the artist and slightly revised what's been highlighted in bold to make this an easy read - and prompt you to go and read the survey report for more detail!  I've also included my own comments on the results (in italics) and critique of what this means for artists.

I do however recommend you read the full report.  Click this link to download the pdf file and read the Survey report summarising the results in more detail.

Background to the survey

This was an e-survey.  It received 1,457 responses (9% response rate relative to the AIR and a-n membership surveyed) from artists located across the UK who ranged from recent graduates to very experienced artists.

The artists responding defined themselves as follows:

• 41% as emerging
• 25% as mid-career
• 12% as established
• 23% did not define their career status

This is where I get techie!  My only comment is that the responses are self-selecting.  This is not a sample in the true sense of the word and therefore will not be representative of the pool of artists across the UK as a whole.  Before responses could be weighted to give a more accurate picture, the survey body would need to know rather more about the demographic profile of the membership as a whole.< Bottom line this means the results are very interesting but are not necessarily representative of artists across the UK.  However it's much better than knowing nothing at all!  My guess is that it leans towards the sort of artist more likely to use the services of AIR and a-n - the newly graduated and the "return to art after a break".   The survey probably under-represents the full-time professional artist of many years experience.

Read on to find out what the survey had to say

6th November 2011 - Who's made a mark this week?

Autumn Sunrise by Loriann Signori,
10 x 10 pastel on watercolor

This week I'm featuring Autumn at the beginning of this post - starting with Loriann Signori's wonderful Autumn Sunrise!  I really like people who paint subject matter appropriate to the season.  It always seems to help give me a fresh eye on the world around me.

• On The Art of the Landscape blog, I've started posting reader's images of their paintings of Autumn Landscape.  So far I've got two posted (see links below) and one coming up next week.  I was trying to get round to posting one of my own today - but maybe tomorrow!  Do let me know if you've drawn or painted a good Autumn landscape
• Limousin, France - Reader's Autumn Landscapes #1 by Nigel Fletcher  (Painting in the Limousin)
• Dale Hollow State Park - Reader's Autumn Landscape #2 by Bill Guffey
• Ronelle van Wyk (African Tapestry) has two super posts about the:
• colours and foliage of November #1
• colours and foliage of November #2
• I loved Duane Keiser's play on how the angle of light changes in the Autumn and creates some fabulous colour changes in Fall Light

Autumn sunlight near Verinas by Nigel Fletcher

Artists and Art Blogs

Makingamark's Top Ten Art Books in October 2011

This post comments on

• my assessment of Makingamark's Top 10 Fine Art Books in October 2011 
• The Best New Art Books published in October 2011
• new websites devoted to the best new art books published in 2011 - month by month.  These are dedicated to specific sites for 
• 2011: NEW drawing books (published)
• 2011: NEW painting books (published)
• artists and mixed media (both in draft)
• new websites devoted to the best new art books in 2012 - where announcements have been made and books are available for pre-order
• 2012: NEW drawing books (published)
• painting and artists both in draft

If you're beginning to draw up your Christmas present list or identifying gifts for other artists, these are a jolly good place to start!

The Artist's Calendar - for 2012

At this time of year I begin to get very anxious about finding a new art calendar for the New Year.  If I haven't found one by the beginning of December I ratchet up to 'panic stations' mode! That's because I don't keep a diary - I maintain a calendar - and it sits right in front of me at my desk - just to the right of the iMac - and what I look at through the year is very important to me!

This year I got rather more anxious than usual when I didn't see a "must have" art calendar soon after they started to be published in the late summer.

So this year I actually sat down and created a website - just to make sure I knew what was on offer this year!  Except when I got started I actually ended up with two (prompted by Painting Canada: Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery  - see my blog post on The Art of the Landscape)!

Click the links below to see the two websites I created.

• Artist Calendars 2012
• Canadian Art Calendars 2012 

Which artists do you like for your calendars?

I think you can tell a lot about the art you like by the calendars you choose.  I have to confess I hoard my old calendars because of the quality of the reproductions.  (Did I say I refuse point blank to have a calendar with poor quality reproductions?)

TWO QUESTIONS for you

Call for Entries: Pastel Society 113th Annual Exhibition in 2012

For the third year running, this post about the Call for Entries for The Pastel Society's Annual Exhibition needs to highlight the fact that the dates for entry and submission have changed yet again!

This post summarises:

• the change in the pre-selection process - which this year is:
• applicable to all work and not just large work
• digital - with online entry
• the change in date for entry and submission to the 2012 Exhibition - and the fact that pre-selection closes on 21 November 2011
• the change in the name and why I still think this is not a good idea.

This is a link to my review of the 112th Annual Exhibition in April 2011 - Review: The Pastel Society's Annual Exhibition (25 Apr 2011).  The images are of last year's Private View.

POLL: What proportion of your art time do you spend on marketing?

24 hour clock by Paulo Uccello

This month the Making A Mark Opinion Poll is going to focus on just one aspect - the time spent by an artist in marketing their art.

The question is What proportion of your art time do you spend on marketing?

You can find the new opinion poll in the right hand column (just above "For Your Information").  It closes at the end of the month and the results will be published on 30th November.

Read on to find out more about:

• why marketing is important right now
• how to count time spent on marketing art