Lucian Freud La Voisine (The Neighbour), 1947 Crayon 41.3 x 34.3 cm (16.26 x 13.5 in) Blain|Southern - Lucian Freud: Drawings |
Art Blogs
Botanical Art
- Vicki Lee Johnston (Vicki Lee Johnston), in Perth Western Australia, is Getting started .... again for another year of the Society of Botanical Artists Diploma Course. This post is very helpful in outlining how she works and tips she's got from other students
- Janene Walky (Janene Walky), in Portland Oregon, finds it useful to have a road map when she starts a botanical study, this is her blog post about it The Road Map and here is the end result Cornus capitata Fruit
- I don't think I've posted a link to an art blog like this before. This is the tumblr site Artists for the NHS. Here's a slideshow of some of the images on the blog - which is campaigning to raise awareness of the devastating NHS reforms proposed by the health and social care bill. Plus this is ArtInfo's article about the reasons why artists are protesting in the UK - UK Artists Protest the Government's Plot to Privatize National Health Service
- Jana Bouc (JanasJournal.com) has been using Andrew Loomis's book and Learning to Draw Heads: Practice and Study with Skulls and Loomis Method. I know loomis is a luminary of drawing and I was wondering whether anybody else has tried doing the same thing?
- I've travelled to Cornwall and Venice with my sketchbook! I've been indulging my favourite winter pursuit - sketching in galleries - this time at the Wallace Collection (and afternoon tea!)
- Wallace Collection: Sketching Venice by Canaletto - this one taught me a lot about composition and tonal values
- Wallace Collection: Sketching Venice by Bonington - this painting demanded to be sketched
- Cornish Cream Tea at the Wallace Restaurant - what can I say?
Sketch of Venice: the Bacino di San Marco from San Giorgio Maggiore by Canaletto 11" x 16", pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook |
- I forgot to post my Postcard from my Walk sketch which went to Albrecht in Heidelburg. This is Victoria Park: The Chinese Pagoda and the new Island
The Chinese Pagoda and the new Island 165mm x 240mm, pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils on Mountboard copyright Katherine Tyrrell |
- I was very sad to hear the news via the Society of Feline Artists blog about feline artist Stephanie Manchipp. Stephanie died on January 2nd 2012. This a gallery of Stephanie's artwork and feline friends.
- Deborah Paris (Deborah Paris - A Painting Life) has announced The Lennox Woods Project - which has a new blog all to itself. She explains more about the project in this post
The Lennox Woods Project is a muti-year project of artist Deborah Paris to explore and record the pristine beauty and magnificence of the Lennox Woods Preserve in northeast Texas. Underwritten and sponsored by Galerie Kornye West of Ft. Worth, Texas, the project will encompass over fifty works of art- including paintings, drawings, etchings and drypoints-to be be exhibited in multiple venues during 2014 and beyond.
- Yesterday's post on The Art of the Landscape was about Hockney: 51 iPad drawings on paper - Winter to Spring in Woldgate - it has a video which shows them off really well.
- One of the themes of The Art of the Landscape is "places to paint". I use it to highlight places artists past and present like to paint. This week I found a website by somebody who has researched places in East Yorkshire which have been painted by David Hockney. I found a couple more myself. See for yourself in today's post Places to Paint: David Hockney and East Yorkshire
- "February" by Stanley Roy Badmin RWS is about an artist who I rediscovered at the Watercolours and Works on Paper Art Fair. I've subsequently bought a book which has this image - and the rest of the months of the year - for a very reasonable price. (Make that two books - bought another one on his engravings this afternoon!)
Painting
- Angus McEwan RSW ARWS, David Poxon RI, Denis Ryan ARWS, Sandra Walker RI have developed a project to take realism in watercolour to exhibitions around the world - see
Art of the Real Tour dates 2012, their new blog Art of the Real and the article in the April edition of Watercolour Artist - In Mystery, Stapleton Kearns (Stapleton Kearns)asserts that charm is the one quality that will redeem a painting with any other fault.
- I have a major project starting - which I'm hoping to kick off this week - watch out for The Big Art Book Project
- I've changed my monthly review post of the best and top rated books - and the better new art books.
- For 2012, the categories for Makingamark's Top 10 Fine Art Books will be Drawing, Painting, Artists, Art History and Art Business
- In 2012, the monthly review will be posted on Making A Mark Reviews - and then there will be a link to the review on this blog. Here's January's post Makingamark's Top Ten Fine Art Books in January 2012....
- ...and here's The Best and Newest Art Books in January 2012 - and Urban Sketchers and The Best NEW Art Books in January 2012.
- Congratulations to Gabi Campanario (The Sketch Journalist) and the 100 Urban Sketchers (Urban Sketchers) who participated in the production of the Urban Sketchers book. The Best New Art Book in January 2012 is The Art of Urban Sketching: Drawing On Location Around The World which at the end of January had secured the #10 in the top 100 books in the Arts and Design Category on Amazon (which now includes music) - BEFORE it had even been published. My copy has now arrived after an initial delay which, from all the ratings and rankings, would appear to relate to difficulty keeping up with purchases!
- Ann Kullberg has a new book out CP Treasures - which seems to be a bit like the "the best of coloured pencil" insofar as it's coloured pencil masterworks from around the globe
- I'm very much in two minds about Pinterest - it seems to me it's a recipe for problems where the image becomes detached from the originating site. However I do like what Daily Paintworks has done with the Daily Paintworks Pinterest board. I think it's within the rules. David's done a good job of working out categories and it certainly has impact!
- Alyson Stanfield (Art Biz Blog) has created a useful checklist of 15 Steps to Take After Completing Your Artwork
- This is my post about the RWS Contemporary Watercolour Competition 2012 - Selected artists & artwork - you can both see the artwork selected and click on the links to the websites and blogs of the artists who have been selected - where I could find their sites. It's also worth noting that this is a 100% open competition - there are no works by the RWS members in the exhibition.
- This is a new prize - The John Ruskin Prize - A New Look at Nature: Call for Entries - and a number of you have expressed interest.
- The closing date has now passed - however some of you may wish to note this one for next time
14th International Exhibition of Botanical Art & Illustration - Intent to submit
Art Societies
Call For Entries
Call For Entries
- Society of Botanical Artists Annual Exhibition 2012: Call for Entries is a reminder the deadline looms large - it's 27th February
- How to become a member of the Society of Botanical Artists describes the process for applying
- This is my post about the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2012 - Call for Entries. This is a Society which attracts a lot of people who want to commission artists to paint portraits - and if this is what you want to do this is the art society to try and join.
Exhibitions
- You can see Jelaine Faunce's work "Now Being Served" in the National Association of Women Artists Annual Open Small Works Exhibition in New York between now and February 27, 2012.
Exhibitions at major UK Galleries
This has been a bit of a Lucian Freud week for me.
- Lucian Freud Portraits opened at the National Portrait Gallery on Thursday - and I saw it twice on Wednesday. Both the Guardian and The Telegraph made it a 5* exhibition. Lucian Freud: Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, review: A show that proves Freud’s greatness.
- Here's my Review: Lucian Freud Portraits at National Portrait Gallery plus the views of two sitters about what it was like having you portrait painted by Freud plus.....
- David Hockney on sitting for Lucian Freud and ......
- Video: Sue Tilley talks about modelling for Lucian Freud - which links you to my new YouTube video of "Big Sue" who modelled for "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping", the painting which broke a world record when Christies sold it to Roman Abromovich at auction for $33,641,000 13 May 2008) on 8 February 2008.
- Plus in the Observer today Lucian Freud's assistant, frequent model and friend David Dawson tells Tim Adams about their 20-year working relationship David Dawson: 'Lucian chose people who were punctual'
I'm sure it was a privilege to be his friend, did it ever feel a burden?
Never a burden, but certainly a commitment. Even though Lucian said he was not a creature of habit, the one thing he did do every single day of his life was get into the studio every morning. In our 20 or so years he did not miss a day, literally. And I had to be there first thing every morning, seven days a week, to prepare it for him.
- Two other exhibitions connected to Lucian Freud are on display this month
- Lucian Freud Drawings - I'm going to the PV for this on Monday
- Lucian Freud: Studio Life - Photographs by David Dawson - this has already opened and this is the last tranche of photos by Freud's Studio Manager, model and friend. I saw a video on The Culture Show on Friday that Dawson recorded on Freud's last ever day of painting of the man at work - which is apparently the only record of him actually painting
- Read Other Current Exhibitions of Work by or about Lucian Freud to find out more about these exhibitions
- Next week Picasso and Modern British Art opens at Tate Britain. Jonathan Jones offers his views on the exhibition.
- This is the link to Yayoi Kusama 9 February – 5 June 2012 at Tate Modern - and this is a review of the exhibition Yayoi Kusama – review - and this is a slideshow of Seeing spots: Yayoi Kusama exhibition at Tate Modern - in pictures
All art is attention-seeking, but few artists have ever taken their demands to be noticed to the extremes of Yayoi Kusama. Now 82, and resident by choice for the past 35 years in a psychiatric care home in her native Tokyo, Kusama is currently seeing all her wishes come true.
London and Regional UK galleries
- There's more indian paintings in Oxford - see Visions of Mughal India: The Collection of Howard Hodgkin at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford until 22 April
- There's a Royal Collection touring exhibition to mark the Diamond Jubilee of the Queen. Ten Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci: A Diamond Jubilee Celebration is currently at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (13 January – 25 March 2012) and will then move to Bristol Museum & Art Gallery (30 March – 10 June 2012)
- David Shrigley has an exhibition at the Hayward Gallery on the SouthBank - David Shrigley - Brain Activity. It's the artist's first major show in London. He's best known for his drawings that make witty and wry observations on everyday life. The exhibition covers the full range of Shrigley’s work including drawing, photography, sculpture, animation, painting and surprising interventions. This is a video of Shrigley talking about art, 'one of the most fun things that one can do that's fun'
The most deadpan man in art was nearly a cartoonist before seeing the light – or the darkness – and turning to the blackly comic works for which he is famous.
Exhibitions at Major Galleries in North America
- Van Gogh Up Close has opened at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (February 1, 2012 - May 6, 2012). This exhibition focuses on a period of feverish artistic experimentation that began when van Gogh left Antwerp for Paris in 1886 and continued until his death in Auvers in 1890.
- Picasso is exhibiting both sides of the pond! Picasso's Drawings, 1890-1921: Reinventing Tradition January 29–May 6, 2012 is at West Building Ground Floor of the National Gallery of Art in Washington
- Two important exhibitions open at the end of the month at The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art
- Rembrandt and Degas: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man February 23–May 20, 2012
- The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde February 28–June 3, 2012
- Rembrandt in America at the Cleveland Museum of Art (I do wish museums wouldn't have silly pop up screens which lack URLs for important information about an exhibition. There's no way to reference it online!). The Rembrandt in America exhibition also travels to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts from June 24–September 16, 2012. (I do like museums with civilised links to future exhibitions! :)
Rembrandt in America will be unique in offering the public a rare opportunity to examine the evolving opinions and methods of scholars and collectors regarding what constituted an autograph Rembrandt painting over a period of more than a century.
- I had a great time at The Watercolours + Works on Paper Fair 2012. I'd not been before but I'll be sure to go again.
Art Education
- There's been a lot of interest in What are the priorities for an aspiring artist? Have you given your views yet - or read those of fellow readers?
- Winsor & Newton have opened The Gallery, an exciting new space for graduates and established artists, at Winsor & Newton’s new head office, at the Studio Building, Evesham Street, London W11. There's an Artists Studio and workshop space in the same location.
Tips and Techniques
- These are recent posts about basic techniques for using pastels from Richard McKinley's Pastel Pointers Blog,
- Basic Pastel Techniques Part One | Blending, Scumbling, Glazing
- Basic Pastel Techniques Part Two | Hatching, Cross-Hatching, Feathering
- Robyn Sinclair (Have Dogs Will Travel) has come up with a very simple answer to the need for an iPad stand for the artist
Art Studio
- Sherrie York (Brush and Baren) has a Studio Redux and has been learning more about how to create the right studio space
- I find that the Winsor and Newton Resource Centre is an excellent place to find technical data and good articles about artists materials - this is their web page about artists brushes
Opinion Poll
- The Making A Mark Opinion Poll for February is focusing on POLL: How do you respond to comments on your blog? You can see the poll in the right hand column
- At the end of January I published the results of January's poll - What makes you leave an artist's website? POLL RESULTS. Apart from having apparently created a spam comment magnet, this poll attracted 239 responses and provides definitive view of what artists don't like about art websites. Do you know what are Top Three Pet Hates?
Internet - websites, webware and blogging
- Interestingly, I learned this week that David Hockney has been following the reactions to his exhibition at the Royal Academy on Twitter
- Socialfresh has looked at the best times of day to blog. Shame they forgot to remember that the world has time zones.......
- Rollip provides filters for your photos
and finally......
I found 1 in 5 teenagers will experiment with art on Weknowmemes. It seems to be rather popular!
Katherine, as usual you give us all so much to read. Keep up the good work. I don't know how you manage multiple blogs.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could see one or all of these Freud expositions, I've always loved his work but never seen an original.
I like Deborah Paris' Lennox Woods Project and am glad you featured it at the beginning allowing us to follow along. I'm sure it will be a fascinating long study.
I very much like these kind of ambitious projects.
Having recently gotten an ipad (with the brushes app) I can very much relate to the video on the Hockney post... digital really is just another medium, as someone there said , paraphrasing here... "...it's not cheating... you get out of it what you put into it."
So true. It is NOT automatic or easier. You still have to know and apply the same art knowledge and expertise.
To clarify on Pinterest, although I don't have a site (pinboard) there, a while back someone else pinned a couple of my paintings on theirs so I too was curious.
I found this under the sites Help section, 'Pinning and Repinning':
"... the source-link of an image is saved automatically, no matter how many times it's repinned"
So, the original source or site is permanently connected to the image right from the start, no matter how many times it gets moved around from one board to another.
And kudos to them for setting it up this way. The credit for the image, drawing, painting, photo etc. always stays with it.
And Alyson Stanfield's '15 Steps to Take After Completing Your Artwork' is very good.
It goes beyond just signing, dating and photographing art without being too daunting to read. There are a couple steps here I will be including in my own business upkeep.
Thanks-
re Pinterest - the source link may stay with it - but the copyright notice does not. As I'm sure you're aware not everybody likes having their images shared around and some are very fussy about where their images appear.
ReplyDeleteI know that artists who have an "all rights reserved" copyright notice on their blogs are already having to chase after people with Pinterest accounts and serve them with "cease and desist" notices - which are successful.
The same happened for me with one aspect of the functionality of Flickr where I suddenly found a bunch of my images on somebody else' site accompanied by adverts. I took great exception to my images being used as source content for somebody else's money-making ambitions. The link to the original content may be there - but what does that matter if other people make money off your images?
Read this post by Mashable if you are in any doubt as to whether people are making money off pins http://mashable.com/2012/02/08/pinterest-affiliated-links/ - and it is Pinterest who is adding tracking code to people's pins.
The point for me is why should any of us have to chase around after the people who are doing this?
For the record the image at the top of my blog post today comes from the press pack of the gallery who is hosting the exhibition, I have permission to use it on my blog in connection with the exhibition and I have an all rights reserved notice on my blog. It is not available for general use. It should NOT be pinned to a Pinterest board.
Do I now need to chase round the Internet to look to see who has pinned it to their site?
Katherine,
ReplyDeleteThanks, I have read the Mashable post you referred to and I do agree that you should not have to chase around people if you do not want your images used that way.
This is one of those bigger topics I will have to further think about very carefully. I was unaware of the advert aspect of it.
My initial response was one of promotion, it steers people back to my site much like being featured in another's post or article, press. We need all the help we can get sometimes... word of mouth so to speak.
After reading the Mashable post I am a little uncomfortable with their lack of transparency in disclosure of money generating adverts.
I would be interested in the opinion from others whose work is all over the internet, in reviews or sites like this (Flickr, Pinterest, etc) without their permission.
There will always be those who don't follow the rules and ask for permission first, so what do we do?
Is it time for some kind of software that prevents (our) images from being 'pulled' without our permission in the first place?
Is that even possible?
To my mind all those who create this software which enables people to pull images and publish them on other sites - in the company of god knows what - should also be required to also supply a piece of code which, if inserted into the original host site would reject all attempts to pin or pull an image to another site
ReplyDeleteI don't for one minute think that this is impossible or even difficult.
However the essential issue is the revenue stream generated for the those that create this software by turning a blind eye to copyright issues
Hi Katherine,
ReplyDeleteI understand your last paragraph regarding copyright issues.
This kind of open conversation is what is good about the internet.
It is nearly impossible to learn of everything on our own since the web and technology change so rapidly.
I would not have a problem with my work on another's site as I said in previous comment (promotion) for instance, provided there is full disclosure of above issues and intentions. But that is me and it should be our choice.
I certainly can't imagine anyone having the time to constantly 'police' the web on their own to find violations.
The thing I'm still not sure of is exactly how revenue is generated on a site like Pinterest.
The LLSocial link in the Mashable post states, if I understand it correctly, revenue is generated if the user clicks through the picture (someone else's art for example) then, being redirected to an ecommerce site, makes a purchase then Pinterest gets paid.
That is not the same as someone making $ directly off my art.
I certainly would not approve someone taking an image of mine from the web, then making and selling prints for example.
The issue with some is their lack of disclosure by Pinterest and I've always supported full disclosure and transparency.
And if I understand your view correctly, you have issue with the software which allows it and those who created it and make $ from this software.
Despite my comments I am still trying to sort it all out. There are a lot of factors to consider.
I have not made my mind up firmly and have changed my mind before as I have been further educated on some issue.
Anyone else want to weigh in?
If Pinterest didn't have content it couldn't make money from advertising
ReplyDeleteIf it's my content that's on there then they're making money from me
Income from art or images doesn't have to be about selling them.
My personal policy early on with theft of content from this blog - before I moved it to a short feed which largely negated it - was to land like a ton of bricks on all the spam blogs which copied my feed and then proceeded to decorate it with Google ads. They got one take down notice - if there was an email to notify - and then I reported them to Google, their web host and their domain name registrar.
Take a look at Copyright - Resources for Artists
The best way of searching to see if images have been copied is to use a reverse image search engine
* see How to do a reverse image search
* see TinEye http://www.tineye.com/
Katherine,
ReplyDeleteUnderstand your point of view on Pinterest and can't blame you. It should always be about choice.
I should note I am not defending Pinterest. This blind advert technology is new to me.
And thanks for your links.
I am familiar with reverse image searches from here on your blog as well as others.
I have done some of my own artwork.
It can be time consuming, one image at a time, so we are right back to choice and control (protection) of our own art.
Copyright I researched by going directly to the official copyright office website when I started my own blog so I am familiar (but not an expert) with it too.
I will have to read your post too, it always good to see more than one source.
Thanks for all your input.
it's now 3 AM, must go to bed, zzz
Katherine, The Chinese Pagoda drawing is just delightful! The colored pencil gives the ink drawing a pleasant softness and somehow adds sparkle, as one would expect on a sunny day in the garden after a rain.
ReplyDeleteKatherine
ReplyDeleteYour blog has become my portal and education to the art world online. Thank you for guiding my way.
-Tara Coles