Drawing and Sketching
Two artists who are well known to me featured in items online this week which reveal more about them and their artistic practices - and their motivations about drawing and sketching. The themes which link the two of them are their enthusiasm, their addiction to sketching and their work rates.
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| Recent NYC Sketches by Liz Steel |
- The first is an Interview with Liz Steel - that's the amazing Australian architect Liz Steel (Liz and Borromini) who has boundless energy and enthusiasm when it comes to sketching. This is an on Art by Wiley - a two hander blog by Kim and Jodi Wiley. Jodi did the interview and asked some excellent questions - which got some excellent responses.
Q. What tips would you give to someone just starting out in keeping a regular sketchbook?
A. My three standard phrases are • Just do it… • Practice practice practice • No such thing as talent - it is all desire and ‘hard work’
- The second is a video of artist and addictive sketcher Adebanji Alade (Adebanji Alade - My Art, My Passion for Sketching) - it's called The Life Of an Artist - Adebanji Alade - and it's great! Watch it and feel invigorated! I bumped into Adebanji this week at the Sunday Times Watercolour Exhibition and it's always such a pleasure to meet up with him and discuss art and techniques.
Even when I'm not painting I have to draw someone, every single day. My motto is "sketch, sketch, sketch, draw, draw, draw"....I would say there's no short cut, it is hard work.I'll now curtail the alliteration(!) and return to the rest of this post.
However, not before a quick explanation as to why this is late and what's happening next weekend. We've got the quinquennial visit by my sister and her family who live in Australia happening at the moment - hence why normal routines are not being observed. We've also got a major family celebration next weekend so "who's made a mark this week" will either be late or deferred.
Now for the rest of "who's made a mark this week?"
Last week James Gurney (Gurney Journey) highlighted Nina's Alaska Sketchbook on his blog. Nina Khashchina (Apple Pine) had read a blog post James wrote back in January about a unique residency opportunity in Alaska. So she applied and was accepted and this summer spent some time in Sitka and was then the Artist-In-Residence in South Baranof Wilderness Area.
- This is Nina Khashchina's Alaska sketchbook on Flickr
- These are Nina's blog posts about her trip
- August 2012: Choosing Tools for Alaska
- Alaska 2012 - Part 1: Sitka
- Alaska 2012: Part 2 - Sitka
- Alaska 2012: South Baranof Wilderness - Sketching from a Moving Sea Kayak
- Alaska 2012: Wilderness
- As a result I learned about Rite-in-the-Rain paper which is a "patented, environmentally responsible, all-weather writing paper that sheds water and enables you to write anywhere, in any weather" and presumably draw too.
- The opportunities for artist residencies and sketching are explained in Voice of the Wilderness opportunity -- Nine days in Alaska. I guess they'll be doing the same thing next year. Maybe you'd like to apply?
- Who knew Charley Parker (Lines and Colors) was a big fan of Pre-Raphaelite art? Charley has commented - Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant Garde - on the premise of the exhibition which opened at Tate Britain recently.
- Alyson Stanfield's (artbizblog) post Would You Benefit From Using a Different Artist Name? responds to a frequent question she gets ie “What name should I use?”
- Two recent posts from the always excellent Joanne Mattera (Joanne Mattera Art Blog)
- Marketing Mondays: The Rules is a RECOMMENDED read
- Marketing Mondays: The Art Neighborhoods . . . . . . In Your City
- An article on Empty Easel provides a very useful Craft Fair Checklist: What to Bring to Stay Comfortable and Sell Your Art
- This is an article in The Guardian about how Mayfair's Cork Street art hub under threat from developers.
- I went to see the Sunday Times Watercolor Exhibition last week - read my review in Mark Elsmore wins Sunday Times Watercolour 2012
- This is my overview of a Call for Entries relating to a biennial art competition for painters in Scotland who are committed to landscape painting - see Landscape Painting: 2013 Jolomo Bank of Scotland Awards - Call for Entries
- The Threadneedle Prize 2012 Exhibition opens to the public on Wednesday - but it went online last week - see Threadneedle Prize 2012 - Exhibition now Online
Exhibitions in the UK
- Last Weekend for Impressionists covered my visit to the exhibition From Paris: A Taste for Impressionism - Paintings from The Clark which closed on Sunday.
- The Guardian provides:
- a slideshow preview of Bronze at the Royal Academy – in pictures
- and an article about how the Roy Lichtenstein show at Tate Modern aims to show pop artist's hidden side
- The Heaton Cooper Studio is presenting an exhibition Heaton Cooper: A Family of Artists, 1863-2012 (11 Sep 2012 - 4 Nov 2012). The paintings are of the Lake District and I'm a big fan of paintings by both Alfred and Willian Heaton Cooper.
Exhibitions in Europe
- I found out about this next exhibition through Charley Parker (Lines and Colors). Canaletto — Guardi: The two masters of Venice opened on 14th September at the Jacquemart-André Museum in Paris and will be on view until 14 January 2013. Charley wrote about the veduta paintings and the two artists in Canaletto — Guardi: The two masters of Venice. I had the pleasure of seeing a similar exhibition Venice: Canaletto and his Rivals at the National Gallery in 2010 and, as always, it was fascinating to see how different artists treated the same view.
- Thanks to Joanne Mattera to alerting me (via Josef Albers: Painting on Paper) to this exhibition Josef Albers in America: Painting on Paper July 20 through October 14, 2012 at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York). Albers was a pioneer in the field of colour relationships and his book is one of the seminal books on this topic (see The Best Art Books - Colour)
- James Gurney has a new exhibition Dinotopia - Art, Science and Imagination about the imaginary world he has created. It which opened at The Lyman Allyn Museum in New London, Connecticut last Saturday. The Underpaintings blog has a particularly good set of images of what's in the exhibition - see Sneak Peek: James Gurneyat The Lyman Allyn Museum, Connecticut. It doesn't close until 2nd February 2013. James has also been writing about his use of maquettes - see Maquette Magic
Art School
- Art History - a set text book with no pictures! I was extremely surprised to learn that art students in Ontario are having to pay $180 for a set text art book which has no pictures of art!
Art History
- I found a very informative video about the Limbourg brothers whose illuminations record the landscape in medieval times - see The Art of the Landscape: The Limbourg Brothers - and "September"
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| Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry Folio 8, verso: September by the Limbourg Brothers |
Art Societies
- Lots of artists work hard for "recognition" and signature membership of art societies. Here's Robert Genn's (Painters Keys) take on the topic of credentials and Those Important Letters - and whether they really matter to people who buy paintings - and whether they should matter to artists
- I love this story from Sarah Gillespie (Sarah Gillespie - Artist) about Paper love and how she came to be the recipent of custopmised packets of Aquari hand-made paper. I shall be adding them to my website Fine Art Paper and Non-Canvas Supports for Artists
- Karyn Meyer-Berthel at Ampersand Art Supply wrote about Panel Painting Tips: How to Seal Hardbord™ Panels
- This isan article by Daniel Smith about Color Mixing with Luminescent Watercolor
Making A Mark Opinion Poll
The September Making A Mark opinion Poll has been posted late this month - but can be found over in the right hand column.
Techies
The September Making A Mark opinion Poll has been posted late this month - but can be found over in the right hand column.
- See POLL: What's the best method of promoting art sales? for the explanation of what it's about.
- At the moment it's not getting a lot of responses which is making me think maybe people don't actually promote their art much. But that can't be true can it?
Techies
- If you've ever doubted the wisdom of getting your art online, it's worth reminding ourselves from time to time how much the Internet has changed things and continues to change and is an increasingly important factor in many people's lives. This is an InfoGraphic which shows What Happens in an Internet Minute?
- Get past the fact that the content has nothing to do with art and examine this Problogger post about 5 Fatal Landing Page Mistakes—and How To Fix Them. Once you've decided to be business-like about your art, you might as well be business-like in a way which is effective!
- If you use Feedburner for your blogging feeeds you'll be aware that Feedburner Stats have been reading ZERO for the number of subscribers and visits to a blog. Google has finally got round to acknowledging that their Feedburner Statistics are not working and need fixing - see The FeedBurner Status Blog: Known Issue: Subscriber Counts and Stats [Update: we're now back to normal after a lengthy hiatus)
Thanks ever so much for the feature here, it's highly appreciated!
ReplyDeleteas a graphite artist i highly enjoyed this post!! i especially loved visiting Nina Khashchina's blog with her adventures in Alaska! She mentioned some tool i need to look into!!thanks!
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