2nd September 2012 - Who's made a mark this week?

At last Daily Paintworks has found a good use for Pinterest - assuming all the artists are happy about having their artwork pinned!  This is the Daily Paintworks Pinterest account - with 30 boards for different categories of art.  The artwork posted to Daily Paintworks is assembled in groups ready for people to view and repin.  It also is a great way of looking at all the art on the same sort of topic.

24 of the 30 galleries on the Daily Paintworks Pinterest Board

There were two things which struck me.  First how much better the original paintings are than that normally seen in similar galleries on places like eBay - where many people also sell 'daily paintings'.

I also found it interesting to see which were the top ten categories of art pinned DPW - although it's difficult to tell whether this is a product of the artwork which people like to produce or the artwork that people like to buy.  In other words is this generated by the artists or by the art collectors?

The top ten categories of artwork pinned by DPW are:

1. Paintings For Your Kitchen 774 followers, 351 pins
2. Floral Art 766 followers, 218 pins
3. Art for Your Living Room 757 followers, 216 pins
4. People in Art 760 followers, 146 pins
5. Feathered Friends in Art 727 followers, 119 pins
6. Bright and Cheerful Art 773 followers, 100 pins
7. Nautical and Seascape Art 759 followers, 98 pins
8. Paintings for Your Office 746 followers, 90 pins
9. Horses in Art 736 followers, 89 pins
10. Animals in Art 736 followers, 86 pins

The Tate Gallery has also got a Pinterest Board - this is The Tate's Pinterest Top Ten Pin List
However this is also a strictly retail operation!

For me Pinterest makes complete sense if it's set up by retailers who want their images online.  A contrary view about the activities of Pinterest is expressed in the Copyright section below. 

Artists and Art Blogs

Drawing and Sketching

• Every now and again - I let out a little whoop if and when an organisation or a person who I really like and admire "likes" my Facebook page.  Today Bill Creevy "liked" my page and I was almost speechless!  Bill Creevy works in pastels (I love his surfaces and textures) and oils and I've been recommending Bill's books for years!  See "The Pastel Book" and my Book Review: The Pastel Book plus "The Oil Painting Book"
• Peggy Macnamara: Elements of Drawing/Watercolor is the art blog of Peggy Macnanara, Artist-in-Residence, Field Museum of Natural History and an Adjunct Associate Professor (2001-present), School of the Art at the Institute of Chicago. Here's her essay/blog post on Drawing-Learning to See Parts in Relationship and Grasp Composition.

The thing about drawing is that it is about more than drawing. When you learn to draw, you are learning to see parts in relationship.

• Liz Steel (Liz and Borromini) is at The end of an era and trying something new.  Plus check out her New York Sketchbook on Issuu
• Nathan Brenville tried out a new approach to sketching - and sketched the locations from a file - see Drawing on (film) Location
• I came across Sarah Gillespie while reviewing the websites of artists selected for the Threaneedle Prize Exhibition.  She works in charcoal.  This is her website and blog and Facebook page .  Take a look at this blog post Work to see how she works to create one of her large charcoal drawings - Charcoal and ink on Arches 650gsm paper. 40" X 60"
• My posts on Travels with a Sketchbook
• I may just have created a new tourist attraction - you can find it at The Leaning Dome of St. Paul's Cathedral.  Later the same day I sketched by the side of the Thames and came up with How to sketch The Shard
• Pavilion Cafe, Victoria Park is my regular mug of "builder's tea" stop when I go for a walk in my local park.  It includes to links to other sketches of and from the cafe.
• Vita Sackville West's Tower at Sissinghurst Castle Garden was drawn on a recent trip down to south east Kent

Vita Sackville West's Tower at Sissinghurst Castle Garden
pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook, 11" x 14"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

• Coming up the middle of this month is the second London Urban Sketchers Sketchcrawl at Greenwich

Dry Media: Pastels and Coloured Pencils

• Karen Margulis recently found herself interviewed on the Daily Paintwork News blog This is a DPW Spotlight Interview: Karen Margulis.  Also check out the nice clean look of Karen's daily paintings website

Painting

• This is a video interview with James Gurney (Gurney Journey) Bluecanvas Presents: An Interview with James Gurney
• Joanne Mattera girded her loins and set out to investigate a break from color - and how to paint (and create) Fifty Shades of Gray on her blog Joanne Mattera Art Blog - and did an amazing job!  Well she didn't really 'gird her loins' but I thought in the context it sounded about right!

Wildlife Art

• James Gurney (Gurney Journey) highlighted natural science illustration in Focus on Nature exhibition. Given the scope of this competition/exhibition I thought I might do a follow up post about this.
• Irene Brady (Nature Drawing and Journaling Trips with Irene Brady ) is Back from South Africa

I'm going to blog this over the course of the next several days, as I'm still sorting the dross from the 2500 photos I took. The photos were in addition to sketch/journaling 43 pages in my sketchbook, with a number of additional pages partly begun and in line for finishing before I can put it up online.

Art Business & Marketing

Selling Art - the Annual Opinion Poll

• 2012 Poll Results: What's the best place to sell art? (Part 1) contains the responses to my annual survey asking about where were the best places to sell art.  
• This time I asked people to respond to two surveys and identify which generated the most revenue and which, after expenses were deducted, generated the most profit.  Both  charts have also been posted to my Facebook Page for those who'd like to look at a larger version.  (If you've liked my Facebook Page they should pop up in your news feed)
• There will be another post this week looking at the five year trend re best places to sell art. I was gobsmacked to find that The art Shop on eBay has lost over 60% of its traffic in the last year.

Selling Art - Art Fairs

• My friend Nicole Caulfield (Nicole Caulfield Fine Art)decided her summer project was to create a mobile studio/gallery for art fairs and the like.  Nicole Caulfield and her Mobile Art Studio / Gallery has been the big hit post of the last two weeks on this blog.  It seems everyone wants a mobile art gallery like Nicole's and given the results of my poll (above) that might not be a bad idea!  BTW Nicole hit her target and was out and about with her new mobile art gallery at a fair this last weekend.
• I also came across The 5 Elements of Seductive Craft Fair Booth Displays for those of you who are thinking about expanding your presence at art fairs.

The Sublime Art Studio - exhibiting artwork by Nicole Caulfield

Other Art Business Matters

• Alyson Stanfield (artbizblog) recently highlighted a couple of 'golden oldies' from 2009 which are worth a review
• Art Marketing Action: Double check your publicity text
• 8 Ways to be more financially savvy is about looking after your financial health
• PLUS  a new post about how bundling your products can lead to an increase in sales - see Bundling To Increase Your Income
• Lisa Call (Lisa Call - Textile Paintings) has an excellent post about the process she uses for
  Packing and Shipping Line and Color – Why Does it Take So Long?
• I've now got a profile set up on LinkedIn but I'm less than impressed with the quality of the moderation of spam within some of the dedicated art groups

Art Collectors and Art Economy

• Recently, there were articles about Charles Saatchi and the continued underwhelming response he has had to his offer to gift his £30 million art collection to the state. The Telegraph described it as Charles Saatchi’s £30 million gift to the nation goes begging.  Whereas Jonathan Jones told us all Why it's wrong to reject Charles Saatchi's gift to the nation.  I have a financial perspective on it. I think arts commentators to date have neglected to consider the massive tax advantages of making a gift to the nation and the massive revenue implications for the galleries which take it on.  I'm not surprised that any publicly funded art gallery wants to be "picky" about which works they take when the gift does not come with an endowment to pay for its upkeep.  Therein lies the rub - is it a gift - or is it a way of avoiding the big bill for looking after a collection?

Art Competitions

• Threadneedle Prize 2012: names of selected artists includes links to the websites of the selected artists where these could be identified.  Plus I gained two extra images for the post by doing this! For the record, if an artist has a website or a regular gallery which shows their work, most names can be identified pretty quickly through looking at where the artist comes from and where they are exhibiting - and the level of work they're doing.  However I do have to pass on those where I'm not sure which website is correct.
• The Portrait Society of America has posted the images of the 2012 International Portrait Competition Winners into an album on its Facebook Page.  In Portrait Society of America - 2012 award winners on Facebook I've identified some of the prizewinners and their websites.

Art Debate

• The Economist has a record of a Debate about Arts funding.  The question posed was Arts Funding - Should governments fund the arts?

Art Exhibitions

Exhibitions ending soon

• Two weeks left to see Jenny Saville's exhibition in Oxford - it closes on 16th September 

Jenny Saville in conversation with Nicholas Cullinan - Curator of International Modern Art at Tate Modern 29/06/12 from Modern Art Oxford on Vimeo.
(53 minutes)

• My post about Two botanical art exhibitions - in the UK and USA
• UK - Florum: Florum 2012 (8th - 15th September 2012)
• USA - Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation: Portraits of a Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden Florilegium (21 September - 16 December 2012)
• My post about Feline art in London - two exhibitions
• the Society of Feline Artists - Annual Exhibition 2012 at the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery continues until 16th September
• Louis Wain and the Summer Cat Show at the Chris Beetles Gallery finishes on 9th September

I'm trying to be about more alert to telling people about exhibitions before they happen!

Exhibitions in London

• Renaissance to Goya: prints and drawings from Spain is about to open at the British Museum and will run from 20 September 2012 until 6 January 2013
• This is my Review: RE Open - contemporary printmaking at the Bankside Gallery - printmakers wanting to submit work for next year should note that it achieved a very high standard.  Plus I liked the way they organised the exhibition.
• Two major printmaking exhibitions in London are about to open:
• London Printmakers are at the Bankside Gallery from the Wedesnday 5 - 30 September 2012 - the quote below is from the London printmakers blurb
• BITE is at the Mall Galleries Mon 3 - Sat 15 September 2012, Daily 10am-5pm. (but note it's closed all day on 9 and 10 September)

Printmakers, who create Etchings, Lithographs and Linocuts, work directly onto the printing surface, using drawings,sketches and even paintings for reference. This is not a method for reproduction of an original, but a "conversation with the medium", a creative process that with time and expertise gives a unique result.

Art Societies

• These are the reviews of 
• Exhibition: Federation of British Artists Presents London
• The Hesketh Hubbard Art Society - Annual Show
• Plus the list of Selected Artists - UKCPS 11th Open International Exhibition 2012 including links to artists websites.

Exhibitions in New York

• The Pastel Society of America has its 40th Annual Exhibition September 4-29, 2012 at the National Arts Club in New York, NY
• At the New York State Museum you can see Focus on Nature until December 31st, 2012.  This includes work by international artists from all over the world. The catalogue for the exhibition can be downloaded as a pdf file and the resolution is good enough to enlarge to get a good view of the exhibits.  I really liked the presentation with helpful notations about the subject matters and the media and size of the image.  You can View the whole catalog as a PDF, with artist commentaries and contact info.

Focus on Nature XII is a juried exhibition of natural and cultural history illustration that features artwork from around the world. Artists depict biological, geological, and archeological subjects using a wide range of media, from traditional watercolor to recently developed digital techniques. The basis for selection of these works is scientific accuracy, technical skill, aesthetic qualities, and originality.

Upcoming Exhibition in France 2013

• Les Pastellistes de France June 29-September 1, 2013 in Feytiat, Limousin   Sally Strand and a few other artists has been invited to represent the Pastel Society of America as guests of honor at the most prestigious annual exhibition by the oldest and largest pastel association in France. 

Art Education

Art Books and e-publishing

• Not strictly about art - but for those thinking of publishing ebooks this is a very interesting article about ebooks for libraries in A Newbie's Guide to Publishing

Classes and Workshops

• Sally Strand is doing a workshop in France next summer.  See my review of a workshop I did with her back in 2006 - The best ever workshop - pastel painting with Sally Strand
• Keiko Tanabe (Keiko Tanabe Fine Art) has a workshop in November on Capturing Light & Atmosphere in Watercolor.  This is one of the aspects of her painting which gives it such impact.  I'd love to know 'how'!  Keiko will be exhibiting a Japanese streetscape at the International Exhibition of Watercolors (Exposición Internacional Ciudad de Dos Hermanas, Sevilla) in Seville in September

Tips and Techniques

• Stapleton Kearns
• writing about stretching canvas - Another little trick I know 4 
• on the topic of French Easels - Another little trick I know 6. I gather he's not a fan and has fought a few battles
• Michael Chesley Johnson (Plein Air Painter) wrote about Mounting Finished Paintings on Paper (or Canvas) to Board
• Richard McKinley (Pastel Pointers) has tips for painting skies sing soft pastels
• Blue Skies & Beyond | Painting the Sky with Pastel, Part 1
• Pastel Pointers for Painting Clouds | Painting the Sky with Pastel Part 2
• Linea is the full-color journal tabloid of The Art Students League of New York and this autumn it is slated to transform into a digital ezine - which should mean it is accessible to more people
• How to Paint Figurative Scenes is a very useful step by step article on the Artists and Illustrators website for those who'd like to attempt figurative scenes. It's been authored by Pastel Society Vice President Roger Dellar ROI RI VPPS. He uses a thin layer of acrylic as an underpainting for the pastels.
• These are some tips on studio set-ups from Armand Cabrera on the Art and Influence blog
• Studio Tips Part 1 - Organising your Studio Space
• Studio Tips Part 2 - Storage
• Studio Tips Part 3 Lighting (plus a more in-depth post on Studio lighting here) 

If you don’t have a studio with north light, you need artificial lighting. Period. You can’t properly paint your canvas without accurate light.

• Studio Tips Part 4 Ergonomics
• Studio Tips part 5 Framing

Art Materials and Supplies 

• Pastel Demo...I found my Stan Sperlak Pastels! Karen Margulis.  I'd never heard of these before - but it turns out on reading that this is another box of pastels selected by an artist. I like the idea but I rarely come across anything informative about artists selections online.  Would that it were different!
• The Jacksons Art Supplies Newsletter highlighted a FREE online colour mixing tool created by Golden Acrylics.  It works on any browser, Mac, PC, iPad or Android. The interface was designed to work on touch screens so artists can use it on tablets right at their canvas. It's both fun and frustrating - try it and you'll see what I mean
• This is the Ampersand blog - what i like about it is that it does great interviews with artists who use their products and provides decent technical posts such as Sealing and Varnishing Art Work on Ampersand Panels

Copyright

• This is Fine Art America's Open Letter to Photographers, Visual Artists, and Art Enthusiasts on the topic of "Pinterest - Enabling Copyright Theft on a Global Scale". Their identification of the differences between Pinterest and Google Images is spot on!  I've added this link into my website "Pinterest, Copyright and Spam - for Visual Artists & Photographers" 

Techies

• Facecrooks on Facebook provide this guide for How to Lockdown Your Facebook Account For Maximum Privacy and Security.  It's particularly targeted at people who think their settings have changed post timeline.

and finally......

You will all have read or heard by now about how an octagenarian lady Cecilia Gimenez approached decided to give the Christ painting "Ecce Homo" by Elias Garcia Martinez a "restoration".

• It went viral shortly after the news came out.  The best post that I have read to date of what happened and what this has meant is Touching Up by Joanne Mattera - which is a highly recommended read!
• Plus:
• The Huffington Post reports that 'Ironic Art Fans' Petition To Save World's Worst Restoration Of 'Ecce Homo'
• Jonathan Jones opined on The Guardian that Great art needs a few restoration disasters

Apparently thousands are now flocking to the church to be photographed next to the painting!