21st October 2012 - Who's made a mark this week?

I've spent part of last week reliving a very enjoyable Sunday afternoon in June 2011 when I had a wonderful lunch followed by a delightful afternoon sketching the view of Mont Ventoux from the terrace of a hill top hotel in Provence (see my Travels with a Sketchbook blog post written at the time The view of Mont Ventoux from Crillon Le Brave)

Mont Ventoux from the Hotel Crillon Le Brave
12" x 16", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I've been commissioned to produce a drawing after somebody saw my original sketch and wanted to buy it.  I never ever take sketches out of sketchbooks - but this was one I was very happy to reproduce as a drawing.  It will be wending its way to the USA tomorrow afternoon...

If you ever want to commission a drawing or sketch see the side column for how to contact me.

Artist and Art Blogs

Drawing

• I'm also trying to catch up with all the sketches which have never been posted.  So Restaurant Nausicaa, Boulogne sur Mer - my last meal in France has a sketch of my last meal in France plus a sketch of the view of the beach from where I sat and ate my meal in Bouloge sur Mer.
• Caer Caradoc Hill in Shropshire is my sketch from my trip to Shropshire at the end of September.  I had no idea I was sketching ancient history! involving early Britains and the Romans!

Caer Caradoc Hill from The Oaks
pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook, 11" x 16"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Landscapes

• Two painters go to the same place, paint the same scene - and this is how they compare.  'Dieppe from the East' by John Sell Cotman and JMW Turner is about two paintings in the Cotman in Normandy exhibition.  
• I continue to be very interested in the idea of "places to paint" - and I love art books and the two come together with The Best Art Books about London and the River Thames
• The Virtual Paintout is this month in Croatia (October 2012)

Painting

• One of my favourite ever art bloggers Tracy Hegelson has given up on blogging - so The Painters Farm (the blog) has come to an end just as The Painters Farm - the website gets off the ground. OPlus chattering about art continues on facebook
• Kathleen Coy does actually create a painting virtually every day - see her daily painting blog  My Daily Painting Challenge - and what she produces is really rather good.  She also has a 'normal' blog for sales of her work Life Earth Sky
• I rather like Jane Minter's very wet watercolours - which you can see on her blog jane minter's sketchbook (and the fact she lives in Italy explains the Italian on her blog!)
• While reviewing blogs in my blogroll I was sad to see that Different Strokes From Different Folks is no more and the URL is now a tattoo blog!
• See the reviews of the annual exhibitions by the Miniature Painters and Marine Painters in the Art Exhibition section below

Printmaking 

• Beyond Obama's Hope: the work of Shepard Fairey is a slideshow of prints by Shepard Fairey.
• All Things Considered is the blog associated with the St Judes Press and its contributors are Angie Lewin, Simon Lewin and Kate Sullivan.  I'm very fond of Angie Lewin's draughtsmanship and fine art prints.  This page shows images of her watercolour drawings from a 2011 exhibition.  She also has a nice looking and most accessible website!
• Sheila Robinson and her cardboard cuts and linocuts were highlighted on the Poul Webb Art Blog.  Some of the images are really lovely and go to demonstrate that in the right hands almost any view can look good!

Sculpture

• I don't know about you but the seaside resort of Ilfracombe in Devon is not the place which would immediately have sprung to mind as being most in need of a Damien Hirst statue.  The residents have been expressing their opinion on his statue as well via the Guardian's Shortcuts blog - Damien Hirst's Verity statue: 'It's a bit Hannibal Lecter'

Art Business & Marketing

• Lori McNee - Fine Art & Tips - Tracking Your Art Inventory and Contacts - it's promotion for a piece of artwork archive software - but it looks as if could be useful for busy artists with lots of artwork in different galleries. However it's not free nor is it cheap unless you are going to get enough value out of it.  However you can try it for free!

Art Economy

• This is The ArtReview Power 100 for 2012.  If you click "The lists" there's scope to add comments 

Entrants are ranked according to a combination of influence over the production of art internationally, sheer financial clout (although in these times that’s no longer such a big factor) and activity in the previous 12 months – criteria which encompass artists, of course, as well as collectors, gallerists and curators.

• and this is the Guardian analysis of what it tells us ArtReview's Power 100 list reveals art-world battle for supremacy
• The digital version - Art Review Online - is free

Art Crime

• There was yet another major theft of valuable art - and here are a couple of articles about it
• Rotterdam art thieves take valuable paintings in dawn heist
• Art thieves are not like Thomas Crown – but they are eternal optimists

Heist movies always focus on how. The thieves scan the layout of security cameras, oil their rifles, synchronise their watches. How is the wrong question. The real question is why. Why in the world would thieves steal paintings too famous to sell?

Art Competitions

• Just a week left to see the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2012 Exhibition at the Jerwood Space
• This is the Veolia Environment wildlife photographer of the year – in pictures
• Last week I produced my overview of the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize 2013: Call For Entries
• Plus I think I might just enter the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Photography Competition. The problem with this one being the several thousand photos of flowers that I've got to review to find ones I'd want to submit!

Art Exhibitions

You MUST read this Beside the Wave Gallery blog post - Preparations for London - by Sarah Wimperis about the challenge of getting the art out of the gallery and into the van going to the Affordable Art Fair which is being held this week in Battersea.

Major Galleries in the UK

• I didn't got the Preview for the new exhibition at the National Portrait gallery but having read the Guardian review I wish I had! See The Lost Prince: The Life and Death of Henry Stuart – review

Art Society Exhibitions in the UK

• The Annual Art Exhibitions of two Royal Art Societies opened last week at the Mall Galleries - see 
• Review: 2012 Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters and
• Review: 2012 Exhibition of the Royal Society of Marine Artists
• The Society of Equestrian Artists is holding its annual exhibition at the Menier Gallery  at the end of next month - 20th November 20 - 1st December)

Exhibitions coming up include:

• The London Potters' Open Exhibition is at the Morley Gallery between6th - 21st November
• The ING Discerning Eye at the Mall Galleries opens in just over two weeks time -15th - 24th November

Art Bloggers

• Sarah Wimperis (The Red Shoes) is participating in a Group Show called All at Sea at the Beside the Wave Gallery in Falmouth 

Art Museums

• Bunker Notes is the blog of the Christchurch Art Gallery in new Zealand which is still closed for repairs - but continues to have a very lively blog!  Both the website and blog make interesting reading for any museum administrators who have ever wondered what happens if an earthquake happens to strike.  They appear to be holding exhibitions all over the city! It really goes to show the value of having a decent website and blog for ease of communication should anything horrendous happen.  
• For those living in or visiting Austin this is The Giardian's take on the 10 best museums and galleries in Austin

Art Videos

• June Mendoza has painted the Queen three times and is a very well established figure within the world of portraiture in the UK.  This is a new video of Portrait Painting in Oil With June Mendoza OB RP ROI - and no I've not seen it but this clip suggests it might have some very useful tips for those starting out or wanting to improve their portraiture.

Copyright

• This is absolutely fascinating if you've ever had to file a notice with Google asking for your content to be removed from a strange site this is the web page for Removal Requests for the Google Copyright Transparency project
• Simon Lewin writes about how Angie Lewin's designs have been ripped off without permission and used on coffee cups ACID – Anti Copying In Design

Opinion Poll

• There was a very poor response rate to September's poll and I'm wondering whether peple got mixed up between the "place" and "promotion" aspects of marketing art - see Poll Results: The Best Method of Promoting Art Sales.

Techies

• Just in case you've forgotten Google likes your websites and blogs to be fast - and to find out how fast they are here's their pagespeed tool.  You can Analyze your site online
• Cropp.me is a tool for creating instant crops
• I've been reading Facebook’s EdgeRank – What Is It and Why You Need to Understand It.

and finally......

Who knew Google had artistic leanings - just look at the visuals associated with Google Data Centers - it's a bit like looking at an installation in a contemporary art gallery!