26th November 2012 - Who's made a mark this week?

Marion Boddy Evans made me smile this week with her post about The 10 Personality Types at Art Workshops which are:

1. The Fish Out of Water
2. The Sunday Painter
3. The Quiet Mouse
4. The Sponge
5. The Significant Artist's Significant Other
6. The Art Club President
7. The Serial Workshopper
8. The Groupie
9. The Overtly Arty Person
10. The (Semi-) Professional

I'm thinking it might make a few other tutors smile - and for those yet to go on a painting holiday it gives you an insight into the sort of people who go.  I personally find the painting hats are always a bit of a giveaway!

Sketching in Mesta
© Katherine Tyrrell

I've got my fingers crossed that I'm coming to the end of the cold/flu bug and that I'll be able to get out and about again this week.  It's been two weeks so far.

Artists and Art Blogs

Drawing and Sketching

• James Gurney (Gurney Journey) discusses the semantics of Sketch / Painting / Study
• Tina Mammoser (In the Studio, On the Shore) last week shared her process for producing a painting all the way through to the final study prior to painting - see Cliff challenge - from site, to photo, to drawing.  I found it interesting that it was putting a photograph into Elements and then using filters helped her sort out what were the main shapes and lines she wanted to focus on.

Landscape

• Jeff McColl has created a lovely compilation of photos on Google+ of the locations of paintings by some of the Group of Seven - see Places to Paint: Agawa Canyon, (Algoma)

Sketch by Vivien Blackburn

Pastels and Pencils

• Vivien Blackburn (Painting, Prints and Stuff) has been demonstrating at the NEC for Derwent and now she's got her new scanner up and running has started to post some of the examples of small works she did during demonstrations using the Derwent Art Bars. 
• I found some great images by Degas on the The Poul Webb Art Blog.  Not too sure where the text is coming from though.
• Edgar Degas - part 1 Ballerinas
• Edgar Degas - part 2 More Ballerinas
• Edgar Degas - part 3 reviews a broader range of his paintings
• Edgar Degas - After the Bath - the series of artworks he did about women after a bath. 

Painting

• Why Hockney's so miffed by a tree-feller - David Hockney's Totem tree stump has been vadalised and cut down
• This is an RA Magazine feature: Ken Howard RA in conversation - Following in Turner’s footsteps
• Jean Haines (Watercolours with Life) has been painting turkeys for Thanksgiving and Reindeers for Christmas of late

Sue Pownall painting her part of the mural
© Sue Pownall

• Sue Pownall (Art of a Nomad) wrote to tell me about a recent artistic initiative in Oman where she lives. The Ghalya's Museum of Modern Art in Oman created a collaborative wall painting project. In the end, nearly 100 Omani and international artists participated in the project (for free) - including some with special needs - and have painted a a wall mural in celebration of HM Sultan Qaboos' 42 year reign. It was finally unveiled on Tuesday 20th November - see Wall Painting Unveiled - and will remain on display for 3 months. The museum plans to make this an annual event through choosing themes which are important to both Omanis and international visitors.   This is Sue's slideshow of the event

Photography

• One of the interesting aspects of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge is their interest in art - they met while studying History of Art at St Andrews University. The Duchess has now gone public on their website with photographs taken by the Duchess on their recent tour of Borneo.  The Guardian also comments in Duchess of Cambridge exposed as photographer

Printmaking

• If you read back through the last few posts on Sherrie Yorks's Brush and Baren blog you'll be able to follow the process used in producing a linocut print - of a Magpie.  As always Sherrie ie very generous in her sharing and explanations of how she works.

Sculpture

• Antony Gormley's near death experience

Who painted this?

• Congratulations to Adebanji Alade the winner of "Who painted this" #4. 13 people got the correct answer! The correct answer was that this was a painting of the Hawkesbury River by Australian landscape painter Arthur Streeton. It's 4 foot square and he painted it plein air!
• This is my new website About Arthur Streeton - the Australian Landscape Painter who painted 'The purple noon's transparent might' - which was the painting of the Hawkesbury River, north west of Sydney which featured as the subject of Who Painted This? #4
• This is Who painted this? #5 - remember to read the rules carefully.

Art Business & Marketing

The Art Gallery Business

• I loved Michael Chesley Johnson's Advice to Galleries on his blog A Plein Air Painter.  Having visited some of the galleries in Carmel, California I must say I agree!
• While on Artsyshark, Suzanne Connors (SaxArt Gallery) was offering A Gallery Owner’s View: What Artists Need to Know.  It provides an interesting commentary on some of the pitfalls of running a co-operative gallery. My advice to SaxArt is that they need to review and improve the Home Page of their website.  

Most do not realize that an art gallery is a business and that operating a business is a 24/7 commitment. Running an art gallery is hard work and it requires wearing many hats.

• TOPTEN Tips for getting into gallleries, exhibitions and competitions by Harriete Berman.pdf

Generating Grants

• Alan Bamberger's latest article on ArtBusiness.com is about How to Apply for Art and Artist Grants, Residencies, Funding, Aid and Other Opportunities for Assistance.  (This has also been reprinted in the November edition of Professional Artist as Applying for Grants, Residencies, Funding and Other Assistance 

Selling Art

• A post on Artsy Shark about How Natasha Wescoat Rocked Her Online Art Sales provides some solid basic guidelines for anybody trying to improve their sales
• Professional Artist Magazine has a new publication The Pocket Guide to Web Marketing for Artists Get started with marketing and selling your art on the web with this easy-to-use and informative guide.

Shipping Art

• I've added very useful article by Jason Horesj (Red dot blog) on How to Ship Paintings | A Step-by-Step Guide for Artists and Galleries to my website How to pack, post and ship art - Resources for Artists

Support Groups for Artists

• Axis is an online resource for contemporary art in the UK - and was 21 this week.  It celebrated with a new website ttp://www.axisweb21.org/.  It also has an Artist Staff Blog
• The Guardian commented on how visual artists are just as much under threat as other arts organisations and suggested Regional arts: we need to invest in individuals for the bigger picture
• own-it is funded by the University of the Arts in London and provides a (mostly) free service in relation to intellectual property, copyright and trademarks.  Own-it London  has produced a video about choosing/using/protecting company names - see Choosing Your Company's Name and Protecting Your Reputation by on Vimeo.

Art Collectors and the Art Economy

• An article in the Economist Collectors, artists and lawyers asserts that fear of litigation is hobbling the art market.  [This one was delivered to me personally by "he who must not be bored while I sketch" - in his newly adopted role of personal clippings service! :) ]

Art Competitions

• This week The Royal Society of Portrait Painters formally launched a brand new £20,000 prize called SELF - to be awarded for the best self-portrait submitted to their Annual Exhibition.  Read more about it in my blog post Self - a new £20,000 prize for self portraiture
• In the end I was too wobbly on my feet and didn't get to Discerning Eye Competition - however I did write a blog post - see Owen Bullet wins £5,000 ING Discerning Eye Prize

Art Exhibitions

Exhibitions in the UK

My sketch of Constable's "Boatbuilding near Flatford Mill"
11" x 16", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell
(see Sketching Constable in the V&A)

• There's a new exhibition next month at the Royal Academy
• this is the link Constable, Gainsborough, Turner and the Making of Landscape (8 December 2012—17 February 2013) in The John Madejski Fine Rooms and Weston Rooms. 

Letters by Gainsborough, Turner’s watercolour box and Constable’s palette will also be on display, bringing their artistic practice to life.

• here's an article which previews its topic Constable, Turner, Gainsborough and the Making of Landscape

this is the third show this year to present Turner in company with other artists – it's as if he is no longer safe to be let out on his own.

• Peter Doig: Imaginary Places is at Belfast's brand new arts venue The MAC until 20th January 2013.  This is the first significant show by Peter Doig in Northern Ireland
• You can see Chris Beetles Annual Exhibition about "The Illustrators" (The British Art of Illustration 1837-2012) at his Gallery opposite the back of Christies in St James.  This is a link to the catalogue of The Illustrators - use the zoom function to be able to see the pictures better

Exhibitions in North America

• Painting Canada: Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven is at The McMichael Collection of Canadian Art / Gallery in Kleinburg, just north of Toronto. It's open until January 6, 2013.  This follows its very successful Eiropean Tour to the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London, UK; National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo, Norway; and the Groninger Museum in Groningen, the Netherlands.  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED by me - see my posts:
• 'Painting Canada: Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven' at Dulwich Picture Gallery and 
• Painting Canada: Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven - Review

Art Bloggers Exhibitions

• Through the efforts of her hard-working husband, my friend Louise Sackett (Plein Speaking - Painting plein air in Wind Canyon) has finally achieved a personal goal - the grand opening of an exhibition in her very own studio - the 'Wind Canyon Studio' just outside Silver City in New Mexico. See Grand Opening! - Its Official.

Art Education

Tips and Techniques

• This week I updated my website about Pastel Paper and Pastel Boards to include new sections about Creating your own supports and Mounting Boards for Pastel Artworks.  Here are some of the links I included
• Two posts from Richard McKinley (Pastel Pointers) Keeping the Pastel Surface Flat | Techniques for Stretching and Mounting Paper and Techniques for Stretching and Mounting Paper | Keeping the Pastel Surface Flat, Part 2
• A post by Timothy Chambers (Timothy J Chambers) on creating pastel paintings on linen - How To: Pastel on Linen
• Canon sent me a tutorial about photographing Autumn skies - which might be of use for those taking reference photographs

Art History

• I went looking for more fine art articles on The Economist (not my usual source of information) and came across More than just a pretty swatch - Homage to a colourful and complex Victorian polymath about William Morris

Art Videos

• The Only Way is Hockney by Fiontan Moran on the Tate blog comments on the 1974 feature-length film titled A Bigger Splash

Techies

• I wrote a couple of posts about Facebook Lists this week. Now that Facebook keeps news from the sites you've liked in Check it makes it much easier to read the news you want to read and be sure you've seen everything
• A Guide to Facebook Interest Lists (Part 1)
• How to make an effective Facebook Interest List - this includes a list of MY Facebook Lists

and finally......

This is a rather good video of Royal Academician Anish Kapoor doing his bit for campaigning for human rights in China and the activities of Wei Wei - Gangnam for Freedom - Anish Kapoor and Friends (Official Video).