First of all I have had two GA operations on my eyes three weeks apart see Phacoemulsification of cataract with intraocular lens implantation #2. I've now got TWO new lens implants to correct both my cataracts and another more serious problem with my eyesight. I sketched while waiting to go down to Theatre on the second occasion - see Day surgery sketching at Moorfields Eye Hospital.
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| The patient in the bed opposite - with the ubiquitous post surgery eye dressing 8" x 10" pen and ink and coloured pencils copyright Katherine Tyrrell |
Last Thursday I had my one week later check-up (of course I sketched again! See sketch in
Postoperative checkup at Moorfields Eye Clinic) following the second operation. It looks like everything has been successful.
Guess who can now read easily all the way to the second to bottom line on the eye chart! I now officially have better than normal distance vision!
Once I get new reading and computer glasses in 4 weeks time I'll have got the eyesight back that I used to have more than 25 years ago! No more endless polishing of glasses to remove a non-existent film on the glasses!
However, the bottom line right now is I continue to need to limit the time spent on the computer for at least another four weeks.
This is mainly due to the fact my current prescription lenses no longer work. I'm using my old driving glasses from 1996 as the glasses which give the best result when sitting at a desk staring at a screen. However I can't use them for very long. Reading offline is OK so long as the text is no more than 6 inches from my eyes - which makes reading exhibition lenses very interesting - if you see me at the moment I'm the woman with my nose to the wall!
This is mainly due to the fact my current prescription lenses no longer work. I'm using my old driving glasses from 1996 as the glasses which give the best result when sitting at a desk staring at a screen. However I can't use them for very long. Reading offline is OK so long as the text is no more than 6 inches from my eyes - which makes reading exhibition lenses very interesting - if you see me at the moment I'm the woman with my nose to the wall!
Art Blogs and Artists
Drawing and Sketching
- One of the really nice things about new eyes - even when it's just one - is that it makes it a lot easier to sketch. We had trip out to Ide Hill and Emmetts Garden in the middle of May to see the bluebells on the hillside
- It used to be possible to access JMW Turner's sketchbooks really easily on the Tate Britain website - then along came the digital project and now we have a great front-end and absolutely no links through to the actual sketchbooks! How silly is that? See Tate Britain - J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours
- Sketching tips for gouache paint is for those people who like sketching and painting with watercolour - and who'd like to have a go at gouache. Take a peek at the results which Martin Stankewitz gets using gouache paint. This website has lots and lots of practical tips for beginners and lots of his paintings too
Botanical art
- I also came across a blog post by an artist who has tried developing botanical art using gouache - see Gouache Technique by Clare Ward (Drawn to Paint Nature)
- Mindy Lighthipe (The Art of Mindy Lighthipe) provides a YouTube video PhotoShop Tutorial on Getting White Backgrounds for botanical artists wanting to know how to clean up backgrounds in digital images of botanical art for the purposes of reproduction. It's just short of 30 minutes in length.
Painting
- Women in the Act of Painting in flagrante depicto posts paintings of women painting - and that's it. So where's yours?
Portraiture
- Alan Coulson has been getting some exposure this last month
- This New York article - Rajat Gupta’s Lust for Zeros - includes two portraits by Alan Coulson - who paints wonderful portraits and won 3rd prize in last year's BP Portrait Award
- Here's an interview with Alan on Creative Spotlight The BP Portrait Awards love him, we reckon you will too - Portrait Artist - Alan Coulson
- I really enjoyed Kate Stone's account - The Pee Ess of A - of the Portrait Society of America Conference - here's a taster
If you normally go to the PSoA conference, you know what it's like; but if you haven't ever been, well, sonny, LET ME TELL YOU. Hundreds of reclusive, socially inhibited art geeks crawl out of the woodwork, put on nice clothes that they probably had to borrow from a friend who doesn't get away with wearing sweatpants to work, and bask in the glorious sensation of being part of the crowd.
Who painted this?
For those who've not seen them I won't give the game away. Start at 26 and work your way through (and don't look at the comments!)
- Who painted this? #29 has a very vivid and painterly painting this week which a number of you are correctly identifying!
- Who painted this? #28 - what looks like a very contemporary still life
- Who painted this? #27 - big doggie!
- Who painted this? #26 - A very handsome chap who looks quite a lot like another handsome chap
- I spent a large part of my career dealing with business issues and hence have a particular interest in the workings of the art business - and how artists relate to it. Picasso the businessman - branding and the value of art provides a summary of some of the reasons why Picasso had a mastery of branding and the art business. It includes lessons which some artists have learned well - and others have yet to learn.
- "The Science and Art of Pricing and Costing Your Work" is an excellent and easy to read article in plain English - by Visual Artists Ireland. I've added it into my website "How to Price Your Art - Resources for Artists"
- I loved Sophie Ploeg's poster for her Open Studio last month
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| Sophie Ploeg's Original and Excellent Open Studio Poster |
Art Economy & Collectors
- Lori McNee has written a very relevant article about The Relationship Between The Housing Market And Art Sales
- I came across an article by ArtInfo which poses and responds to the question - Does Investing in Art Make Sense? A Look at Both Sides of the Debate
Art Education
Drawing Workshops
- Jeanette Barnes and Paul Brandford are offering Summer Drawing Workshops at venues across London during June, July and August. Both are very experienced tutors (see their joint CV page). Jeanette as one of my tutors at the Prince's Drawing School and she's very good.
- Sarah Simblet - author of:
- Anatomy for the Artist and The Drawing Book - will again be teaching the unique Art & Anatomy course at the Ruskin School of Drawing & Fine Art at the University of Oxford on 4th- 10th August or alternatively 1st - 7th September
- Botany for the Artist: An Inspirational Guide to Drawing Plants - will be teaching a NEW course on botanical drawing July 8-12, 2013 - largely based in the Drawing Studio at 74 High Street, Oxford but also including visits. Click the link for more details.
- I've participated in two of Sarah's classes and also heard her lecture and she is an excellent educator
- Anatomy for the Artist and The Drawing Book - will again be teaching the unique Art & Anatomy course at the Ruskin School of Drawing & Fine Art at the University of Oxford on 4th- 10th August or alternatively 1st - 7th September
- Botany for the Artist: An Inspirational Guide to Drawing Plants - will be teaching a NEW course on botanical drawing July 8-12, 2013 - largely based in the Drawing Studio at 74 High Street, Oxford but also including visits. Click the link for more details.
- I've participated in two of Sarah's classes and also heard her lecture and she is an excellent educator
Copyright
- A couple of articles by The Art Newspaper on copyright relating to artwork
- UK museums must pay for images where copyright is unknown - not quite the outcome the museums and libraries were expecting when they lobbied hard for changes in copyright law to deal with orphan works. A proposed amendment which passed stipulates that they must pay upfront. I'm going to be writing about the change of law soon. Just been waiting for the legal process to come to an end.
- with respect to how much does it take for a derivative work to be transformative - Judge says Sid Vicious street art breaks copyright
Colour
- The Creation of Color in Eighteenth-Century Europe by Sarah Lowengard is a fabulous site
- This is a website devoted to the pigments in watercolour paint
Art Exhibitions
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Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564)
The Ideal Head
Red chalk on off-white paper 205 x 165 mm
Part of the Master Drawings Exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (see below for details)
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Major Museums and Galleries in the UK
- The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford has a new exhibition about Master Drawings which is attracting universal acclaim. It's not every day I get to post a drawing by Michelangelo on this blog! Time to get out the train timetables......
Major Museums and Galleries in London
- Rory McEwen - The Colours of Reality has opened at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew Gardens. I saw the exhibition just before the second operation and managed to publish one quick post but have to still to wrote the review as it's going to be LONG! How do top botanical artists spend their day? Check out A day in the life of botanical artist Rory McEwan (1932 - 1982). Plus a great video of the exhibition
I went to see the retrospective exhibition of his work at Kew Gardens today - and it's amazing! I can absolutely see why he has been so influential. More on the exhibition tomorrow. - I also met Dr Shirley Sherwood and we talked about the linked exhibition Rory McEwen’s legacy - Artists influenced by him in the Shirley Sherwood Collection (13 April 2013 - January 2014)
- The Whitechapel Gallery has an exhibition of the botanical photographs of Karl Blossfeldt ( 16 April - 14 June 2013 ). This is a chap who inspired Rory McEwan.
Art Society Exhibitions
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| Royal Society of Portrait Painters - Private View |
- Viewing the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in May in between surgery #1 and surgery #2 was an interesting experience - but I still managed to generate FOUR posts! (Lots of photos!)
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| Winner of the £20,000 SELF Portrait Prize Jan Mikulka with his self portrait (oil on canvas, 100x70cm, 2012) and Alastair Adams, President of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters |
- Jan Mikulka wins £20,000 SELF Portrait Prize - This is the brand new self-portrait prize
- Royal Society of Portrait Painters - 2013 Prizewinners These are prizes with some significant cash values - it includes The Ondaatje Prize for the most distinguished portrait of the year which is worth £10,000 plus a gold medal.
- Review: Royal Society of Portrait Painters - Annual Exhibition 2013 - the best of the rest!
- PLUS - Bulldog Bursary 2013: Shortlisted artists
- The Hilliard Society of Miniaturists were very kind and sent me all I needed to review their current Annual Exhibition before my second operation - and here's my review - Hilliard Society of Miniaturists - 30th Annual Exhibition. The exhibition closed today but they have an excellent virtual exhibition online so you can enjoy it too - and purchase work!
- I love art societies which put artwork online for all to see. California Art Club - 102nd Annual Gold Medal Exhibition is my review from a distance of the virtual exhibition of the 102nd Gold Medal Art Exhibition of the California Art Club - due to open to the public on 2nd June. I've highlighted the work of a few artists which I liked the look of. There's nothing quite like starting with a thumbnail view when reviewing a lot of art........
Artists I know
- Portrait artist - Alan Coulson is having his first solo show of contemporary portraiture - Alan Coulson - Paintings and Drawings - at George Contemporary Art & Design from 7th june - 15th July. (Address: 338 Hackney Road, London E2 7AX) I may be at the PV on Thursday night. Those living in London may well have seen Alan's portrait of fellow artist Richie Culver on a poster advertising the BP Portrait Award in various locations around London last summer.
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| BP Portrait Award 3rd Prize: Richie Culver by Alan Coulson Oil on wooden board 850 x 950 mm Alan Coulson (left) with Richie Culver (right) |
Upcoming exhibitions - UK
- The 245th Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts opens to the public on 10 June. I'm going to be at the press preview next Wednesday so expect a review shortly afterwards
- Did you submit artwork to the RA Summer Exhibition? Was it rejected? You'll find good company at the "Not the Royal Academy" Summer Exhibition at the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery at the side of Waterloo Station. This Salon des Refusés of artwork rejected by the RAs selection panel runs opens 10 June and runs until 17th August 2013.
Art Galleries and Museums
- Penelope Curtis, the Director of Tate Britain contributes her thoughts on the new chronological hang of British Art
- Out with the thematic at Tate, in with the chronological is an article in the Art Newspaper
- You get the same article with much better images on the Tate Britain website
- This is Brian Sewell on:
- the rehang of British Art at Tate Britain - The BP Walk Through British Art, Tate Britain - exhibition review
- the purchase by the nation of John Constable's painting of Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows - Brian Sewell: We’ve seen it all before ... do we really need to spend millions to see it again?
Art History
- Last month I exchanged emails with Carl Randall - the 2012 winner of the BP Travel Award - which reminded me that he was using the award to do an updated version of one of the Hiroshige series. Click this link to see the original Hiroshige images from various editions of the "The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido Road". You can see the various different images he created for the different stations en route. I love this approach to archiving art images!
Art Societies
- The Royal Society of Portrait Painters has got itself a twitter account at last - http://twitter.com/RP_portraits
Art Studio
- Sadie Jernigan Valeri (Sadie J. Valeri) has a new blog post Studio FAQ: Lighting, Wall Color, and Casts which is chock full of information how how to go about setting up a classical realist studio
Art Supplies
- 2013 POLL: Which is your favourite make of artist grade soft pastels? - Calling all pastel artists - I'd appreciate if you visit my BRAND NEW opinion poll and vote for your favourite make of soft pastel. Have you changed allegiance in the last year or do you favour the same brand as in previous years. Both perspective are important and I'd welcome votes from practising pastel artists using artist grade pastels. Or maybe check out the poll to see what I think are artist grade pastels?
- An earlier poll suggests that the top three brands of soft pastels are all made in Europe. They were: Unison (18%); Sennelier (13%); and Schminke (9%) - see Unison is still favourite artist grade soft pastel for more information.
- Heaton Cooper - based in Grasmere in the Lake District - have a new design for the studio and art shop website http://www.heatoncooper.co.uk/. I always associate images by the Heaton Coopers with my childhood. While out walking, my father once came upon William Heaton Cooper painting the Lakes - so at home we had prints of his paintings. Subsequently, as an Examiner for my professional body, I used to pay an annual visit to Grasmere to spend 4 days marking a Management paper! One of my joys as a respite from marking used to a walk into the village to visit the studio and the art shop. Now I have to content myself with many visits to their website for their online art supplies - and periodically placing an order. I've always found them very reliable and very much recommend them. To me Heaton Cooper is a bit of traditional England brought up to date.
- One of my local art shops - Paintworks, in trendy Hoxton, now has a Facebook Page. If you ever visit don't miss the selection of paper in the basement. The reason I keep going back is they have a car park so great for when you have a stack of stuff to get!
- David Gluck provides an account of how she makes Panels that will blow your face off. They are seriously weird but seems like they do the job!
Opinion Polls
- 60% of people who responded to April's Making A Mark poll indicated that people - either as individuals or in groups - are the most difficult subject to paint. Portraits are the most difficult subjects to paint comments and ruminates on this notion.
- What guides you when listing exhibitions you've participated in? The Making A Mark Poll for June 2013 - reviews different approaches to listing exhibitions on an artist's CV or website - POLL: How do you list your exhibitions on a CV or website?
Techies
- Ever wondered how to handle the banner and profile images of your Facebook Page as an artist? This article by paper artist Col Mitchell shows you how to have impact - 22 Ways Fine Artists Can ROCK their FB Page Banners
- If you're keen on Twitter you might find this of value How to Get More Twitter Followers—and Keep Them
and finally....
You are invited to share your photos of public art on The Guardian website - Public art – share your picturesPlease share the best and worst public art – whether it's as famous as Mount Rushmore, or something only known about in your local area.
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