29th September 2013 - Who's made a mark this week?

Who knew that going to exhibitions can impair your health?

I had a really lovely time at the Mall Galleries this week.  First at the The Threadeedle Prize Awards Dinner on Tuesday night and then again at the press preview next morning.

At the Threadneedle Prize Awards Dinner on Tuesday evening

Unfortunately it meant I was on my feet for rather a long time in the space of 24 hours.  Now various reasons (to do with foot and disc problems) mean that normally "I don't do standing" for any length of time. I'm now really regretting not sitting down more.  Especially since it's entirely my own fault and I ought to have known better! In other words I am suffering from a major attack of sciatica and am writing this dosed up with ibuprofen and co-codamol!  If I could be lying down I would!

Any suggestions as to effective ways of tackling sciatica gratefully received. (For those not familiar with the condition getting up in the morning goes something like this Roll over OUCH! Sit up OUCH! Swing legs out of bed OUCH! Stand up OUCH! Walk OUUUUCH!)

On a rather better note, I've got some sketches in a book called Playing with Sketches which covers 50 creative exercises for designers and artists.  Mine relate to drawing and sketching in museums and art galleries. The book publishes in the USA in mid-November.  There's a second book which comes out a bit later and I'll be telling you more about that in due course.  I'm really looking forward to seeing copies of both of them.

Playing with Sketches - includes my sketches done while drawing in museums and art galleries
to be published in the USA in November 2013

To see my sketches check out my blog "Travels with a Sketchbook"

Artists and art blogs

Famous Artists

Happy Birthday to the Carravaggio whose birthday it is today.  He died just over 400 years ago. In his time, he pioneered the baroque and the technique of use of chiaroscuro using light and dark to represent life and death.

Below is one of my favourite paintings by Caravaggio which is an icon of still life art.  Below that you will find links to YouTube videos about a 1975 documentary about Caravaggio by Robert Hughes (this is a slim pre "Shock of the New" Robert Hughes wearing jeans with long hair - but the voice the language is just the same - very definitely worth a look!  His account of Caravaggio is excellent!)

Canestra di frutta (1599) by Caravaggio

• Caravaggio - documentary by Robert Hughes (1975) 1 of 7
• Caravaggio - documentary by Robert Hughes (1975) 2 of 7 
• Caravaggio - documentary by Robert Hughes (1975) 3 of 7
• Caravaggio - documentary by Robert Hughes (1975) 4 of 7
• Caravaggio - documentary by Robert Hughes (1975) 5 of 7
• Caravaggio - documentary by Robert Hughes (1975) 6 of 7
• Caravaggio - documentary by Robert Hughes (1975) 7 of 7

In addition - here is more information about Caravaggio

• This technical bulletin tells you more about three of his paintings in the National Gallery in London
• Here also is a blog post by Joan Cutuly about My Moment with Carravaggio on In search of the perfect circle
• PLUS You can see more works by Caravaggio - and where they can be found.

Lucian Freud has also been in the limelight this week.  Here's some articles about him:

• We have to assume that he had an affair with anyone who was handy - the life of Lucian is Brian Sewell's review of a biography of Lucian Freud - Breakfast with Lucian: A Portrait of the Artist by Geordie Greig
• The author Geordie Greig has been the Editor of Tatler magazine, the Evening Standard and now the Mail on Sunday - which more or less tells us what the writing is going to be like! He tells Nick Curtis tells what it was like being entertained by Mr Freud in Breakfast, lunch and sex with Lucian Freud

Greatest Living Artist:  The Art Fund would like to vote for the greatest living artist.  I found the list and descriptions somewhat depressing.

Botanical Art

• A number of botanical artists in the Botanical Artists on Facebook Group have been painting something botanical every day in September - here are a couple of artists whose blogs reflect their participation in this 30 day challenge
• Dianne Sutherland (Dianne Sutherland) - Dianne explains what the object is and also tells us how she went about painting it - including the palette of colours she used.  For anybody interested in botanical art reading through her entries for September is an excellent introduction.
• Sigrid Frensen (Sigrid Frensen)
• Take Botanical Art into the Community is a really wonderful post by Kathleen Garness on ArtPlantae Today.  She was awarded £1,000 to take botanical art to the community in outreach workshops in the Chicago area.  Interestingly the art packs put together were based on coloured pencil. It's great to see people new to botanical art working from real live specimens and not photos!
• Botanical Illustration step by step - Painting a Nasturtium is a step by step demo in the news section of her website/blog Lizzie Harper

Drawing

• Human Figure Drawing: A Two-Part Guide by Sadie J. Valeri
• Marion Boddy Evans (Marion Boddy-Evans' Art Studio Blog) has been taking an Anatomy workshop by Alan McGowan, linked to the Leonardo da Vinci: Mechanics of Man Exhibition at The Queen’s Gallery in Edinburgh.
• Taking an Anatomy Workshop: Day 1
• Taking an Anatomy Workshop: Day 2
• Drawing | The Sensitivity Stage by Richard McKinley
• In Drawing every day, Tina Mammoser comments on how exhibitions get in the way of being creative. So now she has a sketchbook for drawing first thing in the morning.  You can see her sketchbook on her tumblr blog

Painting

• The Digital Plein Air Society website explains how to set up for digital painting plein air
• Michael Chesley Johnson (A Plein Air Painter's Blog) has an account of How to relax while painting

Who painted this?

• Congrats to Bernadette Madden who spotted that Jan Steen painted #45. Congrats also to those who spotted the twist in the story - and the theft! Here's a link to those who got it right
• Who Painted This? #46 is a bit more of a challenge than usual - I'm only providing the eyes!

Art Business and Marketing

Art Marketing

• Barney Davey (Art Print issues) has identified the Seven Sins of Art Marketing
• Be Smart about Art tells you about Turning commission disasters into done deals

Art Business

• Copyblogger has a generic blog post about Four Old-School Ways to Thrive in any Economy

Art Collectors and Art Economy

• Government arts funding in the US reached a record low in 2011 according to a new report - highlighted in this press release on behalf of American Arts - see Health and Vitality of America’s Arts Industry Remained Stable in 2011, According to Americans for the Arts’ National Arts Index. 

Despite increased public engagement, support of the arts by all levels of government reached new lows when taking inflation into account.

• Plus, according to the NY Times, the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts indicates a drop in attendance

Art museums and galleries are also having trouble competing with other attractions. Ten years ago more than one in four Americans passed through their doors; now the figure is closer to one in five.

• This is the National Arts Index for the USA - a project of American Arts

Art Competitions

The Threadneedle Prize

Joint Winners of the Threadneedle Prize 213
Clare McCormack and Lisa Wright

• On Tuesday night two women won the Threadneedle Prize - see Clare McCormack and Lisa Wright win Threadneedle Prize 2013. Since 2008, there have been six female winners and one male winner.  As I indicated

If a major art competition, based on totally anonymous entries - all the way through to the end - can produce so many women artists as winners, what on earth is going on in some of the other major juried art competitions?

• Threadneedle Prize 2013 Exhibition - Review is my review of the Threadneedle competition exhibition - including a list of works that I think might be contenders for the People's Choice Award worth £10,000. It's definitely worth a visit if you can get to London. Plus you get to vote for who should get the £10,000 People's Choice Award
• Other bloggers have also been writing about the prize - this is The Threadneedle Prize 2013: A closer look at Home Thoughts, From Abroad by Hugo Grenville by Lisa Freeman on The Jacksons Art Materials Blog

Outwin Bouchever Portrait Competition

• I finally caught up with the above - see Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2013 - Prizewinners and Selected artists

Art Education

• Clara Lieu's Ask the Art Professor has moved to become a column in the Huffington Post 

Checklists

• An Artist's Checklist for National Disaster Preparedness Month by Courtney Jordan 

Tips and Techniques

• Jackie Simmonds recommends Make the camera your friend, not your master
• An old post, but nonetheless helpful, about Watercolor: Rolling on the Color by Christopher Willard - as used by North Carolina artist Kate Worm

Workshops

• This is the list of workshops being held by Bristol Drawing School
• Karin Jurick (A Painting Today) has announced a workshop in Chicago for 2014 - see Workshop Announcement - workshop dates are June 16-20, 2014

Art Exhibitions

The end of the Rory McEwen exhibition

• Rarely do you see people still blogging about an exhibition after it has finished - but Rory McEwen The Colours of Reality was special. So we have
• Rory McEwen lives on by Jessica Shepherd on Inky Leaves who, in turn references
• a page by Martin J Allen about Rory McEwen and everything people wrote about him and the exhibition
• plus I'm partway through making a website about him - watch this space.

Art Exhibitions around the UK

• The Art Fund Lists Five must-see Japanese exhibitions across the UK

Drawing of a Rose by Jane Gardiner

Open Studios - in Scotland

• Jane Gardiner (Glasgow Painter) is a Glaswegian figurative oil painter, who is participating in the Hanson Street WASPS Open Studio Event on the 5th and 6th October Jane moved into her studio in May this year (Day 1 and Day 2).  Jane also tells the story on her blog of what it's like getting ready for this open studios event in these posts - Drawings of Roses. Plus you can see her portfolio on her website. 
• Jane is using ArtHire Framing for her frames. They are Scotland’s largest fine art framers and gilders. They employ 9 skilled craftsmen with over 150 years of professional framing experience between them.  They're also based in Hanson Street and have a massive sale on the weekend of the Open Studios
• Wasps (Blog)has a a 34 year track record of supporting the arts community and have grown to become one of the UK’s largest studio providers. They currently house 750 visual artists and 22 arts charities at 19 sites from the Scottish Borders to the Shetland Islands.This is the list of Wasps Open Studios open during October.

Art Museums and Galleries

• In London - The Serpentine Gallery has opened a new extention - see Serpentine Gallery’s 'sinuous and sensual' £14.5m expansion opens
• In East Sussex - The Ditchling Museum of Art and Craft reopened on 21 September after a major Heritage Lottery funded refurbishment and got BBC coverage - but missed a major PR opportunity by failing to have a new website or blog operational to cover the attractions of the new museum.  
• Website designers can be problematical however it takes half an hour to get a blog up and running!  However - it does have a Facebook Page 
• The new museum focuses (I think!) on a number of artists associated with Ditchling including However, there is a new website for The Eric Gill Society which also has a new Eric Gill Society Facebook Page
• Other coverage included The New York Times  - A community of Craftsmen and The Telegraph - The Ditchling Museum of Art and Craft: a local museum done right
• In Washington - the Smithsonian faces a temporary shutdown until its budget can be agreed - see Looming government shutdown could close Washington’s museums
• In Paris - I think some recent flooding events have made people think a little bit more seriously about the practical implications of a severe flood.  As a result of which The Louvre Museum in Paris plans to evacuate its collection which is currently housed in the basement to a secure facility - see The Art Newspaper article Louvre plans to evacuate works from Paris due to flooding risk

Techies

• Engadget has an article - and video - about a 3D printer duplicates paintings down to the last brush stroke

and finally......

• James Gurney (Gurney Journey) asks Do women and men prefer different colors? - see the original article here.