23rd November 2015: Who's made a mark?

A round-up of recent posts about art, artists, art exhibitions and news relevant to art by me and others in newspapers, journals, blogs and Facebook

A new exhibition Artist & Empire opens at Tate Britian this week.
Mahadaji Sindhia entertaining a British naval officer and military officer with a Nautch c.1815-20
Anonymous Delhi School
Watercolour on paper, 222 x 317 mm | British Library

The most popular posts I've shared on facebook this month have been to do with 'being an artist' and the value of art.

They are:

• RECOMMENDED: Laura Cumming's article in The Observer about The seven ages of an artist. The article - besides commenting on the observations of several famous articles - links to a number of other articles about interviews with seven leading artists (aged 24 to 80) who were asked what they haved learned from a life in art

Degas “Everyone has talent at 25, the difficulty is to have it still at 50.”

• RECOMMENDED: Would you like to generate "a significant improvement in psychological resilience"? My post How art changes your brain - the well-being value of drawing and painting to older people is a summary of the recent German scientific study of older people. Start drawing and painting in your old age! Art appreciation doesn't work as well as actually making and creating! 
• RECOMMENDED: An Education Next  journal article by Jay P. Greene, Brian Kisida and Daniel H. Bowen is very relevant to both teachers and parents. The Educational Value of Field Trips suggests taking students to an art museum improves critical thinking skills, and more. It subsequently stimulated this article - Science says Art will make your kids better thinkers (and nicer people)  - which subsequently 'went viral'

Art Competitions & Call for Entries

Larry Lamb with his exhibition within the exhibition

Art Competitions

• ING Discerning Eye 2015:
• These are the Prizewinners - ING Discerning Eye 2015
• My review of the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition 2015 - including things that surprised me, things that didn't and things worth noting.
• These are the Prizewinners - Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Competition 2015

Call for Entries

• Attention all painters in water-based media!
• the Royal Watercolour Society has published its CALL FOR ENTRIES for its 2016 Contemporary Watercolour Competition which is open to entries from International Artists. The deadline is 18th January and the exhibition will be held at the Bankside Gallery in March 2016
• There has been a Call for Entries: Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours Annual Exhibition 2016 and my post provides an overview of what is required

Art Business & Marketing

Branding & Communication

• Want to improve your profile on social media? Check out How to describe yourself as an artist on social media

Know Your Worth

• This article Watch What Happens When You Ask Non-Creative Professionals to Work for Free has a great video which highlights why visual artists - including artists and photographers - should be a bit more circumspect before giving away their services for free. 
• Bottom line if you consider yourself to be a professional then behave like one!
• Also remember to treat others in the visual arts fields as professionals as well eg photographers and fine art printers. As one person pointed out below....

This includes the printing industry. Especially when a client wants to make a change after they send they receive the proof. They want to know why it will cost more money. If I had a dime for every time I had to explain that I'd be retired.

Selling Art

I've highlighted a number of aspects of new information on my new Art Business Info. for Artists website recently on its new blog. These are:

• The first blog post covers a couple of guides for those wanting to sell their art via exhibitions or art fairs. These are:
• A Guide to Art Dealers and Galleries. This has facts about the different roles of the Art Gallery and the Art Dealer and facts about representation
• Plus a guide to Alternative Exhibition Options the vanity gallery, art co-operative and renting a space in a commercial gallery
• A Guide to Art Agents, Art Buyers and Art Consultants - for all those wanting to know about whether agents can help them sell art. 
• It defines the different roles of the different players in the marketplace e.g. how to find an agent, what they can do for artists and how they work​
• It gives you checklists eg Are you ready for an agent? and Working with an art agent
• It provides a list of reference articles where you can find different perspectives and more in-depth information
• Another page provides checklists of things to think about for those wanting to think about Selling Art from Home

Residencies

• Dorothy Una Ratcliffe Fellowship 2016: The National Trust have a 3–month fellowship for an artist/illustrator (individual or collaborative) at Acorn Bank near Penrith, in the Lake District during the spring months of 2016. The deadline for applicants is Monday 30 November 2015, 5pm

Art History, Museums & Exhibitions

Artists in Art History

It was announced that the National Portrait Museum is to benefit from yet another gift by The Estate of Lucian Freud as it continues to manage down the Inheritance Tax Bill following his death in 2011.

This time the Lucian Freud Archive of Sketchbooks and Drawings has been gifted to the nation
- and the NPG - and we can probably expect to see some of these go on exhibition in 2016

Art Museums

• The revamped Toshiba Gallery of Japanese Art at the V&A has a much bigger and better display of book art and prints which I very much RECOMMEND - see Refreshed Toshiba Gallery of Japanese Art at the V&A reopens
• 10 Small Art Museums with Giant Collections is a great blog post for lovers of art museums that I'm pleased to share (and bookmark)! Which small art museum do you like the best?

Art Museums & Terrorist attacks

• Following the terrorist attacks in Paris the Museums were closed down. They susbsequently reopened. However it appears that very many people have decided that now is not a good time to visit high profile potential targets. The room where the Mona Lisa is exhibited was recently virtually deserted compared to its normal status which involvces crowds many people deep around the painting. Compare my photo below - to the picture in this Hyperallergic article - The Louvre is Empty.

• Over and above that this article on The Guardian - Asylum for artefacts: Paris's plan to protect cultural treasures from terrorists has Jonathan Jones writing about how culture is under threat  and what The Louvre is doing to protect its artworks.
• In London, it appears that visitor numbers have dipped, initially by a big percentage when the situation was unclear but they have subsequently recovered to just short of normal numbers.

Exhibitions

• Artist and Empire is at Tate Britain, London, from 25 November 2015 - 10 April 2016
• The Bauer Brothers: Masters of Scientific Illustration opened earlier this month in the Images of Nature Gallery at the National History Museum. It closes on 26 February 2017 - so lots of time to get to see this exhibition of some unique and very special images.
• Franz Bauer (1758-1840) used to be the "Botanick Painter to his Majesty" at Kew Gardens and 
• Ferdinand Bauer (1760-1826) was the botanical and natural history artist on an expedition to explore and record the coastline of Australia.

Art Media & Equipment

Colour

• This is a chart which explains in brief some of the associations of various local colours across the centuries and continents

The Local Colours article in Laphams Quarterly

Hanging artwork

Three posts about how to hang a picture using different hanging kit:

• How to hang a picture - using D Rings
• How to hang a large or heavy picture - using heavy duty hanging hardware
• How to hang a painting - using mirror plates 

Pigment

• Some really good news about Cadmium Paints - they have got a reprieve from the proposed ban. It was definitely worth supporting Art Spectrum Paints, Dr Howard Oakley, Artists And Illustrators Magazine, Jackson's Art and others who led on this - and all artists who signed the petition. This is my long blog post on the topic! A Rethink: about proposed ban on Cadmium in artists' paints - and artists' professional practices

Watercolour

• I got up close and personal with some Daniel Smith Watercolour Paints at the Society of Botanical artists Lunch. I adored the graded wash sheets for each colour! Read about it - and see them up close in Daniel Smith: From mineral to watercolour paint and take a close look of the rocks they come from.

Daniel Smith Watercolour Paints - and some of the rocks they come from

Botanical Art and Artists

• See the note about the Bauer Brothers exhibition at the Natural History Museum under Exhibitions (above)
• Fiona Strickland has done it again - Fiona Strickland wins The Hort's "Best in Show" Award at 18th Annual International of Botanical Art - organised by the American Society of Botanical Artists and The Horticultural Society of New York - on display at the New York Design Center until 30th December. My post highlights all the artists who won awards.
• I've started to transfer information about famous botanical artists in the past to my new website about Botanical Art and Artists
• If you like botanical and natural history artists and art which records nature, plants and insect life find out about Maria Sibylla Merian (1647 - 1717) - who was a woman of both Art and Science
• My next artist is from the 20th Century - About Rory McEwen is about the man who has much influenced contemporary botanical artists of today. 
• I've got a Call out for information and dates for Botanical Art Courses, Classes and Workshops in 2016
• This is my overview of the Call For Entries from botanical artists to record trees in botanical gardens and arboreta for the Third New York Triennial exhibition (in 2017)

Techies

• Google did something very unusual last week. It released the guidelines it gives to people who rate websites for quality. You too can now find out their system works - and what's more use the information they have released to help improve the content of your website! This is my blog post about "Search Quality Guidelines: Find out how Google rates website"

Painting

• Watch a 20 minute video of Julian Merrow Smith of "Painting from Provence" do a plein air painting demonstration for the students on his painting workshop

and finally......

This month London Urban Sketchers hung their exhibition at Timberyard Soho.

On Wednesday evening, James Hobbs ('Sketch Your World' and 'Dream, Draw, Design my Garden'), Isabel Carmona (Brighton West Pier Sketches) and I will be doing a book signing at Timberyard Soho - starting at 7pm.

Our Editor will also be there with supplies of four Sketching Books below which include two recently published books by two new authors:

• Manchester Urban Sketcher Simone Ridyard (Lead Organiser of the Urban Sketchers Symposium in 2016 and author of "Archisketcher") and
• Pete Scully - who lives in California ("Creative Sketching Workshop")