Tips from 2016 RHS Gold Medal Winners - Botanical Art

This is the fourth in a series of posts about tips from RHS Gold Medal winners.

The three previous posts are:

• Ten Top Tips for winning an RHS Gold Medal for Botanical Art (April 2013)
• More Top Tips for winning an RHS Gold Medal for Botanical Art (April 2014)
• 15 Top Tips for presenting work at an RHS Botanical Art (April 2014)

You can also find a summary of the Tips and Techniques - including those from RHS Gold Medal Winners - on my website Botanical art and artists

Where more than one artist provides a tip I don't identify the source by name. Otherwise each tip is identified back to its source.  (GM after the name indicates the individual is a Gold Medal winner.)

Your subject - plants and flowers

Choice of plant

Loving the plant

• You have to love the plant says Julie Nettleton GM (Australia). Never ever paint a plant because you admire a painting of that plant by another artist, love the plant instead!
• People love citrus plants says Simonetta Occhipinti GM (Italy) - who painted the citrus trees grown by the Medici family.

The Citrus of the Medici Family by Simonetta Occhipinti GM

Research

• Research your plant as thoroughly as possible before undertaking fieldwork. That way you can identify the best sites to visit. (Sarah Howard GM)

Botany

Two other 'trends' I noticed in the exhibition - relating to "botanical aspects" are as follows:

• native species - more and more exhibits are highlighting aspects of plants that are native to the area where the artist lives and/or visits regularly. The two exhibits of the twigs and buds of common UK native trees were particularly popular (by Roger Reynolds GM and Sarah Morrish) and both exhibitors were asked lots of questions. The exhibition opened people's eyes to trees they see every day!
• recording native species which are rare or endangered - This was a repeated observation and practice of a number of artists. There is no need to travel abroad to find plants which need recording!

Preservation of the plant

• To slow down development and deterioration two options are recommended:
• Store in a refrigerator overnight to slow down the development of flowers or fruit
• Keep the stems in iced water while working on on a plant in the studio
• Drop the bloom into alcohol before it starts to deteriorate. It will preserve the entire structure - including stamens - for reference purposes although the colour will drain away. (Akiko Enokido)

Classical Camellia Japonica by Akiko Enokido 

Preparation and reference material

RHS London Botanical Art Show 2016 - Medal Winners

Below you'll find the names of the people who won medals at the RHS London Botanical Art Show today. 

You can find out more about them and their exhibits in my previous post about RHS Botanical Art 2016 - Selected Artists

Well done to the RHS Organisers for having the list of medal winners available as a pdf file on their website by the time I got home!

Best Botanical Painting by Julie Nettleton

Best in Show

• Best Botanical Art Exhibit: Tillandsia – Mariko Aikawa 
• Best Botanical Painting: Xanthorrhoea resinosa Pers., Grass Three with Antechinus Stuartii, Brown Antechinus – Julie Nettleton

Gold medals

Paintings of Tropical Climate Plants by Sansanee Deekrajang

• Mariko Aikawa Tillandsia 
• Sansanee Deekrajang Tropical Climate plants 
• Akiko Enokido Classical Camellia Japonica 
• Sarah Howard Horn of Africa Aloes 
• Hiromi Hyogo Leguminous plants 
• Julie Nettleton Xanthorrhoea sp., Grass Trees 
• Simonetta Occhipinti The Citrus of the Medici Family 
• Chiyoko Ohmi Paulownia tomentosa 
• Roger Reynolds The Tip of the Branch 
• Sandra Sanger Orchids: Paphiopedilum & Australian Natives 
• Lidia Vanzetti Grapes of Piedmont 
• Margaret de Villiers Ericas of the Western Cape Fynbos 
• Esmee Winkel The Orchid 

Four of Roger Reynolds's paintings of "The Tip of the Branch"

Silver-Gilt 

• Betsy Rogers-Knox Milkweed Through the Seasons 
• Carol Hartley Euphorbia for temperate gardens 
• Iceni Botanical Artists Breckland Wildflowers - Heaths and Grasslands 
• Mark Isaac-Williams The Invasive Chinese Banyan Tree 
• Mayumi Hashi Botanical Garden of Padova 
• Norma Gregory Edible Beauty - Leaves 
• Sally Pond Alliums 
• Yoko Urano Orchids 

View of the RHS London Botanical Art Show 2016
The new arrangements for the display of the art worked extremely well

Silver

• Amanda Petty Biblical Boys 
• Carolyn Jenkins Hydrangeas 
• Hiroko Jibiki Squash 
• Janice Peers A Bulb for All Seasons 
• Jean Webb Close Encounters of the Botanical Kind 
• Lyn Campbell Trilliums 
• Maggie Niagassas Strelitzia reginae 
• Pamela Moodie 5TR Patterns of Growth 
• Sarah Morrish Twigs & Buds in Winter - from Trees & Shrubs of Ancient Hedgerows Silver 
• SoYoung Sin Korean Endemic Plants
• Verene Kutter The Genus Anemone L. in Central Asia 

Bronze 

• Margaret Bickerton 39 Stretton Farm Road Church Stretton Shropshire SY6 6DX Artichokes

I'll be writing more about the exhibitors and the lessons I learned after I visit again tomorrow.

My new website about Botanical Art and Artists has more information about:

• how to apply to exhibit at the RHS Botanical Art Exhibitions
• tips and techniques from RHS Gold Medallists

117th Annual Exhibition of the Pastel Society

This year's Annual Exhibition of The Pastel Society - NOW @ The Pastel Society - opened to the public at the Mall Galleries on Tuesday. It continues until 3pm on Saturday 5th March.  The Society very kindly invited me to their pre-PV Lunch and I spent a very long time at the exhibition on Monday afternoon!

Featuring works created in pastel, pencil, chalk and charcoal, the Pastel Society exhibits abstract and experimental works alongside traditional representation.

View the images online

You can view the e-catalogue for the exhibition on Issuu. You can also see a brand new website which also has ALL the images of the artwork produced by:

• members and 
• non-members

I'm finding it a little slow and this might be due to the number of images but hopefully this can be sorted out with time.

View of the Main Gallery during the Private View

Thankfully the society has gone back to being known as The Pastel Society - which is certainly the prerogative of the oldest pastel society in the English-speaking world!  (The French lay claims to the oldest society - the Société des Pastellistes was founded in 1870.)

Maybe it could also go back to recording the number of annual exhibitions it has held? I'm hanging on to the count (see the title of this post) which has sadly left the catalogue and all publicity for the exhibition. IMO both tradition and heritage (age!) count when it comes to credibility and buyers!

Images of the Exhibition

Overall, the exhibition is an interesting exposition of the many different ways in which pastels (and charcoal) can be used.

Members work is typically hung in the Main Gallery - usually in sets of four or five works. There are some strong sets in the exhibition. However I was very surprised by the work of some of the artist members whose work I've liked a LOT and raved about in the past. It just did not stand out for me this time around.  This left me looking around to see whose work I did like a lot this time.....

Artists’ Livelihoods Survey in England

Arts Council England has commissioned a new national study into how visual artists in England live and work.

This is a link to the Artists’ Livelihoods survey which forms part of the study.
What makes this study - and survey - serious and different is that it is being conducted within the context of a a broad coalition of partners from across the visual arts which have shaped and support it. These partners include:

• Association for Cultural Advancement through Visual Art,
• AIR, 
• Artists’ Union England, 
• Artquest, 
• Axisweb, 
• Crafts Council, 
• Contemporary Visual Arts Network, 
• The Design and Artists Copyright Society, 
• engage, 
• East Street Arts, 
• Live Art Development Agency,
• National Federation of Artists’ Studios Providers, 
• The National Society for Education in Art & Design, 
• Space and 
• Voluntary Arts Network.

The survey will be complemented by investigation of existing research, focus groups and case studies and is due to be completed in Spring 2016.  The full report will be available in late 2016.

The deadline for completing the survey is Friday 25 March 2016.

More information:

Take part and share your views on the day-to-day realities of being a professional artist and the challenges and barriers you face.
A-N - Comprehensive new study: Artists’ Livelihoods survey needs your views

The survey forms part of a wider study, which is the first of its kind in England in a decade. It aims to identify the challenges and barriers faced by visual artists that prevent them from realising their full potential, whilst highlighting how these issues vary across different groups within the sector.
The study will look at social, cultural and economic factors and how each of them impacts visual artists. Location and other factors which affect the movement and retention of artists between the regions, London and internationally will also be explored.  
Arts Council - Arts Council launches survey into visual artists' livelihoods

This is the first comprehensive study in over a decade of how visual artists in England live and work. The project aims to listen to and document the realities of practicing as a visual artist, as well as providing an opportunity to inform future initiatives. The findings will help to focus support where it is most needed to ensure a resilient and diverse visual arts sector.  
Axisweb - Artists' Livelihoods Survey

How do artists earn money, how much do they earn, and by doing what? Help a-n, Arts Council England, Artquest and our partners find out so we can advocate for better working conditions for artists.  
Art Quest - Artists Livelihoods

Artists and Illustrators - Artist of the Year 2015

The exhibition of artwork by the 50 artists shortlisted for the Artist of the Year 2015 Prize sponsored by Artists and Illustrators Magazine opened yesterday at the Mall Galleries and is on display until the end of Saturday 27th February.

The "Artist of the Year 2015" gets £1,000 in cash and gallery representation at Panter & Hall. You can see the rest of the prizes on offer on the competition web page.

I would have told you that you can vote for the winner - but the prizewinners are being announced tonight!

The artwork is impressive and colourful. The exhibition is definitely well worth a visit - especially if you are an aspiring artist wanting to try your luck in this competition in 2016.

View of the Artist of the Year exhibition at the Mall Galleries

Selected Artists

• Jane Austin - Smell the Roses
• Rebecca Barnard  - Reflection IV
• Karen Beauchamp  - The Colours of Kintyre
• Angela Bell - The Bar Flies
• Graham Berry - Doing the Rounds
• Elin Sian Blake - Huna Blentyn
• Hannah Bruce - Flowers in Atmospheric Blue and Orange
• Monique Castellani-Kraan -  Knobbed Hornbill
• Emma Colbert  - The Family Tree
• Penny Crichton-Seager -  Mourning
• Lizet Dingemans -  Hare
• Rosemary Farrer - Washing in the Kitchen Garden
• Libby Fellingham  - Beatrice
• Nigel Fletcher -  La Vielle Maison
• Mari French - Flight
• Genevieve French - Rosalie on Blue
• Penny German - Turnips
• Rusudana Glonti - Touch of the East. Awarded The Grand Prize in the Still Life Competition by "International Artist" magazine in August 2015
• Charlie  Goff-Deakins -  Glimpse
• Peter Goodhall - Koi Anticipation V
• Frank Gould  Tawny
• Elizabeth Harding-Huber -  French Damsons
• Ian Hargreaves -  High Rise
• Vic Harris - Duncan 
• Mark Harrison - Drive Thru 
• John Hurford - Blue Tits
• David Janes - Turbot
• David Johnson - Symphony in the Canopy
• Stephen Jones  - Echoes
• Steven Keating - Swans
• Mark Lodge - Bernese Oberland Panorama
• Melissa Launay - Marmalade on toast and an orange

• Este MacLeod - Summer's Eve
• Tai Meng Lim  - Daydreaming
• Srirangam Mohankumar - Italian Street Café
• Aoife Murphy  - Wine Glass Stem
• Ginny Page - The Chain
• Kerri Pratt - Enlighten
• Laura Quinn - Dylan
• Deborah  Richards - Veiled Moon Outside St Mary's Church
• Lesley Robertshaw  - Market
• Marie Robinson - Slow boat to China
• Leanne Rutter - Ndege, Tanzania
• Joe Simpson - Matt Lucas Singing in the Rain
• LouiseStebbing - Arum Lillies
• Natalie Toplass -  Blue Hydrangea
• Michaela Walker - Looking Up
• Lu Willis - The next train on platform 4

While virtually every artist has a website it was interesting to note that not every artist thinks it worth creating an "about the artist" page on their website.

Nelumbo nucifera plus reflections on drawing and painting

I'm busy finishing artwork and matting and framing drawings for hand-in submission to the annual exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists tomorrow.

I ended up doing something completely different to what I had planned. I've done two drawings of the sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) neither of which are the conventional view of the lotus

Nelumbo nucifera bud and bloom by Katherine Tyrrell
coloured pencils on Fabriano Artistico

I've been a big fan of the Lotus ever since my first close encounter with a pool of them at the Cafe Lotus in Ubud in Bali.

Two blog posts below which discuss drawings and paintings made on that particular trip

• When I turned the corner............. which starts

When people ask me about my current style of drawing, I often joke with them about how it took me nearly 10 years (as in YEARS!) to learn how to scribble.

• Outstanding performance - a talent or 10,000 hours of practice? - about my non-existent talent for painting in watercolour! Or rather my lack of practice!

Short Courses at Ruskin School of Art

If you've ever fancied improving your drawing knowledge and skills at a leading art school in the UK, I recommend you take a look at the 2016 Short Courses offered out of term time by the Ruskin School of Art at Oxford University.

The courses are not cheap and there's a limit of 16 places on each course however I expect some of them - particularly those taught by Sarah Simblet - will be booked up fast.

Three drawing topics with Sarah Simblet

Courses offered include three with Sarah Simblet, a renowned artist and author. I've attended her lectures and done courses with her in the past and she's excellent! See, for example. my blog posts

• Classes: Drawing Trees with Sarah Simblet and
• Book review: The Drawing Book - into the vivid heart of drawing

My sketch from A 'Day to Draw' at the National Gallery

done while listening to Sarah Simblet talk about 

the anatomy and skeletal features and muscle groups

in Polliaiuolo Brothers ' The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastien'

She's very good and her books are also highly rated and best sellers! 

Sarah is doing one course related to each of her books:

• Human Anatomy : Sarah has developed a series of unique and highly specialised courses on the study of human anatomy - and four courses in human anatomy available in 2016.  These are taught in collaboration with sculptor and medical artist Eleanor Crook. 
• [This is Sarah's book - Anatomy for the Artist]
• The Drawing Book: A seven day course developed from her book . Suitable as either a refresher course for experienced artists or an essential course for the beginner. 
• [This is a link to her book The Drawing Book: An innovative, practical approach to drawing the world around you ]
• Botanical Drawing: A very popular course involving studio work, demonstrations and talks and the opportunity to visit gardens in Oxford.  
• [Again linked to Sarah's book - "Botany for the Artist: An Inspirational Guide to Drawing Plants".]

Other tutors

Two other tutors also offer courses:

• Tara Benjamin-Morgan has two three-day courses in Life Drawing for beginners and less experienced artist
• Clova Stuart-Hamilton is teaching a five day course about Exotic Still Life

More details for each in the links in the titles.

Practical matters

• If you want to book, then you need to use Oxford University’s Online Store.
• If you need a room to attend then you can try University Rooms to access one in a college at the University

The Great Vellum Scare - and what happened next

Some of you will have heard that Parliament was proposing to do away with printing laws on vellum. This raised all sorts of very understandable concerns amongst artists using vellum about whether the loss of the Parliamentary contract would cause business problems for the UK's oldest vellum supplier William Cowley - and consequently cause problems for the supply of vellum to artists in the UK

This was the report - Report: The use of vellum for recording Acts of Parliament.

The only firm in the UK that makes vellum

The good news

It appears that the reaction to news about the change has led to the following:

• queries have been raised about the notional cost-saving of £80,000

“The vellum cost varies from year-to-year depending on the number of Acts passed. The average over 15 years is £46,000. When you think about the MP expenses scandal, they can claim a duck house costing £40,000 but we can’t preserve our history for a similar amount. So many people are unhappy about this, we are hoping the Lords will backtrack on it.”

and

“The figures quoted for printing on vellum are actually more than the cost of the vellum itself. This is surprising as no specialist printer or printing press is necessary. We print on vellum here every day, at William Cowley's on an ordinary office printer with archival ink and have no specialist printing knowledge. When was the last time the House of Commons put out a tender for printing the Acts of Parliament because they no doubt would have found a much more reasonable, and comparable with printing on paper, cost?”

• a very enthusiastic social media campaign to save the use of vellum started using the hashtag #savevellum - supported in no small part by various artists who use vellum
• Cowley & Sons have revealed that the Parliamentary contrast is only a small percentage of their business
• MPs started to ask questions in parliament
• it turns out that the laws of the land are actually printed on parchment not vellum

The original parchment acts of Parliament are sometimes called vellums. Vellum is a high quality calfskin but in fact the parchment used is from goatskin or sheepskin

As a result the Cabinet Office have offered to pick up the bill from the House of Lords and it looks as if the use of vellum by Parliament will continue (see references below)

Which means all artists using vellum can now stand down and breathe...... :)

More about vellum

There are two types of vellum

• traditional vellum is made from the skin of very young calves or the skin of the foetus of an aborted calf. It is treated and stretched under tension to produce a smooth and very durable surface which accepts and displays colour well. It is most appropriate for those wanting an archival surface as it can last for centuries - medieval manuscripts are written on vellum and still survive while later paper documents have deteriorated. 
• modern-day vellum is vegetable vellum. Basically this is plasticised cotton

The word vellum is derived from the Latin vitulus (calf), and its diminutive vitellus.

• Calf skin is both smooth and durable because it doesn't have hair follicles which create dimples in the skin. The treated skin of young/unborn goat (kidskin) or lamb (lambskin) is sometimes also referred to as vellum. 
•  The finest vellum is "uterine vellum" made from the skin of stillborn or unborn calves. In the UK this very fine vellum is known as Kelmscott (the home of William Morris who was a strong proponent of the Arts and Crafts movement).

Painting with vellum is a bit of a problem. Vellum should not be wetted as it will buckle.  Consequently using it for drawing or painting involves the use of dry media or dry brush work if painting.

Getting hold of vellum is also a bit of a problem as there are very few suppliers of genuine traditional vellum. The standard sheet size is 6" x 4" or 7" x 5" and typically costs in excess of £11

• Cornellisen supply Vellum as follows: Goatskin vellum; Calf vellum; Kelmscott
• Polymers Plus supply Kelmscott Vellum
• or you can buy direct from William Cowley - the people who make the vellum for Parliament

The Art Bloggers

• Saving the Art of Vellum - Shevaun Doherty - the new tutor for painting on vellum for the Society of Botanical Artists' Diploma Course - produced an excellent blog post yesterday commenting on the importance of retaining vellum as a medium for artists.

This reminds me that I need to get on and get my information about paper and supports transferred to a new website as I've got a lot more information about vellum sitting on my computer at present.

References:

The Press - reaction to the proposed change

• The Telegraph: Thousand year old tradition of printing Britain's laws on vellum has been scrapped to save just £80,000
• The Telegraph: House of Commons to vote on recording upon vellum - parchment the Domesday Book and all Acts are printed on
• The Independent: Vellum: UK's last producer of calf-skin parchment fights on after losing Parliament's business
• Printweek: House of Lords vellum row goes viral

The Press - the good news

• BBC News: Centuries-old vellum tradition 'to be saved' - Matt Hancock
• The Telegraph: Vellum should be saved in a bid to 'safeguard our great traditions', says minister
  The Guardian: Tradition of recording UK laws on vellum may be saved
• Printweek: Vellum tradition likely to continue
• BBC: Why is the UK still printing its laws on vellum? 

How to create a still life painting

Last night I discovered that I'd missed an excellent BBC programme called Apples, Pears and Paint: How To Make a Still Life Painting which was broadcast last month. It provides a history of what has historically been the least popular genre of painting - and the depiction of fruit, flowers and domestic objects - from the still life painting in Egypt and Pompeii to Cezanne and Picasso via Caravaggio.

It promoted me to revisit my lengthy post back in 2007 in which I collated the different definitions of What is a Still Life? I hugely enjoyed researching it at the time - across cultures, time periods and different art movements - and I've just enjoyed finding out how much better the images are that are available now compared to then! Consequently I've updated as many as I could. Plus I updated some links - but do shout if you find any duds!

If you missed it too, I hope you enjoy the 90 minute programme originally broadcast on BBC4 - it has lots of expert comment and some fabulous still life artworks. It's a real put your feet up and don't answer the phone programme - and you've got 23 days left to view it!  (If you watched it first time round, I've got a feeling it's a programme that's worth revisiting!)

I particularly loved seeing the size of the first ever official still life - a basket of fruit by Caravaggio - in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan

Canestra di frutta / Basket of Fruit (1596) by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610)

Oil on canvas, 45.92 cm x 64.46 cm Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan, Italy

Apples, Pears and Paint: How to Make a Still Life Painting
BBC4 / BBCiPlayer
Don't miss the surprise at the beginning!

These are the links related to the programme

• Discover more about the nation’s collection of Still Life Paintings
• The Rijksmuseum - official website (www.rijksmuseum.nl)
• The National Gallery - official website(www.nationalgallery.org.uk)
• The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology - official website (www.ashmolean.org)
• The Courtauld Gallery - official website (www.courtauld.ac.uk)
• The Pinacoteca Ambrosiana - official website(www.ambrosiana.eu)
• Mat Collishaw’s Last Meals on Death Row(www.matcollishaw.com)
• Ori Gersht biography (www.mummeryschnelle.com)

Van Gogh's Bedrooms in Chicago

Van Gogh's Bedrooms is a very unusual exhibition opens in the Regenstein Hall of The Art Institute of Chicago today. It closes 10th May 2016. While most of us won't be able to see it in person, there are quite a few resources online which allow us to appreciate some of the effort which has gone into this exhibition.

At the end of this post I've also listed my very extensive list of posts on this blog about Van Gogh and his drawings, paintings, flowers, gardens and other exhibitions and videos! I hope they are of interest to artists and art lovers alike - I know I enjoyed my own research!

Van Gogh's Bedrooms

This site provides you with a preview of the exhibition

• this page tells you about the three different versions of the bedroom in the Yellow House in Amsterdam, Paris and Chicago. (I never even realised there were were three paintings!) - and also looks at each of the different elements in turn.
• this is a museum blog post about the exhibition
• This is a video by Gloria Groom who is the Curator of the exhibition

• This is a really interesting video about the science involved in the collaboration between the three museums to determine the differences between the three paintings - looking at paint and painting techniques and the inner structure of the three paintings. Really fascinating stuff!

• PLUS Van Gogh's bedroom in Arles has been recreated and is available to book via AirBnB - see all 7 photos of the room

As part of a promotional campaign, The Art Institute of Chicago commissioned a recreation of the famous room, which rents for just $10 a night in Chicago's River North neighborhood.

The odd thing is that I think the recreation of the room may have backfired. There are masses of news inches devoted to the AirBnB bedroom and not so much to the exhibition!

More about Van Gogh and his art

Those interested in Van Gogh will find more reading in my posts about Van Gogh on this blog.

Van Gogh and Drawing

"I sometimes think there is nothing so delightful as drawing." Vincent van Gogh ( 1853 - 1890)

• Van Gogh: Drawing media and techniques (2007) - This post focuses on Van Gogh's drawing materials and how they influenced his style.
• Van Gogh: More About Drawing (2007) - Links to websites which provide a very useful perspective on Van Gogh's approach to drawing
• Van Gogh: Drawing Landscapes (2007) - More about Van Gogh and Drawing - this post focuses on his landscape drawings.
• Van Gogh: Drawing Figures, Portraits and Self-Portraits (2007) - At one stage in his career, Van Gogh hoped to be a portrait painter in Paris.

Van Gogh's Paintings

• Van Gogh: The Complete Paintings (Taschen) - This comprehensive study of Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) represents a rarity in art history: a detailed monograph on his life and art combined with a complete catalogue of his 871 paintings.

Flowers and gardens by Van Gogh

• Flowers in Art - and Van Gogh #1 (2007) - Copying the paintings of other artists in order to learn new skills is an age old tradition and one in which Van Gogh himself followed
• Flowers in Art: Van Gogh #2 - Sunflowers and the value of repetition (2007) - Van Gogh painted a series of sunflowers. Initially four in Arles - two of which he hung in Gauguin's bedroom in the Yellow House in Arles and then subsequently another three which were copies.
• Hokusai, Van Gogh and the iris paintings - Van Gogh's iris paintings were produced while he was resident in an asylum in Saint-Rémy, France.
• Gardens in Art: Drawings and Paintings by Van Gogh (2007) - I've very much enjoyed doing the research for images, information and links about the drawings and paintings Van Gogh made of gardens

Other Exhibitions 

• The Real Van Gogh at the Royal Academy
• The Real Van Gogh - Portraits (2010) - This post highlights what I learned about Van Gogh's portrait painting from the exhibition - and the context of Van Gogh's letters.
• The Real Van Gogh - Orchards and Blossom (2010) - Van Gogh was very interested in Japanese art. Blossom time meant the countryside around about Arles became for him the western equivalent
• Van Gogh and the Yellow House in Arles Feb 11, 2010 - One of the joys of visiting the Van Gogh exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London is being able to see the painting of the yellow house
• The economic impact of Van Gogh's Drawings (2007) - It's estimated that the exhibition "Vincent Van Gogh: the Drawings" generated $251 million in spending by regional, national, and foreign tourists to New York
• Van Gogh and John Updike - a review -  a wonderful essay/review by John Updike of the 2005 exhibition of Van Gogh Drawings at the Met. in New York

Other videos

• Vincent Van Gogh's Notebooks Dec 10, 2014
• Video: Vincent van Gogh at the Musée d'Orsay (2009) - Almost any of Van Gogh's  paintings are worth looking at very closely

Miscellaneous posts about Van Gogh

Below is a list of my blog posts about Vincent Van Gogh excluding those listed above

• Introduction to the Van Gogh Project - about a project to study Van Gogh
• Van Gogh, colour and a colour study - Van Gogh's letters contain some 324 references to colours. The Van Gogh Musuem also has some interesting narrative about use of colour
• The Visual Translation of Japan in Late 19th-Century Paris - about the impact of Japanese prints on artists in late 19th century
• A map of Van Gogh's London - Did you know that Van Gogh lived in London for a while?

Review: The Columbia Threadneedle Prize 2016

The artwork selected for the Columbia Threadneedle Prize exhibition at the Mall Galleries is different from previous years - and I like it a lot better.

Threadneedle Prize Exhibition: A view of the Main Galleryprior to the Preview

Compared to previous years, the changes I noticed are that

• the art - to my mind - is a lot more accessible. This is an exhibition which will be enjoyed by more people.
• there's a huge diversity in interpretation of figurative and representational art. I'm guessing a lot of artists may well find it stimulates their own work. 
• more drawings and paintings of figures and people

Some very strong paintings of figures - both large....

...and small

• a lot of very good drawings and display of draughtsmanship
• more monochromatic artwork - with a great hang in the North Gallery

Some impressive monochromatic and near mono drawings and paintings in the Far North Gallery

• more works on paper 
• media is much more mixed
• a lot less sculpture

only one piece of sculpture that I spotted

• a much better fit with most people's understanding of figurative artwork

First Prize on the left; shortlisted on the right

This is also an exhibition which deserves to be seen by many of people who exhibit and who seek to exhibit artwork at the open exhibitions of the FBS Societies (and others) at the Mall Galleries because it stretches the boundaries of figurative while remaining accessible to all.

North Gallery - First room

North Gallery - second room

To my mind it sets a very good benchmark for contemporary figurative art.

It's also complemented by an extremely good exhibition in the Threadneedle Space.

I'm certainly thinking about going back for another look - and I've already seen it twice!

I'll be posting more pics from the exhibitions of artists with their paintings and purchasers with their new paintings on my Facebook Page over the next week.

More about the Threadneedle Prize 2016

• The Columbia Threadneedle Prize - Call for Entries (July 2015) - The Columbia Threadneedle Prize 2016: Overview of the Call For Entries and the changes since the last time this competition was run in 2014.
• Selected Artists - The Columbia Threadneedle Prize 2016 (Nov 2015) - Overview of the artists selected for The ColumbiaThreadneedle Prize 2016 - including images and links to artists' websites.
• The Columbia Threadneedle Prize 2016: Shortlisted Artists (Dec. 2015) - Images of the shortlisted paintings for the ThreadneedlePrize 2016 and profiles of their artists.
• Lewis Hazelwood-Horner wins £20000 Threadneedle Prize 2016 (February 2016) - Introducing the winner of the £20000 2016 Columbia ThreadneedleAward for contemporary figurative and representational art
• Threadneedle Exhibition 2016 - my favourites - this also includes links to the previous exhibitions and my previous posts about the Threadneedle Prize.

Threadneedle Exhibition 2016 - my favourites

The Threadneedle Prize has a £10,000 Visitors' Choice Award which is voted for by people visiting the exhibition.

Every time the Threadneedle exhibition is held I always do a post devoted to the pictures I would have chosen as my shortlist for "The Columbia Threadneedle Prize: Figurative Art Today" a.k.a. (at least by me) as 'the Threadneedle Prize".  In effect they contain the picture I'm voting for as my personal favourite.

These are they.

Barry McGlashan with his painting
What Remains (After Hogarth)
Oil on panel, 76 x 102 cm, SOLD

I love this painting - as indeed I said when the selected artists were announced. I'm not in the least bit surprised that it sold fast.

It's not helped at all by the digital image online or in the catalogue - it's nowhere near as dark as the image suggests it is. I'm left wondering if that might not have helped when it came to the selection of the shortlist.

This is a painting of 'what happened next'.

Barry McGlashan  paints a lot of paintings about painters. Some times they feature in the paintings and sometimes they don't. However they will appeal to those who like to know about how artists worked - and definitely appeal to those who "collect" places artists have painted (like me!)

This one relates to an image called A Modern Midnight Conversation created by William Hogarth which has been reworked a number of times in terms of paintings by other artists "after Hogarth" (note the double entendre pun in the title) and by those engraving the image.

Below is the version in the Yale Center of British Art and is the one most like the painting produced by Barry. Here's another in the Royal Collection. Plus an erudite article by Andrew Graham Dixon on the topic of this painting.

A Midnight Modern Conversation by an Unknown artist after William Hogarth, 1697–1764, British
formerly William Hogarth, 1697–1764, British
Oil on canvas, 30 x 64 1/2 inches (76.2 x 163.8 cm)
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection

You can see that in Barry's painting all the people have disappeared - but all the objects associated with their evening remain. From the clay pipes for smoking to the numerous lemons used for the gin punch. You look at the painting for a long time before noticing that a candle has just caught the tablecloth and the room is about the combust!

For me it does three things.

• It's a neat connection with the past and one of the masters of British art. In the same way that Henriette Simson made the connection with Ambrogio Lorenzetti in her painting when she won the prize in 2011.
• It's a pun on the history of the "the conversation piece" in British art...
• Plus it's a narrative painting with subtext which makes it accessible both to those who take it at face value and those who enjoy their art history.  I have bemoaned the fact that we have far too many artists have lost sight of the value of the narrative painting.

All in all a clever piece of art!

Barry McGlashan describes his work as a commentary on the social history of painting and a homage to other artists. That's my kind of art! He will be having an exhibition of his work at the John Martin Gallery, Mayfair - during Autumn 2016. I'm hoping to get an invite to the PV!

Other works that I liked very much are below.

Only The Curious Have Something To Find by Gillian Ellis
Biro on paper, 209.5 x 139 cm, £2,500

I loved Gillian Ellis's drawing in biro. It was a complete surprise and has a major impact as soon as you see it. There's just so much to see and the creativity is wonderful. She also displays amazing control of a biro and what can be achieved in terms of drawing.

I didn't get to meet her but I'd love to know the story behind this very unique piece of art.

Gillian is currently taking a Masters in Fine Art/ Printmaking at Cambridge School of Art. She already has a First Class Honors Degree in Textile Design from Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, London.

I predict good things for Gillian. If this is what she produces with a biro I'd love to see her fine art prints! However first she needs to get herself sorted with a proper independent website in her own name to display and market her artwork!

a closer look at Only The Curious Have Something To Find by Gillian Ellis

Next a more familiar face - but a less well known artist who belongs to the older generation.

Stuart and Ukelele by Penelope Smith
Oil, 60 x 50 cm, £3,000

I'm wondering how many people spotted this as being a painting of Stuart Pearson Wright who won the BP Portrait Prize 2000 and created the painting of JK Rowling which now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery.

I liked it as it's an exceptionally good portrait of him!

I had a feeling this must have been done by somebody close to him and had a chat with Stuart at the PV. It turns out I was right - the painting is by his mother!  For some reason she is listed as Penelope Smith in the catalogue although I understand her real name is Penelope Wright.

Penelope only started painting in 2008 - the same year as this competition started!

Without any formal training, Penelope began painting in 2008. She works principally in oils, but also loves drawing. Her subjects are the familiar places and objects of everyday life as well as friends and family.

Next another chap with a musical instrument.

‘Chère Capucine 1915-2015′
Oil on Masonite, 68cm x 75cm
Copyright Tom Clayton

Tom Clayton has two exceptionally good and extremely original paintings in the exhibition. I find them absolutely riveting - the sort of paintings that make you walk across the room to view them

This is the one I liked the best.

Honourable Mentions

These include a couple of works which in some ways are a lot simpler than others in the exhibition but which have merit nonetheless.

The first appears to be a sketchbook pulled apart - and an awful lot of small drawings of people. I liked the pun on art competitions suggested by the title.

The Yes & The No Pile by Rebecca Harper,
Graphite on paper, 240 x 140 cm, £5,000

 Rebecca Harper graduated from The Drawing Year at The Prince's Drawing School (now the Royal Drawing School) in 2013. She also has a first class Degree in Drawing and the Applied Arts from UWE, Bristol. Rebecca Harper can be found on Tumblr and Facebook.  Based on the work I can see my recommendation to Rebecca would be to get herself a proper website and a proper Facebook Page for her paintings and drawings. I predict we're going to be seeing more of Rebecca!

Study of her Hand by Helen Lloyd-Elliott
Oil on canvas, 26 x 30 cm, £1,200

This is the sort of painting which it would be very easy to live with. It's apparently a study done for one of her larger portraits. This is Helen Lloyd-Elliot's website. She completed a diploma in portraiture at The Heatherley Art School in Chelsea - which is interesting as I thought her work looked familiar.

Exhibition

The Columbia Threadneedle Prize Exhibition is at the Mall Galleries until until 1pm on Saturday 20th February.

The £10,000 Visitors' Choice Award is now being voted on by those visiting the exhibition.

Do let me know by leaving a comment below:

• what you think about my choice
• how you choose art that you like in an exhibition
• which painting you have/are voting for in the Visitors' Choice Award

More about the Threadneedle Prize 2016

• The Columbia Threadneedle Prize - Call for Entries (July 2015) - The Columbia Threadneedle Prize 2016: Overview of the Call For Entries and the changes since the last time this competition was run in 2014.
• Selected Artists - The Columbia Threadneedle Prize 2016 (Nov 2015) - Overview of the artists selected for The ColumbiaThreadneedle Prize 2016 - including images and links to artists' websites.
• The Columbia Threadneedle Prize 2016: Shortlisted Artists (Dec. 2015) - Images of the shortlisted paintings for the ThreadneedlePrize 2016 and profiles of their artists.
• Lewis Hazelwood-Horner wins £20000 Threadneedle Prize 2016 (February 2016) - Introducing the winner of the £20000 2016 Columbia ThreadneedleAward for contemporary figurative and representational art

Threadneedle Prize Archive

 

Threadneedle Prize 2014

• Review: Threadneedle Prize Exhibition 2014 - Review of the Threadneedle Prize exhibition - with images of selected works and commentary.
• Tina Jenkins wins Threadneedle Prize 2014 - announcement of the winner plus pictures from the Awards Dinner
• Threadneedle Prize 2014 - The Shortlist - A review of the artwork and artists shortlisted for the Threadneedle Prize 2014.
• The Threadneedle Prize 2014 - what's changed and how to enter - Review of the changes in the 2014 Threadneedle Prize and the Call for Entries.

Threadneedle Prize 2013

• Clare McCormack and Lisa Wright win Threadneedle Prize 2013
• Threadneedle Prize 2013 Exhibition - Review
• Threadneedle Prize 2013 - Shortlist announced - a review of the artists and their works shortlisted for the Threadneedle Prize
• One month left to enter £30000 Threadneedle Prize - Overview of the Call for Entries for the £30000 Threadneedle Prize (2013) for Figurative and Representational Art - deadline 4 July 2013.
• Threadneedle Prize 2013 - Selected Artists - List of the artists (+ websites) selected to show their paintings and sculpture in the Threadneedle Prize 2013 Exhibition at the Mall Galleries.

Threadneedle Prize 2012

• Call for Entries for £30000 Threadneedle Prize 2012 - Making a Mark - Overview of the Call for Entries for the £30000 Threadneedle Prize for Figurative and Representational Art - deadline 23 May 2012.
• Threadneedle Prize 2012: Analysis of entries - Threadneedle Prize 2012: An analysis of the art competition entries and artwork and artists selected and comparison to 2011.
• Threadneedle Prize 2012: names of selected artists - List of selected artists for the Threaneedle Prize Exhibition 2012 - plus links to their websites.
• Threadneedle Prize 2012 - Exhibition now Online - how to access the Online Exhibition of the Threadneedle Prize 2012.
• Threadneedle Prize 2012 - Shortlisted Artists - The winners of both The Threadneedle Prize (£30,000) and Visitors' Choice Prize (£10,000) will be announced at a special Awards Dinner on Wednesday 10 October 2012 - to which I'm invited.
• Review: Threadneedle Prize Exhibition 2012 - Review of the Threadneedle Prize for Painting and Sculpture 2012 Exhibition at the Mall Galleries.
• Threadneedle Prize 2012: The Making a Mark Select Six - An alternative shortlist for the Threadneedle Prize 2012.
• Threadneedle Prize 2012 - the Award Winners - Ben Greener wins Threadneedle Prize 2012. Robert Truscott wins People's Choice Award 2012.

2011 Threadneedle Prize

• Threadneedle Prize 2011 - a new selection process
• Shortlist for Threadneedle Prize 2011 dominated ...
• Threadneedle Prize: The Making a Mark Select ...
• Review: Threadneedle Prize Exhibition 2011
• Henriette Simson wins Threadneedle Prize 2011

2010 Threadneedle Prize

• Patricia Cain wins £25,000 Threadneedle Prize 2010
• Threadneedle - just another art prize in 2010? 22 Apr 2010
• Threadneedle Prize: selected artists 28 Jun 2010
• Shortlist for £25000 Threadneedle Prize 2010 announced 26 Jul 2010
• Threadneedle Prize 2010 Exhibition opens today 02 Sep 2010
• My Threadneedle Prize shortlist 15 September 2010

2009 Threadneedle Prize

• Sheila Wallis wins £25,000 Threadneedle Prize 2009

2008 Threadneedle Prize

• Nina Murdoch wins the Threadneedle Figurative Prize 2008