Sunday, January 30, 2022

Review: Episode 3 of Landscape Artist of the Year 2022

The third episode of Landscape Artist of the Year took place during what seemed to be a hot and sunny summer's day at Whitstable Harbour on the north Kent coast..

Waiting to find out who's made the shortlist at Whitstable

This where they also filmed the Landscape Artist of the Year: Celebrity Special on a greyer day in Whiststable - which was broadcast back in November 2021 - see my Review: Celebrity Landscape Artist of the Year 2021

I tried my challenge to myself of identifying who was going to get to the Shortlist after seeing the submissions and hearing the Judges comments - and it was much less clearcut - but I still got two out of the three right! (I'll tell you which and why at the end!).

Episode 3: Whitstable Harbour


Episode 3 is being broadcast again tomorrow at 3pm in the afternoon.

Whitstable Harbour and environs

This time the location was right on the edge of the Whitstable Harbour - next to Whitstable Fish Market with all the fishing boats, buildings associated with the local fishing industry and the local asphalt factory(!) clearly visible. 

The pods next to Whitstable Harbour

Next to the Whitstable Fish Market and opposite the Mr Whippy Ice Cream van according to Google Maps

The weather was glorious high summer - blue skies and very hot!


Artists


the artists


There are eight artists in each heat - selected from the very many artists who applied.

Still no profiles for Episode 3 on this link..... (Sky Arts is being very slow this year with profile info and videos re artists - I think they've forgotten to do them!)
 

Professional Artists

There were six professional artists who are:

  • Dawn Beccles [Instagram] - Dawn is big on hot pink - check put her website! Her submission was a view of Malarhodjden in Sweden - inside a vase. Was previously in a pod in 2018.
  • Susan Beaulah [Facebook | Instagram ] - Lives in Beverley in Yorkshire. Studied at the Hull Regional College of Art before embarking on a career as an art teacher in London. She's been painting and exhibiting regularly since the 1980s in watercolour and oil. In recent years, her works have been mainly produced in India – from Rajasthan in the north to Kerala in the south and document people's daily lives.
  • Violet Cato - Born in Austria. Graduated with a first class honours degree from the Slade School of Fine Art (BA Painting) 2001-2005. Lives and works in East London.
  • Alex Chilvers [Instagram] - an illustrator, animator and painter, originally from Grimsby and currently living in London. He studied illustration at Middlesex University and then did an MA in Drawing at The Royal Drawing School in London. His practice us ground in observational drawing and his paintings normally revolve around his normal places he visit and regular routines.  Last year he won a prize at the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours. He works in gouache and is a big fan of football. 
  • Austin Cole - a Welsh artist-printmaker born in Pembrokeshire. Member of the RBA SGFA, ARE and the Royal Cambrian Academy. He studied Fine Art at the Sir John Cass School of Art, the Slade School of Art and at Morley College in London. He's a retired civil servant who exhibits widely and regularly with leading national art societies and art competitions. I very much like his fine art prints - but he was drawing in this heat.
  • KV Duong - b.1980 Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, now based in London as a painter and action artist. He "creates imagined landscapes using various media such as historic Vietnam War images and documentation, his own body painting images, and found objects and materials that have personal significance."
It looks a bit like this heat got all the people at the beginning of the alphabet!

Amateur Artists


There were two amateur artists who are:

  • Desmond Downes  [Facebook |  Instagram] - He's a a Design Professional in the Animation Industry working from his studio in Louisburgh, near the coast in Co Mayo. He studied Studied Design Communications at Waterford RTC. So basically very skilled in visual art - on the commercial side. He has some very impressive landscape paintings on his website - which seem to sell regularly! This is his submission - which is of Cregganburn in County Mayo.
So basically no surnames which start after the letter D!

 

Wildcard Artists

The 50 wildcard artists were located along the pier used for the Celebrity Artists programme - where they had a very good view of the town, the beach and the groynes. It looked a bit crowded to me by the time you factored in the teams of production personnel and the tourists!  No chance to get away from it all to a quiet little spot!

Wildcard artists on the pontoon

it appears pretty crowded for the socially distanced wildcards on the pontoon
- with film crews, tourists and judges all visiting


Themes and Leaning Points



Which view?


The judges variously described Whitstable Harbour as having some monumental forms while being dynamic, chaotic, busy - with both workers and tourists, with lots of action, detail and noise. 
Bottom line there was plenty on offer in terms of views!

Overall, it also had a great sense of being a working place - and the Judges were hoping the artists would capture this.

The major questions were:
  • what view to choose
  • what to focus on
  • how big to go - in terms of picture-making and support
  • what to edit out
  • whether to have a plan - or to choose what appealed and wing it!
To my mind, those who were shortlisted were those who made some intelligent decisions and made the most of what was on offer. So a lot of what happens at the end of the heat is very much rooted in decisions made early on.

The wildcards had the same view as the celebrities programme - but rather better weather. It was interesting to see what they chose to do compared to the celebrity artists.

The challenge of indecision


Making decisions at the beginning is problematic for those who find it difficult to make decisions - or who prefer to "go with the flow".

Decisions need to be made early about
  • what format for the chosen view
  • what size of support to use
  • what media to use 
Compositions are needed quickly if you're going to get on with the challenge of creating the art. However the penalty for going too fast is that you may miss out in a better way of doing it.

TIP: I think those who make poor decisions tend to be those who have not practiced in advance in terms of taking themselves to a place to work 'plein air' and to confront a view which they would not normally have chosen - and create a decent image.

Finding out in the on the day whether or not you can do this is not a great idea!

You need to get the drawing / proportions / colour right at the beginning


The basics of drawing, colour and proportions were all mentioned 
in discussions about what people thought it was important to get right at the beginning. 

Interestingly when we got to the review, the weaker images were those were issues were identified in relation to all of these e.g. 
  • drawings which were 'good in parts' only
  • size of people relative to buildings
  • colour which lacked impact - for the scene and the day
Getting aspects right at the beginning is particularly critical for the fine art printmakers who cannot undo their lines.

What's very critical on a hot day is to use colours which speak of the heat - and that means your colour choices become critical to the outcome. All of those shortlisted produced images which looked "hot" - and that was down to their use of colour

Painting places with people


If a place has people - then painting it without people just makes it look odd. Joan Bakewell noticed and so did I.

People in a landscape can make it more relatable and add meaning and context to the place.

I've noticed this a lot amongst people who paint landscapes. Many artists are happy painting inanimate objects (structures / tree / vegetation etc) but they rarely are confident about introducing people - and yet many places would rarely be seen without people.

There again there are those who think landscapes are spoiled when you add people in to the picture.

I often wonder why artists forget that "staffage" lends both scale to a landscape painting - so long as you get the scale of the people right! The problem one of the artists had in this heat was she included people but then got the scale wrong as they'd disappeared by the time she got round to painting them. (This is where photographs to record such details can be very handy!)

Another artist, Alex Chilvers, demonstrated how simple depictions of people being active can be very effective in his painting of a football match on Hackney Marshes. It reminded me very much of LS Lowry - and let's not forget that LS Lowry is one of the most popular landscape painters in the UK - so far as the public are concerned!

TIP: If you want to produce relatable landscapes, try developing your skills in recording people in simple shorthand ways.


Painting Boats


It's worth noting what Kathleen Soriano said. Tai is allergic to paintings of boats which are not well done!

Equipment needed for painting on a sunny hot day


One of the interesting things about looking at wildcard artists painting in the heats is you can always tell those who know what weather can do to you and your artwork!

Hence I'm pretty sure I'm correct in saying the experienced plein air painters were 
  • all wearing hats with brims which shaded both eyes and sometimes necks. 
  • Plus a number understood the value of using sunglasses to cope with glare and the need to sort out tonal values.

Decision Time


This part looks at:
  • the wildcard winner
  • shortlisted artists - and their paintings
  • the heat winner

Wildcard Winner


Clue: the wildcard winner is ALWAYS one of the artists interviewed during the wildcard section of the programmes. As in ALWAYS.

This is printmaker Katie Thomas-Mitson (she got married just after the programme was filmed) being interviewed by Kate Bryan. She produced a simple but very effective linoprint with three colours while sat on the pier under an umbrella. 

Katie Thomas with Kate Bryan
 
You can find her a link to her website in her name. She's written a blog post about the day - see Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year 2022 - in which she shares some very useful tips - both for Lino printers and those working plein air on hot days!
I decided to create a jigsaw block – cutting my Lino in to 3 slices so that I could ink them in separate colours and pop them back in to my jig reassembled. This yielded a clean and vibrant print, which was honest & unquestionably mine. I am glad I made a jig and used my Turnes Burton Pins as this made the process a lot quicker and easier.

Colour choice was easy. It was the hottest day of the year and everyone was uncomfortable, so the combination reflected that. The heat made the ink run away, but I was glad I chose oils as the quick drying of water based inks would have been potentially awful.

The Shortlist


Waiting to be shortlisted


The artists shortlisted were:
  • Alex Chilvers
  • Dawn Beccles
  • Desmond Downes

I identified two of the Shortlist back at the beginning - on the basis of submissions and Judges comments - and the two I identified were Desmond Downes and Dawn Beccles - on the basis of extremely competent painting and a unique take on how to create art respectively.

I've seen Alex Chilvers art hanging on gallery walls and I was interested to see what he produced.

As Joan Bakewell astutely observed, none of the shortlisted artists had focused on the life - in terms of people - at the harbour. (Although Alex did have some people in the background of his painting). 

Alex Chilvers


Submission and heat painting by Alex Chilvers

Commentary

About the submission of a football match on Hackney Marshes painted in gouache - the Judges said:
  • beautifully naive
  • like a Lowry made for the 21st century
I thought it was a very clever composition - and demonstrated how very small amounts of one colour can stand out and draw the eye when painted in the right context.

About the heat painting, the Judges commented:
  • Tai "brutal honesty" - he loved it
  • Kate liked the immense sense of light on the day and the space
  • extremely well put together 
For me Alex demonstrated how important the design and composition are to an effective artwork - and how the colours used can create the feel of a place if used wisely. He was also the only person to include some people - in the background - at the Mr Whippy van!

Dawn Beccles


Submission and heat painting by Dawn Beccles

About the submission the Judges thought it:
  • a landscape on a vase - or in a vase - there was some debate
  • it created a contained sense of "other worldliness"
About her heat painting, they commented
  • Dana produced a hot intense trio of paintings - small but effective
  • Each painting was like a fragment of the scene

Desmond Downes


Submission and heat painting by Desmond Downes

The Judges commented that his submission
  • created the sense of the wind with the surf on the tops of the waves
  • had not done too much - within the context that seascapes are very difficult
  • a characterful 'little painting'
I got the impression they thought him very competent - but were maybe not hugely excited by his work. Maybe thinking it was a little too traditional? I thought the colours in his seascape were stunning and that he was very obviously somebody who understood colour and tone extremely well an was very comfortable wielding a paintbrush.

About his heat painting Tai said
  • he wanted him to paint the craziness of the harbour scene - but instead Desmond opted for a structure and painted it in a very accurate - using suggestion only
  • Desmond certainly knows how to paint 
  • one commented they were a sucker for the grey/green and hot orange combination used in the painting
For me there was no question that Desmond Downes was the standout painter - in terms of handling paint and understanding of colour and tone - in this episode. He also created a jewel like painting from something which was extremely unprepossessing i.e. an asphalt factory and emphatically demonstrated he could paint buildings as well as ,more conventional seascapes!

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Heat Winner


The shortlist from Episode 3 at Whitstable Harbour
(left to right) Desmond, Dawn and Alex


Desmond Downes won Heat 3. Tai said
he knows how to build a painting which is totally believable although everything in it is suggested
TIP: It's always worth remembering that Tai loves anybody who demonstrates they are extremely competent when handling paint - and how they suggest rather than detail.

Episode 4


The next episode will take place at the Eden Project in Cornwall - and will focus on the gardens.
The contestants revisit the extraordinary Eden Project, this time looking to capture the grandiose of the outdoor gardens



Thursday, January 27, 2022

Seven Portraits: Surviving the Holocaust at the Queen's Gallery

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day - and a new exhibition has opened at the Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace.

Seven Portraits: Surviving the Holocaust


This special display has been 
  • commissioned by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales - who is Patron of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust,
  • pays tribute to the stories of seven remarkable Holocaust survivors, each of whom has in recent years been honoured for services to Holocaust awareness and education.
  • is on view at the Queen's Gallery every Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday until Sunday, 13 Feb 2022.

The Prince of Wales, who is Patron of the National Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, commissioned seven leading artists to paint the portraits as a living memorial to the six million innocent men, women and children who lost their lives in the Holocaust and whose stories will never be told. The profoundly moving portraits, which will become part of the Royal Collection, stand as a powerful testament to the extraordinary resilience and courage of those who survived.

Duchess of Cornwall with Holocaust survivor Helen Aronson (centre) 
and her family, and artist Paul Benney (right) beside the portrait of Helen 
during an exhibition at The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London, of 
'Seven Portraits: Surviving the Holocaust'

Sitters and Artists

The sitters and artists are:




You can see:
  • three of the portraits on the exhibition web page
  • a documentary programme Survivors: Portraits of the Holocaust
    about the commission at 9pm tonight on BBC2 . It traces the year long project. 
Throughout the programme, we hear the testimonies of the remarkable men and women who were children when they witnessed one of the greatest atrocities in human history, as well as meeting the artists as they grapple with their paintings. We see some of the sittings and witness the touching friendships that have emerged between artist and sitter over the course of nearly two years. 

The finished portraits, destined for the Royal Collection, will be unveiled at the Queen’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace. They represent pain and loss as well as dignity and hope, and serve as a lasting reminder of horrors which will one day be lost to living memory.

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

'Extraordinary Portraits' of everyday heroes

ANOTHER new programme about making art - starts next month!

  • Title: Extraordinary Portraits
  • Focus: Portraiture - with a twist! Members of the public with “extraordinary stories” are matched with a selection of celebrated portrait artists who will then capture their likeness.
  • Channel: BBC1
  • Number of episodes: a six-part series (see below for details)
  • Start Date: Monday 14 February 2022
  • Host: Tinie Tempah

When a portrait of mine went into the National Portrait Gallery I remember the immense pride, inclusion and acknowledgement I felt. It was unquantifiable - it made me feel like I was part of a change in the narrative, and so I hope the extraordinary people I have met making Extraordinary Portraits feel the same way.”— Tinie 

Extraordinary Portraits Episodes


I think one of the things I'm going to like most about this programme is it's a wonderful platform for those artists who have emerged into the limelight - but are still very much developing their careers.
I'm impressed by the range, depth and quality in the artists they've selected. Check out the links below to see what I mean.

The other aspect which struck me as I was reading the stories and exploring the links to both artists and their sitters is that this series is going to be inspirational for others. It's great to have something on television about the good news and outcomes that can emerge from difficult or challenging circumstances. It's an excellent way to think about how portraiture can be used for public good. 
“Portraiture has traditionally been a way of commemorating the figures we think of as significant or powerful. What makes Extraordinary Portraits different is that we shift the focus to everyday heroes - shining a light on incredible people whose bravery, courage and good deeds make them truly special, and who we feel deserve to be celebrated." Suzy Klein, Head of BBC Arts
Each episode follows the process of working in collaboration with an artist to create a portrait which captures and celebrates these extraordinary individuals, using different media. They culminate in Tinie and the artist unveiling the final piece to the sitter and their family and friends.

Needless to say I'll be watching - and reviewing the series overall.
  • What follows is the information provided by BBC Media about the different episodes.  
  • I've added in links to the websites of the artist and info about the sitters
 

Episode 1

artist: Roxana Halls (Instagram)

Tuesday, January 25, 2022

What is art? (legally speaking)

I needed to find a definition for the question "What is art" recently while developing a new page about Money Laundering & the Art Market: Law, Regulations and Practice.

[Note: If you are selling art - but are not an individual artist who is selling their own art - and don't know about the new money laundering regulations, there is a very serious gap in your "need to know" art business knowledge. I'm hoping to publish soon.....]

So what is art?


Purists might suggest that if the artist says it's art then it's art. 

That might be fine in isolation - but it doesn't cut it as a definition in the "Art as a Merchantable Commodity Market" where there are very many relevant laws and regulations - and taxes and penalties and fines. ( for anybody in any doubt I suggest you read my Art Business Info for Artists page about "Legal Matters for Artists - How to stay on the right side of the law ​and understand all relevant legal liabilities" )



The legal definition of works of art in the UK


It's really quite simple. 

Art (in the UK) is defined for art business, tax, finance and money laundering purposes as stated below. 
Works of Art" has the same meaning as in section 21 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 and includes:
  • Painting, drawings, collages and decorative plaques executed by hand; 
  • Limited edition prints; 
  • Original sculpture or statuary and limited edition sculpture casts; 
  • Handmade limited edition tapestries and hangings; 
  • Signed ceramics executed by an individual; 
  • Signed limited edition enamels on copper (not comprised in an article of jewellery); and 
  • Signed limited edition photographs. 

By way of contrast in the USA the courts have been used to dispute and contest constraints (i.e. "the obscenity pledge" and "the decency clause") which related to censorship of what is deemed inappropriate for public funding. In doing so they referenced the First and Fifth Amendments.

NFTs are NOT Art

Interestingly, I've only just realised that last week there was a bit of a furore online because Wikipedia has decided that NFTs are NOT ART! 

As in 

  • Sales of 'art' as NFTs are NOT art sales.
  • the most expensive NFTs which purport to be art are not being included in the list of the most expensive artworks ever sold
You can read the debate on the discussion page here - under 'Separation of NFT sales and artwork sales' which cites
NFTs are not a new artistic medium in the way that oil paint, printmaking, photography or video art were. Even digital art (which is just art made on a computer) preexisted NFTs by decades. NFTs are financial instruments. They make it easier to sell digital files by creating scarcity. Washington Post
Beeple’s work has been compared to that of KAWS or Banksy, two other artists who have bypassed art-world gatekeepers to establish huge sale prices. But ultimately, NFTs are a technology used to authenticate an artwork; determining whether a work is art or not is up to the viewer. The technology can be used to authenticate other kinds of objects, too. New York Times
So we now have
An NFT is a Non-fungible token 
A non-fungible token (NFT) is a non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger.[1] Types of NFT data units may be associated with digital files such as photos, videos, and audio. Because each token is uniquely identifiable, NFTs differ from blockchain cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin. (Wikipedia)
This in turn could affect their value - and hence there's a lot of "investment" in how they should be defined!

Personally, for me, an NFT is a digital token not art - and won't ever be art until it enjoys copyright protection - which NFTs do not.

Here are some of the articles discussing Wikipedia's decision to define NFTs - as NFTs!

I suspect some of the rationale might also relate to law and how art is defined.
An NFT (and, if applicable, the associated license to use, copy or display the underlying asset) can be traded and sold on digital markets. The extralegal nature of NFT trading usually results in an informal exchange of ownership over the asset that has no legal basis for enforcement, often conferring little more than use as a status symbol.
There needs to be parity in terms of the marketplace in terms of what is being bought and sold before you can start making comparisons about "what is the most expensive?"

There again it's entirely possible that there are also some considerable suspicions about:
  • inflation of NFT sales/receipts due to "wash trading"
  • use of NFTs for money laundering
BECAUSE at the moment there is no regulation of NFTs in terms of robust and regulated financial systems - which will very definitely NOT last forever.

Monday, January 24, 2022

Winter / Spring Art Society Exhibitions in 2022 - at the Mall and Bankside Galleries

As a lot of the constraints are removed, I thought I might as well list all the upcoming exhibitions at the Mall and Bankside Galleries which I'll be missing while 100% non-weight bearing on my right leg and mobilising entirely on my leftleg with a very dodgy knee and various aids.

I am of course being masochistic. It's an anxiety diversion tactic about the ankle fusion surgery next Monday. Oddly, the surgery does not bother me - it's the 12 weeks of not being able to walk / staying at home. On the other hand I wonder how long it will be before I can walk to a gallery in London, walk around the exhibition three times and then get myself home again. It's certainly been a long time since I've been able to do that easily and/or not be absolutely wiped out the next day. People keep telling me it takes about a year before you're back to 'normal' except I can't even remember what 'normal' feels like.....

I'm going to have to decide whether I can review from the Virtual / Online exhibitions - which I absolutely HATE doing. The difference between an exhibition online and in the gallery is ENORMOUS!

National Art Society Exhibitions at the Mall Galleries


Venue: Mall Galleries, The Mall, St. James's, London SW1Y 5AS
Admissions: 
  • FBA Society Exhibitions: £5
  • Concessions for people with disabilities (with free entry for one companion), Students, Registered Unemployed and Group Bookings (over ten in a group): £3
  • FREE to Friends of Mall Galleries and Under 25s.

Below I'm including overviews of some of my photos of the different exhibitions last year which you can find in albums on my Making A Mark Facebook Page - by art society and gallery

FEBRUARY - Pastel Society

some of my photos of the Pastel Society exhibition last year

MARCH - The Royal Society of British Artists

some of my photos of last year's RBA exhibition

APRIL - Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours


MAY - Royal Society of Portrait Painters

This one I might make - depending on whether or not I'm 100% weight-bearing - and how far I can move....

Read my review of lst year' exhibition to see what to expect https://makingamark.blogspot.com/2021/05/review-130th-annual-exhibition-of-royal-society-portrait-painters.html



National Art Society Exhibitions at the Bankside Galleries

Venue: Bankside Gallery, Thames Riverside, 48 Hopton Street, London SE1 9JH (next to Tate Modern)
Admission: FREE

FEBRUARY - Society of Wood Engravers

The Society exists to promote wood engraving, but also embraces all forms of relief printing, which makes this show a fascinating and affordable collection of images inspired by a wide range of subjects.
This year's featured artist is Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers member, Ian Corfe-Stephens

MARCH - RWS Open

Established by the Royal Watercolour Society, this annual open-submission exhibition explores innovation and experimentation in all forms of water-based media. Exhibiting artists range from established art professionals to those completely new to exhibiting.

MARCH - APRIL - RWS Spring Exhibition

I've not been a fan of this exhibition in the more recent past - when it seemed to want to become "edgy" ditch traditional watercolour and reinvent itself as a genre for contemporary art - which in my opinion was not very good. It seems to have changed following the very welcome change of President.

This is how they describe it.
Reconsider your ideas about watercolour with the Royal Watercolour Society’s spring show. Expanding from traditional genres of watercolour painting, today members of the RWS explore the boundaries of this medium and use a wide variety of water-based media such as gouache, ink and acrylic. Be prepared to be delighted by modern work that is beautiful, exciting and distinguished.

MAY - JUNE - RE Original Prints

This is a society which generates an exhibition which I regard as well worth a visit - except I keep forgetting what the dates are!