MAKING A MARK: July 2023

Monday, July 31, 2023

The first step-free art trail: Morph's Art Adventure in London

As we move into "what do we do with the kids in the summer holidays?" month, I'd like to highlight the rather unusual exhibition in London this month called Morph's Adventures in London.

There are 56 sculptures of Morph located on an Art Trail at various locations across the capital. Each is 6 foot tall!

The nice thing is that the entire trail is step-free - which means it's all accessible to wheelchairs and those of us who have a few difficulties with steps.

The four Morphs at Tate Gardens inbetween Tate Modern and the Bankside Art Gallery

on the South Bank of the Thames

Mega Messy Morph, It’s Raining Morphs! Hallelujah!,

Morph Whizz Kidz Argonaut, and Mondrian Morph

I encounter quite a few on my way from St Paul's Tube to the South Bank and the Bankside Gallery - where the four above can be found

This one is just outside the precinct of St Paul's Cathedral

Morphflowers Please

These two are on Peter's Hill - the route to the Millenium Bridge - titles of each sculpture are in the caption.

Roll with it

Astromorph

There is a purpose behind the Art Trail. It is brought to you by the charity WhizzKidz and aims to

stimulate conversations about diversity and inclusion for wheelchair users in the City of London
raise money to empower 100 young people with a wheelchair.

This is the link to the Map of the Art Trail (which can be downloaded)

You can also get an app which tells you where they all are and identifies them and tracks your trail steps as you follow the trail

Morph's Epic Art Adventure in London AUCTION

At the end, there's going to be a LIVE AUCTION of the Morphs to raise more funds for the aim of this initiative.

Where: The Museum of London, London Wall
When: Live on 12th September 2023 and online now!
Time: From 6pm

Friday, July 28, 2023

Jackson's Painting Prize 2023 Exhibition at Bankside Gallery

Jackson’s Painting Prize is showcasing the 2023 competition winners and shortlisted artists at the Bankside Gallery in their first independent exhibition until Sunday 30th July.

View of the Jacksons Painting Prize 2023 exhibition at the Bankside Gallery

Now in its eighth year

it received over 11,000 entries (more than the double the number received in 2020)
from 96 countries,
AND the exhibition includes over 60 artworks from a selection of shortlisted artists.

(First of all, apologies for the lateness of this post - I saw the exhibition on Tuesday afternoon - but then Blogger decided to misbehave badly and after having a fit of pique (I kid you not) I had to completely redo the post)

BELOW you can:

find out about Jackson's Painting Prize
how to see the exhibition
view my photos of the exhibition
find out about the prizewinners. You can also see all the prizewinners on this page on the Jacksons Art Supplies website
PLUS see some of the artwork 'on the wall' in this post

The Judges for this year's competition were

Martin Gayford: Curator & author of titles such as ‘Spring Cannot be Cancelled’ co-written with David Hockney
Ell Pennick: Founder and CEO of Guts Gallery
Hugo Barclay: Director of Affordable Art Fair UK
Sahara Longe: Figurative painter, represented by Timothy Turner Gallery
Kayoon Anderson: Figurative painter, Sky Portrait Artist of the Year Semi Finalist 2020
Lorena Levi: Artist, winner of Jackson’s Painting Prize 2022

What is Jackson's Painting Prize?

Jackson’s Painting Prize is an annual competition run by Jackson's Art Supplies - a fine art materials supplier which ships to artists all over the world

It started in 2016 to spotlight talent in the Jackson’s Art Supplies’ community.
It is open to artists all over the world - of all ages, abilities, and stages in their careers.
It has an impressive expert judging panel made up of gallerists, curators, artists, commentators and critics AND I've judged it (in 2020).
It has DOUBLED the number of entries in the last three years. When I judged it in 2020, there were over 5k entries. This year there were over 11k entries.
This year it debuted the prizewinners at the Affordable Art Fair in Hampstead which is where I saw some of the paintings for the first time

How to see the Jackson's Painting Prize Exhibition

You can see the shortlisted artists on the competition website.

I'll also be uploading an album of my photos to my Facebook Page this afternoon.

If you want to see them in person you can see the artwork this week at the Bankside Gallery

Dates: Tuesday 25th – Sunday 30th July 2023
Hours: 11am – 6pm daily
Admission: Free public entry, pre-booking not required
Artwork availability: Selected artworks are for sale. Please enquire at the desk, or at gallery@jacksonsart.co.uk
Social Media: #JPP2023 @jacksons_painting_prize and @jacksons_art www.jacksonsart.com/paintingprize/

It's notable that the exhibition includes artworks which are very significantly bigger than those typically accepted by most open exhibitions.

The exhibition includes some very large paintings

Jackson’s Painting Prize 2023: The Prize Winners

You can view the 2023 Winners on the Jackson's Painting Prize website - and in my photos of the exhibition.

There are winners, however I'm going to highlight my personal favourites first.

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

NEAC 2023 Annual Exhibition METRICS

It's been a long time since I reviewed the metrics of the Annual Exhibition 2023 of the New English Art Club.

Below is a summary - essentially for those artists submitting via the Open Entry, however I think NEAC members and others will learn something new as well

New English Art Club Annual Exhibition in East Gallery, Mall Galleries

What are Metrics?

The metrics I use are numerical indicators of:

what the exhibition comprised
how many member / open entry artworks - and the average per artist
how many works sold
what price works sold for
how performance varied between NEAC members and open artists

Below is my summary of of the metrics - the performance indicators - for the exhibition.

number of artists exhibiting - members and open
number of artworks exhibited - split between members and open
number of sales of artworks - categorised by price band and split between members and open artists.

Number of artworks exhibited and exhibiting artists

399 artworks were exhibited in the 2023 annual open exhibition - across all three galleries of the Mall Galleries of which all but 14 were for sale.

Artworks included:

paintings - in oils, acrylics, gouache, watercolour, egg tempera and distemper
drawings - in charcoal, pastels, conte, colour pencils, graphite, ballpoint pen and mixed media
fine art prints (very few) - etching, aquatint, wood engraving, nkjet print,

[The exhibition of watercolour paintings by the former Prince of Wales - in the guise of AG Carrick - appears to have ceased.]

Of the 399 artworks hung in 2023

257 (64%) artworks for sale were by 75 (43%) members (of whom one had died in the previous year); 14 artworks by members were "not for sale"
118 (29%) artworks were by 97 (55%) non-members
12 (3%%) artworks were by 3 (2%) NEAC Scholars (who have been counted as non-members for the purposes of other calculations
14 (3.5%) artworks (by 3 deceased member artists and two living members) were not for sale and were excluded from the calculations below.

Note:

Prints have been excluded from the calculations if sold as "unframed" / direct from the artist. No figures are provided for prints sold.
all figures subject to rounding.
Back in 2015 some 1,000 entries resulted in 94 paintings, drawings, prints and watercolours (i.e. 9.4%) were hung alongside the 293 works by members - so the exhibition is now showing more works from the Open Entry.

NEAC Member Artists

Of the NEAC members:

the vast majority of living / practising artist members exhibited artwork in the exhibition
The majority of member artists exhibiting displayed 4 artworks with a few (typically older members) only displaying one or two.
4 deceased members (Fred Cuming, Antony Green, Ken Howard, Dawn Sidoli) also had exhibits

In relation to sales: a very large proportion of member artists had no sales at all. The pricing section will explain some of the reasons why.

Of artists with sales, those who sold more than one artwork included:

sold 3 artworks: Diana Calvert, Melissa Scott-Miller.
sold 2 artworks: June Berry, Francis Bowyer, Judith Gardner, Mary Jackson, Charles Rake, Richard Pikesley, Glyn Saunders, Sarah Spencer

Between you and me, I think the ladies have the right idea!

Artists from the Open Entry

The selectors this year were treated to another record number of submissions allowing us to indulge in picking only the very best from so many good entries. Catalogue

I'm very much not a fan of the term "record number of entries" in the introduction to the exhibition in the catalogue - without a NUMBER! Tell us how many!

Of the 97 artists from the OPEN Entry:

7 were members of other national societies (most of which are based at the Mall Galleries).
Leaving 90 artists with no affiliation to a national art society
The majority of the non-member artists only had ONE WORK selected from the open entry for the exhibition, with a few having two works.

Average artworks per artist

Member artists typically had four artworks hung. Overall the average was 3.4 artworks for sale per exhibiting member artist as some only submitted one artwork.

Similarly, the NEAC Scholars each had four artworks hung. It's certainly an opportunity to make a big positive impression which not all capitalised on.

Those artists selected via the open entry typically had just one artwork hung - with an average of 1.2 artworks per artist.

My advice to those submitting via the open entry is to submit just one - and make it a stunner!

Artworks sold and price of artworks sold

Now for the charts! I have to confess I've been through these numbers 4 or 5 times and keep coming up with a discrepancy of 2. I've given up trying to find it since the overall numbers stay very much the same.

I'll start with the Overall Picture and then comment on the charts for NEAC and the Open Entry (which includes the NEAC Scholars artwork).

Below the yellow is sales and the burnt orange is artworks exhibited.

NEAC 2023: Comparison of number of sales to artwork exhibited by price range

HEADLINE: irrespective of how artworks were priced and/or how good they were - most sales were priced at less than or equal to £1,500.

I have been making this point for a very long time. If you want to improve the chance of an artwork selling it needs to be priced at a level that the market is prepared to buy.

Saturday, July 22, 2023

BLOGGER Archive Albums are STILL available

I must confess when I was writing GOOGLE BLOGGER: Album Archive no longer available after 19 July 2023 I couldn't quite work out how Blogger was going to keep images on Blogger Blog live unless they had an ACTIVE ARCHIVE somewhere.

It used to be part of Google Archive - but we were told Google Archive was going away - and now has (see image at the bottom of this post). In effect the old user interface was deleted - but not the albums.

THE GOOD NEWS is that, although the old Google Archive interface disappeared last week, the BLOGGER ALBUMS ARE STILL AVAILABLE!

The URL is https://www.blogger.com/mediamanager/albums - which I assume is the same for everybody and brings up your albums when you are signed in.

I have absolutely no idea how you find this URL independently. So for those of you who want to keep their access to the Blogger Album Archive, I highly recommend you make a note of it.

UPDATE: Google finally got round to communicating more effectively and explains where images are now - and how to find them in Google Album Archive changes and What will happen to blog photos now that Album Archive is going away?

A selection of my early Blogger Archive Albums - which used to be limited to 500 pics.

My last album for Making A Mark was ENORMOUS - with 6,602 items to date - and that just would not download.

However I tried Takeout and that did finally download ALL albums - in named and dated albums - in an absolutely enormous archive zip file. However it took ages (DAYS!) to appear - and I very nearly missed the email!

I have however been spending a the last few days reviewing the 6,602 images in the last Making A Mark folder and downloading ones I want to make sure I still have. That was some journey down memory lane!

One of the reason I like the albums is that, for me - being a regular blogger for many, many years - it's rather like walking back through my life!

The message left on the Google Album Archive Page
after the web gallery was discontinued

Monday, July 17, 2023

A rather different series of Master Craftsmen on Sky Arts

A new and different series about Master Craftsmen started on Sky Arts / Now TV last week.

In 2022, Sky Arts ran the first series (in 8 episodes) of Master Craftsmen. Last week the second series started - which is shorter and had a change in presenter.

Bill Bailey’s Master Crafters: The Next Generation seems to be taking a somewhat different tack and may well keep my attention to the end of the series. (Note: I only watched a few of the last series)

What are the programmes about?

This is what Sky has to say about it.

I don't quite get the inclusion of the presenter's name in the title. He's a musician/comedian/actor - since when are the presenters the stars of the show about crafts?
Bill Bailey’s Master Crafters: The Next Generation

Celebrating traditional crafts, Bill Bailey’s Master Crafters: The Next Generation, will spotlight the stellar work of expert crafts professionals across Britain and follow junior crafters as they refine their skills. Filmed across the UK, this series will explore three traditional heritage crafts in all their glory: wood carving, stained glass and silversmithing. The show will also highlight the work of The Prince’s Foundation in supporting new generations of crafters and keeping traditional building skills alive as a key part of our national and international heritage.
The series seems to be working in collaboration with The Prince's Foundation - established when King Charles III was the Prince of Wales - in relation to his support for heritage and traditional arts and crafts, which he has been doing for a very long time. (I'm rather expecting it to become The Royal Foundation - in the same way The Prince's Drawing School became the Royal Drawing School).

The Foundation champions a sustainable approach to how we live our lives and build our communities. It runs a diverse programme of education and training for all ages and backgrounds and it regenerates and cares for places where communities thrive and that visitors enjoy.

What crafts are covered?

There are four episodes in the series and the series works as follows

each of the first three episodes covers:

a heritage craft: stained glass windows; wood carving and silversmithing
introduction to an expert master craftsperson / demonstration of their craft in terms of outputs and practical aspects
introduction to three junior crafts people - already trained but at an early stage in their careers (nine in total across the series)
the development of a new piece of work - to time and a deadline

the final fourth episode involves commissioning the early-career craftspeople, as a group, being commissioned to create an heirloom piece, which will sit in the gardens of Highgrove House, the summer residence of King Charles and Queen Camilla.

What looks very promising is that:

this is NOT a competition - nobody gets voted off
there's rather more attention given to process and technique - and expert commentary on same
fewer jokes and more respect for the craft (i.e. I only spotted one pun)

Who are the craft experts?

The three craft experts are:

Stained glass: John Reyntiens - who is a leading glass artist in the UK. He helped restore Windsor Castle after the devastating fire and recently completed the recreation of all the glass during the clock dial restoration of the four faces of Big Ben in London
Woodcarving: Two experts:

sculptor: Clunie Fretton - an award winning and classically trained sculptor, carver & gilder, who graduated from City & Guilds of London Art School in 2015. She is a member of the Master Carvers’ Association.

Bill wood carving with Clunie Fretton

wheelwright: Mike Rowland. He is a Yeoman with the Worshipful Company of Wheelwrights. He was made a Master Wheelwright in 2016 after over half a century of experience in the trade.

Silversmithing: The experts who guide the junior silversmiths through a plethora of silversmithing techniques are:

Ndidi Ekubia - awarded an MBE for silversmithing in 2013, she has work in various public collections across the UK; and
Thomas Lyte - a Royal Warrant holder as silversmiths and goldsmiths to HM The Queen.

Thomas Lyte disrupt and rejuvenate this industry by pioneering the use of modern technology and innovative methods during our handcrafting process.

Bill Bailey hammering silver with Ndidi Ekubia

Where do the episodes take place?

The first three episodes and the masterclasses will take place in Messums Barn (Tithe Barn, Place Farm, Tisbury,) which is a recently restored 13th Century Monastic Barn, owned by Messums the prestigious Art Gallery. The intention of the restoration was that it should open to the public as an arts centre and become a cultural institution for the South West of England.

The reception to date

Responses to the announcement of the series on my FB Page produced the following

Bill is perfect as the new presenter. I actually watched this one and enjoyed it.

Really enjoyed it and preferred the different format from the previous series with Jim Moir.

I’ve watched the first episode. Fortunately Bill understands that inane jokes aren’t necessary and appreciates that craft can be sublime.
I now get the inclusion of the presenter's name in the title.

It's to tell people that this series is not the same as the last series!

I'm going to be watching the second episode on Thursday 20th July!

Thursday, July 13, 2023

Preparing for Portrait Artist of the Year - Gail Reid shares her experience and tips

Gail Reid has sent me what I regard as one of the best ever blog posts I have ever read regarding how best to prepare for the Portrait Artist of the Year heats.

It contains absolutely no spoilers but does reveal in detail how somebody who is serious about doing well prepared for her heat. (It's also been cleared by the production team so she's not doing anything out of order or against the "keep quiet about everything until your episode has aired" contract that you have to sign when you participate).

I have to confess, in my very many reviews of heats of Portrait Artist of the Year I do get very frustrated every time I hear an artist say "this is the first time I've ever painted from life" and I often wonder why people enter such competitions on television if they don't prepare properly so they give themselves the best chance possible.

So it's lovely to be able to share this blog post - not least because she highly recommends my blog as part of the preparation!

Gail Read and her self portrait at Battersea Arts Centre - just before filming starts!

in the weeks running up to filming day, I practiced hard on unsuspecting friends and family and honed my process to a tee. So until it’s aired, I can share my practice runs, palette, brushes, and the process that I evolved to do my best on the day.

Her blog post Lights, Camera, Action covers (in order):

What is PAOTY? - in which you do get to see her self portrait - which complies with all my recommendations! ;)
Program researchers (Storyvault/Sky TV) - in which Gail highlights all the stuff which happens between application and arriving at Battersea - and highlights one really good option for those so inclined!
My research - what she does prior initially to get herself ready to start practicing - which includes reading my past blog posts about the heats - in which I give tips serviced from what happens in each episode / stage of the competition.

I cannot recommend the Making A Mark blog enough. SO much information, I binge read lots of posts, hoovering up tips on everything from canvas size to how best to talk to the judges. Here is the post about entering this year’s competition.

My starting point - she highlights why drawing people is something she is used to doing (which to my mind explains the quality of her practice portraits)
Practice runs - her approach to practising painting 4 hour portraits - and what she learned
Her Sitters and the portraits produced x ? - I'm amazed at the quality of her practice portraits. One the basis of which I'd say she's a dead cert to be shortlisted if not win her heat. For one thing she's not just doing heads and she is including hands - which I've been recommending for some time. When everybody else does heads, make sure you stand out and produce a good upper torso portrait! So her portraits are:

Grace (whole figure) - which made me think how much nicer it would be for sitters if the production team gave them proper chairs!
Izzi (profile figure sat at a table with lots of context) - an example of why it's always wise to remember you might get one of the slots which mean you get a side view!
Ray (upper torso with hands and backdrop) - people need to test out whether they can manage the backdrop as well as a portrait. This one taught her about lighting.
Cilla (upper torso with hands) - an interesting one re the need to raise the sitter up as close as possible to eye level. Excellent observation!
Debbie (whole figure) - always good to practice painting the whole figure!
Caroline (whole figure) - a really interesting one with an emphasis on posture and really excellent boots! I wonder how many people practice painting shoes?
Angela (head only) - an experiment with a head only and tighter crop
Other practice - there's more! Including during her holiday!
Glen (upper torso with hands) - an interesting experiment in the use of a tablet and photo to refine details after blocking in and initial work in the first half of the time period - done two days before the date of the heat.

If anybody else has got approval from Storyvault/Sky to post blog posts before their episode airs do let me know. I'm happy to share! :)

A Final Tip

For those wanting to enter PAOTY next year, I'll probably be posting the Call for Entries for Series 11 - to be filmed in April 2024 - in early October 2023, round about the start of Series 10 being broadcast.

So if you want to get ahead of the rest who are not reading this blog post, I suggest you start practising now - and getting that self-portrait licked into shape!

For those wanting access to MY PAOTY TIPS - you can find them in my reviews of the various episodes which are listed below.

Reviews & Learning Points (PAOTY Series 5-9)

Series 9 of PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Autumn 2022)

Series 8 of PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Autumn 2021)

Series 7 of PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Autumn 2020)

Series 6 of PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Spring 2020)

Series 5 of PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Winter/Spring 2019)

Series 4 of PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Winter / Spring 2018)

Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Selected artists for the John Moores Painting Prize 2023

The selected artists for the John Moores Painting Prize 2023 have now been announced and are as detailed below - name plus title of the artwork plus links to websites or social media sites of some.

The Jury

“It’s a real privilege to have been able to soak up and absorb a snapshot of British painting as part of the jury. It’s so dynamic, exciting, and wrought with a lot of debate and discussion. The anonymity factor allows us to get straight to the factuality of the painting, and being able to see each painting face to face has been a delight.” juror Alexis Harding - first prize winner in 2004

The John Moores Painting Prize 2023 Exhibition opens at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool on Saturday 16 September 2023.

The first prize winner will receive

£25,000 and
a solo display at the Walker Art Gallery in 2025.

Always the bridesmaid ...about 3000 enter The John Moore's Painting Prize and about 300 get chosen for stage two, then around 67 make it to the exhibition. Kinda chuffed I got chosen for stage two. Next year I'll smash it Lolly Golding

Selected Artists - John Moore Painting Prize 2023

If your website or Instagram / Facebook can be found in 5 seconds you have a decent chance of getting a link below. If you've also created a decent summary of who you are and what you do, you might just get referenced too. But I don't bother with those not keen on marketing their art or themselves. Plus I'm afraid I don't do guessing games on those who have common names. If you want a link let me know via the post associated with this one on my Facebook Page.

Dale Adcock - Wall - classic example of somebody who's not looked at the CV on his website in a while
Tim Allen - Dancing the Future Melting the Past
Linda Aloysius - The First Painting in History To Be Recognised By a Public Museum as Painted By a Working-Class Single Mother Artist
Tahira Asghar - TAKE IT ALL TAKE IT ALL TAKE IT ALL
Nicholas Baldion - Social Murder: Grenfell in Three Parts
Mollie Balshaw - My studio is on the bus

Ella Belenky - Spell Lulu Bennett - Float
Richard Burton - Simulac
Danny Cameron - Madonna & Child
Deepa Chudasama - Cluster Series with grid
Noemi Conan - Sheela Na Gig
Daniel Coombs - Woman in the Park
Rhys Coren - Slicing Time Differently
Mark Corfield-Moore - Sweet Tooth
Martyn Cross - The Comin' Through
Graham Crowley - Light Industry
Richie Culver - Untitled
William Drummond - Here's Looking At You - a Petworth based artist with a focus on animals and landscapes. William studied fashion at New York’s FIT before working for a range of designers including Tom Ford, Marchesa and Theory before teaching himself to paint.
Ryan Durrant - Untitled (HW)
Jack Foster - After Fra Angelico
Ray Gill - Slide
Magdalena Gluszak - Holeksa - Her husband didn't die, he just became beautiful b.1990 in Polnad. Lives in Hertfordshire. Studied MFA Fine Arts at University of the Arts London, Wimbledon College of Art
Matt Golden - Ladders (Dark Blue)
Gina Hammersley - Smile for the Camera
Christopher Hanlon - Untitled
Christopher Hanson - Ama
Dereck Harris - Web Zeal
John Wood & Paul Harrison - Not a painting kind of painting

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by John Wood and Paul Harrison (@woodandharrison)

Harriet Mena Hill - Taplow Shadows: The Aylesbury Fragments
Leo Holloway - Untitled
Ben Hughes - They'd had ten years to plan their revenge ...
Reece Jones - Phantom A and Phantom B - absolutely zero about the artist on his website!
Betsey Kilpatrick - Love Vortices
Helen Kincaid - Stage ll
Emily Kraus - Stochastic 14
Michael Lacey - I Met A Traveller From An Antique Land
Dale Lewis - Garden Party
Angela Lizon - Horseman - BA(Hons) in Fine Art; Post-graduate scholarship funded by the Polish government and the British Arts Council for study at Krakow Academy of Fine Art in Poland; Elected Academician at Royal West of England Academy, Bristol; Studio holder at Top Floor Studios, Spike Island, Bristol
W.K. Lyhne - Stabat Mater 111
Henry Miller - Fun Boy Three - Tunnel of Love
Chris Milsom - Mirror Mirror
Reuben Murray - Ada
Richard Phoenix - The Ladder (The Choice)
Emma Price - British Values II
Yin Yung Sabrina - Pun Emergency Order Convention 1
Samantha Rebello - At the King's Table: The Queen's Habit (Blancmange)
Phil Redford - Exodus
Zachariah Riley - Untitled (Dummies no.3)
Emma Roche - Hurl
Francisco Rodriguez - The Golden Hour
Stevie Ronnie - Thirty Hours or So of Being Awake
Michael Samuels - Big Exit
Elinor Stanley - Big Babe
Amy Steel - Because I Know so Little I Grope for More
Alan Stewart - I Hear Them Coming
Damian Taylor - Other Light
Mimei Thompson - Weeds at the End of the World (Ultramarine, Magenta)
Emma Tod - Ludic
Francisco Valdes - Champagne Cascade I
Covadonga Valdes - Homeland 8 - landscape painter; 1988-92 BA (Hons) Chelsea College of Art, London; 1992-94 MA The Slade University College, London
Jack Vickridge - Untitled
Lorna May Wadsworth - Salvator Mundi
Julian Wakelin - LBGE - TBGE
Casper White - Saint Michael the Archangel Andrea Della Robia filmed at The Met with pleated kilt by @aria.puga
John Whitehill - Island Sanctuary
Joanna Whittle - Forest Shrine (Witness)
Suzy Willey - Just like that!…there!
Reed Wilson - Book Stack
Tom Woolner - Internal Weather (Idyll)

About the John Moores Painting Prize

The John Moores Painting Prize has awarded more than £685,000 in prize money across 31 exhibitions, which have showcased more than 2,350 works of art. It presents a rich history of post-war painting in Britain. The first exhibition was held only six years after the Walker Art Gallery re-opened following the Second World War.
Previous winners of the John Moores Painting Prize have included artists such as

1959: Patrick Heron - "Black Painting - Red, Brown and Olive: July 1959
1967: David Hockney - Peter Getting Out of Nick's Pool
1972: Euan Uglow - "Nude, 12 vertical positions from the eye"
1993: Peter Doig - "Blotter"
2014: Rose Wylie - "PV Windows and Floorboards"

See a virtual exhibition of John Moores Painting Prize Exhibition - Winners since 1957

REFERENCE: see my post about Call for Entries: John Moores Painting Prize 2023

Monday, July 10, 2023

The LinkedIn Services Page - for Artists, Art Societies and Art Teachers

I've just created a Linked In Services Page associated with my Linked In Profile.

It's not yet finished as I think need to do more
plus it could do with a few reviews from people who've experienced my writing, teaching, talks etc

I'm very much still feeling my way around this aspect of LinkedIn and hence this is by far from a comprehensive expert commentary on the topic!

However it got me thinking about how artists can use LinkedIn to develop their career paths and business income.

Why I developed a Service Page on LinkedIn

I have to say

I'm happy to say I provide services
BUT I'm not into aggressive marketing
because all current activities must be fitted in around

the exercise I need to do on a daily basis to keep the arthritis from getting worse and
yet more surgery for those joints which have already failed
plus I'm now semi-retired (and 68!) and slowing down following my initial early retirement and heavy duty blogging / website development career about art.

However I'm not averse to taking on clients - both organisations and individuals - with new assignments. (see my Would you like me to help page on Art Business Info for Artists - which explains how it works and provides a form for contacting me)

Katherine Tyrrell - some media examples on my NEW Services Page on Linked In

BELOW I'm going to discuss and comment on

What is a LinkedIn Service Page? - which is mainly a commentary on me trying to find my way about!

PLUS what are the benefits for

Artists on Linked In
Art Societies on Linked In
Art Teachers on Linked In

and later this week I'll highlight MORE about:

Some Do's and Don'ts about Linked in - or how to make the most of it!

What is a LinkedIn Service Page?

I can do no better at the moment than highlight what the website tells us about the service page. As I said I'm still finding my way around and opening a new tab for each useful looking page and then trying to work out how they relate to one another

This is the link to

the Services Page - information
Create a LinkedIn Page - note it's about a business not a person (it's a bit the same as the way Facebook works)
Get started as a service provider on LinkedIn

Service providers can create a Service Page on LinkedIn. Service Pages are free dedicated landing pages that showcase services and businesses, and operate on a request and proposal model. Potential clients can contact providers for free, regardless of connection degree.

In general, the steps to work with a service provider on LinkedIn are:
A potential client searches for a provider on LinkedIn or through the Services Marketplace. When the client clicks on a provider, they're directed to the provider’s Service Page.
The client submits a project request (request for proposal) to a provider.
The provider responds with a proposal to express interest in the project. Your response time average from the past 180 days will be displayed on your Service Page if you respond to inquiries within 24 hours, and your response rate average will be displayed if you respond to at least 80% of inquiries.
Once the client receives a desirable proposal, the client and provider agree on the terms of the project and the provider completes the work.
Payment for project completion happens through the service provider’s preferred process, outside of LinkedIn.com.
The provider can invite the client to write a review.

These are links to the tasks involved

plus maybe you're in the market for a service from somebody else

Get started shopping for services on LinkedIn

So this is my LinkedIn Page BEFORE THE SERVICE PAGE

The red line highlights the offer - to showcase services

This is my LinkedIn Page BEFORE THE SERVICE PAGE.

It invites you to click on the link to see the Service Page - however while signed in I can only see the Admin version - and I want to see the version that other people see!

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Thursday, July 06, 2023

Review: Audubon's Birds of America at Compton Varney

Last week I was very pleased to preview the new exhibition of John James Audubon’s ‘Birds of America’ at Compton Verney for two reasons:

I've always wanted to see "Birds of America" 'for real' as opposed to images online - to see if it is as impressive as it's always appeared to me to be
I'd never visited Compton Verney before mainly because of the queries about 'so exactly how do I get there?'

The overall exhibition is a critical examination of both the man and his artwork and its historical context.

My conclusion upfront is that this is the sort of exhibition that you might only get to see once in your lifetime.

It's also a truly monumental book in more ways than one! Not only do you get to see the original hand coloured engravings but you also learn about the man.

The presentation of both the artwork and associated information and relevant material - letters, books, manuscripts, photography, projections and films - is of a very high quality and my congratulations to those who conceived and created this exhibition.

This is a very impressive exhibition

So be sure to visit if birds and/or the art of natural history interests you. "The art of making money from a big project" is a subsidiary but also very interesting part of the exhibition.

This is therefore.....

A review of the exhibition - focusing on the different aspects I became aware of while visiting and viewing the exhibition

What is 'Birds of America'?

The book
The birds
The artwork
The exhibition

Who is John James Audubon?

The man - who is John James Audubon
The artist as businessman

PLUS the answer to the travel logistics issue!

and an extra exhibition about birds by Quentin Blake

But first.....

What is "Birds of America"?

I'm going to focus on the first four themes in this section.

The Book

There are only 120 complete copies of "Birds of America" in existence. It is a landmark and truly monumental publication which is now very valuable. Most copies are in national collections or institutions and the rest are owned by very rich people.

Private copies sell for millions of dollars. Below is the result of the sale of Lord Hesketh's copy in 2010. (Also see Audubon's Birds of America: The world's most expensive book | BBC)

A first-edition print of The Birds of America by ornithologist John James Audubon, was auctioned at Sotheby’s auction house in London, England on December 6, 2010, and sold for a record £7,321,250 ($13.8 million) price tag.

This exhibition is based on an incomplete copy owned by the National Museums Scotland. It's incomplete because the Museum unfortunately let the subscription lapse!

A complete copy includes 435 hand-coloured engravings based on the original watercolour paintings created by John James Audubon.

The Birds

Audubon aimed to paint every bird in America. Whether he achieved this or not depends on what is known about all the birds in America in the early 1800s when he was researching and painting.

At the time he managed to paint and produce engraved and hand-coloured prints for 435 different birds. There may have been more but his original watercolours have disappeared as have all but some 70 odd of the engraving plates.

What we do know is that some of the birds he painted are now extinct.

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