Making A Mark - the 20 most popular blog posts in 2023

I've done an audit of my statistics to see which were the most popular blog posts in 2023. These are listed below. It includes posts from previous years which became very popular again. I have written a few well referenced blog posts over the last 18 years....

TECHNICAL NOTE: Google Analytics changed the way it collected information halfway throughthe year and I've noticed while writing this blog post that the top blog posts are very biased towards the second half of the year. That said, hardy perennial posts from previous years "top posts" make an appearance in the top 20 - so the top 20 report is NOT just about the second half of the year. However the bias is very odd....

Portrait Artist of the Year (PAOTY)

In total, this very popular art programme series on Sky Arts generated 50 PER CENT of the top 20 posts - which is some achievement. However it was a very special year for them......

That said, my PAOTY Review posts are the longest and most time-consuming posts I write each year - which suggests to me detail, length and effort might count for something as well as the popularity of the series! They are also by far the most popular posts in terms of people writing to me complementing me on my blog! Apparently I have triggered people from countries taking holidays in the UK to watch the series! It may therefore come as no surprise that.....

The most popular post was Want to watch the Portrait Artist of the Year 2023 being filmed? This is not a surprise given the overall interest in Portrait Artist of the Year and the return, post pandemic, to the public being able to watch again. I've had people writing to me for a long time asking how they can watch. I think it's maybe a mix of wanting to be able to see how it all works in practice and the opportunity to be on the television yourself. In the background of course!

This post listed the dates of the heats and the changes being made for the 2023 filming.....

Interestingly, according to Google Analytics, it had a lot of repeat views per visitor. That didn't stop people still writing to me - but at least I had a blog post to refer them too!

#2 was Portrait Artist of the Year 2023 has a very different start this year! (September 18th 2023) This was of course the celebration of 2023 being the 10th year of the series.

This year Sky Arts is expanding the tenth series to include TWO extra special events

• a special episode - involving winners from the first nine series
• an attempt to set an official GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title for the most people painting online and in a single venue simultaneously.

#4 was Review: Portrait Artist of the Decade (8th October 2023)

This was the programme when 8 of the first nine portrait artists of the year came back to participate in a challenge to paint Dame Judi Dench in 4 hours.

I also posted the follow up to this episode towards the end of the year Portrait Artist of the Decade Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery - last few days 

This didn't make it to the top 20 but judging by the popularity of the Facebook post and album of my photographs of the portraits hanging in the National Portrait Gallery might very well have been the most popular post all year if it had been published earlier.

#5 was Wendy Barratt is Portrait Artist of the Year 2023 (Series 10). That's unsurprising to me given the overall popularity of this series and the quality of Wendy's portrait paintings. She would have been higher but for the Portrait Artist of the Decade celebrations.

I'd add it's the first time when the winner was almost universally celebrated by people commenting on my Facebook Page from her heat right through to the Final! Which is very unusual!

Wendy's PAOTY Portrait Paintings
(left to right: self portrait submission; heat (Nicky Spence);
Final (Dame Joan Bakewell); Semi Final (Emma Bunton);
Commission for Final (her husband Fred)

Interestingly - and I assume this is due to the repeat of the previous series before airing the latest episodes - #6 was Morag Caister wins Portrait Artist of the Year 2022 (Series 9) (2nd December 2022). 

I suspect the fact her commission painting of Sir Lenny Henry is now hanging in the National Portrait Gallery may also be something to do with its popularity.

Other popular posts from Series 10 included

• #7 Review: Episode 1 Portrait Artist of the Year (Series 10). It's always the case that the most viewed of all the Heat Reviews is the first one. I suspect the same applies to viewings of the individual episodes/heats on television. County yourself lucky if your heat gets the first epsiode slot.
• #9 Review: Episode 3 Portrait Artist of the Year (Series 10) (29th October 2023)
• #12 Review: Semi Finals of Portrait Artist of the Year 2023 (3rd December 2023) - nearly as popular as the final.
• #16 Review: Episode 2 Portrait Artist of the Year (Series 10) (20th October 2023)
• #17 PAOTY 2023: Commission Painting of Dr Jane Goodall (18th December 2023)

...and now for everything else which made the top 20 posts on Making A Mark in 2023!

More Art on Television

#8 was another television show - The Great Pottery Throw Down - Festive Special and 2023 Series. Just a short introduction to the festive special and the next series - but it's a hugely popular series....

I should maybe do another....

The next one is rather odd - as it's a Page on my Making A Mark Blog and not a post. It's also a timely reminder that I need to update that page and then keep updating it throughout 2024!

#15 is my Art on Television PAGE - this lists all the past series of programmes about art - and making art - on television that I've covered on my blog. It has however given me an idea for new posts in the New Year!

Landscape Artist of the Year (LAOTY) just made it into the top 20 - with two posts which look forwards and backwards. But no reviews of individual heats

#19 Call for Entries: Landscape Artist of the Year 2024 (Series 9) (13th December 2023) This is the call for entries post for next year rather than any of the review posts for the landscape series in 2023.

#20 LAOTY Winners - Where are they now? (1st May 2023)

There have been five female winners and three male winners of Landscape Artist of the Year and this post is an update about who they are and what's happened since.

I think I can explain that. I've known for a very long time that my posts written in autumn and winter perennially do much better than than those written in Spring and Summer. The explanation is the weather! When it's cold and the weather isn't great, people are very happy to stay indoors and watch television and read blog posts. When the weather is lovely, activities outside take up more of people's time. 

That said LAOTY is televised between January and March so should be doing better than it actually is.....

Golden Oldies

This is a category where blog posts from previous years are apt to arise. Particularly if a teacher or somebody with a big following shares that post with their students or followers.

#3 was How to list artwork dimensions (July 30, 2021) which addressed the perennial question.

Which way round should the dimensions of artwork be listed when providing information about an artwork (i.e. drawings / paintings / prints)

Besides providing the answer - it also listed a number of reference articles on this important question which rather a lot of artists (and art societies!) get wrong. 

Dimensions at the National Gallery (London) - height first and then width
A Young Woman Standing at A Virginal by Johannes Vermeer
51.7cm x 45.2cm

#11 is Favourite quotes about drawing and sketching (5th December 2013) - This one is almost always up there somewhere - despite that fact it was written over 10 years ago!

It covers quotations from Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish, Swiss, UK and American artists.

#14 is How to hang a picture - using D Rings This is another perennial favourite of the "need to know" kind. 

This first post will consider how to hang a picture frame using D rings - using two different approaches for different size and weight of picture - and includes images and videos to show you how to use D rings.

A small artwork framed using D rings as hanging hardware

Note how the professional framer has used a single strand of picture cord

and then knotted and and whipped the ends

#18 is Artists and Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) (26 April 2016) - a post dear to my heart - and right hand - as I suffer from RSI and have to be very careful not to repeat it.

Too many artists suffer from repetitive strain injuries (RSI). In addition, too many artists know too little about:

• how to avoid RSI
• how best to deal with RSI

Too often, health and safety issues for artists relate purely to hazards associated with art materials. In my opinion, there is far too little focus on the hazards that certain working practices can have on your anatomy.

This post looks at what is RSI, why artists gets it; how to make it worse and how to make life more tolerable if you get it - and hopefully recover from it.

My new wrist splint (in 2016) - the last one was very well used!
On the whole I need this less now as I'm much better at protecting myself

 

Critical Reviews

#10 was So many things wrong with Oprah Winfrey's Portrait in the Smithsonian. (20th December 2023). I'm guessing the large audience for this post was because it was highly topical and generated a LOT of comments on my Facebook Posts. Mainly to the effect that a number of Americans thought reviews of the portrait in the American press were rather over egged and maybe a bit too reverent of the subject's status and power in the media. 

That wouldn't surprise me. That's what independent reviewers are for!

This review of the new portrait of Oprah Winfrey in the Smithsonian comes in two parts:

• a list of the unfortunately high number of things I can find wrong with the portrait; and
• some straight facts about the commission, the sitter and the artist - because when all said and done somebody did go to a lot of effort - even if I really don't like it.

 

The Oddities

There are always some posts which become viral for no obvious reason.

#13 was 25th September 2011 - Who's made a mark this week? (25th September 2011) is one example.

This kept coming up and I have extreme difficulty working out why. Unless it's the lead image I used for the post - the Faber Castell Jubilee Box of Coloured Pencils and associated equipment worth over £1k - see below.

Notwithstanding that it's always interesting to see what I was writing about in one of my "Who's made a mark this week" posts from more than 12 years ago!

Faber Castell Jubilee Box

However should any pencil artist be thinking of going to see the UKCPS Annual Exhibition, I thought I'd show you the top of the range box of goodies which is on display at the show. If I said the price even after the special exhibition discount is over £1k you'll know just how much is in this big wooden Jubilee Case.