The Big Draw 2016 communication underwhelms

The STEAM Powered Big Draw Festival 2016 takes place this month - between 1-31st October 2016.

October is traditionally the month of The Big Draw with a different theme each year.  It's about:

•  promoting visual literacy - which is seen as important to our lives as other forms of education such as numeracy and literacy (in the reading and writing sense).
• aiming to give the arts parity with other subjects

This year the theme is an acronym 'STEAM'

Bringing together Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths. STEAM fuses creative innovation, enterprise, digital technologies and the arts.

logo of the Big Draw Steam Festival 2016

Peter Heslip, director of visual arts and London at Arts Council England commented:

The charity’s work around the STEAM agenda will play an important role in raising awareness of how visual literacy is an essential part of the cultural education that children and young people should have access to.”

More about the Big Draw 2016

For me - the big emphasis of the BIG draw going forward needs to be on communication online.

The Symposium took place last month at the Baltic Exchange but the website is still in prospect mode and reports absolutely nothing about what happened.

The Big Draw Festival was also launched last month at The Whitworth Gallery at The University of Manchester on 22 September, 2016. Again the page is about what will happen despite the event having taken place 10 days ago (and sadly too few images) and absolutely no pointers to what did happen.

Events this month can be found on the website - but I won't be highlighting any due to the horrible functionality of the website (which I have highlighted before in previous years - to no avail)

• You can find Events via this map. Personally I find this terribly uninformative compared to the information that used be supplied on the Big Draw website (before the current website incarnation). It used to be possible to filter (eg by age rangel type of event etc) and scan lists to identify and spot events that would suit you and that you wouldn't mind travelling to. I used to go to a number - but no longer do so. The current information assumes a willingness to click every link (TWICE!!!) and is just plainly dysfunctional - in terms of communication - to my mind.   
• These are images from the Gallery of events in 2016
• My own view is that:
• in 2016, there seems to be rather too much emphasis on some big events 
• compared to rather too little emphasis on the smaller events which are much more accessible to a wider number of people of all ages - as used to be the case when I first started covering the big draw some 10 years ago (eg see Big Draw events around the UK in October in 2007)
• there seem to be much fewer events compared to just two years ago.

This the map of events in the UK 2016

and below is the same map in 2014

An organisational re-launch is currently planned for early 2017. 

Hopefully somebody is also planning a new way of displaying and communicating events on the website in 2017 - and making them happen.

Otherwise this might be my very last Big Draw post.......

You see more when you draw #startdrawing

The Rijksmuseum has started a campaign - #startdrawing - to get more people drawing. I hope the art museums in this country give the campaign their endorsement too.

“In our busy lives we don’t always realize how beautiful something can be. We forget how to look really closely. Drawing helps because you see more when you draw. People who want to draw are always welcome in the Rijksmuseum.”

Wim Pijbes, General Director Rijksmuseum

First - something of what happened last month during the #start drawing campaign.

Then some of my sketches done in art galleries and museums!

The Rijksmuseum used a banner to indicate people should stop taking photos and start drawing!

In October - as part of the Big Draw - the Rijksmuseum launched a large-scale campaign called #startdrawing.  The museum building featured a large banner encouraging drawing and ‘banning’ photography.

The aim was to help visitors discover and appreciate the beauty of art and history through drawing – because you see more when you draw and get closer to the artists’ secrets.

It invited people to visit the museum’s galleries to draw and learn how to look at art

You can:

• check out the drawings produced by looking at Instagram and using the #startdrawing tag to search
• get some inspiration from the collection of drawings in the Rijksmuseum - I love looking at these

Add caption

The campaign is carrying on after the Big Draw month of October

The museum wants to make it clear that anyone who wants to draw in the Rijksmuseum will always be welcome.

From now on every Saturday will be Drawing Day and visitors will be able to pick up a sketchbook at the Information Desk. During each season throughout the year there will be Drawing Tours and public drawing lessons alongside the regular programme in the Drawing School.

#startdrawing is made possible in part by the Rijkmuseum's main sponsor ING

This is the Rijksmuseum's Facebook Page

For more information about the #startdrawing campaign go to www.rijksmuseum.nl/startdrawing

When was the last time you went drawing in the art galleries and museums you visit?

Here's are three of my very many sketches done in galleries and museums in the last few years. It's certainly been my experience that you see more when you draw!

Viewing Renoir Landscapes at the National Gallery (2007)
pencil and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook

High Watermark at the Mall Galleries (2011)
pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook

Judy at the Wallace Collection (2009)
pen and ink

The Big Draw - October 2015

This is the 16th year of The Big Draw - which takes place throughout October in various countries across the world as well as across the UK

Last year 414,000 people attended over 1800 events by more than 1000 organisers across 26 countries! Now that's BIG!

The theme is announced via drawing

Key facts for anybody interested in drawing 

....or knows children, young people, adults or older people who like to draw

Big Draw Map of  Events across the UK

• There are events all over the UK throughout October. They include a drawing event, exhibition or workshop. You can: 
• Find out where these are on the Big Draw map (much better this year!)
• You can even locate International Drawing Events which have registered with the Big Draw
• Sign up to our newsletter to receive alerts whenever a Big Draw event arrives near you.
• This year's theme is Every Drawing Tells a Story
• There's a BIG Draw Competition - inviting you to design a logo
• The Big Draw’s first Architecture Drawing Day will be launched in partnership with the RIBA (10 October, London). This includes a series of workshops to encourage different approaches to drawing buildings and places, including  RIBA Explore and Draw, Drawing through a lens and more.
• On 11 October there is Drawing the World Sunday 11 October, 11 – 4 pm at Granary Square, King’s Cross. There will be activities all day - including a lot particularly suitable for children. More details here on the blog.
• There are also  lots of resources for encouraging Drawing in Schools
• These are the nice people who provide the facilities and funding which makes this all happen.

Plus allied to the Big Draw is the Ruskin Prize art competition - which I've written about previously. See The John Ruskin Prize 2015: Call for Entries - Making a Mark (29 Jun 2015) Overview of the Call for Entries for the John Ruskin Prize 2015 - on a theme of 'Recording Britain Now: Society'. Deadline: 23 November 2015

The Big Draw month is October

The Big Draw is the world's biggest drawing festival and is run by the Campaign for Drawing. It's also an annual event which takes place in October each year in UK - and 20 countries around the world.

The Big Draw is Local and International!

The festival runs from 1 October to 2 November across the UK and in 20 other countries, with 280,000 people expected to join in over 1000+ events.

The general aim is to get everybody drawing.

The Big Draw encourages wide-scale public participation in creative activities, engaging people of all ages with collections in museums and galleries, heritage environments and community-based drawing activities.Campaign for Drawing

It's for everybody young or old, those who are learning how to draw for the first time and for those who have forgotten how to draw - as well as those who enjoy drawing on a regular basis.

It got started last Sunday with a big event for kids at the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green sponsored by Faber Castell.  Lots of coloured pencils much in evidence!

Find an event

The events seem to get more adventurous and more innovative every year!

To find out more about what opportunities are local to you you should consult

EITHER The Big Draw Map of UK events - just stick your post code in the map and it will tell you what's happening near to you.

Locations of Big Draw Events in the UK this month

Here's some examples which are happening in London:

• Experimenting with observational drawing, algorithms and natural form - at the Natural History Museum for those aged 16+
• 'Strike a Pose' is a life drawing workshop for all ages featuring black superhero costumes presented at Notting Hill Carnival by Glorious Backstage Arts.
• Draw Walthamstow this weekend for all ages - supported by Jackson Arts

I must confess I do miss the listings they used to have which split out the events for adults from those for kids only, and those which were limited to people associated with a location. I'm not finding it do easy to locate events I might be interested in this year.

A Big Draw event at the V&A

OR The Big Draw Map of International Events there are events happening in:

• Australia
• Belgium
• Brazil
• Hungary
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Spain and 
• United States

You can also

• Add your drawings to our online gallery. Just tag #TheBigDraw via instagram
• Check out The Big Draw Blog for articles on all things drawing
• Share you drawings on Twitter

The Theme for 2014 - It's Our World

The theme of The Big Draw in 2014 is It’s Our World - click the link to find out more. Plus there's an absolutely amazing and very stimulating It's Your Wold MiniMag on Issuu which explains more and provides some suggestions about how 4-19 year olds can participate. You can get a pin code for uploading via a Big Draw event location.

The aim it to encourage everyone to celebrate their environment – rural, urban or coastal – and to explore its sustainability. 

The Big Draw on the Beach - creating land art

Anyone aged 4 – 19 years is invited to put themselves on the map by creating an artwork to celebrate where they live and uploading it onto the It’s Our World Gallery. The aim is to create the UK’s largest online collection of artwork mapping the British Isles, as seen through the eyes of the nation’s future custodians.It's Our World - Celebrating the Environment through art

Hence there's a chance to have their art displayed nationwide in next year's World Environment Day.

The uploaded artwork will be showcased in June 2015 on digital ad screens across the UK. The entire collection will be handed over to The UK Web Archives to be stored for the nation.

Submissions can be sent  from 30 September 2014 to 30 May 2015

• This is part of a wider initiative developed by Business in the Community. 
• These images will be shown on digital screens nationwide next year to celebrate UN World Environment Day (5 June 2015).

The Family Arts Festival

Over the UK half term holidays (between 17 October - 2 November), a collaboration between the Big Draw and the Family Arts Campaign will be supporting the second year of the UK's largest Family Arts Festival. 

There are also The Drawing Inspiration Awards which aim to recognise the most innovative, resourceful and inspiring events from The Big Draw.

The Big Draw 2013 in 15 countries

More than 200,000 people in 15 different countries are expected to get involved in The 2013 Big Draw which this year runs from 1 October to 3 November.

You too can be part of the world's biggest drawing festival!

These events are for those who love to draw, and those who think they can't.

This is the 14th year of the Big Draw. Since it started in 2000, The Big Draw has:

• encouraged over 1,000,000 people to get back to drawing
• created the longest drawing in the world (the world record was set at 1 kilometre)
• organised the greatest number of people drawing simultaneously (c.7,000)
• created enjoyable drawing spaces in national museums, Trafalgar Square, Somerset House - and the underground tunnel which runs between the museums in South Kensington!
• created hundreds of new and enjoyable drawing activities that connect people of all ages with museums, outdoor spaces, artists - and each other.

There's lots of kids involved - but it's NOT just about children. This post is going to be about what's happening this year for you, your children and your grandchildren OR your Mum and Dad and grandparents!

Drawing faces at the National Portrait Gallery in 2012
Image courtesy of The Big Draw

What is The Big Draw?

The Big Draw is run by the Campaign for Drawing - set up by Quentin Blake.  The original inspiration came from visionary Victorian artist and writer John Ruskin, whose mission was to teach people how to see through drawing.

The Campaign for Drawing aims to get everyone drawing. It raises drawing’s profile as a powerful tool for thinking, creating and communicating. Its long-term ambition is to change the way drawing is perceived and used by the public and professionals. 

The Campaign’s annual flagship, The Big Draw, proves that drawing can be a public activity as well as a private passion.

The Campaign also demonstrates that drawing can also connect communities. Over 1000 organisations in the UK and fifteen other countries participate - including India, Pakistan, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Brazil.  They all offer events for all ages and abilities.

Drawing is important for happiness and a sense of complete humanity.Andrew Marr, Campaign Patron

This is the 14th Big Draw and there will be events in over 750 venues across the UK in October.

With the Big Draw we seem to have struck something in the national consciousness - it's as though everybody had just been waiting to be told that they are allowed to draw. Perhaps it isn't surprising - we live under a bombardment of manufactured images, and in the face of that we need to be able to draw as a way of discovering the reality of the world about us, as well as the life in ourselves. Sir Quentin Blake, Campaign Patron

My Postcard from Provence

....will be winging its way to Travels with a Sketchbook this June!

This summer, I'm renting the home of Postcard from Provence painter Julian Merrow Smith and his wife Ruth Phillips (Meanwhile, here in France......) for three weeks in June while they visit England.  I'll be packing and getting ready to set off in exactly three months time!

Rousillon and the Ochre Cliffs, Provence
Coloured Pencil 8.27" x 11.75"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

However the really good news is I won't be on my own! 

At long last I'm achieving a long held ambition and will be going on a painting holiday with no tutor - just good friends.  The house party will include Sarah Wimperis (Muddy Red Shoes in Cornwall), Robyn Sinclair (Have Dogs Will Travel from Tuscany) and Ronell van Wyk (African Tapestry on the Loire) who will be coming and going at various times.  We're hoping to have all four of us there at least some of the time.

We are anticipating much sketching and painting of landscapes and enjoyment of good French food and good company.  We might also find time to visit a vineyard and try a glass or two of the local vintages.

We're certainly going to hunt down some lavender fields which should be about ready to peak!

House and Lavender Field - by Julian Merrow Smith (June 2009)

I'm also looking forward to going back to places - like Rousillon with its ochre cliffs - which I first visited when painting in Provence some 20 years ago.  (Did I ever tell you all about being filmed by the BBC Holiday Programme while painting? No?) 

17th October 2010 - Who's made a mark this week?

Miniature watercolour paintings byTracy Hall
in the Annual Exhibition of The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors & Gravers

The exhibition season is well and truly open us again.  All the Autumn/Winter exhibitions are opening and the art societies are also busy with Annual Exhibitions.

In today's (late) post I've got pictures of some of the exhibitions I saw last week.  Above are the miniature watercolour paintings by Tracy Hall ARMS HS MPSGS MASF (Watercolour Artist Diary) who won the RMS top prize of the Gold Memorial Bowl in 2008.  Further down the page is a very striking watercolour painting of a wave colliding with a harbour wall by Andrew Blyth which is in the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Marine Artists

I was also trying to get to see "Venice - Canaletto and his Rivals" at the National Gallery on Friday afternoon but it would have been the third exhibition of the day and at the end of a very long and tiring week I decided to save it for when I was feeling fresher.  However reviews to date suggest it should be good.

Drawing and sketching [Late Addition - I forgot to transfer this bit!]

Yesterday was the International Sketchcrawl #29.  Check the SketchCrawl Forum to see results from cities around the world.  Sketches are also posted on Urban Sketchers

• 29th SketchCrawl Kanagawa, Japan
• 29th Sketchcrawl Rome
• Sketchcrawl at the War Museum

as well as a lot of individuals blogs such as :

• Pete Scully - sketchcrawling central park, davis
• van Annies Chaos in Colour Sketchcrawl #29 at The Phoenix Zoo
• Frederick on (Orange explains it all) had me trying to work out where he was for sketchcrawl #29

This week I'm also featuring the blogs of a number of artists whjo like to work in graphite.  These are:

• Terry Miller (Pencil Shavings) in Maryland who produces some amazing drawings in graphite
• Clive Meredith (The Art of Clive Meredith) in Southampton who is self-taught and produces some fine drawings of animals
• Nolon Stacey (Leaping into the world of the Starving Artist) is a self-taught graphite pencil artist specialising in fine art drawings of rural scenery, farm animals, dogs, wildlife and landmarks
• Dean Richards makes black and white drawings using charcoal, graphite and carbon - which you can see on Burnt Wood and Natural Elements

plus another blog I came across this week is Drawing my way round London which has a rather neat idea of involves Heather visiting every station on the (old) Silverlink line / North London railway line, making at least one drawing when she gets to each place.  She began in North Woolwich and will finish at Richmond in the west.

Next Friday and Saturday is the big event in London for Big Draw month when, on 22 and 23 October, you can Make your Mark on the Future: From London Bridge to Tower Bridge.  I'm due to be drawing by Southwark Cathedral on Friday,

Coloured Pencils and Pastels

• The thing I like about Nicole Caulfield's artwork is that so very often there is a story behind it.  I particularly like the new direction she is taking in developing a new series of works stimulated by the way in which Norman Rockwell's work commented on aspects of daily life - see Beginning of Norman Rockwell Series. I've been following the progress on her latest one with much interest - see Update on "Wrong Place, Wrong Time".  I'm sure every parent will have a wry grin over that one! 

WIP: Wrong Place Wrong Time

copyright Nicole Caulfield

• Richard Klekociuk (Artleko's weblog) has won the $10,000 first prize at the Tasmanian Art Awards for his drawing  Silence at the Table.  He was competing against artists in other media.  We're seeing more and more coloured pencil artwork 'holding its own' when up against other media.  Richard has a very definite style which is unique to him and you can see how he progresses his work in Coastal Rocks
• Belinda Lindhardt has written to announce that the Australian Coloured Pencil Network has a call out for entries to the online exhibition.  This is open to anybody who is a member of the Society.  I wonder if people with a sister living in Australia count? ;)
• This is how you register to join the The Australian Coloured Pencil Network website.
• This is the User Agreement and Copyright Info and
• This is the AusCP Online Exhibition 2010 – Call for entries

Entries are open from now until Sunday 31st October 2010 and entries will be placed on display on the Australian Coloured Pencil Website  – November 18th  2010.

Landscape

Mitchell Albala (Essential Concepts of Landscape Painting) has posted the second in a series of step by step posts about the "In Sunlight" series: In Sunlight: “December Peak”

Painting

• Charley Parker (Lines and Colors) has an interesting post about 'traditional' and 'contemporary' painting - see The Banishment of Beauty, Scott Burdick
• Lucian Freud's portrait of a nude Jerry Hall - Eight Months Gone - has sold for £600k - which I guess is the sort of going rate you get at auction when you are the leading portrait painter in the UK.
• Freud is also in the news given he's the chief protagonist in Man with a Blue Scarf: On Sitting for a Portrait by Lucian Freud a new book by Martin Gayford (chief European art critic for Bloomberg News / formerly art critic of the Spectator.) This has been recently reviewed by Jonathan Jones on his Guardian blog.

Art Business and Marketing

Art Galleries

• Deborah Secor  (Landscape Painting in Pastels) has a post from her book blog for people approaching their first gallery - see Chapter 35: The First Gallery - and for those wanting to do art fairs - see Chapter 34 - Art Fairs

Online Galleries / selling art online

• Etsy broke its own records in September and continues its very impressive upward trajectory.  According to the Etsy Statistics: September 2010 Weather Report: $26.6 million of goods were sold - covering 1.5 million items sold.  Plus 2.2 million new items listed and 780.7 million page views - all of which are new Etsy records.  (Is anybody still using eBay?)
• Branded art anyone?   See Culture Label which has some of the most well known 'names'.  These are the brands and these are the artists.  It's interesting to see who's allowing themselves to be marketed like this.
• If you've tried Bonanza to sell your art can you let me know what you think about it or give me a link to a review on your blog.  Thanks! 
• [an empty space which might have featured a website]  I came across a rather intrusive and what I thought was an OTT approach to marketing a course and website support for selling art online. (Which I hasten to add was not by any of the people I normally feature on this blog).   While I've got absolutely no problem about highlighting enterprise which looks helpful, even if it involves payment of fees, I'm only planning to ever feature sites which aren't "in my face" either stylistically or in terms of pop ups littered all over my desktop!.  This one was totally OTT - and hence is NOT getting featured.  Do let me know if that's the sort of approach you value or not.

Art Business Marketing / Efficiency

• Alyson Stanfield (Art Biz Blog) has recently had two excellent posts about:
• the Top Time-Savers for Your Art Business
• Publicity Resources for Promoting an Art Event Speaking as somebody who now has a small avalanche of email each week from people trying to promote art events, I would really appreciate it if people (and galleries who are not quite digitally competent in particular) would read and digest this one!
• Now I know we don't really think about artists being in competition with one another - but just in case you do - why not review 9 ways to spy on your competitors online from Joan Stewart's The Publicity Hound's Blog
• Robert Genn (The Painter's Keys) has a useful post about things to think about when Pricing a reproduction run
• Joanne Mattera (Joanne Mattera Art Blog) has a neat 'Marketing Mondays summary of CV vs Resume vs Bio  You can find links to the CAA guidelines for different art professionals in How to write an Artist's Statement - Resources for Artists 

Collision by Andrew Blyth (Watercolour £550)

Art and the Economy / Art Collectors

Movers and shakers

• On Friday I posted a list of what are purported to be the 100 most influential people in contemporary art - The most influential people in art? (2010 although after reviewing it I came to the conclusion it was a total celebration of those who have been spending money on gallery real estate.  See how many of the names you know?
• Who are the promising newcomers to look out for in Britain's thriving contemporary art scene? The Guardian asked Richard Wentworth, Yinka Shonibare, Cornelia Parker and Tacita Dean to each tip a new artist - and they chose Helen Marten, Bjørn Venø, Katie Paterson (one of the least flashy websites I've seen in a long time.  Take a look and you'll begin to get the unintended but accurate pun!) and Charlotte Moth.  This is the slideshow of their work - The new faces of 21st-century art
• I must confess I smiled at Ed Winkelman's Super Foul Mood List of Pet Peeves - and don't forget to read the comments for everybody else's! 

Collecting art

• Caroline Roux in the The Independent has a A 10-point plan for creating your own art collection

Arts Funding

• Tracey Emin is confused about arts funding!  Enough said?
• I'm planning a post this week about art funding and the budget cuts.  However I think the writing on the wall is pretty evident judging by the performance of the Chair of the Arts Council as I watched the Culture, Media and Sport Committee began to take evidence on the funding of the arts and heritage in its first oral evidence session on the funding of the arts and heritage.  Museums were also accused of producing some breaktaking examples of waste and having listened to some examples I have to say I agree. 

 Art Competitions and Art Societies

• We now know that Emma Haworth has won the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2010
•  but we won't be seeing the exhibition until November.
• On Friday I visited the Mall Galleries to see the Annual Exhibitions of the:
• The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors & Gravers - which is excellent as per usual (see review later today). 
• The Royal Society of Marine Artists (see review Tuesday).  Both continue until 23rd October 2010.
• At the end of this month, the Second Annual Juried Botanical Art Exhibition of the Botanical Artists of Canada is being held in the gallery at Todmorden Mills Heritage Site (click this link for the Google Maps info site). I'm a big supporter of botanical art exhibitions and if somebody can get photos of the exhibition - with the permission of the society - I'd be happy to host a more detailed post about the exhibition on this blog.  The Opening Reception is on 27th October (7pm-9pm) and the exhibition runs until 7th November 2010.  The gallery is open between noon and 4pm Wednesday to Sunday.

Contemporary Art Fairs

The Frieze Art Fair  (14–17 October 2010) took place in Regent’s Park, London last week but I never pay it any attention and I'm not going to start now!  It had over 60,000 visitors in five days.  Frieze Art Fair 2011 will take place 13–16 October next year.  

Art Galleries and Museums

This week I visited the website of the Musee d'Orsay (the 3rd most popular art museum in Paris) and was very pleasantly surprised to find it has had a complete revamp since my last visit and now looks better and seems to be much more accessible.  It now has better links to the exhibitions it supports in the Orangerie and around the world while it undergoes a revamp of the actualmuseum.  The one really wierd thing is the website doesn't have a title on the home page to say it's the website of the Musee d'Orsay!  I'm now just wondering whether I need to check every link on my resource website -  Musée d'Orsay - Resources for Art Lovers! ;) 

Musee d'Orsay has a new website (English version)

Art Education / workshops / Tips and techniques

• This week Deborah Paris (A Painting Life) launched a new blog devoted to Deborah Paris - online classes and workshops.  I have to say that I am mo re and more convinced by the benefits blog can bring to art tutors - and their students. It includes a link to a sample of videos of demonstrations and other instructional videos. plus new classes for Winter and Spring 2011 have already been posted, so click on over and take a look!
  
• Sarah Wimperis (The Red Shoes) has an invaluable tip about How To Varnish Watercolours. (I'm meeting up with Sarah on Thursday to hear more about life in Cornwall)

Art Studios

• Luann Udell (Luann Udell) has written another one of her really useful posts about the practical aspects of being an artist - see Making the most of your Open Studio.
• Luann's studio is in a renovated antique barn attached to her home in Keene, NH and last weekend she was participating with my friend Nicole Caulfield (Nicole Caulfield) in the Fall Foliage Studio tour - which sounds idyllic!  If you want to check out artists in the Monadnock area of New Hampshire this is where they all are.  Check out the websites to see if they accept visits at other times.  Here's Nicole's Photos from the Open Studio

Colour

Albala also has a post about the use of a limited palette for landscape painting - see Limited Palettes Part 1: The Expanded Primaries. It provides a good overview of all the colours in the proposed limited palette. 

Copyright 

This post started as a summary in this post and grew and grew into a fully fledged post earlier today - see Does teaching art generate copying of art?  It's started to generate a few comments and I'd definitely like to hear what you think - even if it's just more questions about aspects which puzzle you.

Opinion Poll 

The Making A Mark Poll this month is proving to be exceptionally popular - and there's a very clear pattern emerging.  This is the post about what it's about POLL: What do you do when not being an artist?

Photo/video manipulation

What's PEPE I thought - until the penny dropped. It's the new combined Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 9 & Adobe Premiere® Elements 9.  It's available for both Windows and Mac at the same time - which is nice.  According to MacWorld as updates go "this ones's a biggy"!  See their review in Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 review where it gets 5 stars.  I like Bridge and I'm not sure I'm going to rush to change it though.

This simultaneous, cross-platform release of Photoshop Elements 9 marks a first for Mac users - the Adobe Elements 9 Organizer is finally available for Mac users and comes packaged with the hobbyist-targeted photo-editing software.

Websites, webware and blogging

I posted two items this week following the article which included comments from me in Artists and Illustrators supplement for art students about how to get noticed.  Those commenting ahve also made suggestions

• Notice Me! (or why you should get an art blog)
• Notice Me! Creating a popular art blog

If you've not seen it before you might find my resource site Blogging for Artists - Resources for Artists helpful if you are relatively new to blogging. This includes links to other useful blog posts about blogging for artists. From other media sites:

• Looking forward, the New York Times had an article about New Web Code Draws Concern Over Privacy Risks.  The new language, HTML5, could give marketers access to many more details about users’ online activities. HTML5 is not here yet - but it will be.
• I was reading an article this week about how to design a website for an iPad and it made me think that maybe we don't think enough about the various different types of technologies used to view our various websites and blogs.  Which is by way of a lead in to the fact that last week Microsoft Unveils New Windows Phones plus Windows Phone 7 Revealed: What You Need to Know
• for all those that do art fairs and sell art in places without tills you'll be interested in A Simple Swipe on a Phone, and You’re Paid

and finally........

Nearly 3,000 visitors came to see the John Moores Painting Prize exhibition on its opening weekend.   Apparently the Walker Art Gallery and a trick of light conspired to also deliver an image of the hand of god!

Jerwood Drawing Events in October

More about Drawing in Big Draw month.

• The Jerwood Drawing Prize has a number of FREE exhibition events
• The Jerwood Space will also be hosting two events for this year's Free Big Draw Festival in London on Friday 22nd Saturday 23rd October 2010 when Jerwood Drawing Prize artists will talk about their work and lead hands-on workshops. 

Plus at the end are the dates when you catch the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2010 Exhibition at various places around the UK.

Jerwood Drawing Prize 2010 - FREE Events 

Jerwood Prizewinners 2010

The Jerwood Drawing Prize aims to encourage and promote debate around current drawing practice in the UK and these events will act as a forum to explore issues and approaches within the field. 

All events are free and start at 6pm on the following Monday evenings. Events are held at the Jerwood Space, London SE1 0LN.  The nearest tube stations are: Southwark, London Bridge or Borough

I've included links to the websites of the panel members where available as this show you the breadth of drawing practice in the UK at present.

4 October 2010: The Adventure of Drawing

“If drawing has been one thing for artists from Michelangelo to Mondrian, it has been a place to subvert, to have adventures. And that, I hope, is the spirit of this year’s Jerwood show.”
Charles Darwent, Jerwood Drawing Prize 2010 exhibition catalogue essay.  

Panel includes:

• Chair - James Faure-Walker (artist, exhibitor JDP 2010); 
• Cathy Lomax (artist, exhibitor JDP 2010); 
• Emma Talbot (artist and exhibition selector JDP 2010); and 
• Virginia Verran (artist, first prize winner JDP 2010).

11 October 2010: The Value of the Open Exhibition
Panel includes:

• Chair - Prof Eileen Hogan (artist and Research Professor WCA, University of the Arts London); 
• Sue Grayson Ford (Director, Campaign for Drawing); and 
• Paul Ryan (artist and Prize winner JDP 2001).

18 October 2010: The Scope of Drawing
Panel includes:

• Chair - Kate MacFarlane (Co-Director, The Drawing Room); 
• Jenni Lomax (Director, Camden Arts Centre and exhibition selector JDP 2010); 
• Jeffrey Dennis, (artist, exhibitor JDP 2010); 
• Melanie Jackson (artist, Head of Undergraduate Sculpture, Slade, UCL, and Prize winner JDP 2008); 
• Warren Andrews (artist, JDP 2010).

For further information contact Jerwood by email or telephone 01372 462190.

Jerwood and the Big Draw

Jerwood Drawing Prize and the Big Draw: Saturday 23 October, drop-in 12.30pm – 2.30pm

 

The aim is to have an active afternoon of moving, thinking and drawing, with Jerwood Drawing Prize artists Warren Andrews and James Eden plus live musicians on hand to provide inspiration and guidance to visitors. 

 

This event will be suitable for all ages and abilities and will also be of interest to artists and students with a particular interest in drawing.

For further information please contact Alice Browne: E: alice.browne@jerwoodspace.co.uk | T: 0207 654 0171 

Jerwood Drawing Exhibition - Dates for Regional Venues

11th – 22nd November 2010: Summerfield Gallery
Pittville Studios, University of Gloucestershire
Albert Road, Cheltenham, GL52 3JG

27th November 2010 – 23rd January 2011: South Hill Park
Ringmead, Bracknell, Berkshire RG12 7PA

5th March – 16th April 2011: Oriel Myrddin Gallery
Church Lane, Carmarthen SA31 1LH

7th May – 12th June 2011 DLI Museum & Durham Art Gallery
Aykley Heads,  Durham DH1 5TU

3rd October 2010 - Who's made a mark this week?

October is always Big Draw month run by the Campaign for Drawing - however the Big Draw has greatly expanded from the event I first started writing about back The Big Draw in 2006

October 2010 is Big Draw month in twenty countries and on five continents. Launched in 2000, this annual initiative has grown from 180 events in the UK to over 1500 worldwide. The Campaign aims to use drawing to connect visitors with museum and gallery collections, urban and rural spaces – and the wider community – in new and enjoyable ways.

'Make Your Mark on the Future' is the theme for this year's Big Draw.  I'm sitting here with a big smile on my face! :D

Make your Mark on the Future - 2010 Big Draw theme

About the Big Draw

Here's a list of events and links to more information

• Join an event across the UK - a database provides details of all local events in different areas
• Drawing Inspiration Awards By documenting your Big Draw event you will become eligible to apply for one of 16 Drawing Inspiration Awards. Take a look at the Drawing in Action website for inspiration.
• on 22 and 23 October for Make your Mark on the Future: From London Bridge to Tower Bridge.
• I'm greatly intrigued by Draw and Fold Over - especially the bit where my cursor becomes a big disembodied arm and hand which gets a blue ball point pen to draw with!
• My old drawing tutor, James Lloyd features in a Guardian article about Artists' self-portraits to raise money for drawing campaign which is part of Big Draw month
• If you want to think about running an event next year, you might like to consult the website page which provides lots of good advice - see Planning for more about
• Planning (file size 183 KB) preparation guidance, including funding, publicity and event logistics.
• Event Coordination (file size 127 KB) guidance on working with volunteers & artists; participants, including targeted groups.
• Drawing Differently (file size 346 KB) identifies drawing activities, inventive ideas and materials.
• Evaluation & Documentation  (file size 119 KB) guidance on documentation, feedback & evaluation procedures.
• Plus the Drawing Inspiration Awards Application pdf or word; Photography Permission Form pdf; Evaluation Form pdf or word
• Anybody running a drawing event and/or workshops will be interested to know that you can get your hands on discounted drawing materials

The Daler-Rowney Big Draw Starter Pack will be available to buy from 15 September at £150 (worth over £400 at retail).

This year there's more information about the International side of the Big Draw

Several countries are now initiating their own nation-wide or city-wide Big Draw projects. You can take a look at international activity on the Drawing in Action website, including work produced by museum education teams, artists and teachers.

• There is now a a Polish and Hungarian version of this website.

Polska strona Kampanii na rzecz rysowania jest już dostępna na www.wielkierysowanie.wordpress.com/

• Here are the reports from six European partners using drawing to support adult learning.

The Big Draw is sponsored by Daler-Rowney and Cass Art.

The Big Drawing People Book Review

What I'd like to try and do this month is run another drawing book review event like The Big Drawing Book Review which I ran in 2008.  This will involve me in making a big effort to review books about drawing people and I'll inviting others to do likewise in relation to their favourite book about drawing people.  More about this tomorrow......... 

Art Blogs and Art Bloggers

Drawing and sketching

• Liz Steel (Liz and Borrowmini) is coming to her end of her around the world sketching tour of places where she can drink tea - the latest sketches are of Venice and Rome.  If I'm very quick I might just get my sketch of Kew Palace - done sitting next to Liz in Kew Gardens - up on my sketchbook blog before she finishes! ;)

Coloured Pencils and Pastels

• Nicole Caulfield (Nicole Caulfield Fine Art) has been promoting coloured pencils in her local newspaper the Keene Sentinel 
• I had another go at a sketch I've done before last week - see St Pauls from Tate Modern on a grey day on Travels with a Sketchbook in.....

Landscapes
I've been featuring art bloggers this week in The Art of the Landscape's Places to Paint Series.  Check out:

• Places to Paint: Linda Blondheim in Florida
• Places to Paint: Charlene Brown's Rockies
• Places to Paint: Bridget Hunter's West Coast of Scotland

Don't forget to let me know if there is a place you love to paint - but do read this first.

Others whose landscapes caught my eye included

• September On The River by Sarah Wimperis

Painters and Painting

• I loved Duane Keiser's (A Painting a Day) Cobalt Blue that colour is just so WOW!
• It's a different take on Friday Night Class for Cindy Skating at the Edge of Infinity

Art Business and Marketing

• Deborah Secor's Landscapes in Pastels - has reached Chaper 34 - Art Fairs.  It contains lots of practical tips for anybody who has ever considered selling their work at an art fair
• Joanne Mattera (Joanne Mattera Art Bloghas a 'Marketing Mondays' post about The Academic Gallery, Part 1
Artist or Business Person – Can They Be One? from Art Marketing Secrets is a question I've been pondering of late.  I nearly didn't recommend this article as this is a very irritating website which bombards you with pop-ups despite a block on cookies!

Art and the Economy / Art Collectors

• Following Art Over to the Dark Side by Howard L. Rehs on Art Market Monitor illustrates graphically the seamier side of artists, art collectors and museum officials
• Howard L. Rehs also gives his General Thoughts on the Art Market for JustLuxe website for those that want to know more about having an affluent lifestyle
• This is his latest newsletter (October 2010) in which he comments on what NOT to do when visiting an art fair.  This seems to be the source of articles subsequently seen elsewhere.
• This is Art Buying 101 by Tracy Staton from an old edition of the American Way (October 2008) which proposes a set of rules for becoming an art investor.

Art Competitions and Art Societies

Jerwood Drawing Prize 2010 won by Virginia Verran - I'm hoping to get to see this exhibition at the Jerwood Space.  It's nice to see a prestigious drawing prize given to somebody working in Pens on canvas (but could somebody explain to me how that works?)

Art Exhibitions

• Record-breaking Gauguin Restrospective opens at Tate Modern is the first of a number of posts I expect to write about this exhibition.  You can also see
  
  • the review in today's The Observer by Laura Cuming - see Gauguin: Maker of Myth
  • plus Gauguin: Into the mystic by Alan Hollinghurst in The Guardian's Art and Design section
  • Jonathan Jones recently highlighted on his blog a conclusion I came to recently - that our view of Gauguin is far too influenced by Anthony Quinn's portrayal of him as bullying Van Gogh in Lust for Life - which led to 'the ear incident'.  See - Our love for Van Gogh costs Paul Gauguin dear
  • On the BBC iPlayer there is Front Row - Gauguin, Nick Hornby and Terry O'Neill and a Radio4 programme Gauguin: The Right to Dare (a recommended listen - it has some excellent contributions)

An investigation into the life and legacy of Paul Gauguin, the French post-impressionist artist who defied convention in his lifetime and whose work continues to divide opinion.

• Current exhibition listings in the New York Times

Art Education / workshops / Tips and techniques

Deborah Secor (Landscape Painting in Pastels) continues her blog book about Landscape Painting Chapter 33- Criticize your work

Art Museums and Galleries

The theme this week is Museums are changing how they do things.....

• This is absolutely fascinating - ReadWriteWeb has an article about What Do Online Documentation and Museums Have in Common?
• It references The Museum Is Watching You in the Wall Street Journal last month

More museums are paying to send stealth observers through their galleries. Based on what they see, the museums may rearrange art or rewrite the exhibit notes. Their efforts reflect the broader change in the mission of museums: It's no longer enough to hang artfully curated works.

From Picassos to Sarcophagi, Guided by Phone Apps highlights how going to a museum is being transformed by the use of apps (downloaded from iTunes and elsewhere) which guide you round the work in a museum

Art History

Martin Bailey (The Art Newspaper) queries whether Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring should be travelling to Japan.  In A trip too far for Vermeer? he highlights how Girl with a Pearl Earring heads to Japan despite previous problems at Kobe museum.  A Vermeer painting previously exhibited in the same gallery was discovered to have flaking paint on its return.

Colour

James Gurney (Gurney Journey) is still writing about colour and light - prior to the publication of his new book

• Chromatic Shadows, Part 1 looks at the colour of cast shadows (one of my favourite things to draw!)
• In Chromatic Shadows, Part 2 James explains how chromatic shadows are created

Copyright

• "Copyright law needs to be simpler, understandable, and more flexible to change with the times" - so days the Art Law Blog quoting the report of the Copyright Principles Project
• Ever wondered what What Happens to Confiscated Art 'Fakes'?  Read Daniel Grant (The Huffington Post) to find out what happens
• Daniel Grant on what happens to confiscated fakes.
• Jennifer Saranow Schultz (New Tork Times - Bucks Blog) writing about When It’s Illegal to Photograph Artwork
• This is Copyscape - an online free check on infringements of your copyright.  I'm currently developing another resource for artists which is about copyright infringement and am looking for recommendations of software which you've used to check people who have plagiarised your website.  Please leave a comment below if you know of any software you'd like to recommend.

Opinion Poll

On Saturday I posted

• the results of the last month's Making a Mark Poll - see Which numerical performance measure matters most to you as an artist? (RESULTS)
• the new Making A Mark Poll for October - see POLL: What do you do when not being an artist? It's amazing - it only went up yesterday and it's already had more responses than for the poll last month!!  You can find the poll in the usual place in the right hand column - inbetween "for your Information" and above "Bloggers who folllow this blog".

Websites, webware, blogs and tweets

• For those staying alert to the wider context in which are all operate, Wired Magazine has a useful post about 7 Essential Skills You Didn't Learn in College
• Statistical Literacy: Making sense of today’s data-driven world
• Post-State Diplomacy: Power and politics, sans government
• Remix Culture: Samples, mashups, and mixes
• Applied Cognition: The neuroscience you need
• Writing for New Forms: Self-expression in 140 characters
• Waste Studies: Understanding end-to-end economics
• Domestic Tech: How to use the world as your lab
• Only those of us who have already spilt our cups of tea or coffee over their keyboards are allowed to smile at this one (that includes me)! See L-ptop Dis-ste- - yet another useful post by that man again - James Gurney. 
• Feedblitz published an article about how Related Articles Increase RSS Engagement - which is why I use LinkWithin on my blog

and finally........

Next week I'll be waking up on Sunday morning in a rather nice Welsh Castle dating back to 1277 after the wedding of my (almost) neice.  Which means there won't be a Who's made a mark next week.

On the other hand you might find some interesting sketches popping up instead at a later date!

What I'm going to do next is start watching the first episode of The Genius of British Art Power and Personality with David Starkey exploring how royal portraits have influenced Britons' ideas of power and personality. It's on Channel 4 from 7:00pm to 8:00pm.