No sketching allowed? Really?

I'm beginning to find it more than a little tedious that some sketchers are turning into the drawing equivalent of the cyclists who always run the red lights - as if the rules of the road are for everybody else but not for them.

Why such an extreme statement you may say?

Sketching in Art Galleries and Museums

Well the fact is that

1. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen mass confusion and diatribes about what a "no sketching' sign actually means.
2. Yet again somebody has seen fit to be alarmist in a newspaper! (See Oliver Wainwright's article in The Guardian - 'No sketching': V&A signs betray everything the museum stands for).  
3. Yet again we have seen guerilla sketchers on the warpath.

The article has one of the most sensational summaries I've heard in a long time.

No visit should be complete without tripping over a skinny-jeaned student clutching a sketchbook. This draconian diktat denies visitors their art education

I'll give Oliver Wainwright the benefit of the doubt and assume it was written by some sub-editor whose pay is determined by the traffic he generates for articles.  Draconian diktat indeed!

So at this point it seems relevant to post my sketches done in the Victoria and Albert Museum of

• Constable's plein air painting "Boatbuilding near Flatford Mill" done at the V&A in 2011 from my blog post Sketching Constable in the V&A.

My sketch of Constable's "Boatbuilding near Flatford Mill"
11" x 16", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

• ...and my 2007 sketch of Kylie's gold hot pants from the Spinning Around video in 2000 - sketched in the Kylie Minogue: Image of a pop star exhibition

Spinning Around in Gold Hot Pants
from the "Kylie Minogue: Image of a pop star" exhibition
at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2007

Note: My pen and ink sketch is of Kylie's infamous gold lame hotpants from the Spinning Around Video which revealed rather a lot and achieved iconic status as a result. They have been on display - in their very own perspex box - at the Victoria and Albert Museum. I popped in and did a sketch on a recent visit when I went to see the exhibition of her clothes (amazing!).

• plus note my Sketches from Victoria and Albert Museum Sketchcrawl!

The Victoria and Albert Museum Policy on sketching

This is a quotation from the Victoria and Albert Museum website (my underlining)

Photography and sketching
Photography and sketching are permitted throughout most of the Museum, except in our temporary exhibition spaces.

and a policy statement Guidelines for Using the Galleries (which, as it happens, is inaccessible on the V&A's new website - you have to know it exists to find it!) which clearly states

"10. Sketching is not allowed in exhibitions"

So that's about 95+% of the area of the museum and its contents which can be both photographed and sketched! The ONLY areas which are off limits are the temporary exhibitions.

Let me repeat that for all those who scan read and miss the point completely

SKETCHING IS NOT BANNED IN THE MUSEUM - JUST IN THE TEMPORARY EXHIBITIONS

We continue to support and encourage sketching in our seven miles of permanent galleries!

— V&A (@V_and_A) April 24, 2016

As the article recognises - but way beyond the point at which the scan readers will have switched off....

The V&A has been quick to point out that sketching is still welcomed in the rest of the museum, and that the rule only applies to temporary exhibitions

The article makes the point that the David Bowie exhibition at the V&A in 2012 was the breaking point when it came to sketching in exhibitions.

Long queues or sketching?

Urban Sketchers: Gabi Campanario steps down

A major announcement by Gabi Campanario today - he's stepping down from the Board of Urban Sketchers.

Dear fellow urban sketchers,

Since setting up the Urban Sketchers nonprofit in 2009, I've been quite involved with most operational aspects of the organization, from filing government forms and dealing with bank accounts to setting up blogs, organizing events and recruiting volunteers.

As Urban Sketchers has grown and thrived, many others have contributed their time and efforts, and we've built a solid and sustainable nonprofit. That level of shared commitment and belief in our mission is why I feel comfortable that we've reached the point in our natural evolution for the founder to take the back seat. After my term expires in December, I'll no longer be part of the Executive Board.

But I'm not wandering off too far. I have offered to serve on the Advisory Board and plan to continue contributing as a blog editor and correspondent.

I'm very proud of the work we do as a nonprofit, organizing an exhilarating international Symposium every year, promoting workshops and publishing blogs.

It makes a difference in the way people see the world and connect with each other.

I hear it all the time: "Urban Sketchers has changed my life!" people tell me. And I reply the same way: "It has changed mine, too!"

Gratefully and respectfully yours,

gabi

Gabi Campanario has given so very much in terms of time and effort to Urban Sketchers that it seems remiss not to try and mark this change in some way.

Below I've got a timeline - and a few images and links - which those of you who came to Urban Sketchers late in the day may well find interesting, while the rest of us reflect on just how long it has been since Gabi had a very good idea!

Urban Sketchers Timeline - a Gabi perspective

• 2007: Gabi begins the Urban Sketchers story - and creates a Flickr group for those interested in urban sketching.  This is the original group.

In 2007, a global community of urban sketchers began to form when Seattle-based journalist and illustrator Gabriel Campanario created an online forum “for all sketchers out there who love to draw the cities where they live and visit, from the window of their homes, from a cafe, at a park, standing by a street corner... always on location, not from photos or memory.”  Our history

•  2008: The Urban Sketchers blog was set up by Gabi - who invited others to join. I feel very privileged to say I was one of the original 100 who joined Urban Sketchers in the very early days. Here's a link to Gabi's introduction as a correspondent - Meet the correspondents: SEATTLE > Gabi Campanario - dated 29th October 2008. (The following day I was introducing myself!)

I've been really busy!

I've had one of those weeks with lots of different things going on - all of which have contrived to keep me from writing a 'normal' blog post on Making A Mark

However I've learned a few lessons on the way and you can find them below under headings which loosely describe what they are about.

Art Societies in the UK

The new website/blog for Art Societies in the UK
http://www.artsocietiesuk.com

I've published a new blog - called Art Societies in the UK

A comprehensive compendium of art societies in the UK - including information and advice about art society exhibitions, blogs and other activities

but I need to work out why, as yet, it won't produce a feed for Facebook or Feedburner!

It's the first time I've used a "proper" domain name (did you know you can do that in Blogger) as opposed to just having a blogspot one.  I think I've got to go and check all the CNAME settings to make sure I've done them properly!

Anyway - this site resurrects one I originally set up in 2009. However, by putting it on a blog it means I can:

• profile individual art societies
• announce exhibitions around the country
• advice specifically for art societies

You can read what I'm trying to do in Introducing Art Societies in the UK. Esssentially the Pages will hold the static data and the blog posts will communicate new events and information.

I'll be adding in information about the art societies with a geograpical bias outside London as soon as I get a minute.

Do tell me what you think about the NEW way I've presented information about the art societies in Greater London.

Marketing - What do you say about you and your art on your website?

I've started - but not yet finished a blog post about the ING Discerning Eye selected artists. I'm about two thirds way through finding the website links to the artists selected for the ING Discerning Eye - but there's only so much of that task I can do without going cross-eyed! Hence it needs to be done in concentrated bursts!

What I did learn is that there are an amazing number of artists who can't or won't say what they do in one sentence or a couple of lines.

This is a BIG marketing lesson for those who write loads of words but don't provide a succinct summary.

In effect imagine you get in a lift and are getting off at the next floor - that's the amount of time you have for your "elevator pitch" - short and snappy, attractive and accurate - and all about what you do or what your art is or whichever way you want to get people interested in your art.

I ended up writing against one artist's name

lots of words on her website but lacks a succinct summary

So go to your website and imagine you are me and ask your self this question.....

Can you quickly find a neat summary of who you are and what your art is about?

Art Group Exhibitions

I've been fairly preoccupied this week with the preparations for the upcoming exhibition by London Urban Sketchers at the newest branch of the awardwinning Timberyard company - between 2nd November 2015 - 30th April 2016.  See:

• London Urban Sketchers 2015 Exhibition + sketchcrawl
• Call for Entries: Urban Sketchers Exhibition 2015

The biggest challenge has been working out how many pictures you can get on a wall of a specified size - and hence what needs to be the upper limited on the dimensions of framed artwork!

Today I've been drafting the Entry Form and Terms and Conditions which has been 'fun' (!) and trying to strike the right balance between making it short and accessible and at the same time protecting the interests of all parties.

It's been a few years since I last drafted an entry form and terms and conditions page (and interetingly I look each year and it's still in use!). This time I decided to model it on the Mall Galleries Terms and Conditions - which are very informative as to the things to watch out for. Bear in mind every disaster known to art exhibitions will at one time or another have happened  to them - or been headed off by their T&C.

I know I spotted a few new things which are worth having a think about.

I'll be writing a longer post about this on the new art societies blog in due course!

A new way of blogging

I guess the big change I've made in 2015 is I now tending towards having more dedicated blogs. Which is a bit of a risk as it can become easy to neglect them.

I've just posted to Making A Mark Reviews after months of no posts (while I sorted lots of other sites out) - but this was an important one - see Winsor & Newton change watercolour paint tubes - again!

However I'm not finding it all difficult to come up with a post every week to 10 days on Botanical Art and Artists - and this was the quickie I posted this morning Mally Francis is "Remembering Heligan".

There's a lot to be said for quick and informational posts which take no more than 15 minutes to put together.

Urban Sketchers UK - all the events on one page

I've noticed on every London Urban Sketchers sketchcrawl that I've organised that we always seem to get people coming along who are temporarily visiting London.

Plus we also have a large group of people from around the UK (e.g. Oxford, Cambridge, Northampton, Southampton) who regularly come to the sketchcrawls in London

It struck me that maybe other Urban Sketchers groups in the UK and other sketchcrawls run by these groups could also have more visitors if maybe our sketchcrawls got a higher profile and were shared around more.

Example: I'm off to a sketchcrawl at Magdalene College in Cambridge next weekend because I found out about it from somebody who came to our one in London on Sunday!

Especially as all sketchcrawls are FREE and open to all comers!

They are certainly not reserved just for those who belong to a group - and people are welcome to joint the numerous groups around the UK - and we need to get that message out!

So I've decided to run an experiment for the next two-three months.

I've set up a new Facebook Page called Urban Sketchers UK - Events. The aims of the new Page are as follows:

• highlight the Sketchcrawls run on a regular basis around the UK by various Urban Sketchers Groups
• make the number of groups - and how to join them - more accessible to people around the UK and visitors from overseas - see List of Urban Sketchers Groups in the UK (accessible via the Facebook Page)
• highlight official urban sketchers group exhibitions and approved workshops to a wider audience
• if successful - provide support for the people visiting the UK next year for the Urban Sketchers Symposium 2016 in Manchester.  Three of the urban sketchers groups will be supporting the activities of the symposium run by Manchester Urban Sketchers and planning events in their own areas.  They are:
• London Urban Sketchers (which I belong to)
• Birmingham Urban Sketchers and 
• and Urban Sketchers Yorkshire

What's on "Urban Sketchers UK - Events"?

On the new Facebook Page you can

• check out event listings which replicate those in the host group - all in one place (see the events tab on the top menu). They tell you the date, the venue, the timings and what's on offer.
• find out How to set up an event on "Urban Sketchers UK - Events". 

In other words it's just a single point of contact for all the listings.

It's not talking over the events created by the host groups. Indeed no event will be included unless it already has a listing on the host group!

The big question is how to keep it up to date. One of the ways I hope to do this is to get input from "Editors" appointed by the different groups who contribute and update the page for their events as and when required.

But you don't have to be able to use Facebook or set up an event in order to get one listed - you just need to leave a comment on the Page and tell me the link on wherever you post information about your group's sketchcrawls and other events.

Please note I only started this last night(!) and don't yet have all current sketchcrawls on the new Facebook Page - but you can see a sample of them for next weekend below.

UK Urban Sketchers Events - this is what is accessible via the events tab.

Click the link to see event details.

Click the link on that event page and go straight to the host group.

Your input

I'd be very interested in people's comments about this initiative - which took off last night when I wanted to see if I could make it work - and how it could maybe be improved. 

• So far we have c.50 people who like the idea. Will you be one of them?
• What do you think might make it better?

Links: 

• CHECK OUT the urban sketchers groups in the UK! 
• London Urban Sketchers Sketchcrawls - this page on the blog lists the planned sketchcrawls (dates and venues) for the next four months up to the end of 2015

A new exhibition by Urban Sketchers London

You can catch up on my latest exhibition over on my travel sketchbook - see
Urban Sketchers London - new exhibition at Timberyard (Old Street)

Below you can see a video I took this morning - and one of these days I'm going to remember to switch on the HD before I start the video on my iPad Mini!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing all regular readers of Making A Mark 
a Merry Christmas 

and Happy Sketching and Painting in the New Year

Christmas Skating Rink in front of the Natural History Museum, South Kensington
pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook, 11" x 16"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell 

Come back tomorrow to vote in the Poll for the Making A Mark Best Picture of the Year

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10 x 10 Drawing the West End of London

I only found out about 10 x 10 a couple of days ago.  This is a project which enables 100 (ie 10 x 10) of the world's best artists, architects and designers to draw the City of London in order to raise funds for Article 25 - a charity which promotes shelter solutions for those without homes

The 25th article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights asserts that adequate shelter and housing are fundamental to our human rights.

Article 25, the UK organisation, works to enable this right by building solutions to global problems.

Article 25 is an operational UK registered charity that designs, builds, and manages projects to provide better shelter wherever there is disaster, poverty, or need.

This is the second year that they have drawn London - this year they've focused on the West End - which was split into a 10 x 10 grid of squares. (Last year they drew the City of London)

The project focuses on a different area of the city each year, with a grid of 100 squares laid over the chosen area. The resulting squares are then allocated to the participants who create an original artwork based on the buildings and public space within it. These pieces of artwork form a collective snapshot of London from one-hundred personal view points, forming a unique showcase of British architectural heritage.

The Drawing Weekend - which happened this year on 15th September - is when the drawing takes place.  Here's a video of what happened.

These are the participants - I spotted two artists who I recently featured in 'Built" : recording and responding to the construction process - Patricia Cain, ("Soho Construction") Jeanette Barnes (No. 66 Lincoln’s Inn Field).

Jeanette Barnes drawing 66 Lincolns Inn Fields and cranes

Others include

• Norman Ackroyd "Study of September Sunlight"
• Sir Terry Farrell ("Courtyard: Comyn Ching and Comyn Ching"), 
• Lord Norman Foster "The British Museum - A Working Sketch"
• David Gentleman ("St. James’s Square")
• Sir Nicholas Grimshaw (Fitzrovia)
• Zaha Hadid ("Leicester Square")
• and Paul Smith ("360 Degrees")
• as well as an awful lot of architects and designers.

They've been having a public exhibition of the drawings at Somerset House which finished today. I had intended to go and see this but unfortunately missed as my (very wonky) right foot started misbehaving in a major way this morning and it was a struggle just to stay on my feet without falling over!

However you can still see:

• the exhibition of the artwork online until the live auction of 25 selected pieces which takes place at Somerset House at 7pm on 14th November 2012.
• buy the catalogue of the artwork - ordered according to designated square in the grid
• artwork on their Facebook page 10x10 London: Drawing the City

PS I was rather pleased to see that some of the people taking part tend to draw in a way which is not too dissimilar to Urban Sketchers (and Urban Sketchers London)!

15th July 2012: Who's made a mark this week?

I've been reading about and viewing the photos which have been emerging from San Domingo where the Urban Sketchers Symposium was held last week.  Plus Saturday was the worldwide sketchcrawl #36 and many of those who were out sketching also posted their work to the Urban Sketchers blog - this was a very impressive effort 

These are the posts to the urban sketchers blog by Lapin (Lapin - the blog)who was the official reporter for the symposium

• live from santo domingo - usk symposium day 1
• live from santo domingo - usk symposium day 2
• live from santo domingo - usk symposium day 3

You might also want to keep an eye on the blogs of some of the instructors at the symposium namely: Frank Ching Seeing.Thinking.Drawing - this is his post USK Santo Domingo with pictures of the people who attended workshops he ran with Liz Steel (Liz and Borromini) plus the "end of term" photo!  Liz has also posted a huge number of photos on her Flickr account and this is her July archive on Liz and Borromini to date which is packed with posts about the trip - including the two days she was there before the rest of the sketchers started to arrive.

The day before sketches by Liz Steel

Artists and Art Blogs

Urban Sketches - printed, matted, framed, and hung!

Sketches by Katherine Tyrrell hung in The Art of Urban Sketching Exhibition at Foyles

Who's made a mark this week is going to be published tomorrow.  I've been a bit busy yesterday and today converting sketches in sketchbooks into prints, matted and framed and then transported from my kitchen floor - see below - to the wall of The Art of Urban Sketching Exhibition which opens at Foyles tomorrow.

Sketches of London by Katherine Tyrrell
for The Art of Urban Sketching Exhibition at Foyles Bookshop
16-22 July 2012

This exhibition is being held this next week - 16-22 July 2012 - in The Gallery at Foyles, Third Floor, 113-119 Charing Cross Road. Foyles is an independent bookseller who won the prestigious National Bookseller of the Year 2012.  The Charing Cross store is its original and flagship store.

The exhibition is part of:

• the Urban Sketchers London Events Programme relating to the launch of the new book about Urban Sketching by Gabi Campanario and the other Urban Sketchers
• the Foyles Sketching the City Season events programme.

See:

• The Art of Urban Sketching - at Foyles in London on Travels with a Sketchbook for more details.
• The Art of Urban Sketching Exhibition - my contribution for more about the location of the sketches in the above images

Exhibition Poster - in Foyles window fronting Charing Cross Road

There will be a post on Urban Sketchers London with photos of exhibition - including each set of sketches and the correspondent who produced them.

How to produce prints of sketches for an exhibition

Here's the process I used for getting sketches framed for an exhibition

1. First I selected those pen and ink and coloured pencil sketches which looked like they might read across a room 
2. I chose two themes - art galleries and a favourite sketching location - Kew Gardens
3. I scanned or photographed the double page spreads
4. Then converted the image file into a tiff file (lossless compression) - to improve the quality of the printing.
5. I produced a printed version of the image on an A4 page of Somerset Enhanced Velvet (which is a matt paper with some tooth)
6. I had to restate the coloured pencil to get back to the colours and values of the sketches in my sketchbook.  Fortunately the paper is very accepting of coloured pencils
7. I then matted - using Daler Rowney Mountboard in Antique White - and framed them in frames which were either A3 size or 30cm x 40cm
8. They were given a glass clean inside and out before my better half applied the brass mirror plates for screwing the works to the wall of the gallery.
9. Finally many thanks to Nathan Brenville (Tinmouse) who helped me by screwing the frames to the wall. (My right hand doesn't grip too well!)

I'd be interested to know if anybody else has ever tried converting sketchbooks to prints - I'm still umming and erring about the authenticity of the centre fold in my double page spread sketches!

PS Anybody notice the consistent theme to my sketches?