Art of the Real

I'm always interested in the different ways in which artists work together to market their art.

Art of the Real (which also has an art blog also called Art of the Real) is an artistic collaboration between four watercolour artists - two members of the Royal Watercolour Society plus two members of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour.  Together they have developed what I think is a unique project to take realism in watercolour to exhibitions in reputable art galleries around the world.

Art of the Real - the Artists

The artists are

25th March 2012 - Who's made a mark this week?

Spring (published 1570) by Pieter van der Heyden after Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Engraving - Print
Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Spring began this week - and the clocks went back last night in the UK.  We are now officially enjoying British Summer Time!

This week's post has a bit of a "Spring" theme

The above image is in a number of collections. It's a print of an engraving by Pieter van der Heyden after a painting of Spring by Pieter Brueghal the Elder and made shortly after his death.

Over on the Guardian, Jonathan Jones has decided to create a new series of posts about My favourite spring artworks.  To date he's had

• Spring begins with Botticelli - and Rites of spring: Sandro Botticelli's Primavera
• In full bloom: Jeff Koons's Puppy
• One for the road: Camille Pissarro's The Avenue, Sydenham
• Where there's a wall: Francesco del Cossa’s April

Plus The Guardian has another new initiative - Share your art with us - and has asked people to submit their artwork on the theme of Spring

This is a new series dedicated to your art. It was inspired by the extraordinary response we got when we invited you to share your picturescreated using mobile apps.

Here's part of that response - The art of the app: works made on iPads and iPhones - a slideshow of art sent into the Guardian by people who've all been busy creating digital art

This is Share Your Art - Your Pictures so far in relation to the Spring theme.  I'm inclined to side with one person who commented that they didn't think some of them looked much like Spring!  There's also a few "Hockney wannabes" in there.  The gallery uses LiveShare.

I'm also continuing the theme of seasonal landscapes on The Art of the Landscape (I was doing it before Jonathan!) and have kicked off a mix of Spring Landscapes and landscapes associated with the month of March.  There will be a few more this week

• The Louvre, March Mist - Pissaro (Spring Landscape #1)
• Spring Landscape #2 - by Berthe Morisot

I also did my first "Spring" sketch recently - see Travels with a Sketchbook: The Thames at Kew - in March sunshine.

So - over to you.  Do you sketch or paint with a view to making a record of the Season or maybe what the landscape looks like this month?

The Thames at Kew - looking towards Richmond 12 and 15 March 2012
pen and inck and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook, 11" x 16"
© Katherine Tyrrell - all rights reserved

Now for the rest of this week's post

Artists

The most influential people in art? (2010)

Art Review Cover November 2010

According to the 2010 Art Review Power 100 the top ten are:

1. Larry Gagosian - gallerist

2. Hans Ulrich Obrist - curator (#1 in 2009)
3. Iwan Wirth -  gallerist
4. David Zwirner - gallerist
5. Glenn D. Lowry - Museum Director (MOMA)
6. Bice Curiger -  Curator (2011Venice Biennale)
7. Sir Nicholas Serota -  Museum Director (Tate)
8. Eli Broad -  Collector (USA)
9. RoseLee Goldberg -  Curator and Director of Performa (performance art festival not the Apple Mac of the same name!)
10. François Pinault - Collector (France)  (#1 in 2006 and 2007) but actually he owns both Christies and the Haunch of Venison

The Power 100, published each year at this time, is a comprehensive listing of the artworld’s most powerful figures. Entrants are ranked according to a combination of influence over the production of art internationally, sheer financial clout (although in these times that’s no longer such a big factor) and activity in the previous 12 months – criteria which encompass artists, of course, as well as collectors, gallerists and curators. Regular appearances are also made by those who run the major art fairs, by museum and foundation directors, and even by the occasional critic.
The 2010 ArtReview Power 100 - Introduction

This is the ninth year of the list's production.  You can see the full list here - my comments would be that:

• this appears to be an incredibly westernised view of the world  - one might even accuse it of being New York centric.
• It leans very heavily towards the middle men (galleriests/curators) rather than the producers (artists/architects) and the collectors - lest we forget that without those who spend the money there is no art business!).  
• To all intents and purposes, the top of the list looks to me like a total celebration of those who have been spending money on gallery real estate.  A number have opened or are about to open new galleries or are donating money to museums for galleries.  

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Gagosian has opened a new gallery. 

• Collectors made up just 20% of the list in 2008 (the latest figures available on the website) - but where are the Chinese, Russians/Eastern Europeans and the Indians in the 2010 given they've all been been prime movers in the contemporary art world in recent years?  One Chinese collector gets in at #98 but then he does split his time between Beijing and the west!  It makes me wonder what this list would like if produced by a Chinese Art Magazine!
• it's also very heavily biased towards contemporary art rather than art per se.  this list only about the prime movers who influence the nature of and the prices in "the contemporary art market" - which is of course a very different thing to "the art world"! I really don't mind a list being entirely focused on contemporary art but how about a more accurate description to avoid problems with the advertising standards authority? ;)  The Contemporary Art Review Power 100 would seem like a much more appropriate and accurate title for this list - and gets in the brand name and what it's all about in a neat package? :)
• view the lists for previous years here. 

According to the LA perspective 2010 was the year when performance art went mainstream and consequently there are a number of performance artists in the top 100 this year.

I know I might be a complete neanderthal in other people's eyes in terms of my interest in keeping up with the comings and goings in contemporary art world (ie this is very low on my list of priorities!) but I'm just wondering why I only know two names in the top 10 and so very few in the overall list.

UK performance in art

So far as the performance of UK artists/gallerists and curators in this list are concerned:

• Sir Nicholas Serota, the top placed Brit and Director of the Tate, has dropped from #3 to #7
• Jay Jopling, owner of the White Cub has dropped from #14 to #25
• Gavin Brown, a British gallerist in New York is in at #30, virtually unmoved from last year's #32 -however he doesn't yet rate an entry in Wikipedia!
• Matthew Higgs, curator (artist, critic and publisher) ranks at #43.  It does rather seem like to get noticed you need to be based in New York
• Nicholas Logsdail - gallerist ranks at #48 and gets a Wikipedia entry for his Lisson Gallery!
• Sadie Coles - gallerist is at #49 climbing a long way from #84 in 2009, she's now seen as a major player on the London Art Scene
• Damien Hirst is down at #53 which is only a marginal drop from last year when he was #48 but is still an extremely long way from the #1 spot he got in 2008
• Toby Webster is a Glasgow gallerist who apparently dominates the art scene in Scotland's second city is in at #64 and up 30 places from #94 in 2009.  (Which prompts the question of who dominates the art scene in Scotland's first capital or doesn't Edinburgh count in the contemporary art world?)
• Anish Kapoor artist and big mover in British Art in 2010 having come in at 62 when he wasn't even in the list in 2009 and his last entry was #96 in 2006.  He's got it due to the commission for the Olympic site.
• Victoria Miro - a London gallerist comes in at #74
• Where is Charles Saatchi - who topped the very first list in 2002?  He can be found at #81, down from #72 last year 

One has to say there are an awful lot of people ranking above both Hirst and Saatchi!

You can:

• see the power stats here - this analyses the backgrounds of the different people in the list across the years since the list began - but this analysis only goes up to 2008.  I'd love to be able to see what the differences are in this year's list given the fallout from the recession over the last two years.  The most noticeable thing about the 2008 list had been the way that the artists increased in number from 19% in 2007 to 30% in 2008
• read some rather old feature articles about what it's like to be a power in the art world - they have exciting titles ;) like ‘How to Become an Art Brand’, by ArtReview, November 2008
• register to get the entire magazine on your screen, free, here.  One aspect disappoints - although the website says it's available to read online it isn't - they've still got the October edition up!

The Art Top 100 2010?

Of course if you were looking at a real Art Top 100 in 2010 it would look very different. 

I think maybe ArtReview needs to look a bit harder at which are the art museums which really pull in the crowds (see below).  Other lists I've covered in the past on this blog include:

• Making a Mark: The top ten art galleries and museums 2nd March 2010
• Making a Mark: Top 30 art galleries and museums in 2009 8th April 2010 
• Making a Mark: Top 10 Art Exhibitions in the UK in 2009 26th April 2010

What's your FAVOURITE magazine for artists? (results)

A third of artists have subscribed to art magazines in the past but no longer do so,  while many artists now find the content they want online.  International Artist emerged as the favourite art magazine of most artists in the June Making A Mark poll. 

Subscribing to art magazines

The Poll had two parts.  In the first part I asked Do you have a subscription to a magazine for artists? and 68 people responded.  For me, this part of the poll provided the more startling result.

Interestingly it emerged that I am far from alone in my recent decision to let my journal subscriptions lapse.

• 61% have a subscription at present to an art magazine
• while 32% no longer have a subscription but have had one in the past
• only 5% of those responding had never had a subscription to an art magazine

I was quite amazed by these figures.  I'd always assumed that people tend to fall into two groups - those who subscribe and those who don't - and that if you have a tendency to subscribe (as I do) then it would be a big deal to give up a subscription.

I never expected that the figure of those who have "lapsed" would be so high or that it would be about half the figure of those who continued to subscribe.  What I expected was that there would be far more artists who had never ever subscribed.

I'm wondering whether the figures are in any way connected to the rise of the Internet and our access to information online.

• Ten years ago I would not have imagined that I could access the material online for free that I can do today. 
• Five years ago when I started blogging I never imagined that I'd ever give up my subscriptions to art magazines (and I used to subscribe to three). 

I gave up my subscriptions because frankly the content while good was no longer looking good value for money - there was neither enough of it and it wasn't pitched at the right level.  To a certain extent it reflected my feelings about the way that art book publishing has been going - too much dumbed down and too little which told me something new.

At a time when newpapers are having to get digitally switched on in order to survive and the once mighty Times Newspapers have disappeared behind a paywall in order to try and stem their losses one can only wonder what the future holds for art magazines if they can't keep traditional subscribers!

The favourite art magazine

right click to see a larger image

The second part of the poll asked What's your FAVOURITE magazine for artists?  The results are as follows:

• The most popular mazagine for artists is International Artist(18%)
• a significant number of artists now prefer online content to art magazines (13%)
• The top USA based magazine is The Artist's Magazine (15%)
• The top UK based magazine is The Artist (9%)
• Pastel Journal has a very respectable following for a niche interest (11%)

What I find surprising is that there are so many titles and I guess the spread of votes across the different titles provides one of the answers to that.  Whether all are viable in the longer term - within the context of my comments to the first part of the poll - is anybody's guess.  

What was particularly interesting was the percentage of artsist who said they were very happy with the content they found online.

Maybe that's where the two polls connect?  There's fewer artists subscribing to magazines because they're finding what they want online?

It'll be interesting to repeat this poll at some point in the future to see whether this is a trend......

Art magazines in the UK and USA - can you help?

Can you help me please?

I've subscribed to a lot of art magazines and journals in the past and currently subscribe to none .

I'm wondering if others are pondering on subscriptions in the same way as me. I've decided that I want to do an opinion polls(s) about art magazines and journals. To do that, I want to make sure I include all the ones which people who read this blog read on a regular basis.

Three caveats - in relation to where I'm going to draw the line about what's in and what's out of the sample:

• Basically I'm aiming for all the ones typically read by the serious amateur artist, semi-professional and emerging professional artists who major in drawing and/or painting.
• Hence I'm not going to include the very basic ones for complete beginners, or any craft-oriented magazines, or magazines for the very arty farty galleristas or the seriously academic.
• I'm also not including anything which is more generally 'arts' in a generic sense - so if it's got reviews of musc or theatre it gets ruled out.
  

The above is shorthand for the fact that I want to try and include the magazines about drawing and painting which people like me might read - and which are accessible via a good newsagent or online.

So far these are the ones I've got listed. I have to tell you I've subscribed or bought about 80% of these at one time or another in the past.

UK Art Magazines/Journals

• Artist & Illustrators
• Art of England
• Art Monthly
• Art Review
  
• Galleries
  
• Leisure Painter
  
• The Artist
• RA Magazine
• The Art Newspaper
  

USA Art Magazines/Journals

• American Artist
• Art Calendar
• Modern Painters
• Pastel Journal
• Southwest Art
• The Artist's Magazine
• Watercolor
• Watercolor Artist
• Workshop

The one thing I really don't understand at the moment is why so many of the American Art Journals have websites which don't have a good quality links which lead straight to an informative page about the magazine. (I spent some time sussing out some of the links you find above.) Instead so many of them take you straight to a subscription page before you even know what the magazine is about!

Now I don't know whether anybody in the American magazine industry has heard of the quaint notion that you show people what's on offer and describe the benefits before you tell them the price and take the money. It certainly strikes me that a number of the websites could do with a consumer audit.

Now there's a thought..........

Creative Spaces - the National Museums Online Learning Project

one of the nine Creative Spaces websites

The collaboration of nine museums in the UK has led to the birth of the beta version of Creative Spaces, the National Museums Online Learning Project. The aim is to help to help to promote their collections online - and the associated learning which can take place as a result.

The project aims to get partner museum websites better used, engage new audiences and transform the way they think about and use existing digital collections. We have developed a range of innovative and exciting online learning resources across the nine websites for pupils, teachers, and lifelong learners. These resources provide greater access and usage of the museum partners’ online collections, and utilise new technologies to encourage and support user participation.
Royal Armouries - National Museums Online Learning Project

How I've been involved

Way back in February 2007, I was invited by the Victoria and Albert Museum to join a small group of people who were going to help get a new and important national project off the ground. We were in fact the pre-beta guinea pigs for this project! Both project and website have gone through quite a few changes since the first and second versions which I tested and fed back on in 2007.

One of the changes has been a change in name - from Creative Journeys to Creative Spaces.

The notion was that people who were using the museum were on a creative journey. I think it probably became apparent after a while that actually people have quite diverse interests and are used to surfing the web and collecting information as they go. A site which had a linear path-like model would not work as well as one which operated a bit more like a virtual 'cloud' version of the inspiration board that you might find in an artist's studio. That might contain items which form part of a group - or just odd items which you came across on your travels and found stimulating enough to want to keep it accessible.

What does the project provide?

Basically it allows you to search across nine museums and then save any items you like in a virtual notebook. You can also set up a group for any particular interest you may have - and control whether it is public or private and who has access to it.

Search

This - in theory - should be the major benefit of the site. One search item can search across not one but nine different museums.

However there are problems with the search and I assume this has to do with the way museums have got items in their collections named and tagged. Here is the result of a search for "sketchbooks" across the nine sites. My first reaction is very positive - 110 results across nine sites. Until I realise that these are 110 individual sketches (ie not sketchbooks) across only two sites. Missing for example are the 300 Turner sketchbooks which are lodged at the Tate - each of which has a significant number of individual images. So 110 images suddenly looks like a very tiny slice of what is available online.

I then tried again and used "sketchbook" as the search term and this time came up with 1,915 items - with the Tate producing 1,685 items! The problem then is to search within the 1,685 items. In practice it means you pretty much need to know what exists in order to be able to find it.

So I then tried "Sketchbook Turner" which generated 4844 results! At which point I gave up as accessing the Turner sketchbooks via the Tate website is so much easier!

Notebooks

Notebooks are intended to be for your own personal collection of images from the museums or museum visits and can be private or public. They can include notes, links, images, audio and video. Public notebooks can be viewed and commented on by other users.

I started a notebook for botanical art and it was great to see the range of items in different museums which was generated when I then did a search on botanical art. However the best method for searching to get the best and most relevant results is not obvious. Also, it may be my connection but I also found the pace at which I could save items to a notebook to be rather slow.

Groups

Groups are places to share common interests around themes relating to museum items. Again they can include notes, links, images, audio and video. Everyone can see and join a public group, but private groups are only visible and joined by invitation. The "Public, by your approval" type of group means that everyone can see the group, but membership is approved by you.

I've joined a group which is about botanical prints and drawings - but found a little bit later that I couldn't find it again when I searched for botanical art.

Personally I find the ad hoc nature with which items are added to a group to be quite confusing. Particularly when they are added by people who are not used to using tags. As with 'search' it seems to offer scope for a long list which would be very time-consuming to review.

beta phase: One has to remember that this site is still in beta. I think it's fair to say that there are a few problems which need fixing - a number of which relate to how 'search' works and how well items are described. Please bear in mind that as the site is in beta you may encounter bugs which need fixing. You can provide feedback.

What issues still need to be addressed

You can read other people's comments about the Project in these links:

• BBC - The Culture Show - Creative Spaces - identifies issues which need to be addressed in relation to usability
  
• Electronic Museum - Creative Spaces - just…why? - identifies issues which need to be addressed in relation to purpose, design and level of functionality
  
• Creative Spaces: Museum Social Not working? - identifies issues which need to be addressed, particularly why museums thought people would like another social networking site.
  
• and a number of posts on Past Thinking - including Creative Spaces - some more thoughts basically supportive of the idea but also identifies issues which need to be addressed
• I gather the debate within the email discussion list of the Museum Computer Group was wide-ranging and to the point. I think that maybe museum professionals ought to ask themselves why the debate isn't taking place amongst museum users.

I think we share similar perspectives.

It's good to see the project up and running in public. It's also good to be able to talk about it at last. It certainly has the potential to be a positive addition to online learning resources.

However I still have some reservations about the basic model and some of the principles which underpin it. I'm also not sure how much I want to experiment with it at the moment given the current level of functionality. That's not to say other people won't enjoy using it and get a lot out of it.

Design: The design is much improved and now has much more of a web 2.0 feel than the early designs. However there is scope to improve it further in terms of design and usability. However the important issue is 'why' would people use this site and how might they use it in relation to other sites they also use. Mike Ellis (Electronic Museum) who used to be the Head of Web for the National Museum of Science and Industry, UK has pretty much summed up my views on this topic in Creative Spaces - just…why? and I'd certainly endorse his views. (Plus I'd just note that I've had an about museum online projects just by finding his blog in a google search and then following some of his links!)

My initial issue with this project was about why would I want to write another blog about my experiences of researching stuff in museums when I have one already. My issue now is that I want the ability to access and incorporate stuff from the museums easily into my blog (or my school project submission if I was a school kid or my research dissertation if a University student). It's far from clear whether that is possible or encouraged.

Access: I find one aspect of the way that the project has been set up to be very odd. The reality is that there is no one gateway site into the project. There are nine completely independent sites which all share infrastructure and software and operate independently. I gather this constraint was imposed by the museums and I guess getting complete co-operation between nine museums on sharing costs for a joint gateway site was maybe a step too far.

I think it's a huge pity as obviously it's a lot easier to promote one URL for one gateway site (which then provides a link to nine separate and independent sites) to the schools and general public then nine different sites with nine different website addresses!

I looked to see how the project was highlighted on the different websites - which was generally variable and very poor in some instances. I'm not quite sure how a beta project can be assessed if it is invisible to the public.

• British Museum - (creative spaces website) No obvious link to the Creative Spaces project visible on the home page. It also wasn't visible on the home pages of the Research or the Learning home pages. In practice I couldn't find a link!
  
• Imperial War Museum - (creative spaces website) No obvious link to the Creative Spaces project visible on the home page. Link and explanation visible on the Learning page
  
• Natural History Museum - (creative spaces website) No obvious link to the Creative Spaces project visible on the home page. Link visible on the home page for the Learning Section.
  
• National Portrait Gallery - (creative spaces website) Link - but no explanation - visible on the home page. Repeated on the Learning page - still with no explanation!
  
• Royal Armouries - (creative spaces website) No link on the home page. Learning page has a link to the National Museums Online Learning Project - which in turn has a complete page explaining the project.
  
• Sir John Soane's Museum - (creative spaces website) No visible link to the project
  
• Tate - (creative spaces website) No link on the home page. No link on the Learn Online page or so far as I could see anywhere on the site.
  
• Victoria and Albert Museum - (creative spaces website) No link on the Home Page, in the Education section or the Research Centre or on the Collections page.
  
• Wallace Collection - (creative spaces website) - Link (but no explanation) on the Home Page.
  

Noticeable by their absence from the group are the Science Museum, National Gallery and the National Galleries of Scotland.

Oddly enough I also have to go to Google to get both a list of the museums websites and the individual creative spaces websites! For some reason the beta site does not list the participating museums or their websites or their creative spaces websites. More comments about access below.

Plain English: If museums expect children to use the website then the terms and conditions need to be written in Plain English at a level that an eight year old can understand. At present they're not. There's a best practice standard which can and should be used for all government funded websites and that's the Plain English campaign's Crystal Mark. Terms and conditions need to written in such a way that they are accessible as well as keep the lawyers happy.

Copyright: Portability is the other big issue. Until the museums sort this aspect out I don't think this project will take off. I'd like to see the portability of images clarified in relation to copyright - in plain English. What's required is acceptance by all the participating museums that it's OK to provide a web sized and pixel constrained image of an item without causing the museum's income to crash! The reality is that most of the items in museums are well out of copyright and the museums are also funded by the taxpayers money. It would really help online learning and education if it's made more explicit that it's OK to use small (in pixel terms) images available online in places other than the Creative Spaces website. 72dpi images of a reasonable size (eg 500-600 pixels) are never going to undermine the giclee printing sideline of any museum!

Thanks

Finally, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Anne Fay, the Adult Courses Manager (Learning & Interpretation) at the Victoria and Albert Museum and Carolyn Royston the Project Manager for being given the opportunity to contribute to this project at the very beginning. They've both become very familiar with my my views about the pros and cons of this project! I know some of the issues I've raised in the past and present have been addressed and that others are still being addressed - and I'm grateful for the opportunity I was given to add my perspective. I look forward to seeing how the site continues to progress in terms of both design and funtionality.

Overall, although I still have a number of reservations about how this site is designed and operates I am in no doubt whatsoever that something is required which enhances access to museum collections and the online experience of lifelong learners. Like most major IT projects, the outcome you're seeking to achieve rarely arrives first time or comes fast. Perseverance - and the input of user views - is what will help this project get there in the end.

Links:

• Creative Spaces - the National Museums Online Learning Project (still waiting for one simple URL!)
• Creative Spaces on Facebook
  

Your favourite art books - what you like

This is for people who read art instruction books and those who write and publish them. Plus any would-be authors out there. It's grown out of the views expressed about art instruction books in the comments made on two posts last week, namely

• Art Instruction Books #1: different ways of learning
• Art Books #2 - the economics of publishing

This posts focuses on books you like and why you like them and the characteristics of a good art book for those wanting to develop both knowledge and skills.

It's not based on a scientific survey - in fact it didn't even set out to be a survey! However since the two posts generated such a lot of thoughtful feedback it seems a pity not to try and identify the common themes - which is what I've done below.

I've split views into:

• your favourite art books - ones which you've found very helpful
• why you buy and read art books
• characteristics of a good art book
• TOMORROW - what sort of books are missing from our art bookshelves

The quotations come from people who commented on my posts.

Do feel free to discuss any conclusions I've drawn.

Ecology Park Ponds Series #4 - 26th December 2008

The Willows across Moor Hen Pond
10" x 14", coloured pencils on Arches HP
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Your favourite art books

I asked:

• Do you have a favourite art book?
  
• Is there one book which had a huge impact on you and your work?

What you said follows. The number after each book is the number of people who mentioned it.

The outright winner of "most popular art book" is Betty Edwards's Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain which most people seem to have read in the original edition.

Drawing and sketching

• Betty Edward - The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (7)

Betty Edwards Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain was the most exciting art instruction book I ever read--she had me do actual drawing, and learning how to see was intrinsic to her instruction, and I could transfer that to any drawing, not just an example one.

The best book on the planet packed with tricks, tips, and techniques to learn how to draw, or improve your drawing skills.

Betty Edward's book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain did an excellent job of explaining to new artists how an artist sees.

• Bert Dodson - Keys to Drawing (2)
  

I also love that (Keys to Drawing) book for his drawings. None of this "must be flawless" stuff in there - just excellent renderings with lots of feeling. Love them!

• Danny Gregory - Creative License, The: Giving Yourself Permission to Be The Artist You Truly Are (2)
  

It absolutely convinced me to pick up a pen and start drawing, fearlessly. I keep reading it, over and over. It's like having my own personal art coach in a book. I can't say enough about it.

• Andrew Loomis books (3) how to draw books
  
• George Bridgman (1) anatomical studies
• Famous Artists' Course - see official website (1)
  
• Russ Stutler - Book about Sketching (available online for free) (1)
• Sarah Simblet - The Sketch Book for the Artist (1)
• Lucy Watson - The Artist’s Sketchbook (1)
• Clare Walker Leslie - Nature Drawing: A Tool for Learning (1)
  

Colour

• Betty Edwards - Color: A Course in Mastering the Art of Mixing Colors (1)
• Michael Crespo - Watercolour Class (1)
  
• Jeanne Dobie - Making Color Sing (1)
• Johannes Itten - The Art of Color: The Subjective Experience and Objective Rationale of Color (out of print? / unavailable except as second hand copies?) (1)

Composition

• Dan McCaw - A Proven Strategy for Creating Great Art (1) - which also has a lot of reviews on Amazon (click the link)
• Ted Seth Jacobs - Light for the Artist (1)

Genre

• John F. Carlson - Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting (3)

Media

• Bill Creevy - The Oil Painting Book: Materials and Techniques for Today's Artist (Watson-Guptill Materials and Techniques) (1)
• Emile A. Gruppe - Gruppe on Painting: Direct Techniques in Oil (1) other books mentioned are out of print
  
• Rheni Tauchid - The New Acrylics: Complete Guide to the New Generation of Acrylic Paints (1)
  
• Nancy Reyner - Acrylic Revolution: New Tricks and Techniques for Working with the World's Most Versatile Medium (1)
  
• David Dewey - The Watercolor Book: Materials and Techniques for Today's Artist (1)
• Shirley Trevena - Taking Risks with Watercolour and Vibrant Watercolours (1)
• John Blockley - books (1)
  
• Cathy Johnson - watercolour books (2) - plus Flickr pages and CDs (1)
• You Tube videos and others - free demonstrations (1)
• Charles Reid - videos/DVDs (1)
  
• Resources for Artists websites (1)

I think all of us benefit from the websites and blogs that are out there. They have inspired me to work at sketching and painting more than ever before.

Being an artist

• Nita Leland - The New Creative Artist (2)
• Julia Cameron - The Artist's Way (1)
• Alfred C. Chadbourn - Painting With a Fresh Eye (1)

Artists

• Burton Silverman - books (1)
  

Why you buy and read art books

These are the common reasons why people buy art books

• I live in a remote area and get knowledge, ideas and stimulation from art instruction books
  
• I read art books to find out how an artist creates their work
  
• I read art books to find out HOW a process works
  
• I don't take instruction well and prefer art instruction books
  
• I get stimulation from the images
  
• I but art books (rather than e-books) because I can read them in bed
  

I was addicted to art instruction books for years, but have since found a much better, much more personalised and in-depth source of art instruction and inspiration right at my fingertips: art blogs.

Characteristics of a good art instruction book

You said what you liked to find in art instruction books. Obviously I'm summarising a number of perspectives here so not all views will be shared by everyone.

Comments in italics are asides by me.

In summary art instruction books should be:

• by an artist whose work is an inspiration - if the art does not inspire then you probably won't want to look at the book - the eye must be delighted. (If I don't like the art then the book goes straight back on the shelf - I don't care how good they are as an instructor - I don't want to hurt my eyes)
  
• stimulating / full of good quality images - really good images of excellent artwork are always a hook. No poor or yawnworthy work allowed. Images need to be excellent both in terms of the photography and the competence of the artist. (I cannot tell you how many art books I've looked at where I immediately replaced them on the shelves as the artist was not competent in the use of a particular medium. I call these the 'jobbing books' - an artist gets asked to provide images and instruction irrespective of their credibility in the use of that medium)
  
• generous in sharing a wealth of good information
  
• well-structured: the content is structured to create a series of topics which enable the information provided to flow in a logical way from chapter to chapter
• well written text - precise in explaining all step by step processes for all the stages plus high resolution photographs (if you're going to do step by step do them in an informative way!) (It made me wonder whether authors are given instruction on how to write and nature and the quality of the input that people like to see in an art instruction book. )
• articulate WHY artists paint as they do
• what the artist's motivation is to paint that particular subject matter
  
• how the artist see the subject - in perceptual terms and mind's eye
  
• why the artist chooses to highlight certain aspects
• why the artist paints in one way rather than another
• what are the influences on the artist's work
• inclusive of images of students' work
• AVOID providing the same basic information about materials in all art instruction books except the most advanced (let's assume that we've found that in another book!)
  

Since almost every book seems to have a chapter on materials (and I get really sick of reading them) why not put that chapter at the end?

• AVOID the 'one trick pony' approach and do NOT try to persuade the reader that there is only way of working

_______________

TOMORROW - check back to find out "What sort of art book is missing from our shelves?"

This will identify the characteristics of the book which people are asking for.

_______________
Links:

The following contain links to my information sites dedicated art books.

The Big Drawing Book Review - Resources for Artists

This lens supports The Big Drawing Book Review on my blog. I started this in support of the Big Draw month (October 2007) which is co-ordinated by the Drawing Campaign. It covers books:

• for people wanting to learn to draw
• about creativity and creative drawing
• about drawing at an advanced level, for people wanting to develop their drawing skills
• for those wanting to learn about drawing by masters through the ages
• about specific drawing techniqes
• about using a sketchbook
• about drawing materials

Colour - Art Book Reviews for Artists

This site identifies leading art books about colour and includes art book reviews - for books about understanding colour, using colour, mixing colour. It was created out of The Colour Project on Making A Mark and is linked to t's linked to: (1) Colour - Resources for Artists ;
(2)Colour science, systems and models - Resources for Artists.

Botanical Art - Art Book Reviews for Artists

Find a review of the botanical art book you've been thinking about buying. On this site you'll find my book reviews, first published on my blog Making A Mark plus reviews by other people (in due course).

Blogging Art in 2008 - A Review (Part 1)

At the end of 2006 and again in 2007 I did a review of blogging art in the previous 12 months. This post is the beginning of my Review of Art in 2008 which comprises:

• Part 1 (this post) which focuses on the specific blogging practices of artists and illustrators in 2008
  
• Part 2 which this year changes to being more about the current economic context for the online artist and the wider perspective of art on the internet.
  

As before I'm going to try and divide my observations into three parts:

• what has stayed the same in 2008
  
• what has changed in 2008
• the scope for improvement in 2009
  
• a few predictions about blogging art in 2009

In doing so I'll be also be highlighting and checking back on my predictions for 2008.

BLOGGING ART IN 2008: What has stayed the same?

Blogs are pervasive and influential - The main message is that blogging continues to be pervasive and the art and illustrated blog continues to be an important channel of communication for the online artist.

Despite any amount of twittering to the contrary, blogging has not died although blogs continue to start and die-off on a regular basis as they always have done. Besides being pervasive, blogging is also influential. Blogging after all probably changed the course of the American Election!

In June 2008, Technorati was indexing 112.8 million blogs, compared to the 30 million blogs which were around when I started 3 years ago. However both numbers contain a lot of 'archived' blogs.

It's more relevant to look at the numbers relating to recent posts - see the graphic (right) produced by Technorati for its report on the State of the Blogosphere / 2008. (see the end for more links to the rest of the report)

(I'm pleased to say that this blog now has a Technorati authority of 187 and is ranked at no. 20,478 in the world!)

It's very difficult to work out how many art blogs there are out there, not least because there are so many blogs out there which categorise themselves as art when they're not.

Ongoing themes As one might expect, a number of previously identified 'themes' are still current

• Art blogs are still started with good intentions and/or a 'good idea' and are then abandoned within the first 3 months of life. However my impression is that this is now happening much less often than in the past. Maybe because those who are impulsive have been and gone and/or because blogging is no longer the latest craze - those following what is fashionable have moved on to other things?
  
• New art and illustrated blogs don't find it easy to get noticed by potential readers. In the past, this related to the lack of good quality directories. However to really get noticed, you still can't beat getting out and reading and commenting on other people's art blogs. I always take a look at a blog if I get a comment from somebody who is new to me. Plus, of course....
  
• If you like the art, chances are you’ll like the contents of the blogroll -self-explanatory really. Plus the next best way to get noticed is to appear in somebody else's blogroll. Share the blogs you like to read and the art you like to look at.
  
• Blogging art = improved art - the more you practice the better you get. One doesn't need to look far to see stories about the benefits of daily painting for example.

BLOGGING ART in 2008: What has changed?

This section highlights my perspective on what changed in 2008. Those which involved my predictions are prefaced by '2008 PREDICTION'. Even if I say so myself, the majority of them were accurate! I've commented below on what transpired. Also included below are other major changes in 2008

Generic - Reading blogs is now more popular. As the Internet becomes much more part of normal life for many people, there are more and more people now reading blogs. There are also many more blog readers than there are bloggers. In March this year, it was estimated that 77% of active internet users read blogs.

The implication for artists is all about content. Thinking about what you are saying is as important as thinking about what you are displaying. How do you add value to people's lives? How does your content help you to relate to your readers? I know I greatly appreciate the comments I get that suggest that my 'who's made a mark this week' post each Sunday is looked forward to as much as the Sunday Papers!

Generic - The definition of what is "a blog" is beginning to blur. As Seth Godin noted (see Death of the personal blog?), independent author bloggers are getting squeezed out of the lists of 'top blogs' as blogging has become a business and high ranking is only achieved through frequent posts produced by a team of bloggers.

In generic terms and other sectors, blogs and blog authors are linking up and/or amalgamating in order to syndicate their content and attract advertising revenue. Some blogs also recruit and pay additional authors to spread the load as monetisation permits. Blogs on corporate sites are actually run by the staff (only) and may or may not represent independent views. In overall terms some blogs are beginning to 'morph' into something that looks much more like a newspaper or magazine or mainstream corporate website. This means they now look much less like the original concept of a blog. Most of these developments have had a very limited impact on art blogs to date although there are signs of creeping corporatism and monetisation.

I guess at the end of the day it's all a question of taste and whether you prefer a multi-author journal type of approach or the output of a single independent artist/author.

As Seth suggests, there's probably room for both approaches - but there is a need for separate lists, otherwise as he suggests it's like comparing newspapers and books! Just for the record, I anticipate this blog remaining entirely independent and advertisement free for the foreseeable future!

Generic - Microblogging platforms - like Twitter - proliferated in 2008. Twitter is the most popular and yet it has still to identify a long-run business model to support its continued existence. I'm not yet persuaded that micro-blogging is of critical importance to online art and for me the jury is out on the cost-effectiveness of social messaging. But then I'm not a great user of mobile phones either!

Generic - podcasts aligned with blogs became more popular in 2008. Podcasts have been around longer and are now pretty universal in relation to a number of topic areas. Again I'm not persuaded that they are of critical importance to the art blogger - although I've very much enjoyed podcasts created by major art galleries in relation to art exhibitions.

2008 PREDICTION: Fewer new art blogs than in the past. I think I was right about this prediction. My notion was that the sort of person who starts blogging and then gives up quickly was more likely to participate in the interactive communities in 2008. It's not possible to do any sort of count but my impression is that there have been fewer new art blogs in 2008 compared to 2006 and 2007. However, I didn't anticipate what sort of impact the credit crunch might have on new blogs....

2008 PREDICTION: The credit crunch will have a significant impact on the art market and what gets blogged by those marketing their art online. There was some considerable debate back in January 2008 when I started writing about how the state of the economy and the coming recession were was going to impact on the art market. Mostly, it was about people not thinking that a recession would happen to them. As we now know we have got a global recession. More about this tomorrow. The interesting aspect for blogging has been that it has generated more blogs by artists who have realised that they need to diversify and strengthen all their channels of communication in order to address the rigours of the current marketplace.

2008 PREDICTION: More experienced bloggers giving up on blogging as blog fatigue sets in. Fewer people gave up than I thought might do. Instead, what we've seen are some long term bloggers beginning to ratchet back on their frequency of posting and/or now have people helping them out with their blogs.

The issue of pacing oneself still seems to be one that taxes us - and that applies to the production of art as much as it does to blogging. For some people, fewer blog posts were associated with times when they needed to take a break from their art. However I think other projects and in particular other ways of using the internet for art have also represented a positive diversion from blogging.

Overall, I think more experienced artists who are using blogs as part of their art business marketing now understand that they are an important channel of communication and that blog output can usefully be planned, paced and managed in a business-like way.

2008 PREDICTION: Art/illustration communities on places like Flickr becoming more active. This was based on the notion that this would happen as more and more people realise that Flickr now accepts images of artwork as well as reference photos. It's certainly the case that group art blogs are now emerging out of galleries and communities of interest on Flickr. For a number of people they prefer the communities on places like Flickr to the more conventional art forums and/or other social networks.

Art Directories are improving - at long last. My complaint for the last two years has been that blog attrition, spam activity and poor categorisation seriously affected the quality of directories of art and illustrated blogs. The most impressive Art Directory I came across in 2008 is Blogged mainly because it is moderated by people and also provides scope for individuals to write reviews of and rate different blogs. It still could do with a 'weed' to exclude more general blogs but it's getting there.

Tagging is now more or less universal - with more artists understanding how tags/labels/categories help people find their work. However there is scope for improvement - see below.

Blogging around communities of interest has emerged as an important new dynamic in 2008. What follows are examples of ways in which blogs are being used for communities of interest.

Communities of interest are people who are linking together to create sites which provide:

• a joint focus for their efforts,
• a chance to talk with like-minded people or people with a similar interest
  
• an increased chance of getting a profile for their art and for people to get to know about their blogs, and
  
• for some, a better chance of selling their art.

Making art and selling art - communities of interest for artists

Team blogging has emerged as a popular form of blogging in the latter half of 2008. It's a very useful way of blogging about a specific subject and/or group projects which are also becoming much more prevalent. In a way this is the voluntary and co-operative version of the corporate and commercial team approaches to blogging highlighted above.

What's interesting about collaborative team blogging is how members are chosen and how boundaries for activities get defined. I'll continue to return to this theme tomorrow and in 2009 as I'm expecting it to be an important aspect to online art and blogging in 2009

2008 PREDICTION: More art societies embracing blogging in place of or as well as regular newsletters. The notion I had was that art societies would realise that they could enhance their green' credentials (never a bad thing) and more importantly save both money and volunteer time stuffing/stamping envelopes if they used the internet more. While it's true that more art societies (and branches/chapters of art societies) have now got blogs it's still the case that this is an area where many art societies lack knowledge, skills and capacity.

The critical question which art societies will need to be address in what will be a very challenging and difficult year is whether art societies now need to review their role and revise their overall approach towards supporting the activities of their members. More about this tomorrow.

2008 PREDICTION: More art tutors will begin to use blogs to communicate effectively about their art holidays and workshops. This continues to develop - although it's not taken off in the way I anticipated. Interestingly those tutors who have been doing this for a while are getting better at it. Photos are being used to display both the sorts of places visited and painted and also the sort of people who attend such workshops. It all helps with the buying decision!

Even more interesting for the tutors is that the workshop students are also doing rather well if not better than the tutors at explaining about the workshops they've been on! While it's great when you have a satisfied student, tutors need to beware the disenchanted student! I've read at least one account by a very dissatisfied student this year - which will probably crop up every time somebody searches on that tutor's name.

BLOGGING ART in 2008: What did not change?

Some of my predictions were less accurate in terms of the pace of change. Or maybe I was just too optimistic about the time needed to make changes?

Continued development of video-blogging

Use of video is now extensive across the internet. There has been some further development in relation to art but I've seen fewer videos on art blogs than I was expecting. This has resulted in fewer "who's made a mark his week" weekly posts that include links to good quality videos. Most of the really good ones were made by museums and art galleries. My guess is that this is an area where more bloggers need to some specific 'how to' advice and guidance before they start posting stages of a work in progress for example. I have to confess my new mini tripod for table top videos has stayed in its box!

However I've seen a lot of simple but good slideshows this year! Maybe that's the way forward for the static picture.

New corporate blogs introduced by companies marketing art materials to artists and illustrators.

Interestingly, blogging has not taken off at all in the art supplies world - which I find really surprising. There's lots of scope for supplies companies to use the artists they sponsor to illustrate how new products can be used.

However within the corporate art journal community, American Artist has now joined the F&W blogs which set up in 2007 and all of seem excited about video-blogging and new ways to try and sell training DVDs/downloads!

BLOGGING ART in 2009: Room for improvement

For those bloggers who see their blog as an important part of their marketing activities in 2009, area where bloggers could improve their approach and enhance the impact of their blog include:

• a more managed approach to content delivery How you approach this really depends on what you want your blog to do. If you want to use it to relate to potential customers and/or galleries then it's probably a very good idea think about what you say and how you say it in terms of your blog being the virtual equivalent of a Private View or an interview with a Gallery owner. Similarly, writing just a few words about what a painting is about or how it came about is always much appreciated.
  
• Smart marketing There are lots of indications that people don't think too much about how their tags 'fit' with keywords relating to their art. Those who are getting smarter at marketing their art are also getting better at tagging/labelling their art so that it fits with keywords they'd like to become associated with. Tags are also useful for 'branding' if your site has a clear identity. Words in blog post titles are a bit like 'meta tags' - they're very important to browser searches.
  

BLOGGING ART in 2009: a few predictions

I'm going to be writing more about art on the internet and within the economy tomorrow and a number my prediction relate to that and my analysis of how things will change.

Here's a taster. I'm expecting that:

• The concept of collaboration will be very influential in 2009. The trend towards blogging around communities of artistic interest will expand. I'm expecting the self-help agenda to be influential in 2009. When the going gets tough, company brings comfort. Art societies, artists within a locality, artists selling art within a genre and others will begin to appreciate the value of working together in a co-operative fashion. I'm expecting that will include appreciating the value of blogging together to raise artists' profiles and sell art.
• Corporate commercial blogging related to art will ultimately depend on finances. Paying somebody to blog ultimately depends on the cost/benefit analysis. Commercial operations will find they have to adjust their cost profiles as the recession hits home. Artists, like everybody else, will be cutting back on their retail spend. Advertising in print publications is already drying up. Advertising on the internet is bound to take a hit as well and major internet companies are already cutting costs. Hence corporate blogging will need to become very slick and beneficial to artists or it will also face a cut.
• Art blogs will see an emphasis on sharing experiences. I'd expect to see lots of sharing of experience between bloggers as we have seen already. Life is going to be very tough in 2009 and free tips will be very welcome.
• Professional artists will lick their art blogs into the best shape possible. Those who generate income from their art will want to maximise the potential of their blogs and the way it can generate traffic for their stores, galleries and places where they are selling art.

_______________

So - what do YOU think about my review of art blogging in 2008. Do you agree or disagree with my analysis or conclusions?

TOMORROW - I review what's happened to art online and how the overall economy is having an impact on the online artist and art blogger.

Links: Past Reviews of Blogging Art on Making A Mark

• Blogging Art in 2006 - A Review (Part 1)
• Blogging Art in 2007 - A Review (Part 1)
• Technorati - State of the Blogosphere / 2008
• Day 1: Who Are the Bloggers?
• Day 2: The What And Why of Blogging
• Day 3: The How of Blogging
• Day 4: Blogging For Profit
• Day 5: Brands Enter The Blogosphere

Call for entries to The 10th Annual Pastel 100

The call for entries for the 10th Pastel 100 competition has been published! I've lost track of whether this is the

• Pastel 100 2008 because the deadline is 1st September 2008
  
• or the Pastel 100 2009 because the results are announced in April 2009

The Pastel Journal is an American magazine and I think the work which has achieved Pastel 100 status in the past has been done overwhelmingly by American artists. It certainly provides an excellent insight into pastel painting in the USA. It'll be interesting to see whether the increasingly active presence of the Pastel Journal online - in blog and website and forum terms will generate a more international entry this year.

The Pastel Journal
April edition 2008

You can read my blog posts about previous Pastel 100s:

• 9th Pastel 100 - The 9th Annual Pastel 100 (19th March 2008) - see right
  
• 8th Pastel 100 -The Pastel Journal and the Annual Pastel 100 Competition (1st April 2007)
• 7th Pastel 100 -The 2005 Pastel 100 competition (20th April 2006)

Prizes: As always there are significant cash prizes being awarded by the sponsors plus a major product-oriented prize. I gather that this year there is more cash on offer than ever before.

• $5,000 Jack Richeson/Unison Pastels Best of Show Award
• a product oriented award - Ruth Richeson/Unison Pastels Award, featuring a 402-piece set of Unison Pastels— worth $2,067, plus 750 worth of Richeson Co. products!
• $2,500 The Pastel Journal Grand Prize
• $1,500 The Art Spirit Foundation/Dianne B. Bernhard Gold Medal Award for Excellence
• $1,000 The Art Spirit Foundation/Dianne B. Bernhard Silver Medal Award for Excellence
• Plus cash awards in each of the 5 categories:
  5 First Place Awards: $500 each
  5 Second Place Awards: $250 each
  5 Third Place Awards: $150 each
  5 Fourth Place Awards: $100 each
  5 Fifth Place Awards: $50 each

All top prize winners will be featured in the April 2009 issue of The Pastel Journal. In addition there will be 70 Honourable Mentions - to make up the Pastel 100.

I'm not sure what the odds are - but back in 2005 my blog post records that there were some 4,000 entries. It would be interesting to know whether that figure has increased or stayed the same.

Judges

Entries will be prejudged and then finalists will be chosen by the magazine staff. Award winners and honorable mentions will be selected by the jurors named above. All properly prepared entries will be viewed and judged. The jurors and editors reserve the right to recategorize the entries.
Pastel 100 Competition - Call for Entries

Judges this year are detailed below and you can find descriptions on them in the Pastel 100 Call for Entries. Note that although it is a panel of judges, they seem to be operating on the basis of only one judge per category with presumably some consultation in relation to the top prizes.

At this stage of a competition I always take a jolly good look at juror's websites. After all a lot of what judging is about is very often down to personal preferences - a work which can't even get juried into one show might win the top prize in another! Below you can find my summary of what I found from the website review.

• Landscape & Interior—juried by Lorenzo Chavez (www.lorenzochavez.com) - a very committed plein air pastelist with a lot of splendid pastel landscapes on his website. Plus I love it when people include their pastel workshop supply list!
• Portrait & Figure—juried by Desmond O'Hagan (www.desmondohagan.com) a painter who is very interested in figurative work and who is described as painting in pastels and oils - although at a rough estimate (based on a lot of 'clicking') I'd say 80% of his work is in oils - as is all his gallery work.
• Still Life & Floral—juried by Christina Debarry (www.debarrystudioarts.com) - is an award winning pastel artist and teacher. She has juried for many art societies and prizes in the past and is a past President Emeritus of the Pastel Society of America (1998-2001). I couldn't find website links to recent paintings or workshops.
  
• Animal & Wildlife—juried by Dustin Van Wechel (www.dustinvanwechel.com) - a prizewinning nature artist and a signature member of both the Society of Animal Artists and the Pastel Society of America. He has a number of excellent pastel works in his archive but now seems to work mainly in oils.
• Abstract & Non-Objective—juried by Frank Federico (www.frankfederico.com) an artist whose website suggests he likes colour and works in a variety of media. I'd say his emphasis is on abstracting from reality and pushing the boundaries on colour.
  

While it's perfectly normal for artists to work in more than one medium (eg Albert Handell - juror for the 7th Pastel 100), I did find it rather odd that there weren't more jurors who are currently actively painting painting in pastels. I'd be interested in your comments on my take of 'personal preferences' and whether or not judges should be actively painting in the medium they are judging especially when they are the sole juror for category prizes.

How to enter: You can enter work in any and all of the categories; there is no limit to the number of entries.You may submit your entry online or via mail using:

• either 35mm slides (non-returnable - postal mail only) Odd-sized, glass or metal slide frames will not be accepted.
• or digital files on a CD (non-returnable -postal mail only)
• or digital files submitted via the online entry process - review the online submission guidelines and then use the online entry form

Digital Image files cannot exceed 500KB or a height or width greater than 800 pixels. The file format must be JPEG.

All entries are $12.50 per slide or image with a $10 for all returned checks or declined credit cards. All entries must include a properly completed official entry form. Incomplete entry forms and information sheets, and improperly marked slides or CDs will be disqualified.

Overview of Rules and Submission: Below you can find links to

• An overview of the rules of submission in the Call For Entries.
  
• The answers to the FAQs about the Pastel 100
  

Rules for eligible works include - which means 'read the rest of the small print too! ;)

• Artists must be age 16 or over.
  
• Work must be at least 80% soft pastel; no oil pastel. Nupastels and other "harder" pastels are considered soft pastels.
  
• The contest is open to artists in the U.S. and abroad.
  
• All works must be original. Compositions based on published material or other artists' work are NOT considered original and are not eligible.
  
• Paintings executed in a workshop under another artist's supervision or paintings based on another person's photograph (even if copyright-free) are NOT eligible.
• Work previously published at the time of submission to this contest in any national publication or receiving an award at a national-level exhibition is NOT eligible. (I'm assuming this means in a newspaper or another art magazine rather than forums or blogs which publish internationally - but it would be nice to have clarification)
  
• All entries must be postmarked no later than September 1, 2008.
• Entry is online or via mail using slides or digital images.
  

Again we are back to the 'all the artist's own work' topic. Interestingly the competition appears to have dropped the requirement that source material must be available upon request - although it's now quite clearly stated that works based on other people's photos are NOT eligible. This aligns to the position taken in the recent debate about works being submitted to the annual exhibitions of the coloured pencil societies - and in my view is absolutely correct - although it may impact on the animal and wildlife category.

There's a lot more to it than that and, as ever, I do urge people to read the details, then read them again - and to read them again in advance of submission. Plus don't leave it to the last minute - said by the person who ALWAYS swears she'll never ever ever ever do that again! ;) It's so easy to fall foul of the rules by just forgetting what they said or failing to read something properly or losing track of dates.

The Pastel 100 Book I'm not sure whether there any plans for a book this time around. I haven't seen any reference to a book since the 8th Pastel 100. Has anybody else seen a book for the last one?

Data protection

Finally, on another matter, I'd strongly recommend that The Pastel Journal gives some thought to how it asks people to say 'No' to being included in lists of names and addresses circulated to other parties when the contacts are generated online.

Their current practice (ie you have to sit down and write and then post a letter to a different address in the USA in order to get yourself removed from the list of names and addresses circulated to other parties ) looks to me very much like a hangover from an old paper process. It certainly doesn't take account of the personal privacy and identity data requirements of current data protection legislation. Stating that you do NOT wish to have your address circulated to other people also needs to be online. Good practice also suggests that the default position is that addresses are not added unless the tick box gets ticked and that you should be able to detail all your requirements on the entry form. (ie one form covering the processes for both submission and data protection)

Links:

• The Pastel Journal
• The Pastel 100 - Call for Entries
• The Pastel 100 - The answers to the FAQs about the Pastel 100