View the VERMEER exhibition at the Rijksmuseum - from your own home

The Vermeer Exhibition at the Rijksmuseum is not only iconic - having reunited 28 of his 37 known paintings in one place - it's also extraordinarily popular and has sold out! 

There are no more tickets available at the moment.

The Rijksmuseum is working hard to give more people the opportunity to see the exhibition. From 6 March, we will provide a new update via the Rijksmuseum website.

It says (bottom left) "There are no more tickets available at the moment"

The exhibition opened on the 10th February and continues until 4 June 2023.

• the museum is limiting tickets to make the artwork accessible
• there is no waiting list

We are continuously looking at ways to give more people the chance to see this exhibition.

Keep an eye on the website and social media channels for updates on ticket availability.

So I thought I'd highlight how you can see the artwork in the exhibition without a ticket.

How to see the Vermeer Exhibition without a ticket

I think the popularity of the exhibition has maybe prompted the Rijksmuseum to make the exhibition more accessible ONLINE to those who cannot get tickets and/or to those who live outside the Netherlands.

Here's how you can get a guided tour of the exhibition.

Rijksmuseum Website: there is a tour of the exhibition narrated by Stephen Fry in English

• Closer to Johannes Vermeer - it covers particular themes of his work and draws attention to a number of aspects which you might not be aware of - even if you know work by Vermeer well.

Rijksmuseum on Instagram: there are guided tours next week - in both Dutch and English

On Tuesday, Maeike, one the the Rijksmuseum's guides, will give a live tour of the VERMEER exhibition on the Rijksmuseum's Instagram channel and answer the most frequently asked questions.

• Dutch: Tuesday 28 Feb. / 6 - 6.30 PM cet
• English: Tuesday 28 Feb. / 6.30 - 7 PM cet

Plus this article on ArtNet has an image of every painting in the show - see In Pictures: See Every Single Artwork in the Rijksmuseum’s Vermeer Show, a Once-in-a-Lifetime Exhibition That Is Already Sold Out.

More about the Vermeer Exhibition

• Vermeer review – one of the most thrilling exhibitions ever conceived | The Guardian (Laura Cumming)
• Vermeer will never look the same after Amsterdam exhibition | The Guardian (Jonathan Jones)
• How Hard Is It to Paint Like Vermeer? TV Contestants Find Out | New York Times

Artist of the Year Gallery: Artwork for Sale

This year the Artist of the Year team at Storyvault Films Ltd (SF) have developed the offering to artists past, present and future by creating a website which enables pod artists to sell their artwork.

It has some good points - and some significant weaknesses on the finance side - but nothing which cannot be addressed. Better sooner rather than later.

Artist of the Year Gallery Website - Home Page

What's on the Gallery Website

You can see:

• the artists - Artists are listed in order of their appearance on our programmes, most recent first. However not all artists are participating - partly because this is a new initiative and partly because some artists will have existing arrangements for selling their art which they won't want to compromise.
• the artworks - are produced by artists who have participated in the programmes - but not all artworks have been produced for the programmes. 
• The How It Works explanation
• Terms and Conditions (very important) - The Terms and Conditions need to be accessible via a PDF printable document for Artists to file - for the record - which they are not at present.

It's an interesting proposition because one of the things many artists struggle with is selling their artwork online - which is much less straightforward to do properly than people might think.

Consequently, just as any artist has to who is trading online and distance selling artwork has to do, this SF ecommerce operation MUST comply with all the rules and regulations around

• trading law and regulations 
• e commerce law and regulations 
  
• VAT on Art

(Note: These links go the relevant pages of my Art Business Info for Artists website)

BUT IF they're doing everything properly (see below), this site could be a BIG saving in time and effort for an artist in terms of mastering all the ins and outs of online distance selling of artwork! 

I haven't checked the site out thoroughly for ALL the aspects in detail but I assume they've done the wise thing and had 

• an expert ecommerce lawyer advising on what they must do and cannot do - and 
• an expert ecommerce adviser telling them what's the best approach for an operation like this.
• a VAT expert checking to make sure they got all the VAT aspects right.

However on a quick review, I ended up feeling a bit like "a party pooper" as I have reservations about whether SF have been wise in the approach they have adopted to 

• robust and secure monetary transactions / payment processing
• money laundering regulations for art galleries / dealers / agents
• VAT liability, transactions and associated documentation

At the end you can see how it works. 

Immediately below is a summary of the financial weaknesses I spotted which I think need addressing.

Online Exhibition by the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators

If you've ever considered moving on from an interest in drawing and painting animals to becoming a Natural Science Illustrator, you may well be interested to view the Online Exhibition of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators.

It coincides with their 2022 Virtual Annual Conference which has finished the Core Conference - with workshops to come on 20–21 & 27–28, 2022.

2022 Juried Members' Exhibition by GNSI Artists

You can view the Online Exhibition here

Imaginative and stimulating art in "Planet Future" Exhibition

The theme of the annual art exhibition for sixth form colleges is "Planet Future"

This is the national art exhibition for sixth form college students. It contains a lot of very thoughtful imaginative and creative art from students at various sixth form colleges in the UK.

I was impressed by the diversity of media used, topics tackled and different approaches used to portraying messages about sustainability and the current and future risks to planet earth.

"The sustainability agenda has never been more important and the exhibition highlights students' hopes and fears about the future, while also showcasing their enormous creativity and innovation,"
Alex Burghart, former Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Education - who launched the exhibition.

As I began to look at the art it struck me that there's a bit of a gulf beginning to open up between art created by younger people - who are focused on things which matter a lot to them - and artwork by much older people in other exhibitions where the artwork seems to be more traditional and very often demonstrates little interest in topical issues.

 

My favourites included the following. 

• Click the links in the title to see a much larger image online. 
• I've also included links to the students where I could find them online.

Hope for the future by Ruby Currie (Woodhouse College) 

I particularly liked the use of the textile art and its use of various messages addressing many different aspects of contemporary life and issues of concern and the designs she used to catch attention. 

Changes at Flickr - and compliance with Online Safety changes

I know a lot of artists have stored their images online on Flickr in the past - often using a free account. 

HOWEVER for all those with a free account, you need to know a few things about what's changing - summarised below.

Flickr forever: Creating the safest, most inclusive photography community on the planet.
MARCH 17, 2022

Three days ago, Flickr announced on its blog that there are going to be changes.  

You can read more about this - in detail - in Flickr forever: Creating the safest, most inclusive photography community on the planet. (17th March 2022)

The changes 

Flickr forever: click here to learn how free accounts are changing for the long-term growth and health of our community.

The overall emphasis is on 

• restricting content which can be held privately and 
• encouraging people to subscribe to Pro accounts.

The changes announced this week are:

Non-public photo limits - for those with FREE accounts

we’re limiting free accounts to 50 non-public photos (e.g. photos marked as private, friends, family, or friends and family. Read more about privacy settings on Flickr here).

In other words, if you've never paid for your Flickr account, you now risk losing ALL but 50 (FIFTY) of the images you've uploaded which are not public for all.

If you want a safe place to store your photos which you do NOT want to be public, you will need to upgrade to a PRO membership - where you get unlimited storage for a monthly, annual or biannual sum. 

Guess what - the most expensive is monthly and the best value is buy two years at a time.

As they point out this announcement about deleting images may sound familiar

In 2018 we announced that free accounts containing over 1,000 photos and/or videos would have content actively deleted. In the years since, we haven’t deleted a single photo that was over the limit. Not ONE.

What they're saying now is that you can upload lots and lots of images - but all but 50 must be public. Otherwise they will be deleted.

So don't say you weren't warned!

Restricted and Moderate Content

The Athenaeum is back!

 It appears that The Athenaum database of artworks is finally back online.

Many readers will recall I've been a big fan of this HUGE art history resource of public domain images in the past and frequently referenced it when writing about various artists of the past. 

It started back in 2001 and sadly went offline in April(?) 2020. 

I then wrote Goodbye to the Athenaeum Art Database? after it seemed to have disappeared and was only available via the Internet Archive. 

Thanks to Debra Levie for alerting me to the fact that it was back online.

The Athenaeum is a free, user-built online portal for art and the humanities. You can browse over 100,000 artworks by thousands of artists, or join us and help improve the site!

 

Home Page of The Athenaeum

Looking at the Internet Archive it appears as if it came back late last year.

However due to the fact that the website does not have a security certificate - and is prefixed by http rather than https - some people (including me) will have problems accessing it via the  Google Chrome browser as this browser basically stops access to sites which are not secure. It's part of their process of keeping people safe on the Internet. 

(PS If you're not using a security certificate and the https prefix for your website you need to!)

I found it much easier to access using my Apple Safari browser. I've not tried others but my experience is that if a website is not accessible via Chrome - or only very slowly.

We still don't know what happened to The Atheneaum in 2020. I think most of us assumed that the owner was ill and/or preoccupied with other matters and/or ran foul of an allegation of copyright infringement and/or just got very tired of technical problems and spammers (it happens a lot to big sites which have been up for some time).

Somebody who wrote to me following my blog past knew the email addresses of the owner but said that neither were getting a response.

I'm going to suggest that if the owner ran into financial problems hosting it - or just got very tired of technical problems - that they should maybe consider:

• having a digital donations box on the site (but this needs a security certificate!) I know a lot of people very much value the site and would like to keep it going....
• asking / looking for support in terms of both volunteers for forum moderation and technical aspects of the site

I know I'm very pleased to see it back - and I know a lot of other artists and those interested in art history will be too.

PS I still want to know who rocsdad is!! His contributions over the years have been amazing!

Online Conferences for Art Societies - a sustainable solution for getting more artists together?

Why don't more regional and national art societies hold Online Conferences?

When you're a local art society there's nothing to stop you limiting your activities to your locality - because, in all probability, that is where most of your members live. They'll either turn up or not to group events depending on how much they like being social and sociable.

However - if you're a regional or national organisation - why do we still behave as if everybody has to go to one place to get together to discuss / see / learn about / demonstrate our favourite art genre / medium?

In these days of reducing our carbon footprint, surely we need to be doing more in terms of finding alternative and more sustainable solutions which allow people to get together and enjoy what they like best about their art - and learn from one another and others.

One of the major benefits of the C19 saga (count the ways you can say "you know what" without triggering google filters!) is that more and more people have learned about the technology for getting online. I think if I'd been an investor in Zoom I'd be very happy right now!

What we saw in 2020

Lots of Annual get-togethers and annual conferences by art societies - which occur predominantly in the USA were cancelled in 2020. However this happened early enough in the year for a number to have time to work out how they could "replatform" the conference - out of a hotel and onto Zoom. 

Those who had some gumption got their act together, had a major think - and took the Conference Online. I think this might well be because there's a considerable amount of income for art societies generated by these conferences.

Which is how, in October 2020, I came to be sitting in my armchair for four days straight and participating in Online in October the very first Virtual Annual Conference of the American Society of Botanical Artists.

Given this was very much a "suck it and see" and a somewhat "seat of the pants" exercise it's amazing how well it worked. They took their normal convention schedule and digitised it - which meant a series of sessions which were mini workshops, evening ones which were lectures or presentations and then a social at the end of the day. In a lot of ways it was very much like the Conference I attended - and spoke at - in Pittsburgh in 2019.  However, the major difference was I was always five hours behind and social interaction - which was the only time members faces got on screen - was always in the middle of the night for me so I didn't actually make it to any of the socials. However I got through most of everything else after buying the "all in" option.

How did others cope with the change?

I took a look online and came across other examples of online conferences organised by different art organisations

Art Societies

• The Glass Art Society - has a very international outlook and may well have held the first online conference by an art society in May 2020

the organizers of the annual Glass Art Society conference pivoted from their extensively planned in-person event in Småland, Sweden, to the artist organization's first-ever online conference in May 2020.

• The Art Society had an Online Conference about Life Drawing in October 2020

Other member organisations

• The Museums Association went online in 2020 - and recorded the Conference highlights for members to refer back to

Overall, there was a lot of feedback and learning from the first tries at this new form of social interaction online - and lots to build into the learning for the conferences in 2021.

Major benefits seen from 2020 events

The Elements of Drawing website

One of the most popular of my past posts relates to the website about The Elements of Drawing - John Ruskin's Teaching Collection at Oxford

I wrote about this is this post - the New website: John Ruskin and The Elements of Drawing in 2011. Since then:

• new resources seem to have been added to what was originally there
• sadly, it is now designated a legacy website - and the Through Ruskin's Eyes links to learning resources at Ashmolean Online are now broken

However, there's lots to see though and explore. 

I'm now of the view that every time you come across a good online educational website - which makes EDUCATIONAL resources available for free online - and available for downloading - you should immediately assume that it

• will become neglected when whoever invented it moves on 
• assume it won't be there forever and will be much lamented when it disappears 

Hence you should download every resource you can NOW!

Call for Entries: ING Discerning Eye 2021

This post is about the Call for Entries for the 2021 Exhibition of The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition which will be held at the Mall Galleries and Online between 11 and 21 November 2021

The Deadline for Entries is Tuesday 7 September 2021 (5pm)

The ING Discerning Eye is an educational charity, established in the UK in 1990, to encourage a wider understanding and appreciation of the visual arts and to stimulate debate about the place and purpose of art in our society, and the contribution each one of us can make to its development.

The exhibition comprises both publicly submitted works and works independently selected by six prominent figures from different areas of the art world: two artists, two collectors and two critics. Each section is hung separately to give each its own distinctive identity. The impression emerges of six small exhibitions within the whole.

Last year - due to the exhibition being held online only - there was a there were the number of entries was larger than usual and there were over 600 artists and nearly 1000 works.

 

Which seems odd to me - I'd expect there to be much more entries than this given the numbers received by other open exhibitions and competitions. 

 

I've criticised this competition in the past for having too many artworks by artists selected by the selectors from OUTSIDE the open entry. 

• Maybe that changed in 2020. 
• Maybe it will return back to the normal bias away from the open entry in 2021. 
• Who knows? It would be nice if they were much more EXPLICIT AND TRANSPARENT about something which is a competition with paid entries!
  

 

What stays the same in 2021

The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition in 2021 will: 

• be OPEN to all artists resident in the UK 
• who can submit up to six original works 
• accept digital only entries
• include only 
• works constrained by size i.e. only small works are permitted (it must be less than 20 inches (50cm) in its greatest dimension.)
• which MUST be an original creation by the artist
• comprise works independently selected by six prominent figures from different areas of the art world: 
• two artists,
• two collectors and
• two critics
• each selector is solely responsible for their own selection
• AND all artwork submitted via the open entry MUST be for sale

In addition, the DE continues with the Discerning Eye bursary of £1,500
Plus the Call For Entries site will be via ArtOpps

What will be different in 2021 

"Figurative Art Now" opens online - and transport responsibility has changed!!

The online exhibition of "Figurative Art Now" has opened online on the Mall Galleries website.

Before I review the exhibition, I want to comment again on the issue of who picks up the transport cost for sales - because there has been a significant change.

You may remember that:

• I didn't publicise the Call for Entries - which was for a very specific reason. The grossly unfair and not well publicised condition that the artist paid for the transport to the buyer no matter where they lived in the world! Which just filled me with horror given all the issues to do with export and customs for artists who may never have shpped an artwork before
  
• I then put up a post Figurative Art Now: how fair are the T&C to artists? just before the deadline for entries highlighting this - and a lot of people who had already entered rushed back to the dashboard for entries and changed their prices to cover postage and packing as per the terms and conditions!

I also made my views known to a few key people.

I'm guessing this is maybe what has helped trigger a change of heart over who pays for the transport of the art to the buyer.

I'm VERY pleased for all the artists to say that 

• if you click on an image of an artwork, you are taken to the unique page for that artwork
• and the page now states very clearly - under Fulfilment Info
  

This work will be sent directly from the artist in the UK. The purchaser is responsible for the cost of transport; please see our Art Sales Collection and Delivery page for more information.

Mall Galleries will support and facilitate transportation quotes and provide artwork locations where required.

Note the column on the right which makes clear that
the buyer is responsible for transport

 

This is reiterated on the Art Sales Collection and Delivery Page on the website.

What's still not clear is who is responsible for packing - and I think this needs to be made EXPLICIT.

My view would be that 

• if the work is small then that's something the artist can easily arrange. 
• However, for larger works packaging is a VERY critical part of the safe transport of an item and it's more usual for those transporting to also arrange packing - as they know best (or should do!) what's required for safe transport.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see on that one.

I'd appreciate feedback on how it all works.

At least it's now much more consistent with the arrangements for the ad hoc purchase of artwork from artists via the 'Buy Art' section of the site - which had ALWAYS made it clear that the buyer picks up or pays for transport.

Call for Entries: Society of Women Artists 160th Open Exhibition

This is about the call for entries for the 160th Annual Open Exhibition 2021 of the Society of Women Artists (SWA).

Call for entries for the SWA open annual exhibition online

 

Like a number of other societies, this annual exhibition will be a virtual / online exhibition this year.

The SWA normally exhibit at the Mall Galleries - but given the number of months the Galleries have been closed due to lockdown, the priority for exhibiting art societies in 2021 obviously goes to the Societies which are members of the Federation of British Artists whose home is at the Mall Galleries.

Plus a digital submission means that an artist can submit artwork for exhibition MINUS travelling, transport and the framing costs.

Online Exhibition dates are as follows

• Deadline for all Digital Entries: midnight on 25 June 2021 i.e. you have a month left to submit your entry (Note: I hate midnight timings - I never know whether they mean the beginning or end of the day. "Noon" is much clearer).
• Notification of Selection (ONLINE ONLY): 16th July 2021 
• Online Exhibition Opens: 21st September 2021.
• Exhibition Closes: Sunday 29th September 2021.

I didn't review last year's exhibition as this was also online - and I'm finding reviewing online art much more difficult than exhibitions in galleries. However, you can see the standard of work this exhibition attracts in my Review: Society of Women Artists Annual Exhibition 2019

In this post you can find:

• who is eligible to enter
• what types of artwork are eligible
• how to enter - with key dates
• details of the exhibition
• details of the prizes

but, first, why enter this exhibition? 

Why enter the SWA Annual Exhibition?

The Society of Women Artists have been on an important journey of improvement in recent years. It's one which provides lessons for other art societies.

As I've indicated in past reviews, the quality of the artwork in their exhibitions has improved enormously and there has been a greater involvement by professional women artists.  The change in the quality of the work also gave me the impression that selection had become much more rigorous and being a favoured member/friends was no longer enough to get your work selected.

I think the change has also been in part due to an injection of new and younger blood - with artists keen to "make their mark" and wanting the exhibition to be excellent - and are keen to use websites and social media to promote their art. In turn this is also reflected in a more contemporary "younger" feel to a lot of the artwork - which in turn draws a wider audience to the exhibition and helps improve sales! (It's a lesson which many other art societies might ponder on!)

There's also a keen sense of the exhibition being a place where women artists can exhibit work on themes with meaning to women - which might get overlooked by panels where men make up the majority of the members.

"Parting" by non-member Ayna Paisley
(from the 2020 online exhibition)
Acrylics, Paper Collage h: 70 w: 150 d: 4 (cms)
currently used for the Home Page of the SWA website

Two (financial) benefits are is that 

• submitting digitally to an online exhibition enables artists to submit works for consideration at a reduced cost - without the travelling, transport and the framing costs. 
• ENTRY FEES HAVE BEEN REDUCED for this online exhibition! 

Plus finally - there are PRIZES AND AWARDS! These are the 2021 awards.

• Princess Michael of Kent Award - A signed certificate
• President and Vice Presidents’ Award - A signed certificate
• The Tom Urwin Special Fine Art Award - £1500
• Karin Walker Young Artist Award - 2 x £500
• Derwent Special Fine Art Award
• Young Artist £500 (art materials) Awards
• Established Artist £500 (art materials) Awards
• The Artist Editor’s Choice Award, Feature in The Artist
• The Rosemary and Co Award £100 (brushes)
• Patsy Whiting Award £100
• Jackson’s Award £150 (art materials)

 

Call for Entries for the SWA's Annual Online Exhibition 2021

Find the full details of how to apply and the General terms and Conditions on this page

Below is a summary of that page - with some facts rearranged. 

 

Do not forget that the basic fact is that EVERYTHING is digital - communication, entries, images, and the exhibition. If you're not happy with digital then maybe this is not for you - or you need a friend who can help you.

Who can enter

• The exhibition is INTERNATIONAL i.e. open to artists in the UK, EU, and outside the EU 
  
• There is no stated restriction on who can enter. However, this is an exhibition of work by women artists!
• Women artists under the age of 35 are judged to be young artists and can submit work at a reduced fee.

What you can enter

What follows are the rules of what you can submit and what you need to know before you get on to the 'how to enter' section.

Categories of work which are acceptable:

• Paintings, pastels, drawings;
• Mixed media
• Sculpture, in all media;
• Original unique printing is acceptable e.g. engraving, lithography. Etchings must show their plate indentations. Commercially printed line work or photographically/digitally reproduced work printed with commercial machines (such as giclée work) is NOT admissible.
• Ceramics, glass and metal not of a utilitarian nature. 

This year, there is NO MAXIMUM submission size for paintings and sculpture. All works will be judged by merit. 

All artwork accepted and exhibited online by SWA MUST be 

• for sale, except by prior consent from the SWA. 
• EXCLUSIVE for the duration of the exhibition - which means that the commission is still payable even if it is listed and sold via another platform during the exhibition.

Artwork prices should include the commission of 45% for non members and 40% for members the SWA will be donating 5% of the sale price to the Charity Breast Cancer Now. 

Minimum Sale prices for works (excluding courier costs): 

• £150 for etchings or lithography or drawings
• £200 for 3D works
• £350 for everything else.

Please also note that all retail prices MUST include VAT if applicable and ALL artists liable to VAT are responsible for paying their own tax direct to HMRC. 

All costs of transport to a buyer will be payable by the buyer and accurate costs will need to be quoted to a buyer before a sale is concluded. So you need to know what the cost of packing and shipping is before you enter - or ASAP after you get selected.
[Note it does not say this in the Call for Entries - but this is how it needs to work if transactions are to be compliant with all relevant regulations for trade and ecommerce]

ARTISTS LIVING OUTSIDE THE UK PLEASE NOTE. 

• All artists without a UK residence are classified as Non-Established Taxable Persons (NETPs) and must register with HMRC (HM Revenue + Customs) for a UK VAT number before they can exhibit artworks in our Online Exhibition. 
• A valid UK VAT number is prefaced with the letters “GB”. VAT numbers relating to other countries are not valid for the purposes of this exhibition.
• You must provide the SWA with your UK VAT number before 1st September 2021. If you do not, your selected artwork(s) cannot be displayed online in the exhibition.
• see General Terms and Conditions for more details
  

How to enter

Royal Society of British Artists - Annual Exhibition 2021

The Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of British Artists is the first exhibition actually hung on the walls of the Galleries this year.

I'll be going to see this exhibition soon - but in the meantime 

• BELOW you can find out more about it.
• View the artwork online - in various ways (links below) 

Next week I'll write my review of the exhibition - focusing on 

• the overall impression
• artwork which impressed me

The Annual Exhibition on the RBA website

Exhibition Details

The exhibition opened to the public on Thursday and continues until Saturday 24th April

You MUST have a ticket booked in advance to see the exhibition. You can book tickets here

There is no cafe - and there appear to be no seats in the Galleries - which means I'm not going to be staying long given my ankle. I hope they were only moved out for the filming of the Virtual View and have not been removed. There's a lot of older people who visit this exhibition - and many of us need to sit down from time to time.

Here's Mick Davies PRBA Hon RBSA President - the President of the RBA (and a lovely man!) - with a few words about the exhibition

We have all been challenged by the 2020 pandemic and adverse weather conditions, so it makes it all the more exhilarating and joyful to engage in something as uplifting and inspiring as this exhibition.

Our Patron, Sponsors and Prize-givers have reaffirmed their support for this prestigious event and we thank each and every one of them. This year we have had a record-breaking number of works submitted by non-members and I wish to congratulate those whose work is represented in the show. There were many others we would like to have included, had we had the space to do so – it was such a difficult task for our Selection Committee.

 

The Online Exhibition

You can see individual artworks on

• the Mall Galleries exhibition webpage - clicking an image takes you to options to see bigger versions and sales details and how to make an enquiry about an individual work in the show.
• The RBA website 2021 Exhibition webpage - which I actually much prefer as 
• you can keep scrolling down and the images grow and them recede as you pass then
• there's no need to keep clicking through to the next page (very irritating after the first few clicks)
• if you click an image you can see more artwork by that artist - and also enquire about it.  I always think artwork has more appeal when you can see it alongside other works by the same artist. For those with lots of available artwork, you still have to click through pages to see it all.

You can also view a virtual view of the hung exhibition on the Mall Galleries website.

Virtual view of the East Gallery
Still too bright and "flashed out" for my liking - the gallery is NEVER this bright

You need to navigate the galleries using the dolls house or plan view (bottom left of above image) 

Unfortunately the virtual view is deficient in two aspects - compared to other software I've used in the last year:

• if you click on an artwork in the virtual view, it does NOT tell you the basic details i.e. title / artist / media / price.
• if you share a link to a view it only provides a link to the whole exhibition - which takes you back to the predetermined starting point in the West Gallery

Awards and Prizes

The Mall Galleries blog posts (below) show you who won what - which is great because I'll miss this bit out of my review! :)

Congratulations to all those who won an award

Royal Society of British Artists Prize & Award Winners 2021

• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three
• Part Four

Films, documentaries and programmes about art and artists

In the current context, a lot of art is being consumed online - and some of that it is in the form of films documentaries and programmes about art and artists.

Below are some references to what you can find online or via your television screen.

The Royal Academy of Arts has done us all a favour and come up with a list of films and documentaries to watch - all about artists

You can find the listing here 10 artist movies and docs to watch on Netflix, Amazon Prime and more

To which I would add

British Film Institute

• National Gallery - available from BFI

Over a mesmerising three hours, Wiseman follows the intricate inner workings of a hugely complex organisation, from finance board meetings to the meticulous work of restorers and educators (most memorably in a scene of an art appreciation class for blind people). The rich, absorbing tapestry that unfolds ranks as one of Wiseman’s finest achievements and is required viewing for anyone with an interest in British cultural life.

Museums in quarantine

BBC iPlayer

• Museums in Quarantine (2020):
• Warhol - a last look at the Warhol exhibition at Tate Modern
• Rembrandt - the Young Rembrandt exhibition at the Ashmolean
• Tate Britain
• British Museum
• Titian: behind closed doors - Titian at the National Gallery
• The Billion Dollar Art Hunt (2020) - about the hunt for the Vermeer considered to be the most valuable stolen painting in the world. The art was taken from the walls of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in the early hours of 18 March 1990. It kept me rivited...
• Age of the Image (4 episodes - 2020) - James Fox examines how images have become more powerful – and less trusted – than ever before, from hyper-real paintings to movie special effects and deepfakes
• The Abstract Art Collection (various dates) - programmes about abstract artists
• Beardsley and his work (1982) - The life and work of Aubrey Beardsley, one of the world's most exciting graphic artists, whose drawings still retain their power to fascinate, to amuse and to shock.
• Bob Ross: The Happy Painter (2020) - Documentary that takes a behind-the-scenes look at American painter Bob Ross’s journey from humble beginnings to pop culture icon. I enjoyed this and I'm not a big Bob Ross fan!
• Francis Bacon: Fragments of a Portrait (1966) - Francis Bacon's paintings have been called sick and corrupt. He has also been hailed as the greatest British painter since Turner...
• The Visual Scene: Playing it Cool (1969) - new methods of making art - in 1969
• Whoever heard of a black artist: Britain's Hidden Art History (2018) - finding examples of black art in public collections 

and for those needing some Life drawing you can still Draw along with BBC Four's Life Drawing Live! (2020) as Pose Cam remains on the models throughout each session

I'll add more in as I find them.......

NOTE

I'm currently preoccupied with an essential project - hence why fewer posts than normal. 

 

How to Ship Art - for online art sellers / post Brexit

How best to pack, mail and ship art art has been a VERY popular topic since lockdown as more and more people make sales online. 

It's got even more popular since 1st January in terms of making sense of Brexit. EORI numbers and export commodity codes anybody? Do you know about the Rules of Origin?

HOW TO PACK, MAIL & SHIP ART: A Compendium of Information & Advice about Packing & Transporting Art provides access to the many pages of information I provide in the Shipping Art section on my Art Business Info. for Artists website

It's currently the most popular page on my Art Business Info for Artists website - I guess because

• most sales of art are now taking place online
• artists running an art business - where they export art internationally - are puzzling out the changes 

Below is a screenshot of its contents

contents of how to pack, mail and ship art

I've just begun to realise I need to write a new section about "Rules of Origin" given some of what is happening at the ports.

The reality is that if you are trading - and particularly if you are exporting - there is a LOT of law and regulations that you need to know about - as well as which are the best ways to pack, post and ship art!

However I also have to emphasise what this page is NOT! I answer questions when I'm satisfied that people have read what is available on these pages and are not just using me as a sidestep to doing the reading. 

Making A Mark: the 20 most popular blog posts for artists (Part 2 2006-2019)

This is a list of Making A Mark blog posts from previous years (2006-2019) - unrelated to art on television - which have proved to be perennially popular - and were the most popular in 2020

It follows on from yesterday's post Making A Mark - the 20 most popular blog posts for artists in 2020 (Part 1) - which highlighted how art on television - rather than in exhibitions - became very popular in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Summary

As last year five of the ten are "how to" posts - although interestingly not the same five as last year! If you write a good "how to" post on your blog about perennial topics it can be of value and generate traffic for very many years - but popularity and relevance can come and go.

I'm also noting which are NEW ENTRIES and which have moved up or down compared to last year's post Making A Mark - the 20 most popular blog posts in 2019. The Pandemic has had an obvious impact on some.

Please note that I've excluded all television posts from previous years as they get their moment in the limelight in the most popular posts in a year - see yesterday's post Making A Mark - the 20 most popular blog posts for artists in 2020 (Part 1)

#1. Favourite quotes about drawing and sketching

The mobile version of Favourite quotes about drawing and sketching (2013) was the most popular post in 2020 - by some considerable distance.

Do not fail, as you go on, to draw something every day, for no matter how little it is, it will be well worth while, and it will do you a world of good.
Cennino Cennini

L'Écho, study for Une Baignade, Asnières (Bathing Place, Asnières) by Georges Seurat
Conté crayon on Michallet paper. 31.2 × 24 cm

Last year it was #2 - and was outranked by my somewhat encyclopedic annual guide to the BP Portrait Award in 2018. 

Last year I said I kept meaning to do an update to this post and this year it's definitely going on my 'to do' list.

#2 How to hang a large or heavy picture - using heavy duty hanging hardware

How to hang a large or heavy picture - using heavy duty hanging hardware (2015) has moved up one place as the BP slipped out of the rankings

I can only think nobody else has written a decent post about this topic. It's certainly the case that is something you don't want to get this wrong - which is why this post beats the next one on traffic! Includes pics of kit you need and helpful videos!

However this might also reflect activities associated with Covid-19 lockdowns (see the next post!)

#3. How to hang a picture - using D rings

How to hang a picture - using D Rings (2015). This post is particularly relevant for smaller paintings and drawings.

PLUS:

• I've now also got a page about How to hang a picture on my Art Business Info for Artists website
• I also wrote a summary blog post about How to hang a picture back in April 2020 when it suddenly struck me that lockdown is when everybody decides to 
• redecorate 
• and/or completely rehang their art collection 
• and/or finally get round to hanging those paintings they've bought which have never quite made it on to the wall. (I know that's one of the things I did!

Hanging hardware

#4. Creating a signature on your art

Creating a signature on your art (2009) - moved up five places this year.

This is one of those perennial issues which comes up time and time again concerns the best way to sign your art. 

This is of course quite different to another type of signature - Signature membership which I also wrote about in 2009.

#5. Who knew Giles from Gogglebox was an artist?

Who knew Giles from Gogglebox was an artist? (2018) is a NEW ENTRY in the top ranked older posts

It just goes to show that art and television seems to be a very popular connection. (Television posts are banned from this post - but this one is allowed in because Giles does not do art on television!)

#6. Artists and Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)

Artists and Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) (2016) is another climber - up four places from #10 last year.

Again this is one of those perennial topics which is often searched for but rarely produces a decent response. I think this one still comes top on Google.

#7. How to create a 'search description' for your Blogger post

How to create a 'search description' for your Blogger post (2009) - This is a NEW ENTRY and one which I suspect has cropped up due to the change from Legacy/Classic Blogger to New Blogger. 

#8. What kind of art do people like to buy online?

What kind of art do people like to buy online? (2016) is another NEW ENTRY.  This post covers:

• the similarities and differences between the type of art that British and American people buy online
• how this compares to the type of art that people like to paint.

Based on sales data in 1 January - 31 December 2015 (Source: Artfinder)

I suspect this post has popped up because of the unique nature of 2020 - when an awful lot of art exhibitions and art fairs did not take place. Hence more and more artists have turned to trying to sell their art online.

I think maybe it's now time to revisit this post - maybe via a poll or survey to see whether anything has changed in the Covid-19 era.

In the meantime - for all those interested in this topic - please take a look at the big section about How to Sell Your Art on Art Business for Artists

#9. How to sign an art print

How to sign an art print (2011) has dropped four place since last year. However it's a detail that matters - and for some reason there's not many "how to" articles!

#10. How to do a reverse image search

How to do a reverse image search (2011) is another blog post about a perennially popular search query - which has also dropped four places. 

You can find the updated version here - How to do a reverse image search in the Copyright section of my Art Business Info for Artists website.

Addendum

One of the things I tried to do when I started this blog was to write about things which I thought artists needed or wanted to know about - but which weren't covered terribly well online. 

That's still the case - and if you ever get a query where you cannot find a satisfactory answer, do please let me know and I'll see if I can come up with one! Although I try to avoid practical matters I've no experience of!

Looking back at what worked in the art world in 2020

This has to have been one of the most stressful years for artists ever - and yet within that we have seen some remarkable achievements by artists.

In this post I'm going to try and highlight some of what I saw and heard about in 2020 which helped artists keep going....

• Artists Support Pledge
• Portraits for NHS Heroes
• The Art Teachers who learned fast how to deliver art lessons online
• Art Marketing and Website Makeovers
• The Virtual Online Art Exhibitions and Tours
• The Virtual / Online Conferences for Artists
• Online Resources
• My Contribution

Let's all remember going forward that we are not at the end - even with approved vaccines - and it's going to be a long time before things get back to normal. 

So we need even more innovation and endeavour and hard work in 2021 - but if what I've seen in 2020 is anything to go by, there's lots of artists who are up for that!

Artist Support Pledge #artistsupportpledge

Artist Support Pledge - the gifted keep giving

Matthew Burrows started the Artist Support Pledge on on the 16th March 2020 in response to the COVID19 pandemic.

I wrote about it in The Artist Support Pledge in May 2020.  Some artists have been regularly selling small works online all through the pandemic. More than a few professional artists have told me they've had more sales and generated more income this year than in some 'normal' years in the past.

Matthew Burrows was awarded with 

• an MBE in the Queen’s 2020 Birthday Honours List - for services to the arts during the Covid-19 response

• Personality of the Year in the Apollo Awards 2020

The online selling platform helping artists make a living now has more than 69,000 followers, has produced 447,000 posts and generated around £70m in sales. Burrows, Apollo’s Personality of the Year, was subsequently made an MBE in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours – and his no-frills initiative has been hailed as a lifeline for artists struggling in the wake of Covid-19. Personality of the Year | Apollo Magazine (19 November 2020)

In 2021 I'm going to pledge to do one post a week which will highlight the artwork of at least five artists whose work is posted for sale for £200 or less with the #artistsupportpledge.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we all used other platforms to highlight the works of art that we liked - and continue to help those whose incomes have been decimated due to the lack of exhibitions.

Portraits for NHS Heroes #portraitsfornhsheroes

ING Discerning Eye 2020: Selected Artists

The list of artists selected for the online ING Discerning Eye 2020 Exhibition have been produced in the most anti-analytical form possible!

Hence many hours and much effort was employed in producing this listing of artists who have had artwork selected for the exhibition in order of 

• number of artworks selected
• alphabetically by surname

There is no indication of which selector chose what - which is a pity.

I'm listing the names below in the order of the number of works selected - but am not including the titles of work selected. If you want to view the full listing see ING Discerning Eye 2020 - Selected Artists
 

If you'd like an image of your selected artwork included in this post   please get in touch (that's a pic not a live link under my mugshot) or message me via my Making A Mark Facebook Page

You can see what people had to enter in my Call for Entries: Virtual ING Discerning Eye 2020 post

The Virtual Exhibition will be online 24/7 from 19 November until 31 December 2020.

I haven't yet counted but I just know from sorting and typing the names that there are WAY MORE artists and artworks selected this year. Must have the fact that being online means there's no limits to how many you can have. (I wager somebody may think differently after they have all been uploaded to the exhibition site!!)

I've picked out some of the people I know below - and linked to their websites - and invited some of those whose artwork I spotted on Twitter and Facebook to send me images for this post.  If I missed your name do let me know in the usual way.

Six artworks selected

• Rae Birch Carter - I'm bemused by this one. Her theme for the six works selected is "Performing in a Pandemic" - which all appear to be images on Zoom.  No website and one mention on Instagram which goes as follows. 

Maker Rae Birch-Carter worked as a costume designer for film and period dramas before starting Agnes Hart, her Etsy shop. Now her bridal accessories take center stage.

Five artworks selected

• Martha Zmpounou

Four artworks selected

It appears that those who have four artworks selected have a very clear theme to their works including using art as social commentary

• Brian Adams 
• Victoria Atkinson - trained as a sculptor at the City and Guilds of London Art SchooHer group exhibitions have included: Royal Academy Summer Exhibition; Society of Portrait Sculptors FACE; Affordable Art Fair, Battersea; Royal Society of British Artists, Mall Galleries; The Towner, Eastbourne; Royal West of England Academy, Bristol. I've seen her work before in exhibitions - and you always notice it.

Four sculptures by Vicki Atkinson

• Disabled Artist
• Christy Burdock
• Kimberley Gundle
• Habib Hajallie
• Georgia Peskett
• Suzie Stone

Three artworks selected

• Roger Adams
• Sarah Adams
• Ruth Addinall
• Jonathan Alibone
• Louise Anscomb
• Margaret Ashman
• Roger Aslin
• David Aston
• Lilias August RI

• Sarah Bale
• Christine Bangert
• Deborah Batt
• Harry Bell
• John Bell
• Sean Bennett
• Jemima Brown
• Lorraine Brown
• Chris Bruce 
• Clive Bryant
• Trevor Burgess
• Clare Burnett
• Corinna Button
• G Calvert
• Kathryn Campbell
• Simon Chalmers
• Felix Chesher
• Wayne Clements
• Julie Cross - a multi-award winning artist living in Yorkshire. She is a figurative, expressionist painter who mostly uses female figures and faces. Her work is usually highly textured, often incorporating layers of cold wax and oil paint.

A Safe Distance? by Julie Cross

Oil and Cold Wax on Wood Panel 30cm x 30cm

• James Dearlove
• Sally Doyle
• Jill Eisele
• Nicholas Gentilli
• Imogen Hawgood
• Beverley Healy
• Michelle Heron - an urban landscape painter from Norfolk whose artwork has been praised by Kathleen Soriano

by Michele Heron

• Marguerite Horner
• Barbara Jackson 
• Hamley Jenkins
• Judith Jones
• Simon Klein
• Rickey Leaver
• Allan Martin - participated in the Inveraray Castle episode of Landscape Artist of the Year in 2018 - and got to the Final

Pleased to have three works selected for #INGDisceye@ParkerHarrisCo at @mallgalleries an annual exhibition of small works independently selected by six prominent figures: two artists, two collectors and two critics. So very complimented all sold! Exhibition on till 24 November pic.twitter.com/ce7tWe1CMp

— Allan Martin (@AllanMartinArt) November 15, 2019

• Anna Mazzotta  
• Elizabeth Meek MBE - Past President of the Society of Women Artists and the Royal Society of Miniature Painters
• Andrew McNeile Jones - graduated from Oxford University’s Ruskin School of Art, with a first in Fine Art, in the 1980’s and worked in the film industry for many years where he won a number of awards. He now lives and works in Oxfordshire and focuses on his art and exhibitions. His website is very interesting because he hs grouped his paintings into years which allow you to follow the path of his thinking behind how he approaches painting.

Neon by Andrew McNeile Jones

• Liz Middleton
• Elizabeth Nast
• Clare Palmer
• Sumi Perera
• Philippa Robbins
• Karin Schösser (I think the listing is spelt incorrectly i.e. Karin Sch√∂sser)
• Latifa A Stranack
• Tracy Ann Williams

Two artworks selected