REVIEW: David Hockney: The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020

This morning I went to see David Hockney: The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020 at the Royal Academy of Arts. Below are some notes I made while in the exhibition - of assorted thoughts it prompted.

It was the earliest time I could view and the ticket has been on my wall for months! The exhibition finishes on the 26th September and I'd be very surprised if there are any tickets left. 

It's moved from the galleries where they normally hold the Summer/Winter Exhibition (because of the hang for 2021) to The Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries in the Burlington Gardens part of the Royal Academy of Arts. It appear they've maybe been hung closer together than in the video below of the hang in the main galleries.

You can find the preamble introducing the exhibition on the RA website - and new the works  in this video

You can also download a large print guide of the paper publication you collect on going into the exhibition. This provides dates for th artworks but not times of day- which I think he did in previous exhibitions

Notes on an exhibition by David Hockney

There are no paintings in conventional art media - they are all done in digital software on his iPad.  There are 116 works in total.

These are the images released as press pics - but to be honest while some are good they don't include the best ones. See if you agree with me when you watch the video.

All works by David Hockney. © David Hockney

Clockwise from top left: No. 125, 19th March 2020. iPad painting. No. 340, 21st May 2020. iPad painting. No.186,11thApril2020.iPadpainting. No. 118, 16th March 2020. iPad painting. No. 316, 30th April 2020. iPad painting. No. 88, 3rd March 2020. iPad painting.No. 370, 2nd May 2020. iPad painting. No. 259, 24th April 2020. iPad painting. No. 133, 23rd March 2020. iPad painting.

The sum of the parts

The exhibition is greater than the sum of the parts and it's a mistake to look at them as individual paintings

The impact of seeing them hung - in themes or series - close together on a wall reminds me of exhibitions of Monet's Haystacks (see Monet's series paintings - stacks of wheat (2008) - from which the following quote comes)

Monet was adamant that the series of paintings had an aesthetic quality of its own and that the value of the paintings could only really be appreciated when they were all seen together.

The artworks present well on the background of a dark teal wall. Some would look like quite insipid on an ivory or light coloured wall - but with a dark background they have more impact.

The series I liked the best included:

• The nocturnes - with very bright moons and deep blue skies - which interestingly were not hung together
• the blossom - trees / branches
• plants in pots - indoor and outside (eg 15 and 18 daffodils outside and in bowl indoors)
• pond paintings
• paintings of rain

Monet and series paintings in Normady

It then occurred to me that one of the features of Hockney is that he has at various times reflected on various great artists of the past and created his own interpretation of their works.

It struck me that it's no coincidence that he did these in Normany which is Monet's "home turf" - and that Monet was particularly given to creating series of paintings of the same motifs - seen in different weather / seasons / time of day

A number of the motifs in this exhibition are portrayed in a similar way.

Seeing pictures 

One of Hockney's skills is the ability to "see pictures". A lot of what he's portraying is of absolutely no consequence. Indeed many have commented that his paintings are similar.

I think those critical of the iPad paintings in this exhibition forget two things:

• his age - there are very few artists who continue to create as well a they did in the past as they near he end of their life
• the context - However at a time when the world turned upside down, recording the simple and the familiar and looking closer at nature is something a lot of people did to help keep a grasp on what is real. (I took to posting my photos of plants every day on my Facebook account - from the same date in the past - to keep a grasp on the world outside when we were locked up at home - when Hockney was creating these artworks. Today I posted #492).

What I noticed was that some of the subjects he took great care over - the notable examples being the trees in full blossom - while others which held less interest (bare trees with no foliage) seemed to receive less attention. 

No 57 was particularly joyful and I was surprised not to see it chosen as an image for the postcards.

The colour of skies

I realised partway round how important the colour of the sky was to some of the images and what a variety of colours he had used for skies

Mark-making

He uses the mark-making available in his Brushes software - but I sometimes want to see him experiment more with available software to see what else it can do.... 

The mark-making hasn't really changed over the last decade. Which is a pity.

The visitors

A very white set of visitors in terms of both skin and hair. It's always interesting to see what older ladies think is appropriate dress for a Hockney exhibition at the RA - but then right now, an expedition into central London is something to appreciate and I dare ay a lot were going out for a very nice lunch afterwards

Which I would have been too - but my ankle rebelled....

How to photograph art

This is about a page for artists which tells you how to photograph your art - on my Art Business Information for Artists website

Its target audience is artists who want to prepare images of their art for:

• their website and social media - to promote their art
• to enter open exhibitions and art competitions
• for exhibition catalogues and other publications
• for presentations and online teaching.
  

I wish I'd completed it a long time ago - but it's finally been published and I'm sure it will continue to be improved over time.

Digital image files are now the standard way images are recorded.
It's ESSENTIAL that artists need to know how to capture a digital file - via photography or scanning,
how to process a digital file and the best ways to backup your inventory of images of your art.

How to photograph your art

How to photograph your art - for artists

You can find it as follows 

• Go to Art Business Info. for Artists
  
• Go to PRACTICE
  
• then Image Management for Artists 
• then Photography of Art for Artists

 

Image Management for Artists

Photography of Art for Artists

On this page about you can find:

• Introduction to how to photograph your art
• BASICS for photographing art
• Image Selection and Preparation
• Guidelines and videos about how to photograph art
• How to photograph behind glass
• ​Checking digital accuracy and correcting colour
• Guidelines on photographing art for major art competitions
• ​Digital File Formats and Image Resolution
• Introduction to professional photography
• Glossary: Digital File Terminology
• Photographing artists - for marketing purposes (to follow)

How to scan art and back up image files

On two other pages in the Image Management section, you can also learn about

• How to scan artwork This section looks at:
• Why scanning is the best alternative to photography
• Different types of scanner 
• DIY: how to scan artwork
• Professional digital imaging services
• Glossary of scanning terminology
• How to backup image files - how to create and store archives of your images
  

The Google Tilt Brush for painting in 3D

I'm AMAZED by Google's new Tilt Brush which allows you to paint in 3D and which went on sale last week. I think we can expect to art installations being created by this at major art galleries in the near future!

screen capture from the official Google video - Tilt Brush: Painting from a new perspective (see below)

Basically you use the space around you as your canvas and a digital paint brush to create multidimensional art.

In effect - literally - you paint digitally in 3G space (virtual reality) by using three dimensional brush strokes produced using the Tilt Brush.

Consequently it requires a virtual reality headset to execute the work. It uses the HTC Vive device which has won multiple awards and the software is available on the Steam platform.

Here's a video of what it can do

This Chrome Design experiment site is definitely worth a look! Virtual Art Experiments let loose six artists to see what they could do when using the Tilt Brush in Virtual Reality. You get to choose an artist and the video produced uses a headset so you can see what they are doing. The videos show what happened in real-time speed but you can speed up the videos using the controls bottom right.  Some artists are more confident than others - and some work faster than others - in real time!

It's definitely well worth exploring Google's Tilt Brush website which explains more about how the brush can produce immersive 3D artworks:

• It has videos which explain the features: dynamic brushes; an intuitive interface; scope to work room size and to share your creations
• boasts about the compliments it is collecting
• and has a normal less jazzy low key Help section

The Tilt Brush has also got its own social media - it has:

• its own Twitter account @tiltbrush - but only one tweet to date (and 2,196 followers so far!). If you want to check out artwork using the software check out #TiltBrush on Twitter - although to be fair what we have at the moment is pictures of lots of chaps with headsets on who don't seem to have quite got the hang of it so far!  Bear in mind that like any new media it takes some time and a lot of practice before you get good at using it!

Experimenting with programmatically generating #TiltBrush scenes. Naturally, we have a teapot. pic.twitter.com/MsmPOcn3Kg

— ♛ (@WillKirkby) May 14, 2016

• and its own 'Tilt Brush' Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/tiltbrush

and here's some articles I found on the internet (I'll add more if I come across good ones).

• Google - Tilt Brush: painting from a new perspective - this is the official Google blog explanation of what it does.
• CNN - Google Tilt Brush: The 'impossible' is now a reality
• Dezeen - Google launches Tilt Brush app for virtual reality sketching
• Digital Arts Online - Tested: Google Tilt Brush VR painting app for the HTC Vive
• Science World Report - Google's Tilt Brush: Generates 3D Image That Appears To Paint The Space All Around You

National Open Art 2016 - Call for Entries

The National Open Art Competition opened for entries at the beginning of March. The closing date for entries is 10th July 2016.

• The 2015 competition attracted nearly 4000 entries and awarded around £60,000 in prizes and mentoring opportunities to 35 winning artists.
• Th 2016 finalists will be exhibited in NOA’s Winter Exhibition at Mercers’ Hall in October where the prize winners will be announced. 
The 500 long-listed entries from this year’s competition will be for sale through NOA’s website and at various exhibitions.

There are two competitions:

• one for artists living or working in the UK or The Republic of Ireland then you can enter. 
• one for children (aged 14 and under)

I'm going to focus on the adult competition in this blog post.

I have to say I find the website VERY confusing.

• It seems to assume everybody already knows what the competition is about and that they all know who can enter and how to enter!  
• In other words it gets deep into the detail far too quickly - without making the basics upfront and easy to access!
• the main problem is that all the information ABOUT the competition is under the "enter" button and is not included in the section "about the competition"!

I made exactly the same observation last year - but I don't think anybody at the competition read my post. National Open Art Competition 2015 - Final Call for Entries

I'd like to see much more information about

• the sort of artwork the competition is seeking and 
• how the prizes can benefit the artists who might apply
• who should apply

I will try to provide a digest in this post - and will continue to hope they get the website sorted before next year!

Images of some of the winners in 2015

Who can enter

In order to enter you MUST:

• a professional or amateur artist
• live, or be professionally based, in 
• the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) or 
• the Republic of Ireland (Éire).
• be aged 
• 15 years of age by 1 September 2015 to enter the Main Competition
• be 14 years of age or younger by 1 September 2015 to enter for the Children’s competition, must

What sort of artwork can you enter?

You can only enter original work

RIP Polly 2000 - 2015

Time for a pause in blogging - for reflection on the life of Polly, my much loved Abyssinian cat.

"Pause"
Polly sunbathing in the doorway heard me behind her
and an ear twitched round - worked up from a 15 second sketch and my memory!
14" x 11" coloured pencil on black Stonehenge paper

She died this afternoon after becoming very sick with heart failure 10 days ago.

Losing Polly would be bad enough on its own but coming on top of the loss of Cosmo to cancer four months ago (see RIP Cosmo 2000 - 2015) - it's really knocked me for six.

Cosmo and Polly as kittens
Guess who was boss?

They came to me at three months old in 2000 and started out as cute and continued as cute!

Polly contributed cute kittens for drawing and took the matriarch role, while Cosmo did cuddles, played nursemaid to the kittens - and knew his place in the Polly pecking order.

Polly says "A girl can never have enough feeds"
Cosmo says "I want a feed too!"

Guess who's bottom looks big in this?

Polly in particular was a very pretty cat for fifteen years. Latterly people were amazed at how old she was. Here she is in 2013

Polly demonstrating the advantages of backlighting

She was however VERY difficult to draw - maybe because she was so petite, precise and neat! She was always much easier to do from behind than from head on!

Polly - Study#1
pen and sepia ink, 10" x 6.5"
Polly had a certain way of staring at you when she wanted her next meal

"Polly" in 2008
pen and ink and coloured pencils

I ended up drawing her kittens more than I drew her - until the last few days.

Meet the Kittens (her second litter)
This made it on to the front cover of the Annual Exhibition of the Society of Feline Artists
and into my book Sketching 365 (page 90)
Coloured Pencil on Paper, 11.5 x 7.5 ins 290 x 190 mm

Polly - true to form - looked cute and gorgeous right up to the end. This was her yesterday afternoon.

Polly on 6th October - she died 7th October 2015

Having sat with her and next to her for the last three days, watching over her as she went downhill very fast, I now need to take some time out. Blogging will be back next week.

National Open Art Competition 2015 - Final Call for Entries

Don't panic! 2 days to go - says the NOA website!

You have until Sunday 26th July to submit artwork to the National Open Art Competition

What is the National Open Art Competition?

Normally at this point I include a short pithy sentence or two from the website which states succinctly what the aim of the competition is and how it is unique/different from every other competition

I'm a little bit at a loss as to exactly what the competition is as the "about" page on the website - which uses 'mission statement' as part of the URL - is very focused on telling me about WHO runs it and what their priorities are.

Safe to say it's an open art competition and it's been running for a number of years.

I actually don't have a clue from the website as to what makes it different from any other competition. The major difference so far as I can see is it is not based in London - however it does have a major exhibition at a prestigious London venue.

I wrote and asked about the competition and got a response from a lady who writes a nice letter who tells me

The NOA is run primarily by a small dedicated team always striving to find new opportunities for artists and provide them with a platform by offering the chance to exhibit at the annual Winter Exhibition in addition to a range of bursaries, residencies and commissions.

She then went on to say

NOA is one of the few Art Competitions that guarantee their artists work will be genuinely, anonymously judged. Work is chosen on talent alone and information such as names, age and career is withheld throughout both rounds.

All I can say is that the organisers must not be aware that this is a common standard amongst most of the competitions I know well.

I asked for statistics about the competition and I got some excellent data by return.  You can find a summary of data for the last three years in the Selection section below - and what it means in terms of the chances of being selected

NOA - How to enter

Who can enter

In order to enter you MUST:

• live, or be professionally based, in 
• the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) or 
• the Republic of Ireland (Éire).
• be aged 15 years of age by 1 September 2015 to enter the Main Competition
• be 14 years of age or younger by 1 September 2015 to enter for the Children’s competition, must 

What sort of artwork can you enter?

You can only enter original work

Undertakes that the work is of his/her own origination, and that he or she holds all moral and intellectual property rights in that work.

You can submit up to four artworks from a wide variety of media 

• Paintings
• Drawings
• Original Prints (I think this means 'proper' fine art prints as opposed to reproductions)
• Photography
• Wall Hung Installations
• Computer Generated Art, e.g. iPad
• Moving Image

So - there we have it! This is the only competition I know if which has two distinct and unique categories for 'wall hung installations' and 'digital art'

The artwork is limited by size and duration and edition.  The website states

• Max size of Artwork: Width : 183cm x Height : 183cm x Depth : 30cm including the frame.
• Max duration of Moving Image: 3 minutes (180 seconds) including any credits.
• ONLY Prints, Photographs or Wall Hung Installations may be "editions".

Artwork MUST be for sale at a sensible price.

The catalogue for the 2014 Exhibition is available online. It contains the titles, images, media and prices of the work submitted. This demonstrates that the standard of artwork is commensurate with other national art exhibitions although the prices perhaps demonstrate a much wider span.

You can see what sold from last year's exhibition on this page of the website.

What to submit

RIP Cosmo 2000 - 2015

Cosmo's last catnap - back home 1.6.15

My much loved cat Cosmo died yesterday evening.

Many thanks to all the staff at my vets for their compassion and excellent support at the end.

He came home with me last night.  Last night and again this morning I drew him resting on a comfy cushion on the sofa - having his last catnap - before he went for his final trip to the vet prior to an individual cremation.  I've done this before and I highly recommend spending time with and drawing your pet after death - it really helps as part of the grieving process.

Cosmo was born in August 2000 and died just a few weeks short of his 15th birthday. He was an absolutely gorgeous big Somali boy cat with the oddly named 'usual' colour fur. He also has such a lovely nature that I wouldn't hesitate to have another Somali in future - although there could never be another Cosmo!

He's been a regular on this blog over the years. He featured in the fourth post on this blog Drawing and Flu and a series on catnapping starting in 2006.

Plus he was always up for a "filler image" for blog posts on more general themes (eg the sketch below which featured on Managing Business Risks as an Artist.)

The Catnapping Series: Sleeping on the job
pen and ink

and this post about How to make it easy for people to link to you - and how to sketch a cat!

30 second sketches of Cosmo in pencil

In 2008, I drew A Day in the Life of Cosmo. Looking back at it, his daily routine didn't change that much over the years - although there was a lot more "lolling" and "evening cuddles" and rather less athletic exercise, door climbing and "cowboys and indians". He's now on a permanent "big sleep".

A day in the life of Cosmo
12" x 16" pencil
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

He had a spell as a model for my drawings that were exhibited at the annual exhibitions of the Society of Feline Artists.

I spy a spider12" x 8", coloured pencils
exhibition in SOFA Annual Exhibition 2008 at the Llewellyn Alexander Galleries
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Latterly his claim to fame is he featured on a number of different pages in my book Sketching 365

A very quick pencil sketch of Cosmo (page 125)

plus sketching media became digital in addition to pencil and pen and ink.

Cosmo Catnapping #11 (on 11.01.11)
drawn using Sketchbook Pro and a mouse!

He's going to be much missed.

and finally......

I want to find him a really nice casket for his ashes.

I'd be really grateful to hear of any artist who works with wood or metal who I could commission to incorporate a line drawing into a suitable secure casket in wood or metal.

The Arrival of Spring - David Hockney's latest exhibition

Something like 85% of digital drawings in The Arrival of Spring sold before David Hockney's new exhibition opens tomorrow at Annely Juda Fine Art.  However the stars of the exhibition are a new set of charcoal drawings completed in Spring 2013 - and they're not yet for sale.  I imagine when the time comes they'll either be donated to a major art gallery or museum or they will be sold as a complete set - and if that ever happens it will take somebody with very deep pockets.

"Woldgate, The Arrival of Spring in 2013" - 4 of the five series of five drawingscharcoal drawings

"The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011"

The 20 colour prints in "The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011" were drawn on Hockney's iPad and were part of the set of some 50 works shown at the Royal Academy of Arts in his blockbuster show in 2012.  They were all drawn knowing that at some point they would become large prints.  In this show a few of them have become very large prints!  There's one new print in the show

The colour prints are now being marketed for the very first time which perhaps explains the very keen interest despite the fact that the prices of these small limited edition prints are eye-watering.

"The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011" by David Hockney
(Left to right) 1 January 2011, 4 January 2011 and 18 December 2011
The print on the right is a new one which was not included in the RA show and records winter rain

"The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011" by David Hockney
(Left to right) 18 March 2011, 25 April 2011, 1 April 2011, 18 January 2011 and 23 February 2011
139.7 cm x 105.4cm

"Woldgate, The Arrival of Spring in 2013"

"The Chinese say black and white contains colour, and so it can"
David Hockney

On the third floor are six series of charcoal drawings, all drawn on an entire sheet of Arches Aquarelles with the impressed makers name always bottom right - plus a video. These comprise

• 5 series of drawings - each series containing five drawings - all done between January and May 2013
• a series of drawings titled "Vandalised Totem".  which had been first vandalised and then cut down - made in November 2012, following a minor stroke
• a video made in winter 2010 of the road along Woldgate in heavy snow. 

Vandalized Totem by David Hockney
charcoal drawings 57.5cm x 78.8cm
signed and numbered
November - December 2012

He was making these drawings having recently suffered a minor stroke. The first drawing in November 2012 took two days but after that he says he found he concentrated more - and for the next six months he did nothing but draw in charcoal.

To me they're more sophisticated than the ones I saw at the RA - and I was very impressed by those!(see Review: David Hockney RA - A Bigger Picture - Making a Mark and Hockney is bigger than Van Gogh! - I visited the exhibition four times!)

One knockout aspect for me was the charcoal drawings - which were simply stunning. I never ever tired of looking at these - but only appreciated the relevance of him drawing trees and wood in charcoal on my last visit.

Gregory who runs the business end of Hockney back in Los Angeles said he felt that the drawings were different from the ones before.  To my mind, one very obvious reason they look different is because they're a considered series of five drawings of a place he now knows very well indeed.  Walking into the third floor space, one is immediately made aware of the impact of charcoal drawings when done as a series of drawings of the same space over a period of time. The drawings also remind you very much of the subtlety that charcoal has in the hands of somebody who knows how to use it.

Woldgate - from the Arrival of Spring in 2013 by David Hockney
(left to right, top then bottom) 6-7 February, 6 May, 12-13 May, 20-21 May, 27 May

I personally found that they kept reminding me of Van Gogh's reed pen drawings of the countryside and trees in Provence.  Hockney uses the same variety of in notations and mark-making used for trees and leaves and grass which felt very familiar and comfortable. (I'm a huge fan of Van Gogh's drawings - if you'd like to find out more about his drawings you can download the catalogue of the exhibition of Van Gogh's drawings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on their publications website - for free)

I definitely recommend this exhibition to anybody who is a fan of Hockney, a fan of landscape drawings, a fan of digital art or charcoal drawings - and if you're all of these, as I am now, you'll have a truly wonderful experience!

Plus the video of Woldgate continues to mesmerise - just as it did at the RA!

One of the nine screens displaying the journey along the snow road of Woldgate in 2010.
You can play 'spot the totem' as it used to be!

The catalogue is also excellent - very good reproduction and well presented.

The exhibition continues until 12 July and can be seen at Annely Juda Fine Art, 4th Floor, 23 Dering StreetLondon W1S 1AW.

Preparing images for publication in a book #1

I'm deep in the depths of correspondence with c. 50 artists at the moment in relation to inviting people to contribute images to my book. The next step is to help them generating both the images and the copyright forms and getting both transferred over to me so I can send them to the publisher.

It seems like a good time to record some thoughts on image preparation should you ever get asked whether you'd like your artwork in a publication.

So here's the first instalment. More later....

Generating top quality images for publication

#1 top tip is "assume all art you produce will be needed for a publication"

That's drawings, paintings, sketches etc

That way when you generate it first time round you'll scan it at 300 dpi or take a decent photograph and consequently have a file you can go to when somebody asks if it's possible to use that pic you produced two years ago.

Plus it also means if it's one you're sending to an exhibition and it sells that you still have a decent image of it!

So always, always, always get a decent digital image of everything you produce.

Then do the low res for the web image which is the one you will share with the world! :)

#2 tip make sure you learn how to produce a decent image for reproduction

Basically we're talking about a large image @300dpi or more, preferably saved as a TIF or other format which includes all the pixels. Plus saved in CMYK format would seem like a good idea since these images are being preserved for print publication rather than website.

Here's a couple of links to information and advice about producing top quality images

• All About Images - available as a pdf in Preparing Images for PowerPoint, the Web, and Publication

This comprehensive guide focuses on many common image questions in regards to image resolutions, resizing images, file types, vector and raster images, scanning, saving and more.Last Updated: Nov 15, 2013 URL: http://guides.lib.umich.edu/allaboutimages Print Guide

• Preparing Images for Print and Online Publication Tutorial by bcotier

#3 tip is file and archive your super duper file somewhere where you can find it!

Get a system and follow it!

You might file by year of production or type of image and have subsets. Whatever !  Just make sure that you leave yourself enough clues that you can find it again later.

This is where tagging suddenly seems to look like a very good idea.

I can tell you that a large file totally devoted to and well organised with TIF files suddenly looks like the intelligent answer!

#4 tip is file it somewhere else as well!

Don't forget there are various services now which give you oodles of space for very little outlay which means you need never ever rely on one copy which is on a hard drive which is going to fail at some point in the future.

If you don't backup, be prepared to forgo the retrospective catalogue - and all requests to get your artwork published ......... ;)

More to come.

"Discover Art" Bookazine to launch next month

The front cover of the first edition
of Discover Art

Next month, some of you are going to be seeing and hearing about the launch of a new publication called 'Discover Art'.

This is a new magazine for artists.  Technically it's actually called a bookazine - which is a magazine big enough to rate as a book!

The other big difference is that the majority of its distribution will be digital - of which more later!

James Hobbs, who's a very experienced editor of art magazines and a fellow Urban Sketcher in London, is editing 'Discover Art'.

I'm sold on the idea behind this new publication as it aims to go beyond some of the more simplistic how‐to formulas and rules of how to copy somebody else's style which all too often fill magazines.

Instead I understand Discover Art will be aiming to help and support artists to find their own creativity and distinctive and personal way of working through experimentation and experience.  So it's not so much how to produce art like a well known artist so much as how to produce art that is unique to you!  I'm definitely in support of that!

Features in the first edition include an article by me..... :)

Its features include

• in‐depth, inspiring looks at paintings by accomplished artists using watercolour, acrylic, oils and coloured pencils, as well as digital media, such as iPads

• interviews and profiles of successful artists including this year's BP Portrait Award winner, Susanne du Toit,

• how a blog and social media can help readers share and promote their paintings and drawings online

• how to meet like‐minded artists through art clubs, societies and sketchcrawls

• information about leading art materials to try out

• a look behind the scenes into the studios and work spaces of artists

• help in choosing the perfect painting holiday

• how selecting the right frame can be the crowning moment of any work of art

• a resources guide to help in finding art courses, exhibition opportunities and ongoing support

Mine is the article with the title "How social media can help the artist".  (I've just signed off the final version!). The main challenge was containing it to the word limit I was given as this is a topic which I could write a book about!

I'm very encouraged by seeing the websites and some of the art of the artists involved. The first edition of Discover Art will also include articles by

• Lucy Duke and Joe Dowden on watercolour, 
• Thomas Doran and Iain Holman on oils, 
• Anne Davies on acrylics - I love the look of her website!
• Rachel Munn on coloured pencils. I was absolutely raving about Rachel Munn's botanical art in pencil only last month at the Florum exhibition in Kent - see Florum 10th Anniversary Exhibition - review - drooling might be more accurate - so I can't wait to see what she has to say about working with coloured pencils.  
• Susan Murtaugh on iPad art. I'm also really looking forward to reading Susan Murtagh's article as she produces some really great digital art - and she's already been been profiled by that well known talent spotter Charley Parker of Lines and Colors!

Copies of the launch issue are set to be well in excess of 100,000.  It will be circulated as both a digital copy to databases of practising artists and will also be available in print via WHSmith, Martin McColl, Easons and key art shows throughout the year.  If you are on the GreatArt database you have no worries - a copy will be on its way to you next month.

There's also another bit about me in this magazine - but I won't spoil the surprise and will tell you about that one after the launch! 

Hockney is bigger than Van Gogh!

These are the queues of people waiting in the rain at 7.50pm on the final evening of the David Hockney RA - A Bigger Picture exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts.  The end of the queue is down to the entrance to Burlington House on Piccadilly.  The exhibition closed at 10pm.

Below you can see my cameraphone photos of different views of the queue on the last night.

Burlington House Courtyard on the final night of the Hockney Exhibition
- my view from the Archway

© Katherine Tyrrell

The view of the queue for the final night of the Hockney Exhibition
from the archway off Piccadilly, all the way across the courtyard to the entrance to the ticket desk
- as seen from Burlington House

© Katherine Tyrrell

My ticket was for 8pm so I was able to enjoy the last two hours of this exhibition before it closed its doors for the final time.

This was my fourth visit.  I'd been at the Press View when it was simply too much to take in all at once.  I'd then taken my sister and Marion Boddy-Evans to see it - and it's always fun to see an exhibition through other people's eyes.

This time I wanted to go for myself.  I'd had a debate with myself along the lines of is it sensible for anybody to go to an exhibition four times - for five days!  I won - and got to go!

Can I recommend to anybody who likes exhibitions at the RA that becoming a Friend of the RA is the way to do it.  I simply printed off my ticket online and walked straight in last night.  Plus you can take a guest for free.

I looked at all the paintings which I'd not had time to look at properly when seeing it with friends

Here's a few thoughts from my last visit

How to produce a large 300dpi TiFF print of an iPad sketch

...is the question I've been asking ever since I saw the Hockney exhibition.

So far I have established:

• he uses the Brushes app on his iPad
• Hockney's people state that to avoid pixellation as the size of the print increases, they use a new piece of software which allows prints in a much larger format.

I've looked and looked on the Internet and I can find no mention of the name of the software.  So I asked the question the other way round - the search query was "software used by Hockney to prevent pixelation for large prints of ipad drawings"!

So what's the software?

I'm still not sure - but I've found a suggestion - by a chap called Russ Croop (towards the bottom of the page in the link) - who's a photographer who has been creating large prints from iPhone/Brushes. I've summarised his suggestion below

Brushes Viewer app website - also available as an Apple app

There is a Brushes viewer (the quote is from the Brushes app site)

You can open your .brushes paintings in Brushes Viewer, a free application for Mac OS X. Brushes Viewer allows you to replay your paintings stroke for stroke, export them at very high resolutions (up to 1920 x 2880), and even export them as QuickTime movies.

1. Use Brushes Viewer to export iPad sketch at 5X the native size (using the TIFF format) which produces a large file
2. Import to Photoshop Elements and touch up imperfections (eg unpainted spots)
3. Select Image/Resize/Image Size
4. Unselect resample image box 
5. Type 300 in the resolution box (which changes the file to a higher resolution ie 300dpi which is what is usually required for professional printing) but creates a much smaller image
6. Select resample image box
7. Check you have the units correct for the size of image you want (eg inches or cm)
8. Type in the size of the image you require (eg 20 inches high) - and PS Elements resamples it to create a new large image @300 dpi and keeps the aspect ratio in proportion so long as you also have the "constrain proportions" box checked
9. Also make sure that the Bicubic Smoother is selected (option just below the resample command) as this is the best option when enlarging images.

I tried it - and I now have a very large digital sketch 20x16" in Tiff format sitting on my iMac - which was originally created on my iPad.

I followed all the instructions except for the Brushes viewer bit at the beginning as I already had the digital sketch on my iMac.

Now can anyone improve on that as a method of enlarging digital sketches created on an iPad?

Any queries? Any suggestions?  Any recommendations? 

PS  Two more posts today related to the Hockney Exhibition

• Book review: A Yorkshire Sketchbook by David Hockney on Making A Mark reviews
• Hockney: sketchbooks, iPad sketching and the Yosemite Valley on The Art of the Landscape  This is the post which triggered this post - because I wanted to know how Hockney is creating the very large images from the iPad.

Review: David Hockney RA - A Bigger Picture

The new David Hockney exhibition of landscape paintings at the Royal Academy of Arts is like a breath of fresh Yorkshire air.

David Hockney RA - The Bigger Picture is one of the most impressive exhibitions I've ever seen at the RA.

It's also one of the most accessible and least intimidating exhibitions I've seen in a long time.  I think it's going to be very popular.

David Hockney RA - The Bigger Picture
Giant Exhibition Banner
hanging above the main entrance to Burlington House

Hockney has filled the main galleries at the RA with some 150 images.  There are sketches in sketchbooks, larger drawings on Arches watercolour paper, a large set of watercolour paintings, oil paintings of every size and very large (and some very, very large) framed colour prints of digital sketches from his iPad.  Plus iPads displaying sketches and a film from a novel grid of nine digital cameras displayed on eighteen LED screens.

What's most impressive is that this is NOT a retrospective - despite the fact the artist is now in his seventies.

Examples of his earlier landscapes are referenced in Gallery 2, however the remainder of the gallery comprises works completed in the last few years.  This exhibition is about his current work.  Almost all the art is paintings of the landscapes he's found in the East Yorkshire Wolds west of Bridlington where he now lives 'on location".

The exhibition demonstrates a prodigious output for an artist of any age.  For an artist in his seventies it's quite remarkable.

David Hockney
The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 (twenty eleven) - 2 January
iPad drawing printed on paper
144.1 x 108 cm; one of a 52-part work
Courtesy of the artist
Copyright David Hockney

This review is going to be an overview - an account of my experience of the exhibition today.  Since I've got pages of notes(!), I propose to continue and review specific aspects of the exhibition on The Art of the Landscape - my landscape art blog (see end for more details).  That'll also give me time to absorb what I've seen and to reflect  on it further.

Your Paintings

Your Paintings" is one of the most remarkable digital art projects I've ever seen online. The aim is to catalogue and display the entire national collection of oil paintings in the UK online on a dedicated website!

Your Paintings - a BBC Online 'Knowledge and Learning' project
with the PCF and participating collections

Your Paintings is a joint initiative between the BBC, the Public Catalogue Foundation (a registered charity) and participating collections and museums from across the UK. 

It's going to be a fantastic learning resource and will be of particular interest to artists and those involved in art education - art students, art teachers and home schoolers.

Importantly, it also extends the concept of what public access to our artistic heritage should be about.

The project focuses on all the oil paintings in public ownership - so my brand new efforts at oil painting won't be making the cut.  However it's not just paintings in art galleries and museums as this video shows.

The paintings are drawn from public collections in every part of the country, big and small, from the most famous to the completely unknown. They include the UK's national museums and galleries, regional collections, the National Trust, as well as the less obvious public collection like those in universities, council buildings, hospitals and fire stations. 

It actually launched while I was away, hence why I'm only writing about it now.  Read on to find out more about

• what you can see online
• how to access the project's website
• how you can get personally involved - and help by tagging the nation's oil paintings!