Drawing my cat in sepia ink

Chloe sunbathing and sleeping on the yellow chair
August Bank Holiday 1994
Pilot G-Tec-C4 pen in sepia ink in Moleskine Sketchbook

31 years ago, I spent Bank Holiday Monday drawing my cat Chloe lazing on the back of my big creamy yellow armchair. It was especially favoured because it had feather and down cushions and hence a very comfortable squishy bed could be achieved by a cat dedicated to comfy sleeps.

This is drawn, by eyeballing sat 10 feet away, in pen and sepia ink in my Moleskine sketchbook. 

I now have a print of this pic in a frame sat right next to where she used to love sunbathing and sleeping.

I've always been in favour of staying home on Bank Holiday Mondays. There again I do live in central London, which necessitates a long slog in the traffic to get back home again if I go out when everybody else decides to go out!

Moreover, at the time I was working as a management consultant for one of the "Big Four" with lots of travel all around the country - with very early starts and very late returns home.

 Staying at home and not doing very much - except drawing my cat - was my idea of a proper "time out"!

I also used to get up early on Saturday mornings to draw using pastels and would aim to complete a large work by early afternoon....

Where you can see the Leonardo da Vinci drawings

144 of Leonardo da Vinci's greatest drawings in the Royal Collection are currently on display in 12 simultaneous exhibitions of Leonardo da Vinci: A Life in Drawing across the UK.

If you want to get to see the various exhibitions around the UK - or even all of them(!) - this is where you can see them.

• They are listed below in alphabetical order of the locations
• PLUS one of the images that can be seen at that location.

From 1 February - 6 May 2019, to mark the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci, 144 of the Renaissance master's greatest drawings in the Royal Collection will go on display in 12 simultaneous exhibitions across the UK.

This is a nationwide event. It rebuffs the notion that all the good art is only shown in London. In fact, it will give da Vinci's drawings the widest-ever audience to celebrate the 500th anniversary of he death of da Vinci in 1519.

12 drawings selected to reflect the full range of Leonardo's interests – painting, sculpture, architecture, music, anatomy, engineering, cartography, geology and botany – will be shown at each venue in Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Derby, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Southampton and Sunderland.

Longer exhibitions will then be held at first the Queen's Gallery in London - followed by the Queen's Gallery in Edinburgh.

The exhibitions include examples of all the drawing materials employed by the artist, including

• pen and ink, 
• red and black chalks, 
• watercolour and 
• metalpoint. 

They also present new information about Leonardo's working practices and creative process, gathered through scientific research using a range of non-invasive techniques, including ultraviolet imaging, infrared reflectography and X-ray fluorescence.

I've also included

• links to BBS news items - with the relevant gallery - which show more images and videos of the drawings on display.
• links to any useful items relevant to particular exhibitions

The drawings in the Royal Collection have been together as a group since the artist's death, and provide an unparalleled insight into Leonardo's investigations and the workings of his mind.Leonardo da Vinci drawings to go on display in Birmingham in 2019 | Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery Blog

For more information

• visit www.royalcollection.org.uk/Leonardo 500
• view this video
• view the listings below for each of the twelve exhibitions

The Nationwide Exhibitions

Exhibitions will be held in the following twelve locations between 1 February – 6 May 2019

Belfast - Ulster Museum

• Venue: Ulster Museum, Belfast
• Admission: FREE (on the basis I can't see any charging info)
• BBC - Leonardo Da Vinci drawings on display at Ulster Museum

Ulster Museum, Belfast

Leonardo da Vinci, The skull sectioned, 

1489, traces of black chalk, pen and ink

Birmingham - Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

• Venue: Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
• Admission: FREE
• BBC: Leonardo da Vinci works on display at Birmingham Museum

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery

Leonardo da Vinci, A Map of the Valdichiana, 

c.1503-4, watercolour, pen and ink, ink wash over black chalk

You can download the large print copy of the labels before you go - and you'll get to see the explanations for each of the drawings

Leonardo was an accomplished map maker. This map illustrates the Chiana valley in central Italy, with north to the left of the sheet. The river Tiber can be seen running along the top edge, the river Arno on the left and the city of Siena in the lower centre.

The marshy lake in the valley allowed the spread of malaria. It seems probable that Leonardo was employed by the Florentine government to create this map as part of a civil engineering project to drain the marsh. (Label for exhibit)

Bristol - Bristol Museum and Art Gallery

• Venue: Bristol Museum and Art Gallery
• Admission: 
• £6 adult* | £5 concession* 
• Under 16s FREE
• Tue-Sun: 10am-5pm Closed Mondays except Bank Holiday Mondays and Mondays during Bristol school holidays: 10am-5pm

Bristol are charging people for entry - while most other cities are showing their exhibitions for free. Bristolians may want to comment on this!

Bristol Museum & Art Gallery 

Leonardo da Vinci, Cats, lions and a dragon, 

c.1517-18, black chalk, pen and ink, wash

Anybody else got visions of da Vinci the cat lover - drawing next to a cat who likes to walk all over his drawings?

Why we draw cats

Did you know that the query "How to draw a cat" generates 40 MILLION results if you ask Google.

Interestingly if you query "why we draw cats" Google becomes deaf and pretends it hasn't heard and serve up more takes on "how to draw a cat".

I think the reason people draw cats is because we own cats - lots of them! There's about 7.5 million in the UK and where I live there's about 600 cats per square mile.

We also draw cats because when we've fed them they lie down and stay pretty still for rather a long time - and it's a lot easier drawing a cat which doesn't move!

....and because we love them.

One year ago today Cosmo died. (RIP Cosmo 2000-2015)
I can't believe it's a year. I still miss him every day. I still get tearful when I try to talk about him.

One year ago right about now we were taking him to the vet for the last time - and then brought him home again for some last drawings of his last sleep.

It seems this year as if rather a lot of people I know have also lost their cats.

I've watched as new kittens have arrived - but I simply haven't been able to replace him (and not just because Somali kittens are very difficult to find!) but simply because he is totally irreplaceable.

What I do know is that I wouldn't be without all the drawings I've got of him.

I look back through sketchbooks and suddenly there's yet another drawing of Cosmo - usually half finished because he decided to move while snoozing.

I've found it difficult drawing in the last year.

Maybe this explains why. I came across this comment by me in an earlier blog post

Did I not tell you all that Cosmo has to sit right next to me and watch while I draw? And if I show the slightest inclination to pause and reflect and not remain alert to his likely next move, he's climbing into my lap - right across the artwork.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Always draw the ones you love - because you never know when they're not going to leave you.

It applies to everybody - not just cats.....

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.

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.

14 good years

The Kittie Sitter

I'm not really feeling like doing a proper blog post today.

I've just got back from the vets and, having feared the worst, I've had my worst fears confirmed.

My big boy cat Cosmo has a large mass in his stomach. He's losing weight very fast because he's eating very little. When I look at this drawing it makes me realise how much he's lost. He's becoming a little boy.

We're hopefully talking weeks rather than days but who knows. He's 14 and would be 15 this July but I rather doubt he's going to make that birthday. We're not going to go in for investigations or being heroic. Rather all the focus will be on giving him a good quality of life for whatever time he has left. I'm going to let him go on for as long as he's still the cat I know and love and he's still purring.

One nice thing is he's forever immortalised in my book. He's the cat who pops up on a regular basis throughout my book - and he's a really wonderful "still cat" model. He was also the best uncle ever and loved looking after Polly's kittens.

I am, of course, sat here typing all of this with Cosmo sat next to me on his fleece - and tears sliding down my face.

I'm just going to make the most of him while he still wants to sit next to me.

For fans of feline art

There are two exhibitions in London for fans of feline art next week.

• The Chris Beetles Gallery is having its Louis Wain and the Summer Cat Show 2013. This opened on Saturday and continues until 31 August.  It includes c.150 feline paintings, illustrations and ceramics. The paintings in this exhibition are very likely to be variations on watercolour - which is a specialism of this gallery.
• The Society of Feline Artists are having their Annual Exhibition 2013 at the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery. This opens on 22nd August and runs until 20th September 2013 (10am - 7.30pm Monday to Saturday).  

Both have a virtual exhibition of a lot of the drawings, prints and paintings on display - click the links to view.

Big Red by Gayle Mason
to be displayed in the Society of Feline Artists 16th Annual Exhibition

I'm kicking myself because my friend Gayle Mason (Fur in the Paint | Gayle Mason Fine Art on Facebook) gave me a copy of the catalogue for the SOFA show when we met up recently and I now can't find it.

Here however is her very handsome chap who's in the SOFA show.

I think the last time she showed a ginger he sold before the show even opened!

Feline art in London - two exhibitions

There are two exhibitions for lovers of feline art in London at the moment.  Links to the exhibitions in both gallery websites include the images of a number of the paintings, drawings and fine art prints on display.

The first is the Society of Feline Artists - Annual Exhibition 2012 at the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery, 124 -126 The Cut, Waterloo, London SE1 8LN UK ( across the Road from the Old Vic and Waterloo Station).

This is the annual exhibition which shows work by full and associate members of SOFA.  It opened on Thirsday, has its PV on Tuesday and continues until 14th September.  You can also see a lot of photos of the exhibition on Flickr - See the album on flickr and See them as a slide show.

My friend Gayle Mason (Fur in the Paint) has got two in the window - of which one is also on the front cover of the PV invite (below).  Gayle and I normally go to see the show together - but she's busy looking at wildlife in Yellowstone National park and Canada at the moment.  If you want to see the best you need to go early as people who buy paintings are allowed to take them away and they are then replaced with other paintings.

The second exhibition is Louis Wain and the Summer Cat Show at the Chris Beetles Gallery 8 & 10 Ryder Street, St James's, London SW1Y 6QB (facing the rear of Christies).

This opened on the 18th August and continues until 9th September.

This includes paintings by Lesley Fotherby (I like the multiple view studies), Geraldine Girvan (I love the watercolour paintings - I'd love to a mix of still life and cats), Susan Herbert (a very amusing take on both subjects and artists styles!) and Lesley Anne Ivory as well as work by the late great Louis Wain

You can see a video of art by Susan Herbert on YouTube



Both exhibitions are excellent shows for lovers of feline art - and two exhibitions makes a wonderful reason for a trip to London for those who are 'out of towners'!

Links:  You can see more links to feline art in my website Feline Art - Resources for Artists

RIP Moose

This is Moose. In 2006, he became the first ever winner of my best animal on an illustrated blog award and his name was subsequently given to the award which became known as "The Moose".

Guess Who?
copyright Maggie Stiefvater

He died yesterday - very suddenly.

If you have fond memories of Moose and would like to see some of the art he featured in and/or send Maggie a message - this is the post to do it on - Moose

This is what I had to say when I awarded Moose the very first.....

Best Animal in an Illustrated Blog Award No contest - Moose wins by a mile. Maggie Stiefvater characterises her cat Moose as a "criminally insane cat, furry muse, catcher of moths, grabber of ankles" but I think he's a total star. He's been breaking ACEO records and has also been featured in an article in Art Calendar about daily painting blogs. I fully expect he'll be having to complete his own tax return very soon.

Moose gets the prize for being most often featured in uncommon but totally typical images of a cat. I can only manage drawings of the catnapping variety as they always move in for a stroke as soon as I get the camera out. Moose however is a total luvvie and absolutely loves the lens. You can see more of him on Maggie's blog Greywaren Art and her website "Portraits with Character".

This award will in future be called “The Moose” in honour of its first prize-winner.

This is what I had to say yesterday

Maggie - Moose will be missed by so very many people who absolutely loved his exploits. (My favourite - apart from the one I own - was the one where he went and posed behind the frames so he could show you how to crop the next painting!)

He was very much a member of our cyberchums group and I'm really pleased his name is carried on in my annual "Moose" award for best animal art on an illustrated blog. However there will never ever be another cat like Moose. He is after all one of the reasons why you were able to take the time to write that first book...........

Moose was truly a star and I know he will continue to shine very brightly in your life and your memories.

Strung Out
copyright Maggie Stiefvater

All About Cats

This is for the feline lovers amongst you!

I learned an awful lot about cats recently when putting together an update of my resource site All About Cats (which doesn't have an awful lot to do with art - but people who draw cats will like it!)

I also laughed myself silly while previewing the Simon's cat videos which are also included in this resource. Do take a peek if you own a cat - you won't regret it!

Cosmo
coloured pencils on Arche HP
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

One of them is so like my boy cat Cosmo (see right - you'd be right to think butter might not melt in that mouth but that's because he prefers roast chicken and nice fish if he can get it!) that I had tears running down my face from laughing before I got to the end. It spoke volumes about Cosmo when in over-excitable mode!

Every time I look at one of those Simon's cat videos it makes me think how art can be anything visual - it's not just landscapes and portraits and still life - and it can make us laugh too!

Exhibition Review: Society of Feline Artists 2009

Part of the Annual Exhibition of the Society of Feline Artists
photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell

On Tuesday, after leaving the Threadneedle Exhibition at the Mall Galleries, I travelled just one stop on the Northern Line down to Waterloo to attend the Champagne Private View of the Annual Exhibition of the Society of Feline Artists which was opened by David Grant, the celebrity vet and patron of the Society.

The annual exhibition is always held at the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery at 124-126 The Cut London SE1 8LN. It's situated right across the road from the Old Vic Theatre and is also just across the road from Waterloo Station. The exhibition continues until Friday 18th September - and the gallery is open until 7.30pm each evening Monday - Saturday.

You can also preview the exhibition online on the SOFA exhibition page on the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery website.

[Update - Denise Laurent (The Painted Cat - on the Easel) and official SOFA photographer has now posted her photos of the exhibition to Flickr and this is a slideshow of work in the SOFA annual exhibition]

Gayle Mason (Fur in the Paint) and I both attended - and found that our work was in the window - which is never an easy spot to get a photograph hence the curious tilt on this one - my three drawings in coloured pencil are on the right.

(top right) Meet the Kittens £275
Coloured Pencil on Paper, 11.5 x 7.5 ins 290 x 190 mm

(bottom left) Pick of the Litter £250
Coloured Pencil on Paper, 7.5 x 7.5 ins 190 x 190 mm

(bottom right) Kittens Rule OK! £275
Coloured Pencil on Paper, 11.5 x 7.5 ins 290 x 190 mm

Gayle had for the second year running sold one of her works - Moody Blue - prior to the opening of the exhibition.

We also discovered that an image of Moody Blue had been used to promote the exhibition in The Cat magazine when I spotted a copy of the relevant page of the magazine in the hands of somebody next to me! The Cat is the official magazine of the Cats Protection League - a very worthwhile body.

The exhibition is as always full of work of a very high standard and includes drawings, paintings and prints of cats of every type, style, shape and size!

I'm always amazed whenever I attend any of the specialised exhibitions about just how many different ways you can represent a cat (or wildlife or flowers etc). For all those people puzzled about style - in relation to this month's poll about style - can I suggest that it's very worthwhile attending exhibitions like this just to see how many different ways you can apply media to a support while portraying one type of subject matter!

Colourful and monochrome drawings paintings and prints of cats - in all styles
photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell

There's always an emphasis on representational art but within that while there is a strong cohort of artists - like Jacqueline Gaylard and Dominic O'Callaghan - who place an emphasis on extremely realistic paintings and drawings.

This year they've been joined by a new artist called Natalie Mascall who is producing really excellent work in pastel and was probably the fastest selling artist at the Preview. None of her work is available to be seen in the online exhibition and has in any case sold! However you can see a couple of examples on her website Geoffrey's cat and Home Comforts. Natalie's other big interest is wildlife and this year she won the "Endangered Species" category and was runner up in the "World Mammals" category of the BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year. It's always great to see a new talent emerging and I predict a great future for this artist.

If you enjoy feline art do go along and see the show - my kittens are in the window staring at the Old Vic and might be wondering about a future on the stage! ;)

Title please - plus time for a short break

It's no good - I've got to take a break and get my portfolio sorted for my application for fulll signature membership of the Society of Feline Artists - not to mention get everything finished, matted and in frames.

Then there's the question of a title....... (see the end)

Title - You tell me!
8" x 8", coloured pencils on Arches HP
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Plus I've got some personal stuff which needs sorting and that takes time and many emails.

So it's likely to be very quiet for the next week or so - with maybe the odd post.

My landscape project WILL be starting soon, but probably not until w/c 10th August. I want to do it justice and I'm too pushed for time right now.

Now - can you can help me?

I'm having trouble coming up with a title for this one - which is almost finished. It's yet another kitten, sat in the bottom of one of those woven banana leaf waste paper bins. I'm sure anybody who has ever had a kitten knows just how much kittens enjoy waste paper bins and this one was no exception!

So any suggestions for a title?

[Update: I chose "Pick of the Litter" as a title in the end. Mainly because it was one of those ones which made me wish I'd thought of it first which I always think is a sign of a good title! So very many thanks to madtora who suggested it in the first place. I'd come and comment on your blog but you don't seem to have one!

I'm pleased to say that "Pick of the Litter" is also going to be in the SOFA Annual exhibition. You can also see the final version on my website]

"Meet the kittens" on SOFA front cover

An awful lot of really excellent work is submitted to the Society of Feline Artists' (SOFA) exhibition each year. Both full and associate members are invited to submit work early for consideration for the brochure. The quality is so good that it's always regarded as a great honour to get your work selected by Jillian Llewellyn Lloyd, Director of the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery, as an image for the exhibition's colour brochure/private view invite.

Gayle Mason (Fur in the Paint) has had work in the brochure for the last two years (she's always very organised!), while I kept forgetting to get my work finished before April.

However, this year I decided to have a go and got three drawings of kittens submitted early - and in time for consideration for the brochure.

SOFA Exhibition 2009
Colour Brochure/Private View Invite

I already knew that two were definitely in the exhibition and that one of them was likely to be in the brochure but you can imagine my surprise when the catalogue arrived today to find that "Meet the Kittens" has actually made the front cover!

Gayle has also got a lovely drawing of a blue burmese "Moody Blue" on the inside of the brochure.

The other two works on the front cover are:

• Christmas Cat by Irina Garmashova (14" x 20, acrylic and coloured pencil on paper)
  
• Loved by Sarah Butt (9.5" x 10" acrylic on board)
  

I'll highlight some of the others featured in the brochure nearer the exhibition.

The exhibition

The SOFA Annual Exhibition takes place at the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery in London. The exhibition dates this year are 28th August through to 18th September, (10am - 7.30pm Monday to Saturday).

The exhibition features the work of both Full and Associate members of SOFA members. On show will be approximately 300 paintings of cats in oil, acrylic, watercolour, pastel and etchings - making it the largest exhibition of cat art in the country.

I'll post an update when the exhibition goes online - which usually happens before the exhibition opens at the gallery.

Private View

The Champagne Private View is held on Tuesday 1st September between 12pm and 3pm. The exhibition is officially opened by the Society's Patron David Grant MBE at 2.15pm. (He's that really nice vet from RSPCA Harmsworth who we all used to watch on the BBC programme Animal Hospital).

I'll be at the PV so this is a call-out to friends to let me know if you'd like an invite to see the work.

A different business model for an art society exhibition

The SOFA exhibition is somewhat unusual compared to many art society exhibitions and I thought it worthwhile highlighting the differences between the SOFA exhibition and most other art exhibitions.

Most art societies rent space/weeks in a commercial gallery. They then need to organise the selection, receipt of works, cataloguing and hanging - which depending on the arrangements with the gallery, very often falls to Executive members and helpers

SOFA has an agreement with Llewellyn Alexander that it will hold its exhibition in the gallery each year and it is a regular fixture in the gallery's schedule of exhibitions. It always has 'regular' exhibition status and thus has to 'pay its way' as it were. Hence the selection of works to be exhibited is done entirely by the Gallery.

The Executive have no involvement in selection, do not have to receive works or store works, do not organise the catalogue and do not need to hang works. There's also no submission fee for the artists because this is a strictly commercial exhibition albeit one held on behalf of an art society. The commission deducted from sales is payable to the gallery who also look after the previous buyers' mailing list.

I would add that it is also one of the most successful art society exhibitions I know. This is due in no small part to the expertise and efforts of the gallery's directors and staff.

I'm always pleased to get work into this exhibition - and this year I'm ecstatic that my work has made the front cover of a brochure which I've been getting and keeping for many years now!

Llewellyn Alexander Gallery: 124 - 126 The Cut, Waterloo, London SE1 8LN. Telephone: 020 7620 1322/4

Auditioning for SOFA

(left to right) Meet the Kittens, The Kittie Sitter, Kittens rule OK!
all coloured pencils on Arches HP
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

These are my three coloured pencil drawings which are currently auditioning for the catalogue for the Society of Feline Artists 13th Annual Exhibition at the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery (28th August to 18th September 2009). The Gallery likes to have all the images in by mid April. My submission scaped in just in time as I had to get both the new computer and then the new graphics package sorted out first!

This is a quickie post today as today I'm off to the Private View for the Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists at Westminster Hall - which this year includes two of my drawings! The show opens to the pblic on Friday.

I'll be doing a review tomorrow with photographs plus a count up of how many coloured pencil artists are included this year!

How do you draw? #1

drawing is essentially about "I'm here and I need to go there. How am I going to get there?"
Michael Archer - Comments on The Draw of Drawing

How do you draw? This is about what you do with your paper - or any other surface that you use for drawing - when you draw. You're invited to participate in two polls about how you draw.

Swamped - a work in progress
coloured pencils on Arches HP
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Reading about how somebody drew yesterday reminded me that that we all draw in quite different ways - but maybe aren't aware of quite how many different ways there are to draw.

I've certainly come across people who've been genuinely surprised to find that other people don't draw in the same way that they do. I'm less surprised that many people aren't aware of all the media that can be used for drawing - or making marks in our space or environment.

I think this past blog post Comments on The Draw of Drawing (11th October 2007) - about a lecture given by Michael Archer, the Head of School at the Ruskin School of Fine Art at Oxford University, - is helpful to understanding some of the different perspectives.

Here's a short extract

• drawing involves making a representation of our external world - but this can be done in different ways and can involve sculpture
  
• drawing pathways is a drawing of a human relationship with the world
  
• landscape architects may design an environment and include paths but people will walk where they want to walk. We can observe (or make) a line across grass made by walking (Richard Long 1967) - a real path across real grass is a desire line (although I'd also observe it's often the shortest line between two points when people are short of time - which also makes it a practical line within all possibilities!).
  
• another way of drawing a line or lines is by removing part of the environment - such as by mowing through the daisies (You can see more examples of lines in the landscape on Richard Long's website)
  
• the drawing for and sculture of Alberto Giacometti's L'homme qui marche' shows how a very insistent additive process of a man walking in a line, making marks as he goes with the same movements again and again, can be reduced to almost nothing (You can see other drawings and sculpture by Giacometti in the MOMA collection; Tate Modern and at Artcylopedia)

Comments on The Draw of Drawing

However - back to the readers of this blog!

How do YOU draw?

I'm looking at two aspects of the how we approach the support which I originally had combined until I realised they were obviously quite different issues. This is about the mechanics of drawing.

The Angle of Drawing

First there's the issue of the angle of your support and what tools or equipment you're using to help you draw. Most people probably assume that drawings can only be made using paper. However much contemporary drawing is done using digital tools or 'found' media in the environment.

How we draw also depends on the tools which are available and our very individual preferences. For me it's not a question of 'right' or 'wrong' responses to the question about how we draw - even if ergonomics suggest there are 'better' ways of drawing.



Static vs moving the paper around

Then there's issue of whether you keep the paper/support static or whether you move it around and approach the drawing from different angles. Whether or not you move the drawing around greatly influences your approach to drawing.



These polls will close at on the morning of the 18th April and I'll report on the results the same day.

Drawing Note:
"Swamped" - alternative titles welcomes - is a picture of Uncle Cosmo acting as a big warm furry bed for Polly's kitties. He really loved those kitties and those kitties really loved him! I don't often show a work in progress but thought you might like to see this one given it's at a slightly weird stage in terms of colour!

Making A Mark in 2008 - the results

all images copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This is the final post in my end of year annual review of artistic endeavours in 2008. So far we've had:

• Blogging Art in 2008 - A Review (Part 1)
• Art in 2008 - A Review (Part 2)
• Blogging Art in 2008 - The Making A Mark Awards (Part 1)
• Blogging Art in 2008 - The Making A Mark Awards (Part 2)
• Making A Mark - popular posts in 2008

This post relates to my own personal review. Once again I'm going to review what I've done in relation to my original plan for 2008.

As in 2007, it was based around a set of broad goals which had proved a useful framework for thinking about and organising different activities. It was also informed by my guiding principle which is that more or less everything should fit with just one maxim – “Life is too short”. What this means is that I try always to do what I enjoy doing and avoid or forget about the rest (eg I no longer iron if I can help it!).

LEARNING

Learning – continuing my own personal development as an artist AND as a person who appreciates art. I enjoy learning period. This means, for example, I can enjoy learning about a certain type of art because I enjoy looking at it – not because I want to do it. I will be continuing to learn more about the history of art and specific artists and will continue to go to as many exhibitions as possible because I find these activities to be extremely helpful to developing my own perspective and ideas about my own art. I look so I can see.

Learning about other artists: I found out about a lot of new artists in history during 2008, although a lot were not the ones I originally had in mind. I keep track of what I find out by creating an information site and new ones this year included ones for Goya; Maria Sibylla Merian; JMW Turner; Hiroshige; Hokusai; Vilhelm Hammershøi; Dame Laura Knight; Mary Cassatt; Winslow Homer; Andrew Wyeth; Chuck Close and David Hockney

In terms of my original plan some artists were badly neglected. I've only just started to scrape the surface of the wonders of Turner (J.M.W. Turner - Resources for Art Lovers published Feb. 08) and didn't manage to do as much I'd hoped in relation to different artists working in colour or series (eg Degas). They continue to remain artists which I want to learn more about.

A spin-off of learning about artists was the development of a site dedicated to Art History & the History of Art - Resources for Art Lovers which provides links to all the websites where information can be found about various artists.

Learning through visiting exhibitions

I seem to have visited and reviewed very many more exhibitions this year. Exhibitions have certainly become a much bigger part of my blogging life and in turn have provided me with the benefit of seeing an awful lot of art! I also commented on Juried art competitions - does size matter? and Art competitions and copyright - the AWS Gold Medal debate

For those of you who may have missed references to them earlier in the year here's a list of all the exhibitions and galleries I visited and/or reviewed on this blog:

• From Russia - French and Russian Master Paintings 1870-1925 from Moscow and St Petersburg at the Royal Academy of Arts (February)
• The Pastel Society UK - 109th Annual Exhibition (March)
• the opening of the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew gardens and the inaugural exhibition
  
• the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition (April)
  
• the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers
• The Summer Exhibition (twice) at the Royal Academy - which is impossible to review!
• BP Portrait Prize 2008 - exhibition opens (June) and the awards ceremony in Craig Wylie wins BP Portrait Award 2008
• Colin See-Paynton and "Of a Feather - An Avian Alphabet" at the Bankside Gallery
  
• BP Travel Award: Gareth Reid and the Finnish winter bathers(June)
• Not the Royal Academy - a Salon des Refusés (August)
  
• I wrote about the CPSA 16th Annual International Exhibition 2008 - Award winners
• the exhibition for the new Threadneedle Figurative Prize (part 1) (August). See also Threadneedle Figurative Prize (part 2) - Green, Mills, Murdoch and Schierenberg and Threadneedle Figurative Prize (part 3) - Brandford, Shaw, Williams and the DVD
• the SOFA Annual Exhibition (September)
• A visit to the Queens Gallery and the Royal Collection (September)
  
• RWS / Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2008 - exhibition review (September) See also RWS/Sunday Times Watercolour Competition - prizewinners and selected artists
• I saw but didn't review the Surrey Sculpture Society and 'Picture Gardens - an RHS Photographic Exhibition' at Wisley.
• I saw but didn't review the exhibition about Mark Rothko at Tate Modern
• UKCPS Annual International Open Exhibition 2008(I missed the PV due to bad weather)
  
• 45th Annual Exhibition of the Society of Wildlife Artists (October)
  
• The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors & Gravers - Annual Exhibition 2008 (October )
  
• two exhibitions at the Bankside Gallery - by the Royal Watercolour Society and the Society of Wood Engravers - in Bankside Gallery - Watercolour and Wood Engravers
• Susan Angharad Williams exhibition at ING (November)
• The Royal Institute of Oil Painters - 121st Annual Exhibition. (November)
• the Miró, Calder, Giacometti, Braque: Aimé Maeght and His Artists exhibition at the Royal Academy (November)
• ING Discerning Eye 2008 - a review (November)
  
• Renaissance Faces at the National Gallery (November)
• New English Art Club - Annual Open Exhibition 2008 (December)

all images copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Learning through projects

I've learned that I need to be a lot less ambitious! My 2008 schedule for projects reduced the number and lengthened the time span of the major projects - and yet still proved impossible to complete. I've been much more flexible about timings and have parallel tracked a number of my endeavours. However I've reluctantly come to the conclusion that projects at the back end of the year are always going to be in competition with a very busy exhibition 'season' in the Autumn and I need to be more realistic about this when constructing my plan for 2009.

While I wanted to place a lot of emphasis on learning in 2008, it has had an impact on 'doing'. The reason for this is that looking at art and studying art takes a while to absorb. It would be a great pity if the lessons learned were not then transferred in some way into my work - however it's felt at times as if there was just too much to translate. I'll comment more on this in the 'Doing' section.

all images copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Planned projects: The projects highlighted below are hyperlinked to the Resources for Artists sites that I created during the course of the project. Each of these include all the Making A Mark blog posts from each project.

• Composition and Design This generated three of the most popular posts this year - Composition - Principles of Design; Composition - The Elements of Design; Composition - why tonal values and contrast are important
• Japanese Art and Artists - This design aspects of this project fitted in very neatly next to the previous project on composition and design. I very much enjoyed learning about Hiroshige and Hokusai. I think I'd like to link the 'road to' series of works to the concept of working in a series and the notion of a journey being one way of working in a series. All of which might be relevant to my perspective on developing views of the Thames and trips.
  
• Colour - This was a terrific topic to get to grips with in terms of scope and potential benefit - and I've got more books about colour which I'll be reviewing on 2009. I still feel like I need to write something which summarises what I learned.
• Creating a Series - I feel like I made a start but could do with revisiting this theme and the original plan for how it might develop. I managed only a limited look at series by Monet - including Monet's Series Paintings - Stacks of Wheat. However I did have a poll Making A Mark Poll: What's the main reason why you work in a series?

I did a significant number of book reviews during the year (I've not counted!) - many of them in tandem with the projects. I think a few of you might have bought a few new books as a result judging by the comments!

Unplanned projects: my plan is flexible and can accommodate topics which emerged during the course of the year.

• "Art and the economy" was an entirely unplanned 'project' even though I was predicting that a recession would have an impact on artists and the art economy back in January. I wrote a lot of posts on this topic during the course of the year which are now all listed in the information site I created Art and the Economy - Resources for Artists.
  
• Another area was Copyright and Orphan Artworks
• I also spent short periods pulling together information about Art Forums; Art Holidays and Venice.
  

The Making A Mark Polls were also totally unplanned - and were triggered by the survey widget becoming available as a module in the sidebar of Blogger! They included What's the MAIN way you sell your art? - The Results The polls will continue in 2009 - with the first being announced on Friday!

DOING

Doing – in 2008, ‘doing’ is going to be partially linked to projects which are about learning. I’ll aim to produce art using what I’ve learned and the material I’ve accumulated to date. ‘Doing’ might well be focused around specific themes to create bodies of work. 'Doing' will also involve producing work for exhibitions.

all images copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I've started working up or revising drawings and sketches from past trips abroad - however I still have masses of material remaining to be worked up! I like to leave a gap between 'being there' and then drawing 'being there'. Somehow it gives me a different and better perspective on a view and helps with determining the overall aesthetic for a piece. It's also good to redo old pieces which have stood the test of time in terms of looking at them but where I now feel like I have the skills to make them even better.

My 'doing' was enhanced and undermined all year by the same thing. Too much information to know what to do with! 'Doing' slowed right down in the latter part of the year although I continued to draw in class and to sketch. This was because I felt like I didn't quite know where to go with my work. I'm now getting clearer in my head what I'd like to develop in terms of 'my look' but the 'how' still eludes me . I keep nibbling away at the edges.......

One of my other underlying goals has been to try and settle more on major themes for my work. I still feel like I cover too many different genres. However I know I will NEVER be able to settle on just one theme - I know I need variety. I've done much pondering during the year as to what my themes should be and I THINK I now know what direction to go in. I'll write more about this tomorrow

One of the highligts of the year in terms of 'doing' was Life drawing in the Royal Academy Schools Life Room

SHARING

Sharing – this a major theme of my life, who I am and what I like to do. There will be a continuing focus on developing how I can share what I learn and learning from others who share what they do. I'm happy to contemplate some major projects in this field but am not about to rush into anything.

Website: In June 2008, I created my new 'hub' website at http://www.makingamark.co.uk. This has three clear areas of focus - drawing, writing and sharing It has links to all my other sites.

Blogging - number of posts: In total I've posted well in excess of 400 blog posts in 2008. In the first three years of Making A Mark I've posted as follows

• 2006 - 349 posts
  
• 2007 - 393 posts
  
• 2008 - 358 posts

I've consciously tried to take more 'time out' this year - but still managed to produce enough blog posts to have done one nearly every day just for this blog! I even blogged right the way through that really nasty bug we all seemed to get ( and I got three times!). In addition to that I've also

• created 50 posts on Travel with a Sketchbook in......(an average of one post per week)
  
• contributed several posts to both Urban Sketchers and Watermarks - two new group blogs which started in October and December 2008 respectively where activity has been unplanned
  
• set up a Ning community for the Watermarks group (again unplanned!)
  
• become the blogmaster for UKCPS News - the blog of the United Kingdom Coloured Pencil Society - during the busiest part of the year!
  

Blogging - Popular posts: Generating ideas for topics I'm interested in has never been a a problem, choosing which one to post about is! I get pointers from what people are interested in and reviewed which were my most popular posts this year earlier today - see Making A Mark - popular posts in 2008 and my new information site Making A Mark - Popular Posts). It always provides a surprise!

Blogging - Number of visitors: The exponential rise of the number of unique visitors has continued. In effect, I virtually doubled the number of visitors to this blog during the course of its third year. The number of unique visitors hit 200,000 in February, 300,000 at the end of July and reached 380,000 by the end of the year. I think at least some of the pre-summer traffic was a spin-off from the fact that the website for UK SATs examiners happened to have the name 'Making A Mark'! However EDS have now lost the exams contract and I'm guessing that maybe they won't be using the same website address in future!

Writing - Making A Mark Guides: I've also written a number of guides for a number of topic areas which are now available as pdf files. Download the Guides for free from the Making A Mark Publications page

Writing - The Book: This made absolutely no progress at all although I do think I'm clearer now about where it might go in terms of outline - so I guess that's progress.

Sharing - Resources for Artists: I've lost count of the number of information sites I developed during the course of 2008 - but it was an awful lot (I need to keep a list in 2009!) - including a whole bunch about gardens for those of us who like to draw gardens- see Great Gardens Headquarters! You can see all of them in Making A Mark on Squidoo

Sharing - Workshops were completely sidelined as I simply could not guarantee being able to deliver due to a temporary health issue which needed sorting. More about plans for 2009 tomorrow.

Sharing the Highs - One of the things that has given me the most pleasure during the course of the year is to highlight artists whose work - and working practices - I think are good. Hence

• the Making A Mark Awards - which we've had this week
  
• the people featured in my weekly 'whose made a mark this week' blog posts
  
• the mention that is made of all the artists whose work I like and highlight in posts about exhibitions I've seen.

I seem to have developed a curious benefit from all my 'talent spotting' on blogs and in exhibitions. During 2008 I started to get an uncanny feeling - I kept spotting winners before they were winners! I know this because the evidence is in the blog posts! I've begun to wonder whether my 'nous' and my developing 'eye' are getting rather good at spotting talent.......... ;) We'll have to see whether the trend continues in 2009. :)

SHOWING AND SELLING

Showing – besides showing work on this blog and my website, I will participate in a limited number of exhibitions. I may try and develop local gallery representation but this is not a priority.

Selling – This has had a very low priority for some time and is unlikely to rise much up the pecking order. I will continue to try and find ways of selling work that do not distract too much from learning, doing and sharing. Efficiency is the major priority.

I exhibited during the year in the annual exhibitions of the Society of United Kingdom Coloured Pencil Society - see I've been juried into the UKCPS Annual International Exhibition and showed four works with the Society of Feline Artists (central London). You can see my feline work here. I also contributed to an exhibition in the USA.

I think I succeeded this year in making sure that submitting work for shows did not railroad all other endeavours as has happened in the past. I even learned how to cut a mat with my new quite sophisticated Logan mat cutter so trips to the framers could become more limited!

Selling is still not a high priority. I want to be to become more settled in the style which has developed in my head even if it's made less progress on paper. Plus issues to do with the economy seem to be conspiring to keep selling activity low key so maybe that's no bad thing!

TRAVELLING

Travelling – Travel undoubtedly broadens the mind and my travels support both ‘learning’ and ‘doing’. This is probably the vaguest area as yet with no firm plans but a number of ideas

Travelling was very limited in 2008 for various reasons however I'm hoping I can start travelling again in 2009 - although it's a pity about the exchange rate. I did however manage to get out and sketch when able to do so and you can see the results in Travels with my Sketchbook in...... London, South of England, and Interior Landscapes - with food

and finally....

I had a lot of compliments about the blog during the year - which I truly appreciate. Many thanks to all those who take the trouble to write saying how much they enjoy the blog and its content.

Here's a couple of the compliments

• July 2008 - this blog was added to Duane Keiser's "Links" on A Painting A Day. It's a very short list and I am very appreciative! I was similarly flattered to find my blog in the blogrolls of a number of other fine artists.
  
• August 2008 - Charley Parker (Lines and Colors) wrote a very nice review of my work and internet activities which I highlighted in Lines and Colors and a rather nice surprise