Derwent Art Prize 2018: Prizewinners and Exhibition

The Derwent Art Prize 2018 prizewinners are listed below together with views of the exhibition currently on display in the Threadneedle Space at the Mall Galleries in London - until 5pm on Sunday 23rd September 2018.

View of part of the Derwent Art Prize exhibition 2018

The Derwent Art Prize 2018 exhibition will tour to venues across the UK including

• Trowbridge Arts (29 September – 10 November 2018) and 
• Derwent Pencil Museum in Keswick, Cumbria (until January 2018).

Derwent Art Prize 2018 - Prizewinners

The nationalities of those receiving prizes (and the catalogue) underline that this has become a truly international exhibition. 

The Prizewinners were announced after the exhibition opened.  I saw the exhibition before the prizewinners were announced (last night) and it was difficult to tell who would win the prizes. There's certainly a lot of good calibre work within the exhibition.

First Prize (£6,000): France Bizot (France) - Madame Bovary

Madame Bovary
colour pencil on book 22cm x 19cm
copyright France Bizot

French artist France Bizot’s intricate hand-drawn books illustrate one way in which drawing can be realised in three dimensions Derwent is proud to announce the finalists and exhibitors of the 2018 Derwent Art Prize

France Bizot is an artist who draws in printed books. She also has a second work selected for the exhibition - of two graphite drawings also within a book. Both are contained within the display boxes on plinths.

Her work belongs to the great tradition of those who produce art in published books. Not artists books as such - as these are artists who produce books of their drawings - so much as artists who use books as their support and their medium for their artwork (eg see 10 Visual Artists Who Use Books as Their Medium for more not quite the same)

France Bizot was born in 1959 and lives in Paris France. She is a graduate of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs. Prior to becoming an artist she had a a successful career as an artistic director in the advertising industry. In 2002 she became an artist and has in the past created drawings based on images appropriated from social media. Her work has been shown in group and solo exhibitions, including Fondation EDF, Paris, BACKSLASH, Paris, Galerie François Giraudeau, Paris, Galerie Privée EBC, Paris, Espace Beaurepaire, Paris, and Young Gallery, Brussels.

Her works are contained in display boxes placed on plinths

Second Prize (£3,000): Jovanka Stanojevic (Serbia) - Hair

Hair 2
Graphite pencil on paper 33 x 33cm
copyright Jovanka Stanojevic

Jovanka Stanojevic is a Serbian artist living and working in Belgrade.

She has been awarded a BA in Painting (2005) and an MFA in drawing (2009) from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade. She is currently completing her PHD dissertation. Since 2008, she has worked as an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Art and Design Megatrend University, Belgrade.

Her professional art work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions in Serbia, Germany, England, Italy, Greece, Spain and Switzerland and she has received a number of painting awards.
Her drawings and paintings are a part of public and private collections in Serbia, Germany, USA, Switzerland, Greece, Italy and Denmark.

This is a video about her work which I found online

Green and Stone art shop is moving to.....

Green and Stone - the renowned and extremely popular supplier of art materials - is on the move from its current home at 251 Kings Road in Chelsea.

It has to move quickly and hopes to be in its new home by October - and you can help!

The interior of 251 Kings Road

The shop has some very loyal fans and due to their support, unlike other art shops it has not closed and is now the longest running shop in the King's Road - until the move in October....

.....over the years, due to our fiercely loyal customers we have remained; and I am proud to say we are the longest running shop in Kings Road. We have kept Green and Stone exactly as it should be; a creative hub of information for the artistic and with an eclectic mix of curios. It serves as a peaceful escape from London’s modern revolt.
We have welcomed the locals of Chelsea and tourists from near and far; those who have sought us out, those who stumble upon us, the artists, writers, directors, movie stars and musicians, and everyone in between. Having served some of the greatest contemporary artists like David Hockney, Francis Bacon, Damien Hirst, Lucien Freud, Quentin Blake and Henry Moore to name but a few, we are considered the best art shop in Europe. Hester Baldwin, manager of Green and Stone

However, the building has been suffering from some serious structural problems and has experienced repetitive flooding in the basement.

To remain in the same building has its perks. We are a landmark destination; the black cabs know where to find us if you can’t. Our nostalgic shop front suspends you in a time now past and we can be relied upon as a location for a meeting place as we have been here for 85 years; indeed, Green and Stone is an institution.
However, as with anything old, 259 Kings Road has its downfalls too. Without the TLC the building needed our dear shop has started to shake its head in protest and sent floods of biblical proportions through the basement; more than once, I hasten to add. I believe, after 85 years of trading here at 259 Kings Road, this old gal wants an early retirement. This day would always come, but we were not expecting it quite so soon.

If you value the continued existence of this much loved store - and I suspect most of its current fans do - can I suggest you read on past the details of the location of their new home to the Crowdfunder - because the actual move is going to cost some £100,000

WE HAVE SOME PRETTY IMPORTANT NEWS.
Sadly we are having to vacate our beloved home at 259 Kings Road fairly imminently due to severe deterioration. We have found a new home so please follow this link for all the news on this mammoth task ahead of us.https://t.co/TZclLajerM

— Green and Stone (@greenandstone) 28 August 2018

Green and Stone's New Home

How to get | print | use Pascal Anson's lined papers for a still life collage

If you want to download those tonal lined papers used by Pascal Anson for the Big "Cut Out a Still Life" challenge this is the blog post to go to - DRAWING IS DIFFICULT! Perspective, Still Life, Lids and Bananas - they're at the bottom and available to download.

Lined sheets of paper by Pascal Anson - for constructing still life collages

You can then print on plain or coloured paper

RECOMMENDED: Plus he has a video showing you how to use them - definitely worth watching

Tonal paper. Photocopied lines in different density to help you identify light and dark tone. Not colour. Draw with scissors, not with a pencil. Use the direction of the lines to think about paint strokes. See my YouTube for a still life demo. #art #painting #bigpaintingchallenge

A post shared by Pascal Anson (@iampascalanson) on Apr 1, 2018 at 3:17am PDT

You're asking for the tonal paper in the #bigpaintingchallenge masterclass. Tutorial and paper download is here https://t.co/Jw49F0AQ9s pic.twitter.com/PmmhVYYdV2

— Pascal Anson (@iampascalanson) April 3, 2018

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The Travels of Atlantis Art Materials - on the move again!

The largest art shop in London has moved again! 

I regard Atlantis Art Materials as one of my local art materials shops. It's had lots of locations around the East End of London since I first encountered it just off Devons Road in E3 more years ago than I can accurately remember.

I've bought masses of art materials and supplies "stuff" from Atlantis in my time. They were my supplier of choice for paper, foam core, mat board when I could access them easily by car - because you could buy masses and just load it straight on to the back seat.  Plus I've been known to acquire an awful lots of bits and bobs having to walk past shelves to get to the foam core!  I can visualise all the pastels and pencils racks still because I used to spend so long in front of them....

I was idling trying to work out how many locations it has had since I've known them - and in the end came up with six - but I have only visited four of them.

There again they've only been in the latest one in Hackney since 5th March 2018.

1. Original Location: Devons Road, London E3 (mid/late 1980s?)

I'm sure this is the first place that I first I came across Atlantis Art Materials. I don';t think they'd been going for very long when I first came across them.

It was a typical location for a company looking for a large building and not wanting to pay lots of rent! They inhabited a very modern techie type building next to where the Devons Road DLR Station (opened 1987) is now. This was by far the smallest of the stores. They got a lot bigger when they moved on from here.  I don't think the DLR was open when I first visited it - but I could be wrong.

The original Devons Road location. 

I seem to recall the building they were in looked different so it might have changed or it might just be so many years ago I can't actually remember.

I do remember going there to review watercolour paint after reading Michael Wilcox's book The Wilcox Guide to the Best Watercolor Paints (published 1993) because this was the first time I'd taken a good long hard look at Old Holland Paint - which I never ever saw in any other art suppliers. (Note: this book is now way out of date - but did trigger a bit of a revolution if testing watercolours!)

2. The Huge Warehouse in Brick Lane (Early - Late 90s?)

I can't remember the precise address but it was right opposite the Old Truman Brewery - in an HUGE warehouse with great parking. It was absolutely cavernous and one of the stores I liked the best.

They were here for ages and I made lots of early purchases here.

Many is the time I've climbed that little flight of stairs
and entered the cathedral of art materials

a very small entrance
- which led to an enormous space behind

3. Whitechapel - early 2000s - 2009

7-9 Plumber's Row London E1 1EQ (just behind the Mosque on Whitechapel Road - as was)

This was one of the best locations and was also very accessible whether visiting using public transport or by car. I could normally guarantee I could park the car either in their car park or on the street - which meant I could take my time and spend lots of money I hadn't planned to.

Plus I really liked the layout and the paper desk - which was away from everything else.

I have some very pleasant memories of having a wind down from work wander around on Saturday afternoons.

They had to move on when plans for the area were developed and the site is now home to student accommodation.

4. Hanbury Street - August 2009- 2015

Disabled unfriendly entrance
- especially when carrying stuff!

Britannia House, 68-80 Hanbury Street, London E1 5JL

This was a large bright space once you got inside and lots of space to display the products well. However the access was a total nightmare (particularly for those with mobility challenges) in terms of both stairs at the entrance, the store on the second floor and a lift that took forever - plus never enough parking spaces outside - plus controlled parking zone. Luckily I could park locally being a resident of Tower Hamlets - however I still had to time visits for when it was more likely there would be spaces!

My shopping at Atlantis dropped off after they moved here - largely because of the accessibility reasons. It more or less became an emergency visits only - and I took to ordering online for larger stock supplies.

I'm guessing this is what finally stimulated the eternal "mail order" firm into finally getting its act together and generating an internet ordering service

The building is now a  refurbished very modern and"funky" apartment block.

5. Old Street 2015 - 25 February 2018

Basement, 16-28 Tabernacle Street, EC2A 4DD

The 2015 Invite to New Premises

I've never visited this venue as I'd stopped being a regular customer after the parking problems associated with Hanbury Street. It never struck me as being particularly easy to visit - being in the middle of a gigantic one way system.

NEW / Current Location - Hackney E8 - from 5th March 2018

Unit 1/Unit 7 Bayford Street Industrial Centre, London E8 3SE

This is their announcement.  They've got two units in a business centre - Unit 1 for main art supplies and Unit 7 just for paper.

• The plus points: 
• London Fields overground is within 200m
• It's near the main bus routes via Mare Street
• will be great for Hackney based artists
• The negatives: 
• double yellow lines everywhere - if you're not a Hackney resident don't even think about taking a car! 
• no information on the website about parking - it's as if nobody ever has to move large or heavy items!
• Atlantis have left Tower Hamlets - it's not local any more!

They're not a very internet savvy firm however you can follow them on:

• Facebook https://www.facebook.com/atlantisartmaterials/
• Twitter https://twitter.com/atlantisartuk (visually inarticulate!)
• and they've only managed 7 pics on Instagram so I wouldn't bother!

UPDATE #2: Fabriano Paper - a meeting and conclusions

We have progress in matters related to Fabriano Paper! This will come as good news to all the botanical artists around the world who favour their watercolour paper as being the absolute best for their very precise and highly controlled botanical paintings in watercolour or coloured pencils.

This post summarises the key points from the meeting yesterday to discuss recent changes to Fabriano watercolour paper between a number of leading (and disappointed) botanical artists and representatives of Fabriano at the offices of the paper wholesaler and distributor RK Burt & Co. My role was joint organiser and recorder of what happened.

Overall the meeting was very positive and productive. While it didn't provide any immediate answers it has provided good quality information for making progress to resolve the issues relating to the recent changes that artists have identified and reported.

Blind testing watercolour paper at yesterday's meeting between artists and Fabriano at RK Burt

Note: Those who have been following matters related to the changes in specific Fabriano Watercolour Papers will have read my previous posts:

• Fabriano, R K Burt and St Cuthberts Mill - and fine art watercolour paper for precision painting
• UPDATE: Fabriano Paper

The meeting with Fabriano 

The purpose of the meeting yesterday was to try and understand better why so many artists have been experiencing problems with the hot press papers (Artistico and Classico) produced by Fabriano Artistico.

After pursuing the issue earlier in the year (see above), the Marketing Manager offered to meet up with artists who have been having problems.

Clifford Burt, Manager of RK Burt and I organised the meeting so that both artists and Fabriano could explore the different perspectives on papermaking and the issues encountered by artists. We would all like to thank RK Burt and Company for hosting the meeting at their offices at RK Burt at 57-61 Union St, London SE1 1SG

Those attending the meeting were:

• Giuseppe Prezioso - Head of Marketing for Fabriano (School products, Art and Paper)
• Chiara Mediolo - Marketing Director, Fabriano
• Clifford Burt, Manager, R.K. Burt and Company (UK wholesale distributor for Fabriano)
• Professional Botanical Artists:
• Sandra Armitage - President of the Society of Botanical Artists
• Gael Sellwood GM - Tutor and Vice President of the Society of Botanical Artists
• Billy Showell - Author, Tutor and Council Member, Society of Botanical Artists
• Dianne Sutherland - Tutor and Council Member, Society of Botanical Artists 
• Ann Swan GM - Author, Tutor and SBA member
• Sandrine Maugy - Author, Tutor and SBA member
• Polly O'Leary - SBA member
• Elaine Searle - Tutor and Course Director, Diploma Course, Chelsea School of Botanical Art; member of ASBA
• Coloured Pencil Artists
• Morryce Maddams - UKCPS member
• Katherine Tyrrell - author and writer of this blog!

I'd personally like to thank all the people who travelled a long distance and for very many hours to get to the meeting. The effort I think was very worthwhile.

The agenda for the day was as follows.

Introduction to papermaking

In the morning Clifford Burt provided an introduction to:

• how watercolour paper is made and why/how problems can arise (I'll be doing a separate blog post about this) 
• why 90% of problems are generally found to be self-inflicted by painters due to how they handle/soak etc.

As a result the artists attending had a much better understanding of:

• cylinder mould paper production and 
• why no two paper production runs will ever be the same 
• plus how to avoid damaging paper  (see my past blog post How to avoid contamination of watercolour paper).
• how to spot damage invisible to the naked eye.

The changes at Fabriano

Giuseppe Prezioso then explained the Fabriano perspective and

• the place of the art papers within the total portfolio of the company 
• the recent changes at Fabriano and the quality tests they run

The company has a very wide portfolio of products and clients in terms of production and merchandising. There are vast differences between the tonnage of art paper they produce and the tonnage of other types of paper. This makes for a more robust firm which isn't going to disappear if problems occur in terms of supplies or the marketplace!

The key issue that artists need to understand - in terms of how long it will take to address the problem - is that productivity and profitability is affected by how long a paper run is.  For art papers which only produce a small tonnage in relative terms a paper run might only be done once a year.

Key points:

• Fabriano want to try and identify the specific factors which are making a difference to the paper and the smoothness and quality of the surface and causing the issues identified by artists. 
• They also need to know which factors in terms of paper characteristics are most important to artists (see below)
• There are three cylinder mould machines which can make the fine art watercolour paper and the money paper they produce. However the differences in tonnage produced for the different types of paper is immense. The cost of changing over from one to another are significant in terms of downtime and efficiency and means that the paper runs for art paper are basically done once every 12-18 months.
• Consequently it may take up to 18 months or so to get new paper into the retailers - assuming that Fabriano can test and identify what factors have changed the surface and performance of the paper.
• They are doing a major test at the end of July.  In effect they will now reverse engineer and work out how to reproduce the previous surface with a view to creating a new paper run. This test run will now be informed by:
• the samples brought and shown to Fabriano with respect to the problems.
• the blind testing samples (left with Fabriano to take away)

Other information about the paper:

• the change made in the machines for the new contract for money paper and its requirements are very small and should NOT make a difference to the art papers produced ( more will be explained in the post about papermaking )
• Artistico paper is made from cotton lintners.  These are fine, silky, very short fibres which cling to the seeds of the cotton plant after ginning. They are needed to help create a smooth paper with strength, durability and permanence. 
• problems with supplies of cotton linters influence papermaking in a major way (eg the 2010 flooding in Pakistan and the drought in the southern states of the USA). Fabriano decided to limit the colours they produce on the basis of the supplies which are most consistent.
• the paper in the pads is exactly the same as the paper in sheets (the pads are made up by R.K.Burt)

Samples review and blind testing

After lunch we started to look at issues to do with different types of paper.

How to return defective art materials and get a refund

From time to time, artists need to return art materials and get a refund because they have found the art media and/or supports and/or equipment to be defective. It may not achieve the quality advertised or perform as it has in the past.

That's when artists need to return the art materials to retailers. Below are some tips for how make those returns speedy and effective so as to ensure you get a refund - and the problem is fixed for the future.

Screen shot of a video by Eunike Nugroho
This highlights two spots which appear on the watercolour paper only when the paint passes over them
(see the video here)

TIPS for returning defective art materials and getting a refund

Why it's important to return goods

• Manufacturers cannot correct faults if they're not aware of them. The nature of the manufacturing process is such that while they can sample check for obvious things that can be checked it's entirely feasible that problems can occur without this being obvious to the manufacturer.

Returns - Policy, Principles and the Law

• The overriding principle is that Retailers will only deal with returns on goods supplied by them. You can't expect a retailer to sort out returns for goods he hasn't supplied - even if he also stocks that product.  However if the manufacturer's policy is that you can deal with any of their approved retailers than that's what you can do.
• Most retailers have a Returns Policy. 
• Do read what this is for the retailers you do business with. 
• In general, this should echo current legislation. However if the law changed recently, what it says on their website may not yet have caught up with the change
• Remind retailers who say "no can do" that all goods need to be of merchantable quality for the purpose for which they are sold and that they are obliged to comply with the law. (Plus document everything if a retailer takes this stance - put everything in writing rather than dealing with them on the phone).
• The Law governing the rights of customers always "trumps" any Returns Policy devised by a Retailer. 
• Note that retailers cannot deny you your rights in law.
• In effect this means it doesn't matter what a retailer's Returns Policy says if you live in a country where your consumer rights are enshrined in law. What a retailer has to do is comply with the law or deal with the agency which regulates trading standards.
• However also note that some retailers will have a Returns Policy that can be better than the rights you are entitled to (eg "no questions asked"). This sort of approach is what gives some retailers the 'edge' and enables them to build a faithful customer base.
• Returns in the UK: Here is a link to the government website which states the rules on Accepting returns and giving refunds: the law for all UK retailers. There are only certain circumstances when a retailer does NOT have to offer a refund.

When you don’t have to offer a refund

You don’t have to refund a customer if they:

• knew an item was faulty when they bought it

• damaged an item by trying to repair it themselves or getting someone else to do it (though they may still have the right to a repair, replacement or partial refund)

• no longer want an item (eg because it’s the wrong size or colour) unless they bought it without seeing it

You have to offer a refund for certain items only if they’re faulty, such as:

• personalised items and custom-made items, eg curtains

• perishable items, eg frozen food or flowers
• newspapers and magazines
• unwrapped CDs, DVDs and computer software

Who to contact

• Contact the retailer you bought the art materials from in the first instance. They are responsible for actioning a return and providing feedback to the wholesaler and the manufacturer. The latter is also more likely to listen to others in the supply chain who are feeding back the same message about problems with a product.

The importance of paperwork

• Find your proof of purchase - which means keeping all your receipts. 
• You are of course filing all receipts away in your tax file if you are claiming for business expenses!
• This establishes which retailer you bought the goods from
• Use their Retailer's Returns Form - it makes life much easier for you and them if you use their return form. This should have the correct address to mail goods back. If you're not sure of the address email them and ask - and then copy paste.

The importance of images

• Send your retailer a photo of the problem. This is sometimes enough and means you don't have to send back the goods
• Even better send a video which illustrates the problem. Eunike was videoing herself painting when the spots suddenly appeared in her paper!

The importance of packaging

• The best and cheapest approach is to reuse their packaging if possible. If you are buying online and having art materials mailed to you, it's very wise to:
• open the package carefully so you can reuse the packaging if you need to
• if buying online keep the packaging until you have checked goods are OK eg there are no obvious problems (eg marks and/or creases on fine art paper)

The importance of timing

• It's much easier to return if you do so promptly. You remember better who you bought the goods from and they have all their records to hand
• Check when you receive your goods even if you not going to use straightaway.  Make sure they are visibly OK before adding them to your stock.
• However you can never check for invisible faults that do not manifest themselves until e.g. you apply paint on the paper - as happened to Eunike. Make it clear that the fault was invisible.
• It's not impossible to return goods you've not used straight away - but to do so you do need to be clear about:
• who you bought them from - and have the evidence, 
• how you have stored them in the meantime (have you observed good practice?) and 
• how you have treated them. (see for example How to avoid contamination of watercolour paper)

The refund and the credit transaction

• A refund is normally done via a credit to the card which you used to pay for the goods.  Whether or not the retailer has access to the details of your card depends on the system used to make the payment. You may need to provide the card details to the retailer.
• You will only get a cash refund if... you bought the goods in an art shop, paid by cash and return them to the art shop.
• You are NOT required to accept a credit note for future goods from the retailer - unless this is acceptable to you. Only accept a credit note if you know for certain that you will be ordering again from this supplier.

What's your experience? Have your say

• What's been your experience when you have have needed to make a return and ask for a refund? 
• Are some retailers better than others?

UPDATE: Fabriano Paper

Two notable things have happened since my last blog post (Fabriano, R K Burt and St Cuthberts Mill - and fine art watercolour paper for precision painting) about innovation and change within the world of Fine Art Hot Press paper used by watercolour painters who paint plants and flowers to botanical standards. .

Systematic tests of watercolour paper

The first is that yesterday Dianne Sutherland published an extremely helpful blog post - Paper Matters: St Cuthbert Mill vs Fabriano.

As I wrote yesterday

It covers:

• various types and weights of paper produced by Fabriano (in Italy) and St Cuthberts Mill (in the UK).
• systematic and structured tests involving the various techniques used by botanical artists - as you can see from some of the samples in the image below
• a well-informed and well balanced commentary by Dianne who is a very experienced botanical artist and teacher.

Dianne Sutherland's blog post

I should also emphasise that we're also beginning to see other artists try the new papers and commenting on the results via the Botanical Artists group on Facebook.

The Fabriano Response

The second is that today I received a letter by email from the Marketing Director of Fabriano.  In it he:

• explains the changes made recently - and indicates an acknowledgement that maybe the changes that artists have detected are ones that might not be picked up my their machines which measure continuously for quality control purposes
• makes a very generous offer of wanting to know more about what artists have experienced and offering to come and watch artists work on the paper and explain what sort of problems they have experienced. 

So this is all really GOOD NEWS!

I've attached an image of the letter so you can all read it. I close cropped the letter to make it easier to reproduce. You'll need to right click and open in a new tab if you want to be able to read the larger version more easily.

I'm now convinced they want to know so we need to show them!

Now I just need to work out - with Dianne and other botanical artists who are interested parties - how we can demonstrate what has been happening to the Fabriano people so they can see for themselves.

One option might be to set up a Special Group on Facebook to which people could contribute a narrative and/or videos and/or photos of their experiences and problems with the paper of late.  That might lend itself to a virtual meeting with Fabriano if the logistics of getting everybody in the same place were to prove too difficult.

Anybody interested in meeting up with the Fabriano people please

• either leave a comment below 
• or contact me personally via the Botanical Artists Group on Facebook 
• or contact me via my email address (see contact me in side column).

Fabriano, R K Burt and St Cuthberts Mill - and fine art watercolour paper for precision painting

The HP surfaces of Fabriano Artistico and Fabriano 5 have changed. (The latter being the paper which is used in the RKB FatPad) .

A number of botanical watercolour artists have recently reported that they have noticed changes to the robustness and performance of the surface of their Hot Press paper from Fabriano. This was also reported by Jacksons in its recent blog post Fabriano 5 Paper Texture Change.

The explanation seems to be mechanical. Fabriano Paper Mills have won a contract to produce a new paper. This means they've changed the settings on the machine which produces the new paper AND the fine art watercolour papers

While such a change in machine settings is very unlikely to be noticed by those using Rough or Not surfaces - this is not the case for those using Hot Press paper. When you are an artist who's looking for the smoothest watercolour paper known to Botanical Artists, there's more than a few who can easily detect any difference in quality very quickly!

However I am beginning to wonder if it is solely the change in the machine setting that is behind the problems being experienced....

About Fabriano Watercolour Paper 

Below are some examples of comments that botanical artists have been making. I'm not going to identify the artists other than to say these are people:

• who care hugely about the HP surfaces they use as it makes a massive difference to the very precise paintings they produce
• who are very experienced watercolour painters, who have been painting in the exact same way for some time. When using their own particular techniques they spot very quickly when a paper has changed.
• who do not make things up!  
• who return paper or stop buying it when it does not perform as per usual!

About the Artistico

The paper is mould made with 100% cotton, chlorine and acid free and archival. It is sized both internally and externally. It comes in two colours Traditional White (an ivory shade) and Extra White (white with a very pale cream tint) which are both made without any optical bleaching. It has two deckle edges and is watermarked “FABRIANO+ARTISTICO” on the short side.

It's available as both sheets (56 x 76cm and 75 x 105cm)  and and as glued blocks.

My pad of Fabriano Artistico HP Extra White 140lb

Recent comments from artists have included:

I always use both the light (140lb) and heavy (300lb) and have had the same problem, in fact I have returned some of the heavy to the importer. I found an old batch and it was beautifully smooth but the latest purchase is fluffy and although I can work it ok it is not as nice and damages easily. I think they have made a huge dodgy batch and sent it out so I will be checking it thoroughly from now on. (December 2015 - user of both weights of Artistico)

I'm having terrible trouble with the 'new' Fabriano paper and looking for an alternative heavy weight paper that's as smooth as the old stuff. (March 2016 - user of 300lb / 640gsm2 paper)

About the Fabiano 5 (also used in the RKB FatPad)

RKB FatPad - Fabriano Classico 5

The paper is mould made, acid free and comprises 50% cotton and 50% other raw material.

I have always used Fabriano fat pad 140 lb and recently I have found that if I have to wash anything out I have to be so careful as the surface of the paper just breaks up .... I actually had to abandon 1 painting when just taking highlights out of leaves. It looked as though I'd been scrubbing at it for hours. It never used to be like that. (December 2015)

I've found" BITS "coming off the surface &! Only using the first layer of paint & not very wet either (February 2016)

About the complaints

Adverse comments and complaints are tending to come from those who have bought in new stock in the last few months. Obviously those artists who are still working off 'old stock' or buying from suppliers still holding 'old stock' will not yet have noticed a difference.

The Great Vellum Scare - and what happened next

Some of you will have heard that Parliament was proposing to do away with printing laws on vellum. This raised all sorts of very understandable concerns amongst artists using vellum about whether the loss of the Parliamentary contract would cause business problems for the UK's oldest vellum supplier William Cowley - and consequently cause problems for the supply of vellum to artists in the UK

This was the report - Report: The use of vellum for recording Acts of Parliament.

The only firm in the UK that makes vellum

The good news

It appears that the reaction to news about the change has led to the following:

• queries have been raised about the notional cost-saving of £80,000

“The vellum cost varies from year-to-year depending on the number of Acts passed. The average over 15 years is £46,000. When you think about the MP expenses scandal, they can claim a duck house costing £40,000 but we can’t preserve our history for a similar amount. So many people are unhappy about this, we are hoping the Lords will backtrack on it.”

and

“The figures quoted for printing on vellum are actually more than the cost of the vellum itself. This is surprising as no specialist printer or printing press is necessary. We print on vellum here every day, at William Cowley's on an ordinary office printer with archival ink and have no specialist printing knowledge. When was the last time the House of Commons put out a tender for printing the Acts of Parliament because they no doubt would have found a much more reasonable, and comparable with printing on paper, cost?”

• a very enthusiastic social media campaign to save the use of vellum started using the hashtag #savevellum - supported in no small part by various artists who use vellum
• Cowley & Sons have revealed that the Parliamentary contrast is only a small percentage of their business
• MPs started to ask questions in parliament
• it turns out that the laws of the land are actually printed on parchment not vellum

The original parchment acts of Parliament are sometimes called vellums. Vellum is a high quality calfskin but in fact the parchment used is from goatskin or sheepskin

As a result the Cabinet Office have offered to pick up the bill from the House of Lords and it looks as if the use of vellum by Parliament will continue (see references below)

Which means all artists using vellum can now stand down and breathe...... :)

More about vellum

There are two types of vellum

• traditional vellum is made from the skin of very young calves or the skin of the foetus of an aborted calf. It is treated and stretched under tension to produce a smooth and very durable surface which accepts and displays colour well. It is most appropriate for those wanting an archival surface as it can last for centuries - medieval manuscripts are written on vellum and still survive while later paper documents have deteriorated. 
• modern-day vellum is vegetable vellum. Basically this is plasticised cotton

The word vellum is derived from the Latin vitulus (calf), and its diminutive vitellus.

• Calf skin is both smooth and durable because it doesn't have hair follicles which create dimples in the skin. The treated skin of young/unborn goat (kidskin) or lamb (lambskin) is sometimes also referred to as vellum. 
•  The finest vellum is "uterine vellum" made from the skin of stillborn or unborn calves. In the UK this very fine vellum is known as Kelmscott (the home of William Morris who was a strong proponent of the Arts and Crafts movement).

Painting with vellum is a bit of a problem. Vellum should not be wetted as it will buckle.  Consequently using it for drawing or painting involves the use of dry media or dry brush work if painting.

Getting hold of vellum is also a bit of a problem as there are very few suppliers of genuine traditional vellum. The standard sheet size is 6" x 4" or 7" x 5" and typically costs in excess of £11

• Cornellisen supply Vellum as follows: Goatskin vellum; Calf vellum; Kelmscott
• Polymers Plus supply Kelmscott Vellum
• or you can buy direct from William Cowley - the people who make the vellum for Parliament

The Art Bloggers

• Saving the Art of Vellum - Shevaun Doherty - the new tutor for painting on vellum for the Society of Botanical Artists' Diploma Course - produced an excellent blog post yesterday commenting on the importance of retaining vellum as a medium for artists.

This reminds me that I need to get on and get my information about paper and supports transferred to a new website as I've got a lot more information about vellum sitting on my computer at present.

References:

The Press - reaction to the proposed change

• The Telegraph: Thousand year old tradition of printing Britain's laws on vellum has been scrapped to save just £80,000
• The Telegraph: House of Commons to vote on recording upon vellum - parchment the Domesday Book and all Acts are printed on
• The Independent: Vellum: UK's last producer of calf-skin parchment fights on after losing Parliament's business
• Printweek: House of Lords vellum row goes viral

The Press - the good news

• BBC News: Centuries-old vellum tradition 'to be saved' - Matt Hancock
• The Telegraph: Vellum should be saved in a bid to 'safeguard our great traditions', says minister
  The Guardian: Tradition of recording UK laws on vellum may be saved
• Printweek: Vellum tradition likely to continue
• BBC: Why is the UK still printing its laws on vellum? 

Notes on the pastel portraits and techniques of Jean-Etienne Liotard

These are some notes I made when visiting the exhibition of artwork by Jean Etienne Liotard at the Royal Academy of Arts - after I saw the new exhibition 'Painting the Modern Garden' on Wednesday.

I'd been meaning to visit this exhibition for quite some time as it includes a lot of pastel portraits and I wanted to take a close look at them from a technical perspective.

If you like pastels or create art using pastels and have the time to visit before it ends of Sunday then I'd recommend you do so if only learn more about pastel paintings were created in the 18th century.

Jean-Etienne Liotard, Archduchess Marie-Antoinette of Austria, 1762
Black and red chalk, graphite pencil, watercolour and watercolour glaze on paper, heightened with colour on the verso, 31.1 x 24.9 cm 
Cabinet d'arts graphiques des Musees d'art et d'histoire, Geneva. On permanent loan from the Gottfried Keller Foundation, inv. 1947-0042
Photo Musee d'art et d'histoire, Geneva. Photography: Bettina Jacot-Descombes 

So here are the notes interspersed with images from the exhibition.

Lucy Willis painting and a reminder of Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2015 deadline

You have a week left to enter the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition. The deadline for online submissions for the 2015 competition is 5pm, Monday 15th June 2015.

For details of what you can enter and how to enter see:

• my earlier post The Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2015 - Call for Entries which walks you through the process and what type of work is eligible for the competition
• or the new Sunday Times Watercolour Competition "website".  This is not the best designed website for art competitions that I've seen. For example it lacks two categories on the top line for "How to enter" and "Information for artists"!  

You can eventually find the information you need if you look hard - but you'll probably find it quicker in my blog post - where I link precisely to each element of information that you need to know! :)

The new Sunday Times Watercolour website

A new blog for the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition

In a lot of ways, although the ST Watercolour Comp Twitter account (@WatercolourComp) describes the new site as a website

We have a new website! http://t.co/nHLOu6mPDq for details about the competition and tutorials on 'how to paint a winning watercolour'.

— ST Watercolour Comp (@WatercolourComp) June 6, 2015

it would actually be more accurate to call the new site a blog rather than a website.

It has some posts with videos which make for interesting viewing.

Here's one of them. Lucy Willis - one of my favourite contemporary  watercolour artists - demonstrates how she paints (with an extremely well used paintbox and palette) on three different watercolour papers made by St. Cuthberts Mill.

I suggest you click HD and expand to full screen - it works very well.

Now - how many of you paint your watercolours with a brush that big?


Playing with paper, with Lucy Willis from Parker Harris on Vimeo.
Using each of the St Cuthberts Mill watercolour papers in turn (Bockingford, Saunders Waterford and Millford), artist Lucy Willis explores how each reacts to different paint effects. Filmed at St Cuthberts Mill in Somerset.

Incidentally one of the posts also announces the tour venues (after the exhibition at the Mall Galleries) which are:

• Castle Fine Art in Birmingham from 10 – 18 October 2015 - which will be the very first time the exhibition has come to Birmingham 
• Guildford House Gallery in Guildford from 21 November 2015 – 2 January 2016 (for the 3rd year running). 

__________________

PS. Last week took it out of me - hence the break from blogging while I do a bit of emotional rehab! There will be another post about the RA Summer Exhibition - either later today or tomorrow.

Nicole Caulfield shares an ebook about portraits in coloured pencils

Nicole Caulfield's ebook - Dramatic Portraits in colored pencil

My long time coloured pencils buddy Nicole Caulfield has been working on a book about portraits for some time.

However since she started the book she has moved with her family from the east coast to the west coast of the USA, bought a new house, started a new full time job as an elementary teacher and runs an art stall at the Portland Saturday Market in Old Town, Portland, Oregon every weekend during Spring and Summer. Phew!

Nicole is now making "Dramatic Portraits in colored pencil" available for FREE - as a downloadable ebook.  This is the link to where you can find it on her website - just click Free Ebook!

I wrote a book a while back..... on how I do portraits with colored pencil on sanded paper. I was going to try and sell the book to a publisher... then I decided to make it into an ebook and try to sell it... but now my circumstances have changed and that won't be happening. I would have to redo the examples because the images are not good enough quality since I processed them through Microsoft Word (duh) and I just don't have the time with my new job. So long story short I am giving it away for free for anyone who would like to read it. This was about a year of my life, lol, so it kills me that it has been sitting on my hard drive waiting for a virus to lose it! The link is on my website. http://www.art2.gallery/zen-series

Her book is not finished (it includes images but lacks words at the end and is unedited) but it does have a HUGE amount of good content - much of which is applicable to anybody doing portraits.  In fact I'd go as far as saying there's much more content then you typically find in any number of books which have been dumbed down for the strictly hobby market.  Hardly surprising as Nicole is an artist who has been winning prizes and selling her art for years.

For those of us who have admired Nicole's coloured pencil artwork for years, you can find out exactly HOW she does it!

Nicole has been very generous in the past on art forums and her own blog in sharing her approach to working with coloured pencils on abrasive surfaces and providing a step by step insight into how she develops her work. However, unless you've taken a workshop with her, this is the first time she's given us a clear description of exactly how she develops her artwork in general and portraits in particular. There is also a lot of excellent instruction about techniques for using coloured pencils - especially for those who like working on or want to try an abrasive surface such as the one she favours - Fisher 400.

You can find the Table of Contents below.

INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1: SUPPLIES
 Paper
 Pencils
 Other Supplies
CHAPTER 2: PHOTOGRAPHY
 Photography Supplies  Lighting
 Photography Tips
CHAPTER 3: DRAWING THE HEAD
 Making a Line Drawing  Proportions
 Shape Vs. Form
 Planes
CHAPTER 4: THE 2-STEP COLORED PENCIL TECHNIQUE
 Phase 1 – The Tinted Underpainting
 Phase 2 – The Glaze Phase
 Exercise – A Portrait from Start to Finish
CHAPTER 5: EYES
 3-D Guide
 The Shape of the Eye
 Isolating Values
 Eyes from Different Angles  Eye Colors
 Special Considerations
 Exercise- Eyes
CHAPTER 6: THE NOSE
CHAPTER 7: THE MOUTH
CHAPTER 8: HAIR
CHAPTER 9: FOLLOW ALONG EXAMPLES 

Review: Annual Exhibition 2013 of The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors & Gravers

Philip Nelson won the top prize at the 2013 Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters Sculptors and Gravers - with a wooden duck!

A mallard to be precise - and it is very precise - and it's in 3D.  It is in fact a wood carving which is incredibly faithful in its anatomical correctness.  The wood has then been painted to display the feathers and is very persuasive.  I felt as if I needed to reach out to check it was in fact paint but it's living in a glass case as do all the works do for this exhibition.

Winner of the The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers Gold Memorial Bowl Mallard Drake - Philip Nelson
Acrylic on wood - £800 (Sold)

You can find out more about Philip and the history of his wood-carving and prizewinning on his website

This year's exhibition is in the North Gallery of the Mall Galleries and is open every day 10am - 5pm. It closes at 1pm on Sunday 27th October.  They have plenty of magnifying glasses for people to inspect the work.

The exhibition as always maintains a very high standard in terms of the quality of work selected for exhibition.  The exhibition also demonstrates the range and scope of subject matter chosen for miniaturisation - some of which always surprises me each year.  It's absolutely the exhibition to visit if you've ever wanted to commission a miniature portrait.

View of the 2013 Annual Exhibition
of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters Sculptors and Gravers