Exhibition review: Wapping Group of Artists - 63rd Annual Exhibition

An overview of part of the East Gallery (top) and the contents of the display cabinet (bottom)
photos copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Yesterday I visited the Mall Galleries to see the annual exhibition by the Wapping Group of Artists.

The Wapping Group was formally founded in1946 and initially met to record the busy life of London's dockland. Since then, the range of locations has widened in response to the changes of The Thames – on any Wednesday between April and September members of the Group may now be found in any weather at a rendezvous anywhere from inland Henley and out to The Estuary. This companionable band of just 25 dedicated and capable painters maintains the original Group aims of fellowship and enthusiastic recording and interpretation of the River.
Wapping group website

The artists show 4 paintings each and all the paintings are of the river and/or places near to the river. I particularly liked the way the exhibition had been hung. The emphasis is very much on plein air paintings. Here are some of the places I saw in the titles of paintings: Marlow, Isleworth, Twickenham, Tollesbury, Custom House, Greenwich, Bugsbys Reach, Maldon, Medway, Faversham, St Osyth.

...the Group is proud to have remained exactly what it first set out to be: a small group of fellow-artists, appreciating each other's company while painting outdoors together in all weathers.

Almost incidentally, it has recorded the changing face of London and the river Thames for over sixty years.

The group includes renowned marine artists such as Trevor Chamberlain ROI, RSMA (who is a past President and organises the programme of outings) and Bert Wright PPRSMA, FRSA (the current President).

My personal preference is for the watercolours of Paul Banning RO, RSMA, AROI, although yesterday I was very impressed with the watercolours of Alan Runagell RSMA. You can see examples of their below.

Four paintings by (top) Paul Banning and (bottom) Alan Runagell

You can find out more about the history of the group from its website or the book which was produced to celebrate reaching 60!

a selection of paintings by members of the Wapping group of Artists

The exhibition is being held in the East Gallery of the Mall Galleries. It opened with a Private View on Sunday and closes at 4pm on Saturday 7th March. Details of further exhibitions later in the year are available on the website.

I avoid the Private View having been to one before. The reason why is a compliment really - because this group really knows how to look after its mailing list and collectors and has a loyal fan base and their PV is always completely packed out. This year it did well as usual and 16 pictures sold at the PV (and more since).

Many thanks to David Penny who is the principal organiser of the exhibition and wh0 gave me permission to photograph the exhibition over the phone while I was sat with my mobile phone in the Mall Galleries! Plus thanks to Alan Runagell for helping me out with queries.

Membership

For anybody who is interested people can apply to become candidates for membership by submitting work for assessment followed by a season painting with the Group before further consideration and election to full membership.

More to come

I actually saw three other exhibitions yesterday as well - of which more later!

Exhibition review: "21st Century Watercolour" at the Bankside Gallery

I went to see the Royal Watercolour Society's 21st Century Watercolour exhibition at the Bankside Gallery last Friday.

Paintings by exhibitors
(including Julian Bray top left and Helen Slater's prizwinning work bottom right)
works copyright the artists /
photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell

It seemed a very different sort of show this year which I can only assume is due to either a change in selectors or the type of work being submitted. I did spot what I thought were a few gems of which more below.

It's a great pity that the RWS website does not have images of works in the exhibition as it usually does - I can only assume a technical glitch is in the works somewhere.

However, as usual, I had permission from the Gallery to photograph the exhibition for this review and I hope these give you a flavour of what is on show.

In general, I saw many more larger pieces than usual and not many small works. I thought fewer paintings than usual really exploited the unique properties of watercolour although there was some exceptionally good work on show. There also seemed to be much less use of watercolour inks and mixed media than in previous shows and I missed that. I also noted this year that a number of artists seemed to be were trying to paint in the manner of established members of the RWS. I seem to recall this is not usually recommended as a receipe for being invited to become an Associate!

Groups of paintings in watercolour

works copyright the artists / all photos copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The work is mostly figurative/representational but this year there was a very attractive group of abstract works in different styles in the middle ofthe south wall which, surprisingly for me, I think I liked the best of all the groupings of different works (see below - excuse the reflections!) It was stimulating in a quiet way, controlled and yet very peaceful.

A group of abstract paintings in watercolour
works copyright the artists / photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell

21st Century Watercolour Prizewinners

Prizewinners were as follows:

• David Gluck Award (£1,000) - Games we play by Jo Fox. This painting appeared to be a varitaion on collage. It was difficult to work out whether the paper went down without colour and then was painted or whether the collage involved the use of painted papers
• Freshfields Bruckhaus Deriner Purchase Prize (800) - From Labworth Cafe Steps, Canvey Island by Helen Slater
• Royal Watercolour Society Award (£500) - Riddlehamhope by Paul Strangelove. It's a picture of the view from a window painted from within a dark interior. The artist displayed very fine control over painting the values and working with dark colours.
• Winsor and Newton Prizes (prize is art materials)
  
• 1st Prize (£500) Milk by Robert Green
• 2nd prize (£300) Waiting by Daniel Hasselmyr
• 3rd prize (£200) Games We Play by Jo Fox
• St Cuthbert's Mill
• 1st Prize (£350) The House, Holly Walk by David W Birch
• 2nd prize (£250) Still Life with Striped Jug by Phillip Rundall - who also featured in the RWS/Sunday Times watercolour competition exhibition last year
  
• 3rd prize (£150) The Reflections Are All by Marjorie Collins (I remember thinking that this looked like the vivid, full on, graphic, reflection filled still life paintings beloved by some American artists - having now found her website I was not wrong!)
  

• "The Artist" Prize - an article in a future edition of the Artist magazine: Medics Awaiting the Incoming Wounded by J Nicholas Beadle
  
• Daler Rowney Prize (Artist watercolour set) Marker Buoys, Kings Lynn by Ian Sidaway (he's the author of lots of books about painting but apparently has no website)

People whose work I liked

Here's my note about people I liked

• I loved Helen Slater's skies and I'd very much like to see more examples of her work - however sadly she doesn't appear to have a website
• I loved Kate Bentley's October Memory Val D'Orcia Valley. This displayed a wonderful use of wet in wet and a vivid pleasure in the mixture of different pigments plus great calligraphic marks in the paint which created a lovely sense of the movement and flow of the land. (As an aside, for those who read my post about artist's statements recently, she is also somebody who is very capable of writing an accessible statement about her art on her website!)
• I liked Stephen J Bragg's painting of fire escapes in Soho NY - in the corner of this view of works on display (see below - the view of marker buoys is Ian Sidaway's prizewinning painting)
  

A group of paintings in watercolour
works copyright the artists /
photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell

• Julian Bray's painting of Watson Fothergill Newspaper Offices, Nottingham was also very striking and displayed what is for me the sort of technique watercolour painting that I like to see. Check out his architecture paintings on his website to see what I mean.
  
• I really liked the three abstract works by Julie Collins - and I'm not usually a fan of abstract work but these three appealed to me.
  
• Rose Sepple's work - Footballers Wives and Girly Night was great fun - it's certainly the first time ever I've seen 'watercolour and glitter' listed as the medium in use!
• I wasn't expecting Betty Bib's fairies but they were fun and nicely executed (plus she also has a fun website - click the star on the end of the wand for access!)
  
• Finally, I can't fail to mention the lovely painterly watercolour Tooley Street (London Bridge side) by my fellow London art blogger Adebanji Alade. It's always so nice to see completed works 'up close and personal'
  

The exhibition continues at the Bankside Gallery until Sunday 15th March 2009. Details of how to get there and opening hours are on the Bankside Gallery website.

American Watercolor Society Gold Medal - the final verdict on Sheryl Luxenburg

It was a long time coming, however last month the American Watercolor Society, Inc., (AWS) finally released the following statement to the AWS membership and the artist community at large about the withdrawal of 2008 Gold Medal from Sheryl Luxenburg.

The controversy surrounding the American Watercolor Society’s 141st International Exhibition Gold Medal winner, “Impermanence,” by Canadian artist Sheryl Luxenburg has been the subject of innumerable blogs, websites and chat rooms worldwide for many months.

We sincerely appreciate all those who contacted the society and respect all opinions expressed on this issue. This dialogue has contributed to our understanding of the extent to which the art community has taken an interest in the outcome of this issue as it affects each artist and the respective art societies.

The American Watercolor Society has been holding an annual juried exhibition of watercolors from artists throughout the world for over 140 years. It was founded to promote watercolor and support painters of the medium. The goal of the AWS has always been to promote original art and it is against this backdrop that the controversy first emerged.

The American Watercolor Society, like other watercolor societies, has developed its eligibility requirements for entry into the exhibition over the course of many years. Eligibility for entry is as follows. “The Annual Exhibition is open to all artists working in water media (watercolor, acrylic, casein, gouache, and egg tempera) on paper. No collage, pastels, class work, copies, digital images or prints; original work only. Maximum frame size is 44” in any direction. Image size limit is no smaller than 10” x 14.” All paintings must be sturdily framed and have plastic glazing (Plexiglas).

The requirements as contained in the prospectus as well as the acceptance form are quite specific and leave no room for ambiguity. Upon acceptance, the requirements are further emphasized by a disclaimer signed by the artist stating that “The accompanying artwork is an original; not a copy or likeness of another’s work, i.e. painting, drawing or photograph.”

Our prospectus clearly informs artists of these eligibility requirements which were designed to maintain high standards and to focus on originality.

By establishing these requirements, the onus rests with the artists to ensure compliance with the rules set forth. Each artist is therefore free to accept or decline these conditions.

When it was determined that Ms. Luxenburg’s entry violated our eligibility requirements, the AWS requested that our Gold Medal and prize money be returned. The Medal and prize money were returned, and Ms. Luxenburg has been disqualified from entering any future AWS exhibitions.

Watercolors accepted to our annual exhibitions reflect a wide variety of styles and inventive handling of the medium and attest to the fact that innovation and exploration are not only encouraged, but welcomed by the AWS.

The AWS will continue to count on the integrity of artists entering our exhibition, but in fairness to our own members and the art community in general, we will remain vigilant for any violation of our standards. Any artist who is determined to violate our entry procedure can expect a fair evaluation initially, but if found to have done so; can expect a serious and permanent final resolution.

AWS Statement on 2008-2009 Gold Medal Award Statement released February 2009

The gold medal controversy and its implications for artists and art societies

It's unclear as to precisely what rule(s) she infringed - which is a pity. However the statement gives a clue in the parts of its rules which are quoted and the penalty suggests to me that there was at least some conscious element of deception.

The way I interpret the statement is that

• Luxenburg produced a derivative work created from two photographs which she had not licenced correctly from the photographers for the purpose for which they were used.
• Luxenburg's 'artwork' did not meet the society's explicit requirements for original work.
  
• Luxenburg either understood nothing about copyright and/or reads rules and terms and conditions without due care and attention and/or practiced to deceive.

It's still not entirely clear what the answer to 'the big question' was. I'm not clear whether the work in question was really a watercolour painting or whether it was a giclee print or a print with some degree of painting enhancement. Based on the evidence presented on the internet (before most of it was removed due to representations by Luxenburg's lawyers), a number of people concluded that it was highly likely that the work in question was predominantly a giclee print. I'd love to know what steps the AWS took to establish whether or not this was the case - and what the outcome was. While digital artwork might now be gaining a place in printmaking exhibitions the AWS has now made it very clear that people using any element of digital artwork (eg using technology and water-based inks) cannot enter their watercolour competitions. Presumably brushes must be tangible and not part of a computer program!

I also think the AWS would be doing a great service to all other art societies if they explained the process they went through to review the case and establish the nature of the infringement(s) which occurred.

After all, key issues arising from this case include the following

• it's fact that there are artists who set out to deceive as well as artists who fail to read the rules of entry thoroughly and others who will opine that they made an 'innocent mistake'
  
• ineligible works do get submitted to art competitions; do get shortlisted; do get into exhibtions and do win prizes. This is not the first time it's happened.
  
• it is possible to for judges in a juried competition to either lack the knowledge to detect ineligible works or to be deceived

My own view is that the artists - particularly those of a photo/hyper-realist persuasion - can defend themselves against any possible query if they do the following:

• avoid making assumptions
• make sure you understand what an art society means by 'original work'
  
• make sure you understand the entry conditions and copyright law as it applies to use of reference photos and originality of artwork
• ask questions of the art society if you're not sure about anything
• avoid making 'innocent mistakes'
  
• read the rules of entry thoroughly and more than once
• read carefully all the detail and terms and conditions of any licence to use a photograph taken by another artist
  
• establish your own credibility and integrity
  
• don't be secretive about your process - in future this may now give rise to concern
  
• retain and be able to produce your own data inclusive photographs of the original reference
  
• take photographs of the artwork during the process of completion - as these will support any statements you might wish to make about the way you work

......and finally - what about the other artists?

Personally speaking I'd have also really liked to see a statement which revises the awards given to all the other artists. After all at the Olympics if the gold medal winner gets disqualified you don't leave the gold medal without a winner - you upgrade all the other competitors in the order in which they finished!

I think it's a very great shame that Mark E Mehaffey AWS doesn't get to include AWS 'Gold Medal Winner' in his resume.

Links to posts in September 2008 about the AWS Gold medal controversy:

• Statement on AWS Gold Medal controversy from President
• Art competitions and copyright - the AWS Gold Medal debate

MAM Poll (March): How do you price your art?

Angora Goat
coloured pencil on Somerset Velvet
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

In the Making A Mark Poll for March I'd like to to look at how you price your art.

It's a perennial question asked by new artists and a question which should always be kept under review by more established artists. It's also a question which I know is concerning a lot of artists as they try to work out an appropriate response to the impact of the recession.

My intention is that I will:

• provide a commentary on the poll results at or just after the end of the month
  
• write some blog posts about
  
• the role pricing plays in marketing
  
• different approaches to pricing
• pricing in a recession
• produce a resources for artists information site about pricing art

For the time being I've tried to find the best "shortcut" way of describing various and different approaches in terms of poll options. These are explained below.

Whatever the market will bear

A market led approach to pricing which tries to find the price which ensures a piece will sell. This usually involves testing out different price points to find the one which maximise sales. The results will depend on the channels used to test prices.

Based on comparable art where I live

the artist studies prices displayed in local galleries and other places where art is sold and finds a comparable artist in terms of media and/or subject matter and relates prices to these. Success with this strategy depends on whether or not the baseline artist is selling work and how much a reputation earned over years has been factored into the price they charge.

Based on comparable art on the internet

the artist looks at what else is available on the internet and picks an artist or group of artists, notes the prices asked (or achieved at auction) and then adjusts accordingly. More astute artists search for information about the price asked which actually achieves a sale.

Cost plus (wage rate+materials cost+markup)

The artist determines an hourly rate for their work, adds in the cost of materials (and matting and framing if applicable) and then adds a flat rate or a percentage as a mark-up which covers marketing and other business expenses and/or a profit element.

Price per square inch/cm

The artist determines a standard price per square inch or centimetre and applies this to all artwork. A different standard price may be worked out for very small or very large pieces. This can lead to odd prices.

Specific prices for specific sizes

This is a variation of the price per square inch which adjusts (rounds) the price to a value which sounds more like a reasonable price. It avoids odd sounding prices.

No. of hours spent on the artwork

The price is determined by a calculated hourly rate based on the notion that materials costs are incidental and the crucial cost driver is the number of hours required to complete the work. It bears no relation whatsoever to whether or not the market will pay the price.

Percentage increase each year

This approach is often used by an emerging artist who wants to grow sales income over time. The emphasis is always on relating to prices charged in previous years rather than what the market will bear or is currently paying for comparable work or input costs.

Plucked from the air

this is the "it feels like a $500 painting to me" approach. There is no obvious rationale other than a gut feel and/or a wish to avoid doing research to check out the current state of the marketplace

____________________

The poll is now posted in the right hand column and closes on the 31st March 2009. You can see the results of previous polls in The Making A Mark Poll - Resources for Artists

If you would like to make a comment on pricing please do so.

• Tell me which approach you prefer to use and why.
  
• If you have a variation, please explain what this is and why you use it
• If you're using a completely different approach please let me know what that is
  

1st March 2009 - Who's made a mark this week?

Cave painting of a horse at Lascaux
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Global warming is now threatening prehistoric art. The caves at Lascaux in SW. France are a world heritage site because they contain very famous prehistoric paintings on the walls of the caves. However they're experiencing a problem....

Black stains have spread across the cave's prehistoric murals of bulls, felines and other images, and scientists have been hard-pressed to halt the fungal creep.
AP: Scientists meet to save Lascaux cave from fungus

Adam Cope (Dordogne Painting Days) alerted me last week to the fact that UNESCO is threatening to put the caves on its "List of World Heritage in Danger" and has written a couple of blog posts about it.

• Unesco Threatens to Put Lascaux Caves on Endangered List
• International Symposium 'Lascaux & Preservation in Underground Settings'

Art Blogs

My Blogs

This week I reorganised my blogroll (as announced in I'm freshening up my blog roll). The 'regular reads' section has gone; blogs are now listed in categories which means blogs which are similar are all together. There are more blogs in the blogroll than show up at one time because I'm (mostly) limiting blogs shown to the the last 5 or 10 blogs posts in each group. This means that all blogs in the blogroll gets an airing whenever they post but those who post more often will be seen more often.

For some blogs I had to work out which way they 'leaned'. However I had a real problem placing three blogs - until I realised that the three bloggers concerned (Robyn, Rose and Cindy) shared an insatiable curiosity to learn more about art and different techniques! If anybody is unhappy with their blog's category please contact me.

What this change should mean is that people will now always see recent posts and a blogroll which changes as the posts change. I'm probably also going to switch the order of the categories depending on whatever is the theme of my blogging at the time.

Drawings and Sketches

• Pete Scully (Pete Scully) in David, California is now in print - read maybe it’s because i’m a londoner
• I posted earlier today about my A 'trip' to Borough Market, Southwark. It contains links to nice foodie market stalls for those who like such things.

Coloured Pencil and Pastels

• This week Casey Klahn (Pastel) has a post Plein Air On Purpose- Loriann Signori which reviewed Loriann Signori (loriann signori's painting-a-day) an artist and blogger in Silver Spring, Maryland, who is new to me. I like her work, her colours (see her plein air box here) and her subject matter. I also note she's working on marble dust panels - I need to find out more!.
• Cindy Hasse (Littleton Studio) has combined her fiber art blog "In Stitches!" and fine art blog "Color On!' into one blog with a new name.
  

Printmakers
I had some very positive responses to my posts about printmaking this week - and I'll be doing another post about printmakers blogs and websites next week. In the meantime, they have now acquired a category in my blogroll.

• On Thursday I asked Is printmaking becoming the new 'painting a day'? and got some very interesting replies. (Note my daily painting category also disappeared in the blogroll makeover!) Plus a number of links to other sites
• One of these was the ning community of printmakers. Inkteraction is an international printmakers group on Ning with 2,463 printmakers as members the last time I looked!
• Baren, the blog for BarenForum members has a link to Hiroshige's 53 Stations on the Tokaido - video documentary
• Sarah Wimperis demonstrated people printing on her 'art process' blog Muddy Foot Prints - Nyntaku- Person Prints

Painters

• Tracey Helgeson (Works by Tracy Helgeson ) responded to a rather negative and anonymous comment about her people paintings - and then 23 comments followed as people debate the interchange and the nature of anonymous comments. Thanks Tracy for the post - I'm sure quite a few people have learned from it - not least the anonymous person!
  

Art Group Blogs

• Watermarks continues to amaze in terms of the creativity it has generated! This week we've had painting with mud from rivers (Waterways Project Hits Pay Dirt) and printing with fish (Fish printing - gyotaku)! Lots and lots of comments and advice too........
  
• The Week 23-24 Challenge - Wigs is over at Different Strokes from Different Folks
  

Art Business and Marketing

• Etsy - Survey Says: International Seller Survey Results Are In makes for very interesting reading. A commentary on this can be found at Read Write Web.
  
• Cindy Haase (Littleton Studio) has highlighted how much she likes the 1000 Markets website and comments on how it compares to Etsy
  
• Robert McCrum in the Guardian reminds us about Book covers: the pictures that sell thousands of words (An aside: So what's the first thing people see when they reach your website?)
• Alyson Stanfield (ArtBiz Blog) has a round-up of posts about donating your art
• check out the chart on Indexed (blog posts on index cards) in this blog post Your whimpering gives you away in Indexed. I thought the best explanation was the one which suggested that
  

“Professional insults are less hurtful than amateur ones. Amateur insults are mean. Professional ones are artful.”

Or… professionals get plenty of insults but deal with it with relatively little injury. Whereas the hobbyists are just rather whiny about minor infractions. The relation between insults received and offenses taken could be considered a true hallmark.

Some man Says

Art and the economy

The downturn

The economy is spiraling down at an accelerating pace
New York Times

• In the USA it has been announced that the economy contracted by 6.2% in the last quarter of 2008 and people are beginning to talk of a depression in the sense of a period of broad and extreme economic distress that remains stubbornly in place for much longer than a typical downturn. Here's the answer to how long the recession will last.
  
• The next wave of the recession is beginning to affect publicly funded institutions and creative neighbourhoods and of course individual artists.
  

• Arts Council England will slash jobs by a quarter in a restructuring of regional operations which should save the organisation £6.5m per year. It has to save 15% on its administration costs so that this money can be diverted to funding arts organisations. Part of the restructuring involves a a centralised Grants for the arts team based in Manchester. More details here.
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art is apparently in financial trouble
  
• Plus there are more layoffs at museums in the USA (the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Philadelphia Museum of Art) - see the New York Times and Budget Cuts Bring Layoffs to Museums
• the Boston Globe Online's Exhibitionist Blog highlights the tactics being employed for Art, on the cheap
• Changes in creative neighbourhoods are now being noted by the New York Times - see When the next wave wipes out
• I'm now reading articles which name artists with incomes from selling paintings of nearly $100,000 p.a. who are getting very worried by the slowing of art sales.
  
• Sotheby's has posted a loss as their revenue plunges
  

The successes

• Meanwhile, as banks look like increasingly risky places to put your money, art collectors continue to plump for 'safe' art by dead artists. In Paris the sale by Christies of the Yves Saint Laurent et Pierre Bergé Collection was last week characterised as the sale of the century. By the end the sale it achieved a total of €373.9 million with fees ($483.8 million) making it a record high for any auction in Europe, and a world record for the most valuable private collection sold at auction. It also set new high records for set new high prices for works by Matisse, Brancusi, Mondrian and Duchamp. Les coucous, tapis bleu et rose an oil painting by Henri Matisse (1869-1954) painted in 1911 achieved €35,905,000 ($45,264,579). Proceeds are going to charity. If you'd like to see the various lots you can see them all 689 lots of the collection Yves Saint Laurent et Pierre Bergé on the Christies site. Alternatively you can have a taster by viewing the slideshow of the art on display courtesy of the Guardian. The FT concludes that it's likely to perk up the market.
  

A staggering 33,000 people queued to see the collection last weekend. Access to the auction room has been strictly controlled, with potential buyers having to prove they had access to at least €500,000 in ready cash.
Independent - Sale of the century: The YSL auction

• Is Maggie Stiefvater the next JK Rowling? which contains a link to a new site which in turn highlights the Stiefvater way to be successful as both artist and author - even in a recession.
  

Art Competitions

• A reminder that the receving days for the Society of Women Artists is the 6th and 7th of March.
  

Art Education

• Yesterday I posted the results of the MAM Poll for February in MAM Poll results: Improving your art education. This answers the question posed What's the most effective way of improving your art education?

Art Exhibitions

• On Tuesday I reviewed Originals 09: The Contemporary Printmaking Show and had lots of people commenting that they wish they could have seen it too!
• I also went to see the 21st Century Watercolour exhibition at the Bankside Gallery on Friday - and met some people from the Ulverston Art Society in Cumbria who had made the trip down an art weekend. A review will be posted either tomorrow or Tuesday.
• You can get an online preview of works in Karen Jurick's solo show “We The People” at the Morris & Whiteside Galleries (opening Friday, March 13th)

Art Museums and Galleries

• an interesting article about the Brandeis affair/dabacle in artnet magazine - Paradise Lost (Again) by Robert Moeller has a great quote at the end!

Book reviews

• I wasn't too complementary in my Book review: The Coloured Pencil Artist's drawing bible but I got quite a few people saying how refreshing it was to read a review spelt out the less good aspects. This marks a new policy for me with the coming of the recession. Quality counts - just like pennies!
• Stormy Waters - book reviews on Watermarks is a review by Tina Mammoser of seascape books she finds helpful in relation to painting water
  

Tips and Techniques

• 4 Ways to Add Variation to Your Paintings by Dianne Mize on Empty Easel includes an example of a pen and ink drawing by me - as well as paintings by a number of artist bloggers such as Carol Marine and Linda Blondheim
  

Websites and Blogging

• Starting with a short reminder - yesterday was the deadline for the Feedburner feeds transfer to Google - you did all remember didn't you? If not take a look at More details on moving to a Google Account
• Google gmail / googlemail is down or at least it was onTuesday. It does however succeed in having a better track record for consitency of turning up for work than some other webware!
  

• I took at a look at the various widgets available from Neoworx for counting visitors and showing where they are from this week. Very impressive but a tad too busy and dynamic for me.
• Thanks to Tina (The Cycling Artist) and her shared bookmarks for this one - 9 Common Usability Mistakes In Web Design by Dmitry Fadeyev (Smashing Magazine) on 2/20/09
• Blog as an edge zone by Lilia Efimova (Mathemagenic) is an interesting comment on the nature of blogging.
  
• I'm still having an extremely frustrating time with Flickr - now excerbated by the fact that quite a few recent pics are now sitting on a laptop which doesn't work because of the difficulties in uploading. I've been taking a look round at laternatives and came across this comparison of Flickr vs SmugMug
• However I did download the new Flickr Uploadr last night and had a go - and this time it worked! It is however the slowest Uploadr in the history of uploadrs!
  
• I guess tomorrow morning I'm going to start finding out what happened to my laptop - in the meantime check out the Lesson learned - don't forget to do your updates
• Having to go back to using a big keyboard again is a pain (for my tenosinovitis). Whjat's an even bigger pain is the fact that somehow or other two symbols on my keyboard have reversed. As they happen to be the " and @ symbols (which I use a lot), that's actually a big problem. Does anybody have a clue about how to remedy this?
  

and finally.........

Congratulations to......Jenna White who got engaged on Friday 13^th! I'm Engaged!!! This is also my first blog engagement - as in it's the first time I've read about a proposal via the artist's blog!