Review: 244th Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy

Last Friday I went to the Friends Private View of the 244th Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts.  It has a much fresher feel this year - the layout has changed and the overall visual impact is much better.  It's certainly the first time in a while that I feel like I want to go back and take another look when the crowds have thinned out from the frenzy of the PV days.

I'm sorry I can't show you any images of what this year's exhibition looks like - but none have been supplied by the RA.  The only images available of the galleries are from last year's exhibition - which is a real shame - particularly as the look of the exhibition has changed so much this year.  This is the Telegraph's slideshow of works on display

[UPDATE:  I've now received images of the exhibition and these are now included below]

Courtyard of Burlington House and the entrance to the RA's Summer Exhibition
Sculpture: From Landscape to Portrait (£180,000) by Chris Wilkinson RA
engineered timber, stainless steel and concrete

I've been in two minds about this exhibition for some time.  While it's undeniably the largest art exhibition each year in the UK, I think it can include an awful lot of what I regard as complete tosh - and can also look quite dreadful at times.  In my head the visual metaphor is a lumbering juggernaut.

Review: Rosie Sanders "Against the Light"

Rosie Sanders and her painting of Cannas 2
watercolour painting on Arches paper
118 x 178cm

I've previously written on this blog about Rosie Sanders and large scale flower painting - so it was an especial pleasure yesterday to go to the Private View of the Against the Light exhibition at the Jonathan Cooper Park Walk Gallery in Chelsea to meet with Rosie Sanders and to see her very large watercolour paintings of flowers.

The "Against the Light" exhibition opens to the public on 8 June and continues until 23 June 2012.

Interested in the play of light and its effect on the colour, pattern and surface of the flowers, Sanders uses dramatic lighting to recreate the glow of sunshine through the petals. For this exhibition she focuses on the changing stages in the life cycle of flowers

Once a botanical artist has "proved" their technical levels of excellence (eg RHS Gold Medal - Rosie has five) it's what they then do next which particularly interests me. I personally very much like botanical artists who push the boundaries of botanical art and take their art to the next step and create something which is very distinctive and unique to them.  These are the artists whose work is immediately recognisable.  Rosie is certainly one such artist.  

A new exhibition of large-scale watercolours of flowers, painted from life. Sanders striking close-ups of flower heads in watercolour are painted on a hugely magnified scale, and can be as large as 5ft across and up to ten times bigger than the flowers she is depicting.

You can see just how large her watercolour paintings are from my photographs.

POLL: How do you decide the size of your artwork?

The Making A Mark Poll for June tries to identify what's the main factor which in general influences our choice of size for our artwork

• Many of us will have pondered on the size of our artwork since we started being artists.
• Many of us will have tried to find the right response to that ultimate challenge - "What's the right size for my artwork?" 
• How many times have you and I started to get an artwork framed - only to discover that only a tailor made frame will do?  Only to then find out that the cost requires a small mortgage!

Here's some of the things which have struck me over time - followed by an indication of the scope of this month's Making A Mark Poll.

Please comment with your own experiences and thoughts
about working at different sizes 
and how you have arrived at a preferred size

Art Practice

• Moving to a bigger size loosens up the arm and stops the artwork being 'tight'
• When working plein air, smaller paintings are more easily transportable.  The bigger the painting - the more likely it is to take off/get damaged etc
• Using a bigger support increases the size of the space you need to work in
• Big supports need proper easels
• Working on a table easel is more relaxing than standing up all day at a full size easel
• Working small can mean investment in magnifiers

Looking at the Winner of the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2008
Somebody told me after I wrote the review for this show
that they had no idea that the paintings were so BIG
That's why when writing reviews I try to include a gallery view which includes people

Art Collectors

• Paint big and get noticed! (Have you ever noticed the size of artwork in competitions?)
• People with big homes, lots of wallspace (and lots of money for art collections) like big paintings
• There's a very enthusiastic market for miniature art

Art Exhibitions

• Working to a standard size can mean framing costs reduce significantly
• It's a lot simpler and easier to send people and exhibitions small paintings
• Size influences postage and insurance costs (which is a not insignificant consideration once art stops being small!)
• Big frames don't fit easily in small cars
• You only begin to calculate your profit on a sold work after deducting gallery commission and the cost of that very expensive tailor made frame!

So here's my list of options for what influences you when deciding the size of your artwork

What's the main reason for the size of your artwork?

Here are the suggested options for the poll.  You probably use more than one - but what's the main reason for you?

• whatever subject demands & hang the cost
• big for competitions/ to get noticed
• big for collectors with space & money
• small for impulse purchases
• small size for ease of postage
• small size for enthusiastic collectors
• standard sizes: for exhibitions (swop frames)
• standard sizes: minimise framing costs
• whatever comes to hand when I start
• latest purchase of paper/support
• something else

Please leave a comment if there is some other reason.

You can find the poll in the right hand column.  It runs until just after midnight on the last day of the month and I'll post the poll results later that day.

Paintings for the Diamond Jubilee

David Pilgrim painting on the Millennium Bridge - looking downstream
with the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant in the background

This is a post about art created to make a record of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II and covers those who:

• painted the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant while fighting the wind and the rain on the Millennium Bridge!
• responded to The Big Diamond Jubilee Art Challenge to create a drawing or a painting or a print or a sculpture to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee.

River Thames - artists painting on the Millennium Bridge

Painted by Haidee-Jo Summers in the midst of the action and the thick of the weather!
The canvas is wet through and the oil paint will no longer 'stick'!

The BBC invited artists to apply to paint on the Millennium Bridge during the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant.  The artists were selected to ensure a range of artistic mediums and styles were represented.  Artists participating ranged in age between 19 and 70 and were professionals, semi-professional, students and amateurs.

This is the BBC's recording of The Queen's Diamond Jubilee - The Diamond Jubilee Thames Pageant which has interviews with three of the artists starting at 3:06:55 - in the middle of the torrential rain which started partway through the afternoon.

Here's the artists I've been able to identify who were invited by the BBC to take part - plus some of their paintings

The Big Diamond Jubilee Art Challenge

This is an Art Challenge for all those artists, young and old, who are wondering how they can mark the Diamond Jubilee on this very festive and celebratory weekend in the UK.

The Diamond Jubilee

Royal Jubilees are pretty special.  A Diamond Jubilee in the UK is extraordinary!

The Queen has now been the Queen for 60 years and is now the second longest reigning monarch in the whole history of the UK.  Both times it's been a Queen who has lived long enough to mark 60 years on the Throne.

Today - 2nd June - is the 60th anniversary of her Coronation (YouTube video)

That's why the whole of the UK is having a very long weekend with events to celebrate the Jubilee between 2nd and 5th June 2012.

The Big Diamond Jubilee Art Challenge

Produce a drawing or a painting or a print or a sculpture in the next 3 days to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee.

• you can choose any subject.  You can create a picture of the Queen or a picture of an event to celebrate the Jubilee (eg the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, The Jubilee Beacons on 4th June, A Big Jubilee Lunch Party)
• you can use any media
• the artwork can be as big or small as you like
• you can use any style or approach which might be appropriate to a celebration (bunting and glitter is allowed - diamonds are optional!)
• you can be any age (you can get let your kids or grandkids help you!)
• you don't have to live in the UK or a Commonwealth country - anybody can take part and be part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations
• there is no entry fee
• Post an image of your drawing / painting / print / sculpture to your blog or Flickr account by Tuesday morning (12 midday GMT at the latest) and leave a link as a comment on this blog AND tell me:
• the title
• the artist(s) involved in making it and ages (if under 18)
• the subject (if not obvious from the title)
• size and the media used

LEAVE A LINK AS A COMMENT on this blog to tell where I can find your artwork - so that it can be

• highlighted in a results post - with a link to your blog; and 
• for readers to come look at your efforts.

Note that entry via a comment on this blog assumes your agreement to me posting the images I like the best on this blog on Tuesday 5th June.  Those featured will be those which best reflect the nature of the Diamond Jubilee Celebration.

Note: You can leave the comment and the link before Tuesday if you finish early - and you'll probably get more visitors if you do!

If you think you know people who might be interested in participating please share a link to this blog post.

Some portrait inspiration

You don't have to create a portrait of the Queen.  However if portraiture is what you like doing and you want some inspiration:

•  This is a link to a slideshow of portraits I found on The Telegraph - The Queen's Diamond Jubilee: unusual portraits created to mark the event
• Olha Prymakk got a head start with her study of herself as Queen Elizabeth II see Self-portrait as Queen Elizabeth II
• You could also read Review: 'The Queen - Art and Image' at the NPG to get some ideas.
• or maybe check out BBC Two – How to Paint a Queen: a Culture Show Special on iPlayer

(This blog is now having a short holiday until Tuesday!  I've got a river pageant to go to!)