The Guardian Arts Blog and Exhibition Rage

The Turner Whistler Monet Exhibition queue in Paris October 2004
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I enjoyed reading this Guardian Art Blog article by Martin Kemp about "How do you avoid exhibition rage?" and the comments. If I could ever work out how to get the Guardian cookie system past my security suite I would be suggesting the need to have a much bigger room for a very popular exhibition in future.

The arrangements for the recent Leonardo da Vinci exhibition at the V&A Museum (co-curated by Martin Kemp and Marina Wallace) were, in my opinion always likely to cause problems as the arrangements for the displays were very cramped. Display windows included a lot of items and were crowded together either side of a very small room leading to people jostling and being jostled as they tried to view the pieces. By way of contrast the exhibition about the home in Renaissance Italy was in a simply enormous space right next door.......which never ever seemed full. Very odd.

The only explanation I could think of was the need for massive security - but I guess that probably didn't impress the people who queued a long time to see it and then found themselves experiencing poor viewing conditions when they finally got in.

It was ironic therefore to find myself staring last week at David Hockney's double portrait of Martin Kemp and Marina Wallace in the extremely popular Hockney Portraits exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery (closing on Sunday) - in accommodation which was not uncomfortable despite the hordes who were viewing and which had been especially changed from normal arrangements to ensure sufficient space. What a contrast!

Have you ever experienced exhibition rage?

I can highly recommend the Guardian Arts Blog. It has a specific art section and is a jolly good read from the UK paper that is widely recognised as leading the pack when it comes to blogging and reporting on blogs.

Links

• Guardian Arts Blog
• Guardian Arts Blog - Art and Architecture
• Guardian Arts Blog - "How do you avoid exhibition rage?"
• V&A Museum - Leonardo exhibition
• NPG: Hockney Portraits
  

art, drawing, exhibition, painting ,

The London Art Fair

Giverny Trees #3
297mm x 210mm coloured pencil on Canson Mi Teintes
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The London Art Fair opens today. The Fair showcases 100 leading UK galleries which exhibit exceptional Modern British and Contemporary Art and over 1800 artists, many of whom are key figures in the contemporary art scene in the UK or major modern British artists.

The Fair is located at the Business Design Centre (52 Upper Street, Islington, London N1 0QH) in Islington. Tickets are £12.50 and the Fair is open as follows

Tuesday 16 January 6pm-9pm*
Wednesday 17January 11am-9pm
Thursday 18 January Times Reader Evening from 6pm 11am-9pm
Friday 19 January 11am-7pm
Saturday 20 January 11am-7pm
Sunday 21 January 11am-5pm

I'm planning to visit with a friend later in the week.

I've decided that posts about things other than my art should sometimes have images too! You can find the image at the top of this post in the Trees Gallery on my website. It's one I've done three times so far and I was eyeing it up recently and thinking I'd like to have another go!

Links:

• London Art Fair
• Google Map reference
• Transport for London - plan your journey

Technorati tags: art, art fair

JSS and my gondola - a work in progress

Sargent's gondola - a work in progress
14" x 11" coloured pencil on Arches HP
all images copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I've been working on a piece for the John Singer Sargent project. This gondola was at right angles to where I was sitting when I was drawing plein air in Venice in May 2005. I kept looking at it when I wasn't looking at my subject matter. I've had a reference photo of it which I've been musing on for some time trying to work out how to do it. I'm certainly finding trying to get inside the head of JSS helpful to the process of developing my gondola.

The thing I noticed most about about JSS's watercolours of gondolas in Venice (he did a lot of them!) was that he was very clear about giving them a defined shape and tended to emphasise the contrast between dark and light values - which is not the same as saying that everything had a hard edge - as it didn't. The canal water was also very simplified and he often used candle wax (or some other form of wax resist to preserve highlights under watercolour washes for the water.

He also liked the dynamics of the diagonals of the poles used by gondoliers - but in my example we have a stationary gondola - so I tried to work out how the stakes might be used to add interest to the overall design.

I thought it might be helpful to the people following this project if I generated some images for different stages.

First of all I cropped my photo to the same size as the image I wanted to produce - in this case 14" x 11". Although I'm not aiming for a photorealistic finish, with an image which has some odd perspective issues I find it helpful to be able to locate key lines. This is probably the most difficult aspect of working outdoors - sizing the image you're trying to portray relative to your page or support. I wonder whether this is the reason why Sargent often went for smaller fragments of scenes - and whether he used a 'viewer' to determine the edges of his picture plane. I often use my camera now to work out where I want the edges to be. This generally involves taking a couple of photos and inspecting them and then taking some more having worked out how best to frame the shot. In this instance my reference photo is the third one I took. In working in the 14x11 format I had to shave a bit of both sides.

After that I did a thumbnail to work out the value design. My version of a thumbnail is to do it in my A4 sketchbook and then put it on the opposite side of the room - at which point I have a thumbnail! I do this as I just find it easier to adjust and work from larger value ketches.

I was trying for three values - darkest, lightest and inbetween. This is what I produced.

Next I drew out the main structure on a 12x16 pad of Arches HP paper. I tend to grid and then find the main lines (eg tops and bottoms of buildings - but not the windows or doors). In this instance I'd never drawn a gondolas from this perspective before and was somewhat perplexed about doing it totally freehand. I'd have been perfectly happy to 'eyeball' this gondola and draw it free hand in real life when I would have had a lot more information on which to base the drawing. The grid helped to locate the correct lines and helped me to 'know' that the weird shapes produced were actually 'true'. However, you can't beat drawing something again and again to be confident about weird shapes. I knew from life drawing class that foreshortening - as in this instance - can make people look very odd - so I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised!

I then began to add colour. these two images are 'before' and 'after' I added Zest-It solvent to the coloured pencil - using a cotton bud to move it around in a controlled way. I didn't use it everywhere and was basically using it to help get a good foundation for the darks - which otherwise can take rather a long time in coloured pencil.

[Note: Zest-It is an environmentally friendly, non-flammable,non-toxic, biodegradable, alternative to 'turps' and white spirit,made from the zest of citrus fruit, and it dissolces coloured pencil. It can be shipped world-wide.]

I then worked on it some more - basically building up the value of the buildings at the rear, suggesting the shapes of the windows and arches and defining some of the shapes and values in the water.

You can see where I've got to at the top of this post - I'm basically writing this post while I ummm and ahhhh about going back in with some more Zest-It in places. And then there's the candle wax - do I want an authentic JSS touch? Wait and see........it'll be returning very soon!

John Singer Sargent Project Update

Nicole Caulfield has been trying her hand at mini JSS portraits. I love her one of Lady Agnew!

Belinda Lindhardt has had a breakthrough in terms of how to look at values and design when looking at reference photos which she explains in her post "Is there life after JSS?" - and then proceeds to put into practice!

John Singer Sargent Project Links:

• Nicole Caulfield's latest blog posts "Sargent miniature - after Sargent" and "Madame X miniature after Sargent"
  
• Belinda Lindhardt blog post's about JSS and values "Is there life after JSS?"
  
• Zest-It
  

Blogger Update

I'm having fun tinkering with colours and fonts in New Blogger. It's a sad fact that the bit I enjoy most whenever I get a new computer is to see what extra twiddles I get to adjust what appears on the screen. (I also buy books about font design but we'll just pass over that and move swiftly on!) You may find me experimenting with different colours for a little while!

If you try to click on a link or an image or comment you may experience a a problem which is causing the following message to appear.

"A script on this page is causing explorer to run slow and your computer may become unresposive. Do you want to abort the script?"

Please do not let that stop you commenting - there is a fix! Clicking the 'stop script' button enables the comments function to continue in the normal way.

I'm trying to work out which script is causing the problem - but this is a trial and error process and may take a bit of time - so please bear with me! Anybody knowing of scripts which cause problems please let me know.

And I can't find any reference to the feed address - does anybody know where it went?

Also see the comment on the blogger post yesterday from Susan Borgas where she recommends using Notepad rather than Word to save html scripts because of the extra code which Word inserts automatically without telling you. Thanks for that comment Susan - I'd forgotten!

And finally - has everybody noticed that a NEW Blogger blog can now be referenced on your own domain name

The new version of Blogger now supports using a custom domain for serving your blog. If you already own a domain named, say, mysite.com and want your blog to be served at that address instead of at a blogspot.com address, we can host your blog on that domain for you — for free. Your old Blog*Spot address will forward to your new custom domain, so the switch will be seamless for your readers.

Watch this space - I've already got a domain name set up and registered for Making a Mark so the URL may be changing very soon...........

Ed Terpening: Observations on Plein Air Painting

San Luis Obispo Marsh
16" x 20" Oil on Linen (sold)
First Place, San Luis Obispo Plein Air, 2006

One of my favourite bloggers is Ed Terpening - winner in 2006 of my "Plein Air Painting Plus Prize" for excellence in plein air painting and a commitment to sharing information. Ed has recently started a series of 10 Observations on Plein Air Painting.

"Observation 1: To Move, Be Moved" has been posted and starts with the following quotes

A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art. Emotion is the starting point, the beginning and the end. Craftsmanship and technique are in the middle.” - Paul Cezanne.

“When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.” John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)

He comments on the difficulties of explaining the act of committing emotion to canvas and

• how communicating emotion starts with composition
• the balance between the head and the heart in painting
  

It's a good read - I recommend it.

Note: Painting the diverse, dynamic California landscape “en plein air” (in one sitting, on location) is Ed Terpening's passion. Ed is based in northern California, has extensive internet development experience with leading companies and now works part-time as a professional blogger and part-time as a professional artist with a particular interest in plein air painting. He posts regularly to his blog "Life Plein Air" which contains lots of informative posts about his various plein air painting trips, the plein air paint-outs and competitions he participates in and workshops taken. Ed exhibits on a regular basis and is a prize-winning painter. You can view his paintings here - judge for yourself!

Links:

• 10 Observations of Plein Air Painting: Intro
• Observation 1: To Move, Be Moved
• Ed Terpening - website
• Ed Terpening - bio
  

Technorati tags: art, landscape painting, painting, plein air, plein air painting,