19th August 2007: Who's made a mark this week?

Building your website
copyright Charley Parker

This week seems to have a bit of an art materials and media flavour to it. I'm kicking off with a topic which is a perennial favourite - and finishing with some proud horn tooting for members of my cyber buddy group Fine Line Artists......and don't rush - there's lots of goodies inbetween!

How to display your art on the web

Charley Parker (of the excellent and popular art/illustration blog Lines and Colors) has started a series "How to Display Your Art on the Web" as a follow up to his excellent post on How NOT to display your work on your website which generated many comments.

Charley knows what he is talking about - he's a webcomics artist, cartoonist, illustrator, web site designer and Flash animator and teaches a class in Macromedia Flash at the Delaware College of Art and Design.

The first three blog posts of the new series are all excellent and are:

• Finding a web hosting provider
• Registering a domain name
  
• Building Your website
• [plus update 19th August Planning your website]
  

I'd say these were a 'must read' for anybody contemplating developing a website and a jolly good reminder for those of us who have already ventured forth of some of the things we can maybe improve and/or add in to the mix.

Here also is a reminder of my take on the topic last year in my non-techie blog post "How to annoy me with your website" and the update which summarises the comments it generated.

Artists

• Karen Jurick (A Painting Today) let us know recently that she very much admires Margaret Dyer - and I have to say I very much concur with Karen's very good taste. Margaret works in pastels and I can well understand why Karen likes her if you take a peek at her website, her blog and e-bay store. Makes me want to get my pastels out again! Another artist who works in a not dissimilar way is Sally Strand who I'm a great fan of.
  
• My mate Ed Terpening was featured on Lines and Colors on Thursday last week. It's always really good to read Charley's take on an artist and even better when it's somebody who you like.
  
• Vivien Blackburn (website/blog) talked this week about doing a fine art degree as a mature student (she'll be very proud granny in under a month) and what she got out of it. Read more about her language of painting and more about her degree course here. One for a few people to ponder maybe?
• I came across a Chinese artist called Zhaoming Wu with a book I'd get if the text was in English - my favourites are his landscapes - which are sublime - and his charcoal drawings. The latter are very beautiful and amply demonstrate why 'less is more' and realism without every last detail can be so very attractive. Somebody find him a translater and offer him a book deal please!
  

Art materials

• Thanks to American Artist we now have a graphic explanation of how Caran d'Ache makes its pencils.
  
• Laurelines has recorded that specific mineral based paints by Daniel Smith failed to make the mark (they've faded inside a sketchbook!) and have been abandoned for Laura's European trip this month
  

I've been very disappointed, over the long haul, in the Daniel Smith mineral-based paints. Looking back at my Paris sketchbook (which you see in today's photo), I note a LOT of color fading. I'm not happy. Minnesota Pipestone, zoisite, and blue ochre are the most ephemeral of those I used. Kyanite's fine.

• Jana Bouc Jana Bouc is using copic markers for value thumbnail sketches - and illustrates how she did this as a preliminary to an oil sketch in this post (Note: The introduction to the copic marker website in the link is totally OTT!)
  

Art Journals and media coverage

• Works by members of The Royal Watercolour Society are showcased in a feature article in the August/September edition of "International Artist" - lots of excellent pictures of members' work. See this post for my review of their Spring Exhibition. Their exhibition at the Bankside Gallery opens in October - see below for details.

Taking Risks, RWS Autumn Exhibition
Thu 11-Oct-2007 to Sun 11-Nov-2007

Members of the Royal Watercolour Society experiment with watercolour to its maximum effect from the figurative to abstraction. Fluidity, colour and the brilliance of the medium will be explored through themes of landscape, the figure and still life.

• I don't know when International Artist got its new website - but it now lists on the front page all the competitions that it runs on a regular basis. Entry to "People and Figures" closes on 19th September and that is followed by ones for Landscapes, Flowers and Gardens, Seascapes, Rivers and Lakes and Favourite Subjects.
  
• I see USA Weekend.com finally caught up with small works and blog art last Sunday.
  

...and finally,

Felicitations are due to two of my fellow Fine Line Artists who have gained some media attention of a different variety.

• Wendy Prior lives in Christchurch New Zealand and specialises in wildlife and animal art. She's also recently been involved with the development of "Prints of Darkness" a film about the Canterbury Black Cat. This is a very large black cat which has been sighted but never caught. Given the lack of any really good images Wendy produced a painting of the cat based on descriptions for the project which recently sold at auction for a large sum of money. On 22nd August, the popular NZ TV programme Good Morning, will be featuring the Canterbury Black Cat on their " Whats up DOC?" segment with Nic Vallance . This will be looking into curious species of New Zealand Wildlife. Some shots from the film will be shown including one featuring Wendy's Canterbury Black Cat Painting. You can see more about the project, the film and the painting on Wendy's website and her blog where the giant cat (featured last week) continues to progress.
  
• Well somebody had to take over from JK Rowling - and I'm very pleased to announce that Maggie Stiefvater (website/blog) is now the proud owner of a contractual commitment to publish her first novel next Autumn/Fall 2008. Dedicated readers of Maggie's blog already know this of course.
  
• The publishers are Flux Now, an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide which is dedicated to Young Adult fiction (12 -18 years old).
  
• The book itself is an Urban Fantasy / Contemporary Fantasy (ie that means it's set in the real world) about a musically talented high school girl who is attracted to a soulless fairy assassin, not realizing that she's his next mark (Maggie tells me it's very far from being a formula romance!).
• Advanced review copies are going to be sent out January/February and it should be possible to pre-order it from Amazon around February/March time. Flux are VERY excited about it - and are planning accordingly..........
  
• In the meantime, Maggie has lost no time in following her Editor's advice and has started to think about the business end and marketing and has started a second blog. So everybody with novel writing aspirations or teenagers with a liking for fantasy better get on over to "Words on Words" in which she will write about writing, folklore and her new novel.
  

I told you it was exciting. It's also a jolly good thing it all happened before her computer crashed last week and the hard drive was declared to be toast......I'm sure Charley will be covering data back-up in a future post!

Common artists' questions answered

Propeller

10" x 7", coloured pencil on Strathmore Bristol Vellum 300 series 100lb
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Below is a list of common questions which get asked by artists. I bet you've still not got a satisfactory answer to at least one of them.......

• How can I find an agent to represent my art?
• I keep sending my art out to galleries and no one is interested. What am I doing wrong?
• I've been making art for several years and have been in a couple of group shows at local galleries. Should I contact major galleries and try to get shows?
• Should I make limited edition giclees (inkjet prints) of my art?
• Should I invest in a website to show my art?
• Should I pay for gallery space on large art websites?
• Should I rent wall space at a pay-to-play gallery?
• I get occasional offers to submit my work to directories of contemporary artists that say they print thousands of copies for national or international distribution. Submission may be free or nominal in cost, but if I'm accepted, costs range as high as several thousand dollars. In return, I get a page or two-page essay about my art and anywhere from two to five illustrations of my work. Yes or no?
• Can you give me some names of galleries, collectors, or agents that would be interested in my art?
• Everybody loves my art. How come I can't sell any?
• Should I buy mailing lists of galleries and then send out introductory information about my art?
• I donated a painting to a charity auction and it sold really high. So I raised all my prices. Now I can't sell anything. What's the deal?
• Is it best to let my art speak for itself?
• Do I need to explain my art in terms of art history and talk about where it fits in?
• Should I mention names of important artists who influenced me when I talk or write about my art?
• My art professors tell me that the way to succeed as an artist is to "go forth and make art." Is that right?
Articles © Alan Bamberger 1998-2007. All rights reserved

Well here's the ArtBusiness.com take on the answers to common questions that most artists ask at one point or another when developing your career. (If you reference this article anywhere please remember to include the copyright notice.)

Common artist questions answered

There's not a lot to add to this one - it's an excellent article which was published last month. I recommend you read it. Then, if you've not read it before, you might try this post where I commented on the ArtBusiness.com article about "How NOT to succeed in the art world".

Alan Bamberger is the site expert on ArtBusiness.com. He's the sort of person that the Wall Street Journal talks to about the art business. He's also the sort of person who I think has a very balanced and informative view and writes good sense in a way which anybody can understand. It's a good idea to bookmark his site - you'll find he probably has the answer to other questions you have.

Note about the artwork

I don't think Strathmore Bristol Vellum is ever going to replace Arches Hot Press or get included in "my list of favourite supports". The surface is just too bumpy and it keeps making me feel as if I'm fighting it all the time. With this one, I very nearly beat it into submission with my Lyra Splender pencil by burnishing it A LOT - something I would never normally have to do.

Links:

• ArtBusiness.Com
• ArtBusiness.Com - articles for artists
• Wall Street Journal: Start-Ups - establishing a way to merchandise art
• The Wall Street Journal Online - how to sell your art (for collectors)
  
• Making A Mark - How NOT to succeed in the art world
  

Do You Squidoo?

Do you Squidoo? I do and....

• a year ago this week I started my suite of lens whose shorthand generic name is "Resources for Artists".
  
• Last week I read about how Squidoo is now officially a mover and shaker - in other words one of the 500 most visited websites on the Internet.
  
• Today, having been reminded in the last week about how much I've now got on Squidoo, I thought I'd provide
  
• a quick review of my set-up for new readers of this blog and
  
• some TIPS for people new to Squidoo or maybe thinking of starting a lens.

What is Squidoo?

Following a 'crash and burn' experience (I lost all my links) , I originally started my squidoo lenses to provide a place to house my collection of useful links for artists. I liked the fact each lens was independent - so if anything went wrong then it might just be only the one lens affected. My secondary aim was to develop and maintain comprehensive lists of useful links for aspects of resources for visual artists eg in relation to a specific technique, media or area of business - and then share them. Plus having individual URLS for each lens meant that I could better tailor any links for people wanting more in-depth information. I've subsequentally found that as both Squidoo and my lens got a better profile, they have acquired a steady traffic which now also generates quite a bit of traffic for both blogs and website.

I started my Personal "Resources for Artists" Group ( http://www.squidoo.com/groups/makingamark ) in October 2006 to house my growing suite of squidoo lenses. Today I have eight for artists interested in:

• techniques - Drawing and Sketching
• specific media - Coloured Pencils, Pastels, Egg Tempera
• specific subject matter - Botanical Art, Flowers in Art and Gardens in Art
• the Art Business
  

You can find links to all my personal lens near the top of the right hand column of this blog, on this resources page on my website and contained in this one link to the Making A Mark - Resources for Artists Group - which you are welcome to bookmark.

I then created the Resources for Visual Artists Group. This focuses on resource links for visual artists who draw and paint (ie it's not about promoting the artwork of individual artists). (You too can apply to have your lens become a member of the Resources for Artists - General Group). Please note criteria for membership - see end).

Below are some links to some of my previous posts on Making A Mark which will explain what Squidoo is and what I've done to people who are new readers of this blog or new to squidoo.

• Squidoo - a new approach for my links
• Apparently I totally "get it"
• My Squidoo Lens made the top 100
• Resources for Artists - my new Squidoo Groups
  

TIPS for making your Squidoo Lens successful

Yesterday I got an e-mail yesterday from Kimberly Dawn Wells, the SquidU Review Newsletter Editor. It contained some recommendations for lensmasters on how they can improve their squidoo lenses based on recommendations by four lensmasters/Squid Angels BlueDolphin, Connie, Flaming Lacer, and Daoine. As the e-mail was long I've summarised the content and added a few spins of my own to its basic recommendations.

1. It all starts with a good first impression

• DO Introduce your lens - it should read like the first chapter of a book or the start of a presentation - tell them what the lens is about and give them a reason to read on.
  
• some alternative ways of doing this:
• DO Make it focused: short and to the point
• DO Make it personal: why you started this lens - what it means to you
• DO Reflect your expertise: let people know why they should read your lens
• DO Make it individual: maybe through stories, pictures or humour
• DO consider a catchy and informative title
  

2. Fix the basics

• It's a great template (and improving all the time). so:
• DON'T miss out basics
  
• DON'T be lazy and omit to change standard titles to make them personal for your lens; if you can't be bothered then don't use that module
• DO check spelling.
  
• DO Work with it to let it help it work for you. (Note that, following problems with spam and lazy lensmastering, any lens with less than 3 modules will no longer appear as a published lens- see the Squid Blog for more details)
• DO be accessible to your audience - DO include a lensmaster bio, a picture and a way for people to contact you.
• DO remember to update your lens. Squidoo say that frequently updated lenses with great content that is promoted smartly get handsomely rewarded acoording to their LensRank formula.

3. Content is King!

• DO make a reader want to bookmark your lens or come back to it. Content which people can easily find elsewhere does not make for a good lens.
  
• DO provide original content - it can make all the difference eg what do you think of the books you are recommending? (Memo to self - finish writing short summaries for all the books on my lenses)
• DON'T just provide large chunks of text. Think in design terms and break up text and lists with modules for other material
• DO think about the available modules and different ways you can get information across. ( pictures / videos / books etc).
  
• Get the balance right between expertise / opinion and sales modules eg Amazon and e-bay. A combination of enthusiasm for a subject and some credibility in terms of expertise means people are more likely to linger longer (Personally I look for more than two thirds being quality content which adds value)

4. Like goes with Like

• DON'T over-commercialise your lens and make it look like a refugee from e-bay or a shopping site.
• DON'T include content irrelevant to the topic of your lens.
  
• (These last two points are probably the most frequent reasons why I exclude lenses which have applied to be included in my group)

5 Variety is the spice of life

• DO use the variety of modules which are now available but DON'T use a module function just because it exists. Use only what the lens needs to spice up your blog.
• DO try for a good flow to the lens. Make sure the content has a logical progression Monetized modules should be appropriately placed so that they follow the natural rhythm of the lens.
  
• DO consider readers' attention span and the length of the lens. Would it work better if some content was split out to a separate lens?
• DO spend some time making the lens look visually attractive in graphic terms. Scope exists to use some basic presentation tools.
  

6. Let your passion shine through

• DO pick topics personal to you - your passion and sincerity will always show
• DO write in a way which shows why you think the topic is important
  
• DO make people want to click another link..........

7. Engage your reader

• DO make yourself more personable:
• give them some sort of photo of you.
  
• consider personalising your bio for each lens - indicate why this subject is special to you.
  
• DO show respect and write for people rather than search engines
  
• DO show them how to bookmark the site / e-mail it to friends
  
• DO make them want to rate your lens / make it a favourite (I never ask but have been rated anyway)
  
• BUT DON'T SPAM (eg rating swaps; asking people to give you a good rating) - squidoo is about authentic pages built by real people with good intentions.

Squidoo does not endorse or recommend ratings swaps. Not only because it's not in the spirit of the site, but also because it just doesn't work. It doesn't earn you loyal readers or customers, it doesn't help people find you in search engines, and it doesn't increase the quality of your content. (Squidoo FAQs)

8. Who are you and how can I contact you?

• DO make sure people can contact you.
  
• DO provide a guestbook for people to comment.

A lot of these recommendations are also ones which very much apply to blogging by all artists.

I encourage applications to join the Resources for Visual Artists group (see the right hand column). However, your request to join the group may be rejected if one of the following is applicable:

1. its scope falls outside the scope of the group (it leans towards non-visual arts / visual arts other than drawing and painting / commercial art / comics - rather than fine art drawing and painting)
2. the lens does not emphasise the provision of good quality information about the fields of interest covered by this group (ie the majority of content should be non-commercial links)
3. the lens is not yet well developed - reapply when it is. This includes any lens which currently contains mainly commercially oriented links.
4. the lens focuses mainly on the work of an individual artist or artists. (Here's an example of a lens by Karen Margulis which fits in well)

Do please use the comments function to ask any questions - although you might it helpful to check out the Squidoo FAQs page first and maybe take a peek at SquidU.

I'm now off to do a self-audit of my blogs against the recommendations!

Links:

• Squidoo
• Squidoo Blog
• Squidoo - Just the FAQs
  
• SquidU
  
• Making A Mark: My Personal Squidoo Lenses Group
  
• Resources for Artists Group - open to new members
  

Gardens in Art: the concept and the art of the garden

For this month's Gardens in Art project, and in developing my own work, I find it really helpful to look at how other people have responded to and interpreted gardens over time. It opens up potential avenues to explore further.

The Art of the Garden was an exhibition which took place at the Tate Britain Gallery in London between June-August 2004. As with many galleries, past exhibitions survive in a semi-virtual basis on their website and this is no exception. It has a strong base in conceptual ideas associated with the garden. It's especially helpful to me given my own strong leaning towards representational art ("what is") rather then conceptual art ("what it means"). Reviewing the exhibition as it continues to exist on the website doesn't mean I'll understand or agree with everything but it will definitely provide food for thought.

The exhibition had five main sections which (with links to the website) are:

1. Thresholds and Prospects
2. The Secret Garden
3. Fragments and Inscriptions
4. Coloured Grounds
5. Representing and Intervening
   

Each section explores an aspect of the myriad ways in which artists have responded to the garden in Britain, visually, emotionally, intellectually and aesthetically.

I'm going to discuss my own responses to the website version of the exhibition below - and this will include relating themes to my existing work. Obviously I'm not seeing all the works in the exhibition and may have reacted differently if I had. All quotations below comes from the Tate Britain website - which is worth studying in more detail as it covers more than I've commented on here.

Thresholds and Prospects
This identifies views of the landscape - the prospect - as including the garden. Fences and windows are seen as significant boundaries or thresholds and therefore key features. The exhibition took a particular interest in gardens associated with artists or ones fashioned by an artist.

Jilly's View (NFS)
pastel, 12.5" x 9.75"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This is a view - but it's also about an artist and the impact of having a garden with a threshold or boundary such as this. This is a pastel work I did about 10 years ago. It started life in the garden of Jilly Sutton, a very fine artist and sculptor who lives in Devon.

I find it interesting because although the majority of the painting is devoted to the River Dart and its banks, whenever I look at it I always remember it as being the view (note the title) from the garden of a creative artist which I was very fortunate to be able to visit one day - . I find this particular piece to be very restful and it makes me think how such an environment - and having such a 'threshold' - must be conducive to good work.

When I went to find her website I found that her artist statement said the following. So maybe I do have concepts after all!

The driving force behind her work comes from the tranquility of her surroundings. Her wooden house and studio are on the banks of the Dart Estuary where the calmness and order of the river, continually influence the peacefulnes of her scultures.

My own mental vision of the perfect studio opens up on to a garden which provides the potential for constant visual stimulation and subject matter for work through all seasons and all weathers. It's my ambition to find it one day.

The Secret Garden

The second section of the exhibition examines the emotional attachment of the artist to the garden, through themes such as children’s art, seclusion, spirituality and sexuality. It explores not only innocent pleasures but also the more painful thoughts and memories that gardens can evoke. It also focuses on the continuing role of the garden as a metaphor for femininity. This has developed both through the classical tradition and the Christian identification of the enclosed garden, or ‘hortus conclusus’, with the Blessed Virgin.

Now I'm afraid most of this completely passes me by - except possibly the bit about the relationship children have with gardens.

I guess the notions about sexuality, femininity and spirituality explains the preponderance of nineteenth century portraits of women dressed in flimsy stuff draped around a tree or sitting on some grass! It does make me wonder whether these notions are also associated with male artists and female models - or whether we women artists also think in quite the same way! For myself, I have no thoughts at all of putting any figures in artwork involving gardens - I want them to be places where my mind can go back to and find a peaceful environment.

However I do think gardens are a stage on which all sorts of games and stories and fantasies can be played out when we are young. I guess this should have implications for portraits of children. I wonder how many artists think about the places which children like to be and how often gardens find a way into the background of portraits of children in a way which are meaningful for the child?

Fragments and Insecriptions

Gardens have seldom been simply places for relaxation and cultivation. Since antiquity they have been spaces for contemplation, the embodiment of poetical and philosophical ideas – particularly ideas of mortality. This has encouraged a range of symbolic objects, such as sundials, funerary urns, and fragments of antique statuary.....An important archetype for such contemplative spaces is the classical woodland grove.

I can identify with some of this - but still struggle with it to a degree. Contemplation - yes; memory - yes; mortality - no. Unless one is talking about a very specialist sort of garden. The nearest mortality gets to gardens I know is the need to remember where the dead pets are buried.

However I do love William Nicholson's painting of Miss Jekyll's gardening boots and I do think that the artifact approach is something which maybe does have meaning for me after all and that I should think about this and should explore the use of artifacts within a painting at some point.

I do remember an artist (whose name I sadly forget) who used to do the most fantastic and complex watercolours of the various artifacts to be found inside a greenhouse or potting shed. I always loved these because of the way I kept finding more and more as I looked at the painting and then began to wonder how and why all the objects came to be there.

Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose (1885-1886)
Oil on canvas 174 x 153.8 cm
John Singer Sargent - American painter
Tate Gallery, London, England (Purchased from the artist, 1887)

Coloured grounds

Many late nineteenth century painters took flower gardens as their subjects. Such pictures went out of fashion after 1914, as lavish Edwardian gardens could no longer be maintained. But the effect of changing light on colour continued to interest painters who used gardens not as subject matter, but as a means of exploring colour, shape and light.

I can well understand the notion about the attraction of trying to portray the effects of changing light on colour - I think it's one the main things which majes me want to draw and paint gardens (See yesterday's post for some examples of my work).

The example of the John Singer Sargent painting "Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose" (which hangs in Tate Britain - it's a 'must see' for any visit) has a wonderful story which is explained very well by Natasha Wallace on the JSSGallery site - the link includes associated drawings and studies which JSS made for this work and a description of the process of painting this picture plein air at twilight. The garden in question is that of the Lavington Rectory at Broadway in the Costwolds.

Representing and Intervening

The notion in the last section is that of the garden as an increasingly precious commodity within an ever more urbanised society. That's fine and I totally understand that. However, I'm afraid that the conceptual basis for some of the contemporary work as described left me cold and I suggest reading about it on the website.

I think I'd have liked to have seen the exhibition explore the relationship between artwork and garden design a bit more. How much does garden design impact on our notions of what the garden is about and what is it for and how we should behave in it and respond to it. Do artists design different types of gardens to other people - or do they adapt and mold what's already there? In other words the old 'chicken and the egg' question - which comes first?

As I continue to struggle to relate some concepts to my own art and way of thinking, I'd be very interested to hear about any thoughts you might have for thinking about ways in which gardens might be represented or conceptualised in art today. In particular:

• For you, are concepts relevant or important to drawing or painting gardens?
• What concepts do you have about gardens which you apply in your artwork?
  

Links:

• Tate Britain "The Art of the Garden"
• The John Singer Sargent Virtual Gallery
• Gardens in Art - Resources for Artists
  

Gardens in Art: Pastel paintings of gardens in Spain

The Pomegranate Tree, Casa de Pilatos, Seville (1996)
pastel, 20" x 16"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This post is about some pastel paintings of gardens that I did as a result of a visit to Andalucia in Spain in September 1995.

The gardens I visited and drew are:
(1) The gardens of the royal palace - the Jardines de los Reales Alcázares - which are both extensive and landscaped
(2) Casa de Pilatos, also in Seville
and (3) the garden of the Palacio de Mondragon in Ronda.

I'm going to comment on the nature and challenges presented by the gardens. Bear in mind that I was still relatively new to pastel painting and that it's now obvious to me that I hadn't quite appreciated the extent to which I've got a weakness for leaning verticals!

If you're interested in knowing more about what the gardens look like, you might want to check out photographs on Flickr (taken by other people) of all the gardens which I've included as links at the end of this post.

Influences on the gardens of Seville and Andalucia

As readers of this blog may have guessed, it's important to me to know something about what I am painting before I try to capture it. Consequently, both during my stay in Spain and when I returned home I tried to find out more about artistic and cultural heritage of Seville and Andalucia.

Seville was ruled by the Moors from 711 to 1248. After the Christian reconquest, their influence, and their craftsmen, created what became known as the Mudejar style (from an Arabic word meaning ‘allowed to remain’).
Gardenvist.com Gardens Guide Jardines de los Reales Alcazares

Seville is now the artistic, cultural, and financial capital of both Andalucia and southern Spain. It has been subject to Moorish occupation in the past (712 - 1248) which has left it with a very fine heritage of both architecture and gardens. Prior to this it has been under the control of the Romans. Spain was invaded by Muslims from North Africa at the beginning of the eighth century but it wasn't until some 200 hundred years later that a caliphate was established and Muslims began to occupy the area on a serious basis. Cordoba was then the capital. The architecture and gardens were a strong symbol of the occupation and have strong arabic influences as a result.

The challenges

On Monday I wrote about taking your time to get used to a place, to looking and to getting used to the colours. In Seville I had a hard time accustoming my eyes to the lack of what I felt was a conventional garden as I wasn't used to looking at the culture and architecture of Moorish Spain.

I found the Mudejar style of architecture to be a very dominant feature in and around any of the gardens I visited. In Mudejar Spain grass does not feature much due to the dry climate, instead there are lots of tiles and hard surfaces and 'water features' such as pools and fountains. The emphasis on architecture seems to be reflected in some of the plants chosen for gardens and some of the very architectural ways in which they are grown. There are lots of trees which are placed carefully within the overal formal design of the garden. The design tends to be strongly geometric - space and spacings are very important as one might expect from a culture which prized learning from mathematics. There is also a strong sense of the garden being an outdoor room with patios and covered areas with arches.

For me this meant that something of the sense of the architectural, the geometry and the mathematics needed to be set alongside the natural forms of the vegetation.

From a practical perspective I found that one of the most difficult things was finding somewhere to sit - and I walked round and round and round trying to work out how to frame a view. In one respect this was because classic views were eliminated due to the public nature of the garden and the obstruction I would cause. In another sense, problems arose because there was a view every which way you looked - and the issue then became how to limit the image through cropping. Finally, the sun was often very hot and sitting in shadow was very much the preferred option. Altogether a bit of a set-up and compositional nightmare!

Jardines de los Reales Alazares

The garden is 40 acres and it is reputedly a paradise garden located in the middle of this busy city. It includes several patios and courtyards some of which are enclosed. There are 18 gardens all together. At the end of the summer I found that some parts were looking a little tired and dry but I'd imagine it would be a completely different experience in the Spring and early summer.

The palace of the Kings of Seville has the largest late-medieval garden in Europe. .....Peter I ruled from 1350-69. His Alcazar (fortress) garden was built upon Moorish remains and has typically eastern courtyards bounded by arcades and sequestered behind high walls. The oldest spaces are in and around the palace. We find small courtyards with glittering pools, fountains, and recessed seats. As in ancient Egypt, they give protection from the harshness of the outside world. Decorative grilles enhance lush views. There is a tank garden. The planting is of palm, cypress, myrtle, mulberries, magnolia, orange and lemon trees.
Gardenvist.com Gardens Guide Jardines de los Reales Alcazares

Lime trees, Jardines de los Reales Alcázares, Seville (1995) NFS
Pastel 25.5" x 19.5"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This painting was done late morning and I have to tell you that this view was mainly dictated by the need to get under cover and out of the sun which was blisteringly hot. Mind you, I did trot round checking out the views from various places where I could get out of the sun.

I particularly liked the backlighting on the trees and the juxtaposition of their leaves and 'birdie holes' with the very precise forms of the arches and the geometrical designs on the tiles. Just a pity my verticals weren't quite up to the job!

I recall that this one had me focusing a lot on negative space to get the positioning of different parts right. It was virtually all done on site, although I did finish off the tiles and had to correct one of the arches when I got home. I also remember thinking that what I was trying to paint with my pastels was light and heat - and I'm not sure I pulled it off. The colours somehow don't look right.

Mudejar Fountain, Jardines de los Reales Alcázares (1995) NFS
pastel, 13.5" x 9.5"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The fountains and pools seemed to be such a feature of the Mudejar garden that I knew at least one of the works needed to be include a 'water feature'. I loved the design of this one, and faced with the complexity of the views on offer, I'd begun to learn the lesson about 'just pick something small and simple'! Again, in the late afternoon, I was sat in an area of shade looking out at the garden.

This second pastel painting was actually started on site but didn't work. However I tried again when I got home and and finished it really fast. However, I now feel a strong need to correct the vegetation and leave it as is as a reminder to use less white! It always amazes me how complete foul-ups "en plein air" need not be such a failure when you try again. Read the story relating to the last image for confirmation of this.

I found that the shadow colours were a constant challenge and it was always necessary to observe them carefully in order to work out how much complementary colour and how much was reflected colour.

Casa de Pilatos, Seville

The palace is situated in a very quiet backwater of Seville which I walked to from the centre and dates back to the 15th-16th centuries. Although it has some features which are Andalucian, it also reflects the Italian Renaissance.

The garden is 2.5 acres and a number of compartments and a mass of trailing and climbing plants such as bougainvillea, wisteria and jasmine. It also contains a number of mature trees, including palms, figs, orange trees and the pomegranate tree which features in the pastel work at the top of this post.

The best thing about the garden from an artist's perspective is that it so quiet compared to the Alazares. The worst thing about it was the contant temptation to try and include too much!

Palacio deMondragon, Ronda

Afternoon Light, Palacio de Mondragon, Ronda
(1995) SOLD
pastel, 23.5" x 15.5"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This painting now resides somewhere in the USA having been sold by a fellow painter on the trip who had a gallery in Florida. It's one my favourites in terms of the lighting effect. I guess we all pretty much like what Edward Hopper aspired to do.

"What I wanted to do was paint sunlight on the side of a house"
Edward Hopper

The gardens of the this 14th century Moorish Palace in Ronda are tiny by comparison with those above - only a tenth of an acre. They have stunning view from the terrace to the countryside and would be an excellent place to locate to paint a landscape of the area around Ronda.

I've written about this one before - in August last year in this post Palacio de Mondragon, Ronda. - so I won't repeat it here save to say this explains how I tackled the subject - working from artwork completed on site plus photos and using a grid to get the detailed architecture right. It has a story which all artists will appreciate - of how it all went wrong at the beginning, was retrieved and came out all right in the end.

I hope you've found this review of my paintings of gardens in a different culture as informative as I've found in writing it all down. It's amazing how writing it all down in an ordered way crystallises a process in your head.

Links:

• Gardenvisit.com - gardens guide
• Jardines de los Reales Alcazares, Plaza del Truinfo,Seville, Spain (south east of the cathedral)
• Casa de Pilatos, Seville
• Flickr
• Photographs of the Jardines de los Reales Alcázares
  
• photographs of the Casa de Pilatos and its gardens
• photographs of the Palacio de Mondragon and its gardens
  
• Casa de Pilatos - website
• Images of the Alcazar in Seville
  
• Wikipedia:
• Seville
  
• Mudejar
• Alacazar of Seville
• Ronda
• Making a Mark - Palacio de Mondragon, Ronda