Happy Birthday to my iMac

Today is my iMac's first birthday!  A year ago today I bought an iMac and started out on my love affair with Apple. 

A year later I am the proud owner of a one year old 27" Apple iMac, an iPad and my other half no longer protests when I tell him he needs to get his very own iMac for when he retires this summer.  (This only so I get him off the music and films on iTunes on mine!)

The story so far - Year 0 minus 1 month

Last February I was faced with a computer which I knew was going to misbehave sometime soon.

What I knew for absolute certain was that I no longer wanted to face trying to buy a computer without a proper functioning computer!

Hence I decided the time had arrived to decide what to get as my next computer.  Ideally one which would not overheat due to kit which had not been properly designed for the size of the box or the quality of the fan (HP and Evesham) and avoiding a faulty graphics card which was built into new laptops even though they knew they were faulty (Sony Vio laptop - there was a legal case pending last time I looked!)

I have to confess here I had seen the iMacs in stores at Christmas and was very impressed by the quality of the image on the screen.  However they looked expensive.  Now I know they are actually NOT expensive when reliability gets taken into account.

These are the links to the posts which led me to my purchase.

• PC vs Mac for artists 18 Feb 2010 - the invite to say which is best a PC or a Mac and why
• PCs versus Apple Mac - for artists (Part 2) 19 Feb 2010  which summarised the results of my request for help and my survey.  It produced the chart you can see below and details what people liked about a Mac - and other things to think about

Of the 32 people who have responded to date (19th February 2010), where there were clear recommendations this is how it works in terms of numbers.

• Nearly 80% of all respondents recommend buying a Mac
• 100% of Mac users recommend a Mac
• 56% of former PC users recommend buying a Mac

6th March 2011 - Who's made a mark this week?

Over on A Postcard from my Walk you can see a slideshow of the sketches painted and sent from around the world in February in a Gallery of Postcards.  Ronell Van Wyk (African Tapestry) created it (and has also been the driving force behind our new project) and so I've included it again above. The postcards posted the last week of February have just started to arrive......

Art Blogs

Drawing and sketching

• Sketching has the scope to transport you to different parts of the world - as in Four days in Varanasi, India by Suhita Shirodkar (Sketch Away: Travels with my sketchbook) who lives in San Jose in California.  Great sketches full of life, animation and colour.  You can see 80+ drawings from her trip to India in this flickr set.  What's very interesting is that Suhita, as a sketchblogger is also selling prints of her sketches on Etsy.  Which is something I've had in mind for a while.......
• Cathy Gatland (A Sketch in Time) in South Africa says Joburg sketchers are growing.  Cathy has been invited to go to to go to the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Lisbon, as one of the international instructors.
• It wasn't until I came to write my article about The Times for my sketchbook blog "Travels with a Sketchbook" recommended by "The Times" that it dawned on me that the reviewer had  highlighted my advice on sketching (see below)

Coloured Pencils and Pastels

• On Tuesday, Derwent published my article 10 reasons to sketch with coloured pencils on the Lovepencils blog.
  

Landscape

• Great advice from Stapleton Kearns (Stapleton Kearns) about Finding subjects in the landscape
• I'm also continuing to enjoy Phillip Koch (Philip Koch Paintings) and his posts about landscape painting - particularly this one Fighting the Headwinds which includes a photograph of Edward Hopper's Truro, Massachusetts studio and a sketch by Hopper of the same view 
• Bridget has just bought one of ArchieSutter's paintings at a group exhibition she is in () Archie Sutter Watt RSW lived in Dumfries and Galloway and was a well known artist.  He died aged 90 in April 2005 - but his website lives on.  

Painters and Painting

• Chris Beck (Brush - Paper - Water) has started a series on American Watercolor Masters.  Here's the first post American Watercolor Masters - John Salminen.  This is John Salminen's website - from which I learned that he will be the chairman of the American Watercolor Society 2011 award jury this spring.  His website of urban landscapes shows great tonal control and some wonderful glazing techniques.
• You just know that Stapleton Kearns (Stapleton Kearns) has a sense of humous when you see a title for a blog post which reads 100 paintings an artist should know, Ingres management edition

Portraiture and figure drawing

• Dan, at Empty Easel, this week identified some of its all time popular blog posts.  This was one of them - 9 Very Common Figure Drawing Mistakes, And How to Avoid Them
• Adam Cope (Dordogne Painting Days) has a blog post whch invites you to identify the elements in the portrait drawing of a child which indicates the age

Printmaking

Art Business and Marketing

• Alyson B Stanfield (ArtBizBlog) tackles email marketing - and why the subject line counts in Mastering Subject Lines in 49 Characters or Less
• In The Limits of Evidence Based Marketing Seth Godin highlight's why the tide turned for Apple and why the evidence of a word from the people we trust when telling stories about the products they use counts for a whole lot more than any adverts or research studies.  So do you write about the products you use for your art?
• Karen Middleton (Karen Middleton ~ Art and Illustration) has an interesting post of interest to all those who work from home - Working from home - how to stay disciplined

Art Competitions and Art Societies

• Pastel Society of America: Call for Entries - 39th Annual Exhibition summarises who can enter and what you have to do
• The UKCPS has a Call for Entries - 'World of Coloured Pencil however this relates to members only.  An update World of Coloured Pencils - amendment indicates that the deadline for entries has now been put back to 23 April to allow time for members to receive their Entry Forms

Art Exhibitions and art fairs

• A new exhibition honors architecture’s sketchbook traditions comments on the The Architecture of Drawing which is an exhibition at the Arts Centre in South Florida
• The Watteau exhibition opens at the Royal Academy of Arts on Saturday 12th.  I'm going to see if my foot will alow me to get to the preview on Wednesday (I've been more or less housebound now for too long!)

Jean-Antoine Watteau
Three Studies of a Young Girl Wearing a Hat, c. 1716
Red and black chalk, graphite on paper
138 x 246 mm
Collection of Ann and Gordon Getty

Art Education / workshops / Tips and techniques 

tips and techniques

• James Gurney (Gurney Journey) analyses Eye Highlights - it's amazing how something so small can make a huge difference to believability 
• Martin Stankewitz (How to draw a tree) writes about Blurb books with hardcover – a mixed experience where he has some very graphic experience of ordering different types of book and some very specific recommendations.
• Thanks to Martin I also now know that Blurb is gearing up to deliver ebooks which are capable of being read with ease on the iPad - see An Open Letter from Blurb’s CEO on the Blurberati blog.

workshops

• Don't get killed in the rush - but......
• Last week James Gurney made a Painting Workshop Announcement
• Carol Marine (Carol Marine's Painting a Day ) has added four new workshops to her schedule for 2011.  Don't get killed in the rush!

Art Galleries and Museums / Art History

• Last year I wrote about The amazing Pre-Raphaelite Online Resource at the Birmingham Museum of Art.  This year there is an exhibition called The Poetry of Drawing: Pre-Raphaelite Designs, Studies and Watercolours which continues until May 15th. Pre-Raphaelites: The Poetry of Drawing is a Telegraph slideshow which indicates the type of drawings on show.  This is the review by the same paper - The Poetry of Drawing, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, review

This major exhibition is the largest survey of Pre-Raphaelite drawings and watercolours ever staged.

• Now I know I have problems with my ankles but what I didn't realise is that Michelangelo's david does too! Read this article in the Telegraph to find out more about why Michelangelo's David 'could collapse due to high-speed train building' 
• I came across a story in The Guardian which suggests that Claude Monet's second wife Alice tried to obliterate the memory of his first wife Camille (who died age 32).  See The jealous love rival who tried to erase all trace of Monet's muse.  I've read a lot of books about Monet and this is the first time I've ever come across a theory of this sort. Rather too much drama and too little facts from a reporter who is not an art specialist methinks.  Do others agree with him?  Click here to see all of Monet's paintings of Camille

Art Supplies

Arcobaleno Pigmenti de Nube Massimo, Venice (the pigment shop)
photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell - all rights reserved

• I've got a new website Art Supplies Around The World - Resources for Artists and already artists are beginning to send me notes about the art stores they want to recommend.  
• Thanks to both Amie Roman and Terry Krysak who have helped to start filling the gap re the good Canadian art storesand who both highlighted Opus Framing & Art Supplies in Vancouver / British Columbia.
• Don't forget folks - in an age of online sales if we don't support the good art stores at a local level we'll lose them.  So if you've got a good art store you don't want to lose do please let me know.
• Jana Bouc (JanasJournal) has highlighted the resources which can be found in the Amien Forums in Amazing Art/Materials Resource Site + How to Store Paintings

Art Videos

• I was really surprised to find this video and recommend you take a look Watch Andrew Wyeth paint Thomas Hoving
• I had an email recently about a live streaming broadcast of a demo.  Now given the Internet works on a global basis there's a fair chance that somebody will be asleep while it's streaming.  It would be so nice to see a link to a video replay loaded to YouTube when you click the link rather than just seeing a screen telling you the broadcast has finished!

Book reviews

• My two regular monthly updates re who's reading which art books  are listed below. 
• Makingamark's Top Ten Art Books in February 2011 What's becoming very apparent is that artists and authors with a strong online presence have a head start over other authors when it comes to marketing their books - and that pays off in terms of profile and consequently sales.
• The Best New Art Books in February 2011 in which I comment on how few new art books managed to transition to a second month in top new art books.
• I have to announce as a result of writing my own post I ended up downloading Kindle for Mac to my iPad and then a new ebook!  I am now reading  Powerful Watercolor Landscapes: Tools for Painting with Impact by (Catherine Gill) on my iPad
• Guess what?  There'll be a post about reading artbooks on iPads and Kindles coming up soon.  I'd be very interested to hear from Kindle owners who have been reading art books.
• Alyson Stanfield also asked what her readers were reading and got this answer - What Artists Are Reading Now

Opinion Poll

• 'Fess up time has started - and it looks to me like people are being amazingly honest!  Check out the new POLL: How much do you spend on your art habit annually? which you can find in the side column.  
• Note please that there are two polls - on in US$ and one in GB£. 
• Fascinating to see how many of you don't do tax forms! 
• Monday's post was about the results of last month's poll.  Which service do you trust when you post or ship artwork? (Results) - a low turnout but some interesting results and worth a read for anybody posting artwork. 

Websites, webware and blogging

• Am I the only person totally fed up with the way the thumbnails have disappeared from the blogrolls of Blogger blogs?  Or is it just me who can't see them anymore?
• I'm becoming an increasing fan of the iPad for digital sketching/art purposes.  However this week we got the update - so if you want to know more try Learn about the new iPad 2.  Apparently both laptops and netbooks are being hit very severely by the expansion in tablet type tools.  I'd expect prices to start dropping very soon.
• Google Docs - just got a whole lot of new stuff under the bonnet
• see what's new (UK version)
• Image drag and drop: If you use Google Chrome, Firefox or Safari you can now drag images from your desktop and drop them directly into a document. Learn more

and finally........

Don't forget I've started adding a page break to posts so that they load faster - but it does mean you have to click when you get to the bit where it says Read more >>

Watch Andrew Wyeth paint Thomas Hoving

I found a gem yesterday on YouTube.  It's a video of two iconic figures of twentieth century art in America.  Andrew Wyeth painting Thomas Hoving in watercolour in Wyeth's father's studio at Chadds Ford in Pennsylvania.  It's unique because, as Hoving says in the video, he believes it to be the only time that Wyeth was captured painting on video.

At the time of the video (2003), Wyeth is 86 years old and Hoving is 72.  Wyeth had achieved the status of being one of the USA's most popular and celebrated artists.  Hoving was the Director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York from 1967 to 1977 and during his tenure focused on the acquistion of some "world class" pieces which would enhance the Met's reputation.  He was described as a "showman" and something of his character comes through in the video - which includes him telling stories about art, artists and exhibitions. 

I think it's delightful.  It has all the weaknesses of a home movie and all the behaviour which you get from people being captured on film at home!  I found it fascinating to see how Wyeth painted his watercolour portrait. One can also see how he was attracted by the patrician profile of Hoving.

Both of them died in 2009 - Wyeth age 91 in the January to a blizzard of obituaries from all over the world.  Hoving in December to a similar number (but not quite as many!).  That's as it should be!

If you've not seen Wyeth's paintings before try this video which is a lecture which looks at the use of value in Wyeth's paintings.  It provides lots of pointers for all those who would like to improve the composition and design through the use of values in their painting. 

Links:   

• Andrew Wyeth - Resources for Art Lovers - this is my information site which provides a compendium of links to websites providing information about Andrew Wyeth and access to a display of some of his images
• Portraiture - Resources for Artists
• Composition and Design - Resources for Artists 

Pastel Society of America: Call for Entries - 39th Annual Exhibition

The Pastel Society of America has called for entries for its 39th Annual Exhibition which is to be held at the National Arts Club in New York (6th September 2011 - 1st October 2011).  Over £25,000 in prizes will be awarded for selected work.

A primary mandate of the Pastel Society of America (PSA) is to provide a forum for the exhibition of works by the most accomplished of pastel artists in the U.S. and abroad. The Annual Open Juried Exhibition for Pastels Only is held during the month of September in the main gallery of The National Arts Club, a historic mansion located in the Gramercy Park area of Manhattan.

Accepted entries usually number 170 to 200 pastels out of more than 1,000 entries.

This is one exhibition I'd love to see - I very nearly made it one year but the timings didn't quite work out.

It's interesting to see yet another art society which has moved to all digital entry this year. Below are the details of how to enter.

Who can enter?

• This exhibition is open to all artists, members and non-members

Conditions of Entry

The Best New Art Books in February 2011

Here's the commentary from my update of my information site The Best New Art Books for new books publsihed in February 2011.

What a pity it doesn't have a "look inside" on Amazon
- it makes it impossible to tell whether it's any good

Commentary on the changes this month:

• Few new art books have managed to transition into a second month. Those that become top selling or top rated books frequently do this because of sales prior to publication and then sales following publication. It just goes to show you can't start the marketing too early.
• It's very odd how the flavour of new art books changes every single month. This month there are an incredible number of new books which are focused on artists, art and culture from the past. Possibly the post-Christmas period provides an opportunity for these books to surface rather than drowning in the more popular books which tend to be published in time for the run-up for Christmas.
• "Top" does NOT mean "best".  It's also apparent that a February 2011 publication date does not mean "new" either.   It's noticeable with one wildlife painting book this month that purchasers (book reviewers?) in January have been very annoyed by the repackaging of a painting book which dates back to 1997 - without any indication whatsoever that this is anything other than a new book.  I'm not entirely clear as to how people could have been leaving reviews in January for a book which was apparently not published until February.  However I've included it in the listing as an AWFUL WARNING. If I spot any more examples of this sort of marketing in future I shall start naming names on my blog! :) 

The one I'd probably end up looking at longest in a bookshop - pondering on use of the plastic - is  Powerful Watercolor Landscapes: Tools for Painting with Impact by Catherine Gill (http://www.catherinegill.com) and that's because, unlike the other book I'd be interested in (Judy Martin's Mastering Sketching: A Complete Course in 40 Lessons) it's got a "Look Inside" feature.

I also like Catherine Gill's paintings which I can see on her website!  I do like an artist and author with a website - I always feel much more comfortable about knowing what sort of book it's going to be :)

Check out the "Look Inside" option on Amazon
- particularly the Contents pages