BEWARE: If you're visiting London art exhibitions today

BEWARE: If you're planning on coming to London today to see an art exhibition, you need to be aware that:

1. There is no service on the following tube lines (due to TFL tube technology update) until at least 3pm this afternoon: 
• Circle; 
• District; 
• Hammersmith & City; 
• Jubilee; 
• Metropolitan and 
• lots of tube stations are closed for various reasons
• however the Northern, Central and Elizabeth lines remain open all day and City Thameslink is always a good option
• This is the TFL Route Planner
2. There is a Pro Palestinian March from Hyde Park to the American Embassy which passes right next to Victoria Station.
3. There is an Armistice (today and tomorrow) Exclusion Zone around the Cenotaph and other key sites in and around Whitehall
4. There are going to be a lot of controls around Trafalgar Square which is designated as part of the "dispersal area"
5. Lots of controls around the Lord Mayor's Parade in the City of London
6. There is a very significant increase in police controls with a view to avoiding disturbances and keeping the peace

I'm not a fan of the Mail but they do seem to have the best map of what's going on in Central London

I find it absolutely amazing that so much disruption can be caused to ordinary people / residents / visitors and there is no one website which provides clear, transparent information to those trying to visit and/or move around London. 

PS APOLOGIES to subscribers on Mailerlite - this post should have been mailed to you at 9am this morning - but for some reason Mailerlite decided not to do so - and didn't send it at 10am either. I find the way Mailerlite plays up on occasion is making me want to look at alternative options. Such a pity Feedburner disappeared - so much more reliable

Review: Episode 4 of Portrait Artist of the Year (Series 10)

This is my review of the fourth broadcast episode Series 10 of the art competition known as Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year whuch was filmed in April 2023.

Episode 4: Portrait Artist of the Year 

(series 10 / broadcast 1 November 2023)

It follows the normal pattern of previous posts in this tenth series of this very popular art programme.

 

Episode 4: The Sitters

Two women and a man were the sitters for this episode. They were

• Sue Barker - a former tennis player, presenter and BBC legend - as one of the presenters of Wimbledon for 30 years. Her background reflected the Wimbledon colours.
• Alan Titchmarsh - He worked as a gardener for 40 years but also became a professional gardening journalist, writer, and a radio and television presenter.
• Philippa Perry (or more correctly Dr Lady Philippa Perry) - a psychotherapist and author who brought her mother's candle stick holder which was bequeathed to her. She hugely enjoyed gaving to sit still and not look at her emails! Interestingly there was absolutely no reference to her very famous artist husband who makes programmes about art for another Channel!

I'm noting that rather having curious background of spurious value in previous series, they're now trying to introduce colours which relate to the sitter - hence the Wimbledon colours background for Sue Barker.

Episode 4: The Artists

The artists in Episode 4 (of Series 10) broadcast on 1 November 2023 are listed below in alphabetical order of the surname.

You can see all the profiles on the Sky Arts site plus speeded up videos of their paintings

The artists in Episode 4 on the steps of Battersea Arts Centre after they finished

• Aaron Bevan-Bailey (Instagram) - born in Peckham south London, of Jamaican and Scottish heritage. His paintings reflect having to negotiate ever changing boundaries of race, environment, identity and anonymity. 
• Mark Chen - He has studied art in London, St. Petersburg and Taiwan. He's a former teacher who now lives in London. He painted a very romantic memento mori still life arranged about his person. I cant'd find a working website about him (see last episode's comments about things to fix before the broadcast)
• Kuangyi Liu (Instagram) - Her family comes from China and she is a pharmaceutical manager who currently lives in Cambridge.
• Lewis McKenzie (Facebook | Instagram) - a contemporary impressionist painter from Mull who is self-taught and based in Glasgow in Scotland. He was an Art School dropout who then trained as a biologist and worked for several years in a cancer lab as a neuro scientist before becoming a stay at home Dad and rekindling his life-long love of drawing and painting in the early 2010s. His work is in numerous private collections and has appeared in exhibitions by the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, The Royal Glasgow Institute and the Paisley Art Institute, as well as in several private art galleries in Glasgow and Edinburgh. He will be teaching at the Edinburgh Drawing School in 2024.
• David Newens - a portrait painter based in Milton Keynes who has been painting for 35 years. He studied part-time at the Glasgow Academy of Art. After a career in railway engineering management, strategic planning and property development, David now devotes the majority of his time to painting. He likes to paint on linen and has regularly and repeatedly exhibited at major art exhibitions in London (Royal Society of Portrait Painters, Royal Institute of Oil painters and the Rpyal Academy Summer Exhibition). He has paintings in a number of private collections.
• Maev Kelly (Instagram) - an irish artist based in Dublin Ireland. She recently left teaching to become a full time artist. She has regularly exhibited at the Royal Uster Academy's Annual Exhibition. Her portraits mainly relate to chalk drawings of children - which are very good. This is her self portrait
• Davide Di Taranto (Instagram) - an Italian artist who comes from the region of Puglia in the South of Italy. He is a miniature portraitist and fresco restorer born in Italy, but has lived in the UK since 2010 and currently lives in Southampton. After graduating at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze (Academy of Fine Art) in Florence, he worked on restorations all over the world. His self-portrait can be seen up close - and was exhibited in the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2018
• Annette Tranter (Instagram) - a Retired social services worker, based in Tunbridge Wells. Studied at Maidstone & Ravensbourne Art College. Painter in acrylics, watercolour & theatre scenery.
• Tilly Willis (Facebook | Instagram) - Selected to particiate in the PAOTY Heats in 2014 as well as 2023. Born into a family of artists and other creatives. After a Foundation Course at Somerset College of Art she studied Fine Art at The Byam Shaw in London.  Currently based near Wiveliscombe, Somerset. Travels to paint - to various unusual and exotic destinations

Self Portrait Submissions

Size, content and calibre of submissions

I've analysed all the portraits - of artists looking at themselves - and allocated them to the various categories below.

The main thing I noticed about the submissions in this episode was how much content was included in terms of context.  Most were a lot more than just a head.

Review: 60th Annual Exhibition of the Society of Wildlife Artists

The 60th Anniversary Exhibition of the Society of Wildlife Artists is excellent as always. 

I can HIGHLY RECOMMEND this exhibition which is open daily 10am to 5pm and continues until Saturday 11th November. It opened last Thursday at the Mall Galleries  and continues until next Saturday and has events in the gallery next week  on the 6th, 7th, 8th and 10th November from sketches and linocuts to monprinting and wood carving.

The exhibition has over 430 works in the catalogue plus unframed project work from the Wadden Sea residency.

There are original prints, paintings, drawings, sculptures and animations on show including a hundred works by non members. The SWLA Bursary Scheme awarded 5 places on the John Busby Seabird Drawing Course and work from those artists will be on display. SWLA website

Medium and smaller works, together with smaller sculpture and drawings
tend to be located within the three smaller Galleries in the North Gallery.

You can view 

• all the artwork in the catalogue in the Mall Galleries Website - Online Exhibition
• most of the artwork in the three albums on my Facebook Page
• West Gallery
• East Gallery
• North Gallery
• the catalogue on Issuu

Below I'm going to comment on 

• my overall impressions 
• artwork I liked (to be added tomorrow - my other half wants his dinner!)
• awards and prizes. 
• and finally, new members and associates.

The Annual Exhibition is called The Natural Eye. This neatly encapsulates two important aspects of the exhibition:

• firstly it's about very best of fine art inspired by the natural world
• secondly, it's also about artwork which has been drawn, painted, printed or sculpted only after encounters with wildlife i.e. it's NEVER ever copied from another artist's photograph of a wild animal - and the members of the Selection Panel can definitely tell!

The latter reason is why you typically won't see a lot of endangered animals or big cats which are much photographed and omnipresent in other wildlife art exhibitions.

It's predominantly about wildlife art seen within the UK and Europe - with some relating to expeditions to other countries. The exhibition is also very popular with international artists and diversity of location of the wildlife is often related to it being local within the country where the artist lives. 

Overall Impressions

Part of the West Gallery during the Private View

One of the things which always strikes me, every single time I walk into 'The Natural Eye Exhibition' run annually by the Society of Wildlife Artists, is the sheer diversity of style and media in terms of the artworks selected for the show.

Style and Colour

• It has a great deal of contemporary approaches to representational art (i.e. NOT hyperrealistic). This, I think, is linked in part to the fact that the SWLA very much encourages direct observation of wildlife and NOT copying from photographs. This is NOT an exhibition where an artwork looking like a photograph is seen as a compliment!
• While there's a fair amount of realism, this is balanced out by a more gestural approach to artmaking.
• Colour is accurate where realism is preferred - and palettes are pushed where the artwork is more stylised.

Types of Artwork

• there's always a lot of very good sculpture - and this exhibition is not different. In part this is because the SWLA has a number of excellent sculptors as members - who make and create in diverse materials from scap metal to cobalt serpentine

Kodiak Brown Bear (Indomitable - head study)
by Nick Bibby SWLA
Bronze (edition of 9) 
I was rather glad I took the photo from this angle - where he looks a sweetie!

• I always love looking at the fine art prints - and again the sheer diversity of approaches to making prints makes this an excellent show for anybody who loves printmaking (and they're having a number of events related to printmaking this coming week)

Media

• There's a lot of mixed media - mixing watercolour or gouache with pencils of various kinds seems to be a favourite
• Probably the most prevalent painting media is oil - but this in turn is painted on a variety of supports in a range of sizes.

There is also a LOT of red dots and sales seem to be going really well. However, given the quality of the artwork that's hardly surprising!

Artwork I liked

I liked:

• The Young Hare by Tianyin Wang ASWLA (see below) - This eas a really sensitive treatment of this animal and the shape and posture are perfect.
• Puffins over Coquet Island by Paul Henery SWLA  (see below) - This jumped off the wall at me - because of the flight of puffins coming towards me. Plus the fact it shows puffins in flight as opposed to waddling around on rocks. So impressive! Plus great landscape painting too.
• Harvest Mouse by Simon Turvey SWLA - A harvest mouse in typical travel mode from one stalk to the next - blending completely into the background. I really appreciate artists who go to the trouble of demonstrating both character and habitat of wildlife.

Harvest Mouse by Simon Turvey SWLA

Oil on board, 20 x 15 cm (32 x 27 cm framed)

• The collection of Drypoint Prints (see below) by Marco Brodde - a Danish
  Wildlifeartist and naturalist living and working  around the Wadden Sea area, in Denmark. The Wadden Sea project and the artwork by SWLA artists associated with it have been facilitated by Marco. A clear demonstration below of the benefit of making a collection of prints by one artist.

PS. I want to add more - but that will need to wait until later - Sunday dinner is calling!!

Awards and Prizes

Review: British Plein Air Painters 2023 Exhibition

"A Plein Air Vision", the third exhibition by the British Plein Air Painters (BPAP) Group opened today at the RWS Gallery at 3 Whitcomb Street (next to the National Gallery). 

I went to the Private View last night which was a very convivial happy affair with many people and rather a lot of red dots. 

I was very impressed by it - and I'll explain why below. 

You can see photos I took last night in this album on my Facebook Page.

You can see all the artworks via this page on the BPAP website. Click the pic to see a page of bio and artworks for each artist. All sold paintings are clearly marked up.

Why this exhibition looks impressive

Membership of the group: While this is a plein air group, it's not open to all painters who are plein air painters. Those being invited to become members over the course of the last three years are:

• all experienced artists generally - many are professional artists with some having a career that has lasted decades
• many have been to art school
• they are all very experienced in working plein air and 
• all have produced a lot of quality artwork over a longish period of time.

I would suggest that a page on their website talking about how to apply to become a member would be useful.

Exhibiting artists at the British Plein Air Artists PV (30th October 2023)

Many of them are also members of one or more of the National Art Societies. The majority are Full or Associate members of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and some are members of the Royal Society of Marine Artists and/or the Wapping Group of Artists.

There is a little bit of a sense of the group being the plein air arm of the ROI - although I think it might also be that the ROI has taken on more active plein air painters in recent years!

The 27 exhibiting artists for the 2023 exhibition are listed below. 

The 7 women artists make up 26% of the exhibiting artists. I suggest this could be more - maybe a point for consideration when considering future members?

• Adebanji Alade - President of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters
• David Bachmann
• Trevor Chamberlain ROI RSMA
• Roy Connelly
• David Curtis ROI RSMA
• Tony Dakin
• Roger Dellar RPI PS RI ARSMA
• Tim King PCAFAS
• Sarah Manolescue AROI
• Tom Marsh ARSMA AROI
• David Pilgrim ROI
• Valérie Pirlot AROI (6 paintings sold)
• Rob Pointon ROI
• Georgina Potter 
• Adam Ralston ROI
• Michael Richardson WGA
• Andrew Roberts 
• Chris Robinson RIBA
• Maria Rose AROI (6 paintings sold)
• Tushar Sabale WGA
• Daisy Simms Hilditch
• Tom Stevenson ROI SWAc
• John Stillman RSMA WGA
• Haidee-Jo Summers VPROI RSMA
• Mo Teeuw IEA
• Karl Terry RSMA
• Johnny Walsom ROI RSMA

Five of the seven female painters pictured below.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Valérie Pirlot AROI (@valeriepirlotart)

Nature / quality of artwork: 215 artworks are on display (which is a good indicator for anybody thinking about hiring this gallery for an exhibition of similar sized artworks).

Most of the artwork are plein air paintings. They cover a very wide range of locations ranging from "home turf" for individual painters, to various places in London and other locations - typically in the UK - that the painters have visited.

The one thing for me is I'd have liked to have seen an indication of which:

• started plein air
• completed plein air
• completed in the studio
• studio art from a plein air sketch

I think that's helpful to the viewing public and also helps to keep the group focused on what the exhibition is all about. 

Private View

Size of artwork: It's the first time for a long time that I've seen an exhibition which is made up of medium and small size artworks.

The three galleries and the exhibition all looked well designed with walls with two rows of paintings small and medium sized paintings at a good height - with the eyes moving up or down easily. They are all well lit.

I gather the previous exhibitions had established that larger studio finished artwork is much less likely to do well at an exhibition which is being promoted as being about plein air painting - and the decision was made to go with small and mediums sizes for this one.

I think that was an inspired decision as it results in a very coherent exhibition where the smaller sized works do NOT appear to be filling in the gaps between the larger artworks.

A wall of small and medium sized paintings

Media used: Most of the paintings are in oil. This is not uncommon in terms of media often used by plein air artists and by members of the ROI!

Review: Episode 3 Portrait Artist of the Year (Series 10)

The Portrait Artist of the Year Heat which featured in Episode 3

The third broadcast episode of the art competition known as Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year was filmed in April 2023 and first broadcast on Wednesday 25th October 2023 - and this is my review of it!

I am reiterating that my numbering of episodes starts from the beginning of the series proper (i.e. the REAL art competition). I don't count a Celebrity Special as part of the series (it never has before).

Episode 3: The Sitters

The sitters for this episode were all men. They are:

• Ainsley Harriot - an English chef of Jamaican heritage and television presenter of cookery programmes. He brought his late Mum's cooking pot (which had a special name but I'm not sure I heard it properly).
• Rory Stewart - a British academic, diplomat, author, broadcaster, former soldier, former Conservative politician and famous walker (he walked across much of Asia and across Afghanistan) - who does "The Rest is Politics" podcast with Alastair Campbell which I often listen too on my daily walks. He brought his Afghan hiking boots as his special object
• Rob Delaney - an American comedian, actor, writer, and activist who I've never heard of before. He brought his son's painting.

Episode 3: The Artists

The artists in Episode 3 broadcast on 25th October 2023 are listed below in alphabetical order of the surname.

You can see all the profiles on the Sky Arts site plus speeded up videos of their paintings

The artists in Episode 3 on the steps of Battersea Arts Centre after they finished

• James Crowther (Instagram) - a British figurative painter, now living and working in rural Oxfordshire with his family after a long period working in London. One of those artists who has not yet caught up with the essential need for a security certificate for their website to give it an https:// prefix (i.e. I can't view http on Chrome and his website now comes up with an Asian script on Safari - but no images. No security = no website!)
• Yvadney Davis (Instagram) -  born in the early 80s, lives in South London. She pursued a career in fashion after studying at Central Saint Martins. She returned to her love of painting during the pandemic and recently has developed her art from a lockdown hobby to an award winning practice. She celebrates Caribbean heritage and the Windrush generation and uses old wallpaper for her support. She created her self portrait submission with a broken wrist.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Yvadney - Art 🎨 (@yvadneydavisart)

• Matt Graysmith (Instagram) - Born in Stafford, and lives in Guernsey as a child. Now living iand working in London. He was awarded a First Class Honours BA degree in Fine Art (Painting) by UAL Camberwell College of Arts and participated in the Camberwell College of Arts Degree Show this summer. I think he may be the first artist I've come arcross recently to employ the ".art" suffix for his website. His Instagram site suggests that he enjoys painting people as if from the cornice of the room, looking down on them and the floor. He also likes painting wood floorboards.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by matt graysmith (@m.graysmith)

• Olive Haigh (Instagram) Studied drawing at University and is currently working as an assistant gallery curator in Bristol. She is interested in storytelling and creating imaginary people and places. She has worked as an illustrator for children’s books, and an artist for musicians.

my submission was one of my larger painting but look how tiny it is on the artist of the year wall!

• David Herd (Instagram | Blog | Linktr.ee ) Born in Glasgow, he lives and works in coastal Aberdeenshire in Scotland. He's "a Scottish painter of people and places and the spaces inbetween". No bio on his website or blog but the programme announced he's also an art teacher and curriculum manager.
• Lorena Levi (Instagram) - she graduated Edinburgh University with an MA in Fine art 2021 where she won awarded the Astaire Prize at the end of her course. She was the overall winner of the 2022 Jackson’s Painting Prize. If the Judges knew those credentials, they'd be taking her seriously from the off... Her self portrait submission is below.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Lorena Levi (@lorenalevi)

• Lucy Milne - a professional pastel artist from Gloucestershire who submitted a charcoal portrait with a very engaging stare - looking straight out at us. She has worked as a portrait artist specialising in people, horses and dogs and working on commission. She is currently studying oil painting at the Heatherley School of Art
• JR Root (Instagram) - a professional artist from rural Leicestershire now living in Nottingham who is also a part-time postal worker. He is a graduate of the University of Sheffield
• Neena Sartain (no internet presence) - a junior doctor working as an aneathetist in NewCastle. Her self portrait looked down at the viewer.

Self Portrait Submissions

 

Self Portrait Submissions being reviewed by the Judges

Size, content and calibre of submissions

I've analysed all the portraits - of artists looking at themselves - and allocated them to the various categories below.