Sunday, April 04, 2010

4th April 2009 - Who's made a mark this week?

I'm reading this morning that it's estimated that Apple sold about 700,000 iPads yesterday!  I wonder if that counted the pre-orders.  Anyway I know I was totally bemused by what seemed to the sort of enthusiasm normally reserved by children for a new Harry Potter novel!

I do like the idea of an iPad (from an individual who is near to becoming an Apple nerd - but for my creaking Magic Mouse!) and started to think about how it might be useful for artists in What's in the iPad for artists and illustrators? I've even thought of some more uses since that was written - as have people who have commented!

However it's going to take a lot to break my habit of NOT being an early adopter of anything technological. I always wait until the glitches have been ironed out, the enhancements have started and the price has reduced. I can wait.........

However if somebody can show me how to sketch on it - I might just be persuaded to break a habit of a lifetime!

Large Upright Internal/External Form 1982-82 by Henry Moore
in the fields at Perry Green
(photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell / Courtesy Henry Moore Foundation)

Elsewhere this week I had a terrific day out at with the Henry Moore Foundation at his former home of Hoglands in the very rural village of Perry Green in Hertfordshire. You'll find references to the village below, a bunch of photos on Flickr and this week I'll be writing a review of the new exhibition which opened there last week - of his prints and drawings - which is going to be a must for anybody interested in printing and drawing who can get to it.

I came away very much reminded of the experience I had when visiting the Musee Picasso in Paris for the first time, of an enormous talent who could communicate in various art media with apparent effortless ease.

Art Blogs


Art Magazine Blogs 

I'm still finding blogs published by art magazines. To my mind a number of these still don't quite "get" blogging. Or at least don't understand how they can be used to draw readers to their site and journal (as in the some of the better blogs of the better newspapers). Which is odd really when you think about it.

Anyway, this week I stopped by the Artists and Illustrators blog produced by the people who run the Artists & Illustrators Magazine in the UK. It doesn't post very often and has not persuaded me to add it to my blog roll


Making A Mark Blogroll

Talking of which I'm planning to give my blogroll a bit of an overhaul in the near future. I've already started tweaking trying to find a link which was giving problems with loading this blog. The general principle will be that blogs which don't post on a regular basis will be removed unless I'm very partial to the content when posted.


Drawing and sketching
Coloured Pencils and Pastels
Illustration, Fantasy Art & Cartoons

Landscapes
  • The Virtual Paintout focus has changed from Norway to the Atlantic off the coast of Portugal - Canary Islands - The Virtual Paintout in April
  • I came up with a new sort of post - where you go from your painting or drawing and then try and find the location on Streetview to see how you did when you got back home! From completed landscape drawing to Streetview. Why not give it a try? It's a lot easier now that google seems to have run those funny little cars with the cameras around the whole world. Maybe you can find a road they've not yet travelled down?
Painters and Painting
Printmaking
  • watch out for the post this week about the new book and exhibition about the graphic art and print-making by Henry Moore.
Sculpture

A few sculpture items this week.
 (photo copyright Katherine Tyrrell / Courtesy Henry Moore Foundation)

Art Business and Marketing

Art and the Economy / Art Collectors

  • The David Hockney support team have updated his official website - and I've updated my information site David Hockney - Resources for Art Lovers to provide more structured links to a record of his works - paintings, drawings, photos, stage design and graphic works

Art Competitions and Art Societies

Art Exhibitions and art fairs


Major exhibitions

David Mitchinson, author of Henry Moore: Prints and Portfolios
with the elephant skull at the preview of Henry Moore Deluxe: Books Prints and Portfolios
(Photo: Copyright Katherine Tyrrell / Courtesy of the Henry Moore Foundation)

Art Bloggers

Leadenhall Market (£150)
10" x 7", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

      Art Education / workshops / Tips and techniques

      Art History

      Book reviews

      • Watercolour: This week I asked Which are the best art books about watercolour painting? and you've been responding with some really excellent recommendations - including a number of books which are old and/or out of print which you can as used books. I've been so impressed and wanted to take a look at the books recommended so have got going on the information site I was planning as a response. You can see books recommended by me and others in The Best Books about Watercolour Painting which has rocketed up the Squidoo rankings this week - suggesting this is obviously a popular topic! What I've tried to do is categorise the books by subject matter eg Watercolour - Painting Light and British Watercolour Artists - which is not something which happens either in book shops or on Amazon.  I'd still love to hear from more people who have books they'd always recommend to a friend.
      • The New York Times speculated on the demise of the book cover with the advent of e-books and the 'marketing' it does for a book when read in public

      Colour

      Copyright

      provides for a limited power to propose regulations in the future. The regulations would allow copyright owners to apply for court injunctions. These injunctions would require ISPs (or other service providers) to block access to specified internet locations providing access to copyright infringing material. The safeguards are extensive, including provisions on consultation, threshold and proportionality, Parliamentary accountability, legitimate use of websites, freedom of speech, and ensuring due court process."
      • Thanks to Lainie who identified this article in the New York Times for me during the comment discussion on yesterday's post. The End of History (Books) by Marc Aronson discusses the issues about the price of using photographs of artwork in books as they go digital. I'm not sure he's right. I think there's going to be huge pressure to stop public museums from acting as if they can mine gold out of public assets through the copyright fees they charge given it limits accessibility rather than promotes wider awareness and education. What do you think?

      Creativity

      This is an injunction from Everett Bogue to focus on the important (on Gaping Void) if you want to create art.  Which to my mind fits rather well with the title of Hugh McLeod's book Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity

      The Making A Mark Opinion Poll


      • This month's Making A Mark Poll What types of art book do you like best? has got off to a good start and can be found in the right hand column. So far it's proving that EITHER art publishers have got it completely wrong about what sort of books are required OR this blog is read by a more discerning audience. Could be either. Might be both! :) Why don't you take a look and vite if you haven't so far. It's a multiple response poll.
      • On Wednesday I published the results of the Making A Mark poll for March - and the reesults of What's your favourite software for editing digital images? (MAM Poll Results) will come as no surprise to many of you - although, as PS Elements user, I'm still very interested by the value for money question

      Websites, webware, blogging and techie posts


      Blogging
      Google Docs

      Google is having horrendous problems at the moment with Google Docs (which is what I usually use to write blog posts as it doesn't import huge aounts of crap code into the post). Google made a change a few weeks ago to the way paste works in Google Docs and ever since the 'paste' stops working for no obvious reason for a period of time - and then works again. When it stops it can't even copy / paste within the same document. It's about time Google got its act together on this one as it's now been happening for quite some time. Given it's punting Google Docs to businesses it will be doing absolutely nothing for Google's reputation at the moment. They seem to have lost the plot. If you also use Google Docs and are likewise irritated by the paste problem can I suggest giving an explicit account of how you feel on their feedback form for Google Docs

      Apple iPad

      Some interesting posts for artists who are potential consumers
      Search
      • How to make searching in Google even easier - GoogleGuide (not an official Google site) tells you all the operators which work in Google

      and finally........

      Pause for a thought from
      • Seth Godin talking about the work of artists in High praise indeed
      • James Gurney's post on Thursday about Dinotopia Themed Caskets for that special person who lived their life in the “land apart from time” - just in case you missed it! ;)

      2 comments:

      1. Hello Katherine !
        great blog !

        French "Carré d'Artistes" is opening its 10th gallery in London end of April
        http://en.carredartistes.com/info.php?InNum=502
        it started in september 2001 in Aix-en-Provence

        have a nice WE
        Marie

        ReplyDelete
      2. I appreciate the mention so much.
        Love,
        Linda Blondheim

        ReplyDelete

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