Podcast: Antony Gormley: Art, religion, and the battle for culture

Antony Gormley spoke at length in a podcast recently. It included some of the most intelligent and articulate points about art and culture that I've heard in a very long time. Particularly since programmes about art history disappeared along with BBC4 original programming.

One of the reasons I'm highlighting it because I've listened to Gormley speak at length about his art, drawing and the processes he used in person a long time ago - but I still remember how impressed I was with him and his thoughts at the time (see the end for more about this encounter - and my blog post with quotable quotes plus my sketch of Gormley's head)

PODCAST: Antony Gormley: Art, religion, and the battle for culture

This is:

• an Apple Podcast link to Antony Gormley: Art, religion, and the battle for culture 
• the Global Player link to the same podcast

Can Britain remain a cultural superpower post-Brexit? How does religion and philosophy inform creativity? How can we prevent arts from being cut from curriculums?

• The podcast show you can find it on is LEADING which is hosted by "Alistair and Rory" (they've left their surnames off the blurb so I will too!) - but don't let that worry you. There is remarkably little politics about it for those who are more used to their "The Rest is Politics" podcast.

TALK: Antony Gormley on Drawing (21st January 2008)

'Drawing what you can't see'

pen and ink in Moleskine sketchbook

copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This is my blog post Antony Gormley on drawing - at the Jerwood. It includes some soundbites which I kept writing down as he was talking as he is so articulate and incisive! Here's a couple

"Drawing is like thinking out loud"

"Drawing is a form of explanation. It's a notation of a journey"

I drew Antony Gormley - and made notes - while he gave a Gallery Talk to a small audience at the Jerwood Space.  The exhibition was about the relationship between sculpture and drawing. 

Three artists, for whom drawing is a major part of their professional practice have been invited to give Gallery talks during the course of the exhibition and Antony Gormley gave the first of these last night - "Drawing From & Drawing Out".

I had a partial view of him so drew what I could see until I got a better view - hence the starts which never finished! 

I've been told in the past I draw like I'm sculpting - which is a pretty accurate way of describing what I think I'm doing when drawing heads.

Sargy Mann: Thoughts towards a talk - on video

I included a link to a video of Sargy Mann talking about what it's like to be a blind painter - and how to see more and see better - on my Facebook Page at the weekend.

These are some of the words you would have heard from blind painter Sargy Mann in a TED Talk - if he hadn't died before he could deliver it

The video has now "gone viral" - with many people appreciating listening to a man who could paint but not see -  which is why I'm now including it here as well.

It's very impressive. It would have been great to see it as a proper TED talk but I think I like this version better! See what you think, the video is just over 12 minutes long.

At the end I've also included links to another couple of videos about him made by his son

• "Probably the best blind painter in Peckham" a flick through the book of the same name
• "Sargy Mann" - the 38 minute documentary made about his father just after he went completely blind - which tackles .

You can see his paintings at Cadogan Contemporary

Sargy Mann: More. Different. Better. Thoughts towards a talk. from Peter Mann Pictures on Vimeo.

In the last months of his life Sargy was working on a TED talk, which he was scheduled to give in London in May 2015. In early 2015 he had two or three drafts, each with a very different emphasis and he was still coming up with new ideas. Thinking it might help him edit his material down to the allotted eighteen minutes I filmed him trying out what he had written and also kept the camera rolling as he talked about the ideas and what he was hoping to achieve.

Sargy died in April 2015. The talk was never finished but he had continued working on it or ideas that had come out of the process until the very end.
In January 2015 Sargy Mann: Perceptual systems, an inexhaustible reservoir of information and the importance of art was published by spbooks (www.spbooks.org) this publication attempts to bring together an extended version of the ideas Sargy was developing and which were sparked by the invitation to do the talk.

This is a link to the article Parting words from an artist of rare vision in The Guardian where I came across the video.

It covers an interview with his son Peter Mann, and Sargy’s wife, Frances. 

“I have always had a frustration in that people love his paintings but they don’t understand what is to me the most interesting thing,” Peter said. “There was always the slightly patronising ‘isn’t it amazing he can do this and he is blind’. What is more interesting was the fact that he could only do this because he was blind.”

More Videos

So you think you have problems painting?

Every now and again we're all apt to hear from fellow artists who are having a problem with their current painting or have hit a 'painting block' - and just can't paint anything.

It's something which happens to many people and the usual trick is to take a proper break and then get stuck into doing something related - like sketching or reading art books - which may well trigger the urge to create a painting.

However suppose the 'block' you hit was that one morning you woke up and you were totally blind.

Would you even try painting again?  Could you even paint if you're blind?

Well the good news is that you can.

Take a look at these two videos.  The first one is just over 4 minutes and is about the blind painter Sargy Mann.  It's a BBC news 'Real Life' video interview.



The second is a much longer documentary video made by his son Peter Mann.  This shows much more about how he manages to paint and tells you even more about about the inner resilience and creativity of this blind painter.  I greatly admire him for looking for ways of doing working out how to paint within the constraints he's been given to work within.


Sargy Mann from Peter Mann Pictures on Vimeo.
Sargy Mann produced and directed by Peter Mann in 2006, funded by the British Documentary Foundation (BritDoc)

Shown at BritDoc 06, Melbourne International Film Festival 07, LIDF, and Voyages European Film Festival. Peter Mann's film about his father the artist Sargy Mann as he goes through the process of making a unique series of paintings, the subjects for which were the last things he ever saw, and painted after going completely blind in May 2005.

You can see his paintings:

• in this Cadogan Contemporary Exhibition Catalogue on Issuu (which proved completely impossible to embed) 
• or at the Sargy Mann page on the Cadogan Contemporary website 

These are articles about Sargy Mann:

• The Guardian (2010) - Sargy Mann: the blind painter of Peckham
• Port Magazine - 10,000 Hours: Sargy Mann
• Ilaria Rosselli del Turco - A Book You Have to Have (a book review)

I suggest you bookmark this post so that the next time you have a problem painting, you can return to it and watch these videos again and be really thankful you still have your sight even if your inner vision has temporarily deserted you.

Then do what he does - and get back in the studio and have a go!  Try drawing blindfold and see what happens....

10 Golden Rules For Every Busy Artist

I'm sure some of you have probably seen the often quoted 10 Golden Rules for Every Busy Woman. I don't have a clue who wrote them as I've never seen an author acknowledged.

I thought I'd have a go at translating them into rules for a busy artist.

Why don't you take a look and then see if you can come up with your version. If you do please

• either leave them as a comment
• or write about them on your blog and link back to this one so I know you've done your own version.

So here's my....

Ten Golden Rules for Every Busy Artist

1. 

   Drawn in three minutes 
   after two years 
   of life drawing classes
   copyright Katherine Tyrrell

   When I'm 'in the zone' and in the studio I'm not available
2. There's no such thing as the perfect drawing, painting, colour mix etc. - but practice helps me create art more effectively
3. I am allowed to create a new way of making art - even if you and the gallery like what I used to do better
4. Creating a tiff image as soon as I complete an artwork means I won't get upset when it sells and I realise I don't have a proper image of it
5. I will always get through the admin and marketing faster and more effectively if I allocate a set time
6. Time spent cleaning the studio is not downtime, it's thinking about the next piece time
7. I don't have to say "Yes" to every offer or opportunity to exhibit or teach or demonstrate or give a talk
8. I will stress less later if I file that paid invoice/expense receipt now
9. Every now and again I should look up and say 'Hello' to friends and family and be thankful for my supporters
10. I should always remember that galleristas and art critics can't do what I can!

These are very loosely based on

Ten Golden Rules for Every Busy Woman

1. I am not on call to all people all of the time.
2. I have needs of my own, which may not be the same as those of my family, my colleagues or my friends.
3. I don’t have to say ‘yes’ to every request that is made of me.
4. I don’t have to carry on doing something just because I’ve always done it.
5. Time spent relaxing is time well spent.
6. There’s no such thing as the perfect wife, perfect mother, perfect child.
7. Time spent feeling guilty could be spent doing more enjoyable things.
8. I shouldn’t always do it for them if they are capable of doing it themselves.
9. I should give myself the same care and consideration that I give to others.
10. I should remember, at all times, especially in the face of criticism, difficulties and anxiety, that I am doing the best I can!

Why not have a go and see what you can come up with!

28th August 2011 - Who's made a mark this week?

This week I got to see what goes in to setting up an exhibition of Miniature Artwork when I visited the Mall Galleries on Tuesday to see Bite: Artists Making Prints - the new Printmaking Exhibition.

The North Gallery had been taken over by The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors & Gravers who were preparing selected miniatures for their Annual Exhibition - which opens in October.

RSMGS - Annual Miniature Art Exhibition - in preparation

I learned about the process which goes something like this:

• Saturday - artwork delivered for consideration
• Sunday - panel selects artwork for the Exhibition
• Monday - artwork placed in cases
• Tuesday - artwork numbered, pinned (to secure it in place and stop it moving around when the cases are moved), cleaned and photographed for the catalogue and website
• Wednesday - judging for prizes - prior to cases being moved to secure storage prior to exhibition

I also learned about a very special loan exhibition concerning Royal Portrait Miniatures which I'll be writing about next week.

Update on the glasses: As reported on Monday I started this week with no intermediate glasses for viewing my computer screen - which made trying to post a bit weird.  I collected my new titanium glasses on Wednesday and these are now in front of my eyes and I can now see fine again!  Of course the old computer glasses which had completely disappeared turned up on Thursday!  The only consolation was that they had been through about three lens changes, had been losing their fitness for purpose due to wear and tear and really needed replacing....

Artists and Art Blogs

Practice, experience and style

New Hampshire Pears
coloured pencils on colourfix
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I received an email comment from John Kinney about my post about plagiarism last week.  I suggested that it might work better as a blog post.

It reflects on the notion and value of daily practice - a point highlighted  in a number of comments on recent posts.

Here's what John thinks

As someone familiar with daily painting, although not a painter and certainly not an expert on the subject, I’d like to draw attention to a few comments already made, and share the questions these have inspired in me, and, I hope, in others...

Make your own art!

Let's talk about why and how every painter can be an 'original'.   This post includes some tips for those that are struggling with this.  You are also most welcome to share your own thoughts on what has helped you to develop your own creativity and originality.

Following on from yesterday's post about plagiarism, somebody sent me a note which reminded me that Stapeleton Kearns recently wrote (ranted?) on a related topic.

Within the context of the bigger picture about creating original art, Stapleton has a post last Sunday called Some thoughts on art and money which I very much endorse.  It contains this paragraph

"Art has no reason to exist other than that it be excellent. If you are imitating another artists style, get your own! I open the art magazines and see page after page of amateur rip-offs of Scott Christensen and Richard Schmid. That's not good enough, everyone who sees those ads knows they are seeing a Richard Schmid ripoff. People are not easily fooled."

In general I don't follow daily painters as much now as I used to - simply because I grew very tired of looking at too many artists who were copying other artists.  All that really achieved at the end of the day was to highlight more clearly those artists who were different.  By that I mean those who made sure they were clearly individuals who were not following the crowd and instead were trying to find their own individual way of creating art.

Artists who are original shine like beacons in the midst of the "same old same old".

What I have noticed is that those artists who seem to be the most successful at creating their own artistic identities (which is that thing you have to be able to talk about when the gallery asks you "what do you paint?") all too often also have the happy knack of having their own individual and unique take on the world around them.

In other words, their choice of WHAT they paint and how they look at it is as much part of their ID as HOW they paint.

Essentially that means that the way a daily painter responds to the challenge of coming up with an answer to the question of 'what to paint' each day is as much part of that artist's development as the way they paint.

Your choices about what to paint reveal who you are, what you like, where you live and how you see the world. 

Does your artistic creativity need a stimulus?

Benoit Phillipe (My French Easel) has produced an e-book Creative Exercises for Artists and Everyone Else which has all the makings of a 'standard' for those wishing to develop their artistic skills and creativity.

Benoit told me

This 36 page eBook is a collection of 17 practical exercises for artists. I have learnt some of them over the years and designed some to fulfil my own needs. I am a painter, so most of these exercises are visual ones. However, many of them do not require specific artistic skills and are suitable for anyone regardless of their age or level of artistic ability

I've taken a look at it and read all the exercises he identifies in this book. Those who have had some art school training or have had the benefit of tuition from good visual art tutors will recognise a number if not all of the exercises. However they are rarely all brought together like this in just one book.

I think Benoit has created a really helpful resource:

• for hobby artists to share with their friends
• for tutors to share with their classes
• for semi-professional and professional artists to use as a 'wake-up' call if their creativity or art has lost a certain "je ne sais quoi"
  

The next best thing about this e-book is that it is FREE.

You can find out more about “Creative Exercises for Artists and Everyone Else” in his post Creative exercises for artists.

You can also:

• read the book on screen as a slideshow (see below)
  
• download it as a pdf file and read using Adobe Reader

Creative Exercises For Artists

View more presentations from MyFrenchEasel.

Where do you start when making art? (MAM Poll RESULTS)

The February Making A Mark Poll looked at Where do you start when making art? The headline results show that:

• 57% are influenced by life and what they see around them
• 43% work from their own ideas and concepts
• 38% are stimulated by their own reference photos - rather than those taken by other people
  
• nobody seems to want to take account of current trends or whatever seems to sell!!!
  
• 134 respondents had an average of 2.42 options which influenced where they started when making art.

Commentary on the poll results

The results are ordered in the chart according to popularity as is this commentary.

Life and what I see around me: Since artists gave up creating paintings about history, myths and religion, the stimulus for a great deal of art in the last 130 years or so has been life and what we see around us on a day to day basis. Over a half (57%) of people who responded to the poll chose this as one of their main influences. 77 responses accounted for around a quarter of all responses.

My ideas and concepts: 43% of people chose their own ideas and concepts as major influences on their art. Normally we associate this notion with art which is trying to convey a message or comment of some kind. I had intended this to be what my shorthand meant to other people but now wonder whether this was the case. The reason I say this is I was quite surprised by the level of the response to this option as a lot of the representational art I see does not suggest to me that there is an idea or concept (ie a message) behind it. Of course there might be and I'm just being too literal and not getting the message that the art is trying to convey!

My reference photos: 38% said that their own reference photos generated artwork (compared to just 13% who used other people's reference photos). It was pleasing to see more emphasis placed on working from material that the artist had generated. The inherent problems associated with photosgraphs can be overcome more easily if they are used by the person who remembers what the original image looked like in real life.

My imagination: 35% said they used their imagination when creating art. It was good to see this more creative aspect coming to the fore. Obviously 'using your imagination' is quite a wide term and could in fact mean anything from a full blown fantasy artwork to changing the colours seen in reference material to moving objects around and/or omitting items like street signs because they don't look good in our artwork!

My sketches and my photos: It was interesting to see that most people who used sketches supplemented their sketches with reference photos. A third of artists responding used their own sketches and photos but only 10% of artists worked from just their sketches. There's no right or wrong answer here. There are good reasons for either practice. Speaking personally I find a reference photo much more helpful if I have a sketch or drawing from life. I use reference photos to check the accuracy of relative proportions and sketches for design, atmosphere and colour.

Paintings by past masters: Just 10% of artists identified paintings by past masters as influential and this option attracted just 4% of the total responses. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? All I know is that the more I study art history and painters that have gone before is that an awful lot of past masters studied the artists who were past masters in their lifetimes.

Maybe more artists would find it helpful if they allocated more time to study more artists from the past to see what they can learn? I know I'm finding it incredibly helpful and yesterday could be found sketching landscapes in the National Gallery - two Cezannes and one by Rubens!

Commissions: 4% of artists identified commissions as one of the main reasons they make art. This suggests to me that the proportion of those artists working to commission is a bit lower than I was expecting. On the other hand it maybe that even artists working to commission regrad as commissions as the 'day job' and responded to the on the basis of the art they choose to create. I'd love to hear what you think on this topic.

Current trends/whatever seems to sell: There is one response which I found very surprising. NOBODY identified current trends and whatever seems to sell as a reason to make art. I don't expect it to be the main reason to make art

However I simply don't believe it. I know a lot of artists want to sell art. I know that a lot of artists keep a 'weather' eye on how trends are changing in the marketplace, what is selling and what remains unsold. For some artists it's critical to making money to live on. In every business, keeping an eye on the market is absolutely essential to being able to sell product to customers - and at a very basic level art is no different - unless you have an independent income and/or choose to make the art you want to make in the time you have left over from doing the job which makes the money you live on.

So what was going on here? Why did NOBODY acknowledge this as a factor they take account of when making art. This was a multiple choice poll and there was no limit on how many options people chose.

Alternatively, could somebody please explain to me what the 'painting a day' small works phenomena was all about? ;)

More Making A Mark Opinion Polls

You can find more Making A Mark Polls

• either by clicking on this blog category label opinion poll
• or by consulting this site which provides a quick overview of all the monthly Making A Mark Opinion Polls to date The Making A Mark Poll - Resources for Artists

A new Making A Mark Poll will be posted on Monday 1st March. I've got a day left to work out what it's going to be about!

Where do you start when making art?

The February Making A Mark Poll looks at where you start when making art.

• What triggers your art?
  
• What are your sources of inspiration.
  
• What are your reference sources?

The Magic Hour and October at the Sackler Crossing, Kew
coloured pencils on Arches HP
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

You can find this month's opinion in the usual place in the right hand column - just below the 'Followers' module

Where do you start when making art?

These are the options - and the poll is multiple choice so you can choose all which are relevant. I suggest sticking to those which are you usual practice so we get the most insight into what most poll respondents do most of the time.

• My imagination
• My ideas and concepts
  
• Paintings by past masters
• Life and what I see around me
  
• My sketches
  
• My sketches and my photos
  
• My reference photos
• Ther people's reference photos
  
• Current trend/whatever seems to sell
• Commissions

The poll finishes early on Saturday 127th February and the results will be published later the same day.

Old Ford Lock, River Lea and Ecology Park Pond #1
(both of these are views of near where I live in East London )
coloured pencils on Arches HP
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The images in this poll are picture of my drawings hanging in the Drawing London 2010 exhibition at the Barbican - drawn from my own sketches (done from life) with support from my own reference photos.

You can see other Making A Mark Polls - oriented towards art media, art practice and the art business - in The Making A Mark Poll - Resources for Artists. Alternatievly check out the label 'opinion poll'

Imaginative Realism - highly recommended

The art of James Gurney
(from Dinotopia website - Dinotopia Art Step-by-Step)

This is rather later than I anticipated, but you can now read my Book Review - Imaginative Realism by James Gurney on Making A Mark reviews......

It gets a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED rating from me and this comment

This long time artist and author produces what he wants to do the way he wants to do it. He's writing about what he knows, he writes from a position of many years expertise and he shares an absolutely amazing amount of content and material.

It's very important to note that, at a time when many publishers of art instruction books are finding yet more ways to regurgitate existing content that they've already paid for into yet another format or cover, James Gurney confounds all the myths about the publication of art books.

• He tackles complex topics - and renders them easy to understand.
  
• He creates a book which appeals to those starting out and those who are experienced in this field.
  
• He packs a huge amount of information into one book rather than delivering a publication which is very thin in content terms.
  
• He tackles traditional concepts without any sense of the 'same old same old'.

This is emphatically NOT a book which is just for artists involved in fantasy and fictional art. Anybody involved in figurative art and portraying subject matter in a realistic way - even when imagined - will find it very useful. It also has a very good section on composition which alone makes the book a good buy!

This is what James Gurney (Gurney Journey) had to say about the book earlier in the year

This is the main project I’ve been working on during the last year. The material comes from my art school lectures and also from this blog. The reason I wrote the book—and this blog—is that there’s a lot of information that I think is crucial to imaginative picturemaking but I’ve never been able to find it in how-to art books.

Adapting material from a blog into a book turned out to be a much, much bigger job than I first imagined!

Link to book review:

• Book Review - Imaginative Realism by James Gurney

Links to previous mentions of the book on this blog

• 3rd May 2009 - Who's made a mark this week?
• 18th October 2009 - Who's made a mark this week?
• 22nd November 2009 - Who's made a mark this week?

CPSA calls for entries for Explore This! 5

The Colored Pencil Society of America (CPSA) has published the Call for Entries to Explore This! 5 on its website and there are some very major changes which will interest a wide variety of artists - not just those who usually work in coloured pencil. Some of the changes are also ones which other art societies would do well to take note of.

The Explore This! exhibitions allow other media to be incorporated. The surface can also be three-dimensional, collage, or relief artwork.

The major changes for the fifth exhibition to be held in 2009 are highlighted in Invitation for Explore This! 5 now available on the new CPSA blog. Plus I've given my take on them below.

CPSA thinking behind the changes is threefold - and I applaud and endorse all three motives

1. to promote work using coloured pencil to a wider audience
2. to encourage artists to explore the use of coloured pencils in combination with a wider range of materials
3. to increase the participation of artists who are not primarily artists working in coloured pencils.

To this end there are some very significant changes to the arrangements for the exhibition, entries and artists. I'm sure these will encourage a big increase in the number of entries. It's all very exciting!

Here's my summary of the changes - however this is my understanding of the rules. If thinking of entering you really do need to download the prospectus (pdf file) and then read the sections relating to specification, permission and copyright very carefully. If you're puzzled about anything ask CPSA.

Explore This! Exhibition
From 2009 and in future the Explore This! exhibition will be:

• a juried online exhibition
  
• an annual exhibition (previously it's been held every other year).
  

Entries eligible for the Explore This! Exhibition
Up to two entries may be submitted but only one can be chosen for the exhibition. Artwork must not be more than 3 years old (ie executed after 15th November 2005), can be for sale (but does not have to be - all sales to be concluded between artist and purchaser) and can be work which is 100% colored pencil. However it now cannot be equivalent to work entered to the annual international CPSA exhibition.

• where media is 100% coloured pencils, the support must not comply with the very strict rules of the CPSA International Exhibition. Examples could include using gesso or an abrasive mixture developed by the artist on whatever support you choose. Collage and 3 dimensional works involving any type of support are also allowed - although I don't think coloured pencils adheres to every type of support!
  
• where the support complies with the rules of the International Exhibition (ie as prepared by a manufacturer or of a natural surface only) , then the media must now incorporate another medium although coloured pencil must still predominate. The 75% rule no longer applies. (I always thought that rule one was a bit silly - how on earth could you ever judge that it was more or less than precisely 75%!).
  

predominate verb, intrans 1 to be more numerous. 2 to be more noticeable or prominent. 3 to have more influence.
ETYMOLOGY: 16c.
Chambers Online Dictionary

Artists whose work gets accepted into Explore This!
The show is open, as ever, to all artists, members and non-members alike, who are at least 18 years old. Similarly there is a $1,500 Best of Show award and XPPY Trophy along with other cash awards.

The significant changes for artists are as follows.

• Artists can now earn a new signature designation, called CPX if they are accepted into three shows within a 10 year period
  
• winners of the top three awards will have the opportunity to have their pieces displayed in the CPSA International Exhibition later that year.
  
• all accepted entries of all artists will be exhibited online for the very first time (ie online images will no longer be restricted to just the award winners)
  
• a full-color print issue of To The Point will showcase all accepted entries.
• any lapse of membership subscription will lose any acceptances counting towards the CPX designation and/or forfeit of signature status
  

Copyright
Given the recent controversy about work in another art society exhibition, it's worth noting what the prospectus says about copyright - as this relates to the images of others. It looks to me that this has come straight from a lawyer's office!

I applaud the rigour which CPSA is adopting in relation to this matter. The statement is a bit longer than a simple statement that the work needs to be original and eliminates the assumption that all artists understand what that means (they don't!).

The Artist hereby certifies that he or she holds the copyright for this material and the copyright remains with the said Artist. CPSA will display a notice that material must not be "downloaded" or copied, but will not be held responsible if artwork is copied. The artist also certifies that the work submitted is original and does not infringe on any existing copyright. If artwork includes an image of a person, the Artist certifies that a model release has been obtained.
CPSA Propsectus for Explore This! 5 (pdf)

Juror
The juror for the exhibition is Dr Gwen Chanzit, curator of modern and contemporary art at the Denver Art Museum. You can read about her work and artistic interests in the prospectus.

Key dates
These are the ones you want to make a note of - in calendar order:

• Call for Entries will open September 16, 2008 at callforentry.org (listed as Colored Pencil Society of America: Explore This! 5)
  
• Deadline for Entries: Nov 15, 2008
• Entry Selection and Awards Selection: Jan 5-12, 2009
• Acceptance list posted on the CPSA website: Jan 14, 2009
• Exhibition Dates: Feb 1, 2009 to Jan 31, 2010 . The link to the online exhibition will be posted on the CPSA website.
  

CallForEntry.org
It's worth noting that you have to register with CallForEntry.org in order to enter. However you can read about image preparation in order to submit a digital entry without registering. It also tells you about technical requirements for entry and provides a frequently asked questions page.

Comment
In my view, all the changes are an extremely intelligent and positive move on the part of the CPSA.

The current restrictions placed on how the medium can be used in the annual international exhibition are quite unlike any I've ever seen for any other non coloured pencil art society. When I visit the various exhibitions of other national art societies, I always see artists who are really stretching the boundaries of what it's possible to accomplish using a specific media. To my mind this is the way it should be - a media oriented art society should always be actively promoting and supporting the use of the media in a way which allows and encourages innovation. CPSA just chooses to have two exhibitions of a different nature - with the emphasis of the different specifications for media and support making one purist and the other innovative in nature.

I've always felt that artists who not used to working in coloured pencils would feel very inhibited by the restrictions placed on entries to the annual exhibition and unable to express their art in ways they would wish. I know this because that's what people tell me! My expectation is that the changes now being implemented for Explore This! in 2009 will mean that rather a lot of artists might now consider submitting work for this exhibition.

I think the move to take it online is also extremely positive. I always feel very sad for any member of any art society whose work gets into a national art society exhibition - but then they can't afford either the time or the cost of getting there themselves. Standard exhibition arrangements also mean that those viewing the exhibition in its entirety are always limited to those who can physically get to the show without spending a lot of money. I seem to ask the same question at most art society exhibitions - when are you going to have a virtual exhibition at the same time as a physical one...................

Maybe one good thing coming out of the current woes on the economic front is that more art socities will appreciate the good sense of taking exhibitions online?

One of the major disincentives to exhibiting with any art society is also the need to arrange, sometimes at great expense, to get artwork moved to a location at some distance. I know it's the main reason why despite being a member of CPSA I think long and hard every year about submitting an entry to the main exhibition - and then don't! Mind you I tend to very much be a hand delivery/collect person when it comes to my own artwork!

A couple of suggestions for CPSA of areas for improvement and development

Online exhibition: I think it would be helpful to artists who are nervous about their artwork appearing online to say something about what sort of dpi and pixel dimensions the artwork might be posted at. It's one thing to assume common sense - but I'd never advise anybody to enter work which will be shown online unless you had some sort of inkling as to how it might be shown. The problem this year is that there is no online exhibition of work to compare it with. Would it be possible for CPSA to provide an indication?

Online voting: If the exhibition is to be online then it's also possible to consider, as the Threadneedle Figurative Prize did, opening up one prize to a vote by an online audience. I understand the Threadneedle voting software worked well and eliminated the possibility of repeated votes from one IP.

Overall, well done to CPSA for making such a big change and embracing the virtual world of competitive exhibitions.

Links:

• CPSA Website - Events - Exhibitions - Explore This! 5
• CPSA website - Explore This! exhibition history - with links to images by award winners
• CallForEntries
  

Maggie Stiefvater goes Scholastic!

You have no idea how long I have been waiting to write this post or how proud I am to write it.

This post is nothing to do with art and yet it is everything to do with art and how to be both creative and successful.

It's starts with a formal announcement yesterday. This was a very momentous event in the life of Maggie Stiefvater, my close friend and cyber chum who I talk to every day.

Maggie Stiefvater

I've written a number of times about Maggie on this blog (see below for references). That's because she's good - very good.

What I've written about are Maggie's approach to creating her art, doing business and organising her life so she has time to do everything she has to do AND everything she wants to do.

That approach runs through everything she does - whether it's her art or her writing which is her first love.

For anybody who knows and likes Maggie - read on.

For anybody who wants to achieve their greatest dream - read on.

For anybody who just wants to get more out of life - read on.

The Big Deal

Yesterday, Publisher's Weekly featured an announcement - Scholastic gets Stiefvater.

Scholastic Gets Stiefvater

Abby Ranger and David Levithan at Scholastic prevailed in a multiple-round auction for world rights to Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver in a two-book deal with Laura Rennert at Andrea Brown. This YA novel describes the first love between a 16-year-old girl and a mysterious boy who spends his winters as a wolf and is fighting to stay human as the temperature drops. The 26-year-old Stiefvater has a YA novel, Lament, just out from Flux, with a sequel to follow. Shiver will be published in fall 2009.
Publishers Weekly 15th September 2008

Scholastic is a global company and the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books. In 2007 it published or distributed approximately 400 million children's books in the United States. Scholastic are also the people who publish JK Rowling.

This is A VERY BIG DEAL as in lots of zeros plus an extremely enthusiastic team at Scholastic who are all very pleased to have Maggie on board. Plus Shiver, the book which got her the contract, is getting rave reviews from everybody who reads it.

In August 2007, I announced that Maggie had got her first book deal with Flux for her first novel

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

Like the Harry Potter series, Maggie's novels also deal with supernatural events in a real-world setting. However her books are targeted at a slightly older age group (14-18 years old) and follow in the romantic footsteps of the hugely popular Twilight saga.

Maggie now has FOUR novels under contract and, with this new contract, she has taken the decision to take the plunge and become a full time professional author. It may mean the end of Greywaren Art as a purely art blog but I guarantee your teenagers will be very happy...........

So how does Maggie do it?

Maggie is a lesson in how to achieve what you want to do in life.

Maggie achieves her goals through developing and maintaining very good habits which foster both creativity and output within the context of also being a young wife and mother and owner of numerous animals. She also writes extremely well! This is what I said about her back on 5th August 2007 when she got her first book deal.

...and finally
Congratulations to Maggie Stiefvater, fellow Fine Line Artist, on achieving one of her other goals in life. Maggie has been featured on this blog from time to time (like here, here here and here) in relation to her approach to art and the business of being an artist. However, we at Fine Line Artists have known for a very long time that when Maggie is not producing art she is writing her novels. She's as business-like about her novels as she is about her art (dedicated time/writing targets/working to deadlines/etc).

As of this week she is now in the happy position of entertaining a very serious and detailed offer to publish her first novel from a very reputable publisher and, at the same time, choosing an awesome agent to negotiate the details on her behalf. She's got a projected publication date of Fall 2008 and I'm privy to a bit more information than what she has published on her blog (otherwise known as the juicy details) - BUT all I can say at the moment is that it's VERY EXCITING (and that's very much an understatement!).

...and I'd just like to remind her that she got her very first on-line writing award from me! This is what I said when awarding her the Amusing Musings Trophy as part of the Making A Mark Awards for 2006

Maggie Stiefvater has had a meteoric rise this year in terms of the development of her art and art business - most of which has been very under-stated in her blog Greywaren Art. I’ve written about her a lot partly because she's a friend but mostly because she currently confounds a lot of the doom and gloom merchants and some of the conventional wisdom about art, what to sell and how to sell. However I’ve maybe not highlighted her writing on her blog enough. She mostly provides daily blog posts and almost without fail demonstrates that the fresh eye which she brings to portraiture also applies to her take on the world as well. She has a very unique voice – in both words and image

Before she got the latest book contract, Maggie was a full time professional artist with a very faithful following.

What follows are references to my posts about Maggie and references in my weekly blog post to what Maggie had been posting on her blog and how she shared her approach to making art.

Maggie Stiefvater - The Greatest Hits list

Maggie Stiefvater (Greywaren) swears she got strep throat from reading my blog! Anyway, she is also 'below par' and has only been able to post the first of a series of posts she planned for this week on working from photos -

• see Maggie on Photographic References, Part I
• [late update - she posted just after I published!] Maggie on Photographic References, Part II

16th March 2008: Who's made a mark this week?

Maggie Siefvater - (Greywaren) Original Works for Exhibitions (a contribution to the debate about the changes to the UKCPS competition rules)
9th March 2008: Who's made a mark this week?

Author and artist Maggie "I've just finished the first draft of my third book" Stiefvater (Greywaren) has been having a series of blog posts about Marketing this week. She's responding to queries on her blog today (Sunday). Check out:

• Marketing Maggie Style - Part I - which is an overview of the diverse ways in which you can market yourself and your art - plus some pointers about bad publicity
• Marketing Maggie Style - Part II - this is about Hype, Consistency, & Flexibility - there's a taster below
  
• Marketing Maggie Style - Part III - about the time required to balance out art and marketing efforts and about the necessity of getting exposure offline as well as online.

2nd March 2008: Who's made a mark this week?

Maggie Stiefvater in Virginia has been doing some very interesting posts about style. This is Maggie on Style Part 1, and Part 2 and Part 3.
10th February 2008: Who's made a mark this week?

Last week Maggie Stiefvater (Greywaren Art) asked people questions about reading art books and then gave us a resume of the responses in Thoughts on Book-buying. (For those also following Maggie's career as an author - she landed the agent she wanted this week!)
3rd February 2008: Who's made a mark this week?

Maggie Stiefvater (Greywaren Art) did a nice piece - Planning & painting - about her process for painting streetscapes in acrylic - with lots of pictures of different stages. While all the time reminding us, naturally, of how much we can speed up the processes used if we produce a new painting every day.
14th October 2007: Who's made a mark this week?

Maggie Stiefvater is doing a double act with Casey (watch for them commenting on each other's blogs) and also offers some very good advice on her blog on the same topic (art fairs) in "Sit Pretty".

• Here's my blog post about Maggie (and Casey) at art fairs The Art of the Art Fair...and the practicalities
• International exhibitions of coloured pencil artwork: CPSA and UKCPS features Maggie's work 'Leda' in the 2007 annual international exhibition of the Colored Pencil Society of America.
• In April 2007 I highlighted her 10 Free Life Lessons on being a Professional Artist - her explanation could be found on her blog.
  
• In Maggie Stiefvater: how does she do it? (March 2007), I highlighted the lessons to be learned from Maggie in her post "How to juggle and other parlor tricks". This is the one in which we learned about what shall henceforth be known as The Stiefvater Habit (mainly because it's a tip she got from her husband Ed) - If you want something, you make time. So if you have a major goal or heart's desire that you want to achieve, I suggest you get that one written up and put somewhere you can see it everyday!
  

How do you become a best-selling artist? How can you find more time for your art? Bottom line - what are the "secrets of success" to juggling all the various demands and responsibilities that threaten to engulf you so that you can really 'make it' as an artist?

....In summary, Maggie's "secret" guidelines are:

• if you want something you make the time
• set goals - at the beginning of each year and each day
  
• making your goals specific makes them easier to accomplish
  
• watch how you spend your time
• focus on your goals
  
• reward yourself
• schedule your week
• schedule time off
• choose your battles wisely
• if your spouse is not supportive get another one!

Maggie Stiefvater: how does she do it? March 07, 2007

• At the end of 2006, I awarded Maggie The Amusing Musings Trophy (her very first literary award!) in Blogging Art in 2006 - The Making A Mark Awards (Part 2)

Guess Who
ACEO 2.5" x 3.5" (coloured pencil on film)
Copyright and all rights reserved: Maggie Stiefvater

• Her cat Moose, as captured and related by Maggie in her blog Greywaren Art, also won Best Animal in an Illustrated Blog Award and the award was instantly renamed "The Moose" - Blogging Art in 2006 - The Making A Mark Awards (I'm getting good at spotting people who should win prizes! :D ) Those of you who own a Moose original should hang on to them - they could become very valuable!
• Maggie Stiefvater makes her mark (December 2007) is all about her success in the equine art field.

Persephone
copyright Maggie Stiefvater - all rights reserved

• Art Calendar and "a painting a day" is about an article in the October 2006 edition of Art calendar which both Maggie and I contributed to.
• I wrote From ACEOs to powerseller in September 2006 when it was quite clear to me that Maggie was a bit of a phenomenon. It's a recap of her first year of selling art and first six months of being a full time artist.
• This is my very first interview with Maggie on this blog - Maggie Stiefvater - two of everything in which she summarises her approach to making art and making time for it.
  

I've come to know Maggie very well and admire her hugely. She has done what a lot of people only dream about doing – handed in her notice at the day job, started a career as a full-time artist and become a collected artist. However, Maggie did all this while producing and raising two babies under the age of two.
Maggie Stiefvater - two of everything

One of the reasons I really like Maggie is that she and I both share a strong commitment to sharing information and promoting learning. It comes as no surprise that Maggie is now actively involved in inspiring a new generation of writers and helping them learn from her mistakes. She's recently begun visiting Virginian schools and libraries with an eye towards giving teens the tools they need to begin writing books.

I did so many things wrong when I submitted manuscripts as a teen, I want to help motivated teens from making the same mistakes.
Maggie Stiefvater

Books by Maggie Stiefvater

You can read about Maggie's new journey as an urban fantasy novelist on her blog Words on Words which is about writing, folklore, and the creative life. It's featured in my 'regular reads' blogroll.

Lament is a dark faerie fantasy that features authentic Celtic faerie lore

Book Cover of Lament
courtesy of Flux

The books are:

• Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception (Flux) - officially published on 1st October 2008 - but the pre-orders have already shipped. Read more about it on the Flux website plus literary reviews, reader reviews on Flux and Amazon and comments on her blog.
  
• Ballad (Flux) - to be published in 2009
• Shiver (Scholastic) - to be published in Autumn 2009
• a further book (Scholastic)
  

This is how Maggie's agent Laura Rennart describes Shiver

A "can't put me down," bittersweet love story, SHIVER does for werewolves what Stephanie Meyer's TWILIGHT does for vampires. In cold northern Minnesota, Grace is inexplicably drawn to a wolf who watches her from the edge of the woods with golden eyes. As Grace and Sam meet for the first time with him in human form, the attraction between them is powerful and near irresistible. Yet, there are forces arrayed against them, not the least of which is the winter itself. All of the wolves eventually lose themselves to winter, never returning to human form. This year, Sam is slipping, slowly succumbing to the cold -- it's his last year as a human and both he and Grace know it. But Grace doesn't want to lose him forever, and in a race against the dropping temperature, she must figure out what she's willing to risk for the chance to be together.

Does it give you goosebumps too?

If you have a young adult nearby, impress them in months to come by telling them that you heard about Maggie Stiefvater and her books ages ago!

Maggie's next plan is to record an album of her music.............

Links

• Maggie Stiefvater - website
• Maggie Stiefvater - Words on Words An urban fantasy novelist's blog on writing, folklore, and the creative life.
• Maggie Stiefvater - Greywaren Art - no more art from now on!
• Merry Fates - Maggie provides weekly free fiction

Ignore everybody and be creative!

"Work Hard. Keep at it. Live simply and quietly. Remain humble. Stay positive. Be nice. Be polite."
gapingvoid lands a book deal... - this is "how to be creative" summarised in one line

and

The more original your idea is, the less good advice other people will be able to give you.
How to be creative - Chapter 1 - Ignore everybody

I've been following Hugh MacLeod of Gaping Void since I first got involved in blogging back in 2005. In terms of people who write about how to be creative and how to make both ideas and marketing work in a web 2.0 world I find him to be one of the more insightful - and he has a demonstrable track record of success. Plus his drawings make me smile and sometimes they make me laugh out loud! :)

Hugh's 2004 blog post about How to be creative (HTBC) has been read well over a million times and is also available in pdf form - which has also been downloaded over 19,000 times (figures as at April 2008)

Back in December 2006 I wrote about Hugh on "How to be creative" in which I said I considered it very much a recommended read.

Hugh talks a lot about companies and marketing strategies and his ideas have resonance - which I guess is why he got a book deal with the same people who publish Seth Godin.

They also have the potential to resonate a lot within the art world at large. You just need to consider the concepts and ideas he's talking about and then check out how applicable they are to things you observe and the things you know go on - or at least they do for me! ;)

Every so often I sit down and read a number of Hugh's posts in one sitting and track back and too across his blog in doing so. Some of the latest ones have been to do with the creation of his new book and reviewing what he's written in the past.

The one which triggered this post today is "Good ideas have lonely childhoods". It comes from his review of the idea that starts HTBC which is the injunction to 'ignore everybody'.

Plus this point which came up within that post.

"I want to be part of something! Oh, wait, no I don't!" I've seen this before so many times, both first-hand and with other people. Your idea seems to be working, seems to be getting all sorts of traction, and all of a sudden you got all these swarms of people trying to join the team, wanting to get a piece of the action. And then as as soon as they get a foothold inside the inner circle, you soon realize they don't really understand your idea in the first place, they just want to be on the winning team. And the weirdest bit is, they don't seem to mind sabotaging the original idea that got them interested in the first place, in order to maintain their newfound social status. It's probably the most bizarre bit of human behavior I've ever witnessed first-hand in business, and it's AMAZINGLY common.
"good ideas have lonely childhoods"

For me, that describes almost exactly what I saw happening about two years ago when "daily painting" blogs took off.

At the risk of offending quite a few people, I've never quite been able to understand why people talk about having a daily painting blog if they don't produce a painting every day. THAT was the original idea which captured people's attention. That was what made the blogs which did that actually stand out. Blogs like Duane Keiser's A Painting A Day and Julian Merrow Smith's Postcard from Provence literally did post a painting each day.

Don't get me wrong - I'm very happy with blogs that don't post a painting each day. Lots of the painting blogs that I really like viewing a lot do not post every day. The reason I like them is because of the way they paint - in their own individual and unique way.

What I'm talking about here is having your own idea about how to make art and presenting your own individual and unique appeal in your own unique way - while being prepared for the fact that other people may not actually 'get it' or might even resist your idea. It's about being true to your own way of doing things and delivering the visual equivalent of 'singing in your own voice'.

Other good recent posts from Hugh which are also worth reading include the following:

• the three c's: changers, contributors and coasters
  
• the ticket off the treadmill
• cheapeasyglobal

See any parallels?

An idea for Hugh from me - something which seems to be missing from the original list of tips - "humour often helps".

How come Hugh MacLeod doesn't have an entry on Wikipedia? I just ask.............

Links:

• Gaping Void
• Making A Mark - Hugh on "How to be creative"