Painting the SWAN

Following his appointment in October 2010 as an associate artist of the UK's most innovative and accessible Orchestra of the Swan, artist Roger Shapley is to exhibit twelve paintings at the Civic Hall, Stratford from 04 July until 05 August 2011.

For the past eight months, Shapley has been documenting the orchestra during their rehearsals and specifically the effects of light, shade, shape and movement. Using his sketchbooks, paper and photographs Shapley says, “ I have tried to capture informal views of this small intimate community of respected musicians”.

This is the first time the Orchestra, whose home is at the Civic Hall, where it has been based since its inception, have appointed an associate graphic artist and “it's a bit of a trial run” says Shapley. He continues, “I just sat in amongst the orchestra at their rehearsals and got on with it”. All the paintings were completed back at his studio which is where he begins by applying paint with a cloth, builds the painting with brushwork and occasionally a palette knife. Shapley’s paintings are often as much about paint itself as they are about subject or source. Indeed, his free style and signature palette are attracting growing interest.

Country Fairs are attracting more artists

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of professional artists who are choosing to exhibit and sell their work at country fairs throughout the UK. Though it's impossible to know the exact number, they appear to be growing as crowds turn out by the thousands to buy paintings, sculptures, woodwork, metalwork, glasswork and jewellery and to meet the artists and craftsmen who make them.

At the forefront of this trend is artist Harriet Gosling whose luminous paintings of #Oxfordshire wildlife and her intimate still life paintings of fruit and other inanimate everyday objects are much sought after by collectors. Gosling says, ”For home based artists selling at fairs and shows can provide an opportunity to increase sales and find new customers” She continues “Because you are selling directly to the public, you meet the people who are buying your art. You can test market new work and your pricing.”

Typically, shows charge just a few hundred pounds for a booth and allow artists to maximise a profit on the work they create -- profit they don't have to share with a gallery or shop owner. But as Gosling says” making money at fairs and shows isn't as easy as it seems. It requires research, planning and the ability to keep a smile on your face while standing on your feet for long hours. And that's not for everyone.”

Gosling who works from her home-based studio in the beautiful village of Godington will be showing at the 2011 CLA Game Fair. Last year, the fair held at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire attracted over 140,000 visitors from throughout the UK and abroad. With its focus on such pursuits as shooting, fishing, gundogs, hounds and hunting it is the perfect setting for her work and “a great opportunity for the public to connect with artists”.


The CLA Game Fair 2011 will be held at #BlenheimPalace, Oxfordshire, on Friday 22 July - Sunday 24 July.

Have you heard of QR codes yet?

They look like this:

Artists have immediately recognised the exciting possibilities for this creative innovation.

They come to us from Japan where they are very common. QR is short for Quick Response and can be simply and quickly read by a mobile phone device. You may soon see QR Codes in magazine adverts, on a billboard, a web page or even on someone’s t-shirt. Once you have read the code with your phone, it may give you details about that business (allowing users to search for nearby locations), or details about the person wearing the t-shirt, show you a URL which you can click to see a trailer for a movie, or it may give you a coupon which you can use in a local store.

The reason why they are more useful than a standard barcode is that they can store (and digitally present) much more data, including url links, geo coordinates, and text. The other key feature of QR Codes is that instead of requiring a chunky hand-held scanner to scan them, many modern cell phones can scan them.

If you are an artists who would actively like to exploit this technological development then you can easily generate a QR code using one of a number of Code Generator sites on the Web.

Unconventional Visual Images

I was chatting with an artist friend the other day about scan-art (or scanography as it is often known) and the exciting way it can and is being used.

This small enthusiastic contingent of artists are actively using a flatbed scanner as an alternative to a camera to record visual images. The results can be appreciated in their own right or fused with digital design, painting and even video. The techniques of each artist vary greatly but almost all are pushing the technology in multiple unconventional ways.

One artist -whose name I cannot remember- adapted a flatbed scanner by removing the hinged cover door, attaching it to a laptop with external hard drive, powered it all with a portable battery, and carried the contraption around scanning his surroundings. His blurred elongated scans of plants and walls captured as he walked along were really interesting and different. I loved them!

If any of this is of interest to you, be warned. Before you take a screwdriver to your scanner, you may risk its future functionality and performance. That said, you could buy an old scanner on Gumtree or eBay.

Good luck.

Inspired

Chatting to friend and artist Clay Sinclair today he suddenly announced I should take a look at North London artist Kelly O’Gorman’s new website.

I was introduced to Bachelor and Masters of Art Graduate O’Gorman a couple of years ago and have always admired her freestyle approach. Working mainly in ink and with no set plan, “No pencil is laid down beforehand” she sets about drawing. Each piece is an evolution of thoughts, narrative and “working with mistakes”. Many of her works start as small drawings, which then evolve, as she continually introduces new images and characters, expanding it until it becomes a fully developed bigger finished piece.

Inspired by the contents of her mother’s handbag and images from 1950s knitting patterns, O’Gorman’s latest body of work is entitled ‘Lady Luck’. It is a series of glorious illustrations made from carefully selected images that O’Gorman has scanned then “drawn over and around” and placed into a new situations. Both thought provoking & exciting I urge all who read this Blog to seek her out at www.kellyogorman.co.uk

A blend of styles

In one area of Christine O’Sullivan’s home based studio sits an Apple laptop computer surrounded by an array of pencils, books, cuttings and sketches of different sizes where she captures a never-ending stream of ideas which flow from her mind.

O’Sullivan is an Oxfordshire based artist whose work is best classified as abstract. She is concerned with colour and space and the relationship between the two: the structured and unstructured. Working in series she “experiments with a changing palette and pushing one colour above others”.

This interest is expressed vividly in the many paintings on canvas that adorn her studio walls. Whilst studying them I was immediaitely struck by the reconciliation of the opposing coloured shapes and their seperation by a series of visually energetic vertical stripes. Her work could possibly be considered to be a blend of two of Americas greatest abstract expressionist painters, Ellsworth Kelly - the juxtaposition of bold colors and Barnett Newman - the characteristic lines. Indeed, like Newman the linear elements, or 'zips' are made by masking off areas of the canvas with tape, which is then removed at some point during the painting process.

Since graduating in 1998 from De Montfort University with a BA in Fine Art & History of Art, O’Sullivan has continued to develop her abstract vocabulary. She exhibits widely across Oxfordshire and regionally and her paintings are in collections around the world.

Your art is what you eat

Think twice before flushing your number two down the loo. These are hard times (economically that is) and as an artist what passes through your behind may be your salvation.

In 1961, the Italian artist Piero Manzoni did more than fling a pot of paint. He offered art-buyers 90 tins of his own excrement, at a price equal to their weight in gold. The Tate shelled out £22,300 for one in 2000, and recently another went for £84,000 at auction in Milan.

But surely canning is a specialised and expensive process I hear you say. Well one way to circumvent this process and prove ‘authenticity’ at the same time (something that is very important for an artist) is to jar the specimen in glass like American transgressive writer William Burroughs. I am not sure if Burroughs intended it to be art or not, but two “bioartists” Tony Allard and Adam Zaretsky somehow got hold of this jar and extracted DNA from the poo to make an “art gun”. They then shot his DNA into cellular nuclei to produce what they refered to as a “transgenic mutation”!

If you need further encouragement to use your excrement as a medium of expression, then you need look no further than the work of Spanish artist Santiago Sierra and Cuban artist Grethell Rasua. In 2007, Sierra exhibited in the London Lisson Gallery 21 huge blocks made of excrement gathered in the Indian cities of Delhi and Jaipur, in an effort to raise awareness on the situation of the “untouchables”, an Indian caste that has traditionally cleaned the bathrooms and latrines of the country. Grethell, however is moved by other aesthetic ideas, using the excrements of the people who commission her works of art, making use of its qualities of colour, texture and form. In many cases she uses it without disguising or isolating it, or hiding it behind other materials, as US sculptor Daniel Edwards did with his famous “Suri’s Bronzed Baby Poop” (2006), a bronze sculpture that supposedly contained the first bowel movement of the baby of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.

If like me you now feel inspired to give it try but not sure if your ‘jobby’ is up to the job or not, then you may at this point wish to consider seeking the advice of renowned Scottish poo analyst Gillian McKeith, former telivision host of the UK Channel 4's You Are What You Eat.

Letterpress Revival

I have noticed more and more great #letterpress cards, gift tags, prints and stationery sets popping up in recent years. The growing demand from designers and artists to go back to the letterpress as a reaction against computerised type has long been recognized by Oxfordshire duo Brian and Karen Clarke who started #Balscote Press early in 2000.

I recently visited the couples rural studio in the sumptuous grounds of #Upton House and was mesmorised by the range of relief printed cards, gift tags, invitations and prints on display. Each had been printed entirely by hand on their Alexandra Albion printing press on beautiful 100% cotton, tree-free paper. Operating one of these machines is a highly developed skill that takes time and commitment. Those, like Brian and Karen,who have devoted themselves to this art form are able to create unique prints with a texture, a handmade feel, and a personality that cannot be found in ordinary digital printing. “This centuries-old practice” says Brian “is now able to blend with modern graphic design technology, creating a new appeal for a new generation of operators”.

Long live the revival.

Balscote Press is part of artybonbon.com a partnership of husband and wife, Brian and Karen Clarke since 2000.

MOWING THE LAWN

The amount of tenderness a lawn is given is evident in the cruelty of its shape and texture. Compiled over the months and years since 2001 the GPS mowing series have captured the endless bathos of a banal suburban act.

The Seasons drawing is a limited edition work from an annual series of prints made from the GPS tracks captured on a lawn mower. It charts the growth cycle of a lawn throughout the four seasons of 2008.

Jeremy Wood started GPS drawing to explore the expressive qualities of digitally tracing his daily movements. For over ten years he has been exploring GPS satellite technology as a tool for digital mark making on water, over land, and in the air. His work binds the arts and sciences by using languages of drawing and technology to present a personal cartography. By revealing ones tracks the technology can introduce new approaches to travel, navigation and local awareness. GPS drawing engages a range of creative applications and challenges perceptions of scale by travelling as a geodetic pencil.

Wood specialises in public artworks and commissions with an original approach to the reading and writing of places. His work is exhibited internationally and is in the permanent collection of the London Transport Museum, the V&A, and the University of the Arts in London. He has conducted numerous GPS drawing and mapping lectures and workshops in schools, museums and galleries and continues to make drawings and maps of his daily travels with GPS.

He holds an MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martin’s in London and a First Class Fine Art Degree from the University of Derby. He was born in San Francisco in 1976 and grew up in Berlin and England. He is currently based somewhere between his studios in Oxfordshire, England and Athens, Greece.

I am a fan of of GPS drawing and more specifically the work of Jeremy Wood. The above article is from his excellent website which can be found at www.gpsdrawing.com.

Renewed demand for art creation?

All of us are worried about the economy. All of us know people who have lost their jobs, or young people who can't find jobs. Savings and retirement funds are down and university fees are up. As each day passes life seems just a little bit harder and to make a bad situation even worse it is even harder for artists.

Recent research has revealed that many artists have experienced drops in income with more than 50 percent of those surveyed saying incomes were down by 50 percent or more. But hey- ho, the greedy investment bankers and hedge fund managers whose blood lust for money caused the worldwide recession are also suffering! But guess what? They are looking for a reprieve from the market volatility by playing the art market, even if they can't tell a Rubens from a sandwich.

This is nothing new of course . Damien Hirst's 22-ton infamous shark (real name: The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living) could hardly be in better company than among the traders at one of the world's top hedge funds. It was purchased by Steven Cohen a hedge fund manager and the founder of SAC Capital Advisors. Cohen also has in his collection signature works by famous artists including Pollock, Warhol and Picasso. He also purchased Marc Quinn's Self, a head sculpture made of frozen blood, which is displayed in the SAC lobby.

But there is hope. As you etch out a living in a freezing dilapidated studio a hedge fund manager may come knocking. You can then strike up a mutually beneficial exchange - thus the economy would benefit from a revived fund asset class and renewed demand for art creation?

Itchy Fingers

I cannot be the only person who is continually frustrated by not being able to pacify my itchy fingers by touching, caressing and studying sculptural forms in museums and galleries. Well that urge was truly satisfied today when I embarked upon a photographic shoot of fantastic smoke fired ceramics by Oxfordshire artist Crabby Taylor.

Crabby's work is created with a specific ceramic firing process that uses both fire and smoke to create unique patterns and designs. Indeed, her reputation is fast growing as a practitioner in Raku ceramics and the way in which she has transformed the process into a vibrant and contemporary art form.

As I handled each of the forms, carefully positioning them to be photographed, I could feel the raw ingredients. This sensation was then immediately followed by one of discovery and excitement when seeing the colours and patterns enhanced under the studio lighting.

Influenced by landscape and nature, Crabby's ceramics resonate and echo with the eroded, geological quality of worn pebbles, rocks, paths and trails and the contours of dry stonewalls. Her work is not illustrative but a representation of the wonderful man made and fostered Oxfordshire and Cotswold landscape. It is a landscape and nature that gives direction and orientation to her ceramics.

If you want to see work that captures the imagination then I urge you seek out an exhibition of Crabby's work, but be careful of those itchy fingers.

High rise residents

I was sorting through a stack of books when I discovered a 1979 #Whitechapel Gallery exhibition catalogue promoting Stephen #Willats: Concerning Our Present Way of Living.

A pioneer of conceptual art Willats has created work concerned with extending the territory in which art functions and has situated his pioneering practice at the intersection between art and other disciplines such as cybernetics, systems research, learning theory, communications theory and computer technology.

In the work featured he introduced an elderly woman resident of a high rise apartment block (Skeffington Court in West London) in three panels — “Living within the confi nes of my new home”; “Living with the present day limitations of a small income”; and “Living without the certainty that I will see someone tomorrow.” The panels presented her in her apartment, moving through her daily routine, both inside and outside the multi-story brick building. As part of the display, a photograph of the woman’s rectilinear U-shaped apartment block was placed in the center of each panel as the defining reality of her existence. Each panel then posed a question to prompt viewers to think from her vantage point. For example: “What do you propose is the way for me to form new relationships within this isolated tower?”

Whist studying these pages I was reminded of the time when as a kid the family moved to our new home on the #Hattersley overspill estate in Greater Manchester. Built during the 1960’s on poor quality farmland - it was described in 1792 as a veritable puddle! - the government offered the local authority huge subsidies if they would consider building high-rise accommodation, so 7 high rise blocks were built (the 7 Sisters) with 65 flats per block to take advantage of the subsidy.

Whilst elements of Willats work reflected on the “dark side” of these buildings, the hidden, segmented structure of their interiors, I was always envious of the high rise residents and dreamed of living on the top floor.

Stephen Willats (born London, 1943) is a British artist and lives and works in London.

Generated Mythology

Debbie Doyle
Liberated
Flip Chart marker and Acrylic on Canvas - 7ft x 6ft








I came across the work of contemporary artist Debbie Doyle just recently. Her work is both humorous and thought-provoking, often prompting debate surrounding the definition of what art is.
What is intriguing about Doyle's work is its diversity and its sometimes surreal qualities. Talking about her process she says" I start by drawing on jotting block paper using an ordinary black felt tip pen. I carry my drawing tools in my bag, so it’s always a bit messy inside." She continues "I then scan the drawing into the computer and get a large format template printed which I then use to recreate the image on canvas using acyrlic paint and flip chart markers."

Doyle's most recent body of work explores the liberalisation in the late 1960s and early 1970s, for example abortion, gay rights, equal pay and the birth of the women's liberation movement the latter of which generated mythology almost before it was born such as bra burning.

Untitled Artists Fair, Chelsea Old Town Hall, Chelsea, London, UK

Start: May 30 2009 - 09:00
End: May 31 2009 - 16:00

Taking place at Chelsea Town Hall, the annual Untitled Artists Fair exhibits artworks by around 170 artists. Galleries and agents are not permitted, therefore all sales income goes directly to the artists, and customers can buy pieces at discounted prices. For more information visit www.untitledartistsfair.co.uk.

*Event details can change. Please check with the organisers that the event is happening before making travel arrangements.

Art of Engagement

A smog-filled sky, a drought-ridden landscape, deforestation and a neon sun have all emerged as popular subjects in the work of contemporary artist Diana Homer when responding to the relationship between mankind and his environment.

Whilst many of her works are based on her personal experiences whilst on her travels (wherever in the world Homer roams you will find her taking photographs and sketching) others are a direct response to an image seen in a magazine, newspaper, television news report or documentary.

For Homer, who lives in Oxfordshire, this fragile relationship is her inspiration. It feeds her creativity and enables her to continually create works that prompt viewers to question their relationships to the world in which we live. “Both nature and man, shape land and seascapes.” says Homer ”The result can be beautiful, frightening or a combination of both.”

Her two most recent paintings ‘Outer Hebrides’ and ‘Tsunami 11.3.11’ are testimony to her passion for her subject. She says “ I look forward to expanding the dialogue with new audiences on the future of our planet.”

Homer is a member of the artist collective Alchemie who will be exhibiting at the Cornerstone Arts Centre, Didcot, Oxfordshire from 20th October to 27th of November.

World's Largest Panoramic Photo is Bigger than 1200 Billboards

As an owner of a Canon EOS 7D DSLR camera I was fascinated when I read about this 45 Gigapixel image. It was produced from 4,250 individual shots taken with a 7D and a total shooting time of approximately 3 hours 30 minutes.

Fine #Art Photography and #Scanning Basics

During the past few weeks I have been coaching a number of individual #artists on how to take great photos of their artwork, and covering a few VERY basic steps in Photoshop that will get their images ready for print or uploading onto the internet.
The copying of artwork has always been an important part of theSTUDIO’s business mix and we have access to a range of high end digital capture devices including Phase One FX scanning back, Digital SLR’s and flat bed scanner. However, we recognise that today many artists have their own digital equipment that is more than capable of producing a high quality visual record of their work, suitable for a portfolio, website and/or gallery and competition submissions.
But owning a good quality camera or scanner does not automatically mean great results. Photographing artwork not only requires experience and knowledge of the photographic process but also skills in post capture digital imaging. That is why theSTUDIO has seen a growing demand for our one to one and group tutorial “Fine Art Photography and Scanning Basics’.
Both informal and fun it is a must for all those who want to get the best from their camera or scanner and be confident in the results. (And by the way, if you don’t have an online portfolio yet, theSTUDIO can guide you from choosing the best value solution to managing your site).

theSTUDIO 01865 331788

Get puffing and shooting

I am always searching the web looking for new and exciting #photographic techniques that are pushing the boundaries of the medium. This week I came across the work of #Stoffel De Roover and his amazing “Smoke Art Photography”.

#De Roover says of his work “The smoke can be considered the subject or the medium to create something else. Some focus on its own beauty and pureness, others use it as ‘paint’ to create stunning artwork. I think my work lies somewhere in the middle: For the images in my gallery with the exception of a few, each image has the smoke of just one capture. In some cases duplicated or mirrored”. He continues “Every time I shoot smoke I’m in awe at the shapes and forms I see. No two twirls are the same.”

I urge you to take a look a selection of De Roover’s work at www.lumendipity.com where I am sure you will be inspired to have a go. So here is a clue how to get started - grab your camera, light up a ciggie and get puffing and shooting.

#SAATCHI TAKE NOTE

When I first caught a glimpse of the book cover of "We Were There, Now We’re Here" I immediately thought it was by contemporary British artist #Martin Maloney. Maloney was an exhibitor at the Saatchi Collection on display as Sensation, held at the Royal Academy, London, in 1997. Through his expressionistic style, strong colours, and humorous subject matter, Maloney's "childishly sweet" figure paintings record everyday experiences.

But on picking up the book I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it showcased work created by young artists with #autism and learning disabilities, based in #Oxfordshire in the UK. The artists, whose ages range from 11 to 17, have all been students at the acclaimed Ormerod #SENSS Base, situated at the Marlborough School in #Woodstock.

The project is the brainchild of Anne Louise Avery and Steve Pratley, who together run #Flash of Splendour Arts, a community interest company specialising in pioneering art projects which transform perceptions and give hope to those placed, for whatever reason, on the margins of society.

I urge you (and Charles Saatchi) to support this project by buying a copy of this wonderful book, available from Blackwell's Art Shop, Oxfordshire Museum. andonline at Amazon.

Saplings by Martin Maloney

Creative Highlight

The talents of Eurovision 2011 artist Kseniya Simonova.

The 24 year old Ukranian artist and winner of Ukraine's Got Talent 2009 uses a giant light box, dramatic music, imagination and "sand painting" skills to interpret Germany's invasion and occupation of Ukraine during WWII.

Feeling inspired I'm having a go using table salt on the kitchen table whilst listening to ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ by Nirvana.

Jedward or Dead Wood

The highlight of this week has got to be the #Eurovision Song Contest 2011 Final to be screened live on TV this evening. Favourites to win are #X Factor rejects #Jedward - John and Edward Grimes - who will perform a track called Lipstick. Lipstick is everything you'd expect from a Jedward track and more: delightfully naff, with plenty of backing music to cover up the less than perfect vocal talents of the Irish duo. (I have got to confess I like it!!!!)

The duos iconic look was captured by the artist Tom Byrne who said the two boys were easy to paint. The painting was hung in the Apollo Gallery, Dublin, and was bought by the Mayo media mogul and duos manager Louis Walsh for €950.

Prints of the original are available to purchase from the Apollo Gallery website – so why not grab one.

A POSTCARD FROM ORKNEY

Naum Gabo,Linear Construction No. 1, 1942-3
















I received a postcard on Friday featuring a photograph of The Pier Arts Centre in Orkney.

Apparently, the Centre was established in 1979 to provide a home for an important collection of British fine art donated by the author, peace activist and philanthropist Margaret Gardiner (1904 – 2005). Being an inquisitive type, I immediately Googled the centre to see what was in the collection. I was pleasantly surprised.

Amongst the work is a sculpture by the Russian artist Naum Gabo (1890 – 1977) Linear Construction No. 1, 1942-3. This was Gabo’s first sculpture in which he used string-like nylon filament, made in St Ives, and that was to have a profound effect upon artists such as Barbara Hepworth, Peter Lanyon and John Wells. Originally conceived as a large-scale public sculpture, it is one of seventeen versions that Gabo made over a twenty-year period.

Interestingly, Gabo was also an important influence on London based artist Victoria Rance. Rance was born in Streatley, Berkshire, in 1959. She studied at North Oxfordshire Technical College (1978-79) and in the Department of Fine Art at Newcastle University (1979-83). Like Gabo her work is an exploration of space, but more specifically it is concerned with creating spaces for humans to inhabit, either physically or in the imagination.

Rance’s sculpture to wear series for example, creates a sheltering skin that protects or alters the sense of self in a hostile world. The sculptures have elements of ceremonial architecture and costume, both contemporary and historic. Physically they test the tension between protective constraint and freedom of movement.

Her works evolve slowly, but at this time she says “ that she is returning to ideas pursued as a student”.


Take a peek at this: sculpture and animation: by Victoria Rance

Slices of fragmentary time

During the past four weeks I have been busy digitally restoring a large collection of old family photographs for a client.

During the long process of repairing and reviving I was reminded of a passage from a book I have in my collection “All photographs are momento mori. To take a photograph is to participate in another person’s (or thing’s) mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to times relentless melt.” (Sontag, S. On Photography, London: Penguin 2002).

It is a passage that also caught the attention of artist and former Banbury Art & Design student Dr Shirley Chubb. Chubb’s work centres on the making of new images and objects in direct response to specific museum collections, creating installations in which she places her own work in dialogue with chosen museum objects.

Chubb’s most recent work One Minute was exhibited at the GOW in Newcastle upon Tyne earlier this year. The work presented sixty portraits extracted from digitally archived photographs of social and familial groups living in southern regional towns during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The work plays on the curatorial practice of using archival photographs to contextualise examples of material culture within museums. The images and the subjects themselves become the object of consideration. They are the focus of our attention, involving the viewer in an empathetic relationship with the original individuals now reinstated within our own world of experience and awareness. As for the digital interface, this allows miniscule detail to be extracted as, in Sontag’s words, ‘slices’ of fragmentary time.

Chubb gained her PhD at the University of Brighton.

#Degree Shows

Eagerly awaited each year, the Oxfordshire based College Degree Shows represent the culmination of an intensive period of years of learning, research, and development by their students and provide a great opportunity to see the work of tomorrow's leading artists, designers and performers.

Ruskin, Oxford Brookes and Oxford Cherwell Valley College all pride themselves on being influential producers of artistic talent. The breadth, depth and high standard of the work on display is impressive and amongst the hundreds of visitors attracted by the Shows are many professional artists, designers, performers, potential future employers and supporters from the creative industries.

So please go along and support tomorrow’s talent.


#Ruskin Degree Show 2011

Twenty-one finalists at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art proudly present the Ruskin Degree Show 2011.
The culmination of three years’ study, twenty-one artworks weave through a disused power station in West Oxford, illuminating the site’s extraordinary architecture and collecting the efforts of a year group in a single space. Moulding bold and subtle practices together, the show delivers inspiring insight into some of decisions currently being made by the artists of tomorrow.
Please join us at the Private View for food, drink and merriment on Friday 24th June (6pm-11pm), or on Saturday 25th June or Sunday 26th June (12-6pm).
The Degree Show 2011 website will soon be going live and this will also provide a map and directions to the Old Power Station, Osney.

#Oxford Brookes Degree Show 2011

Fine Art Degree Show 2011

Saturday 14 May 2011 10:00 - Saturday 21 May 2011 20:00

Open to all

Location
Richard Hamilton Building, Headington Campus, Headington Hill site

Associated academic school(s)
School of Arts and Humanities

Details
Come along to the Richard Hamilton Building to view the work of students graduating from one of the country's premier Art Schools.

Open to everyone, the Fine Art Degree Show takes place annually at the Headington Hill campus and is open daily from 10:00 - 20:00. Special exhibition tours will run at 11:00 on Saturday and Sunday and at 18:00 on Wednesday.



#Oxford Cherwell Valley College

No Details

This is a painting!

Believe it or not this is an incredible and stunningly painted image by British artist Sue Rubira.

The portrait is of Rubira’s mother and was intricately painted in the artist’s studio. Rubira says ‘I chose to position her purposefully under a sky light which presented her in the natural, unembellished state most familiar to me.’

Although Rubira paints from life the process starts by taking hundreds of photos - without using flash - to arrange pose and lighting. Using this process she can then prepare the design, set-up and placement on the canvas and the position of the model in relation to natural lighting.

Rubira studied Foundation in Art and Design at Banbury School of Art, Oxfordshire (1976-1977) before going on to study illustration at Bristol and the Royal College of Art. If you would like to see more of her amazing and talented work or indeed an animation of Rubira’s painting process you can do so by visiting: www.suerubira.co.uk.

Don't Believe the Truth

Little did I know when I walked through the doors of #Oxford #Cherwell Valley College (formely North Oxfordshire College) that I would be walking in the hallowed footsteps of students of art who have gone on to achieve great prominence.

On stage and in response to the arguing chants of "Noel" and "Liam", Noel #Gallagher, of the 90’s Brit band #Oasis, appealed for the crowds to "fuck all that "Noel" and "Liam" shit. Can I have everybody singing “Who the fuck is Andy Bell?".

Bell was a pupil at #Cheney School in Oxford and later moved to #Banbury to do Foundation Studies in Art and Design at North Oxfordshire College & The Oxfordshire School of Art & Design. There he formed the alternative rock band #Ride in the summer of 1988 with former school friend Mark #Gardener and fellow students Laurence #Colbert and Steve #Queralt. They played their first gig as Ride for the College's Christmas Party towards the end of the year. Were you there?

In February 1989, Ride were asked to stand in for a cancelled student union gig at Oxford Polytechnic that brought them to the attention of Alan McGee who signed them to Creation Records. Following the split of the band in 1996, Andy Bell was offered the opportunity to play bass for Oasis. He claims to have written the song "Turn Up The Sun" in a forest near his now Swedish home, on his own in the middle of the night. The song was the first track on 2005 Oasis album Don't Believe the Truth and was often used as the show opener on the tour to support the album.

A Painting A Day

Since I posted on the daily #painting project of Julian #Merrow-Smith (a former #Banbury School of Art student) I’ve done a little more research regarding the Painting-a-Day phenomenon. I discovered a distinctly new and different Internet #art trend, which began a few years ago. It unites an artist’s practice of daily work (nothing new in and of itself) with the combined technologies of online auctions and blogging. If done consistently and successfully it allows artists a steady stream of income by generating an ongoing body of small works.

Duane Keiser is acknowledged as being the pioneer of the painting-a-day trend (his work is featured above), the discipline of producing one new painting every day. Whilst it is a trend that has been embraced by dozens of artists worldwide, very few of these artists produce a new painting every single day. Some work weekly or even monthly but, disciplined regularity is clearly the goal and essence of this practice. Typically small in format - 6"x 8" or less, these paintings are offered for sale online at the artist's website or through eBay, often for starting prices of just £25. This lively niche of the arts world allows artists to experiment, develop, and just have fun outside the confines of large-format works. The collecting public is also recognising that these often stunning little masterpieces are a tremendous way to build their art collection.

As the trend has developed artist co-operatives, societies and groups have launched painting a day web sites where their collective daily efforts are featured and offered for sale. Galleries are also experimenting with the process encouraging their represented artists to contribute small pieces of work that allow to maintain the profile of both the gallery and the artists’ and offer the collecting public the opportunity to purchase a piece of work at an affordable price.

It is a concept that can be applied to #drawing, #graphic design, #photography and #crafts. So why not start today!

Do you have a weight issue?

When mounting artwork I always like to weight the mat bottom about 2 cm more than the top and sides which I typically make10 cm (4 inches) each. I do this on almost everything I frame unless it would look bad due to the shape of the image. Sometimes even more weight on the bottom on small items. It is purely a visual thing and has something to do with the way our eyes work together. However, one client did say it's because during Victorian times pictures tipped out from the wall and that's why some pieces are weighted.

A landscape piece, especially a small landscape does not tend to look as good weighted. A portrait piece on the other hand usually does look good weighted. If the art is bold, the mat needs to be larger to contain it and it needs more weighting. If the art is long and thin, it does look good with the sides one dimension, the top a little bigger and the bottom even bigger still. A square composition can be weighted or not. Each will look good. Also if the arts subject is extremely heavy toward the bottom of the composition, bottom weighting on the mat looks better.

There are of course NO RULES when it comes to mounting. You can try the oriental approach for instance with equal top and bottom mat margins that are far larger than the sides, or extra wide side margins with equal but narrower top and bottom ones.

It's a matter of doing it and seeing how it looks. Having said that though, most of the time, weighting looks better than something not weighted.

Do’s and Don’ts

Don’t use Sellotape, masking tape or packing tape. Remember it is the work of the devil and through time will destroy or damage your valued image.

Don’t tape the art onto the back of the picture mount and certainly don’t tape it on all 4 sides or corners. Art like everything else needs to have the ability to expand and contract in relation to the environment it lives in. The correct way is to fix the art to the backboard, using T hinges which will allow it to move around naturally and not damage or distort your piece.

Do always use a Backing board with a picture or photo Mount which has a Ph Neutral side to hang your art from and a water resistant coating on the rear which provides good all round protection for your treasured images.

She is classic yet every bit as cutting edge as when Warhol painted her nearly 50 years ago.

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/showbiz/2011/03/25/warhol-s-18m-portrait-of-dame-elizabeth-taylor-91466-28402134/#ixzz1HbjjBvR0

Exhibitors wanted for Cornerstone arts centre

Closing Date: Friday, 20 May, 2011

Fee: commission taken on sales



Cornerstone are looking for artists to exhibit, and have a number of upcoming opportunities.
Whether you:
would like to apply for a solo exhibition in our beautiful gallery
would like to participate in the open exhibition on the theme of Coast, or
have a small collection of art or craft work to exhibit in our Window Wall or Craft boxes.
If you are interested in exhibiting at Cornerstone, please download an application form.

There is no fee for exhibiting. Commission is only taken on sales (see application pack).
Cornerstone has a fantastic array of facilities; an auditorium for theatre, shows, gigs and performances, a visual art gallery, a welcoming cafe, bar and restaurant, a dance studio, and various multi-purpose spaces for meetings and workshops.
Cornerstone is brought to you by South Oxfordshire District Council.
Further Information
Contact Details:
25 Station Road, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 7NE Box Office: 01235 515144 email: cornerstone@southoxon.gov.uk

Banbury to Gotham City

I’ve always considered comic illustration as something separate to those works that fall into the conventionally considered “ fine art world”. But a recent encounter with an issue of the DC comic ‘Judgement on Gotham’ at a London book fair got me thinking about art and comics

The cover illustration was by Simon Bisley one of the most renowned and gifted comic book artist. His style is old school and classic, reliant on paints, acrylics, inks and multiple-mediums and has been strongly influenced by Gustav Klimt, Salvador Dalí, William Turner and Richard Corben.

Although Bisley says he is “entirely self-taught” he did complete a foundation course at Banbury Art College in Oxfordshire “to do, you know, modelling and graphics and fine art”. He found his time as a student of art frustrating saying “I found it very difficult to get any kind of feedback from the art teachers” he continues “They weren't interested at all in what I was doing, so I became kind of very introverted with regard to my artwork”.

While still a student, Bisley did a painting of a robot holding a baby that he sent to the offices 2000 AD a British comic publisher. The image was well received and Bisley was appointed as an artist in1987.

Since then he has gone on to illustrate some of the most memorable comic covers ever including characters such as Judge Dredd and Batman for DC Comics in America.

It’s an absolute delight!

Who doesn't enjoy peeking into another artist's creative space, to see where and how they paint? Over the years I have had the privilege of visiting the studios of many of the artist's with whom I work and in some cases have become good friends.

For many artists these spaces are a bolt-hole, a sacred place for painting, printing and craft’s. Whether it is an architect designed building constructed in the garden of a house, converted loft space, spare bedroom, dining room, conservatory, garage or the humblest of garden sheds, these sometimes tiny, cramped and chaotic spaces is where they have produced some of their finest work.

But, these studios are more than just a workplace. They say so much about the artist themselves. The personal litter that surrounds them, partially painted canvases, paint-splashed easels and floors, cloths, brushes, portable radiators, tables and chairs, all individually reveal bits of knowledge about the artist and the work they produce.

Francis Bacon’s studio for example was a horizontal ankle deep strew of books, photos, old shoes, paint tubes and rags. Giacometti used the things that cluttered his studio as a theme for paintings whilst Oswald Stimm took twelve years to create the optimal studio conditions in which the cyclical movement of his creative thinking and action could take place. I on the other hand must ruefully admit that my studio has no jugs of brushes, no turpentine-steeped rags, just a room where I work hunched over a computer and is really quite boring by comparison.

That said there are surprising similarities between all the studios I have visited including my own. There's usually a telephone around somewhere, and often the artist is not working in splendid isolation but with a rabble of assistants, wives, husband’s, lodgers, children, cats and dogs, It’s an absolute delight!

Using a framework

I posted an iPad drawing on my Blog and one on Twitter earlier today and someone asked what method I used to draw the figure. I have to confess I am not very experienced when it comes to drawing the figure however I have always applied an easy method used by students of fashion design.

By drawing the basic block shapes that represent different parts of the body you can
create a framework that will add confidence and help your poses look more convincing – or not!

My #SketchBook is used by David #Hockney!

We artists sketch constantly. Not only is it a required habit, but it is ingrained in our psyche. We were born with the desire to create. We find inspiration everywhere we look. What a crime if that fantastic idea you just had, while trudging down the Tesco aile or doing the school run, would go to waste! But no longer.

Though pencil and paper may be orphaned at home, we rarely forget our cellphone. If you happen to be one of the upwardly “mobile” you more than likely have an iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad at your disposal. And chances are, like American Express of old, you never leave home without it.

Adobe Idea, Autodesk SketchBook Pro and Brushes are the favoured applications that allow artists to capture concepts and inspirations on the go. They all provide you with a large canvas to work with, pinch and zoom capabilities, and greater control of your brush and pallet.

I first started using the Apple iPod Touch in 2009, but more recently I aquired an iPad and since then I have produced countless drawings. It is an exciting and addictive medium that offers fresh and exciting possibilities. Of course I am not alone in converting to the electroncic sketchbook, it is also the choice of the professionals like David Hockney!

'vorsprung durch technik' ?

A German company has come up with an #inkjet #printer that’s connected to a computer-enhanced paintball gun and can paint images onto building facades with some precision. Judging from its work, there’s now a new effective technology for making graffiti. The German contraption, comprises of a pressurised barrel mounted on a two-axis turntable and can blast pictures onto walls from a distance of 20 feet.

Controlled by an on-board industrial PC running a custom touch interface, images are loaded onto the machine with a USB stick, and then printed by paintballs of many colours travelling at over 100mph.

Two artists in Balance

Giorgio Morandi Still Life (Natura morta), 1956, Oil on canvas; 9 7/8 x 13 7/8 ins
Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, B.A. 1929





I came across the work of #Oxfordshire artist Sarah #Spackman today whilst on the Web and was immediately struck by the way her ‘White Space Series’ reminded me of one of the most admired Italian painters of the twentieth century, Giorgio #Morandi (1890-1964). Using simple elements, pots and cups, Spackman stages an array of variations that displays great sensitivity to tone, colour, and compositional balance.

Morandi used the same simple elements, including bottles, boxes, and the view from his window. Whilst his paintings appear to transcend time and place, an effect he achieved by removing labels from his bottles, Spackman says of her work “This group of paintings is about space - the confined intimate space of #still-life”.

Her most recent body of work Parks of Oxford explores further the theme of space and the atmosphere around and between objects and can be viewed at the Sarah #Wiseman Gallery, South Parade, #Summertown, Oxford, March 10-26 2011

Roundfour,
Oil on canvas,
35x60cm
Sarah Spackman

Shifting Light - From Banbury to Provence

Julian Merrow-Smith is one of my favorite painters.

Born in England in 1959, Julian attended Banbury School of Art and then completed a Fine Art degree at Wolverhampton, where he studied under, amongst others, Anish Kapoor and the painter Paul Hempton.

An accomplished portrait painter, Julian Merrow-Smith regularly exhibits at The Royal Society of Portrait Painters. In 1999 he was selected for the BP Portrait Award and his self-portrait 'Cap' was exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Now based in the provençal hill village of Crillon-le-Brave his 'plein air' landscape paintings are widely sought after and have been exhibited in both France and the United States. He has developed a strong reputation as a still life painter and in 2003 Cunard commissioned him to paint a series of large-scale still-life paintings and several landscape paintings for the Queen Mary 2. These striking works have led to further commissions and to his growing reputation worldwide

In February 2005 Julian started Postcard from Provence, a daily painting project at www.shiftinglight.com - Postcard from Provence.


Visit the website and be inspired!

A Gem of a book

Currently reading Leon Battista Alberti's On Painting (1435). This fascinating book reveals how Alberti revolutionized the history of art with his theories of perspective. A groundbreaking work, it sets out the principles of distance, dimension and proportion and instructs the painter on how to use the rules of composition, representation, light and colour - the prerequisites of the successful painter. On Painting had an immediate and profound influence on Italian Renaissance artists including Ghiberti, Fra Angelico and Veneziano and on later figures such as Leonardo da Vinci, and remains a compelling theory of art.

The cover detail is from The Hunt painted by Paolo Ucello (1397-1475). Ucello was celebrated in his lifetime as a painter of perspective and of animals and landscape. The painting is housed at the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Oxford.

So, zoom along to Waterstone's and grab a copy, then browse whilst sipping a large latte, then off to the Ashmolean to engage with The Hunt!

It's back! The Affordable Art Fair

Now in its thirteenth year, the Affordable Art Fair (AAF) is back, returning to London's Battersea Park from 10-13 March 2011.

Founded by Will Ramsay to "make contemporary art accessible to everyone" and "to show you don't need to be an art expert or a millionaire to enjoy and buy art" it will play host to 120 galleries showing paintings, prints, sculpture and photography.

The AAF's relaxed, unstuffy environment offers lots of good quality contemporary art with a price ceiling of £4,000. It's a simple formula that seems to be working, with the recent AAF in October 2010 attracting 22,500 art-lovers who spent a cool £4.25 million. There are also lots of other arty activities going on at the fair, plus an emerging artist exhibition, which features the work of recent graduates.

Grab yourself a ticket and be inspired!

Should #Banbury Commemorate #Sir Terry Frost ?

Sir Terry Frost's creativity during his Banbury phase (from 1963 until 1974) includes some of his most creative and influential works. Yet take a walk around Banbury and you will find no evidence of the contribution he made as one of the UK's forerunners of abstract painting. Terry’s own account of why he chose to live in Banbury was that while travelling south he paused to munch a bunch of grapes while sitting on the wall outside the striking parish church, and decided there and then to settle in the town. So what better way to preserve the memory of a special man - or should I say "special artist" than to commission a bronze statue of Terry sat on a wall facing the parish church or a blue plaque on his former home!

International Fine Art Competition - Have a Go!

The 26th Chelsea International Fine Art Competition

Agora Gallery,proudly hosts the annual Chelsea International Fine Art Competition, a renowned art contest that is juried by prominent museum curators and art experts. It is a great opportunity for the juror-selected artists to gain exposure by exhibiting their work in the famed Chelsea Art Gallery District (New York) as well as be part of online and print promotions.

The Chelsea International Fine Art Competition is open to visual artists from anywhere in the world and at all stages in their career. In previous years the juror has selected artists working in painting, sculpture, photography, drawing, mixed media and print.

Awards with a total value of $38,000 will be distributed to selected artists. The awards are chosen to help artists advance their careers and to maximize their exposure to collectors and the New York art scene. They include participation in the renowned Chelsea International Fine Art Competition Exhibition in the heart of Chelsea, New York, review by an art critic, cash prizes and exclusive internet promotion.


Full Details

FIRST DISTANCE LEARNING#MA IN#FINE ART

Post-graduate Fine Art qualification now within reach for more artists

From January 2011, the Open College of the Arts (OCA), an educational charity founded in 1987
to widen access to creative arts education, will offer Europe’s first MA in Fine Art by distance learning. This is a period of significant development for OCA: just six months ago the college announced its first specialist degrees at undergraduate level, in painting and photography.

The MA in Fine Art is OCA’s first step into postgraduate provision, and has been validated by the University for the Creative Arts, a new partner for OCA. All other OCA qualifications are validated by Buckinghamshire New University.The course offers an opportunity for students for whom an MA in Fine Art would previously have been out of reach to work towards a post-graduate qualification at the same time as earning a living. People who for a variety of reasons may not previously have been able to study at postgraduate level can now do so, with the convenience of being based at home.

MA Fine Art students with a less academic background can opt for exclusively practice-based outcomes, while others may prefer a substantial written component. All students are required to have a dedicated studio space and internet access, and are expected to visit galleries and museums throughout the duration of the course.

Check it out by visting the OCA website at www.oca-uk.com

Giclee art gallery

The main goal of theSTUDIO (Artfusion) is to help support the artist community, by providing an affordable fine art digital printing service and promoting clients art work. Therefore, we are pleased to announce an exciting new development.

We are currently in the process of creating an online art gallery to sell giclee art. Combined with our proposed innovative and creative marketing initiatives this will allow an artist's work to be profiled professionally and help to find buyers for their work.

We will keep you posted!

Selling Paintings: Which Subjects Sell Best?

All painters know that some subjects sell better than others. Whether these are subjects you want to paint and whether you should be painting specifically for the market are two thorny questions. Only you can decide whether you want (or need) to paint with a view to selling as much as possible, or whether you can focus on painting subjects you choose. Of course, if your favourite subject happens to be the same as the market's, you're sitting pretty.


According to a Art Business Today survey in 2003*, these were the Top 10 best-selling
subjects for paintings in the UK:


1. Traditional landscapes.
2. Local views.
3. Modern or semi-abstract landscapes.
4. Abstracts.
5. Dogs.
6. Figure studies (excluding nudes).
7. Seascapes, harbour, and beach scenes.
8. Wildlife.
9. Impressionistic landscapes.
10. Nudes.

How should I price my art?

"How should I price my art?" is a perennial question asked by many artists especially those starting out. theSTUDIO has written an invaluable guide for artists and craftspeople who want to explore different approaches to pricing their work. It unpicks what costs need to be recovered, what factors influence the setting of prices as well as detailing different approaches and different views on how well these work. Want to know more - then simply follow this BLOG and all will be revealed.

Blot on the #Oxfordshire landscape?

Robert Wagener’s painting Menorah is a powerful 20th century depiction of Christ’s crucifixion set against the backdrop of Didcot Power Station, Oxfordshire. Named “the seventh-worst eyesore in Britain” by readers of Beautiful Britain magazine and a recent target of environmental activists, the Power Station has often been an object of controversy.

However, for some, and I include myself amongst their number, find a particularly strong aesthetic and power in the beauty of such monumental urban structures. Indeed as the late Peter Levi, Oxford Professor of Poetry once said “The power station at Didcot behind the crucifixion is like the most beautiful cathedral, but the geometry of distance makes it as strange as it is passionate and fresh”.

I was therefore excited to hear that a group of local Oxfordshire artists, collectively known as Alchemie are in the process of planning an art exhibition that will draw inspiration from the chimney and cooling towers that have been a dominant feature of the skyline. It is an exhibition that I am sure will prove popular both with local residents and the wider Oxfordshire community.

Gaining a Strong Reputation

Based in Stratton Audley, Oxfordshire artist Harriet Gosling is gaining a strong reputation as a still life painter. After leaving school Harriet completed an art foundation course at the college of Art and Technology at High Wycombe and then went on to study for three years at Studio Cecil-Graves in Florence Italy.

Her luminous paintings of Oxfordshire wildlife and her intimate still life paintings of fruit and other inanimate everyday objects are much sought after by collectors. Harriet recently commissioned theSTUDIO to reproduce a number of her paintings as limited edition prints. With only a few exceptions, they were printed at their actual size. In each print Gosling says “ you can see the painterly brush strokes, sensual textures and deft painting handling that I have worked so hard to acquire”.

Harriet paints from her studio where she lives with her husband and daughter.

Society in Crisis.

When first viewing Oxfordshire artist Barbara Gorayska’s newly completed work one is instantly reminded of George #Grosz’s The City. Its imagery attacks the viewer like a vivid nightmare. However, unlike Grosz this is not a vision coloured by the trauma of combat in the First World War, but a World War of a different kind, a bloodless war - a War of Recession or Depression that is striking every corner of the globe. Barbara conveys to the viewer that indefinite progress and indefinite prosperity (which is the result of the former) is an insidious myth that is eating away at our souls. Indeed, a predominant theme in Barbara's work is moral decay.

The repulsive caricatures and moral ambiguity of the contrasting imagery on display both disturbs and fascinates. As the paintings focal point - a demon. His hands gesture to the viewer to enter the scene, his face grinning expectantly. This is an image of a society that has got too used to their ever increasing comforts. This is clearly seen in the figure of a well dressed man, a banker or possibly a politician. The figure at first appears to be pursued by a disaffected and vengefull mob, but further investigation reveals an equally disturbing narrative – that of sociteies souls being led into the open jaws of the beast – a metaphor for the myth?

The work has many messages for us and one of them is to get a grip on reality; to realise that we bought into a dirty myth of selfishness and greed; to reflect upon the meaning of our short existence. To value important gifts like our health, imagination, creativity and our laughter. Though Barbara’s work is left largely to personal interpretation, it is hard to imagine any who view the painting to be undisturbed by its imagery and overshadowed by a sense of a society in crisis.

An opportunity for #artists and #gallery owners

Artists and gallery owners have the opportunity and the obligation to listen to what is being said about them and their artists by the community of people who represent their customers. There is an opportunity for artists/gallery owners to listen, connect, share and engage their customers using the social web. And chances are, if they are not currently engaging their customers in social communications, one of their competitors soon will be.

Any artist or gallery owner interested in social media should definitely attend one of theSTUDIO's forthcoming sessions, with expert perspectives on subjects ranging from small business management and art marketing, to social media for artists and more. This year theSTUDIO Education Series will offer artists and dealers the tools they need to succeed in today’s rapidly changing fine art marketplace. In addition the Series will cover critical areas such as selling art to corporations, hospitals, and designers; recent changes in the global marketplace; trends in home art decorating; and newest technologies for reproduction, archiving and art licensing.