Japanese Body Painting Artist

...which is why you really need to practice drawing in pen and ink! 10 reasons to draw in pen and ink When you draw in pen and ink you'll learn... 1. How to observe When you can't erase, you'll find you learn to become much more observant and practice looking more carefully on a routine basis when you're drawing. Drawing with a pen and without an eraser means you slow down at first and pay

Have you ever wondered what the artist statement of famous artists look like? Jeff Koons, Artist, New York City, Studio Portrait by Chris Fanning I've been developing a page devoted to Examples of Artists Statements on Art Business Info for Artists. Or should that be "Artist Statements by Artists"? Anyway, I think it's a great idea to see examples of what famous and successful artists have

A major announcement by Gabi Campanario today - he's stepping down from the Board of Urban Sketchers. Dear fellow urban sketchers, Since setting up the Urban Sketchers nonprofit in 2009, I've been quite involved with most operational aspects of the organization, from filing government forms and dealing with bank accounts to setting up blogs, organizing events and recruiting volunteers. As

I've had one of those weeks with lots of different things going on - all of which have contrived to keep me from writing a 'normal' blog post on Making A Mark However I've learned a few lessons on the way and you can find them below under headings which loosely describe what they are about. Art Societies in the UK The new website/blog for Art Societies in the UK http://

This is the 16th year of The Big Draw - which takes place throughout October in various countries across the world as well as across the UK Last year 414,000 people attended over 1800 events by more than 1000 organisers across 26 countries! Now that's BIG! The theme is announced via drawing Key facts for anybody interested in drawing  ....or knows children, young people, adults or

 Winner of the BP Portrait Award 2015 Visitors' Choice 'Juanito' by José Luis Corella (the portrait on the right of the above photo) oil, 100cm x 100cm © José Luis Corella | Photo © Katherine Tyrrell 'Juanito' by José Luis Corella has won the BP Portrait Award 2015 Visitors' Choice and continues the public's obsession with "big head" paintings with lots and lots of detail. Corella's large

Where does one start - except to say he will be missed. Brian Sewell at the Mall Galleries in 2012 I've regularly highlighted Brian Sewell on this blog and I've got his signature on his biography. I've even drawn him despite also having a video of him being painted by three different people to constant comments from Brian! (see below for an excerpt on YouTube - which reminds us of that

I promised more visuals of the Florum 2015 Exhibition which closes tomorrow at 5pm. Here's a slideshow of the exhibition as some incentive to get down there and take a closer look tomorrow! This is a slideshow of the two parts of the exhibition. I think I've got it all with the exception of the jewellery which I forgot to photograph.  The slideshow works on the basis of walking around the

I've just updated the font I use for text on this blog - and moved from Georgia (which is a Serif font I like) to a Sans Serif font (PT Sans 14 px) The thing is - when both Apple and Google are using Sans Serif fonts because of the rise in viewing via mobile devices it seems sensible to do the same. The PT Sans font from Google Fonts The rationale for using a sans serif font for browsing

Yesterday I visited the first day of the 28th exhibition of Sunday Times Watercolour Competition at the Mall Galleries. If you want to see the exhibition you need to make a date this week as the exhibition is only on until Saturday 19th September. It's open every day (10am until 5pm) and admission is free. Sunday Times Watercolour Competition 2015 - Prizewinners Left to right: Left - Winner of

In the summer, I visited the Chelsea School of Botanical Art and was able to see a class in action. This is about that visit and the courses offered by the school. The Chelsea School of Botanical Art - the home page of the website The School is based in a building at the Chelsea Physic Garden, founded by the Society of Apothecaries in 1673. It's located at the Cheyne Walk end of the Royal

It's always a pleasure to go to the Florum exhibition not least because there rather a lot of good drawings, paintings and prints of flowers, plants and gardens on display. The fact that the nibbles at the Private View are rather scrumptious adds to the attraction. However this year the main attraction was the fact this is the best Florum exhibition I've seen  to date. It includes some fine and

This is my second review of the watercolour exhibitions currently on display at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge until Sunday 4th October. This one is devoted to Ruskin's Turners - and is a little later than planned. You can find out more about them below. However the important things to note is that there are very long intervals between exhibitions of these paintings. The last exhibition was

At around 5.30pm today, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II becomes the UK's longest serving monarch - passing the record previously held by Queen Victoria.  Her reign will have lasted 23,226 days 16 hours and 23 minutes Or 63 years plus 16 leap days - during which she has outlasted 12 different Prime Ministers! The image of the Queen is iconic. Her face has been seen around the world by more people

I'm slightly preoccupied at the moment - getting my artwork scanned and into frames for tomorrow's submission to Florum! The exhibition is open to the public at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve from 12th - 19th September. It includes artwork by a fantastic range of invited artists. This is one of my artworks - my version of 'Nopal de Cerro (Opuntia lasiacantha)' which is a member of the Prickly Pear

It's the first Saturday of the month and JMW Turner's House at Twickenham is open today 2.00 to 4.30pm. Sandycombe Lodge is the country retreat which J.M.W. Turner designed for himself in 1813. The House is open the first Saturday of the month between April and October.  Vistors are advised to use the train as there is no parking for cars. Turner’s House will open for ‘walk-in’ visitors on two

While I was in Cambridge recently I visited the Fitzwilliam Museum to see two exhibitions: Watercolour: Elements of nature (Mellon Room) - finishes 27 September Ruskin's Turners (Shiba Gallery) - finishes 4 October (after last being exhibited 15 years ago!) Below you will find a review of the first exhibition - and review of Ruskin's Turners follows tomorrow. I highly recommend both

An update on my post last week St. Paul's Studios on the Talgarth Road. St Paul's Studios being sold 'off plan' (right click and open in a new tab to see a larger image) My post on Facebook drew this comment from Dennis Spicer - which answers some of the comments about noise. I used to live very near these and got to know Alan Day when he came to my life drawing classes at Hammersmith Adult

The Call for Entries for the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize 2016 has been published. The Prize has two aims: to encourage the very best creative representational painting and  to promote the skill of draughtsmanship It's a well regarded competition and one which looks good on a CV! An exhibition of c. 100 works selected by the Panel of Judges will be held at the Mall Galleries between 7-13th