Art Of Watercolor: January 2013

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Creative World 2013, Frankfurt, 26-29 of January

Next week I am going to demonstrate at the Creative World 2013 in Frankfurt. Stand H72 B hall 4.1
I am representing art brushes Roubloff.
Demo will take place every hour 26, 27, 28 and 29 of January with a 30 min. break in between.
Everyone who is nearby - welcome to demonstration!
New instructional DVDs, books, signature brushes and fresh paintings are available.

Stand H72 B hall 4.1

Herzlich wilkommen!

My Working Plan 2013 part I

January, 19-20: Moscow - Portrait workshop
January, 26-29: Frankfurt, Germany – CREATIVE WORLD Messe – demonstration
February, 9-10: Saint-Petersburg – workshop
February, 23-24: Karlstadt, Sweden – workshop
March, 11-24: Helsinki, Finland – AKVART gallery – exhibition together with Liisa Kuusisto
March, 12: Moscow –SKREPKA Show – demonstration for resellers
March, 18: Helsinki – KILTA – workshop
March, 22-24: Espoo, Finland – Portrait workshop
April, 5-7: Espoo, Finland – Portrait workshop
May, 25-26: Turkey – Portrait workshop (not confirmed)
June, 1-15: Tammio, Finland – solo exhibition “Island Life”
July, 8-12: Joutseno, Finland – 5 days workshop
July, 15-19: Hartola, Finland – 5 days workshop August, 21-25: Dalarna, Sweden – 5 days workshop (not confirmed)

Also 2 book are expected to be out within first half-a-year -

Masters Of Watercolor, part I (interview with contemporary watercolorists)

Portrait Painting (instructional book and DVD)

Stay connected...

Monday, January 14, 2013

Robert Wade`s Article for IAM

REJECTION BLUES?
Have you missed out on gaining selection for that big show which you so desperately wanted to make? If you have, then welcome to the club, you are certainly not Robinson Crusoe !!! Personally, I have probably been REJECTED from more major shows than any artist I know! Nobody, but nobody, wants to receive that dreadful REJECTED slip in the mail, rather like a parking ticket on your car, to feel that you have just been kicked right in the teeth, and that the "masterpiece" which you have sweated over, fretted and worried about, and then finally considered to be good enough to submit, has been passed over by the Jurors.

Robert Wade

What a great blow to your pride, what a feeling of resentment, what a bitter pill to swallow this can be! Do I like being knocked back? No way...who would? However, there are quite a few guide lines in jurying a show, and it is just as well to consider some before blowing your top. The judge, or panel of Jurors, will have a number of requirements in making their choice of paintings, not the least of which will be to present a well balanced exhibition from the work submitted. Now, if you happen to have painted a large vase of daisies, and so have ten others, then someone must miss out and bad luck if you are one of them! We never get to know why we didn't make it, so we are left to wonder why.
Let me tell you about some of my unjust, unfair, totally biased, politically influenced, ignorant, spiteful, malevolent rejections !!!!! At least these are the sort of thoughts which spring quickly to mind.
However, having been in the role of Judge so many times myself, I know that this is not the case. The one thing the Judge is trying so hard to do is to be fair and honest. All paintings must be selected in an anonymous way, with total disregard for the name of the artist. This is not all that easy, as, like one's handwriting, the artist's style is so personal that the signature is almost unnecessary, but it must be absolutely ignored when making decisions. As it is usually a panel making the selection of works in all of the major exhibitions, it means that a majority decision is necessary, so that if two Jurors really love your work, but three are only so-so, then sorry old chum, you have had the gong.

Robert Wade. Morning on Charles Bridge, Prague. 14x 20" 1996 |rejected

The American Watercolor Society's Annual Exhibition in New York, is perhaps the most prestigious in the world, certainly one of the most difficult to achieve selection, so everyone wants to be hung in an AWS show. Submission is by 35mm. slide, one only per artist, and usually there are 2000-2500 applications, and, from these, the Jurors have the monumental task of choosing about 100 works for the show! This means that about one in twenty gets in, and that sure is tough competition. I have submitted annually since 1981, have been successful just three times, 1981, 1993, and 2000………..that's a long time between drinks!
The National Watercolor Society (NWS) is based on the West Coast, and is only slightly less important than the AWS, the number of slide submissions and selections being fairly similar. I've submitted twice, twice rejected. One year the three Jurors were way out modern and off-beat, so there is yet another factor. What are the artistic persuasions of the Jurors? .
Shouldn't make any difference, but it must be hard to make balanced decisions without at least one Juror from the traditional side of art.

Robert Wade. Atrium,Boston. 19x 29" 1995 | rejected

The Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, London, works on a different system, and the only submissions possible are actual framed works. It makes for a very expensive freight bill from Australia, especially as each artist may submit up to six framed pieces. When your freight to London is adding up to some hundreds of dollars, then rejection hurts even more, right in the hip pocket! I submitted to the RI annually for ten years, and each year some were accepted, but one year not a single one got into the show.
Well, do I feel embarrassed to disclose my rejections to you? Not at all! Every painting which I have submitted to each of these distinguished Societies has been my best possible work at the time, and if that were not good enough then I must try harder. Remember this...Constant acceptance breeds complacency and mediocrity, rejection breeds determination and ultimate success. Don't harbour grudges against the Judges, determine to paint something better to submit next year. Just paint better, don’t get bitter! So, if at first you don't succeed, then you can count yourself as pretty normal!

Robert Wade. Harbour Reflections, Gloucester Mass. 19x 29" 1983 | rejected

Rejection helps to keep us humble, (and so does watercolour) and it's extremely good for the soul. Talking about that, I was recently Guest of Honour of one of Melbourne's larger Art Societies. After the official proceedings were through, we all gathered for a cup of coffee and cake. One of the Society's longest serving members came over to me and said "They seemed to be making a bit of a fuss over you, but I didn't catch your name."
"Wade," I replied, "Robert Wade." "Oh," he said, "What do you do for a crust in the art game?" Like I said, humility is good for you.

Good, Better, Best.. never let it rest, till your good is BETTER and your Better’s BEST!

Saturday, January 12, 2013

K. Sterkhov`s Workshop in Moscow

Dear Art Friends!
If you are near Moscow, Russia, you are welcome to my 2-days workshop "Portrait in Watercolor".
Most of the participants speak Russian but just for you I can comment everything in English)

More information and contacts here:

http://art-holidays.livejournal.com/1785.html

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

IWS Contest 2012 - TOP 10

1_Liu Yun Sheng. WestChild. 73x54

2_Liu Yi. Inspiration From Ephesus. 90x136

3_Wang Wei. Red. 140x120

4_Alvaro Castagnet. Passion To The End. 75x56

5_Xidan Chen. London Streets. 56x76

6_Sarfiaz Musawir. 26x36

7_Hu Xiao Xing. Family Man Yan Ban. 37x56

8_Jiao Liqiang. Praying. 112x80

9_Tejo Van Den Broeck. Sand and more sand. 56x75

10_Thierry Duval. L'Académie française et la Passerelle des Arts. 80x53

THE JURY OF THE 3. INTERNATIONAL WATERCOLOR CONTEST OF IWS
-Robert Wade (Australia), OAM
AWI (LM)., FVAS., FRSA (Lon), PWS (Lon) AWS (USA), KA. (USA), ISMP.(USA), MHSMA.(Mexico) Painter-Teacher-Lecturer
-Prof. Liu Shouxiang (PRC, China) , Deputy Director of Watercolor Art Committee of Chinese Artists Association, Professor and Director of Watercolor Department of Hubei Academy of Fine Arts
-Prof. Chin-Lung Huang (Taiwan), President of Taiwan International Watercolor Society; Chinese- Asia-Pasific Watercolor Association
-Ong Kim Seng (Singapore), Honorary President of Singapore Watercolor Society
-Takashi Akasaka (Japan), Professional Artist, Member of Japan Watercolor Society
- Stan Miller (USA), Professional Artist, Signature Member of the American Watercolor Society
-Konstantin Sterkhov ( Russian Federation), Art instructor, Member of St.Petersburg and Finnish WS
-Keith Hornblower (Great Britain), Freelance Artist-Illustrator
-Assist. Prof. Syed Ali Abbas Jaffri (Pakistan), Head of the Department of Fine Arts CEAD MUED, Jamshoro
-Samir Mondal (India), Professional Artist
-Anita Bentley (Australia), Professional Artist-Illustrator
-Will Yu (Taiwan), Chief Executive-Taiwan International Watercolor Society
-Javid Tabatabaii (Iran), Professional Artist
-Dario Ortiz Robledo (Colombia), Professional Artist, President of Museo de Arte del Tolima
-Joel Tenzin (France), EWA-European Watercolor Association
-George Politis (Greece), Painter-Teacher, Signature Member of the Amerikan Watercolor Society
-Janine Gallizia (Belgium-France), Professional Artist, Art Director of The Art of Watercolour Magazine
-Angela Barbi (Spain), General Manager of EPC Art Courses
-Orlando Buccino (Uruguay), Freelance Artist-Illustrator
- Sue Dickinson (South Africa), Professional Artist
-Atanur Doğan (Canada-Turkey), Professional Artist, Founder of IWS
-Canip Taşkıran (Turkey), Art Instructor, Vice President of IWS
-Musa Balan (Turkey), Professional Artist, Board Member of IWS
-Orhan Gürel (Turkey), Professional Artist, IWS Ankara
-Burhan Özer (Turkey), ProfessionaI Artist, IWS Istanbul

In my version of TOP 10 would be also

5_Kudalaya Hiremath_Race

6_WangShukai_LightTea_38x57

7_Zhang Yang-China_WaitFor_90x70

8_Rui Song Qiu_Northland Winter_54x73

9_Zhou Tianya_Tibetan Bride 41x31

10_Pablo Ruben Lopez Sanz_Taxi_Stop_100x100

I am glad that first 3 places I voted were the same by the majority of the Jury Board, also Murfiaz Musawir has even higher rating in my version of top 10. Generally it was extremely hard to drop someone, I had about 40 favorite paintings in that contest, all of them worthy of top 10)