Do you blog about your coloured pencil art?

Sixteen members of UKCPS now have their art blogs featured in the members' blogroll (see side column) of UKCPS News.

If you have a blog which features your coloured pencil artwork and you would like to see it in the UKCPS News blogroll - and gain a link back to your blog - this is what you need to do:

• contact the UKCPS Blogmaster - see Contact Me
• provide the name and URL of your blog and ask for it to be included in the blogroll

If you've just started blogging, it's a good idea to wait awhile before submitting your blog for inclusion so that you can see whether blogging is for you or not. Not everybody wants to continue after the first few posts.

What happens next

• A link to your blog will be included in the members' section of the UKCPS blogroll
• Your blog will also be 'followed' (using the 'follow' function on Blgger Dashboard) by UKCPS News.
  

You can also have a link to your blog included in your members gallery page. You need to contact the UKCPS websmaster to get your page changed - or you can indicate this in your email to me and I will forward your email to the UKCPS webmaster

Any queries - please don't hesitate to get in touch. I'll provide an update here of any frequently asked questions that I get.

UKCPS at Art Materials Live

The UKCPS information stand at the Art Materials Live

Earlier this month, UKCPS was at the Art Materials Live at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham. This post reports on what happened and provides photographs of the stand and three of the demonstrators

Peter Weatherill demonstrating

UKCPS activities at the NEC helped us to:

• promote coloured pencils as an art medium. The artwork on display and our demonstrators showed visitors the range of different ways that coloured pencils can be used to produce different types of artwork
  
• boost the profile of the Society amongst those visiting the exhibition
  
• increase UKCPS membership - a number of people visiting the stand enrolled for full membership
• identify that Coloured Step by Step Guides (prepared by UKCPS members) are hugely popular with both UKCPS members and other visitors to the stand. Indeed some sold out before the end of the exhibition! They have the potential to generate a lot of revenue and UKCPS is now planning to collect a basic range of these for use and sale by the society. Those still available for sale can now be found on the UKCPS website.
  
• generate a profit after expenses - although the aim of this event was to promote our medium rather than worry about maximizing profit.
• and last but not least, this event enables us to reinforce our relationship with the pencil manufacturers who so generously support and sponsor our exhibitions and events.

Peter Woof demonstrating

Rachel Stirling, the UKCPS Events Manager, comments on our activities this year.

UKCPS has had another successful year at the Art Materials Live show and we have again shown the art world the great variety in artwork which can be produced using coloured pencils.

A big vote of thanks to all who supported the UKCPS this year - demonstrators, workshoppers, sales people and all those members who just dropped by to say "Hi". A particular thank you to those demonstrators who were inexplicably left off the entry list of demonstrators by the ICHF organisers and yet still demonstrated.

We provided a formidable range of work in terms of art on display, demonstrations and activities. I for one am grateful for those demonstrators who put in the hours despite being in a large room full of cut price art supplies! Paper, canvas and prepared boards were all available as supports for work and generated a great deal of interest

We always listen to what people visiting the stand have to say and we received several very interesting ideas and suggestions from visiting Society members.

Members indicated that they would like to have better information at a much earlier stage about which day Demonstrators will be demonstrating so that they can better plan their visits according to their interests. As a result, we'll be working on how we can improve our communication in this respect for next year.

Finally, I'd like to offer my own personal thanks to everyone involved and to all the members who make the UKCPS what it is. Here's looking forward to next year.

Brian Casey demonstrating

Marion Brown exhibits with EAC Over 60s Art Awards

Peaches by Marion Brown
10.5 x 42 x 10.5", prismacolors on white Stonehenge
copyright Marion Brown

Marion Brown's coloured pencil work Peaches has been selected for the 2009 EAC Over 60s Art Awards. The Awards celebrate the talent and creativity of amateur artists who are between the ages of 60 and over 100, and who work in any genre.

Over 2,150 entries were received for the 2009 entry giving this national art competition one of the largest competitive entries in the UK! Only 101 works were chosen giving artists who entered less than 5% chance of being selected - but that's very much on a par with some of national competitions offering major awards!

However the emphasis of the awards is very much on the creativity of older people.

The EAC Over 60s Art Awards were founded by volunteers almost 15 years ago, with the aim of celebrating the creativity of older amateur artists. They are not about winning and losing. Though artists like to have their work exhibited in a London gallery, or receive a prize, all the feedback suggests that that really doesn’t matter. The real joy of the Awards is the unique opportunity they create for older people to demonstrate their continuing capacity to be purposeful and involved, and to enjoy the collaborative venture of entering a national competition.

The first round of judging was based on the submitted reproduced images of artists' work, either jpeg digital files or colour photographs (max A4 size).

If you're interested in entering next year, you can find out more about the 2009 competition here.

Exhibition

Work selected for the exhibition was announced this month. 101 finalists’ works are included in the EAC Over 60s Art Awards exhibition at the Bankside Gallery, 48 Hopton Street, London, SE1 9JH, from 2nd - 6th December 2009.

Prizes will be announced and awarded at the Private View on 1st December.

Entrance to the exhibition is free, and hours of opening can be found by visiting the Bankside Gallery website at http://www.banksidegallery.com

See all the Art and Vote online

For the first time since the annual competition began in 1995, images of the finalists’ work have now been uploaded to the Art Awards website. This means that those unable to visit the exhibition can still participate, by viewing a ‘virtual exhibition’. They can also participate in the voting and commenting on their favourite entries.

The winning artist, calculated by overall number of points awarded by over the next three weeks, will receive a new prize, ‘The EAC People’s Choice Award’ at the prize-giving ceremony at the Bankside Gallery, on 1st December.

Click here to visit the 2009 Finalists’ Gallery This also provides details of how the site works and how to vote. You can vote for three works with your first, second and third choices adding three, two and one votes to the score for the works concerned

UKCPS Demonstrators at Art Materials Live

UKCPS demonstrators will be at Art Materials Live - which is at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, from 5th - 8th November 2009. This is How to get to the NEC.

The table below shows you who will be demonstrating each day. The dark space represents days the demonstrators will NOT be there.

Demonstrators		5th Nov.	6th Nov	7th Nov	8th Nov
Peter Woof UKCPS	award winning artist who trained at the Royal Academy Schools
Suzy Herbert UKCPS
Rachel Stirling	working on a portrait using Luminance Pencils
Peter Weatherill UKCPS	using watercolour pencils for a large marine drawing of Polperro harbour
Gayle Mason SOFA	popular feline and wildlife artist; teaching how to do a cat's eye and fur
Jonathan Newey UKCPS	wildlife artist; Presidents Award 2009
Shirley Henderson
Malcolm Cudmore	Highly commended Annual Exhibition 2009; working on large panels primed with acrylic
Diana Connor	demonstrating floral work
Brian Casey	a self-taught artist with a love of motor sport, doing large scale detailed work
Margaret Edwards	Wildlife and feline artist

On Sunday you also have the opportunity to meet Bev Lewis and Pauline Longley on the stand who will be assisting at the show. Various volunteers will also help run the shop, sharpen pencils and generally help keep this major four day event on track.

All of the above simply relates to the UKCPS contribution to the event. If you look at page about the Hobbycrafts and Art Materials Live exhibition on the NEC website you can see the lists of other exhibitors at this event

Kate Clarke wins the People's Vote

The final prize awarded for this year's UKCPS Annual Exhibition is the People's Vote. The criteria is simple - it goes to whoever gets the most votes cast by the public at the exhibition.

231 votes in total were received and over 50 of the pictures hung received at least one vote.

This year the winner was Kate Clarke who also took first place overall for her work Old-timers, One, Two, Free! (see right)

Congratulations to all the artists whose artwork achieved 10 or more votes. The names of the artists, the title of the picture and the number of votes they received are listed below.

Links are to the post in which an image of the work is featured. The two works which have not been previously featured on this blog are displayed underneath the list.

Kate Clarke	Old-timers, One, Two, Free!	15
Suzy Herbert	Under a Pear Tree	13
Irina Garmashova-Cawton	The Old Yard	12
Julie Douglas	Dappled son	11
Neil Houghton	Driver of the Great Marquess	11
Irina Garmashova-Cawton	Sun Trapped Under Water	10
John Hurford	Wistman's Wood Revisited	10
Bev Lewis	Red-ruffed Lemur	10

(left) Dappled son by Julie Douglas
(right) The Old Yard by Irina Garmashova-Cawton
copyright - the artists

[Note: Apologies for the late announcement of this Prize - I've been on holiday!]

AGM reminder & Raffle

A quick reminder that the UKCPS is being held on Saturday 3rd October - see UKCPS Annual General Meeting - 3rd October 2009 for details.

Tickets for a raffle - prizes are two coloured pencil drawings donated by Vera Curnow and Bernard Poulin - are being sold at the gallery amd the tickets for the raffle prizes will be drawn on 3rd October.

A Boy from Cork by Bernard Poulin CIPA

UKCPS Annual Exhibition 2009 - Thanks to......

First and foremost, thanks are due of course to everyone who entered a picture for the competition - both UKCPS members and non-members. It goes without saying that there is no exhibition without all of you!

After the members the next most important person to thank in terms of making the Exhibition happen is Pat Heffer UKCPS, the Exhibition Scretary, who kindly provided me with the notes for the content of this blog post - but not the next few sentences!

Every art society knows that putting on an Annual Exhibition each year is a massive exercise. Planning for each Annual Exhibition starts before the previous one has been taken down. For Pat it starts with first meetings with a gallery, continues through the creation and dissemination of the call for entries, maintenance of lots of administrative records and provision of support to members and non-members who are trying to get their entries right and in on time. Then images and support need to be provided to the three jurors (plus the webmaster and blogmaster!). Plus a team of people need to be recruited and organised who also make very important contributions to making it all happen - as indicated below. Pat is very committed to the exhibition doing well and spends a lot of time each year endeavouring to make sure it is a success.

Of course, as with most official UKCPS activities, nothing happens or moves without the involvement and support of people who volunteer their help in an official capacity, as a member - and even as a spouse or partner of a member!

This year Pat has been ably supported by a number of members and members' partners and below she provides a summary about those who helped. Plus some photos of what's actually involved with getting an exhibition hung and opened which we thought you might like to see.

(left) Ann Massey and Paul Hipkiss organise the hanging of the 8th Annual Exhibition
(right) Ann Massey opens 8th Annual Exhibition

Paul Hipkiss RBSA the Honorary Curator of the RBSA Gallery, opened the gallery up for us a 8.30am and had cups of coffee ready for all the helpers! He provided advice and helped with the hanging in the morning

UKCPS President Ann Massey SWA, KA, CPSA, UKCPS came all the way from Paris and organised the hanging brilliantly with Paul Hipkiss. Ann also opened the exhibition and gave advice to up and coming artists in the afternoon.

Membership Secretary Will Johnson was superb at putting fixings in frames, putting up the alarm system, unwrapping pictures...I could go on forever!

(left) Will Johnson fixing frames for hanging
(right) Dave Richards hanging a picture

Dave Richards as always provided invaluable support for all the exhibition preparation prior to the hang and designed all the labels and the Private view invitations. On Sunday, Dave and his wife Sylvia Richards set off from mid Wales at 6am. Dave is brilliant at hanging exhibitons as we all know from Keswick, and was a fantastic help hanging this exhibition and also helped out all day. Sylvia checked all Dave's labels, sorted all the wrappping, helped with the hanging, put up labels and sold raffle tickets (£136.00 already taken!) - and took a lot of photographs. We could not have managed without these two.

Janie Pirie SBA is a fantastic botanical artist who is exhibiting with UKCPS for the first time. She was brilliant at putting fixings into the backs of frames. Both Janie and her husband John also provided excellent support serving behind the bar.

Rachel Stirling, Malcolm Cudmore and Janie Pirie fix frames for hanging.

Rachel Stirling helped with the exhibition advertising, organisation of the demonstrators, delivery of pictures, the hanging of the exhibition served behind the bar and generally brought a calming influence to the day which was absolutely invaluable! Her son, Daniel Stirling aged 10, also helped all day and was brilliant at packing up vans!

Suzy Herbert UKCPS drove up from Cambridge with her husband Michael. Suzy is a very experienced UKCPS 'exhibition hanger' and worked tirelessly in support of the hanging. She's an amazing lady who is always there when needed and is always able to provide excellent advice.

Lesley Galton left home at 5.30am to get to the gallery by 8.30! She worked hard all day, helped clear up the gallery at the end of the day and was one of the last to leave before driving herself back home. What a star!

Malcolm Cudmore was another first time helper and had never met any of us before but helped all day with the hanging, serving behind the bar and anything else which needed doing.


(Left) Pat and John Heffer - at the Hanging (with John and Janie Pirie)

Last but not least - my husband John Heffer got up at 4am to load up a hired van with 50 pictures, crates of wine and glasses and loads of other bits and bobs needed for the exhibition. He then worked all morning helping to hang the exhibition and was on hand all afternoon to help wherever it was needed. We eventually arrived back home at about 9.00pm having rattled our way home in a very cranky van which then had to be unpacked and returned to its depot.

We did all retire to the restaurant across the road from the gallery for lunch...just to make sure it was OK for the society lunch!

The Private View of the 8th Annual Exhibition

Thanks also to....

• the three jurors who independently reviewed and rated all the entries to the competition.
• Vera Curnow and Bernard Poulin who have donated works to be raffled
  
• the Cumberland Pencil Company (Derwent) the 2009 exhibition sponsors who help UKCPS to exhibit at the RBSA Gallery.
• all those sponsoring the providing awards - Derwent, Faber-Castell, Lyra, Caran d'Ache, Staedtler, Great Art, Legion paper (Stonehenge), Fisher 400; Ann James Massey (Presidents Award) and ex Chairman Peter Weatherill UKCPS (Best Landscape)
• and finally, not forgetting that there would be no exhibition but for the fact that Peter Weatherill UKCPS works miracles getting fantastic sponsorship for the UKCPS exhibition. We would not have been able to use the RBSA without Derwent's sponsorship and the list of awards just get longer every year as Peter persuades yet another manufacturer to come on board!
  

UKCPS Annual Exhibition 2009 - now online

You can now see the online exhibition on the UKCPS website.

Each year it's a major task to get all the competition entries posted in the correct position on the UKCPS website! Liz Ridley, the UKCPS webmaster has now published the new website page and

Here also are some pictures taken of the exhibition last Sunday - showing many of the entries hanging on the walls of the gallery.

Exhibition Secretary, Pat Heffer commented" John Hurford had come up from Devon for the exhibition. It was his first cp picture! He is not a member, but let's hope he will become one in the future!"

Derwent are the sponsors of this year's exhibition.

Note to participating artists: Please note that the correct date for the Collection of any unsold work is Saturday 3rd October between 4 and 5pm

UKCPS - new signature members

A view of part of the UKCPS 8th Annual Exhibition

On the UKCPS website, the initials UKCPS after a member's name indicates that an artist has achieved signature status as a member of the United Kingdom Coloured Pencil Society. This means that they have had their artwork exhibited in three exhibitions within a five year period. (Note - the colour is normally only used on the UKCPS website to denote the status of different members exhibiting)

However once you've achieved signature status there are other levels to aspire to!

• UKCPS indicate Silver Signature status - pictures accepted in 5 exhibitions in 10 years
• UKCPS indicates Gold Signature status - pictures accepted in 10 exhibitions in 15 years.

As UKCPS is now on its eighth exhibition, it now has some silver signature status members - (however obviously nobody has yet achieved Gold signature status)!

This year there are 7 new signature members and 3 members who have achieved silver signature status.

New Signature Members

Part of the exhibition - featuring
Serenity
by Alexandra Bastien UKCPS

UKCPS members who gained signature status with this year's exhibition are as follows:

• Alexandra Bastien UKCPS (website)
• Tiffany Budd UKCPS (website)
  
• Margaret Edwards UKCPS
• Judith Heilbronn-Crown UKCPS
  
• Shirley Henderson UKCPS
• Jonathan Newey UKCPS (website)
  
• Katherine Tyrrell UKCPS (website)

Links in members names are to (1) their member's gallery on the UKCPS website and (2) to their personal website where you can see more of their coloured pencil artwork.

Hanging the exhibition
(left) Scarlet Macaws by Jonathan Newey UKCPS
(right) John Heffer and David Richards UKPCS hang artwork

Silver Signature status

UKCPS members who managed to achieve silver signature status when their entries were selected for this year's exhibition are:

• Robin Borrett UKCPS (website)
• Jo Goudie UKCPS (website)
  
• David Richards UKCPS
  

You can also see artwork by all the members listed above on the 2009 Annual Exhibition page of the UKCPS website - as from 26th September.

UKCPS Annual Exhibition 2009 - Highly Commended

Today, UKCPS News features those artists whose work was awarded a Highly Commended Certificate in UKCPS's 8th Annual Open International Exhibition 2008. They are listed in alphabetical order below.

Each artist will receive a pack of Stonehenge paper (sponsored by Legion Paper) and Fisher 400 paper (sponsored by Tim Fisher)

Links are to UKCPS members' galleries on the UKCPS website (where applicable).

Please remember that the copyright to each image belongs to the artist and they should not be downloaded without written permission.

(left) Juvenile by Karen Coulson UKCPS (26 x 20cm coloured pencils)
(right) Reflected 1 by Malcolm Cudmore (60 x 90cm coloured pencils)


(left) Nature's Own Athletes by Margaret Edwards UKCPS (37 x 50cm coloured pencils)
(right) Sun Trapped Under Water by Irina Garmashova (54 x 38cm coloured pencils)

(right) Under a Pear Tree by Suzy Herbert UKCPS (46 x 28cm coloured pencils)
(left) Master of Thurstaston by Ann Holden (26 x 31cm coloured pencils)

(right) Red-ruffed Lemur by Bev Lewis UKCPS (40 x 30cm coloured pencils)
(right) Best Friends by Roger Lewis UKCPS PSGFA (40 x 55cm coloured pencils)


(left) Not all is Black and White by Pauline Longley (37 x 26cm coloured pencils)
(left) My Neighbour Pepe by Ursula Williams (40.5 x 29.5cm coloured pencils)

Demonstrations

UKCPS members demonstrating coloured pencils at the exhibition include:

• (today) 22nd September - Peter Weatherill UKCPS
  
• 25th and 26th September - Rachel Stirling
• 2nd October - Rachel Stirling and Pauline Longley

More about UKCPS members and the exhibition

Tomorrow, the blog will be featuring those UKCPS members who, having work included in this year's exhibition, have achieved signature status with UKCPS or a change in their signature status.

Links:

• UKCPS - 8th Annual Open International Exhibition 2009
• UKCPS Annual exhibition 2009 - Award Winners
• Artists selected for the 8th Annual UKCPS International Open Exhibition

UKCPS Annual exhibition 2009 - Award Winners

The artists and works winning Awards were formally announced at the Private View for UKCPS's 8th Annual Open International Exhibition 2009 in Birmingham yesterday. You can find images and details of the work below.

Please remember that the copyright to each image belongs to the artist and they should not be downloaded without written permission.

Special mention must be made of Kate Clarke and Janie Pirie who respectively won the Best in Show and Reserve Best in Show. They each also won a second Award.

Links are to members galleries on the UKCPS website or their own websites.

Derwent Award for Best in Show (£400)
UKCPS Annual Open International Exhibition 2009
Old -Timers, One, Two, Free! by Kate Clarke
3x(39x26) cm, coloured pencils (£845)

UKCPS Award for Reserve Best in Show (£300.00)
Beetroot 'Bolthardy' by Janie Pirie
64 x 48cm, coloured pencils (£930)

The Presidents Award (£100)

Scarlet Macaws by Jonathan Newey UKCPS
42 x 85cm, coloured pencils (£1,300)

The Peter Weatherill Award for Best Landscape (£100)
Wistman's Wood Revisited (£2,000) by John Hurford
51 x 63cm, coloured pencils

The Staedtler Award
Challenging Stereotypes - the model family by Kate Clarke
60x 28cm, coloured pencils, (NFS)

The Faber-Castell Award (Wooden box of 120 Polychromos)
Dew on blue Poppies by Janie Pirie
55 x 39cm, coloured pencils (£860)

The Lyra Award (wooden box of rembrandt Professional pencils)
Driver of the Great Marquess by Neil Houghton
30.5 x 46cm, coloured pencils (£1,196)

The Jakar/Caran d'Ache Award (tin of 38 Luminance pencils)
Cherries by Peter Woof UKCPS
15 x 38cm, coloured pencils (£900)

The Great Art Award (cheque or art supplies)
The Full Monty by Suzy Herbert UKCPS
20 x 24cm, coloured pencils (£235)

Peoples Vote: This will be awarded after the exhibition closes on 3rd October. This award is based on the number of votes each work receives from people visiting the exhibition.

Sponsors and judges

UKCPS very much appreciates the support it has received from:

• Derwent, the Comberland Pencil Company who have sponsored both this year's Annual Exhibition and the Best in Show Award. Derwent is the brand name of the Cumberland Pencil Company. They have been making pencils since 1832 and manufacture Derwent Artists, Coloursoft and other coloured pencils.
• this year's jurors who selected the works to be exhibited in the show - Vera Curnow CPSA (Founder of the Colored Pencil Society of America, author, editor and gallery owner), Paul Hipkiss RBSA Curator of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists and Emma Cross, Marketing and Sales Co-ordinator, the Cumberland Pencil Company (Derwent) the sponsors for this year's exhibition

All the Award winners were selected by Paul Hipkiss the Curator of the RBSA, apart from the President's Award and the Peter Weatherill Landscape award which were both judged by the UKCPS President Ann Massey.

Exhibition details

You can visit the exhibition at Gallery Two at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, 4 Brook Street, Birmingham B3 1SA. The exhibition is open from today, Monday 21st September and closes on Saturday 3rd October. The gallery is open 10.30am to 5.30pm (Monday to Friday) and 10.30am to 5.00pm on Saturdays and 1.00pm to 5.00pm on Sundays. Admission is free.

For further details see this post UKCPS - 8th Annual Open International Exhibition 2009. Details of the location, parking and how to get there are available in this post.

Works for sale

All works are for sale unless otherwise indicated. Shipping and associated insurance costs are not included in the purchase price and are the responsibility of the purchaser.

All sales of work in the exhibition are managed by the RBSA Gallery. All enquiries about purchasing without visiting the Gallery must be directed to the RBSA Gallery. If you have any other enquiries please contact Pat Heffer, the Exhibition Director (right click to open the email address in your email application).

Demonstrations

UKCPS members demonstrating coloured pencils at the exhibition include:

• 22nd September - Peter Weatherill UKCPS
  
• 25th and 26th September - Rachel Stirling
• 2nd October - Rachel Stirling and Pauline Longley
  

...and there's more to follow

This week I'm highlighting different groups of people in the entries over the next few days:

• Tuesday: Highly Commended entries to the exhibition
  
• Wednesday: UKCPS Members awarded signature status as a result of their acceptance into this year's exhibition
• Thursday: Thanks to all the people who helped to create this exhibition.

You can also see the List of Works and Artists selected for the exhibition in Artists selected for the 8th Annual UKCPS International Open Exhibition

On Saturday 26th September, the UKCPS website will have a new page displaying all the works in the exhibition. I'll provide a link in this post once the new page has been published.