Art Alarm
protecting artists against scams
Today a gallery made a post in the onlinevisualartists forum which I follow. One of the forum members was suspicious so I Googled and sure enough came up with information confirming our suspicions. The site which had the information about the suspected scam calls itself Art Alarm
Run by artist Robert Coane it is a useful resource for artists to safeguard themselves against dodgy galleries, websites and internet scams.

Edward Elgar portrait
This week I managed to complete my portrait of Edward Elgar. This year is the 150th anniversary of his birth (2nd June) so there will be a lot of Elgarmania later this year especially at the Proms.
The central portrait is an etching on 2 zinc plates. The Union Jack border is a collagraph print.

Thankfully I have finished jury service so I can get back to 'normal'.
I've been asked to do a portrait of Monteverdi so I have started researching - very interesting - I am looking forward to working on it.

ArtistsOnline
Well, well well! I'm Featured Artist of the Month at artistsonline.org.uk
So I'm busy uploading images.
I really like the Virtual Gallery feature on this young site, it really does give an impression of being in an art gallery. It is more refined and stylish than the galleries ound on zazzle or eBay.
It is a very young site and shows lots of promise, so let's give it plenty of support.

Jury Service
I have been called for jury service and yesterday was my first day, so work is somewhat disrupted. Anyway it is another experience, interesting but quite appalling how much time is wasted. The normal length of service is about 2 weeks but some trials can go on for many months. I was on the bus with someone on a 15 week trial. The jury selection is supposed to be random so it is all in the luck of the draw. I feel lucky!

BEETHOVEN print now ready
I have finished the print of dear old Ludwig. He looks rather fierce but then he was a rather grumpy old man.

The 3 dots and a dash of the coloured border recall the opening bars of Beethoven's 5th Symphony and are also the morse code for the letter V (for Victory) which made it a popular work with the allies during World War II.

Sixteen@MorleyGallery
16 of us from the Thursday printmaking sessions at Morley College have hired The Morley Gallery for a week to exhibit our work. We had a meeting in the gallery today to sort out the finances, publicity and timetable. Spreading the cost between 16 of us means a total cost each of under £100 including printing, drinks at the opening and importantly staffing the gallery. Excellent value.
As we are hiring the gallery the gallery is not taking any commission on sales.
So now down to work - a lot to prepare for the opening on March 5th . I think I will exhibit 16 composers
Above is the invitation.