Artists and illustrators specializing in botanical, natural history or wildlife subjects often enter competitions to garner a laurel in their career. There are several important competitions in 2012 that may be of interest if your artwork fits the competition requirements.

The Margaret Flockton Award is an international annual botanical illustration competition with a deadline of Monday, February 6, 2012. It is sponsored by The Friends of the Botanic Gardens, a major supporter of the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust of Sydney, Australia.

The competition is open to artists world wide. First and second place prizes are AU$5,000 and AU$2,000, respectively. All artists retain all rights to their work, although usage must be granted for the purposes of promoting the competition. This competition has stringent requirements for entries: All work must be in black and white and ready for pre-press, and be an exactingly correct illustration in all details.

The Birds in Art competition is a very famous annual competition sponsored by the Leigh Yawkey Woodson museum in Wausau, Wisconsin. All mediums and techniques are permitted, as long as the subject matter is birds. The competition includes some of the greatest contemporary wildlife artists working today. The postmark deadline is on April 15, 2012 and the arrival deadline is April 26, 2012.

The Annual IAA Wildlife Art Show is a nationwide competition held annually by the Irving Art Association in Irving, Texas. The association has not yet posted the entry deadline, but work was due on August 15 for the 2011 edition. All traditional mediums are accepted. Subject matter is restricted to wild animals, no images of domestic pets will be accepted.

The Fifteenth Annual ASBA/HSNY International Juried Exhibition is held by the American Society of Botanical Artists in conjunction with the Horticultural Society of New York. The entry deadline is on March 23, 2012. Entry is open to all members of ASBA, worldwide. Submissions must be in traditional mediums, no photography or digital work allowed.

If you prefer to paint with a goal or deadline looming, maybe one of these juried events will provide you with extra motivation!

Sponsored by the National Geographic Society, Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs features artifacts from all dynastic periods that have been discovered in the last 25 or 30 years. A bit less than half of the exhibit is devoted to these new findings, while the curators have chosen to focus on recent discoveries about the DNA heritage and physical status of Tutankhamun in the final four rooms devoted to his tomb proper.

The newly uncovered artifacts are indeed stunning. There are many statuettes that have retained their surface paint and inlaid obsidian/quartz eyes. Highlighted are the small statuettes of a man named Inty Shetu, which were found in his burial chambers. Inty Shetu was a construction overseer for the pharaohonic tombs, and his own tomb is the first one found of an individual who was a mere commoner and not a member of either the royal dynasties or the clerk/priesthood mandarinate. The portrait sculptures are also unique because they depict this man at varying points in his life, from adolescent youth to portly middle age.

Another beautiful find was the sarcophagus made for the cat of Prince Thutmose. The lively and sensitive engravings portray a real animal, and the front and back panels are slightly asymmetrical in the details depicted.

There are also statues portraying Queen Hatshepshut, who was the only known female pharaoh, with all the male insignia of the royal role, including the ceremonial, artificial, braided beard and woven headdress. A coffer intricately patterned in enamelled, turquoise-blue smalt and gold inlay and about the size of a modern end table was once a gift from a pharaoh to his (well-born) commoner in-laws, and exemplifies the level of quality and preservation of the artifacts on display.

The exhibit’s curators have chosen different objects from Tutankhamun’s tomb than the items that were displayed in the last great exhibit. The extraordinary funerary mask of Tut is not included in the current tour, as the decision was made at the end of the last tour to keep this treasure at home in Egypt. The young king’s bed and throne, used during his lifetime and buried with him, form part of the list of newly exhibited objects from the burial chambers. Also included are the golden sandals placed on Tut’s mummy and the special sarcophagus made for his stomach, one of a set created for the royal offal. Exquisitely rendered shabtis, or miniature servant statues, are a just a few of the more than 400 such magical figures buried with the king to ensure that he would never have to lift a finger in labor in his afterlife. A massive colossus of Tut is another of the artifacts debuting in this exhibit.

The curators have focused on explaining the full history of the pharaohs and their dynasties, and Tutankhamun’s position within this lineage. Wall plaques, timelines, video screens and an audio tour flesh out the details of ancient Egypt’s story. For the most part, the multi-media infoblitz is unobtrusive and complementary to the objects on display. The curators do indulge in a small bit of cheesy showbusiness in the portentous video announcements (accompanied by dramatic stage lighting!) at the main entry to the exhibit and the secondary doorway leading to the display of Tut’s burial chambers.

We chose to rent the audio tour when we bought tickets. Having grown up in an anti-audio-tour home, I was somewhat leery whether the tape would provide useful information, or simply disturb my ability to observe and absorb the qualities of the items exhibited. Renting the audio package is well worth the extra $6 expense. The information on the recording is different from the graphic materials and wall texts, and the various narrators provide interesting insights into the specific highlighted artifacts as well as about Egyptian culture and burial techniques. The audio tour is housed in a sleek case about the size of a tv remote. It’s simple to shift between tracks, and the sound quality is very clear.

The exhibit, Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs, runs until April 15, 2012 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Its final US venue will be at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, WA, from May 24, 2012 to January 6, 2013. MFAH members may purchase tickets through the museum, while non-members may buy tickets through the official King Tut/National Geographic website. All tickets are timed entries on the half-hour. Once you enter the exhibit, you may take as long as you like to view it; however, exiting is final and no re-entry is permitted. The crowds in 2011 are not nearly as oppressive as the 1970s tour. You can easily spend some time poring over the details of a display without too much jostling from other tour visitors.

Here are some photos from the afternoon. Ms. Hendry was kind enough to take some photos for me. All photos in this post are © 2011, Sharon Hendry, all rights reserved, used with permission.

The students listened very intently during the workshop. Photo, courtesy of Sharon Hendry.

This student concentrates on rendering a leaf accurately. Photo courtesy of Sharon Hendry

I answer questions while other students paint steadily. Photo courtesy of Sharon Hendry.

The students and I discuss how their work is progressing. Photo courtesy of Sharon Hendry

Clockwise from left: How-to instructions; Tips on tracing a leaf form: ArtL8dy's supply kit, with a paint dot card I made; demonstrating light source and shadow. Photos courtesy of Sharon Hendry

Thanks HCC illustration students for being so enthusiastic and receptive! Thanks Sharon, for the invitation to share with your students! To see more of Sharon’s artwork, visit her blog, E-14 Studio.

This grid shows some of the gorgeous hues that resulted from mixing 50/50 portions of the red-violet spectrum of my own paintbox. I included the red-trending earth pigments of burnt sienna and sepia, as well as one of the warm reds, cadmium red deep, in the group of colors used.

Isn't it interesting to see the slight hue difference between Winsor Newton's alizarin crimson and the same pigment by Holbein?

What colors will contrast and coordinate best with these dark reds? Try using complementary colors from the opposite side of the color wheel, the green family:

Green mixes, top to bottom: Ultramarine and new gamboge(WN); indigo & cad. orange (WN); ultramarine & cad. lemon (WN); Sleeping Beauty turquoise (DS); and indigo & cad. lemon (WN)

Analogous colors from the orange and yellow side of the spectrum will harmonize with crimson and plum:

This chart looks very 1960s to me! I did use one complementary pairing—dioxazine purple is sandwiched at lower left between two slabs of new gamboge.

For further inspiration, here are some links to some classic artworks with palette mixes echoing this fall’s trend for deep reds:

• Mark Rothko painting using magenta with green and orange at MoMA
• Bonnard’s palette included a wide range of pinks, oranges and reds. He even used hot-toned crimson for shadows! Here are some videos from the Metropolitan Museum of Art about his late interiors.
• Paul Klee was a subtle and brilliant colorist. His Rose Garden from 1920 uses many tones of deep red and violet.
• Raphael’s portrait of Pope Julius II uses a sharp contrast of red with malachite green
• Maria Sybilla Merien, the intrepid explorer of Surinam’s tropical forests, combined purple with moss green in this etching of a butterfly’s metamorphosis. Note how the wing silhouette visually rhymes with the leaf shapes!

Happy painting!

The neon sign dates from the mid 20th century. But were Canali men's suits imported to the US back then?

Today, this men’s clothing store stocks high-style Italian suits, and has probably always been an exclusive shop in Charleston. I doubt that Canali was importing their fashionable textiles to America back in the 1940s or ’50s when this sign was hung, though.

Closer inspection reveals the sign has been updated to conform with the store's latest stock.

If you look more closely, you can see that the Canali name was added later with an additional layer of translucent plastic. I wonder what brand of suits was the popular choice for the well-dressed Charleston gentleman during the middle of the last century?

Weatherbeaten bas-relief sign in Charleston needs fresh paint.

It’s hard to tell what this sign is constructed of, but the lettering is certainly in need of repair. The arched backing plate looks like it might be sheet metal, meaning the letters and silhouetted worker’s form were also metal, soldered on. Or if the base layer is stuccoed wood, then the letters could be cast plaster, or cut wood. This would explain the broken “B” as well as the missing letters that have fallen off. Whatever it’s made of, it was a material that was hard to shape, as the letters and illustrated figure are very stiff and clumsily formed.

The key shape was distorted to fit all the text on this Charleston locksmith's shop sign.

(First in an intermittent series.)

Like a lot of graphic designers and artists, I am very fond of old street and shop signs, especially if they are hand-lettered. We saw several interesting examples while we were in Charleston, SC, this May. The key shape of the sign is used as a pictograph, while the text serves as an adjective phrase describing and adding detail information to the icon’s form.

The most interesting aspect of the whodunit is that while the Mona Lisa was a well-known painting before the burglary, it was being stolen that launched her smiling face as a pop-culture icon. Some other interesting factoids:

• Franz Kafka and his friend Max Brod were among the pilgrims to see the empty picture frame post-theft, as they bummed around Europe writing their “On the Cheap” travel guides.
• Picasso and Apollinaire were arrested for their connection to an early suspect in the case, from whom they had once bought stolen antiquities. This incident is also recounted in the first volume of John Richardson’s excellent biography of Picasso. 
• Police collected fingerprints deposited all over the crime scene, yet were unable to recognize the thief, even though he was in their records of Louvre employees, because the prints left at the crime were from the burglar’s left hand, while the police only ever gathered prints from the right hand of suspects.

One quibble: Kuper mentions at least twice that Mona Lisa was easy to steal because of the panel’s small size. I beg to differ–53 x 77 cm is about the size of a full-size watercolor sheet. Vincenzo Peruggia, the 5’3″ tall thief, must have worn a very baggy workman’s smock indeed to hide a ~ 21 x 31 inch slab of wood without anyone noticing it!

Travel tip: If you hope to enjoy a private audience with La Gioconda, your best bet is to be first in the entry line when the Louvre opens at 9 am on Sunday morning. Once you’ve paid admission, hoof it straight to her gallery (there are plenty of signs and arrows), and if it’s winter, you just might get 90 seconds to contemplate her enigmatic expression in blissful solitude before the hordes of culture vultures descend. Good luck!

Today let’s experiment with the value ranges and intensities of different yellow watercolor pigments.

Below is a photograph of a graduated wash of all the yellow pigments in my paintbox. From left to right: Ochre yellow, New Gamboge, Naples yellow, Hansa yellow, cadmium lemon yellow, cadmium yellow medium, cadmium orange, and Holbein’s proprietary Jaune Brilliant.

The natural yellow earth-mineral and lake pigments are more transparent and sedimentary than the cadmium pigments.

To repeat this experiment for yourself, draw a rectangle with lightly marked individual squares. Fully charge your brush with pigment, using only enough water to make the paint liquid and paint the first square. Make a graduated wash by dipping your brush in water, knocking off the excess, and starting at the end of the first square, paint the next square. By stroking your brush along the side of the previous square each time you start a new row, the pigment will flow from the concentrated end to the diluted end of the color strip.

By converting this photo to grayscale and measuring with Photoshop’s eyedropper tool, we can see that none of the yellows renders more than a light mid-tone value, even painted with a brush fully charged with concentrated pigment. Value ranges from a dark 145R, 145G, 145B for New Gamboge to a pure white 255R, 255G, 255B for the Hansa yellow light.

Both Hansa yellow light and cadmium lemon yellow light blow out to white in this grayscale rendering.

Painting a value strip repeatedly with the same diluted concentration of pigment in water allows you to accurately measure the increasing intensity of yellow. I adapted the following exercise from an assignment in mixing shades of black on page 96 of Contemporary Botanical Illustration: Challenging Color and Texture by Rosie Martin and Meriel Thurstan .

A more precise value scale for yellow pigments using a 1:10 paint:water ratio.

To measure the relative strength of the yellows on your own palette: Draw a thin rectangle for each yellow in your paintbox and divide each into 10 equal squares.

Mix each paint roughly 1:10 with water and paint each strip evenly with one of the yellow washes.

Let dry thoroughly, then repeat 9 more times with the same diluted paint mixture, each time painting one less square. At the end of the experiment, each rectangle should have one square that’s been painted 10 times, 9 times, 8 times, etc.

As you can see, even with 10 coats of watercolor, none of the yellow paints provides a deep or intense value tone!

Next in this series: Mixing colors to render shadows on yellow objects.

This epiphytic bromeliad is part of my botanical illustration portfolio.

My botanical illustration portfolio is now online.

Please let me know what you think in the comments below! If you have any difficulties loading or viewing any of the images, please tell me which browser you’re using and what part of the page or image isn’t working in the browser. That way I can correct or update the images or code as needed.