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Excerpts from Joan Sharrock's newsletter: "Tales".
The most recent issue appears first.
Number 9 - Winter 2000-2001
In Good Company
Two Wildlife Art Auctions were held at Christie's of South Kensington, London, England in 2000.
"Out Numbered" 28 x 22 in. oil on linen
SOLD at Christie's
ŠJOAN SHARROCK copyright
Joan Sharrock was in good company by having her paintings in the Christie's Wildlife Art Auctions in South Kensington, London this year. The auctions provide a focus for international collectors to bid on the work of artists from around the world, including such well known names as David Shepherd, Robert Bateman, and Ray Harris Ching.
Joan Sharrock has participated in 6 Christie's auctions since 1995 and for the Spring auction held on 17 May 2000 Christie's invited her to submit her painting of zebras and an oryx at an Etosha waterhole. A second auction was held in the Autumn on 16 November 2000 when Christie's sold two more of Joan's paintings:
"Cheetahs in Hot Pursuit" 22 x 40 in. oil on canvas
SOLD at Christie's - ŠJOAN SHARROCK copyright
"Three's Company - Leadbeater's Cockatoos"
18 x 14 in. oil on board
SOLD at Christie's - ŠJOAN SHARROCK copyright
Exxon chooses Joan Sharrock's tigers for its 2001 CalendarOnce again Joan Sharrock was chosen to provide all the images for Exxon's Calendar. After the 1999 Exxon Calendar of Joan's tigers proved so popular with Exxon and its customers, the calendar publishers Teldon International Inc. approached her in the Spring to see if she had any more tiger images. The artist probably surprised even herself by coming up with enough paintings and drawings of tigers for the 2001 calendar - 13 in all, which includes one for December 2000.
Click Here to see all 13 tiger images in the 2001 Exxon Calendar
"Building a Website is not unlike painting a picture." - Artist says.
Even though I was one of the first artists with a presence on the Internet (I had a website back in 1995) I only got my own computer in the spring of 1999 but it was up to date and powerful enough to handle all the pictures that I planned to feed into it and I didn't have to worry about any Y2K bugs. By then there were plenty of artists on the Internet so I spent time looking at other artists' web sites. I realized that my very basic web site was not accurately representing me, or my work, so I started to learn about how I could do my own website.
Not sure of where to start, I sent an Email to my Internet service provider with the query about how I should go about designing my own site and asked them what program I should get. The very helpful reply came back that they did not recommend any program and that I should HTML (HyperText Markup Language) - and perhaps I should take a night school course. Yikes! Back to school? - I don't think so! I sent a polite reply and said I'd go and buy a book and get back to them later. Which is what I did - several books later in fact.
Optimistically my first choice was: "Learn HTML in a Weekend" by Steven Callihan. If it could be learned in a weekend, I thought I could do it in a couple of weeks maybe. No rush, I stretched the course out and took my time. Getting started was the hardest, grappling with the basics of writing the HTML code and loading it into the browser to see what it looked like. Once I had a sample page as evidence of what could be done it then became more interesting and a challenge to make it look as good as possible. I soon gave up working with the samples provided on the CD that came with the book and started creating my own gifs and jpeg files. Oh those "techie" words, no longer were they unintelligible jargon, they had real meaning! Pictures on web sites!At this point I think that being an artist was a definite advantage. An artist can visualize how the finished work will look. All those details that are involved in creating web pages such as putting the graphics in the right places and laying out the text neatly and getting the links to work properly - it's an art!
Building a website is not unlike painting a picture. First you have to learn the skills to create the results whether it's how to manipulate paint on a canvas or files on a computer. Once you know how to do the basic stuff you can learn as you go along. The results will depend on the planning, the overall design and the quality of the execution. Before I start a painting I do a rough pencil sketch of how the piece will look, then I assemble the necessary references and raw materials and start to put the painting together. So it is with a web site. I also started my site with a rough pencil outline of what would be on the pages and how they would be linked together. Whether it is a painting or web pages, the results depend on the quality of design and the logical assembly of all the constituent parts. Questions to ask when viewing a painting, or a web site include: does the composition work; do the parts fit together logically; is it interesting; is it pleasing to the eye; does it invite the viewer to return to it time and time again; and did the designer have the time and patience to properly complete the project? Careless errors stand out a mile in both instances.
In all it took me five weeks last summer to get to the point where I had my newly created web pages ready to be seen by the world. There was more learning to do when it came to sending my new web pages to my Internet service provider. After a bit of revision in the file names department - I had a usable website up and running.
If an artist feels a sense of accomplishment upon the completion of a painting then so should a web page designer. The only difference in my case is that my website is not a static finished product - I will be improving it, revising it, adding new features, and uploading new images all the time - it's a work in progress!
Joan Sharrock
http://www.sharrock.com
Links to Back Issues of "Tales" Newsletter
Newsletter number 8 - Winter 1999/2000 1999 Sharrock Street, Southport - Book "Wildlife Art" - Expressions Greetings Cards - Encounters with Tigers
Newsletter number 7 - Winter 1998/1999 1999 Exxon Calendar - Christie's Auction 1998 - US ART Magazine - On Safari in Florida
Newsletter number 6 - Winter 1997/1998 The Artist's Magazine Competition - Christie's 1997 - Book: "Owls of North America" - Book: "The Best of Wildlife Art" - Watercolour Pencils - Franklin Mint collector plates.
Newsletter number 5 - Winter 1996/1997 Wildlife: The Artist's View at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum - Destination Alaska -
Newsletter number 4 - Autumn/Winter 1995 Christie's Auction 1995 - Magazine Coverage: US Art:"Where the Wild Things Are", article; Wildlife Art News: BC Outdoors magazine - Trout Unlimited Artist of the Year - 2nd in Canadian Duck Stamp.
Newsletter number 3 - Autumn Winter 1994 Birds in Art at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum - On Safari in Namibia - Famous Raccoon wins again.
Newsletter number 2 - Autumn 1993 Ducks Unlimited BC Artist of the Year - 3rd in Wildlife Habitat Canada stamp/print competition - Birds in Peril Miniature Show.
Newsletter number 1 - Spring 1993 Himalayan Mist sold out - Background on the Painting:"Secret Valley - Bobcat".
Here's an Index for all the Newsletters
Alaska Destination Alaska: account of the Artist's trip up to Alaska
Artist's Magazine Competition 1997: Joan placed in the top 50 finalists with "Zebras Drinking"
Birds in Art Joan Sharrock at the 1994 Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum
Birds in Peril Miniature Show held in Richmond BC and Toronto, Ontario
Book,"Best of Wildlife Art" edited by Rachel Rubin Wolf - features Joan's painting of a tiger chasing peacocks.
Book,"Wildlife Art" selected by Alan Singer, Joan's "Damaraland Zebras" painting.
B C Outdoors Magazine, cougar painting.
Building a Website not unlike painting a picture.
Canadian Duck Stamp 1995 - Joan came 2nd.
Canadian Duck Stamp 1994 - Joan came 3rd
Christies Auctions 2000 in London, England, Joan's paintings sold
Christies Auction 1998 in London, England, Joan's paintings sold
Christies Auction 1997 in London, England, Joan's paintings sold
Christies Auction 1995 in London, England, Joan's paintings sold.
Collector Plates Franklin Mint big cats series.
Ducks Unlimited Artist of the Year, raccoon painting.
Encounters with Tigers An account of an early visit to the London Zoo.
Etosha Safari in Namibia, with photos.
Exxon Calendar, 1999 see all 12 tigers by Joan Sharrock featured on the calendar
Exxon Calendar, 2001 see all 13 tigers by Joan Sharrock featured on the calendar
Florida On Safari in Florida, account of the Artist's photographic trip to Florida.
Franklin Mint Collector Plates
Greetings Cards Island Art
Himalayan Mist print sold out
Home Town Southport, England
Logo What's Joan's Logo all about?
LYWAM "Birds in Art" Joan's painting exhibited at 1994 Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wisconsin.
LYWAM Wildlife - The Artist's View, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Joan's tiger painting is exhibited.
Namibia, photos. Safari
"Owls of North America" Book by Jeffrey Whiting
Pencils Using Derwent Watercolour-Pencils
Raccoon on a Limb print
Safari 1992 Namibia
Secret Valley - Bobcat Background on the Painting
Sharrock Street Southport, the town in England, where Joan was born.
Tigers Encounters with Tigers at the London Zoo.
Tigers, Exxon Calendar 1999 links to pictures of all twelve paintings on the 1999 calendar.
Trout Unlimited Artist of the Year, "Willow Creek" print.
US ART Magazine 1998 article
US ART Magazine Excerpts from the 1995 article "Where the Wild Things Are" by Sue Keller
"Wildlife Art" Book, edited by Alan Singer
Wildlife - The Artist's View at Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wisconsin
Wildlife Art News features Joan's "Coyote Pups" Magazine
Wildlife Habitat Canada - Joan came 2nd in Duck Stamp Competition
Wildlife Habitat Canada - Joan came 3rd in Duck Stamp Competition
