We traveled a fair amount in 2018. The second trip we took last year was to drive from Yellowknife, to the Yukon for Arctic Winter Games meetings (my husbands), then all the way to Tuktoyaktuk and back to Yellowknife…
Head HERE to read the rest. See you over there.
This was my very first show at Visual Effects since they started representing my work. It was such a great experience. For the first 5 years I held the show at my house, which meant that we had to move furniture into other rooms to transform our living/dining room into a gallery… to read the rest head over HERE
Well it has been a while. I am glad to be back.
My art show was in the middle of November (time is rushing past). It was a wonderful event. After 4.5 months of intensive painting it was wonderful to walk in and see all the work hanging as a collection. All fall I work away and never really get to see the work as a whole. Once a piece is finished, I hide it away to protect it and then I am off to the next one.
Continue reading more about my show HERE
Is there nothing better than sitting out in your backyard eating summer ripe berries? The sun on your back, and sweet delicious fruit…yup you can tell it is the middle of winter and I am beginning to dream of spring time.
This painting is from photos I took way back in 2013 but I wasn’t confident enough to try to paint from the images I got. Painting glass is more than a bit intimidating. There is a lot on information in a very small space. I had to also develop my patience level because it also takes quite a bit of time to properly and carefully capture all the abstract shapes in the glass.
Fear is a big part of what artists have to overcome. Fear can hold one back, not allow one to expand and develop. People are surprised to hear that I too feel fear. Sometimes it slows me down for a bit, but then I find a way to get beyond it. Mostly by asking myself “What is the worst thing that can happen?” The answer “the painting doesn’t work!” Yes indeed it may not work but what harm does that have on me…none. Every painting I find that I continue to develop and learn. I have burned quite a few paintings that were not to the standard that I want in the world but as they burned I say “Thank you for what you taught me”. 🙂
Above are some of the images that I took on that hot summer day in 2013. I bet you can see a theme (beyond berries). I adore black and white fabric. I had an extensive collection when I quilted and I never ever made a quilt with it. I just had a hard time cutting it. So I sold the vast majority of my fabric collection in the fall of 2016 once we moved back into the house. I don’t quilt any more so why have my fabric collection take up so much space. Don’t worry it went to a very loving home where the first quilt my friend made…was with the black and white collection. I LOVE IT! 🙂 You can see how interesting some of the set ups are but some are not at all. That is the joy of digital photos…at least you can through the vast majority of the images away.
Step by step…day by day…my painting grows and so does my confidence. I know I have been bitten by the painting glass bug! Wow it really pushed me to render this as accurately as possible. Below is the completed painting. I am really pleased with the glass.
“The Sweetness of Life” , 38x56cm (15x22in), Watercolour on 140 lb Arches Cold Press
What did I learn on this piece…strawberry seeds are crazy for the amount of time they take…each one had at least 3 layers on them. I am not sure I will want to take on doing another strawberry for a very long time. LOL. Creating a smooth berry turns out to be a small challenge. One that I will have to work on to even get better. The other big lesson was that I should never let impatience get the better of me…putting all the little dots of masking fluid got away on me because I was impatient…then at the end I had to ‘fix’ a bunch of unnecessary areas which added a fair amount of extra time.
I would love to hear what you think of this painting. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by.
I have been enjoying painting this winter. The first painting I accomplished for the new year is ‘Venus on the Shelf’ 40x50cm Acrylic on cradled board. I began with playing the various elements that I had collected. I ordered a range of used books with Venus in the title. It was really hard not to order some of the books. What great titles I found to use: Unearthing Venus, The Venus Fixers, Venus Prime, Venus with Bicepts and the list goes on and on. I couldn’t fit in some of the titles I got a kick out of like Venus Envy and Cruel Venus.
Above are a few of the set ups that I did. The bottom one is the one I finally decided on.
Then I began to paint! Working back to front.
I discovered that I need to have a tool to help me see the small details of the still life. So after hours of trying to find exactly what I was looking for with binoculars I finally contacted an artist who I follow and asked where he got the ones I see him use. Thankfully artists are so helpful and I received a response right away and had the binoculars ordered right away. I can’t wait to work on my next still life…that will be in March. It is a commission so I won’t share until it has been gifted. 🙂
It was a real challenge in a number of ways but I was able to stay focus and got through it fairly unscathed. 🙂
This painting is available and can be found HERE.
I would love to hear what you think of the painting. Thanks for dropping by.
So the show was completed and then it was directly back into teaching my Acrylic 1 class. This class is specifically for beginners and those who had just played with painting but really want to dive deeper into the processes.
The first night is just about paint. Well every class is about paint really. We start with figuring out how transparent or opaque the paint is, and then we start the process of understanding value in a very practical way. New brushes, new pallet knife, new ways of exploring paint leads to happy smiles. 🙂
Have you taken a class that really helped you expand as an artist? What was it that did that for you?
Thanks for stopping by. I shall see you soon!
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It has been such a busy time with teaching and trying to get as much painting done as possible. I have switched things up a bit this January. I actually sat down and planned for the next 6 months, ideas for blog posts, Facebook, Pinterest, and so on… One of the big changes I made was that I committed a full day each week to sitting at the computer and getting things done ahead of time as much as possible. I think that the Wednesday computer time will start to lessen as I move beyond the teaching phase of the winter. 🙂 I really enjoyed teaching and it is great fun to meet people who I wouldn’t cross paths with in my life here in Yellowknife.
This week I teach the 3rd (Tues) and the final (Sat) session of Acrylic 1, Sunday I teach the first group of Drawing 1 with the second part of the group coming in on Saturday the 20th. Then I am done teaching adult art courses until April when I have two weekend classes for Watercolour and Acrylic. I continue to teach in the grade 8 class until the end of the month. Then I will be back there from April to June! 🙂
Last week Wednesday I also started to organize for classes in fall and the 2017 winter sessions. I am just figuring out my life…more information will come later in the summer when I have my website all up to date and registration will begin on September 1st.
Thanks for stopping by! See you on Thursday.
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Well what a whirl wind my life has been. I taught 5 times last week! How to keep one hopping! 🙂 On Saturday I finished teaching the Watercolour 1 class. What a blast! I really enjoy teaching in so many ways. I get to spend time with some fabulous folks. I get to share the information I have accumulated over the years. And I get to spread the joy of creating art.
Thanks Lesley, Peggy, Erin, Ruby, Mellissa and Susan for being such great students. 🙂
Tyra came to visit and I finally organized myself enough to get her some paints and her own brushes! She was having fun learning how to mix colours. She is as cute a button.
Drawing 1 – session three finished tonight. The two hours just races past so quickly. Lots of learning and being challenged!
I forgot to take photos at the acrylic 1 class last week. I will remember tomorrow night! 🙂
So with all this teaching painting hasn’t been happening much. I did get this one accomplished and its twin will be done in the morning.
“Two sides of the same coin 2”, 5×7, Acrylic
It has been fun painting this potato head! Sometimes it is good to be playful. It brings me such delight.
See you on Thursday. I am just sneaking under the wire here…15 minutes until Monday is done! 🙂
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I teach a beginner acrylic painting class which is uniquely called “Acrylic 1 ~ the beginning”. LOL
In this class I teach a range of skills including as much info about paint, the magic of colour mixing, value and how light and shadow affect objects. 
Each skill is taught as a step by step process all leading to the last lesson when they do a full painting. I love to see the smiles at the end of the course when the students are thrilled with their completed paintings.
On Sunday I taught a 1 day class where we painted a flower – I thought the northern wild rose would be a perfect place to start. The students who took this class have completed Acrylic 1 and so are ready to expand their painting knowledge.
It was a fun weekend filled with fabulous people. I so enjoy teaching and watching the smiles.
And boy the days just goes past so darn fast!
Happy Monday! I am off to Fort Simpson to teach a drawing class this coming weekend. That will be my last class of 2015.
See you on Thursday!
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The wind is chilly, the weather grey, but who cares as there is nothing but Summer Sunshine at my third annual Art Show and Sale. Moments of Beauty is up and here is a little video to show you what it looks like.
It feels great to finally have arrived at this day. It has been a very intense 56 days of painting and preparation. In that time I have taken two days off. I am looking forward to a slow(ish) Monday!
Well it took ages for this silly video to upload. I celebrated all the work I have accomplished but I was happy to see people again!
A great weekly BlogTalkRadio show helping Artists to market their work on line!
Dancing Raven Studio 