The time of year

Hope everyone had a good time over the last few days.....it can also be a sad and stressful time for many people so I wish them peace and comfort.

I haven't been painting but am really anxious to get back to it. I am going to fit in some doodles.

It is really neat to notice the days are getting longer....waiting for the Blue moon on New Year's Eve...it is suppose to be very good luck to have it fall on the last day of the year.

Wishing good things for everyone in 2010!

In memory

In memory of Carolyn

December 19, 2008

Busy season

Unfortunately I have not had much time to paint...too many holiday preps to get done but I am hoping for tomorrow to be a painting day. One thing that I have really enjoyed this fall is Star Portraits on Bravo. Three artists paint a portrait of a celebrity and then one painting is chosen by the celebrity to take home. It is very interesting and worth watching, Bravo 8 pm Saturdays or 9.30 pm Wednesdays. Check it out!

So it happened

Well it finally happened...I was trying to will it not to but alas it was inevitable.....we had good stretch however it is the time of year.........THE SNOW came.

I do not like snow...I do not like the cold.....I do not like winter.

I love hot summer days.....I love the heat....I love summer!

So for all those people at the first sign of warm weather who complain about the heat and think that I am strange for loving the 30 Celsius days [over 85 for those of us who still think in Fahrenheit] I say enjoy yesterday...I am beginning my countdown to the hot humid days of southern Ontario!!!

New work

Isn't it always the way..... I really feel like painting but with the Holidays coming up I have a lot of other things to do. Anyhow here are two new paintings that I did in a workshop last Thursday. Lots of fun. Just a great painting day. I then went to see Andrea Bocelli. A fantastic evening.

Tis the season

It is hard to believe it is the end of November already. Where has 2009 gone! Remember the Y2K panics.......it seems like yesterday.

Well I have a holiday card.....penguins singing. I am not a wildlife artist but I paint a lot of animals. Interesting!

These are my combination paintings of Sumi-e on canvas. I did these for the workshop demonstration 2 weeks ago and finished them on Friday. I have been living with them for the last few days and decided this morning that they are complete.

I have a very strong urge to paint.....haven't felt like this for a long time. It feels great. Timing is a little off with the holidays coming up but I can work around that.

November days

The short days of November are here. At least it has not snowed which is fine by me.

I have been doing some painting...trying to get a suitable image for a holiday card. Not an easy task because each year people tell me how much they like the card and can hardly wait til next year.....no pressure.

I have painted several images, not sure which one I will use or I might start again. We will see where this takes me.

Great workshop

I was asked to conduct a workshop on wet mounting oriental paintings.

These paintings are done on rice paper that is thin so they need a backing to stabilize them. I have developed a fast and easy way of doing this. It is not the way the books say to do this but I have had great success with my method and the results are good.

Pictures of this workshop can be found at the Sumi-e Artist of Canada website....click here
It was a fun morning ...it went very fast for me .....hope it was for the people in the workshop!

Beautiful Day

Another beautiful day in southern Ontario...hard to believe it is November. It is important to enjoy each day.

It is also a sad time....a family member passed away yesterday. He was 7 days short of his 90th birthday. A very proud, independent man who was always in my life. He would visit us every week when we were kids growing up, never forgot a birthday was always at every family function., never saying a lot, a man of few words.

As per his wishes there will be no service for him... so very much like him.

Add caption

My memorial to him ........ Flowers for Hughie

A day to remember

Without getting into politics, we should all be grateful to the men and women who gave their lives in the Armed Services of Canada.

Having gone to a reunion of the women who served in World War II, I was amazed at how young they were and the responsibilities that they had. Sometimes we forget that all the men and women who served were heroes, the ones who survived and those who didn't...they risked their lives to make a better world. And let us not forget the people at home who worked in factories, raised children by themselves, did without, made many sacrifices.

I know a few people who are serving now in dangerous places....may they be safe.

Thank you to all of them.

Aphasia

One of the other things that I do is volunteer at the York-Durham Aphasia Centre based out of Stouffville Ontario. I have done so for 20 years, since it's beginnings. It is a community based program for adults living with Aphasia, a communication disorder that occurs after a stroke, brain injury or brain illness. Volunteers are trained by professional staff to work with clients and help them with their communication skills. I am a communication facilitator and have also done a few other things in my 20 years with them, but as an artist I developed and deliver an art program in one of the centre's locations. The paintings are truly amazing...they stress the process not the product...after all this is about communication and the main goal is to develop new ways to communicate. Together with the public Latcham Gallery in Stouffville in 2001 we had an exhibition of client's work that has since been in several other locations. It will be displayed for the final time in the lobby of 19 on the Park, Stouffville. It is an inspiring collection of paintings so if you are in downtown Stouffville go check it out Wednesday to Saturday 1-6. This is one of the paintings that is in the show called The World is Listening...stop by and see it.

Wonderful Time

I spent the day with my art friends at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. It is a beautiful spot with a great collection of Canadian Art. Well worth the visit if you are in the area of downtown Klienburg. All and all an inspiring day!

Nice Surprise

One of my paintings of the Grand Canyon was accepted into the Pine Ridge Arts Juried Show and also won an Honourable Mention. A very nice surprise!

It has arrived

So it has come to this.......it is cold. While I don't mind the fall weather and enjoy cool nights and warm days I really don't like what comes after. So today was a sad day ....I wore my winter coat.

On a good note I am painting and things are working. Yippee

What a weekend!

Beautiful weather....great crowds....the 9th Annual Stouffville Studio Tour was a hit. We had people at our studio from all over southern Ontario.....
Right now I am trying to get my space back into order.
Thank you to everyone who stopped by....looking forward to next year.

Getting close

Well the Studio Tour is less than a week away.......everything is under control.
Here are three more doodle people.

Countdown

So the countdown to the Studio Tour has begun......it is always fun but also a little overwhelming thinking of everything that needs to be done to be ready.

I am picking up frames for the final paintings today then all that is left to do is put everything together.

I did find this painting when I was organizing my work....yes artists organize! I really liked it and am including it in the tour.

If you are in downtown Stouffville Saturday or Tuesday from 1-3 stop by and say hello. I will be demonstrating in the lobby of the Care and Share/ Latcham Gallery.

I also have a painting in the lobby of the new 19 on the Park Theatre ... also in downtown Stouffville.

A New Month

Hard to believe it is October already......

I had a fantastic weekend...the opening of the Canada/USA Sumi-e Exhibition on Friday night then a 2 day workshop from a Chinese brush master on how to make brushes....I will never look at hair from any animal or for that matter whiskers and feathers the same!


In between all of this last week I did several paintings. This is one of them inspired by the Grand Canyon area.

Countdown to Studio Tour ....less than 2 weeks

Beautiful

I have been away for a week in Arizona. It is beautiful...a living desert....and the bonus is the nice warm temperatures.




Spent a day at the Grand Canyon...pictures cannot do it justice. It is simply the most breathtaking sight. Even saw an elk and a baby ....actually we almost walked right into the parent standing munching on a tree




Went on a hot air balloon over the desert.

I had a wonderful time. Lots of great painting inspirations!

Exciting

My banner [as well as all the other Stouffville Studio Tour artists] is hanging on a lamppost in beautiful downtown Stouffville.

They look great!

Just a little less than a month away. Yikes

Yesterday

So yesterday I spent another wonderful day life drawing with some good results. Still not my thing but I gained a lot of knowledge and had a good time...what more could you ask for.

Then I went to the U2 concert .....amazing is the only word for the evening.....dome open and rock music by a great band...pretty full day!

So is it or isn't it

So this painting I thought was a bug ...snail really...but it has been pointed out that here is a dancer with her back arched back leaping in the air. She may or may not have on a coconut bra.

Interesting!

I think this needs more thought to see where I want to go with this painting.

Great Workshop

Yesterday I attended a great life drawing workshop. Life drawing is really not my thing but I feel you can always benefit from trying something different to get inspired.

I had an exhausting but exhilarating day......just want to paint but life keeps interfering.

I am going to another workshop tomorrow on Sumi-e birds. Looking forward to that...... then maybe I will be able to squeeze some time in for some painting.

Busy Week

So this has been a busy week. Went to see Jersey Boys ...excellent show.

I did paint this interesting new creature.........haven't quite finished him.........not sure what he is, maybe a snail.

We shall see.

Day 8

Well here it is the end of The Challenge week. It is interesting how something like this can make you work even though you really are not in the mood.

So for the final work I think I have created a keeper......a fish! I didn't start out to paint a fish....first I dropped the red on the paper and just started to play. The next thing I saw was the fish....he just was there.

This was a fast painting and fun.....my criteria. I am not someone who could labour for weeks over a painting. It needs to happen quickly or I put it aside. Sometimes I will come back to the painting and work on it again with a fresh perspective but I could never work for weeks on just one painting.

I will live with this one for a few days to see if I want to add anything but it is on rice paper so this is pretty much it.

I think I like it!

Day 7

One more day to go .......





Not masterpieces but despite some unexpected life turns that occupied my time and certainly affected my creative mood I have almost completed the challenge.......a sense of accomplishment if nothing else!

Day 6

Yesterday's efforts....

not a very creative day for me but at least it was something

Day 5

More doodles .......the birds look human

Day 4

So here is yesterday's painting. These were some new colours of paint that I hadn't tested.....I think I like them.

I must say this challenge is really keeping me working

Day 3

So last night I played with colour......great fun with two paintings on rice paper.





One of my favourite songs is the Beatles While my Guitar Gently Weeps.....not any other version, the Beatles. I was thinking of that song while I was working on these paintings. Another challenge might be "What does music look like." Hmmmmm

The Challenge Day 2

.....actually 2 paintings of the doodle ladies.


Just fun stuff!

The Challenge

So I have been reading a lot about how to get your creative juices working because as I mentioned in the beginning of this blog I have been in a rut. I want to draw or paint but other things seem to keep coming up to interfere with my getting down to work. This has been about the longest dry spell that I have experienced so here it goes THE CHALLENGE. One of the things that I read is how important it is to do something every day. I know this! There is one artist who is painting and posting at least one new work a day.

I think I will start with baby steps. I will post something every day for the next week ....from August 24th to 31st. They won't necessarily be finished paintings but it will be something.
Here is today's doodles created last evening.

The Storms

I don't like thunderstorms....never have. I really don't like tornado warnings.....they really scare me! Glad I was not home alone when the storms hit yesterday...the thunder was unbelievable. More thunder today, just part of this crazy non summer.

.......reporting

So evidently fish can hang out on their backs but not swim on their side. The goldfish died yesterday. We will have to get his tank mate a new friend after the appropriate waiting period.

Latest work

So besides watching my fish I have been painting....This is one of my latest inspired by the new white cone flowers that are hanging out in my front garden.

Still working on the doodles....maybe a painting of them?

Maybe I needed the summer heat ...bring on more 30 days!

Very Strange

Anyone who has seen my work would quickly realize that I paint fish, lots of fish. I see fish in abstract work, I have painted many fish in Sumi-e and watercolour, some might say I have a fish fetish.

I love the way fish move and currently we have 2 Betta and 2 Goldfish. The Betta are very easy fish to keep; they just need food and their own domain. Our Goldfish are new and that is a whole other story.... they were also very ill with ick and I "nursed" them back to health. One of these fish [a$3.99 value] is very strange; he lies on his back in the corner of the tank....yes on his back! Several times we have debated whether or not to flush him because he looks dead! He stays in the corner for awhile then off he swims. This has been going on for about 5 weeks [after the ick recovery]. We have gotten use to his tank persona......it is to say the least bizarre. Last night we really thought he would be dead by morning.... a new trick lying on his side not moving in the middle of the tank.

I really felt I would be having a fish funeral this morning but no he is fine again, I think I will name him Lazarus and maybe he should be painted.

Feeling Good

Yes, for those of us in the GTA summer has arrived....nice and hot.
This is what summer is suppose to be.
YAHOOOOOOOOO

.......continuing

So paintings are not working yet but the doodling is going great!
It is all a process ......keep telling my brain.....it is all a process.
Here are the latest doodles and yes I am having fun!

Check us out

Coming soon to downtown Stouffville [yes there is a downtown Stouffville] this great banner advertising the Stouffville Studio Tour.


They will be hanging out on a lamppost September and October. It is always a fun weekend....free ....


Check us out!

A New Adventure

So here we go .....I am going to chronicle my artistic journey.

I have been stuck in a bit of a rut this year so I am really hoping that writing will help my focus. I love to paint and create...I love the excitement of a new painting.....when it is working well and even when it is not.

I spent some time doodling the last few evenings and have some characters that are inspiring me to paint them.......it is a great feeling again to want to pick up a brush!