Summer...Art Workshops, Rain, Rain, Rain and a Couple of Art Shows

Wow! It has been three months since I last posted on this blog. Yikes...While our summer has not been the best...rain, rain, rain so it would appear to be a good time to do some indoor painting. However, I have been busy attending a wide variety of art classes...a  5 day fused glass workshop (wonderful), an abstract landscape painting workshop (fantastic) and a gardening workshop. With the August long weekend just around the corner, I can now apply all this new knowledge ...looking forward to sitting down at the easel.

There are a few summer time shows that I am participating in. I have the St. Albert art walk at The Bookstore for the month of August (opening/artist reception August 1). I have several pastel works on display in the Atrium in the Sherwood Park Community Center. And finally I was lucky enough to have two mixed media works juried into the "Air" exhibition which is currently on display at the Alberta Art Gallery.

With fall going up fast, I am getting set to prepare for the upcoming fall shows.

                             One of the small paintings I will have in the St. Albert art walk. 

Working with New Papers... A Bit of a Struggle

With 2018 drawing to a close, I am getting ready for my first show in 2019 at the Muttart Conservatory(Edmonton) in February. I need some new pastel works for this solo show so in between prepping for Christmas I am working on surfaces that I am unfamiliar with. I normally work on hand-made sanded paper but this  "new" paper is store bought. It is also a sanded paper but I am finding that I can not blend the colours as much as I am used to. The paper does take a lot of pastels so I am on a steep learning curve in terms of application. In between conquering this new paper I am also doing a couple pieces on suede board which requires a different technique. Ah well...the life of an artist .....

A Great Workshop with Pastelist Joan Larson

This past Sunday I spent the day with several other students learning some fundamental/core ideas behind creating dynamic and powerful paintings. Joan Larson, a premier pastelist now living in British Columbia, taught a session on the value of "value". The premise of the workshop was that a painting will be dynamic if the values work. It does not matter what the colours are so long as the values work. " The colour gets the glory; the values do the work." We did several exercises throughout the day to test this premise. It was very liberating not to worry about getting the exact tint or shade of colour for a tree or shrub. The piece that I completed (still needs to be "pushed" ) started out with a brilliant red sky ; hence the title.."Sailors Delight". I like this approach to pastel work and may try my hand at more of these pieces.

Gearing Up for Show in Sherwood Park

I just took down my show at the Glenrose Hospital and am now getting organized for my next show at the Loft Gallery in the  Ottewell Community Centre/ Red Barn in Sherwood Park. I am the feature artist for the months of September and October. The exhibition will include about fifteen pastel works, almost all of them new, which will interpret the Alberta landscape. The Loft Gallery is open every weekend (excluding statuary holidays) from 12-4 p.m.. Below are some of my newer works.

Finally Finished Pastel on Suede

I have finally finished a soft pastel on suede. The painting sat on my easel for over four weeks but as of today it is done. There definitely was a learning curve; had to develop a new technique. I do not know if I will return to using suede although I do have several pieces waiting in my studio.
This work will appear in the Loft Gallery (Ottewell Centre, Sherwood Park)  when it re-opens on September 8.

Sky Spirit

Working on Bigger Pieces for Upcoming Fall Show

I am devoting this upcoming week to work on some bigger pastel pieces for my upcoming show in September and October at the Ottewell Centre/Red Barn, Sherwood Park. I need to have a couple larger pastels to make a "dramatic" statement for the viewers as they walk up the staircase to the gallery. I finished one in record time for me (1.5 days) WOW! I am quite pleased with the end result. Now on to its companion piece, I think.

Tentative Title: Earth Greets Sky
Size: 16 x 20 framed

Final Fall Art Show on the Horizon

The final fall show that I will be participating in occurs next weekend in St. Albert. The artist/opening reception is Friday, October 27 from 7-9 p.m.. I will be selling mostly pastel landscapes...so come out and enjoy some wine, music and great art!