The Art Exchange Miniature Show

I just finished the last of two paintings which I will enter into The Art Exchange Miniature Show. This is the 7th annual juried show and will run from Jan. 30th to Feb.18th. with the Opening Reception on Feb.3rd.   I can hardly wait to see the entries this year. Every year there are some really exciting and surprising pieces in this show and many fine miniature paintings too. If you are running short of wall space, this is a great place to find some wonderful original art that can be a great addition to your collection without demanding a large place to display it !

Playing With My New Pen

A few days ago I purchased a new pen and have been having a great time trying it out. This is what I have done with the new pen.

This sketch was started in my car on a street in the Woodfield area of London and then finished at home.

While my husband enjoyed watching a hockey game, I sketched this part of our family room.

This was my first effort with the new pen. It's an ornamental cabbage that was one of the flowers in a bouquet from my sister and her husband.

Backyard View

The  wooden fence marching haphazardly along the border of these backyards seemed to point to the roofs asking me to look up and see this. And so, once again I was attracted to roofs! This time their assortment of shape, size and direction is what interested me and made me want to paint this happy place. The garden shed, although not the most important building, nevertheless, is the star of the show, as is only fitting as far as myself and other gardeners are concerned. 

Home On Elmwood

I have both driven and walked by this home on Elmwood and have always been intrigued by it. One beautiful sunny day I had my camera with me as I passed by and took several photos. I used these as references to paint this. The shadows created by the strong sunlight seemed to highlight the features of this home which make it both unique and enchanting.

Autumn In The Village

A group of friends and I were on our way to enjoy coffee and treats at The Black Walnut on Wortley when we passed by an opening between buildings which captured my attention. Luckily I had my camera with me and took a couple of quick photos and then hurried to catch up with the group. Much later, I used the photos as references to paint the scene I have called Autumn In The Village.

There's Something About Rooflines

 I am not sure what I find so attractive about roof lines, but perhaps it is the rhythm created as they repeat and diminish. Their contrasts of light against dark, earth bound against the sky, hold some kind of magic for me.

In The HeART of Old South: Porch Light

If you are walking down Wortley Street you won't see any pink houses and yet this one in my painting is! This home always seems to me to be a very happy place and so I made it a happy colour. Incidentally, it was the chair on this porch which started me thinking about chairs, and was the inspiration for Summer Chairs #1 and 2

Old South's beauty saluted by artists who know it well | Entertainment | London Free Press

Old South's beauty saluted by artists who know it well | Entertainment | London Free Press

The Heart of Old South: Vespers

Vespers

The end of a Spring day in Old South celebrated by birds overhead singing the sun to sleep as they rest on a wire, basking in its last rays. This was a wonderful evening for a walk through the village and a good source of inspiration.

The Heart of Old South : Wortley Village Homes

Wortley Village Homes

This painting is the result of  a walk through the village with a good friend noticing the amazing variety of roof lines and porch styles to be found in Old South, as well as  stained glass windows of all shapes and sizes. In order to show the roof lines and porches, it was necessary to use an angle that did not allow a good view of the windows. I decided to use elements from a stained glass window seen on a previous walk in the village, as a border. The painting itself then became part of a stained glass window. To avoid symmetry I added the words along the left.
I have explored roof lines in other paintings which may be seen in this show.

The Heart of Old South: Window on Wortley

Window On Wortley

This is another painting that will be in the show, The Heart of Old South at The Art Exchange.
One of the really delightful things about Wortley Village in Old South is the way the independent shopkeepers take the time to make their shops attractive with unique window displays, window boxes, and signs.
If you have ever driven or walked down Wortley Road, you can't help but have noticed the shop at the corner of Emery and Wortley with its bright yellow bicycle and fabulous window boxes exploding with seasonal flowers.
In my painting, Window On Wortley, I have chosen to paint from the interior of the shop. The bicycle is purple because it works better in the painting that way. Peeking through the spokes of the bicycle are spring daffodils, one of my favourite spring flowers.

The Heart Of Old South: The Industrial Revolution

As The Crows Fly

If you are like me, when you think of The Industrial Revolution, words such as elegant, fanciful, romantic and decorative don't immediately pop into your head. Yet the Industrial Revolution provided new technologies which allowed builders to use mass-produced pre-cut architectural trim to produce houses which are certainly elegant, fanciful, romantic and decorative. The age of the machine produced some of the most elaborate and feminine homes found in Old South London. Turned porch supports, gable details, gingerbread trim and all sorts of decorative woodwork details were made possible and affordable by machine made woodworking which was then transported by railway. The growth of the rail system allowed mass produced items to be easily transported. The talented local builders were then able to use their skill and imagination to combine these items with bay windows, turrets, porches, brackets, stained glass windows and transoms and other decorative items in surprising and pleasing ways to produce enchantingly unique homes. These features appear, not only on large stately homes, but also on smaller working class homes and cottages. Wonderful!
This is my whimsical interpretation of Old South, As The Crows Fly......rooftops,decorative gables, gingerbread and fish scale trim, windows of all sorts, an Old Ontario Cottage, trees in three seasons, towers, one lovely porch pergola, steeples and, of course, the ubiquitous crows.

The Heart of Old South: Summer Chairs: # 2

Summer Chairs # 2

On the left is Summer Chairs #2 , one of my paintings that will be in the group show, The Heart of Old South, at The Art Exchange from November 21st to December 24th.
 I love the porches on many of the homes in Old South London.  As a child I spent many pleasant summer afternoons on my great aunt's porch on Winsor Ave.
As I walked through Old South while preparing for the show, I began to notice all the different chairs on the porches I saw. That started me thinking about the summer chairs we use on porches, decks and lawns in the summer. I began to play with images of chairs. Summer Chairs #1 was the result , a pen and ink piece you can see at the show or on my website. ( Just click on galleries and choose Old South London. )
I had so much fun with Summer Chairs #1  that I did a second similar piece in watercolour and pen. I added geraniums both in watercolour and in pen in the background  as a reference to all the Geranium Walks that have been held in Old South London.

Show at The Art Exchange:The Heart of Old South: "Caw Tales"

Bird Watching On Elmwood

This is one of my paintings which will be part of the group show at The Art Exchange from Nov.21st to Dec. 24th.

The working title of this piece was Caw Tale. Here is the reason.

When my grandson was very young, he called the crows, which are frequently seen and heard in Old South, caw tails. ( It was very poetic, I thought, but then, what grandmother wouldn't have thought the same thing? ).
Later, when he began to attend a daycare on Elmwood Ave, I occasionally picked him up at the end of the day. I felt like an old crone next to all the lovely young women who worked there as well as next to all the beautiful young moms.
One day, as I walked to the daycare from my car, I noticed the rooftop of a house on Elmwood and I loved the way it peeked out from the trees. Some years later, when I was preparing for our show, I decided to use the image of that particular house. I added a crow, partly because they are often to be found in the large trees in Old South, partly as a reminder of earlier years with my grandson but also as a companion for the old crone in my tale.
When it was finished I changed the title ( twice ), since Caw Tale probably made sense only to me. Its current title is, Bird Watching On Elmwood.

Upcoming Show

Occupy London, Victoria Park

My friend, Cheryl and I renewed our once a week sketching session earlier this week and returned to Victoria Park where we have spent many hours sketching. This time, rather than choosing the lovely old homes across from the park or the businesses on Richmond Street as our subjects, we turned our attention to the tents set up in the park by those who are part of Occupy London. It made for an interesting change...the tents are an intriguing combination of both organic and geometric shapes. It was pretty cold but we persevered.

Lost In Venice

This is the first piece I have completed since returning from Italy. It is a pen and ink drawing of several buildings in Venice, most of which I have repeated in different sizes to give the impression of being wonderfully lost, as my husband and I were several times. We saw the same buildings over and over from different distances. The lion statue was something we both loved and we passed it several times as we meandered, lost, through the fabulous city of Venice.

The Heart of Old South

Amelia Husnik, Annemarie Plint, Kevin Bice, Len Hughes and myself will be exhibiting work in this show at The Art Exchange on Wortley Road in London.

Sketching In Venice

Sketching In Italy

I was fortunate to be able to travel to Italy with a group of artists lead by Daphne and Kevin Bice in a Novack's Avid Traveller tour called Artists in Italy. We flew to Rome and then travelled by bus to Cortona. Along the way we passed through some enchanting countryside and I took photos like mad from the bus window. Many of these will be the inspiration for paintings I am sure. In Cortona I did several sketches, some of which are posted below.We did a day trip to Florence, which was magnificent and again my photos will inspire some paintings! After a week in Cortona we went to Venice. I did a few sketches in Venice but had succumbed to a rather nasty cold which developed into bronchitis and found it difficult to work while coughing. Again I have several photos to inspire paintings.

Urban Sketching: Wellington Street

Today I met my friend Cheryl to do some "urban sketching". We went to Victoria Park and decided to sketch this house on Wellington Street. After several days of painting plein air, it was a delightful change to work in pen in my sketchbook....less paraphernalia to cart, no colours to consider, just black and white. My original plan was to apply watercolour to the sketch but  I decided just to leave well enough alone. Definitely a couple of problems with this sketch, but overall I am OK with it. Cheryl and I agreed that the next time Urban Sketchers holds a symposium in the States or here in Canada, we would like to attend.

Early Birds

A group of my artist friends ( The Early Birds ) have been up early painting plein air.  This painting was inspired by one such morning excursion. We set up around 7 am on the banks of the Thames River near the corner of Wonderland and Riverside and painted until noon. What a wonderful way to start a day! This week we are going to paint near the Medway Creek.

A Gift: Lilies In My Garden

I did a watercolour sketch of these lilies in my garden this morning. They were a gift years ago from my mother's garden and have faithfully returned every year since. They have always intrigued me because their seeds appear to form at the base of their leaves, having nothing to do with their flowers. Mom always called them Tiger Lilies, but I think their spots make them leopards!



Newfoundland

Guest Artist Cheryl Radford at Sunset Arts

If you are in Grand Bend, stop in at our Artists' Co-op Gallery, Sunset Arts to see our new displays and our guest artist, Cheryl Radford's work.

Sketchbook: Victoria Park: New Field Sketch Box



Gate at Central and Richmond

  I met up with Cheryl to do some sketching and to test out a new set of watercolours made by Sakura, a Koi water color field sketch box. It will take some getting used to, but the advantage of the little brush which holds water (so you don't need to cart around bottles of water as well as something to contain the water while you work )was wonderful for sketching (especially now when the airboot thing on my foot makes getting around tricky enough). I am not convinced it would do for a painting on location, but for sketchbook work it was great. The whole thing fit easily into my bag so I can take it with me everywhere! The sketch above was done with the Koi watercolors and then modified with pen.

Studio Work

Since I am restricted by a cast on my foot, plein air painting has ground to a standstill. While I am able to walk well on floors and sidewalks and anything flat, level and sturdy, walking on grass, paths through the woods, fields or rocky shores are off limits. Very frustrating, since this is the time that the Gallery Painting Group paints twice a week on location.
I have been working from sketches and photos in my studio and today I finished a 30" x 20" acrylic painting of Medway Heritage Forest in Autumn. I will take it up to Sunset Arts Gallery and hang it on Monday, when I am scheduled to work.

A Voice from The Past: Memory Work, Kindness and Miss M.

When I was a child in grade five my teacher, Miss M., was in the habit of giving us memory work. I remember only the following lines  now, from a poem, the title of which I no longer know.

" Slowly, silently, now the Moon
  Walks the night in her silver shoon
  This way and that she peers and sees
  Silver fruit upon silver trees."

I think the poet was Walter de la Mare, but I may be wrong. Last night at the Sunset Arts Gallery Opening a woman walked through our door with some companions. She looked very familiar to me but it wasn't until I heard her voice as she was talking to her friends about her favourite painting in the gallery that I could place her. I introduced myself to her. I am sure she didn't remember me, since I have changed quite a bit in the many years since grade five. I reminded her of the great kindness she had shown me when I inadvertently destroyed many of her files when I was plant monitor and over watered ( to say the least ), causing a river of water to run down the shelves and on to her work.  I was sure I would be in so much trouble, but as I tried to explain what had happened, she laughed and said she understood and helped me to clean up the water. I have never forgotten her kindness to a terrified little girl. Before she left the gallery she purchased her favourite painting, Near Ril Lake, which was one of mine  which I did plein air near a friend's cottage. Thank you Miss M., for the purchase and for so much more!

Near Ril Lake

  

And More Buildings

More Buildings

I spent the day sketching at Fanshawe Pioneer Village. The Gallery Painting Group held a workshop there today with most painters working in oil. I did two sketches of buildings, even though there were some wonderful vistas for landscape paintings. I promised myself that I could do landscape on Tuesday when we meet again, and so I completed two sketches of buildings using pen and ink with watercolour. The first is the Millar home and the second is the Peel residence.

Fanshawe Pioneer Village is a nice place to visit and sketching subjects are everywhere...lovely old buildings, cabins, gardens, antique farm equipment, people in period dress, lovely shop windows....an endless array of possibilities. I am sure to return here to sketch several times over the next few months.

Sketching Buildings

I have been meeting with my friend, Cheryl Radford, once a week for a few months in order to try to improve my sketching skills, particularly sketching buildings,  in preparation for an upcoming trip to Italy where most of what I will be seeing (and painting) is architecture. Cheryl does beautiful architectural sketches, so her work is certainly an inspiration! Today we met at Starbucks on Richmond Street and then walked down until we found something promising to sketch. I worked first in graphite and then in ink to produce the sketch above. Hopefully we will continue to meet and sketch so that by the time we are in Italy buildings won't be so difficult for me.

Daniel's First Paint Out

The Gallery Painting Group met this morning at a farm on Westdel Bourne. My husband and I took our grandson, Daniel, who is five, along for his first paint out. We wandered around the property, visiting the cows, watching the sheep and horses and examining the farm equipment up close. Of course we took lots of photos too.The weather was damp, cold and windy, but Daniel and I hunkered down behind the car, out of the wind, and we were dressed in lots of layers so it was enjoyable for us both to do some sketching while my husband walked the property again taking more photos. Daniel did three sketches...two of clouds and one of the cow who had earlier seemed very interested in Daniel.We all three took a hot chocolate and windmill cookie tailgate break and then finished up our sketches. I did a pen sketch with watercolour added at home this evening.

On Location with The Gallery Painting Group

This is a small watercolour sketch done on location this morning. The Gallery Painting Group meets regularly in the spring, summer and fall to paint on location. It's a great group of painters and we have fun together while also learning. At the end of each session we critique each other's efforts, offering both praise and suggestions. This morning we gathered at a dairy farm where there was an amazing variety of subject matter. I chose to do a landscape view across the road from the farm. I spent more time chatting than painting, but that's part of the appeal of this group... a chance to talk with other painters and compare ideas, methods, media and goals.The spring greens, yellows and pinks were fun to paint ... much softer and more high key than my usual palette...   Next week we are meeting at a different farm. If we are very lucky the weather will be as nice as it was today.                                                                                             

A Visit to Sifton Bog in London Ontario

My husband and I spent the afternoon at the Sifton Bog with our grandson. The weather was perfect and there were so many beautiful things to see. The tamaracks are in bud, lovely soft green misty shapes. Because the trees are not yet in leaf, blue sky is reflected everywhere, dancing and sparkling in the sun. Spring green clumps of moss are dotted through the bog along with geen shoots of all sorts including skunk cabbage which hasn't yet unfurled. I took several photos and will return as soon as I possibly can to sketch and perhaps do some watercolour studies. So much inspiring subject matter to choose from, but today was for family, not for sketching. Our grandson had a great time watching dragonflies, ducks, and geese and he spotted a racoon asleep up in a tree. We looked for, but did not see deer. We did run into a long time friend and artist who was also looking for and finding lots of painting material. After our walk we stopped and enjoyed coffee, juice and a snack sitting on rocks in the sun, chatting about all we had seen and heard. A great day!

Getting Ready For A New Season

Today I drove to Sunset Arts Gallery in Grand Bend to get ready for the Grand Bend Studio Tour , Arts & Eats. The tour will take place on Saturday May 14th from 10 am to 6 pm and Sunday May 15th from 11am to 5 pm.
Sunset Arts will be open on weekends until June 17th when it will be open daily until September.
The photo is my wall at the gallery. Every year I either under or over estimate how much work I will require. As you can see from the photo, this year I underestimated! So... another trip to the gallery this week to finish hanging my wall. I really don't mind. This time of year the countryside is lovely to drive through. Today the willows along all the streams and creeks were a breathtaking sight and the orchards we passed were pink, not with blooms yet, but the bark was pink in the light rain.

Award at Brush and Palette Show

Market Series # 1, watercolour and pen

I was delighted to be the recipient of an Honours Award at the Brush and Palette Club Show. The judge, Catherine Elliot Shaw, made the folowing remarks:

The combination of architectural details, urban vista and intriguing table groupings creates an engaging image of ordinary stories. The text provides an additional dimension and its ambiguity allows us the opportunity to complete the narrative ourselves. The colour and technique imbues the scene with a distincitve,  melancholy quality.

New Blues, Iceberg

I was at David and Olga Guthrie's to pick up work they framed for me to exhibit at The Brush and Palette Club's Annual Show and Sale when some fabulous watercolour tubes of various blues called my name. Today I have had fun playing with blue and eventually revisited icebergs to use what I had discovered while playing.. The result is the painting above, Iceberg Revisited.



Paint Ontario, Lambton Heritage Museum, Hwy 21 across from the Pinery,Grand Bend Ontario

I went to see this show on Saturday and I hope you do too. It is a fabulous show again this year!

Paint Ontario, Lambton Heritage Museum, Hwy 21 across from the Pinery,Grand Bend Ontario

Since I will be unable to attend the Opening tomorrow evening, I will travel up to see the show on Saturday. If you are able, please try to attend the Opening or stop by some time this month. I am sure you won't be dissappointed!


This is one of my entries, After The Harvest, Mount Carmel Road,acrylic



Where The Heart Is Series: # 3

Where The Heart Is Series: # 2