Upcoming show, Mixed Media and Red Bubble.

I will be participating in a show, Inside Outside, at the Foyer Gallery from this Wednesday until April 15th.

As you can see on the above poster ( 3rd column), my large varnished cherries (The Independent Ones) will be on display. I will be showing also 3 brand new mixed media pieces on a Northern theme: Northern View ( Inukshuk), King of the North (polar bear) and Whale Wave.  I could not get a good picture of these pieces because of all the metallic reflections. I will try to photograph at the gallery without a flash later on this week.

Red Bubble continues to boost my morale with great features.Thursday morning I woke up to a nice email announcing that one of the groups had chosen my "Independent" cherries above as the Editor's pick of the day.

Tomorrow, I will be starting to work on a commission for another "Green Man" sculpture.

Have a great week.

Weekend Show

I took only one picture at the Nepean Fine Arts League Spring Show during the weekend...and I took it Sunday morning after 3 paintings had already been sold:-)
-

In all, I sold 4 paintings and many, many greeting/note cards. What really surprised me is that the first three works to go were the 3 mixed media that I had finished shortly before the show: "Lake Fantasia", "Soaring Spirit" and a smaller one entitled "Dreamland". My giant cherries and my Mascarone ( The Protector) attracted a lot of attention, but did not sell. I am not too sorry about that: I really like them and want to keep them with me a bit longer :-)

The Friday night opening reception was fantastic with great wine, great food and super company. I want to thank all my friends who came during the weekend: I loved seeing you and I greatly appreciate your continued support!

My next show will set up on Sunday at the Foyer Gallery and I am feverishly working on more mixed media pieces for that show. After Sunday, I will start working seriously on my commissions.

Here in Ottawa we are enjoying a July-type heat wave! Nature is rather confused, me thinks:-)
Take care!

Spring Art Show this weekend!

This week-end, I will be participating in the 3-day Spring Art Sale organized by the Nepean Fine Arts.  League  at the Ukrainian Hall, 1000 Byron Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario.

The week-end promises to be an exciting art and social event for all. A vernissage will be held Friday, the 16th from 6pm to 9pm. Delicious finger foods, a tempting sweet table, with wine or non-alcoholic beverages, are included with the $10 admission fee (tickets available in advance or at the door).
The evening will end with a draw for donated door prizes. As well, take a chance on a raffle to win one of three paintings. The sale continues Saturday from 10am to 5pm and Sunday from 10am to 4pm ( free admission on those days). Winners of the paintings will be announced Sunday the 18th at 3pm (winners do not have to be present to claim their paintings).

I will try to take some pictures of the event!
I hope that you will drop in if you don't live too far.

Procrastination, Play and Upcoming Show

I have not worked on my giant cherries for the past two or three days. It has to be completed and varnished by Friday for an upcoming show and sale weekend organized by the Nepean Fine Arts League. I have just felt like playing:-) Here is the result of that play...don't laugh too hard...it is sooooo "not me", but I loved making this mixed media piece that I am calling " Soaring Spirit" and which started as a pure abstract and which evolved into something semi-representational with tons of texture:

It  is acrylic paint on a 12" X 12" X 1" wood panel with metallic foil, cheesecloth, tissue paper, metallic paints. Because of the reflection of the metallic paper surfaces, it did not photograph well at all, but you get the idea:-)

What do you think?

 

WIP - Giant Cherries almost completed

I am still working on my giant cherries: the painting is on watercolor paper adhered to an 18" X 24" wood panel and will be varnished for display without glass.
I still have work to do on the shadows and on the tablecloth and lace...I am getting a bit tired of this one; I have struggled with it since I have realized that this surface is better for small cells than large washes!
Nevertheless, at this size, I like the impact the cherries make.
Next time, on this surface, I am simply going to try acrylics!
In the photo below, the colors are not entirely true: for example, the shadows under the plate are more grey than blue and they are actually much darker. I will try getting a better picture tomorrow in better daylight.

What do you think?

I hope that you are having a great week.

What's on the easel and more Red Bubble fun

My sister spent most of last week with us. I enjoyed her visit tremendously...but did not paint nor post on blogger.

I have started a painting on a 18"X24" wood panel that I had prepared some time ago for a varnished watercolor. However, as soon as I had sketched my painting on it, I remembered my findings the last time I worked on such a surface: this is great for small cells, but horrible for large washes - the surface dries too quickly and unevenly. As you will see below, my painting is of huge cherries on a black plate and there is a hint of lace: the lace was great fun, but the cherries were a nightmare to paint!

The stems are still covered with masking and I have not yet started the plate. The highlights on the cherries were done in three ways: masking, lifting and ( the purists will cringe) with Chinese white watercolor.

The next couple of weeks should be quite busy. I have two shows in March, one at the Foyer Gallery called "Inside Outside" and I thought that, by stretching it a bit,  I could use the cherries for that theme ( inside a container, out of a container:-); the other show is a 3-day sale with a local art association where I will have a booth. I also have two large commissions...and commissions make me nervous and I tend to procrastinate.

On another note, Red Bubble continues to be a fun site that provides me with good feedback. My "Lake Fantasia" has just won 3rd place in a Challenge in the Canadian Artists group and my Garden Ballerinas, a painting I did last year, was featured today in the Decorative and Traditional Art Group.

And winter is back with us in Ottawa: we have had more snow in the last three days than all winter, I think...and more on the way:-(

Fantasy of Reality: a group show starting on Wednesday Feb. 15th

Here is the invitation poster for the upcoming show at the Foyer Gallery. You can see a picture of my latest watercolor, "Angus, the Green Man" in the middle of the top row.

The show runs from Feb. 14th until 4 March 2012 and is called " The Fantasy of Reality". It should be fantastic:-)

Meanwhile, I was thrilled to find out that my mixed media " Lake Fantasia" has received two features on the Red Bubble site: 

Have a great weekend!

Fascinating info on Angus, the Green Man and some creative play

I was thrilled to receive some fascinating background information on the carving that inspired my "Whimsical Man" painting below ( which I will now call "Angus, the Green Man").

I received these details from Bobby Watt of RJW-Gem Campbell Stonemasons Inc. who commissioned three similar carvings for their Ottawa headquarters. These carvings, each by a different master carver, depict the Mr. Watt's journey from Scotland to Canada.  The carving I chose to paint  - the first in the series- was done by Danny Barber over the winter of 2008-2009. It is a "jack o' green, or green man, which is a long tradition with carvers in Europe. Foliage of thistles, Scotland's national flower, springs from his mouth.  

I can't wait to start painting the other two beautiful carvings and you will see how the foliage on each of these "Jack o' green" changes to symbolize  a different stage of Mr. Watt's journey! I only hope that I can do justice in my own way to the artistic talent of these great carvers and to the passion for stone that made these gems possible!

                                                                     ***

These last two or three days, I have done lots of playing with acrylic gels, tissue collage and metallic paints. Here is a finished painting resulting from all that play.This is a mixed media painting full of fantasy and textures.

The original is on a 16" X 16" X1.5 gallery wrapped canvas. The paints are acrylics and metalics; the numerous textures were created with acrylic mediums and gels, stencils and stamps. This was such a fun painting and quite a departure from my usual realistic works!

Take care.

Whimsical carving WIP- Completed for now

I am calling this painting finished for now. I really agonized over the eye on the left...as you will see in the second image below:-) I wanted some shadow, but not too much.

I have not chosen a title yet; I intend to write to the stone masonry company that created this carving to see if they have a name for it.

As mentioned above, the eye on the left really caused me a lot of grief. I was not sure of the shadows to put it, even the color to use. As you can see below, I made several sketches of that eye to try out various color combinations.

The finished painting is about 17" X 17". I will bring it to my framer's tomorrow or Friday to see if he has time to frame it within a week; if not, I will probably crop it to 16" X 16" and put it on a gallery wood panel and varnish it. I want to put it in an upcoming show at the Foyer Gallery called " The Fantasy of Reality".
Let me know what you think.
I hope that the first month of 2012 has been a kind one for you.

WIP-Whimsical carving part 2

Life has certainly been getting in the way of my painting:-)
 This painting  - of a very whimsical, joker-like carved head that I photographed a few miles only from my house- should have been finished last week. But as you can see, I still have lots and lots of work left on this...although the right hand side will have some unpainted areas.   I have been putting in a few shapes every day and it looks like a puzzle at the moment. Hopefully, it will all come together eventually.

This is on Fabriano Artistico SP 140lb. It is very white...with hindsight, a less bright paper may have been preferable.
I still have not decided if I will varnish this painting and adhere it to a 16" X 16" birch panel ; this would mean cropping off at least an inch horizontally and vertically.  This option would be less expensive than having the painting matted and framed...It will be easier to decide I suppose once the painting is finished and can be assessed.

What do you think?

NEW WIP - Whimsical Carving

This is my first post of 2012 although we are almost halfway through January! My daughter spent time with us and then, since the beginning of this week, my mother is here recuperating from carpal tunnel surgery. This does not mean that I have not painted at least a bit every day.

I am currently working on a 16" X 16" watercolor of a most fascinating stone carving I discovered, not in Venice this time, but in my own city of Ottawa:  a new building housing a well-known stonemason company boasts 3 whimsical, but beautiful,  heads carved in stone. Here are images of my WIP depicting, with artistic license, one of them:

I am finding it very challenging, but I am enjoying the process, especially trying to show the tool marks in the stone. This is not something that is still visible in the old Venetian mascaroni that I have painted.... I am somewhat hesitant to attack the other eye which is mostly in shadows...I think that it will make or break this painting.

The paper is 140lb SP Fabriano Artistico. I like its bright white color and how easy it is to lift on this paper...as long as it's not glued down to a wood panel as I sometimes do.

Thank you for having a look and do leave me your comments...I always appreciate so much your feedback!
Enjoy your weekend!

Ending 2011 ...

I like how 2011 is ending... as far as my art is concerned:-)
A few days ago, I finished my first acrylic painting which also happens to be my first abstract. This painting was commissioned by my daughter who had chosen the following colors: black, white, grey, silver and red. I gave her the painting, The Gift, as a Xmas present. And she likes it...ouff, what a relief:-)

It is 20" X  24" on a gallery wooden panel. I used regular acrylic paints, silver metallic acrylic paint, gloss medium and semi-gloss gel. The texture and the  colors, especially the grey, don't show up accurately on the picture, but enough to give you an idea of what it looks like.
My daughter is lending me the painting for my upcoming show at the Foyer Gallery...if the painting happens to sell, I promised to paint her a larger and better one:-)
What do you think? 

Red Bubble also gave me a nice way to end the year with a double feature in their grand 2011 finale of the Painters' Universe permanent feature gallery; both my recent Into the Lion's Den as well as my Golden Arch painting were featured.

I wish all my blogging friends the very best for the rest of 2011 and throughout 2012. I get so much joy and encouragement via this blog...thank you so much all of you!

Upcoming Show, Red Bubble Feature, etc.

I currently have several paintings in the Xmas Show at Foyer Gallery. My next show will be at the same gallery starting the first week of January and it will be entitled "The Art of the Matter".  Here is the poster for this show:

You will recognize my watercolor "Into the Lion's Den" at the bottom right. I have just received this painting back from the framer and it looks very good under glass with a white mat and a black metal frame.
This painting has just been featured on the Red Bubble site in the group The Best of Red Bubble:

I have not been posting new works in the past few weeks; I have been experimenting with acrylics, collage, pouring and abstracts and have nothing worth posting so far:-) Today, I am starting a 20" X 24" acrylic abstract for my daughter. It is a commission from her, but if it turns out ok and I can get it all down this week, it will become a Xmas present....There is a lot of wishful thinking here since I am a realist painter by temperament and experience and have never been very happy with the results I have achieved with acrylics...Wish me luck:-)

In case I don't have a new post before Dec. 25th, I want to offer all my best wishes for the Holiday Season to all my blogging friends.

Into the Lion's Den - finished and featured; also, upcoming show

Into the Lion's Den ( or, as my daughter calls it, Stephen King's Door Knocker:-) is finished. I accentuated the shadows and darkened some areas.  It is 12" X 16" and I will probably frame it under glass rather than varnishing it.

The background color is closer in real life to the color in the previous post. I hope that you still like it.
It has already been featured on the Red Bubble site:

Now, it's time to move on to another project:-)

I have a new show starting next Wednesday at the Foyer Gallery. It is a holiday show of smaller pieces and it's called: Art to Go.  I will be displaying 5-6 paintings in that show until the first week of January. This will be my last show of 2011.

Enjoy your weekend!

WIP Update: Venetian Door Knocker almost finished

I have not posted in about two weeks! I was busy last weekend with a 3-day show and it's only in the last few days that I had time to work on my latest watercolor painting, the scary Venetian door knocker. It is now almost finished.
Please note that the shadow at the top of the picture below is not in the painting - I took the picture inside.

 It is 13" X 17" on Fabriano SP watercolor paper. I have not decided yet if I will frame it under glass or put it on a cradled wood panel and varnish it.

As for a title, I am currently playing with the following:
-Into the Lion's Den
-Home, Sweet Home

What do I like about it?
- it gave me great practice painting texture of flaking paint over weathered wood
- I am rather happy with the metal, especially on the knocker itself
- The theme will be perfect for a Feb. 2012 show, "Fantasy of Reality", where I have to present 2-3 paintings.
- It is for me a great reminder of the several lion head door knockers I have seen in Venice.

What detract from this painting?
-it's somewhat scary, don't you think?
-it's not what your average art buyer is looking for:-)

What do you think?
I wish all my American friends a great Thanksgiving weekend.

New WIP and update

I have started a new painting. It's 12|" X 16" on CP Fabriano Artistico, my new favorite watercolor paper. The painting represents a metal knocker on an old Venetian door with the paint flaking off...
The knocker has the face of a lion, one of the main symbols of Venice. I was attracted to this picture by Ruth Archer ( used with permission) because of the great textures of the door; I have my own reference of what I think is the same door, but in my photo, the knocker is not shown entirely. My husband thinks that the lion looks rather diabolical:-) It is still too early to tell, but I hope that he is wrong...My artistic objective is not to scare anyone:-) I hope that you like it so far.

I have a busy week coming up: appointments, framing, painting, sitting at the Foyer Gallery on Thursday and getting ready for the Nepean Fine Arts League  3-day winter show starting Friday.

Have a great week!

Award at the Ottawa Art Association Fall Show

Last night, the Ottawa Art Association held its annual Fall Awards Show at the beautiful newly-redecorated Ottawa Little Theatre. Ottawa Art Assoc. member artists get to pick their favorite painting in 4 categories, WC, Oil, Acrylic and Mixed media.  A total of 88 artists, with 1 painting each, were represented.


The first prize for watercolor went to fellow blogger Alain Godbout for his painting Sisters: ( upper painting in the photo below):

I was thrilled that my first Mascarone, The Gate Keeper received a 3rd place ribbon!

 The Gate Keeper will be on display and available for purchase at the Ottawa Little Theatre until January 7th.
If you are in the area, try to drop in at the Little Theatre to see the 88 paintings in the show.
Thank you to the Ottawa Art Association President, Brian Seed, for taking these pictures.

The Protector - WIP - Last part

The Protector

My new mascarone is basically finished...some fine tuning left to do. Do I like it? Hum...he is somewhat colorful and busy with the play of dark shadows on his face...his eyes are somewhat eerie... I think that he reminds me of a lion:-)

The more I look at him, the more I like him...It's hard to forget his eyes...I wonder what he has seen over these last four hundred years:-)


He will be framed under glass with a white mat to a final size of 20" X 24".He is painted on 300lb CP Fabriano that I was trying for the first time. I love that paper - it allows very easy lifting and takes a lot of abuse.

I am calling him The Protector ( my daughter's idea)  in part because of the latin word appearing on the right hand side of the arch "custodiat" - probably for something like "May the Lord ( the master of the house etc) protect ....He will be part of my "Memories of Venice" series.

Well, I had lots of fun painting this and I am sure that I have learned something at the same time. That is what is really important.

Your opinion?
Have a great Sunday evening.

Upcoming Art Show

The next two months will be quite busy for me with several very interesting art shows. Here is a preview of shows in which I will be participating in  Ottawa, Canada:

#1 Memories at the Foyer Gallery from Oct. 26 to Nov. 13. My painting " Where is My Gondola" is on the poster below.

#2 The Ottawa Art Association Members Awards Show:
This show is held at the Ottawa Little Theatre from November 8th until January 8th. The reception will be on November 8th. I will be showing one painting, The Gate Keeper ( one of my mascaroni)

#3 The Nepean Fine Arts League Winter Sale:
November 18, 19th and 20th at the Hellenic Centre  in Ottawa

 #4 "Art to Go" at the Foyer Gallery   

Dec. 7 – Jan. 2

ART TO GO

Group show: small pieces

 I should probably stop playing on the computer and get painting:-)

Enjoy your weekend!

A nice Red Bubble surprise!

My recent small waterlily painting has just won a challenge on Red Bubble in the Aquatic and Hydrangea group.  This fun painting has also received three features in the past two weeks on that same site. Thank you, Red Bubble :-)

This 8" X 8" watercolor is on paper adhered to a cradled wood panel and then varnished. I am presently offering for sale online unframed - its edges are painted black and it can be displayed as is. However, I think it would look fabulous in a black floater frame...if I decide to go that route, I will probably remove it from my online gallery because of the extra shipping weight.

How do you feel about shipping framed paintings?