Elsa-

Last Saturday, at Adrienne's, we had a flamenco dancer model for us. Elsa is very dramatic looking and the poses were striking. For the "long pose", I worked in coloured conte' again ( hard pastel) as I am not a really fast painter. (I guess I will have to speed up for the Grand Prix of Painting in Steveston at the end of September!) I felt pretty good about capturing the tension in Elsa's arms in this pose. Now I intend to make a painting from this. Serendipity arises in that Elsa will be performing in October in Steveston and we will have a chance to show our paintings at her performance!

Doodling

One of the things artists are often asked is to make a donation. This is something most of us like to do - but, on occasion, as it can get out of line otherwise. However, I've just taken part in a fun "donation" - three sets of doodles being sent to "Oodles of Doodles", the fundraiser for Surrey Hospice association. I don't usually doodle in an abstract way - but rather faces or "things". For this, I did cats, kids and birds. Of course, they are fun and imaginary - and I hope they will work hard to help raise funds for the Hospice. Here is the bird one- birds have such extraordinary variety that they are quite "imaginary" to start with... but I tried to go "one better" in most cases.

Progress on the Plein Air event!

Well, much progress has been made on the plein air painting in Steveston. We are getting sponsors so there should be lots of "participation" awards for both artists and volunteers. There is a website set up now---www.grandprixofart.com which will have more information as time goes along- but whoa! time is moving along as this is all to happen on September 25th! The limit is 50 artists and I wouldn't be surprised if it fills up well before the date. The excitement is definitely building! In the meantime, I have turned the pastel (shown on the blog on November 27th,2009) of Milford, into the inspiration for a painting- shown here. Milford has the most interesting costumes! (and is an interesting person).

Another go...

As I've said, one of the good things about acrylics is that you can change things. Remember "Grandmother's Gown"? As in previous posts, I did work to warm it up once- but now I've had another go at it. This time, I made even more changes to the warmth- and also added an earring- and I feel much happier about it. The other thing I have been working on is an event for "Cultural Days" - a cross-Canada celebration of the arts at the end of September. The Guild is going to sponsor a plein-air painting event. Artists will have three hours to complete a painting - in the Steveston area- and there will be prizes. People can walk around to see the artists at work, and later even vote for "people's choice". It will be open to all artists but there will be registration. We don't have registration forms yet but Saturday, September 25 is the day to mark on your calendar for Steveston's Gran Prix d'Art.

Show in Hallway

Today the Richmond Artists Guild hung a show of member's work in the Minoru hallway of the Richmond Art Centre. I have two paintings in the exhibit. One is "Baskets" which is posted on my June 11 blog and the other is "Iris Garden"-which I intend to post here. Iris Garden is a view of a house (gardener's house?)and nearby irises as seen from the gardens of the Lieutenant-Governor's residence in Victoria, B.C. We had an enthusiastic group out with their paintings and there is a nice variety - definitely worth dropping in to see if you are in Richmond. Blogging has fallen behind as there have been many meetings and other events. Stay tuned for something exciting to happen for Cultural Days at the end of September. I've been working on something which is not ready for an announcement yet.

July's Art Scene - "To Each His Own"

Here we are in July and time for a couple of summer art events. The Summer Group Show at Omega gallery will be showing some of my paintings. Because of space limitations, not all will be hung at the same time. (But if you are interested, you can ask to see them) I have posted some in the blogs, previously- there is "Spices", "Lanterns", "Blink" and "Finn Slough Spring" - along with this one - "To Each His Own". The reason for the title is fairly obvious as the kayaker paddles past the yachts at Granville Island! The other upcoming event is the Fraser River Art Festival at London Farm on July 11th from 10 until 5. There will be a number of artists as well as face-painting for the kids. This is one I've never done before but I'm assured that it is fun- and I sort of got my arm twisted by a couple of other artists who told me that I just *had* to do it. I will be taking some of the small fruit and veggie paintings that work out great for kitchens as acrylic can be wiped off in the event of a cooking disaster! I'll also take a variety of other paintings, especially local scenes. Now all we have to do is hope that the weather cooperates - but we all have tents for coverage. ... and so we move through the summer...

Art Handling Olympics

The current issue of "Art News" magazine reports on a fun competition for art handlers. "Accompanied by music from Chariots of Fire, Rocky, and The Price is Right, contestants hung pictures of kittens, packed up pizza boxes and trash by artists named Panini and Bruschetta, and assembled installations without instructions." The goal was "to spotlight the skills that we use" and to bring art handlers together as a community. Onlookers had styrofoam chickens to throw at contestants in "Speed Hanging" and "Static Hold" among other rounds. One art handler vouched for the authenticity - "what you see is exactly- as a parody- what we go through." I was amused to read this after another episode of "art handling" that I just went through. Along with a number of local artists, I was recently in a situation where there was an hour to bring in and arrange a display to assist a charitable foundation in its fund-raising. Meantime, everyone else, and the caterers too, were going lickety-split to assemble their areas. It was a bit frantic and wearing - and because of poor sound, the attendees appeared to have no idea as to why the artists were there at all! I felt we were regarded with the same lack of enthusiasm that results from the realization that to exit the castle/tourist-attraction, you have to leave via the gift shop. Anyway, I had a few good conversations and nobody threw styrofoam chickens.- and here is a painting shown recently- "Baskets" is 12" x 16" framed acrylic on canvas.