Dream Cities

I've finally got around to sending off the 2011 paintings so they can be added to the website. There are four "Dream Cities" in the set.  This series is about cities as you imagine them- before the trip, as it were. Everything is ideal. Then you get there and your feet are sore, the traffic is horrendous and the place is polluted! This series started when I was working on the Winter Sunset, Finn Slough painting and thought , "What if the telephone poles were minarets?" One thing led to another and I began to imagine an Istanbul-like place looking magical with reflections. I've never been there- so it really is a "dream city". So far there are 6 in the series and I'm not sure, but maybe, the series is completed- or the dreams may continue with totally imaginary cities and places. At this point, I don't know.

Ordering card

I decided it was time to think about a Christmas card. I used to get multiple photocopies, cut them out and paste them onto cards. Then I decided to try Apple and loved the quality and ease (no cutting, no pasting...already done!) The big decision is just what painting to use. I had a new poppy painting but I used "Poppies by the Fence" last year. I'd recently hung "Birches in Winter" in the entry hall and had several comments on it - so I thought -why not? This is the view I see when I sit at my computer. The birds are Redwing blackbirds.  I thought I would just be picking a painting for the front of the card - but- wow! - the new design offerings has one with a strip of mini paintings down each side of the message- so all of a sudden I was thinking about which ten or so paintings to choose. I'm quite excited about the result and looking forward to receiving the paper copies. It will be interesting to see what the reaction of the recipients is. I hope people don't think it is too promotional looking- but if you don't promote yourself, who will? They will go "as is" to gallery people, those who have bought paintings, etc. and I will add an insert with personal news for closer friends. I do love my Mac computer. This new version of I-Photo was added when the computer got a new hard-drive in a recent recall. I didn't lose anything - except maybe two e-mails that don't seem to be retrievable- and this new card design is really great. Much fun.

A real Hallowe'en cat

Here is Digby getting into the Hallowe'en set-up.  I'm not sure how the witch felt about sharing the spotlight.

Calendar Launch

This coming Tuesday is the Calendar Launch at Richmond Cultural Centre and everyone is welcome. 7-9 pm Tuesday October 23. There will be refreshments. Several of the artists, including me, will be there. Besides the painting shown in the calendar, each artist was allowed an "extra".  My two are shown in the previous blog---- and yes, they did get hung!   The paintings are hanging in the Rotunda.

October is here!

Well, here we are into October- but, except for the nights which are cooler, it is almost like summer. The show at Rocanini ends this Friday but I am part of another show in the Rotunda of Richmond Cultural Centre.  It is paintings from the 2013 Multifaith Calendar- plus one from various artists. My "Winter Sunset- Finn Slough" is the sidebar for December (I love painting skies!)  and "In the Woods"is my plus-one. It turned out that the artists were expected to hang their own but I'm not up to stepladders yet, with my hip - so I ended up just leaving the paintings and hoping they get hung! ...well- what can you do... I'll be over for the meeting on Wednesday and will see what has happened.

What I did last night

Last night, some of us were drawing or painting in the lobby of the Art Centre-to show the kind of thing that we do in our Life Drawing sessions.  For this public event, however, we did have a draped model...which is something we actually do sometimes in our regular Life Drawing sessions. We arranged a better lighted spot for the model, but our lighting was terrible. I thought I was using black for the dress strap - but, look- it is purple!  Also, not sure about the skin as it ended up more yellow, when I could actually see the colours I'd been using. I may go over it again to "de-yellow" it.   I was using conte' crayon on an orange paper.  This was done in around 2 and a half hours, minus breaks for the model. This event was for Cultural Days which runs all weekend across Canada. The Art Centre was really hopping and we had some people come specifically to join us to do their own drawing- which was really nice!

Grand Prix of Art

Last weekend's Grand Prix of Art was a great success with over 65 artists in the "race"- three hours to complete a painting once you get your luck-of-the-draw location.  We had good weather - although a little flat lighting- and lots of volunteers helping things run smoothly.  I'm not into marathon walking yet, since the hip replacement, so when I asked about parking, Mike Rossiter said he'd make me a sign. Sure enough, there it was at the parking lot- so I felt very privileged!  I ended up drawing a spot right at Britannia. Jenny Taylor, who had broken a bone in her foot, was in the same spot so we joked that only people with walking aids were allowed there.  We had fun as some things in our view were taken down and more pennants were added. It felt good to be out painting again - and then we had a great lunch provided by Bean And Beyond.