A Reminder of Why I Paint...





Chrysanthamum



I had a very sad call earlier this week – a call from a son who let me know that his mother, Cheryl, had recently died. She had terminal cancer. I met her at this year’s Queen West Art Crawl and she purchased 2 paintings (actually, 2 of may favourites - Chrysanthamum and Peony), commissioning a third. I delivered the paintings to her home and we rearranged her furniture and art to find a perfect place to showcase her newest works. As requested, I brought my painting Maple, Birch, Oak which she loved and also purchased. We chatted about her grandkids and had a great time. It is so sad that she is no longer around. It is things like this that make me glad that I am doing something I love. I sometimes think it is self indulgent – painting what I love and what makes me happy. It is very gratifying to know that it makes others, like Cheryl, happy too.

New direction in my work…and I am LOVIN’ it!

Rob, my husband, is generally not a fan of my work – that’s OK, everyone has their opinion of art and abstract art is that much more open to interpretation. However, I was fooling around on day, looking for a new technique and created a piece that he really liked. I use shorter sharper strokes with the palette knife and work in multiple directions. Because I work flat, I move around the canvas and work on all 4 sides. This technique works really well in acrylic. I typically do 5-10 layers. In some cases, I let the previous layer dry completely (often putting a strong orange or red base layer) and in some cases, wait until the paint is tacky. I can then load up my palette know and draw it across the painting, merging multiple colours and layers. The initial painting ended up becoming “The Pond”. I continued to refine the process and created a few that I am really loving! I first did a few for the New York show and have now completed a few large ones – 24” x 48”. My favorite was inspired by Monet’s Water Lily series. Also called Waterlily, the painting is 10” x 48” – a shape that I love. In addition, I have been working with Epoxy resin – it really adds depth and gives the experience that you are looking deeply into the water. Interestingly, although it is abstract, every single person understood that it was of water and a reflection of flowers. I love this piece – may not have the heart to sell it!

Riverdale Art Walk Update

Well the weather held off which was great – a bit touch and go on Sunday morning. It was wonderful to participate in the RAW again this year and what a difference from last year. For me, I knew no one last year so the whole process was a bit daunting. This year was filled with catching up - both with other artists and visitors to my booth.

All the people I have met through The Artist’s Network have been a great source of inspiration and communicate. There was lots of interest, especially in my new work and the resin coated ones. Made some sales, but more importantly, got to talk to people about their thoughts about the work, their feedback and visceral reactions to the strong colour. Most were very positive…with the exception of the classic “my 5 year old could do this”.”Well, you must have a very talented child and good luck with that”, I say! Lots of follow-up to do and names to add to the database.

OAKVILLE ART IN THE PARK and QUEEN WEST ART CRAWL are next – see my website for details

SolidColour show at Launch Projects

Last weekend, we had a very successful opening reception of our second group show as SolidColour. Once again, we mixed painting of all 4 artists on each wall – they ended up being themed by colour although that was not the original idea. It is a wonderful collaboration of 4 artists –ideas exchanged and new techniques discussed. It is a great way to divide the work and open up opportunities that would probably not be available to individual artists – partially due to the amount of work it take to mount a show – both in effort and physical number of pieces. This way, each of us takes turns in “owning” a venue and drives it forward. Everyone contributes in pulling the critical elements together. We now have 4 times the options in sourcing shows or venues, 4 times the databases to send out invitations to and ¼ the workload of doing it alone – BRILLIANT!

The show is still on at Launch Projects (404 Adelaide Street West) until Sunday May 30th until 6:00. It is advertised in Akimbo, Slate, Now, Toronto Star and Instant Coffee courtesy of Launch Projects. See http://www.solidcolour.ca/ for more info.

SolidColour Abstract Art Collective

A few months ago, a group of us decided to combine our talents and form SolidColour – an Abstract art collective. The idea being that all 4 of us could show work together. The discussion started at the Queen West Art Crawl and, with Karen Taylor (no relation) leading the charge, is now a reality.

SolidColour is a collective of like minded artists committed to raising the awareness and appreciation level of abstract art in the community. The collective consists of 4 artists - Bill Philpovich, Ben Stansfield, Karen Taylor and Kate Taylor - who have complementary but different styles of abstract art, each exploring new ways to communicate relevant and meaningful messages to various audiences. Each is committed to using colour as a primary vehicle of expression.

Our first group show is “Driven to Abstraction”

2009 and the Riverdale Art Walk Submission

I just dropped off my submission for the Riverdale Art Walk –the waiting begins once again! I included a few of my newest works – we will see!


It is amazing to think back a year when it took all my courage to walk through the door of the Hangman Gallery to drop off my submission. It was the start of an incredible adventure, one that I had been contemplating for years as I painted sporadically. A few highlights of 2009:

• Upcoming Shows: 6 shows coming up, including one in New York and 3 with SolidColour
• Past Shows: 10 Shows completed in the past 7 months, including the Beverly Owens show – the Seven Deadly Sins, the Octopus Project, Riverdale Art Walk, Queen West Art Crawl…
• Art Collective: Part of the SolidColour Abstract Art Collective with Bill Philpovich, Ben Stansfield and Karen Taylor
• Paintings in the Rouge Concept Art Gallery on Queen Street East – an amazing gallery that mixes art, glass, sculpture, furniture and lighting.
  

Hoping 2010 is even better!

Most Recent Octopus Project

I recently participated in the latest Octopus Project – the project that involves "Sending sparks to fuel creativity and community". The latest ‘spark’ was the photo attached and the description “A Grey Nun and an Inuit woman, possibly at the Roman Catholic Hospital in Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut. The woman is holding a baby [The woman has been identified as Uyaraq Amaqtunuaq and the baby as Alphonse Naukatsik.”

I decided to try and work on abstracting the images. Because the photo is Black and White, I used a monochromatic colour palette but…I couldn’t resist adding a bit of colour. I covered the full canvas in a strong pure orange. As a final touch, I added the cross in silver. This painting was a challenge – I had to define the images with a few strokes of the palette knife – working in a more delicate manner than I am used to. Although this is not a beautiful painting, I like the end result. This was a practice for a series that I am working on – transitioning from photo – to realism – to abstraction of the same image.