The excitement is mounting in my art group, the Saugeen Artists!

We are preparing for our annual "Show and Sell" on the last weekend in July.   I have a few new paintings I'm preparing for display there.  I will have cards for sale, too.

As usual, we will be part of the Sights and Sounds Festival in Hanover.  Our venue is the IWA Hall, 405 10th Street.  There's good parking behind the hall and on nearby streets.

We have about twenty

artists participating, including painters, jewelry-makers, fabric artists (floor cloths to bags), photographers, stained glass artists, and a potter.  This year we will have a gallery of "Little Masterpieces" contributed by the artists for sale at a very reasonable price.  Most of us will be present to discuss our work with you or to answer questions.  

It's not even too early to think about special Christmas gifts.  And many of us accept commission work.

The show opens with our gala from 4 to 9 Friday night, that includes refreshments and some live musical entertainment.  It continues on Saturday from 9 to 5, and Sunday from 12 to 4.

Come by and say hi if you're in the area!

Packing up my paintings again.......

Today Aggie and I headed to Thornbury to gather up our work from the L. E. Shore Library gallery.  Sheila met us there to pick up her work as well.  The great news is that we all sold paintings during the month of the show.  I was very pleased to have sold 5 pieces!!  They ranged in size from 24 X 30 to 6 X 6.  It was very encouraging!  One of them was this 24 X 30 acrylic called "Whimsy Valley".

Another one was this watercolour I have always liked, called Evening Glow. (I felt sad to see it go!) 

I am feeling more confident to look for other places to have a show, whether on my own or with fellow artists.  Most places require well over a year's waiting time to get in, but the time seems to fly by.  And there's nothing like a deadline to make me actually get out the brushes and a fresh canvas.  

I'm hoping to finish my current acrylic in time to enter it into the competition for the Art Map calendar this year.  I had a winter painting in the 2011 calendar, but I think there are more and more Art Map participants who will enter for the second calendar.  There is some stiff competition around!

I also have a commission ahead of me that I'm looking forward to getting at-- a portrait!  (Shhhhh!!  I can't say much yet-- it's going to be a gift...)

My next effort will be to take several new pieces up to the Southampton Gallery for the new hanging in a week's time.  Then I will begin working towards the next event, which will be the July "Show and Sell" weekend put on by my Art Group, the Saugeen Artists Co-op. 

Never a dull moment in my studio!!

A whole Studio Tour in one room!

The Owen Sound Artists Co-op has invited participants from a couple of local studio tours to display some pieces in the store.  As a new member of the Autumn Leaves Studio Tour, I took two of my pieces there to be added to their April show.  You get to see samples from a county-wide studio tour in one place!  While you're there you can enjoy all of the art in the rest of the store.

These are my two new pieces:

"Barn Window Box"
12 X 16
acrylic

Chicadee
12 X 16
acrylic

The Thornbury Show is up!

What a joy it was to see my own work and the work of my two dear artist friends, being hung in the L.E. Shore library in Thornbury, the town where I taught for 13 years.  It was a dream come true for me!  Perhaps I will see some of you at the "Meet the Artists" reception on Saturday, April 3, from 2:00 to 4:00.  Here are two of my new paintings that are there, and also photos of the hanging.

"Waiting for Apples"
acrylic
24 X 30

"Whimsy Valley"
acrylic
24 X 30

My acrylics are now up.

Sheila's work was grouped so well.

Aggie's work is so colourful!

Painting for the Thornbury Show

It's amazing how a deadline makes me so much more inspired and productive!  In April I will be joining two painting friends for a show in the L. E. Shore Library in Thornbury.  Aggie Stretch paints with me every week in my home, which has encouraged and inspired me for months now. Sheila Bannerman was a painting buddy when I lived in Stayner several years ago.  We three are putting on a show entitled "All Creation Sings" in the lovely gallery in the library.  Here are some of the new works I have ready:

"Shout for Spring"
acrylic
18 X 24

"A Sunny Window"
acrylic
24 X 30

"Winter Blanket"
acrylic
18 X 24

"Rooster's Perch"
acrylic
24 X 24 

Snow makes for great fun painting!

I was pleased to sell a painting at the Southampton Gallery recently-- on Christmas Eve!  It's called "Come in out of the Cold".  It's a 12 X 24 acrylic, based on a view from the building I meet in for church each week, in Chesley Ontario.

Snow really is fun to paint.  The shadows can be almost any colour.  Our minds tell us it's snow because of the placement of the shapes, and the gradation of the colour to pastel shades.  There doesn't even have to be any pure white!  

I have been inspired lately by some visits to art galleries.  One was the McMichael Gallery in Kleinburg, which had an extensive display of works by the Group of Seven and Tom Thomson.  How thrilling that was! The others were 3 beautiful galleries in Waterloo.  I am attempting lately to be more painterly, to allow my brushstrokes to show.  It's not as easy as it looks-- every stroke needs to be deliberate.  As I work with a slightly new style, I realize I am dealing with some of the same issues with paint that Tom Thomson and Lawren Harris did!  Following the fashion of those early outdoor painters, I decided to do some small winter studies, 12 X 12.  Here they are:

"Connections"
12 X 12
acrylic

"Guardians"
12 X 12
acrylic

"Shadow Play"
12 X 12
acrylic

 I think there are more winter scenes in the works yet!

It's after Christmas-- finally I can show what I've been working on!

I was busy for months before Christmas completing several commissions that were to be gifts.  What an honour to be asked to paint a picture of someone's precious castle!  I've included them here. 

The first three were done on half-sheets of 300 lb watercolour paper that was at least 15" by 22".  All were to be Christmas gifts.

 The next three were done on watercolour paper that was 8" X 10", which I framed.  The first was a Christmas gift.

 The next two were gifts for clients.

I hope everyone enjoyed their gifts!