Openings Necessary Evil?

The opening for the Square Foot Show at the Westland Gallery is tomorrow, Wednesday at 7:00pm.

It's one of those common knowledge things, that is  touted as being a truth, in the fine arts business; you have to attend openings to advance your art career. The assumption being that it's all about building a brand and having the 'right people' get to know you.

Is there any truth in that?

At most of the openings I've attended 70% of the crowd are artists, the rest are family, friends, and a few serious art patrons.
The artists talk to each other or their family/friends, the patrons talk to the gallery staff. Occasionally an artist and patron are introduced, but that is not the norm, at lest not at the openings I've attended. People like me hide in a corner and leave as soon as they decently can.

I hate crowds.
Even when I know some or most of the people in the room I feel like snakes are crawling under my skin in a crowded room, and the older I get, the worse it gets. If I have to go to an event I make sure I have a job to do, for example I'll volunteer to serve the refreshments. Being able to focus on a task makes it easier to ignore my discomfort, but it never goes away.
It's the reason I won't go to a mall, and I find every excuse possible to get out of social engagements including...openings.

 This is not a poor me moment intended to elicit a 'there-there' response. The confession is because I think that many artists are to varying degrees in the same boat.

So I ask, is it true, how important is it to attend these things?

Lets get a conversation going, I really want to know what you think.

Priorities

The weekends I have my grand kids I often don't get to post, they take priority. We wore them out yesterday and they're still sleeping so I have a few minutes to spend with you.
A close friend recently posted on her facebook wall that she would no longer be sharing all of the 'scare posts' about the apocalypse of the day. Instead she was picking one cause, it didn't mean that she didn't care about the others, just that she was setting her priorities.
A common theme in art business advice columns is to find a style and subject matter and stick to it, make it your priority. Multi arting, like multi tasking, doesn't work for most of us, according to the 'experts'.
Priorities.
What a loaded word.
For the last 15 or so years I've had the thread of an environmental message running through my work. My focus has shifted and become less specific, currently habitat loss is my inspiration .
I think with maturity I've realised that one priority can be applied to all of the things that concern me, it doesn't mean I'm less dedicated, I've just distilled my focus to the one common link that all of my concerns share.
What about you, do you have one over riding priority that motivates your behaviour?
Set aside some time this summer to think about the things/people/causes that mean the most to you, define your concerns, hone your focus.
How do you express it?
What actions are you able to take, small things do count.
If you pick up a few pieces of garbage every time you go for a walk, if you inspire someone else  to do the same. and they inspire someone.... it does't take much to start a grass roots movement.
As long as at lest one person makes it a priority.  

Just Down The Road #6, Helkmara Line, Glazed Acrylic, 12x12, Robin Baratta, $180.00 contact for info

The Lorax, one of my favourite books, by one of my favourite Authors, the very wise Dr. Suess 

The How's and Whys of Buying Art According to Chatalaine

In my last post I talked about Big Box store art, vs 'real art', who buys what and for what reason.
Interestingly, right after I wrote that I read this article in Chatelaine and it's second part.
The best advise the articles give is very simple.
 Buy art because you love it.

These two paintings are on their way to the Westland Square Foot Show.

Nature's Still Life, glazed acrylic, Robin Baratta, 12x12, $180.00

The Chutes, glazed acrylic, Robin Baratta, 12x12, $180.00

And this one too, assuming it gets done on time!!!

work in progress: the initial sketch, tentatively called Just Down The Road #3

Square Foot Show Opening

I can't beleive I forgot.

 I was supposed to meet my friend (Candy McManiman) and drive into town with her, but at 9:30 I was gabbing on the phone with youngest, and something he said reminded me. 

I'm afraid he thought the house was on fire from the wail of anguish I let out. 

However, it was a great opening and Candy took lots of photos, including this one of Dr Suess's Garden with a red dot :)  (sold)

This one is another one that passed the hubby test. He hated it, the more he dislikes a painting....the faster it sells lol. 

Paintings for Westland's Square Foot Show

I've taken my three paintings in to the Westland. Thanks to my Facebook friends for helping me choose which ones.

The opening is July 18th at 7:30 and the show runs till August 16th. 

The Westland is run by Al and Karen Stewart of the Art Exchange, and is just down the street from the original location in Wortley village, at 156 Wortley Rd in the historic Westland building. 

My entries are: Dr Suess's Garden SOLD

Green on Green

And Road Less Traveled SOLD

I hope to see you there!

Green on Green, new painting for Westland show

I'm putting the maximum three paintings in the Westland (Art Exchange) square foot show. This is the third, and is the completed painting I'd started in my last post.

Green on Green, 12x12, $160.00

At lest I think it's done, until the final varnish goes on change is always a possibility, sometimes even then.

The first painting I did for this show 'fiery parrot' had a bit that bothered me, so I ended up carefully cutting it out and changing it, so even varnish is no garentee of change!

Fiery Parrot, 12x12, $169.00

Dr. Seuss's Garden, new painting

Here's another painting ready for Westland Gallery's(formerly Art Exchange)square foot show.

I started this, at one of the Art Emporium's Saturday painting/play days.

We had tons of fun, and couldn't beleive it when 5:00 rolled around. 

If you're looking for a place to get together and work with other artists, the Art Emporium opens their doors at 9:00 am Saturday's. It's a drop in kind of affair, and it's free! 177 Main st Port Stanley 226-658-1888

Dr Seuss's garden, $160.00, 12x12

Parrot Feathers Tulip, painting

Spring has sprung! Finally.

It'll be a while before the tulips are out, I haven't seven seen any 'noses' yet. When they do, my favorites are the little kaufmann species tulips, and the crazy in your face parrot tulips. Unfortunatly the squirrels like them too, which is why I have lots of daffodils, fritillaria, and muscari...

12x12 and destined for the Art Exchange/Westland square foot show. 

'super' paint skins

Paint skins are those intriguing films of dried up acrylic paint that we who work in acrylic all seem to collect. I have a pile of them about an inch thick that I've stuck together, that I have plans for 'one day'.

A project or two ago I did a casting project with the kids I teach, and it got me thinking, what if I poured acrylic into the mould?


I've made the mould from plasticine, and filled it with coloured moulding paste, which in hindsight may not have been the best choice, not fluid enough, but we'll see. That's what experimentation is all about! I'll let you know in a day or two-when it dries- how it turned out.



Tonight is the opening for the square foot show at the Art Exchange in Wortley Village in London. It should be an interesting show, I hope to see you there- 7:30 pm.

And... off to the Art Exchange we go

It's amazing what you can get done when you're sufficiently motivated. I not only got one more painting ready for the squarefoot show, I got two done, aaaannnnd when I took them in they took all three pieces.
I realized something today, I'm inspired by textures in fossils, which I've always been facinated by -and also- the textures in my quilt collection. I've spent hours tracing the whorls and waves in those quilts with my finger tips as I drift off to sleep.
These two paintings are more about the textures and patterns than the images, and that's where my bliss lies, for now anyway.

Finally some rain, invisable drought

I have my windows open so that I can hear the birds and frogs celebrating the rain. In the year of the 'invisible drought'. We've been getting just enough rain to keep things alive, but not enough to help them grow. Sigh, my veggie garden is just about a bust,

can-watering from the almost empty rain barrels isn't doing the trick.

The Art Exchange in Wortley Village is doing a square foot show, I wasn't going to enter any work, my excuse... time, as in I don't have any, but Candy talked me into it...she does that a lot it seems lol.

This piece is a bit of an experiment, and I'm not sure that I'm that happy with it. I'll bust my buns to get a different one ready for the end of the week, but for now this is my offering.

Once again I must apologize for bad photography, I had a hard time taking a picture that didn't have glare...love that mother of pearl glaze, but...

3 New paintings, cardinal, daisy, and sunrise

I hope your Holy day was wonderful, full of family and good times.
Looking forward, lets all pray for a 2011 that see's a healing of the world. I wish for all, peace, understanding, and freedom from want for the new year.
Last month, I set for myself a goal to complete 2 small works each week, and despite flues, snows and holy days I've accomplished that. So now I'm going to increase that goal to 1 small plus 1 medium sized painting each week, or 1 large.
February is going to be a nutty month, with shows galore, Portside and Art Exchange both have their Miniature Shows, Art Gallery of Lambeth has a Paint the Town Red Show, all of which I need work for, and I have a solo show at One London Place. So I have to meet or exceed my painting goals or I'm gonna be S.O.L.





I've got lots of paintings stacked up, the problem is that my style has been evolving at such a breakneck speed over the last year, that a lot of the older work is not relevant (to me) anymore. So, I would like to have all new work for all of these shows. Impossible? I choose to believe it's not, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.....

Febuary Newsletter

　
Well here we are at winters half way point.
The days are getting longer, and the wild things are starting to think of love.
Recently I’ve been noticing hawk pairs sitting together surveying their territories, and I’ve watched the rabbits ‘frolicking’ in my garden. How appropriate that Valentines Day is just around the corner.
The Belmont Horticultural Society recently hosted Brian Salt of Salthaven Wild life refuge. With him came Chaukar a hawk they had rescued. Brian is a dynamic and informative speaker, who’s mission of wild life conservation and rescue alines with my own mission of environmental education. We found much to talk about after the meeting and as a result, I’m working on a painting of one of their bald eagles. With luck it will be ready for their silent auction fund-raiser at the end of February. We are both hoping this will be the beginning of a long and mutually beneficial relationship, resident artist... how cool would that be!
February is also the month for Miniature shows. I, and several other artists are in the Portside Gallery show, which runs Feb. 1-28, gallery hours 11-5 pm daily, the opening is Sun Feb 7, 1-4pm.
Several of my chums are in the Art Exchange show, how ever, after a run in with H1N1 over New Years, I was only able to get work ready for one show. C’est le vive.
Betty Burell-Beaudry and I are sharing wall space at the Port Stanley Library,( next to the lift bridge) for the month. Betty does lovely water colours of local scenery. You really must check it out.
The recipe for this month is a fast and hearty bean soup, as I’m sure you know the soluble fibre in legumes is a natural reducer of ‘bad’ cholesterol, so here’s to happy hearts in February!
　
Ham and Bean Soup
In a large pot combine:
1/4 pound of diced ham
3 medium onions chopped
3 medium carrots chopped
2-3 bay leaves
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 teaspoon savory
1 can of rinsed chickpeas
enough water to cover by two inches
Boil for two minutes, turn down heat and simmer for ½ hour.
Stir in 1 tablespoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper.
Remove bay leaves and puree, stir in another 1/4 pound of diced ham.
Serves 8.
　
Remember to look for the beautiful in everyday,
Links: Salthaven
Portside Gallery ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

openings and auctions

It's the season for art shows, but then again it's always the season for art shows :-)

Friday night was the opening for the mini show at The Art Exchange . What a crush, how exciting! My friend Sharon Veldstra took pictures that I'm hoping to share here.

The show is on until February 28th at 247 Wortley Rd London, Ontario. I'm sure you'd enjoy it, should you drop in. There is some of Kim's (art god) work there too, not in the mini show but in the permanent collection, you've gotta see it.

Tuesday evening was the opening for Betty

le Blanc's show at the Arts Project Again an exciting crush, after that Catherine and I went across to Jonathon's for a sneak peek of the show he's opening on Thursday. Any trip to Jonathon's is amazing, if you've never been, your missing something wonderful.

The rather askew piece above (I was trying to avoid glare on the glass, oh dear) is going in the silent auction at au chocolat at the Grand Theater this weekend, this is their annual Valentines Day bash, and is a totally hedonistic chocolate orgy.

Through out all of this, I delivered the 'secret commission'. The woman who commissioned it is delighted, as soon as I get the go ahead I'll post it here. The bee project is proceeding too, I need - as far as I can calculate 14 of the little pieces, which will then fit together to make the whole. Very exciting!

In praise of weeds re-visited

After much fiddling, I'm ready to post "In Praise Of Weeds" again. I'm hoping that this time it stays finished :) this painting seems to keep demanding more.

This is, of course, one of my "at risk" series.

The accompanying 'blurb' will be

Monarch Butterflies
Danaus Plexippus

Monarchs are under threat from both ends of their
migratory path. In the Northern Hemisphere habitat
loss, pesticides, and crops genetically modified to
contain Bt Bacillus thuringiensis are causing great losses
of pollinators, Monarchs being just one species threatened.
Milkweed is the only host plant the Monarch caterpillar
will eat, but is classed as a noxious weed throughout much
of it’s range.
The other end of the 3,400 mile migratory route is
Lomas de Aparicio Mexico. This World Bio-sphere Preserve is
being illegally logged, resulting in millions of butterfly
deaths.
The Monarchs take 4-6 generations to complete their
remarkable journey, truly an unexplainable marvel.
Can you imagine a world without butterflies?

Monarchs are amazing .

I've been trying to find a classification for my art lately, with out much success. I'm not an environmental artist Probably the best known environmental artist is Andy Goldsworthy who does very cool stuff, and my stuff is too 'pretty' for most of the activist art types. Not that classification is important, or perhaps even desirable, it's just that I had to write a description for my solo show coming up in April, and I really didn't know what to call my style. Feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts.

I made it into the Art Exchange 's Miniature show, this is a juried show, so Yeah for me! The opening reception is Feb 6th, 7-10pm, the show and sale is Feb 2nd to 21st at 247 Wortley Rd in London. See you there.

snow and The Art Exchange

Snow, Snow, Snow. Add to that
Cold, Cold, Cold.

It's good weather to stay in side and paint!

Yesterday I took a couple of pieces into The Art Exchange for their February Miniature show. This is a Juried show which means that there is no guarantee that my pieces will make the cut and get in. Kim (art god of London) was enthusiastic about the pieces so I'm hopeful. I always find this waiting to be approved nerve racking. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of one of the pics before I handed them in. I try to keep a photo record of all of my work, but every now and then one slips by. I remembered to take pics of the following two though.

Once again thanks go to my friends at the Ontario Beekeepers Association for permission to use their photos for reference.

I used the flash on this one in the hope that the metallic gold I used would show for you. I do love metallics, but you have to be very careful not to over use them. I've been having so much fun with these bee-autiful little pieces that even though the mini show submissions have been met I plan on doing some more. I've always liked bees, but now I think I'm in love :) but really, they are fascinating little creatures.

I am having some trouble coming up with names for all of these though, so if you have any ideas let me know.

bees and ash borer miniatures

Thank you to my friend Mark at the Ontario Bee Keepers Association for permission to use his photo for reference . This little painting is for the miniature show in The Art exchange The painting is 3x5 mixed media, and called 'Pollinator Gold' . I'm planning on putting a 'blurb' on the back like this...

BEES
A pollinator is directly responsible for 3 of every 5 bites of food we eat, and indirectly for the other 2. The ‘gold medalist’ of pollinators is the bee.
Bee keepers are reporting 30-90% death rates in 35 American states, 5 Canadian Provinces, and several European countries.
Scientists think a combination of parasitic mites, climate change, pesticides, habitat loss, Israeli and Kashmir bee viruses and a mysterious phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder are to blame. No one knows what causes CCD, only that it causes the hive to become so toxic that adult bees abscond, and predators like hive beetle will not enter. Crop losses are all ready in the millions, and will continue to rise.

This one is the same size and called 'Eating the Ash' and it's blurb is...

WHITE ASH
FRAXINUS AMERICANA L.
The graceful Ash tree is a medium size tree who’s tough wood has been the traditional wood for baseball bats, oars and handles. It makes beautiful furniture. It’s winged seeds, much like maple keys, are food for many birds and small mammals.
Emerald Ash Borer arrived from Asia in 2002 via hardwood packaging. They first appeared near Detroit and have spread rapidly to Ontario, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, West Virginia etc etc . It’s rapid spread is due entirely to mankind, as the insects rarely fly more than 1/2 mile in their lifetime. The EAB has caused 10's of millions of Ash trees to be cut down, and cost governments 10's of millions of dollars trying to stop it. Once infected by EAB a tree will die in 2 years.

Wow am I a wet blanket or what.

The 'secret commission is also progressing, I think by next week it'll be done, once it's delivered, and I have permission I'll show it to you.

I had some major excitement this week when my pug painting was chosen for the featured artist of the day on fine art views on thursday.

whoot! and then today on painters keys 'in praise of weeds' was featured! double whoot! it's just a shame that I haven't finished with the adjustments that I want to make to 'weeds'. Working toward the mini show deadlines I've been focused on the little guys.

Things are rocking and rolling! MUST PAINT ttfn

Art Exchange & Portside miniature shows

Belated Happy New Year. The holidays were extremely busy, with all the usual craziness and a bit more besides.

To top it off my poor computer 'got sick'. If a window comes up on your screen that says 'antivirus 2009' with the Microsoft symbol in the corner, and if it implies it's from Microsoft, and that your anti virus is 'not found'.... turn off your computer, immediately! don't X it out, don't go through the shut down procedure, turn it off. X'ing it out will install it, clicking on anything will install it, and it's a really nasty bug. My computer guy ~Phil Hudson~ is a miracle worker and it took him hours to get rid of it. If you need Phil click the comments bar below, and send me an e:mail, I'll forward it to him.

Let's talk art.

The February Miniature Shows are around the corner. This year I think I'm going to try the Art Exchange show as well as the Portside show. I've done Portside, successfully in the past, and I know I'll be accepted there again. So time to up the anty, The Art Exchange is a prestigious gallery in the Wortley Village area of London, I've never attempted acceptance in one of their shows, I think it's time.

Therefore, as well as working on the 'secret commission' I've been working on some Minis.

The piece above is a miniature (3X5) and is called Manitoulin Gold. These tiny daisies are found in only a few places, one of which is just across the lake from where we spent every summer for over 15 years. They are classed as 'at risk', and so are part of my series. Here's their 'blurb"

MANITOULIN GOLD
HYMENOXYS ACAULIS
Manitoulin Gold or Lakeside Daisy, is a native of the rocky windswept limestone cliffs and rocky expanse of Manitoulin Island, the Sudbury area, and occasionally Northern Michigan.
It’s sunny yellow flowers bloom in May through July on short thick stems 4-7 inches high. It is classified as a threatened species in Ontario and Michigan.
This remarkable plant grows in cracks and crevasses in almost no soil, and very little water. It’s existence is threatened by both mankind’s activity and climate change.

Bees are next. I've been in an exciting dialog with the Ontario Bee Keepers Association. I contacted them regarding permission to use images in their members photo gallery. (Bee's being at risk) and they not only gave me permission, but have offered to contact their membership to help me find more photo's. Very exciting.

Time to go paint,