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 entry, needs a name

My entry for the Art Emporium 1-2-3 foot squares show is done, it just needs to be mounted now.

Anyone have a name suggestion?

24x24, glazed acrylic, $375 part of the ditches series. SOLD

Also just finished

Series: the pond, mini #2, 6x6, $55 SOLD

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!

Port Stanley Show Award

I got a pleasant surprise when I went to pick my work up from the Port Stanley Artists Guild.

My peers, the artists of the Port Stanley Guild voted my big painting 'The Pond' the recipient of the Members Choice Award.

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

Mexican Hats: Honors Award

Lambeth Art Association is the biggest, and one of the longest running shows in the Greater London Area . 408 paintings were submitted for judging, plus another 252 submitted for sale, but not judging.

The participating artists are some of the very best the GLA has to offer. 

 Consequently while this is certainly not the first award I've earned, it is definatly the most prestigious!

Am I chuffed? Definatly LOL

What makes it even better.... two of my paintings made it to the final round, however each artist can only win one award. 

The  almost winner was Mom's Cuttings. 

Mom's Cuttings, 8x10, Glazed Acrylic SOLD

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. 

Step by step: three trilliums painting

Next!

Since spring is taking so long to arrive I'm creating my own. 

A couple of years ago I took about a zillion pictures of spring flowers in Springwater Conservation Forest. 

I've been mining that stash looking for images to warm up by, and nothing says spring in Ontario like trilliums. 

This is step one, design composition and value/colour plan. 

Off to the studio I go!

Step two draw on board, and paint notan (value plan)

Next, the first of the texture layers

Then, first layers of glaze,

Almost done, 

Hmmmm, needed something.....how about this:

Cuttings: Is It Spring Yet?

Last fall I took cuttings from my geraniums and put them in a glass on my kitchen window sill. All winter they've quietly been growing roots, and I'm sure dreaming little green plant dreams of spring.

I'll admit that other than making sure they didn't run dry, I haven't paid much attention to them, so I was caught by surprise this week when one of them started to flower. 

It made me happy on a day I was feeling blue.

So I'm sharing my happy, in a painting.

Kit's hollyhock

Hey Kit, my interpretation of the photo of your hollyhock is done except for the final coat of pouring medium.

Thanks for offering the challenge!

Finished size 5x15 Sold

The approach of Autumn

Autumn is in the air, I've just finished bringing my house plants in, well into the enclosed back porch, that's as far as they're coming tonight.  In the spring they 'harden off' in there for a week or so before they go out, in the fall, the process is reversed.
The last of the tomatoes have been picked, and the fish in the small pond, has been transferred to the large one, next will be the Autumn clean up...but not just yet.
Like most, I've been  hoping for just a bit more summer, I've been diligently capturing the last hurrah of my garden both on film, for reference, and with my brush.

These paintings will be headed to the Art Emporium/Boathouse Gallery.

The first one is 'Heart Wide open', the chippies planted tons of sunflowers, as they do every year, this one was heart shaped. I think someone had a nibble when it was just a bud, happy accident :)

sold

And this is of course, purple coneflowers,  still trying to figure a few things out with this little netbook (desktop toast), apologies for the uncropped, and slightly over exposed pics...

sold

For those who've asked, the reno is finally done, and no one committed homicide. A MIRACLE!  

Toppsy Turvey

Hummingbird moth in my butterfly bush, very cool........... but I miss the butterflies.

My world has been topsy turvy this week, and now blogger is being weird...argh where the heck has spell check gone......and why is everything centered????

I discovered the hard way that the plumbing for the upstairs bathrooms is all in  the wall  of my studio. sigh.

hopefully we'll get everything put back together this week.  I have a much greater respect for people who live without running water.

The painting below is one I re-jigged a bit, since I can't get into my studio, I had to get my jollies any way I could ;)

Things you find when you clean your studio....

We're doing some plumbing reno's in my studio, and in the back of the closet I found a pile of rejected work.  Most of it was justifiably discarded, but this one.... I think is a keeper.
 I've also worked on some jewelry blanks I  found in that closet...aka Aladdin's cave.

7 ft painting, 'the pond'

It was a whole lot cooler in Restoule,  where I completed this  little painting last week.  I think I'll call it habitat-home.  This tree was like a high rise apartment building, with all the units rented.  Chipmunks in the basement, at lest three species of birds, including a little screech owl, and in the penthouse, northern Ravens, who are HUGE when they sit on the other end of the table and watch you paint.  I didn't dare move to grab my camera, afraid I'd scare him away. I just sat and examined him, as he was examining me...very cool experience.
Since coming home I've been very hard at work, and I think  'The Pond' is done. If you've been in my garden, you'll recognize this scene....

It'll be going down to the Art Emporium on Sunday, I didn't get it done in time for our big opening tonight.  We're hosting the 'Journey to my Identity' show, in partnership with The Elgin Health Unit, and the Talbot Teen Centre in ST Thomas.  It's going to be a VERY busy weekend in Port Stanley, our show and the Port Stanley Proud events too!

 Big computer's still out of commission, and netbook, doesn't have photo editing, apologies the my photog friends, for the non cropped pics. 

A day to paint

Finally, my day 'off', which translates into a studio day, and it rains......
I had of course planned to paint the pond, by the pond, but it's not to be. So, plan B, the dinning room table is cleared- the piece I'm working on is 2'x7', too big for my 8'x10'

studio, the laptop is on -for photo reference, brushes at the ready, phone off the hook....go!

My drug of choice-Paint!

Now the spring shows are done and the pressure is off, it's time to relax and have fun. For me that means paint, my drug of choice.
First I reworked some pieces that I wasn't happy with, then I got started on some new work.  Unfortunately the biggest boards I have are 9x12, which feels awfully small to me right now...I do however have some hollow core doors that I scored a while ago that I've been dying to get at, and with hubby and son going on a boy's fishin' week..... I can spread out on  the dining room table, FAR bigger than my studio, and really get into it!
I used to complain about the size of my studio, until I saw my friend Candy Mcmaniman's

reworked      

and new work

studio, which is literally a closet, I at lest have a 8x10 room, crammed full of stuff-mixed media artists need stuff-but at lest it's a room, and I have the bonus of a large north window (the golden standard for artists is north light).
It is fun when I have 2 students and 2 dogs plus myself in there.... but hey, how lucky am I.

Art Show Commeth

Soon, Soon, Soon!

I'll be putting in: pods and corals

Tides out

Flower Face

Lotus #2

Red Hibiscus

And others

See you there!!

Mexican Hats,

This painting is going to the Lexus Invitational in June. It'll be hanging in the David E White Gallery in downtown London until then.  The event is a fund raiser for Prostrate Cancer Research, this is the 2nd year I've been asked to participate. It's an amazing event, Lexus knows how to throw a party, lol. I'm not sure how you'd get an invitation, but contacting Carrie Fisher at Lexus of London (519) 680-1900 would be the place to start.

The Mexican Hats used to be plentiful in my garden, then last year we had that late frost, and they're gone...but..I have seeds started.  What a miracle a seed is, often so tiny you can barely see them, they contain such bounty and beauty, if you haven't started a few yet, do it! The universal symbol for hope should be a seed, in fact, I think it probably is!

Pods and Corals

Walking the beaches in South Carolina we collected shells, sharks teeth and very occasionally coral. I like the aesthetics of the combination of milkweed pods and coral, also the irony of two elements of the natural world both threatened by the activities of man, collected and put in a jar/vase.

Also inspired by South Carolina, and the arts of the Gullah culture, my students have been exploring shell mosaic, with great results, here are just a few.