Finished Painting

Finished painting, the end of the morphing process. We had our last class this morning and the work and the process has been presented.

This was a great process, I didn't really think that I would end up here. Isn't this amazing, the whole thing makes my heart sing. I started with watercolours and finished with pen and ink. These lines could be sewing/quilting lines, very much a tie to my past.

Have already signed up for the next studio class, most of the same students will be there, can't wait to see where we go next.

Current St. Lawrence Art Class

All fall I have been taking an amazing art class at St. Lawrence College with Andrea Mossop.

We are morphing ideas, words, inspiration and taking them to a totally different places. A journey that can give you can give you unexpected, fun, and amazing results. It is very liberating to start working with no plan in your head for where you need to end up.

This is my process for the final project.

1. A pic of some fuchsia's from my back yard which I have wanted to paint for a while.

 2. A black and white print so I can look at the values.

3. A drawing in my sketchbook. I  used the same drawing to make a grid for enlargement to use later on in this process. Waste not, want not. My quilting frugality is still with me.

4. A black and white study with watercolour.

 5. A colour study with watercolour.

6. and 7 are photocopies of the two above. I need to be able to cut them up and rearrange them.

8. One of my patched up pieces, it certainly becomes more interesting.

9. Another version, a mixture of black and white, now the possibilities are endless.

10. Small sketch gridded for an enlargement.

11. The large sketch.

12. Another play with watercolours, only two colours, black and lime green. Then when my neighbours at class were looking at it, it was suggested that I look at it upside down. MMM!!!!! this is where I want to go.

13. Go big or go home, another enlargement. 

14. Some background treatments. Oh those squares are back.

15. Final practice before the main event. It will finish at 18 x 24 in.

This is it for now, I need to paint the real one, it will take a week or so, but it will be posted when the painting is complete. I love this process, it has freed me up to be myself and creating is fun once again.

First Show as a Painter

Had a great weekend at the Memorial Centre in Brockville with the Brockville Artist's Studio Group in my first show as a painter. It is an excellent group, they are well organized, the show had great advertising and I was welcomed with open arms.

Many thanks to family and friends came out to support me and I actually sold six pieces.

After working on this change for almost two years I am gratified and encouraged by the response to my new work.

Show Pieces:

 Wild Orchid         watercolour

 Purple Flower, painted from a picture take by my brother Peter. watercolour

 A Leaf has Many Stems   watercolour

The following pieces are all Funky Flower pieces that are 9x9 inches each. They are mixed media and fused to a frame. For protection they have been treated with Dorland wax. These were very much fun for me to make, love the process which I learned from Sandrine Pellisier a Canadian artist who lives in Vancouver.

 Funky Flowers #1  SOLD

 Funky Flowers #2  SOLD

 Funk Flowers #3 SOLD

 Funky Flowers #4 SOLD

 Funky Flowers #5

 Funky Flowers #6 SOLD

 Funky Flowers #7

 Funky Flowers #8

Funky Flowers #9 SOLD

Now to continue working and evolving. I am actually looking forward to those long winter days. I am going to paint, paint, and paint!

Annual Brockville Artist's Studio Show

I am so excited to be a part of this show coming up and to finally show what I have been doing with myself the last few years. It has been quite a transition. Hope to see you there.

September First Always a Fresh Start

Good morning, it has been a fabulous summer for me. I actually have a life again and it has been fun to enjoy this summer with friends and family.

The first of September has always been a great new beginning, I buy a beautiful book and some fabulous pens and plan my life until December, must be a hangover from my teaching days. This year my calendar has a cover The Tree of Life by Gustav Klimt,1909, every time I use it it makes my heart sing.

Since January I have been working on re-establishing my art business, and taking the new watercolour direction. You can now find me in a few places.

1. Etsy Shop -www.etsy.com/ca/shop/CatharinaBL - here you will find my one of a kind, original, art cards. They are generic, and the small 4x6 in.paintings are easily framed.

2. Facebook art page - www.facebook.com/Catharina70

3. Old blog with fibre tutorials is still up - www.Catharinablog.blogspot.com

4. My new blog - this one.

5. Email -cbreedyklaw@gmail.com

6. Phone - 613-213-1535

This fall I will be in two shows Oct 15 and Nov. 4,5 and 6, more information to come.

And I still have to finish my online class with Sandrine Pellisier, I am about two thirds of the way through. Also I have signed up for a studio class at the college with Andrea Mossop once a week for three months. It is exciting times.

Lastly, my challenge will be to post every Monday from now until the end of the year. This is my challenge. Now to do it.

Madonnas, my favourite subject.

 Here is my latest version of a Madonna and Child. I have been taking online classes with Sandrine Pellisier from Vancouver and it has been a great pleasure and a great learning experience. Every project is something new and it has sure expanded my repertoire.

In this madonna I choose watercolour for my main medium and then added lines with acid free markers and white ink and pen. It looks like fabric, a place where I feel really comfortable.

Love the fabric like quality of the lines and patterns. Figuring out how to make different prints work together has
always been an activity that brought it's own challenges and enjoyment.

  A soft fabric version with a Mickey Lawler hand painted background and the remnants of my niece's wedding dress, a beautiful silk from Italy.

Another fibre piece with Kaffe Fassette fabrics. A real challenge for sure.

How interesting life is.

Good morning, it has been awhile. I am still learning, adjusting and getting things so that I can move forward creatively.

A good vehicle for experimenting, having fun, getting back into the business of art has been making greeting cards. In trying to find a niche, my cards are original, numbered, framable, affordable small  4x6 inch pieces of art. I take a topic or a technique and then paint it in as many ways as comes to mind.
At first , I gave them to friends and family, but now they are for sale. Because they are generic and suitable for any occasion they also make great gifts.

Here are a few.The vertical pics are a bit distorted, will have to figure out how to fix this.

Packaged.

Walking in the rain.

Dragonflies of course.

Funky flowers, this is a great technique with inks and gouache.
Learned in an online class with Sandrine Pellisier from Vancouver.

I am Dutch so tulips of course.

Daisies my favourite..

For my sailing friends.

You can find them on Etsy or you can contact me directly.

ENJOY !

 

Watercolour Class One- March 2015

March 2015, the beginning of my watercolour journey.
First class taken at St. Lawrence College was painting figures with Diane Godwin Sheridan. It seems intimidating to say the least at first, but the way it was presented by Diane made it fun and we were willing to take a chance and give it a try.We started with blobs of colour and then transformed them into figures.

 This was a later practice at home.

 Orange shapes turned into beach babes.

Now to really make it my own. Dropping in watercolour, trying not to have watermarks all became part of my learning experience.

The Beginning

It was January of 2015 that I decided to move forward by improving my health, my attitude to life, and to find a creative outlet that would not compromise my health. I would like to start at the beginning and share my process which I couldn't do at that time because everything was still so raw. My DH( dear husband) my safety net was gone and no matter how lovely my family and friends were to me there was and still is a great hole in my life.

But I started, I became vegan, I started aquavit and then yoga.
 It was to sit at my laptop, research art materials, and then to play. Amazon.ca became my best friend, you don't have to get dressed, you don't have to drive in the winter, you can be sipping on tea, you don't have to curtail your spending, which was one benefit of being single, and it came in a few days.

There were two artists I really loved and they both worked in watercolours.

                Shirley Trevena and Jean Haines.

Three books in particular:

1. Light and Colour in Watercolour -- Jean Haines
2. Atmospheric Watercolour -- Jean Haines
3. Taking Risks With Watercolour -- Shirley Trevena

Jean has a lightness and a fluidity in her work that is inspiring, I played and practised to my heart's content. Shirley's work reminded me of my fibre work, there were lines like sashing in a quilt. I can't show you any of those pieces, being very self critical they ended up in the garbage.

Now for materials. I started with my sister and niece's extras which really helped me get started and then bought a few of my own at Michael's with a 50% off certificate. I love living in Brockville, everything is so close. Of course right across from Michael's is a Starbuck's, Yum!Yum! Love that coffee even if I have to get decaf. Had to lose that addiction later.

Starting Over at 70.

Well I was going to say good morning but it turns out it is already 12:03. I am finally posting again on my new blog CATHARINABL.blogspot.com. It took me a while to get here, but here I am. For those of you who don't know me a quick blogging history.

In my 50's I started a second career as a quilter and fibre artist, I can't believe that it was almost 20 years ago.During that time I became a member of S.A.Q.A., taught quilting and fibre art, participated in many gallery shows, took many classes from well known artists, went to quilt shows and conferences and generally had a very good time enjoying my passion. I certainly met a lot of amazing people, mostly fabulous women, who enriched my life on a daily basis. My blog from this time, including a lot of fibre tutorials can still be found at Catharinablog.blogspot.com. If you are fibre person , check it out.

Then about seven years ago my dear husband (DH) was diagnosed with cancer and the fight began. He was courageous and brave but lost his battle almost two years ago. At the same time , I became allergic to fibre and could not work in the fibre medium again.

Two big losses in a short time and my life came crashing down around me. I moved to Brockville to be closer to my family and started my healing journey. It took a long time to re-invent my life.
At first I was going to blog about this whole process but everything was just too raw and painful.Now I am ready to share.

Both my grandmothers lived into their 90's so I figure I have about 20 years left to do something else with my life, and I would like to share my process. Through some trial and error I have found that I can work in watercolours. A demanding medium, I signed up for some watercolour classes at St. Lawrence College last summer and met some great teachers. More about that later.

 From this:

To this:
Daisies are still one of my favourite subjects and found with many tries ending up in the garbage that with practice I was able to get what I wanted onto the paper. These are small 4x6 in. pieces of original art which I am selling in card form.

Oh but I do miss the the feel of fabric and fibre between my fingers.