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!