Lady in Waiting

Lady in Waiting describes what I have been doing for sometime - waiting for my bad back to allow me to get up and at it again -painting, blogging and general mischief. It is also the title of one of the last paintings I completed  while still 'frisky'.  She was a lonely lady sitting on the steps of the old city of Talin, Estonia.Was she waiting for someone or something, or just homeless and sad? This painting was going to be a companion piece for the man in 'Roses for Sale', but he has since gone to a good home. Hopefully she will find one too.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  In my next blog, I plan to review my art resolutions from last year. Stay tuned!

Lady in Waiting



Art and Monkey Business

The headline in the Toronto Star was "Can you spot the monkey's masterpiece?" What a relief that I quickly identified the work of American abstract expressionist Joan Mitchell. The other painting was by a monkey in a sanctuary who "paints" with all his appendages. At some point he was given non-toxic paint to keep him busy. He is one of two dozen animals that have been rescued from research labs, zoos, and pet stores etc. His name is Pockets Warhol and he is becoming famous, but not handsome as you can see.



Pockets

 His paintings will be in exhibition at Sadie's Diner and Juice Bar in Toronto for two months and are expected to sell for $25 dollars and up. The proceeds are going toward improvements at the Story Book Farms sancuary for primates, his home. Pockets has a Facebook page with a gallery of all his paintings. Here is a sample:

Not too shabby for a monkey shiner. Sort of humbling? Now back to painting. Use your tail!

Pushing Paint Around

 I know all about planning for a painting involving  thumbnail sketches, value patterns, and colour organization. Sometimes however, it feels great to just "push the paint around". This happens when inspiration is on holiday, or you are tired, or sometimes even when you are feeling "frisky" and adventurous. This approach is based on the philosophy that if you don't know what to do, you just start painting and occasionally something happens. At the very least you have loosened up to proceed with another painting, or you just simply have had fun.

This small acrylic painting is one of those pushing efforts. This is the first time I have used Iridescent Bright Gold by Liquitex and I liked the subtle sheen it provided. What do you think? Back to the drawing board?

Blogging from Black to White and Blue

If you tuned in today, you are probably wondering about the "older" posts that are featured. I decided to change the background of the blog, as the white text in most cases was not showing up on the emails of subscribers. After hours of fiddling, I changed the template but then had to go back through all posts to change some of the text colour. As a result, the order of the posts has changed. They can still be reached however in the correct month in the "archive". I think that this is how we procrastinate instead of just painting !! I hope you find the new template fresher and easier to read.

A successful art sale and exhibition of paintings by the North Toronto Group of Artists has just finished at Blessed Sacrament at Yonge and Lawrence with an attendance of approximately 900 guests. The Yonge/Lawrence Art Walk which preceded the exhibition, featured art works in the windows and interiors of local businesses. Since I was assigned the window of "Cruise Holidays", I felt that travel paintings were in order and the staff were very helpful in arranging the window space. The photo below, although not the most clear and with reflections of Yonge St. activity, gives some idea of the window.

"They Can't Take That Away From Me"

I I have just bought the latest "duets" album by Tony Bennett. What an inspiration! His voice sounds as strong as ever, he swings with the likes of Lady Gaga and he paints! He has a career that spans over five decades and has nine Grammies to his credit.
His first ambition, however, was to be a painter. He has followed up his childhood interest with training, sketching and painting every day, and now has exhibitions in galleries around the world. Many paintings now at the Smithsonian, have been done of Central Park from his window,  and many more from his world-wide travels. He was chosen as the official artist for the 2001 Kentucky Derby and was commissioned by the United Nations to do two paintings, including one for their 50th anniversary. He is also the founder of the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Asotria. His paintings sell for as much as $80,000
They can't take away the creative drive of Tony Bennett who is still going strong at 85. One of his books, Tony Bennett in the Studio: A life of Art and Music, 2007 has this wonderful quote; "The more you paint, the more you realize how beautiful life is. To be alive, how wonderful life is. What a gift we have. That helps you get past the bad times."
Check into www.bendettoarts.com but until then here are a couple of samples of his work.

Live long and paint!

Fall Back to Fall

I am still getting over my jetlag after two international and five internal flights in China. What a trip! Not time for scetching but lots of resource photos. More on that later. Meanwhile, back to the excitement of Fall shows.


Mark your calendars!
North York Visual Artists Art Tour and Sale September 24 and 25 and Oct 1 and Oct 2
I will be showing in the community centre at Mitchell Field (Located on Church Street, East of Yonge, South of Finch) with seven other artists on Sept 24 and 25 ONLY. Other artists will show in the new Edithvale Community Centre near Finch and Yonge, and in their home studios. More details and a map can be found in the brochure at the North York Visual Artists website http://www.http//nyva.ca  NOTE, the tour is held for two weekends. The brochure indicates which artists are only exhibiting on the first weekend, which includes me.



The Yonge Lawrence Artwalk Oct 14 - Nov3
The Yonge Lawrence VIA presents the 7th annual artwal. Local business will host the works of local artistin mediums ranging from watercolours to photography. Artists' works will be deplayed in local merchants"window and Establishments along Yonge Street between Lawrence Avenu and Yonge Bolevard City Councillors will walk the village and judge the windows for best overall creative expression and flare. Check out the Business Association website at http://www.yongelawrencevillage-bia.com/ This year I will be located in the window of Cruise Holidays at 5418 Yonge Street (West Side,near Fairlawn)



 North Toronto Group of Artists Fall Art Show and Sale November 4 and 5
Local artists will be personally showing their latest artwork at Blessed Sacrament Church, 24 Cheritan Ave. located just one block south of Lawrence on Yonge Street. Hours of show are Fri evening 6.00 to 9.00 (opening Fri  night reception by invitation only) and hours on Sat from 10..00 to 3.30. If you plan to attend the evening reception, please RSVP to ntga@gmail.com. Details and the brochure can be obtained from http://ntga.blogspot.com or at aneidhardt@rogers.com




Hope to see you there!

Take Thee to a Gallery

Still in the throws of summer doldrums, I decided to take my own advice and visit a gallery for inspiration. The McMichael Gallery in Klienberg,  http://www.mcmichael.com/,  in addition to it's regular collection of Candian art, currently has two very interesting exhibitions. Marc-Aurele Fortin was a painter from Quebec from 1888 to 1970. He painted luminous, colourful landscapes of Quebec city, Charlevoix and Montreal in watercolour, oil, pastel and casein. He produced and estimated 8000 to 100,000 works, many of which were lost to fire, poor storage and unscrupulous dealers. Very inspiring!

The other artist of interest is Ivan Eyre, a living artist from Saskatchewan who has been producing art for 50 years. He is a painter and sculptor.There is an indoor exhibit and also nine of his very large and imposing sculptures in the new " Sculpture Garden".

Artist's Block

I am in the painting doldrums lately - a total lack of creative ideas and inspiration. Sometimes it's good to become a blob for awhile and not try  to force the return of the "muse". Other suggestions I have heard include:


* Pull out all your old resources and review them with a fresh eye.
* Take out some old paintings, that with some judicious cropping and editing may get  you started again.
* Look in the dictionary for inspiration
* Think of what makes you angry, happy, or sad and just start to paint.
* Put on some music, and let it inspire you.
* Think of a favorite poem, novel or film and try to indicate it's appeal for you in paint.
* For fun and mabye a kickstart go online to the abstract art title generator at  http://noemata.net/pa/titlegen/
* Visit a gallery and just soak it in which I recently did at the special exhibition of Abstract Expressionism   from New York at the Art Gallery of Ontario



  See Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and others from May 5 to August 7, 2011


*Of course the best advice is just to pick up a brush and put paint to paper - something usually happens - see below - (no Pollock, me!)



Unblocked


Now that I'm unblocked, I hope to see you at the summer show of the Willowdale Group of artits:




MAGICAL WORLD OF COLOUR



The Paper Mill Gallery – Todmorden Mills


June 29th – July 10th


See WWW. WGA.ca for details


 



Steinbech and Saatchi and Painting

This is the latest in what has become my "old man" series.


Travels with Charley

Why that name, you may ask? As the painting evolved I decided to place the old fellow  and his dog looking longingly at the window of a travel agency. He is shoeless, as if longing for a walk on a sandy beach. He is actually standing on "sand" at the window and looking at sand in the posters. Of course he may simply have lost his shoe.

 I was suddenly reminded of "Travels with Charley" - a travel memoir by John Steinbeck, full of interesting characters, insights into life and searching thoughts on loneliness. When he was sixty years old he set out "in search of America, with the same longing for adventure I tried to represent in the figure. He traveled in a truck named for Don Quixote's horse, Rocinante.

Speaking of literature, I looked forward to reading "My Name is Charles Saatchi and I am an Artoholic". How disappointing! How arrogant! Saatchi is "the most influential art collector of our time" and founded the 70,000 square foot Saatchi Gallery in London. He has refused in the past to be interviewed, but did condescend to respond to journalist's questions which form the basis of the book. When asked his opinion on the "point of art", he said it is "to stop our eyeballs from going into meltdown from all the rubbish TV and films we happily look at the rest of the time."  When asked if elephant dung is as valid as gouach, he said; "Elephant dung is so last season, darling." 

Saatchi is married to Nigella Lawson, who he admits is too good for him, but according to his friends, his real and unwavering crush is on himself. Read the book if you must, but time is better spent at the gallery itself at 

 http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/

Getting the Most From Art Workshops

I just attended an excellent workshop provided by the Toronto Watercolour Society, of which I am a member. The guest artist was Stephen Quiller. He is a fabulous artist of international acclaim and so inspirational. He paints impressionistic landscapes in water media, primarily around his home, which is in the "high country" in Colorado. I had admired his paintings  and so was determined to get the most out of the opportunity. Next time I will remember these helpful conclusions that  I reached at the end of the workshop and hope they will be helpful to you if you will be attending one in the future:
*Check the work of the instructor on the Internet to ensure the work is exciting to you and something to help your art grow.
*Read instructional books written by the artist if possible, in advance to get a "heads up" on the approach.
*Bring a camera and capture images as the work progresses for review later. Most instructors won't object.
*Take notes of new techniques and helpful hints. They may become more significant to you as your painting evolves.
*Ask questions, but find out if it is preferable to wait till there is a break in the demonstration.
*Have plentiful and appropriate supplies. Check them before you leave as it is more than annoying to be without your brushes etc. A list of supplies is usually provided in advance, but review it carefully, and see if you already have materials that can be substituted. (You can end up with very specific supplies that are not used)
*Spend time with others. Often the best tips come from fellow students.
*Be open to whatever is happening and don't be afraid to try new things.
*Be prepared to produce paintings that disappoint you. You are there to learn new things - not create masterpieces, with others around, in a limited period of time.
*Most of all - have fun!