Resolutions Revisited for 2013

I really hate New Year`s Resolutions  but as I get older I realize that there is only so much time for me to turn into the smartest, best looking, rich and famous person that I hoped to be. So I will settle for working at being the best painter I can possibly be.
Here is my brave resolution for 2012:
 `I will paint more watercolour on Yupo paper, continue exploring abstract painting, particularly abstract landscapes, investigate the creative possibilities that collage offers, continue my series of "old men", try new acrylic techniques and look into all the options for watercolours without glass and frames.
PS. Visit more art galleries.`

I did manage to one more "old man" to the series and intend to get back to more, as these seem to have an emotional resonance for me. I did paint about four new paintings on Yupo, so enough for awhile. I continue to be excited by abstract painting and one of my most favorite this year was an abstract.(more later) I would like to do more in abstractions of landscapes, but I think this will be a learning curve. I have not done collage, and don't feel a pressing need to try it until a subject speaks "collage". I am still not sold on watercolour without glass and frame, but I think it may have to do with my choice of subject and so this is an ongoing goal.
This has been a busy year, with group exhibitions, including the Toronto Watercolour Society's juried exhibition. " Tea Buds" has also provided the opportunity for a one-man show. The Yonge -Lawrence Art Walk is always a success. In the new year, the first challenge is to prepare again for my own Studio Tour in May.

Somewhere on the Web, I came across someone showing their most favorite painting of the year, for whatever reason - not necessarily because it was the best. In that spirit I am including my favorite.

Why did I choose this? It is called "Reed Flute Cave #1" and reminds me of a recent and fascinating trip to China. It is a very abstracted  view of these fabulous caves near Guilin. I also love the brilliant yellow which brightens up whatever room it is in. It actually is one of three done one after the other and with increasing divergence from the cave concept:

Happy New Year to my blog pals!

Go to My website

Photo Exhibition

I visited the opening exhibition of the exciting  new Ryerson Image Centre in downtown Toronto, a renovated and remodelled former warehouse building at Gould and Bond Streets. The space is shared with the School of Image Arts.
 .  The centre combines:

• three public gallery spaces
• New Media Colonnade at the entrance
• a fully staffed professional research centre with museum-quality environmental controls
• a climate controlled vault built to contain a million photographic images, including The Black Star Collection
• Ryerson University Fine Art Photography Collection
• Great Hall reception, conference and screening area

It was  created in part to display some of the 292,000 photos which it had received as an anonymous bequest from Black Star , a photographic agency.  The current exhibition features students and alumni of the school. Future exhibits begin after the holiday season.

If you get tired of viewing photographic art , you can skate on the very attractive small rink just at the side of the building.

Go to My Website

The Brushoff

This is the second attempt and probably the last for now, of dry brush technique using acrylic paint on canvas. 

                                                                    Vase of Flowers

This is the all time fourth and probably the last ever floral painting!

Don't forget, your comments are welcome and  keep me honest

Go  to My Website

All Brushed Up

The first attempt at using dry brush technique with acrylic paint on canvas is finished and ready for comment! I found the soft misty quality of this painting appealing, but did add some texture with a knife on the flowers. I can see how that kind of atmospheric quality might suite my "old man and dog"series. I won't "brush off "this technique and think it deserves more practice!

Go  to My WebSite

My Brush with Dry Brush

I have used dry brush technique in watercolour painting, usually combined with wet technique and occasionally for the complete painting. I have had little experience with using dry brush in acrylic work. Follow me, and comment as I hash my way through a "dry" painting.

Here is the inauspicious beginning.

Go  to My WebSite

A Word or Three to the Wise

Having just finished two art shows, an Art Walk and am in the middle of a third show, I understand to my regret, that you can "rush" the completion of a painting. After planning and executing a painting, often the feeling is one of relief, especially if there is some time pressure. Stop! Here are three reminders before you consider your painting ready to hopefully leave your hands:
- to ensure that the composition, values, perspective and the colour scheme work, is to view your painting flat on the floor, upside down and then view it  in a mirror. As a final check,  leave it on your mantel or other prominent place for a few days. This eliminates glaring problems, but can also lead to "overworking" if you aren't careful.
- sign you name to either the front or back of the painting, unless you are of the school that believes it unnecessary* (topic for another blog post).
- photograph your painting, for documentation and many other uses.

The last two reminders are particularly important if your work is going to be framed under glass - "been there done that".

Go  to My WebSite

Frida and Diego

What a wonderful exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario of the art of Frida Khalo and Diego Rivera. Leave lots of time to read the posted commentaries and appreciate some of the details in the paintings.
The sections of intricate and political murals by Diego and his other paintings glowing with colour were wonderful.

Most affecting for me, however, were Frida's paintings. Many of her paintings depict the pain she suffered from an early accident which affected her health throughout her life, and her subsequent  miscarriages.

Their's was a complicated relationship - hints of which are in many of the paintings.

 Their story becomes real as you view the many photographs taken of them through the years, including those taken after death, in their caskets.

Go  My Website

Art Appreciation

Painting can sometimes be a lonely activity. Discouragement can sometimes creep in and you wonder if you will ever paint anything worthwhile again. That is when being selected for a juried show by artists that you respect, can be a "shot in the arm".
I was pleased to have a painting accepted for the second time in the Toronto Watercolour Artists Exhibition. This particular abstract painting is one of a series of three and is called - "From Space".

Details of Exhibition:

There will be a wonderful selection of paintings in a very interesting setting.

Go  to My Website

More Details

More details from last post. What a busy month!

Go  to My Website

Art on a Canadian Theme

As a promotional activity for the Fall Art Show and Sale of the North Toronto Group of Artists, an art exhibition titled Parallel Lines is on display at a Starbucks location for until the end of October. The address is 3250 Yonge St. at the corner of Brookdale Ave.
"Parallel lines" refers to the fact that all paintings are on canvas that is "30" x "10" and hung vertically. This is the third year of this exhibit and each year a different theme is chosen. It is fascinating to see 20 different intrepretations. This year the theme is "Canadian" - lots of fun and possibilities there. Here is my interpretation:

Canadian Blanket

Go  to My Website