Belleville Art Association Xmas Lunch

The Belleville Art Association had its annual Xmas lunch at the Ramada Inn last Monday. There were 44 members present, which out of a membership of about 120 is pretty good.

We raffled off some poinsettias and art supplies and raised some more money for the Christmas Sharing Program in Belleville. We support this good cause every year, and $5 from the sale of all miniature paintings also goes to them at this time of year.

Come and see the new show which starts next Tuesday.

I forgot to mention that the painting in the last post is the one I am using this year as my Christmas card - even though it was't actually painted with that in mind. I did it back in the spring. It is acrylics and done with a palette knife so there is lots of texture.

Tweed Heritage Centre Xmas Arts and Crafts

The second annual Tweed Heritage Centre Arts and Crafts sale will be held from 26th November 2009 till Dec 5th 2005.
I wll have a few smalll paintings and felted fibre art works there.
See picture on the right.
Most items are reasonably priced to reflect the economic downturn!
20 percent of the proceeds of sales help to keep the Tweed Heritage Centre going.
Please come and visit us and support the museum and art gallery.

"Water, water everywhere"

This is the title of the Belleville Art Associations annual juried show. The opening on Saturday was very busy. Even the Mayor was there to make a short speech. The how is on all month at the John. M. Parrot Gallery in the Library building on Pinnacle Street.

Here is a list of some of the award winners:
Sorry, the borchure did not scan very well, so I will give you the Jurors Choice awards again.
They went to Kim Klaver with her painting "Cheri" and Lola Reid-Allin with her photograph "Nanaimo perspective"

Artevino

It's time for the QAC annual event which combines art and wine tasting in one location. This year it is at the Banquet Centre in Belleville. It is on tomorrow evening September 17th 2009.
I contributed this small watercolour for the silent auction.
This is a fundraiser for the Quinte Arts Council.

Tickets are $50 which includes a chance at winning a painting, food and wine.

Belleville Art Association's renovated gallery

The Belleville Art Associations gallery at 392 Front Street has been extensively renovated. It looks much more professional and has lost it's former "clubhouse" look, even though the fireplace is still there. We have the latest thing in picture hanging systems thanks to generous donations by some of our members and friends. The lgihting is also much improved and there are new windows and more wallspace.

You are all welcome to attend the "Grand re-opening" which will take place on September 17th at 7-9 p.m. There will be an official ribbon cutting ceremony. It's free!

The show will be titled "Fall splendour".
The downtown fall Art Walk is on today and the gallery will be open until 8p.m

Tweed Art in the Park, Belleville ribfest etc.

The Tweed Arts Council is holding it's annual "Art in the Park" show at the Memorial Park by the lake in Tweed on Sat and Sun 15th and 16th August. Its going to be hot- supposed to hit 28C.

The picture above is done in Tweed, at the Heritage Centre gardens. These are worth a visit as they are always beautiful thanks to curator, Evan Morton. There is now a spectacular new totem pole,carved by local native and non-native sculptors.

This same weekend is Ribfest at Zwicks Park, Belleville, and the Ramada Inn which is just across the road, is having an art and craft show and sale in the grounds. The Belleville Art Association has a table there.

Tweed Flowerama

Tweed Flowerama is the event that goes on in the Memorial Park in Tweed on Canada Day. It's much more than a flower show -although that is a prominant part of it-hosted by the Tweed Horticultural Society. It is also about art, crafts and music. Nearly everyone is dressed in their red and white Canadian colours and waving flags. We are becoming almost as patriotic as the Americans!

There was a short, but very well attended parade, activities for the kids as well as free cake and drinks.
Artists present were Suzanne Cavers and Audrey Thomas and me of course! We were allowed to put up our dsiplays in the Kiwanis club house,as it looked as though we were going to have a rainy day, but in fact, it turned out to be a beautiful day. Someone wanted me to do a watercolour of the view from the clubhouse of Stoco Lake, but of course, I didn't have my watercolours with me. Typical!

Some of the Belleville Art Association members put on a display at Zwick's Park in Belleville, but I can't be in two places at once.

Madoc Music and Art Festival continued

Well, despite the rainy day on Saturday, the festival was attended by a lot more people than last year. Everyone seemed pleased with the new venue, although there was the usual problem of some vendors taking up more than their share of the allocated space.

The music was great, and not too loud! It ranged from gospel to bluegrass to classic pop.

There was barbecued beef or pork for lunch at very reasonable prices.

Some artists were very pleased with their sales and the positive comments about their art. Of note was young native artist A.J. VanDrie (see painting above) who sold a painting he was working on at the show before it was even finished! He also sold his biggest and most expensive piece at the show.
Look out for his art again at an upcoming show in August at the Tweed Heritage Centre gallery. See his work at http://www.woodlandartist.com/

Madoc Music and Art Festival

Sorry its been a while since I posted. It's a busy time of year.

Today I am packing my paintings and paraphernalia to set up at the 2nd annual Madoc Music and Art Festival. We have to get ready this evening, and there is a wine and cheese party for the artists, but it doesn't officially start till Saturday morning at 10 a.m. Its open till 10 p.m for music. Sunday 21st it is on from 10 a.m. till 5 p.m.

Location the Kiwanis Hall on St. Lawrence St in downtown Madoc. You can't miss it. Madoc is not that big. Admission isFREE for the general public. Above is one of my watercolours -a picture of the gardens at the Tweed Heritage Centre that I painted sitting in the beautiful garden.

My show at the Heritage Centre in Tweed is still on for another week. See also works by international sculptor Paul Sheir.

Art for literacy, Tyendinaga Library

Ten artists and artisans exhibited there work for the day last Sunday and $400 was raised to help children learn to read, as well as artists making their own sales.

Participating artists were Cynthia Guthrie, who as art co-ordinater for the library also planned and organised the event, Suzanne Cavers with her expressionist abstracts, Rita Woodburne who draws beautiful cats and horses, Ann Buckley with her rug hooking and very fine weaving, Catherine McDonald with her "real"precious stones jewellry, Joyce-Empey Smith- terrific watercolours and myself amongst others. I think most of us sold at least one or two items.

Lots of people with bags seemed to be leaving the area where Ann was stationed! Vases of fresh lilacs were on every table and visitors enjoyed free home made cookies and tea or coffee.

Cynthia, Ann and I are also involved in a show along with internationally acclaimed sculptor Paul Sheir, at the Tweed Heritage Centre starting next week. The opening is on June 4th at 6-8 p.m. Free goodies! Unfortunately this clashes with a big show in Belleville Library ("Portals") so we may not have a large attendance. Come if you can. If you don't mind a half hour drive up to Tweed, why not take in both shows?

Quinte Arts Council Expressions Show

The Quinte Arts Council Expressions show was a great success. I went to the opening along with at least 100 other people. Good thing it was held at the John M. Parrott gallery as the previous location behind Capers Restaurant in Belleville would not have had room for half the people.

Congratulations to Virginia Dixon for her painting entitled "Birdie" and to Andrew Innes from Picton who entered a "sculpture" made with layers of Perspex entitled "Waiting and Wondering". They both won jurors' choice awards.

I was surprised to win the Ontario Crafts Council award with my entry "White Water" which is made entirely out of felted exotic fibres such as llama and cashmere.

Above is a picture of it. As a prize I get a year's free professional membership to the OCC, which comes with lots of perks.

Try to see the show. It is on till the end of May. There are lots of wonderful exhibits and the John M. Parrott gallery is also home to a travelling show put on by the Ontario Crafts Council which is also well worth a visit.

"Expressions" show in Belleville

The Quinte Arts Councils annual juried show will be held at the John M Parrott gallery at the Bellleville Library on Pinnacle Street from May 7th to May 28th.

The opening will be on Thursday May 7th from 6- 7.30 p.m. This show is generally of a very high standard so try to get there. There will be a mixture of paintings, sculptures, fibre art, pottery, weaving, quilts and more.

Sold painting

Congratulations to whoever bought this painting recently at the Stockdale Mill Gallery and restaurant! I hope you enjoy it. It is a painting of the Moira River near Leslie Rd, Roslin which I did for a special show at the Belleville Library . The show was called 'Inspired by the Group of 7. The painting was accepted into the show. I believe the judge was Toronto artist, Doug Purdon

Art and the United Way

This weekend, the United Way is taking over the Quinte Mall on Saturday evening for a gala fundrainsing event. This will be in conjuction with the Belleville Art Association whose artist members are donating paintings, sculptures, fibre art etc. which will be sold during the evening as part of the fundraising efforts.

A little more.....

Almost finished. Just a few more touches needed and I will paint around the edges of the canvas in a continuation of the front. This painting is on a fairly large 24ins x 24ins square gallery canvas with quite thick sides, so it needs no frame.

Somehow I seem to have got the cross piece of the top window pointing in the wrong direction! I will fix that, and then sign the painting.

Stockdale Mill painting stage 3

Here I have brightened up the colours of the building and worked on the rocks and water in the foreground. I have also put some highlights and shadows in the background trees.

As usual I am in danger of overworking the painting and making it too realistic!

Problems still to fix:

The perspective of the red building is still off a bit. The eavestroughing seems to get wider as it receeds, instead of getting narrower.

I haven't finished painting the left side of the picture yet. I think it needs some red to balance the large area of red on the right, but I am not sure what to do, as in the original scene there is no red there.

I will add a little detail to the windows that still need panes, but I will just suggest the cross pieces lightly.

The dead grasses in the foreground do not show up enough so need more contrast relative to the rocks.

In th orginal painting the yellow sky looks more even than it came out in the photo.

Next stage of mill painting

Here is stage 2 of my painting-in-progress of Stockdale Mill.

As you can see there is a lot of work still to be done. The perspective of the red building is a little off kilter. The windows for a start should not diminish in size quite so much. They need straightening.

The bare tree at the back is right at the corner of the rear building ,so needs to be "moved" a little to the right.

The yellowish part to the left should be lighter on the left hand side where the light hits and darker on the right. The roof should be almost white in places.

The reflections in the water need work.

The green grass on the right while making a statement, is a bit too bright. It could also be balanced by placing some other patches of green, perhaps behind the building. I will have to give that some tought. Suggestions?

I am not trying to make this a realistic painting. Hopefully I will not overwork it and make it too "real"!

Stockdale Mill for fine dining

Yesterday, my husband and I went to Stockdale Mill for dinner. This was a great experience. At night and in the snow with nicely positioned lighting, the old mill looked wonderful. We chose a table with a view of the water. The food was great and very reasonable prices. All home cooked. No alcohol licence as yet, but it is in the works. So is music.
Anyway, the visit inpired me to try and do a painting from a photo I took last year (see above).
I will try and post the stages as I go along. This is the first stage- actually the second- as I began by painting the whole gallery canvas (24ins X 24ins) in a light cadmium yellow.
Bear in mind that I took the photo inside with a flash (never a good idea) and the picture was just propped up against a cabinet, so there are some bits of furniture visible behind and the sides aren't straight.

The Mill is located west of Frankford on Stockdale Rd. It is just north of Trenton, Ontario.