Hastings Arts Route

Andrew Redden from the Hastings County office, is still busy designing the new Arts Route for Hastings County and the Quinte region. I am supposed to be on it, so I have been busy sending him information for the tourist brochures.

The problem is trying to decide when to have my studio open and previously it has been" by chance or appointment". Now some definite hours are needed. As I am usually home for breakfast and dinner, I thought I should specify 9-10.30 a.m and 5-7 p.m. Anyone else have any better ideas? We obviously cannot stay home all the time, just in the off chance that someone will drop in for a visit.

"Small works" show

Belleville art association gallery at 392 Front St, Belleville, Ontario is hosting it's annual "small works" show which will run until just before Christmas.
The object of this show is to sell small paintings for $50 or less. A lot of them are $25 or less.
Half of the money goes to the artist and the other half is donated to the Christmas Sharing Program. This is a local organization run by volunteers, who give out Christmas food hampers, including a turkey, to five hundred or so needy families in the Quinte and Belleville area.

They have sold quite a few pieces already, so get down there and do a good deed-both for the artist and the charity! There are acrylics, watercolors and other media, all nicely framed.

Also check out the annual Christmas arts and crafts who at the Tweed Heritage Centre. Money raised goes to help the museum and gallery keep on going.

Art rentals

Belleville Art Association has an Art Rental program. If your business is a major sponsor $200 per year, then this qualifies you to hang several pictures at no extra cost in your premises.
The Belleville Art Association has a new show each month, and is located at 392 Front Street, Belleville. Open Tues-Sat 11-5 p.m.

Congratulations to law firm Pretzel and Cavanaugh for choosing my painting "The Heart of the City" to display in their office.

Michael's Classes

The next two classes in acrylic painting will be held in the classroom at Michael's Store in Belleville.
Click on "Classes" above to get dates and details.
These are the next two paintings we will be doing.

Belleville Art Association Annual Juried Show "Mindscapes"

The BAA show is on now at the John M. Parrott gallery in the Library in Belleville. The opening was last Thursday evening and there was a record number of people attending, as far as I could tell.
Unfortunately, I did not enter any paintings this year, as I was away, but here is a copy of the painting that I would have entered. It is called "Spooky Maples" a sort of Halloween, semi-abstract version of maple trees.

Here are some of the jurors comments on the show:

Some of the works depicted here are, in essence, landscapes with the usual expectations of trees, hills, water, etc. and some artists have taken risks by abstracting these shapes; forming them into brilliantly rendered “Mindscapes”.

Some of the most exciting paintings in “Mindscapes” are devoid of extraneous features. One just gets to enjoy the pure colour and composition. Let it wash over you and see the landscape through the artists’ eyes. The bold colour sense and colour selections evoke the true spirit of abstract expressionism. You can feel and witness the memories of landscapes that have been distilled into bold bands of colour.

The diversity of the submissions and the talented manner in which the artists took on the challenge of the “Mindscapes” theme is brilliant! Paring down the works to a specific number to form the show was very challenging. Many wonderful works had to be set aside.

The selection of the final categorical awards as suggested by the show committee, were a little difficult to ascertain. Many of the works overlapped the specific categories as set out. We have tried to abide by their suggestions and at the same time be fair in the awards selections.

As jurors we enjoyed the opportunity of seeing close-up the impressive artistic talent of Belleville artists. We hope that viewing the artwork that we have selected will also be a wonderful experience for visitors to this show.

---Shirley Erskine and Gerry de Jong

Congratulations to the following award winners:

2 Jurors’ Choice: Bob Pennycook Strength and Patience, Mandy Bing Dangling Conversation Wilma Alexander/Drawing Skill: Roger Turrall Eunice Bea Williamson/Innovative Use of Colour: Sue Panko One Lump or Two Muriel Andrews/Excellence in Design: Reta Brooks Eclectic Neighbourhood Honourable Mentions: Joan Reive Out Of My Mind #1, Sharon Bower In My Mind David Brown Memorial Award/Best Theme Related: Sharon Kennedy Lost President’s Award /Impact Factor: Nadine Goulet A Hot Idea Non-representational: Marion Casson Brainwaves Past Chair Choice/ Impressionism: Bob MacIntosh Purple Hills Best Use of Light: Ilona Mayer Perfect Day’s Ending

Congratulations to the award winners

Native art

Today, Saturday 11th September form 2- 4p.m there will be an opening at the Tweed Heritage centre gallery of Native Art. Refreshments will be served.

Studio Tours

I could not make it to the Rednersville Road Studio Tour in Prince Edward County last weekend, but I heard from one of the studios that there were about five hundred visitors to their venue. That is an amazing number for a studio tour. Well done, all the studios in the Rednersville Road area!

The next one coming up is the Tweed and area studio tour. This is on October 1st and 2nd, Saturday and Sunday and runs from the Plainfield area off Highway 37 up to and including the Madoc area. Tweed is about the middle, and there are several artists studios right in town.

There will be paintings, pottery, jewelery, fabric art and dolls, photography and much more.

The scenery is very beautiful in this area, so it makes a nice drive into the country roads. The maple trees should be turing red by then.

Kingston Womens Art Festival

I will be pitching my tent at the Kingston Women's Art Festival this weekend- Sunday August 15th. This is a big event with over 2000 visitors. There is just one catch- you can only exhibit if you are female. Husbands can help put up the displays, but cannot man-pardon the pun-the booths. It is all for a good cause, as 20 percent of the sales goes to womens' charities, such as the local shelter for battered women.

The festival is held at the City Centre Park -Bagot and Barrie street. That's the one with the statue of John MacDonald.

Oh, and to keep the men amused there is always an antique and vintage car show on the other side of the park.

The music is good too! Hope the thunderstorms keep away.

The small sketch above is one I did on location at the O'Hara Mill north of Madoc, Ontario. It is watercolour with some pastel added.

Madoc Art and Music Festival

The turn-out for the Madoc Art and Music festival was disappointing this year. Maybe it was because the music was rather 0ld-fashioned- more suited to aging baby boomers like me! Perhaps adding a little rap or new rock music would help to a attract some younger visitors.

And where were all the local Madoc townspeople? I suspect that most of them prefer sports to art, as the local skate board park is always full of people.

I did sell this 16 x 20ins painting "Country garden" to a couple from Brighton. Thank you.

I am not sure if this show will continue next year as two of the main organisers are moving away from the area.

Madoc Art and Music Festival

This coming weekend is the 3rd annual Madoc Art and Music Festival, the 19th and 20th June 10 a.m. to 10 p.m Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Come and see us and listen to some great music as well. It is in Kiwani Club Hall in Madoc. Entrance is free. There will be tents and a stage set up outside as well, so hopefully the weather will co-operate.

"Music as muse" Juried art show in Belleville

Well, I managed to get a painting accepted in the "Music as Muse" juried show at the John M Parrott gallery which is on right now until the end of June.

I turned the subject around and painted the muse of music-a goddess named Terpsichore, sitting on top of Mount Olympus, the home of the gods.

I think this show (not just because I am in it! ) was far superior to the last one at this gallery -the Quinte Arts Councils annual show. There were some very interesting pieces and quite a variety of media were displayed. Susan Holland had done a great job of hanging the show. One wall for example, was just for black and white pieces.

I thought Marion Casson's felted floor rug "walk the line" (Johnny Cash) was a great idea. It was really supposed to be on the floor, so that people could literally "walk the line" of the stripes made in the fabric.

Barbara Chappelle won an award for her pottery sculpture "Blue man"- at least I think that was the title. Correct me if I am wrong.

Lola Ried-Allin also won an award for her photograph.

Tweed Flowerama Canada Day

The next annual Tweed and District Horticultural Society's Flowerama will be held on Canada Day on July 1st 2010. This is on a Thursday this year. There is also a parade through the main street in Tweed ending at the Memorial Park which is home to the Flowerama.
The gardening folk have invited me to put up a tent there with my paintings (I try to bring the more flowery ones) as they do every year. I think they like me because I provide free sheep manure from our farm to some of their members. Artists Suzanne Cavers, Bob Pennycook and Audrey Thomas will most likely be there as well.
It is a fun time for the kids and there are some good deals on plants. See you there!

Oak Hills Studio Tour

Yesterday, I went on the Oak Hills Studio tour. It is a relatively new artists' tour and is mostly situated between Foxboro and Stirling in Hastings County. It is not too big, so you can get round it in an afternoon without much trouble. Painters shared their studios with potters or jewellry makers, and sometimes two or three of them shared a space, so one could kill several birds with one stone. For example, Dona Bonin shared her house with potter Barb Chappelle. The painting shown is one of Dona's.

There were several new venues added this year, so the tour is gradually expanding.

Robert Huffmans Show "Pushing Paint" at Gallery Art Plus

I attended the opening of Robert Huffman's show at Gallery Art Plus in Belleville yesterday evening. It was a great show, and the artist, who lives in Hastings County was present. By the time I left, at least one large painting had been sold. The prices were quite reasonable for quite large sizes, gallery canvases painted in a darked colour round the edges. Prices were mostly in the $1500 range.

Examples are shown here. Robert loves to paint tulips and birchtrees in a bright, impressionistic style with lots of colour and great use of darks and lights.

Expression Show 2010 WInners

Laurie Near won the jurors choice award (photo courtesy of the Quinte Arts Council). She just gets better and better.

Andrew Innes (above) won two awards, one for best water colour, and the other for one of his innovative works using plexiglass. Congratulations Andrew and Laurie!

The judges were artist Doug Purdon and Joan Murray who is the curator of the MacMichael Museum and an expert on Canadian art and the Group of Seven.

Very few paintings were selected for this show as the jurors may not have realised that more than one room was available. There were about 145 entries so only about one in ten pieces were accepted.

Of course, the QAC Expressions show is not just about paintings. There are also sculptures, mixed media objects, weavings and other fibre art, pottery, glass and jewelry. Photography, according to some people I talked to, was over-represented.

The outer room of the John M. Parrott gallery is home to an exhibition of sculptures this month (May) .

Tina Osbourne has some wonderful art jewellry in the corridor cases and the prices are very reasonable. I bought a necklace and matching earrings.

Music as Muse

Well, as I didn't get into the QAC Expressions show this year-I think it is the first time that I haven't got anything in since I first started entering- I am going to put a couple of pieces into the John M Parrott gallery annual juried show. This year the title is "Music as Muse" which should be interesting. This show runs for most of June at the library gallery on Pinnacle Street, Belleville.

I haven't been to the Epxressions Show which is on for all of May, but I plan to go soon, and will report back.

Opening at Gallery 121 and the Belleville Art Association Gallery

Yesterday, I went to the joint opening of the Gallery 121 in Belleville, and the Belleville Art Association gallery. This was a special occasion, as both galleries are participating in a joint project that will award Art Scholarships to high school art students whose work is judged to be thebest. Each gallery will display two of the students' pieces for about a month at a time for the next few months.

The Parrott foundation have generously sponsored this program.

I didn't have my camera with me, and in any case, I would have needed the student's permission to publish them on this blog, so you wil just have to go and see it for yourselves.

They are all terrific!
I have to say that my favourite so far was one that was displayed in the window of the Belleville Art Association gallery, 392, Front Street. It apparantly took many hours of work to paint. It is a womans head surrounded by interesting three-D effect pyramids. The colours were very subtle.

2010 Quinte Arts Council "Expressions" Show

The next Quinte Arts Council juried show will be held at the John M Parrott gallery in Belleville on May 6th till April 3rd 2010.
The address is 245 Pinnacle Street, Belleville, which is the public library. The gallery is on the thrid floor. You can take the elevator.

The reception and opening (free) is on May 6th at 6 -7.30 p.m. Refreshments included.

I have entered a couple of pictures-I say pictures as only one of them is a painting. If they are accepted, I will show them to you. If not, I won't! The picture on my left is not one of mine. I am not sure who the artist is. Let me know if it is yours.

Acrylic painting at Michael's Stores

Just in case you are thinking that the art classes at Michael's are a bit pricy, you may be able to use a store coupon towards the cost, so that instead og $45, it will come down to about $28 or $29 -a big difference. Also the price of the kit, which is about $59, can be reduced by 40% by using a coupon that is in the Michael's flyer. If you already have paints and the right colours for the class, you do not need to purchase a kit. The colours for the yellow lilly painting are: white ultramarine blue, cadmium red, cadmium yellow and lemon yellow.

Holiday in Cuba

We had a short holiday in Cuba recently, and here are a couple of the typical scenes that I painted in watercolour. Someone came up to me when I was painting and said"Why are you working when you are on holiday?" I replied that I just liked painting. It is also nice to have a painted record of the trip- not just photos. I tend to paint watercolours on holiday, even though I am not that good at them, as it is easier to carry them than heavy tubes of acrylics and canvases.

The flowers in the foreground are Bourgainvilleas whose brilliant colours are everywhere.

Local art for the tourists is not that great, as they appear to be mass produced with the use of a lot of primary colours and way too much "straight from the tube" green. However, I understand that paint and materials are very expensive for the locals to buy, so they probably use the oil paint left over from painting buildings.

Talking of buildings, there were some great murals on the walls of the hotel lobby and bars.

They were mostly semi-abstracts or fantasy paintings. One was a type of "trompe d'oeil" which depicted a staricase leading to no-where. One girl got a little drunk and someone tried to march her up the painted stairs for a joke. She was going along with it until someone pointed out the stairs weren't real!

Acrylic workshop for beginners

I am going to be teaching a workshop in acrylic painting for beginners in April, Some Tuesday or Wednesday evenings at 6-8p.m at the Michael's store in Belleville. There will be two sessions a month. You can drop in to Michael's to sign up any time after March 20th. The cost is $45 per session.

You will also be required to purchase a kit of basic materials including an instruction book, two brushes, canvas and acrylic paints from Grumbacher. You will need to bring a small table easel, a water container and paper towels or rag. There is a nice, well lit craft room at the front of the store where we will be painting.

We will all paint the same flower or landscape painting, step by step, but of course, you are welcome to add your own flavour to it. Hopefully, you will be able to complete the whole painting in the 2 hour time frame. This is the first picture we are going to paint.

There will be a short critique at the end of each session. You do not have to participate in this if you don't feel comfortable. I will be nice!

Children are welcome, but they will need an adult to sign them in.

Mandy Bing's workshop on animal painting

Here is a painting by Mandy Bing, who is relatively new to the Belleville area. She was invited to give a workshop on animal painting last Tuesday at the Belleville Public Library, Parrott Gallery. Every Tuesday morning from 10 -1p.m, the Gallery hosts an "Open painting" session for area artists to get together.

I attended Mandy's workshop and was fascinated to hear about her techniques for making these colourful images of animals -mostly cats an dogs. She went into details of how she deals with the customer when doing a commissioned portrait. She also pointed out that in some ways, painting animals was more difficult than painting people, but that taking life drawing classes helped her a lot.

One way she differs from me considerably in her painting method is the amount of preparation time she spends on each piece. She uses a variety of different photographs and edits some of them with photoshop to play with different colour combinations and edge treatments. She then carefully draws every little detail on her prepared canvas (she uses several layers of gesso first -to get a smooothe effect.). Next, the painting begins with adding exaggerated colours.