Completed ...?

Ice Trails on the North Saskatchewan

Well this is the completed 12 x 16 oil on wood panel.  The biggest challenge is knowing if you are done.  So I felt this was done, but I am not quite finished with the idea and will be working on a large scale version or two this winter.

 

Winter Update

Winter has arrived and so I attempted some paintings of winter streams recently, as well as tackling some Christmas needle felting.  Also, work is always a bit busier in November / December so I haven't had as many opportunities to paint.  With Christmas around the corner, there will be lots of visiting, merry making and outdoor activity, so I don't foresee too many paintings flying off the easel for a little while.  Hope the Holidays are peaceful and joy-filled for all.  More posts next year!

16x16 Oil on Board

Wool Needle Felted Ornaments - my talented son did the penguin

More wool felting

The start of another creek painting - some more work is required on the shrubbery

NOTE:
About 2 days after my last post, I received an email that the Federation of Canadian Artists would be opening a Chapter in Edmonton, early in the new year, so YEAH my wish for some artist contact has come true.

Strathearn Art Walk - Fun in the Sun

Finding some shade!

On Saturday, I  set up my booth at the annual Strathearn Art Walk.  It was a beautiful day, with lots of great artists / vendors and the weather helped draw a record crowd. This was my fourth art fair experience and probably the most successful one.  I had lots of wonderful people stop by and received some very positive feedback.  I managed to sell 3 original paintings, a few prints / cards, 3 potential commissions and made some great connections with other art minded people.  

Thankfully, my wonderful spouse helped me haul and set up / take down everything and gave me a break part way through.  I managed to race around the site to check out other booths - there were approximately 300 of them, so it took me awhile.  I especially enjoyed meeting some of the other artists and seeing their work.  I held a free giveaway draw for one of my prints, which was a good idea, as I now have a potential commission from that.

So my take-aways from this art fair:

1)  WEATHER is probably one of the biggest factors to a successful amount of traffic through your booth.  Not much you can do but come prepared and hope it is nice out!

2) LOCATION - the park was a really nice spot and most booths had great flow through of people.  Mine was right on a walking path, lots of people wandering by, you did not get to choose though.

3)BOOTH SET UP - not too crowded with stuff, lets more people wander through and looks clean.  

I did not bring a lot of extra art, so when I sold my pieces I didn't have much to replace them with - lesson for next time

4) SIGNATURE PIECE - wow, so many people stopped in because of my large central painting of the mountain town - trying to guess where it was.  Excellent way to start a conversation.

5)BE PREPARED - I finally had my Square credit card reader, a proper cash box, wrapping material for sold paintings - lots of business cards.  I seemed professional this time!!  I did run out of drinking water for myself and so did many food vendors, so I was pretty parched by the end.  More water and snacks next time.

I brought my Plein air easel and paints but as it was sooo busy I didn't have time for that.  I still think it is a good idea if it were a bad weather day though.

Check out this link for some good tips I reviewed (afterwards for some reason) Bob's ideas for art shows

Biking and blogging

Summer usually means a slow down in my art creation. I am off work and more time is spent ‘Momming’, visiting, gardening and holidaying.  This summer I have been able to do a lot more mountain biking, now that I am in actual mountains every day.  It’s been great for the cardio and the soul.  So of course that has led me to my recent bike painting theme.  Occasionally I will get on a tangent and paint several paintings on one idea ( see cheeky prime ministers https://tessastanley.blogspot.com/2017/04/oil-and-acrylic-dont-mix-you-hoser.html ) I know that many artist spend months or years on a theme, painting just trains or flowers or abstract fruits.  I find I need to switch fairly regularly to maintain my interest.  

 So this is a view from one of the bike trails last week. Fabulous! Below  are some of my bike paintings and progress paintings.

Plein Air Convention and Expo PACE19 overview

I returned 2 days ago from a 5 day trip to San Francisco, CA, where I attended the 2019 Plein Air Convention and Expo #pace19  This post is a review and highlights for me from the trip, in case you decide to attend one (next year it is in Boulder, Colorado), which I highly recommend doing.  I kept a journal while attending and it is almost half filled with notes, tips and sketches.  Below I have a summary of Days 1 and 2.  Will do Days 3 to 5 in my next post.

Best Things
1.  AWESOME ARTISTS providing instruction and demos from early in the morning until late evening.  As an oil painter I attended the relevant oil painting demos, but there were also pastel and watercolour painters here.
2.  MARKETING BOOTCAMPS - Eric Rhoads  provided an early morning Art Marketing instruction with a ton of tips and info.  Very worthwhile for me as an 'emerging artist'.
3.  PLEIN AIR PAINT OUTS - great opportunity to paint urban and landscape around San Francisco and in Sonoma.
4.  Expo / Vendor Hall - excellent opportunity to purchase great artist supplies.  I bought panels, brushes, containers, paint and a Shelby Keefe video at discounted prices.
5.  PRIZES - lots of giveaways.
6. PEOPLE -Plein air painters are a nice bunch of people and it was amazing how when you get chatting you find you have a lot in common with others.

CHALLENGES - finding time to eat and sleep.

Detailed Info

Day 1- Wed, April 24th - Left Edmonton, AB at 4:15 am - Arrived at the hotel at 1 pm and headed off to the Expo hall for a demo by
Kathleen Hudson at 2 pm. She had a beautiful demo, several good tips  TOP TIP: uses small hand mirror to check her painting, to ensure values are all reading properly.

3pm  Newcomers Orientation - helpful

4 pm - Opening Ceremony - high energy - every day of the conference there were awesome prizes, such as paints, brushes, a PACE trip, videos, etc. and at least 6 or more people got a prize daily.  Although I never won anything, our registration package had some cool free stuff and often when you bought something in the Expo hall at the vendor booths they had a freebie included or had reduced prices.

7pm - 5 Artists one Painting - this one was fun to watch as Shelby Keefe, Paul Kratter, Larry Moore, Charlie Hunter  and Cynthia Rosen had roughly 20 mins to take a turn working on one painting.  Lots of cheeky dialogue amongst the artists and the challenge involved in not painting entirely over the previous artist's work.

Exhausted - Sleep

Day 2

6:30 am Eric Rhoads - Art Marketing Boot Camp - wow! Lots of helpful tips crammed into 1 hr, 15 mins. Top tip - Persistence 20% of work week is marketing

Excellent info for me as an 'emerging artist' to make sure I get on top of my social marketing now if I want to grow my 'art business'. 4 PAGES scribbled down in this time.

-  Michael Situ Demo - Highlighted always thinking about contrasts to add interest and balance the painting - Light and Dark, Warm and Cool areas.  Loved his colour use.

Kathleen Dunphy - I ran off to catch the end of Kathleen Dunphy's presentation as it was running concurrently to M. Situ's.  Top Tip: sometimes you have a Focal Path leading you around the painting and not just a single focal point and ALWAYS draw!

Brian Blood - did a San Francisco street scene, appropriately dressed in his hippy tie dye t-shirt.  I had one of his videos previously, so I really enjoy his use of light and colour.  Top Tip - gather info in your Plein air painting focusing on tone and value and being conscious of moments and changes that provide interest.

Randall Sexton - 

Car Portrait - he starts with big shapes blocked in vs drawing, cool to watch.

Plein Air Painting - took the bus to Chrissy Field below the Golden Gate Bridge.  Rude introduction to our Plein Air as it was cold and windy.  I should have worn another layer and had gloves.  Also I should have had my easel properly situated and weighted down as it blew over and I lost all my brush cleaner, which landed on my painting.  Learning many lessons!  Packed up and sketched instead, which I enjoyed too.

Scott W Prior - Urban night scene - Scott completed a painting that he had already started, showing us how he added the details to finish off a rainy, night urban scene of a street car.  Cool! Sorry the picture is very poor, check out his website instead.

Purple with a Purpose

I was so excited this morning to hear that my painting, 'After Work Walk', went for $500 at the Purple with a Purpose fundraiser for pancreatic cancer.  Thank you to the person who bid on it!

This fundraiser is especially important to me as many of my family members are affected by this type of cancer. My Dad passed away from pancreatic cancer and the family carries a genetic mutation that causes this type of cancer.  The money goes to pancreatic cancer research - which is really needed as this is one of the mostly deadly cancers out there.  Donate at this link to help with pancreatic cancer research!

After Work Walk - Oil on Board

Painting is....SQUIRREL!!!

I believe most artists will struggle at times to stay motivated or focus on their painting every day - so many distractions. Currently my struggle is the beautiful weather, after a LOOOONG harsh winter, pulling me outdoors.  I am enjoying biking, hiking and gardening these last weeks and being inside the studio / office / work is difficult.

That is why today I decided I shall try to do some daily painting 'en plein aire' or paint outside for awhile.  As you can see below my current attempt to get some paint down has been a struggle.

the UNDERPAINTING of the Burmis Tree large 36 x 48 canvas

OOOO the Pretty Fern Leaf peony in my garden just outside my window, has finally bloomed for the first time ever!!

Oh I just need to make some baskets for the front porch

What was I doing... oh yeah, OOOps, I think I need to repaint the sky and maybe that grass too.  Maybe I will just go outside for awhile for inspiration instead.