ACWR Sketch Nights

30 Tuesday Oct 2012

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I am pleased to announce that I will be one of the hosts for the Arts Council Sketch nights. My night will be Monday December 10th from 6 until 9. Location and theme of my sketch night will be announced soon. Each night is hosted by a different artist or art group. We are really excited about what will be taking place during these evenings.
Here is the post from the Arts Council site followed by a link.

The Arts Council Windsor & Region is facilitating bi-monthly Sketch Nights in partnership with local artists, businesses and organizations.

How do you become involved?

–Become an ACWR member 
-Fill out the form below

We want you to make this event/workshop/semi-collaborative sketching time your own! Have any suggestions on how to make this open sketching group awesome? Potential partners or themes? We want to hear them! Come out on Monday, November 12, meet the group of sketchers and share your ideas.

There are 3 sessions to lead Sketch Nights into the new year (all sessions are at 6pm unless otherwise noted):

 Monday, November 12 – Exquisite Corpse style drawing session lead by Sketch Night member Dave Kant @ ACWR (1942 Wyandotte St E)

Monday, November 26 – Live nude model session lead by Sketch Night partner SHO Art, Spirit and Performance  @ SHO (628 Monmouth Rd)

Monday, December 10 – TBA Sketch activity with Plein Air artist Elizabeth Gaye MacDonald

Please Note: Our goal is to make sketch night accessible and affordable for everyone. However, due to material costs there may be reasonable supplementary fees for certain Sketch Night activities.

Questions? Please email info@acwr.net or call us at 519 252 2787.

Arts Council Sketch nights

A Beautiful Fall Day at Ojibway Park

22 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by in Art, Landscape, Plein Air, Sketch, Watercolour

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What an incredible beautiful warm and sunny day for a paint out today! It’s a toss up what I like better Fall or Spring. The vivid reds are mostly finished. It seems the colours arrive and leave so quickly. There are still some beautiful yellows hanging on.

Four turtles kept us amused as they tried to sun together on a floating log. They reminded me of lumberjack contests, where the contestants compete by trying to spin the log so the other man falls off. The last man standing wins! They a family of mallards makes their way downstream feeding on vegetation as they go.

Mary was writing a note for Judith, when a stunning orange dragonfly paid her a visit.  It landed on her note, and stayed while she continued to write.   These are the reasons I paint en Plein Air.  There is no studio in the world that compares.

Chatham Ontario Art Camp

20 Saturday Oct 2012

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It’s always a great time with the Chatham, Ontario Arts Council group. Thanks for having me back once again.

artCampDSC_0414 by photographerpainterprintmaker
Lunch with the Chatham group is always a pleasure.
artcampDSC_0427 by photographerpainterprintmaker
It was a very windy and damp day.  In the afternoon, we moved inside the Chatham Cultural Center where we finished our paintings.

Mom’s RumRill Vase, Table runner, Hydrangeas and My Abstract Watercolour

10 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by in abstract, Art, Botony, Flowers, Nikon D90, Photography, Still Life, Still Life, Watercolour

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Mom's RumRill Vase, Table runner, Hydrangeas and My Abstract Watercolour by photographerpainterprintmaker

Yesterday we cleaned up the front garden. My hydrangea bush had some incredible blooms on it this year. It was a joy to bring these inside. I found a lovely spot for them in my office. The background is a section of my abstract watercolour/rice paper collage which measures 40 3/4″ x 49 3/4″.

When I was a child we had two very large lilac bushes in our backyard. Every spring I would cut lilacs from these bushes and bring them in for my mother. She would go to the china cabinet and pull out this vase to hold them. Little did I know that this piece of American pottery was anything special. It is Red Wing RumRill art deco pottery with the number 629 on the base. The crochet table runner was made by my mother.

This was one of my final BFA pieces. My classmates, I’m sure, didn’t appreciate having to hop over this painting every day in order to get to their studio’s. I had to lay it on the floor with fans drying the large pools of watercolour. This process would take hours.

I love it because it was one of those pieces that I pushed beyond the breaking point and brought back. I thought it was trash, but my professor Adele Duck made me work it to death, or should I say back to life. I think I learned more on this one failed painting than in all my other works combined. Thank you Adele!

I photographed this in natural light. It’s a bit grainy because it is a cloudy day.

The Gathering (Colchester Beach)

17 Monday Sep 2012

Posted by in Art, Landscape, Plein Air, Watercolour

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Labour Day is two weeks gone, kids are in school,  the beach is deserted, and the air is crisp.  I walked down the beach to get closer to the Canadian Geese. I wanted to get photographs of them in flight. White caps crashed on the shore as the wind played havoc with the lake. I slowly approached the geese… camera ready. Wary of me they waddled down the beach a few honking their displeasure. They finally decided I was too close and took flight out into the lake a few yards away. The waves violently tossed them around, and I became concerned for their safety. What if one drowned because of my desire of a perfect photo? I gave them their space, and they safely returned to shore. I will think twice about disturbing wild life for the perfect shot.

A good part of the morning is always spent discovering the perfect composition. I was very fortunate to find a sheltered area. It was a lovely spot at the edge of the road looking through some trees. Wind and Plein Air painting quite often yields disaster. Many a painter has found hand prints in their work, broken easel’s, or had to chase their paper down the road or even into the lake! Winter is fast approaching. I hope the beautiful fall weather holds out. I love painting in the fall. However, I do hope we have some snow this winter. Winter painting needs snow and in Essex County, the most southern part of Canada, we had very little last year.

Still Life Conch Shell

12 Wednesday Sep 2012

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Sometimes you just have to draw something. So while watching TV tonight I sketched this conch shell that I have decorating my bathroom. I used no fancy pencils, just a cheep dollar store mechanical pencil.

New Isabey brushes!

17 Friday Aug 2012

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I’m so excited. A friend of mine put these brushes up for sale on Facebook and I’ve been wanting an Isabey brush forever. Now I have 3!! They are incredible brushes. YAY! they hold a ton of paint, and keep an incredible point.

Cedar Beach en Plein Air

06 Monday Aug 2012

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An incredible day at the beach. It was the Civic Holiday and there were a lot of vacationer’s at the beach. Sail boats, kayaks, jet ski’s, powerboats, and all manner of floating craft entered Lake Erie through the channel behind me. There were many families under umbrellas on the beach as well. This is a beautiful public beach. A very well kept secret too. Shhh… don’t tell anyone how beautiful Essex County is, they may all decided to move here.