Piece of work for a show...

A little painting "Snow is Falling" I entered to a "Holiday Mix" art show

at the St Laurent Complex in Ottawa

Show is running from Now 26 to Jan 16

{Not the best picture as I had to take it with my mobile}

All pieces of art are all 12" x 12" or under

Mine is 9.5" w x 11.5" h {with frame}

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Art in the Park...

Yesterday was the...

Could not have asked for better day for this, beautiful late summers day.

Sunny, not too hot and a light breeze.  Eight of us artists outside and it was a great mix of work.

And the crowd was good and steady stopping by

During a break I walked around the farmers market park, of course camera in hand
I love the different stands, all the colours and signs.

Bought some vegetables, fruit and fresh bread to take home. 

Love beets and peppers, and I just had to get a few of these purple peppers.

The colours were amazing, will be fun to see tonight what they taste like.

Sunday has been spent with some cleaning, and especially the garage as I have to start

to get my work room ready {emptied} for some renovations to be done.  I'm finally getting the floors and roof done so this should make it so much easier to work in here when winter comes.

Cant wait to get all this done, so I can start getting everything back in again and then start painting.

But now cleaning, sorting and moving stuff and while I'm doing that my daughter is 

sitting here in the middle of the mess creating some cool art.  Making her own stamps and cards.

Love seeing her being able to enjoy some art time again!

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Little bit of this & that...

Well it has not been easy times around here since we got back from vacation, tell you the truth it has been very rough.  But everything has to have some kind of silver lining, right...  Or the light in the end of the tunnel, its always there, no?  

Any how, all in all it has been a bit hard to get my art stuff going, and what kind of sucks about that is that I'm taking part of a "art in the park" event on Sunday and I don't have much ready for it.

So I'm here in my {super messy} studio trying to get things ready for it.

Making some extra cards

&

I found some time in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep

I painted on fabric just to try some different designs, not sure if they will mount to anything but they were good therapy while making them.

I did find some time for window shopping therapy the other day, and I found this plant {no idea what its called or anything} and it has the look of a cactus, but no thorns or needles and it had one really cool looking flower pod on it.  So I bought it {so much for just window shopping} and brought it home.

It has been really warm again so I left it outside and thank heavens for that!

Because, the cool looking flower pod opened up, and out came this almost stomach turning looking thing.

And it has hair, looks like the insides of something and it stinks, oh and attracts flies to no end.

As if that would be all, nope, no Sir!  This flower also makes my dog growl at it, bark at it and act odd.

  

I guess I brought home something from out of space, an alien life form

that only flies can love.   So it sits in our back yard, in a corner far away from the deck where we sit.

Blooms on its own, entertains flies and makes us wonder what will happen to it when fall comes.

Any how, that's it from my end, troubles getting things done, housing stinky plants and pondering over the silver lining, it is there I'm sure of it...  I just hope its not covered in hair.

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Upcoming show {Plein Air}

 

Handed in my two pieces for the up coming art show, didn't take pictures of most of them until the very day of the drop off {that's why some look a bit wonky}

Sketches I did while down at the museum last summer 

{a lot of them I had to finish here at home, the colours mostly}

but they are in ink and water colours. 

A mixture of different building and more from the Cumberland Heritage Village Museum.

Just a little better detail shot of the two sheets that are in one frame.

And my painting {acrylic} that made in to the invitation for the show {seen above}.

 

Opening day for the show is this coming Saturday, June 2

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Art shows...

Well, first of all I just want to thank all of you who commented and sent emails about the upcoming art shows, and thank you so much for all your kind words.  Yesterday was the OVCC show in the pretty area of Ottawa called the Glebe, and it was held at the Glebe Community Centre.  Lovely old building that has gone through a lot of restorations and now hold a lot of great programs and shows.  This was my view from behind my table I had. 

Did a little of sketching and painting during the show, I'm working on something new and just testing out different shapes and colours together...  More on that later!
And below you can see my booth from the front, great space, lots of room and I had sunshine all day {great light} and I did pretty well.  So all in all, very good day.

Today was the vernissage for the Trinity Gallery art show 'Mosaic' {the juried show I tried out for} and it was a great show, a ton of people showed up.

Here is my painting that got in to the show {the one to the bottom left in black frame "Passing By"}

Again lots of people, friends, fellow artists and more

{more pictures later}

 

So it was very busy until the shows and it has been a busy, great fun, but busy weekend.  So now I'm going to turn the gears to slow motion and finally sit back and relax a bit, take a breather.

Happy Sunday everyone and 'tusen tack" many thank yous for all your comments and to all of you who came to the shows!!

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Breakfast, auction and art show...

It has been a very long and rough week, and there has not been very much time for taking a breather.  But when we can we do, and for some reason we all tend to end up in the kitchen and enjoying our new breakfast nook seating.  I got my wood bench couch I always wanted {some were not too sure if this was an good idea...} and now everyone wants to sit there and some even nap there.  Its lovely really, sipping tea or coffee, watching the birds outside or the snow coming down.  Its a quiet, calm and peaceful space to be and my favourite time there is in the early morning or in the evening when the sun starts to go down.

Just a rough chalk sketch

I reused one of the kids old chalk board and its now in the breakfast nook {sideboard shelf}.

And as most of you know, I'm have been busy with getting ready for a craft and art show and I have been trying so hard to get it all done...  Slowly and shortly its all coming along and I cant wait for the day to finally arrive.  And this show means a lot of things to me, not only has it been something for me to look forward too and work towards too.  I'm doing something for me.  But most of all, I'm so excited with the totally amazing work Rene and his team who has put all this together, and the fantastic spirit they have for this and for what they also are doing through all of this.  The show will have a silent auction and vendors are donating beautiful pieces for this totally amazing cause
"The Royal Mental Health Care and Research". 

Mental Health has a very special meaning to me, and I'm sure everyone knows someone who suffers from some kind of mental health illness.  In my case it hits very close to home and I cant tell you enough how much it kills me when people don't want to talk about it but rather push it under the carpet and run.  Its not an illness to be shamed of or hide from, far from it, its something we all need to face and learn to care for our loved once and strangers who suffer from it.

You can see all the information here for the OVCC show and the auction and if you're able to come by and see the show, come by my booth and say hi, love to see you.

Water colour & ink painting, view of Ottawa River

This is what I'm donating to the auction, and I can only hope it will bring a good penny to this great cause.  Its a water colour and ink painting.
So in between getting ready, taking care of things and running around like a chicken without a head.
I went to the vernissages for one of the art shows I'm taking part of.  Going there with the hope no one would bring out their cameras, and my hope was soon crushed...  Click, click... Sigh!!! 
But a big thanks to Josie for picking out one of the better shots.
And here I am in front of my paintings Taa Daa!!!

Me and my wall, at St Laurent Community Centre

Now back to the drawing board {dining room table} try to get a piece done before I can roll under the covers and get a few hours of beauty sleep and lord knows I need it after the day I had today.

Happy February everyone, stay warm!

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My art for the show...

The word finally came in and this is what made it to the juried show that I tried for this year.
"Passing By", its a ink and water colour painting 12 x 8. And I was not going to put this one in for it and only changed my mind in the last minute.

"Passing By"
water colour & ink

And here is the two paintings that didn't make it, but no worries, I have two other shows coming up and they will do fine there. Tell you the truth, I'm just happy I have been able to finish some paintings during this time, that has been the best winner for me in this case. 

"Oak Town"
Printing & water colour

And this one, I had to put in two pieces here as its a bit odd size to take picture of and when I worked it in to photoshop it became too big and I gave up after a while trying to shrink it...   Arrrrr, arnt machines fun when you need them...
 

I had a lot of fun working on this one, I was using the stamps I carved out and doing things in layers.  I used two different kinds of ink, one of them are acrylic ink { I have a bit of a love and hate relationship with that stuff}, water colours and sandpaper...  Yep, sandpaper, it gave the surface a really neat texture to work on (although you have to be careful or you can make the paper far to sucker happy when it comes to water colours, not good).

So now on to next project, or should I say projects...  I got my plate full, but that's what keeps me happy and I rather be busy than not.  And wonderful it feels when the sun stays up longer each day and even with this cold snap that we have right now {-34c in the wind}  I have been able to get out and get some good vitamin D in me...  Yesterday, I sat out back on a lawn chair, few blankets and a very fluffy warm jacket and hat {lets not forget sexy long pants, wool socks, double mittens and my artic boots}. 

Sipping tea and watching the birds visiting the bird feeders,  I might try that again tomorrow, will see.

Here's to happy sunny winter days!  Stay warm

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Vernissage & Dream Kitchen

Upstairs gallery space at Wall Space Gallery

Even rain and thunderstorms didn't keep people from coming to the 6th annual Orleans Art Studio Tour vernissage, and it turned out to be a great evening.   It was held at the Wall Space Gallery in Orleans, its a beautiful space (two floors) and Edward Barr the co-owner of the gallery and his staff did a fantastic job with hanging up all the work.  Our work (all the artists that is taking part in this years art tour) will be there on display through the weekend of the tour.

Down stairs gallery space (one of my paintings in the middle)

 Lots of people to talk with and taking pictures, here I am beside one of my paintings "Birth of Spring" in the down stairs part of the gallery...  {I'm not a big fan of having my own picture taken, ugh}...

So today is the rush to get everything ready to go for the tour as it will start tomorrow, I have been painting like mad, my work area was so messy that even I couldn't any longer work in it, so with a quick clean up this morning and now after I'm done here, I have to keep going until its all done {not sure how I'll be able to pull this of}.  Then I have to go over to my friends house/studio, there is three of us that will be at that location for the tour, and we have to clean and set up the space for tomorrow.  Then tonight is the grand opening at the Truly Swedish Design store down in the far west end of town, I just hope I get a chance to eat something in between and maybe even breath a bit...

Any how, now I'm of to paint {yes, paint, there is nothing like leaving things to last minute}, sort and putting all the things together and get ready to take out first thing tomorrow morning.  But before I go here, I just wanted to show you one little painting I made, its of a thought I have had now for a while since we bought our new house.  This is the colours I would like for the new kitchen, and I would really love to find an old antique Swedish wood bench to put by the old table...  Just the thought of sitting there with a nice cup of tea or coffee, reading and relaxing.  Green that's peaceful and with hints of orange that's energy, love it!!!

More to come after this art tour is over, keep your fingers crossed the weather will work in our favour : ) 

Mari

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Great busy & wonderful weekend

Between boxes and stuff all over the place {and I mean all over the place}, I'm really trying to get ready for the Orleans Art Studio Tour (coming up next weekend), my work space is a total mess and its safe to say its in a need for a great clean up.  I have every paint, material and work all over one of my work desks...  But, even though it looks like a good storm went through my work space and I don't have much time left before the tour, I went and tried to do my bit for the Orleans Festival and for one of the art groups I belong too.  We had tables set up for art demonstrations and children's art stations {water colours with salt} and it was a huge hit with the children and they all made fantastic pieces and I wish I had taken a picture of the work they created.

I had a little spot to sit and paint and show my work and in between talking with people, it was great fun and I'm looking forward to next year again. 

But the best part of this weekend, has been by far our Lindsay's 18th birthday...  18!!!  My goodness, I cant believe our youngest is now 18 or as how she puts it "young big woman".  My baby now a woman, I'm so amazed how far Lindsay has come with all the obstacles she has faced through her life, and nothing that has been thrown her way has ever stopped her from going forward, I'm so proud of her and she is such a blessing and gift.

Happy Birthday baby, I love you so much!!!

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One is in and one not so much...

Well, here is my two pieces that I put in to the annual juried arts exhibition, and this year the theme was/is "Mix of Emotions".  This one below, is a mixed media piece and its more abstract.  The title of the piece is "Winter Blues" and most people (well about 99% of everyone I know), think winter blues is negative, depression and very dark.  However, for me winter blues means something totally reverse to that, to me its that one very short moment when day and night meets...


"Winter Blues" (True Winter Blues),  in Mixed Media

Makes no sense?  well you see, when the sun goes down and the night sky creeps in, there is this magic light that covers everything that has snow on it.  And it only lasts for a very short moment, everything turns this beautiful and dreamy shade of blue.  And all that cold and frosty, looks warm and comforting.  Its the time you stop and just breath, enjoy the view and then when its gone as fast it came...  Then you go and sit back, sip tea and enjoy the warmth of a nice blanket. 
In Finnish its called "Sininen Hetkinen" and in Swedish "Blåa Stunden"  Brings back a lot of memories from my childhood days in Scandinavia.

Any how, Winter Blues, didn't make it in to the show (maybe if the jury had heard my artist statement, they would have understood the title more and the thought behind it...  Or maybe one of them were fighting their own winter blues...   Who knows). 
But not all so blue and not everything can make it... 
However, my other piece "Struggle" made it and its in  Yeahhhhh!!!!

"Struggle" water colour & Ink

If you have seen some of my past work, then you might have noticed that there is few things I love to paint and draw...  It is barns and umbrellas, so I tried to think of an emotion that is a struggle, and why not fighting Mother Nature.  You just never know what she will hit you with and many times its hard to fight back.  But you can fight and it might be a hard struggle at times, but if you hold on you might just make it (kind of reminds me the nasty thunder storm I had to live through last summer while we were out on a canoe trip, it scared the living lights out of me (no pun intended). 

The Mix of Emotions" exhibition will open up on February 16 at the Trinity Gallery, Shenkmans Arts Centre.

Happy first of February everyone!!

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Waiting for the next snow storm...

Light pole

 It's been bone chilling here, yesterday it was -34c in the wind.  But it was a really beautiful out, so out we went for a nice walk in the forest (a bit more sheltered there from the wind).  My friend Renee and her side kick Trevor came along and we had a great time (we walk almost every day together). 

I took some pictures from our winter adventure, but before I show you I wanted to show you these first.  The above painting is something I'm working on, its a project I'm really enjoying doing and its for one of my dear friends son.  C loves light poles and the older they are the better (well to him if they are from the 50's or the 60's that's agent and perfect old age).  C has autism and he is one super kid (sorry young man), and he has a fantastic eye for details, and he loves photography and one of his favourite subjects are light poles.  After hearing C telling me about them and seeing how passionate he is about the subject (showing his pictures with great pride), he has opened my eyes even more for the details that we usually don't notice or take for granted...  Sure the parking lot will be lit, right...  But do we see by what?  Well I do now, and I have been having fun trying to find the older once here in town and work on this project for him.

 And here is my finished painting of "Peace" that I showed you earlier before Christmas, so now its up and on display at the Shenkmans Centre in Ottawa.   And now I'm working on two pieces for a different upcoming art show, and this one is juried, so hopefully I get one or two in for the show.  I'm a bit behind my painting these days, as I have this on going condition with my eyes.  I have been having problems for about two years now and now it got really bad and after all this time I finally found a very good doctor.  So now lots of meds, relax my eyes and trying to get my sight back to close to what it used to be (its been so bad that I was not able to drive, got constant head aches and reading was totally out...  so was drawing or painting.  Both cornias are damaged *sigh, grrrrrr*).  Everything has been done with a lot of breaks in between the paint strokes.  But it is getting better!!!

 Any how, here is the pictures from our walk yesterday at - 34c, both dogs and us were bundled up really well.  Both Trevor and Charlie sporting their Chilly Dog coats.  Everything is coated in heavy snow and its super peaceful in the forest.  And now we are awaiting the next storm, kids are home on a snow day.

 Here is Renee (and above me in my gear), covered in ice...  Even our eye lashes and hair was covered in ice...  My scarf was so stiff when I took it off, it stood up on its own until it thawed.  Its all about layers!!!!

 Great day!

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