As part of my spring teaching of Watercolour Explorations, I introduced my students to Sumi-e painting with ink and watercolour. Sumi-e is an artform that my mother taught me. It is Japanese ink painting usually done on washi or Japanese mulberry paper. Here are some paintings submitted to the “Strolling Into Summer” exhibit at The Art District Gallery. The exhibit runs June 1-July 31, 2021.
April 1-May 31st The ADG has a new exhibit “Colossal Art Studio Sale”. Visit http://www.artdistrictgallery.org.
I have submitted this cyanotype and unshin stitching jean jacket into the PRESS juried show at Button Factory Arts for May. Happy to announce that I won an award for this entry on May 1st at the opening of the show.
Registration is now open for the Spring online classes at Button Factory Arts. I will be teaching Watercolour Explorations Tuesdays 1-3pm April 20-May 25th. In addition to watercolour painting, I will teach ink washes with watercolour and introduce Japanese sumi-e ink style painting with watercolour.
The Art District Gallery new exhibition runs Dec 1 – Jan 31. As I reflect on my artwork in this exhibit I realize how much I am influenced by my daily walks in the forest and trails. I am spending more time capturing moments with my camera. I come back to familiar compositions in my artwork. Notice the similarities!
I will be teaching a fun painting workshop on Zoom in December. Registration is through http://www.buttonfactoryarts.ca/store. We will be drawing and painting a chickadee on greeting cards. Those who follow me on instagram will notice that I have been photographing my local bird friends.
I am teaching my last on site class at Button Factory Arts for the year. It has been a luxury to hold a small self distancing mask wearing class. Here are two of my teaching demos in watercolour and ink. As well, I continue to study Japanese calligraphy, here is a contemporary abstract of the word shooting star.
Over the last month I have continued to teach at Button Factory Arts and have taken a chine colle and papermaking workshop to support the local arts hub. Here are variations of etchings with chine colle.
For a photo exhibit I was challenged to photograph a new hobby or skill. As a result, I created an installation using my 100 origami cranes and hand spun Japanese paper thread. I call this “The Nest”, with the cranes of hope flying out to spread joy during these pandemic times.
I look forward to teaching Watercolour Explorations again at Button Factory Arts beginning Sept. 29, 2020. Some projects that I am working on are paper making and monoprints with photo transfers.
New exhibit “Summer Detour” online at www.artdistrictgallery.org Aug 1- Sept 30, 2020. Two of my paintings are “Promenade” and “Free to Be”.
Ink and mixed media painting “Promenade” started out with an unplanned underpainting of ink. Using a photo reference of Silver Lake at Waterloo Park, I could see the shapes of the promenade bridge and landscape emerge. I am excited to announce that “Promenade” was selected by The City of Waterloo for their Art Walk project at Waterloo Park. It will be printed on a banner and displayed along the walkway with 23 other artworks by local artists.
I have a collection of washi, Japanese paper that I have painted on, used for shodo calligraphy and printmaking. Here I collaged these into a painting “Free to Be” (centre). The enso circle is a symbol of the point in time that your mind is free to create. The calligraphy at the bottom is part of the word buji which loosely translates into the quiet of nothingness.
Lazy days of summer in a pandemic. Staying home, playing with paper. Hand spun usukuchi heavy paper with 100 origami cranes of hope, hand woven strips of mokuhanga printed lotus with “ikigai” shodo calligraphy, hand painted washi bits ready for collage and overpainting.
New exhibit at The Art District Gallery online, “Off The Wall” features art by our members. My watercolour and gouache paintings are available there. Also, The Button Factory Arts building is temporarily closed but the gift shop is open online. A few art groups in Waterloo Region have come together under the title LAFWR to showcase local art online. Please support these non profit groups and local artists. All have free local delivery.
