Johanne Galipeau Artist: Artists's Studios - Work in progress

I like to visit artists' studios, spaces where creative activities happen are so inspiring. It's always a pleasure to discover older pieces and witness the works in progress lying around. I particularly like to observe the general bric-a-brac of treasures piling up in corners. Some studios have little altars to their muses, others have collections of colourful pieces of glass. My friend Carole Reid has a collection of tug boats tags that she has found on her walks along the beaches, she has made little stilt houses with them previously, this time she might turn this collection into 2 coffee tables. What a beautiful idea! Tug boats are part of Carole's heritage, three generations of men in her family have spent their lives on them.

Carole's studio has bright light and is quite orderly, plus there is a large storage space to house her paintings and canvasses. I also found 4 life size torsos tucked away, waiting to be part of a future installation? Lets hope so, Carole has a gift to create evocative installations, a very unique way to tell a story.

The dynamic duo Titia Jetten and Robert Plante opened up their studio to the public last week end. Big beautiful portraits, sweet bugs lounging on sheets of music, photographs and their famous illustrated cards. Big double studios filled with creative projects, colourful and inventive. I was fascinated by a series of bold shapes printed in red and black on the pages of a book. Next time I visit them I'll take pictures of these little gems to show you.

In my studio, two pieces are labouring away. I am reworking Meanwhile in the Valley, simplifying it mostly, harmonizing the top part and bringing light into the cave. Not quite done yet though, paintings have their own timing!

The other one is a 36" x 60" painting called Rice Field. The pink at the bottom is too strong, I am thinking of muting it in shades of ocher yellow and orange.