Spring Show - A Small Gesture

Burnaby has a beautiful lake in the middle of Deer Lake Park and an art gallery. In a few weeks, Jung Kwon and I will be showing our works in a joint show called Internal Whispers at the Deer Lake Gallery. The opening reception is on Saturday afternoon, May 24th. from 2 to 4. It would be lovely to see many of you at the little gallery by the lake in the middle of this beautiful park.

 

A Small Gesture is an artistic event happening on Fri May 9th and Saturday May 10th at Iron Oxide in Nanaimo.  It is a fundraiser for a young mother going through cancer treatments who could use a little extra $ for the commute to Vancouver every day. Some tender loving care in action.

Many artists are offering small pieces of artwork. My contribution is 3 collages 7" x 5". I can't wait to see all the work on the walls.  There are going to be some creative gems at a good price.  Come all and support a good cause.

Grace

Expect Magic

Now

In the studio, I am gone back listening to Snatam Kaur
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-BC7prlEO8

Skies Painted with Unnumbered Sparks

Ted Talks was in Vancouver in March, and artist Janet Echelman’s sculpture floated in the skies by the Convention Center, it spanned 745 feet in the air: Skies Painted with Unnumbered Sparks.

It is spectacular in daylight as the wind moves the net in a variety of shapes.  At night, it is an interactive artwork powered by Google. The sculpture comes alive with illumination, it becomes an enormous canvas which the Vancouver public and TED attendees helped color using their smart phones. 160,000 lumens of light are intertwined through the giant net. As people view the sculpture overhead, they were able to choreograph the lighting with their mobile device.

“We all carry devices in our pockets that have an enormous power to connect with other people around the world, but rarely do we get a chance to use it to connect and create with people standing next to us. I’ve discovered that there is a certain kind of social space created underneath my sculptures that is contemplative and calm. People begin to talk to strangers about what they’re seeing,” says Echelman.

The artwork was displayed in Vancouver from March 15-23. I saw the sculpture just before it came down, miscalculated the dates and missed the night show!  Oh well, still quite a spectacle!

Seeds, pods and a burgundy wall

This painting called Remembering went to its new home today and it is such a good fit in the owners' decor! The distinctive colour palette of their living room is mirrored in the painting, the deep burgundy of the wall is the same as the stroke around the beige seed which itself reflects the colour of the long vintage couch. It was meant to be, it looks lovely, and everybody is happy! Yeah!

It's always a renewed pleasure to walk the streets and lanes of Vancouver with my friend Peter and to discover hidden treasures. Here are random pics taken over our walks.

Work in progress

Transformation in the studio, work in progress. One day at a time, the story evolves, the painting changes. Here are pictures of the two last paintings from the final versions down to the initial brush strokes, shapes and colours.  Hope you are enjoying the full moon week end. Cheers!

Sunrise in Nha Trang

Lily Pad in the Sky

Glue - Paper - Scissors and Culture Crawl

Every year in November, I just love to take the ferry to Vancouver and visit Eastside artists in their studios. The Culture Crawl Nov. 15 to 18 is always a feast for the eyes and the heart, always an inspired and inspiring week end; it's just as pleasurable to discover new artists' work as it is to follow the career of some favorite painters like M. A. Tateishi, Erin Ishi and Carla Tak.  There is the traditional reunion with friends and family at Mrs Gomez on Union Street in Strathcona, my old neighborhood, and brunch on Sunday at a new cool joint. I can also count on good cardio exercises in climbing up and down the many staircases of the old factories and warehouses where visual artists work and show their art. I will try to take pictures and tell you a little bit about it in my next post!

The collage workshop has been postponed to next week end, Sunday Nov. 23rd and is going to be lots of fun, very relaxed, free spirited and light hearted.  We will play with glue, paper, and scissors to create many intriguing and seductive little pieces of art mixing images and words.  I have set up a table in the studio to make a few collage pieces on wooden blocks to show at the workshop, it was easy to get carried with all the material laid out in front of me, I made 20 in the end,  there will be some for sale at the coming Artwalk on Nov 30 - Dec 1.  They are small in sizes, from 3"x 3" to about 6"x 12", some are kind of cute and I just want to keep them.

Add caption

 Enjoy the week end, I might meet some of you at the Crawl or at Mrs Gomez's, who knows?

Workshops - Pear Cake - Smiling Faces

Last Sunday, I launched the Creative Series with an all day workshop exploring Oil and Cold Wax.  The day started with a latte, a piece of pear cake and an introduction to the program of the day. Then off to mix colours with beeswax and walnut oil for our first layer of impasto. Soon, everyone was involved in their own painting process, exploring with stencils, grid printing, rubbing, mark making and scratching.  All fun things to do!  And just look at some of the stunning images that were created.

There are two more workshops coming up, one before Artwalk and the other, the week end after.

I have a little show out of my studio window as the last fig leaves are somersaulting all the way to the ground on the soundtrack of Alegria from le Cirque du soleil . www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOIdB-GPa24
 Enjoy sweet moments and happiness in your creative pursuit.

Indochine Coming Workshops

The Sidney Fine Art Show was a delight, lots of interesting work and lots of people.  I spent the week end in Victoria for the occasion, had lovely visit with family, shopped for a neat new pair of boots to replace my good old Blundstones, and made a quick stop at Opus to buy cold wax.
back in the studio, my new paintings have a certain flavour reminding me of  Vietnam.  It is like an interlude, a detour because I have tons more images in my head that relate to the series The Edge and I would like to paint them next.  It doesn't really matter in what order the paintings come, and it is fun just to marvel at the creative process and notice what is happening.  This new work has both figurative images and abstract ones, and has the scent of South East Asia to me.  It is reminiscent of a trip to Vietnam three years ago. I think I'll call this series Indochine. Like the movie in which Catherine Deneuve plays a French heiress at the head of a rubber plantation in the colonial Saigon of the 1930's.  Indochine is also the world of Marguerite Duras. There was always an attraction for me to visit that part of the world and I loved it from the moment I stepped out of the plane, now years later, paintings are bringing that trip back to life in a different light.  I am intrigued to watch what is going to come out of the studio in the next while.

Details from Rice Field

Rice Field 36" x 60" oil and cold wax

This week will see me in the studio getting the space ready for the first workshop next Sunday. People will learn to use oil paint and cold wax and work in layers to slowly build up the surface.With the use of different techniques like stenciling, rubbing, and printing, they will make various textures on the canvas and create their unique piece of rich abstract art.  I am looking forward to teach this workshop again, the results are always stunning.

 

The music in the studio is from Paolo Conte 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=2uj4pUD7YwI