Artists's Studios - Work in progress - Creativity Workshops

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.

I will be offering creativity workshops in November and early December.  Here's a draft of the postcard in the making.

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More next time on the development of the workshops, in the meanwhile have a fulfilling week!

Delicious Series

rain downpour sunshine rain downpour of ripe figs on the ground ground covered with squished ripe figs slippery wet ground sunshine delicious series open studio art food visitors friends music scratch board art fun yum fall rain fog welcome autumn.

                                                   visitors' doodle art on scratch board

I just got a letter from the Sidney Fine Art Show and my triptych Attachment has been accepted in the show.  Yippie! This is happening the week end of October 19th and 20th. I might see you there! Enjoy the first week of the new season, stay dry!

Purple Figs - Blue Paintings

It's Friday, the last three paintings are done. First time in a while that I painted a board vertically, it came as a challenge in some ways, usually I position the board horizontally, by default. I welcome your comments on these new ones, one square and 2 verticals.  Here they are:

Blue Veil

Meanwhile in the Valley

Memories of Vietnam

Last crop of purple figs on the table, sandwich boards in the making, studio getting freshly clean and ready for the Delicious Series.  Tomorrow I'll be cooking and getting excited! Enjoy the week end! Hope to see you Sunday!

Life

Oh! It's nice to be home and have time to blog again.  More than a month has passed since the last post.  Actually, I've just published one written on August 25th.  There has been a dramatic yet temporary change of lifestyle for me in the last 3 weeks. I've been away in Vancouver painting sets for a tv series, working 10-11 hours a day together with a great team of busy bees. I traded yoga classes, walks in the woods, swims on Gabriola Island and time in the studio to go climb ladders, plaster, sand and paint walls, columns, panels and french doors by the dozen.  Hard work but satisfying as well. I like to witness and participate in a transformation process and I thrive in a team of creative people, it's been fun!
Now, I am back in the studio working on three new paintings when, realistically it would be more profitable to market my open studio event next Sunday! Well, having said that, I am gonna get to it!  See you soon, hope you are all doing well.

A Generous Gift

Laurie Burns, a most wonderful painter, will be showing her last work: The Book of Softening on Gabriola Island at Sheila Norgate's gallery in September.  This is a great series of personal images painted directly from her heart and soul.

 Last week, Laurie brought me a gift, a painting of hers that I was coveting for some time For Frida: My Shrinking Wilderness.  I love looking at it and discovering new things every time, new clues to a story, and it looks at home with my red buffet. Thank you.

Morning Harvest

Another glorious morning in heaven!  I don't know about you, but I wake up really early in summer, by 6 o'clock my bedroom is bathed in golden light and I spring out of bed right away.  This morning, I went to the studio to have a fresh look at the triptych I finished last night.

In the garden, the blackberries and the figs are ripening to perfection. Yummy morning harvest.

Merlin is enjoying his nap in his favorite spot.  In a little while, I am off for a picnic and a swim at Pipers Lagoon.  Summer is good!  Have a lovely day!

Love Therapy - Gypsy Brass Band - Dale Chihuly

My trip to Quebec was special, I felt showered with love every day by my family and my old friends. I call it Love Therapy! It also turned out to be a gourmet holiday, we went to fantastic restaurants and ate fine cuisine at home, my brother Benoit is quite a chef, we had one feast after another, duck, scampies, brie with caramelized apple in maple syrup, yum! And of course, a bottle of wine and then, another one! The good life! Sunshine and hot weather went on and on, so did the swimming and sailing on Memphremagog Lake. Picnics at the beach, ice cream cones on the Main! I can't imagine a better summer holiday.  Thanks everyone!

I longed to walk blissfully the streets of Montreal on a balmy hot summer night at the Jazz Festival, strolling from one stage to the next immersed in the crowd, the heat and the music.

And I did it! It was just as good as in my memories from the days I lived in Montreal. People everywhere, all ages, all cultures, chatting, laughing and dancing in the streets. A crowd was gathering at la place des Festivals in anticipation of the joyous music of Fanfare Ciocarlia, a 11 piece gypsy brass band from Romania. The party was on! I haven't danced like that in eons, ouch my knees!

The glass magician Dale Chihuly has an incredible exhibit of his giant blown glass pieces at the Musee des Beaux-Arts. Twenty feet tall glass chandeliers hanging over polished black granite, hundreds of big colourful glass pieces, what a feast for the eyes and the soul.

 Montreal: full of surprises.  

On St-Denis street the hydro poles are wrapped in colourful knitting ready for the circus!

On Marianne street, a bench and a piano invites passersby to jam together for a musical interlude.

Hope you also had a fantastic month of July. I wish you all great happiness, all the creativity in the world and a beautiful August.