Feb 17, 2016
Past the middle of February already. Holy Smokes!
I gotta get a move on. That SMH hanging will be upon me any second now.
Tomorrow is D Day. Nose to the the easel etc no excuses.
I hang out at the Barrie Art Club (BAC) quite often. Someone there, who shall be nameless, captured me in all my glory behind the easel.
It'a an interesting club with artists at every level from beginner to solid pros. I've learned something from everyone I've met there. We exchange all kinds of ideas. It's not a place for people who are afraid of ideas.
Technical talk floats around in the ether too. A clever person can pluck out all kinds of information on just about every aspect of painting there is and not have to ask a question. The air is permeated with art talk.
Anyway, here I am at BAC in all my glory working up a small study.
Here are today's treasures:
me hard at work and a detail from a small study
Jan 14, 2016
The opening at the 20th Annual International Women's Day Art Show at the Orillia Museum of Art and History (OMAH) was fantastic.
It was wall to wall people who had 140 pieces of stunning art to look at. I was completely bowled over. I was in in such good company...
I'm going back myself to have a really close look at all that art. Probably will go back more than once there's that much to see.
If you are in the Orillia area at all it is well worth a visit @ 30 Peter Street. The show will be up until 10th of April
The place is wheelchair and walker accessible ... the museum staff will gladly meet you at the ramp door
Here's my piece in the show
Alice Edwards 1949 --
Frozen and Fading
40" x 30"
oil on canvas
Jan 12
Patience and I will be back. Orillia was too far for Patience to travel so she's taking a time out.
I'll let you know how the the 20th Annual International Women' Day Art Show Opening Reception, Sat Feb 13, 1 - 3 at the Orillia Museum of Art and History, 30 Peter Street, Orillia ON, Canada goes.
Women's issues are perhaps even more important now than in the 60's. I'm glad so many from all over are supporting this event. The show will be open until April 10th.
It promises to be pretty darn cold here tomorrow
See you back home Tues, Feb 16th
Hope you all have a good long weekend
Alice the Artlady
Feb 10, 2016
Patience is wearing some colour today.
You ever notice that you get to yakking with an artist pal and time slides out from under you without so much as a by your leave?
Today it just did that. Did some research, went in town to the hospital (SMH) to measure and check out the hanging system for my April 1 show. By the time I corralled a volunteer to hold the other end of the measuring tape, I was running so far behind I was first in the world race of turtles.
Met up with an artist friend for a quick coffee and to bounce ideas. Then off to the local arts council office to meet with the executive-director. She had all kinds of useful information and paperwork galore. Lovely smile too.
From there to the printers to check on an order. By the time I was finished the proofing, it was nearly dark. I knew Patience was waiting sitting on the easel all by herself.
Me? I was dying to get into the studio and sling a few licks of paint around. Patience was waiting. Everyone in the world decided to phone and none of those calls could be ignored.
But I did it! I got in there for a little while. Patience forgave me as I adjusted the background some more. Made more decisions about the lay in of paint, took a rough shot to show you where things stand today and well...
I realize that to others this all seems like it's taking a long time but it's necessary. Time to balance values, tones, colours, minute adjustments, small strokes of paint in the right place or the wrong places changes everything. Taking care. Exercising good judgement now will save me time in the long run.
In no time at all things will take off like a bat out of Hades.
Patience will be happy wearing her own face and knitting up a storm.
In the meantime here is
Patience in process/progress
Feb10/2016/Alice Edwards#1009
Feb 9, 2016
One of the things I've been thinking about today as Patience and I get reacquainted is how pictures of loved ones would have been made in her time.
Clearly, it would have been a painted portrait, perhaps a miniature, and only really available to those who had plentiful ready cash.
Photography as we know it, even in it's earliest forms, didn't come along until the mid 1800's and certainly wasn't readily available then.
Someone like Patience most likely wouldn't have had a likeness taken during the course of her life.
In my mind, Patience was an army wife following her English Grenadier soldier husband in the most trying circumstances in here in the new world.
I took a sepia tinted photograph to help me thnk of her as she might have been in those days as I work on her portrait. I do need to keep an old time mindset.
In actuality, she would have faced directly forward and perhaps had her head strapped tightly to the chair to keep her from moving
since an exposure took a long time. No wonder everyone looks so miserable in the Daguerreotype photos.
Keep in mind, the time in which Patience really lived, was close on to 100 years before Daguerreotype and sepia photos made their appearance. I thought you might like to see the results of my experiment.
Tomorrow I'll be doing the first lay in of her face and adjusting the background a little more.
We're talking now, you see, about what she wants and needs to look her best self.
Patience in process/progress
Feb 8/2016/Alice Edwards#1009
Feb 8, 2016
Sometimes, I get to poking around in the studio and come across a piece I set aside during a move from one town to another.
Today, I fished this piece out and thought I'd look it over, then finish my knitter. She's from a 1760 reenactment battle staged in Tottenham a bunch of years ago.
I meant to finish this a while ago but got caught up in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge but today I made up my mind to just do it.
So she's up on the easel. Over the next few days of days I'll finish bringing her to life. She deserves that much from me.
My knitter has been patience personified, and so I've decided to name her Patience. It was an honourable name back in those days. She's quietly been living in the back of my studio storage area.
I took a black and white photograph to help me check the existing values, ( that's the light and dark areas), and made a few decisions about where I'll begin tomorrow.
I have a plan now.
Patience and I hope you'll join us tomorrow to begin watching her come to life under the brush
Patience in process/progress
Feb 8/2016/Alice Edwards#1009
