No Naked Walls

5 Unusual Reasons to Buy Art

2011-10-24T09:44:00.002-04:00

Art By Shona McFarlane

Some 22 years back I was on my way to my weekly sculpture class in Wellington, NZ when from the car window I saw a painting in the front window of a local Gallery. It was a large, free flowing and colourful work by a NZ painter Shona McFarlane who had a personality as vibrant as her paintings. I decided right then that I would buy it. What also appealed was that it showed the view of the valley where I lived and was very soon to leave.

Fire on Second Ave, Ottawa, Nov 1999

Fast forward to November 1999. I am living in Ottawa, Canada and my house has just burned down in the largest fire in the city in 34 years. My new town house of under a year old is almost completely destroyed along with 12 other homes.

What was left of my front entrance

The house was a crime scene for a few days but then we were able to walk through a few areas to see if anything could be saved. There on the wall was the painting, covered in smoke but still in one piece. Days later I took to it with detergent, water and a soft scrubbing brush and because it was acrylic it came up like new.
Our house was rebuilt within a year and with this painting on the wall it felt like home again.

This got me thinking about different reasons to own art and so here are 5 of mine.

1   Unlike clothing and most everything else, it doesn't wear out.

2   It will stay with you through difficult times and give you joy.

3   It will still fit in 10 years.

4   Art adds real personality and uniqueness to your home and reflects who you are.

5   When you look at the art you will remember when and why you chose it and who you were with and it will remind you of the unique path you have taken in your journey through life.

I'm sure you will have your own reasons to buy original art and I would love to hear them.

"Alchemy in Colour" Exhibition

2011-10-02T15:24:00.001-04:00

View from the front entrance

On Sept 15 my solo show "Alchemy in Colour" opened in the beautiful Marianne van Silfhout Gallery at St Lawrence College, Brockville in Ontario Canada.

View of the gallery

When I arrived and saw the whole gallery full of my work I had quite a strange feeling!. After spending time working so closely on the pieces you become very intimate with them but seeing them again like that, it was as though they had suddenly developed their own identity. A bit like the the children you nurture and watch grow up knowing them so well, and then suddenly they are their own person and stand separate. Not that this is a bad thing .... it's as it should be.

Collagraph "Under the Hot Sun" by the guest book

So there was my work arranged around the walls like separate moments in time each one exposing a part of me to be either liked, disliked or ignored. I had an odd feeling of distance and was slightly amazed that I had actually created all this work!

With my daughter Trudy and husband Brian

To send my work out into the world in such a beautiful gallery was a wonderful experience. I was also very appreciative of my friends who made the journey to be at the opening. It was very special to have you there.

If you've experienced a similar feeling when confronted with your work in a new setting please tell me about it.

The 1920's - I'm in a Flap About Flappers!

2011-09-08T16:37:00.000-04:00

A few months back I did the above collagraph print of two ladies. I had no idea when I started, all I knew was that I wanted to do a couple of figures. They ended up with a 1920's look to them and were quite cute, nothing serious, but just fun. I framed the first print I pulled in a nice white frame and took it to the Cobourg art fair where it promptly sold.   Several other people came back also wanting to buy it.

My son then kept saying to me how much he liked it and that I should do more in this 1920's theme.   "The retro thing is very trendy at the moment" was his comment.   The theme is probably trendy because of the recent TV series  "Boardwalk Empire" which showed recently on HBO.

A few years back I started a series of collagraph Kimono prints and they were great fun to do. It was a bit like being a dress designer ....   I could make the kimonos with patterns and colors that I liked and fortunately other people seemed to like them too.

The thing is, I really enjoy making this type of decorative plate and so I thought I would try some more with a similar 1920's look to "The Ladies".

Making the plates is proving to be very compelling. I can't wait to get into the studio and create another one and I haven't even started printing them up yet and seeing the results in color. It's very easy to get inspired when you have wonderful decorative elements, like exotic hats and stylistic clothes to work with.

After recently working on a series of non realistic abstract paintings this is a complete about flip! It must be my dual natured Gemini personality breaking forth!

Next week I want to start printing the plates and see if the final results are are as exciting as I hope they will be.

This photo is part of one of the plates in it's beginning stages. The color showing is from the shellac sealer and old thick paint that I am using to create textures on the plate. These colors are not what will show up when I pull the print and you can also see pencil where I have mapped out the design.

Artist Blogs - Are They Written For The Wrong People?

2011-08-17T12:08:00.001-04:00

Jester's Rattle
Original Blockprint
$99.00 unframed

Like many artists I am still trying to find my way with my blog and one thing that I wonder about is am I writing it for the right people. Who do I want to read my blog and what is its purpose?

Many art blogs seem to be more for other artists, with technique tips and marketing ideas, and not much for non artists who are art lovers.

As an artist I love to see what other artists are doing in their studios but wouldn't it be great if a blog was also really interesting for art enthusiasts and potential buyers as well. What does it need to make it that way?

Perhaps it would tell more about the creative art process and give a personal insight into who the artist really is and what motivates them? Maybe we talk about these things but just don't go deep enough or expose ourselves enough. Do we focus on showing our professional side and not let some of the nitty gritty raw feelings come out? Would that make it more compelling?

What do you think? As a non artist what would you really like to read about?

Printmaking or Painting - What Sells Best At Art Festivals?

2011-07-20T13:16:00.002-04:00

"Jester" Handpainted Blockprint. SOLD

Two weeks ago I exhibited at the Lions Fine Art Show and Sale at the Waterfront Festival in Cobourg, Ontario. I love this show because it's in a beautiful setting right on the beach.

I was showing both printmaking and non representational paintings like the one below. While I got lots of great comments on my paintings it was the printmaking that sold really well.

Small Orange Abstract 12 x 12 inches

I want to make it clear that the printmaking process I am talking about is creating original artworks printed by hand using a printing press and not a digital reproduction of a photograph or artwork. My main technique is Collagraph but I also had some handpainted blockprints on show.
I thought that printmaking may sell better because the work is usually less expensive than paintings but although I have shown small paintings on many occasions they just don't seem as popular. I find that people prefer the larger ones.

"Ladies" Collagraph on paper. SOLD

So, back to the printmaking .... I'm not sure what makes it more appealing. It could be the subject matter, my printmaking tends to be more decorative in style, or perhaps it just looks nice because it has a nice clean look with a white mat around it and a frame. What do you think?

Have You Lost Your Creative Spirit?

2011-06-16T10:34:00.000-04:00

Every now and then I feel creatively a bit lost. I find it hard to get inspired and this means it's harder to get motivated to start working. It's interesting that during these times we say that we have lost our "creative spirit" and that we want to be "inspired."

Looking at these two expressions reveals some interesting ideas. The ancient Greeks used to think that we did in fact have a creative spirit to call upon. Called a daemon (an ancient Greek name for a divinity or supernatural being of a nature between gods and humans), they believed that this supernatural being was available to be called on to help when we want to be inspired. The word "inspired" is also interesting. Having it's roots in the breath, the words "inspire" and "expire" at birth and death mean to have the breath or spirit come in or go out. So being "inspired" is to have the creative spirit come in, an interesting thought.

Steven Pressfield wrote a wonderful and very inspirational, there's that word again, book called "The War of Art." In part three of this book he tells how he invites the creative spirit or muse every day before he starts his creative process. It's a book that I highly recommend along with his new one called "Do the Work."

While I was thinking about this I came across a video called "A New Way to Think About Creativity" where Elizabeth Gilbert of "Eat, Pray, Love" fame talks about a similar idea. It's rather a long video but she is a good speaker and I think it's well worth watching.

On Saturday I leave with two friends to go to an art workshop in South Carolina. Perhaps I will invite my Muse to come along too!

Do Reproductions Devalue Original Artwork?

2011-05-26T10:51:00.000-04:00

Twilight Rhapsody
20 x 20 Acrylic on canvas $995.00

Over the last few years I have heard a lot of comments about reproduction prints of artwork devaluing the original paintings. "Why would you want to buy a painting that has a had lots of reproductions made of it?" is the cry, and "I wouldn't want to see the lovely painting I bought as a cheap reproduction in Walmart!"

With the advent of POD (Print on Demand) sites like Fine Art America I expect that I will hear these comments more frequently however I disagree and here are my reasons.

Think about the Mona Lisa. How many zillions of copies are there of that painting in the world? Do you think these countless copies devalue that? Of course not, it actually makes the original more valuable. If I bought a painting that I loved and then it was reproduced and became so popular that it was in shops and homes everywhere, I would be absolutely delighted and proud that I had the "original". It's value in monetary terms would have increased and I would feel very good about my decision to have bought that artwork. An original is always special and unique. Feel very happy if you own an original and never feel that a copy made of it takes anything away from that specialness.

Not everyone can afford original artwork but they may love an artists work and want to feature it in their home. Art should be for everyone to enjoy and not just for those who can afford original work.

How do you feel about this?

I would really appreciate it if you use the buttons below to share this on your favorite social networking site.

I Feel the Power - Can You?

2011-05-05T11:00:00.000-04:00

BC Museum of Anthropology

I just spent two weeks in the beautiful city of Vancouver and with the mountains and sea it reminds me of NZ where I am originally from. Last time we were there some 18 years ago, we went to see the BC Museum of Anthropology and because we enjoyed it so much we decided to go again. Along with artifacts from all over the world they have a huge collection of First Nation Art all displayed in the most wonderful setting. As an artist we tend to think of art as a painting to hang on the wall or a sculpture to place in a room but art for many people was, and in some countries still is, an important part of their belief system and central to their culture and religion. The power of this type of art is amazing and in their presence you can feel this power really oozing from them!

This got me thinking about art in today's world. Many artists that would, in other cultures and times, have been making religious or cultural work now work in special effects for movies, animation, advertising, architecture etc and they do amazing work and all reflective of our cultural times. We are surrounded by work of this kind but don't often stop to appreciate the skill of these artists who for most part go unknown. This work has it's own special power to influence and shape our ideas but I wonder will it still have any power in the centuries to come.

I always love to get your comments.

Also if you have any friends who you think would enjoy my blog or my art I would really appreciate it if you shared it with them.

Collagraph Printmaking

2011-04-12T10:17:00.000-04:00

Susanne Clark - Soaring Into The Blue
©2011 Susanne Clark
Collagraph Print on Paper - 8 x 8 in - $75.00

Last Friday night I gave a talk to an art society group about my art and printmaking. In the first half I talked about my painting process and showed some photographs. I set up the pictures in Power Point and connected to their projector. The color was a complete disaster which was a pity. It appears that they find it hard to get the color right when using the projector so in the future if I am asked to do this again for a smallish group, I will take my own monitor and use that, then I know that the colors will show correctly.

The second part of the presentation was about printmaking. I mainly make collagraph prints, a form of printmaking, which as the name suggests, comes from collage. I took a variety of my prints and also some examples of the collagraph plates that I make to print the images from. As usual everyone fell in love with the actual plates. I think it is the texture and depth of the plates after they have been printed that is so appealing. Because printmaking, and especially collagraph, is less familiar to many artists I think it was probably the most interesting part of the talk.

To brighten up this post I have added a photo of a small collagraph that I experimented with last week. I wanted to try using printing ink in a very transparent way. It's part of a larger plate that I wasn't happy with so I cropped the image down. It ended up being very simple but I think it has a very optimistic feel. Does it feel that way to you?

All That Glitters is Gold? Using Gold Leaf in Paintings.

2011-04-06T10:35:00.000-04:00

After spending quite a lot of time looking at art and thinking about what I really like ... which ended up being art with abstracted figures and faces in it ... I have gone off and started a series of non representational works. I decided to work in one size, 24 in square, as I already had several in this size and I like the look of a grouping of work all in the same size. The two I am currently working on are in a limited palette of black, white, grey, red and gold the gold being gold leaf. I love the way gold leaf glitters when the light catches it. I am not sure if they are quite finished yet but in the meantime this is what they look like.

Gold leaf is a bit tricky to work with. It has a tendency to fly away from where you are trying to put it if you even breathe on it. You lay down a glue where you want the gold leaf and then you have to wait until the glue is almost dry before you lay the leaf on and smooth it down with a soft brush. Finally you have to fluff away the pieces of leaf that are not caught by the glue. Hopefully then you have leaf where you want it. I also have a glue pen which enables the creation of quite interesting lines in gold leaf.

Doing the non realistic paintings has made me quite unsettled about what direction I want to go in my art but I guess that's part of the allure of doing art, it's such a voyage of discovery.

Roman Ruins, Caravals, a Palace and Conger Eels.

2011-03-12T08:56:00.000-05:00

I’ve been slow on the updates to my blog because it’s taken me some time to get back into gear after being away for so long. I’ve found it really hard to pick up where I left off however I think I am now getting back on track again.

To finish off about Portugal. We both like it there a lot. We love the outdoor life style and even though it was winter, most days it was sunny and warm enough to sit outside and watch the sea while we drank the great coffee that you get in Portugal. Now my husband won’t drink the stuff we make in the Bodum at home any more! After all this nice weather it was a bit of a shock to return home to Toronto and the snow and cold weather.

I have added a few pictures of places we think are interesting to visit near Albufeira. The first one is the Harbour of the Caravels in Spain. It features replicas of Columbus’s three ships in a lovely setting. It takes about and hour and a half to drive there from Albufeira but I think it’s well worth the effort.

The next place is a lovely hillside town called Evora. The picture shows the Roman ruin right in the center of the town. This UNESCO world heritage town is a great place to visit and you will see the inland area of Portugal where a lot of the wine is made on the drive to get there.

Finally the Roman ruins at Estoi and the newly restored palace which is now a hotel. http://tinyurl.com/45cafty and http://tinyurl.com/6yacv79

We also liked the market at Loule and wished we had made it to the Gypsy Market there but perhaps another time. The photo shows conger eel which I took because I thought the patterns on it were beautiful. I find all the fish on sale pretty awful and I can't see how the sea can sustain itself if so much is continually being taken out. After being a vegetarian for thirty years these things concern me.

One thing that was disappointing was the lack of small art galleries to visit. I am always looking to see art but only found one gallery and that wasn’t very exciting. There must be artists there somewhere but we never found them.

On the art front I have been making some collagraph plates this week and I hope to try printing them today. My next post will be about those.

Holiday in Portugal

2011-02-25T10:38:00.001-05:00

San Rafael Beach, Albufeira, Portugal

For the past month, as many of you know, I have been in Portugal on holiday. We went to Albufeira in the south of Portugal which is known for its large number of sunny days and warm weather. The average temperature in February is 16 degrees Celsius or 61 F with 7 hours of sunshine. More weather info.

Arriving from the depth of winter and snow in Toronto this is pretty exciting. It was cool at night when we first got there on Jan 24th but by 10.30am, most days, it had warmed up enough to sit in a sheltered spot outside in a tee shirt. Yesterdays temperature was 22C/71F. I knew we should have stayed longer!

Stormy Clouds over the beach

We loved to sit and have a coffee or lunch while watching and listening to the sea. The coffee that is available cheaply everywhere is fabulous and always made through an espresso machine. An Americano is around $2 US including tax and there is not a Starbucks in sight! The local Portuguese wine from Alentejo is also inexpensive. We had many bottles for $2.80 US that were fine for everyday enjoyment. I love the way the prices include tax and that tipping is almost optional and certainly not 15 to 20%.

Almond and fig goodies at the market in Loule.

One thing that really impressed us too is how lovely the Portuguese people are and how helpful they are to English speaking tourists. We had four or five women helping us find sesame seeds in the supermarket one day along with lots of smiles and laughter and we tried to explain what they were for and what they looked like.

One of the nice lunch spots

I couldn't stop taking photos of the beaches. They are beautiful and at this time of the year almost people free. There are wonderful rock formations and long stretches of golden sand. The picture below is taken at the Fort of Henry the Navigator at Sagres west of Albufeira. It is a stunning place to visit with its sheer cliffs and lonely position.

Church at Sagres at the Fort

There is so much to see in the area.from the local culture to castles and roman ruins and I will post some photos and info about them in another post.

What I'm Fired Up About at the Moment

2011-01-23T17:34:00.000-05:00


Leafy Kimono - Collagraph Handprint by Susanne Clark

Next week I'm off to Portugal on holiday. I thought I would write about a few things that I'm fired up about before I go.

smARTist Telesummit 2011. Last week I took part in this one week online artist's career telesummit for the first time. I was a bit dubious about spending the money in case it wasn't worthwhile but it was great. There were some very good speakers whose presentations were both inspiring and helpful and although quite a lot of the material wasn't new to me I still gained a lot of new ideas and info. It was pretty overwhelming because of the large amount of info over a short period of time so thankfully I will be able to listen to it all again online and when the set of cd's arrive. There are handouts and a workbook to work through as well. Even though it was a online event there was a lot of interaction between the participants. I liked it so much that I may sign up for it again next year. Before then though I have a lot of ideas to implement. Link to smARTist

The China Diet. I just finished reading this book and I think it's something that everyone should read. Once again I knew quite a lot about the diet that is written about in this book and yet it still made a big impression on me. It clearly makes the connection between cancer, and many other diseases, to a western diet. I've been a vegetarian for 30 years and I'm not thin, unfortunately, or pale and sickly looking which seems to be the general idea about veges, and now I'm thinking of moving to a vegan diet after reading this. The big problem, it appears, is animal fat. I love cheese, yogurt and an egg a few times a week but I am going to cut that right back. One of the interesting points is that animal fats make young girls menstruate at a much earlier age and then as they age they go into menopause later. This exposes women to more estrogen over their lifetime, something not good for breast cancer. There are a lot of reviews on Amazon the average being 4.5 out of 5. I would strongly encourage you to read this. Read more here on Amazon.

The last thing I'm fired up about at the moment is how people seem to get so upset about seeing nudity on TV or a woman breastfeeding and yet they have no problem watching hours of violence on the tube. North America seems to be worse about this than anywhere we have lived. All advertising here seems to be based around sex and yet a woman breastfeeding seems to send nearly everyone into shock. Huge artificial boobs are OK but using them for what they are designed for is not. I don't like porn at all but have no trouble with nudity.

Now that I have shared my feelings I can relax and take off to Portugal. Watch for a few posts from there.

Sales on Fine Art America

2011-01-09T17:17:00.000-05:00

Susanne Clark - Cello Head in Red
©2009 Susanne Clark
Acrylic on panel 6 x 6 in

After my last post Eva mentioned that she was interested in my experience with Fine Art America so I decided to write this post. I think it's good timing to write about it too because I just had notification that I sold three reproductions there today.

Fine Art America is a print on demand site but you can also list and sell originals. I think they are very well set up and have a site that is easy to use. The number of artists on the site is increasing very fast too and shows work from very basic to outstanding in quality. There are a few problems that need to be sorted, one being how they classify the artwork. Some people on the site will put their work into every category instead of just still life or wild life for example. This must make it very frustrating for viewers trying to find a particular type of art. When I lived in the UK I was on a small site there and they limited the number of categories so it worked better and more fairly. They also looked at each photo submitted to verify that the picture was of a good quality and accurately showed the work, something that FAA doesn't seem to do. Hopefully they will sort out all the glitches in time

I have belonged to Fine Art America now for about eighteen months but the last six have been the best in terms of sales. In the past month I have sold nine reproductions and two originals here. I hadn't bothered listing the price for originals as I didn't think that people would be interested in them on this site because of the price being higher than for a reproduction. I realise now that was being a bit silly as I received an email from a lady who asked if I had any more originals because she preferred them. The pictures I had showing on the site, most of the originals had already been sold. I sent her pictures of a few and she ended up purchasing two. I think I learned a good lesson!

Prior to the last month I also had sales ... about eight I think and many of those were larger sizes and framed so the commission on those was good and very nice to receive. I haven't done much in the way of promoting my work on the site and that's something I intend to do more of this year. I like the fact that once I have downloaded the pictures FAA takes care of the rest. One thing I think is very important is making sure that the file is excellent so that the reproductions are good and I never offer the largest size that is available in case it's not as clear as it could be for that size.

I think it's a great site too for purchasers as they have access to a wide variety of work and prices. I'm sure there is a painting there for everyone.

My Artsy Year in Review

2011-01-05T11:25:00.001-05:00

Now that 2010 has come to an end I am doing a quick review the artsy things I did and participated in during the year and deciding if I will drop some or do them again. Life should be fun! Here's what happened.

Moody Blues
by Susanne Clark. Acrylic on canvas. 12 x 12 inches

Outdoor Art Shows

I took part in six over the summer with varying degrees of success. Two local and four out of town. While most of the out of town shows were fun I will only do one of them again. We had recently returned to Toronto and thought it would be interesting to do shows north of the city in small towns that we hadn't visited for many years so there was a double purpose in participating. Although some were held in very affluent and pretty towns where there are many summer cottages and visitors, the sales for most artists were very poor. Perhaps it was because many of the attendees were from the US where the economy is much worse than here in Canada.
Locally I did two shows. The best was the Queen West Art Crawl in downtown Toronto: my second year there. The vibe is great and, for me, the sales have been good both years.

Open Studio
I held my first Toronto Open Studio and because my studio is in my home it made it very easy. After I set it up it looked really good and although not many people attended, I don't know many people here yet, those who did come came to buy. Open Studios have always been really good for me. I think it's because people like to see the artist in their home or studio environment and see the art in a real setting. I also enjoy the meeting the people who come. This is an event I will do each year and once I get to know more people here in the city I'm sure attendance will increase.

Internet Sales and Online Galleries
I am always amazed with online sales of art. I"m not sure if I would ever buy art online and yet I have sold quite a few works online over recent years. When I lived in the UK I used to list the life drawings I did each week on a small site and sold many of them ...in fact three to one man which made me wonder? I am now on Fine Art America where they offer reproductions of my work. It's a print on demand site but you can also list originals. I sold both reproductions and originals there so that is something I will also continue. The photo attached is one of the recent originals I sold over the Internet.

More to come in the next post.

No Naked Walls - About Block Prints

2010-12-07T10:43:00.000-05:00

Golden Notes 2
Hand painted block print on wood panel 24 x 36 in

After writing my blog yesterday I though that I should have mentioned how I go about making these block prints. First of all I work out the design. I have to decide what size I want the final work. When I do this I have to allow for the size of the artwork plus the size of the surround or mount and then make it a size that will fit into a standard frame. After making a lot of art that needed a custom sized frames I am finally getting smarter and working to standard sizes. Once the size is decided I then draw up the design I want. Next I divide the design up into blocks that will fit the size. For the Jester in the previous post the blocks are 6 inches square and the design is three blocks by 4 blocks or 18 inches by 24 inches. Next I cut all the small square blocks to make the printing plates and transfer the design to each one. Finally I lay them all out and paste them to one large sheet of mounting card to hold them in place while I print the design. I use a roller to ink up the whole panel and then lay the paper over and hand press the ink onto the paper. I could also run it through my printing press. Once it's dry I hand paint the central motifs that I want to feature. I have also experimented with printing onto a wood panel but I have to be very careful to place the design into exactly the right place on the panel because being a geometric design it would look awful if it was off even by a bit. The attached picture is a piece I did on a wood panel. It's similar to Golden Notes but much wider. Unfortunately the photo is a bit dark.

No Naked Walls - Perhaps it's because I'm a Gemini

2010-12-06T16:41:00.000-05:00

Golden Geisha
Hand colored block print

The last few weeks were busy mainly because I was getting ready for my Open Studio. Even though I didn't know many people here in Toronto after only recently moving here I thought that I would go ahead and make a start. I have always found Open Studios good for me and I do like the people contact that they bring. I actually didn't have a lot of visitors, which I guess was to be expected, however those who came, came to buy and quite a few pieces went to new homes with some wonderful people.

Now that it's over I am back in the studio. My plan was to work on some non representational pieces but somehow I got diverted. Perhaps it's because I'm a Gemini because I immediately started on a something the exact opposite of abstract or non representational, a very planned out piece of a Jester...! One of the works that sold in the Open Studio was the work on the invite above, the hand colored block print "Golden Geisha". I also did the musical block print "Golden Notes" a while back.

Golden Notes
Hand colored block print 26 in x 22 in

Jester is a similar block print with Gold in it. I like to show work with a theme and so I'm going to do a series of works limiting the colors to mainly black, grey, red and of course, gold. Some of the pieces will be non representational, of that I'm determined, but it will enable me to do a variety of subject matter but still within a theme that will hang well together. The Jester is nearly finished but I have to correct a few things. It's been fun to do too.

In Jest
Hand colored block print 18 in x 24 in

No Naked Walls: A Time for Reflection

2010-11-09T08:20:00.000-05:00

Into the Future
Collagraph plate

One of the blogs I follow is that of Donna Iona Drozda. http://donnaionadrozda.com/ABOUT.html She is a wonderful artist who has come through adversity and risen above it. I was quite taken by a recent post on her blog Following the Moon, http://donnaionadrozda.com/blog/. It was about November being a time of introspection. I have always liked the idea of the cycle of things but the past few years I seem to have lost the habit of reflection. The idea of things dying away in the fall, the possible new incubating in the dark of winter like a baby in the womb, then awakening and growing in the spring is wonderful. Her post has revived my commitment to introspection, to thinking what it is that I want to leave behind as 2010 comes to and end and what it is that I want to nurture and grow over the winter months ready to burst out and bloom in summer 2011. "An unexamined life is not worth living" said Socrates so I better get to it!

Open Studios

2010-11-04T08:10:00.001-04:00

Open Studios are fun for both the artist and the people who visit. I have done several in Ottawa, Canada and in York in the UK. Perhaps there is an element of voyeurism on the part of the visitors. We all like to see inside someones home or private space, to see how they live and who they really are. I guess that is why feature articles in home decorating mags are so popular. An Open Studio also allows visitors to learn about the artists process and they can take away with them a greater feel for the artist and their work.
I am in the final stages of organizing my November Open Studio, the first one I have done here in Toronto. I intend to make it an annual event. Because I am new to the city I am not expecting to have lots of visitors this year but over time I know it will grow. I have been putting out lots of postcards and sending info to my mailing list. The next challenge will be to decide what work I am going to show and how I will arrange it in the house. I usually rearrange the furniture in the main rooms, editing as much out of the space as possible and moving it to the side of the space all in an attempt to make it look more sparse and gallery like so the focus is on the art. I may even roll up the rugs to expose the hardwood floors and give an even cleaner look. I recently installed low voltage halogen track lighting in the main room and it makes the colors in the art look wonderful. It all takes a bit of work but that's part of the fun.

I had two different postcards done. I used this image on the one shown above because it is a combination of both painting and printmaking. The other features a musical work. Below is the flip side.

I would love your comments on how you feel about Open Studios.

Art Commissions

2010-10-26T12:16:00.001-04:00

I recently did something I never usually do....a picture of a cottage. I was asked by a friend to paint a friends cottage from a photograph so they could give it to the owner as a 60th birthday gift. This is not the sort of thing I like to do least of all from a photo that I didn't take and from which it is hard to see the actual color or structure. The friend who commissioned the work wanted something fairly conservative and also showing the water and shore so it ended up being quite a lot in the small format of 12"x12". See the enclosed picture.

Nova Scotia Cottage
Acrylic on Canvas 12 x 12 in

In the past I have never done commissions because I prefer to paint what interests me and in the colors that I like with no reference to what someone else wants however this was an interesting diversion. I hope the new owners like it.

If you are an artist/crafts person, how do you feel about doing commissions?

Painting Abstracts in Oil

2010-10-16T13:24:00.000-04:00

Abstract in Blue andPink

As many of you know from reading my blog I am taking an art class at the Toronto School of Art called Painting Abstracts in Oils. I am finding it rather frustrating waiting for the oil paint to dry between layers. I guess I have got used to quick drying acrylics.

We have several exercises to complete one of which is about addition and elimination, revealing and concealing. I don't know what got me started but I decided to cut out some shapes and paint around them to get started and then I found it really interesting to start covering parts up and overlaying with other colors. It's quite different from what I usually do and because of the colors I chose it's ended up a very happy looking piece. I would be interested in hearing comments about this type of work. Do you find the hard edged shapes and purely non representational design interesting or does it leave you cold?

Herb and Dorothy

2010-09-30T21:47:00.001-04:00

This documentary movie is a must see for artists and art lovers. It tells the story of a very ordinary couple who built a collection of over 4000 pieces of modern art that came to be worth millions. I think you will enjoy
Herb and Dorothy

Art and Creativity

2010-09-29T10:50:00.003-04:00

I have been distracted from my art and blog this summer. The nice weather, family and all the work around the house that needed doing outside before the cold weather came are my excuses however I think that it's important to go with the flow and take time to enjoy these moments......and I did!

I'm enjoying an art class called Abstraction in Oils being given at the Toronto School of Art. I met two really nice women at an artists group that I joined here recently and they we going to do the class so I decided to do it to. I'm glad for two reasons. I get to spend time doing something I love with these two nice people and I am able to learn more about art. I often paint in oils but usually under paint in acrylics first which makes this stage go faster as I don't have to wait for the under painting to dry. There is something wonderful about oil paint though. It's the feeling of the oil paint as you put it on and the final look of the color. It also seems to sit up on the paper and not flatten out or darken as it dries.

As I mentioned in my previous posts, I have been looking at a lot of art over the past few months and I will continue adding links to the work I like. One artist I forgot to add in the last post was to Jack Shadbolt. He also did a series of Owls, Butterflies and Birds. He has a wide range of work and this is just a small sample.

Let me know what you think.

2010-08-13T06:26:00.000-04:00

More Art

Here are more artists whose work I find interesting.

Patrica Nix. I found her work included, along with several other artists, in a wonderful Annual Report publication for the company Capgemini. I was so impressed with the idea of putting art in a business publication and I'm sure they would be pleased to know that their 2004 report is still giving such pleasure. Wouldn't it be great if more companies did this.
http://patricianix.com/originals/originals_gallery.html

Hughie O'Donoghue. I was fortunate to see a most amazing exhibition of his work at the War Museum North in the UK. The exhibition called "Painting Caserta Red" based on his father's experiences during the was, was fantastic and the scale of some of the work was amazing. He did a special piece for the space and it must have been about 40 feet high. I have been trying to find a photo of it on the web but can only find a small picture of one that is similar. Go to the last image on this link. The link images don't do justice to his work and unfortunately there aren't many images of his work on the web.
http://www.culture24.org.uk/places+to+go/north+west/manchester/art17397
Here is a link to another of his works.
http://www.creativeboom.co.uk/news/history-memory-and-myth-in-leeds/

Kimo Minton. I found his work at Tew Gallery when I was living in Atlanta. He works on large wood panels. They are absolutely gorgeous. One of my friends who was visiting actually bought one and had it shipped back to New Zealand where she lives. She is in good company as I believe Elton John has one too.
http://www.timothytew.com/mag-15-kimo-minton

Sean Scully. I saw an exhibition of his large abstracts when I was living in the UK but I also saw one in the High Museum in Atlanta. The size, texture and colour in the work I found very appealing.
http://s3.artknowledgenews.com/files2009a/Scully_at_Atelier.jpg

http://www.google.ca/images?hl=en&q=sean+scully+paintings&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=thBlTNbXOoP7lweUz_WSDg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQsAQwAA&biw=1359&bih=692

What do you think of these?

2010-08-06T10:32:00.000-04:00

Art I Like

As I look back on artists links that I have saved on my computer in the past what I notice is that I have a strong preference for paintings of the figure and things with a mysterious or spiritual quality. The artist Lawren Harris from the Canadian "Group of Seven" is one of these and I have posted a picture of his to start things off.

I have also added links to other art that I find interesting. These are fairly conservative but somewhere to start.

Although the work by Lani Irwin, is highly realistic it is made interesting by the unusual subject matter. There is a gallery in London that carrys a lot of work like this and I loved visiting it when I was living in the UK. Unfortunately I just can't remember the name of the gallery at the moment.

http://www.feltusfeltus.com/LaniIrwin/html/gall.html

Although I really like more abstract work I also like Bruce Holwerda's figure drawing which I find amazing, skillful and creative. It's all the small details going on in the hair etc and the tension he gets in his figures.

http://www.bruceholwerda.com/

What I like about Nicholas Simmons work is the way he builds interest into a fairly realistic image by overlaying patterns and shapes. You need to pan down the page to see all his work. I also like his colours. Notice 'colour' spelt the British Canadian way. I always seem to stop and think...who am I writing this for and which way should I spell things today.

http://www.nicholassimmons.com/

The next two are taken from my old list and they are not favourites but both have something more abstract and contemporary that I quite like. Once again figures feature.

http://natalierichy.com/portfolio/p-06.html

http://www.sopafinearts.com/artists/Gustlin_Jylian/gustlin_gg.htm

For an entirely different type of art I love Andy Goldsworthy site specific work. He has a lovely DVD called Rivers and Tides which is great to watch. Here are some of his images. http://www.ecosalon.com/andy-goldsworthys-amazing-works-of-art/

Two works by Will Maclean an interesting Scottish artist whose work is very mysterious. These are just his sketches for paintings but I like the way they are drawn.

So far I haven't added any landscape artists...is that telling me something? I also haven't added any really abstract work even though it's what I really like. That will be in the next post.

I hope you have found some of the work interesting. Please send me your comments and share links to any artist that you love.

2010-08-01T12:54:00.000-04:00

It's Summer and I can't Focus!

Do you find that it's almost impossible to focus on your work during the summer? That's what I am finding at the moment. Getting into the studio is so hard when the garden and lovely weather beckons me outside. I hate to wish for the cooler days but it does make it easier to stay inside and work.

I have been thinking about my work and where it is going, or not going. I have decided to go through a process to enable my work to continue to grow and develop. The first step I have set myself is to look at a lot of art, find work I really like and then ask myself what it is and why it resonates so strongly with me. This is a clarification process to enable me to discover what is interesting and has personal meaning for me now and what I want to incorporate into my artwork going forward.

I really believe that each person can create a very distinctive style of art that comes from their life experiences and even right down to how their muscles hold and use painting or drawing tools. Several years back I taught classes on using art for personal development. I found that when people were asked to paint in a very non representational manner, just putting paint on as they felt like it, you could immediately see that each person did it distinctive way. Within several weeks everyone in the class could usually pick out whose work was which. Why is it then that so much art looks so similar? Perhaps we need to really work at enhancing what it is that is different about ourselves and let it shine through.

In the next post I will include photos of some of the work I like and why, and what I have discovered in the first step of my process. I would love to hear your thoughts. If you would like to take part in the process too and then post what you discover, that would be great.

2010-06-29T10:46:00.000-04:00

3 Art Festivals

Lions Art Show and Sale
Bobcaygeon Art Festival
Muskoka Arts and Crafts 48th Annual Summer Show

This month is a busy time for me with three art shows around the area. The Beaches Art Show last month was disappointing because of poor attendance due to rain. Because we have just recently returned to Toronto I have had to go on show recommendations from other artists. I had been told that this was a good show however I found that it catered more to inexpensive craft than art so it's not a one I would do again. It's all a learning experience. This weekend I am at the "Lions Art Show" in Cobourg, Ontario. Cobourg is on the lakefront between Toronto and Ottawa. I have never been into the town although I have passed the turnoff to it dozens of times when we have been going between the two cities. This art show is in a huge tent so at least we won't get rained upon.

The following weekend I am doing "Bobcaygeon Art Festival "show in the Settlers Village in Bobcaygeon. This town north of Toronto has many beautiful cottages and homes as does Muskoka in the same area. This is where I have the third show for the month, the 'Muskoka Arts and Crafts 2010 48th Annual Summer Show'. It will be interesting to experience all three. It is hard work but both my husband and I enjoy the shows and the people we meet. We are looking forward to visiting these areas again after having been away from Canada for quite a few years. Northern Ontario is beautiful place.

Just a note on the G20. We were amazed to see all the violence on TV in the area near where the G20 was being held. We live in downtown Toronto and find it a very safe and tolerant city. The breaking of windows and setting of cars on fire done by gangs of young thugs has no place in genuine protest marches and is not justifiable under any circumstances. I think most Torontonians felt sad and angry about it all.

2010-06-17T13:01:00.000-04:00

The Ultimate Act of Creation

The night before last was one of those very special times in a life. I was witness to my second grandchilds birth. Even when I had my own three children I was astounded by the magic and mystery of birth but to have the privilige of seeing both my grandchildren enter into this world has been both emotionally moving and mindblowing.

The labour was very fast. One moment it seemed my daughter in law had this very large round tummy and then the baby started to move down and out. Before very long the head was partly there, poised for a moment in time....she called out and breathed and the head completely emerged. We waited again.....a bit of help and whoosh....... the air was suddenly, and almost shockingly, filled with loud wails. We didn't even have time to think "Will it breathe and cry".

I think with our modern technology and capable medical care that we are divorced from the realities of life. We no longer see birth and death. It's hidden away in hospitals. What I was lucky enough to see that night was the emergence of a new life in all it's fullness and beauty and I was stunned by the amazing creativity and intelligence of the universe. Surely this is the ultimate act of creation. My artistic attempts seem pale in comparison.

2010-06-15T09:46:00.001-04:00

Watercolour Painting
with a Resin Finish

Recently when researching local art shows I came across a blog by a local artist called Moshe Mikanovsky. He is very web oriented and has an interesting blog. He recently posted a very good article on coating watercolour paintings with resin so that they can be shown without a protective glass covering. He learned this process from a fellow Toronto artist David Zak who also has a video about the process.

Paintings covered with resin have been very popular in Toronto for quite a few years and I often find it too overpowering however using it instead of glass on watercolour, or other works on paper, would make the finished work much more sturdy.

Let me know what you think.

2010-06-08T22:55:00.002-04:00

Beaches Arts and Crafts Show

This weekend I'm participating in the Beaches Arts and Crafts Show held in the very trendy "Beaches" area of Toronto. It's the first festival of the season, the first time I have done this show and it will also be the first time that I have shown only printmaking so it will be an interesting few days. It's great to be getting back into "Art Mode" as the past few months have been full of renovations and all the messy work that entails....the wrong kind of painting for instance! We are really pleased with the results of our labour but glad to be finished.

This week I have been busy matting up prints, and getting work into frames. I have gone with the standard plain black frame on most work except for the "Kimono prints" which are in white. The "Kimono" prints are more feminine so the lighter frame colour works better. It's been fun getting all my printmaking work out and I'm really looking forward to seeing it hanging together in the tent so that I can get a clearer view of the work overall. Most of the pieces are collagraphs but I'm also showing some block prints on paper and an experimental one on wood panel. I'm a bit concerned that there is too much variety in the imagery I've chosen to show but I can select and edit as I hang the work. It's much more problematic showing works under glass at an outdoor show so I hope we get nice sunny warm weather.

As an update on people using images from artists websites without permission, I came across one of my paintings being used on the Patio Bar blog, in Faro, Portugal, as publicity for a jazz concert. http://opatiobarfaro.blogspot.com/2009/11/j-z-z-z_19.html I have decided to take it as a compliment.

My son and daughter in law recently moved to live in our house in the apartment unit below us. It's working out wonderfully and I will write about it in another post. It will only be for a year or a bit more so we are making the most of this very special time. They have their second baby due to arrive at any time and are hoping for another home birth so the next few days will be very exciting.

2010-04-29T07:48:00.000-04:00

Art for Personal Development and Creativity

Some years ago when we lived in Ottawa I used to teach classes on using art for personal development. These were not technique based classes but an entirely different type of class where we looked at the historical, psychological and spiritual meanings of colour and painted, made masks, discovered and wrote about what it all meant in our life. Last week I reconnected with a wonderful woman who had attended many of my classes and we spoke about how much we had both enjoyed the experience. I made some great friends during those years and really enjoyed both teaching and learning from my students. Now that I am likely to be settled in Toronto for some years the idea of teaching again has come to mind. As well as the art for personal development courses I would also like to teach basic printmaking covering printmaking without a press and collagraph. Unfortunately I don't have a suitable place to teach in at present but where there is a will, there is a way to be found.

2010-04-23T10:46:00.001-04:00

Update on Copyright Issues-
Downloading Artists Images

This has been a big week for my art images being downloaded. I don't know if Statcounter has just added this info as a new feature or if I have just been paying more attention. Anyway this week has shown another two or three people downloading multiple images. Wouldn't it be nice to know why.

Several years ago I recieved an emal from an art teacher at a school in Australia. Apparently a competition had been held for the students to design a poster to advertize an upcoming concert at the school . The winner was announced and the posters printed then someone asked the student about the design and the image of the cello in the center of it. It then came out that the cello was one of my artworks which the student had lifted from my website and incorporated into the poster design. The art teacher obviouly realized that it was a breach of copyright and quickly wrote and asked me if they could still proceed with using it under the circumstances. I agreed but asked them to credit my image and also to make a donation to a charity in lieu of some kind of payment to me. It's a pretty nice poster don't you agree?

2010-04-18T10:09:00.001-04:00

Copyright Issues for Artists

Like most artists, images of my work are on the internet and several art sites along with a copyright warning. Every now and then I check out how many viewers have visited the site using a program called Statcounter. It's fun to see that visitors come from all over the world and it reminds me of just how amazing the internet is. Of course there is a downside to this too. A few years back there was a very interesting post by Robert Genn on his site "The Painters Keys". Someone told him about a web site in China where they were making copies of work by well know Canadian and American artists and selling them cheaply over the internet. He went to the site and sure enough, his work was there for sale. A similar thing has occured at art festivals and exhibitions where people go around taking photos of artwork to reproduce. Any artist who puts work on the web faces the same issue. Using small file sizes means that the work won't reproduce very well but if you want the artwork to look good the file has to be a decent size The music industry has also been hit hard because so many people make copies for friends or download from sites where the music has been posted. Very few CD's are now sold and musicians are finding it increasingly hard to make a living.

So back to Statcounter. As I look through the visitor stats on my web site I see the images that have been viewed and also which ones have been downloaded. This week it was someone from Southend on Sea in the UK who was busy downloading a whole bunch of my musical images including the painting of violins called "Noteworthy" posted here. Was it another artist who wants to do something similar or someone who just likes the work and wants a copy, and does it matter? What do you think?

2010-04-16T08:54:00.000-04:00

In Process

I always intend to take photos of a painting as I'm working on it but I often get so caught up in the process that I forget. Here are a couple of photos of a recently completed work.

I find it facinating to see how other artists go about creating a piece. I would love to hear if you find it interesting too, and if so, what information about the process you would like to read more about.

2010-04-13T21:49:00.000-04:00

Time Goes By...

I've been so busy with the ongoing renovation of my kitchen and bathroom that I've had no time or energy to post or read blogs or even think of doing any art. In the evening I am exhausted and so I have been relaxing by sitting in front of the tv and watching a wonderful art history series. The presenter, William Kloss, is an associate with the Smithsonian. He is a great presenter and brings art history alive with his amazing knowledge all delivered with passion and a twinkle in his eye. We have been watching The History of European Art which is one of his video series available at The Teaching Company. If you are interested in art history do check him out.

Some time ago I posted a photo of this painting called "Swinging at Club 135. I guess it was the word "swinging' in the title that attracted a number of posts from anonymous posters who thought my blog was a suitable place to sell penis enlargement and sexual aids etc. Pretty funny I thought!

2010-03-28T22:13:00.000-04:00

Exhibition in Ottawa

I am sitting in the middle of my living room with furniture and books stacked up everywhere. Tomorrow we move upstairs into our newly renovated apartment. We still won't have a working bathroom or kitchen as I still have all the tiling to do in both rooms before the plumber can connect up all the fittings, but our son and family is moving into our current unit so we will be able to use their facilities until ours are finished. It has been a huge undertaking because we have been doing most of the work ourselves. An amazing contractor refinished the old floors yesterday making them look brand new and that was the finishing touch.. As well as all this on Thursday I have an exhibition to hang in Ottawa, a four hour drive away. I have packed up all my work and done the labels but I am still worried that I will have forgotten something. There has been too much happening. Today I was frantic because I went to pick up some paintings that were on show at the Music Institute and when I got home I couldn't find one of them. After an hour of hunting and unpacking art work that I had just wrapped for the Ottawa exhibition I finally found it tucked into a neat little space between two other works. Once the exhibition is up I will be able to spend a few days meeting up with old friends and enjoying a break before returning to complete the work in the house. Once that is done it will be back to my normal life and art. I can't wait!

2010-02-28T08:52:00.000-05:00

Toronto Art Expo

I have been looking forward to seeing this show for some time so the morning after it opened I was up early and eager to get there before the crowds. On to the subway and a quick walk along Front St and I was at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre but I was too early. It was only 10:30 and the show was not due to open until 11:00. I couldn't find anything showing where to buy the tickets so after a few minutes I asked one of the artists who was standing nearby with a couple of paintings only to realise that I was so eager to see the show that I was there a day early! I had somehow lost a day and thought it was Friday when it was only Thursday. I took my sorry self home again.

The next day I did a re run. The show is quite big, around 210 booths, with independent artists and galleries showing. The galleries are located in the centre of the layout and they are nicely set up with lovely white walls and professional lighting and signage. Around them are placed the solo artists and their booths are less classy. They are supplied with grid walls with a white curtain backing which looked ok. Very few had upgraded their booth walls with their own panels like propanels for instance.

The show draws galleries from other cities and I spoke briefly with a gallery rep from Los Angeles. I asked him if it was worthwhile to come all that way and he said he would have to wait and see as he hadn't done this show before. I mentioned I had heard that the Art Expo in NY city had been experiencing a drop off in attendance but he said he thought it was still good even if a bit smaller. I was glad to see one of my favourite galleries from Ottawa, Galerie d'art jean Claude Bergeron there.  I like them because they show some really good printmaking, a form of art that he thinks is good in this more challenging economic climate as it is generally less expensive.

The show was, in my mind, quite uneven in quality. There were some large booths showing what I think of as mass produced designer wall pieces. These are large decorative pieces with panels of texture and gold and nothing really in them.  Some of the large gallery booths had interesting work but nothing that took my breath away or that I would really have loved to own. The work of the independent artists ranged from very good to quite amateurish and a couple were awful both in content and the way it was displayed. One interesting artist produced scanner photography. He puts objects on a scanner bed and then overlays and manipulates the imagery in his computer until he comes up with a composition he likes.  A young trendy looking artist originally from Russia had paintings that glowed with the most amazing blue. I liked those. Quite a lot of sculpture was shown but nothing that had real soul or spoke to me which was a pity as I love interesting sculpture. I have a couple of artist friends on facebook whose sculptural work would have stood out in this setting.

I had a nice time.  I met up with a woman who was showing near to me at the Distillery Art Show in the Summer and then chatted with another really nice artist who was very friendly and invited me to go as a guest to her art group who meet once a week for critiques. Both these woman had done the show several times before and although it is expensive to take part in, they both felt it was worthwhile.

As for attendance, well there was a snow storm the day I went and Saturday was pretty bad too. I will get an update from one of the artists after it finishes so that will be interesting however I don't understand why they don't hold it in late March or April when the weather is better.

Just a note to end on, when writing these posts I am always aware of the difference in the way words are spelt in the US and Canada and I am never sure which to use. Mostly I tend towards the Canadian way, which is the same as the spelling I learnt growing up in NZ.

2010-02-12T07:28:00.001-05:00

Swinging at Club 135

This has been a good week. I am finally getting back into the studio and getting work done. I'm also having fun. I eased into it by making some simple prints, 4 x 4in, that will be great as handprinted cards. These are like the first clown print I made. One of the designs I liked the flow of so I enlarged it to 12 inches and made it into a painting. It's a lighthearted colourful work. I am now in the process of doing a companion piece from one of the other designs and that's coming along nicely.

I have also nearly finished the combined painted / printed work mentioned in previous posts and will post a photo once it is finished. In many ways I prefer the piece I did on paper to this one on board however I have learned a lot from the process and can see possibilities for future works.

I am also eager to do some more serious printmaking so lots to think about. Today however I am hanging some of my musical works in The Toronto Institute for the Enjoyment of Music, a new music school in down town Toronto on trendy Queen West. It's a lovely space and I will be showing my work there on an ongoing basis.

2010-02-05T12:10:00.006-05:00

Clown Collagraph Process

Some time back I was making a small collagraph plate. It's just 4 inches square. I had been playing around with some fun foam prints of the image but wanted to make a collagraph of it. I'm not happy with the final result but like everything you learn by doing. To make the features on the face I coated it with gloss medium and then drew the facial features into the wet medium. This creates lines into the medium where the ink collects like intaglio. The gloss medium also wipes quite light which allows the inked lines to stand out. What I don't like is how the face is a bit patchy and also that there is not enought texture in the hair. I will address this when I make another plate. In the three following photos you will see:

1 The plate finished but not yet coated with sealant.

2 The plate after sealing with shellac.

3 The printed collagraph. You will notice that they print in reverse.

2010-01-31T17:38:00.000-05:00

Great Video of Self Portraits
I found this on Twitter and wanted to share it as I thought it was pretty neat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8U6jD6lKRs

2010-01-30T08:16:00.003-05:00

New Painting

This "Musical Painting" is the same design as the previous one called "Golden Notes" but it's a painting I did while I waited for the ink to dry on the experimental printed piece on board. I quite like to try doing the same thing in several different ways. This is in a high colour key, a play on words too, which is a nice change from the many red coloured paintings that I seem to have been doing lately. It's also a playful piece with more fluid brush work.

Please let me know what you like hearing about in this blog and I will try to oblige.

2010-01-28T07:43:00.006-05:00

In and Out of the Studio

The last few days have been spent applying to upcoming art festivals and planning a new kitchen to replace the very old one in our apartment. It's all very time consuming. One of the festivals required actual printed photographs and after working perfectly for months my printer decided to play up. It took me the better part of six hours and lots of good paper to get the six required photos! Hardly a good use of time.

Today I will be printing up labels and getting organized to hang a show on Monday at a very nice local restaurant called Insomnia here in Toronto. Restaurant shows are very big in this city. I was also contacted yesterday about having a show in Ottawa in March/April 2011 at the Ottawa Folk Center. They have a huge gallery space with ongoing shows and this will be a perfect venue for my musical paintings.

I am posting a photograph, not a very good one unfortunately, of the full sized work on board that I have been working on using printmaking as a basis. The oil inks have finally dried so that I can begin painting in the central area. Now to decide what ccolours to use.......

2010-01-16T15:25:00.008-05:00

Test Run for a New Painting

I have been thinking for some time of combining printmaking with painting and working on board. Last week I did a test run on paper first to see how it would work out. The paper size is not as big as the final painting will be and so both sides, and some of the most interesting parts, are cropped off. I have a big board, 24 in x 30 in, ready to print the full size work on. Some time back I did a piece called Golden Geisha using the same sort of method, block printing, but I want to take this further by moving onto wood panel instead of paper. This will enable me to do quite large pieces that are not under glass. Please let me know what you think.

2010-01-11T08:17:00.002-05:00

Back to Art

After the last non art related post I am back on the art theme again. It's the time to apply for art shows and organize my art life. A week or so ago I received a very nice invitation by way of facebook to show my musical paintings in an exhibition called "Something Jazzy" in Illinois. Because my work is large I decided to find out the shipping cost before sending off the forms and was very discouraged to find out it would be over $350 each way including insurance. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that to send from Canada to the US requires going through customs however I can't justify spending that on shipping so unfortunately I will have to decline.

I spent several days last week preparing images and info for applying to local art fairs coming up in the spring and fall. It's a very time consuming activity and I have another couple to do this week. In April I will be showing my work in an Ottawa coffee shop gallery right in the area where we used to live so that will be fun as I will be able to reconnect with lots of friends and neighbours. I will also be showing in several other spots in Toronto.

I have also been working on a small collagraph print to submit to the Ottawa School of Art printmaking exhibition. At 4" x 4" it's quite a challenge for me as I usually do much bigger works. I hope to be able to ink it up and run it through the press later today and post it here but now I am off to life drawing at the AGO.

2010-01-09T08:15:00.004-05:00

Health Care

With all the debate going on in the US about health care I thought I would add our perspective after experience with both the US system in Atlanta and the Canadian system in Toronto. In our brief two years in Atlanta we unfortunately had two major uses of their health services. On the first occasion my husband had to go to emergency to check to see if he had a blood clot in his leg. He has a blood condition and had had one once before. He had first class service, they checked absolutely everything, found nothing, and we ended up with a bill for $10,000. Fortunately we had insurance through his employer where we had to pay the bill, send in the info to the insurance co, and get reimbursed. Just prior to paying the bill at the end of the month, my husband received a phone call from the billing office at the hospital who told him that if he paid the bill by the end of the month there would be a 50% discount! He thought he was hearing things! Because we were what they consider 'self pay' they were concerned that they would never get their money and so were trying to encourage us to pay by offering the discounted rate. Evidently the insurance companies get the discounted rate so we were getting offered the same deal. What really bothers us about this is that the people who don't have insurance are usually asked to pay the full rate. Once we knew about this discounting we then asked for, and generally got, a discount each time we went to the doctor or dentist. Even though we were insured we were always concerned about using medical services in case we were declined on claims or even dropped. The second event was when I had to have a small operation. Once again good service but very expensive, with separate bills coming in for weeks afterwards. The doctor, anesthetist etc bill separately. All this time the debate on healthcare was going on in the US. We felt that there was a lot of miss-information with regard to a government plan that covers everyone. There is also the idea that Canada, with it's universal care, is a socialist country and that to many Americans is bad. We live in the province of Ontario and each province has a slightly different government healthcare system. Since returning we have been very impressed with the care we have received. Because we were new to the area and didn't have a GP doctor we used the local walk in clinic for a couple of prescriptions etc. Within a few weeks the doctor there had us sent off to specialists get all the tests he felt we should be up to date with here in Canada. Then my husband cut his arm and ended up in emergency and had to return a week or so later to get a tendon reattached and then visit the hand clinic for multiple follow ups. We now have a GP within walking distance who we really like and who gave us the most comprehensive initial consultation we have ever had. All this and not one medical bill and the service has been fantastic. We also don't have to worry that we may not be covered or that we may be dropped from an insurance plan. If you need a hip replacement you may be put on a waiting list and be done according to need however if you have an emergency you are treated immediately. Some wealthy people may decide they don't want to wait and pay to have it done in the US but then that frees up the system for the less affluent. Our perspective is that if you are with a big company in the US and have great healthcare plan then it may be ok, however we feel it's pretty dreadful that a country with all that wealth doesn't have universal health care and care for it's less fortunate. I can't imagine how worrying it must be for all those people who have lost their jobs and benefits and cannot afford healthcare at all. Sure we pay considerably more taxes in Canada for all this but we feel it is a far more caring system. Just to add to this, we also lived in the UK from 2001 until 2007 and found the free healthcare there very good too. If you haven't watched the film Sicko you may find it interesting.

2009-12-18T16:00:00.005-05:00

Link to My Art Page on Facebook

Here is a link to my new art page on Facebook. Please take a look. Hopefully now that I have a better idea of what I am doing everything should start working properly.

Yesterday I had fun playing in my studio. I am figuring out a few things in preparation for some paintings I want to do in the New Year. Here is an example of what I was up to. It's very simple printmaking using foam, and not the subject matter I intend to use in the painting but just a quirky fun piece.

2009-12-17T13:28:00.002-05:00

Now On Facebook

You will see I have put a link to facebook on this page. All part of finally getting up to speed with Social Media. I actually found it difficult to set up a page there for my art as opposed to a regular facebook profile. I'm not sure why the instructions for facebook pages are less intuitive to use. Anyway please visit and leave a comment. After all this effort it will be nice to have some visitors!

2009-12-14T09:03:00.003-05:00

Golden Sax Slide Show

When I posted this I didn't realise that music came with it. I never have the sound on on my computer so when a friend mentioned the music I checked it out, didn't like the music and turned it off. I now have to add music if I want it.

2009-12-13T17:02:00.003-05:00

No Naked Walls:
Golden Sax Art Slideshow.

As you can see I have posted an art slideshow of my painting Golden Sax. A lot of people ask me how I go about creating a painting and because I actually remembered to take a series of photos while I was painting this one, I thought it would be fun to create the sideshow and let you see the process. There are all these amazing applications on the web that do fun things and I think that www.Slide.com is a great one for artists to use. Let me know what you think.

2009-12-11T17:29:00.005-05:00

"Social Media:"
The Way to go for Artists?

Over the last week I have been learning about social media and Twitter. According to some predictions: In 2009, there will be 18 million U.S. adults who access Twitter on any platform at least monthly. That represents a 200% increase over 2008 levels. Usage will reach 26 million U.S. adults in 2010, a further 44.4% climb.” That's pretty amazing. But is social media and twitter of any use to artists and will they need to use it in the future? It appears that social media is a great promotional tool for artists but that at present, not many people actually buy art online. Here is one online gallery owners opinion. But then I have also heard several gallery owners say that they do sell online and that they are moving more to internet sales however they have actual physical galleries, a reputation and customer base to start from. Perhaps there is some information out there that will help the self representing artist decide. Check this one out. Reasons why the majority of artist are failing online.

I would love to hear comments from other artists on their feelings and experience with twitter and social media.

2009-11-30T17:06:00.006-05:00

Drawing the Nude

Life Drawing at the AGO

The last few weeks I have been going to the drop in life drawing session at the Art gallery of Ontario. It's in a really super space. The room is huge with a very high ceiling and they have several classes going on at the same time and the life drawing is at the centre of it all. What I like is being able to walk around during the break and see what the people in the painting classes are doing. It's a great atmsophere and I have already met some very nice people.

My life drawing is pretty rusty but even after a few weeks I can feel it starting to come back. I have posted a photo here of one of the pages from today's session. Because the poses are very quick, the average lasting around 5 mins, I like to do several on a page. I'm not concerned about making something pretty, it's just a matter of getting something down. You may wonder what all the marks are across the figure, well it's just to break up the shapes and if I do a lot of images on the same page it starts to build interesting patterns. It's great to be back drawing again after all the goings on of the last few months.

2009-11-25T18:17:00.006-05:00

No Naked Walls-

and now twitter

I spent yesterday getting myself on twitter. Everything I have read says that it is a must to be on and that social media is going to be huge in the coming years. I'm not yet convinced but I thought I should dive in and see where it leads. Doing a custom page, which the experts say you really need to make it stand out from the millions, was quite difficult for me and I found it hard to find simple instructions on how to go about twitter customization. Most of the instructions on the web assume a pretty good understanding of photoshop however after a day of playing around I learned a lot. I used the painting Jazz 1 as a backdrop but this may change. Any comments would be appreciated plus your feelings about the use of social media. Oh, my twitter page is susanneclarkart

2009-11-11T15:38:00.005-05:00

Painting and Printmaking:
My New Studio Space

It may be on the small side but it's still great to have my own studio space. My first project will be to try printmaking on board instead of paper. I have primed a nice smooth board and I'm working on what I want to put on it. It's been hard to get into the studio with so much else going on since we moved here. Our non paying tenant in Atlanta finally left and we have re-let the house so now we can move on with our life.

2009-10-27T19:22:00.003-04:00

Creative Block

I have my studio set up again and I have everything ready to go but I am finding it hard to get the creative juices flowing.

Our life has been very stressful since leaving Atlanta. The woman to whom we let our lovely home when we left, and who we thought was a very nice person, promptly stopped paying the rent and would not answer emails or phone calls. It turns out that despite the reference checks we did that she is a real con person, liar and thief who has been ripping people off for years. She has been served a dispossessary 16 times in the last eight years for not paying rent but has evaded paying any money back by knowing how to play the system. She told us one lie after another and now owes us thousands of dollars and yet she is still in the house and will not leave. We are in the process of evicting her and have a court case coming up in a few weeks time. She has a good job and can afford to pay but just takes advantage of people instead. She has a daughter of 17 and when I told my kids the story they were horrified at what a bad mother she is and what a dreadful example she is setting for her daughter. As they said, no matter how smart she thinks she is, in her quiet moments the knowledge of what she has become will always be there. It's very sad.

So all of this has made it hard to focus on being creative. I am hoping that it will all be over in a week or so and that I can get on with my life and art making. I did buy a fun winter hat today and found a $10 note on the way home so I took that as a good omen!

2009-10-01T16:29:00.003-04:00

Paint, Paint and More Paint!

I have been painting solidly for three days but not the sort of painting that I like doing. The house we have moved into has a laundry in the basement and it was very messy. I have spent the past three days cleaning and scrubbing everything, scraping off old paint on the concrete painted floor and then giving the floor three coats of paint. It's difficult when you have to work around a washer and dryer and a huge shelving unit. For the walls, I started off using some paint that was left here in the house. I was trying to be ecologically green and not throw left over paint into the garbage but I got more than I expected! It was a green that I thought would look fresh however once I got it up it on a couple of walls I decided it was an awful shade and would make me really mad every time I went down there. That's the thing with acrylic paint. It always dries darker than it looks when wet and being an artist I should have remembered that. There was only one solution, add in lots of while and redo the two walls I had already done. It looks a lot better now but still a bit greener that I would have liked. By tomorrow it should be finished and I can get into my studio and do some real painting

2009-09-23T21:17:00.003-04:00

Queen West Art Crawl and the Art Show in Trinity Bellwoods Park.

Everything came together for this art show. The weather was absolutely fantastic bringing huge numbers of people out into the park to enjoy the art, food and atmosphere. The quality of the art shown was very good and there were really interesting food vendors. Just across from me was a stall selling spring rolls, dumplings, fish balls and meat things on a skewer. They did a roaring trade. Alongside was a very theatrical popcorn maker who continually had crowds around him as his huge pan began popping up a storm. There were also musicans playing in various areas around the park and they had chosen them well. My favourites among the people who played near me were the gypsy band with it's feverish music that had everyones feet tapping and a couple who played great jazz. I took some photos of the two jazz players as reference material for some future musical paintings. I met some great people and was honoured by the ones who decided to buy my work. I would gladly do this show again.

2009-09-17T10:07:00.003-04:00

Tent Broken Into at Festival

I forgot to mention in my last post that someone liked my paintings so much at the Junction Art Festival that he broke into my tent overnight to steal them. He got away with one and dropped another as he made his getaway. Because I was the only artist targeted I have decided to take it as a compliment!

2009-09-17T08:38:00.003-04:00

Trinity Bellwoods Art Show

This art festival is where I will be this weekend. It's part of the Queen West Art Crawl in an exciting gallery area of Toronto. It's a big show with some 250 artists participating. Taking part in these three shows has been quite exciting and has taken my mind off all the things that have gone wrong during our move back to Toronto. It has been an extremely stressful time with all the usual problems that occur when you move from one country to another plus being let down by someone we really trusted. However in the greater scheme of things we are really lucky and shouldn't be complaining about things that will pass. The weather looks as if it will be great and my eldest son will be here for a visit.

2009-09-11T18:24:00.004-04:00

The Distillery Show

Last weekend I did the show at the Distillery in Toronto. It's a wonderful place with loads of atmosphere. There were huge crowds of tourists and locals enjoying the wonderful weather. This weekend is a major one for festivals all over Toronto and we also had the airshow going on for three days. It was pretty dramatic but noisy. We met some really nice fellow exhibitors and had a pleasant weekend but the buying energy was pretty thin for all of us. Most of the crowd were not there for the art but for lunch and coffee. I had lots of great comments on my art work and the other artists were very complimentary about it. I even sold two works to one of them. After our busy few weeks moving it was actually nice to be able to sit and watch the world go by for a few days. This weekend I am at the Junction Art Festival. It will be interesting to see how this compares.

2009-08-29T12:13:00.004-04:00

New Art Studio in Toronto

Finally I am in our new home in Toronto and setting up my art studio again. It's small but I think I can make it work. When I first started unpacking I was overwhelmed by the amount of art and art materials that I have and need to fit into the space. It has taken days and I still haven't finished.

There is so much happening in the art world here so I think it will be an exciting place to work. To get started I have three art festivals coming up in the next month.

Artisans at the Distillery Art Show
Sept 4 - 7

The Junction Arts Festival
Sept 12 & 13

Trinity Bellwoods Park 2009 Outdoor Art Show & Sale
Sept 19 & 20 (11:00am � 6:00pm)

2009-06-26T07:07:00.009-04:00

Toronto Art Festivals

I have now applied, and been accepted into, three festivals in Toronto in September. The Artisans at the Distillery Art Show, The Junction Art Fair and Queen Street West Art Crawl. This should keep me busy for the first month or so. Toronto is such a vibrant city with lots going on and I am excited about the art possibilities there. It always takes about a year to begin to make new friends and find out what is available in a new place but at least with this move it will be more permanent and I won't be leaving just as it all starts to come together.

2009-06-13T15:38:00.003-04:00

Small Musical Paintings and Abstracts

I have been working on some small musical paintings, 6 x 6 and 8 x 10, which is a real challenge for me. I like really big you see. Anyway it has been a good exercise to do and I now have a few pieces that I quite like. I also did some abstract works a month or so ago and I find that the way I painted those has filtered through into the latest of these small works. One is posted here.

I have been busy getting ready for our move to Toronto. We should be on our way in mid July. I have applied to three art festivals there that will be held in September. I have been accepted into one, Art at the Distillery, and I am waiting to hear about the other two. After finding out about which ones are good or not in the Atlanta area I now have to sort out the better shows in Ontario.

2009-05-10T16:57:00.003-04:00

What a Difference a few Weeks Make

Life becomes pretty hectic at times. I have been busy with several at fairs over the past few weeks and the weekend of May 16 and 17 I will be showing at the North Atlanta Art Fair on Peachtree at the Forum and then Memorial weekend I will be at the Atlanta Jazz Festival. On top of all this we have now decided to move back to Canada so there is lots to do to prepare for that. It's exciting though and it will be great to be back with our family. There won't be a lot of time for art making over the next month or so but once in Toronto I will be eager to get into the local art scene knowing that for a change, we will be living there for a long time.

2009-04-23T13:11:00.009-04:00

Wooden Bones

So I'm a proud mother! I wasn't going to mention it on here but I can't help myself. My middle son Todd is the singer songwriter in a Canadian band called Pilot Speed. On April 28th they release their new CD, "Wooden Bones," in both Canada and the US. It has been a long time in the making and it's fantastic. Well naturally I would think so being his mother wouldn't I. We are very proud of him and all the work that he has put into this creative effort. The whole process of creating is the same for all of us. We just have to trust the process and then put it out there. How it is recieved is another thing but I do hope the world embraces his wonderful music. The first single from the CD is now out with a rather artsy video. See the video of "Please Put the Phone Down" on youtube. It's pretty crazy and during part of the making they had Todd attached to a rope flying around in the air which made him feel quite ill.

2009-04-21T17:08:00.005-04:00

Alpharetta Art Festival

Last weekend I did the Alpharetta Arts Festival. I can't say it was a successful show for me however I did manage to cover my costs and have enough over to buy us both dinner and a few wines. I'm not complaining though. It was actually really fun and we met some wonderful fellow exhibitors. We also learnt a lot more about the whole Art Festival Process which was very helpful. One of the most interesting things though, was seeing what work was selling well at the other booths in the show. My husband was almost incredulous at the success of some of the work but it just goes to show that taste differs and that's a good thing. As for me, I was really inspired by the amazing work created by many of the people.

To put a nice end to the story, I just heard that two of my collagraphs sold at Rev Coffee.

2009-04-12T08:47:00.003-04:00

Toilet Art

My art is in the toilet! This is not a depressing thing. Actually I feel quite happy about it as where else do people have a few moments alone and time to actually look at art without any distractions. The painting I am talking about is Golden Sax, a very vibrant work in reds and golds and on the deep red wall in the toilet, it looks fantastic! The painting is in a show at Rev Coffee in Smyrna, just out of Atlanta. This is a fun coffee shop with an eclectic feel. They have lots of art on the wall and at night there is live music. The show opening last night had a really good feel and the coffee they make there is some of the best I have had.

2009-04-10T19:38:00.012-04:00

Exhibition Update

The next few weeks will be pretty busy for me. I have the opening of the Dogwood Show at the AAC tomorrow, April 11th 1pm, and I also have some work in a show at Rev Coffee in Smyrna. This is a fun coffee shop with an eclectic feel. They have lots of art on the wall and at night there is live music. The art opening for this is at 8pm Saturday 11th. Next comes the Alpharetta Streetfest, 18th and 19th April, and then the Wesleyan School's "Joie de Vivre"on April 30th and May 1 and 2.

I am now working on some very small musical pieces. They are 6 inches square and at that size the smallest work I have ever done. I am having fun with these though and really enjoying the challenge. Once I have a few finished I will post them here. I hope to keep the cost at under $100.00. Sunlit Sails above, is one of my newer works. After a lot af red paintings it is refreshing to do something in summer colors.

2009-04-09T07:29:00.006-04:00

Atlanta Artists Center

The "Dogwood Show"

I received a nice surprise this week. I entered several pieces into the local Dogwood Show at the Atlanta Artists Center in Buckhead and received an Honorable Mention for my collagraph print called "Under the Hot Sun". My acrylic painting called "Abstract in Red" was also accepted. The opening reception will be held Saturday, April 11 from 5-7 PM at 2979 Grandview Ave. Atlanta, GA 30305. The exhibit is on display from April 7 - May 1. Hours Tuesday - Saturday: 10 am - 4pm.

2009-04-03T10:45:00.004-04:00

The Painters Keys

After writing yesterdays blog I received an email newsletter from "The Painter's Keys" . This is an interesting site developed by Robert Genn a Canadian artist. The email was about recent research on artists incomes to which I will post a link. This is a wonderful site to subscribe to and the click backs, or replies that come in from all around the world, are often really good reading. Artists can also have a free listing on his site.
http://clicks.robertgenn.com/art-income.php

2009-04-02T16:15:00.006-04:00

Art and the Recession

If you have been following my blog you will know that I have been working on a group of abstract paintings for a local gallery who were going to exhibit them in March/April this year. I have enjoyed the process of doing them but unfortunately the gallery has been badly affected by the recession and they have decided it's not worth the risk of staying open. The same week it was on the news that one of the major galleries here in Atlanta has also decided to close after twenty years or more in the business. I'm sure there will be more to follow. Tough times.

We hear a lot about the difficulties affecting other industries but no one ever mentions artists and how hard it is for them. I think it stems back to the idea that it's not a proper or real job however, for many artists it's their sole source of income and the coming year will be challenging.

Last year I made the decision to take part in some local Art Fairs this summer. The applications for many shows have to be in months in advance. Well, what a bad time to start! My optimistic husband made the comment that "Oh well by the time the economy comes back you should know what you are doing". The first one is the Alpharetta Streetfest on April 18 and 19.

2009-03-20T13:18:00.005-04:00

Portugal

Portugal was wonderful especially the areas away from the built up tourist areas. The old towns with their winding narrow streets and alleys are so lovely to see. I took quite a few photos but here is one that I really like. It was taken in Silves inland from Albufeira in the Algarve which is in the southern part of Portugal. There is a lot of decorative tile work but I loved the way this one was set into a doorway. I shall post a few more photos in the next post.

After such a nice holiday I am eager to get back into my studio again.

2009-03-01T16:10:00.003-05:00

Revitalization of the Creative Spirit

On Monday I am off on holiday for two weeks. The last four months have not been the best in our lives and I think my creative spirit has suffered from the anxiety and general stress. Now that the health issues that landed unexpected on both of us over the holiday period have been resolved, we are ready for some fun.

So where are we off to you are wondering. We are going to Portugal to the Algarve. We have been to Spain several times before when we were living in the UK and really liked it so I am sure we will enjoy Portugal too. One of the really nice things about the trip is that we will be meeting up with another couple from the UK who we went to Spain with last time. My friend is a wonderful artist and we used to spend many hours together in the UK visiting art galleries and attending painting courses. It's so nice to have friends with similar interests and I especially miss her company now that I am in Atlanta. That is one of the sad things about moving so often, you leave wonderful friends behind.

I hope to take some photos of the beautiful beaches on the Algarve and to see some great art and local crafts. I also hope to be inspired and revitalized so that when I return in a few weeks time I am ready to plunge into my art with renewed gusto!

2009-02-16T13:46:00.007-05:00

Go Figure

Go Figure is the name of an exhibition that is currently showing here in Atlanta at the Spruill Gallery. It's a really good exhibition with a variety of work focused on the figure. A couple of weekends ago they held an event where three of the artists whose work is on show, spoke about their work. It was very interesting and one of the best events of it's kind that I heve been to. I got there early as I thought that there would be quite a crowd however there were only the three artists, the gallery director and assistant and less than five visitors! I was amazed and I think they were too. I think they had expected a lot of local art students to attend along with other members of the public. I'm sure it was very disapointing for them however they may need to look at their attitude to the public. When I first arrived in the area I went in to see an exhibit and then went and asked the person on the desk where I could find out about local art events or classes. He was very abrupt and not at all friendly or helpful. Every time since then when I have been there to see an exhibit I have found the staff very unwelcoming. I have never been greeted with a hello or welcome to the gallery and if I made a comment about how nice the show was I only got a curt reply. Prior to the Go Figure artists talk I met a friend and we went to see the exhibition. Once again we were not greeted and the gallery director came in and started talking to the assistant and ignored us. My friend mentioned to the assistant, as we were about to leave, that she thought it was a lovely exhibition to which we got no reply. Once outside my friend said to me how she thought that the girl was quite rude for not even answering and that she had found them very unfriendly whenever she had been in the gallery on previous occasions. Exactly my own experience. I find people in the area very helpful, polite and friendly and I can't understand why it's so bad at this gallery. Perhaps that's why they didn't get many visitors for their talk.

Just to brighten up this post I will attach one of my small abstracts.

2009-02-03T14:21:00.005-05:00

Collagraph Artists Proofs

I have just pulled another collagraph print of 'Breathe'. This one is a much brighter version. I now have four options to submit to the 'Trees in Art' National Exhibition here in Atlanta and I have to decide which one to go with. I would have liked to do a painting to enter but somehow this print just asked to be done. I only hope that the judges actually realise what I am trying to say and don't just think it is an odd looking little tree. Here are the last two variations.

2009-01-29T13:53:00.003-05:00

The Green Version

After printing up two or three versions of my 'lung tree' in blues I decided to do a green version which is probably more in keeping with the ecological idea. I think my name for this piece will be 'Breathe'.

Which one do you like best?

2009-01-27T14:01:00.006-05:00

Trees - Lungs of the Earth

I have just spent the morning printmaking. There is an upcoming exhibition with the theme "Trees" and although I don't usually do trees I thought it would be fun to have something to submit. I also wanted to create a piece with a slight ecological twist and because trees breathe I decided to combine lungs and a tree shape and put it into a landscape. Here is the result so far. Below the image you will find the process described.

The picture doesn't show up all the colours that well however after proofing it twice I am now reasonably happy with it. Here is the process I used for making a collagraph print.

After drawing out the design on mat board I cut into the trunk and branch areas where I wanted the shapes to be raised. Remember that in the printing process everything is in reverse. Anything cut deep into the printing plate becomes raised after printing and the raised areas of the plate become deep, plus the image is reversed. I then built up the landforms and added carborundum where I wanted the very dark area. Once the plate was finished and had been covered with shellac to seal it I was ready to ink it up. The first colour was deep blue which went over the whole plate filling all the cracks and branches. After wiping off most of the blue ink then I rolled over the whole plate with a transparent green and then followed up with another roll of light creamy orange. This last colour I will make stronger next time I print it to bring out the definition more and to warm the whole thing up.

I need a good name for this work. Any ideas ?

Just as an afterthought, I have trouble deciding how to spell things in these posts. Should I use the English spelling of words or the American way now that I am living in the US. Somehow I just couldn't bring myself to write colour as color today. Perhaps another time.

2009-01-19T11:51:00.007-05:00

Saxophone Print Winner

Finally I have done the draw for the free Saxophone print that I offered in November. I will be contacting the winner today. I won't give the full email address here but it starts with Rott, so if that's you make sure you look out for the incoming email.

So it's a new year and I'm ready for some new work. I have been asked by a local gallery to create more of my abstract works to show in a few months time. I actually really like working in less realistic manner. It always amazes me how the shapes flow from the unconscious and the fascination that happens as I work with the imagery. Strange but very interesting. The new pieces have a lot of underlying pattern and texture. I have attached a picture of the largest piece which is 48H x 36W inches and another smaller work. As you will see they are quite different from the saxophone and cello paintings I have posted here. I would be very interested to get your comments

2009-01-05T21:37:00.004-05:00

In The Art Studio Again

I finally made it back into the art studio again today. I started preparing for a Simple Printmaking course that I am due to give at the Atlanta Artists Center on January 17th although I just found out that they haven't posted it on their web site yet. With peoples holiday costs, the late listing and the economy I'm not sure that we will get enough people for it to go ahead but I will do the preparation anyway.

I find printmaking very seductive. The effects are exciting and there is always the compulsion to try just one more print to see how it turns out. I am eager to do a lot more printmaking this year now that I am all set up with the press and fantastic inks from the UK.

The holidays were both enjoyable and stressful. After having surgery a few days before I left for Toronto and then not feeling the best while I was there, took a bit of the fun out of it all. I was actually quite happy to be back home again, however Toronto was heavily blanketed with the wonderful white stuff and not very cold so that was lovely.

With the unexpected surgery and the holidays I am way behind on updating my blog and sending out the winner of the Nov free gift. I will post that in the next few days.

2008-12-09T20:30:00.002-05:00

Life's Irritations

If you have been wondering why I haven't been posting to the blog the last few weeks it's because I haven't been in the studio working but instead fighting a very resistant sinus infection. After three or four lots of antibiotics I finally got to an ENT person this week, had a CT scan, and found out I have to have surgery. Right on Christmas too! I had a tooth out back in April/May and since then have had pain in the same area followed by a very nasty ongoing sinus infection. Dental x-rays showed nothing but the CT scan showed what looks like a little piece of bone or tooth lodged up in the sinuses. They are going to try and hunt it down and remove it. Once that goes I should get rid of the infection and feel normal again. It's very hard to feel creative when all your teeth and face aches. The one good thing is that in another day and age, or even a country without dental or medical care, I would probably die from the infection going into my brain. I think I should count my blessings and not complain.

2008-11-19T13:26:00.006-05:00

November Free Draw

I know that it is late in the month to write about this but the free draw for November, for signing up to receive email updates to this blog, is a giclee print of the cello painting posted here today. Remember you have to be in to win!

You will find the box to sign up just down a little and to the right. Do it NOW!

2008-11-14T15:40:00.004-05:00

Abstract Painting

I feel this piece is finished although after a few more days I will probably find something I want to change. Next week I will be back into printmaking. I have some ideas I am eager to try out.

I have finally set the dates for my two printmaking workshops at the Atlanta Artists Center. The first one, Simple Printmaking Without a Press, will be on Saturday January 17th. In mid March I will do the Collagraph Printmaking Workshop which will be two full days. The dates for this are March 22nd and 23rd. I'm really looking forward to doing both these workshops. Once all the info is up on the AAC web site I will put a link here to it.

2008-11-11T20:55:00.010-05:00

Abstract In Process Sailing Along

I have been busy in the studio again today. I had this nice sized canvas just waiting for something to be put on it. It's 30 inches square so a good size to work on. I wanted to work in a more abstract way again and while looking through a magazine I saw some pictures of sail boats. They have lovely swooping lines which really appeal to me. I seem to have a fixation for lines and flowing shapes.

Inspired by the sails I drew out a few shapes and then started adding lines and shapes that flowed organically from one to another until I got a basic design that I liked however I kept extending and deleting lines as I went along. Before I laid out the design on the canvas I made a messy underpainting with lots of colors and drips etc to get me started. I then began to block in the shapes by painting around each shape with color.

I have posted two photos of the process up to where I am now. I have lots of transparent layers ready for the next stage which is to start using more opaque paint You can see a couple of places where I have started this already. It's always exciting to see where the process leads and if it is successful or not.

2008-11-10T11:50:00.006-05:00

Abstract Work

I have been taking a break from printmaking to play around with some more abstract work. I used to work this way a lot but recently my paintings have been leaning towards a more realistic look. It has been fun and I am eager to experiment with more of this type of work in the future.

I had a tidy up in my studio last week although looking at it this morning you would never think that I had. Part of the clean up included pulling out lots of work and trashing some of it. Every six months or so I like to have a throw out. I keep things for a time as a record of what I was doing and to see if there has been any progress. A few pieces I have kept for years and others only a month or so. Lots go in the bin the day I do them especially the work from the life drawing session I try and attend each week.

This week at the life drawing I decided to work in oils instead of just drawing. The pose was quite stiff and unnatural looking but the girl had this wonderful curly orange hair. The session was only a couple of hours so it's unfinished but I've posted it here, along with one of my abstracts, to show you the two different kinds of work I have done this past week. You can see how strange they look together. The "Girl with the Orange Hair" painting is likely to be trash in a week or so too.

2008-11-05T09:08:00.002-05:00

Musical Collagraph Update

I ran another print from the musical plate. I think it's better than the first two but I still think the colors could be improved. If you feel like making a comment or suggestion that would be great.

2008-11-01T14:56:00.006-04:00

Musical Themed Collagraph

At last I have been able to get back into the studio and do some printmaking. You may remember, if you have been following my blog, that I spent some time building a set of four musical themed collagraph plates to print as one image. I printed up a couple but then got busy with some paintings and other stuff and never got to printing up all four together. Yesterday I pulled two prints from them but was pretty disappointed with them both. I was experimenting with viscosity roll ups starting with an intaglio in dark blue, followed with a hard roller roll up in red, followed by a soft one in yellow. The idea was for them all to overlay and create some beautiful greens and purples as well as the colors that I used however that didn't happen. While doing the first one I was interrupted and the paper dried out a bit and the inks too, so the image isn't as sharp or dense. Also the yellow didn't blend with the blue in many places and so is just too bright. The second one I did in the same manner but used a cad yellow and cad red to try and dull it down a bit but it is still too bright. The great thing about all this though is how much you learn each time you proof a plate. The other challenge with this print is the size relative to the size of my press. The image is 32 inches long and the press bed is only 36 inches so it was difficult to get the paper trapped under the roller, get the plates tucked in close and then have some room left at the other end to hold the roller on the print bed once the print has been rolled through. I think I will have another attempt to print this plate but ink it up in my usual way and then see how it turns out.

2008-10-22T15:46:00.003-04:00

Art Festival Madness?

Although I knew the economy was in a bad state I decided a few months back that I was going to take part in some local art festivals next summer. I have done Open Studios and a few small art festivals in the past and what I really enjoyed about doing them was the people contact. It's great being able to talk to people about the art and get feedback. This is something that doesn't happen when work is in a gallery. Last weekend, in preparation for next years festival season, I had a practice run at a very small new festival. It was very small, as I knew it would be, with very few patrons however it served it's purpose for me very well. After squeezing everything into two cars we arrived at the festival and managed to get the tent up along with the display walls. Everything worked and looked great. We met a couple of other artists who were also showing and they were really nice so it made for a pleasant day. Sales were bad for everyone but I did manage to break even and was lucky enought to win an honorable mention and cash award for one of my paintings. I now feel prepared for the larger shows next summer. Lets hope the economy picks up a bit by then.

2008-09-25T10:12:00.003-04:00

Collagraph Printmaking Workshop

I have just finished writing up the info for a collagraph printmaking workshop that I am going to give early next year at the Atlanta Artists Center. The dates are not set yet but it will be a two day workshop on a weekend in either January or February. I am quite excited about doing this as I really like to teach and I think collagraph is a fantastic form of printmaking. What is particularly great about it that even absolute beginners get wonderful and exciting results that look very professional. Once everything is confirmed I will post the info.

2008-09-24T10:30:00.009-04:00

Exhibiting at Art Festivals

and Open Studios

When I was living in Ottawa, Canada, I took part in several Open Studio events and art festivals. I really liked the Open Studio format. I opened my home and showed my art in a normal house setting as opposed to a formal gallery environment. People really enjoy seeing art this way. They get to see inside someone's house or studio, see art, and meet the artist. I like going to them too for the same reasons. The Ottawa event I took part in was exceptionally nice. There were about fourteen artists and the tour was walkable as I lived in a fantastic inner city neighbourhood. I have had people ask me why I would do Open Studios as surely I would run the risk of being robbed or how could I enjoy having people snoop into my house. I have always found that people who are interested in art are not generally likely to rob me and are in fact extremely respectful of my home. I actually find it very enjoyable thing to do. I did several Open Studios in the UK when I was living there. They are a fairly new idea in the UK but seem to be spreading. My house there was ideal for holding such an event as it was very open and bright and had a gallery like feeling. At the second event I did there I asked a friend who was an amazing potter to join me. That made it really nice as our work complimented each others. In the photo above you can see her work, which has sea colors and applied shell shapes, and my painting of shells.

I also took part in a couple of art festivals in Ottawa one of which was "Art in the Park". It was started up by a local artist, a real character called Bhat Boy, and I was one of the organizers for a couple of years. It was a very laid back event and pretty basic but I believe that in the six or so years since I left Ottawa it has grown very large.

Here in the US art festivals are a big thing and there seem to be several going on most weekends. I have decided it's time for me to put up a tent and become part of them although it's not actually a good time to start with the economic climate being what it is. My first one is the "Seven Springs Arts Festival" in Powder Springs near Atlanta. This is the first year the event has been held and so I have no idea what it will be like however it is close by and I need to have somewhere to try out all the new gear that doing a festival requires. I live in a condo so I don't have anywhere to set up the tent and try it out at home so I hope I don't look too silly the first time I put it up at the festival. It's a one day event on October 18th. Details. I am now getting organized to apply for more events in 2009.

2008-09-14T21:42:00.003-04:00

Washington DC

I have just spent a few days in Washington DC. I was very impressed and so glad to have had the opportunity to visit. I actually didn't go to the White House but only saw it from a distance. I was more interested in the Smithsonian Museums and the monuments to Jefferson, Lincoln and Washington. I found the monuments especially compelling after recently watching the TV series John Adams. Coming from New Zealand and only having a fairly basic understanding of American history I found the series wonderful. It was very well acted and really bought the personalities to life for me.

The Smithsonian Museums are fantastic. I am envious of the people who live in the area and can go and visit them whenever they wish. I was able to see some wonderful art in the many museum galleries and in the Newseum, a building that is a work of art itself.

I also checked out an art festival that was on over the weekend called "Arts on Foot". It was very disappointing. Most of the booths looked very amateurish in presentation and the art was much the same. There was a lot of crafty stuff and an abundance of jewelers, a couple of whom had very nice work. I thought that an art festival in downtown DC would be of a high standard so I was suprised to find otherwise. The tents provided by the city were good looking and the entry fees were very reasonable so all in all a great pity. The vendors in the show did look to be selling though so perhaps other people liked it more than me.

2008-09-05T20:27:00.004-04:00

Art Studio Clean Up

The last few days I have been doing lots of art related things but no actual art making. I feel a bit of a slob as I have spent lots of time on the computer and didn't go to the gym or get any exercise which I like to do. My husband has been away so we haven't even been out walking each day.

He got really angry with me last week. When we meet new people and they ask me about my art work he says I should have a small portfolio to show them what I am about. Sort of a little granny brag book, something else I don't have even though I now have a lovely little granddaughter. Anyway I feel funny about pulling out one of those but I have been reading about artists having a brochure that shows a few pictures and tells about the artist and their work. So today I decided to put one together. I have this old Corel program called Corel Printhouse that is wonderful for things like that however it won't run on my laptop so I had to sit down at my old computer and work there. It seemed to take me all day by the time I wrote it and proofed it several times. It's amazing how many mistakes and writing changes that need to be made. I'm quite happy with it now and I know I will feel ok about giving one to anyone who is interested.

I am also in the process of making up a large portfolio with all my kimono collagraph prints in it. They will benefit from being in one as they get handled a lot and this will keep fingers off the paper and still allow people to flip through them and see them. They look very nice in there too with the black paper backing. I think I will make a smaller one as well for my other printmaking work so that I have exampes to show when I start teaching basic printmaking.

Part of all this is the big clean up I have been doing in my art studio. I still have more to do but the art work in my plan chest is all sorted and tidied up. I'm not sure what a plan chest is called in the US but it is an architects set of drawers large enough to hold plans. Mine is huge and holds two full sheets of paper side by side. It's one of the best art things I have bought.

Tomorrow evening is the opening of the Atlanta Artists Center National Exhibition. I have never managed to get to one of the openings so I am looking forward to it.

My next post will have some photos instead of all the blurb!

2008-08-29T22:03:00.004-04:00

You Too Could Be a Winner

Each month, people who sign up for email updates to my blog, have their name put in for a draw to receive a free gift. Last month the draw was for one of my Kimono collagraph prints. After emailing the winner I discovered that it was someone I had recently met at an art society meeting. It was quite wonderful really as she had lived in Japan for some time and winning a piece of artwork based on the kimono shape was perfect for her. Eva has written about winning the print on her blog so do visit and read about it and also check out her great artwork. Often when I visit an exhibition and look at all the pieces the work I like the best ends up being one of hers.

Last months winner for a free classical CD with my artwork on it is reddwine. Watch out for an email from me so that it doesn't disappear into your junk mail folder..

It's always exciting to be a winner but you have to be in to win. You too could be a winner if you sign up now to get my email updates.

2008-08-22T19:20:00.005-04:00

Collagraph Printmaking Workshop at AAC

After showing several of my recent collagraphs and printworks at local art shows it has been suggested that I give some workshops at the AAC or Atlanta Artists Center. I really enjoy teaching and so I am really enthusiatic to go ahead and do this in the near future. My intention is to give two workshops. One will be printmaking using processes that don't need a press and the other will be a two day basic collagraph printmaking class.

In the past I used to teach classes in art for personal development and enhanced creativity. I did this for nine years both in Ottawa and Toronto, Canada. It was great and I met some wonderful people who over time became very special friends.

Once I decide on dates I will post the info here. Meanwhile, I have work on show at Heaven Blue Rose Gallery and will have my piece Golden Geisha in the upcoming AAC National Show.

2008-08-13T14:39:00.002-04:00

Art with a Musical Theme
"Musical Collagraph in Blue"

I have been working on a musical collagraph made up of four plates. You may have seen two previous posts with photos and info about the process. In the first post I show the plates in the very beginning stage. The second post shows the plates when they are finished and sealed. I have now made one proof of two of the plates together and will try out a test proof of all four together this week. After all the time involved in making the plates it is interesting to see how they look when I print them. It's not always a happy moment. Sometimes it's very dissapointing. These look ok but I need to improve the way I have printed it. It's printed up in blue hence the name "Musical Collagraph in Blue."

I seem to be hooked on a musical theme at present in my paintings and art work. Every now and then I have fun doing some more abstract pieces and I am working up to a series featuring figures.

Last months winner of a free print is awindchimer. I will be emailing you to get your address so I can send it to you.

If you would like to be in for the chance to win something sign up for email updates to my blog.

2008-08-05T16:33:00.007-04:00

New Collagraph Print
"Under the Hot Sun"

Called "Under the Hot Sun" this carborundum collagraph print was done for an exhibition called 'Parch -Thirst of the Earth' which opens August 21 at the Heaven Blue Rose Gallery in Roswell, north of Atlanta. I was trying to convey the 'parched' theme of the exhibition.

The actual image is 14 inches square. It was first inked up in red in the intaglio manner and then wiped. Next I carefully added a rubbing of deep blue in selected places followed by a roll up of bright yellow. I then charged the roller with a light whitish blue ink to which I added extra blue to one end of the roller to give a graduated color roll up. The yellow roll up mixed in parts with the deep blue making greens and with the red making some purple shades. It looked great on the plate but I was eager to see how it would print. After all the time it takes to ink up the plate I am always anxious to see how well it has printed. I was really pleased with the result this time especially as this was my third proofing attempt to get the plate to print in a way I would be happy with. The name "Under the Hot Sun" seemed appropriate.

I also printed up another small piece called "Red Rain." This will also be in the exhibition.

2008-08-01T20:25:00.008-04:00

Saxophone and Bass Painting

I have family visiting this week and yet I have actually managed to get some painting and printmaking done. I had fun painting a very colorful saxophone and bass picture on a 24 inch canvas. I may make a few changes but I think it is pretty much finished.

I also wanted to work on a print for the new exhibition 'Parch, Thirst of the Earth' which opens on August 21st at the Heaven Blue Rose Gallery in Roswell where I am represented. With global warming and a drought here in Georgia it seems a very apt theme for an exhibition. I have been trying to create a collagraph print that evokes the idea of a parched and dry cracked earth. I made a plate with an interesting textured surface and pulled two prints from it today, one of which I quite like. I'll post a photograph of it in a few days time.

2008-07-27T16:11:00.004-04:00

Atlanta Artists Center National Exhibition

I have just had a piece accepted in the Atlanta Artists Center annual national exhibition called the "National View at Grandview". There were 78 pieces chosen from 35 states. The exhibition at the AAC in Buckhead runs Tuesday, August 26 - Tuesday, September 30, 2008. The opening reception is Saturday September 6, 2008 (6-8 PM).

For those of you who live in the Atlanta area it should be an interesting exhibition to visit as it appears that the juror, Paula J. Katz, assistant Curator of Art at The Columbus Museum in Columbus, GA, chose a wide variety of different media to be shown.

I have been waiting for a very exciting printmaking accessory to arrive. It's a large roller which is used to roll on a final layer, or more, of ink to a printmaking plate that has been previously inked up in the intaglio manner. This is called viscosity printing because the inks are of a different viscosity, meaning stickiness or oiliness. Where the oily ink is on the plate it resists the sticky layer of ink so it makes for an interesting effect on the final finished print. I am eager to get rolling and printing all the collagraph plates I have been working on over the past few weeks.

2008-07-19T12:08:00.010-04:00

Collagraph Printmaking

I have been working on a series of plates for a music based collagraph print. A few weeks back I posted a photo of the collagraph plates in the progress of being constructed. In that photo the plates were whitish in color because they were unfinished and they hadn't been coated with shellac. I am now one stage further ahead. In the photo below you will see all four plates, one of which has been inked and run through as a test print. The others have a yellowish color which comes from the coating of shellac that is put on to seal the plate and help protect it. I am not happy with the test print at all but I have added a photo of it so that you can see the process.

You will notice that the letters are back the front. That is because in printmaking, things print in reverse. Also what is high on the plate will print deep on the paper and the other way around. You will see this in the photo of the test collagraph print below.

If you want to see more of my collagraph prints go to my web site http://www.susanneclark.com/ and check out the collagraph printmaking gallery page.

2008-07-07T09:57:00.006-04:00

Kimono Collagraph Print is the July Draw

I have been having trouble with the subscription info on this site but I now have it working properly. Some of you who previously subscribed will have recieved another email asking you to verify your subscription. Please do this if you still wish to be on the mailing list.

This month one of my Kimono collagraph prints will go to the person whose name I draw from the email subscriber list. If you are not on the list and wish to be, sign up now with the subscriber button on this page.

I have been working on a new collagraph print with a musical theme. Because many of my paintings recently have had a musical theme I thought that it would be interesting to take that over into my printmaking. I am making four plates 8 inches by 12inches, that will, when all printed together, make a wide narrow print that is 32 by 12. In the picture you can see that I am at the beginning stages and still trying to decide what textures and shapes to add to the plate. Once I have finished adding stuff I will coat the plates with a shellac finish, ink them up and then print by running through my press. I have the option to make prints using the whole four plates or as few as I like. There is always the possibility that I may not like the way any of them print and so then I would have to discard them but hopefully that won't be the case.

The dark areas on the plate are made by putting glue where I want it and then sprinkling carorundum grit over the glue. The grit is a black sand like substance and when inked up for printing, it prints very dark. Where I paint with acrylic paint the ink will wipe off more and print lighter. Every type of paper and substance collaged onto the plate prints in a different manner so it's exciting to try new materials.

In my next post I will show you how this is progressing and also post a photograph of "Tempo in Blue" which now has it's bow in place.

2008-07-04T15:59:00.004-04:00

Cello Painting "Tempo in Blue"

I couple of postings back I showed photos of the process of painting Tempo In Blue. As I said in the post I wasn't sure if the painting was finished or not, but that I needed to spend time looking at it to decide. It's so funny because I kept looking at it and thinking something was wrong and that it wasn't quite finished but I didn't know why. All of a sudden I realised I had hands playing the cello but no bow! I had forgotten to put it in. I am now in the process of adding the bow and I'll post the finished painting in a day or so, along with a photo of the Kimono collagraph print that's this months draw for subscribers to my blog updates.

2008-06-30T12:12:00.004-04:00

Winner of the June Draw

The June draw for the free CD featuring one of my musical artworks, "Fractured Cello", now has a winner. People who sign up for email updates to my blog are eligible for the draw which will take place each month. In my next post I will let you know what the draw will be for July.

After finishing my last painting, "Tempo in Blue", my studio looked really messy so today I spent time getting it cleaned up. I thought it would be fun to do a video of the studio to post on the blog but first I have to learn how to do it. I actually know how to take the video but I have to work out how to edit it and then post it. With all this new technology there is always so much to learn.