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Glad to have enjoyed a lovely Christmas at Miracle Beach. Despite the snow making travelling difficult, my kids and their families made it home and we had a week of feasting and family fun. Hopefully you did as well!! And now it is back to the studio and I am so happy to see my friends and students returning. Drop-in Sessions are back on 3 days a week (SignUpGenius) and I have started a Beginning Watercolour 1 Class with six keen students. Fun! Here are a few of their first projects:
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 Well the shortest day of the year is here....and with a blast of arctic cold and lots of snow!! Hope you are all keeping warm and cozy as we head towards Christmas! (and maybe Santa will bring you some art supplies for Christmas) The studio is now closed until Jan.2, 2023, it has been busy the last few months. The Watercolour 3 class looked at landscape and portraits, both traditional and contemporary. It was fun and they produced some wonderful artworks! A couple of workshops were lots of fun: **Florals in the style of Lynn Johnson Fantastical Florals, Forests and Still Lifes: And Drop-in Sessions have been ongoing- check for a new Sign-Up Genius for Winter 2023 to join in a session in the new year.             Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!!
Fall is my favourite season and this year it certainly hasn't disappointed--- wow, what fabulous weather. With Thanksgiving almost here, I realize I am long overdue for an update about studio happenings and news! Classes and Drop-in sessions continued throughout the summer; here are some pics of the watercolour class and some drop-in paintings: Drop-in Class :             Studies form the Watercolour 2 Class: For the first time I opened my studio and garden for seven "Art Show in the Garden and Studio" Sundays this summer. It forced me to organize my artworks and update pricing, as well as get my rather unruly large yard in better shape! It was successful and enjoyable and the weather was perfect all summer. Met lots of nice folks and even sold some paintings! A few pics: Now that it back to school time, I am setting some course times up (see below) and I also became a student myself for a week in September. I took a course entitled "Abstracting the Landscape" with Greg Hargeaves, an American artist whose work I think is awesome. His demos and critiques were great! And it was lovely to paint for 5 hours a day for 5 straight days, with a bunch of lovely, like-minded artists! Check out Vancouver Island Art Workshops for future courses, offered in Nanaimo and Saanich, BC. Here a few photos from the course: .
And now for the Autumn courses and workshops: All are dependent on enrolment, no more than 6 people per session. 6 classes . *Watercolour 1- Beginning Watercolour Tuesdays *Watercolour 3 - Three approaches to landscape and portraiture in watercolour Mondays *Beginning Acrylics - Thursdays One day workshops- Fantastical Florals and Landscapes-- Nov. 19th 9:30 - 3:30 $75 All materials supplied Check out the Current Classes page of course descriptions and details. 
After a very cool and wet spring, it feels like summer is almost upon us- hurrah! The gardens are lush and green, a little warmth will now be very welcome.
MY family has grown by one last week, when my daughter had my second grandchild- a wee boy. So wonderful.... the studio has been steadily busy over the last couple of months. The Watercolour 1 class finished up and I taught a one day Mixed Media workshop in Gold River at the end of May. Both were rewarding and fun!! The Signup Genius for the summer drop-in session is now online. Check it out and sign up if you are wanting to continue or get back to your art making this summer... Classes and workshops: --Another Mixed Media 4 day workshop will be offered during the last two weeks of July. ---Also, there will be an evening class for Watercolour 2 offered this summer. For those who have taken watercolour 1 or have some experience with watercolour basics and want to learn more... Check these out on SignupGenius. ​Here is a slide show of studio happenings from the last month... 
It has been a very strange spring so far--- very cool, snow and hail a week ago! And although we did get a pleasant Easter weekend, it is back to single digit temperatures. I am worried my mason bees are never going to emerge! The studio however has been warm and abuzz, with drop-ins and classes going steadily. See Signup Genius to see what is on offer and to sign up if interested.
A 4 day workshop on mixed media finished up last week- very fun! It is the first time I have done this workshop, so I was busy doing research and making sample projects. A big takeaway was that it was over too soon and we could have explored many more ideas! There will be another session in May. Here are some photos of my sample projects and some of the participants' works: Here are some of the recent works from dropins sessions:                 Another lovely Beginning Watercolour class has begun-- And here are a couple of things on my easel, for when it gets slow in here!         Not sure what happened to summer, but it seems I haven't posted since May! It was an interesting summer for sure--- unusually hot and sunny for the west coast -- and as some restrictions eased up we had some lovely visits and painting sessions outside. Now that it is cooler, we have moved inside but still with a limited number of artists and covid protocols in place... Drop-in sessions have been busy-- to signup go to SignUpGenius. Here are a few photos of some of the works in progress. Fall Watercolour classes have begun. Here are some photos from the Beginning Watercolour Group www.signupgenius.com/index.cfm?go=c.SignUpSearch&eid=00CACAD6FBCCF665&cs=09C3BAAE8FBC8B637B7D64745BC09BCB&sortby=l.title  Wow, it has been a very long time since I've posted a blog! The spring here on the west coast is beautiful and the gardens are stunning in May. I have been busy in my garden, painting most days, enjoying the local walks and chatting online with my friends, daughters and one little grandchild. Although my studio closed in November when we had our second lockdown, I am happy to say that I have opened up for drop-in again. I and all of my 'students' have had at least one dose of the Covid vaccine, and with the nicer weather, we can have the doors and windows open and people can chose to paint inside or out. Sign-up Genius is where you can sign up; no more than 4 people a session. My rhodos are looking good, but some are so old I have no idea what type they are, so I have decided to call them by their pigment names. Here is Cad. Red, Quin. Magenta, and Dioxazine Purple. I am doing a large acrylic of rhodos- will post a photo when completed. Last month I finished a commission for a friend, from a photo she had taken at the mouth of the Oyster River. A photo of the work is at the top of this blog. "Oyster River Estuary" 18' x 48" Oil on canvas. It was fun to paint--- I am thinking that commissions are a great way to bridge this time between holding classes in the studio. I'm just about to start a large floral commission of hellebores, in oil. A few photos from the last Beginning Acrylics class, and some recent works in progress from drop-in sessions this week:          The studio is still open, on a modified basis, and we are enjoying the creativity while we can. Covid rates are rising and although our island has very low rates, that could change quickly. My Fall Watercolour classes have ended and 2 Acrylic Classes have begun. Here are some of their works, most in progress...
I can't believe it has been 7 months since I have posted here- however I do know that the passage of time has definitely morphed into something quite different these days!
Unusual times for sure; with a quieter, more introverted and 'homey' existence. And with the passing of my 98 year old father in June, and the subsequent dealing with his home and estate, my summer passed almost without notice other than the beauty of the gardens and beaches of this area. The Wet Paint art group managed to keep in touch weekly however- with Zoom meetings initially and then when things opened up a bit we have been meeting outdoors at each others' homes. A lot of wonderful conversation and support although not so much painting! With the coming colder months we are still considering how we will keep meeting.... Back in my studio, I have managed to keep painting although not as consistently as I would have imagined with all this time on my hands! But I did open my studio up for drop-in sessions in the summer-- as we could paint outside and with appropriate social distancing, in the studio. I did offer two 'Modern Impressionism in Acrylics / Landscapes" classes and they were fabulous! Only 4 people at a time in each class worked well --- you can see some of the results below. As of September, I started Beginning Watercolour Classes- again with no more than 4 people per class. All sign-ups for both classes and drop-in sessions is now on line --- Here is the link to the Signup Genius website: 
Here are some of the Modern Impressionism Class works- some still in progress:
It is nearing the end of March and even two weeks ago, we couldn't have predicted how quickly things were unfolding... Like all non essential services (ok, we all know that art in any form is essential to many of us) my studio classes, workshops and drop-in times have been cancelled. Although I am keeping very busy- and the glorious springlike weather we have had over the last 2 weeks certainly helped in getting us out into the gardens- the studio is very quiet and I miss all my 'people' immensely!! Even the studio cat Theo is perplexed--- he keeps coming into the studio and looks around longingly-- "where are all the humans???" As for art, there are a plethora of wonderful online videos, courses and demos out there. Lots of artists are posting their work, posing art challenges, and filming their studios and process. Many are free. Here are a few free ones that I have been following: Watercolour: -Mind of Watercolour (M.oWC) The Mind of Watercolor - YouTubewww.youtube.com › user › mindofwatercolor -Cafe Watercolor - Eric Y Lin Café Watercolor - Watercolors of Eric Yi Lin cafewatercolor.com -Angela Fehr -Birgit O'Connor ( a free paint-along demo) -David J Rogers Watercolor Artist <info@davidjrogersart.com> -Urban Sketchers- pen and watercolour Check out their YouTube videos. -Winsor and Newton WNArtFinds on Instagram Acrylic/Oil/Mixed Media: -Art2Life ( Nicholas Wilton)--- abstract --------art2life.com -Art and Success (Pamela Caughey) - acrylic ; cold wax and oil Check out her YouTube channel -Streamline Art Video streamlineartvideo.com General: Mary Gilkerson <studio@marygilkerson.com> Dan Scott of DrawPaintAcademy - I really enjoy Dan's articles about artists, very informative and easy to read. Also lots of practical technical stuff too. https://drawpaintacademy.com ONLINE STUDIO: 1. I have been videoing myself painting - several different pieces ( a watercolour and an acrylic of the same reference; an acrylic abstract and an oil and cold wax painting that has been a work in progress for quite awhile). IF any of these are any good, and I manage to edit them, I will put them up and send them to my students. 2. I am going to offer my students on-line 'mentoring' , help with their projects etc. via Zoom. If you are interested, pm me and download the free software "ZOOM". I have had a couple of online meetings using it lately; it is really easy to use and think it could work for us. 3. I am taking an online course on teaching and mentoring online! Stay tuned for more professional offerings from me...... The Campbell River Arts Council and Gallery 38th Member's Art Show is going virtual this year- Here is the website: https://campbellriverarts.wixsite.com/membershow38 (PS I forgot to photograph my entry ("Chagall Street") before I submitted it, and now it is in 'isolation' at the Campbell River Art Gallery- so I submitted another painting into this show- "Romance"). The gallery hopes to show this exhibition when it can. AS I have not posted for more than a month, here're some images of student work in the studio in February and early March: |
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