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Warm weather, open doors and windows and the urge to experiment again had me pulling out all the encaustic gear (it IS very material heavy!) and inviting others to join me to explore the lovely medium of encaustic art. On the July 29th weekend, seven artists played with hot wax, torches and heat guns, collage items, pastels, and all kinds of markmaking tools. Some very surprising and interesting artwork resulted! Here are few pics of the weekend:
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Warm, wonderful weather (although like most places we do need some rain) has me super busy-trying to get the garden in order, entering local shows, as well as continuing the studio classes and drop-ins. Great fun but at times exhausting... The May long weekend saw my studio involved in the Central Island Arts Studio Tour, the first since 2019. Two other Wet Paint Group artists joined me here- Stephenie Davidson and Victoria Scott as well as guest artist Jennah Vhay Fox. It was a great weekend. As well I had several artworks in the Artwrx Small Works Show in Courtenay that ran the last week of May. What a wonderful array of small works!! I just had to buy a couple of lovely little gems! Here are a few photos and slideshows from the last month or so...           it has taken it's time but finally it is feeling like Spring is arriving. The time has flipped to Daylight Savings Time, the days feel longer, the robins are busy and flowers and shrubs are awakening! Yeah! The studio continues to be steadily busy and fun as people are emerging from their winter 'hugges' and people are coming back from their snowbird sojourns... Today I had the first of several "Fantastical Florals, Forests and Still Lifes" workshops. Delightful group and neat artworks!! Here are a few pics: There is still room in the next 2 workshops - April 15 and April 22. Sign up at the SignUpGenius. Also there is room in the 4 day Portraits in watercolour class  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:  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:          |
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