LisaBlog

A lot of preparation, lead by my trusty friend JA, going into this event.  Two studio rooms set up as galleries. Outdoors as well for hanging spaces. Paintings on canvas, wood, paper.  Drawings too.  Even a few small colourful sculptures and matching paintings on display. Affordable art.  Guest artists, SF and WW.  Hoping for great weather. Forecast changes often. Time will tell!

I appear in the current issue of YAM magazine. May/June 2019 issue.  Interview and photos.  

Great article and tribute to the owners of Rock Bay Square for providing affordable spaces for artists and others who like to make stuff.

Currently working on pieces for two group shows.  One is titled Forged and will be at the ArcHive gallery on Bridge Street in May.

Am also going to participate in the Fernwood Art Stroll this June. 

Very excited and must get to work!

I have use of The Coffee Lab for the month of February so am getting things ready for hanging.

Here we are again.  This will be my third participation in the open house. I first moved into the studio on Jan 1, 2015.  I was so, so happy to find a place that suited me so well. 

It's often a challenge for me to 'go public'. Not the time to be shy, retiring and self-depracating. A huge part of being an artist is the ability to self promote. Well, a huge part of being an artist who sells what they produce.  

And really I always move past the message of FLEE, FLEE from my amygdala and enjoy myself. I've had such interesting conversations, caught up with old friends and met some cool people. So I will quit grousing, screw my courage to the sticking place and get on with it.  That studio won't tidy itself. No tripping hazards. No wet paint.

Having had a lengthy absence from the studio I am now back at it.  The Annual Rock Bay Square Open House looms and triggers the Annual Impossible Studio Clean Up and Clean Out.  Mark your calendars: Nov 23 and 24.  Poster to follow. 

I have some new lighthearted work posted as I Love What You've Done with the Place. A series of small, chunky, goofy interior scenes.  Fun to do on found plywood which had some paint already on it. After such a break a series where I could just splash paint around was ideal.

I have been working on a series of paintings with the title (so far) See What You Lost When you Left this World which is the title of a song by Lucinda Williams. The paintings were done as a reaction to the death of Anthony Bourdain. Not usually a celebrity hound I was very moved by his death and what must have been such overriding sorrow and fundamental lack of hope despite what was, he often said, a great life.  For me the paintings are an argument against suicide. As of yet I have not individually titled each painting and I'm a little puzzled by how the work morphed during the process of painting (and collaging). 

Currently I am experimenting with Yupo (https://yupousa.com/what-is-yupo/).  It is non-absorbent, super shiny and the whitest of white surfaces.  I love how starkly colour shows itself against the white.  Often looks like stained glass. But it's so unpredictable. I'm feeling my way with the material. I'm thinking of the subjects of aging, death as I work.  Not morbid; just curious. Seems a natural avenue to investigate at this time in my life. Wondering how to present those topics visually and not too literally. The work continues.

Have a zillion ideas for future work. Hoping for the time and energy to get it done.

Mark your calendars. Come and see my studio. It will look unnaturally tidy to me but messy and disorganized to you. I will likely have works for purchase should you be so inclined.  

Photo credit Claudia Pedraza

Back from Paris for 5 days. My thoughts are still quite scattered. Don't know if what I experienced will influence my art work directly.  Time will tell, I suppose.

Best part of the visit was wandering around Paris streets.  I'm a big fan of architecture young and old.  Huge fan of archaeology and so happy to investigate the arch sites in Paris.  

It was lovely to hear French being spoken all round me. And, thank you to Mme Birkett of RHHS for those French lessons which still have a place in my memory bank!

Loved people watching and traffic watching. How is it that there is not wholesale carnage on the city streets?  It is a mystery.  I love how cool the Parisiens are.  There is no server who behaves as if they are hoping to be adopted by you.  Professionals doing their job.  And no one makes a dance out of navigating a busy sidewalk.  You are on your own and no one cares if you live or die.  But, if you are in a situation where you are engaging with someone like when you need to buy bandaids for blistered feet, you've got great company.  Love everyone with whom I spoke. Kind, generous and helpful. 

Paris was hot and then hot and hot some more.  And humid. So humid.  And, strangely enough I was not the only tourist. I was nearly baked in a human casserole in a room in the Louvre with 4 million tourists and 740 Greek or Roman statues of naked men.  Not tempting to any palette I'll wager.  Those damn tourists followed me everywhere. 

So glad I went. It really is my kind of place.  I could happily wander for months and months.  Next time, find the 'off season' which is probably the two days mid way between Christmas and New Year's and rent a vacation let for a month. And maybe not right in Paris. Find a smaller but just as interesting ville.  

Thank you to Matisse for portraying me in my transition to normal state.

Tomorrow I head for Paris for two weeks. Toute seule. Never been. Don't fail me now, High school French class! I've been researching the internet so much, I feel as though I'm already there.  What adventure awaits?! 

Bit of a mix up at the Sooke Fine Art Show. It was actually Memories of a Starry Night that sold not Where I Live.  Dashed back to Sooke with the Starry Night so it could go to its new home.  And happy to see Where I Live again as it is a favourite! Everyone's happy!

Sooke Fine Art Show is done and dusted.  Very happy to report that the diptych, Where I Live, was sold.  It's always a bit of a thrill when someone other than yourself finds a work worthy in that way! And there's money for paint!

Lots of hot weather lately which means that by mid-early morning the temperature in the studio becomes unfit for humans, this human in particular. Time to get out of Dodge and see a bit more of the world!