Unfurled, acrylic on canvas, 38" x 55"

So, this is how it turned out! Not quite the same as in Photoshop, but I actually like it better! There was a lot of interest in this piece, which actually sold off the easel before it was finished. I'm not sure what I will be working on next...

3rd Annual Under the Red Umbrella

Is it really almost that time again? I thought I was done with shows for awhile; however, this does give me the opportunity to rework one of the pieces from The Fates—now I know why the real Fates didn't leave me time to varnish it. Below is the painting as it looks now, followed by what I am hoping it will look like when it is finished...for real this time.

Dontcha just love Adobe Photoshop....

I know some of you really liked the softness of the original, but I'm going for drama. If you want to see whether or not it turns out (please don't bring this picture to compare, I can't handle the pressure), then come experience the third annual Under the Red Umbrella on Thursday evening, October 21. It all takes place on lower Craig and Kenneth Streets in Duncan. Eat, drink and be shopping, surrounded by incredible works of art. Just like old times, Coco and I will happily be ensconced with our paintings at Fatima's Bistro 161.

Cardino's on Craig has joined the stroll and will be featuring a new collage artist; Embellish once again plays host to Pipi, Chantey, Crystal and Jill; and Fabrications will feature new works by Kris Kearns.

The fun begins at 5:30. It is up to you where you start your stroll, but I would definitely finish at (or come back to) the bistro where Fatima will have laid out—as only she can—a tapas buffet, available at 8:00 pm for just $15.00 per person...yummmm!

Repeat after me: I don't need to deserve it—I deserve to need it!

The Fates: Artists' Reception

A big thanks to all who attended the "real" opening night reception and made it such a success— and so much fun—at times it was hard to see the work or even move. For any of you who didn't make it to the exhibit, two videos have been posted on YouTube:

Video by exhibit-v, which includes interviews (turn up the volume for these) can be viewed at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgxDus6UsNo

Video set to music by Superseer Productions (Isa's main squeeze) can be viewed at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYp5H_1ZNPk

Ciao!

Upcoming Exhibits of New Work

The first show, The Three Fates, opens at Collective Works Gallery in Victoria on Friday, September 24, but please note that the Artists' Reception is on the Saturday night, September 25.


The second exhibit, Flotsam, opens at Sopa Fine Arts in Kelowna on October 7. For all you realists, this is purely an abstract show (with a little expressionism thrown in for fun).

The following images are of the paintings for Flotsam; the theme for this series is denim or jeans. Note: I'm still working on the paintings for The Three Fates (in which I am death) and will post those next week. Eventually, I will get around to updating my website.

Faded Favourites

Wearing Thin

Slick: Not As Smooth As He Thinks SOLD

Goth Girl SOLD

This Not Just In

I realized that a lot of you who view my website probably don't receive my newsletter and so would not have read that my painting, "Field Study", which sold at this year's Nature of Island Artists Exhibit, was also awarded a Peoples' Choice. It placed fourth, after Mark Hobson's which placed third and two others that I don't remember...but they must have been really good, lol! To find out more about the show, read September 09's blog.

The Nature of Island Artists

I have been asked to participate once again in this bi-annual fundraiser for The Goldstream Nature House which continues through September until October 12, 2009. Over 70 Vancouver Island and Gulf Island artists are exhibiting their creations: wood and stone sculpture; oil, acrylic and watercolour painting, photography, fabric art, clay works and much more.

"The theme of this year's show is 'Art to Heart: Connecting with Nature through the Creation of Art'. There are many ways to connect with our environment, but there is a particular intimacy in the connection made between an artist and their subject. This year...we will be running nature art programs in which schoolchildren will get the chance to immerse themselves in nature and forge those important emotional connections. We will also be exhibiting "inspired by nature" murals created by local Vancouver Island classes. Funding in schools has reached a critical low and opportunities for field trips and activities have become fewer. For more than a decade, schoolchildren were able to attend educational programs and experience the salmon run firsthand at Goldstream Provincial Park for free because of provincial funding. In April 2002, this funding was withdrawn and hundreds of classes were missing the opportunity to connect with nature. Fortunately, the Goldstream Nature House and the Habitat Acquisition Trust have been endeavoring to provide these educational experiences to children by raising funds to offset the cost for schools wishing to attend salmon run programs. One of the ways we make this possible is through the proceeds raised from the Nature of Island Arts Show." Nicole Polet, Naturalist, Goldstream Nature House

Field Study © 2009 Kristine Paton SOLD

Artists' works are available for purchase outright and some through a silent auction bidding process. Visit the gift section where you will find prints and art cards for sale. Every little bit helps!

Artist's Blog on Artists' Block

I never gave much thought to the concept of the blocked artist because I didn’t think it applied to me. Once I am in the studio, I have no problem applying that first stroke to the canvas nor do I lack inspiration… in fact, I have far too many ideas and images wanting expression. However, I have recently learned that a blocked artist is one who finds it difficult to actually get to the studio… and that would be me! Friends are forever saying, “Quit doing all this other stuff and just paint would you? Paint, paint, paint!”

But “all this other stuff” holds as much interest for me as does painting; at least that’s what I thought until someone gave me the book “A Life in the Arts: An expanded workbook edition of Staying Sane in the Arts” (which I will read next) and discovered I just might be the proverbial blocked artist. Who knew!? And what is the cause of this blockage which, unlike my arteries, can’t be blamed on Ms. Vickie’s chips or 7 Layer Dip?

Although clinical depression or mania is no joking matter, I sometimes refer to myself as bi-polar, manic, having ADD, etc., in an off-hand manner. Well that may actually be the case, a prerequisite to being an artist, and here are several excerpts to illuminate the causes:

“Your intense, driven, and sometimes enthusiastic way of being may have a manic feel to it. This restrained mania may become one of your characteristic moods: your mind racing, hands moving, dreams vivid, art more alive to you… I attribute part of this manic edge to the fact that artists are gambling every day… Art-making is one of the greatest gambles of all. As Helen Frankenthaler, the visual artist, put it, ‘No matter how fine or meticulous or tortured a picture may be in execution, the risk or chance of its working or not working is always there, no matter what the method.’ It is a high-stakes gamble, after all, to work with all of your being on something that has so great a chance of failing.”

This could explain why so many artists who rely on their art for income are propelled to repeat past successes; safety and freedom from anxiety are not found in the unknown. The true artist in our midst, and there are few today, is not a formula painter, dancer, writer, poet, etc., and perhaps this is why I often block. Yes, I am a painter, but I wish to be an artist in many forms:

“You have the desire to honestly communicate the truth as you understand it. Frequently you’re the only one in your neighbourhood making such an effort. You’re the one who must tell your grandmother’s story, your father’s story, or your own story as best you can. And since the truth is frequently painful and rarely profitable, few except you are interested in championing it… Standing apart, holding your own counsel, attuned to both the beautiful and the moral, you are the one able and willing to point out the naked emperor, the stench coming from the closet, the starvation right around the corner, the colors of the far mountains as the eye really sees them...

There are cynical artists who withhold the truth from their art in order to gain an audience and make money, just as there are cynical clergy who preach while neither loving nor believing… Other artists will tell only a fraction of the truth of what they know to be true, or will alter or subvert the truth, because of self-censorship, a desire to be popular, or a desire not to offend. These are both manifestations of the impulse to have and keep an audience… Every artist internally debates this issue. Should he sing the equivalent of a jingle or the equivalent of a hymn?”

Copyright © 1992, 1994 by Eric Maisel, Ph.D.