Some artists choose not to talk publically about their art for a variety of reasons. They may feel it is important for the work to speak for itself. Some artists want you (the viewer) to experience something for yourself in it and they don’t want to colour your vision with titles and talk. Others avoid talking about their art because they feel that public speaking isn’t their forte.

I've been neglecting the blog here and failing to do my own talking - and after thinking it through a bit I've decided to make a few changes and try to be more personal and real here...  

It feels strange, to drop back into a blog that was maybe a little bit abandonned. I find it really difficult to know what to say here exactly -what are you supposed to say on a "professional blog"?  So if you don't mind, I'm just going to be me. Opinions and scribbles and all. 

What if you could read the stories behind the paintings? Would you?

What if it wasn't just all business, sightings, shows, and other press relations?

What if there was a real person behind the blog?

I'm willing to try it out if you are.

 

Till next time,

Laura

 Mocha Moment is my submission to Tastefest in Chatham, ON at the Downtown Chatham Center July 11-13, 2009.

It was going to be a bowl of fruit. 

Because I am still a novice with wine, and haven't developed a love for it I decided not to paint wine bottles and their lovely glasses. I believe that I create better art when it is based on subject that holds some meaning for me.

I wanted to create something a bit personal.

 

For the record, I don't drink coffee either.

 So you may wonder why the bowl of coffee?

The smell of coffee beans and brewing coffee enchants me. There is a wonderful rich, earthy smell. I am actually considering setting out a bowl of coffee beans on my kitchen counter, but either Chloe or the cats will make that a bad idea.

The round shapes of the coffee bowls and the pretty patterns that barista's make in lattes fascinate me as well. I'd love to be a coffee "snob" as some of my friends deem them. Coffee conesseuirs buy lattes, and fancy teas with steamed milk, and esspressos and all sorts of other things I can'r pronounce at Starbucks - well at least that is what I imagine a coffee conesseuir would do.  

I love the feel of holding a hot tea or a mug of hot chocolate on a cold day and absorbing all its warmth, cupping my hands around my warm beverage of choice for the day and curling up on the couch talking with a friend.

So how did a bowl of fruit become a mug of mocha?

I am a bit of an introvert (shocking! an introverted artist!!) and I need my own space, where no one can bug me or get to me. At least every now and then. My husband understands this and offered to work from home so that I could go out for the evening.

It was after nine, but I have to take the opportunities when they come up. I threw my sketchbook  into my bag and headed off to Chapters to see what would jump out at me.  That night I was extremely bored of myself, and of just about everything else, so not surprisingly, nothing jumped off the shelf at me.

A little disappointed I left and headed to Williams, with the intention of purchasing an overpriced tea, doing some covert people watching and perhaps some sketching.

I didn't buy a tea.

I bought an  Earl Grey tea with steamed milk and vanilla. I keep trying to be a conesseuir but I don't think it is working.  It came in a wonderful bowl of a cup, not like any I had at home, so I pulled out my pencil and did a sketch of the cup and the intersecting lines and went home.

Later, I continued to play around with composition options for my bowl of fruit and I didn't really love any of the options. I kept coming back to the simple sketch of the cup. Eventually, I gave in and changed the plan.

 

Spring Rain got its beginning a long time before I started it.  Flowers and gardening have been a hobby of mine since I was able to make a hole in the dirt with my finger and drop a seed into it. Add the art stuff to the mix and voila - you have a potential botanical painter…

As a result I tend to photograph flora and fauna everywhere I go in order to add them to my reference photo collection.  These lovelies were photographed at the Seattle Home and Garden Show.  My friend Amelia and I \”escorted\” (read:\”dragged\”) Steve through the exhibition and I am sure I took at least a thousand photographs while they stood around and pretended not to know me.

Believe it or not these flowers were actually a light shade of lime green in real life.  I\’ll look up their latin names if you really want to know.

I took a few artistic liberties… in other words I kept the shape of the flowers and most of the composition of my photo and then - well the rest is history. (I have to say at this point that white or light coloured flowers and things are fun to paint because they are never actually really white. If I painted them white they\’d look flat. Our eyes like to fill in information for us that may not actually be there. But that is another post.)

The shape of these flowers got me thinking about another one of my favourites - Magnolias. I love their colour and their elegant simplicity. Looking at the painting now it is kind of obvious that I was thinking about the beautiful tree blossoms because the flowers in Spring Rain came out pink and creamy instead of softly green. I just created my own hybrid! Isn\’t art great?

Commission Complete!

Shawn and Heidi presented me with a really unique challenge. They asked for a black and white painting that included a rainbow…

I’ve been thinking about how to solve the rainbow problem since I got this commision. The problem when you introduce colour to a black and white painting is that the colour immeadiately becomes the focus…

… which is a problem when you are painting a wedding, because the couple always needs to be the focus.

This has been a great challenge and I learned a lot in the process. And of course it was fun!

Thanks, Shawn and Heidi for giving me the honour of painting a memory from your special day!

In my travels last year I had the pleasure of visiting Grant Gallery in Lucan, On. This year I was invited to exhibit for the month of January and I am happy to post a few pictures of the show and the gallery.

 

Grant gallery has a beautiful, warm feel. Nice warm hardwood floors lead you into the space that is large enough to show the work and small enough to be personal.

While some spaces have a something about them that really puts me off (I feel small, or like I am an imposter and really shouldn't be there) this gallery is all small town friendly.

 

Beautiful work, in a beautiful space surrounded with beautiful people - can an artist ask for more?

The past few months have flown by and all of a sudden it is New Year's Eve - possibly my most favorite time of year (with Christmas vying for a top place as well). And as I was reviewing what I had written and looking at adding December's paintings to the site I realized I had completely forgotten to tell you what I have been up to.

I plan to fix that right now!

There were two shows I participated in this Christmas Season, Eye for Art and the 12 Inches of Christmas.

I love working on odd sized canvases because they present all kinds of interesting puzzles for me to work out. For the 12 Inches show held at ARTspace the artists were asked to create work that was no bigger than 1 foot by 1 foot including the frame. I submitted Jennifer, which I created especially for the show and Bronte's Skyline. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to get my hands on some more 12 x12 canvas.

Eye for Art had a big fancy opening gala that I would have loved to have gone to - what better reason is there to get a sparkly something or other than because you are attending a GALA? Unfortunately, I had prior engagements and couldn't go. It was really an honour to be selected to participate in this show, and I am really grateful to have had the opportunity.

 

Looking back on this year I am really happy with how far I have come - literally (moving from Seattle, WA to London, ON) and figuratively. I am grateful... for so many things. And I can't wait for 2009!

Happy New Year!

  

ARTspace opened to a capacity crowd, lined up outside the doors on King St W. in Chatham, Ontario. The Chatham Daily News  and Chatham This Week covered the opening detailing the mandate of the new artist-run space. The building is beautifully refinished inside and out, making it a contemporary art space that the people of Chatham-Kent can be proud of.

 

I was very pleased to see lots of old friends and some new ones - the turn out to the opening was amazing. I would be surprised if each one of the 41 exhibiting artist didn't have 10 of their friends attend the opening that evening. Which is a lot of people in a small space! It was nice to see some familiar faces of the Chatham-Kent art world including Sandra VanRaay, Tracy Bultje and Lindsay Beaubien. I would love to give you links to their sites but I don't have them! Which leads me to wonder who in Chatham does have their own website?

 A big THANK YOU to the girls from Fairytales Photography for coming out and covering the event, and providing the photos for this post! 

Photography copyright 2008 Fairytales Photography

 

 

August's Glory  is my contribution to the works on display this month. The gallery is open this June, on Wednesdays thru Saturdays from noon till 5 pm. Please drop by and let me know what you think.

I am happy to report that I was invited to participate in the maiden voyage of ARTspace, the newest venue for art and culture in Chatham-Kent. What is really exciting for me is that this gallery is located in a place where my family and friends could actually visit it without taking a 5 hour plane ride! The painting I am exhibiting is called  "August's Glory". Hope to see you out there!

May 2008

I have done some reorganizing and have decided that this blog will be mainly about events and shows. My other blog Art in Life has tips and tricks for artists and those interested in how art is made as well as occasional notes from me and more personal stuff. Please feel free to check it out also as it will be updated more often.

Currently my work is showing at Parklane Gallery in their 16th Annual International Miniature competition. I am excited to once again be a part of that show. Although I don't habitually create miniatures I enjoy the challenge of working with such a small canvas. The works I am showing this year are...

In the Summer Kitchen  and  View from My Window. In View I am painting what I wish I could see from my window. What would it be like to wake up every day and look out your window to see an array of tropical birds in the early morning light?

 If you happen to be in the neighborhood, drop by Parklane Gallery and see them in person. I would love to hear what you think of them.

 

I'm sorry I haven't kept this as up to date as I had hoped. In January, my husband and I found out that after 4 months on the market we were finally going to sell our condo in Kirkland. What that meant was packing, andplanning and organizing an international move in order for Steve to accept a new position in Ontario, Canada. So between a six month old, packing and planning I have barely had a thought to spare for myself, let alone something to write for my blog.

So  now it is March 7, 2008 and I find myself in my husband's uncle's house with the snow swirling around outside. What a change from the green buds and gentler breezes of Seattle. I have to say that I miss it. But I am adjusting to the changes and today I finally had a few minutes to prep for some upcomming shows and competitions. Although I watched Sleepless in Seattle with just a little more knowledge and a little sadness.

I plan to show in the 16th annual Parklane International Miniature Show. Lately, I am really interested in the every day things in life, tea cups, tea pots, glasses. I am surrounded by the things my husband's late aunt loved. Antiques, family photos, country art... old things, some things that remind me that life is transient and that some items can out last the people and the relationships that created them. What do you do with wedding pictures where the bride has passed away? What if the couple has divorced?  I have been thinking about how I would treat things like this. I can't deny the photos that prove the reality of events that people have shared. There is a sadness that clings to photos and mementos like the dust that I have been cleaning out the corners. Would I destroy items like these in order to get past the memories or would I keep them. Miniature art could pull up memories like this. Miniatures reference the past, full of antiques, photos, items that have outlived their owners. I hope to evoke the emotion of abandoned things.

At very least, I am happy to have things settling, even though we still will move again once we find a home of our own.