Canada 150 Art Project – Prince Edward Island

Welcome to the first in a series of ten watercolor paintings to honor Canada’s Sesquicentennial – this one featuring Prince Edward Island. Read on to learn more about the backstory behind this painting, and to find out how you can make this painting yours.

 

The Backstory:    It’s no accident that Prince Edward Island leads the line up of my Canada 150 Sesquicentennial paintings. My prairie roots reach all the way across the country to New Perth, near Montague, on the eastern end of the island.

My maternal grandfather, John St Clair Hamilton, was born in New Perth in 1884. He came west and homesteaded at Viscount, Saskatchewan in 1910. It was here that he met and married my grandmother, and raised five daughters including my mom, Ruth.

I first set foot on PEI in the early 1970’s, when I travelled to attend a University Student Conference in Charlottetown. During that visit my mom’s cousin, Ola, toured me around the island – including visits to the original family stomping grounds and the seaside. I remember being fascinated by the lighthouses with their varied shapes and sizes (like this one at Covehead Harbour).

A decade later my husband and I spent a few days on PEI in the month of June. The lupins bloomed in the ditches from one end of the island to the other. We enjoyed seeing them almost as much as we enjoyed sampling the lobsters.

A Prince Edward Island spruce tree towers over the front of our home here in Saskatoon. My mom pulled that little spruce sapling from the ditch in PEI on her visit to the island in the mid ’80s. We planted it here in Saskatoon, never expecting it to survive the winter. It’s now well over 30 feet in height –a testament to PEIslander hardiness.

How You Can Make This Painting Yours:  In honor of our country’s 2017 anniversary celebrations, I’ve created one watercolor painting to honor each province.

One unique provincial landscape, seascape or streetscape will be featured each week throughout the summer. Ten paintings are up for grabs – one for each province – and one each week.

Each original painting is 8” x 10” in size and each one will arrive mounted in a double white mat bringing the outer dimensions to 11” x 14” – ready to pop into a standard frame of your own choosing.

The price for each painting will be $150 (taxes included) plus $15 for shipping to anywhere in Canada.

If you are looking for a unique remembrance of Canada 150, and you’ve always wanted to buy an original watercolor from the Pauseworks Studio, here’s your chance.

Just send me an email message with the words ‘Canada 150 – I’ll Take It’ in the subject line. The first reader to call dibs on each week’s masterpiece takes it. Good luck to all!

If you wish to Unsubscribe to notifications from the Pauseworks Studio Blog,

you can do so in the Let’s Keep In Touch area on any page of the Pauseworks Studio website. 

Celebrating Canada’s Sesquicentennial In An Artful Way

I was 15 years old during Canada’s centennial year back in 1967. That year, every community across the country celebrated in some way large or small – a new rink, a small park, a refurbished hall, a history book. Many organizations and individuals also created their own centennial projects to mark the occasion.

Fifty years later, I still appreciate this country of Canada that we call home – perhaps even more now than I did then. It’s that gratitude and pride of place that prompted me to create my own Sesquicentennial Project. I can’t spell it…but that’s not stopping me from diving in anyway!

To mark this special occasion, I’ve created ten paintings – one for each of the provinces in Canada. Over the years, I’ve visited all ten provinces. They each have their own unique charms; and I would be content to call any one of them home.

Between now and Labor Day, I’ll be presenting each of the ten paintings – one a week – along with a few notes about my memories of visits to each province.

You’ll see them featured in this Pauseworks Studio blog, in my regular Pause blog, and in the weekly Pause ezine.

All of these landscapes, seascapes or streetscapes will be looking for new homes. Each painting will be up for grabs at a special sesquicentennial price of $150 (taxes included) plus $15 for shipping to anywhere in Canada.

Each painting is 8” x 10” in size and each one will arrive mounted in a double white mat bringing the outer dimensions to 11” x 14” – ready to pop into a standard frame of your own choosing.

If you are looking for a unique remembrance of Canada 150 for yourself or someone else, or you’ve always wanted an original watercolor from the Pauseworks Studio, here’s your chance.

As each painting is released, just send me an email message (to pat@patkatzart.com) with the words ‘Canada 150 – I’ll Take It’ in the subject line. The first reader to call dibs on each week’s masterpiece takes it.

First up – starting tomorrow – will be Prince Edward Island.

If you wish to Unsubscribe to notifications from the Pauseworks Studio Blog,

you can do so in the Let’s Keep In Touch area on any page of the Pauseworks Studio website. 

Colour For A Cause

I just finished adding some watercolor to a patch of crocuses, and I did it for a cause! It’s part of a project to benefit Creative Kids Saskatchewan titled Colour For A Cause.

Jason Sylvestre (illustrator of the very popular You Might Be From Saskatchewan If book) has published a 70 page colouring book of scenes from Saskatchewan.

Jason and his publisher, MacIntyre Purcell, are partnering to use the coloring books to raise money for Creative Kids Saskatchewan. Creative Kids is a charitable giving program that helps enable low-income children and youth to participate in arts and culture activities.

Saskatchewan artists, athletes, media and business personalities have been provided with advance copies of the books and been asked to sign and color one page in their books.

All of these books will be offered for purchase in a televised auction in June with 100% of the proceeds going to Creative Kids Saskatchewan. In addition, 10% of all general sales will also go to Creative Kids.

For more information on the fundraiser, contact Christie McCullock at Creative Kids Saskatchewan.

To connect with Jason, see his Facebook page.

To learn more about the Colour Saskatchewan book, see this page at MacIntyre Purcell Publishing.

I understand the books are already stocked on the shelves of many Saskatchewan bookstores.

Visiting With Artist Nicki Ault

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. – Walt Disney

Amidst It All by Nicki Ault

As my interest in art grows, I find myself reaching out to connect with other artists to learn more about their paths, perspectives and philosophies.

Recently, I visited with Saskatoon artist, Nicki Ault, in her studio.

She paints in the company of a group of artists at the Studio on 20th.

Nicki works in oil on canvas focusing on landscapes – prairies, lake scenes and sunsets.

A couple of samples of her recent work are shared here with Nicki’s permission.

Our conversation covered a lot of territory, and here are a few of the take-away insights I picked up along the way:

  • Saying yes to one opportunity can help open the doors for others to follow.
  • Put your work out there in many different ways and trust it will find the audience that appreciates what you have to offer.
  • Give Instagram a whirl. It’s a great way to feature visual images.
  • Sometimes art shows pay off and sometimes they don’t. Although you can spread the word to your own followers, much depends on the marketing done – or not done – by the sponsors of an event.
  • All it takes is one person – the right person – to see and love your work for a sale to occur. You never know who, when or where that will be.
  • One sale often leads to another. The purchase of a small piece can lead to interest in a larger work.
  • Working in a series helps you better understand your subject and lets you hone the techniques that get you the results you have in mind.
  • Stepping away from a work in progress for a while will often help you see what you need to do next.

Delicate Balance by Nicki Ault

Thanks, Nicki, for the visit and the insights.

I love talking art with other artists, and Nicki was very generous in spending her time with me.

If you’d like to see Nicki’s work for yourself, you can find her paintings at the Darrell Bell Gallery on 21st Street here in Saskatoon.

You can also follow her work and learn more about her art by subscribing to Nicki’s blog or following her on Instagram.

 

Sweet And Soothing Sausalito

Sausalito, California, was our kick back and put our feet up destination after a recent cruise out of San Francisco to the Mexican Riviera. We enjoyed the hospitality of the charming Gables Inn on Princess Street. And I loved starting each day with a coffee (and a sketch) on our sunny veranda with its views of the bay.

Sausalito (with a population of just over 7000) is located at the north end of the Golden Gate bridge, a short ferry ride across the bay from its big city sister, San Francisco. Over the years, Sausalito morphed from a World War II shipbuilding center into a vibrant arts community with a quirky collection of houseboats, and a plentiful array of shops and galleries.

American gangster, Baby Face Nelson called Sausalito home in the 1920s. Otis Redding wrote Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay while staying on a houseboat in 1967. And authors, Isabelle Allende and Amy Tan, call Sausalito home today.

If you’re looking for a sweet and relaxing little get away spot – close enough to San Fran for big city adventures – but far enough away to get some rest and renewal – this could just be your spot.

Over the course of our three day stay, I created a number of sketches. Click on each sketch featured below to see an enlarged version and to read a bit more about how and where they came to be.

All originals are available for purchase. Just inquire directly about size and price. And, of course, each image is also available as a reproduction on paper, canvas, acrylic or metal through the Fine Art America service. You’ll find the size, medium and pricing details when you click through to the images.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eggs-aspirated? Art For What Ails You

Art has long been used as a form of therapy to improve well-being.

The central idea is that expressing ourselves creatively in artistic ways helps us improve self awareness, manage feelings, and reduce stress.

It’s often a way that we can explore in images what we hesitate to express in words.

It matters not what the product looks like. The product is really the process of working / playing things through.

I loved this recent ‘prescriptive’ post by Neeti Chopra:  15 Simple Art Hacks You Can Use To Control Your Mind & Channel Your Emotions.

Have fun with it. Doodle to your heart’s content!

Art Nouveau…Who Knew?

 

The more I learn about the history of art, the more fascinating it becomes.

This post links you to a brief article on the Art Nouveau Movement of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.

English designer and businessman, William Morris, is the person credited with being the philosophical father of the movement.

He described Art Nouveau’s main goals this way:

“To give people pleasure in the things they must perforce use, that is one great office of decoration; to give people pleasure in the things they must perforce make, that is the other use of it.”

Simply put, I interpret this to mean:

If you have to MAKE something and you have to USE something, why shouldn’t it be beautiful as well as functional?

What a concept!

Of course, there were and are many different ideas about what constitutes beauty and good design. Central to the early Art Nouveau works were inspirations from nature – curling vines, tendrils, and other organic forms.

Aubrey Beardsley, Gustav Klimt, and Louis Tiffany (he of the stained glass lamps) are some of the more well known artists who played with these ideas and contributed to the movement.

Hector Guimard, who designed the entrances to the Paris Metro stations introduced for the 1900 Paris World’s Fair, created one of the best known examples of Art Nouveau still alive and well today.

Hope you have as much fun reading about this period in art as I did.

PS – It’s fun to think that when I was drawn to sketch this Paris Metro light standard, that I was actually inspired by Art Nouveau efforts from a century before.

With Or Without? Survey Says…

One of the things I love about watercolor is the brilliance of the pure white paper. To preserve that freshness, I’m often inclined to leave a lot of the white paper showing. – especially in some of the vignettes that I create.

On a recent excursion with the Saskatoon Plein Air painting group, I sketched a sweet little daffodil blooming in the Mendel Conservatory. I initially left the background white, with the flower framed by a black line squiggle.

 

After scanning that image in its ‘natural state’, I decided to experiment by adding a contrasting blue background inside the frame.

I then posted the two images to Facebook along with the questions: “With or without? And why?”

53 Facebook followers weighed in with their opinions. A huge majority (a whopping 94% of the voters) preferred the image ‘with’ the blue background.

They gave these reasons: contrast highlights the flower, makes color more vibrant, makes it look warmer, gives it depth and dimension, makes it more positive, feels more finished and complete, makes the flowers pop, and gives context.

The two votes for ‘without’ chose the image with the white background because of its simplicity and understatement.

One of the ‘without’ supporters mocked up a couple of images with colored mats to show how the frame choice could make the image pop in different ways. This reinforces the point made by another respondent who was squarely on the fence, saying the preference for a white or color background ‘depends on the frame’.

One artist that I studied with (can’t remember who) noted that if you are wondering whether you should or whether you shouldn’t (change a line, add a color, tweak the background), the answer is always, ‘Yes, you should.”

His point was that the change just might be successful; and if it isn’t successful, at least you’ve learned something about what NOT to do next time. Grand experiments in the pursuit of learning!

PS – Are you wondering which version I prefer? That’s just like asking a parent to choose a favorite child. I demur. I love them both.

Can You Tap The Tropics On The Prairies?

Our Saskatoon Plein Air painting group met on Saturday morning at the Mendel Gallery for a couple of hours of sketching, painting and artful camaraderie.

When it’s too cold to paint outdoors, there’s always the Outdoor Indoor option.

Most of us chose to park ourselves in the Conservatory where the air was warm and humid and the foliage was green (unlike the trees and shrubs outdoors).

The potted daffodils and tulips were just bursting into bloom, offering hope that spring will soon be on its way.

I plopped myself down on a stool in a corner of the conservatory nearest the cacti – being careful not to back into any surprises.

Pots of bulbs nestled in amongst the permanent display of succulents delivered pops of color.

First to catch my eye, my pen and my brush was a cluster of yellow daffodils.

 

 

While I waited for the daffodils to dry, a sweet little barrel cactus called my name.

He and his buddies served as the focal point for sketch number two.

 

And finally, for something just a little bit different, I decided to create a botanical sampler with each of the six squares on the page devoted to a different type of foliage or blossom.

It was a sweet way to spend a winter morning – basking in the sun streaming through the greenhouse glass, breathing in the tropical atmosphere, and hanging out in the company of plants and fellow artists.

PS 1 – If you’re interested in joining the adventures of the Saskatoon Plein Air group, reach out to the fine folks at Hues Art Supply. They serve as headquarters for the group and support us by sending out information on upcoming gatherings. Events are generously coordinated by Jean Dudley. No special supplies are needed to join in. In fact, all you really need is a sketchbook and a pencil.

  • PS 2 – A click on each of the Daffodils and Barrel Cactus sketches will take you to a larger version of these images on my fine art website. Originals and reproductions are always available for purchase.

Up The Coulee

Sometimes inspiration springs from more than one source.

Such was the case with this painting titled, Up The Coulee.

I worked on this during a recent Watercolor Workshop taught by landscape artist, Alison Montgomery.

Alison’s work inspired me to try some big sky clouds.

I stumbled across the inspiration for the sky (with the bonus of a really colorful rock outcropping) in a photo shared by Jamie Angus in the Saskatchewan Scenery group on Facebook.

I was also drawn to the beauty of the rolling hills and fall foliage of the Slade Ranch in southwestern Saskatchewan.

The ranch is featured in this image posted by my friends, Brenda Baker and Art Slade.

I played around with combinations that would partner the two inspirations in a combined sketch. See the black and white rough shown on the right.

It seemed to work. And so I dove right in with paintbrush and color!

You still have a few days to see Up The Coulee in real life along with a couple of my ink and watercolor abstracts created in a class with Anne McElroy.

All three pieces – along with the work of other workshop participants – are on display in The Workshop Show at Hues Art Supply (1818 Lorne Avenue in Saskatoon) until the end of January.

Copyright © 2016 - Pauseworks Studio - Patricia Katz, Optimus Consulting
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