Canada 150 Art Project – Prince Edward Island

At June 28, 2017
By katzp
In Canada 150 Artworks, News, Recent Work
0

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 20^th.

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 21^st 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

At April 01, 2017
By katzp
In Behind The Scenes, Recent Work, Travel
2

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.