Blog-free Week

Masquerade, acrylic, 20" x 16"

 

I painted this self-portrait n 2011 for the Arteast Exhibition "A Night at the Theatre". It shows me in one of my Halloween outfits. For our family, it is always a double celebration as it is also my husband's birthday. 

 

Even though this year's Halloween will be like no other before, I hope that you will have fun within your social bubble. Create a new tradition that your children will still talk about for a long time. 

I would love to hear from you about your Halloween celebration this year.

My Immigration Journey - Part 14

House for Sale, watercolour, 8" x 10"

Blog 23



In 2002, life was not easy. Our children were almost one year and five years old. Also, we had a very lively Golden Retriever. On makes you feel like you walk two steps ahead only to return where you started. By the time you have cleaned one area of the house, the others need cleaning again. My husband and both our parents had a very traditional mindset when it came to raising a family. The husband was responsible for earning money, while the wife had to take care of house and children. I have to admit that I had imagined our family life differently. I had assumed that we would share the household and child-raising tasks, but the fact that I did not work made it easy to fall into the traditional role models.

Looking for Food, watercolour

My family viewed my creative activities as a pleasant hobby. Only my father-in-law, a great supporter of the arts, was interested in my projects and started buying works for himself and as gifts. When I sold the painting “Looking for Food” to my mom, it was a big deal for me as it was an acknowledgement of my improving skills. The watercolour painting showed a couple of chickadees hanging on a feeder.


At the beginning of March, I joined a group of artists who met Sunday mornings for life drawing. Even though I was struggling with the poses and the proportions initially, I had a lot of fun. The more advanced artists were very supportive. To improve my drawing skills, I started to take a bi-weekly drawing course with a local artist.


When my sister came at the end of June, we went together to the three-day Tom Thomson workshop at the National Gallery of Canada. This workshop was my mini-vacation. Most people had not heard of The Group of Seven in Germany at the time. Therefore, we learned a lot about Canadian landscape art. While researching for this blog, I saw that the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt is the first museum in Germany that will exhibit extensive works from important Canadian collections in early 2021.

Oscar, acrylic, 10 " x 10"  and the bear Oscar

I had taken a one-year break from making bears. This passion was, however, revived when my son’s teacher asked me about giving a presentation in his junior kindergarten class about bears and bear making. She also fell in love with my bear Oscar and adopted him.

The princess and the frog from The Frog King

In July, I joined the Grizzly Bear Gang, a bear club in Nepean whose members were artists and collectors. At the same time, I saw a competition for fairy tale bears in a German bear magazine. I decided to create the princess and the frog from the story The Frog King by the Grimm Brothers. I did not win a prize, but it was exciting to see a photo of my bear published in the magazine.

Silence (left), Vegetables (right), acrylic - unfortunately I did not take better pictures

In October, I participated with the two acrylic paintings “Silence” and “Vegetables” in Arteast’s 21st Annual Art & Photo Exhibition. I was so excited when ten days after the end of the exhibition, a client inquired about buying the painting of a canoe attached to a dock in the soothing light of the sunset.


I was delighted that a stranger fell in love with my work. Especially as an emerging artist, the approval of others feels so crucial. I also needed the money. I felt guilty for not being able to pay for my expensive art materials and framing costs out of my own pocket. 

Join me in two weeks to see what happened in the year 2003.

Blog-free Week

Pumpkins, acrylic, 20" x 16"

 

Many of us are frustrated and depressed because of the increasing COVID numbers, but now is no time to withdraw into a cocoon. I know how it feels to be alone and to miss your loved ones from my early years in Canada, far away from family and friends. I am sure many of you also find physically distancing from loved ones very hard. However, this time we have modern technology to see each other - even if it is only virtually.

 

Therefore, let's meet online to create lots of joy by painting together. Bring your favourite relatives and friends and have fun together. I will guide you through the process of creating the above seasonal pumpkin painting on Sunday from 3 pm to 5 pm. Limited spaces are available to keep this painting party personal despite meeting in my visual art studio. 

This activity is child-friendly. Register together with your child (younger than 13 years), and I will give you a $10 discount. The fee is $30/person. For more information and to register, please go to https://www.kerstinpeters.ca/product/pumpkin-painting-party/. The registration deadline is October 16, 2020.
 

My Immigration Journey - Part 13

The Spring Bears, acrylic, 20" x 16"

Blog 22



The year 2001 started with lots of agitation. At the beginning of February, we found our dog lying in a large puddle with water dripping from the ceiling. When we looked for the source, we discovered that the water was running down from the upstairs master bedroom wall to the basement. The carpet was soaked. We and we had to change the towels every hour to keep the water from dripping to the lower levels.

All this excitement probably did not help me with my pregnancy. Even though I had another six weeks ahead of me, I started having contractions. I and could not feel my otherwise active baby anymore. Once we were at the hospital, our little girl moved so much that the nurses could not get a continuous reading of her heartbeat. As the baby was quite big but much too skinny, I had to stay on bed rest for ten days. I felt very lonely in my misery and guilty that my pregnancy prevented me again from living without confinements. Instead of taking our son to the playground, we spent the time reading, creating art and watching TV, which was not what our active almost-four-year-old boy felt like doing all day long.

On March 5, when we started dinner, the contractions started again. After the long labour I endured with Dominic, we decided to have dinner first before leaving the house. A big mistake! Suddenly, the contractions came strongly and in short intervals. It was snowing, and we had to drive Dominic to a friend first before we continued to the hospital.

When we reached the hospital, things happened quickly. I was rushed through the hallway to a birthing room. People had to jump into the room to make space. I was relieved to see two doctors in the room, one of them the same doctor who had already delivered our son. I still wore my street clothes when Christine was born minutes after we reached the room. From the time we had entered the hospital until she was born, only 20 minutes had passed.

Despite the new challenges of having a newborn in the house and not sleeping more than five hours during the night, I continued to go to my monthly theatre outings with friends at the Ottawa Little Theatre, Canada’s oldest community playhouse in downtown Ottawa.

Starting in May, I started going again to the monthly Arteast meetings, the local art organisation. I was lucky that it took Christine only a month until she started sleeping through the night. It was time to start painting: first a tulip bouquet, then three of my bears sitting in a tulip bed (see above). I was determined to finish the painting in time for the yearly Arteast critique night. I was happy when the feedback was mostly positive and thankful for the suggestions for improvement.

I also continued to go to the National Gallery special exhibitions. Usually, I brought both children along. It was hard work because one of them often wanted to be carried around. Nevertheless, I was soaking up the beauty of the art and found inspiration to keep painting.

Whenever we had visitors, I took the chance to take them to art events. When I visited the Glebe Studio Tour with my sister, it was not only exciting because of the art, but also because of the beautiful neighbourhood.

At the time, Ingo and I kept looking for houses and building lots outside of the area where we lived. Our yard bordered on a small wooded area that led to a public transportation parking lot. The closeness to the bus station had resulted in more and more incidents of burglary. We were excited when we finally found a large lot in Cumberland with lots of trees and wild roses.

 

Mushrooms, acrylic, 16" x 20"

I continued painting in the fall when my parents came for a visit. At their cottage, I painted a group of mushrooms in the garden. It felt so liberating to be able to sit outside and paint while my parents entertained our children. Painting without interruptions was a rare treat!

When I go through my journals of the past, more and more pages are left empty because I was so busy caring for our children, our Golden Retriever and the household. I am surprised that I still managed to sketch and paint at all. It shows my strong urge to create. No matter how bad things are, creating art makes my life better. It is not something that I can stop. The desire to express myself and to capture the world around me is too strong. It gives me so much joy and feels meditative.

I hope you will join me again in two weeks when I have a look back at the year 2002.

Blog-free Week

Pumpkin sketch, watercolour and watercolour pencil

Now is a great time to be outside and enjoy the autumn colours. It is a beautiful season to walk, bike, or create art. 

Maybe, you want to bring a sketchbook and a pencil. I prefer to take a mechanical pencil so that I do not have to worry about sharpening. Sketching is a great way to journal and to bridge any time you have to wait somewhere.

Capturing a view or an object will bring back memories every time you look at the sketch. You might even remember what kind of day it was and how you felt that day.

Don't worry about what people think. Sketching is your unique visual journal entry. It is only important if you are happy with the information that you captured about a scene or an object. If you enjoy your sketch, it will be a great help when you decide to create a painting or detailed drawing at home. And if you are not happy, then it was at least an exercise in observation and concentration.

I hope you will all have a chance to get outside to enjoy the fresh autumn air before we retreat into our homes because of the colder temperatures and shorter days.

 

If you would like to learn how to draw, I invite you to join me for the weekly Let's Draw What's in Your Fridge sessions. Every week, we will draw another fall vegetable and fruit.

You will not only learn how to draw but also to really look at objects. Soon, you will see things in your environment that you overlooked so far. You will train your eyes to observe and to look for details, to see the world around with a curious eye.

 

This workshop is for you if you would like to:

• have a fresh look at what is in your fridge
• you want to learn how to draw
• you want to learn how to look at an object and see all the amazing details that we so easily overlook
• you enjoy drawing but never get to it on your own
•  you want to create art for fun and relaxation

 

If this interests you, please click here for more information.