25 Years in Canada - the Year 2019 Part I

Yellow Flower Served on a Platter, acrylic, 8" x 10", SOLD

Blog 25


I was excited to start 2019 with a new website. After my son had started and got stuck on creating a fresh look, Cynthia Harriston of Ottawa Net Designs combined his ideas with my functionality requirements. I was happy with the fresh look, even though I still had a lot of work to upload new paintings, course and workshop information.

Starting in January, I taught government employees again two days a week during the winter semester. While I loved the work, the 20-minute walk to the building from the National Gallery was treacherous during winter conditions, especially as I had to bring all my teaching materials with me. 

 

Kerstin Reading, acrylic, 20" x 16"

My winter courses for the City of Ottawa started in the middle of January. The number of registrations for my Cartooning and Comics courses stayed high at Francois Dupuis Recreation Centre. I also taught a mixed media course at Bob MacQuarrie Recreation Complex. However, the icy and snowy weather made getting to classes and workshops stressful. I preferred teaching from my studio. Aside from Painting Like Famous Artists workshops, I offered painting parties and specialty workshops like felting Easter eggs.

  

Candy and Alex, acrylic, 30" x 40", NFS

A huge milestone was the completion of the double portrait of our dogs Alex and Candy. When I started it in 2013, I thought I had lots of time to finish it. At that time, both dogs were seven years old. Little did I know that Candy would already leave us just over a year later when she died without any warning from a burst tumour. In 2016, I finally continued my work on the painting. However, I struggled with Candy. In the end, I picked another head position and re-painted her face completely. Working on Alex was a little bit easier as I had my model right with me in the studio.


Despite all the work, I was excited about the many visitors to our home. First, we hosted a big Peters Family reunion for our yearly Schnitzel Extravaganza. Then, my parents came for their last visit to Canada. Both my parents were in their eighties, and the trips to visit us became too strenuous. As they came for a visit three times a year, we had purchased a four-season cottage together after my son was born. After more than 20 years, it was time to sell the building. Even though my parents had cleaned out a lot, it took me three more days to empty the rest. In the end, we had half the garage full of stuff to donate. The experience left me mentally and physically drained. I resisted any further thoughts about selling our house. Instead, I started unpacking some of the boxes with our belongings. I am glad that we cleared our house in preparation for the sale and continue to clean out things that we do not need anymore. At the time, I was not ready to downsize to move into a much smaller house. I am sure that the day will come at some point, but at the moment, we enjoy our home and property. 

Abundance of Pansies, acrylic, 9" x 12", SOLD

As I had expected to move in 2018, I had not applied for many exhibitions. I was only part of the Navan Fine Arts Group display at Shenkman Arts Center. Nevertheless, I sold my painting Abundance of Pansies. I showed my studio to a guest, and she fell in love with the painting right away. That is the best possible scenario for an artist.

Almost Nighttime, acrylic 16" x 20", unfinished

In mid-March, I spent three hours at the DeSerres art store at the St. Laurent Shopping Centre to promote myself. I enjoyed some lovely conversations with young and older art lovers who watched me painting Almost Nighttime. It is another sunset from the shore of the St. Lawrence River in Kamouraska. 

 

Flower Doodles from the first Art Cafe

Teaching art was never only about teaching you techniques. Creating community has always been very important to me. Therefore, I welcomed new and existing clients for the first Art Cafe in April. During the event, we enjoyed some refreshments and created a themed craft while chatting, laughing and building connections.

Of Flowers and Butterflies, acrylic, 16″ x 20″, CAN $400

On the last weekend in April, I participated again in the Navan Fine Art Exhibition and Sale. During the event, I created a painting to the music played by pianist Bev McKiver. I was the second one scheduled and had assumed that I would paint an abstract piece. Instead, I started to panic as my mind went blank. Usually, when I go into my studio, I know what I want to paint. I might struggle with the composition or the process, but I know where I want to go. This time, I did not know what to expect. I had no idea what Bev would play or how I would react to it. I also was aware that people were watching me and talked to spectators during the process. When I finally started painting, I felt like flowers and butterflies. I was frustrated with the result. It took me a long time before I finished the painting. It is not one of my favourites, but it reflects the cheerful music.


In May, I worked non-stop as I planned to take some days off to spend time with two good friends from Germany and their husbands. Emptying the cottage, teaching, working on my website and marketing my events had left me spinning. It was all too much. I worked until late in the night and on weekends. When I look into my daily planner, I did not even take time for my quick 5-minute journal entries. Whenever I wanted to take time off, I prepared all the materials in advance. I needed to simplify some of my tasks. The first change was the reduction of my blog posts to a bi-weekly publication. However, the timing for their visit was perfect, as my husband and daughter spent the same time in Japan. We went sightseeing downtown and to several areas typical for the Canadian landscape, like Gatineau Park and the Mer Bleue Bog. It was fun to spend time together and be a tourist for a change!


The day after my friends left, I went on a bike ride with my son along the Ottawa River. Due to the high water on the pathway, we had to turn around and suddenly realized how dark the sky had turned. We just made it back to the car when the first heavy rain set in. Luckily, we left right away because about half an hour later, a tornado touched down where we were parked. While the residents in the area feared for their lives, we were only a few kilometres away enjoying ice cream, unaware of the drama. However, when I left later to pick up my husband and daughter from the airport, the sky was stunningly glowing in an unrealistic orange-red. On both sides of the road, trees looked like broken toothpicks, and houses were missing shingles.


In early June, I was horrified to see that someone had hacked my website and given himself administrator privileges. Luckily, I received an email right away. Together, my husband and my website designer could stop the attack quickly. I was relieved as the person either did not have the time or the interest to change any data.

During the Shenkman Arts Centre 10th Anniversary Block Party on June 14, 2019, I participate in a painting demonstration to promote Arteast and its members. At the beginning of my career, the prospect of painting watched by spectators would have made me very nervous. These days, I enjoy spending time with other artists and talking to the public. 

 

Self-portrait, oil pastels and coloured pencil, NFS

Therefore, I was also up for the challenge of creating a self-portrait during a visit to the Gauguin exhibition at the National Gallery and had a great time drawing it with oil pastels and coloured pencils.

At the end of June, I finally got to relax at the cottage with some of my friends. We enjoyed the slow pace and the time to recharge in nature. In this quiet setting, we took some time to brainstorm ideas to serve more people in our specific fields in the second half of 2019. We returned on the Friday of the long July weekend. I felt great and was very relaxed. I was looking forward to the Canada Day activities. When I woke up the next day, I could hardly walk and was in a lot of pain. I guess my body required even more rest. I was devastated because our yearly family vacation was only a week away.

 

Delightful Tulips, wool, 11" x 8.5", CAN $375

Next week, I will tell you more about my body’s need to rest and the small change that made it possible to free up a lot of time while serving more clients.