Blog-free Week

I want to wish you a fantastic first weekend of spring.


I appreciate the longer days and the promise of warmer temperatures. Winter feels very long in Canada, especially if you are not pursuing any winter sport. It has been especially long for me this year because I couldn’t leave the house. I can hardly wait for the snow to melt and the first signs of plants to appear beneath it.


Next week, I will publish my regular blog. I will tell you what prompted me to create needle felted paintings.

Most of the above artworks are for sale. If you are interested in more information, contact me at info@KerstinPeters.ca.

A Special Dog Called Jessie

Jessie - Forever in my Heart, 11" x 14", acrylic

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Maybe, you have wondered about the dog featured on my website, blog and Facebook page. Who is this dog?


After moving to Canada and into our first house, I felt very alone and homesick. I lived in a new country far away from my family and friends. I felt shy about speaking English and could not work as I still waited to become a permanent resident.


For decades, I had suffered from a severe animal phobia. This anxiety was so bad I was afraid to leave our house because of the many dogs in the neighbourhood. My husband and I decided that we had to adopt a dog to help me overcome the phobia. The Humane Society advised us to get a puppy so that I could get used to a slowly growing dog. We encountered three cute puppies at the breeder's house. We were smitten with one little girl and took her home the same evening.


Jessie did help me to get over my fear. However, it did not happen overnight. During the first couple of weeks, I was often afraid of her and called my husband for encouragement. However, she was a very clever girl who loved to please. Ingo and I spent a lot of time training her, which also helped me. She developed into a fantastic dog.


When Jessie died due to cancer on October 30, 2005, the day after her 10th birthday, I was heartbroken. She was my constant companion through many hard times while I tried to get settled in a new country far away from my family and friends. She also opened my world to so much pleasure and the unconditional love of dogs.


So why is Jessie, our Golden Retriever, still the feature of my business? Three months after her death, after we had adopted a new Golden Retriever called Candy, I felt the urge to start a portrait of our beloved Jessie. I used a photo taken on her last birthday as my reference. I wanted to make sure that I would not forget her. Painting Jessie was very emotional as my grief was still raw. I started a portrait of my daughter when the pain was too overwhelming to continue painting.


I registered both paintings for a juried exhibition. When the organizers informed me that my dog portrait had won an award for its expressiveness, I was exhilarated, proud, and moved to tears. Both paintings had received high marks for execution and artistic skills. I was very touched that my works of love had also moved the jurors. The news encouraged me to take my passion for painting past the hobby stage. I started to paint regularly, joined fellow painters for outings and participated in exhibitions. After years of dedication to my roles of wife and mother, I found a passion that made me feel like myself.


Lately, I have created only a few animal portraits, even though they always bring me immense joy. I only felted the occasional painting of our beloved pets. However, I spent hundreds of hours felting the three-dimensional miniature version of our beloved Australian Shepherd, Alex. This year, I feel like creating more felted animal paintings again, especially as it is time to capture our new puppy, Shadow. Painting him will be an extra challenge because he is almost completely black. The project excites me because every challenge is a chance to grow.


What have you attempted that brought you out of your comfort zone?

Blog-free Week

 

On Sunday, Daylight Savings Time starts in Canada. While we will all love the extra hour of light in the evenings, we will miss an hour of sleep on the weekend. To cheer you up and give you some ideas for March Break, above is a collage of some of the projects I have created with clients of several group homes in the Greater Toronto Area. I love to work with the enthusiastic participants and see how proud they are of the images they create. I have been working with them for the past 20 months, and we have developed a wonderful bond. They missed me when I could not teach after my accident and sent me a heartfelt get-well card. We all enjoy the playful Friday mornings. If you look for ideas for art projects for March Break, let these artworks inspire you. If you want to know what materials I used for the above art projects, please send me an email to info@KerstinPeters.ca. I can also provide you with larger images for each project.


Have a wonderful weekend and March Break!

The Many Uses of Art

 

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If you have visited my website, you have noticed that aside from my artworks and art courses, which reflect my love for nature and art, I also teach German. When I first started teaching, I started teaching German before teaching art. As a German citizen with a degree as a Foreign Language Correspondent, I took the opportunity to teach German beginner classes at one of the City of Ottawa recreation centres. It was a chance to share my language and traditions with people who wanted to learn German. Later, I also started teaching government employees for a private company.


I loved teaching German as much as I love teaching art. A couple of years ago, I realized that I had an advantage over other German instructors to distinguish myself from the crowd. I could combine my skills as an artist with my language ones. The result is my programme Learn German Through Art. Did you know that 65 Percent of the population are visual learners? Therefore, it is no surprise that art is used in many different areas to visualize content.


When we talk about art, we think of the masters or the fun we experience pursuing a creative hobby. Visual art allows you to express yourself in a non-verbal way. However, art is not only used to capture the beauty of our environment, our dreams or visions or images of our imagination. Art helps people deal with a traumatic experience. Frida Kahlo is an artist that comes to my mind when I think of a famous artist who expressed her pain and trauma openly through her art.


Many cultures use art to visualize the content of their beliefs and rituals with symbols. This custom was even crucial to pass knowledge when many people lacked the education to read. Now is part of the heritage and culture of a society.


When many people think of art, they don’t consider the everyday use of drawing and sketching as artistic. However, when you create a map for someone, a drawing to describe an object, a pattern for a sweater, or illustrate mathematical divisions or collections in set theory, these are all based on visual communication using art. 

 

My programme Learn German Through Art is based on the same principle of visual expression to visualize and memorize new content. The result is that my students learn faster and have lots of fun creating their sketches. It does not matter if they have any previous art skills. We can all draw lines (and no, they don’t have to be straight) and simple shapes that are the basis for every artwork. The art part of the class helps to relax and from time to time creates some comical entertainment.


If you are intrigued by my method and want to learn German, please reach out to me by contacting me at info@KerstinPeters.ca.