25 Year in Canada - The Year 2018 Part II

Daring to be Different, acrylic, 10" x 10", CAN 275

Blog  24


Despite the heatwave we had here in Ottawa in July, I was very productive. I finished a couple of paintings and started a series of 15-minute art projects I posted on my Facebook page. I continued my Creativity Challenge. However, for the first two weeks of July (July 6 and 13, 2018), my blog posts reflected the discussion I had with my artist friend Anne Warburton on “Creating Art with a Group”. We taped the talks, and each of us wrote two blogs summarizing our answers to the same questions. While I posted Anne’s responses, she posted my answers to the same questions in her blog at https://annewarburton.blogspot.com/. All four blogs contained links to the five video clips. 

The Old Shed, acrylic, 8" x 10", CAN $250

As I was not working, I spent more time with my friends Janis Fulton and Hélène Martin. Together, we went to the Cumberland Heritage Village Museum, where I painted an old shed that nature slowly took over. The building was covered in vines and surrounded by tall grass. We also went out to the Beechwood Cemetery. There, I painted the pond with the water lilies. At the Humanics Institute Sculpture Park in Cumberland, we spent a morning drawing the sculpture “Motherly Love” of a hippopotamus holding her baby in her arms.


At the end of July, Christine and I went to Germany for my mother’s 80th birthday. It was extremely close to my heart as my mother had lost her only sibling less than six months before. Plus, it felt like a replay of her 50th birthday when her mother was in the final stage of cancer. My mother celebrated near her mother’s house so we could be together one more time. Due to my godmother’s illness, my mother had picked a birthday venue close to her sister’s home. Only this time, the seat stayed empty. When we later went to the cemetery, it hit me hard to see my beloved aunt’s name on the stone. It made her death inescapable.


While we were in Germany, the country reached temperatures in the high 30s - not even considering the humidex. It was more or less impossible to be outside after 10 am. Even at night, the temperatures hardly dropped. Traditionally, most buildings don’t have air-conditioning, except for the grocery stores and maybe new and big hotels. Some of the grocery stores lost their air-conditioning and could only offer non-perishable foods. It was also disheartening to see the brown landscape as many trees did not survive. We even saw little fires in the median strip of the highway at one point. 

Yellow Flower, watercolour, 7" x 5", NFS

During my vacation, I used periods of waiting to create my pencil or watercolour pencil sketches. I painted three watercolour paintings in my parents’ garden, where the continuously blooming flowers provided never-ending inspiration. Back at home, I met my clients-turned-friends for our yearly painting event at a local park. The group had picked a picture of pansies that was more challenging than expected.

From August 11, 2018, I was part of the next exhibition at Da Artisti Studio & Gallery in Cumberland. This time, I showed some of my acrylic paintings. As I was absent for the vernissage, I did a painting demonstration on September 1, 2018.

St Andre Lighthouse,  14" x 11",  acrylic, CAN $375

At the beginning of September, Janis, Helene and I drove together to Kamouraska for our yearly painting trip. The week was fantastic in every aspect. If you would like to read my travelogue, please go to the blogs that start on September 21, 2018.

 

After my trip, two new Cartooning and Comics courses started at François Dupuis Recreation Centre; I have one group of 7-12-year-olds and another of 5-7-year-olds. I also continued teaching workshops in my studio space.


Less than a week after my return from Kamouraska, my family looked forward to my birthday weekend at the cottage. My son and I wanted to leave Friday afternoon to get an early start to the weekend. However, when we heard about a tornado warning for our region, we decided to wait for the system to pass. Our houses nor the cottage were affected. However, we might have hit the system on its way to Dunrobin. The wind and rain were scary. Trees were down everywhere. When I picked up my son in the morning, his neighbourhood was among the ones still without power. Later in the day, we saw images of the areas destroyed by the tornado. It was devastating! Many people lost everything in a couple of seconds. One of the buildings was a little gift shop that my husband and I had just visited four days earlier for the first time.

At the Market II, acrylic, 16" x 20", SOLD

At the beginning of October, I sold my painting “At the Market II” to one of my very supportive clients. He had fallen in love with the painting years earlier and finally decided to buy it. I am excited if one of my paintings touches others so that it brings them joy. That is one of the best compliments. 

Exhibition at Lunasole, photo by Gwen Cowan

On October 16, I hung my new solo exhibition at Lunasole Resto Bar in Orléans. In the follow-up exhibition, all the artists from the past year showed some new works.


During November, I also invested in my business. At the beginning of the month, I went to Lisa Larter’s Money Mindset Marketing conference. She gave the participants lots of information to help them serve their clients better. I also attended a Mastermind workshop to get together with other entrepreneurs to brainstorm about new solutions for our businesses. Finally, to give my website a much-needed facelift, I hired a website creator and a photographer for an updated headshot.

Water lily, enamel on glass, 5" x 10.75", NFS

 

At the beginning of November, I took part in a two-part enamel on glass workshop at Da Artisti Studio & Gallery. I created a water lily painting. After the initial drawing, the challenging part was to decide what parts of the image to paint on each of the six sides of the three glass panels to create a three-dimensional effect.


At the end of November, I started teaching several groups of Government employees in Ottawa twice a week. Not having to cross the bridge to Gatineau and a later start in the morning made the commute a lot more pleasant. However, parking was a problem. I needed to park at the National Gallery, which added another 40 minutes a day of walking to my commute. On the plus side, I had the opportunity of going to the museum right after work.


As in previous years, I hosted another Open House and Customer Appreciation Day on the first weekend of December. I also had a silent auction on Facebook to raise funds for the Canadian Cancer Society. It was my part to support the fight against cancer, an illness that has taken some beloved people and pets from me.


At the same time, we also took our house off the market. After months with hardly any showings, we wanted to spend the Christmas season without the stress of living in a show house. Even though we were disappointed about the lack of interest, the positive side effect of the experience was a lot less clutter. You only realize how much stuff you have when you have to pack it. Plus, I was relieved that I would not lose my beloved studio. I had many new ideas for artworks and workshops and was full of excitement for the year ahead.


As I take a vacation away from my computer to spend time with family and friends next week, I will post the next chapter of my story in two weeks. I can hardly believe that there are only three more posts until I have reached the summary of my 25 years in Canada. Thank you for following my blog.

25 Years in Canada - The Year 2018 Part I

Three Poppies, acrylic, 9" x 12", CAN $ 300

 Blog 23

At the beginning of 2018, we had decided to sell our house. My husband and I both worked in Gatineau, a good 30-minute drive from our home in the best circumstances. Plus, our son had already moved out, and our daughter had registered for university in the fall.

Winter Mix Exhibition

To reduce the number of paintings in our house, I participated in many exhibitions. In early January, I hung some of my flower paintings at the St Laurent Complex for the Arteast Winter Mix Exhibition. While it was cold and dark here in Canada, it was summer in other parts of the world. Plus, the cheerful flowers offered a reminder of warmer weather. Next, I brought some of my oil paintings to Da Artisti Gallery, a beautiful gallery in an old building in Cumberland Village.


From Febr. 8 to April 17, my painting Nature’s Mirror was part of the Arteast Volunteers' Exhibition at Promenade Arteast at the Shenkman Arts Centre. On February 20, my friends Janis Fulton, Hélène Martin and I hung some larger paintings at the Residence Royal Gardens. As we often paint together, it was exciting to show our works together again.

 

 

St. Lawrence River Sunset, acrylic, 24" x 36", CAN $ 930

 

At the beginning of May, I had a solo exhibition at The Black Walnut Bakery in Cumberland Village. I was very excited about the opportunity to show my art in the popular bakery and café. The next exhibition followed in mid-May when I participated in the Arteast exhibition Summer Colours at François Dupuis Recreation Centre.

 

 

Summer Colours Exhibition

 
Despite the challenge of preparing our house for sale, I started my Creativity Challenge again on January 1 and kept it going until the summer. I wanted to create something every day to balance out the stress, even if it was only for 15 minutes. I shared my trials and successes in my blogs. The accountability of my blogs made me work on a daily project because otherwise, I did not have anything to write.


While my business activities were going well, I had to cope with personal losses. On January 2, my mother informed me that my godmother was dying. The encouraging news at the end of last year had not lasted. I considered flying to Germany, but due to my work contracts and our plan to sell our house, a trip at such short notice was not possible. I also wanted to spend my mother’s 80th birthday with her in the summer. I knew that I could not afford to travel to Germany twice. I hoped that my aunt would hold on until my visit. In the meantime, I concentrated on helping my friend whose cancer had come back and was terminal. She had started a painting in her youth that she wanted to finish for her children. In the end, she did not have enough time and died already in the middle of February. I was shocked, how fast her illness had progressed. She still had so many plans. It was a good reminder not to postpone your dreams.


About a week later, my parents told me the day before their flight to Canada that they would not come as my godmother, my mother’s only sibling, was on her deathbed. Not only did I grieve for the person who had been like a second mother to me, but I also worried about my mother, who reacted to the news with extreme stress symptoms. Once again, I had to deal with the grief alone. The rest of my family in Germany could support each other and say their farewell together. My daughter tried to console me, but my godmother was only one of the relatives she had met on our visits to Germany, not the special person she was for me.


Compared to their illnesses, the continued problems with my eyes were only a nuisance. Nevertheless, it worried me that I could not open my eyes in the mornings. I feared an emergency during the night when I would need help to leave the house.


At the end of January, I learned that my German classes would finish months before the expected date. I still taught private German and art clients. My Creativity and Me workshops and my courses at François Dupuis Recreation Centre and Bob MacQuarrie Recreation Complex were very successful.

Nevertheless, I could use the additional time to concentrate on two pressing activities: decluttering and packing. It was probably good to be under pressure as I have trouble letting go of things. As a creative person, everything can give me ideas for future use in an artwork. Having to clean out my office to stage it for potential home buyers forced me to make some tough decisions. As much as going through the stuff was both physically and mentally exhausting, it felt good to look at my cleaned studio.


At the end of March, my parents finally came for the long-awaited visit. They had missed our week together at the cottage and my daughter’s 17th birthday, but we could spend Easter together. The day they left, one of my childhood friends arrived for a visit. This time, we spent most of her stay on a cottage vacation for a much-needed break from cleaning out the house.


However, I also worried about Alex, our Australian Shepherd. At 12-years-old, he suddenly lacked energy and slept most of the day. We found out that he had Lyme disease even though he was on tick-prevention meditation until the fall. Luckily, he fully recovered after a round of antibiotics.


With spring just around the corner, the longer and brighter days increased my energy. We had finished the first round of packing. I did not have a shortage of paintings for staging the freshly painted rooms, although many of my artworks were in exhibitions.

I only continued to teach Government employees in May. In the meantime, I collaborated with Jackie Leduc, the owner of a yoga and wellness studio in Cumberland. Jackie and I were at a Women Creating Impact workshop by Pierrette Raymond. Pierrette pulled our names for a mock collaboration, and we knew from the start that we would go ahead with the event we planned. Our Yoga & Art Retreat on May 6 was a big success. The eight lovely women who participated in our treated themselves to a day of relaxation and creativity.


By the middle of May, we were finally ready to put the house on the market. The realtor had hoped that the shortage of residences in Ottawa and surrounding suburbs would push buyers to rural areas. Disappointingly, however, the interest in our house was low. Nevertheless, we started looking around to find our new home.


My husband’s criteria were simple. He wanted a house with at least one garage and close enough to the office that he could bike to work within 30 minutes instead of spending the time (and often even longer) on the highway. While I could relate to his wishes, I had a far longer list of must-haves. In short, I was not ready to move. I had planned our home and picked out all the materials from floors to cabinets and paints. I do not love the outside of our house due to the cuts necessary to stay within our budget. However, I love the inside and our big yard. My husband also likes our house, but he is not as attached to it. He wished that we could have moved it closer to the city.


When we started looking at houses in the Alta Vista area, we saw some cozy homes that offered less than one-quarter of the space we had for the price equivalent to ours in the country. It became apparent that my husband and I had very opposing views of the possibilities of each building. I was frustrated and stressed by all the changes coming our way, especially as I continued to be disappointed by the houses we visited in different neighbourhoods.

The first half of the year ended on a positive note. I finally had more time to paint and felt. I joined a new plein air group, the Ottawa Plein Air Adventures Group, and collaborated with my artist friend Anne Warburton on a series of videos and resulting blog posts. On June 15, I spent the morning with my friend Janis painting poppies in her yard (see above). It was my first plein air painting time since our trip to Kamouraska the previous September. It felt so great to be outside in the warm sun and to paint without any distractions.


I also learned to work with glass in a Glass Fusion Workshop at Da Artisti Studio & Gallery. It was a lot of fun to work with a new medium. Wendy Canci guided our Arteast group well in the process of creating a dish and a pendant by layering glass.


The personal highlight for our family during the first half-year was my daughter’s graduation from high school. My parents and my in-laws came to celebrate this happy occasion with us at the end of June. We were so proud of her. Not only did she handle her health problems of the past five years, but she also finished as one of the top students in her grade.


Join me next week to learn more about our housing situation and whether I managed to stay creative throughout the stressful time of selling our house.

Creating Art with a Group - Part 2

Blog 28

A couple of weeks ago, I had an interesting talk with my artist friend Anne Warburton, a versatile fibre artist from Navan, about “Creating Art with a Group”. In this second part, we talk about finding locations, the challenges of creating in a group, and about collaborating on a joint piece of art.

Question 4) Where do you meet - are there any challenges with finding locations?

In the summer, weather is a factor because we don’t want to be out in the rain or out during a thunderstorm. If you need an indoor space, cost is often an issue. We are lucky in one of the smaller groups, as we go to each other’s homes, and have enough space in a couple of basements or sometimes we use a carport. Many indoor places do not want to rent space to painters, because they are afraid that the floors will be stained. And the price can sometimes be prohibitive too.

Some groups, like the Ottawa Urban Sketchers, seek out locations to go to, with permission of course, or get invited to events. For example, we were at Lansdowne Park for the curling trials a couple of years back, and more recently, we attended a dress rehearsal with the the Ottawa Pops Orchestra at Centrepointe Theatre. Ottawa does have some beautiful outdoor spaces and parks that are perfect for sketching and painting. This coloured pencil image was sketched at the Rockcliffe Park Pavillion.

A great source to find places to rent is SpaceFinder https://ottawa.spacefinder.org/. SpaceFinder is a free matchmaking tool for people renting out their space to artists and artists looking for a creative space.

Question 5) What are some disadvantages of creating with a group? Are you afraid to lose your own creativity when you participate in group activities too often?

It is easy to mimic someone else’s style when learning a new technique or working with new materials. That is a risk at first during the learning curve, but we do fall back to our own style, and adapting to incorporate the new technique.

Group dynamics are very important. We tend to take on roles such as organizer, doer, planner etc. We need to be open to what others want to accomplish in each group so that everyone feels their own needs are being met, and also ensure that our own goals align with that of the group.

Question 6) Have you collaborated with other artists to jointly create a piece of art?

Yes, we’re just finishing up a piece for a show next year. This was the first time I have been involved in a joint creation, and I’m pleased with how it went. It’s very important that everyone agree in advance on all the parameters, yet be flexible enough to make changes during the creative process. There were four of us and we have created together in the past as a group, so each of us was able to fall into the roles that we usually play in planning and organizing our creative get-togethers. For anyone who does want to create a piece jointly with others it’s important that all the tasks be identified and assigned, so that one person doesn’t feel burdened with more, another doesn’t feel listened to, etc.

Both Anne and I answered the same questions. To read my answers to the same questions please go to Anne’s blog at https://annewarburton.blogspot.com/ or you can access her blog through her website https://www.needleartsonpaper.com/.  If you missed the first part of our discussion, please scroll back to last week’s post.


Anne and I were both very excited about working together and had a lovely chat. However, it was quite out of our comfort zone to record the session. It was even harder to watch and edit the video afterwards. It is not perfect, but it shows us in an authentic way. I am sure we will get better with time. You will be able to see the clip "Challenges with Finding Locations" at https://youtu.be/sl9J_Lkd4GI.

 

What about you? Have you ever created art with a group? We would love to hear about your experiences.

Creating Art with a Group - Part 1

Blog 27

A couple of weeks ago, I had an interesting talk with my artist friend Anne Warburton about “Creating Art with a Group”. Anne is a versatile fibre artist. Her passion is stitching on paper and fabric, and incorporating paint, photographs, metals or recycled materials. A love of colour and travel inspires much of her work. She has a love of learning, and continues to develop her art through experimentation and courses, and is also trained in the expressive arts therapies. She is an active member of several arts associations including Arteast and the Out of the Box Fibre Artists, and is Chair of the annual Navan spring Fine Art Exhibition & Sale.

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In the discussion below, Anne talks about her experiences and perspectives on the topic of Creating Art with a Group. To see my answers to the same questions please go to Anne’s blog at https://annewarburton.blogspot.com/ or you can access her blog through her website https://www.needleartsonpaper.com/.

1) Anne, Why do you create art with a group? What do you get out of creating with others?

I have learned so much when creating with others, and have grown as an artist due in part to such groups. Valuable tips, resources and new ideas are just a few of the benefits. I’m currently active in three groups: an open studio, sketching group, and fibre art playdates.

For example with the Ottawa Urban Sketchers, there are artists of all levels, it is great practice and you get inspired by each other, especially if you don’t sketch on a regular basis. When you start out, it is often very uncomfortable to have other people looking over your shoulder and it’s comforting to have other artists sketching or painting next to you, even though the public is very interested and supportive. They are not critiquing what you are doing but are very interested.

There is an amazing energy in creating with a group. You just feed from each other. You get excited again and want to continue creating when you get home.

2) What types of groups do you work with? How did you find these groups? Do you have a group you meet with regularly?

I have worked with art organizations like Arteast and the Out of the Box Fibre Artists, the Ottawa Urban Sketchers, gone to workshops and classes, shared studio time, gone out with plein air groups.

With a group of fibre artists as well as through the Out of the Box Fibre Artists, we get together regularly every month or so for “play dates”. We spend a day learning how to use a new material or technique by playing and experimenting with the material, and the results can be just fascinating. We can’t always predict the results, which is part of the anticipation and surprise. Even the mistakes we make while learning are extremely valuable. We had one experience where only one of five in our group was successful with the technique we were learning, and we did not know why she had success. It took much more research but we really did learn more and just how much practice some techniques can take.

Part of the fun too is finding finding materials we need in local second hand stores, and some materials we didn’t know we needed but just had to have. So generally, it is not just a learning day but a whole event.

This picture was from a get together where we were experimenting with bleach dyeing. The original of this piece of clothing was black, and by tying up parts and bleaching, a beautiful brown was the result, with interesting circles left in black.

I have found these groups by joining local visuals arts and fibre arts organizations, then getting together with friends made through these groups where we have like-minded goals. We are lucky that Ottawa has many such opportunities through organized groups and through several shops.

3) Do you think it is helping with your success as an artist?

Definitely. You get good constructive feedback from the other artists of the group, and are exposed to new ideas that you can consider for your own work, learn about resources, upcoming shows, and so much more. It’s amazing to see how everyone interprets a scene or technique differently. You find support, get inspired and excited again in a way that you want to continue creating when you get home.

While I have posted Anne’s answers, I hope you will be interested in reading my answers to the same questions in her blog at https://annewarburton.blogspot.com/. Anne’s website is https://www.needleartsonpaper.com/.

If you would like, you can also watch the clip “Playdates with Fibre Artists”of our discussion at 
https://youtu.be/RxBtQBYQG-8 and the clip “Ottawa Sketching Group” at 

https://youtu.be/04MaEvhsZ-8.

In next week’s blog on Creating Art with a Group we will talk about finding locations, the challenges of creating in a group, and about collaborating on a joint piece of art.

If you would like to see what I created during the past week, I encourage you to follow my 15 minute art projects on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/KerstinPetersPaintings/.  During the month of July, I will post them from Monday to Friday. I hope they will inspire you to follow along or to practice whatever inspires you. The main goal is to have fun in the process, and hopefully learn something new along the way.