Daily Art

 

Blog 10


I started my daily art with preparations for my two Cartooning and Comics courses at the François Dupuis Recreation Centre in Orleans, where I instruct two groups of children. At the end of this semester, they will create a comic with two characters they picked.

The younger group (5 to 7-year-olds) selected the Minecraft characters Ender Dragon and Wither Storm.

The older group (8 to 12-year-olds) chose Tanjiro Kamado from Demon Slayer and eyeballs.

I drew the first image of the comics, which forced me out of my comfort zone. All subjects are not anything I would choose. Everyone will start with the first image and then develop their own stories. I always enjoy the challenge and learn something from the kids while I teach them.

 

For my own projects, I picked various subjects and spent some minutes to about an hour creating the art. I used pencils, coloured pencils, watercolour pencils and watercolours.

I drew the rooster and the faucet for my German students to demonstrate how you can easily visualize new words to anchor them to your memory. Both words mean Hahn in German, which makes it important to figure out the context. After all, you don't want to get a rooster for bathroom. 😊

What have you learned this week?

Does Creativity Require Curiosity?

Blog 5


Last week, I wrote about Creativity (read blog here). Its close cousin is Curiosity.


Talking about curiosity, you might immediately think of the proverb, Curiosity Killed the Cat. It gives the word a negative meaning by warning of nosily poking into other people’s business, looking for weaknesses.


There is also a positive side to being curious. I associate it with a desire to discover and explore the world, to learn and grow by trying new things and asking questions.


We are born curious but sometimes, we push this curiosity aside when we grow up because we assume that asking questions makes us seem stupid. Or, we get so overwhelmed by the everyday routine that we do not make space for curiosity. However, questions and experimentation lead to new discoveries and developments.


If we lose our curiosity, we stagnate. The world around us keeps evolving, and we feel no longer connected to society due to our lack of understanding of new trends, developments and discoveries. We lose our sources of inspiration and become outdated because we stop learning about the world and ourselves.


Curiosity and creativity make our lives more exciting. Our curiousness can lead to new knowledge, experiences and adventures.


Creativity uses our memories and knowledge to transform them into something that creates an emotional reaction, a connection to others we touch with our works.


Did you know that there is a second part to the proverb? I only learned about it when I looked for a German proverb expressing the lesson. There is none, even though some book translations from English to German made it into some dictionaries.


The complete proverb is: Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. It suggests that looking for answers is sometimes frustrating until a discovery excites you to embrace the next steps.


My Cartooning and Comic courses for children at François Dupuis Recreation Complex have started. I am curious about the interests and requests of my students that I would never consider drawing on my own. With every course, I learn something new and widen my horizon.

This Week's Daily Art - watercolour painting from a Michael Solovyev demonstration

As creativity and curiosity can enhance each other, stay open to change. Try new things to stretch your limits, grow and keep life interesting.

25 Years in Canada - the Year 2019 Part II

Heading Towards Mount Robson Park, acrylic, 18" x 24", CAN

Blog 26


The second half of 2019 started with a reminder from my body that I had to slow down. Due to the inflammation in both heels, I could not walk much. It made me sad that I could not walk Alex for a couple of weeks, but it also freed up some time. During our family vacation to the cottage, I managed to paint despite many visitors.

On July 24, I spent a wonderful evening with fellow artists and visitors at the vernissage of the Arteast Promenade exhibition Summer Inspiration - Inspiration d'été, my only exhibition participation for the rest of the year.

Beebalms and Globe Thistle, acrylic, 8" x 8", CAN $230

 

I took part in two plein air painting events organized by the art organization Arteast. First, we went to a beautiful garden of one of the members in Cumberland, where I created the 8” x 8” painting called Beebalms and Globe Thistle. Next, we met at Petrie Island. I had a hard time and was quite frustrated with my artwork. When I stepped back from the easel, I was surprised how it had turned out and loved my painting Pickerel Weed.

 

Pickerel Weed, acrylic, 8" x 10", CAN $250

 

I had a very productive August with two drawing events and a painting party at the Humanics Sanctuary and Sculpture Park. I also managed to either paint or felt at least an hour every day, which felt amazing. I also started teaching my private German student again, who had taken some time off to travel.

In the summer, I received the opportunity to teach German classes virtually for government employees two days a week in the fall. I was excited about the prospect that would save me so much commuting time. Unfortunately, when I received the schedule, the hours were not divided over two days but four. They were also in the middle of each day, blocking other activities. As a result, I had to change my private teaching schedule, which was quite frustrating. 

Grassland, acrylic, 11" x 14", CAN $375

 

September was a very productive month for me due to the fantastic painting trip to Kamouraska. It was our 10th trip to this beautiful region. For the first time, Hélène, Janis and I drove together in one car. The painting trips are not only about painting but also about spending time together and sharing food. Painting is often a very solitary activity. Therefore, it is great to spend the time painting outside together. You have immediate support when you feel frustrated. My blog posts from September 20 to October 4 contain the travelogue of the trip. 

I tried to pass on this support by facilitating meetings for creative minds in my studio. With the Art Circle, the Crafters Evening, the Art Cafe, painting parties, and felting workshops, I brought more creativity, connections and fun into the lives of my students.

I taught three Cartooning & Comics courses and one mixed media course at the François Dupuis Recreation Centre. I also instructed three private German students and offered twelve hours of German instruction online.
 

Manning Road Marsh, acrylic, 8" x 10", CAN $250

October started with a delightful trip to Lake Clear with the Plein Air Ensemble. It was a very productive long weekend for Hélène, Janis and me. Instead of driving around long distances to find interesting spots, we stayed close to the resort. We discovered many interesting sights and had more painting time. To read the travelogue, please go to my blog from October 11 and 25. 

I also spent more on my felted paintings and finished three in the second half of 2019.

 

Apple Blossoms, wool and mixed fibres, embroidery thread, 8.5” x 11”,  CAN $375

November was extremely busy because of my trip to Germany at the beginning of December. I created the November and December content for my art and German business so that my customers received my daily FB posts, blogs and newsletter without interruption. I also held my Open House already in early November.

For the first time, I created a calendar of my works to have beautiful gifts to take along for the trip. The 2020 Canadian Landscape calendar was also a big success with my clients.
Despite the extra workload, I still managed to volunteer at Baz’Art in the Shenkman Arts Centre. A group of us promoted Arteast with painting demonstrations. I also replaced one of my friends during her regular classes at the St. Laurent Complex. I am glad that my friend Josie and I work very well together and replace each other at work whenever it is necessary.

Even though I worked extremely hard, I still made time for my family to experience our usual Advent activities before I left. We went to see the Christmas play at the Ottawa Little Theatre, visited the Village of Light at the Cumberland Heritage Village Museum and the Orleans Santa Parade of Lights. I even decorated the house, prepared the Advent calendars as well as the Santa Claus treats. We even managed to cut a tree together.

Pink Poinsettia sketch, watercolour, 5" x 7", NFS

My stay in Germany was one big reunion with relatives and friends. I even squeezed in time to visit the van Gogh exhibition in Frankfurt and the Jawlensky and Werefkin one in Munich. However, not everything went according to plan. My mother got sick and was hospitalized. Luckily, she only had to stay in the hospital for two days, but she was too weak for the activities we had planned together. However, we managed to get our very first family pictures done. I am so glad we have those photos of my parents, my sister and me. Who could have known that it would be at least two years before the next reunion?

When I arrived back in Canada on December 23, I still needed to help finish decorating the tree and the house for the next day. Christine baked a small number of cookies. Instead of our usual gingerbread house, Dominic put together the tiny chocolate house with our favourite sweets. While our Christmas was a little improvised, we celebrated in gratitude that we were together with Alex. Our almost fifteen-year-old dog was more excited than any one of us to open his present.

Three days later, we went to the cottage to end the year surrounded by the peacefulness of the snow-covered landscape. It was the perfect spot to re-energize and get ready for the new decade. Nobody had any idea how our lives would change in a couple of months.

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 en plein air

Blog 36

When you read this blog, I am getting ready for my painting trip to the Kamouraska region. I will be away from September 8 - 15, 2018 for a week of uninterrupted painting time with some of my painting buddies. After my return, I will hopefully have lots of new material to share with you.

I am slowly getting back in the rhythm of painting. I continued with the tree painting from my workshop in May. However, I hit a roadblock and have to let the painting sit for a while before I will continue. I don't like the red leaves in the foreground. I am debating whether I should add more roots and leave the leaves out.

During a painting demonstration at Da Artisti Studio & Gallery last Saturday, I spent more than three hours painting a scene from our trip from Toronto to Vancouver in 1995. It is the first painting in a row to accompany my journal entries from the time. Unfortunately, during the trip, I was not in the habit of taking a sketchbook along. While I have two photos that show me painting during that trip, I was not able to find any sketches. Once I have created enough artworks to accompany my stories, I plan to put the travelogue and the paintings together in a book.

Nowadays, I have a sketch pad with me in my purse all the time. There are so many occasions where my little sketch pad has helped me to bridge some waiting time or to capture a certain moment. This summer, I also took every chance I had to spend time painting or sketching with some artist friends in the vicinity of our houses. You do not have to travel far to find interesting spots. If you are in the right mood, you can find something to draw or paint right in your house or backyard. The problem is that we are often too ambitious and look for the perfect spot instead of finding pleasure in the little things around us, like a beautiful flower, an interesting tree trunk, or a piece of fruit on a plate. I hope you will grab your equipment of choice and study the world around you.

If you would like some help, I offer a drawing beginner drawing course at François Dupuis Recreation Centre starting on September 17, 2018. As soon as I have my fall work schedule, I will also offer additional workshops from my studio. If you would like to receive information about my upcoming courses, workshops, and exhibitions, I encourage you to go to my website www.KerstinPeters.ca to subscribe to my monthly newsletter or you can find the information on my website at http://www.kerstinpeters.ca/index.php?page=teaching.

Creativity Challenge - Week 14

Blog 14

Due to the Easter holidays with family the week seemed very short. I started another felting project: I had bought a rather boring looking brown felt table runner during a trip to Germany a couple of years ago. I had planned to cut it apart to use the pieces in other felted artworks. While looking for another project that I could work on for short stretches, I suddenly had the idea of using the table runner as a base for a field of flowers. In this picture, you can see the first couple of flowers. I guess that I am getting too impatient to wait for the real arrival of spring.

This week, the spring semester at François Dupuis Recreation Complex started. I am very happy that all three of my “Cartooning and Comics” courses are running. For the first time, I am teaching a course for 5 - 7 year olds. While I had prepared the Hotel Transylvania characters Dracula and Mavis for the two older groups, I was not sure what I could expect from the younger kids. It has been about 10 years since I had kids that young in my life. At the end, I decided to go with an underwater theme that seems to be very popular with kids and adults of all ages. The kids drew a seahorse, a shark, and lots of smaller fish. One boy even added a turtle.

When I started teaching drawing courses for kids in 2013, I was out of my comfort zone. I had painted for decades, had done life drawing classes for a couple of years, but was not really drawing regularly. I had taught art classes before, where we did a little bit of drawing but put more focus on painting colourful scenes. Having to focus on drawing was something new and also slightly unsettling for me. Nevertheless, I was ready for more teaching hours and took the challenge. I am so glad I did. While I certainly have taught the kids how to draw many objects, I also learned a lot from the kids. I usually let my students pick what they want to draw as this keeps them more engaged. Their choices have often challenged me, because they pick animals, and mystical or animated characters that I would never choose for a subject of a drawing or painting. I always practice drawing the characters at home because once I am in class, I have to be able to draw on the whiteboard without hesitating where to begin and how to proceed. Sometimes, the children pick people or cartoon characters that are much too complicated to draw for their age level. Then, I have to figure out how I can break down the whole body into easy shapes to make the drawing manageable.

By teaching the courses and practicing what I am teaching, I have improved my drawing skills too. I am a much better observer of shapes that I see in complicated structures. These days, I always have a small drawing pad with me, and while I not always successful, I find a lot of pleasure in trying to capture what is around me when there is an opportunity.

From time to time it is good to get out of your comfort zone in order to grow. Is there anything you would like to learn? Please do not hesitate to contact me at kpeters@domingoinformatics.ca, if I can support you in any way.

Why I love “Painting like Famous Artists” and You Should, Too

Tree of Life after Gustav Klimt

Blog 17

If you are a subscriber to my newsletter or follow me on Facebook or Google+, you have probably seen some of the artworks my students and I created during my “Painting Like Famous Artists” sessions. I have taught this programme for two years to kids from 7 - 12 years at the Bob MacQuarrie Complex in Orleans as well as in separate adult workshops at Wallack’s in Orleans last summer. The students have always responded so enthusiastically, that I am offering adult sessions this spring at François Dupuis Centre in Orleans.

Every session, I pick different artists. At the beginning, I tried to incorporate at least one Canadian painter. Now, I also try to have different genres as well as one female painter among the four artists we study every session. As many of my students are girls and women, I want to make them aware of the fantastic female painters who often get overlooked due to the male dominated art world.

Each series is not only fun and educational for my students but also me. I always prepare a little biography of the painters’ lives, find out what was important to them and their painting process. During the preparation of my classes, I always get some new insights. Sometimes, trying out a different style is very uncomfortable because it differs so much from how I work.

Often, if you try something new, it is uncomfortable at first until you know what you are doing. You might find out that an art style you really admired is a painting technique you really do not enjoy at all. This happened to me with the works of Monet. I have the highest appreciation for his works and still love them but I really do not enjoy painting with the short brush strokes the Impressionists used to create their art.

In my demo work, I try to stay pretty close to the painting I am copying. However, I encourage my students to take liberties. Ultimately, my goal is not for them to become a copycat of the famous painter we are studying but to learn some of the techniques they used, to appreciate the seemingly simple artworks for their proficiency, to acknowledge the artist’s skills independently from the student’s likes of a certain painting style or object.

Whenever I took a workshop studying a certain painter, I tried to implement what I enjoyed in the process into my own painting technique. I also encourage my adult painters who usually already have some painting experience to do the same.

If we think about the history of art, many of the masters we cherish today were completely misunderstood and rejected during their lifetime because the created works of art which did not comply with the way art was produced and appreciated by the majority of art critics and viewers. The had a new vision which differed radically from the academic opinion.

I would like my students to have an open mind when looking at different kinds of art. There is so much variety. It is easy to say “I could do this,” or “A child could paint this.” Believe me, I have had these thoughts at times, too. However, you have to remember that you would only be copying someone else’s ideas. It is always easier to copy but it is a challenge to create something new and fresh.

So if you want to find out how some of the famous artists of the past created their beautiful works of art, the next four week session of “Painting Like Famous Artists” at François Dupuis Recreation Centre starts on May 19, 2015, from 7pm to 8:30pm. We will look at the works from Franz Marc, Lawren Harris, William Turner, and Mary Cassatt. Trying to copy one of their paintings might inspire your own creative juices. In the next couple of months I will write about some artist who inspired me on my creative journey.

To register and for more information please go to http://join.ottawa.ca/fac/247/spring/all/act/110/7503/ for the adult session and http://join.ottawa.ca/fac/26/spring/all/act/565/6025/ for the kids session which starts on May 24, 2015, from 1pm to 2:30pm, at Bob MacQuarrie Recreation Complex. During the kids session we will be studying works of Gustav Klimt, Franklin Carmichael,Gabriele Münter, and Vincent van Gogh.

Group of Seven

 

my Tom Thomson inspired art

Blog 9

Last week, I talked about the reasons for the collaboration of artists. One famous collaboration in the Canadian art history is the “Group of Seven”.

Before I came to Canada, I had never heard of the “Group of Seven” which is not very well-known outside of Canada but very important for the development of the Canadian art scene. They are considered leaders of the first major Canadian art movement.

The art scene in Canada in the early 20th century was heavily influenced by the European art culture. However, the “Group of Seven” members wanted to show the beauty of the Canadian landscape by celebrating its wilderness. They wanted to create a truly Canadian style which they believed could only be achieved by getting out of the studio and into nature. The Group of Seven is most famous for its many plein air sketches which were often used in the studio to create bigger paintings. In many cases their sketches have so much more energy than the paintings, and capture the spontaneity of the moment.

The roots for the group can be found at the design firm Grip Ltd. in Toronto where Tom Thomson, Frederick Horsman Varley, Frank (Franz, Francis Hans) Johnston, Edward Hervey MacDonald, Arthur Lismer, and Franklin Carmichael worked. In 1913, Alexander Young Jackson and Lawren Stewart Harris joined the group. The informal group temporarily split up during World War I during which Jackson and Varley worked as official war artists.

When the “Group of Seven” was finally founded in Toronto in 1920 for their first exhibition together, Thomson had already died. His untimely death by drowning in Algonquin Park in 1917 is still an incident of many speculations. However, his name is still closely linked to the group because of the influence his painting style, visible in the many sketches and finished canvases, had on his fellow artists. He had achieved a painting style which truly captured the Canadian landscape.

Alfred Joseph Casson joined the group in 1926 replacing Frank Johnston who resigned after the first exhibition. In 1930 Edwin H. Holgate from Montreal joined the group, followed by Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald from Winnipeg in 1932.

Aside from Thomson, Emily Carr was also closely associated with the Group of Seven. She met members for the first time at the National Gallery in 1927. She and Lawren Harris developed a close relationship in which Harris supported and influenced her the most. The encounter ended Carr’s artistic isolation and inspired her to the creation of many of her most famous works.

The Group of Seven increased the awareness and appreciation of the Canadian landscape.

Their use of bright colours and bold patterning was inspired by the Post-Impressionists Van Gogh and Gauguin as well as by the contemporary Scandinavian art which MacDonald and Harris saw for the first time in 1912 at an exhibition in Buffalo.

After the Group of Seven's final show in 1931, the members realized that the art community’s opinion had shifted in favour of their art, making the security net of the group unnecessary to withstand criticism.

To the contrary, with the help of influential friends and supporters including the National Gallery, the group had reached a celebrity status. This led to accusations that the National Gallery of Canada favoured their members’ works and therefore assisted them to be the only Canadian artists to receive recognition. As a result of this controversy, the Canadian Group of Painters was founded in February 1933 and included some of the Group of Seven members.

I saw pieces of the Group of Seven for the first time during my very first visit to Canada in 1994 when my husband brought me to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ontario. At this point, I had stopped painting at all due to a very demanding career. However, once we moved to Canada, the Canadian landscape has also captured my interest, and I have been back to Kleinburg many times admiring the works of these great artists. I have also taken some workshops exploring some of the artists and their painting style which only has increased my admiration. Even though, I do appreciate some more than others, I found that I learned something from all of them.

I hope you enjoyed this journey into the Canadian art history. If you would like to learn more about Frederick Varley, one of the founding members of the “Group of Seven”, I invite you to my new four week mini session “Painting Like Famous Artists". It will be held at François Dupuis Recreation Centre in Orleans, and starts April 7, 2015. The other artists we will study are Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dali, and Vincent Van Gogh.

I also offer the "Painting Like Famous Artists" mini sessions for kids at Bob MacQuarrie Recreation Complex. Each session, we look at different artists. The next one starts in May.

"Painting Like Famous Artists" would also make a wonderful activity for a private get-together or a child's birthdays party. Please contact me for details and rates at kpeters@DomingoInformatics.ca.