Seeing The World Through My Art

Daily Sketches, watercolour pencils

Blog 9



I started my daily art strongly with a visit to the Ottawa Little Theatre on September 1 to see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. You can find a good summary of the book on Wikipedia.

A grey wall was the backdrop for the play and didn’t offer anything interesting to draw. However, the simple setup came alive when images were projected onto the wall to suggest the different locations. It was fascinating but not inspiring to draw. Most scenes were also too dark to spread enough light to my sketchbook.

Drawing in the dark at the Ottawa Little Theatre

 

Three days later, I received an unexpected and unwilling opportunity to draw when our dog got probably bitten by a coyote and needed stitches. We waited eight hours until 5 AM  to take him home with us again. My pencil and sketchbook were the only tools I had left to entertain me after my phone battery died in the late evening hours. Shadow needed our attention as he was shaking and curled up against me so that I captured only his foot while he was distracted by another dog. A Golden who came after midnight was too nervous and moved around so much that I drew an image putting several poses together. While Shadow was under anesthesia, I turned to drawing a plant which didn’t move and was an easy subject.

Sketches from a night at the Animal Hospital

 

The following day, my friend Janis Fulton and I set up our display for the Arteast Studio Tour. While the weather didn’t cooperate for plein air painting on our property, we painted a still life of zinnias. I also went back to my daily drawings for the next few days.

In addition, I went painting en plein air with friends at the Humanics Institute Sculpture Park in Cumberland and twice at Park du Moulin in Rockland. The first time, I captured a sunset after a picnic with my husband and dog. The following day, I met a friend to enjoy the beautiful scenery on a warm and sunny day. After many years of cold and stormy weather on our meeting dates, we finally got lucky.

For the past ten days, we had visitors from Germany. We spent a week at the cottage, and I managed to create the two sketches below.

 

I wish you a creative autumn and look forward to more plein air outings. I will post my upcoming blog on October 25, 2024. Check out my needle-felting workshop schedule for ways to bring more creativity to your life.

My August Projects

Beebalms and Globe Thistle, acrylic, 8" x 8"

Blog 27

Summer is almost over, but I hope for a strong finish. Last year, we had such a great September. It would be lovely to get a repeat. September has been a great month for me for the last couple of years, as it starts with our yearly painting trip to Kamouraska. We are leaving tomorrow. I can hardly wait to spend time with my friends again. Every one of us was so busy this year that we will have lots to talk about, which should keep us awake long enough to reach a regular bedtime, as the days of painting outside in the fresh air make you very, very tired. Even I go to bed earlier than usual.


I will start the review of my August art projects with a look at the three paintings that I finished in the days after the blog of my July projects.


For a plein air painting event organized by the art organization Arteast, we went to an amazing garden of one of the members in Cumberland. It was another hot day, but I was sitting in the shade and had a great time until the sun reached my hiding spot. Rather than setting up at a different location, I decided to retreat to my cool studio to finish the 8” x 8” painting called “Beebalms and Globe Thistle” (see image at the top of this blog).

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

“Heading Heading Towards Mount Robson Park” is based on a photo from the trip from Toronto to Vancouver, that my husband and I took in the spring of 1995. It is the first painting from my series of paintings, that I plan to create from photos of the trip. While I made great progress at the beginning, I was struggling in the final stage of the painting. I changed the clouds and mountains a couple of times before I was satisfied with the result. I was so absorbed in my creative process, that I completely lost track of time when I felt that I was close to the finish. Luckily, I checked the time when it was close to 1:30 am. Otherwise, I would probably have kept going.

Bouquet of Joy, acrylic, 20" x 16"

The last painting I finished in July was the 20” x 16” tulip painting “Bouquet of Joy" that I had neglected for other projects that caught my attention.

Pickerel Weed, acrylic, 8" x 10"

On August 1, I took full advantage of the lighter workload and joined the Ottawa Plein Air Adventurers for an outing to Petrie Island. I love this little peninsula and would go there a lot more often if dogs were not prohibited. Walking around the trails, I found members of the group hidden in the spots that were in the shadow. To my surprise, I also ran into a woman whom I usually only meet in the gym at Zumba. We have gone for years to the same classes and never knew that we were both painters. After scouting out the area, I decided to join her at a spot overlooking the calm water and little islands of purple water flowers. They became the focus of my painting. It was lovely to listen to the concert of the bullfrog and to watch turtles sunbathing. Families of Canadian geese were swimming noiselessly through the water. My little 8” x 10” acrylic painting “Pickerel Weed” is slightly more abstract than most of my works. At first, I was rather disappointed with it, but when I looked from a distance, I liked it. Therefore, I only added my initials in the studio.

I also started painting on glass. As I always take the glass out of my frames when I frame my acrylic and oil paintings, I have boxes full of clear glass. I did not want to throw it out and even tried to give it away, but nobody was interested. When I talked about it with Wendy Canci from Da Artisti Studio & Gallery last year, she suggested painting on it. My first trial painting needs another layer of paint to make the colours more vibrant. It was fun to paint on the four different sides of the two glass panels. Right now, I am still in the learning phase, but it is a lot of fun, even though the process is quite slow. I am excited to create more painted glass art. I will keep you posted about my progress.

Add caption

I worked many hours on my felted version of our dog Alex. It had been a while since I worked on my dog that is very popular with our cat Miko. Even though I am hiding Alex underneath a piece of cloth and poster board, Miko still snuggles closely to the dog. It is rather sweet, but I have to make sure that he does not pull everything apart with his kneading, as he did before.

I continued felting my image of apple blossoms, but it still needs more work. Felting takes patience, but it is so relaxing!

 

I created a couple of drawings this month: of a friend of mine on the bus, of a rose, and of party guests, including the Cabbage Patch Kid that my three-year-old niece wanted me to draw. I find the doll really creepy, but my niece was happy. Two of the three drawings of sculptures at the Humanics Sanctuary and Sculpture Park were created during my August drawing events at the park. The last one is from a walk with our dog on the trail. Alex is fourteen years old. I like to spend as much time with him as possible because I am aware that our time is limited and so much more precious these days. This was a test to see if I could take him with me while sketching. When he was younger, it would have been impossible, but now he lies down and gives me time to sketch. I will try a more difficult subject next time.

If you would like to join me for the next drawing event at the Humanics Institute, I invite you to sign up for the event that happens the day after the Harvest Moon, on September 15, 2019, from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm. For more information, please go to https://www.kerstinpeters.ca/product/drawing-at-the-humanics-institute/.

If you are interested in other art events for the fall, please go to https://www.kerstinpeters.ca/teaching/. You will be able to register for the events that I organize directly on my website.

I am heading to the yearly painting trip to Kamouraska tomorrow with my friends. I am sure that I will have lots to share with you after the trip.

Bringing Art and Nature Together at the Humanics Sanctuary and Sculpture Park

Blog 26


Since I moved to Cumberland almost 15 years ago, I have a beautiful studio with lots of natural light. While I love my studio, I prefer to paint or draw on location, especially in the summer. Luckily, one of my favourite sites is only minutes away from my studio: The Humanics Sanctuary and Sculpture Park. The park is situated in a nine-acre wooded ravine with walking trails leading you along multi-cultural and multi-religious sculptures. The amazing sculptures represent themes of family, religion, and philosophic concepts from around the world. It is a peaceful place to relax, meditate, pray and appreciate both art and nature.


While I often come to the park to walk our dog, to paint and draw with fellow artists, I wanted to extend this joy of being inspired by the beautiful surroundings of the park. To encourage the community to experience the benefits of art in this beautiful natural setting, I prepared two drawing events as well as a painting party that were suitable for everyone.


The drawing events were held on August 5and August 19, 2019. Participants could venture out into the park and create individual sketches or colour some of the colouring pages that I had prepared of various sculptures. The goal was to make the event accessible and relaxing for everyone.

The next event was the outdoor painting party on August 10. The weather was rather temperamental: We experienced strong wind gusts, dark clouds in the sky, as well as the sudden change from heavy rain to brilliant sunshine. It was an interesting setting, but the group painted happily under my guidance and sheltered by the tent. I had picked a lotus flower for the occasion as the lotus is associated with eternity, purity and peace, self-awareness, love and compassion, the overcoming of suffering and spiritual development. It also symbolizes beauty, fertility, prosperity, and eternity. The participants had a lot of fun and left not only with their unique painting of a beautiful water lily, an appreciation for the beauty of the park, but also developed connections between each other.

If you would like to join me for another “Drawing Animals at the Humanics Sanctuary and Sculpture Park” event, please visit the park on Sunday, September 15, from 10:30 am to 12 pm. Come out to draw in the beautiful natural setting of the Humanics Sanctuary and Sculpture Park, 3468 Old Montreal Road in Cumberland, Ontario, K4C 1H9. You can either create drawings of one of the sculptures or colour some of the prepared colouring pages of the sculptures or related to the theme of harvest. The fee of $5 includes all materials. There is an additional admission fee to enter the park, but you are welcome to stay in the park for the whole day. Pre-registration at https://www.kerstinpeters.ca/product/drawing-animals-at-the-humanics-institute/ is recommended.