Looking Forward to 2012 & Discovering “Falls at Toltec Gorge”
My last post reviewed 2011. I introduced you to my early experience of Oklahoma – a place that I seem to be making a connection with at a very visceral level and much more quickly than I might have thought. As a landscape painter, I need to connect with the places I paint. It is [...]
Critical Mass
I had the pleasure of spending a lovely evening with a group of artists at the home of artist Pat Fairhead (one of her paintings is above). Pat is one of my earliest mentors in art. I took classes with her and she fueled my love for painting. Some of my happiest moments were spent [...]
Seth Godin’s Definition of ‘Art’
What is Art? The topic of Seth Godin‘s last blog post and his definition of ‘art’ and ‘artist’ in his recent book “Linchpin” has proven touchy in the fine art community. It’s not the medium or the oil or the price or whether it hangs on a wall or you eat it. What matters, what [...]
Greats Reads – Fiction for Artists
It is a gorgeous, but, very cold and sunny winter day out there. It is perfect for a walk and then to curl up by the fire with a book. There are lots of books out there that are great for educating artists, but what about the pleasure of a good story? I enjoy stories [...]
Meeting A. J. Casson at McMichael
“Kleinburg”, A.J. Casson I spent a part of my childhood in Kleinburg, attending a school adjacent to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. I’ll never forget the strange pictures full of colour and wavy forms on the walls of that gallery and in the halls leading into it. I had no idea at that time how [...]
Visionary Landscapes
Song for the Night Sun © David Beaucage Johnson* Have you ever had a dream in which a landscape so familiar to you is somehow, different? As an artist, I strive to paint the landscape as I see it. The Canadian artist of today is preceded by a rich legacy of Canadian landscape art from [...]
Dawna Robertson – Sculptor
Dawna and “Gandalf” I was first introduced to the work of Dawna Robertson in 2007. I was blown away by this incredibly talented and spiritual artist and by her story. Dawna is driven by something deep within her to create works of art in stone, paint and pyrography. Dawna’s focus is wildlife and she has [...]
Art & Poetry – William Blake
The Tyger, William Blake (from Songs of Experience), 1794 It has been a rough month for me. I seem to have exhausted myself a little with my busy winter projects and it has left me with poor health and almost no energy for painting. I struggled to keep up unsuccessfully, and then wisdom prevailed and [...]
Andrew Wyeth
Christina’s World – Andrew Wyeth Every so often, I like to look at an artist that influences how I paint, or how I think about painting. American Realist, Andrew Wyeth, is one such artist. Wyeth’s somber exploration of rural places strikes a chord with me. It is almost as if he is painting the present [...]
Avian Guests & Jay Moore's DVD Workshop
Woodpeckers on the Willow © Michelle Basic Hendry My neighbour alerted me to a couple of guests in my backyard last week. A storm had taken down yet another branch from our willow tree – and this tree has been struggling for a while. Needless to say, the break exposed a buffet for these two [...]
