If you currently work with a Gallery that is surviving the upheaval, it behooves us to help that Gallery increase the sales of our work. Chances are, if you have been selected by that Gallery and their customers are already interested in the work they bring in, you have a very qualified audience that you need to capitalize on. The Gallery just wants to sell paintings. You have to persuade the Gallery to sell more of YOURS.

If you have been working with a Gallery or wish to sell in a Gallery these tips might come in useful:

1. Have your very best work prepared and ready to hang – It is important to put your very best foot forward. If you are new to a gallery, it is like a first date, you want things to look perfect! It is not uncommon to have clients in the Gallery (particularly the smaller ones) while you are dropping off your work. You want to make it easy for the Gallery to present work right away. They will be more inclined to work with you if you aren’t eating up their time fixing hangers or adjusting frames.

2.  Provide professional high quality and pre-cropped photographs to the Gallery. Some galleries get their own photos taken, but, it is good to have your own! It also means you have a better chance at making it into the general promotional pieces or ads. Whenever I provide a quality photo to a Gallery, I get some extra ads and that often gets a sale.

3. When dropping off your paintings, have a MEETING scheduled with the owner or the manager - You want to discuss the work – tell them the stories that relate to the work you are delivering (is there an interesting story relating to a location?), giving them conversation pieces and information that helps deepen the interest or provide a connection to the work – They need to connect to sell! Have a sheet for both yourself and the gallery that inventories the art you bring in. That way you are organized for your own sake and it gives a professional impression. Some Galleries have their own systems, but, I do this for myself because most smaller galleries enter it into a computer – later! That leaves time for things to get lost!

4. Ask the Gallery what they need from you – And be prepared to supply the Gallery with marketing materials and a portfolio. Have a photo book done of a recent series, have a Biography ready and consider supplying generic cards that the Gallery can ‘stamp’. Depending on the Gallery’s commission*, they may do this, but many do not.

5. If you have developed special content, ie. videos, offer this content to your Gallery for use on their website – You then become more recognizable and have more exposure to their traffic if they take you up on it.

6. If you are having a show, be on time (or better still, early) – Be dressed appropriately for the environment and your work and have a good attitude! Also be sure to always invite your mailing list. The goodwill of any Gallery is its mailing list and if you are bringing in new customers, they are going to spend more energy on your sales.

7. Have a way for the Gallery to contact you. If you move around a lot use your cell phone or supply an e-mail address you check very regularly.

8. Link to your Gallery(s) on your website - Make it easy for your clients to find your work, especially if you do not have an open studio

9. Ask the Gallery for feedback from their clients – It is always good to know how your work is being received. It is better to know sooner than later if the match or partnership is not benefiting either of you before you use all your resources. It also can give you a good idea which paintings appeal to customers and will get the most energy from Gallery staff.

*The subject of consignment relationships and agreements is a separate issue here. I am not going to go into it in detail in this article. However, do consider the amount of work and material you have to provide in relation to the promotion your Gallery provides and be certain that the commission reflects that. If a Gallery charges 50%, then they should be responsible for advertising and invitations! Know the laws in your region.

Questions to Ask Yourself: (Feel free to add your ideas to the comments!)
What other things have you done that have improved your relationship with your Gallery and boosted your sales? Can you think of any other things that you could do?
Make a list of what you will need, print out biographies and do printed version (brief) of you accompanying stories before you visit your Gallery to either turn over work or are bringing your work for the first time.

If you are Gallery – What would you like to tell your artists?

Teresa from the Auburn Gallery in Muskoka has offered some excellent points I thought I should add to the post:

1. Keep your prices consistent in all points of sale. So whether you sell on-line from your studio or in other galleries, it is important that collectors can expect new work is worth the same everywhere. It’s good for your galleries and encourages them to support you and that is good for you.

2. Don’t be in too many galleries in the same area. If you do, you are essentially competing with yourself and that does not encourage galleries to promote your work. If you are more exclusive, people will know where to find you and be less inclined to bounce around, losing a sale for both you and the gallery.

My solo exhibition opening at Auburn Gallery, Summer 2008

Goals for 2010:

1. Reassessing my priorities. Making sure my time is used the way I want to. Life is precious and Must be spent on the things we value most.
2. The Book. I am excited about making a cohesive collection of paintings and stories.
3. Finish the “Echoes” architectural series in 2010 and close it with an Exhibition and Book launch.
4. Reduce my on-line time – make my work there more efficient.
5. To read more– and to write more. I want to try my hand at another kind of storytelling at the end of 2010.
6. Journeys inside. With 2009 being such an extroverted year, I want to look a little more inward in 2010. I want to follow the path the old houses set me on and see where it goes, creatively, imaginatively and spiritually. It is a “Hermit” year for me. I need some more time for ‘inner’ journeying. The last two years have been very ‘external’. I think that transition I feel coming on will become clearer this year.
7. Some more travel. Working on some Spring trips even now…
   
8. I want to experiment a little more with and within my subject matter. I feel I can go deeper… I am thinking I will give some time to experimenting more with acrylics – try something new.
9. Write and execute a new marketing plan that fits me and my artistic goals, for now, and considers the market. This plan will have a longer time line and several stages. It will be scaled back from 2009 – more maintenance and one bold new project. I need to scale back in order to not damage my health the way I did in 2009. Being so goal oriented drove me to burn-out, so I need to restrain myself a little on the marketing and take the pressure down a notch. I think by limiting the number of projects it will improve my focus. That one project is going to be a good one if I can get it off the ground. It will be well into the year before I will start to reveal it. I hope it proves to interest my readers and my collectors even half as much as I am excited about it…. 
10. More time with the people that are important to me. ‘Nuff said…

And so it begins…. Happy New Year, everyone!

I must create my own system or be enslaved by another man’s…”

~William Blake

So – Here we are on the first day of the second decade of the 21st century. Sounds impressive, especially when I have spent so much of the last two years looking back into the last two centuries. It boggles my mind that I have had the privilege of talking to a few people who were born this decade in the 1900′s.

Therefore, it seems an appropriate time to start to look back one more time before looking forward again. I started 2009 with a list of goals, both career and personal. I want to see what I achieved, what changed and set goals for 2010. I divided this up into two posts – both posted today in order that we don’t get scrolling injuries!

So the list – How did I do?:

1. Experiment, try new techniques, new materials and mediums
   Well – I certainly challenged myself this year artistically, trying to push my style – refine it. New mediums and materials? Not so much. Not yet.
2. Finalize my marketing plan and implement it
   I did this. I even joined a “Think Tank” to follow my progress over the year and we plan to look at how we did in a few days. I tried a lot of new things – some stuck, some didn’t and, in the process, I learned a lot about what I want and what I don’t want from my art career. Here’s what I worked on:
   •    E-mail Marketing and Newsletters
   •    Social Media – FB and Twitter
   •    Public Relations
   •    Marketing Materials
   •    Patrons Packages
   •    Website overhaul/Blog
   •    Adding value
   •    Niche Marketing
   •    Local networking
   •    Exhibitions
   These were on my priority list. I started an e-newsletter, started to use my FaceBook account, built a FB page, started networking on Twitter (which turned out to be more of a resource!). I improved my local connections with media and collectors and have put together packages for the people who buy my paintings. I was accepted into the last McMichael Exhibition and Sale against the odds and sold well. Overall I met and exceeded most of my goals on this list – but I still have so much to learn.
3. Plan and implement a new way to make my website and blog more valuable to my readers
   I redid my website, making it much easier to navigate and contain considerably more information. The attention it has gotten, along with this blog, would indicate I achieved this. But, I can always do more for my readers and my collectors. Time to raise the bar.
4. Do something innovative – something never done before or done in a completely new way
   Hmmmm. This is a tough one and probably not specific enough. I did take a new approach to my painting process and found great stories along the way. I am not sure if that was innovative, but, it is not commonly done this way in my genre. I leave that one to you to decide.
5. Spend more time focusing on my art ‘clan’
   I developed a whole new online community for myself and in the process, I ‘met’ many like-minded and talented people. I learned a fair bit about social media.  I also started an e-newsletter with things just for those who subscribe. I plan to improve on those features – including some very exciting stories!
6. Travel a little further afield and find more stories and places and practice my photography
   I did this in spades! A trip to PEI and many visits into the homes and communities that are the subjects of my work helped me achieve this one and more.
7. Spend more time drawing and writing
   I spent a lot more time doing drawings for my work this year. My camera has been acting as my composition tool more than ever due to some difficult sites to work at. As for writing – the blog has been as active as ever and I have started a book on the last two years’ travels and stories. It is both a portfolio of paintings and a record of rural and architectural history, I plan to publish in Autumn 2010.
8. Read more poetry and classical literature
   I went on a crazy William Blake phase, started to read more literature – mostly contemporary and mid-20th century – discovered Jane Urquhart.
9. Share as much as I can about what I learn with others
   I have been sharing every story I can find. I am not much of a teacher, but, I hope I can add my bit to the craft of storytelling.
10. Shorten the time it takes to finish a painting – I need to stop my hesitation
    I actually take longer!! In refining my style, I have had to take more time and have more patience with the process. The attempt to speed things up was actually an exercise in frustration. Not ready for that yet.
11. Enjoy every minute I can get with my friends and family – of course!
    I spent much more time with friends and family this year and that was great!
12. Explore the Spirit within
    I found my spirit wandering the rooms and hallways of abandoned houses this year, silently communing with the spirits of those long gone as well as talking with those still with us who once walked those spaces. Over the course of the year, my imagination has been fired up and will hopefully give even more in the coming months. I have been in one of those modes where I feel a transition on the horizon. I am not certain at the moment how it will take shape.
13. Have more FUN
    I was better at this early in the year, but, the last half was a lot of work and very little play. I tried to get my fun in there too, but, I hit up against physical limits and lost my sense of balance. I now realize that I didn’t have to accomplish everything this year. Got to make more room for FUN in 2010!

I am inclined to say that I think I did pretty well in 2009. I set some difficult goals and some of them I surpassed even my best hopes, and others have left me re-examing my intentions. I even accomplished things that were not even on the list. Overall, I think I accomplished a lot. So where do I want to go from here?

Part 2 – 2010 Goals…

Sure enough, my cat was sprayed by a skunk straight in the face. My cat must be retarded. My cat is in his cat prison until morning (it was 1 am when it struck and it is 3 am now) and he has been given a makeshift bath until we can get something proper in the morning and get him to the vet. (Vinegar, baking soda and dish detergent) I grabbed him to protect my house. You do not want to be sitting too close to me now either. I have been spraying myself with the stink removing enzyme and now, I, at least, can stand myself. If anybody has tips on how to save us from our plight, they would be welcome! I am currently fighting the urge to commit felicide. (Is that a word???) If he wasn’t so damned cute….

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Now that all of the work for the launch is done, the website, the new paintings, the new blog – I can catch up on some of the kindness sent my way. Linda Blondheim, a wonderful artist – and cyber friend, passed this award on to me on Friday. Thank you Linda!!

I’m supposed to tell you 7 things I love.

1. I love landscape – big skies, trees and the feeling that comes when alone in the expanse of it

2. I love my husband, my friends and my family – but no so much the cat at the moment…

3. I love to paint

4. I love to read & write

5. I love to travel in the RV.

6. I love music and movies

7. I love to have the good health to enjoy it all.

I pass this on to:

• Lana Gramlich
• Ingrid (KaslKaos)
• Sadia
• Jennifer Rose
• Heather (Azure Island Design)
• Kim (Laketrees)
• Kinsey Barnard

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Tip For Getting Dried Acrylic Paint out of Your Brushes

Last Friday I was scrambling to finish “Hopewell” in order to make my deadline. I had done some glazing over the sky and was very careful that the colour was nicely distributed. I put the brush down and forgot about it- until about 4 or 5 hours later. The brush was as hard as a rock. Fortunately, I remembered a tip I was given by a lovely lady who has a wonderful collection of brushes that she kept in excellent shape. Cleaning the brush proved to be extemely simple.

1. Soak the brush in rubbing alcohol for 5 minutes.
2. Rub the bristles gently and massage the paint out of the bristles as the paint softens
3. Once the brush is paint free, rinse and clean with a brush detergent or any gentle detergent

It’s that simple! Now I wish there was a magic detergent for the skunk smell permeating through my house…..

The Paintings /Portfolio

Questions I asked myself:

• Do I want to sell off my site?
• Do I want to direct buyers to a Gallery?
• Do I paint in many genres?
• Do I paint in series?

When deciding how to organize my portfolio on-line, I needed to consider how I work. I think that this part of the site would best be served using a sub-menu. Paintings page can be sub-divided/organized in any number of ways depending on genre, series, recent/past or time line (by year). Each section will have a bunch of thumbnail images.

For now, I am debating whether to do a Recent/Past sub menu or to start using a breakdown by genre – landscapes/architectural/small paintings (with a block of the most recent at the top). I am leaning toward the latter.

Suggestions – If you paint in only one genre, a suggestion would be to organize based on past and recent work. Perhaps that one genre is broken down by doing series. A series could be a particular place, person, the sea, etc. If you work in several genres, for example, landscapes, portraits, still life, abstract, etc, you may want to organize by genre. A retrospective could be broken down by years.

Once the organization is done, the next question is do I want to sell? In my case, I am going to start small – meaning sell small paintings off the site. I want to experiment with the concept of selling off my site in as low risk a way as possible for both my patrons and myself  to start. I plan to use PayPal and only sell paintings under 8×10 and possibly some greeting cards and see how it goes.

I plan to post the prices of every painting on the site and provide contact information for myself or the appropriate Gallery for the larger pieces. I don’t want to miss a possible sale of a larger painting, even if a direct method is not where I am ready to go quite yet!

The Artist Bio

The last menu item I want to address here today is the artist Bio. The typical things that one might want to put onto the Bio page include professional memberships, awards and collections – but – at least for me – that’s the easy stuff! Writing a coherent and brief story about me as an artist has proven hugely difficult. I expect that the one that now lives on my website will go through at least one more version before I am satisfied. For me there are the formal things to consider – the Bio and the Artist’s Statement. I have written successful grants in the past and in saying that – there is no right or wrong here. The way to separate these is best determined by use – so the formal way may not necessarily suit you or your website unless you are using your website as a vehicle for submitting grant/curator information. For me, the Artist’s Statement is reserved for a series or a collection of work. If one is prolific, this may not be a good use of space in your Bio.

Suggestions -The Bio is the place for the ‘back-story’. Who, What, When, Where, Why, How. I believe in being brief – but not too brief. You need a little space to tell your story – what makes you unique. In reference to Clint’s post on the Outside Zebra that makes Purple Cows that become Blue Monster’s, your Bio can help you communicate to people how you became a Zebra in the first place. Get the facts down, but don’t forget to add the ‘story’ element, the part that makes people want to read the whole thing and feel that they have learned something about who you are and why you paint. Sometimes it is a good idea to let someone else write it for you – they may see you as special in a way you take for granted in yourself. Don’t forget – you are evolving, so your Bio should as well. I review my Bio annually. It is painful every time though!

So that finishes the navigation and content plans for the site. Hopefully this will make the website a better support to my efforts to market my art and check off the third goal on my January 1st New Year’s Goal List! The CSS structure of the website is finally coming along – so well, in fact – that I expect that the site AND the new blog for small paintings, including a new painting or two will be up by the end of the month! I am very optimistic that things will stay ahead of schedule. After all of this is implemented, we’ll look at checking off another goal, albeit an ongoing one – with a post or two on how to get the word out, so to speak – social networking and on and off-line marketing! I am headed to a workshop on the subject next week.

Hopefully these posts on Goals and A Better Website have proven useful to my readers – if so – that’s another goal well on the way to being accomplished….!

Continuing with my work on the website and marketing part of my goal list, I have taken to reviewing my website – a part of my stable of internet tools that has received considerably less attention since beginning to blog. Trust me when I say the website deserves equal attention. It is like the ‘back-story’ to the blog.

I have been reading Clint Watson’s Blog, Linda Blondheim and Katherine Tyrell’s Making a Mark Blog with rapt attention lately. I have been studying the websites of artists that appear to be having success with their websites and blogs and from there, I have created a plan to restructure, first my website, and then add a blog that is only for smaller artwork that is for sale – posted as it is made. I am expecting that this specialty blog will keep my brush moving a little faster (another one of my goals!). Being sane (mostly – so far) I am not going to even consider a painting a day – but a painting a week should be a good start. To reach too high is to guarantee self-sabotage and I certainly want to avoid that!

In restructuring my website I have determined that my site navigation menu needs to be improved. I am very wary of having too many choices, however, I think there are some things that I just need to have. I think that a News or What’s New page is a great idea. This allows people to see what you are up to. It gives people a place to start, but you want to drive traffic inside because, it is too easy for the rest of your site to get stale if you don’t have a reason to drive traffic to it. The other sections are Exhibitions ( I have decided to put both past and upcoming on this page along with any publications), Galleries, Links, and Contact. Galleries and Exhibitions are still very important for me as I do not yet have a studio that patrons can visit.

Other navigation buttons will include the Paintings, of course! I want to make pieces available for sale right on the site this time and I have made the decision to list prices with the paintings. And, one cannot forget the Artist Bio. This section is a post in itself, so I will go into detail further in the next “A Better Website II” post in a couple of days.

I, personally, don’t run workshops, but if you do – this is worthy of its own spot on the navigation menu, so I thought I would mention it.

I am just getting started on making the changes to the Artscapes website. Now that the navigation is established and I have organized my content, it is time to build the structure. It will look very similar to what is already there visually, with the added content being the biggest change. I plan to have it complete by the end of February at the latest. Because I am building it myself and my CSS skills are untested, I’ll need that extra time to get it right and still have time to paint! CSS is a wonderful thing for design, but a challenge for designers that got used to HTML tags alone! I am hoping to dig myself out from under the chaos currently in draft…. Dreamweaver is making it a little easier – now that I understand why it uses so many classes…. Yikes!

This blog will continue in the same or similar format – sharing my travels, my philosophies, my passions, new paintings, and anything useful I come across. The main goal for this blog has always been to get it further out there and offer something interesting to art fans and hopefully find people who enjoy my work. Enter social networking… and the marketing plan for the completed website and blogs. Those I’ll address again in a post after the site is complete!

In review – the list of how the site will navigate:

• What’s New or News
• Bio
• Paintings (with sub-menu)
• Exhibitions/Publications
• Galleries
• Links
• Contact 
• A link to the Blogs (this one and the proposed one)
• Optional – workshops, commissions, special projects
  

I hope this post was useful. I appreciate any feedback from my readers!

It seems that the New Year is an appropriate time to discuss setting goals. I took a class in sales eons ago before I started my graphics business. One of the things that I learned was that if you plan to achieve goals they need to be S.M.A.R.T. goals:

1. Specific – What it is you want to achieve in detail
2. Measurable – Set a deadline for when the goal should be achieved. If it is a big goal, you might want to break it up into smaller, more manageable parts
3. Achievable – You are prepared to do what is required to attain your objective
4. Realistic -Make sure you set goals that are realistic for you. To fail to be realistic is setting yourself up to fail unnecessarily
5. Tangeable – There is an end product that you can clearly touch or experience

Last year, one of my main goals was to set goals instead of expectations… and I think I came a long way with that. This time last year, I was terrified of what to do with the show. It took some time, but I forgot about the show and started painting, rediscovered a passion and accomplished things I would have considered next to impossible the year before. I learned about myself, about the business of art and I met a lot of people through the experience of blogging. To maintain the blog was a specific goal for the show that has, happily, become part of a larger picture. I cleaned house of the things that were no longer working for me – at first with intensity and later with gentle release….

So what do I set as goals for 2009? Here is a general list (in no particular order!):

• Experiment, try new techniques, new materials and mediums
• Finalize my marketing plan and implement it
• Plan and implement a new way to make my website and blog more valuable to my readers.
• Do something innovative – something never done before or done in a completely new way
  
• Spend more time focusing on my art ‘clan’
• Travel a little further afield and find more stories and places and practice my photography
• Spend more time drawing and writing
  
• Read more poetry and classical literature
• Share as much as I can about what I learn with others
• Shorten the time it takes to finish a painting – I need to stop my hesitation.  “Squint–Observe–Select–Aim–Stroke”(Dianne Mize) Thanks Dianne!!
• Enjoy every minute I can get with my friends and family – of course!
• Explore the Spirit within
• Have more FUN

My list above is pretty general and doesn’t include the details but if you are writing your own make sure you have them. In my journal I have my detailed marketing plan; a book list; some workshops and their dates for trying new painting techniques; a new sketchbook and the fancy pouch that I made for it (below); and I will share both my ideas and my progress from time to time as the year unfolds.

I cannot wait to get started. The process of setting goals can be very motivating! I wish everyone the best of luck with your goals for 2009 and Happy New Year!

Sketchbook Pouch to hold my Moleskine and the pens together

With all of the talk on the Orphan Works Bill in the U.S. it is good to know that there are some ways to put your copyright and contact information right into the image – without having to use a watermark that may make the image difficult to see. This is critical for both photographers and artists in general if you post your artwork on the ‘net.

I recently upgraded to Photoshop CS4 and in both Photoshop itself and its handy organizing sidekick Bridge, protecting your work is easier than ever. Photoshop will embed the copyright and your contact information right into the file. You cannot see it, however, if the file were opened in a professional program, such as one a company might use to work with your image, that information will come up in the File Info. It will be much more difficult for it to be declared ‘orphan’. Photoshop is not, however, the only program that provides this option.

This embeded information is called ‘metadata‘. Metadata will index on search engines. If you have your artwork photographed by a professional, you may want to ensure that they include your copyright information in the file info.

If you do not use Photoshop or your photo editing program does not have a method for recording metadata, you may want to seek one out. The IPTC website offers some suggestions. The IPTC (International Press Telecommunications Council) is attempting to provide a standard system for metadata on the web that is not platform specific.

In this post, I will show you how to embed metadata into your file using Photoshop:

1. Open your image in Photoshop and go to File> File Info…

2. The Dialog box will open and you will have the option to provide a description. Here I only put my copyright status (Copyrighted), statement (©Michelle Basic Hendry) and my website (www.artscapes.ca). Don’t hit the “OK” just yet…

3. There are tabs at the top of the dialog box which include ways of adding metadata to various file tpes including video. For our purposes, we need only be concerned with the IPTC tab. This tab will open up and ask you to provide information similar to what we have added but in more detail. This is important because the IPTC (International Press Telecommunications Council) provides a standard system for providing metadata on the web. This will insure that your metadata is readable outside of Photoshop and other Adobe products.

I have only provided limited information here, but you may choose to give detailed contact information.

4. The next thing is to save your image. Now I would suggest saving the image even before you have done any other modifications or corrections in order to embed the metadata into the file for every other use. So in my case, if my file is a PSD file, I’ll save it as a PSD before saving for the web. That way if you include the image in another format, the data is still embedded.  In this case I saved the file for the web. Note the little pull down menu that says “Copyright & Contact Info”. You have the option to include just the copyright name or none at all. I would suggest leaving it as I have it here.

I am going to open up Adobe Bridge (another program) to demonstrate that the info has been saved in a compatible and useful format:

I hope this little tip and tutorial has proved useful and gives the creative person a little more protection.

Recently I had the pleasure of visiting with one of my early teachers, Pat Fairhead. We had a lovely conversation over tea; we talked about art and exciting places and watched the ducks which still converge on her cottage for corn until the river freezes over. Pat has a wonderfully expressionist brush and a passion for the Arctic – to which she has been 7 times. The most recent trip was September of this year and she is in her late seventies. She is living proof that our limits are often dictated only by our own imaginations. The day was overcast and snowing gently and I must say I found myself the most relaxed I had been in over a month.

It goes without saying the world is changing quickly, and seems to be more unstable in recent months than it has been in a very long time. Its effects are inescapable for most and all too direct for some, so a peaceful visit was like a tonic.

After turning around – the Church* that had done the reflecting © Michelle Basic Hendry

I was feeling energized at the end of the visit and decided to drive into Bala and revisit the Wilson farmhouse. I had not seen it since early May and was anxious to see it in snowy splendour. As I went toward the bridge over the Bala Falls, an orange light in the window of the old stone church caught my eye. At first, I thought it was a light on in the building and quickly realized that it was a reflection of the setting sun peeking quickly out of the mass of snow clouds under which we have been shrouded for so many days. I turned around in my seat to see it. I couldn’t pull over right away, but when I did, I was rewarded with some of the most breathtaking gold and pink light.

Sunset at the Falls Bridge © Michelle Basic Hendry

I no sooner snapped a couple of quick photographs and it disappeared behind the clouds once again.  The camera could not catch it in full beauty – I think some things are a gift for memory alone. Warmed by being given a gift that I might have missed entirely if it were not for the Church window, I began to reflect on how another journey I had been on – a journey of Spirit.

Remains of the Day © Michelle Basic Hendry

A few minutes later I arrived at the farmhouse with barely enough light to catch the subtle values of snow in shadow and the gray water of the river. The house still stands beautifully overlooking the Moon River and its mantle of snow hides, for now, some of the trials of age. I sometimes wonder if a house could speak, would it tell a story of its past, or muse on time as if it were the very water passing by its front door.

Wilson Barn © Michelle Basic Hendry

It seems that the apparent dark times force us to be thankful for so many of the simplest gifts that we are offered by being lucky enough to be alive right now. In that can be found the deepest, richest inspiration. In a year where Christmas may be lighter on the exchange of gifts, we have the opportunity to see how rich we already are in our hearts.

* The Burgess Memorial Church – built in 1926 by the town’s founder on Burgess land. Designated a Heritage Building in 2002. Built due to certain town Presbyterians rejection of the uniting of the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches. Locals and cottagers were encouraged to bring stone for the building of the Church and some fieldstone was brought in from as far as the United States.

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 pileated woodpeckers. There are lots of these around, but I have never seen the big ones together before – usually only one at a time – so this was a treat to capture. Obviously, my presence was known and unwelcome!

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One of the things I think is very important for me as an artist is to expose myself to the work of other artists. To be an artist is to be in a constant state of learning and development. Working on my own, I can get stuck and I don’t always find solutions for some of my painting problems. Watching another artist work can be both inspiring and excellent for problem solving. It is not always possible for me to attend workshops with the painters I admire – some are all the way in Florida (Linda!) and some are even further. I am not one for flying much anymore, so if I can’t drive there… well…. So technology is a wonderful thing – and so is the DVD.

I have often struggled with reflections and water. Part of the problem was the short window of open working time for acrylics and part of it was how to interpret the abstract nature of the reflections themselves. With the introduction of Golden Open Acrylics, the issue of the medium might well be solved, so the next thing was to find someone that does great water.

In my search I came across Jay Moore, a Colorado landscape painter, who just so happens to have made a DVD that includes painting water at a large scale. Jay’s work is very realistic and his handling of colour is remarkable. After touring his site, I was very impressed and excited to learn from him.

In his DVD, “From the Field to the Studio”, Jay demonstrates how to bring a small plein air field sketch into a large studio painting with the support of both a journal and photos. One of the challenges of realist painters is to determine which details are of importance and which are best left unrefined. Jay makes these decisions look easy and communicates his methods in a way that is easy to understand. Jay focuses his efforts on painting the way the eye sees – the importance of opposites and the use of texture and progressions. Jay demonstrates how to move the viewers eye around the painting to create realism that reflects that of the human eye as opposed to the camera.

Autumn Reflections, White River (demonstration painting) © Jay Moore

The program was a little over 4 hours and full of wonderful tips to keep in mind as well as techniques. This DVD is not for the beginner in my opinion, but, more directed at the intermediate painter looking to enhance their skills. I found it brought some of my design knowledge into the context of fine art and I immediately was able to apply the lessons to my own work. Jay’s background is as a graphic designer and illustrator, so the approach was very familiar to me.

The DVD, “From the Field to the Studio”, is the second in his series, and I recommend it highly to landscape painters that seek to paint realism.