Hi All! Lots going on right now.
I just completed 2 watercolour workshops in February and I was happy with how they went. I had some lovely comments on Instagram from participants. We had a lot of fun - at least I did :).
The phone book finally came out with "Bait" on the cover. As you can see in the photo below - deep reading ! lol. I had friends and family all waiting for their copies and wondering if it was all a tall tale.
Upcoming in March for the first time I am entering an Art Throwdown. This is where several artists gather for a painting competition. This is somewhat nerve-wracking for me but I figure you only live once right?? It takes place March 18th from 1-3 at Coastal Gallery in Sunnycrest Mall. Artists will have 2 hours to complete a painting of a floral arrangement. The pieces will be offered for sale at an auction with 50% of the proceeds going to The Salvation Army. So a little anxiety and hopefully a sale contributing to a good cause. Hope to see you there giving me courage.
And continuing on a floral note. I have been accepted to Julia Veenstra's Square Foot Show - Floral. An online exhibition where I will have 5 12x12" pieces for sale for $300. each. This is a big show shown all over the world and the art usually sells out within the first day or 2. The show airs live May 4th at 5pm Pacific Time and closes on May 6 at midnight. You absolutely have to check out all the amazing art for this event! I have been working 7 days a week on this to have the best pieces possible for this amazing opportunity. Below is a sneak peak of my paintings for the show, the Lilacs is a finished piece but the daisy one is an 8x8 acrylic sketch for a second painting yet to be completed.
At The Federation Gallery on Granville Island I have an acrylic painting called "The Clearing" displayed in the Shape and Form exhibition and 2 watercolours in The Curated Collection.
Whew!
So When I gave the 2 workshops this last month we talked about having regular drop in/booked lessons. I am trying to put together something which would be sort of informal my thoughts are once a month I would pick one or 2 pieces to paint on a weekly basis and we could do different mediums and really have some creative fun. They would run for 2 hours. Ideally you could just drop in and paint along but I would have to have some structure around how many people and input on what people would want to paint/draw. I would try to keep prices low with the intention that everyone would use it as motivation to develop regular art practice.
It would be super helpful to have your input re whether this is something you would be interested in doing, and what people's availability would be for something like this. I am considering 2 time options with Mondays during the day or Thursday evenings. IF you are interested - What would you like to learn? I am thinking the cost would be $40 per session and you would bring your own supplies. If this appeals to you please email me at info@calmquist.com. I am going away April 12-24 so most likely it would happen when I get back in May.
TIP OF THE WEEK:
The top daisies is the DO and the bottom is the DON'T. Why?
mostly it is about the shapes. You want to vary your shapes and make them irregular. This is more interesting than a perfectly proportioned flower. Do what is called negative painting- paint around the whites with the background first. Try this as a little exercise. Have some fun don't drawn the petals of the flower just randomly paint a background around a white space and see what happens. Happy painting!!