Studio Art Quilts Associates (SAQA), an international organization that I am a member of, did a Call for Entry last year on the theme "Forced to Flee". I really wanted to submit something to this call but didn't think I could get it together in time. It is a very timely theme and many artists did submit art quilts which are now travelling the world. The subject brings to mind refugees seeking safer places to live, fleeing persecution, war, poverty but this theme also covers those fleeing from wild fires, flooding, drought, and other natural disasters.
Below are links to a couple of short videos about this exhibition. It shows that people feel very strongly about this phenomenon happening in our world today. The first video explains the exhibition and the second shows the quilts. They are very beautiful and emotion-invoking. Please take a look at what my art quilt community is producing and say a prayer for the world's situation and displaced people.
https://vimeopro.com/saqa/forced-to-flee/video/344650977
https://vimeopro.com/saqa/forced-to-flee/video/344650037
Thursday 25 July 2019
Thursday 18 July 2019
Sunset Painting Progress
I have been slowly making progress on my sunset painting. When I left off painting last, I was happier with it, however, the foreground rock reminded me of a dog lying down. Do you see it? I had to do something about that.
I also wanted to work on creating more depth to the painting and push the background further back. I found this hard to do since at sunset the trees are very dark, almost silhouettes. I had to use some artistic license to bring some interest and detail into the trees so they didn't look flat. The painting is about that dramatic sky but I still wanted the rest of the painting to be interesting.
In this detail shot, you can see that I have more to do on the rock. I added colour and more grass and cracks. To change the "dog" shape, I shaved off some of the top of the rock and extended the tip further into the water. The foreground trees are not reading as trees yet either so I worked on them as well. To push the background trees back I added some blue over top of them.
This is the full unchanged painting.
This is the changed painting and I think the rock looks more like a rock now and the trees are trees and although you can't see it in this photo, I added grass details in the foreground and also added colour to the water. In order to give it some life, I also added some birds.
I'll hang it up somewhere to see if something jumps out at me that needs to be tweeked yet, make the changes and call it done. This one gave me some struggles and I did a lot of procrastinating. Although I am not totally happy with it, I did learn some things along the way.
I also wanted to work on creating more depth to the painting and push the background further back. I found this hard to do since at sunset the trees are very dark, almost silhouettes. I had to use some artistic license to bring some interest and detail into the trees so they didn't look flat. The painting is about that dramatic sky but I still wanted the rest of the painting to be interesting.
This is the full unchanged painting.
This is the changed painting and I think the rock looks more like a rock now and the trees are trees and although you can't see it in this photo, I added grass details in the foreground and also added colour to the water. In order to give it some life, I also added some birds.
I'll hang it up somewhere to see if something jumps out at me that needs to be tweeked yet, make the changes and call it done. This one gave me some struggles and I did a lot of procrastinating. Although I am not totally happy with it, I did learn some things along the way.
Thursday 11 July 2019
Eels Lake Inspiration
This post was supposed to happen last week and I had every intention of posting. Since there is no internet at Eels Lake, I took my I-pad with me thinking I could link to my phone to do my blog. All was going well until I realized I didn't have my passwords. It made me conclude that when you go on vacation, you should just leave your tech at home. So here I am a week late. I hope you missed me.
My sister and brother-in-law have a cottage on Eels Lake north of Peterborough, Ontario and since we didn't plan a canoe/kayak trip this year, I decided to spend a few days with them. They turned out to be the best days since it was HOT and HUMID and we could fully enjoy the swimming, paddling, chatting on the deck and sucking back Mike's Hard Lemonade slushies. The bugs? Well, they didn't want us up there and attacked us at every chance. Horse flies, deer flies and mosquitos. Comes with the territory and time of year.
Some inspiring photos from my stay.
I did get some sketching done as well.
My sister and brother-in-law are also both artistic in different ways. I have been trying to convince my sister to start sketching again. One day, I'll wear her down.
My brother-in-law's idea of vacation is vastly different from my own. He is always busy with another project. Many are upgrades to the cottage and regular maintenance and thanks to his hard work, the cottage is a comfortable, cozy place to vacation. But he has other wonderful talents when working with wood as well and below you can see his artistry.
This cedar strip canoe is a product of his talent. It is just beautiful! So much so that cottage guests are afraid to use it in case they damage it. It is truly a work of art and it carries and paddles beautifully.
Kevin also built the Muskoka chairs they are sitting in out of cedar that we used as firewood for our wood stove at the Garden Centre. They are the most comfortable seating. Also with that same cedar firewood, he built a hot tub. It is so cute-looking, sitting in the woods.
My sister and brother-in-law have a cottage on Eels Lake north of Peterborough, Ontario and since we didn't plan a canoe/kayak trip this year, I decided to spend a few days with them. They turned out to be the best days since it was HOT and HUMID and we could fully enjoy the swimming, paddling, chatting on the deck and sucking back Mike's Hard Lemonade slushies. The bugs? Well, they didn't want us up there and attacked us at every chance. Horse flies, deer flies and mosquitos. Comes with the territory and time of year.
Some inspiring photos from my stay.
I did get some sketching done as well.
My sister and brother-in-law are also both artistic in different ways. I have been trying to convince my sister to start sketching again. One day, I'll wear her down.
My brother-in-law's idea of vacation is vastly different from my own. He is always busy with another project. Many are upgrades to the cottage and regular maintenance and thanks to his hard work, the cottage is a comfortable, cozy place to vacation. But he has other wonderful talents when working with wood as well and below you can see his artistry.
This cedar strip canoe is a product of his talent. It is just beautiful! So much so that cottage guests are afraid to use it in case they damage it. It is truly a work of art and it carries and paddles beautifully.
Kevin also built the Muskoka chairs they are sitting in out of cedar that we used as firewood for our wood stove at the Garden Centre. They are the most comfortable seating. Also with that same cedar firewood, he built a hot tub. It is so cute-looking, sitting in the woods.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)