NEWSLETTER

I recently gave a 3 day workshop in Calgary with 20 wonderful women. It was a terrific group to work with, lots of fun and creativity in the room and I certainly learned a lot as well. I told the group at the beginning that I would try to role model how to make mistakes and I certainly did that. One of the problems many of us had was painting over some of the papers we made in order to pull the final painting together and I was no exception to that. So I brought home a painting that I had started that was not "working"and tried to improve it. The Before and After are below.

I also demonstrated a torn paper collage on Sunday and did not have time enough to finish it during the workshop - but the "almost" completed Cheetah is below.

I am hoping that I will be able to share paintings of these workshop participants in a future blog post.

Last weekend I took a workshop with Lalita Hamill on Composition and Design. It was great Lalita was very knowledgeable and it was a great refresher for me. She suggested that I look at my recent paintings in black and white and even though I feel fairly comfortable with value - it was a great suggestion as I could more clearly see where I needed to make some adjustments. So looking at the 2 paintings below that way I made some alterations and have reposted the paintings.

I have been trying out a new bold colourful combination as well as experimenting with some new designs. They are bright and fun -- but I will need to live with them for a while to see if I need to tone them down a bit.

The first one is called " A Cat of a Different Stripe" and the second one is called "Any which Way is Up" - cuz you can basically hang it any way you want.

I was just notified that I won the first place award at the Flowers and Foliage Show which is just great. The painting is posted below.

I injured my shoulder late December and so have had some challenges painting. I have therefore produced a limited number of paintings recently but things are starting to improve. Below are a couple of paintings that I have done this year. The first painting below is 30" x 40" mixed media on canvas is called "Shape Up" and the second one I just completed is 20" x 20" acrylic collage is called "Floral Display". Not an original title I admit.

I have been accepted into 2 new FCA shows for 2016. The first one is the Artist's Choice Show which starts next week (Feb 2nd to the 14th) The 2 paintings accepted into this show are below. The reception will be this coming Thursday Feb 4th at the FCA Gallery on Granville Island. The other exhibition is the Abstract show which runs from March 1 to 12th.

Did Someone Say Lunch

At the Picnic

I will be doing a Collage/Mixed Media Workshop in Calgary April 22,23 and 24th. Click on links - Leading Edge Workshops.

Looking forward to seeing some of you there

Its hard to believe we are well into January of another new year. 2015 was a great "art year" again. I did a bit of teaching, participated in some interesting art shows, had some works published and once again experimented with my art. Some of this was documented in this blog on my website (www.lindabell.ca). I also spent some time reflecting on why I paint and renewed my energy and focus as it is so easy to get distracted by the pull of marketing, selling and some of the "hype" associated with art. I was also fortunate to come across a book that helped me articulate some of my unformed thoughts about creativity. The book is called "Big Magic" by Elizabeth Gilbert. For me many of her observations make so much sense and on top of that she is funny - so if you are interested in the idea of creativity give it a try and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.

At this point a have a couple of events planned for 2016. I have been asked to teach for Leading Edge Workshops so I will be doing a 3 day workshop in Calgary in April. I have also been selected for a 2 person show called "Bold Abstracts" at the Ferry Building in West Vancouver which will run for several weeks in September. The details of both of these will be added to my Events section soon.

I would also like to thank all those people who have come to my shows, attended my demos, contacted me from my website and of course bought some of my paintings, the feedback and support has been wonderful.

I did a demo at OPUS Art Supplies in North Vancouver last Saturday. The room was full and the participants were very engaged and enthusiastic - it was a lot of fun. I did however run out of time and the last demo I had started with flowers in a vase was still wet and got very smeared on the way home so I did not complete it. You can check out other paintings on this site that I did using the same techniques -- there are several under the Sold Gallery such as " Paper Peonies"or "Potted Posies". I did however finish the torn paper collage of the dog that I had started and I am very happy with it -- called it "Golden Boy"

The other painting I have added to my critter gallery is called " I am Mad as Hell"

I attended my first fundraiser for the FCA last night with a friend. The art was fabulous and displayed very well including the lighting. It was however a bit nerve-racking for some of us artists who donated a painting to wait to see if somebody would select our painting. The atmosphere was generally energetic, the food was good and it was fun to meet some of the other artists. All in all a great evening and I hope the Federation made a lot of money last night as it is a worthwhile organization to be part of. It is also a good thing for those who are interested in art – for $800 a couple they get to select a painting worth between $1000 and $5000 as their number is called. Since everybody likes different things it doesn't necessarily mean that you won't get the painting that you want even if your number is not called at the beginning. In talking to several people who had purchased tickets for many years in a row one of the women told me that even though they had their number called at the very last in the past they still got the painting that they wanted – So you just never know.