I was thrilled to hear last week that I my application for signature status with the Federation Of Canadian Artists was successful. AFCA which means associate member of the FCA. I took a couple of years to get all the required elements for the application so it is quite a big deal. As an artist who toils away in solitude in the studio it’s important for me to be able to step back and see my work in the context of other artists and signature status is one way of doing that. It means some excellent artists have viewed my work and given it the big thumbs up.
The other big event in my art journey also came fairly recently. I was asked by the Canadian Society Of Painters In Watercolour to be a principle instructor at their annual watercolour symposium. This year it will be held Sept 28 – Oct 3 in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia. I love teaching watercolour and I have done it for a number of years but this to me is a step up. The list of previous instructors at this prestigious event includes many of the best watercolour artists from across Canada. It’s definitely an honour and a real motivation to keep going.
Finally, when I got back from my workshop in Edmonton, I had an email from the Saanich Peninsula Arts and Crafts Society (SPAC) in Sidney, B.C. asking me to do a workshop there in Oct 2016. I have long dreamed of being able to travel across the country as a watercolour teacher and it seems that that dream is now coming true. In 2014 their workshop instructors were Alvaro Castagnet and John Salminen. Alvaro is one of my 2 main heroes in watercolour and Salminen is someone who produces work that I am in awe of. I certainly don’t put myself in their category (yet) but I know by the feedback I get from people at all my workshops that I have something to offer and I love to connect and help all the people I meet in workshops. So I am completely thrilled by all these events, humbled by the opportunities and grateful for this journey that I’m walking.
I thought I would brighten up this post by adding an assortment of recent studies that I have done. Interestingly after having so much success with my urban landscape paintings culminating in receiving my AFCA I took some time to ponder – what next? Right away I started doing this studies mostly based on a beautiful sunny day I spent on Stephan Ave a couple of weeks ago. I was intrigued by the light and also by seeing the figures in a new way, more intimate way. Figures are an important feature of all my urban landscape paintings but nearly always they are just figures standing around. Now I’m much more interested in having the figures tell a story just by their positions or motions. I think this is a nudge that has come from somewhere to show me what direction to move in. I think I’ll listen to this voice.
Happy painting!