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Painting at beautiful Brentwood was sooo good this weekend. The weather was perfect – only a bit of rain first thing Saturday morning but it cleared up beautifully and we had lots of sunshine and a gentle cool breeze off the lake. As well as lots of creative painting time, we simply had a lot of fun together! We had a campfire at the beach under the brightest stars ever, and fantastic food at every meal. Thank you, Brentwood, for hosting this art retreat. What a delight – we’ll be back! 

“Some men see things as they are, and ask why. Other men see things that never were, and ask why not.” George Bernard Shaw –  It’s paint and canvas, or pencil and paper, or notes in the air, or words on a computer screen. Whatever your creative endeavors – dream big! Cheryl O 

There’s an entire world of you waiting to be discovered. Very brief post here, in a Big Creative Yes by Dan Goodwin.  

It looks like being a hot summer. If you paint with acrylics, you should avoid stacking acrylic paintings on top of each other in your car for transport. The heat affects the acrylic, making it soft, and if anything is pressing on it, it can stick and damage the surface. Keep this in mind if you are storing acrylic paintings anywhere that it gets very hot – don’t put anything on top of them! (Photo taken at Brentwood on the Beach.) 

Looking forward to the painting retreat this weekend June 8 to 10! Room for a couple more if you would like to join us for this creative and relaxing get-away at beautiful Brentwood on the Beach. More information here: Lakeside Painting Retreat with Cheryl O – you can check out the video on that page too. 

The “Cheryl O & Students Art Show” opening was super! The place was a-buzz with people all enjoying the art. Thank you to everyone who came out to cheer us on. Congratulations to MaryAnn Kristoff who won the draw for a $50. gift card from Mercury Art Store. And congratulations to each participating student – your paintings look amazing! If you didn’t make it on Saturday, the show will be up at Westmount Branch Library in London until June 30, during regular library hours. Don’t forget to sign the guest book and tell us which is your favourite painting if you come by. 

Tomorrow (Saturday June 02) is the big day! 36 paintings done by 21 students and myself. The show opening is from 1 to 3 p.m. at Westmount Library in London. Free admission – the students have done wonderful work – won’t you come out to cheer them on? 

“Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” Oscar Wilde “Life doesn’t imitate art, it imitates bad television.” Woody Allen What do you think? And … maybe there is a reason I don’t have a TV. 

There are soooo many tubes and jars of colour out there – isn’t it wonderful! But how to choose? If you are new into art, you might check out the recommended paint supply lists on my website. Here’s the link…”Art Supplies“. Once you’ve been painting for awhile, you will want to explore more colour choices. To help with this, it’s a good idea to get familiar with the actual pigments listed on the tube. For example: Titanium White is PW6 and Ultramarine Blue is PB29. If at the store you see what might be a different blue, say called “Sky Blue” (I’m just making this up) read the pigments on the label. If it says PW6 and PB29, and you already have those 2 pigments, you can easily mix that colour. It would be more worthwhile for you to explore a pigment that you don’t yet own – and there are likely lots of those!