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All ready to start a new painting today. I get quite excited about a fresh canvas – so much potential. A new day, a new chance to begin again. Hope yours is a good one! 

On Valentines Day I always think of the incredible richness that love gives to life. Love of friends, love of children, love of family, love of animals, love of a partner, love of God. We are not perfect and love is not usually perfect either; except on store bought cards. So, embracing the mystery, I personally am rejoicing in the mixed up, messed up, beyond understanding love that I give and receive. Hoping that on this cold winter’s day, your heart too is warm with the richness of love, in some of its many different flavours. 

I thought you might enjoy seeing a detail from “Algonquin – Winter Dreams”. You can see three of the crystal pieces here- they add more sparkle to the painting. 

Latest painting – acrylic with collaged gemstones. 

 

With 14 years of teaching art behind me, I have reached a few conclusions. Every art student wants to become a better artist. Some students have more teachable spirits, and that’s a real bonus for them. However, the instructor also needs to work hard on communicating art skills to each student at their own individual level. Yet there is one thing that the teacher cannot do. They cannot put in the brush time for the student. Lately when looking at art that I consider to be exemplary, I am just so aware – those artists have put in a lot of brush time. And that’s what I’m doing over here this week! How about you? Are you putting in some brush time? It matters if you really want to grow your art to the next level. 

Here is an amazing quote about the meaning of art: “…even from the concentration camps, we have poetry, we have music, we have visual art; it wasn’t just this one fanatic…many, many people created art. Why? Well, in a place where people are only focused on survival, on the bare necessities, the obvious conclusion is that art must be, somehow, essential for life. The camps were without money, without hope, without commerce, without recreation, without basic respect, but they were not without art. Art is part of survival: art is part of the human spirit, an unquenchable expression of who we are. Art is one of the ways in which we say, “I am alive, and my life has meaning.” Karl Paulnak (thanks to Fr. Ivan Moody) 

Such an enjoyable afternoon yesterday with the Brush and Palette Club doing art critiques for them! Thanks for inviting me. And now anyone can have me critique paintings too, by email. After you have clicked the “buy now” button in the right column of this page, and paid for the number of paintings you would like critiqued, you simply email a photo of your painting(s) to [email protected]. (You don’t need a Paypal account, just a credit card to do this.) I will respond by email with a detailed critique of your painting – both strengths and weaknesses. It’s a great way to grow your art.