WATER COLOUR NEWSLETTER 2022 – 05 May

The Western Ontario Region is pleased to announce and invite you to our spring Water-Media show called Renewal. 

Renewal will be open to the public at Royal Botanical Gardens (address below) from May 7 – June 12, 2022.

Opening Reception is Saturday, May 14 from 2:00pm – 4:00pm

Welcome Comments and the People’s Choice Award will be announced by our 1^st Vice President, Marlene Madole.

The show will feature 41 paintings, by CSPWC Elected Members and Associates.  This show will be Online after June 12 for your viewing pleasure.

Renewal has come together due to all your generosity with time and efforts, Thank you!

• Show information: 
• Mezzanine, RBG Centre
• Royal Botanical Gardens
• 680 Plains Rd W, Burlington, Ontario  L7T 4H4
• Open 10:00am – 8:00pm daily
• (click on the Renewal poster at the side to view the announcement at the RBG)

Are you ready to get outdoors to paint this summer? Join with us to make this plein air event a big part of your travel plans in beautiful Harrison Hot Springs British Columbia!

Working outdoors can heighten your senses and improve your sense of observation.

Magnificent Harrison Lake and the famous Mt Cheam are a backdrop for sparkling water, boats, forest walks and the therapeutic hot springs.  If you’re looking for a place to de-stress and relax, this is a perfect location!

Iceberg Reflections with David McEown

For those who can’t wait to hear David McEown’s presentation at our BC Paint out in August, check out the latest offering from our Education Committee.  David presents an on-line demonstration happening on May 12 at 8pm EST.

Tickets are $20 for CSPWC members and associates and $25 for non-members. 

Here’s the link to a YouTube trailer on our channel: CSPWC YouTube

To register for this event click HERE.

Stylized Florals with Sterling Edwards

Take a step outside the box with Sterling Edwards workshop on Stylized Florals.

Simply put Sterling’s painting style is to create something that is easily recognizable but has an abstract element. Let this demonstration help you get into the flow of expressive watercolour painting and put some pizzazz in your work.

Sterling’s unique demonstration happening on June 20 at 8pm EST.

Tickets are $20 for CSPWC members and associates and $25 for non-members.

To register for this event click HERE .

It was true that many of the late 19^th century artists and early 20^th century pioneers were influenced by things Japanese, especially the coloured wood block prints with their off-centre compositions.  One could observe this in many of their works.  It was interesting for me to contemplate which came first; the wood block prints and their influence or an artistic sensitivity to the events occurring in Europe and globally, and thus a propensity for a more dynamic way of organizing and thus an understanding of what the Japanese culture had achieved visually. Or possibly both ingredients were necessary.

However, it seemed to me, in the 50’s, being wholly North American in outlook (no minotaurs here) that the photographic technology and subsequent snapshot reality had a disproportionate influence on this asymmetrical bias.  We were all, audience and artists alike, being exposed to the cut-off bits of reality that snap shots so admirably were.

Things photographic were very much a part of our daily art discussions.  Could the camera, could photographs be fine art or not?  Could the photographer be an artist or not? This discussion see-sawed back and forth with no resolution at that time.  For some even now this discussion is still moot albeit complicated by recent explorations with digital technology.

In terms of my own art career I felt later that I had been mislead somewhat.  For when I was exploring a way of painting a more quiet or meditative art, I choose the central format for much of my work’s composition.  Doing so helped to create this spirit in the work.  However, staying true to my times or possibly just being a good Canadian, my compositions were never exactly central.  They were always just slightly off centre.

So they’re not being totally central or not being totally asymmetrical was supreme in each piece.  This created a kind of visual tension which I very related to.  If visual tension is one of the principles that makes 20^th century art, then I remain true to my time.

In my workshops, I try to defuse prior view biases and undue influences or peer pressures be them artistic or backyard friends.  This is done by stressing that all our sense of organization comes from the body.

The body is intelligence.  There is order and organization in all its functioning from molecular to cellular to organs.  As an example of this intelligence we always see our nose on the front of our face each morning when we get up and look in the mirror.  The nose is always in the centre of our face.  It’s not one day on the elbow and another day on our knee.  It’s always on the face.

So, if one lets go of prior views, influences and biases, moves to a space of openness and trust, what one puts down on canvas or paper will and most always be a product of organization and order.  To not have this present is to be in a fearful state of anxiety and distrust.  Generally one is not present and working from a position of future-ing or past-ing.  From a state of no-achieve-ment-ness will emerge an art of honesty and clarity.  It can’t get much better than that.

Canadian Pentavisions and French Couleurs d’Ailleurs

An exhibition by Canadian and French artists is now open at the Chateau Grouchy, Osny, Paris, France with participation from many CSPWC members.      

International exhibitions are rare rather than regular, serendipitous rather than long-term-planned, and certainly lively due to their exotic nature. Such is Pentavisions/Couleurs d’Ailleurs, a combination of French and Canadian artistic expression in 2022.

A significant exhibition for our times, this show combines the work of five Canadian, and five French artists, joining in mutual admiration of their unique individual artistic expressions in watercolour. Hosted in the resplendent Château de Grouchy in Osny, Paris, France from May 5 – 25, 2022, the show will travel to Halton Hills, Ontario, Canada’s heritage building, The Helson Gallery, for October through to December 2022.

Canadian Pentavisions: Neville Clarke, Linda Kemp, Peter Marsh, Lin Souliere, Rayne Tunley

French Couleurs d’Ailleurs: Donna Acheson-Juillet, Contremoulin, Serge Di Meo, Corinne Poplimont  Franck Rollier

For more info about this venue click HERE.

Poppy Balser was the lone Canadian invited to this year’s Forgotten Coast en Plein Air. This was the 17th year of the festival which documents the landscape and culture of the last vestige of authentic “Old Florida”.

Forgotten Coast en Plein Air, America’s Great Paint-out, is among the world’s most prestigious plein air events. “With plein air events popping up all over the country, we realize the importance of focusing on quality and relevance. We have developed a three year program, transcending typical event content to focus on the reason why plein air painting is important, as well as how the process and the paintings contribute to a region’s resilience,” states FCenPA Board President, Joe Taylor.

Ron Hazell is giving a three day in-person workshop titled “Painting with Mystery”, June 23 – 25 at St. Margaret of Scotland Church Hall, 3751 Robie St., Halifax, NS.

The workshop will explore value as a means of instilling mystery into your paintings.

If interested, send Ron an e-mail at ron.hazell@ns.sympatico.ca.