Let it snow?

Christmas day and the snow makes it perfect. Every one wants snow on at Christmas. Right? Accept in Australia where sun, sand and surf part of the festivities. Can you imagine a summery Christmas? What would you serve for dinner. Fire up the barby..
Gifts of hat and scarfs would give way to beach umbrellas and sun hats. Would I miss the snow as I lay on the beach in Australia, probably not but I like snow here at Christmas.

Here is my painting of Port Dover Beach. Is that Santa I see sunning himself?

Dog Art

What a great show "Friends of Portside Gallery"! Big turnout for the reception dispite the rain. I felt privledged to be among the artists.

I will have a booth with my "dog art" at the Animalert Bazaar and rummage sale.

Sale is at Western Fair Canada Building, Satuday Dec 4th - 10 am to 2 pm. Hope you will come and see the foster dogs I have painted.

Happy Howard!

Go big or go home

Go big or go home was my first impression of Donna Andreychuk's art show at the Arts Project
203 Dundas St. London, Ontario. Donna has hung a show of fabulous paintings. The huge
canvases shown at their best in the Arts Project gallery space. So often artists don't take
advantage of the gallery's size.

I think Donna used every color in her studio on this show. There was lots of the vibrant landscapes she is known for and spotted among them some more subtle mauve and grey pastels.
Donna definitely has a style that one would recognize anywhere. This year I noticed she was moving more to abstraction, letting the viewer interpret the painting.

If you are downtown to see the show, Donna also has two pieces in the Museum London Jass Show, one of which won the grand price.( The show runs to Nov 21)

The show at the Arts Project runs to Dec 4^th, 2010. Don’t miss this show, I give it 5 stars.

Don’t miss the Friends of Portside show at Portside Gallery Nov 25 to 28, 2010. 187 ½ Main St Port Stanley, Ontario. Reception Thursday Nov 25^th, 7 to 9 pm.

Judging Art

Entering art shows is always a nervous time for artists. We make our art alone with little or no feedback. Sometimes a relative or friend will comment on the piece and even that can be traumatic. But to enter a show with your peers is very unnerving.
There are two types of art shows, juried an un-juried.
A juried show is one in which a special person is selected by the show and looks at all the entries, selecting the ones they think would make the best art show. The criteria for the choice may come from the people putting on the show, but the juror makes the final choice. For instance, space may be limited and the juror may have to be ruthless in choosing the art. The juror may prefer landscape to portrait or watercolour to oil.
A good Juror would try to pick each piece on its own merit. There will always be a bias no mater who picks the art.
Did you know that in the majority of art shows the artist pays an entry fee to have their art juried. This fee is to cover costs of putting on the show.
A non juried show will still cost an entry fee but will always be accepted. In this type of show the art may be judged by an expert and ribbons and prizes received.
Either type of show is still nerve racking for the artist. "Will my art be accepted. Why wasn’t it accepted. Why did they accept my art last year and not this year. "
I entered two juried art shows this year and the Jass London Juried Art Show at Museum London accepted one of my pieces. This is the first time my art was accepted at this show. It is a fund raiser put on by the Volunteer Committee of Museum London Ontario.
Show date is November 10 to 21, 2010. Reception is Wed Nov. 10 7-9 p.m. Tickets are $10.00

Here is the entry that was accepted. Hope you will come and judge my art too. or maybe not....

Or Look here at all the art https://jasslondon.ca/catalogue.php

Dog Art is not real art.

When I first saw Francisco Goya's Dog painting I felt like crying. Goya was an often violent man and this painting for me shows that trait. The little dog is cowering in the shadow of a figure you can almost see looming over him. Goya painted this on the wall of his home in the plaster. Was the dog right in front of him with the fire light catching the his outline? See for yourself in the photo attached.

I love painting dogs. Capturing their personallity is a challenge just as are portraits of humans. The gestures they make with their bodys tell quite a tale.

Today I was taking video of the Jack Russel we are fostering. I was trying to capture her running gate. Her legs fly every which way when she runs. I hope to make a painting of her later.

Here is one of Mama a chihuahua we had for a while. She loved to lie on her back and get a belly rub.

Will my personality show in my art as did Goyas?

Attention to Detail

Looking at Andrew Wyeth and Robert Batemen books on art always inspire me. To see their paintings up close is to see such attention to detail. And yet I long for the ability to rip one off like Van Gogh or Tom Thompson. Those artist make it look so easy.

I suspect it is somewhere in the middle for both styles of painting.

I once saw Robert Bateman mix up a cup of white acrylic paint and throw it on what I would have thought was a finished painting. It gave the raging elephant a look of kicking up dusty. It was perfect.

While painting with my friend S’ine and Diane at Waterworks Park in St Thomas on Thursday I felts the excitement of painting en plain air. Rushing the work, I forgot about detail and thought only about capturing the colour before the light changed. It was exhilarating

Here is the finish sketch and a photo of the place. How did I do?

Becoming an old fart

How to become an old fart

Tomorrow is my 65th birthday. It is a time to become a senior citizen. But what does that mean for my art. Will I suddenly start painting like Romance or Kincade. Old fashion paintings with sentimental themes.

My friend Sandy says she changed after 65, not taking any guff from people and standing up for herself in difficult situations. I think I will follow that path. no more excuses for my art. Love it of leave it, it is what it is.


I like dogs so I paint dogs. I like people for the most part so I paint people. I like realism and old masters and Harley Brown. I will do commissions my way from now on.

Tell me what you think of my art but don’t be surprised if I tell you what I think of your comments.

So move over Romance and Kincade here comes Cutting.

Becoming an old fart