Another One Sold.

Well, today was a good day. I got the cheque for "Beached Logs, Harrison Lake" (thanks Brian!), and then got a call from Anne at Collective Works saying that the actual owner of the Orange House, had come in and put a down payment on "Orange House, Fernwood". Well, well. I had remarked to someone that it would be cool if the owner of the house would come in and buy it! The house is only, maybe five blocks away, so the odds were good.


Well, this little gem has found a place in quite a few people's hearts in the time it has hung, so I am glad it is now going to a home where it will be treasured.

A big part of the buzz for me has been that, not only have I been able to sell much more easily than I dreamed possible, and that I am getting respectable prices for my work, but that they are going to "appropriate" people. I mean, when I send my children out into the world, I want them to be properly loved and cared for. Sentimental I know, but it is important to me.

I know these pieces will remain on your walls for many years to come, emitting a powerful sense of calm, joy, and hope. And thank you so much for giving me the chance to actually get paid for doing what I was born to do--which is, sharing this good, solid energy with others. I am deeply honoured.

N.

Photo by Miriam Hulhall, our Treasurer.

Gallery Hours

We now have hours set for the Collective Works Gallery, which are:

Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays:
11:00am-6:00pm
Fridays and Saturdays:
11:00am-8:00pm
Mondays:
closed

This is what we’ve decided to start with for now. We will gage things as we go along in terms of traffic trends through the week, weekends, etc. Also, we would like to appeal to the Belfry Theater crowd so we will also keep tabs on that to see when plays are on and such.

Collective Works Gallery is Here

Well dudes and dudettes, was the show a success or what?! For a while there, it was so packed it took a few minutes and quite a few 'Scuse Mes' just to get to the back to get more wine.

And speaking of wine, I vote the bottle of Uncle Al Williams' blackberry wine "Best in Show". I did find my own way home though--just not in a straight line.

At peak time, there must have been about 70 people there--but it felt like 300. It was super-encouraging to see this level of turnout. Huge kudos, props and resounding, hand smarting hi-fives to Anne, Miriam, Sean and all the rest of the unflinchingly dedicated volunteers who pulled this off. We are HERE.

It was huge for me to connect with my peers and collegues. I learnt a lot, talked a lot, and really connected a lot. I hope the freindships I made Friday night will last the rest of my life.

Thanks so much to Joji, Tammy, Cousin Mike, Ruthie, and those cool people Tammy invited (whose names I've forgotten) for coming out to look at the stuff. Love you guys one and all.

An interesting note is that I caught Joji and Tammy looking at my paintings in the photo above. I didn't know they were in the room at the time! And Mike--that was a nice surprise, man.

It was great that there was another piece sold before the show opened, besides my "Beached Logs." Oh, and speaking of selling--"Rising Cloud, Harrison Lake" is now SOLD to my good friend Dan C. I will be very honoured to have one of my canvases hanging in his home.

One of my very best pieces. I am so stoked that Dan has this one, because I know he totally "gets it". What Dr. MacCallum was to Tom Thomson, Dan is to me, in a way. He's the one with the cabin way up on Harrison Lake, and, thanks to his kindness and generosity, I am able to really get out there and look around and feed my creativity with the raw fuel of art--which is Nature.

And now, just for fun a drawing of a Renaissance jam-session. Veronese on fiddle, Titian on bass. I took this drawing from a detail of Paolo Veronese's "Wedding at Cana" from 1563. It is in a book my good freind and sister Roo gave me for Christmas.

The Old Masters rock, eh :) I'm telling you, there is nothing about painting they didn't know. Even abstract artists can learn from them. Mark Rothko did! He made several trips to Itally just to do that.

And, I have another painting of the Douglas Lake area coming down--just slapped on the underdrawing this morning. It will be unique, and I hope, quite eye-catching--although I will not have much time to paint in the next month and a half or so. We'll see.

Very Best to All,
N

Come on Down to the Show, Yo.

"Stilled" is happening at Collective Works Gallery, the first show of the Gallery, and the first proper group showing of my work. Collective Works is run by and for artists,and you can find our website here.

So come on down to the place this Friday, Feb. 15th, at 7:00 pm for the opening. There'll be the usual wine and snacks, and all the artists on hand to meet and network with. There will be a very broad spectrum of talent there; lots to look at!

The Collective Works Gallery is at 1311 Gladstone Ave. within yards of the Belfry Theater, Fernwood Inn, and The Cornerstone Cafe. You can find a map here.

I will be so delighted to see you there, so come on out to support me and this exciting new cultural initiative in Victoria. This may also be your last chance to purchase "Beached Logs, Harrison Lake" and "Orange House, Fernwood", if you are interested in either. They are my most popular works, and I am offering them both at the lowest possible price(includes the custom frames).

See you Friday night!

>>> As I was posting this reminder out, I got an email from a buyer. "Beached Logs, Harrison Lake" is SOLD to Brian H. This is one of my strongest pieces. It's going to a good home, and I am very happy about that--in addition to selling another piece of course! It'll still be on display there until the show closes March 6th.

Closing the Circle

Well, I was digging around in the closet the other day, binning some old photos and generally trying to lighten my load, and I came across these pics, taken on my old 35mm compact. A couple of beauties from a bike blast I did through Cache Creek, Merritt and Douglas Lake, back in, say '97. Of course, my ever vigilant eye saw possible paintings--I mean, that is why I took these photos, but had forgotten about them. So I'll be working up a series over the coming months. I have some perfectly iconic images here.

So I got busy last Saturday on this one, and managed to finish it last night. The surface quality and colours are very similar to what I was painting like at that time 10 years ago, and of course, so is the subject matter. This is very gratifying, since I have been longing to return to those days, both aesthetically and technically.

"Bend in the Road, Douglas Lake" 18 X 24"

A few small touch-ups to go, though, and maybe I need to wrangle the clouds a bit, but finished enough to post here. This was shot in indirect natural light, out on the balcony.

I finally got my priming (gesso) situation sorted out now, and that has helped immensely, returning a bit of the old delicacy to things. Also very happy that my 3-colour system can perfectly match what I was doing with the 10-12 colour palette I was using back then.

End of the first session, shot on the easel.

My palette, squeezed out. I like to start nice and neat, 'cause things tend to get messy fast. Even though my system depends so much on mixing, I am pretty concerned with keeping my colours pure... .

The same palette after 5 hours of battle. You can see the crossover I do between green and brown. That area just back of the thumb-hole is for those mixes and gradient colours. I keep the top row for the pure primaries and secondaries.