Art + Craft in Bear River = happiness

This weekend I took part in the very first Bear River Holiday Spirit Craft Show at the Rebekah Hall.

The tables were 6 feet long.

I had stressed a bit before the show about what I would display, whether I should even participate, did I have enough stuff, how would I display things, etc. , etc.

It’s not like I’ve never been in a show before, but I guess it has been a long time and my head has been in gardening not in art and craft shows.

It was SO MUCH FUN!!  In fact, I’d forgotten about how much I enjoyed the whole process of a show. The fun parts are:

• Seeing a body of your work together

The chaos of creativity in the studio can hide the previous weeks’ pieces. Placing your work together gives definition to your direction.

• Seeing other people’s work

It’s lovely to see other people present their work. It’s inspiring because hand-made work is so unique to the creator. It’s like a signature. It has an energy.

This detailed ornament is made from paper by Apryl Surette.

• Seeing the work of your friends in the village

When I know a person it’s even more interesting to see their work. It’s a window into their being.

• Visiting with your village friends

This is the first show I’ve ever participated in where I knew or knew of 80% of the vendors and many of the purchasers. It’s like having a show with all your friends and that’s an art party!

The people even dressed like works of art.

• Buying other people’s stuff

“Supporting the arts” is never so sweet as when you are buying beautiful things and tasty food from old friends and new friends!

• Selling your own stuff

I paint to satisfy an inner need to respond in colour to a scene or an object that moves me. It’s always a thrill and a surprise when someone else responds to a piece, especially when its creation was such a personal experience for me. It is wonderful to know that my paintings are enjoyed by others. Money is a good thing too!

• Absorbing the energy of others

Most vendors and participants at shows are in happy moods and the happy energy vibes are in abundance and are contagious.

This doll called me, but I had to leave her behind for now.

• Sharing tips and techniques with other artists

I exchanged printmaking stories and techniques with a storyteller artist  Sheila LeBlanc-Joyce. The photographer across the aisle from me shared his tips about digital photography, photoshop manipulation, printing, and paper preferences, all worth gold!

• Uping your own creative force

The end result of all of this is to send the artist home with new ideas and some inspiration for new work

Lots of people came through..like hundreds. Many of us were happily surprised to see such a crowd on a rainy day. It was an excellent turn-out for a first-time venue and it bodes well for the future.

Fabulous stories, photos and dolls by Ken and Amy Flett

And what did I buy? There were lots of beautiful things I wanted to buy, but I restrained myself. When I got home I noticed that all of my purchases were very practical and often food related.  I bought:

• Some coffee from Sissiboo Coffee Roaster, a new, fair-trade coffee roasted here in Bear River by Jon Welch.

The aroma alone is out of this world!

• An  especially-for-artists  week by week calendar that will help me organize my life if I cooperate with it. This was developed by artist Helen Opie who was frustrated with what was on the market and designed and printed her own.

• Some wild, handpicked cranberries from organic market-gardener Gilbert Doelle at Wild Rose Farm in Gilbert’s Cove.

• The tastiest loaded-with-fruit-and-nuts fruit cake I’ve ever sampled made by Barnwood Inn in Bear River.

The fruitcake is so fresh and so tasty.

I forgot to mention that there was also live music and carols.

Emily added some of her Deer to the table and they were a hit!

Thanks to Erin Schopfer and Jon Welch for providing the venue and more.

A very special thanks to a wonderful artist and woman, Jennifer Quercia who did a huge amount of coordinating and organizing and planning for this event. Jennifer makes beautiful felt creations when she’s not homeschooling or assembling yurts or working on  community projects.

Jennifer's felted 'tooth fairy' pouch.

It was quite a fun event. I can’t wait for the next time!

Hanging with the Flight of Fancy

My latest very exciting news is that I sold a painting at the Flight of Fancy last week. I  blogged about the creation of this canvas last March. It was inspired by the kindness of friendship. I wonder what thoughts or feelings it sparked for the buyer.

The Gift, acrylic, 2009. (above); Peonies, acrylic, 2009. (below)

Like many artists, I  feel awkward about the selling part. I just want to create the art and let someone else sell it.  Many art-appreciators don’t realize that 99% of artists have to figure out how they are going to get their work seen by the public, on their own.  This can mean paying thousands of dollars to rent a booth at a big show like the Toronto Art Expo,  One of a Kind, or  approaching galleries with a portfolio.  And selling is a very different skill than creating.

Cyclamen, Watercolour and crayon resist. by Flora Doehler.

I have been selling my paintings on my own for a number of years now, in self-organized group shows, art club shows, and in studio tours. While it is a thrill to get feedback from viewers and to actually meet future owners, it is quite wonderful to let someone else take the painting and match it with an interested buyer because that way, I can spend the time doing what I do best– creating the work.

My canvas of Hollyhock will be coming home this week.

My daydream fantasy was that one day someone would walk into my studio, look at my work and say “Let me sell this!  You paint the paintings and I’ll take care of the rest.” In some ways this has  happened to me in Bear River.

Painting under 'Cordelia', our willow tree.

The first time we visited this village,  we went to the Flight of Fancy, a beautiful fine arts and fine craft store operated for almost 30 years by artist Robert Buckland -Nicks. I was impressed with the originality and the quality of the work he had in the store. I hoped he would be interested in selling my paintings in his second-floor art gallery, but I was too shy to show him the small paintings I’d stashed in my suitcase. After we moved to Bear River he approached me. He’d heard that I painted and asked  to see my work. I kept putting Rob off because I believed that my best work was yet to come at some unknown future time. Finally he just showed up at the studio one day and left with a few canvases to hang at the store.

Since then Rob has sold 8 large paintings of mine in 18 months.

Rob poses with me upstairs at the Flight of Fancy.

Like the rest of our life in Bear River this piece has  fallen neatly into place. Rob drops into the studio now and again to look at what’s new and to talk about painting. I only have to paint the picture and figure out a title. Rob chooses pieces that he thinks will suit his store and his clientele.

My paintings are in good company at the Flight of Fancy hanging with works by  Alan Syliboy, Anna Syperak , Craig Rubadoux, and Bear River’s Charles Cooper.

The Flight is closed now until next spring.

Crocosmia painting for next spring's collection.

Altered Images in an Alternative Universe

Lupines grow all over the Annapolis Valley, especially along the roadsides.

With my shoulders and legs sore from rototilling the garden, I headed for the studio at the end of last week to paint some of the fabulous purple lupines that grow wild around our house. I also wanted to capture the beauty of some masses of Siberian Iris that my friend Pamela gave me from among the hundreds that grow in her flower gardens.

My friend Pamela also gave me a clump of Siberian iris for my garden. She is one generous friend!

Iris represent to me my late mother and grandmother. They both grew iris and I brought some of their original rhizomes to plant here in Nova Scotia when we moved. I always think of their love of flowers when I see iris and each year for many years I’ve tried to paint their luscious shapes and colours in the short window of opportunity, for they don’t bloom for long.

These were my mother's bearded iris and before that, my grandmother's. I brought some to Bear River from our postage-stamp sized front garden in Toronto. I paint them every year.

I wanted my painting to reproduce the feeling of being outside (but without the very active black flies) so I pulled out all my vases and water jars at the studio so that I could create a garden on my table!

First I worked with watercolour in order to loosen myself up. I also love the way colour and water flow into each other and I wanted to ‘play’ with that.

I first painted some shapes with clear water and then loaded my brush with colour and randomly painted some flower shapes so that I would get 'accidental' colour bleeds into the wet spaces.

This is one of my favorite iris paintings that I’ve ever done with watercolour.

The Ancestor. watercolour by Flora Doehler, 1998. Collection of Gail Waiser.

I approached the acrylic like a wet-in-wet watercolour and tried to keep it very loose.

I sketched the flowers with watercolour crayons and then spritzed the canvas with water. Next I painted using watery acrylics. When the painting is finished, I'll fix the images by painting a mat or varnish medium over the entire canvas.

I’ve been inspired over the last year by reading artists’ blogs and online communities. There is so much creative work and exchange happening out there and it’s exciting to be able to see artwork online and to develop connections and correspondence with fellow artists all over the world, especially because I live in a tiny community that is a great distance from major galleries.

I subscribe to artist and writer Carol Wiebe’s blog called Silverspring Studio. I like Carol’s blog because it is a perfect mix of good writing and interesting articles. She writes about her own (beautiful) work as well as other artists. I have been introduced to many creative artists and websites through her descriptions.  Carol recently set up her own online community called Cracked Paper Quilts and posted an online tutorial about her use of photo software, Adobe Elements, to digitally alter and enhance her artwork. I was very inspired by the mandela-like images she developed and I tried it myself with the paintings that I’m working on as well as this photo of lupines growing here with our new house as a backdrop.

Most of our wild lupines are purple, but we also have some pink and white ones.

 I altered the colours in the photograph and experimented with some of the filters in Photoshop. To see more detail, click on the image.

If only it was this easy to change the wall colours in your house!

I photographed a section of the acrylic canvas that I’m working on. I adore the colours.

Iris and Lupines painting, detail. Flora Doehler, 2009

First I altered the image with filters found in Adobe Photoshop. I liked that pen and ink look shown here.

First I made the alterations using photoshop.

Then I quadrupled the image and flipped and/or turned the image upside down  to create the kind of image I might get when looking through a kaleidoscope.

Next I quadrupuled the altered image, flipped and turned them and reassembled them.

I am thinking of ways to use the resulting works.  I get it that altering images can be endless and addictive! It’s fun to see how colour changes can totally alter the feel of a piece. 

This detail of the iris with watercolour was next on my list.

These iris were like having graceful dancers in the studio.

I changed the colours and applied a filter in Adobe Photoshop.

I love the batik look of this altered painting.

You can view the whole set here

I wish I wasn’t so consumed right now with gardening, moving, packing, sawdust vaccuming etc because I just want to paint these gorgeous flowers while they are still in bloom.

In another month or less we’ll be moved in and then there will be another wave of blooms to do. Still, I am promising myself to clear the decks for at least 2 weeks next year during iris time.

I think this looks like a piece of fabric now.

The beauty of Adobe Photoshop is that it’s as portable as your laptop and is something to ‘play’ with after a long day of mowing lawns and pulling weeds and turning up more sod by hand. Especially when your partner is sitting beside you on the couch watching the Stanley Cup final playoff game. That’s h-o-c-k-e-y for those of you living in an alternative universe.

Printmaking

Daffodil print and print source.

I have always loved printmaking.  Maybe I have it in my blood.  My father was a Linotype operator and my mother was a writer and an artist who painted with oils and pastels.

The inspiration for the prints was this cheerful pot of daffodils...thanks Larry!

I am one of the few people who actually likes the smell of oil paints –but I digress.  The online course in fibre arts that I recently took used stamps in the projects so I decided to save some money and to make my own.

Pulling a proof.

The problem was I couldn’t find my woodcuts carving tools as they are either still packed away in a box somewhere or they didn’t make the trip here 18 months ago when we moved.

Print of tulips.

Something that I am learning in Bear River is how to improvise.  When people live on reduced means and are far away from stores that supply everything, they are forced to get inventive.  This kind of creativity and innovation is a skill that I didn’t develop very well growing up in the city.

Making a print using foam.

I’d like to think that the innovation is rubbing off on me now because I have figured out a great way to make a stamp for printing using readily available tools.  I’m sure this is not original — probably several hundred other people have figured it out already, but it still excites me.

Glue foam pieces to board backing.

I’ve made a little video to show you how to do this and if you try it I hope you have as much fun as I am having!

In the past couple of weeks I’ve been printmaking.  I enjoy the resulting high contrast and the textures in printmaking, and I want to bring that same feel to my next painting.

I added line and colour to this print.

This is a story of how one thing leads to an unexpected other thing. The online personal symbols class led to this printmaking experiment. In a later post, I’ll show you how it has impacted my painting.

Printing and painting.