Spring Art Exhibition

Federation of Canadian Artists

Juried Spring Exhibition 2019

Everyone Welcome! The Federation of Canadian Artists in collaboration with the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, are hosting our Juried Spring Exhibition and Sale at the AGGV, in the Massey Hall. This show featuring emerging through to professional local artists, will be exhibiting the highest quality paintings. Our Exhibition Opening is Thursday March 7, from 6:00 - 8:30pm, with artists in attendance, live jazz, and refreshments. We look forward to welcoming you there!

The Exhibition continues March 3 - 31 with Gallery hours listed below:

Tues-Wed, Fri-Sat 10am-5pm, Thurs 10am-9pm, Sun 12pm-5pm, and Monday Closed

Check in at the front desk to visit Massey Gallery at no charge.

Spring Art Exhibition

TD Art Gallery Paint In - A Grand Success!

This past Saturday was the TD Art Gallery Paint In, the biggest and most fun art show of the year. We couldn't have had a more perfect day weather wise. It was beautiful and sunny but not too hot. If you're from the area, you'll know that we've been experiencing a lot of rain, so it was a great relief to see the sunshine. 

Approximately 35,000 art enthusiasts roamed Moss St., a distance of about 10 blocks, being entertained by artists demonstrating their work, by painting on a community canvas, a mural, print making, trying out claywork, all sorts of wonderful opportunities for the public to experience art.

This is my set up. I also had a demo station on the left, along with a community canvas that could be painted on or if you were a little unsure of brushwork you could use oil pastels.

The Community  Canvas was lots of fun. The youngest person to paint was 2 years old, and the eldest was 90. There were lots of hearts, some rainbows, sunshine, flowers, trees, and lots of gestural strokes.

Here's two sisters sharing the bottom of the canvas. In fact the bottom of the canvas was really well worked. All in all it was a great day. I met many art enthusiasts who were interested in my process, and really wanted to understand how a blank canvas evolves into a complete painting. I was also really enjoyed my friends dropping by to say hi. Thanks everyone!!

TD Art Gallery Paint In - A Grand Success!

More Christmas Small Works at the AGGV

Sweet n' Spicey  6 x 6  

A-pear-antly Red  6 x 6

I'm happy to report that my two paintings Three's a Crowd and Tempting, that are part of the Christmas Small Works Show at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, posted November 22, have been sold! So I've been invited to submit two more and these are my new submissions. If you are interested in either of these paintings they are both framed and are $125 each and can be purchased through the AGGV 

 Also, after receiving such kind and supportive comments from you on my last post Ford Cove - Hornby Island, I realized I hadn't told the whole story about this painting. I'm sorry this photo is so dark, but it gives you the idea.

This painting was selected for the Vancouver Island Art Calendar 2009, and was the image for the month of December. The calendar was produced by the Rotary Club to raise funds for their humanitarian program - ShelterBox. These ShelterBoxes are sent into areas where natural disasters etc. have displaced people from their homes. These large green plastic boxes contain a 10 person tent, water filter system, a special portable burner that will operate on any fuel - even paraffin, tools, cooking and eating utensils, school supplies - all of the essentials for a family of 10 to survive for at least 6 months. They have been sent to places like Myanmar, China and Haiti.  I was  very proud and honoured to be part of this fund raiser, and managed to sell enough calendars to fund the purchase of one entire ShelterBox.

An amazing thing about the program is that if you purchase a ShelterBox, you can track it online and know when and where it is sent to aid people in need.

More Christmas Small Works at the AGGV

Christmas Small Works Show at the AGGV

 Three's a Crowd - SOLD

Tempting - SOLD

These two paintings are part of the Christmas Small Works Show at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. It opened on Friday and if you haven't made it there yet because of the cold snowy weather, do try to make it there soon as there are many wonderful pieces by over 60 of Victoria's well known artists. To view the information on the show click here.

Thanks to everyone who sent their good wishes for the Oak Bay Art Studio Tour that took place this past weekend. We had icy cold weather with high winds at times, but the snow held until today, which came in the form of a white out! So we were very lucky during the weekend. Although we had smaller crowds than usual, those who did come were serious art viewers, who were very interested in the art, my process and inspiration and they were all a pleasure to welcome into my home. So all in all it was a success! I'm taking a few days off to relax after the weekend, and then I'll be back painting and posting again. Talk to you then!

Christmas Small Works Show at the AGGV

Artist Phyllis Serota at the AGGV

Artist Phyllis Serota at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria

I've had a very artsy weekend. After the Friday night "Little Gems Show", Saterday arrived and I attended a "Talk in the Gallery" with Victoria Artist Phyllis Serota, whose show "Still Still Life" is showing at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. Phyllis is a very warm, engaging speaker who allowed everyone to relax, laugh a lot, and enjoy hearing of her inspiration for her paintings on exhibit. One attendee commented on how she appreciated Phyllis making the explanations of her art so accessible and unintimidating. Phyllis sighted this as an important aspect in marketing your art., and said that she has worked at breaking down the barriers and creating comfort for the public to enter galleries to view and appreciate art. I thought this was a really valid point for all of us to consider when showing our work. 

Phyllis has been painting for 50 years, so she has seen many changes with the evolution of materials and methods. She has moved from oils to acrylics, utilizing lots of textural effects. She sees digital photography as a revolution in art. She says that the cost savings and creativity that digital photography provides artists is enormous. 

Phyllis' work is varied, sometimes painted purely from her imagination, sometimes from her own personal history depicting family events, or from life , as in the case of her still life paintings. To view her work click here

I'm also very fortunate to have Phyllis as a neighbour. She has a wonderful studio which she she  kindly gave me a tour of, and is very warm and encouraging with artists like myself who are newer to the art business. 

Apart from all of the art events I attended this weekend, I also managed to get in a fair amount of painting. I'm preparing for the Oak Bay Artists Studio Tour coming up on November 20 and 21, and have been painting some larger pieces. I'll post those later in the week. Talk to you then!

Artist Phyllis Serota at the AGGV