
L'Aperitif, is my Rainy Day Draw Prize at the TD Art Gallery Paint-In in Victoria BC, Saturday July 16th.

Saturday was the much awaited 24th Annual TD Art Gallery Paint-In (formerly known as the Moss Street Paint In). The whole week the weather had been very poor, but the Paint-In has an almost 100% record of sunshine, so we all had our fingers crossed. I awoke Saturday morning to torrential rain!! My husband and I loaded up the car with sheets of rain pouring down, set up a tent awning and managed to get all my paintings in underneath. Saturday Victoria experienced a record rainfall for that day, with 11.4 millimeters of rainfall, topping 7.1 mm in 1942! I thought that I might have a very lonely day freezing underneath my tent with just some paintings as company. But Victoria came through and the art lovers came in out in droves, with umbrellas in hand, and within a short time the rain let up, and the artists ventured out from undercover.

There were 150 artists, in all mediums from all varieties of painting to sculpture, pottery, fiber arts, and collage and more. There were many opportunities for participation, and kids had passports to try out an art form, get their passport stamped, then on to the next station. It turned out to be a wonderful day all round, and showed that if you live in the Pacific Northwest, a bit of rain never stops you! I met many enthusiastic art lovers and had some great conversations about my demo piece - painting a grisaille, what it's for and how it works. I also had a number of textured pieces on display and discussed texture as an added dimension, to enhance the composition, and create movement in the painting. Sorry I'm lacking photos of my set up. As a thank you to all the art lovers who came enthusiastically regardless of the rain, I had an impromptu Rainy Day Draw Prize and gave away a sunny still life painting depicting enjoying a glass of wine on a patio . The lucky winner was M. O'Neill! The TD Art Gallery Paint-In was great fun and I can hardly wait until next year!
