Blog

  June brought the warmer weather all at once and all at once my professional life started going crazy.

  I had applied to be included in the Kings County Studio Tour and I had also applied for an exhibit at The Charlotte Street Art Center in Fredericton.  In a two day period I found out I was accepted for both. I was incredibly happy but knew I would have a good deal of work ahead of me.

  The Kings County Studio Tour finished yesterday and it was worth all the work to meet and be able to discuss my work and methods to so many different people. I would also like to take a moment to thank my sponsors, Brad Stanley Financial Services of Sun Life Financial and Little House on the Perry, Quispamsis' newest furniture store.  

  Something else has been happening.  I am moving studio. I had been happily painting in my 3rd floor space in the Blair Building on Westmorland Rd.  It's a lovely clean and well managed building with free parking. I had a bright, spacious studio with my own sink and a super storage area.  I had been working in a vacuum which was what I needed for a time.  I needed to work really hard with no distractions. I built up my portfolio and really realized who I was as an artist.  At an art show in May, I had run into a wonderful guy and fantastic artist, Ed Coleman.  When I asked how his studio was ( I've had a bad crush on Ed's studio), he told me he was almost out so....  I called his landlord, again.  I had asked about space in this building almost two years ago and was just so fortunate to get in another call at the right time.  I am now almost all moved. 

 Being uptown is just too wonderful for me.  I've been introduced to or run in to total strangers who say, "I know who you are" or "I've heard about you". At first, I was wondering what I had done but it seems there are a few folks who know my art. Making the move now was a crazy thing to do but it was really the only thing to do.

 Now I just have to get ready for the show on the 26th with artist,Teodora Strynatka. I am so excited to have been paired with her.   The painting's all done. Artist's statement, list of paintings and prices is ready. I just have to pack and treck the paintings to Fredericton> If you will be in the Fredericton area on June 26th, the opening is June 26th 5:00- 7:30 at Charlotte Glencross Gallery in the Fredericton art center. I will be posting the event on my site as well as my facebook page when the official poster is ready.

  This is the last work completed at my Westmorland Road studio.  Although the scene itself is from memories of dirt roads and fields I traveled with my Dad on the way to go fishing, the trees themselves are the trees of Westmorland Road visible from my window. With the late spring this year, they seemed so much more brilliant than usual. Everyday they seemed to change their colour.  When I am doing a painting, I become a part of what I am painting and this was an amazing place to be for a few days. I just hope I caught a little bit of the sense of wonder and hope this scene evoked in me.

    Almost two years ago, I fell in love with an other artist's studio. In a way, it was nothing special, yet it was everything. The studio consists of a dining room and kitchen of an old second story apartment. The floors have probably been worn out for decades. The ceiling plaster is in rough shape. There is a very cramped shared bathroom in the hall.

  Those rough ceilings are ten feet high. The three huge windows face north and the light is unobstructed and those windows are located on Germain Street. When I first walked in, I just felt this studio was meant for me but of course, it was happily occupied by one of Saint John's nicest and most prominent artists.

   A couple of weeks ago, I bumped into Ed Coleman at the RNS Art Show and jokingly asked how his studio was doing, he told me he was moving studio into his new home. I thought that half the city would be wanting that studio but I asked if it was taken.  After a few twists and turns, (mostly related to me losing the landlord's number), everything finally fell in to place and the studio is now mine.

   This June is probably the busiest month I have ever had as an artist. I have no time to move. If you have ever seen the storeroom at my current studio, you know how much work I have ahead of me. I am also getting ready for The Kings County Studio Tour, June 13 and 14th and a two person show at Charlotte Street Arts Center in Fredericton which opens on June 26. Call me crazy, if you wish, but I have never been happier.

  I'll let you know when I'm moved and ready for visitors!