Was accepted into the FCA Water 2023 exhibit. Due to a whole series of the challenges. she did not make it to the live exhibition in Vancouver.
sister Island 9” x 14” watercolour. (private collection Muskoka)
Perspectives November 2023
“Up the Hill” 11 x 14” watercolour
Yellow Tree Peonies 14” x 11” watercolour & Pencil Crayon
“Up the Hill” embraces complex greenery and texture as our eye is drawn up the hill to a peaceful summer veranda on Muskoka’s Little Lake Joseph.
We look across waving sunlight into fragile layers of petals as “Yellow Tree Peonies” float in a sea of deep purple mystery.
Looking Forward, to Spring
Let’s just skip winter; …clouds, rain, snow, ice, slush, muck and all that sort of thing. It’s no fun to bike in that stuff, no fun sketching painting anywhere other than indoors. It is fun to picture next year’s garden. The yellow tree peony on the lawn puts on quite a display in the early spring morning sun.
detail “Under the Sun” mixed media W&N watercolour & Polychromos pencil crayon
A Flock of Ducks
August was very cool in Toronto. Good for dreaming of hockey. Suitable for painting hockey. Thus a visual history, in watercolour, tracing the uniforms of the Anaheim Ducks for Heritage Sports Art . The Ducks started their life as a Disney movie with what became the team’s name “The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim”, with frankly one of my favourite sports logos, a ducky goalie mask. We have moved on to a ducky golden forward thinking foot.
Contact Scott Sillcox to create your personal art work for your your personal favourite sports uniforms for your art collection
Women In Watercolor 2023
I’ve Got My Eye on You, Mr Sneerfulness, has now also received aa award from the Art of Watercolour Magazine in the 2023 edition of Women in Watercolor. With over 1800 submissions this is beyond a mere “That’s very nice”. The quality of the international competition is outstanding. In 2022 “Arctic Queen, Bee received an honorable mention.
For the full show of 2023 winners please go to
https://womeninwatercolor.com/2023-award-winners/
and scroll down to the five merchandise awards.
Pictures came before words. Depicting animals in art is nothing new, in fact it dates back over 17,000 years to the Lascaux caves. So what keeps me returning to animals as my subject? It’s the challenge of accurately depicting detail and texture of coats, feathers, skin and equipment in pricise glazed layers of pigments, without overworking a subject.
Muskoka Chautauqua 2023 Fundraiser
Every year Muskoka Chautauqua comes up with a uniquely creative fundraiser. This year’s a deck of cards of original Muskoka images. The originals will be displayed at the Gallery in the Woods, 1039 Golf Avenue, Windermere Village, ON P0B 1P0 Canada during the Summer Festival, August 4th-13th.
Come, See, Enjoy and take the opportunity to Purchase, one or more these very small original works.
left waterlilies watercolour, right "life drawing” a chipmunk on my knee graphite
Merriweather’s contribution, a watercolour and a graphite sketch of two iconic Muskoka subjects, water lilies and chipmunks.
FCA Mail In Exhibition or the 10"x8"
One of FCA’s most inclusive exhibitions. The Annual International Mail-In Art Exhibition, has returned to the Federation Gallery! AIMAE is an opportunity to explore Big ideas in a small format. The theme this year was "Recovery".
This years theme could go in many different directions, including the recovery from artistic exhaustion, or “A Creative Recovery”. Visit the Federation Gallery in person or electronically to view all these exciting works from July 3rd - 23rd! .
7.5 x 5.5 relief print #2/10. A Creative Recovery
Poster artwork by Shiv Shankar Chokalingam
Boston's Fenway Park 2023 and Kansas City's Kaufman Stadium 1973
The Heritage Sports Art Project has given me the opportunity to virtually explore North America’s sports venues as they have developed since the mid 1800s.
Fenway Park, the oldest ballpark, in continuous use, since 1912 is on the National Register of Historic Places. It fills into an oddly shaped very compact city block.
Kauffman Stadium reflects the expansive and car dependent spaces of the late 60s. Together they show just how sports venues have grown and evolved.
Fenway is constrained by history. It cannot expand, only grow up. Kauffman shares a massive parking lot with the nearby NFL Arrowhead Stadium. The adjoining massive parking lots mean massive tailgate parties for both baseball & football. Recently Kauffmann has added a playground outside its stands.
FCA Small Exhibition, Federation Gallery April 4-16 2023
Small works are defined as “under 165 sq.in or 1065 sq.cm”. A physically small image can be a very big idea. Welcome to the world of small.
“LogIn” (12” x 12” watercolour) explores the interaction of a tree with the water’s edge. Is it falling into the surface or leaping from Lake Joseph’s water up onto the rocky Canadian Shield? Either Way it has been rewarded with an Honourable Mention in the Small Works Exhibition 2023!
The beautiful thing about small artworks? They invite the viewer to look closely, marvel at details and skill. Small works are intimate. They fit add a unique touch to a space that's lacking artwork, smaller spaces in your home or on the gallery wall. The Small Exhibition 2023 shows over one hundred pieces. It’s a small world after all. Invitation image Thomas Kero
9” x 12” watercolour
A Clematis Trio at the Federation Gallery BLOOM 2023
At the Federation Gallery, Spring has finally arrived. What better way to celebrate than with an exhibition highlighting the buds and blossoms that are popping up all around us! You will find exquisite paintings, drawings and collages. Beautiful floral artworks are paired with breathtaking living floral installations created by the Vancouver Branch of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana.
A portrait trio of double white Arctic Queen Clematis float on a simple cool background. Is it Ice? Is it a Cold Sky? Is it Snow? Not likely as the flowers are at their best in July in Toronto. Their subtle absence of flashy colour, as translucent layers of off white petals create a complex physical structure, provide an annual challenge. Especially as a simple composition.
I've Got My Eye On You & I've Got Your Back
Pictures came before words. Depicting animals in art is nothing new, in fact it dates back over 17,000 years to the Lascaux caves. So what keeps artists returning to this inspiring subject? Find out in the Federation Gallery’s Animalis! The pieces show our close relationships with those animals that are part of the family and reflect on the many ways we can care for wildlife and the environment.
“I’ve Got My Eye On You” His portrait was awarded 3rd Place. An honour to be sure for Mr Sneerfulness and his smirk.
I’ve Got My Eye On You 14” x 11” Watercolour
Last fall there were many critters wandering about at Breadalbane Lane Farm. The Muscovy Duck, Mr. Sneerfulness was quite clear, “I’ve Got My Eye On You” I did not need to speak Duck. 14” x 10” watercolour on 140lb Arches Hot Press.
The RAWF has lots of subjects. The original graphite sketch of "I've Got Your Back, RAWF Poultry Show" is several years old. I redid “I’ve Got Your Back” on a left over, but still black, scrap sheet, 9.75 x 7.5 inches in Faber-Castell Polychromos colored pencils.
See both at the Federation of Canadian Artists’ “Federation Gallery” Granville Island Vancouver, March 7, 2023-March 19, 2023 after that on line at the Federation Gallery
A Sporting Family's Portrait Collection
I request an animal to be part of all portraits, a pony, puppy, kitten or even a calf. There are exceptions to any rule. Heritage Sports only have a single animal, UGGA the bulldog.
An Atlanta Georgia family requested an NCAA SEC college football uniform, later a grandchild’s high school football uniform. The next set play golf instead instead of football. The grandchildren? Who knows? For now they are just having fun.
These are iindividual subjects, all one family, completed over time. All Watercolour
There is new learning in all works. These seven works for a single family certainly prove that, and no animals