Before/After Studio shots

I still need to compile the progress shots of my studio/office renovations, but in the meantime, here are some awesome before & after pics I put together. It's hard for me to imagine what this place used to look like before the big transformation - and seeing these photos reminds me of all the blood, sweat, and tears we put into this place last year!

Remember: this started out as a lakefront camp, which is right next door to our home. After we bought it (for the extra frontage), we decided to convert it into my office/studio since my home office wasn't quite cutting it anymore. I love seeing how it started out!

What used to be the living room is now my painting corner.

The entrance - I found this awesome bookshelf at a garage sale. After a couple good coats of paint, it also made for a wonderful entrance divider/half wall.

Just removing those top kitchen cabinets made a huge difference! I made the sink window taller, removed the appliances, and painted the walls/cabinets.

One of the bedrooms is now my office. Again, I made those corner windows much larger, which means I can now look outside while I'm working at the computer - finally! :)

My third solo exhibit is coming to a close

It's been a busy summer of art fairs and gallery shows! Tomorrow I'm heading to the Galerie Henri Nadeau in St-Francois, NB to take down my solo exhibit. This is my third solo show already, and 15 of my paintings have been hung there since July 5th - a whole two months! Here's a photo from the main entrance.

I also participated in the Rendez-vous des Artistes in St-Leonard this year, which is always an amazing time!! It's my 5th year in a row there, and it's something I look forward to the minute it ends.

I sold 6 paintings already, just in those two venues alone... I also sold "Rolling Clouds" and "Irish Moss" this summer on Etsy. I really need to get painting so I can fill up my walls again!

I'm back.... from my Carol Marine workshop!

It's pretty sad when I finally log into Blogger tonight and see that I had only one blog post in 2011. ONE! How does that even happen? Am I that busy that I can't spare a few minutes for a quick update? Truth is, I have been extremely busy this past year - so much has happened (all good, I assure you!) - but I promise to make a better effort this time. I hope :-)

But why now? What's motivating me this time? Well, I just got back from an amazing painting workshop in Toronto, ON, by one of my all-time favorite artists: Carol Marine. I've been an admirer of her work and her techniques for many years now, but her workshops always sell out so fast. After 3 years of trying to get in, I finally made it and it was worth all the wait. This might just be the push I needed to get myself in the studio on a more regular basis (and updating this blog!)

One of exercises she made us do was to take a simple object (I chose a pear), and to paint it in just 10-minutes. After time was up, we had to do it again - up to 4 times. The goal was to simplify our strokes, and really focus on seeing the bigger shapes, values, and colors. We actually were supposed to get better with each one, but as you can see I was clearly getting worse! Still... it was an amazing learning experience :-)

On a side note, I also owe you some updated studio pics!! I'm finally all moved in now and am loving the new space. Keep an eye out for those in the next week or so! :)