TSA Art Show

In the last month I've had photos and paintings in two "shows". Pretty cool! The latest one was last weekend at the Toronto School of Art. This is where I take my night class in Painting 1 with instructor, Tom Campbell. Tom is what I would call an "art eccentric". He's got a sweet english accent, unruly hair and thick tortoise-shell glasses that constantly slide off his nose...but he sure knows art and has been a great teacher.

The open house was a showcase for all the students in each class to display their talents. I was chosen to put up one of my landscape paintings for the show. Here's me, beside my pic on the wall amongst others from my class. I kind of felt like I was back in kindergarten again when the teacher says, "good job!" and pins your drawing of a house on the bulletin board for the class to see. Gold star!

My website is almost complete now, just a few more paintings to put and and then I will let you all know the site. The next step, once I get up enough courage, is to go to some local hangouts and see if they are willing to display some of my stuff. 'Plan to quit day job' is in action!!

OCAD Whodunit Sale

How exciting! A chance to donate to charity and display some art at the same time. The Ontario College of Art and Design - Whodunit Sale is a great way for both established and up and coming artists to donate their art. Basically every piece in the sale is only 5''x7'' and can be any type of media, oil, watercolor, photography and this year, even 3D! No one knows who the artist is until the piece is sold! So being that every piece is only $75, you might be buying a masterpiece, or a first try by an art student.

Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to finish any paintings for the sale. Kicking myself for that :( But I did manage to donate a few of my favorite photos from around the world. I'm very excited to see some of my work hung on a wall for once!

I tried to choose the photos that I thought would still be interesting and powerful, even in such a small size. Most of the ones I chose actually ended up being from Sri Lanka, which is indeed a colorful place. The photo above I took at an old abandoned train station in the tea
covered hills of central Sri Lanka.

The photo here was taken down an alleyway in a suburb of Mumbai, India. I found the bright colors of the saris worn by the women to be so beautiful; such a contrast to the drab poverty covering the city.

If you'd like to see more photos from the show let me know. If you're in the Toronto area, see the link below for more details on the sale.

http://www.ocad.ca/about_ocad/support_ocad/whodunit.htm

Sharing is scary...

Well I finally got a blog up after hours of trying to figure out how to post things, edit, etc. User friendly my ass. Hopefully this blog will continue to improve as I learn how to do more things. I also have to say I'm a little unnerved about putting myself out there. Blogging to me has always just been about keeping friends and family up to date on our travels...like our Ride for Life or Nomad Couple blogs.... To be honest I thought people who regularly spew out their mundane opinions and pictures on the web to be a little conceited. I mean do you really think people care that much about what you have to say??

But here I am with a blog of my own. Granted this one will be more focused on my journey to become what I would consider an "artist". It has been slow going so far, and I'm hoping that having a regular blog to share my ideas and paintings will both motivate me and give me some good feedback from others. But really, posting a painting to me is like uploading a little piece of my soul for people to judge....be gentle!

The world of art is like the world of fashion....another world. I'm intimidated by the pretentious Toronto galleries and the free-booze parties they throw for the new up and coming artist of the minute. I don't know if it's as difficult to break into this world as I imagine. I sure don't have any connections to famous local artists. For now all I can do is keep on practicing, sketching, and painting and hopefully find an audience out there somewhere. Enjoy.