a tempest of teacups

So tonight there is a local fundraiser gala event for the Gabriola Arts Council and in honour of this group’s 20th year, the theme is all about CHINA!

China Affair 2017

Of course, when the call to artists went out inviting us to create something along this theme, I had to join in!  I love painting tea cups and using fancy china to drink my tea.  Any old day can be a tea party if you take a moment to pull out the good stuff.

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I started playing with ideas and really settled on this idea of using the good stuff any time, like taking it to the beach for picnics (something I love to do with my girls)! Using photos from a recent picnic with my youngest at Drumbeg, I started playing with some new photo transfer techniques and I love how well this technique works on a wood surface!  You should really try it with your favourite photos!  Here is the one that worked out the best, I love the feeling that comes through.  ”Making Memories” is a mixed media photography piece on a 10×10 cradled panel and it will be for sale at tonight’s fundraiser event!

making memories

A couple weekends ago, the amazing woman who runs ArtziStuff (the gallery in downtown Nanaimo that carries my art and cards) hosted an art party with her mom (thank you Tanya and Diane Streeter)!  I was so lucky to be invited to this gathering of incredible creative women and had so much fun sharing food and stories and art supplies and techniques! I worked (played) alongside Janice Hofman who makes amazing stencils – you can find Janice’s stuff on etsy and at Iron Oxide (an amazing art supply shop in downtown Nanaimo).  She showed me some fun new stencil techniques and we had a giggle over the fact that we packed the exact same paint colours to bring for the afternoon of creating! Her stencils helped me jazz up this other painting I did for tonight’s art auction….

tea party pink tea cup 8x8 2017

I loved working on this sweet piece while surrounded by all my new art pals.  I painted tea cups all afternoon while drinking tea (first black, then mint) and later prosecco in a fancy pink and gold tea cup.  The delicious biscotti made by one of the artists at the party was just so perfectly paired with my mood (as were the stories she shared of her time in Italy). Thank you Mirella Trozzo, I must come find you again at Biscotti Di Notte in Qualicum!

tea and tea cup arttea art party so many tea cups cr

I had so much fun brewing up a collection of tea cup paintings at this little art party (and since then in my home studio).  There truly has been a Tempest of Teacups in my life the last couple of weeks….with my art and with all the tea we have been drinking as my family has taken turns with the flu.  Now we are all still fighting the lingering effects of the cold that came with this nasty bug and drinking more tea!  I am hoping to join everyone at the Tempest in a Teacup event tonight, but I will have to see how I feel… luckily I still have all afternoon to drink healing cups of tea.

Cheers to all of you who also enjoy a good cup of tea (or prosecco)!

cheers at tanya and diane art party

Tea parties really are perfect any time — at the beach with your kids, while creating with friends or home alone to help you heal from a cold!

IMG_9729btcrart party photo credits go to Mirella Trozzon and Janice Hofman – thanks for capturing the magic!

 

for the whales

It feels to good to paint again….to find an old canvas and bring it new life with layers of playful paint added over a period of weeks, with no plan in mind.  To then feel driven to paint something special and to use that colourful, multi-layered canvas to make something like THIS….

for the whales 10x10

I am so glad I made time to paint something FOR THE WHALES, for the amazing team of educators and researchers that are doing so much for the baleen whales in our waters! I hope this playful whale tail will help my friends at MERS (Marine Education and Research Society) keep doing their important work.  I hope it will also make you think about the whales and how you can learn more about them.  Do you want to help to?  Check out all the on-line silent auction items and perhaps make a bid (bidding closes 2 pm on June 26th).  There are raffle tickets for sale too and a fun event being planned for June 26th. Why not make a trip…

mers event

Of course, you can also visit the MERS website anytime and contribute by Adopting A Whale or making a donation.  Just by learning more about the whales and the work MERS is doing to protect whales, you will become part of the team.  The more we know, the more we care, the more we will help.

All this on the heels of an incredible string of World Oceans Day events and school programs I participated in.  I think this painting was infused with ocean magic after all those amazing events that were topped off by a school camping trip with my daughter to a whale filled bay on the West Coast! Which reminds me, I should go check the calendar to see when we can go back to visit the grey whales in Pachena Bay again this summer!

grey whale heart blow

 

fill me up

I just finished a little piece for the second annual A Small Gesture Art Show and Fundraiser happening this weekend in Nanaimo.  If you are in the neighbourhood, please pop by Iron Oxide Art Supplies tomorrow night and Saturday to have a look.  Maybe you will find the perfect little piece of art to gift your mother (or yourself).  This painting would be perfect for someone who loves the little things.  I have included several of my favourite things in the piece — tea cup (with clear direction to be filled before anything else happens), envelopes (can you see them, from mail received), a doily (they always make me smile), aqua (the sides are painted aqua too)…and a hint of pink (a colour my girls introduced me to the joy of)…..I hope it makes you smile!

first things first, fill 'er up