Newsletter

Merry Christmas and all the best to you in the New Year!

Thank you for your support and interest over the years.

The July flood of my studio, for all of the work, disruption and stress it caused us, has had the unexpected result of forcing me to take stock, to get rid of things I no longer use or value, to repurpose what I can and to clean and reorganize. My studio is now a wonderful place in which to create. I am very grateful. I am a participating artist in the London Artists’ Studio Tour 2025 so you may wish to see it for yourself.

November’s dark mornings and early evenings lend themselves to thinking, planning and reminiscing. I plan fall menus while cocooning under snuggly blankets and think about how the fallen leaves look like crumble toppings of oats and brown sugar and cinnamon. Fall has always been my favourite season. As John Burroughs said, “How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and colour are their last days.” Light and colour. Growing old beautifully. Goals to reach for.

Light and colour are both to be had if you visit the following:

The Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour Open Water 99 Exhibition where you will find the 40 selected paintings chosen by the jurors from 242 submissions from 9 countries. I am honoured to have had my painting selected. This is the fifth consecutive Open Water in which I have been selected to exhibit.

          Poppies In Birr , my entry

Christmas In Bayfield Nov.15to 17

Main Street Gallery has an amazing variety of art, some of which I am delighted to tell you, is mine! The Gallery will pay the tax on your purchases over $50 for this event.

Main Street Gallery, Bayfield

As always, thank you for your interest in my work and for your support. Enjoy the remaining soft quiet days befor the intensity of the Christmas season arrives.

Take care and happy creating.

Sue

I must be having fun, as the saying goes, because time has certainly been flying!

It’s hard to believe that it’s half way through September already. 

First of all let me thank all of you who travelled to Sparta to see my work at Gathered Gallery. It was fun chatting with you.

Autumn is my favourite season as I have likely shared several times before. Even though the days are still quite warm the fragrance of autumn is in the air of our garden in the mornings. It is accompanied by the perfume of the Sweet Autumn Clematis which has done very well this year.

It is time once again to take cuttings, let the amaryllis bulbs go dormant, plant bulbs and collect seed. Lots of opportunities for ther coming year. Hope springs eternal at this time of year as I prepare for next year’s garden.

This season also brings many opportunities in the art world.

The Woodstock Art Gallery’s Visual Elements 66 is on until September 21st. Brian and I enjoyed seeing the terrific art in this exhibition and also enjoyed chatting with Danielle Hoevenaars, who you may know from Westland Gallery, and who is now the Head of Collections at Woodstock Art Gallery.

My painting on the right, beside Kim Harrison’s work.

On Sunday September 22, the first Annual Main Street Arts Festival is taking place in Bayfield. Many wonderful events and activities are planned as well as several galleries to visit. At this time of year it is a beautiful drive to Bayfield from London.

I will be teaching art classes at Westland Gallery on Tuesday evenings in October. The classes are designed for those with some experience painting in watercolour and will not be suitable for beginners.

Sadly there has been virtually no progress on the restoration of my studio after the flood.  

Take care. Enjoy this fabulous season. Thanks for your ongoing interest and support.

Sue
 

Hello to all of you. It’s been a while. Because it is summer and I have been swamped with a variety of things, July and August’s newsletters are arriving in your mailbox as one.

I have lots of news to share, most of it of the good variety.

First, however, the bad news.

Many of you have already heard me moaning about the recent flood in my art studio in our basement. Fortunately most of my art escaped unscathed as did my art supplies including 20 sheets of watercolour paper recently purchased. With the help of our grandson we lugged paintings and art supplies upstairs to our living and dining rooms which have become storage areas. We are impatiently waiting for work to begin.

Now the good news.

I have been invited to be the visiting guest artist for the month of August at Gathered, a lovely Art Gallery in Sparta. The Artist’s Reception will take place on August 10th from 1 until 5. I hope to see many of you there. I have a variety of sizes and price points available as well as some art notecards.There will be brand new work along with work made over the last few years.

I have had a painting juried into the Woodstock Art Gallery’s Visual Elements 66 which runs until September 21. The Juror’s Walk will take place on September 7th from 1 to 3. I hope you are able to visit the exhibition and perhaps attend the Juror’s Walk.

Again this summer several of my paintings can be found at Main Street Gallery in Bayfield, a wonderful place to take a day trip and to enjoy the galleries, restaurants and shops.

This month I will be participating in Beyond The Boards, Field Study to Fine Art, an event hosted by St. Thomas Elgin Public Art Centre. Artists will spend a day sketching, taking field notes and painting on location. Later they will complete studio work to be exhibited a at STEPAC from April 12th to June7, 2025. I am very excited by this event which has been inspired by the work of Clark McDougall, a Canadian painter.

I have been invited to conduct a four week workshop at Westland Gallery. The workshop is intended for those with experience working in watercolour and will consist of methods to develop, refine and enhance your personal style. It will take place in October on four consecutive Tuesdays from 6:30 to 8:30. Watch for the announcement from Westland Gallery.

Westland Gallery

On the horizon are several shows and exciting events that I am currently preparing for which I will tell you more about in upcoming newsletters.

Finally, a huge thank you to all of you for your ongoing interest and support and a special thanks to those who keep in touch and reply to these newsletters.Take care and enjoy the last month of summer.

Lang may your lum reek.

Sue

I hope you have been enjoying Spring and early Summer. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. I have spent many glorious hours in my garden and at local garden centres dreaming and planting and following the Matheson motto, Fac et Spera, Do and Hope.

Paint Ontario was a great success in their new location. I hope you had the opportunity to see this exhibition. Opening night was a delightful time to catch up with friends and to see some fabulous art. I am happy to tell you that my painting, Vacant Lot, which I shared in my last newsletter, sold. 

The local art club shows were also great fun and a chance to visit with friends.

In my last newsletter I mentioned the Annual General Meeting of the CSPWC at the Arts and Letters Club in Toronto and which I attended by Zoom. The speaker, Dr. Catherine Martin, who spoke about Franklin Carmichael ( my favourite Group of Seven artist ), was informative and entertaining.

As with gardening, in the world of Art, it is also a case of Do and Hope at this time of the year. I have been in a whirlwind of activity preparing for upcoming events, taking part in local paint outs and preparing submissions and attending meetings.

Here is what I have been up to when not in my garden or local garden centres:

I have been invited to serve as a Director on the Executive of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour. I am honoured.

I am excited to share with you that my submission to Visual Elements, a juried exhibition at Woodstock Art Gallery, was accepted by jurors Terry Graff, Darren Douglas and Lindsay Liboiron. The exhibition takes place from July 13th to September 21 at the Woodstock Art Gallery.

I have been invited to take part again this year in the Live Painting Event, sponsored by Westland Gallery, on Saturday June 29th from 10am to 4pm. Here is a small sample of paintings I have done over the years of homes and buildings in Wortley Village. For several years a friend and I went weekly to the village and sketched together.

I will be in attendance at the local Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour Watercolour Day on July 4th from 11am to 2pm at the Ingersoll Creatve Arts Centre. There will be painters both inside and on the grounds. Bring your sketchbook or paints and join us or just come and watch painters doing what they love. Learn about becoming an Associate Member and how to apply for full membership in our organization. Bring a lunch and have a picnic! All are welcome. The CSPWC is holding similar events across Canada.

I am still preparing for my “invited featured artist” exhibition  at Gathered Art Gallery in Sparta during the month of August. I am looking forward to this show. Both the Gallery and the village of Sparta located in the heart of Elgin County are welcoming and a visual treat. “ As you step inside, you’ll be surrounded by a treasure trove of unusual and intriguing items and a rotating selection of works by local artists.”

Finally, I will be part of  a plein air event which precedes a juried exhibition at St. Thomas Elgin Public Art Centre, “Between the Boards”, Field Study to Fine Art. The plein air event will take place August 10, 2024. I will share more information in a later newsletter. The exhibition takes place April 12 to June 7, 2025.

As always, thank you for your ongoing support and interest in me and my work. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please know that I look forward to reading your responses to my newsletter. 

Sue

The title of this month’s newsletter is taken from Gordon Lightfoot’s, “Pussywillows Cat-Tails”. Spring’s promise in the garden is everywhere. I walk through our garden welcoming back old friends, perennials who have made it through another winter season, and saying hello to new ones, the bulbs planted with hope last fall who are blooming or are about to soon. I am greeted each morning by two new garden visitors, a pair of crows who holler good morning at me as soon as I come out the door. I reply by cawing back and they answer. I am sure the neighbours believe that I have taken leave of my senses. It is easy to become giddy with hope and pleasure this time of year in the garden. There is so much to look forward to.

Similarly, there is much to look forward to in the world of Art.

I was delighted to be invited to speak to the Port Stanley Artists’ Guild a few days ago. What a wonderful group! Their annual show takes place at the Port Stanley Royal Canadian Legion, 310 George Street on June 6, 7 and 8. A great reason for a lovely drive and perhaps a walk on the beach or lunch or dinner after the show.

I will be attending the Annual General meeting of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour soon. It takes place in the Arts and Letters Club in Toronto. This year I will be attending electronically. Zoom is such an amazing thing. The guest speaker will be Dr. Catherine M. Martin who will be speaking about Franklin Carmichael and his CSPWC Presidency.

In two days I will be delivering three of my paintings to Grand Bend. They were juried into the Paint Ontario Exhibition. I am honoured to have all three of my submissions juried into the show and very excited to be a part of it. Here is one of the paintings. To see the other two, you will need to go to the show!

Locally, the Brush and Palette Show will take place April 18, 19 and 20. I have 6 pieces in this show.

The Lambeth Art Association Show is in the near future as well. More about that in my next newsletter.

The Gallery Painting Group’s meeting is also coming up soon and I look forward to seeing everyone and learning about this year’s locations.

And last of all, I have been invited to exhibit as the featured artist at the gallery, Gathered, in Sparta during the month of August. I am so very excited and will let you know more as the date approaches.

Thank you for taking the time to read my newsletter. As always I look forward to hearing from you and perhaps seeing you at one of the upcoming shows. Take care and enjoy the promise of Spring.

I am heading off to enjoy the sunshine, our garden and a hot cup of tea.

Sue

When I last posted we were in anticipation of Christmas. Time has passed and we are now almost at Easter. I apologize for neglecting you for two months. Life can sometimes get in the way.

Once again our garden is filled with birdsong, snowdrops, hellebores and lovely things poking out to promise tulips, daffodils and others shortly. After a very long winter with virtually no sunshine and very little snow the blue skies and sunshine over the past few days have been very welcome as are appearances by cottontails and skunks, grackles and crows and even a couple of robins.

My daughter and I spent a delightful morning at one of our favourite garden centres, the first of many sojourns I am sure. We came home with houseplants and potting soil and visions of this summer’s gardens in our heads and hearts.

Even though my studio has remained abandoned since early December, the Summer and Fall were productive and so I have work ready for the Brush and Palette Club Show, The Lambeth Art Association Show and have submitted work for Paint Ontario and the Society of Canadian Artists. Fingers are crossed. I will let you know the results in April’s newsletter.I have also donated a painting to the New Canvas of Life Fundraiser, an annual event supporting London Health Sciences multi-organ transplant program. Ticket are $100 each and are available at http://www.lhsf.ca/newcanvas . I hope to see you at one of these shows (or more).

Finally I must tell you that I was overwhelmed by the responses to my last newsletter. Your heartfelt messages were read and reread…pure sunshine when I needed it. Thank you.

Take care. 

Sue

At this point in our Christmas preparations I began to strongly identify with one of our tree ornaments.

So I decided a break was in order and sat quietly, a cup of tea in hand with no media distractions and just let my mind wander. Eventually I thought about a question I had heard recently. It was, “Why do you paint?” I arrived at several answers but the most interesting one to me was I paint because my kindergarten teacher was Miss Fox.

She set up a variety of activities which we rotated through. Some changed weekly, others remained longer. The one that captured my attention was the painting easel with a huge piece of newsprint and several bottles each containing a brush and paint. This was the activity I wanted to go to immediately, but I had to wait my turn. What seemed like years but more likely days passed and finally it was my turn.

I will never forget the sheer joy I felt as i put brush to paper. This is why I paint. The joy of paint on paper, the colours, the feel of the brush as it glides over the surface of the paper, the sound the water makes when I clean my brush….they are all part of the magic and wonder that is, for me, painting with watercolour.

if you paint or create with any medium, why do you do it?

Last month I promised to reveal what I have been working on in my studio. It is a series I am calling Time In A Bottle. Today I am showing you #6 in this series, “Save Every Day”.

In closing, I wish you and your family a wonder filled Christmas, one with colours and music and fond memories as well as one bringing new experiences that fill you with joy.

Merry Christmas.

Thanks, as always, for your continuing support and encouragement. Love hearing from you.

Sue

I suppose it it because November is the month in which we commemorate Remembrance Day, but I almost always feel nostalgic at this time of year. As November comes to an end, Christmas approaches triggering happy memories of beloved family members no longer with us. I am reminded of who we have been, of my childhood, the childhood of my daughter and later, that of my grandson. Those little people and the little person I once was, loved Christmas with such innocent carefree enthusiasm.

All of this leads me to tell you that while I reminisced, the lyrics of the song, Time In A Bottle, came to mind and with them the idea for my latest series of paintings. If you follow me on social media, you will have seen one of these paintings, Remembrance, already. I have completed six others to date and have not yet run out of steam.

I will not be posting any more paintings in this series on social media but will give you a sneak peek of a few in my newsletter in the New Year. And if you are wondering what my plans are for these paintings, I have no idea! I am enjoying the process and will continue with the series now and then again in the New year after a short hiatus over Christmas..

My studio is a busy place these days.

Time In A Bottle Series: #3, Remembrance, 12 x 24

As always, take care, and thank you for your interest and support. Talk to you next month.

Sue