Newsletter

It snowed this week. You probably noticed. What was your immediate reaction? In spite of advancing years, when the first snow of the season happens I am a child again. The giddy excitement that bubbles up is momentarily uncontrollable. Visions of ice skates and toboggans and snow forts and snowball fights and snowmen will eventually succumb to the reality of icy roads and slippery sidewalks and shovelling and cabin fever. But before they do, I enjoy my childhood once more and dream of winter’s delights while watching the dreary November garden become beautiful again. That is the magic of snow.

There are magical things happening in and around London’s world of Art. There are currently so many shows and exhibitions to see. Two events that I am included in are the Miniature Show at STEPAC (Nov. 11 to Dec. 22) and Westland Gallery’s Square Foot Show,www.https://westlandgallery.ca . Both shows offer some fabulous art by local artists at reasonable prices. Perhaps you can find a gift for a special someone or one for yourself!

REMINDERS:

CSPWC’s Open Water is still available to see online. If you haven’t already done so and if you love watercolour, go to https://cspwc.ca  You will be glad you did I am sure.

Westland Gallery is hosting several workshops including a watercolour one taught by me. It takes place on four consecutive Thursdays from Feb.16th to March 9th at 6:30 to 8:30pm. The cost is $180. If you are interested, call the gallery at 1-519-601-4420. Please share this information with your friends and anyone who may be interested. Thank you.

Christmas in Bayfield takes place this weekend, Nov. 18 to 20 and Main Street Gallery Bayfield will be open and showing some of my paintings.

To end this newsletter, my hope for you is that you are able to find the magic of this season, if not in snow or art then somewhere else. As always, thanks for your interest in my work and for your support.

Take care. Be well.

Sue

Time is flying by so quickly for me that September’s newsletter didn’t get written. I apologize.

I hope that you enjoyed Thanksgiving and were able to get outside in the glorious weather surrounded by this year’s wonderful display of colour. Trees and plants show us how to both change and let go with grace and beauty for which I am grateful.

Some exciting things have been happening both inside my studio and out in the world, including teaching a class at Westland Gallery where the topic was methods of composing a watercolour painting (tricks of the trade). I enjoyed teaching and having fun with such an agreeable group of artists in a truly inspiring location. Happily I have been asked to return to teach a four week watercolour class. If you are interested in exploring colour with me, take a look at Westland Gallery’s website www.westlandgallery.ca for information about the class. (Dates February, 23 and March 2, 9.) This is a stress free way to play with colour, make some discoveries and perhaps make some new friends too. 

I was honoured to have my painting,”On My Neighbour’s Fence” juried into Open Water 2022 from among 374 entries representing 12 countries. This is the third consecutive year that one of my paintings has been selected for the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour’s Open Water Exhibition and I am thrilled to once again be a part of this fabulous show. You can visit the show online if you go to the CSPWC website www.cspwc.ca and follow the link on the main page. You will be rewarded by seeing some of the best watercolour paintings from across Canada and beyond our borders.

Yesterday Brian and I drove to Bayfield to deliver paintings to Main Street Gallery.It’s always such a pretty drive and Bayfield is glorious in the fall. As always, we were warmly welcomed by Linda and Jim. There are many beautiful pieces of art in their gallery and I am so pleased to be showing my paintings there. If you find yourself in Bayfield, stop by the gallery. You won’t be disappointed.

This year I was asked to donate a painting to STEPAC”s Annual Art Auction. This is their biggest fundraiser of the year and I was happy to donate. Online bidding is available on their website at www.stepac.ca. Do pay a visit! I have my eye on a couple of paintings up for auction.

Also on my horizon, STEPAC’s Miniature show, November 12 to December 22 and Westland Gallery’s Annual Square Foot Show, November 23 to December 30.I hope that you can attend one or both exhibitions.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Your ongoing support is deeply appreciated. Feel free to unsubscribe at any time if you no longer wish to receive my newsletter.

Thanks and have a safe and Happy Hallowe’en.

Sue

When i opened the back door of our family room this morning, the fragrance of “back to school” was in the air.  I can’t describe it really. When the garden has this fragrance, you know summer is coming to an end. For most of my life, that meant that it would soon be back to school either as a student, a parent, a teacher or a grandmother. These days it signals that it is almost time  to get ready for many of the Art shows which will take place over the next few months; GPG’s show at First St. Andrews and Westland’s Square Foot Show are two that spring immediately to mind but there are others too.  I am working away filling my studio with finished paintings, works in progress  and sketchbooks of ideas in the first planning stages.

If you haven’t yet had an opportunity to visit St. Thomas Elgin Public Art Centre please consider doing so. My exhibition is underway and continues until Sept. 24th.

I will be at Westland Gallery on Saturday August 27 from 1pm until 3pm. I will be painting, demonstrating and answering questions about watercolour techniques in general and mine in particular. Please stop by for a visit.

If back to school is in your future or that of your family members, I hope that you are able to enjoy these last few weeks of summer and that the upcoming return to school is joyful and leads to success.

Thank you for your continuing interest and support.

As always, should you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, please unsubscribe.

Take care.

Sue

We are watching as the moving van in our next door neighbour’s driveway is loaded. After living beside us for 25 years, they are moving out west to be closer to family. We are told that the house behind us, after over 45 years of being home to our neighbours, will soon be on the market too.  Change, while a part of life, is difficult to deal with sometimes and I am grateful for my family and my art, both of which provide consolation and solace.

In May I told you about the COAA exhibition in Dundas. I am thrilled to share that my painting, Heat Wave was awarded, Best Watercolour. 

Upcoming Events:

I have two paintings which were completed plein air in the Pop Up Show in The Apartment at Westland.

I am looking forward to visiting with you and demonstrating my painting techniques. Hope you can stop by and chat while you watch paint dry!

My exhibition at St. Thomas-Elgin Public Art Centre,301 Talbot Street St. Thomas, Art In Bloom, was originally scheduled for 2020, with a different title and a different focus. Covid changed our plans. I am delighted that the show will take place August 6 to September 23, 2022, in Gallery One and Two. I am grateful to Laura Woermke for this opportunity and for her help and good humour. 

Unfortunately, due to Covid concerns, there will be no Opening or Artist’s Reception. I will be in attendance on various days and times. If you would like a list of these, please email me at sgarrington@rogers.com.

Masks and Social Distancing are required.

 I am very grateful to the Ontario Arts Council for providing an Exhibition Grant to assist with the costs involved in the exhibition.

Thank you for taking the time to read my newsletter each month. Your interest and support are so very much appreciated. I enjoy your responses and questions. 

May all the changes in your life be good ones.

Sue

I promised to send more information about the Plein Air Weekend in Wortley Village and The Plein Air Show Group Exhibition as it became available.

I have three plein air paintings in the exhibition and I plan to be on location both Friday and Saturday. My paintings for the exhibition were all done on location in my garden earlier this year. These are rare pieces in that most of my plein air work is done in sketchbooks and is never sold.

My on location sketches are integral to my work. They inform and underpin everything I paint. They allow an intimacy with my subject matter which, in turn, allows me the freedom to play, imagine and create in my studio.

My Plein Air Garden Paintings:

  1.                      2.                    3.

1.A Moment Ago

2. Press Pause

3. L’Heure Bleue

I hope you are able to see this exhibition and perhaps stop by for a chat and a visit Friday or Saturday. Pick up a brochure with a map from the gallery and visit every painting location for a chance to win a prize!

As always, thank you for your ongoing interest and support. I appreciate both very much.

Take care and enjoy this lovely weather. 

Sue

Here at our home, the garden has quickly come alive with spring bulbs blooming and the Redbud and Lilac gracing us with their presence. The fragrance of both the Lilac and the Lily of the Valley immediately transport me to my childhood home and my parents’ garden. The Forget-Me-Nots popping up here and there are both a gift from and reminder of a late friend. That’s the wonderful thing about gardens. They both make memories and bring back old ones especially in Spring when we welcome back old friends such as the perennial plants, birds and the occasional raccoon, skunk or rabbit. Also here at home, the season’s local asparagus and rhubarb are making their way into our meals and treats.

Yesterday a friend and I drove to the beautiful town of Dundas in order to deliver our paintings to the Dundas Museum and Archives. The Central Ontario Art Association’s show, “Perceptions” will take place there until July 17th with the opening taking place on May 21 from 2 to 4.

And to end this newsletter some information about the Westland Gallery’s Plein Air Show.

And finally, a reminder that if you should find yourself in Bayfield, please stop into Main Street Gallery, where, along with some amazing work by Mary Philpott and others, you will find some of my paintings.

As always, thank you for your ongoing interest and support. If you no longer wish to receive these newsletters, please let me know and I will remove your name from my mailing list. Take care and happy Spring!

I would like to wish all of you a Happy Easter! 

This newsletter is slightly longer than usual because I have so much good news to share.

Let me begin by telling you that the Lambeth Art Association raised $6000 to assist in the relief of the people of Ukraine. The generosity of our members and those who purchased the donated paintings is remarkable. I don’t know when I have been so proud to be a member of LAA.

The LAA Annual Show and Sale is online this year. I have two paintings in the show. It begins on April 22 at www.lambethart.com

I am excited to share that Linda and Jim Taleski, the owners of Main Street Gallery in Bayfield, stopped by for a studio visit last week and the result was that they will be showing my work in their gallery. If you are in Bayfield stop by and visit their gallery. It is a lovely place to see .

If you have been on Richmond Street here in London, you may have seen one of my paintings decorating an electrical box. The painting was one of several artists’  paintings selected by the London Arts Council to be used in this project funded by the City of London. 

A reminder that the Western division of CSPWC’s Spring Show, Renewal, is happening at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington ON, from May 7th to June 12. The Opening takes place on May 14th from 2:00 to 4:00. This show is a cash and carry event so to see all of the work best come early.

Westland Gallery has invited me to take part in a Plein Air Exhibition which will take place from June 7th to 24th. I will provide more information in my next newsletter.

And my last piece of good news is that I was invited to send a submission to the Joyner Gallery at the Niagara Pumphouse Arts Centre in  Niagara-on-the-Lake. Consequently I was offered a solo exhibition in July of 2023 which I was delighted to accept.

And now, at last, you may all take a collective sigh of relief. That is the end of my shameless self promotion, at least for now. Take care, get your booster, wear a mask and stay well.

Thanks, as always, for your interest and ongoing support.

Sue

At last the days are growing longer, the crows and swans have returned, the cardinal announces his ownership of our backyard, the cottontail and skunk make guest appearances and the sring blooming bulbs poke their heads out of the soil to see if winter has really left this time or if she is going to storm back and yell, ” and another thing! “ ( stole this from somewhere but just had to share as it really is perfect).

In the art world, Spring also means a flurry of hopeful calls to artists and, here in London, the Studio Tour!! I am unable to open my studio this year but wish all involved good luck.

The Lambeth art Association is fundraising to help relief efforts in Ukraine. Please visit our website and consider helping.

The Western Ontario Region of the CSPWC is holding a juried Spring show, RENEWAL, at the Royal Botanical Gardens. I have entered two paintings. wish me luck please.

I have been invited to do a presentation to the Ottawa Arteast Group later this month. I am looking forward to meeting new artists and making friends.

Finally, there is something exciting about to happen at Westland Gallery in June this year. I will tell you more in my next newsletter.

I end this newsletter by taking the opportunity to tell you how much I enjoy your responses and comments. It’s wonderful that you keep in touch. Thank you.
 

Sue

More hours of daylight, the return of crows and swans, guest appearance in our garden by cottontails and a skunk, snowdrops, scilla, crocuses, tulips and daffodils all poking through the soil to see if winter is really gone this time….all indications that Spring is on her way. 

In the art world Spring also means an assortment of calls to artists, and The London Artists Studio Tour. This year I am unable to open my studio but I wish all the artists good luck.

The Lambeth Art Association is fundraising for relief in Ukraine. Please visit the website and help us to help Ukraine.

The Western Region of the CSPWC is having a juried exhibition at the Royal Botanical Gardens. I have entered two paintings. Wish me luck please.

 During the first month of this year I have been busy painting small 7”x7” watercolours, ordering some new art supplies to experiment with, starting some seeds for our garden of pots this summer and trying to figure out some new way of organizing the mountain of “stuff” that has collected in my studio during the pandemic ( so far unsuccessfully).

I have also been reading ( perhaps the reason my studio is still a mess ); Flower Diary, Molly Peacock, the life of Canadian painter Mary Hiester Reid, Art and Rivalry, Carol Bishop-Gwyn, lives of Mary and Christopher Prat, Anything But A Still Life, Nathan M. Greenfield, Molly Lamb and Bruno. 

January 2022 Watercolours

All of the watercolours were imagined with the help of my sketchbooks.

i am looking forward to entering some shows this spring and will give you the details as they become known.

One of the CSPWC shows will be held at the Royal Botanical Gardens, so as well as wonderful art, you will be able to see some fabulous gardens in bloom should you decide to attend.

I hope that you have things to look forward to, wonderful books to read, and gardens to dream into being ( even if they are just in balcony pots). Create, dream, hope and plan.

As always, thank you for taking the time to read this and for your ongoing support and encouragement. 

Sue