Newsletter

You may wish to save reading this until you can pour yourself a cup of coffee or a nice cup of tea or beverage of your choice and put your feet up. I apologize for such a long newsletter this month but it seems I have a lot to say.

We spent the last week of the summer at a cottage in Kincardine with our grandson. (Now I know summer isn't yet officially over quite yet, but for me, as soon as school starts summer ends.) While the weather wasn't exactly what you would call beach weather, with the exception of a day or two, it was perfect for walking along the beach gathering rocks and fossils, fishing, playing UNO, reading and sketching. Evenings were spent laughing and enjoying each other's company and so summer came to an end in a delightful way and we could look forward to Fall with lots of good summer memories to savour.

I wonder if any of you think of summer as the beginning of a new year as I do? I have spent the majority of my life in schools either as a student or a teacher and so September always seems like a new beginning. Maybe that's one of the reasons I love Fall so much. It is a chance to begin again, to be better this time around. It is filled with limitless possibilities and chances to make new friends and to reconnect with old ones, to learn new skills and to practise and hone those previously learned, to visit with former teachers and to adjust to new ones. It is an intoxicating and exciting time and just a little scary.

This September I am taking a print making class, something both new and a little scary. 

I went to an Opening ar Shane Norrie"s Contemporary Gallery in Stratford ( www.sncgallery.com ). A delightful show and an opportunity to chat with Shane and with Mary Philpott. Shane's paintings are magical and Mary's sculptures captivated me once again. This time one followed me home!

I was excited to learn that one of my watercolours was juried into  the Annual Exhibition at St. Thomas Elgin Public Art Centre. (www.stepac.ca ) The exhibition takes place from September 2 to October 21 with an Artists Reception on Saturday September 30th from 1:00 to 3:00 pm. I hope you get a chance to see the exhibition or to attend the reception.

I delivered new work to Art And Soul in Port Stanley last week. Stop in for some delicious food and great art the next time you visit Port Stanley.

I am continuing to enjoy working on the little square watercolours I mentioned in my last newsletter. I have been so encouraged by the response to them that I am considering doing some larger pieces in a similar style and format.

Breakfast In The Garden

I am looking forward to the rest of Fall and to a trip to Algonquin Park with Brian in October. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this and for your ongoing support and encouragement. It is appreciated so much. I hope you have a wonderful Fall filled with excitement, things to look forward to, limitless possibility and that you try something new that's just a little scary.

Sue

 Up until very recently my husband, Brian has been sidelined from the golf course because of an injury sustained in a fall this past winter. My mom used to say, " it's an ill wind that blows no good", and this unfortunate state of affairs has allowed us to spend time together exploring the southwestern Ontario countryside, sometimes going in new directions on previously unknown backroads and sometimes revisiting favourite places and occasionally getting temporarily lost. We've become the Gallivanting Garringtons! It's been great fun for us both and inspirational for me. 

 When not gallivanting with Brian I've been in my studio and it has been a productive time. I've completed a few large floral paintings and have headed off in a new direction, painting small 20 x 20 cm still life tablescapes.

 As I have worked and played the studio has become progressively less and less organized, less and less tidy. Even the resident art critic and studio assistant, Merlin, is reluctant to join me there. When I look around I remember a quote I read somewhere, " One of the advantages of being disorganized is that one is always having surprising discoveries". So far all I have discovered is that I apparently thrive in chaos, at least for a while.

 One of the nicest surprising discoveries to happen this summer was a message I received from a purchaser of one of the paintings at Art and Soul in Port Stanley who was thrilled with her purchase and wrote to tell me that it was her first piece of original art and that she would be hanging it in her new apartment soon. Delightful!

I am looking forward to taking a print making course this fall, and am excited by the prospect of experimenting with both a new direction and a new medium.

I hope that you are enjoying these last days of summer and have had the opportunity to explore some new directions yourself or to make some surprising discoveries. 

Sue

Like many of you I imagine, I like to begin my day drinking coffee in our garden when the weather allows. A few days ago I was joined by monarch butterflies who had been attracted by the scent of our milkweed flowers. We have been growing milkweed in our garden for many years now, beginning as a way to have materials close at hand for my grade seven and eight students to sketch. Fall is a busy time for teachers and so it was very convenient for me to harvest milkweed pods in our backyard rather than scouring the countryside looking for them. (The next time we meet, ask me to tell you the story of milkweed pods in my car and the ensuing "snowstorm"). Before growing these plants, I had no idea how pretty and wonderfully fragrant their flowers were.

Their fragrance fills the garden and that started me thinking about other plants that do the same and how I measure the garden's seasons by scent. Narcissus, Lily of the Valley, Lilac, Rugosa Roses, Milkweed ... each fill our garden with their perfume while reminding me that the seasons are passing. While my sketches, paintings and photos can bring back spring and summer visions during our long winters, nothing but imagination can bring back the garden's scents.

I am busy painting like a mad thing in preparation for some upcoming opportunities which I will share in a later newsletter.

In the meantime have a wonderful summer and store up memories, visions and scents for the long winter months, and if you happen to be in Port Stanley, don't forget to stop into Art and Soul for a treat, a coffee and to view artwork by several artists, including me.

It was such a fabulous Spring with the cool wet weather allowing the Spring gardens and woodlands to last long enough to inspire my work! As well, the Spring Studio Tours in both London and Stratford were well attended and very successful. Thank you to all who visited, purchased work, commissioned paintings and gave me such heartfelt and positive feedback. I appreciate it all very much.

My painting, Afternnoon In Killbear, was accepted into the Central Ontario Art Association's juried show and won the Bea Hogan Best Watercolour Award! I am thrilled. The show continues until July 15th at The Art Gallery of Hamilton.

If you are in Port Stanley over the summer you should stop by Art and Soul on Bridge Street. They have wonderful food and fabulous exhibit of paintings including some of mine. There is a free municipal parking lot behind the shop.

The Gallery Painting Group is celebrating Canada's 150th Anniversary with a show at The Arts Project. My painting, As Close To Always, will be there. If you are wondering about the title you will need to visit the show and read the accompanying story that goes with it! Hope to see you at the opening reception.

I have recently updated my website so be sure to visit and have a look.

https://www.susangarrington.com

I am sending you this coupon to express my gratitude both for signing up to receive this newsletter and for reading it each month. I enjoy your responses and look forward to hearing from you.

When I began this newsletter, on Feb. 22, it was 17 degrees outside and I was working outside on my patio. Today winter has returned and so I am here warm and cozy in my studio.

If you are attending the play, Colony of Unrequited Dreams, at the Grand Theatre in London ( March 21 to April 8 ) be sure to go to the fourth floor to see London Studio Tour's display of art by Kevin Bice, Annemarie Plint and me. The paintings are all Newfoundland themed as is the play. All three of us will be at the Opening, so if you are there, stop by for a visit. Studio Tour Booklets will be available.

I hope you stop by my studio, number 3 on the map, during this year's tour! Maps and information are available in the booklet which you can find at Museum London, Library Branches, local galleries and shops and from participating artists. The information is included on our website at www.londonstudiotour.ca . We are on Facebook and Instagram too.

Next month I will provide details about the Stratford Studio Tour, where I have been invited to show my work as a guest artist.

We certainly have returned to winter. I hope you are somewhere warm and toasty. I have been busy in my studio where I am warmly painting like mad to get ready for upcoming spring shows. I am sending this out early so you have a little more notice about the Westland show. In my last newsletter I mentioned that I will have work in Westland's Fall in Love with Art exhibition. Here are the details.

The show runs from Feb. 14th to March 4th.

The Opening Reception is on Feb. 15th at 7:00 pm . I hope to see you there.

If you can't make the opening, there is also an artists' talk on Feb 22 at 7:00 pm where you can hear about how the artists as well as Al and Karen and Daniel our gallery hosts fell in love with Art!

Here are some bits and pieces of the work I will be showing at Westland.

This is a collage of parts of the three paintings in the show

You might also like to mark your calendars for:

Brush and Palette Show: April 6,7,8

London Artists' Studio Tour: April 21,22, 23

Next month I will not be either early or late with the newsletter and will have more shows to tell you about and perhaps some photos of my work you can see.

Have a good weekend!

I apologize if you have already received this. Mine arrived with the message "The message has no content". At first I thought it was a critique of the news letter! In case it wasn't an anonymous critique and yours arrived with the same message I am trying to send it out one more time. Thank you for your patience. I am such a non tech luddite.

We certainly have returned to winter. I hope you are somewhere warm and toasty. I have been busy in my studio where I am warmly painting like mad to get ready for upcoming spring shows. I am sending this out early so you have a little more notice about the Westland show. In my last newsletter I mentioned that I will have work in Westland's Fall in Love with Art exhibition. Here are the details.

The show runs from Feb. 14th to March 4th.

The Opening Reception is on Feb. 15th at 7:00 pm . I hope to see you there.

If you can't make the opening, there is also an artists' talk on Feb 22 at 7:00 pm where you can hear about how the artists as well as Al and Karen and Daniel our gallery hosts fell in love with Art!

Here are some bits and pieces of the work I will be showing at Westland.

Artists' Studio Tour: April 21,22, 23

Next month I will not be either early or late with the newsletter and will have more shows to tell you about and perhaps some photos of my work you can see.

Have a good weekend!

This is a collage of parts of the three paintings in the show

You might also like to mark your calendars for:

Brush and Palette Show: April 6,7,8London

Happy New Year to all. I hope you enjoyed a pleasant holiday with your friends and families.

Please excuse my lateness in sending out my newsletter. I succumbed to the nasty cold that was making the rounds and was out of commission for three weeks. When I was finally better I had so much to catch up on that only now have I been able to put together my thoughts to send out to you.

I have some news to report. I will be one of the artists in Westland Gallery's "Fall In Love With Art" group show which opens appropriately on February 14th. This is one of the paintings I will be exhibiting.

It is titled, "While the Boys Went Fishing". Last summer my husband, grandson and I went to Southhampton and while they fished from the pier, I sketched the wild things growing at the edge of the pier parking lot. This painting, a half sheet watercolour, is inspired by the sketches.

Happily, I have been juried into the London Artists' Studio Tour 2017 again this year and am busy getting paintings ready to show to studio visitors. The tour will take place in April on the 21st, 22nd and 23rd. Mark your calendars! This year"s tour will have the largest number of artists in its history. I hope to see many of you again this year.

Next month I will provide additional information about the tour as well as information about The Lambeth Art Association and Brush and Palette Club shows, both also in April.

Thank you for your patience. Next month I will resume publishing on the 15th of each month.

Sue

Monmore Street In Winter, mixed media

I'm writing this in my kitchen today, listening to Sarah McLachlan's CD Wintersong, while admiring the gingerbread house my grandson and I decorated yesterday thanks to the school buses not running! We had such fun yesterday, playing in the snow, shovelling, building a snowman and decorating the gingerbread house.

Our tree is up and decorated but there is still so much left to do, namely, Christmas shopping! I hope you are further along in your preparations than I am and that you are looking forward to everything the season offers.

If you are still shopping, there are wonderful things available (including some of my paintings) at Westland Gallery in Wortley Village, Illumine Gallery in St. Thomas and at Metal In Fusion, Richard Sturgeon's Studio on Adelaide St. in London.

Merry Christmas and all the best to you and yours in the year to come.