Newsletter

Magic

I hope you have enjoyed our very hot and wonderfully sunny summer. I have been busy finding wildflowers, sometimes deliberately on paint outs and sometimes accidentally while doing other things or running errands.

There is something magical about wildflowers. They suddenly appear in the wild spaces and sanctuaries around London as well as in neglected, abandoned, forgotten places. Some are very dependable and return to the same location year after year. Others are more elusive and must be sought out or found by serendipity. The disorderly abandon of wildflowers, their independence, their forms and colours, the way they grow and mingle so well with other wild things, have all captivated me. Many are not indigenous and some are considered invasive. They are all magic to me. I love finding, sketching and painting them. They have given me subject matter close to home and so much more.

Fenceline, Emily Carr Public School parking lot

Queen Anne's Lace with purple loosestrife growing in the ditch behind them, Gainsborough Road

Wild Grape, cat tails, purple loosestrife beside the parking lot at Fringe Gallery, Hyde Park Road

Two Invitations

LONDON CULTURE DAYS AND OPEN HOUSE

Seven London Studio Tour artists will be at Rick Sturgeon's studio, Metal In Fusion, Oct. 1st and 2nd from 10 am to 4 pm., located at 630 1/2 Lorne Ave.

Check out the link to learn more.

http:www.londonculture.ca/things-we-do/doors-open-london-and-culture-days

GALLERY PAINTING GROUP EXHIBITION

KILLBEAR

At the end of this month I will be travelling north to Killbear Provincial Park with a group of artists to sketch and paint. Life is good and I am grateful. The trip will be the focus of next month's Blog post.

What Inspires my Work?

The inspiration for my work comes most often from sketching. I am rarely without a sketchbook. I sketch while travelling, when waiting somewhere, with friends, with the Gallery Painting Group during our paint outs and at home, both indoors and in our garden.
My sketchbooks are my most important source of inspiration, my workbook, my greatest teachers, my visual diary and the place I can experiment freely.

Here is a sketch I did at Solitude Nature Reserve this spring.

And here are two of the paintings sketching trilliums inspired.

If you would like to see more trillium paintings or those inspired by other Wildflowers and Weeds, visit my website at

www.susangarrington.com or visit Paintings by Susan Garrington on Facebook to see what I am up to!

For the last several months, since returning from a painting trip to Cornwall, U.K., I have spent several hours nearly every day painting in my studio. It was such a productive time and something unexpected and exciting happened. i began painting in a totally different way than I had before. I found my voice, and so I decided to apply to the London Atists' Studio Tour. To my delight I was juried into the event.

​The experience exceeded all my expectations. Meeting with other artists, many of whom were returning to the tour, some who had been in the tour since its inception, was great. All were encouraging, generous with good advice and welcoming. Thank you all.

During the tour it was exciting to meet so many new friends, chat about my paintings and my process, demonstrate, and share. It was also wonderful to see many of my friends and fellow artists who stopped by to see my studio and lend their support.

​My sister, my daughter, my husband and a good friend all helped out and I am very grateful to them all. I am also grateful to everyone who decided to purchase one of my paintings for their home and to all who made positive comments, both in person and in writing.

​I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this event and to everyone who made it possible.