Flyer for Art in the Workplace, McMaster Innovation Park
If you live in Hamilton & surrounding area, then come join me at the wine & cheese art opening tomorrow night at McMaster Innovation Park!
This is the 17th juried exhibition put on by MIP, and several of the artists I know have participated before, and they’ve encouraged me to enter. So, I did, and I’m excited to see the following 2 paintings on display tomorrow, along with a great selection of art by a variety of local artists.
“Watching”, original acrylic painting by Donna Grandin, prize for Christmas Contest 2014
I’d just like to announce the winner of the painting for my first ever painting give-away. Actually, I just pulled my son aside during our Christmas celebrations to do the draw. Here’s the video …
Congratulation to the winner! Here is a better photo of the painting ….
Watching, 4″x5″, acrylic on canvas, Donna Grandin
Enjoy the rest of your Holidays!
Donna Grandin
Blue Roots Art Studio
Surprised? If you have been following my postings each day during the 30 in 30 challenge this month, then you may have been expecting more fruit today. The truth is, as much as I was enjoying working from observation, the still-life was just feeling too … still!
Often in my larger paintings, there are areas that I define/refine more (realism) and areas that I have fun just playing abstractly – in the case of a flower painting, that may be the background. So far during this challenge, it seems I’ve been giving in totally to one impulse in each painting, instead of a yin-yang combination.
With realism, the more you look, the more you see, and it is easy to get carried away on a wave of perfectionism. So, I wanted to take a break and paint something fun, something with more LIFE … and although the inspiration for this painting was another still-life object, my approach has been to imply more movement.
The object that I’m using as inspiration is a mask with peacock feathers. I bought it in Leeds, England in 2001 and it has just been hanging in my studio for years, waiting till I got around to use it as a prop. There is just something about a peacock theme that I love, maybe it is because there is so much blue and green and those are colours I use a lot in my painting. Maybe it’s because turquoise has always been my favourite colour.
It could also be because of the patterning, one of my favourite art movements is Art Nouveau – decorative and romantic, the goal was to bring beauty into our everyday lives. That’s an ideal I can get behind.
Embracing and inviting love and joy into our living and working environments does not mean a rejection – or ostrich-like attitude – of the ugly truths that also exist in all our lives. It is a conscious choice to counter-balance those truths.
One way for you to share more beauty with the world, would be to share my Facebook page! Thank you to those of you who have recently started following, commenting and liking. As my work does vary, the more people who get to see it means the faster each painting will connect with someone who just has to have it in their life. And of course, that means I can continue creating more art.
So, I really appreciate all of you who not only follow to see what I might paint next, but also tell your friends about my art!
There is something simple, and yet striking about the cross-section of an orange. Maybe it is the pattern.
It makes me think of sunshine. In fact, it is a very cheerful image. The colours help, but I think it is also the round shape, the symmetry.
Take a look at my 30 in 30 page, I started it when I first did this challenge in January, but then I added a few new paintings, replacing some that had sold. These make great gifts … birthday, wedding, retirement, housewarming etc.
I will have a selection on display during the Art in Action studio tour – the first weekend of November – come do a little Christmas shopping!
BLUE ROOTS ART STUDIO – acrylic paintings of Caribbean & Canadian landscape, flowers & foliage. Burlington, ON, Canada. 905-639-3419
