Category Archives: Small paintings

30 in 30 challenge, Available Paintings, Small paintings

Daily Painting Challenge, 30 paintings in 30 days. Day 11

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Red Ixora, 6"x6", acrylic on boaard, © 2014 Donna Grandin.
Red Ixora, 6″x6″, acrylic on boaard, © 2014 Donna Grandin. Sold

Ixora is the name of a tropical flowering bush, the flowers come in many hues but I think red is the most common. I really enjoyed painting this one, I was very much in my comfort zone. On the other hand, I did spend way too long (about 10 hrs) … adjusting & adjusting! And to be honest I could keep going a little longer. So in that sense, the “daily painting experiment” is not really working out for me, I cannot keep up this pace indefinitely. My usual ideal painting schedule is to alternate long painting days with non-painting/recovery days. I will have to try setting a time limit on the next painting.

There were three arts events (in three different cities locally) that I really would have liked to attend last night, but I chose to stay in and paint. Each year as I meet more people and get more involved in the arts community, there are more events that I have to miss & although it may be a relief to make the decision when the drive is long or the weather is bad, the guilt and feeling of missing out lingers on for too long. Still, carving out the time to paint – something that many artists struggle with – is a necessity for a professional artist. Actually it’s easy to keep working at the easel & neglect everything else, though the marketing has to be done because making an income from our art allows us to continue doing the work we love, the hard part is in also prioritizing health and relationships.

How are you doing with this balancing act? Artist or not, I think this is something we all struggle with … the holy grail of life … trying to have it all.

 

30 in 30 challenge, Available Paintings, Small paintings

Daily Painting Challenge, 30 paintings in 30 days. Day 10

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"In the courtyard", 8"x8", oil on board, © 2014 Donna Grandin.
“In the courtyard”, 8″x8″, oil on board, © 2014 Donna Grandin. Sold

There is just something about a random rooster crowing at any old time of the day that reminds me of growing up in the Caribbean. Watching a mother hen crossing the road followed by a long string of chicks. I’ve photographed several “wild” chickens spontaneously – while out on a photoshoot or just running errands – just pecking away in a garden or in all sorts of unexpected places. It is such a common sight, the soundtrack to everyday life in certain parts of the world … completely alien in others.

This painting is based on a snapshot I took of a rooster in the courtyard of the Pink Plantation House Restaurant in St. Lucia, owned by some good friends of mine, and a favourite place to hang out with a camera. Honestly, I could probably live there for three months and paint something new & beautiful on the grounds each day!

I don’t think I’ve painted in oils for about fifteen years, and the experience has confirmed that acrylic paint is best suited to my personality and way of working. The worst thing about oils for me, is the best thing about it for oil painters, it takes forever to dry! Oil paint somehow gets EVERYWHERE … I’ve had to wipe it off my laptop, my camera, my headphones, my chair, not to mention my face, hair & hands, the paint on the easel & rug are standard and at least it’ll wash out of the clothes. Several times I’d rub the board by accident and smudge the painting, once it actually fell on the floor and I ended up repainting much of it, which is why I spent so long on it. Time to donate my oil paints I think.

Anyway this snapshot just entrigues me, a moment frozen in time, there’s a narrative here that I keep coming back to. As you’ll see in the photo below, I have painted it before in acrylics … 11″x14″ … but it was at a time when I was doing a series of more detailed, more realistic close-ups of flowers, and it didn’t make sense. I tried to push it further by painting the subject larger & looser, but stopped at the point you see here because I realized I was on the wrong track. If I had had the outlet of selling daily paintings online, I would have known that the initial painting was enough.

Chicken challenge, Donna Grandin studio 2011
Chicken challenge, Donna Grandin studio 2011

At the time, I hadn’t embraced the fact that along with my more serious “gallery” work, I could also follow my own creative sidetracks, even if I knew they were going to be dead ends (single paintings, slightly off my artistic path). I looked at it as a waste of resources, instead of seeing it as full-filling my own artistic needs, and I didn’t know how to live with it lying around as a reminder of my foolishness, so I destroyed it. Now I look back & I have a folder of “experiments” that only exist as digital images.

And I realize that following that kernel of curiosity about a subject, and living a life where I am open to – and actively seek – inspiration from my day, is more important to me as an artist than boxing my artistic self/production into a single grandiose theme.

Authenticity is often its own reward. But the image below is a painting I did in 2000 (under my maiden name, Gomez), of another rooster … I see I called it Lonely Rooster, but it probably should just have been Lone Rooster. It was from another – similar – snapshot, and I followed my gut, even when my Dad called from St. Lucia to say the package had arrived, and “is the painting of the grass finished?”.  Despite his misgivings, he took it in to the gallery for me … two days later a visitor from New York bought it. I’m not sure it comes across in this photo due to the glare, but the green grass was seductive, and I think the painting says a little something about carving out a little bit of space for oneself. Space to breathe deep in the fresh air, lazy days punctuated by the crowing of a random rooster .

Lonely Rooster, 11"x14", acrylic on canvas, Donna Gomez (Grandin), 2000. Sold
Lonely Rooster, 11″x14″, acrylic on canvas, Donna Gomez (Grandin), 2000. Sold

 

 

30 in 30 challenge, Available Paintings, Small paintings

Daily Painting Challenge, 30 paintings in 30 days. Day 9

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Passion flower study, 8"x8", acrylic on canvas, © 2011 Donna Grandin
Passion flower study, 8″x8″, acrylic on canvas, © 2011 Donna Grandin. Sold

Today I got carried away working on the painting I started yesterday, and I prefer to photograph it in natural light tomorrow morning. So, I’m posting this little painting I did in June 2011. It is currently in St. Lucia, but can be shipped internationally. E-mail me if you have questions.

Recently, people have referred to me as a flower painter, or a floral painter and it doesn’t sit well with me. Sure, there are lots of flowers in my portfolio, certainly in the last five years, but the flower (or even the foliage, which I favour) itself isn’t the point of the painting. If it were, I would regularly go to the florist & buy the most beautiful version  of the flower I wanted to paint, and paint from life.

For me , painting – like writing down my thoughts – is a way of observing life, in the pursuit of insight. An important theme underlying most of my art is the search for identity through landscape painting. Some artists value imagination & innovation above all else … their aim is to create something that has never been seen or done before, others view art as a tool for persuasion … social commentary & opinion. Those are very important aspects of art, and why art is so important to cultures all over the world, through time.

My drive as an artist though, has more to do with the desire for discovery than anything else. This is evident through all stages of my creative process … the first tug comes when I see something that moves/excites me. In our world of excess, desensitization and stress, the moments of true joy are rare, so I pay attention to those moments. For me, they most often occur in nature, but I don’t have to be alone in a woods next to a babbling brook, or even in a garden, it could be under the skylight in the  floral department of my local grocery store, where the light is so magical that it highlights whatever potted plant they place on the little ledge and I always have to stop for a few moments & stare.

Those are the simple things that inspire me – shadows creating interesting patterns, back-lit leaves and petals, coming across a new plant or flower with unique shapes. I love exploring new locations with my camera. I wonder around, shutter happy as I make discoveries. It’s not that I’m a very good photographer – I have a lot to learn about how adjust my camera to get the shot I want in the available light – but I love composing through the lens. For me to capture the true colours though, I’d have to paint plein air.

Which bring me back to this painting, which I did from observation (flower in hand), on a canvas I’d previously textured. Passion flowers are so exotic to me. And I remember taking pictures in the greenhouse in the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, and coming across the vine near the koi pond. There were just a couple flowers, but the vines were so tantalizing, so Art Nouveau, discovering them was the highlight of my day. Every time I go back there I look to see if there are flowers on the vine so I can get a few more pictures. It’s like I said, it’s not about one perfect specimen that’s going to represent all other flowers of its type … it’s about the unique qualities of each individual flower. The combination of the flower itself & the leaves, or vines next to it, and whatever else is in the background. The environment tells the story of that flower, the same way it would in any traditional portrait painting.

For every painting I do in a year, there’s a thousand more digital photos waiting patiently on my computer.  When I’m about to start a painting/series of paintings, it can be a daunting task to look through and choose reference photos that are both appropriate and intriguing. I would never dream of painting from someone else’s photos (unless it was a commission, because work is work), because each photo has memories for me … each photo is a story waiting to be told with my paintbrush.

When you paint something, you find things about it that you never knew before … like when I spend 2 months on a croton painting and discovered for the first time that there were flowers! My whole life in St. Lucia I grew up with croton bushes in our garden, in our daily lives, and I had never noticed the tiny flowers before!

Finally, reference photo(s) in hand, when I stand before the blank canvas, my adventure is just beginning, and that’s the way I like it. The photos I paint from are usually not my best, because there is nothing left to be said about them. The ones I choose have something elusive about them, and often it’s the background where I get to invent, to use emotive colour, to push & pull forms & create rhythms. I teeter on the edge of needing to find control (the perimeters of reality form a nice, safe box), and needing to break free, be spontaneous and wild. Roots and wings, another theme.

Well this post, like today’s painting, has rambled on. And I’m going to pull a Mark Twain & say, sorry, I don’t have enough time to write the short version!

 

 

 

 

 

 

30 in 30 challenge, Available Paintings, Small paintings

Daily Painting challenge, 30 paintings in 30 days. Day 5

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Fast food, 8"x8", acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin. Sold
Fast food, 8″x8″, acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin. Sold

Choosing what to paint next is starting to get difficult, but not because I don’t have lots of ideas I’d like to try out. There are sooo many things I could paint – from life or photos, or even just a concept, but it can take a while to find a subject I can connect to at that very moment. The other ideas that come up may eventually get painted, but for now they just don’t have that spark that excites/motivates me, even though they could well make a great painting. I guess I’m more concerned right now with personal development, than painting something I think people might want to buy (shh, don’t tell my husband)! I’m enjoying journalling here even though I don’t have a clue if anyone’s actually reading this.

With this painting I retreated back to my comfort zone … plant life/landscape, but it’s still new territory. I’ve never painted this type of plant before, I’m ashamed to say I don’t even know what it’s called. That surprises some people, they think somehow I should be an encyclopedia on the plants I paint, but really I’m just in it for the eye candy. The shapes & colours & patterns that light creates when it falls on or through the leaves and petals. That, and the connection to Nature, that feeling you get when you’re alone in a wooded area or garden and you can breathe deeper, think clearer.

If you can just be in the moment, push aside thoughts of to do lists and listen … you’ll hear the sound of your own inner voice. And in my life, that’s reason enough to choose to paint Nature, to have to go outside to seek inspiration, to gather reference material. I have to admit, I do wish I wasn’t doing this challenge in the middle of winter, because it would be fun to paint outside. I think I will carry on after the 30 days, and maybe I will devote one day a week to painting something small.

I would never give up my large paintings though, there is something cathartic about throwing your whole body into it, and many of my fans/collectors say it’s the big works they love. However, as an artist it can be useful to try out ideas on a much smaller scale. I’ve never been a doodler, my sketchbooks turn into journals, and  I am more of an alla prima painter, thinking through the paint, so the ritual of daily paintings has always appealed to me. Taking it the next step and putting it out there on the internet – instead of just a censored collection of my best work – takes some courage.

30 in 30 challenge, Small paintings

Daily Painting Challenge, 30 paintings in 30 days. Day 4

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Ants in his pants, side B, acrylic on board, 6"x6", © 2014 Donna Grandin
Ants in his pants, side B, acrylic on board, 6″x6″, © 2014 Donna Grandin

Getting a likeness in portrait painting is not my strength. I have a friend who is kicks ass at getting a likeness, check out her Facebook page, Shauna Johnson illustration.

That being said, I can usually get about 3/4 of the way there … so this painting isn’t my best attempt. I could have taken the easy way out and painted from a photo, not that that’s any guarantee, but considering my model is an active 8 year old, it would have made sense.

Still, I’m taking this month and this challenge to stretch myself in a variety of ways. I know from experience that each time I do this, I end right back on my original path, but usually with more insight and focus.

Anyway, although he stayed in the chair for an admirable length of time, my little model was constantly moving, picking up nearby objects etc. I let him do what he needed to, just trying to center him when I was working on something specific, because I didn’t want to turn him off of modelling for me. This was our first time together, and he is a budding artist himself, so I wanted to paint from life so he’d see what the process was like, ask questions as I mixed the paint. I turned the portrait to him every now & then as I made adjustments.

There was no fixing the crazy eyes though, and the nose is at the wrong angle … well, it doesn’t really matter, the point is in the doing. I cropped the painting in half, the eyes don’t look as crazy then, and I’m sharing the side with my initials. I’ve been signing these daily paintings with my initials in a new way, to distinguish them from my previous miniatures which could have taken a week to paint, because the price-point is different. Though some, like this one, won’t leave the studio, and will eventually be recycled (painted over). That’s okay though, it’s called quality control.

 

 

 

30 in 30 challenge, Available Paintings, Small paintings

Daily Painting Challenge, 30 paintings in 30 days. Day 3

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Five more minutes!, 8"x10", acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin. $125.
Five more minutes!, 8″x10″, acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin. $125.

Until my kids go back to school on Mon, I probably won’t be able to fall into a comfortable routine with this daily painting. Again yesterday I didn’t start till after 5:30pm, so instead of starting something new, I picked up this little experiment I started in the summer.

The whole reason I took the photo, the reason I was excited to do the painting, was the silhouette of my son on the climber. However, it was getting late last night and I had to put the boys to bed, and I just couldn’t get the proportions of the figure right, so I decided to leave it out. I could see doing this painting again though, on a larger scale, with the figure.

This is quite different to my regular work … no leaves in sight. I’m curious to know what you think. Please leave comments here, or e-mail me at donna@bluerootsartstudio.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

30 in 30 challenge, Available Paintings, Small paintings

Daily Painting Challenge, 30 paintings in 30 days. Day 2

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philodeondron leaf
Blue skies ahead, 8″x8″, acrylic on canvas, © 2014 Donna Grandin.

My intention was to paint another hibiscus yesterday, but when I went to pull out a canvas, I came across this one which I had already added texture to some time ago. It called for something different. The texture made me think of either the veins in a leaf, or trees in the winter with no leaves (I always think of them as dead trees, even though I know they’re not).

I started with a layer of light blue, wiped some of it off the tops of the ridges, then lightly added brown to those ridges, and it did look like a closeup of tree branches. I layered in some white, a darker blue … now it was depressing. It looked like winter to me. So I dry-brushed in a little orange at the top of a “tree”.  My younger son peeked over my shoulder “So, what is it?” I wasn’t sure, but I had a title “Set winter on fire”.  He raised his eyebrows & backed away.

Well, now that he’d called me on my bullshit, I knew I’d have to dig a little deeper. I covered the canvas in a mid green hue and immediately felt relieved, and excited. I started layering in some lighter & darker greens on the ridges. Then I looked over at the huge potted philodendron in my studio.

I identified it in a plant book once as a Monstera, but I like Philodendron, it sounds less likely to be able to creep up behind me at the easel and gobble me up! Sometimes it does grow into a monster though, we’ve had to cut it down drastically a few times over the years when it’s grown as tall as the ceiling and its feelers were sticking to the ceiling & walls. My husband brought it home from work when we were newlyweds in 1997. He said it sat in his boss’s office for 2-3 years before that and never had more than 3-4 small leaves. I decided to move it to a larger pot, fresh dirt, a little fertilizer … and it’s been growing like crazy ever since.

Anyway, I cut off a large leaf that was dragging on the floor and put it in a vase next to my easel. I started painting blue sky holes on my green canvas. And the rest of it, you can see for yourself.

Sometimes I play movies while I paint, this time it was “Life of Pi”, which is such a visually rich story I couldn’t believe I’d waited so long to see it … but by the time I got to the twist in the end, I realized I probably won’t watch it again. I loved it, but it was such a dramatic, emotional journey … I like light-hearted movies to paint to. For some reason, “The fifth Element” works well for me, I’ve done long sessions where I’ll play it on repeat as background noise. It’s funny, and I don’t have to look at it to know what’s going on, keeps my head company while my heart paints.

Tune in for more tomorrow … you’d never guess what’s on my easel in a million years!

 

30 in 30 challenge, Small paintings

Daily Painting challenge, 30 paintings in 30 days!

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Hibiscus & snow, 8"x8", acrylic on panel, © 2014 Donna Grandin. Sold
Hibiscus & snow, 8″x8″, acrylic on panel, © 2014 Donna Grandin. Sold

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you’re all on track with your new year’s resolutions, if you made any. I’m making a slower start this year than I’d planned, but for the best of reasons … time spent with family.

I’m taking a flying leap at 2014 by accepting a daily painting challenge … I’m one of the 370 artists who have already signed up to do Leslie Saeta’s 30 paintings in 30 days. I will of course also be posting my painting on here each day, so if you’d like to follow along, click the RSS button to subscribe to my blog.

The painting above is my first one, which I started yesterday, but finished today because I stopped first to catch up with a good friend, and then to spend time with my boys. It involved air-popped popcorn &  an impromptu New Year’s eve “Justice League” cartoon marathon on Netflicks, so you know it was a decision made out of love & it wasn’t easy!

I still have to start the painting I’m going to post tomorrow … every now & then a little head pops up to check on me “Mom, you haven’t started yet? What if you FAIL the challenge?”.

The next painting will be of the same subject, the flower just died but luckily I took several photos I could work from.

My word for 2014 is intuition, and as it applies to this challenge, I’m going to follow my intuition as to what to paint next …. I haven’t planned out the 30 days, and I’m not setting rules, except that I work on something new each day. I actually have loads of ideas that I’d like to try out … so expect a variety of subjects to show up. And I would love it if you’d share this with your friends, and make comments … I look forward to hearing from you!

Also, I will be writing the long “Louvre” blog post I promised soon, once I’ve settled into a comfortable pace … I have sorted through the thousands of photos (the good, the bad & the ugly) already, but still need to whittle my selection down.

Meanwhile, enjoy this video snippet I uploaded to my new youtube channel last night of the Eiffel tower lights blinking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Available Paintings, Exhibitions, Small paintings

The Art in Action Burlington studio tour through my eyes!

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This weekend will be two weeks since the studio tour, and I’m surprised to say that life is just as busy as it was before. I was looking forward to taking a breather after, but if it’s not one project it’s another, and the trip to Paris is coming up FAST!

My studio set up for Art in Action Studio Tour

Here is a short (41 sec) Video of my art on display for the tour. If you want more details on individual paintings, you can find them on my website.

I had a wide selection of paintings this year, now I have to decide which paintings to send where…. some to the galleries in the Caribbean, some to local group exhibitions – like the Burlington Art Center’s Annual Art Auction in February.

Here is a behind the scenes photo taken when much of the studio debris was already cleared out. I simplify so that the attention is on the artwork, but if you want to know what it’s like during the rest of the year, just make an appointment … I’ll need time to clean the floors, because that’s the first thing I let go to make time for painting AND family life.

Preparing for the studio tour

The last couple weeks before the tour involves lots of preparation – ideally I’ve completed all painting for the show by then, so any artwork I do in that time is not done under pressure.

This photo indicates a fraction of that prep – varnishing paintings, framing small works, placing greeting cards in clear envelopes, and spending endless time on the computer doing paperwork (eg. labels), as well as getting the word out through social media etc.

Art in Action as an organization does a lot of publicity for the tour, but I wanted to invite everyone I knew in driving distance because it’s the only time of year so much of my work is shown together locally.

And as with any event that you plan a long time for, there are the inevitable last minute crises …

The boys carving pumpkins ... on my packaging material!

Like when I realized my husband had used my roll of plastic (for packaging), to lay under the boys while they carved their pumpkins for Halloween. Two nights before the tour!

Or when he realized something was burning in the kitchen and filling the room up with smoke (an hour before visitors were to come through). My bad. We had to open up all the windows  & let the brisk November air in.

The first few people who arrived, complimented us on the cinnamon candle we’d lit to cover up the burnt smell. And later on there were a couple comments about something baking … & I could see visitors looking around for home-made cookies! I smiled and nodded. But I had to wonder about their baking skills … just saying.

Donna Fratesi with her work at Art in Action 2013

Donna Fratesi set up her watercolour paintings the day before. It was a good thing we had a lot of paintings because Louise Young, who was going to be exhibiting her jewellery with us, had to back out due to health issues.

I’d seen Donna do a watercolour demo a few years before when she was a guest speaker at the Burlington Fine Arts Association monthly general meeting at the Burlington Art Center. FYI, there is a guest speaker or artist demo at each of these meetings, and they’re free to the public.

She worked casually and loose, making it look easy, but we knew we were watching a master at work. Recently she has been painting in acrylics though, so it’s interesting to see her make the transition after working for more than 25 years in watercolour.

Artists are lifelong learners – researching, experimenting, observing, discovering and growing … that’s why art is so much more than a job, it will take as much time and resources as you can give, and more.

Sam & Amanda, our high school student volunteers on the studio tour

Sam and Amanda were our high school student volunteers, each studio had two students who were earning credits for helping out in their community. We were happy to have some extra hands to take photos, greet and keep tally of visitors, and to explain the draw.

Visitors get their brochures signed at each of the studios and if they’ve been to at least one studio and turn in their ballot, they could win $100. towards product by an artist of their choice, and if they’d been to all eight, it is $200!

Ursuline & Mary took the train in from Toronto & made a day trip of it.

Mary and Ursuline took the train in from Toronto to come see my new work. They made a day trip of it and had a great time. Thanks for coming ladies! Also, thanks to Melissa & Greg who came from Toronto as well. It was lovely to see so many familiar faces, many artist friends showing their support, as well as new, curious faces. I love meeting people.

Ursuline, a long-time collector of mine visited from Toronto

Ursuline is a long-time collector of mine from Toronto. She came up to me at a St. Lucia Toronto Association Gala where I was introduced as the St. Lucian artist currently exhibiting at Toronto City Hall by invitation of the St. Lucia Tourist Board. It turned out she went to school with my Mom in St. Lucia!

Donna Fratesi with some Art in Action visitors

Donna talking with some ladies interested in her work. It was her first time doing the tour and I think she was surprised at how well she did!

Me with Angela Paparizo (City of Burlington, Arts & Culture) and Rosanna Dewey (Burlington Fine Arts Association)

Here I am posing with Angela Paparizo (City of Burlington, Arts & Culture) and Rosanna Dewey (Burlington Fine Arts Association). Rosanna is a wonderful oil painter I know from BFAA, actually we first met at a life drawing evening class at Sheridan College. Angela I met through the process leading up to the Burlington city council’s unanimous passing of the city’s first Cultural Action Plan. Rosanna and Teresa Seaton (Art in Action) were both on the Steering committee.

There were lots of meetings along the way, and it has been awesome to be part of a movement where local artists, musicians, actors, dancers etc. are coming together to form an arts community for the first time in a place where everyone is accustomed to having to do their own thing. I’m excited to see what we can make of this opportunity. For now, if you’re interested in Arts & Culture in Burlington, I encourage you to join this Facebook group.

My son shows up to check out the refreshment table ... hot apple cider, yum!

One of my boys shows up to check out the refreshment table … hot apple cider, yum! The other monkey showed up a couple times to show off his gymnastics moves & grab the spotlight.

Great to chat with so many people during the studio tour

Thank you to everyone who made time for us that weekend, braved the bad weather on the first day, made a purchase, or just came to take a look at what we’ve been up to. Everyone who signed up to our contact lists, who gave us a hand (Sam & Amanda), who helped us get the word out, who sponsored our event, and thanks to all of the other Arts in Action participants this year who did their part to make it such a great event! And of course, thanks to my husband and kids who put up with me and my crazy art life!

Are you on your way? Waiting for more guests to join the party ...

Hope to see you all next year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exhibitions, Frangipani, Small paintings

Welcome to a whole NEW bluerootsartstudio.com!

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One for all, 8″x8″, acrylic on canvas, © Donna Grandin, 2013. SOLD

If you’ve been to this website before, you’ll be thrilled to see I have FINALLY updated it. The first version of the site was created by my brother & I in 2010, thanks to Skype, since he is in England & I am in Canada. He’s not a website developer, but he does know his way around some code!

In fact, he’s pretty good at it, and that meant he was traveling more & more for his job, and so I needed to get my act together & figure out how I was going to take care of updating my own website. Of course, it wasn’t easy to commit to stepping away from the easel & hunkering down at the computer to learn what I needed to … but I’m happy to say, I’ve finally made some headway!

To be honest, I’m very excited about the opportunity to talk to you in the first person now, to be able to share my creative process and insights with you. Art is a means of communication, it does not exist in a vacuum. Hmm. I suppose that point may be debatable, but I’m speaking for myself as an artist. So, I look forward to hearing from you … let this website be a portal between us!

I’ve migrated posts from a career highlights type blog that I previously had attached to the website as my “News” page, commenting on some of them, just to give a little background to those of you who may have wandered onto this site for the first time.

What I like about this format, is that the website will be a work in progress, mirroring both my journey into harnessing the technology of the day, and my own artistic exploration.

By now, you may have figured out that I enjoy writing. I like to think through words. When I can SEE my thoughts in front of me, they lead to deeper understanding. My writing process is very much the same as my painting process, and I’d love to talk about that right now, but I’ll save it for a future post.

I brought the subject up because I know I can be “wordy”, and the trend today is to be brief (140 characters) – stick to the point and sell, sell, sell. Hashtags instead of sentences. The way I see it though is this is who I am, and if you’re a skimmer, I hope you’ll be engaged by my visuals. And if you love nothing more than curling up with a thick book or even the electronic equivalent, and savouring the words as you get caught up in a story … then I hope to communicate with you through words AND images.

So please, come back often … follow me in the format you prefer – Facebook, newsletter, RSS feed, I’m adding more all the time, I’m evolving, the website is evolving and I expect my art will continue to evolve as well! Take the trip with me, virtually or irl by attending my exhibitions and events. I look forward to connecting with you.

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