this weekend, and I’m happy to be included in the line-up of local artists and artisans.
I’ve selected a number of my smaller paintings that go with the Spring theme, as you can see in the collage above (individual images not shown correct to scale).
There will also be a variety of greeting cards – reproductions of my original acrylic paintings.
“Our curated contemporary pop-up art market features work from exciting artists, and makers within a 50KM radius of Burlington. A portion of proceeds go towards funding a large FREE public art event in downtown Burlington on September 18th called Supernova
We are only here for one weekend so you don’t want to miss us:
Friday April 17th: 6PM-9PM
Saturday April 18th: 10AM-6PM
Sunday April 19th: 12PM-5PM”
“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
It is an abstraction inspired by a peacock feather mask that I bought in the Leeds Castle gift shop in England in 2001. The mask hung in my studio for more than a decade before I finally pulled it out to use as a still-life subject during the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge I did in September. I have done a few other paintings in this series, and I’m sure I will return to add to it.
Donna in front of Burlington City Hall, Culture Days 2014, acrylic painting demonstration
The Culture Days launch was wonderful, it was my first time painting live at an outdoor event, chatting with the public and enjoying the live music just a few feet away from my booth.
There was this magical moment for me when I was more than half-way through the painting, and a new band started playing, their sound was so liquid, soothing and mesmerizing, I felt my hand holding the paintbrush moving to the slow hypnotic rhythm. I would say that the live music certainly added another layer of influence to the painting.
I put together a little slide-show to show the progress of the painting throughout the afternoon, and you can see how drastically the painting seems to change in the night when the lights were changing colour in Burlington Civic Square. The combination of music, patterning and lighting was very interesting, bringing movement, and various interpretations to the image.
Thank you to those of you with the City of Burlington – and to my brother and his wife who were visiting – for everything you did to contribute to making this a memorable event! Here is a video showcasing Culture Days 2014 in Burlington.
I’m also happy to have been included in the promotional Burlington Arts and Culture video – Many voices, one vision – that Mayor Rick Goldring introduced that night, even if it is a blip with bad lighting (1:12-1:13), because I am proud to be part of, and to advocate for, the local arts community.
Update: This is the final version of this painting
Yes, this is the third post of the day (edit. actually I miscounted, it was only the second)… highly unusual and I apologize, but I’m having difficulties with some changes I made to my newsletter, so I needed to create this post, to trigger the newsletter to go out!
Hey … how about this, if you sign up for my newsletter at the Culture Days event tomorrow (or if you mention this post) I will give you 10% off any of my original paintings available directly through me. Good for purchases till the end of October.
I am so excited for tomorrow, I will be painting OUTSIDE Burlington City Hall as part of Burlington’s Culture Days events which go from Friday through Sunday. I will be creating a new acrylic painting from noon till it is too dark to mix colors, but I will probably stick around till everything is done at 10pm.
I am nervous because I plan on bringing some paintings to display in my booth (the City is providing a canopy, but it has no walls, so artist friend, Lois Shaw (she will be a guest artist in my studio during the Art in Action Studio Tour on Nov 1 &2) has offered to lend me her grids to hang the paintings. The weather forecast is very good for tomorrow, so at least I don’t have to worry about rain, but I am new to setting up outside, so I am also worried about wind and sun etc. If this event goes well though, I’ll consider applying to one or two outdoor exhibitions next summer.
The truth is, when I initially signed on to do an Acrylic Painting Demonstration, I was very casual about it. After all, isn’t it just like painting in my studio, just outside … with other people watching? I often pack my gear up and go paint in a friend’s studio, a greenhouse, or even a gallery when invited.
Then I heard about all the cool stuff the other Arts and Culture booths and individual Burlington Creatives are going to be doing, or displaying and I realized I really should take advantage of this opportunity to show the Burlington community more of my art.
Somehow though, the idea of having all my stuff outside is a little terrifying. I have roped in my brother and his wife to give me a hand with setting up and taking down everything (endless trips back and forth to the car), but I am so used to having to do all this by myself, that it hasn’t really sunk in yet.
Anyway read the Burlington Post article about what to expect tomorrow, in case you don’t get it delivered. And I hope to see you tomorrow!
BLUE ROOTS ART STUDIO – acrylic paintings of Caribbean & Canadian landscape, flowers & foliage. Burlington, ON, Canada. 905-639-3419
