Carin Bacher at Arts Exposed

Studio Tour artist Carin Bacher will have her totem, “The Five Fishermen” (below) on display at the Arts Exposed Conference, November 2 and 3, at Seneca College in Markham!

Carin explains her totem: 

"Sun, guardian of the earth by day, eclipsing Moon, guardian of the earth by night, watch over totem`s inhabitants, their perpetual transformations represented by Tree Frog and Butterfly. Ever evolving as they travel through earth, sea and sky the totem dwellers` individual strengths combine to create a unified whole: Raccoon the generous protector, Lizard dreams, nomadic Snail, playful Otter, Seahorse`s hidden power, Heron`s self reflection, the life force of Salmon.

Ultimately guided by totem`s inhabitants, creation of this pole was a journey of self-discovery in excess of 300 hours"

If you'd like to see more of Carin's work, her One Horse Farm Studio is 'open by chance or appointment'

For more information about the Arts Exposed conference, visit their website http://www.artsexposed.ca/

Encaustic Workshops

Our Tour artist Wendy Lavalle is offering workshops in her studio:

LEARN ENCAUSTIC PAINTING with 
Artist WENDY LAVALLE...

Wendy is offering this exciting workshop:
  
Introduction to Encaustic Painting  
November 2012.   

Spots will book up fast !!!!
This Workshop is a series of 4 classes 

consecutive Friday mornings -  

November 9, 16, 23, 30 (10am – 12 noon) 

 

Location: Wendy's Home Studio in Stouffville, 
4280 Aurora Road
 

This course is for those who want to discover painting with this 
beautiful ancient medium of Beeswax and oil paint. 

Click on this link for material lists, cost, location, registration and other details 

http://www.waxyandwords.blogspot.ca/

Rita Staniforth

Remember in the previous blog post, here, Rita mentioned hen "jumpers

Rita is getting in some practice for her "little hen rescue sweaters" for next year.  

Laureen Lucas

Laureen is a Stain Glass artist. She shares with us one of her big projects

I have been commissioned by Wayne Lambert, owner of the century home at Main St. Stouffville and Edward St. (with all the scaffolding). While renovations will continue for some time yet, Wayne has had several new frames made for windows on the main and upper floors and has commissioned me to design and fabricate 16 transom panels in total. The first 5 panels for the main floor kitchen area have just been completed (see photo attached). The traditional Victorian design incorporates several  bright colours and textures with inset glass beads, as is characteristic of the bold colours in the original leaded windows. This project will be ongoing and I expect it will be completed by next Spring.

Ray Young

It is with sadness that we announce the loss of one of our Tour Members.  

Ray Young passed away on Tuesday after a courageous battle with cancer. 

We will miss him and his talent. We extend our deepest sympathy to Ray's family and friends. 

2012 Studio Tour

Well the 2012 Stouffville Studio Tour is now over. We had a great weekend, record crowds! Thank you to everyone who stopped by, we really appreciate your support. Please support our sponsors, they help us keep this Tour going.

We are all a little weary but also energized. Keep checking back all year long for updates and information. There will be some new posts in a few days but in the meantime look back at this blog to see everything from chicken jumpers [sweaters] to minute videos, print making to scarf painting and a lot of other interesting posts.

Also go to our Facebook page and "like" us for a lot of different information. We also Tweet so you can get updates many ways.

Day 2

Great day 1 ..... one more for the Stouffville Studio Tour. Hope to see you tomorrow!

It's here

It's here... the 12th Annual Stouffville Studio Tour is this weekend. 
We hope you will plan to attend. The artists went to visit 5 studios last night... our new artists and a few others. Well worth the drive to Stouffville. Rain or shine we are hoping to see you. 

Watch for our signs to direct you

Acrylic Painting

Allison Bullock paints with both wax (encaustic) and acrylic paint. Today, she shares her process for an abstract acrylic painting. 

"Since I've been involved in many aspects of the arts throughout my life, I've always been interested in how they can interact and influence one another. For many years I've been exploring the idea of visualizing music. Asking myself what contemporary songs look like, sometimes the music itself can inspire a painting, and other times, its the lyrics and how they are sung.

About a year ago I prepared two large canvasses after being inspired by song lyrics. I wanted to play with subtly and decided to include the song lyrics in the painting itself. I wrote the lyrics on the canvas and used gel medium to trace over them, knowing that when the gel medium dried, it would be easy to paint over. 

 
After I'd prepped the two canvasses, I began painting the one pictured above. It turned out well enough, but I wasn't 100% pleased with it, so I didn't feel inspired to paint the second canvas. Putting it away, I just came across it again this past summer and thought I'd give it a go; since it was quite large (24x24) it seemed like the perfect chance to use my new 18" and 20" paintbrushes.

The brushes are natural hair with a wood handle. They're really nice to work with but I didn't anticipate the weight of them! My hand was quite sore after laying down the base colour! The soreness of my hand might also have had something to do with the pace at which I was working; I was going quickly because I wanted to blend the paint while it was wet. Even though its possible to add 'retarder' to the paint to increase the open time, I've never liked it; I find that it changes the texture of the paint too much. 

 Notice in the photo above the words are difficult to see; this is exactly the effect I wanted. I had a good feeling throughout this painting which, as many artists will tell you, is actually very unusual! Many times I have to force myself to finish a painting that I can barely look at because it is not at all what I envisioned. Apparently putting the canvas away for the year brought new perspective!

I can't say where the bubbles came from. There was no mention of them in the lyrics, but I felt compelled to add them and they turned out well. At this point I felt the painting was about 80%  complete; I'd added some texture with the paint, but I wasn't in love with the blank space in the upper left of the canvas. I'd used the last of my base colours on four artist 'trading cards' that I had laying around, and decided instead to stick them in the empty corner. I also added more bubbles!

The two paintings in the series are below and both will be at the Studio Tour!

Loose Electricity

All the Way to the Light

You can see Allison's work (with her mother Diana and grandmother Grace) at Studio #10

James Wilkes

Photographer James Wilkes recently returned from an incredible 2-month solo backpacking trip through Mexico and Guatemala. 

Along the way he savoured delicious foods and made some new friends while photographing local Indigenous homelands, including the humid jungles of Chiapas and the misty highlands of Todos Santos.

 

 

Check out Studio Tour location #20 to see James's latest work, as well as pottery by Marie, and paintings by Margaret and Ray.

Grace MacPherson

Grace is a very prolific watercolour painter only starting to paint when she retired over 20 years ago. Still going strong in her late 80's her watercolours have won awards and hang in collections all over North America. 

She will have many new paintings in this years Tour. Stop by Studio #10 to see her work, her daughter Diana and granddaughter Allison.

Opal

Opal Dunbar - Adams has been working furiously for the Stouffville Studio Tour this weekend and has completed another piece that can be seen on her website www.opaldunbaradams.com 

She will also be featured on the exciting new Canadian Site ARTBOMB! They feature Canadian artists work for a 24hr period for viewers to bid on the work. Once it's gone, it's gone! ARTBOMB! Has been creating a lot of buzz and has been featured on the tech radio show Spark on CBC radio

http://artbombdaily.com

Opal has also donated a piece from her Campfire series to the Latcham Gallery for the auction on October 20th Big Night Out!

Colin Whitebread

This summer Colin Whitebread and his wife Susan joined fellow Studio Tour artists Ray McNeice and Margaret Grandison on a trip to Newfoundland.

These four photos show the process Colin works through as he develops a new piece in preparation for this year's Stouffville Studio Tour.

Colin did detailed and interpretive sketchs. Here is the progression from drawing to photo, then an interpretive and loose bigger drawing in pastels.

 Pleased with the way things are progressing, Colin is developing a mixed-media painting of these ideas.

Colin Whitebread Tour location #7 on 
this years map. 
Make sure to visit him!

Ray Young

Due to circumstances beyond his control, Ray Young will not be joining us personally for the tour. However, he will have his work at Wendy Lavalle's studio where she will be showing and selling Ray's work on his behalf. Wendy is # 2 on the Studio Tour map.

Videos

Steve Noorhoff is busy getting ready for the Tour. He has posted two stop motion videos of his work on You Tube.

 

These are great, thanks Steve! Visit Steve at Studio 15!

Stouffville Free Press

Thank you to the local monthly newspaper, the Stouffville Free Press a great supporter of our Tour. 

We were featured on their front page this month. 

Latcham Gallery

Right in downtown Stouffville on Main Street is Latcham Gallery, a public art gallery and one of our locations on the Tour.

The Latcham Gallery was started in 1979 by a group of local artists and visionaries who saw the need for an arts facility in Whitchurch- Stouffville. The Gallery was named after local philanthropist Arthur Latcham who donated money to a number of local buildings including the building that was to house the Gallery at 6240 Main Street.

Make sure you stop by to see the latest exhibition Brad Issacs  Still Life

The  Gallery is also hosting a major fund raising event the weekend after our Tour.  October 20th at 19 on the Park the Big Night Out Goes Bollywood. Art, food,dancing... a fun evening!

Silk Scarves

Silk scarves are new to the Tour this year!

Jara Niekraszewicz has photographed her process:

Preparing the silk

Starting to add colour

More colour

 

Waiting for them to dry

See Jara and her mother Valerie Ashton at Studio #8

News from Joan Chalmers

Joan is sharing some news with us today:

"My painting titled "HOME ICE" has been chosen for the 2013 Creative Expressions  calendar for the Parkinson's Society of Central and Northern Ontario. It is the scene of a neighbouring farm. It is a remembrance of my son and his friends playing hockey on their pond wearing their various hockey gear."

Make sure to visit Joan at Studio #13 where you will also see the work of her husband, John Walmsley

Rita Staniforth

Artists find their inspiration from many different things in life. Studio Tour artist Rita Staniforth has found inspiration for future pottery creations...

Rita says: "I've just got back from a trip to the UK and, always looking for inspiration, I came upon an article about a group called "Little Hen Rescue".   They take care of battery hens that are no longer productive, many of which are featherless for various reasons.    While at the shelter, they need to be kept warm so there are lots of knitters across the country making little hen sweaters (or jumpers, as they are called in the UK)!   Once the birds` feathers grow back, they are put up for adoption as pets.   Great idea for a piece of pottery!   So next year, there will be a few of these `little hens in jumpers` on sale.   If I sell any, I`ll donate the funds."  

Make sure to see Rita's work at Studio #4

John G Roberts

John Roberts is one of our Studio Tour artists. He calls himself a "visual artist"because he had expertise in many different medias.

John is a past member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour and a former high school art teacher. He is often seen around town with his sketch book tucked in a brief case under his arm and a big smile on his face.

Visit John at Studio #9 during the Tour

New work

Tour artist Marie Messina is excited about her new work.....

 

I have returned from my trip to British Columbia totally inspired!  The scenery and beauty there has motivated me to design some fresh, new pieces.  

 

  

In addition to my signature glaze, I have added some new glazes and speckled clay to my latest creations.   

 

I am thrilled to say, I have produced some very distinctively shaped bowls and unique serving pieces for this year’s Studio Tour.

It’s been a marvelous time!  I have loved every moment creating on my wheel and bringing to life each and every piece.   I hope that my supporters will enjoy my latest designs.

Make sure to stop by studio number 20 on this year's tour to see Marie's work