Charles Comfort Medal and Swinton Award

Wow what an Open water this year. The jury chose an amazing group of National water colours and then awarded my painting both the Charles Comfort Medal for excellence in figurative work accompanied by the Swinton's Award.

Paper Rose is an image inspired by one of my wonderful models. One day the model came over and we had fun crunching paper and taping it onto her as if it were a high end blouse. The imagery deals with the concepts of fragility, facades and pretences as they relate to our media and our youth.

LaCrosse

What a beautiful part of the U.S.A. with treed hills and quaint farms nestled into the landscape.
Becky, you are the best and I hope to see you again!

The workshop dealt with mixing water media in different combinations. We held the workshop inside part of a brewery! While there I was able to pick up a Norwegian grill for Christmas backing, oh ya sure.

On the last morning, Becky drove me around the country side to see Amish farms, what a privilege for me!

Vist with some Friends in Toronto

While in Toronto I was able to take time for some of my friends.

I met with Bruce and Marlene and Joyce one evening for a delicious dinner. So good to see you and thank you for the song written on your way home Marlene and Bruce!

Then of course were the Rusty Nailers of 2008. It was so good to see everyone, thank you for taking time to visit, eat and talk art.

And.... there was a Castor spotting in down town Toronto!!

Toronto Watercolour Society

After the E.C.O. workshop, I had the pleasure of teaching for the T.W.S. at a cute hall in Lemonville.

This was a figure class with two models a day and lots of instruction to boot.

We were even able to paint through power and water outages!

Thanks Toronto for a great workshop.

East Central Ontario Watercolour!

Well the East Central Watercolour Society really knows how to paint and party!

For one weekend every year over one hundred like minded painters travel to a camp and work hard and play hard with skits, music and dancing the night away.

My class was great, I really enjoyed being a part of the weekend!

Over the years you meet such wonderful friends like Brigitte Schreyer (she is a fantastic artist!) who attended the E.C.O. weekend.

The Eye

By the way, in my Face and figure workshops I will demo different concepts. This is an example of an eye demo in progress.

Gabriola Island Symposium

The Federation of Canadian Artists organized a symposium on Gabriola Island in September. I was lucky enough to participate for a couple days before flying off to Toronto for another workshop.

The photo describes some of the beautiful scenery found on the Island.

East Coast Trip!

The first part of the trip began in New Brunswick where my friend Debbie showed me around the St. John area. Deb was a wonderful host and we had a great time touring art galleries and touring the local landscape.

We then traveled to Cape Breton Island for the CSPWC symposium. The week was a tremendous success videos of the week can be purchased through the water colour society (C.S.P.W.C.).

On the last day my friend Nicole and I toured the Cabot Trail, here is a photo of the beautiful scenery.

Whistler

I have to say that Whistler is one of the most beautiful places that I have ever seen.

The Whistler Arts Council invited me to teach a layering workshop in a beautiful cabin on a lake.

The participants and I had a great time painting at such a spectacular location!


Thank you Jenn and Bea!

Cheyenne!

I had a wonderful time in Cheyenne where I taught a workshop for Laramie County Community College. Mrs Esther Clay invited me to lead the workshop for a full class of keen painters.

The Clay's hosted a lovely dinner and gave me a tour of Cheyenne showing me where the world famous Frontier Days take place.
I saw a tone of antelope throughout the country side and visited some crazy rocks at Veedavoo.

What a great trip, I hope that I have the opportunity to see Wyoming again.