Monday, August 3, 2009

Time Flies…

Well, I’m not sure where July went…except that I must have spent most of it on the go…I flew out West and back again and put almost 3,000 km on my van on top of that! I am hoping for a quieter August!

Somewhere in July I did spend a wonderful week at The Haliburton School of the Arts…at the new campus…what a beautiful spot and excellent facility…so many amazing courses available! Now, having been there for the first time, it is going to be hard to choose what to take next time! LT and I want to make this a yearly event. We are going to be torn though...we both want to take another course with John, but there is also a class on printmaking - impasto waterbase - that looks really cool...there are so many really cool classes there that it gets to be overwhelming when you start really looking!

I love the doors into the school…bright, bright red, with things incorporated into them – both inside and out…inside there was a pot with oversized paintbrushes in it and a lovely thick branch…carved into the wood over the doors (can’t really see it in the photo) it says “Within these walls the walls within disappear.” What a wonderful quote to walk under each morning…and how fitting for a place of creative learning.














This is the new campus...













We never did manage a full walk about the Sculpture Forest...but here are a few that we passed daily...the Inukshuk that welcomed us each day...


















The Horse and Rider that were very cool...

























My favorite was this totem made of carved stone...it is called "Dreaming Stones" by Kevin Lockau...


















It is too bad that we didn't do the Sculpture Forest walk...we didn't realize how exhausting the class we took was going to be...not only being mentally tired from the actual learning and pushing ourselves...but also the lugging of all of our stuff out to the various locations was tiring! Next year we will have to make a point of doing the walk even if we are tired!

I absolutely loved the class we took…"Introduction to Oil Painting - Plein Air". John Anderson is a great teacher…we were a class of 12, with varying degrees of experience and coming from many different artistic backgrounds...John managed beautifully to pull us all through the week, each of us learning and growing individually…he balanced group and individual teaching with a skill that could only come out of a love of both the medium and being able to, and loving to, teach.

For me, personally, it was a week of intense, but good, frustration…I had my own private little lesson on perspective – I have never had any formal art training – a nasty elementary art teacher scared me as far away from art in middle and high school as I could go! We all had a few lessons on colour mixing which I was thrilled about! We geared up and hiked off to some beautiful spots to paint and I actually painted! All of my pieces are very amateurish, but from the first painting of the week to the one I did on the last day’s location…definite improvement and growth can be seen. What more can a person ask for?

We spent day 1 in the studio...learning about direct, indirect and oblique light, doing some colour mixing and a painting from a photo...here we are on day 2 setting up at our first 'plein air' location...these buildings are on the campus...so the lugging of equipment and supplies wasn't far...part of the learning curve included learning how to make it out to a location in 1 trip...with everything you needed, but not any more!












And here is part of the scene we were painting from...












Day 3 found us out on our second venture - on the side of a road outside of the town of Haliburton...I have already forgotten the name of the town it was near and it isn't on the map...should have written it down...


























Here is the scene we were painting...














Here are LT and my canvases as we were working away...














Day 4 found us in town, right off the main street of Haliburton, set up along a river...this was a lovely spot...I enjoyed being able to be in the shade - after baking in the sun the day before!

Here we are all picking our spots and getting set up...














Here is the scene...














And here is my canvas in progress...it is really, really hard to create a sense of depth!














Day 5 found us back out towards that small town I can't remember the name of...on a side road, off a side road...then hike on down the trail and you come to this beautiful spot...the falls have a name too...but I have also forgot that! At this location, I wanted to focus on trying to paint rocks...the little scene that I chose looked like something I might find out on Georgian Bay...sort of...the rocks, anyway...

There were many different places for people to set up on this, our last, venture out...














This is the scene that I chose...


















And here is a progress shot of my canvas...















Here is the scene that John chose...















And here is a picture that I took of John out on his point...LT is going to print it up and deliver it to him...as well as being an artist and a teacher, he also manages the Curry's art supplies store in Barrie, Ontario...


















On the Thursday after classes, there was a 'walk about'...we could all go visit the other classes, talk to people about the class and see what they were doing...here is LT and my corner of the studio...














And a bunch of our canvases...














It is amazing how close you can get to what was, only 5 days before, a group of strangers...I didn't get a good group shot on my camera...but many were taken and I hope to get 1 as a memento of our week...there were goodbyes and hugs all round as we packed up to leave...exhausted, but exhilarated! Here is LT packing up her pizza boxes with wet canvases...


















When I said earlier what more could I ask for?...well, there was more! LT and I stayed for the week with a friend of mine that I used to work with back when I was a picture framer…Barb…she and her husband let us join them at their cottage in Minden…it was beautiful and so great to see Barb again…I hadn’t seen her since I moved to Ottawa from Orillia…almost 7 years ago! So each day after LT and I got home from class, we shared dinner making duties and many bottles of wine…catching up on old times…Barb was looking after 2 of her grandbabies – aged 2 and 4…so the cottage was hopping with activity! It was a totally wonderful week all round.

6 comments:

Oma said...

I am so glad you had such a wonderful week. Isn't Haliburton just the greatest?

It is the perfect way to escape from life.

When I came back from my week there I just wanted to keep on creating. I went out to the cottage and became a crazy hermit lady creating a tale about some wild women I created in a landscape. Then when it was time to move on I made each of the women their own landscape and headed off to Kenya for 6 months. My relationship couldn't withstand that much absenteeism, I am afraid!

Beverley Baird said...

What a perfect week!
Creating, visiting, being outdoors!
The years I went to Haliburton with my kids were the best of times !

Leah said...

Ooo, what a wonderful adventure! And what a great place to create! I love those red doors and the blue horse.

So sorry about that mean art teacher you had as a kid. That's just awful. Good for you for moving past their nonsense and creating. You did some beautiful work!

Shaun said...

Welcome back Stranger!

Thank you for sharing your week and great photos. Imagine creating among such wonderful settings. Oh wait! You don't have to imagine.

It is great to see LT again.

I imagine you and Barb sharing much laughter. I can't believe it has been 7years.

Tamarak said...

Thank you all for your comments!

I would highly recommend taking a course at Haliburton to anyone who is thinking about it...it is such an amazing place! Everyone I talk to who has taken a course there feels the same way...it is truely a magical place!

IrishGirl...hard to believe...it will be 7 years ago this Labour Day weekend when I pulled into Ottawa in the wee hours of the Friday night (Saturday morning) with 3 young kids, no one set up in school for the following Tuesday - start of the new school year...slept on the floor in our new place and waited for the moving truck to arrive the next day with all our stuff...the start of a new life for us...but I do miss you, Barb, Ang and LT...miss having you wonderful women right close by!

Angie said...

wow your trip away sounds and looks fabulous!
Just wanted to say that whilst you were away I awarded you the "Water Melon 10 Award", for sharing not only your art work but your process of how you make your wonderful paintings, just a way to say thank you! Angie :)