Painting & Sketching In A World Where There Are Octobers

October is a favourite month of mine. The colours of the trees changing, birds migrating, sweaters needed and hats and mittens taken out of storage. Here is a brief summary of some of my October art encounters and activities.

Artist Talk

I love exploring new art techniques and learning about and meeting other artists. One "artist encounter" that I enjoyed in the month of October was an artist talk given by Brian Turner  at the general meeting of ArtEast in Orleans. Brian works in watercolour and he also teaches an 8 week watercolor class through the Kanata Art Club website for details (www.artforall.ca)

Brian Turner gave an artist talk on composition at the ArtEast General Meeting

Brian had actually put away his paintbrushes for 37 years and he had a work colleague who painted every night. When Brian asked him why he did that, his colleague responded by saying, "I'd hate to reach 85 years of age and discover that I could have been good."

Brian's style of speaking was interactive and he used a PowerPoint to demonstrate all the various elements of good composition. Some of the items that I jotted down in my notes:

• Brian is a fan of Ikea Verserum frames (11 x 15, 14.5 x 22.5; and 17.75 x 28.5) because they come with acid-free matts and they are solid wood frames that you can wire. He suggests that you "paint to the frame" when you work.
• Brian likes to have his prints made by with Dave Andrews of Germotte print
• There was mention as well of Artworld oNe (at Ogilvie and Montreal Rd.) 
• I loved that Brian uses some interesting tools in his watercolour painting like transparent packing tape (for masking); a magic eraser (for removing objects) and Saran Wrap for atmospheric effects on wet watercolour

Inktober

Inktober is a monthly activity created by Jake Parker . Every October, artists all over the world take on the Inktober drawing challenge by doing one ink drawing a day the entire month. There are themes for those that prefer to have prompts but I chose to sketch whatever was on my mind that day.

Sometimes, my Inktober inspiration came from research I was doing, current events or things that I spotted on my daily dog walk with Lexie.

"British Home Children" (calligraphy ink on Bristol)

"Being Watched"(India ink on Bristol) (added to my "Pets In Windows" collection)

Nobel Prize Winner Donnna Strickland (ink on cartridge paper)

"Dunn's Diner is Done" (Black and red ink on Bristol)

October Life Drawing

I love drawing and painting people. Ottawa has a wide variety of opportunities to practice. (See my 2017 blog post that's in need of an update)

Aretha Franklin (watercolour in my Strathmore Series 500 sketchbook)

I was grateful to make my way back to Atelier Denu and DATR (Drawing at the Rooster) this month and it was great!

Drawing at the Rooster (October 2018)

October Musings

I have been completely obsessed with a twitter list I have called "Farm Life". I spend a good deal of time following quite a few farmers in Wales, North England, Scotland, Ireland and Ontario.

These farmers and shepherdesses post a lot of photographs and videos and I often capture the images and sketch or paint them for the pure joy of it .

Here are a couple from October in watercolour and acrylic.

"Mom's Protection" (watercolour)

"Sheep Dogs" (acrylic)

"Regal One" (watercolour)

October Plein Air Painting

My October Plein Air recap was going to basically report that its clearly getting too cold to be spending long hours outdoors. Recent excursions to Bates Island and the Mackenzie King Estate required mittens and hand warmers and both trips were quite wonderful despite the wind (and snow).

Me painting the sun setting from Bates Island in Ottawa

Two hours of progress on the Mackenzie King Estate in Gatineau, Quebec

Toque and hand warmers needed at the Mackenzie King Estate

I don't remember reporting on our plein air trip to Upper Canada Village that took place in September. I absolutely LOVED this trip and would LOVE to do it again next year!

Upper Canada Village has so many beautiful views. This one started on the veranda of the kitchen area and finished at home

I was drawn to the "Z" composition lines of the fence and houses and the beautiful pear tree. This one was also finished at home

October Urban Sketching 

I organized the October Urban Sketching event on October 20th and you can read about the event and see my photographs on my Ottawa Urban Sketching blog.

 Looking Forward to November

The month of November will begin with another event that I organized for our  Urban Sketchers at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and then the following weekend I will be traveling to Toronto to visit with my family and daughter and also attend the the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.

The last time I sketched at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair was in 2015 and I blogged about it here: https://moynahanstudio.blogspot.com/2015/11/sketching-at-royal-winter-fair-rwf.html

Then Lexie and I will retreat back into our tiny, cramped studio space and see if we can fill it ALL up with some beautiful art work.