That explains how it moved into the #1 spot on my top ten popular blog posts so quickly!
Ferme Lavender Ridge Links
Monday, July 20, 2015
Thanks Again Ferme Lavender Ridge!
Many thanks to Ferme Lavender Ridge for sharing my blog post "Summer Plein Air 5/6 - Ferme Lavender Ridge" on their facebook page.
That explains how it moved into the #1 spot on my top ten popular blog posts so quickly!
That explains how it moved into the #1 spot on my top ten popular blog posts so quickly!
Weather Update : 48th World Wide SketchCrawl - July 25
The weather is looking great for Saturday! There is no rain in the forecast but it will be warm so don't forget to pack plenty of fluids, sunblock and a good hat! (Folding stools or chairs are also a great idea)
If you haven't signed up yet - please visit the Facebook event page at:
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| Ottawa 7 day weather forecast at the Weather Network |
Sketchcrawl Map
For details on the day's schedule, visit the previous blog post
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| Map for Ottawa's 48th WW Sketchcrawl Start: National Gallery's "Maman|' (aka the spider) Move to the canal and Bytowne museum End in the Byward Market |
It's Your First Sketchcrawl?
All that is needed is something to draw on and something to draw with. Use any kind of media you would like. Pen, pencil, watercolour and sketch on a pad of paper, a clipboard, a sketchbook or anything you like.
The Urban Sketchers' Manifesto
The most important aspect of the urban sketchers manifesto is that we cherish our individual styles and we support each other and draw together.
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| The urban sketchers manifesto is available in other languages at the link below http://www.urbansketchers.org/p/about-usk.html |
Show the World Our Ottawa Sketches
At two points in the day we will gather and do a "show and tell". This is not mandatory. It's a great way of seeing each others interpretation of our surroundings and seeing the different styles.
Likewise, the point of a World Wide Sketchcrawl is to share our sketches with other cities participating in the event. There is a dedicated "Forum" on the official website (click this link: http://www.sketchcrawl.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=75) where you can share your sketches with other sketchcrawlers around the world!
Here are a few of the cities that have signed up:
Montréal, Québec, Canada
Los Angeles, California
Orlando FL
Tallahassee Florida
San Francisco "City"
Olympia, WA
Stevens Point, Wisconsin
Helsinki, Finland
Belfort, France
Bordeaux France
Martigues, France
Montpellier, France
Rouffach, France
Saintes, France
Strasbourg, France
Cologne/Köln,Germany
Roma (Italy)
Zierikzee (The Netherlands)
Svolvaer, Lofoten Islands, Norway
Lisboa, Portugal
Rotterdam
San Vicente de la Barquera (Cantabria, Spain)
València, Spain
Göteborg (Sweden)
Bern, Switzerland
Lviv, Ukraine
Sydney, Australia
Seoul, Korea
Taipei, Taiwon R.O.C.
Tokyo, Japan
Share your photos on the SketchCrawl Forum. If you are not sure how to do that, there are detailed instructions at this link: http://www.sketchcrawl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2224
Everyone is encouraged to also post their sketches on
Sunday, July 19, 2015
A Sunday Guided Walk at the Dominion Arboretum
Earlier this month I wrote about how I have always loved trees (link to my blog post : "Trees and Forests") and I mentioned that I would be attending a Guided Walk at the Dominion Arboretum this Sunday. Here are some photos from today:
The guided walk was hosted by The Friends of the Central Experimental Farm (FCEF)
The tour leaders were Owen Clarkin and Roman Popadiouk. Owen Clarkin's enthusiasm for everything about trees was infectious. He and his colleague Roman (who has a PhD in Forest Ecology from Moscow University) shared their knowledge with the large crowd.
The map above is the detailed area where the first part of our tour took place. The group of folks that attended the tour was quite large and many were taking notes and photographs. There were lots of questions that our two tour guides were very happy to answer.
The group explored the Arboretum and examined the many kinds of trees we encountered such as white poplar, silver willow, bald cypress, paperback maple, common hackberry, blue Colorado spruce, Japanese larch, easter white pine, jack pine, red pine, Ponderosa pine etc to name a few.
I had attended this delightful tree tour because of an email invitation from my "Plein Air Tuesday" art teacher David W. Jones.
I met David at the arboretum and he told me of a video that existed of him painting at the Dominion Arboretum. David has painted at the arboretum many times.
I thought this video of David would be a perfect way to close this blog post about the amazing trees that can be seen at the Dominion Arboretum.
The guided walk was hosted by The Friends of the Central Experimental Farm (FCEF)
The tour leaders were Owen Clarkin and Roman Popadiouk. Owen Clarkin's enthusiasm for everything about trees was infectious. He and his colleague Roman (who has a PhD in Forest Ecology from Moscow University) shared their knowledge with the large crowd.
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| Owen Clarkin |
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| 10K run map showing arboretum |
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| Guided Tour Area #1 |
The map above is the detailed area where the first part of our tour took place. The group of folks that attended the tour was quite large and many were taking notes and photographs. There were lots of questions that our two tour guides were very happy to answer.
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| Due diligence |
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| Tour guide Owen Clarkin |
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| The trees have labels with their common name (in e/f) and their latin name |
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| Artist David W. Jones in the group (upper right) listening to Owen Clarkin |
I met David at the arboretum and he told me of a video that existed of him painting at the Dominion Arboretum. David has painted at the arboretum many times.
I thought this video of David would be a perfect way to close this blog post about the amazing trees that can be seen at the Dominion Arboretum.
Saturday, July 18, 2015
Centretown Parking Huts
When I moved to Ottawa in 2002 I was struck by the number of parking huts in Centretown. Not only the parking huts, I also became familiar with a number of the parking attendants.
One parking atendant that I waved to every day was rumoured to have been a mathematics professor at the University of Ottawa.
I decided to devote a blog post to some of the familiar parking huts in my neighbourhood. They are "manned" from Monday to Friday and I set out with my sketching stool to sketch them and learned quickly that not every parking attendant wanted to be featured in my sketches so I photographed the huts instead and photographed the willing parking attendants to sketch later.
I use the term "parking hut" and some folks call them "parking booths". The word hut seems more appropriate because the folks sit in these structures through all the seasons. Seems to me that they are more than a "booth" to get a parking pass.
I am not the only one who finds parking huts interesting. Here are some more interesting links from Detroit:
One parking atendant that I waved to every day was rumoured to have been a mathematics professor at the University of Ottawa.
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| Lot #1 - Gilmour |
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| Lot #2 - Dominion Chalmers |
I use the term "parking hut" and some folks call them "parking booths". The word hut seems more appropriate because the folks sit in these structures through all the seasons. Seems to me that they are more than a "booth" to get a parking pass.
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| Lot #3 - Nepean |
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| Lot #4 - Somerset St West |
I am not the only one who finds parking huts interesting. Here are some more interesting links from Detroit:
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| An iPhone picture of my ArtJournal Page |
FemArt Friday: Mary Evelyn Wrinch (1877-1969)
At the end of June I became aware that the Ottawa Art Gallery was featuring an exhibit of artist Mary E. Wrinch from May 30 to August 30.
The exhibition is accompanied by the e-publication Female Self-Representation and the Public Trust: Mary E. Wrinch and the AGW Collection, authored by Dr. Catharine M. Mastin, supplied in downloadable PDF format here.
Artist, Educator & Property Owner
Mary "was an important artist working in Toronto during the first half of the twentieth century. As a single woman she earned her living as an art educator, presiding over the art department at Bishop Strachan School, Toronto where she worked from 1901 to 1936. Prior to the Group of Seven’s interest in Ontario’s northern landscapes, Wrinch was an outdoor enthusiast and owned a two storey cottage at Kingwood, Lake of Bays, where she canoed and sketched." (Source: OAG)
"In 1906, Wrinch's visits to a friend's cottage on Lake Muskoka amid the rivers, lakes, and forested landscape north of Toronto, inspired a radical change in her art. Without preliminary sketches, she now painted directly from nature on canvases over a metre high and wide. At the 1907 OSA exhibition, she showed Sawmill, Muskoka, which was subsequently purchased by the Government of Ontario. Interviewed about her painting in the Toronto Star in 1913, she said, "Somehow our Canadian landscapes call for a big canvas and for direct, out of door painting. When you do it small, you lose much of its very essence." Expanding the techniques used for miniature painting, Wrinch continued to juxtapose colours, rather than blending them, endowing her compositions with an energetic vitality." (Source: CHIN)
"In the Winter months, Wrinch worked in Toronto at her Wychwood Park studio.
At the Ottawa art gallery I loved this painting (below). I love the palette that she used for this one and "The Sawmill"
"In 1922, at 45 years of age, Wrinch married her former teacher, George A. Reid. The two traveled Northern Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia on painting trips.
In 1928, at the age of 51, Wrinch's style changed again. She began experimenting with linoleum block printing, interpreting the landscapes of her paintings into intricate prints that featured rich colours and strong outlines. She was also very interested in studying flowers and many of the prints feature flowers from her own garden." (Source: McNaught Gallery Newsletter June 2014)
I had not seen this linoblock print (below) before and I must say it is my favorite. I have often thought, when I am out plein air painting, how much the landscape lends itself beautifully to the linoleum block. And in this one, Mary has captured the landcape beautifully.
The exhibition is accompanied by the e-publication Female Self-Representation and the Public Trust: Mary E. Wrinch and the AGW Collection, authored by Dr. Catharine M. Mastin, supplied in downloadable PDF format here.
I love learning about women artists and I am particularly drawn to women who are referred to as "atypical for their generation". Mary Evelyn was certainly that.
She postponed marriage until almost in her fifties and, when she did marry, she married an artist and she enjoyed a positive painting partnership with her husband. (She insisted on being known as M.E. Wrinch and not Mrs.Reid, as she was often referred)
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| Mary E. Wrinch (photo source: National Gallery) |
Above is the only picture that I could find of her (at the National Gallery). I wondered if she disliked having her photo taken? She certainly appears to be unhappy having this one taken.
I set off to the Ottawa Art Gallery to see some of her work and learn more about her.
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| Ottawa Art Gallery |
Mary Evelyn (Reid) Wrinch was active and lived in Ontario, Canada. Mary Wrinch is known for her painting, miniatures, and printmaking. At the Art Gallery of Ottawa I was able to see two examples of her miniatures on ivory and they were stunning in their small size and detail!
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| Miniature on Ivory |
Artist, Educator & Property Owner
(an atypical woman for her generation)
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| Art Studio, Bishop Strachan School, Toronto, ca. 1915, where Mary Wrinch taught art classes from 1901-36. Photograph courtesy Bishop Strachan School Archives. |
Mary "was an important artist working in Toronto during the first half of the twentieth century. As a single woman she earned her living as an art educator, presiding over the art department at Bishop Strachan School, Toronto where she worked from 1901 to 1936. Prior to the Group of Seven’s interest in Ontario’s northern landscapes, Wrinch was an outdoor enthusiast and owned a two storey cottage at Kingwood, Lake of Bays, where she canoed and sketched." (Source: OAG)
"Somehow our Canadian landscapes
call for a big canvas and
for direct, out of door painting.
When you do it small,
you lose much of its very essence."
"In 1906, Wrinch's visits to a friend's cottage on Lake Muskoka amid the rivers, lakes, and forested landscape north of Toronto, inspired a radical change in her art. Without preliminary sketches, she now painted directly from nature on canvases over a metre high and wide. At the 1907 OSA exhibition, she showed Sawmill, Muskoka, which was subsequently purchased by the Government of Ontario. Interviewed about her painting in the Toronto Star in 1913, she said, "Somehow our Canadian landscapes call for a big canvas and for direct, out of door painting. When you do it small, you lose much of its very essence." Expanding the techniques used for miniature painting, Wrinch continued to juxtapose colours, rather than blending them, endowing her compositions with an energetic vitality." (Source: CHIN)
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| Mary Wrinch, Sawmill Dorset - Collection of the Art Gallery of Windsor (oil on canvas 83.7 x 86.2 cm) |
"In the Winter months, Wrinch worked in Toronto at her Wychwood Park studio.
At the Ottawa art gallery I loved this painting (below). I love the palette that she used for this one and "The Sawmill"
"In 1922, at 45 years of age, Wrinch married her former teacher, George A. Reid. The two traveled Northern Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia on painting trips.
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| Artist George Agnew Reid |
Linoleum Block Printing
In 1928, at the age of 51, Wrinch's style changed again. She began experimenting with linoleum block printing, interpreting the landscapes of her paintings into intricate prints that featured rich colours and strong outlines. She was also very interested in studying flowers and many of the prints feature flowers from her own garden." (Source: McNaught Gallery Newsletter June 2014)
I had not seen this linoblock print (below) before and I must say it is my favorite. I have often thought, when I am out plein air painting, how much the landscape lends itself beautifully to the linoleum block. And in this one, Mary has captured the landcape beautifully.
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| "The Stream" by M.E. Wrinch |
More Images of M.E. Wrinch's art
(from around the web)
"Green and Gold" Linoleum cut printed in colors, 1932
(at William P. Carl Fine Prints)
M.E. Wrinch
(found on Pinterest)
The Governor's Garden, Quebec City, 1914
(found on askART.com)
"Abitibi Canyon"
(Found on Pinterest)
At 17 Years of Age,
Mary Wrinch Wins First Prize
(from around the web)
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| "Green and Gold" Linoleum cut printed in colors, 1932 (at William P. Carl Fine Prints) |
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| M.E. Wrinch (found on Pinterest) |
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| The Governor's Garden, Quebec City, 1914 (found on askART.com) |
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| "Abitibi Canyon" (Found on Pinterest) |
At 17 Years of Age,
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| The Toronto Daily Mail Nov. 7, 1894 |
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| Source: https://curve.carleton.ca/system/files/theses/27851.pdf |
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| Inspiring Women: A Celebration of Herstory By Mona Holmlund, Gail Youngberg, Margaret Eleanor Atwood |
Links
- Mary Wrinch Prints for Sale at William P. Carl Fine Prints
- Concordia - Women Artists: Mary E. Wrinch
- Sparkling Water: Mary Wrinch and Her Contemporaries
- "Mary Wrinch Remains a Rebel at 90." Globe and Mail, 15 Oct. 1966. (I hope to get a copy of this article to add to this blog post)
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Christening a New Art Journal in Ottawa's Chinatown:
I finished my third Strathmore Mixed Media 500 Series softcover art journal since discovering it in May 2014. It has been wonderful to work with for all the reasons I have written about on my blog before (see my blog posts tagged "Strathmore" here)
I christened my new hardcover Mixed Media 500 Series at our urban sketching meet up (Week 4) organized by artist Colin White in Ottawa's Chinatown alleyways last night.
Chinatown is such a great place to visit and sketch! The alleys are full of activity and so interesting to sketch. I would gladly go back again.
My new art journal did not disappoint me.
I chose the hardcover version of this 100% cotton mixed media journal after watching a great video posted by Parka blogs "Tips on choosing a sketchbook for drawing, journaling or watercolour". (Follow Parka blog on twitter and/or subscribe to his email updates here)
Parka blogs writes: Paperback or hardcover
"I highly recommend getting hardcover over paperback. The hard back provides support when you're drawing. Hardcovers are good for indoor and outdoor use. You can stand and draw with a hardcover sketchbook easily compared to a paperback. When you're drawing or painting on a paperback, especially when the sketchbook is not laid against a hard surface like a table, your applied stroke will push the pages away, and it can get challenging to control your lines when the drawing surface is always moving away."
Here is my last art journal, Strathmore #3, now labelled and on the shelf. (I have also added videos of the previous two journals Strathmore #1 and Strathmore #2)
I am quite excited about this new hard cover Strathmore art journal and some of the new projects that it will record over the rest of this summer!
I christened my new hardcover Mixed Media 500 Series at our urban sketching meet up (Week 4) organized by artist Colin White in Ottawa's Chinatown alleyways last night.
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| Mawt Trood's Tweet |
Chinatown is such a great place to visit and sketch! The alleys are full of activity and so interesting to sketch. I would gladly go back again.
My new art journal did not disappoint me.
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| New art journal christening in the alleys of Ottawa's Chinatown |
Parka blogs writes: Paperback or hardcover
"I highly recommend getting hardcover over paperback. The hard back provides support when you're drawing. Hardcovers are good for indoor and outdoor use. You can stand and draw with a hardcover sketchbook easily compared to a paperback. When you're drawing or painting on a paperback, especially when the sketchbook is not laid against a hard surface like a table, your applied stroke will push the pages away, and it can get challenging to control your lines when the drawing surface is always moving away."
Here is my last art journal, Strathmore #3, now labelled and on the shelf. (I have also added videos of the previous two journals Strathmore #1 and Strathmore #2)
July 2015 - Strathmore #3
January 2015 - Strathmore #2
July 2014 - Strathmore #1
I am quite excited about this new hard cover Strathmore art journal and some of the new projects that it will record over the rest of this summer!
Some of My
Pre-Strathmore Series 500 Mixed Media Art Journals
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| My 2008-2013 Art Journals |
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Summer Plein Air 5/6 - Ferme Lavender Ridge
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| Ferme Lavender Ridge |
Our fifth session of plein air painting took place at Ferme Lavender Ridge, a beautiful farm located in Luskville, Quebec.
This farm is open to the public. It's 35-45 minutes from Ottawa (on Rte 148) The owner Joanne Labadie is amazing! There is a lavender shop with everything (soap, scone mix, sweets etc), and there are vineyards that produce three types of wine for sale in the shop: 2 white, one red (and a StOmp with a funny story)
Their lavender shortbread cookies that we sampled are beyond divine - especially when paired with their 2014 award winning wine "LaVigne".
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| My art journal sketches of the day Ferme Lavender Ridge - Page 1 |
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| Owner Joanne Labadie pointing to her fields around the farm. |
It's been a rough year on the farm - the late frost in May hurt farmers everywhere. To that unfortunate act of Mother Nature, Joanne shrugged and said "That's farming". You can see she loves what she does and she loves her visitors. It was SUCH a great day.
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| Joanne Labadie's tour of her farm was so informative and fun. Joanne clearly loves what she does! |
The farm, buildings and fields were all so picturesque and it was so difficult to decide where to paint or sketch first. So I began, as I always begin, making a series of quick sketches and taking photos from various vantage points around the farm.
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| Lavender Ridge farm house |
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| My first quick sketch of the vineyards and Lavender Ridge farm house |
Sketching Around the farm
The group is scheduled to paint between 10:30 and 4:30. Taking into account the wait for late arrivals and add to that the wondeful tour given my Joanne, I estimate that we actually started around 11:30. I then decided to sketch until 1:30 when we all stopped for our lunch and a wine tasting (of La Brise and La Vigne)
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| My art journal sketches of the day (Ferme Lavender Ridge Page 2) |
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| The wine tasting |
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| The barn |
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| Tree in the driveway (I am not the only one who has been inspired by this tree) |
My Plein Air Painting
I didn't actually start painting with my acrylics until after 2 pm (whenever lunch and the wine tasting finished) and I set my iPhone timer to 4 pm (to get my vrtucar back on time) So I was limited and worked fast and this is what I managed to accomplish in just under two hours.
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| My painting - after two hours (acrylic, unfinished) |
Ferme Lavender Ridge Links
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| The Shop |
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| The preserves, lavender scone mix,lavender cookies etc |
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| Lavender lotions etc |
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| Lavender bath salts etc |
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| Ferme Lavender Ridge wines ($18-20) |
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| Baked goods, lunches and pies etc Want to try Tomato Pie next time |
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| It was an overcast day that saturated the colours in the landscape making for excellent practice with green colour mixing! |
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