Phillips Ave.
Posted: May 17, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized 21 CommentsYou know a street is really quiet when the sleeping dog in the middle of the road doesn’t move when a car approaches. And as I painted this morning on Phillips Ave. in Senneville, many residents stopped at the common mailbox to pick up their mail. They must have wondered what this stranger was doing in her car on their quiet street but mostly everyone greeted me with a nod or a smile. Even the sleeping dog opened one eye in acknowledgement.
Super. I love the trees and the shade under the roof. Well balanced colours.
Thanks René.
My cousin lives on that street. It is a very unique community on that street that I have yet to encounter elsewhere. It is a wonderful street Everybody is super friendly. You caught some of the essence of the street.
That is so interesting. It almost felt like a little village.
TOP DRAWER Shari!
I continue to think of these vertical formats as large paintings….banners even
Have you thought about how to exhibit a year of daily painting? 200 days was quite a milestone, but 365 is closing in. Even the tireless Nina Johansson posted a full month and has been infrequent since then. I think it is a notable achievment and as a body of work, because it forced you to look at the everyday and mundane as a traveller. (which you did admirably) All that would be polemicism, were it not for the high quality of work. On average it’s really really really good, with many amazing days…sketches…in a car… not contemplated and overworked…just visual notations.
It is unimaginable to cut the pages out of sketchbooks, and the whole sketchbook collection is a concept in and of itself, but doesn’t make for much of a ‘viewing’. An empty room with sketchbooks on a table is doesn’t stir my blood and would likely turn a conservator’s blood cold. Projection on a wall is thematically aligned, but doesn’t cut it, besides I’m sure there are some paintings you would rather skip or keep small.
Then my mercantile mind turns to ways to make this happen…your municipality, Quebec, the Canada Council of The Arts, private /public galleries?
I think this is an Urban Sketchers question, because it gets to the heart of a sketchbook being a body of work and that we should discuss in Santo Domingo, but I hope to encourage you to find a way to have some exhibit or documentation of this amazing year. And…I’ll help.
John, I don’t know what to say. It has taken me longer than usual to respond because I am so touched by your thoughts, and speechless too. I am just doing these day by day and not really thinking about the long term or where to go with this. Some people on Flickr have asked me about publishing a book and I like that idea too. I have been contemplating having some sort of exhibition but that would just be for the works on paper, not in books. I have had requests by people who want to buy work but I can’t sell the ones in sketchbooks. I think we will just have to save this discussion for Santo Domingo.
I have to add a comment to say that, from my viewpoint, you are already exhibiting… and in a way which really suits your sketchbook medium (which is so hard to display) … and you are exhibiting to people who are all around the world.
Sure, we don’t get to see the originals (which I would be fascinated to see) but the traditional exhibition only ever reaches people within say 100km and only for a short window of time. The blog and Flickr reach a much broader audience who can visit your “personal gallery” any time we want… and also talk to you or question you about any particular painting any time we want… and it is the whole collection, not just a selection! Welcome to being and artist the 21st century and the global village.
And the idea of a book of your paintings at some stage in the future is very appealing… I would buy one of those!
I like the idea of reaching a wide audience and also of finding some way to mark a year of sketches. If I manage to reach that goal, I will put your name on the list for a book Ross.
What is this “if” business, Shari???
Where is the determination and drive that we have been seeing for the past 200+ days?
I still have all of that determination and drive. Just don’t want to jinx anything : )
Sorry, but I hate typos and would like to correct mine in my first comment. Near the end, no matter what my fingers typed, my brain was saying…
“Welcome to being an artist in the 21 century and the global village.”
By the way, I really liked the painting today.
Just amazing
Thanks Tim.
Shari, you are so darn good! I can’t attend your workshops but I still would like to learn your technique — SO why don’t you produce a video, please? I would gladly pay for a DVD or a download of a real lesson from you!
Thanks Gina. I get video requests frequently. Perhaps some day I will do that. I’ll keep it in mind.
If not, you will leave me no choice but to go to Montreal and film you myself!
It’s a deal!
I’m not going until those students stop rioting!
I don’t blame you. I don’t want to go downtown either.
I love the contrast between the shaded understory of the trees and the brightly lit roofs. A question: Do you paint around the tree trunks (their negative space) or do you paint the trunks themselves and then the area around them? I hope that my question makes sense!
I think in this one I painted around the trunks and then added a light wash on top.