A Week's Worth and a Gallery Tour

Village Vista - 6" x 11" watercolour sketch by Angela Fehr

I'm on vacation right now, our usual Saskatchewan getaway visiting family. My in-laws have a lovely yard, and the thing about Saskatchewan is, there's horizon in every direction! I've made time to paint, and am painting with the goal of looseness, fun little paintings that don't obligate me to masterpiece.

Clematis detail - watercolour painting in progress by Angela Fehr

There's a beautiful trellis of Jackmanii clematis just outside the entryway door. I am resolved to plant my own clematis in the same grapey shade. I will be doing some more work on the background of this painting, and defining some of the blossoms a little better yet. Wondering if I should add some pen and ink a la Terry Banderas. I love seeing lines and details pop!

Clematis watercolour painting in progress by Angela Fehr

Calm before the Chaos - 11" x 14" watercolour painting on YUPO by Angela Fehr

It's been a long time since I've painted on YUPO but in the interest of loosening up, I thought it would be a good exercise. There's a lot of room for accidents on paper that doesn't absorb the paint at all! I'm really happy with this painting, especially the clouds. I'm often tempted to photograph the dried pools of paint in my palette and painting on YUPO yields results that are very similar.

I went on a gallery tour in downtown Saskatoon last week. It's always inspiring and breathtaking to see work by other artists, and the galleries all featured Saskatchewan and Canadian artists. I actually got butterflies in my stomach at some of the incredible art. Jim Brager had a watercolour exhibit at Pacif'ic Gallery (the photos on the site don't do his work justice) and I loved the style of Rolf Krohn and Steven Lamb. The Darrell Bell gallery had some little prairie watercolours by Terry Lindsay, though what really captured my eye was a tetratych by Jane Harrington. Rouge Gallery's art was much more contemporary in style and my little watercolours would be out of place there but I was drawn to so much of the art on display - BIG canvases and texture everywhere. I especially loved the birches painted in almost 3D layers by Maya Eventov. I did eventually find Art Placement down a back alley in the city and while the gallery space is tiny, it did hold the most expensive painting I've seen yet - a $32,000 painting by Catherine Perehudoff. I keep feeling like I may have read that price tag wrong - but you never know - art prices are a wildly swinging pendulum, aren't they?

I'd like to do more painting this year - vacation is a good time to take mental stock of one's home life and goals - and I have been so busy with my graphic design business and writing that art has taken a second place. One change that would help me would be to improve my current studio space. Scrapbooking has kind of taken over every other surface and when I paint I am gingerly balancing painting board and palette, and when I moisten my paper and palette with my mister bottle, my office papers get a spritz as well. Looking forward to my dedicated studio being completed and available for use. My husband has blueprinted me in above our in-progress garage and I will likely move in before the walls are even up. I need to be painting more consistently before I can plan my next marketing move - whether seeking gallery representation or mounting an exhibit locally.