It seems as if everyone I know has the same impression, that time is speeding up somehow. Maybe it’s that we’re making up for the time lost during the pandemic, or that back-to-back-earth-shattering world events seem to accelerate perception of time, but egads, I can’t believe it’s February already. It has been a busy and exciting year thus far, and I know we are all short on time so I’ll try to keep it brief.
American Watercolor Society
The big news this year and I think one of the top 5 of my career, is that I have been elected as a member of the American Watercolor Society. Notification came in January that my painting “Saisons, Versailles” was accepted into their 156th Annual International Exhibition, which fulfills the final requirement in a longer acceptance process. The painting is safely in NYC already and we plan to attend the awards ceremony and exhibition at the Salmagundi Club in New York City this spring, where new members are accepted and I believe given the official membership pin. I’m not certain as to how many Canadian artists are elected members, but I’m working on finding that information. We were just there last spring at the 155th Exhibition and certainly had not planned to return so soon, but this is a milestone I don’t want to pass up.
“Saisons, Versailles” 14 x 21” Watercolour
Federation of Canadian Artists: Toronto Chapter Exhibition
Both of my entries into the 2023 FCA Toronto Invitational Exhibition were accepted by the jury and will be exhibited online from March 1 - 31, 2023. They are based on our 2022 trip to New York; “47, Fifth Avenue” is an interpretation of the entrance to the Salmagundi Club where the American Watercolour Society is based, and “Beaux-Arts” is based on one of the grand staircases in the New York Public Library, Schwartz Building (Central) branch. Congratulations to all of the successful exhibitors - I look forward to seeing the exhibition!
“47, Fifth Avenue,” Watercolour 18 x 18”
“Beaux-Arts” Watercolour 12 x 18”
30th Annual Exhibition (!!!)
30 Years. 3 Decades. 33.333% of a century - okay I’ll stop there because it’s freaking me out. This November will mark the 30th year of my annual solo exhibition, held at the Fairmont Hotel Macdonald in Edmonton. I feel incredibly privileged, shocked and delighted to have held this show for 30 years in the same venue with many of the same volunteers and patrons returning each year. It has marked the passing of time as any annual event does. Children of patrons have grown up and become patrons themselves, people have come and gone and come back again to the city, the absence of people that have passed on is deeply felt. In spite of those inevitabilities, it has been a remarkably stable event especially in the capricious world of exhibiting art. To everyone who has been a part of the show in any way - thank you, thank you, thank you.
29 Years of Annual Invitations
The new work will be based on this year’s travels, including an upcoming trip to Barcelona, Brussels and Netherlands, where I hope to gather a fresh supply of reference and inspiration for the next several year’s of architectural paintings. I am currently working on the landscapes and still life paintings which will comprise about half of the exhibition. The exact date will be finalized and announced in the coming month or so.
There is more news coming in the next few weeks, but I’ll leave it here for now. Thanks for reading.