Painting grins

22 Nov Painting grins

Well I’m having a pretty good day! Last night the Anonymous Art Show in North Vancouver opened and this morning I woke up to two really wonderful emails from people who had purchased two of the three pieces I have in the show. 

Both had delightful twists too.

The show is a fundraiser for the North Vancouver Arts Council and all paintings are the same size, 8″ x 8″, sell for $100 split between the artist and the Council, and are hung without saying who they’re painted by.  The photo above is from last year and shows the paintings all up before the doors opened.  Wouldn’t it be fun to have a wall or two like that at home?

This is last night, at the Opening.  The show is a great chance for emerging artists to test the waters and for established ones to give back and to offer the chance to purchase their work for such a deal.  But you never know who the artist is until the purchase has been made and the painting comes down off the wall.  (You can see I had signed both paintings below and when I decided to enter them I had to go back and paint over that bit.)

The flower above, Echinacea #2, was purchased by a couple and when they got a look at the back the man recognized my name.  He had taught my kids in elementary school, and even gone to Outdoor school with at least two!  He sent me a lovely email and asked for an update on what those youngsters are up to now.   What a fun connection.  I’m happy to think of that piece hanging in his family’s home. 

And this one, Intense Scout, was purchased by a lady who also sent me the nicest email, telling me just what she liked about it and why she had got it.  This is seriously heady stuff for someone  — me! — who is trying to get a bit more confident in the painting arena.  And the icing on the cake was that the note mentioned that someone in the lineup behind had also wanted to buy this one!

Very fun stuff.

And I’ve taken some new paintings in to Lalli Loves It in Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver recently, with a few more to go. I’m so grateful to Laura for the chance to hang my art, especially in such a fun funky space, and she’s been selling things quite regularly. One of the paintings I’m taking in is actually another one of Scout’s face with a different coloured background, which I showed in the last post.  I had so much fun painting the first I wanted to do another.  I think I’d like to go Andy Warhol and do a wall of them, all with different funky colours.  There’s a good chance that if I had a wall of Scout staring at me so intensely I might get all of my work done a bit faster.

This was her last night, looking not quite so intense.  Man.  She takes it to the next level, doesn’t she?

So fun to be doing a bit more painting again.  And if you live nearby check out the show!