First Love

fhoffman alla prima, art, artist, Artist blog, Artist studio, British Columbia, Charcoal drawing, Drawing, Exhibiting, faye Hoffman, Life drawing, Sidney Fine Arts, Victoria

Last night Andrew and I attended the opening of this year’s Sidney Fine Arts Show. We saw plenty of lovely work and a few really inspiring pieces (Debra Tilby). The show allowed me the opportunity to see my own work in the context of my peer’s work and… I wasn’t happy.

My pieces were okay. Not great. Not terrible. Just okay. And that is not okay with me!

So this afternoon I decided to do something about it. I went back to my roots. Back to what has always inspired me and fed my desire to make love… er… I mean art. And there you have it! That freudian slip of Love vs. Art tells me everything I need to know about where I want to go with my art and my life. I want to make love! I mean art! In my life there have been moments where I grew as a person and as an artist and in my mind they tie back to drawing. I LOVE drawing. I love the memories I have of being in drawing classes and drawing in the studio. I have fallen in love in drawing class. More than a few times!

I love everything about drawing. The immediacy. The messiness and the ability to control or let go of control with drawing. The ability to put down drawing tools and walk away without having to clean up a mess. The smoothness of the paper and the chamois. The stickiness of the eraser and the silkiness of pulling a line of light away from the dark and the lines that feel just right at the right moment. I love drawing.

I remember a moment in one particular drawing class where I let go of the charcoal but continued the line in the air and then slid it back down to complete the line on the paper at the end of what was the culmination of the voluptuous arm of the model. And I remember love blooming when that mark was recognized as beautiful by someone I admired. Love in and through art.

And so today, I returned to my roots and my love and I drew.

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Sunday Morning Crossword, charcoal on paper, 16”x20”
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The Politician, charcoal on paper, 18”x20”

 

Sidney Fine Art Show

fhoffman art, artist, British Columbia, Charcoal drawing, Drawing, Exhibiting, faye Hoffman, Landscape painting, Life drawing, Monoprint, monotone painting, Monotype, Painting, plein air painting, Portrait commission, portrait painting, Sidney Fine Arts, Still life, Studio painting, Uncategorized, Victoria

This year both Andrew and I decided to submit work to the prestigious Sidney Fine Art Show. I’ve done so in the past and enjoyed being a part of the show. Andrew has never submitted. The show is a good one; high quality work beautifully presented. It’s on the more traditional side and generally takes a less broad approach to jurying (than say, the Sooke Fine Art show). Meaning, there are fewer “what is that doing here” pieces. The tricky decision-making aspect of this show is that the show is only up for one weekend and the submission and jury process is not done online so it means driving to Sidney 8 times. We counted. 8 times (including attending the opening and artist’s nights).

Regardless, we submitted the maximum of 3 pieces each and both had all 3 pieces juried in! Yahoo! I’m looking forward to going to the opening night and artist’s night and to seeing how our work fits within the rest of the art work. I hope you will join us there!

Jasper; A Plein Air Painting Adventure – Part Three

fhoffman art, artist, Artist blog, faye Hoffman, Jasper, AB, Landscape painting, Painting, plein air painting, Victoria

When I was visiting Maui one time, I discovered that some of the best views of the landscape and oceans beyond can be found on golf course properties (not because I’m a golfer, but… ah, it’s a long story). In Jasper the same goes for resort properties. Because we were traveling on a budget, Andrew and I opted to camp for the majority of our Jasper trip. No resorts for us! So one morning as we wandered looking for a new painting location, we took a quick spin through the private resort property of Tekarra Lodge. We found an incredible painting spot on their property and the front desk was nice enough to allow us to paint then and there.

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Tekarra Lodge overlook

A storm was passing in the distance and the sun broke through intermittently – as go the normal challenges of plein air painting. I opted to try and capture a broad view by lining  up two 6″ x 8″ panels side-by-side – a diptych!

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Tekarra, 2 x 6″ x 8″, plein air oil on board

In this particular piece you can see the reddish-brown colour of the trees which have been devastated by the pine beetle infestation. It was extremely distressing to see and to also understand how much it increases the wildfire risk.

Of course having the opportunity to paint from the lodge grounds made me want to stay there so we could just walk out of our quaint cabin to see that view all day long – and to join other guests at the fire pit – and enjoy a glass of wine listening to the live band at the on-site restaurant… ah well, at least we had a chance to paint!