A. J. Casson & Timeless Memories

26 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Canada

Tags

Antigonish, Antigonish Nova Scotia, Canada, Group of Seven, J. Casson, Nova Scotia, Songs Without Words, WordPress

A.J. Casson, LL.D, R.C.A. (1898-1992)

Still Life, 1937

I had never seen this particular Casson: an indoors Casson resembling an indoors Micheline. I enjoy life indoors, but would love to have conservatory: a green house.

Occasionally, I do go out carrying my camera in the hope of finding beautiful landscapes. I then return home and paint. There is a degree of resemblance between what I am painting and what is on the photograph, but my eyes seem to process and recreate what I am seeing.

When I lived in Nova Scotia, once a week, I would join a group of artists, my friends. First, we shared a glass of wine and then we started to draw the model we had hired for the evening. To begin with, we drew very quickly: no more than a few minutes, but we graduated to longer sessions. We were of course drawing the model from different angles, but we would compare our drawings and each artist had his or her style, whatever the angle.

These artists were kind to me. I was a self-taught artist except for a few lessons on how to do watercolours and etchings. My preparation was otherwise academic. What I knew was the history of art. However, my artist friends, some of whom were professional artists, provided little suggestions that went a long way. It was a form of apprenticeship.

The little tips helped, but in the end artists show their vision of the world and of the multitude of little objects that surround them and may have surrounded them a life time.

By the way, have you read Colltales on Elvis Presley: http://colltales.com/? What an article.

Micheline Walker©

June 26, 2012

WordPress

A Painting by Anna Syperek, Lyghtesome Gallery

26 Thursday Apr 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Art

≈ 16 Comments

Tags

Anna Syperek, Antigonish Nova Scotia, art, Art museum, Lyghtesome Gallery, Nova Scotia, Watercolor painting, WordPress

: Crack Pot, watercolour by Anna Syperek (click on the picture to enlarge it)

Many years ago, I invited Anna Syperek to share lunch with me at my home, in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. I loved her watercolours as well as her etchings and I had begun to paint. I hoped she would look at my work.

She had suggestions to make that were extremely helpful. I had taken several courses on the history of art and a few lessons on how to do watercolours. I therefore knew the basics, but she told me that my work was good enough for me to start painting seriously, and I did.

Antigonish’s Art Gallery is Lyghtesome Gallery. So I started bringing paintings to the Gallery. It’s a very friendly place and many of its artists are very accomplished. Well, there I was showing little paintings at Lyghtesome. I participated in Group exhibitions because, usually, I was also teaching.

I have since left Antigonish. I was overworked out of the classroom, and my case manager at the Insurance Company fooled me into thinking that my application for permanent disability benefits had been accepted. She did not relay to me the instructions of the doctor she sent me to for a second opinion. He had asked her to tell me not to leave my home as I would recover. She said nothing.

When I was told me to leave the classroom, I presented a doctor’s note, but the Chair of my department did not take it seriously. I therefore dragged myself to the classroom and completed my assignment for that particular academic year. So my case manager at the Insurance Company decided I was an imaginary invalid and punished me by not letting me know that I would be able to return to work after an indefinite leave of absence. And she had not told me not sell my house.

When I left Antigonish, I no longer wanted to leave, but the process was in motion. So I moved. In other words, I was worked out of the classroom and fooled into selling my house.

* * *

However, I enjoy blogging. There are days when I can write an informative post. And there are days, like today, when posting a lovely picture and remembering friends is all I can do, which is fine. And now I have new friends: other bloggers and readers. You are a very fine group of people. You even forgive me when I make mistakes. Besides, the internet is a miracle. Thank you WordPress.

This is the link to Lyghtesome Gallery: just press on Lyghtesome Gallery. I am not sending my work to the Gallery anymore, but I just might… Here is Anna’s website: Anna Syperek, CSPWC (Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour).