Friday, November 21, 2014

SOLD at The Textured Landscape Show in Milton & New Work!

Last weekend was my Textured Landscape show at The Gallery Upstairs in Milton. It was a great success and I really enjoyed working together with gallery owner, Hedi Nowak and my partner in crime, artist Patrick McGoey .

I met some wonderful people at the show and was fortunate enough to make two sales to a lovely young woman who had heard about the show on facebook!

Here are the pieces that sold...



Which puts me in the great position to have to replenish my stock!

I am working on a new series that incorporate architectural elements for the sculpting and beautiful landscapes seen through the architecture. These are the first two that I've completed, but I have many more sculpted and just waiting for the paintbrush!

Each piece is 24 x 36 inches and I'm not quite sure of my titles just yet . I am open to your suggestions for titles so please feel free to leave me any ideas though as well as your thoughts on my latest artistic direction.



Now back to the easel....

Once Again, Thanks for Your Support!

Friday, November 14, 2014

Sculpting New Beginnings...

Last weekend saw me ripping apart old work and sanding off the old sculpting and paint to get ready to begin again. Love great equipment especially when you can buy it on sale! Sanding down 9 pieces by hand would have taken forever, but with this handy dandy sander I was done in 4 hours! And now that I've got refurbished panels ready to go, I've spent the rest of this past week sculpting new pieces.

My last trip to Montreal I met with the director of the Shayne Gallery. She suggested I might think about adding some architectural elements to my work which totally got my juices flowing. Below are images of what I have sculpted so far. In my head I have a very clear picture of what the finished products will look like, but I know sometimes it's hard for others to get the idea of my direction. For those of you interested in the process though, here is what the sculpting looks like before I start painting. Remember these are refurbished panels so there is still some old paint which will, of course be painted over when I move on to that step once the sculpting material is dried. So please ignore the splotches of colour you see in the non-sculpted spaces!


 It's hard to see, but the wall behind the lock will be a brick wall. A beautiful sunset/sunrise scene will be painted in the centre. It's a panel that is 30 x 30 inches.


 I saw these cool old vintage doorknobs and thought that they would look really unique once sculpted and again, a beautiful view will be painted through the keyholes. Both of these pieces are 40 x 30 inches






 This piece was inspired by one of those old "peepholes" that have little doors that open and close. My old friend from kindergarten used to have one on their red front door and I always admired it. This is a larger piece, 48 x 36 inches, and when finished, I think it will be a real stunner.
 These last two pieces are inspired by old wood barns. I love the old painted wood boards and wanted to do a couple pieces where the wood was missing pieces. Again, I realize it's a bit hard to visualize, but trust me these 24 x 36 pieces are going to wow!





I still have two more big pieces to sculpt, so next week I'll give you a preview of those and hopefully have some of these smaller works painted and completed to share with you.

As always.... Thanks so much for all of your support!

Friday, November 7, 2014

Growing Pains of Evolution

In the past weeks I have received a lot of feedback regarding some of my newer pieces, pieces that in my mind are some of my strongest work. The problem is, is that not all of the feedback has been positive, in fact much has been quite negative, and so, for the past week I have really been struggling with self-doubt - am I on the right track, should I skip sculpting and just paint, have I just not found my target audience / gallery yet, etc...







My work is evolving and has changed enormously from what it was when I first started doing landscapes. And I guess as it changes somethings are getting better and better (such as my painting of my sky and reflections) and perhaps somethings just don't fit anymore, or at least don't fit in the form they are in anymore and need to evolve and change too (like my sculpting of the tree branches). Not everything grows at the same place, and like an awkward teenager whose just gone through a growth spurt and now finds themselves tripping and falling clumsily about as they get used to their new dimensions, so too, am I struggling to find my way in my creations.



Consequently I have been doing a lot of thinking, spending quiet time alone determining my next course of action and while it wasn't pleasant to hear the negatives, I'm actually pretty grateful (now!) because all this thinking is making me push myself and I've come up with a whole host of new ideas, ideas that I can't wait to begin creating!

In the coming weeks I'll be posting images of work in process. I have ripped apart old sculpting and I am sanding down my wood panels to begin again. I have ordered more paint and I have been researching my ideas on line to clarify my vision. I am ready to launch myself to the next level and I can't wait to get started!

Until next week...

Thanks for all your support!

Saturday, November 1, 2014

How Committed are You?!?


This week has been a long one. I feel as though I have driven halfway around the world and back again. I have been to and from Montreal in one day, to Grimsby, Waterloo and finally to Milton. But all this driving though has been for a great reason.

You see, I am committed to being a full-time professional artist. I want it soooo bad I can taste it. So for me, in my world that means that I am willing to go anywhere, and do anything to make it happen. 

That's why I was a crazy person & got up at 4am on Tuesday to drive to Montreal to meet with the director of The Shayne Gallery, show her samples of my work, & to learn more about her clientele. It was a 14 hour drive for a 1 hour meeting, but I got my foot in the door of another gallery & learned a tremendous amount about the market of that area.

Wednesday and Thursday saw me painting like a demon...


for two shows I am in this November. The first at The Gallery Upstairs in Milton on November 15th and 16th, and the second at The Paula White Diamond Gallery in Waterloo.




Textured Landscapes Show & Sale

Join us for Appies in the Afternoon
Saturday November 15th 1-5pm
& Sunday the 16th 2-6pm

Meet Artists Alison Galvan and Patrick McGoey, two up and coming talents on the Landscape
Arts scene. All original and highly collectible, Galvan's and McGoey's artworks take you right into
the heart of Canada's natural wonders.

Everyone welcome!

&



The coming week sees me repainting some older work,  researching some new ideas and making another trip to Milton to deliver more work for that show.

I love what I do and even though I am working harder than ever, I am totally committed to achieving success. How about you? How committed are you to achieving your success?!?

Something to think on. Until then....

Thanks for all your support!

Monday, August 11, 2014

A Fruitful Summer So Far...

For the past few months, as many of you know, I have been working with Jason Horesj of Xanadu Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ doing a one on one mentorship program with him that was to take me from hobby artist, into the professional realm.

After a lot of hard work, creating new art, a biography, artist statement, portfolio and gallery research etc.... on July 1st, with Jason's blessing, I launched my new career, stepping out for the first time, and approaching galleries. 

My goal was to achieve gallery representation in three galleries by my birthday on August 26th. 
Today it is August 11th and I am so thrilled to be able to report that not only have I got work in 3 galleries, but I will be shipping work to a forth in the coming weeks and have a fifth that also says they are interested!

Here are the galleries in which my work is now hanging:



























It has been such a tremendously enlightening experience working with Jason and to be completely truthful, I don't think I will never be able to thank him and his staff enough for all that I have learned. My life has taken on a new trajectory, one that is going straight up!!!

Sunday, April 20, 2014

A Mentorship Program and Catching Up!

I am doing an exciting mentorship program one on one with a wonderful gallery owner, Jason Horesj of Xanadu Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ, and as part of my sessions with him he has asked me to send him photos of myself in process creating my high and low relief artwork. With that in mind, I thought I'd also pass the images on to you to give you an idea of what goes into each one of my paintings. Hope you like them!
Here are a few of me sketching out my next low relief piece and then sculpting directly onto the wood panel.  The low relief pieces take much less time to create because I do not need to build up any armature and because the sculpting is not as heavy, it takes a much shorter time to dry before I can paint, usually just overnight instead of several days. 




And then here are some photos of me working on a high relief piece. It's a biggie, 48 x 48 inches! As you can see, after I sketch out the basic silhouette, then I build up the armature with old newspaper which gives me the volume I need but without all the weight. After I've got the newspaper in place, then I get to sculpt! it's a long process and I have to do so flat on the table as the sculpting compound is pretty mushy and would slide down the panel if I put it on my easel. 
When I'm almost done though, and the piece has kind of dried just a bit I do slide the panel off the table to step back, take a look from the proper angle and make any adjustments etc... It's extremely heavy at this point because of all the water that's still in it, but give it a few days and it will be dried and ready to paint!