Studio Tuesday!

You may have noticed (or maybe not) that I haven’t been blogging much in the last 4 months. We were having our house renovated, and it was, overall, a great experience, but left little time for blogging. Anyway, I now have a real studio, with electricity and everything!! Here are a couple photos from downstairs – you may notice how white it still is. I was having trouble breaking it in, but finally did it today – there are now paint drips on the walls and floor!

While we were out of the house, friends of mine graciously lent me their basement to use as a temporary studio space. This is the painting that I gave to them in gratitude for their generosity!

Here are a few paintings that left my studio space last year, without me talking about them. I made the first one for my friend Harold at Gorilla House. When I arrived that night to give it to him, a woman who was visiting GH fell in love with the painting, so I sold it to her and made Harold the new one you see below the first!

Here are a couple of paintings that are hanging around the studio – they are looking for new homes, but I have yet to make listings for them. If you are interested in any, just let me know.

It’s Strange but I like it!

I’m so glad to be back in the swing of things – I’m painting more regularly and really enjoying it! I am finding today’s composition to be a little bit odd, but sometimes odd is good. So I am embracing it and as usual, enjoying creating color explosions!

Today’s painting is up for auction on my Facebook page, so please head over there to bid! The auction ends tonight at 9 pm MST.

Feature Friday: Eden Thompson

I’m not sure how many works of art one needs to buy to be considered a collector, but I have a feeling that I am an official collector of Eden Thompson’s art!

I first met Eden about almost 5 years ago, and fell in love with his work right away. Eden paints and uses collage and layering techniques to achieve his unique look. Plus, he isn’t afraid of colour, which I obviously adore.

These are some of Eden’s pieces that I own (no, not all..!!), in chronological order.

One of the things I love about Eden (apart from being an all-around awesome guy) is how he is constantly trying new things – new techniques, new images, new styles. He is a total inspiration. He recently started making paper portraits, so I asked him to make one of me.

I love it! (isn’t it great??) Looks like I will be getting the rest of the family done, too!

Check out Eden’s work!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JetBlackDragonfly
Website: http://www.nucleus.com/~sophiaarts/
Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/jetblackdragonfly

Spring Painting!

Happy Spring, everyone! The sun is shining and apparently flowers are popping up. I haven’t seen them yet, so I painted one instead! This painting is now up for auction on my Facebook page. Bidding ends tomorrow, Thursday, March 21, at 8pm M.S.T.

It’s a colourful day!

Last night I chose to dance, rather than go to Gorilla House. It was a wonderful night, but I did miss painting! Painting at Gorilla House is such a different experience that painting in my studio, so I decided to bring a bit of that energy to the studio: I made two paintings in two hours.

I had lots of fun making these, and although the color palette is the same, the energy is very different (to me). Sticking with the Gorilla House theme, I am auctioning both of these paintings on my Facebook page today. The auction ends tonight at 10 pm MST, so head on over!

Studio Tuesday

Here are some recent works in progress!

I worked on this one today. I’m feeling like it’s almost finished, but I am going to let it sit for a bit, and see how I feel about it next time I head down to the studio. I know that when I am not completely sure, it’s probably not done. On the other hand, when I leave a painting for long enough, I sometimes get used to how it looks, and it becomes done (like the one on the ground in the photo, with the squares!).

How do you know when you are done?

Gorilla House Live Art 28 (Wordless Wednesday)

Gorilla House Live Art 27

Yes, I usually post these as Wordless Wednesday posts, but I felt like posting it today because the video just came out. Also, I wasn’t sure that all of you know what the heck a Gorilla House is, anyway?

So, Gorilla House is this awesome place in Calgary that’s part gallery, part studio, all fun. Every Wednesday night at 7pm, there is a live art “battle”. I’m finger-quoting here because the only battle really taking place is within myself, to see if I can complete a painting (actually, I have always made two each time) in the two hour limit.

A wheel is spun at the beginning of the evening, and three very random pieces of inspiration are chosen. I don’t rely heavily on the inspiration, but let it gently speak to me. Honestly, sometimes I flat-out ignore it.

During the evening, people can stop in and watch art being made, which looks like fun, but I’ve never attended as a viewer! At the end of the two hours, all the art is auctioned off! The proceeds are split between the artist and the gallery.

Before arriving, I had these two canvases prepped, using leftover paint from my studio time. It makes the painting so much less stressful when there’s already a first layer!

Gorilla House wouldn’t be the same without my painting-partner, Kathleen Moors. She’s awesome, and we always stick together!

Here’s how my paintings ended up. I was pretty worried that one of them wouldn’t quite work out, but in the last 20 minutes, something magical happened, and I love them both.

My wonderful neighbour, Barb, attended Gorilla House for the first time last week, and she purchased both of my paintings! For the funny story about how we met, click here!

I purchased my second Kath original during the night! Woo hoo!

Finally, here is the video from the art battle. There is lots of footage of Kath and I dancing our butts off, so have fun laughing!

$100 Show

I had every intention of posting this two weeks ago, to give you a chance to go see the $100 Show at the Gorilla House! Somehow I forgot, so here I am telling you about it after the fact!

Everything at the Gorilla House was $100, hence the name of the show (duh). A few weeks ago, during one of the live art battles, a woman approached me and said she was interested in purchasing several of my painting. How exciting! She ended up buying four of them – yay!! I always get excited when other people enjoy my work and want to look at it every day! What a wonderful thing!

Since I didn’t post this when I intended to, I will hold a mini-auction, with a minimum bid of $100, for the painting below, on my Facebook page. Just “like” my Facebook page and put your bid in the comments!

A Valentine’s gift… TEA!

I am so excited to show you the new label for tea tins at the Naked Leaf in Calgary! They are perfect for Valentine’s Day, and let me just say, this shop ROCKS. Awesome tea, awesome people, and they even have locally made chocolate made with some of their amazing teas – they are SO yummy (smoky pear is my fave)!! They also do tea subscriptions, which I think is an amazing idea: sign up and get one tin of tea every month for 6 months or a year. How cool is that?!

Here’s the new label!

These labels are still available, too!