Tag Archives: gorilla house

Art Battle! …and Art Show!

My brother likes to say, “Art is like football; you either win, or you lose.” I used to laugh, but now he’s right (well, sort of). This Saturday, I am going to be battling it out with 11 other Calgary artists on Art Battle Day. Art battles are going to be held across Canada, with the winners going on to regional battles, and finally, a national battle. The paints and canvases are provided, and the artists are given 20 minutes to paint.

That’s TWENTY MINUTES.

Yikes! I have been training to see what I am able to accomplish in twenty minutes, since I usually take anywhere from 1 hour to several days or weeks to finish a painting. I paint in layers, and like to let them dry in between – this isn’t going to be possible at Art Battle! Two layers, tops, and not dry at all. My experience painting at Gorilla House has given me the comfort to paint in front of an audience, so that part is okay. I’m looking forward to this as an experience of something new, a chance to get myself out painting in front of others (which I love), and just to be able to say I did it!

I have been posting my “training paintings” on my Facebook page, with a pay-what-you-want scheme.

Training Painting #3, 16″ x 20″ Pay-what-you-want

Here is today’s painting. To purchase, today only, send me an email at magknit(at)telus.net telling me why you want the painting, and what you’re offering. I still have my first training painting available, too. See below. If you are sending me an offer, be sure to tell me to which painting you are referring.

Art Battle Training Painting #1, 18″ x 24″

For more information on Art Battle Day, see below, or click here. Please come out this Saturday and watch the battle! I think my training song on the day will be the “Training Montage” from Rocky IV. Yeah.

In other news… I’m taking part in the Sophia Arts Art Show and Sale again, coming up on May 16th and 17th. Details below!

Studio Tuesday!

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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 a colourful day!

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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!

Painting my guts out

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I did, and here’s the result:

I went dancing last night, instead of painting at Gorilla House, so I was kind of missing it!

This painting is up for auction on my Facebook page, today only.

Gorilla House Live Art 28 (Wordless Wednesday)

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Gorilla House Live Art 27

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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!