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| Jude and her paintings at the Spring Showcase |
At the beginning of this year, I joined the Nanoose Bay Studio Tour. This is a group of artists and artisans on Vancouver Island that hosts three art events a year -- a Spring Showcase, a Thanksgiving Studio Tour, and a Christmas Crawl. In 2017, I participated in the Thanksgiving tour as a guest artist.
The Spring Showcase is a weekend event held in the community centre. All the artists set up their booths in this central location and welcome the public to the event. This year, we also held an opening reception on the Friday evening, with wine, a caterer, and live music. Donna from Retirement Reflections, and lots of other friends attended.
The other two events are studio driving tours. Over each weekend, people take a driving tour to the participating studios. The advantage of the showcase is that everything is available in one place. The advantage of the tours is that people get to see the studios where the artists work, and their private galleries.
I am thrilled to be part of this wonderful group of artists. The group is super friendly and supportive. There is a wide range of beautiful art represented, including glass blowing, stained glass, pottery, jewellery, bonsai, woodwork, metal sculpture, mixed media, and photography, along with painters such as myself. One of the highlights for me on the showcase weekend was getting to know the other artists a little better. It also was fun chatting with all the people who came by to look at my display.
Rob's hoardings that he built for displaying my paintings were easy to set up and they looked great painted black. I forgot to take a picture of them before hanging the paintings! But if you look at the photos carefully, you can see them.
On the last day of the showcase, my daughter Erica and my friend Wendy came over from Vancouver to see the show.
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| Erica and Wendy at the Spring Showcase |
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| Celebrating after the show |
I am thrilled to announce that my new studio and gallery, Notch Hill Art, will be open for business at the beginning of June. I have hung the paintings and set up the gallery space.
Erica has built me a wonderful artist's website for Notch Hill Art. To look at my collection of paintings, click here.
If you are in the area and would like to come and visit me in my studio, you can contact me through the website to arrange a time. The website includes a blog where I write about my current art projects and shows. Also, my paintings are available for sale via the website. I have provided a link to the Notch Hill Art website in the sidebar of my blog, so you can find it easily.I will be participating in the Nanoose Bay Studio Tour's Thanksgiving Tour and the Christmas Crawl this year. It is exciting to embark on this new adventure. There are so many gorgeous views in this area and I am looking forward to painting them.
