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Wednesday, September 08, 2010 ** NEW **

A very west coast evening

It's 8pm and it's nearly dark. It's raining lightly and when I poke my head outside I can see my breath. It reminds me of the very first time I was in Tofino. We arrived there in the evening and were very hungry and tired. We checked into our hotel, got our puppy fed and settled in his crate and then headed into town to get food in our bellies. It was rainy and cold and the lights coming from various shops and restaurants looked so cozy and welcoming. We entered a little cafe called 'Oceanside Cafe' and ordered steaming bowls of clam chowder and mochas. I remember the chowder came in a bread bowl and was so delicious going down. I was so hungry I really DID eat the bowl too! (who wouldn't? It was fresh and made of sourdough!) Then we headed back to the hotel, put on dry things and slept. Tonight reminds me totally of that night. Perfect night for donning the moccasins I got from the NWT and working in the studio sipping a warm mug of tea. I might still head out for a quick run as Gershwin has been pacing from the studio to the back door for the better part of an hour now. I think he may be trying to tell me something...

I give you.....living library book cover #10! Two more to go and then this series is finished! I feel like I've been working at it for some time, and on the other hand, I'm wondering how I finished so fast. I'm diggin' their comic book type nature, and that look kind of happened by accident. Not what I had in mind, but WAY cooler! After this I am working on wrapping up my artifact drawings for the U of L and then....house warming gifts, a donation for the Kerry Wood Nature Center, a drawing for work and taking photos and gearing up for my shows in January and February. There doesn't seem to be a lot of "down time" for us creative types. There will be tonight though....and it will include yoga, a good book, and Gershwin snuggles!

Stay warm on these chilly fall nights.

Posted By: Justina Smith @ 7:56:09 PM

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Monday, September 06, 2010 ** NEW **

3 paintings to go and 29 days left in the countdown

With titles like these you would think I was a numbers person. I guess I could be considered a numbers person....depending on what those numbers involve. I'm good with telephone numbers and can be good with dates. I'm good with inventory numbers but not so great at adding numbers in my head. (Isn't that why we have so many fingers? What's wrong with counting on them?)

This is the 9th cover in the Living Library series. This cover makes me laugh especially because the speakers of this series are supposed to be helping remove the negative or highly typical stereotypes of these professions....and I know the woman who is speaking for this topic....and she does NOT wear horned helmets. She's super sweet and fit and has a killer voice. She also welds....so she is very multi-faceted in her interests. I've had the privilege of hearing her perform a few times and it's pretty stellar and always different. I'm so lucky to have so many talented friends!

Only 3 more covers to go!

Also a big thanks to those of you in Red Deer who have been to the cafe to check out the work that is hanging there. So far the feedback for the show has been great. It's up until the end of the month so no rush, but don't put off seeing it too long....because the show in the lounge in November will be completely different!

Posted By: Justina Smith @ 4:47:28 PM

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Saturday, September 04, 2010

Eating elephants (and 31 days and still counting)

The show at Cafe Pichilingue in Red Deer is set up, scheduling talks with a gallery to get representation, show openings of friends, finishing the last 4 book covers for the "Living Library" series, going through old clothes, training for a 10k race in Banff on the 26 and wrapping up the drawings for the University of Lethbridge....and for some reason 31 days STILL seems like a long bloody time until I go on my trip. I'm good at eating elephants though...just a little bite at a time!

Last night was first Friday in Red Deer...and for those of you who don't know what that is, it's when all the galleries in the downtown area have the openings for their newest exhibits. They are open later so you can gallery hop, visit, and see all the great new works for sale. It's one of the many things I miss about Red Deer. Sometimes it's the only time you get to see your other artist friends. We all become hermits and work away and then come out to play and show off the fruits of our labors (for those of us having shows). I spent the night in Red Deer and this morning had the privilege of perusing one of my favorite galleries in Red Deer, the Gallery IS. There was a lot of new and fantastic works and I couldn't wait to get home after to get into the studio! So much color, so many varying styles, so many stellar techniques! It's kind of overwhelming to see and really inspiring at the same time. I have a lot of exceedingly talented friends who are pursuing their passion to create whenever they get the chance...even if it's just a couple of hours here and there. Any time you devote to what you love hones your skill and sometimes I get discouraged if I only have an hour to work on something or go through my pictures to find the next thing I want to paint. But that hour or 15 minutes you have really does count. That is why this painting took so long to finish. I just had a bit of time here and there...but it's colorful and lovely and is a great representation of a part of Alberta that I love. I hope that comes across to you when you look at it.

I also hope your long weekend -the last long weekend of the summer- was super swell.

Posted By: Justina Smith @ 6:38:22 PM

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Friday, August 27, 2010

39 days and counting...

Wow! The days are in the thirties now for Newfoundland and there is so much to do still! It's all coming together quite nicely though...and I'm not feeling so overwhelmed and frantic. Of course today being a day off from the cafe with the promise of mountain time for the next couple of days is helping keep the frantic part at bay. So is the running and yoga.

Book cover #7 is complete and #8 is papered and outlined and ready to start on. Last night I also outlined a fabulous prairie landscape from my trip home last time from the Maycroft area in southern Alberta. There is something so captivating about the lines in fields that have just been hayed that have a blue mountain backdrop. All in all last night was a surprisingly productive evening after a nine-day-in-a-row stretch of opens at the cafe. (Phew....so glad there was coffee.) I've created an album for this series of book covers and seeing them all together kind of reminds me of a comic book. The half drawn half painted style. I'm wondering how this style would work for a landscape. I did a couple of urbanscapes of Granville Island in Vancouver a few years back using ink on top of the paint. I didn't use the paper, but I liked how they turned out. It might be something I keep in mind for the November show....building and urbanscape abstracts. I hope there is time today to get out with my camera and take a few shots to start preparing for that show. I'm going to use bigger canvases for that one...I'm thinking 18" x 24" and up. Gabriel challenged me to paint bigger and as much fun as the little canvases are, I'm finding it really satisfying these days taking longer working on the larger pieces.

That being said...I hope to finish cover #8 and this landscape that I started last night. The outline is so great....and it makes me very excited to head down there tomorrow.

I'm pretty sure you won't hear from me until after the weekend, so I hope you enjoy yours!

Posted By: Justina Smith @ 8:58:53 AM

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Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Mime your own business

I don't twitter but I update my personal facebook status....lots! I work in a cafe and between that and life in general, hilarious and frustrating things happen and inevitably these somehow get posted as statuses that I'm told my friends love to follow and quite often comment on. (The joys of having a smart phone where I can do this anytime...social media, you are such a mixed blessing!) The other day a friend had posted on FB being so frustrated with something that he wanted to punch kittens. Now...I'm a dog owner, eventually want to own a horse and perhaps breed golden retrievers one day. I'm a bird fan and can imagine being one of those cute old couples that takes part in a yearly bird count somewhere (or even in the near future...nature walks looking for birds? Heck yes!), so I am an animal lover and don't condone violence to animals AT ALL. This friend of mine is like the sweetest guy, has the cutest wife and the most adorable baby...so coming from him this was HILARIOUS and I laughed about it all day, and made a status about it. Well...it got mixed reviews so I posted a rebuttal about it along the lines of; "I don't REALLY want to punch kittens, trip clowns or make mimes cry audibly...."

It got out of hand with the comments let me tell you. (also a big thank you to all friends who contributed comments because it was an AWESOME thread) In the end we mocked mimes a lot and just about had a recipe for turtle soup posted. I have weird and creative friends....and a strange sense of humor after working 9 days in a row with no day off. I am feeling a little loopy but tomorrow is the end of the stretch and then there is some hiking time. Phew.

Between work and FB hijinx I somehow managed to finish cover #6 for the living book series. Here is the farmer and he is indeed smelling a very tasty looking onion. He kind of reminds me and the Feisty Librarian of Van Gogh...minus the reddish hair and with both ears attached. I am now at the half-way point with the living book series! Very exciting. Also...only 41 days until Newfoundland. I'm not sure how many days until Christmas. I'm sure I'll get on that count down when I get back from my trip.

Posted By: Justina Smith @ 7:25:30 PM

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Sunday, August 22, 2010

This blog was brought to you by Pumphouse blueberry beer from Moncton...

Painting and sipping my favorite beer in the studio after a long day at the cafe is pretty much the most stellar way to end a Sunday I think. Right after reading in bed with vanilla cognac while listening to early autumn rain....
I said it...the 'a' word that no one wants to hear. Sorry...but I've seen the evidence in the poplars and small shrubs. It's on it's way friends! WOHOO! You know what else is on it's way? My trip to Newfoundland! 44 days and counting....today the hostel has been booked and it's right in the heart of the things I most want to see while I'm there this time round. Goodness.

But I'm getting ahead of myself again (and starting sentences with 'but'....tsk tsk!). The 4th NWT painting is finally done. It's been about 2 week process mostly due to it's completion being put on hold for a few other projects. Those projects are well underway or finished and now I'm working away on the September show that goes up in Cafe Pichilingue in Red Deer for the month of September. I don't have the exact start date yet, but it will be posted on here and in the exhibits section as soon as I know. Getting back to this painting though....I really took my time with this one. I so enjoy looking at photos of past trips and painting from them. So many great memories arise and inspire these works. The rock of the Canadian Shield is very predominant along the highway to Yellowknife, and the color is quite red, like bricks. It's not like this everywhere. The campsite we were at for example...the rock was very smooth but mostly purplish-grey. The photo for this painting was taken as we were leaving Yellowknife.

Now it's a painting that I like very much.

Posted By: Justina Smith @ 7:38:56 PM

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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The right tool for the job

A few things I have learned about tools and mostly from my college carpentry class.

#1. No standing on the table saw or reaching OVER the blade when it is in motion. #2. If your prof sees you opening a paint can with one of his chisels, you are INDEED going to be yelled at (and that yelling will more than likely involve some kind of profanity in quick succession)
#3. The smallest person present WILL be asked to test the stability of the second floor of a stage....because if it collapses you are less likely to hurt yourself badly because you are small and if it's NOT stable, it's less likely to collapse because you are small.
#4. If you make the mistake of demonstrating that you are good at drawing anatomy in large perspectives...you will be the sole illustrator of the very...erm...phallic areas of a nude frescoe style drapery, and you will indeed be painting them as well! (thus you ARE the tool)

The more I paint the more I come to appreciate my tools. Paint brushes for example. I mean...a brush is a brush, right? That's what I thought up until I got the first of my lovely acrylic brushes with stiffer synthetic bristles. WOW! Suddenly brush strokes were appearing effortlessly and my brush to palette contact was WAY down because it held more paint. I then developed the same apathy for watercolors brushes. I'm just dabbling in this I thought...there is no need to spend $30 or more on a brush. Then I worked at an art store....and splurged and got a great watercolor brush made with black squirrel hair. Well...holy crap! That sure changed things. Suddenly I didn't feel like I was dabbling anymore and creating lovely washes wasn't such a frustrating experience. Same thing with runners......which, I'm due for a new pair soon. (Yay!)

Why am I thinking about tools? Mostly because I spend so much time using them....and they really do help determine the successful process of creating a piece and shaping it's style. (also the dude in the painting is using a tool that is VERY necessary in his profession) My ink nib for example can give me a very unpredictable line or a rough surface. In the case of these book covers, I really like that. In the case of the wedding commission that I am putting the finishing touches on....I'm not digging that effect SO much, but I'm making it work nonetheless and it's honing my skills as a painter and getting me to rethink how I might go about it if a similar opportunity arises again in the future.

That and trying new things is fun and I like playing with tools....of all kinds. My new favorites? Digging tools. I'm waiting for a trowel to aid in my digging of square holes on my next archeological excursion. Good thing I'm marrying an archeologist and Christmas is coming....

Posted By: Justina Smith @ 6:55:42 PM

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Saturday, August 14, 2010

In it's the little things

If you frequent this blog at all you are probably wondering if I ever have a 'bad' creative day....just beyond painting over something I don't like. I do have bad creative days. Days where I dislike everything I put on paper or canvas....or I have severe doubts about it, and leave it to do something else....and the thought of it gnaws at the back of my head and just won't rest. I've had a string of these days for about the past 3 days to be exact. It's a mixture of fatigue and doubt and irritability not really due to any one thing. Sometimes I find I set unrealistic goals for myself because I get so used to getting so much done in such a short amount of time. Lately I haven't been enjoying the actual ACT of painting...it's just been something I've been DOING. Well, boo to that I say. Today was a much better day. I napped mostly, put on a few coats of self-leveling gel onto a commission, and took a picture of this book cover that I finished that I was feeling very unsure about. That was it! No paintings finished, no new ones started....just those few things, some skipping (and broke my rope!), a nice dog walk  and some yoga. Today....that was good enough!
 I'm sure glad I didn't paint over this book cover. Now that it's posted....I really like it. I was very disheartened by it last night, but I think I was just over-tired and staring at it too long. (Seriously, how could I NOT like it? It has a golden retriever in it!)

I try to encourage people to sketch....even if it's just for a few minutes a day. Or just SIT in their studio space and plan out a piece. Look at some photos or art books you haven't looked at in a while. Just get THINKING about making stuff....or just start something. It at least gets the creative side of your brain firing up. I got so focused on what I was GOING to do that I lost the joy in what I was doing....but no worries! I found it again today. I kept it simple, I didn't over think it and all I did was take a photo, post it, and apply some self-leveling gel.

Yup...the joy is in the little things.

Posted By: Justina Smith @ 10:56:12 PM

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Thursday, August 12, 2010

Got it covered!

Summer is waning. I can feel it in the evening air. There is heavy condensation on the car in the morning, like it's trying to frost. The university crowd is slowly making their way back to campus and getting fueled up in the cafe before they wind up there, hunkered down with new tasks. The mornings have been steadier at the cafe. It's a taste of the things to come. Oh how I love fall....but I know. It's still summer. It's also August 12 today....almost half way through this month and there is still so much to do! It is however, getting done.

This is the first in the "Living Library" series of book covers I'm working on for the Red Deer Public Library. (Hereon in referred to as RDPL because I'm lazy and don't want to type that title out all the time!) Each of the paintings is 11" x 14" and so far I have finished two of them....two out of a possible 12, but definitely 10. Not subject matter I would normally paint, but a fun challenge nonetheless. I like this dude....with his feet in the air. Reminds me of spending many recesses in elementary perfecting handstands and cartwheels. I'm applying the same technique I've been using for my building abstracts for these covers and I'm enjoying the results so far. There's just something about drawing ON a painting that I really like. (My own paintings, not drawing on someone ELSE'S paintings.)

Now, do I work on the big NWT canvas or start on the new commission? Think I'll debate this over tea. The new commission is planned out at least, just need to get it on the canvas.

But there is also a nice comfy bed, snuggly dog and tea waiting for me. Darn it. I think they might win this one....

Posted By: Justina Smith @ 9:35:37 PM

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Meanwhile....on the other side of Canada....

Once upon a time there was a young girl who liked to draw and wanted to travel around Canada, but she didn't have the money at the time and was told that she couldn't go alone. Then this girl grew up to be a woman who loved to paint and still wanted to travel around Canada and now had the time, the money, a supremely supportive partner and a very good reason. She wanted to fly to the other side of Canada to explore a place she had never been....and paint it!

So it's really happening. I bought the tickets. Holy crap! I'm going to Newfoundland this October for my first ever OFFICIAL painting holiday. Me, my camera, laptop and sketchbook and all of St. Johns at our creative disposal....I'm so giddy I may hyperventilate, mind you, I did open the cafe today so it could just be the coffee.

But first things first....

There is a show going up in September at Cafe Pichilingue in Red Deer, and then the "Living Books" for the Red Deer Public Library for Alberta Arts Days in September. (I'm designing the "Living Book" covers....all 12 of them! WOHOO!) Currently as I type this I have two works on the go. One of the book covers and another NWT piece. The float plane painting sold this weekend, and is currently hanging proudly in it's new home. The new painting I'm working on involves gnarled pines atop wonderful Canadian shield rock in all it's rust colored and slightly smoothed glory.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of taking in some of the folk festivities at Edmonton's Folk Fest. Stage 6 was probably my favorite place to be...between Calexico, Patrick Watson, Tanya Tagaq (an Inuit throat singer of epic proportions), Jimmy Rankin and Jakob Dylan, it was a pretty swell place to hang in the sun with thousands of people I didn't know. I thought it fitting to bring my sketchbook and capture the Sunday afternoon session. I completed the drawing on site and added the watercolor from memory in my studio later on.

Time to give blood and go for a run. (The mosquitoes are really THAT bad!)

Posted By: Justina Smith @ 7:52:55 PM

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