Installation of Reflections I and II

Lynda and Tom from Toronto sent this photo of the installation of "Reflections I" and "Reflections II" in their beautiful condo bedroom.  Seeing your artwork in its new setting is gratifying, but a little strange, almost to the point of not recognizing the work as your own.  I hope they will love the work for a long time to come.

A Chance Encounter

Cliffside - Acrylic/Mixed Media

Today was my lucky day. Not just because I sold a painting, but because I met the purchaser. Let me back up. I belong to a co-op gallery and we take turns working there and greeting visitors. Almost at the last minute, I switched my day with another artist, and ended up at the gallery today, instead of tomorrow. By chance, a visitor from Toronto dropped in this morning, before my shift, saw one of my pieces, went for lunch, then returned to see the painting again, not knowing I would be there. It was meant to be, I guess, and I was very happy to meet the client who would be taking home a piece of my work. That makes the purchase extra special to me. Many thanks to a new art buyer. I hope my work cheers you every day.

Abstract Art at the Tweed Heritage Museum

Mistral #2, Oil/Cold Wax, 11X14 (c) Barbara Chappelle

A new show will open at the Tweed Heritage Museum this Sat., featuring an eclectic group of abstract artists, and I am delighted to be a part of it. I'll be showing 2 larger works : "To The Beach" and "Misty Vineyard". The Heritage Museum is on the main street of Tweed. Artists will be present at the reception from 2 until 4 pm. You are invited to drop by to view the artworks, and visit and chat with the artists while sharing some treats. Look forward to seeing you there.

Musical Chairs

Quinte Symphony will be celebrating 50 years in 2010, and 20 Quinte area artists were invited to create a painting on a garden chair to be auctioned at their gala on May 14. I invite you to click on Quinte Symphony for more information, and to see all the completed art chairs. It was a fun project for me to complete my abstract "Moonlight Sonata" chair, and an honour to be one of the artists asked to assist with the Symphony's fund raiser.

AFAC Conference-One Week Later

This past week has gone by so quickly - unpacking art supplies from the Toronto conference demo, cleaning up, and getting refocussed for the work that lies ahead. A solo exhibition is on the horizon for July, and although I've done some preparation for it, I need to get my thoughts together and start the process that will bring the project to a more tangible state. Right now it's ideas, text and rough sketches. The journey begins...

The weekend in Toronto was motivating and exciting, as most trips/workshops/conferences are for me. I had a chance to spend the day at the AGO and absorb some of that renewed space - it is gorgeous, and I'll need many more visits to satisfy me.


The rest of the weekend (Sat. and Sun.) was spent at the Art for All Canada Conference. I had planned to give my camera to someone in the audience to take photos for me, but totally forgot. I'm hoping to make contact with someone who was taking photos, so I may be able to add some later. Meanwhile, I was so happy to reconnect with Katherine Bevier from Rochester, NY. We met last April at Rebecca Crowell's workshop. She is the rep. for Enkaustikos Wax Supplies, and was demonstrating their products for hot wax use (encaustic). I'm getting interested in using the hot wax also, but that will have to wait till the future. I've so many ideas for using the cold wax at the moment. Also, space to work and funding will keep me focussed on where I'm presently going (for the time being, anyway). Here are some photos of Katherine at work at the conference:

Slay the Children (paintings, that is)

At last the panels are finished that I started at Rebecca Crowell's workshop. In addition to developing the original panels, several additional smaller panels were worked on once I returned home, and now everything is drying. The next step is to experiment in putting the panels together. Unlike Rebecca's deep cradles, mine are only 1" deep, and they have a slight curve on the inside where they join the panel. This makes bolting tricky, so I'm looking at other ideas, or how I can adapt. It's all about being flexible, right? A trip to my nearby building centre for some advice may help. I keep saying to myself, "Don't be afraid to slay the children", but at this point, it's a little nerve-wracking. I will post photos when done.

These are the last of the photos from the workshop. How I wish I had taken more; I guess I needed an extra pair of hands.

In this photo, Rebecca is applying solvent to a panel and carefully wiping back layers of paint.


























Here, she has just drawn an image with a paint stick, ( a new material for me, and they are so interesting to work with), and she will further embed and manipulate the marks into her image.
I am fascinated with the intuitiveness of the oil/cold wax methods that Rebecca uses, without ever sacrificing the intellectual side of the process.

Three Artists from Rochester Area

Still working on finishing some mixed media collage works on old 78 vinyl records for an exhibit at APW Gallery in NYC - myself and about 400 other artists. The idea is to hang 2000 vinyl records in their gallery. I've seen photos of a previous show, but it would be quite a sight to see in person. Hope to get mine finished and sent out on time.

Back to the Oil/Wax Workshop in Rochester:

This is Jim M. creating beautiful floating layers on his panels.

Wendy M. combines human figures and animal forms in her fantastical, whimsical figurative and landscape work.




















Kathryn produces subtle spring-like paintings that reflect her experience with encaustic.





















And Rebecca's demos had all of us with our noses close to the surface, looking into the depths of her work.



























Inspiring people - inspiring art.

What a Weekend.

I always feel fortunate when I've experience something extra-special. This past weekend ranks very high on my list of memorable events in my life, and I will often reflect on the abstract painting workshop with Rebecca Crowell at Rochester Art Supply/Cascade Art Centre in Rochester, NY.

People make the difference in one's life, and the folks I met in Rochester this past weekend were all remarkable. Thank you to all. There was such a spirit of giving, sharing, connecting and positive feedback throughout the weekend, that I believe we all went our separate ways a little reluctantly, albeit anxious to return to our studios to see how our work will change. And change it will, I'm sure.

More photos and text in future posts; there's lots to share. The photo above is Rebecca Crowell, our workshop facilitator, and Jim Mott, one of the participating artists: we deserved a great meal and art-talk time after a hard day's work on Sat. at the Cascade Art Centre.