Today is an odds and ends day, varnishing the little canvases that will go into the Gardenscape art show on Thursday, fixing the photos that will be going into the calendars I am making for the Prairie Rivers Artists' show next month, ordering my favourite Gamvar varnish from Opus (hadn't realized I was almost out! and will need more soon), and making a donation to the Saskatchewan Craft Council for the memorial fund for my friend, Gale Steck,  who died earlier this year. I also have to get my paintings together for Thursday and make the labels.

March and April are always busy months since I became involved in painting, and with Prairie River Artists, as April is annual show time. It is both an end and a beginning - an end to the winter, and a chance to show what I've been working on over the past few months, and the beginning of the outdoor season. Gardening begins in earnest at the end of April, and brings all the wonderful flowers that make such great subject matter. Also, a time to get out and travel.

Plein aire painting, that is painting outside on location is not something I have done much of. When I was in France, we did paint out along the lanes and fields and that was great fun. I just haven't done it here at all. So that may be something new to try too this summer. I have some new materials to experiment with as well. I have recently bought both oil sticks (Sennelier) and watercolour sticks (Daniel Smith). I haven't had the chance to do anything with them yet, so I hope that I can really get some playtime in with them soon.

So the changeover to spring brings ends and beginnings. Even the tulips are starting to poke out of the ground.

Now that we are well into March, the sun is higher in the sky, the snow is starting to melt, and thoughts turn to spring. For me, spring means art shows, particularly ones in which I will be participating. 

In about two weeks, the first one will be here, which is the art show at Gardenscape, March 26-28. This is such a fun weekend, both because I get to volunteer planting the demonstration gardens during the days prior to the show, and I participate in the art show as well. I have been working on some new paintings for the show, and have put up a few of the small ones that I have completed on the Gallery of New Works page.

Then, in about five weeks, we will be having our 8th annual Prairie River Artists' group show, April 17 and 18.  I am in the process of making new calendars for this show. I made some for our Escape Artists' show last fall and was very pleased with them so I am going to make new ones for 2011 to have at this show. Once I have the calendars printed, I will put up some photos of them.

I hope that the weather will be delightful, not frightful, for both shows. It has been both in the past as this time of year is very much transitional and unpredictable. I am really looking forward to seeing everybody as we emerge again from winter into spring!

I have been working on a large painting of one of my succulents. I must find out the name of it one of these days. I am planning to use it for our Escape Artist show at the Muttart Conservatory in Edmonton this summer. It has been great fun to work on such a large scale (30 x 30 inches), much bigger than anything I've worked on before. I am looking forward to doing some more of these larger paintings.

For the Muttart show, we need larger works as the space is quite large and little ones would just disappear. I am hoping to go to Edmonton in March and will definitely go by the Conservatory and check out the space. I haven't been there is years, so it will be interesting to see what it is like again.

I am going to do a second painting for the show as well, but haven't quite decided what I will do yet. It will be somewhat smaller, and maybe floral. We need to keep to a 'nature' type theme in keeping with the Conservatory.

You can see the work in progress, which I think I am going to call 'Sun Seeker' on my flickr site, under 'Works in Progress'.

I really do enjoy painting succulents. They have such great colour and structure. I will be doing some more soon.

Now that this one is almost done - time to sit in what I call the contemplation stage - I am going to start on some small pieces for Gardenscape that is coming up at the end of March (see Upcoming Events on the side). I also like doing the little 4 x 4 inch pieces too. They are quick and I learn lots from doing them. So now to go and prime a group of little canvases.