Strokes of Genius 9 Winner Notification

I had some amazing news to end my birthday yesterday evening:

"Congratulations! We are very happy to inform you that 'Forever and Always' and 'Act-Ted' have been selected for publication in North Light Books' Strokes of Genius 9!"

Harry, my labrador, just LOVES being in the Strokes of Genius books. This will be his third. 

and Little Act-Ted.... well you know how much my Teds enjoy being in books! The theme for this one is 'Creative Discoveries' and it will be published in the fall of 2017.

A magic moment

Sometimes you have to grab those magic moments in time. This little cygnet seemed to know I love to paint animals as she lingered in the water beside me just a little longer than her siblings before moving away. I just had to try capturing her wonderful expression with my brushes.

 (Transparent watercolour 7 by 10 inches)

 
I used a very limited palette, kept it pretty high key to help me to convey the softness and delicacy I was striving for and then added just a few darks to really help accentuate the cygnets coy expression. Sometimes just a few brush strokes can capture so much.

Niagara Frontier Watercolor Society 13th National Exhibition of Transparent Watercolors and finally a new painting!

It's been a busy couple of weeks with lots of exciting news.   

 I had an email yesterday to ler me know that both 'Thought Bubbles' and 'Accelerando' have been accepted into the Niagara Frontier Watercolor Society's 13th National Exhibition of Transparent Watercolors! The exhibition will be in Lockport, NY, October 30-November 13th. The juror is Thomas Schaller.

I haven't done much painting this month because I have been slowly working on framing these newer paintings and getting my new art cards designed ready for printing. The Ted book has also taken up a fair amount of my time but I have completed one smallish painting. It was well out of my comfort zone but I enjoyed the challenge.

Thank you Paul Jackson for challenging me to paint a city night scene. I really enjoyed creating the illusion of light in the darkness. I chose to paint the sparkling city lights of Toronto because, well you know me, there is always a story or some meaning behind my paintings.

Toronto is a beautiful, almost magical city at night, especially when viewed from across the water. But, to me the light in the darkness is on more than one level. Yes, it has its faults, nowhere is perfect and there will always be dark moments but the light that shines metaphorically through the love and tolerance people show for each other here is very noticeable. I hope I managed to capture a little of both the physical light in the darkness and through my colour palette the love, tolerance and acceptance that this city shows the world is possible.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that" Martin Luther King Jr

TENDERHEART-TED TALES

I'm so Excite-Ted!!! My book TENDERHEART-TED TALES is now available to pre order. All pre orders will be hand signed with a personalised message and will include a canvas Ted bookmark.

The 62 page hardback image wrap book is $85 Canadian Dollars with free shipping to Canada and the US. (Book size: 7 inches square) To reserve your copy please e mail ona@onak.ca

If you are receiving this blog post by e mail please click on the link to the blog to watch the promotional video or watch it full screen on youtube here

96th Annual NWS International Exhibition Acceptance

I am so thrilled to have had my painting 'Looking down at you looking up at me' accepted into the the 96th National Watercolor Society International 2016 Exhibition! Its been a great few days!

The Exhibition will open in the NWS Gallery in San Pedro, California, on October 22 and be on display through December 18.

People's Choice Award Transparent Watercolor Society of America 40th Annual Exhibition

It's always a thrill to win the peoples choice award especially in such a beautiful exhibition as the Transparent Watercolor Society of America Exhibition. I am even more thrilled to have won this award two years in a row! Thank you to everyone that voted for it!