Make a Pochade Box for Plein Air Painting

Do you do any plein air painting? Here's a really inexpensive pochade box made out of a wood cigar box. Fawzan Barrage gives instructions in the video below.

Zan is the Founder of the Ontario Plein Air Society (OPAS).

Deb

Jacqueline Milner and Sandra Taylor-Hedges are at the CRAG

You can click on the pic for a larger version.....

Selling Focus Art Calendars at Cornwall Square

If you check your email-box, you should have a schedule of time slots where help is needed at Cornwall Square to sell calendars. Here's a note from D'Arcy, Focus Art's President;


Hi Everyone

Here we go again, I am looking for volunteers to help sell the calendars at Cornwall Square. We will be on the second floor in front of the food court for the first two Friday/Saturdays and at the bottom of the escalator for the last Friday/Saturday. Again, we should have at least two people there at all times, more would be better.

They will give us a table but we need to bring our own chairs etc. We are also allowed to have some of our people working on something while we are there so anyone who would like to do that, please let me know.

A lot of members took time to help during the show, we put on a terrific exhibition and had a lot of fun doing it, now it is time to reap the rewards for all that hard work. The public loved us so the potential for sales is terrific, all we need to do is just be there to take advantage of this venue again. Please check your schedules and do what you can to be involved and help make this another great success for Focus Art.

Thanks

D'Arcy

It is with sadness that I bring you the news today that I'm no longer going to be the Secretary of Focus Art. I have submitted my resignation a few days ago and it was effective immediately (at that time).

I will, however, continue caring for this blog. So, if you have any art news that can be shared here, please write to me at focusartblog@yahoo.ca

If you'd like to receive updates in your mailbox on the day that new posts are made, please use the subscription box and don't forget to reply to the confirmation email to activate your subscription!

See you soon,

Deb

Apples and Arts Tour 2009

'The Circle of Life'

An invitation from Jacqueline Milner;

Regional Visual Artist & Photographer Jacqueline Milner and Regional Dancer, Choreographer and Teacher Amanda Marini have joined forces to present a special collaborative performing art piece entitled 'The Circle of Life'. This presentation pays homage to Birth, Death and Rebirth. Join us this Wednesday, August 19 at the Band Shell by the Civic Complex at 7 p.m. or in lovely Downtown Cornwall for 3 special performances at the Farmer's Market, Saturday, August 22nd at 9:30 a.m., 10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. This is a family friendly Event.

The event Wednesday will feature an array of performing Artist's from Cornwall & Area. The Farmer's Market features yummy local produce. Come share the tastes and sounds of the Season.

Adele Constantineau at the St. Andrews Library

News from Adele:

"Adele Constantineau is again exhibiting a few of her paintings at the St Andrews library in the Heritage building behind the school. It is a liberating exercise for her as she does not easily expose her work outside of family and friends."
















Deb

Tony Moffit - helping artists sell their art and break into galleries

There are many, many fantastic informational art blogs 'out there' in cyberspace but one in particular that is really worth reading to is Tony Moffit's Art World! (Click on his name for a link that'll take you right there.) His mandate is "helping artists sell their art and break into galleries". He writes very thought-provoking posts. Especially read the reader's comments after each article!

Deb

Call for Canadian Artist's Work

Courtesy of Pat Fish,

Purchase of Art Works by Canadian Artists for the Canada Council Art Bank Collection

Deadline Oct 15, 2009 (Postmarked)

http://www.artbank.ca/The+Collection/Purchase+Program+Information/

Gillian Horgan is the August Featured Artist at the Library

Gillian Horgan of Williamstown is the latest artist to be in Cornwall Public Library's Featured Artist window. Gillian's work is there for the month of August so drop by to see her beautiful work.

Candice Nixon in the 2009 Women's Art Festival in Kingston

This is Candice's third year participating in this festival. For more info, go to http://www.womensartfestivalkingston.ca/ . Click on the above image for a larger version.

There are other Cornwall artists there as well but until I know their names, I can't tell you. ;-)

Deb

Art - Health and Safety

A few health and safety sites relating to art, courtesy of Pat Fish.

http://www.ci.tucson.az.us/arthazards/paint3.html
http://www.artfacts.org/artinfo/articals/health_labeling.html
http://www.unh.edu/ehs/pdf/NBC-Fine-Art-Best-Practices.pdf

Serenity Studio Artists in Cornwall Living!

Focus Art members Tracy-Lynn Chisholm, Anne Wylemans, MiSun Hunter and Emily MacLeod are shown in the Seaway News photo as they check out the latest edition of Cornwall Living, of which they (and Serenity Studio) are featured on the cover and in an article inside. If you haven't read the article, you can go here to Seaway New's website and read it. You can get a copy of Cornwall Living by dropping by the offices of Seaway News at 29 Second Street East. Below is a screenshot of the cover photo also showing Rick Shaver.

Congratulations to Serenity Studio and the great artists who show there!

Deb

Planning Meeting

Next week is the planning meeting for next year's activities and general meetings. Please take a moment and make a wish list of things you would like to be considered, ideas for; guest speakers, technical advice, business planning, web sight planning, workshops, appraisals, mat cutting, group activities, etc. Let us know so we can try and fit some of all of it in next years plan.

You can write to any board member with your suggestions and thoughts.

Beauty and the Beast Show at The Abbey

Emily MacLeod is in the Beauty and the Beast Show, along with several other artists, at The Abbey in Glen Nevis! The Vernisage is Saturday, June 27.

For more info, click on the pic below to see a full size invitation.


Just for the record, Jacqueline Milner, another Focus Art member also shows at The Abbey.

New Art Festival in Ottawa

There are several of our artists participating in The New Art Festival in Ottawa this weekend! Candice Nixon, Gillian Horgan and MiSun Kim-Hunter were all juried into this must-see event that takes place in the Glebe. There are also several other Cornwall / area artists participating as well: Peter Leclair, Cynthia Gatien.

For more information and a map, go to http://www.artinfoboy.org/

Help Wanted

Position Opening for Website Administrator of Bio Pages on Focus Art Website..

Focus Art needs someone who will input info onto the bio pages of the website. This is not a demanding job. The setup work is done ; members forward their bio to you as well as 4 images. It may require a little interaction with the members but new members purchasing a bio page are few and far between.

Qualification : a basic ability to follow a template on the computer
a willingness to help members get their info on the web.

Interested parties please respond before May 30th, 2009.

Please contact Rose at rosedesn@cogeco.ca if you're interested.

Be a part of the action.

Deb's Note: You MUST be a member of Focus Art!

Farmer's Market

Focus Art have been invited to participate in the Cornwall Farmers Market which is located in George Assaly Laneway Pitt St between 2nd & 3rd Streets. The season began May 16th and runs to Oct 31.

The market is open every Sat. morning from 8am. To 1.pm..

1 stall (10x10) = $25.00/day or $100.00/month paid to Farmer's Market in advance.
1 stall (10x20) = $40.00/day or $160.00/month paid to farmer's Market in advance.

Artists interested could double up and this would defray the costs It appears to be a very good venue, and the committee for Farmers Market are committed to make this an annual event, so far the advertising has been exceptional.

There is a one time membership fee of $35.00 which Focus Art could take on with the understanding that our banner and advertizing material be displayed. Before we commit to this we must have assurances from at least 10 artists in Focus Art that they are definitely interested this venue.

If you are interested contact me, Pat Campbell at patcamp@live.com before next weekend..

Deb's Note: You can click here to see a short news video on the Market and get an idea of the stalls.

Someone Else We Need to Thank ....

There is someone in Focus Art who does an incredible amount of work behind the scenes. She works incredibly hard for us and most of us have never even seen her! The lady I'm talking about is D'Arcy's wife, Sherry.

Thanks for all you do for us Sherry!

What Happened at the May 6 Meeting?

D’Arcy opened the meeting at 7:15, welcoming the crowd of members and new people. He introduced Karen Burns, who was given two great rounds of applause by everyone. Karen is the reason we were at Cornwall Square and she told us that they had received "a ton" of good responses from the public about our exhibition and Calendar Show. (Photo to the left shows D'Arcy speaking to our hero, Karen, after the show.)

Cornwall Square has been very generous to Focus Art members - giving us this venue free of charge, advertising in the papers free of charge, advertising on the radio free of charge and advertising on their billboard outside free of charge. They provided the chairs and tables for the General Meeting, free of charge, and they’ve done everything to make Focus Art's stay there a fantastic experience. Focus Art and it’s members cannot thank Cornwall Square enough.

Many thanks to Tim Horton’s of the Square for supplying us with coffee and timbits at no charge for the meeting.

The expected closing will be on Saturday (May 9) instead of Sunday, as Sunday is Mother’s Day. So, all artwork must be picked up on Saturday, May 9, 2009 before 5:30. D’Arcy says that anything left afterwards becomes his and he will not apologize for taking it home. ;-)

It was also discussed briefly that during upcoming school holidays, when kids are running around - such as March Break, etc, we could create some workshops at the Square in which would involve children making art with us. There is good potential for other exercises.

Certificates were handed out to the artists of the Twelve Chosen Calendar Paintings as each artist stood and presented their artwork to the group - and also posed for a photograph to be taken by Adele, who was the official photographer of the event. (Even though D’Arcy assured Deb that she wouldn’t have to do this beforehand when questioned about the "standing and presenting" part of his email notice. But she *did* survive the ordeal.) Brunhilde and Jane were absent.

Sales of the calendars will be in September and will be held at Cornwall Square.

Bernie Carriere gave an excellent talk on photography. Bernie is a fairly new member and teaches both philosophy and photography at the Cornwall Public Library. Call the Library in August if you’re interested in attending the classes in September. Currently, they are being held free of charge.

Bernie explained many of the basic guidelines in photography. Breaking the rules makes a great photograph but you have to know the rules to break. Another thought Bernie shared was that what you have in your head is more important that what’s in your hands. He also explained lenses, telephotos vs. zooms, and cleaning them, as well as the three most important accessories you can buy for your camera - tripod, polarizing filter and a lens shade. Many thanks to Bernie for the very interesting talk! If you’d like to learn more about using your camera, take Bernie’s classes in September!

The 50 / 50 draw was won by Micheline Tanguay, who took home $36.00.

After the meeting, Bonnie Baker of Seaway Custom Framing provided quite a few brushes, mats and markers for everyone to take as samples. Thanks very much, Bonnie! Bonnie is also a new member to Focus Art. (Seaway Custom Frames is located at 14705 County Rd. 2, Ingleside. If you'd like Bonnie's telephone number, contact me.)

Next meeting will be held as usual at the Centre Charles-Emile Claude on Chevrier.

Below are several shots of the winners receiving their certificates and presenting their paintings to the group.

See you soon,

Deb