Character Buildings from Montreal and Quebec

These are some reference photos I took while on vacation in Montreal and Quebec a few years back. I have most of my paintings completed for my exhibit in March so I have a bit of time to try some other subject matter. There are so many little things I like in each painting that it is a little tough to decide which to try first. Of course, there are also things I don't like that I will need to edit out and add in so it should be interesting. I love all the texture in the window with the paint peeling off and I love the lighting on the two windows and the little scroll trim above...aha what a dilema ;)

People's Choice Award for Favorite Painting

My painting, "Pride" won the People's Choice Award at the 14th Annual Art Focus show at the Outlet. This is a very cool award as it is chosen by guests of the show and there are many beautiful paintings to choose from in all different mediums and covering many a large range of subjects matter.s

Thank you to everyone who came to the show and thank you for all of your votes, it is a very special award for me!

Small, Smaller, Smallest FCA Exhibit

Selected artwork will be featured at the Federation of Canadian Artists Granville Island gallery from November 18 until December 7.

Watercolor Hands Painting

This is the latest painting in my series for my exhibit in March. I will likely crop it a bit more once it is framed but I like to paint as much as possible on the paper in to make framing easier. I have a few titles for this one floating around but have not decided on one yet.

Some of my photos from the 14th Annual Art Focus Show

Of course I did not take any photos of the band or the opening reception because I was too busy chatting :) But I did get some photos of myself and my paintings thanks to my crew :) The band was really great nice jazz music, not so loud that you could not chat and upbeat enough so that you could dance. And yes there was even some dancing!

Photos from TriCity News

Colleen Flanagan from Tri City News came out and took some photos of myself and fellow artists Jan Sinclair and Christina Mets for the local paper. It made the front page of the community section and my painting "Pride" (the lady with the eyes and the purple scarf) made the front page of the paper! Very cool :) You can view photos on their website at http://www.bclocalnews.com/tri_city_maple_ridge/tricitynews/community/30719619.html
http://gallery.pictopia.com/tricity/gallery/60525/photo/6269504/?o=9
http://gallery.pictopia.com/tricity/gallery/60525/photo/6269506/?o=8

I hope to obtain permission to post the photos here but it will likely take a few days :)

Opening Reception for Art Focus's 14th Annual Show

The opening reception last night was a success and I think a lot of fun for everyone. I met some new friend and was happy to see some 'old' friends as well at the show. There was a live 3 piece jazz band that was really good which really added to the atmosphere, the wine did not hurt either ;) It is supposed to be sunny both today and tomorrow so it should make for a nice show as the windows fill one whole wall of the Outlet which makes for great lighting for the artwork.

Watercolor Portrait - Untitled

This is my latest watercolor painting for my exhibit in March. I for the life of me can not come up for a name for this one....any suggestion?!? I have come up with a few names but nothing that is sticking...hmmm

FCA Artist Choice Exhibit - Nov 4 – 16, 2008

I recently joined the Federation of Canadian Artists and am happy to say (ok very very happy) that I have been accepted to exhibit my artwork at the Artist Choice exhibit November 4 – 16, 2008 at their Granville Island Gallery.

This is very exciting as the Federation has many, many very talented artists as members so to be chosen for an exhibit is pretty exciting! I will be displaying two of my recent paintings, "Balance" and "Ready or Not"


It is nice to finally see all of my hard work submitting forms for exhibits , which is really, really not exciting, actually pay off!

Cool Self Portrait in Graphite

This is a very cool self portrait by a fellow artist I met at BrushStrokes (an online art site) He did this portrait as an experiment (very successful experiment!) on black paper using graphite pencils Works by J.Kelley: Self Portrait#links

The harder leads are used for the highlights and the darks are reserved and are created by not drawing on the paper. I am going to give this a try after my current paintings are finished (working on 2 right now). I am guessing that it is a little unforgiving as it is probably very tricky to lift off the graphite on black paper without disturbing the paper....but will be fun trying it out.

Life Drawing Classes at Suite E

I attended my weekly life drawing class at the Suite E Life Drawing group located at Poirer Recreation Center in Coquitlam. I am so lucky to have such a great life drawing group to attend. I go most weeks and I have seen a big improvement in my drawing and 'seeing' skills. Most of my life drawings look pretty horrible but it is all a means to an end and it is such a great way to relax after a long day.

This is one of the sketch I did last night in about 30 minutes. I am working larger than I usually do I think this is about 12x28" so I am finding it a bit of a challenge to get the proportions right and am trying to focus on the 'outline' rather than getting caught up in the shading as I often do :) The model is one of my favorites as he always does such amazing poses that literally throw your mind into right mode.