In this forum you can share the lastest news about an art related event including author artist talks relating to art, exhibitions, competitions etc, that you are either holding yourself, attending or know about and what to share with us. Please include details of the openning night and how long the exhibition is being held for; where it is, what time it is held and the entry fee involved if any. Also if you are letting us know about a competition you have discoverd that looks really great, tell us more.

I will be the first to pop something in here; just letting you all know about the latest event happening in my art career, in case any of you are able to attend;

Event title 'Art On Hastings Street'
What: I have been invited by The Cooper Gallery to conduct an Artist/Author talk and book signing over lunch. I will be discussing the commission process in a conversation style discussion with the gallery owner; Barry Cooper.

Where: at the Sheraton Noosa Resort, Hastings street, Noosa Queensland.
When: Sunday 27th September 2009
Time: 12 noon to 2.30pm
Price: $AUS75 (includes full lunch and complimentary wine on arrival.)
Early-bird booking fee: if you pay before September 11th the cost is only $AUS65
Purchase tickets: The Cooper Gallery +61 (0)7 5455 5655 info@thecoopergallery.com.au

Cheers all,
Cindy Wider

I am currently in the process of the 'heart and soul' stage of my next body of artworks which are on based upon the lifestyle my sister lives on the outskirts of a small city called Port Lincoln in South Australia. My sister along with her husband and two grown boys own and operate three large cereal and sheep farms. I always admire her strength and courage as she maintains her femininity and positive attitude towards the farm lifestyle which is often an isolating experience. This exhibition is a tribute to my sister's successful lifestyle after many years of ups and downs and having to adapt to the culture change. It will be a celebration of the positive experiences that maintain her desire to live there.

I will be travelling to Port Lincoln from the 18th December to the 15th January 2010 to conduct the second stage 'planning' where I will take photographs, create sketches and do further research as I live the farm life at one of the busiest times of year... Harvest time. i will take home all of my reference materials to move into the third and final stage of creating the actual artworks during the 'application' stage.

This exhibition is due in march 2011 to be viewed first of all at The Cooper Gallery in Noosaville, then as a gallery-curated exhibition at the Outback Regional Gallery Waltzing Matilda Centre in Winton Queensland.

Having two years to prepare for an exhibition is a good amount of time to properly create around 30 canvases and drawings. This exhibition will be a combination of realism graphite and/or charcoal drawings as well as painted contemporary images. I aim for this to be my most spectacular body of work yet. The images will be kept well under-wraps though until the exhibition, so there will be no sneak previews until both galleries give the promotion go-ahead.

If anybody is travelling to Australia around that time and would love to see my original artworks, you are welcome to let me know and I will send you a special invitation to the openning night at either of the events when that time comes around. just let me know here.

Creating my own art and maintaining my art career helps me to remain motivated and enthusiastic as I help others to also do the same. I see it as self-nurturing and an important part of being an art-educator. Through my own experiences I can share many wonderful things with you all. Cheers everyone!

Cindy, you have no idea how much i would love to attend one of your opening nights! That would be fantastic I wish that Australia was not so far from Canada.

I'd like to share details about my artist groups' upcoming show and sale. This will be a totally new experience for me, I have no expectations other than to be excited to learn from my peers.

Artist North's annual "Painting for Parkinsons" Art Show and Sale
Saturday, Nov 14th - noon to 8PM
Grande Prairie Inn
Grande Prairie Alberta

There are 2 draws, one for an original Watercolor donated by local artist, Irene Pearcy
Donations accepted for Parkinsons Research.
The other draw is for an Original Watercolor by local artist, Kim Dettling.

congratulations Tannis, and well done on your courage to exhibit and sell your work! All the best for a great show. Are you going to the open night too? That is so much fun going to art gallery open nights. Let us know how it all goes for you. you are welcome to share the images with us that you have for sale in the exhibition and tell us the prices too:)

Hi Cindy,
I don't want to mislead anyone, the Art show this weekend isn't at a gallery, just in a room that the group has collectively rented in a hotel. The show is for one day only, so no opening night. I can dream though, someday maybe!

I am not bringing that many pieces with me, some of my Pre Cindy stuff, the 60's granny shoe, a couple of acrylic abstracts, arch rock that I sketched while in Utah last spring. I am also bringing my self-portrait, not to sell, just to show. Prices are hard to determine, for instance I priced the granny shoe at 125 framed. The Acrylic that I posted in projects outside the classroom at 125 as well. The little sketch of Arch rock $70 framed. The canvases are gallery wrapped so I didn't have to frame them. I feel that there is a fine line in pricing, it is bad form to under price, but overpricing isn't good either.

I'd be lying if I said that I didn't care if I sold anything, that would be lovely, but I am realistic and really don't expect to. Last year a couple of the artists sold nothing. and times are tougher this year. This is purely about being part of the group, stretching myself and learning. And between you and me and everybody else that is reading this, I'm nervous. That is normal too!

One of our members is suffering from parkinsons so that is why we try to fund raise. Unbeknownst to me, the group decided to paint a joint painting and have a silent auction with proceeds to Parkinsons. So yesterday, someone dropped it off for me and I had to finish the last square...in one evening, Yikes! The idea was to keep to certain colors to keep the integrity of a bird eating a grasshopper. The grasshopper is in the bottom right hand corner.

My square is the second from the left on the bottom row. I had to keep the red at the top of my rectangle and to keep the yellow for the bird feet. Talk about stressful! I'm not that great a painter! The rectangle to the right of me had a lot of purple red/ blues, so I tried to incorporate those colors as well . The only thing I could come up with, was a very stylized skyscape! Wish me luck!

Hi Tannis, its always difficult when you are just learning to paint - everyone was a beginner once. You are at least giving it a go. I think your image fits in perfectly and you were wise with your choice of subject as it is subtle. I can see there are some experienced painters in your group. As for selling, until you make a name for yourself it is wise to keep your prices low enough so that people are enticed to buy yet enough to cover your paint and expenses and always recoup the price of your frame, plus paint costs. A general rule of thumb that I used to tell my live class students to do when pricing their work for sale is to multiply the price of the frame by 3 providing it isn't an excessively priced frame.

In these early days of your art career its great just to exhibit and sales are a bonus. If you really wanted to sell your work, commissioned art is the way to go! Once you have completed unit 6 'Compose Original Art In Your Pyjamas' you will be equipped to do that.
All the best for a great show Tannis! If you have people ask if you take portrait commissions you should book them in and have a go! Cheers!

Cindy, I am so excited I can hardly contain myself! The show and sale was better than I could have imagined! I sold 3 pieces and someone asked me about doing their portrait. But even better than that is the validation I received as people viewed my work and nodded and looked and asked questions and were interested. That was the real value of the show! Validation!

Thank you...for everything, the lessons, the critiques, for the and the never ending encouragement.

By the way, I have given you and drawspace lots of kudos, people are always amazed that I've taken lessons online, from a teacher in Australia, no less!

Those are excellent news

Congratulations on a personal sense of achievement

I second that , it is good news, you have to be excited to have done so well. You can tell you are making the most of what you have learned, that shows what a good teacher Cindy must be. Congratulations and wish you well in your artistic endeavors.

Thank you Raidor and Nancy B... I admit that I'm glad to have this event under my belt, I was nervous and when I joined the artist group last March(?) I knew that I'd have to do it. In fact it was one of the cons on why I thought not to join! I would encourage any of Cindy's students to step outside of their comfort zone and test their new found skills. If there is a group that you can join in your community, do it! You'll likely surprise yourself!

Fantastic news Tannis! How incredibly exciting to have sold 3 pieces. WOW! There is definitely no stopping you now - keep up the great work!

Congratulations, Tannis. I'm so happy for you.
maemay

Hi Tannis,
WELL DONE! I have just completed Unit 1 of Cindy's and you are a real inspiration to us other students - I am so happy to see that you are successful.
To be quite honest have been following forums but not saying much....a little in awe of you lot though I am looking forward to the day I can post successful sales on drawspace! Well done - look forward to seeing more - have you photos of the ones you sold? - it would be great to see them.

Thanks Metta, MaeMay and Sharon Ryan,

The whole experience was worth the pre-show anxiety. I learned alot from my peers. Still though, I am doing this for the love of it! And always will!

There were alot fewer people that attended this year, and about half as many sold this year compared to last year. I have posted two that sold, the shoe sold for 125... it was sold the minute the sale started to one of the other artists (She would have bought another one if I would have had one) Some in the group have decided that I am a shoe artist. I just have to find more funky shoes to draw. The shoe did get a lot of attention. The pears sold for 150. I did them in pastels. The other one that sold was a small sketch that I did last spring. I will have to look on my laptop because I know I scanned it in but can't find it where I usually save things. I might have screwed up and didn't save it. It sold for $70.

Sharon Ryan, I think that you'll be doing what I am doing, if you want to be. Cindy is an excellent teacher! The biggest thing, I think though, is not to take it too seriously. It should be fun!

Congratulations, Tannis!!!

Congratulations Tannis! I am so thrilled for you. I know how great it feels to sell your work but the validation is so important too. You have done so well to have the courage to exhibit your work publicly. Well done!

Hi Tannis! I havent been browsing much and didnt see this thread till couple of days ago!.
This is so fantastic ...sure you cant contain your excitement.I am really so happy for u.Would love to see the third painting if u can find it!:)

My artist group is just in the planning stages of hosting a fundraiser in the New Year for Parkinsons involving Painting or Drawing the portrait of a well known local person. We will be putting out a call to all artists in the area to participate. Once we know how many artists we have that will be willing to donate an unframed portrait, we will approach local "celebrities"
The artists will be given a couple of hours sitting time with their subject so that they can do some sketching and take some photos. I believe that we'll give the artist about a month to complete their entry. The idea is to have an unveiling ceremony, maybe a wine and cheese , with a live auction. After we cover our costs, 50% of the profits will be donated to Parkinsons Research . We'd rather be able to donate all of the profits, but are thinking that we may have to give the other 50% to the artists in order to attract participants. Anybody have any thoughts ideas or suggestions?

Awesome! Congratulations Tannis! That is a huge step in your success as an artist and a total confidence booster. You do fantastic work! You'll go far! I also appreciate the work you are doing for Parkinson Research.
Laura

Thanks Laura, We have a member in our group who has Parkinson's and she is now quite disabled and having a really hard time trying to paint. She has been in a wheelchair for a long time but is now reduced to living in a nursing home because of pain issues. You probably know that it is really hard to watch the toll this disease takes and so as a group we've decided to do what we can.

Here is an idea that you could try....

This coming week The Arctic Winter Games will be held in Grande Prairie,we expect over 2000 athletes, coaches and family members to come from Canada, Greenland, Russia, Alaska, Norway, Sweden, Finland. So, at the paper that I work at we decided to host an Art Show during the games showcasing the artistic talents of our staff. Over the course of the games we are displaying works done by our employees and we are running ads to promote the event. This is something that is easy to do and isn't so daunting for emerging artists as the works are being shown as a group. Several of our staff members have never shown their work before, and are really excited to do so. We have some paintings, drawings, photography, and fibre art...Here is the ad that we are running to promote the event