Monoprinting with watercolours

This coming Saturday I’ll be teaching a workshop at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia on the techniques that I used in my pieces that are on display in the show. (The class is full and there is a waiting list!!)

Here is a video tutorial showing how to make a watercolour monoprint. It is so much fun to do …… give it a try!

Tradition
& Innovation- an exhibit that invites the viewer to think about print-making as an
evolving art form- opens in the Community Room, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia Western
Branch, on January 5 and continues until February 26, 2012.  An opening reception will be held Saturday,
January 7, from 2 until 4 p.m.

Works are
from the two print shops in South West Nova Scotia: La Manivelle in Church Point,
where innovative, non-toxic methods are explored  and Th’YARC Print Shop in Yarmouth where
etching is a traditional technique often used.

Print
makers represented include Cecil Day, Ruth Rideout,  Denise Comeau, Bonnie Baker and others who
have worked at one or both of the studios over the past decade.

Four
workshops, tied to techniques in the show, will be given over the course of the
two-month exhibit.

Tradition and Innovation – a printmaking show

Pink and Orange. Monoprint by Flora Doehler, 2011

Two of my pieces will be in a printmaking show that opens tomorrow (Saturday) at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia – Yarmouth branch!

I just finished them last week and framed them a few of days ago. The show includes work from printmakers at two South West Nova Scotia studios. One is in Yarmouth and the studio I use, Le Manivelle, is in the basement of Saint Anne’s University in Church Point.

Iris. Monoprint by Flora Doehler, 2011

This is the description of the show:

Tradition & Innovation – an exhibit that invites the viewer to think about print-making as an evolving art form- opens in the Community Room, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia Western Branch, on January 5 and continues until February 26, 2012.
The opening reception will be held Saturday, January 7, from 2 until 4 p.m.

Works are from the two print shops in South West Nova Scotia: La Manivelle in Church Point and Th’YARC Print Shop in Yarmouth.

Print makers represented include Cecil Day, Ruth Rideout, Denise Comeau, Bonnie Baker and others who have worked at one or both of the studios over the past decade.

Iris - detail

The title ‘Tradition & Innovation’ describes the way in which traditional print-making techniques are used as well as the evolution and discovery of new methods of creating images. At the exhibit, viewers will be introduced to a variety of techniques, some old, some recent, and some recent extensions of traditional methods.

Four workshops, tied to techniques in the show, will be given over the course of the two-month exhibit.

The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia Western Branch is located at 341 Main Street, Yarmouth; gallery entrance is from Alma Square.

Gallery hours: Thursday – Sunday . Noon – 5:00 p.m. Information: 902 749-2248

It’s VERY exciting to exhibit with accomplished artists and I’ll tell you all about it when I get back from the opening. I also want to share with you the technique I used.

Blooming time for artist – Doehler works from life; channels nature with brush, paint and canvas

A very special Christmas surprise for me this year was opening the newspaper to read this article about my painting process. Thank you to Heather Killen and the Annapolis Spectator!
————————–

By Heather Killen
The Annapolis County
SPECTATOR
December 22, 2011

Sumachs in the 'front yard'.

To any painter who feels glum about that cramped studio space at a corner of the dining room table, or in the back bedroom – take heart. Flora Doehler has a perfectly good studio and most of the time she doesn’t use it.

This Bear River-based painter is now living her long-time dream. Her life is filled with art and flowers. Best of all, she has a beautiful art studio that she shares with her life partner and silversmith Larry Knox. Green Willow Studio is a nice space with lots of good light, yet Flora’s best paintings seem to happen in the yard.

Knox said he loves to watch her work because it’s seeing art in motion. Almost like a bellet of brushstrokes.

“It just happens”, he said “She’ll be walking and suddenly stop. Then the paints, the canvas, and the brushes disappear outside where she first saw the painting.”

Painting a still life in winter in the studio.

Studied in Toronto

Doehler studied fine arts and fine crafts at the Art Centre at Central Technical School in Toronto where she was introduced to painting, printmaking, and weaving. From there she went on to study painting in Berlin and found the German Expressionists. She became mesmerized by printmaking techniques of artists like Kathe Kollwitz and Wassily Kandinsky.

Until three years ago she lived mostly in Toronto where she worked as a librarian in the school system. An avid gardener, she dreamed of a time when she and Larry were able to pursue their art and life in the country.

These days she can paint whenever she likes with her oils, acrylic, and watercolour using whatever feels right to the time. Pften she works wet on wet, on a flat surface rather than an easel so the paint won’t run. Layer by layer she builds the form up, using sgraffito technique to scratch beyond the surface into the previous layers.

“I love colour and texture”, she said. “And being in the elements makes the whole process thrilling. I’m interacting with what I’m painting. I hear the birds around me and feel the moment.”

Inspired by one of many flower gardens.

Paints From Life

She will work from photographs, but says she prefers to paint from life. Completing a painting therefore can become a race against time and the elements. In some cases the paintings take years to complete as she waits until the scene emerges the following season.

“It is a great feeling to be present with a living flower and to sense the life force of it,” she writes in her blog. “When a painting is working for me, I get lost in it and I feel like I am channeling the essence of the object of my gaze.”

Green Willow Studio is part of the Bear River Working Artists’ Studio Tour. For more information visit http://greenwillow.ca or see them at 967 Riverview Road, Bear River. (902) 467-0553.

A 4' x 6' canvas in the sumachs.

Holiday Craft Shows

Larry and I are busy creating pieces for the upcoming craft shows in the area.

Our first stop, this coming Saturday, is the Holiday Spirit Craft Show at the Rebekah Hall in Bear River.  (See poster below).

Each pendant has a different look on each side.

Sometimes even a different colour!

There will be lots of wonderful crafts for sale as well as home made soups and bread and more!

Copper enamelled pendant

The back of the pendant above.

On December 3rd, we’ll be at the Annapolis Royal Farmer’s and Trader’s Christmas Craft Market on December 3, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Annapolis West Education Centre.

Please drop by and say hello, we’d love to see you!

Flora’s paintings in one place

I have created a website as a display for my large finished paintings. It is a ‘work in progress’ and I think you will like the feature that rearranges the images when you click on a tag at the top of the page. For instance,  clicking on ‘landscape’ brings up all the landscape paintings.

I had looked long and hard for a web design that showcased images on the home page, because this is what I want to see when I look at other artists’ sites.

 I’ll be adding more images and some ‘back stories’ about the paintings. For now, I am glad that I have taken this step to show what paintings I’ve completed – all in one place.

Check it out!

http://floradoehler.ca

In the meantime, I’ll still blog here about the painting process and about the end results too.

Metal Arts Guild Awards for Larry Knox

Larry joined the Metal Arts Guild of Nova Scotia after moving here from Ontario 4 years ago. It is the only Metal Guild in the province and the majority of its members live in the Halifax/ Dartmouth area, a 3 hour drive from our studio. Like all things Nova Scotian, the members are friendly and welcoming. At the first meeting we attended, we were invited to stay overnight at the guild President’s house – and he’d only met us once for 15 minutes at a gem and mineral show in Parrsboro! 

This month the Guild celebrated their 60th Anniversary with a show called “The Journey”and Larry entered a few pieces including this ceremonial plate inspired by the Tara Broach, found in an Irish bog.

Ancestral memory by Larry Knox material: Brass and Lapis Lazuli. techniques: sinking, chasing and repouse.

Larry was thrilled to win the Ellis Roulston Memorial Award for his Brass plate in the non- jewelry category, reserved for non-wearable functional items.

His second award was for this gorgeous copper vessel, part of a series he’s been working on for the past year. He takes recycled drainage pipes on a journey to a new beginning as sculptural pieces that are shaped and twisted and then torched to create a patina.

New Adventure by Larry Knox material: Copper. techniques: sinking, raising, planishing and patina.

The title New Adventure is a nod and a wink to our blog Our Bear River Adventure that chronicles our personal journey settling into rural life in Bear River, Nova Scotia. The move made it possible for us to devote most of our time to our creative adventures.

New Adventure by Larry Knoxdetail:  Mouth of the vessel.

The show presented an opportunity to enter the competition in the production category. Although Larry didn’t win, his necklaces are featured in the poster advertising the show at the Hydrostone Gallery in Halifax which was another delightful surprise:

The necklaces were inspired by the inuksuk, stone markers built by Arctic peoples and possibly used for navigational purposes.

Here is a closer look at Larry’s necklaces.

The Wanderer by Larry Knoxmaterials: Copper and Enamel with hand-formed Silver findings. Leather necklace. techniques: planishing and enamelling.

The Wanderer by Larry Knoxmaterials: Copper and Enamel with hand-formed Silver findings. Leather necklace. techniques: planishing and enamelling.

The Wanderer by Larry KnoxHand-formed Silver findings. Leather necklace. techniques: wire-wrapping

The Wanderer by Larry Knoxmaterials: Copper and Enamel with hand-formed Silver findings. Leather necklace. techniques: planishing and enamelling.

The show and sale continues in Halifax until October 30. After that it will journey to the Cape Breton Centre for Craft and Design where it will stay until November 17th.

There are 19 participating metalsmith artists in the show including Elizabeth Goluch, Dana Grund, and Candice Prior.