It's November! How does autumn go by so darned fast? Is it because it's our favourite season? Anyway...time for our monthly newsletter!
Here's what we're covering this month:
Disappointed by the turnout at your art show? Ask yourself these questions….
See us in upcoming art shows!
You might enjoy: Get Small and Tell the Truth
Our favourite thing this month: Kintsugi Kits
Diana raises a glass at her Chroma art show. Were you there?
Disappointed by the turnout at your art show? Ask yourself these questions...
Tell me if this sounds familiar: You’ve been painting for a few years, gradually improving at your craft and you decide it’s time to hold an art show. You work gruelling hours to prepare, painting harder than you’ve ever painted, burning through canvases furiously, framing paintings, setting up the gallery and buying piles of refreshments for the opening. On opening night only two or three people show up. And they’re either your friends and family (if you’re lucky) or (more likely) fellow artists looking for a free glass of wine, some hors d’oeuvres and a chance to reassure themselves they are superior creators.
It’s happened to all of us. And it hurts — it’s embarrassing, it’s humbling and it just plain feels bad. But rather than throw your hands up in despair, toss out all your canvases and convert your studio into a storage unit, ask yourself the following questions to help prepare for your next, more successful show…
Two of our pieces you can see in art shows starting later this month: Diana's painting Fall Vineyard Sunrise (left) and Paul's photo Lonely Beacon.
See us in upcoming art shows!
Sharing art on social media is great, but it’s way better in real life. So we’re excited to let you know we’ll be in two great shows over the next couple of months:
Under 500 Exhibition and Sale: We’re both in this show! Paul has three framed photos in the show and Diana has three paintings. The show runs at the Penticton Art Gallery from Nov. 19 to Jan. 8 and it will also be online on the gallery’s website.
Down The Rabbit Hole Show: Diana will have one painting in this show, which is presented by the Penticton and District Community Arts Council and runs at the Leir House Cultural Centre in Penticton from Nov. 20 to Jan. 30.
Come to one or both shows — we’d love to see you there!
You might enjoy: Get Small and Tell the Truth
Do you ever feel stuck in your art? Like you’re just creating in a certain way because that’s what people like? It might be time to step back and re-evaluate.
In this short video, photographer Sean Tucker suggests the most interesting thing about our work shouldn’t be the techniques we use, but what we’re trying to say. At some point, Sean says, you must decide why you are making art. Is it just to get people to like you and approve of your work? Or are there things you really believe and want to say — even if doing so risks having people reject your work.
Sean suggests this may be the way forward: “Maybe it’s time to put the toys away. Can you find a way to strip your creative output down to the bare bones, no more gimmicks, no more tricks, no techniques to hide behind. Can you get your need to impress under control and replace it with a desire to communicate something really well and simply in your work?”
It’s great food for thought and quite inspirational. Check it out here on Youtube!
Our favourite thing this month: Kintsugi kits
Kintsugi (金継ぎ) is the traditional Japanese art of repairing broken pottery — such as the cups used in the Japanese tea ceremony — with gold. And while it’s a vast simplification to say so, Kintsugi exemplifies a philosophy of embracing the beauty in imperfection and flaws.
Traditionally, Kintsugi is done using real gold, resulting in pieces that are often more beautiful and valuable after being repaired than they were when whole. You don’t need to go broke buying gold if you’d like to take a crack at it though (see what we did there?); you can easily buy a modest Kintsugi kit online. The kits come with glue, gold powder and in some cases porcelain cups to practice with before smashing your fine ceramics.
This Kintsugi kit on Amazon is a good example and you can find many others through retailers on Etsy, which features a dizzying array of choices.
(It’s purely coincidental that Kintsugi also happens to be the name of one of our favourite albums by the band Death Cab For Cutie…)
Give it a try and share the results with us — we’d love to see them!
Thank you for reading! Please let us know if you have questions or just want to chat. If you know anyone who would enjoy or benefit from the content in this newsletter please forward it to them. Diana and Paul Timid Turtle Creative
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