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New mixed media works hanging at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

photos of artwork in a hallway at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

My pieces hanging outside the President and Board offices at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

A couple of times a year I get the opportunity to hang some of my art at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. This one is the Tully Invitational Show, which you need to be invited to participate in. Named after the volunteers that started the program of hanging art in the hospital more than 25 years ago.

These are all new works, and I am super pleased with how they look here. The three smaller pieces are all mixed media with collage elements.

So what, you may wonder, does it mean when I say “mixed media”? In this case, it means I have used multiple (mixed) forms of media to create the image. These pieces have several layers, including some pastel, some watercolor crayon, and lots of acrylic paint. The pastel and watercolor crayon are also artist quality materials. I fix them with a spray fixative, and then also seal them in with a layer of acrylic medium.

The collage elements are a bit shiny, and they are also glued down and sealed in with acrylic medium. Which is a lot like glue, in many respects — very similar chemistry to the white glue you used at school, but much purer, and also transparent.

Acrylic mediums come in a wide variety — literally dozens of types, and multiple manufacturers. Some are clear, others glossy, and they have a variety of working properties. I currently have several types, and keep experimenting with new ones.

Just working on getting photos up into the gallery page, stay tuned!

Yorkville art show in March: The Highway Series

I’m thrilled to be having a solo show of my art in the Yorkville Library gallery during March. It’s a wonderful spot — a brightly-lit sunny room at the back of this historic location.

Here are a few of the installation views of the show.

installation of art show

It’s surprising how much work it is to put together a show like this. It makes me appreciate the work a commercial gallery does!

First, I have known of this date for about a year, because I had to apply for the space more than a year ago. I had gone in and measured the space to see how much room there was.

I’ve been painting with this show in mind for months, actually — as far back as last summer! I had started The Highway Series around 2015, and have continued to refine this idea and work along these lines. The concept is simple — looking at the rural landscape as we see it from the highway, usually in a moving car. More on that in another post…

As the time for the show comes closer, I started worrying I did not have enough work that met my standards for being good enough to show. A few pieces were reworked, and repainted. In one case, The Yellow Fields, I am thrilled with how the finished painting came out, after feeling it was not quite right for months.

I also started and finished a few pieces just in the last few months.

And everything needed to be mounted or framed, have wires put on it, titled even!

There’s a lot of second-guessing of oneself. “Is it good enough?” So now it is hung on the walls, shared with the world. The librarian in charge of that branch told me how pleased she was to see larger paintings, as they are often quite small. And it really brightens the whole space!

There are a number of libraries in Toronto that make their space available for art exhibits, and I think this is such a wonderful way to use the library system, in addition to all the other great stuff they do.

If you are in the Toronto area, I hope you drop by to see the work, “in person.”  All of it is here on the site.

Thanks for stopping by!

Susan

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Paintings added to permanent collection of Toronto Public Library

I was thrilled to have the Toronto Public Library Special Collections get in touch with me this year and enquire about purchasing two paintings.

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These are both recognizable locations in a nearby area of the city that was at one time the town of Leaside. The top piece is an old building at Todmorden Mills, which is now a public space. I deliberately distorted the perspective on this lovely old building, which had such pretty colors in the stucco.

The lower one is part of a cement plant, in the Leaside industrial park. I am very interested in these industrial spaces that are part of the city, as they are fast disappearing.

Both pieces are now in the permanent collection at the Toronto Reference Libary!