Walkin' White's Woods with Walt (in Connecticut)

Warmth streaming through the open branches, first signs of earth's fecundity bursting forth...a good day to be alive on 

this planet spinning through space!

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The Artist Project

Inner Reflection / 72" x 54" / acrylic on canvas

Whew! Just recovering from this huge event! It takes months and months to prepare for a show of that magnitude. Not just preparing the paintings themselves but wrapping and transporting large scale works is very physical. I wish I had taken some photos of that process but was much too hot and bothered to even consider snapping shots. Fortunately I had my good friend and fellow artist, Demetrios Papakostos to help me with the loading of the paintings since my studio is on the third floor of an old mattress factory this involves the use of dollies and freight elevators.

Demetrios has large paintings as well so we managed to figure out the puzzle of how to fit all the pieces in the rental van the night before leaving. With the van loaded we hit the road for the six hour drive to Toronto bright and early the next morning.

Demetrios on arrival at The Artist Project in Toronto

We arrived in a bit of a snow squall and had to unload with great care so as not to blow away with our paintings acting as sails! Next we got straight to work, setting up our booths. This takes time as we try and retry different paintings in different spots until it feels right in our bones.

Holly Friesen Booth / painting from inside the landscape

another angle

Notice the cool little cubby space for storage.

Ipad slide show of other paintings running in the corner.

A bit of a rest and then it's Thursday, a few finishing touches...

Julie Desmarais, also from Montreal doing a little bit of last minute painting.

Finally, they open the doors and it's opening night.

Rob Croxford and I sharing a toast to a successful week-end!

 

And now there are people, hundreds and hundreds of people, in a steady stream for the next three days straight.This is a mixed blessing. The people are genuinely interested in looking at the artwork and there are some interesting and lively conversations but the days are long, 10 hours of standing on your feet and talking about your artwork becomes a sort of endurance test after a while. By Friday night I could hardly walk my hip was so sore from standing on the concrete floor.

Demetrios Papakostas manning his booth of bold, colorful abstract paintings.

 We were a group of Montreal Artists in our aisle whom had requested to be placed next to each other since a lot of us traveled down together. We had a lot of fun as we got to know each other better over the next few days. I had the gorgeous, lush greens of Julie Desmarais' landscapes directly across the aisle from me.

Another friend, colleague & abstract painter, Janice Tayler was just down the row as well.

 

And of course my wonderfully fashion conscious booth neighbour, Rob Croxford was a

joy to be beside. He kept me smiling when my feet were at their sorest and my mouth was parched from talking so much.

Fun was had by all. New friends and connections were made and even some old friends dropped by to support and encourage, which is always a wonderful bonus at these events.

With Camille Watts, talented musician and dear friend.

Will I be back next year? Hard to say right now but I will find the solitude of the studio a relief for the next little while.

Rocks in Moonlight

Kinda exciting to have one's painting show up in the Montreal paper, Le Devoir

The article is in French and talks about the project TimeRaiser who purchased the painting from myself and 19 other Montreal artists.

The paintings are then auctioned off for volunteer hours, not money. I think this is such a fantastic project in that it promotes art and artists while using time instead of money in exchange for the artwork.

So often artists are asked to donate their works to projects like these and so often we do, willingly but how refreshing that TimeRaiser has recognized that artists actually need to be paid money so that

they can continue on with their work. 

Bravo to TimeRaiser for an excellent concept all round!

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The Studio in Preparation for The Artist Project

 There is so much going on in my life at the moment, that it threatens to overwhelm me at times but as I enter the studio doors the smell of paint dissolves the fears, worries, concerns and as I begin to paint, images fill my body and replace the chattering squirrel thoughts in my brain. Lately, with much love and concern in my heart for Walt and his current health challenge (as he calls it) , I have been painting from an open heart and letting this love flow into the painting. It is what I call BIG Love, a love inspired by Walt, and by beauty and our collective humanity, a love so large that it envelopes all the petty little worries and fears that gnaw away at my everyday soul. Painting really is like deep prayer for me. It restores, revitalizes and informs me. It is my connection to something much greater than my small self.

 I always seem to paint like a madwoman just before a show, something about that looming deadline that urges me ever forward. I work on multiple canvases at a time, paint pouring out of my brushes like they are on fire! One painting leads to another, sometimes I am painting several from the same palette. The studio is charged with energy as the paintings emerge from the chaos, I discard some and rework others. Now there are only days left and 

slowly a group of paintings presents itself.

See the full gallery on Posterous

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Morning Muse 2

Morning Muse 2 / 48" x 36" / acrylic on panel board 

 

 

 

 

 Having lived in an urban environment for close to four years now I am always surprised by the beauty and silence that envelops me when I return to the woods. As humans we adapt to our surroundings, and the rhythms and textures of Montreal have been integrated into my paintings in spite of my subject matter. The landscape lives on inside me and when I return to the forests it is as though I am entering into the paintings. Like a dream, I am less and less sure of the boundaries between my imagination and the landscape. The inner wilderness and the outer wilderness become one and the same.

 Some details of the textures created using tar gel and modeling paste on the wood panel during the painting process. This new found fascination with texture is partly a reflection of the multi-textured surfaces of the city that I find so endlessly beautiful.

 I find our new urban habitat to be full of life, in the parks, the trees, the waterways. Our natural habitat, the earth has many ways of expressing itself through humanity, animals, plants, sky, air. We need but be still and listen, wherever we are on the planet.

Towards the Within

Towards the Within / 12' x 12" / acrylic on panel board

Today I filled in applications, took a walk, took the subway downtown to proof some postcards, picked up a prescription, went to the post office, made phone calls, answered emails, bought food, did computer stuff... and all the while restless thoughts chattered in my head like a flock of twittering birds. I finally made it to my studio and picked up my brushes; the twittering birds slowly dispersed, my thoughts quieted and I found myself immersed in a palette of grays. Remarkable how paint can settle the mind and open the heart. I don't know how that happens but I couldn't live without it.

The Artist Project in Toronto

I will be participating in The Artist Project 2012 from March 1st to March 4th for those of you in the Toronto area I would love to see you there! Booth #203 If you are interested in complimentary tickets let me know as I receive a few free ones every year and would be happy to let them go on a first come, first serve basis.
From the Forest is a recently published book of some of the paintings that will be on exhibit:

From the Forest by Holly Friesen | Make Your Own Book