The winner was drawn on Friday February 14th- Faye Grewlinski!  See Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29DS8WKDFQQ&feature=youtu.be

I have been invited to be part of this panel.  I'd love to see some friendly faces in the audience! 

Thank you for all the responses I received to the last Art as Spiritual Practice articles.  I am glad someone reads them!  I know I said that I was going to teach more this Winter and Spring, but another opportunity arrived in January and it is looking like it will be taking up quite a bit of my time for the next 5 months. I am finalizing a contract to illustrate a textbook about Hospice and Palliative Care. The teaching is also coming forward though, with the Creative Jam in Price Rupert this month, possibility of teaching for a week in Penticton in September and discovery of a wonderful retreat location in the Cowichan Valley where I can hold private retreats. It looks like the Terrace teaching opportunity will wait for the next calendar year.  (Update today- November 7, 8, 9 will be a beginners watercolour class in Terrace BC!)    

Word has gotten out that I can make a living as an artist.  So CARFAC BC has invited me to be a member of a panel discussion about making a living as an artist on Tuesday evening February 11th 7-9 pm at the Downtown Branch of the Greater Victoria Library.  I have posted the information on my website and will find a way to put it on my new website too.  I'd love to see your friendly faces in the audience and will treat you to photographs of the blue whale project, murals, illustrations and workshops. This is part of a trio of evening workshops put on by CARFAC (Canadian Artists Representation) and they are free! 

Lance has decided to downsize rather than close the Morris Gallery so my large works are still on display there. I’ll continue to show at She Said and South Shore Galleries and have large works on display at the Habitat Acquisition Trust offices. I am hosting a showing at my place for the Newcomers to Victoria Art group this month too.  
 
Still waiting for the BC Arts Council results- end of March. I’ll let you know in the April newsletter
 
I am in the process of changing over my website. Technology is so wonderful and intimidating at times too. It should be up and working by the time you get this latest newsletter.
 
The Cetus Society fundraiser has been extended by two weeks. Still time to be the lucky new owner of the "Lines of Support" painting. 
 
Classes in March…
MY STUDIO Expressive Watercolour: These fun classes are about exploration and play. You will learn new techniques and combinations to use in your own work, you will learn from each other and you will make some spectacular mistakes and decide what can be saved and what cannot! We have fun.
 
TUESDAY AFTERNOONS: March 4, 11, 18 and 25th from 1:00 – 3:30: three registered already so this is a go. Room for 3 more.  Four classes for $80.00
OR
TUESDAY evenings:  March 4, 11, 18 and 25th, from 7 - 9:30: one registered- need at least 2 more  Four classes for $80.00
 
AT CORDOVA BAY 55+  Register through CB55+ - there was not enough registration to offer these courses at CB55+ this term, interest sheets are up at CB55+ for fall classes, or let me know and I’ll ad you name as a possible.
 
AT COAST COLLECTIVE:
Fundraiser for the Coast Collective
Joanne Thomson Code: 0314-JT-CLW Mar 22, Sat, 12:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Fee: By Donation Register by: Mar. 15
Do you LOVE the Coast Collective? Then join artist and educator Joanne Thomson in building a Labyrinth outside the Coast Collective’s home at historic Pendray House. Help create a sacred space where people can experience the magic of this location in a new (and ancient) way.
All you need is a creative mind, appropriate clothes for the weather, and a pair of rubber boots! Your donations support the Society for Arts on the South Island (SASI) and the operation of the Coast Collective Arts Centre.
 
Labyrinth Workshop
Sunday Afternoon
Joanne Thomson Code: 0314-JT-LW Mar 23, Sun, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Fee: $20.00 Register by: Mar. 15
Do you want to learn more about labyrinths and their special and historic role in helping to define sacred spaces? Bring pencil and paper and learn to draw various styles of labyrinths.
 
AT RRU: http://cstudies.royalroads.ca/courses/TAET3344-Y13.htm
RELOCATED: Art as Spiritual Practice- Weekend format- will not be at Poet’s Cove on Pender Island it will now take place at Royal Roads, same weekend, April 26 and 27th 2014 –$145.00 
 
AN ART RETREAT IN YOUR TOWN- Ask me. I love to travel and can make a workshop financially accessible in almost any location. It has worked in Neepawa Manitoba, Revelstoke, Terrace, Comox and soon in Prince Rupert so ask and see what we can work out. 
 
Private lessons: If you are feeling stuck or just want to have some one to one instruction then ask me about private lessons. The rate is $60.00 for a two hour session. (Usually structured as 30 minute lesson, 30 minutes practice, 20 minutes lesson, 30 minutes practice then a 10 minute wrap up). 

Class this past week was an introduction to watercolour, however i had quite a few experienced students in the class so went with this idea: to create a simple still life and render it in blue only before shifting it to full colour.  The lessons to be taken away are listed with the images below. 

The next step was to use blue (windsor blue-green shade) to paint in the contrasts.  Note:  some areas are white just because the areas near them needed to dry.  Texture on the almonds was dry brushed on before the blue wash was added on top. 
Lesson: Allow adjoining areas to dry before painting them so that the paint does not bleed between the areas and blur the lines. 

The class started by drawing this simple still life on regular paper and working out the kinks in the drawing before transferring the drawing to watercolour paper.  
Then we looked at the darks and lights of the piece before moving to monochromatic painting.
Lesson: look at your subject and get to know it before starting by drawing it and thinking about contrasts. 

In this image you see the paper towel added with simple shadows and the onion is completed.  Now the fun really begins. 
Lesson:  The fun can also end here.  Monochromatic paintings have a beauty of their own. 

On the scrap where the blue washes were tested try to overlay some of the opposite colour- in this case oranges, some more red and some more yellow.  This will give you an idea of how to shift the colours.  
Lesson:  Watercolour paint can be layered because of it's transparency.  Wait until the paint sinks in before panicking.  The colours mix together in the paper as they dry.  

This always delights me. That the colours actually do what they do.  Here I have added orange to the onion, egg and almonds.   On the egg it is very dilute except in the shadow.  Lines have been added to the onion skin by allowing the wash to nearly dry and then painting on thin lines on pale yellow.  (try it on a scrap first to get the timing). 
Lesson:  "Watercolour painting cannot be changed once it is done." is a myth. 

In the finished study I coloured the a paper towel a bit with a very pale orange.  This allows the egg to appear whitest.  Much more time could be spent on this painting if it was to be a masterwork of art.  However, as a demo it is good fun and shows you one example of how to move from a monochromatic painting to a coloured one. 
Lesson: Each painting ends when you decide it is finished or when it's usefulness at moving you to the next painting is accomplished.