Call for Artists

Hey fellow artists and fans of plein air painting - please join us for the fourth annual "WORLDWIDE" Paint Out in Niagara Falls, Ontario! (I'll be there with bells on.)

Plein air artists from around the planet will be painting the Niagara Falls environs - Sept. 8-9, 2006 - with reception/awards to follow, and a show open to the public. (location TBA) Click here for more info, to download the prospectus, and/or to register:

Niagara Prospectus

Volunteers and advertisers are also needed to assist artists and organizers. Contact us if you are able to help!

Can't make it to Niagara? Then register to paint on location anywhere in the world on those dates to be a part of the event! Hosted by International Plein Air Painters, this event is happening simultaneously in many international locations. You can join IPAP or learn more about the group and see some of the many events happening posted on the website link below:

International Plein Air Painters

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Composition in Red and Blue

Two intensely blue dragonflies on the Glenora Ferry. The background is a red sportscar.
I've been painting outdoors for three days, too. Hope to get the results up here at some point. SOOO freaking busy.

Die Mannequin

Die Mannequin in a VERRRY tight space, filled to capacity. I had to crawl on hands and knees to get these shots. Well worth it methinks. Isn't she yummy?

See the rest here - click meee...

More Sleddogs!

Snapped the 'dogs in Kingston, Ontario, aboard the Island Queen.
1. No, that is not seasickness that made it so psychedelic, I simply used the sharp filter and moved with the action as I took the shot. 3rd pic Eric, Michael and Kenny at the aftershow show, at The Merchant. Lots more at the Sleddogs' web site.

Alexisonfire at Scene Fest, St Catharines

This was fun! Photos of Alexisonfire, at Scene Fest, Market Square stage, last weekend. As the sun set, the images I made for them grew more intense.












Lots more:CLICKY HERE

Perennial Spring

The weather has been unbearably hot and sticky here at The Cove, but my garden loves it. A few macros for you!

Yellow Poppy



A Columbine. I cannot believe I actually grew this beautiful thing.



Crispy black ant on a Rhubarb Bloom



On the iPod, French electronica artist Sebastian Schuller. Highly recommended by Daniel, a very kind online pal at Wet Canvas!

The Bottle Rockets!

A very cool friend, Patty in Chicago (aka Hot Rod Girl), gave me the heads up that her beloved Bottle Rockets were playing last night in Toronto. So after attending Zoë Bentley's very enjoyable CD release party at Revival, I high-tailed it over to Lee's Palace to catch some of their set before the loooong drive back to Quinte Isle. WOW, was it worth it! They actually sold out of Zoysia CDs at the show, before the set was finished. Highly recommended. Tons of character, great twang.

Zoe Bentley at Revival, Toronto

Zoë Bentley sounds and even looks a bit like Sheryl Crow. Writes her own material, too. Excellent pipes, for sure. My quirky visions from her CD release party include:

Lots more here!

ABC and Martin Fry in Montreal

Greetings from Hotel Fairmont Queen Elizabeth in Montreal! I am here to see & shoot British New Romantic band ABC. Wheee! I wore my circa 1982 winklepickers and a tight leopard print t-shirt material rusched dress. What a band, and what a night! Met the cutest flight attendant, too - Hi Camille! - we went to a nightclub afterwards with them and danced til 4am. Camille is a fantastic dancer!

Martin Fry looked hunky as ever in a gorgeous silk suit. Drummer David Palmer (who joined ABC in 1982) is playing on the tour. He is the percussionist for Rod Stewart as well. What a NICE guy, too! Fabulous show.

Lots more here. Enjoy!

Colorado Siamese Rescue

I am so happy to share this news: I am now a Promo Partner with my favourite charitable cause. Check it out!
Rocky Mountain Siamese Rescue

Ostrich Fern Blues

The ferns are peeking up from the earth, and are about to unfurl. It is all I can do not to eat these fiddleheads with drawn butter, but no, I shall let them grow.



I'm sharing so much photography lately, because I have a bit of a block painting-wise these days. It sucks. I get out there, and nothing good happens on my Arches.

Brokenose Cove

Spent 7 hours at emerg clinic last Sunday. Broke my nose (fainted when I had that nasty 6 week long flu I caught at CMW '06) and it is all infected. And the infection has spread. I feel like hell. When will it end?? Hope the new antibiotics kick in soon!

So, I am forced to rest and recoup. Those who know my bouncy bohemian nature know I am not so good at that...

No time like the present to post in my poor, neglected journal!

Speaking of Rogers Canadian Music Week 2006, here are a few photographs.

Matt Mays and El Torpedo play the 'Sirius / Standard Radio Showcase" at The Phoenix
Shot handheld with my beloved Canon EF 16-35L f2.8.



Poor Pelly and The Kent Boys at Cadillac Lounge.
Unique. Love that washtub bass!



"Barshots TV" Producer Paddy Fagen in the Epic Lounge at Fairmont Royal York.
He smelled wonderful.



One day, I was lucky enough to be granted a pass from House of Blues to shoot Dallas Green (City and Colour, Alexisonfire)



Lots more at this linky

I have not been painting lately but hope to get back to that as soon as I recover. Thanks to Jacq for the recent encouragement on that front. ;-)

Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise

Lake Louise is one of the most beautiful places on the planet, and what a hotel. Totally recommended!
It was fantastic to see old friends and meet new ones, and especially to hang with my agent, Roxanne. I was asked to do a workshop there this year - Make Your Own Hudson Bay Blanket Mittens - was great fun; I LOVED doing it and hope I did Bruce Bembridge proud. Also exhibited a selection of plein air paintings, and snowshoed to my heart's content! Painted four new snowscapes this trip, which will be up soon. A new flash slideshow of adventures at Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada last month is linked below. 59 pictures in there so far, it takes a while to load, so get a coffee or single malt while ye wait. I'll keep this up for only a while, then archive it.

http://www.kittengale.com/photoshows/flashLL2006.html

Poonch-Key

This detail is from a recent commission portrait, 22 x 30 inches on Fabriano Artistico 300lb. Watercolour.



A joy to paint! He is part Jack Russell, part something big. His name, Poonch-Key, means little Polish donut.

Saturday's Child

I was born on a Saturday Night, in 1965.

Mom and Dad, then strict Catholics, got pregnant on their wedding night: after their Alberta wedding they climbed into a car decorated with powder blue toilet tissue roses and shaving foam slogans, and went directly Southbound. I was conceived in Great Falls, Montana. I guess you could say I was Made in USA.

A few days later, the happy, gorgeous newlyweds were whisked off to France in a Hercules Freight Airplane for Dad's new posting at the local Fire Hall there. (Dad was a Search and Rescue dude at the time.) Whisked off to a land where they knew not the language, nor the customs, nor the food. I think Dad had never even even eaten PIZZA before. Or was it Chinese? My Mother had only cooked one thing ever, a chicken, but that is another story... We're talking poor kids from smalltownville.

Anyhow, almost 9 months later in France, my Dad had gone out to the absinthe bars with his newfound car racing mates, and Mom was at home eating garlicked escargot, smoking Gitanes, and voraciously reading Sci-Fi, when all of a sudden, water broke and all that breederly stuff. I was early.

Off to the hospital in Marville went Mom..., and me, eager to greet the world just like a good ENFP. I came out, ugly. Preemie. No nose. Huge eyes wide open. And smiling and cooing! Oh, and covered in slimy green waste. My character was already entrenched!

Mom immediately wanted to know when she could go back to work. She had used her Science degree to get away from her folks, and dammit, no biological event was gonna stop that now! It would be thirteen years before she and I had our epiphany, made peace, and became friends bonded at the soul. (In anger, I threw a peanut butter sandwich at her and immediately regretted it rather than feeling bratishly RIGHT about doing it.)

Anyhow, back to 1965... Dad came by tipsy afterwards and named me after a childhood memory of words that sounded poetic to him. He was pretty freaked at having adulthood so rudely thrust upon him. He didn't know he would be the wonderful man he is today then.

Even though I have never been pregnant, and (by choice) I am not going to procreate, I am so fond of this story for some silly reason. Maybe because I love my parents unconditionally. They are really, really great.

My friend's incredible step-daughter and her husband are having their first wee sprog very soon and all are wondering when it will be born. Placing my bet for a Saturday in February.

The Lottery Win What-If Game

As I sit here up to my armpits in Corporate fiscal tax forms for my two businesses, my brushes languishing sadly in the tote, I am daydreaming like any artist does periodically.

What if you won the lottery?
Charities, family, friends, etc. aside. What would you do with the money left for yourself?

I'd spend it on education and life experiences that I cannot afford currently.

Finish my BSc. Study Epidemiology, just for interest's sake. Buy a better microscope for my micro photography.

Build an art gallery and studio down by the lake so I can show other artists' work - Lara and Helen come to mind.

Organize a plein air workshop in Antarctica; everyone gets fitted with ArcTeryx gear and the best art supplies!

Travel down the entire East Coast of USA painting at every place that I dream of, ending up in the Florida Keys.
Paint in Hawaii. Paint in Italy. Paint in Scotland. Paint in Greece. Visit Paula in Bavaria and paint paint paint.

Photograph every band that I love, with top notch equipment.

Give B. a retirement party, a dreamboat, and a house on the hill at Pacific Pallisades.

(I will never retire, I love my work too much. But I would hire a freaking bookkeeper!!!)

Okay, enough dreaming, gotta get back to the number crunching...

New Year's Resolution

The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without the work. - Emile Zola

Here's hoping I have the gift, and can put it to use this year.

Happy New Year, and Goodnight!

current muse

Paula Weber-Lohmeier, Wendy Bush, Karl Weber, Bob Lefsetz, Misha, Ted, Panda, Emily Carr, Woodcuts

Art Movement or Individual Artist?

Someone on a web board I sometimes frequent asked:

"Are you drawn to one particular movement, or drawn to individual artists?"

Performance Art. Marina and Ulay Abramovic, Bueys, Kaprow, etc. were deeply inspiring to me as a young performance artist. So I guess you could say I favour this "movement."

Regarding more traditional art forms, for me it is mainly European Expressionism and Abstract Expressionism, no question, plus a few others who pushed the limits of traditional art forms.

Individuals whose body of work I admire:

Paterson Ewen (always my favourite)
Marcel Duchamp (brilliant innovator)
Oskar Kokoshcka
John Singer Sargent (watercolours only)
Max Ernst
JMW Turner
Tom Thompson
Eric Fischel
Egon Schiele
Franz Marc
Whistler
Caravaggio
Emily Carr
Andre Durain
Kirshner
August Macke
Marc Chagall
Dave Beckett (pastel)
Stephen Ross
Jim Dine
rb kitaj
Anselm Keifer
Kathe Kollwitz
Bacon
Goya
Joseph Beuys
El greco
Albrecht Altdorfer

Oh there are so many...

Growing up, I was only vaguely aware of a few artists, notably Dali (saw a few in a New Brunswick gallery during a family vacation) and the Pre-Raphaelites via posters on a friend's walls. But later as a first year art history student, I spent a life-changing hour in a gallery with Oscar Kokoschka's "Die Windsbraut." Later that same day, another hour staring at and hallucinating in front of a massive Rothko colour field work, trying to "get" what he was doing; well, I got it! Gave me goosebumps.

Seeing art in the flesh and spending time with it really floats my boat. No slide, poster or book can ever come close. So much art, so little time!

What a great question, though. Has me thinking!

Right or wrong, my compulsively analytic brain is wired to look at artistic innovation/trends/styles/ways of seeing and place it within the artist's current social/political/technological contexts, so I'd say the former is true for me personally. I tend to try to ask "why" the person created what they did, who their contemporaries were, etc. Of course, within that parameter, I have my own subjective "favourites" who I feel did it "best." ;)

Sleddogs

Just back from a music conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Snapped band Sleddogs at Shannon's Irish Pub. These dudes are so sweet and hilarious; they really need to take a filmmaker on the road with them.








Also attending the show was Dave Erickson of the recently major label-signed (Clive Davis' J Records) band Inward Eye. So, being the naughty camera-totin' pixie that I am, I boldly snapped him and his lovely companion, after which we shook hands and I welcomed him to his first taste of paparazzi. Hee hee! It was hysterical.