Blog

I would like to invite you all to our garden, 3735 Ascot Drive on the 21st and 22nd (10:30 - 4:00) for the annual Scattered Artists Open Studio tour. This year I will be supporting the Ruhija orphanage in Uganda having visited there earlier this year when we were trekking for gorillas in Rwanda and also visiting Uganda to see the Chimpanzees. There are approx. 160 kids being looked after in very dire conditions and could use a little help with funding for clean accessible water, school supplies and teachers etc. I will have a poster board with some photos of the children and the orphanage itself. Lots of smaller art pieces (on a donation basis) will be available as well as heavily discounted large works. The 1/2 acre garden will be full of art and I hope you will come out and support this event. Latest artwork can be viewed at www.annebowen.ca.

Recently I had been asked how I go about starting and executing a painting, especially a representational painting. In this case a very good photo is absolutely necessary. It is important to be able to see the eyes and the points of light in the eyes as well as the direction and shading of the fur. So the first step is to transfer the rough drawing to the canvas. I gridded out the image and applied graphite to the back of the paper so that I could get the eyes, nose and mouth right. The first image is the photo I worked with. The second image is the initial wash of darks and lights and approximate local color.

The next step is to get a rough idea of the direction of the fur and start some of the detail such as the eyes, nose and mouth. Next I roughed in a background that I thought was complimentary to the amber color fur and intensified the lights and darks.

Next, I added more detail such as the whiskers, highlights, completed the background and corrected the color of the fur, eyes, etc. I paid attention to the little things such as the little patch of dark fur at her mouth and the wavy fur on her ears. As this was a commission I was particularly careful about what makes this dog unique.

I hope everyone survived the winter unscathed and looking forward to glorious spring. I just returned from a trip to Rwanda and Uganda where we did treks to see the wild mountain gorillas in Rwanda and chimpanzees in Uganda. It was a fabulous trip. There is nothing more thrilling than to gaze into the amber eyes of these magnificent primates at 8 feet. The 5 hour slog in the mud up the volcanoes certainly enhances the experience. I am hoping to paint some of my impressions of these two beautiful countries sometime soon.

I will be participating again this year in the Victoria Sketch and Painting Show which will be held in the Glenlyon Norfolk School Gymnasium, 1701 Beach Drive, March 15 - 20. Opening Reception is Tues, Mar. 15 from 7 - 9 pm. Show hours are Wed. Mar. 16 - Sat. Mar. 19 from 10 - 7 and Sun, Mar. 20 from 10 - 4.

I hope you will all be able to make this very well attended art show as there will be over 100 paintings exhibited as well as many drawings and sketches.

Happy New Year to all my dear friends and patrons. I wish you all the best for 2016. I have kicked off the new year with a whole new collection of paintings at the Coast Harborside Hotel along with 6 other wonderful artists. The art work is displayed throughout the lobby, dining room and bar area. If you are in the neighborhood or having lunch or dinner at the Blue Crab please take some time and enjoy the paintings. To tempt you to have a peek I have included a few of the new offerings. You can view my website at www.annebowen.ca or send an email if you have any questions or would like to view one of the paintings.

For the last two weeks I have been experimenting with encaustic wax painting. This form of art has been around since 500 BC and I can't imagine how difficult it was trying to keep the wax liquid without the invention of electric griddles and heat guns. A lot of dexterity is needed to keep the wax molten on the paint brush as you apply it to the support. Both the wax on the paint bush and the wax already applied needs to be molten for it to adhere to the layer below. So with heat gun in one hand and paint bush in the other, here are a few examples of what I have done so far.

I hope you are all enjoying the summer and that you are able to spend time with family and friends. I would like to invite you to our show at the Main Gallery at the Cedar Hill Art Centre (3220 Cedar Hill Road) where I am displaying my latest work with Peter Van Giesen. The show runs from August 5 to 19. Please come and have a peek if you are out and about.

We had a fabulous tour this year, wonderful weather and a visit from Sue of the World Parrot Refuge Centre in Coombs. She brought with her Peaches, Joey and Earl Grey who were ambassadors for the Centre. With donations and paintings sales we were able to send them home with a little extra to help with the enormous costs of running the Refuge.

Hello Everyone

This coming weekend I would like to invite you to my garden, 3735 Ascot Drive (north end of Cedar Hill Golf course) where 6 artists will be displaying their work. I will be donating the proceeds of several paintings to the World Parrot Refuge Centre in Coombs. This Centre takes in exotic birds who need a home and cares for them and allowing them to fly free in an inflight enclosure. Come out and enjoy the garden and the art and bring a friend. The garden will be open both days, May 16 and 17 from 11:30 - 4:30. You can download a map for all the other participating artists in the Scattered Artists tour by googling GoBC.

A couple of nights ago I gave a demo/workshop to the Studio 30 Art Club. The members seemed very interested and the questions insightful. I realized that teaching is a whole new skill set and pairing up painting as well as teaching is a very rewarding venture. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. I demonstrated the techniques used in my new "Ethereal Landscape" series and hopefully people came away with learning something new and useful to their own style of painting.

Hello Everyone

I will be sending out notices of art events to those of you who have kindly added your names to my website email list. These notices will be infrequent but will give you an opportunity to view my latest work and hopefully give me an opportunity to meet you. You can always check out new work through my website www.annebowen.ca.

I would like to extend an invitation to attend our Annual Victoria Sketch Club Show running from March 17th (opening night 7:00 pm) until 4:00 pm March 22. The show will be located in the gymnasium at Glenlyon Norfolk Junior School at 1701 Beach Drive from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm each day with the exception of the last day which will run until 4:00 pm. I will be displaying 4 or 5 of my paintings along with many of the Club members for the 6 days of the show. The quality and quantity of the work inspires many guests to return year after year for this much anticipated event.

I currently have some of my new "Ethereal Landscape Series" showing at the Inn at Laurel Point. If you are in the neighborhood, please pop in and have a look.