May 2020

May 2020
Contact Information:

Secretary   victoriasketchclub@gmail.com

VSC website   www.victoriasketchclub.ca 
 
Facebook  
 https://www.facebook.com/victoriasketchclub/
Victoria Sketch Club News
The VSC's annual Paint Out is coming up in September, and this year, we've booked most of the Cusheon Lake Resort on Salt Spring Island. Since much of our club’s activity to date has been cancelled, many are looking forward to this year's Paint Out.

Saltspring Island is larger than most Gulf Islands. It has a permanent population of 10,000+, a hospital, and a full array of stores, shops, pubs, in Ganges. So, shopping and probably take out meals from cafes, etc., will likely be available. However, having a Paint Out group dinner in the hotel is unlikely.

The Cusheon Lake Resort has a rural setting so with most of its facilities reserved for us it reduces unintended contact with the public. Our members and most of the public are conscious of social distancing and abide by it too.  Now with the lock-down easing, a new virus breakout may occur or a second wave could hit, and Dr. Henry will react as necessary. If this situation arises we must comply, and that may include canceling our Paint Out.

Some members may have concerns with sharing a cottage with a colleague or expanding their personal bubble and these concerns are shared to some degree by us all. Other members may have health concerns that make them more vulnerable. We know from the Resort’s manager that they will follow the Vancover Island Health Authority and Work Safe BC regulations diligently to ensure our accommodation is properly prepared and cleanliness maintained to help allay these concerns.

The reality is that if you are having concerns about attending, please do not leave it too late to make your decision. The last thing we want is a number of late cancelations that will damage our Club’s reputation and financially hurt Cusheon Lake Resort. If the Government acts because of a virus flare up and our Paint Out is cancelled then the Resort will allow us to carry our bookings forward to next September. We are in regular contact with the Resort and as more information comes available we will keep you informed. If you have questions please ask us.

'Til then, stay healthy, everyone!
 

Cheers Larry
Summer 2020 en plein air Program
Next date: Tuesday, June 2, 10 a.m.
 
Venue: Playfair Park (basic washrooms should be available)

Note: Please bring your lunch. Also, as a refresher to plein air painting, you may wish to check out Nirmala's recommendation at
https://www.winsornewton.com/na/discover/tips-and-techniques/seven-tips-for-painting-en-plein-air

Interest: camas and rhododendrons may still be in bloom; trees, vegetation, split rail fence, fallen trees, nearby houses
 
Directions:
Via 
Quadra Street
  • turn onto Rock St (opposite Quadra St Shell gas station)
  • drive approx 200’
  • left along short road to parking area

Via Blenkinsop Road
  • turn onto Union Road
  • left onto Cumberland Road
  • drive to where road ends by  the park 
Upcoming Dates
June 9 Island View Beach/Michell’s Farm views
June 17 Gov’t House gardens (NOTE: this is a WEDNESDAY)
June 23 Ross Bay Cemetery
June 30 Royal Roads University area and / or Esquimalt Lagoon

Contact
Avis Rasmussen (avis.rasmussen37@gmail.com)
Rand Harrison (randharr@telus.net)
Scenes from May 26th
FINALLY! Our club is able to get back to doing what we love. The club's first plein air of 2020, was held at Cattle Point, and all social distancing precautions were maintained! Over 20 happy VSC members were in attendance.
History Corner
by John Lover
The celebrations of our Centennial Year in 2009 prompted a flood of interest and enquiries, notably from all parts of Canada and the UK. Of particular interest was a query from Kathryn Young, who along with another Manitoba scholar, Sarah McKinnon, was working on a biography of Canadian artist, Mary Riter Hamilton.

Born in Ontario in 1868, and reared in Manitoba, Hamilton was initially a painter of china tea services, who, after early widowhood, aimed to become a professional painter and undertook travel and study in Europe around the turn of the century in the manner of Victoria’s Emily Carr and Sophie Pemberton, earning some recognition both in France and Canada. Hamilton spent the Great War years in Victoria – she lived here from 1914 to 1919 – and the writers were interested to know of any links to the Island Arts and Crafts Society during that time.

We were able to establish that she exhibited in three IACS annual shows - 1913, 1914 and 1917 - during her Victoria sojourn, and that she supported herself, with some difficulty, by opening a studio and taking portrait commissions. Some of these portraits of BC lieutenant-governors still hang in Government House. It at this point that she declared it was impossible to earn a living as a professional painter.

Hamilton had an ambition to be a war artist, but tradition at that time was firmly against risking the lives of the fairer sex in a war zone. However, after the Armistice, she received a commission from the Amputation Club of BC (known later as the War Amps) to produce paintings of the battlefields in France and Belgium in the aftermath of war. For three years she lived on that scarred landscape in the most primitive conditions, achieving some 300 images. Reportedly, during this time, she had a Victoria patron sell off some of her paintings to supplement her income. Unsurprisingly the experience left her physically and emotionally drained, and never again able to paint with the same intensity. 

During the 1920s exhibitions of her work was held in Victoria in, Vancouver, Paris and London. She returned to Canada in 1925, and unselfishly donated all her work to the National Archives, despite being financially strained and obliged to revert to designing dress accessories to make ends meet. She retired partially blind to Vancouver in 1930.

Her health continued to deteriorate and with the complete loss of her sight in 1948 she was found to be living in abject poverty and passed away at a psychiatric institution in 1954. 

This was a sad end to a life of adventure and tragedy, fuelled by a powerful will, with her work perhaps not fully recognized by the artistic establishment.

However, after her death she was remembered here when Colin Graham arranged a retrospective exhibition of her work at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria in 1959, and her art continued to be displayed both nationally and internationally.

It’s good to know that Young and McKinnon launched their meticulously researched work, No Man's Land: the Life and Art of Mary Riter Hamilton (University of Manitoba Press)in 2017 – and our Club and our history book earn a mention!
Members News

National Arts Day

National Arts Day is an event organizer for artist across Canada by RawArtistsCanada, to showcase their art on lawns, decks, patios, etc., on Saturday, June 6th, between 1 and 4 pm, PST

Artists need to register, and will be added to a virtual map. I've just registered and will --weather permitting-- showcase some artwork, cards and chapbooks on my lawn at 2576 Estevan Avenue with a donation box.

To register, email michelle.bylow@rawartists.com
-- submitted by Avis Rasmussen

Imagine Artworks Collective

See the work of VSC artists Anne Bowen, Sharon Wareing and Maureen Ness at the ongoing group art show at the Marriott Delta Ocean Pointe Spa, 100 Harbour Road. Go here for details re: COVID-19 updates.
Fun Stuff in Sequestered Times

Working with pencil crayons...


About a dozen years ago, I took a workshop in pencil crayon art, but hadn't used my pencils often until a couple of months ago, when Marty and I were on holiday in Ocean Shores, Washington, just before the lockdowns.

While there, I joined a drop-in pencil crayon class at the art centre there
and my enthusiasm was re-kindled. Since my name was on the centre's list I was invited to join an on-line weekly Zoom class, and that is what I am doing now. This cow sketch arose from one of the sessions. If you're interested in participating in the Gallery of Ocean Shores Zoom group, feel free to contact me at the email below for details.

The media I've used here is Prismacolour pencil crayon. Others use Faber-Castell, or whatever brand they happen to have at home. Those who are buying new pencils are getting Prismacolours, not watercolour pencils of the Aquarelle sort. Some people may chose to combine watercolour pencils or pastel with pencil crayon, typically for backgrounds or highlights.

The group I am "leading" (coaching and encouraging might be better words) is
made up of members of the Esquimalt Creative Spirits group that emerged from
members of the old OBAC Paint-Out group, augmented by a few new people.
Several of us belong to VSC and WPAC as well. Just now we are engaged in a "Piggy" project, prompted by one of our members having sent an image of a pig she photographed at a Lochside Trail farm. Now we all doing pigs, in varying media. We also do a weekly Sunday night Zoom.

Few people are aware of the quality of work done by pencil crayon artists.
This is not children's crayoning (though my grandchildren do quite
remarkable work) or the adult colouring books so popular a couple of years
ago. If curious, google "Colored Pencil Society of America" (cpsa.org) and find
the tab that leads to past exhibitions.
 
-- submitted by Janice Graham, email janice.graham@shaw.ca

Once upon a time...

Here on the West Coast two of the most common images in paintings are either fishboats or rugged rocky coasts, whereas on the Prairies, common images are farm scenes, landscapes with low horizons below a ‘big sky’, and the so-called prairie icons... grain elevators.

At one time across the western prairies there were almost 6,000 of these wooden structures. Visible seemingly almost everywhere because of their relatively-towering height, these elevators were spaced about 7 to 11 miles along the main railway lines, and there was usually one or two in every village, and three or more in larger towns.
Pictured above: Grain elevators at Warburg, Alberta

Today, they are almost all gone, replaced and consolidated into fewer, larger, and more efficient massive concrete structures close to the railways.

The elevators in the accompanying photo, photographed 40 – 50 years ago, no longer exist
 
Pictured left: Clareholm Elevators (block print ; artist proof), by Rand Harrison
 
-- submitted by Rand Harrison

Zooming on a Tuesday afternoon!


The Italian travel artists have managed to find a way to share their love of things arty (and Italian) using the new and super-spiffy Zoom technology! Andra tutto bene (meaning, everything will be alright)!

Quotes to Inspire
compiled by Virginia Hutzuliak

On Titles of Paintings

The right title makes a difference as to how a painting is seen and understood. Not only are titles a bridge to the viewer, they are also a part of the art. Give your titles careful thought.

There are five main kinds of titles:
Sentimental, Numerical, Factual, Abstract, and Mysterious.
Ask yourself, What am I seeing here? What is the subtext? (What do I want to convey?)

(Creating a title) can give the viewer a clue that might help them on a voyage of imagination and discovery. Don’t say too much. Brevity is enigmatic.
 
Robert Genn ~ The Twice Weekly Letters
Thoughts from COVID-19 Isolation Chambers
Here's a poem about procrastination that my Dad read to me when I was little, and it's been wending its way through my mind for the past weeks and months. I thought it was particularly appropriate for the times we find ourselves in.
-- observed by Val Lawton

The Old Sailor
There was once an old sailor my grandfather knew
Who had so many things which he wanted to do
That, whenever he thought it was time to begin,
He couldn’t because of the state he was in.
He was shipwrecked, and lived on an island for weeks,
And he wanted a hat, and he wanted some breeks;
And he wanted some nets, or a line and some hooks
For the turtles and things which you read of in books.
And, thinking of this, he remembered a thing
Which he wanted (for water) and that was a spring;
And he thought that to talk to he’d look for, and keep
(If he found it) a goat, or some chickens and sheep.
Then, because of the weather, he wanted a hut
With a door (to come in by) which opened and shut
(With a jerk, which was useful if snakes were about),
And a very strong lock to keep savages out.
So he thought of his hut … and he thought of his boat,
And his hat and his breeks, and his chickens and goat,
And the hooks (for his food) and the spring (for his thirst) …
But he never could think which he ought to do first.
And so in the end he did nothing at all,
But basked on the shingle wrapped up in a shawl.
And I think it was dreadful the way he behaved --
He did nothing but basking until he was saved.

-- A. A. Milne (1882-1956)
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