Rick Janson Art Studio

All this week has been ramping up towards guesting on the Scugog Studio Tour this weekend. I’ve been frantically framing some final works, including today’s feature image of Port Perry, as well as collecting packing materials to get them there safely, organizing price lists, acquiring boxes for the giclees, running off draw forms (at each location you can submit to a draw for a prize from an artist at that location), making sure my new system for accepting payment by card (credit or debit) works, and boxing up everything I need for the weekend, including tablecloths, monographs, giclees, signs, music, easels, paperwork and my pop up banner.

If you’d like to experience the tour, the details are linked here as well as by clicking on the Tour logo. The location I’ll be at is at the northwest corner of the intersection of Myrtle Road and Baldwin Street (Highway 12). If you are coming from Oshawa, head North on Simcoe Street then turn left on the Raglan Road (by the White Feather), which turns into the Myrtle Road. Cross Baldwin and it will be immediately on the right. You’ll see the signs. Of course, there are many terrific artisans on the tour, so by all means don’t stop there.

Tomorrow is set up day given there will be a pre-tour for the participating artists on Friday. Its our chance to see each other’s work, and in some cases, meet each other for the first time.

One of the tasks I have today is make a complete inventory list, which is a bit tricky given I don’t know how much will fit in our Honda CRV. It’s possible there could be two trips involved. It looks likely that I will have more than 20 original paintings on site — or about the contents of a solo show. I’ve deliberately made sure that there is price range for original work from $350 (for each of a series of eight 12 x 12 paintings done specifically for the Tour) to $2200 for a large painting depicting a view along the Rhine River. As well, I am offering my brand new monograph books for $20 (Regular $25) and some small 8 x 10 giclees of two locations in Cobourg for $25 each. If you like my work, there will be something affordable to take away.

I will be sharing the space with two other artists. Upstairs is Pat Neal, whose studio we are participating as guests. Pat is a textile artist and she has a series of looms in her breathtaking and bright space on the second floor. Sharing the downstairs space with me will be glass artist Marjolyn Pritchard, who I look forward to meeting on Thursday.

Given we are in Scugog, I wanted to bring along a painting from Port Perry. For years I have admired a long Italianate commercial building on the main street, but could never figure out how to frame it into a workable piece of art. When we were in Port Perry this winter I noticed a reflected and refracted view of the building in the glass of a jewellery shop across the street. It was a big aha moment. Given its complexity I was a little uncertain whether I could pull it off in time, but I did focus and spent longer than usual sessions in the art hut to do so. This multi-view approach to painting can also been seen on my previous piece from Tournon, France, where you can see inside the cafe as well as a view of the streetscape around it. In that painting, you get a slight glimpse of me too. In this painting, I knew that the remarkable arrangements in the urns would be a challenge. I didn’t want to overpaint it, but I wanted to capture a feel for it.

I have used Port Perry as a location for my work in the past, but was never really satisfied with the paintings that emerged. My spouse says this is now one of her favorites.

Meanwhile, this is a rare month where I have work on display in two different locations. The 58th Annual Oshawa Art Association show is on at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa. My painting of Connaught Park is on show there. There is a terrific selection of work in the OAA show — the odds of making the show were about 1:3 with about 300 artists submitting material and the jury accepting work by a third of that group. And rarely for a show there, you can buy just about everything you see through the OAA. That show continues until May 10th.

Hopefully we will see some of you on the Scugog Tour this weekend. Meanwhile, don’t forget to subscribe!