Art Camp registration is Open!

As I sit and type, I have three little kids playing (and getting along!!) around me, and about 15 multicoloured hair bows placed meticulously all around my head. Fifteen. What a life, haha!

I'm sure there are a lot of weird "working-from-home" stories, maybe you have one to share too :) Since I'm on this tangent, I may as well commit and show you this video from 2012:

Needless to say, this girl has been waiting to be old enough for Art Camp for a loooong time. She has been messing around with paint almost as long as she's been alive. This is her "I can't wait for Art Camp!!" smile :)

For all the rest of you eager artists, young and old, join me for a week this summer in Aldershot. I love teaching all the six year olds ;) but I also love the older classes and every age in between! You can find details and registration here: www.artandmusicstudio.com/artcamp

I have some solid updating and art-showing-off to do on this blog....that will have to come another time.

Until then!

LS

The time has come...

...to say hello, world. For precisely one month, October 9 to November 7th, I am waving a giant hello to the world down at Flagship Gallery with a solo exhibition called "Look, child". This likely won't happen for quite a few more years, so come see it while it's up.

I missed making the announcement about the opening reception here... sorry about that. I was busy painting until about 12 hours before the opening night, and even then my infamous yellow toolbox of paints was reluctantly tucked in the back room right before I did my hair. But don't worry, you didn't miss the wine because I discovered we're not licensed for that. Aw, shucks. (This world has become too strict for me.)

Right now there are twenty-some-odd paintings and drawings on display at 237 James Street North. Begged and borrowed from friends, family and former clients. There are a few for sale though, so please ask if you see something that catches your eye.

There is work from the past 10 years or so, including a drawing series called "Grace" which I did while still a student at Redeemer. It's surprising to me how readily people open up about their perspectives on deeply personal things. The drawings encouraged many responses that I thought were very revealing, and I was grateful to have these interactions!

"Grace"
Charcoal on Stonehenge, giglee prints each 18"x20" $950
Copyright Lisa Smouter

The show is up until the first Saturday in November. Consider stopping in or get in touch with me to meet up at Flagship if you prefer.

Left: "Sleeping Spirit Awakened" Acrylic and Liquitex pouring medium, 36x60"  $1800
Top Right: "Sandwiches are Beautiful" Acrylic, 24x24"  $425
Bottom Right: "Moving ahead, feeling behind" Acrylic, 24x24"  $425

These were the most recent paintings I did--painting basically every day for 2 or 3 months.... I hope it is an encouragement to others. Thematically these came out of the most recent paintings I did called "Your Kingdom Come" and "Child of the King", both exploring ideas and realities about the Kingdom of God. By the time I was done working on those two more metaphorical works (see below), I was ready for some tangible representations of what Christians often call "kingdom work".

Left: "Your Kingdom Come: tear another strip off me" Chalk pastel, 16x20" Prints available
Right: "Child of the King" Acrylic and Liquitex pouring medium, 14x18"  $425

Thanks for stopping by!

LS

A year in 30cm of screen

Wowzers! It has been well over a year since I last wrote a blog post! Here's a very quick visual tour of what's been happening in the creative side of life.

Art Camp last summer... was only two weeks but it was jam packed with students. I returned to the smaller class size, which is much better for all of us :)

We had one adventure in plein air painting/drawing at La Salle Park, which resulted in a very soggy ride back to the studio---should've known by the clouds we were studying that a downpour was looming!

Check out the details and register for lessons with me this summer here.

(Psst....I really would like a high school class this time around as much as I love teaching the younger ones!...)

Plein Air study of Myrtle Beach, SC
Acrylic on Canvas, 8x10"  $195
(prints available $35 each)
© Lisa Smouter 2014 

After Art Camp last summer we headed down to South Carolina for a holiday. I was feeling creative and worked on this little plein air study of the view from our condo's balcony.

I also had ideas ruminating, left over from last winter's drawing on the theme of old/new creation. I snapped some pictures of my kids playing in the sand as reference for the painting below.

It took a few months (and a commission in between!), but this painting called "Child of the King" finally emerged.

"Child of the King"
Acrylic and Liquitex on Canvas, 14x18"
Please contact for pricing details. Prints not available.
© Lisa Smouter 2015

I hope to get some more painting done this spring/summer/fall....Would be nice to beat my "a painting a year" record, but slow is how I go for now :)

Thanks for reading!

LS

Your Kingdom Come

Many of you will recognize such a familiar phrase as "Your Kingdom Come" from the Lord's Prayer, and I am thankful it is that--a prayer-- because asking God to do it is much easier than trying to achieve it myself. I have recently discovered just how deeply personal this petition is, how the Kingdom of God exists right inside of each Christian, transforming fragile paper-like creations into strong, beautiful new ones as we grow in love and knowledge of God.

Sometimes growth and transformation is painful, like when you learn an unexpected life lesson that exposes how not-nice you really are. Not-nice is an understatement, the more you compare it to how we're designed to be.....how we will be, one day, living in a New City made of pearls and jewels and precious stones.

"Your Kingdom Come: tear another strip off me"
Chalk Pastel on Stonehenge, approx 16 x 20"
© 2014 Lisa Smouter

I think I will try more drawings on this theme. I liked the mass of white paper that takes up so much more space than the pearly texture behind it. All that "white space" makes it difficult to photograph well, though. Let me know if you're interested in a print, and I'll have it professionally done up.

detail of "Your Kingdom Come: tear another strip off me"
Chalk Pastel on Stonehenge
© 2014 Lisa Smouter

If you'd like to see this piece in person, it's hanging at Flagship Gallery in downtown Hamilton (237 James St. North). It's part of a show called "A Tale of Two Kingdoms" which was in conjunction with this year's True City Conference.

Special thanks to Dr. Ted VanRaalte for this sermon, which brought me from in-church sketches to this final piece. (Any other creative-types out there find that sitting in church is great for generating visual metaphors?) Hopefully more to come!

Blessings,

LS