In the news

The Women's Art Society of Montréal (WASM), founded in 1894 - now open to all, not only women - is celebrating our 130th anniversary with an art show in the stunning Old Montréal area of the city.
This afternoon I was on volunteer duty there, at the BOA Gallery, greeting visitors to the "Bloom" flower-themed exhibition.
If you're in town, feel free to drop by for the Vernissage this Thursday evening from 1730 to 2030; September 12, 2024. We'll have live piano music and light refreshments, along with the traditional Meet the Artists celebration.
As it's a juried art show, there will also be a few awards presented; Best in show, Best by theme, and possibly a couple of Honourable Mentions as well.
At the other WASM exhibition this year, I was absolutely thrilled to have received an Honourable Mention from such a historic and prestigious arts organization for one of my watercolours.
As the saying goes, "lightning doesn't strike twice", so I'm certain that my name won't be on any of the awards or mentions for the current show - but I'm very curious to find out which paintings the Judges have selected, as the submissions were once again fabulous.
If you can't make it to the Vernissage, you can still view the fifty or so paintings - in a variety of styles and mediums - through Saturday September 14, 2024.
In the meantime, here are a few photos from the exhibition yesterday - before the doors opened to the public.
There were visitors from Belgium, France, Mexico, Nigeria, and the United States (Colorado and Seattle), although most were from the Montréal area - out enjoying a Sunday afternoon in the historic district.
If you'd like to visit, the address is:
Galerie BOA Gallery
263 rue de la Commune est
Vieux-Montréal, Québec.
The gallery is just west of the Marché Bonsecours Market, with its iconic domed roof; this gorgeous market hall housed the Parliament of Canada in 1849, and is hosting the World Press Photo Exhibition through October 14, 2024.
So if you do stop by the WASM show, walk a block further east to see the spectacular press photos!

Last week I'd just returned from a visit to Vieux-Québec (Old Québec) with my husband, where we visited two fabulous exhibitions at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (Québec Museum of Fine Arts).
The second was "Rembrandt - Etchings from the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen", featuring 88 of his rare etchings.
"The works selected offer a panorama that reveals Rembrandt's outstanding skill as an engraver in the human, aesthetic, and technical dimensions of engraving... include the artist's foremost masterpieces, i.e., The Hundred Guilder Print (circa 1648), The Three Crosses (1653), and The Little Tomb (circa 1657), and other outstanding works."
Unfortunately, taking photos wasn't permitted in this exhibition, so if you'd like details you can visit the webpage of the museum using the link above.

The first exhibition we viewed was "Helen McNicoll: An Impressionist Journey", which continues through January 5, 2025 - and is well worth a visit.
She's an artist whose work I adore, so when I found out that visitors were allowed to take photos during the exhibition, well, let's just say that I took quite a few.
As I wrote last week, the best way to share my passion for her paintings is through her brushstrokes, so here are a few more of my favourites among all the pieces displayed.
Of course, photos can't compare to seeing these paintings in person, so I'd still encourage you to visit the exhibition if you can.

And if you've never visited Québec City, be sure to add a several extra days as Vieux-Québec is a living museum; the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Vieux-Québec:

"The Historic District of Old Québec is an urban area of about 135 hectares... A well-preserved integrated urban ensemble, the historic district is a remarkable example of a fortified colonial town, and unique north of Mexico...
The historic centre, confined within the current boundaries of the district, is the product of more than four centuries of history. During this period, the fortified town retained the integrity of its essential historical components, particularly from the standpoint of its architecture and urban spatial organization."

I'll write about the historic architecture and soul of Old Québec in a future post, but for now let's head back to Museum of Fine Arts and Helen McNicoll! Here are a few more snapshots of my favourite paintings from this exhibition, along with their descriptions.

Picking Flowers, c. 1912, Oil on canvas, Art Gallery of Ontario.
"This painting is based on a plein-air study, exhibited nearby, likely made while McNicoll was travelling.
By carefully recording the composition, colour, and light of the scene in the oil sketch, the artist faithfully recreated the outdoor sensation when she later enlarged the scene on this canvas...
However, not all Of McNicoll's studio canvases have complimentary sketches, suggesting some large-scale works were painted directly en plein air."
~ Image description, "Helen McNicoll: An Impressionist Journey", at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Aug 2024.

Picking Berries, 1913, Oil on canvas, Pierre Lassonde Collection.
"As McNicoll left few records, it is difficult to know with certainty where each image was created... The meticulous brushwork that forms this painting mirrors the labour of the young girls that are the focus of the image."
~ Image description, "Helen McNicoll: An Impressionist Journey", at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Aug 2024.

Midsummer c. 1909 Oil on canvas, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Purchase.
~ Image description, "Helen McNicoll: An Impressionist Journey", at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Aug 2024.

Two paintings in "The Water's Edge" section:
- The Blue Sea, c. 1914, Oil on canvas, McMichael Canadian Art Collection; and
- On the Beach, 1912, Oil on canvas, Pierre Lassonde Collection.

"After completing her studies, McNicoll adopted the Impressionist technique of painting exhibition-ready canvases on an easel set up outdoors.
Perhaps taking inspiration from the Spanish artist Joaquín Sorolla, who held a major monographic exhibition in London in the summer of 1908, McNicoll's paintings took on an increasingly sunny air.
Like Sorolla, McNicoll's quick brushstrokes deftly express sunlight reflected on white clothing, shadows cast by ridges or rocks in the sand, and the movement of figures across sun-strewn shorelines.
Within a few years, she was appropriately described as a painter who "scatters sunshine" on her canvases."

~ Section description, "Helen McNicoll: An Impressionist Journey", at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Aug 2024.

These are but a few of my favourite paintings, among the many on display at this retrospective exhibition, and it was very hard to even choose my personal "Top 10".

If you're now suddenly planning a trip to Québec City, feel free to reach out via the "Leave a Comment!" or "Contact" sections of this website for some of our other favourite places to visit in Old Québec.

I'm just back from a fantastic art-trip, to a historic gem of a place only about 3 hours from Montréal. My husband had mentioned last weekend that he wouldn't mind "going away somewhere for a few days", as we hadn't been anywhere since last fall. I quickly replied that there were two art exhibitions that I'd have loved to see this summer, in Québec City. Within an hour we'd mapped out our plans, chosen dates, and booked a hotel. Luckily for me, my now-retired sweetheart also loves museums!

We chose to stay within Old Québec, an area that many consider to be a living museum; the first North American city to be named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in 1985.
Old Québec (Vieux-Québec in French) is the most intact fortified town north of Mexico, and has preserved its colonial architecture for over 400 years.
For those of you who adore architecture or history, I'll be posting soon about the stunning buildings we saw and visited during this trip.

As for the two art exhibitions on my wish-list for this getaway, the first was "Helen McNicoll: An Impressionist Journey", at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (Québec's provincial museum of fine arts). There's still plenty of time to visit this retrospective, which doesn't wrap up until January 5, 2025.

I'd been aware of Helen McNicoll's paintings for about twenty years, but it wasn't until the 2020 publication of a book - and accompanying lectures from the Art Institute of Canada - that I truly fell under the spell of her luminous work.
That book was "Helen McNicoll: Life & Work" by Samantha Burton. If I could choose one single sentence to summarize it, this would be it:
"McNicoll maintained a strong attachment to the fundamental principles of 'pure' Impressionism and pushed the style further than any other Canadian artist." ~ Samantha Burton.

From the online introduction to the book:
"Born in Toronto and raised in Montreal, Helen McNicoll (1879-1915) achieved a great deal of international success in a brief career that lasted just over a decade.
Although deaf from the age of two, McNicoll did not let personal hardship deter her from a career in art.

After training at the Art Association of Montreal, McNicoll moved to London, England, to pursue her passion as she travelled extensively through Europe.
McNicoll relied on lip-reading to navigate through her life, and her art took on the unique perspective of an observer who understood isolation.
She quickly became renowned overseas and in Canada for her luminous canvases that engage with issues such as femininity and domesticity, rural labour, fashion, and tourism.

Elected to the Royal Society of British Artists in 1913 and the Royal Canadian Academy in 1914, McNicoll died in England in 1915 at the young age of 35...
Revered in her own day as technically advanced and "profoundly original," at the time of her death McNicoll had exhibited over seventy works in exhibitions in Canada and England".

My husband viewing Garden, by Helen McNicoll, 1913, with the full painting below:

In short, Helen McNicoll was one of the most important Impressionist artists in Canada, but was then somehow virtually forgotten after her far-too-young death.
This is acknowledged in the introduction to the current exhibition:

"Following a memorial exhibition dedicated to her life and work at the Art Association of Montreal in 1925, Helen McNicoll was virtually forgotten for close to 75 years.
The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec is proud to make a significant contribution toward rightly recognizing a woman artist who grew up in Montréal in the late 19th century and made a name for herself on the world stage.
McNicoll's art was widely celebrated during her lifetime: critics were unanimous in praising the exceptional treatment of light in her paintings and the immersive nature of her subjects.
She was elected as an associate member of the Royal Society of British Artists and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and her too-brief career greatly increased the recognition of... Canadian art on both sides of the Atlantic.
Representing modernity through her luminous Impressionist style and her timeless subjects, McNicoll's paintings invite us to imagine travelling the world alongside the artist.
Adopting this viewpoint, Helen McNicoll: An Impressionist Journey explores the outer worlds that the artist recreated in pencil and paint, as well as the inner worlds she navigated, examining themes of female independence and fulfillment, personal and professional risk-taking, and friendship.
Through more than 65 objects, ... this journey offers a fulsome overview and new considerations of the artist's oeuvre. It is the first exhibition... devoted to McNicoll in nearly 100 years."
~ Exhibition Introduction, "Helen McNicoll: An Impressionist Journey", at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Aug 2024.

The best way to share my passion for this artist is through her own brushstrokes, so I'm sharing some of my snapshots from the exhibition along with their descriptions; I was pleasantly surprised that photography was permitted within this retrospective. So I'm posting a few of my photos of this show today, several more next week, then I'll write about the historic architecture and soul of Old Québec - along with the second of my wish-list exhibitions: "Rembrandt - Etchings from the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen" (also at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, but on until September 2, 2024 and with no photography permitted).

The Apple Gatherer c.1911, Oil on canvas, Art Gallery of Hamilton (Ontario):
"When this work was exhibited in 1911, the Montreal press extolled its radiance: "[it] is one of those delightfully sunshiny pictures of which Miss McNicoll is now an almost perfect master.
The sunlight filtering through the trees, and flickering upon the figure and the ground, is very happily translated."
As exemplified here, McNicol's mature painting style blended Impressionism and plein-air Naturalism:
"[all of her] canvasses possess the same quality of open-air sunshine, disarming all thoughts of labor in the studio."
As her skill developed, her ability to render sunlight convincingly became a hallmark of her style, no matter the subject depicted."
~ Image description, "Helen McNicoll: An Impressionist Journey", at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Aug 2024.

Sunny September, 1913, Oil on canvas, Pierre Lassonde Collection.
"A Toronto-based critic once designated McNicoll "a painter of sunshine [...] with delicious transparent shadows and wonderful reflections, of children in the field picking flowers, and of radiant gardens. She is essentially a 'plein air' artist."
~ Image description, "Helen McNicoll: An Impressionist Journey", at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Aug 2024.

If you're now suddenly planning a trip to Québec City, feel free to reach out via the "Leave a Comment!" or "Contact" sections of this website for some of our other favourite places to visit in Old Québec.

One of my favourite things about taking virtual-live watercolour workshops, with many artist-instructors, is receiving their suggestions on my own paintings and sketches.
One of these instructors is Brazilian artist Fabio Cembranelli, with whom I've taken numerous workshops.
He provides theory, along with several demos, during an initial 3.5 hour Tuesday session. Workshop participants then have a day or two to create our own versions of the subjects he demonstrated, which we send in for his 1.5 hour follow-up session on the Friday.
The photo below shows Fabio pointing out what a difference it made when I painted from life versus from photos, for my apples and oranges.
It also shows how how important it is to have good light when painting after dark, as my evening watercolour of apples needs darker values - because my painting looked much darker without any natural light.
N.B.: These are NOT Fabio's paintings, his are exponentially better!
His workshops are often twice/month, less frequent when he's traveling to teach around the world [see www.fabiocembranelli.com].
Fabio is offering an in-person workshop this fall, for five days in upstate New York, which I'll be attending as a 30th wedding-anniversary gift from my sweetheart.
That five-day workshop will be a challenge for me, as I live with a CRPS-related Mild Cognitive Impairment, and several other symptoms of CRPS rare disease ...
Including chronic bone/joint/neuropathic/skin pain in my right hand and arm, as well as spasms and tremors in that arm.
I may not be able to *fully* participate in the workshop, but my sweetheart convinced me to try.
He knows that I'll learn much more in person than online, even if I can't paint all of the exercises or demos because of my two rare diseases.
After all, that's what my Art Despite Pain [#ArtDespitePain] initiative is about.
Treating art as brain-plasticity or neuroplasticity training for my chronic pain, and then using the resulting paintings and sketches for chronic pain awareness ...
And encouraging others living with persistent pain to try creative pursuits as a form of pain-management technique.

PS: If you're wondering what feedback he gave me on these paintings, he didn't have any improvements to suggest for the oranges but recommended that I darken some of the reddish values on the left-side apple - something that I'd noticed as well when I saw it in daylight.

There are always plenty of these little yellow American Goldfinches flitting around our backyard during the summer months, as they enjoy the bird feeders and bird baths that we set out for our feathered friends. 
But, for some reason, I'd never tried to paint any of these goldfinches from life. So this afternoon I set up some plein-air painting supplies on our patio table, overlooking a bird bath and nearby tree, and waited for some goldfinches to visit.
My goal was to try to paint a "looser" watercolour than my usual style, as this is something that I've been working towards for a while now. I want to paint my impressions of nature and wildlife, rather than taking a photographic approach to these scenes...
I used to do some nature photography, and I don't want my watercolour paintings to at all resemble my photographs!
Painting these birds from 'live models' is quite a challenge, as these little creatures don't stay in one place for more than a few seconds, so I'm happy with this first attempt.
This male goldfinch isn't quite as bright as when it was in direct sunlight, as it was perched in the shade where its feathers appear to have a more muted yellow-olive cast. In full sun, at the bird feeders, these birds are such a bright yellow that they seem to glow.
I'd have loved to paint another few birds today, but my CRPS rare disease decided that one was enough.
Living with chronic pain - or any other chronic illness - often means having to pace oneself, and learning to 'pack up' from activities sooner than you'd have liked to.
In this case, the occasional spasms and tremors in my right hand and arm started just as I was finishing up this male American Goldfinch - so I'm happy to at least have had the time to get one watercolour wildlife sketch done.
And, as I so often say: "There's always tomorrow!"

Two years ago today, I was preparing for my first art fair and sale, with no idea of what to expect in terms of reaction from the public.
Well, in a word, it was fabulous!
The event was organized, specifically for emerging artists, by the non-profit "YES Montreal". They provided tips and training on how to; set up a table to showcase artwork, talk with strangers about our individual art practices, reach out to local media, and more.
I tried to follow all of their suggestions - tailored to my Art Despite Pain initiative which is completely intertwined with my artwork - and ended up with a feature in The Suburban newspaper. Also plenty of fun eye-catching decorations for my table and canopy - as it was an outdoor event.
I've now participated in several different artists' and artisans' fairs, along with about 30 group art exhibitions, and just wrapped up a 3-month solo show.
I'd love to do more art fairs, but living with high-impact (severe) chronic pain and a Mild Cognitive Impairment (both due to my CRPS rare disease) means that it takes me quite a long time to prepare for these kinds of full-day events ... and then to "recover" from them.
So I'm excited to share with you that I have an art fair coming up in November, indoors in case of snow, at the Whitlock Club in Hudson (Québec). This golf course has been certified by the environmental organization Audobon International, for protecting the local watershed and providing a sanctuary for wildlife - which fits perfectly with my preferred subjects for paintings; nature scenes featuring wildlife, wildflowers, and our beautiful waterways and forests.
If you'll be in the Montréal area, mark your calendars for Saturday November 23 for a visit to the lovely scenic village of Hudson!

I've been under the weather with Covid for most of the week, along with my sweetheart, so haven't felt well enough to do much painting or sketching. The last time I painted, though, was lovely.
When my 1000 to noon (virtual) volunteer-project meeting was canceled at the last minute Monday morning, I'd normally have headed out on my bicycle - with a stop for some plein-air painting along my route.
But with my bike in the shop for an overhaul, I instead rather gleefully used this unexpected gift of free time to do some plein-air painting in our home gardens.
The Echinacea purpurea and Rudbeckia hirta (purple coneflowers and black-eyed Susans), each indigenous or local wildflowers grown from heirloom seeds, are in full bloom these days. And, as you can see, we have masses of each of these plants.

I opted to focus on the Echinacea, as the shapes of their petals vary interestingly from one flower to the next. But rather than doing one larger painting, as usual, I sketched blooms onto three 7" x 5" pieces of cotton paper. The idea was to start one study, then work on another while it was drying, and alternate between the studies in this way.
I needn't have bothered; it was so hot, l without Montréal's usual humidity, that the pigments dried far too quickly.
None of these three studies is quite finished yet, so once I'm feeling better I'll set my easel back up outside to finish them.

There was quite a crowd at the Vernissage Friday night, for a group exhibition organized by "Artists in Montréal". Two of my newest - more experimental - watercolours were juried into this show, the maximum number of artworks for accepted artists.
All in all 59 member-artists were accepted into this exhibition, 28 with only one work and 31 with two paintings, so I was honoured to have both my pieces selected.
Participating artists were encouraged to provide very descriptive summaries of each accepted painting, so I had fun with mine.
For "Hot & gritty day in the city (CN Tower), Toronto", my description was "Summer smog so thick, it's gritty; Toronto sunset".
And for "Cosmic crocuses" I wrote: "Flowers floating in space, or a Listening Post for alien messages? You decide!"
So, what do YOU see - a listening post, or a couple of crocus flowers?
The Galerie BOA Gallery is also permitting accepted artists to display "a small box of small works" - unframed pieces on paper rather than on canvas or board, as well as greeting cards - during this exhibition, so I have a number of these smaller paintings on display. Some are plein-air watercolours, and a few were painted off my bike-as-easel set up during cycling rest breaks.
My "small box" featured 25 of my more abstract and contemporary watercolours, matted and mounted onto backboards with archival materials, along with 20 hand-painted cards. I say "featured" in the past tense, because at least one of my small paintings was sold on Friday night - a lovely to begin the exhibition for me!
The "Summer Dreams" art show continues through July 24th, in the stunning Vieux-Montréal (Old Montréal) district of the city.
There's no entry fee, so feel free to drop in to visit this exhibition - it's one of very few free activities in this area.
Exhibition details:
Galerie BOA Gallery
263, rue de la Commune est
[between Place Jacques Cartier and the domed Marché Bonsecours, in the heart of Old Montréal]
July 19 to 23: 1000 to 2000
July 24 only:   1000 to 1600 

If you'll be in Montréal this weekend, stop by the Galerie BOA Gallery - in the Beautiful Old Montréal district  - on Friday.
The opening night Vernissage for the "Artists in Montréal" (AiM) group exhibition is July 19th, from 1600 to 1900, at this gallery.
Two of my newest watercolours will be displayed in this group art show - under the theme of "Summer Dreams - and some of my smaller pieces & bike-as-easel outdoor (plein-air) paintings will also be available at the gallery.
Drop by, say Hi, and get a free postcard featuring my sweetheart's fave among all the watercolours I've painted.
* Free postcards at the Vernissage only, while supplies last!

Details:
Galerie BOA Gallery
263, rue de la Commune est
[near Place Jacques Cartier, in the heart of Old Montréal]
July 19 to 23: 1000 to 2000
July 24 only:   1000 to 1600 

Eighty-five years ago, in 1939, a group of American artists on the West Coast founded the Northwest Watercolor Society (NWWS). Today, the "NWWS has grown into the internationally recognized, historically rich organization of today with over 1,000 members.
It has been recognized by Artists Magazine as one of the ten most prominent watercolor societies in North America."
They also offer the option of creating a free account, without any membership requirement, to receive  their "very popular, quarterly newsletter Hot Press and other timely news".

Even though I'm closer to the East Coast, and north of the border in Canada, I joined the NWWS in 2021 for their fantastic offerings of live-virtual watercolour demonstrations and workshops.
In chats with other members during the introductions at each online event, I usually mention my Art Despite Pain initiative - and that I began learning to paint as a way to help deal with chronic pain from a rare disease named CRPS, and for my CRPS-related Mild Cognitive Impairment.
These conversations often continue during the breaks, as people tend be quite curious about the more therapeutic benefits of painting - of art in general - and about the various arts-related healthcare and research projects with which I'm involved as a volunteer Patient Partner.

A few months ago, I was asked to provide additional information about all this, and about how I combine watercolour painting with exercise and nature (two other elements of my pain- and symptom-management plan) by painting en plein-air (outdoors) off the back of my bicycle.
The NWWS has ePublished this, as a two-page feature on my Art Despite Pain initiative, in the Summer 2024 issue of Hot Press (across pages 10 and 11).
I'm honoured that the NWWS has profiled me and my recent solo show "Watercolours on Two Wheels", which featured plein-air watercolour sketches completed during my bike ride rest-stops along with studio paintings from bike-ride studies and sketches.
I've posted only excerpts of the Art Despite Pain profile here; to read the entire feature, please sign up for a free account with the NWWS.
In the meantime, the profile begins in this way:
"When someone approaches while you're plein-air painting, and asks "Why are you painting?," or "How did you get involved in art?", what's your usual response?
It catches people off guard when I reply: "I paint because of pain."
This leads to other questions, and one-on-one or small group conversations which are a fantastic way to raise awareness of chronic pain.
That's how my Art Despite Pain (#ArtDespitePain) initiative began."

Thanks so much to the NWWS, for helping to raise awareness of chronic pain and for highlighting the role that art can play in managing persistent pain as well as cognitive issues!