Hello and welcome to all my new subscribers and to those of who continue to support me. Today I’m recycling part of my first blog post and hope you enjoy it.
(excerpt circa 2021): I’m Elaine aka Peaches (that story later), art-maker, gardener, hiker, crafter (amongst other things). After finally letting go of a 37 year Nursing career I’m discovering space in my life to follow my heart’s desire. This means I’m actively spending time making art and being creative…mostly I’m painting with acrylics but being who I am, I get excited about many things at once and feel the pull also to try printmaking, pastels, water colour but whoa Nellie!!! Those to come. I’m learning to not split my energy between too many things…my friend Rosie always said I was like that because I’m a Gemini. Who knows? I just know I get excited about trying new things and I love to have stuff to look forward to doing each day. And finally, the story behind Peaches. My sweet friend, now deceased once asked during our women’s Friday Happy Hour (we were in a running group together), “if you could have had any name other than your own what would it be?” It was such a chuckle. Everyone one of those women came up with an alternate name without hesitation. Mine was Peaches which morphed at times to La Peche. When I was about 11 years old there was an American tennis champ named Peaches. She had long pigtails and was about 14 at the time. I remember dreamily thinking that was the best name ever. I also played tennis so I guess that was the connection too. To this day, 25 years later my friends still use their ‘other’ names. As I mentioned Peaches morphed to being called La Peche which can be translated in French as the peach or the fish. But I prefer the peach translation (is that too obvious?) and the idioms that have evolved from it…basically it can mean feeling peachy as in feeling great or full of energy. So, yes Peaches suits me too and also suits my energy for art-making and being creative.
My sweet Mom always said “anyone can be an artist”; she always qualified that with : you have to just start and then practice, take lessons and stick with it. That was sound advice and I have followed it. She was an artist and master printmaker. I will be featuring some of her work here soon. I have listed on the side bar of my website some of the links to the artists who offer courses that I’ve taken.
The latest in the studio:
The art show season seems to be all year now. Currently I have a large abstract at the Campbell River Art Gallery. See the slide show here: https://crartgallery.ca/40th-annual-members-show/
I also have a large abstract at the Comox Valley Airport as part of the art collection. It’s a great show that goes till mid-April. They used my art for the media and publicity. So cool! https://www.comoxairport.com/yqq-art-collection
Have you been to the Tin Town Cafe in Courtenay? Its a wonderful little coffee shop and the walls are covered with local artists’s work, prints, cards and even pottery. I currently have about 10 pieces there. The coffee is delish and the food is fresh. Ian, my partner, and I love to go there on our way home from cycling. I highly recommend it. https://www.facebook.com/tintowncafecourtenay
There’s many shows coming up to which I will submit my work. I love the challenge of submitting for a juried show and I’ve gotten used to the ‘not accepted’ feeling of rejection. Wish me luck for the Jackson’s Art Prize, the TD Moss Street Paint-In and a few Federation of Canadian Artists exhibitions. I also have shows already booked at Artful, a local gallery: https://www.artfulthegallery.com
Two shows at Artful back to back for the month of June and then July. The first is a collective of 8 artists called The Octet Salon and the 2nd is a fun one called Salon de Refusés Show at Artful: The Gallery; this involves artists who have had their work not accepted in some of the bigger shows and most artists have at least a few of these.
Lately Ive been involved in courses offered by artist, Rob Szot and Sally Hirst. Ive learned a lot and I can see their influence in my art. Collage has become one of my favourite things to do. I’ll be posting and putting my new art in my Art Shop soon.
I’ve taken the comments section off my website…just too much spam these days. Every day I was removing a few spam messages, some in Russian even?!
Please contact me if you have any questions or comments. I always love to hear from people.
Elaine aka Peaches