Studio Stories by Deb Grise Art

 Several years back I was the guest of Peter Hejny in Coldwater for the studio tour. He was such a wonderful host. He made me tea in the middle of the afternoon and as I stood there appreciating the moment, I snapped a picture so that I would remember. So I ask you all now, to make yourself a cup of tea if you wish, and join me in quiet appreciation for all those small wonderful moments and the people in our lives who have made them happen. .

 Well, this was a fun project some years ago. My sister and I were participating in Toronto Art Expo, and stayed overnight at a place in Kensington Market area. We found a little café and after chatting with the owner for a while, I convinced him to let me exhibit a few pieces in the shop. (What? ....I had a lot of nerve back then). I created these three watercolors specifically for this little show, and he bought them all.  I remember well the spicy samosas that we had for breakfast. Samosas are really good with coffee...honest! Three paintings for Shai's Cafe

 I rarely paint things from my imagination. I like to have some kind of reference in front of me, like a photo, or still life, or nature out in the field. This full moon image came into my mind and I decided to go with it. I did four little paintings (4x6), each a little different but with a full moon and one star...and one or two people. Very fanciful, but kinda romantic...anyway it was fun to do.  Full Moon One Star

 My sister and fellow artist (Cynthia Blair) and I had a debate just the other day as to whether we preferred Killarney or Algonquin as our favoured place to draw inspiration from. For me, I was sure about Killarney, but as I was browsing my images this morning I came across an Algonquin scene and now I don't think I could answer that question with such certainty. And then there is our own Georgian Bay....Oh what a quandary!!! We are so blessed, with all of it! Anyway, here is the image that made me think twice. Smoke Creek 40x30 Sold

Our local art club is presenting a themed show called  " If Life Imitates Art", in February 2023. I have done several pieces where lines are used to connect shapes and ideas, but I must say that this is the most extreme example. Here is my write up for this piece in  The Barrie Art Club  member's exhibition for the month of February. Comedy Tragedy:  Our personal lives may be represented by simple lines and shapes that intersect and weave together the experiences and emotions that make us human. Opposites, like Comedy and Tragedy, run through our lives in many forms everyday. We are on a stage, so to peak, from the beginning, playing our roles...loving and hating, giving and taking, laughing and crying, being and not being ourselves.  Fragments and pieces, yet always connected. Comedy Tragedy 16x16 oil 

 Can you recognize these women? Even with no features, so to speak, they are recognizable in that most of us know someone who looks like this. Keeping the faces blank seems like a perfect horror movie idea, but  in painting figures, it allows the viewer to fill in, give the character a personality, perhaps even a name. How fun is that? 

 K.I.S.S.....Keep It Simple Stupid! Yes, a bit disrespectful if you have no sense of humour, but really good advice. This has been my mantra for as long as I can remember. This painting is simple, simple, simple.....yet, do you not feel a sense of the details? Keeping it simple allows you, the viewer, to get involved by using your imagination to sense and fill in the details with your mind.  Filling in with your mind, allows emotions to rise. Filling in with your mind makes you participatory to the outcome. This makes for an extraordinary exchange.  Port Severn Sketch  10x8 oil - available .

  Sometimes when we see something that we want to paint, we idealize the scene before we even take a picture or do any editing at all. This yarrow field caught my attention and I didn't even really notice the fence in the foreground, or the school building in the background. My brain deleted them for me. So when I revisited the photo a few years later, I thought....What was I thinking?   Moving along, I did the painting, and trusted my earlier vision to bring me back. Yes, that's what I was thinking. Sometimes less is more.                                                                    Yarrow Field 6x6 oil    click here to buy

 Sometimes the weirdest things inspire us. How about paving stones? I found this pattern in our parking lot and my first thought was...Wow. What a lot of skill and effort went into creating this pattern! Then, Hmmmmm....that would look good as a stained glass pattern. I don't do stained glass, but maybe it would translate into a painting. hmmmm. Let's see.  I chose to try it in watercolour & ink. Of course I embellished the colour to suit myself, and the drop-in colour technique, using only blue, red & yellow, took many hours to do....but it was meditative and I kinda like it. Stonework: 8x8 watercolour & ink

My first painting was in 1997. I decided that I liked painting, so I spent the next year or so reading books and practicing little exercises. During that early time, I attended a workshop that  taught me how to do mono-prints. A mono-print is a one-off print using a glass plate that has paint applied and then pressed onto paper.  After the paper dried it was then up to my imagination to find images and bring them out with more paint or pen and ink. Here are some of my favorites from that time. It was a lot of fun! Woodland Faerie Chit Chat The Sky Is Falling The Worried Man Who Ate The Strawberries? Buskers Ancestors- this one is kinda creepy The Genie

Make a list & actually look at it! Things happen, and sometimes you have to make do. I was at the top of the Granite Ridge Trail (Killarney) with a painting group, when I realized I had everything except fresh canvas. There was a certain tree that I really wanted to paint, so what I did, was use a pencil crayon, a page from the magazine that I usually wipe my brushes on, and I did a sketch. I considered it to be the "plein air" part of the painting that came later from a photo.  Here is the painting and the crayon sketch that helped me remember the important bits...because cameras lie don'tcha know!  

   Hey fellow artists, we all have them, right? Paintings that you just don't feel good about, yet you don't want to throw them out. One really fun way I've found to use them is to completely redo, in a different way. I call it Reknowing. Here is a painting that I did in 2014, as a demo in a beginners class. Okay for a quick 30 min demo, but will I put it out there? Not likely. So I pulled it out and put it on the easel, and got out my painting knives. I was thinking texture! Yes! ...and not caring what the outcome was, I had nothing to lose. This first pic is the original demo.    and after it went under the knife. Sailing Kempenfelt Bay. 8x10 oil. Now posted on my website.