UPCOMING ART SHOWS

Burlington Art Auction 2016
The Flamingos in the Bathroom Painting will be up for live auction June 3, 2016 More details at:
www.artgalleryofburlington.com/art-auction-2016/

Riverdale Art Walk 2016
June 4 & 5, 2016 11am to 6pm 
Jimmie Simpson Park 
870 Queen St. E. Toronto, ON CANADA 
BOOTH 90
www.artistsnetwork.ca/see-art-buy-art/riverdale-art-walk

Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibit 2016
July 8: 10am to 8pm
July 9: 10am to 8pm
July 10: 10am to 6pm
Toronto Nathan Phillips Square
100 Queen St. W. Toronto, ON CANADA
BOOTH 104
www.torontooutdoorart.org

My Advice to a Young Artist Starting Late

Tastes change and sometimes you won't know how you feel until you've gone down that path. Don't be bothered. When I was young all I wanted was to be an artist and after doing that for 10 years for some reason I wanted to be a nurse. So by the time I got into nursing school I got all envious of the younger students. You can only be you and your unique experience, history included (directly art related or not) is what makes your art special and unique to you, so my advice is to never think of your lack of art training a drawback as an artist. Art is only part technique, this can be taught and learned. GREAT ART requires depth, relatability, only gained by life experience. In your past that you didn't spend learning how to draw you probably spent it living, experiencing other things, battling different struggles, I would think of that as an advantage, draw on that, it is unique to you and other artists don't have that which makes your voice authentic and interesting. Lots of GREAT artists didn't make anything good until much later in life and it's partly because it took them that much time to not only master good technique but to more importantly experience the rich life that gave their art that special depth. J.K. Rowling was a school teacher before she wrote Harry Potter, Christopher Walken was a janitor for 11 years.

HOARDING SQUIRREL

My new painting.
Description at:

http://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-Hoarding-Squirrel/672002/2852679/view

Christina's World

Close up of the one side of a new painting featuring a giant squirrel. I often do miniature versions of famous paintings, there's a Lawren Harris in this one too!

My Sweet Spot

I know, I really ought to write in here more knowing now that I do have an audience of sorts. 3x a week someone asks me for art advice, or for my opinion on something, or bosses me around to apply to this or that, or lectures me on following my dreams. It's an honour really, to be thought of all the time, so highly regarded in something. The fact of the matter is, I spend A LOT of time alone and by myself, just painting. THIS IS the dream! I'M ALREADY HERE. It's where I'm naturally just happiest, and how I do my best work. It took a lot to figure out how to get here but now that I'm here, it's mad fun. My favourite is getting up whenever I want the majority of the week to work on whatever I feel like. Some days are more progressive in the material sense, other days are spent experimenting on things, painting over things, testing out new techniques, changing things and then changing them back again, exploring some new strange idea or feeling (maybe something I picked up from the day before), but no matter what, always leaves me feeling extremely fruitful. I get to make all my own decisions and I can change my mind at any point. It's not always sunshine and rainbows, sometimes it gets nightmarishly lonely, other times it feels insanely unjust, just working all the time and not seeing any payback for months and months and months or anxiety ridden just trying to figure out how and where to store everything, but I love it all anyway. It doesn't really matter whether the whole universe appreciates it or just one human or not a single soul but mine. This is my sweet spot, just being my own boss, right here in my play room.