Girard Portfolio: May 2017

Monday, May 29, 2017

Learning the Basics of Watercolour

I was invited to teach, as I mentioned in previous posts, at Portage du Fort at the Pontiac School of the Arts at the Stone School Gallery in the heart of a picturesque village north of the Gatineau, Quebec. The facility offered large windows in our classroom and a big space to use our watercolour media.
We had 7 participants with varying levels of backgrounds but all enthusiastic about leaning a new medium.
The school co-ordinator for the Pontiac School of the Arts, France Lamarche offered the setup and support throughout the course as we journeyed through each of the experiments I had prepared. It was a 2-day workshop and on the second day we had developed our skills to try out a composition of our own making with some guidance. Here is the group seriously focused on their paintings on the second day. From left to right:

France Lamarche, Louis Morisette, Jim Hancock, Linda Girard, Nicole Lavigne, Ryan Lamotte and Deborah Kilgour, (Tina Michaud, Photographer and participant)

Thanks for your sense of fun, focus and adventure! You are always welcome to stop by at the studio at 20 Eardley Road in Aylmer (Gatineau) to share and learn more. Try painting this summer and continue to enjoy the medium.

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

EXHIBITION at St. Paul's Church, Aylmer Quebec

In just a few weeks, I will be exhibiting wildflower watercolours and encaustics at the Aylmer Art Association Spring Show. Mark your calendars for the weekend of June 2, 3, 4 and along with my watercolours and encaustics, I will have on hand small prints, cards and small scale original works too. Many talented artists belong to this association so you will enjoy it I am sure. Looking forward to your support.

Biography

My childhood has been delineated by my marauding father who joined the Forces to have us uprooted from place to place: stationed in Picton, Prince Edward County, Petawawa, the Rhone Valley, Germany, and Edmonton. Finally I concluded my high school days in Timmins, Ontario, my birthplace.

I graduated from Queen’s in Kingston in 1974 with a minor in art history and history followed by a teaching degree in secondary visual arts education the following year, 1975. At Queen's, I was instructed by Jennifer Dickson, Trevor Hodgson and Allen Dickinson. In 1975, I began exploring painting with wax using the traditional Javanese tjanting needles on textile and exhibited in a student show.

In the early years in my education career, I travelled to northern Ontario to the James Bay region and worked as an arts & crafts co-ordinator. I learned more from them at that point than they me.

In the late seventies, I saw the work of Joyce Devlin in North Gower and was observant of her exquisite portraits and layers of acrylic paint.

I left teaching and travelled to work as an artist in Montreal. There I handmade folk clothing and accessories using the wax resist techniques on natural fibres I had learned years earlier.

In Ste. Rose north of Montreal island I began my family and in 1980 Emilie was born. Soon in 1982 Camille followed and I returned with my husband to Ottawa and gave birth to Andrea in 1983. In the 1980’s I returned to the teaching profession and was employed with the Ottawa Carleton Catholic School Board for 13 years working solely at St. Mark’s in Manotick.

In the early 1990’s I moved to Kemptville and began working with watercolour being attracted to its fluid line and challenging techniques. I was introduced to an academic method of watercolour by the artist, Jaw Shaw then in Oxford Mills. Her knowledge and careful manipulations still impress me and have influenced my work. I exhibited with her and a group of artists in Oxford Mills at the stackwall building next to the dam. I also exhibited with the North Grenville Art Guild at this time, showing a series of watercolours of historic buildings in the area. I worked behind the scenes in set design with the Kemptville Players and later became part of the leadership team of the Dandelion Festival, North Grenville. In the late 1990’s I taught Visual Arts Education in the Education Faculty of the University of Ottawa as a part-time professor to 2003. I transferred in 2000 to teach at St. Michael’s Catholic High School and retired from formal education in June 2010.

Presently I am exploring the medium of encaustic painting soon becoming a new series. I hope you enjoy these blogs as a new series comes to completion.

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Monday, May 29, 2017

Learning the Basics of Watercolour

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

EXHIBITION at St. Paul's Church, Aylmer Quebec