ANominations are now open for the 2019 Airdrie Mayor's Night of the Arts for which I was the recipient of the Fortis Professional Artist Award several years ago (that's me on the bottom right) and my daughter Katherine also received the Qualico Youth Artist award two years ago.  With the award, she received a scholarship which is being put to good use as she's currently studying at the Fashion Institute in Calgary.  For more information or to nominate someone from Airdrie, please visit the AMNA website here.

On a gorgeous, sunny September day I decided to pull over by a farm yard to paint the beautiful Southern Alberta landscape on my way to Bluerock Gallery.  I find that driving stresses me, just being in a vehicle does, so I planned to bring my small pochade on this trip to deliver artwork to Black Diamond and am so glad I did.  Not only was it pleasant to stop and enjoy the autumn, scenery, but instead of feeling like a chore, this trip felt more like a little vacation.  I appreciate the galleries that represent my work so much and love visiting them, I just wish they were a bit closer and didn't require travel through a busy city.  And the visits are always so lovely, especially because I get to see new work of some of my favorite artists and also pick up gifts for family and friends.

I was absolutely thrilled to be asked to create the cover image for the arts + culture issue of AirdrieLIFE magazine.  Not only is this a fabulous local magazine but every issue features local arts.  I feel very fortunate.

Publisher's comments:
Airdrie artist Veronica Funk has been a featured artist and regular collaborator with airdrielife both on and off the page for 15 years. Giving her the arts issue cover was the natural choice. "My work over the past several years has been inspired by a combination of street art and traditional imagery. I love working intuitively, layering vibrant colour and pattern by utilizing stencils and other mark-making tools such as my hands. The imagery I selected for this particular piece was meant to evoke an almost dream-like sense of movement and passion that is prevalent in the arts."

It has been so great using my little Christmas pochade paintbox from Judson's through the summer.  Working smaller, in this case 5x7 inches, and having a much smaller travel box means things are much lighter and the paintings go much quicker.  I am struggling a bit with my two paintbrushes as the bristles bend while drying in the box (they're a little long) but I'm thinking of investing in a couple of really good travel brushes in order to combat that little problem, just need to find the right style.  If the bristles are too soft, then it's difficult to move the paint around the panel, if they're too hard, they scrub the paint on rather than lying it on.  Oh the challenges of plein air painting.

I've not only been enjoying my holidays in my home province, but also the beautiful views and opportunity to capture them in my own way. The top row is Beaver Mines Lake in southern Alberta, the middle HooDoos Trail by Drumheller, and the bottom are views from Tunnel Mountain by Banff.  My preference in travel is to either visit family and friends or creating art, so the small pochade is perfect.

And the Open Acrylics by Golden work like a charm.  They're almost oil paint like in that they take quite awhile to dry so I can blend well.  The only challenge for me is that I'm used to acrylic paint drying quickly so I have to allow time for drying and then go back into the pieces to add highlights and darks.