While my youngest daughter was visiting from England, we were able to get some lovely photographs at a local park by Calgary photographer Ariel Bissett. We had our last photographs taken at my eldest daughter's wedding two years ago so it was lovely to get new ones. Thank you Ariel!
It was so nice to have our family together again after two years. I'm so proud of our girls and the fact that they are pursuing their passions, but it was nice to have us all together for awhile again. Our youngest daughter sewed herself two new skirts while she was visiting, one wool skirt with lining and the other another Brett Lewis print (Edmonton fabric designer). We had so much fun in the mountains on her visit (my favourite place) and I cannot wait to visit her in a few months to explore London's galleries and musuems.
 I'm finally beginning to see the end of the road on this project and expect to complete it sometime this fall, as long as I receive the last photos that I need. It has been incredible to learn about each of these women and I really think I need to expand on that through more research and some writing. Some of the paintings have turned out so much better than I had planned but others...well...not so much. As usual, I guess. This batch has now been waxed and the sawtooth hangers attached, which means I only have 3 more panels to complete (though, if I find more photographs, I may expand from 45 portraits). I also have to begin setting up write-ups for them all. It sure would be lovely to have more quotes, either by or about them. More fun research!
 I'm still thrilled that 'In Her Studio' magazine features the 'Nasty Women' project after all these years...and that they still ask me to contribute to the publication in small ways. Recently, I was asked how I "set the mood" for creating and it hasn't really changed at all. In my studio, I turn on CBC Radio, but, even before that, I carry around a small notebook to gather ideas. There's always something percolating and it just becomes a matter of deciding what I would like to do and how I choose to approach it. :)
 2012  2021  2025 Not much has changed since I first painted the utility box on Main Street in Airdrie in 2012, though I did change the lighter colour palette for a bit of a darker one that wouldn't fade as easily (fingers crossed!) and changed the design on the south side as it felt like it was time for something new. This has been such a fun project from beginning to end.
 "From drawings and sketches, it is clear that as a child Catharine enjoyed her creative pursuits. Her coloured pencil drawings record household objects, interior and exterior scenes. Prolific childlike floral sketches were likely influenced by the extensive gardens at their Concord home and the bouquets her mother Edith Morse Robb arranged throughout.
At an early point in either 1913 or 1914, Catharine received a small watercolour set as a Christmas present. It seems she tested the medium infrequently as only eighteen are registered in the Whyte collection. However, along with numerous renderings in pastels and graphite her attempts do prove an inclination to explore various mediums and techniques. Catharine’s creativity was encouraged by her parents who both entertained and supported many regional artists. Among others, they introduced their daughter to internationally trained and celebrated artist Elizabeth Wentworth Roberts whose Concord residence was an artistic hub. There she hosted exhibitions of select high-calibre artists and taught intermittent art appreciation and practice classes for amateur enthusiasts like Catharine. Later at the prestigious Wheeler School in Providence, Rhode Island, where Catharine studied from September 1921 until June 1924, her artistic advancement is observed in rhythm studies where the grade marks of A and A+ were frequently awarded. Catharine’s enrolment at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in the autumn of 1925 was a decisive confirmation of her artistic desires. The following summer, she wrote Buz of her intention to become a great artist. As we know, those ambitions may not have achieved global recognition but her paintings do rank high alongside artists of her time. Along with solid grounding and a formal education, Catharine’s horizons were expanded through varied trips to foreign places. She first visited Banff with her family in 1916, followed by a grand tour of Europe from June 9, 1924 until the 2nd of October. The Robb’s spent frequent summers at Seal Harbour where in 1921 she met the Rockefeller’s and famed American painter John Singer Sargent. In her lifetime, Catharine ultimately traveled to every continent where each destination was memorialized by a pencil or oil sketch and her down-to-earth disposition ingratiated her with individuals from all walks of life. Catharine’s artistic acumen evolved from childish endeavours to adult sophistication with each attempt a lesson for the next. Ultimately her need to nurture and support those less fortunate or to merely enrich her community overshadowed her artistic ambitions. Still in all her actions, she quietly applied the same determination and resolve." ~ Whyte Museum  It's been interesting to work with watercolour paint on prepared panels. It requires several layers of paint with a lot of drying time in between and then adding the names of each artist using a dip pen and permanent white ink, followed by a protective coat of Dorland's Wax Medium. It's a wax based product that has been used by oil painters for many years and enables me to exhibit watercolours without glass. I've also used it with works on paper but have found that I definitely prefer to work on prepared panels which is interesting as I used to prefer working on stretched canvas.
 I've really been enjoying visual journalling using pens and watercolours. It's been very interesting to look at anything that I find around me...those things that catch my attention. This particular week we took my daughter and son-in-law into the city for her birthday dinner so I thought bunting would be perfect and, since we drove alongside Nose Hill, I wanted to include the parkland as it is so beautiful. With all of the rain this summer, which is very unusual for this part of the country, my garden has been blooming in abundance, and I love seeing the purples and yellows side-by-side. I rarely cut flowers but I couldn't resist this bouquet. I'm not sure of the names of the 2 purple flowers on the left as they were cuttings from family members years ago, but the long, narrow one is a Veronica and the yellow are lady's mantle...2 of my favourites.   "Jessie Ursenbach moved to southern Alberta in 1905. She studied art at the Banff School, and in 1937 was granted a Carnegie Corporation scholarship to attend the school for one month. She also attended art classes at the Ontario College of Art. She was an active member of the Alberta Society of Artists, the Federation of Canadian Artists, and the Lethbridge Sketch Club. Ursenbach taught private art lessons as well as school classes in the small Alberta communities of Raymond, Cardston and Glenwood, contributing to the supervision of art in schools of southern Alberta. Although she was taught modernist approaches, she preferred realistic renderings of landscapes, townscapes and floral subjects. Her paintings were exhibited in a variety of shows with the Alberta Society for the Arts, throughout Canada and in the United States. Her works are held in the collections of the University of Lethbridge, the Galt Museum (Lethbridge), and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, as well as in a number of private collections." ~ Canadian Women Artists History Initiative
 I was thrilled to learn that 5 portraits from the 'Women of the West' series will be exhibited as part of the grand opening of the Inspire Building in my hometown. This is such a full-circle moment as I still remember the day, oh so many years ago, that I had suggested the city build an arts center on the spot of our old fire hall and my vision is finally coming to fruition...though it is even better than I had envisioned. I cannot wait for the opening!
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