Ellen Scobie | Verosimile

Well, yes, the band was terrific! Last Sunday's Ladner Village Market featured the fantastically festive sounds of Mojo Zydeco who kept the party going THE WHOLE DAY long! They played a 6-hour set with a few 15-minute breaks! Wow! My booth is located right next to the band and I can tell you they enjoyed themselves as much as we did them.

I brought a few new photographs to the market of Boundary Bay, specifically the Point Robert's side of Maple Beach.

Maple Beach, Point Roberts | sky glows with evening colour

I was down there a few weeks ago when we had the most glorious purple sunset sky.

Boundary Bay | painting with light

I took a few photographs as well as some "photo paintings".

The director of the market also suggested that I spread my display walls out more to create an art show for the market visitors. Every time we pack for the market, Hong and I cram our CRV to the max with the tent, two tables and all the art. So if it fits, we'll bring it!

If you see anything on the website you'd like to see at the market, please email me to make sure I bring it. I bring a different assortment of art every week as I don't have room in my car for everything.

Hope to see you at the next market!

"Come for the art ... stay for the music!!"

Running along the sand at Maple Beach

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Ellen Scobie is a visual artist melding the traditional art forms of photography, painting and printmaking. View her art at www.verosimile.com

Link: http://www.ladnervillagemarket.com

The day started off with a few raindrops. It was a little drizzly when we were setting up our tent but the skies quickly cleared into glorious sunshine. With the sun came the crowds ... lots of repeat local customers and other people from across the Lower Mainland who had made a day out of it. My booth was in an excellent location right next to the bandstand so I enjoyed the fantastic blues party all day long!

New friend, Pam (left) with her beautiful jewellery and old friend, Susan (right) - a reconnection after 17 years!

In the booth to the right of me, Pamela Roberts was selling her exquisite silver jewellery reflecting coastal inspiration - starfish shaped-pendants and fresh water pearls on tiny silver shells were two of my favourite designs. Helping her was her friend, Susan, former co-owner of the Mesa gift shop on Granville Island. I used to work at Mesa back in the early 90s when I just got back from Spain and hadn't seen her since. What a wonderful reconnection! It was great to be next to them and to catch up between customers.

Across from me was another friend, Naomi Horsford, a former co-worker from my days at the Port of Vancouver, who was at the market with her team from the port doing community outreach. So with friends all around - new and old - and help from Mom and Hong, the whole day was a lot of fun! The next market will be June 27 ... I hope to see you there!

Spring cherry blossom artwork is a perennial favourite

Part of my "spread"!

Great weather encouraged browsing.

Watching the band ... I love this dog!

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Ellen Scobie is a visual artist melding the traditional art forms of painting, photography and printmaking. View her art at www.verosimile.com

I cannot fully explain a piece of art in words. Like many other artists, I would prefer that the art speaks for itself. As has been oft repeated, "If I had something to say with words, I would have written a story." I didn't. I made something using colour and shape and form to communicate my thoughts and feelings. I do try, however, to concoct a title and maybe a few sentences about the artwork to give a hesitant viewer a passageway into the composition.

Next time you're at a museum or gallery, see if you can walk around the room without looking at the titles. I find it's like being at the airport without knowing your gate number. You wander around aimlessly, slightly anxious, knowing you're supposed to be going somewhere but not at all sure about how you're going to get there.

Now, go up to a painting and read the title. Almost sighed with relief, didn't you? Your gate was just called. Now you know where to go. But it's still up to you to get there.

Untitled, 2010. Would your appreciation of the artwork change if it had a title?

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Ellen Scobie is a visual artist melding the traditional art forms of photography, painting and printmaking.

www.verosimile.com

I usually work on more than one piece of art at a time and, like many artists, am often hard pressed to determine when the art is actually finished. Sometimes I'll commit to a certain composition as being the finished one, only to come back to the art several days - or even hours - later to being totally dissatisfied with it.

I started out making editions of my work (making multiple prints of the same image)to a small maximum number, usually up to 25, but often only 5 or 10. But I find I can't leave some of the art alone after I print it. The longer I look at it, the more ideas I have for it.

So I have started incorporating acrylic glazes and mediums on top of the print to further develop the composition. Here I have started with my image, Night Fears, and painted on top of it to create a new work. I've included the original print I started with and some detail photos so you can see the finished -- well, for now ;)-- artwork.

The original "Night Fears" print I started to work on.

The finished artwork with over-painting.

Heavy application of paint almost obscures the original print in places.

The original composition shows through on the left of this photo.

Iridescent paints contribute to a changing light quality.

http://www.verosimile.com/mixed-media-art-Night-Fears.html

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Ellen Scobie is a visual artist melding the traditional art forms of photography, painting and printmaking. View her art at www.verosimile.com

Neil Pasricha started a blog a few years ago called 1000awesomethings.com. It was during a time in his life when nothing seemed to be going right and he decided to try to focus on the positive and think of one awesome thing to post to his blog everyday. From "the dog's really excited I'm back home" to "flipping your pillow over to the cold side", Pasricha draws awareness to the simple things we can be grateful for and which, strung together, really make up a big part of your life.

Here's what I think is awesome: Free Art Mags! Yes, through the fortuitous clicking in the "free" section on Craigslist, I came upon a listing for "100 Art Magazines" which I now have stacked up on my dining room table. (Well, it's the all-purpose table really, the only table big enough around here for anything other than a mug.)

But I guess what's really awesome is that someone took the time to look around for a way to share her magazines and to not just dump them in the recycling bin. She posted the listing, fielded the emails, took time to meet with me and now the magazines are going to reside in my shared studio space's library where they will be read by many more people who will be inspired, encouraged and enraged. Well, that's what art does to you. And that's pretty awesome.

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Ellen Scobie is a visual artist melding the traditional art forms of photography, painting and printmaking. View her art at www.verosimile.com

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