Let me help you explore and demystify some of the myriad of inks available to you as an artist in the market today.

 April 18th – 30th 2023
 
“Colours of Australia” is an exhibition by four local artists, myself included, from the Moreton Bay Regional Area and the Sunshine Coast.  Celebrating all things Australian and filling the gallery with a burst of colour. Join Ron Bryant, Karen King, Tricia Taylor and Jo-Ann Middlebrough as we take you on a journey of our travels through Australia. All of us are avid plein air painters who love to travel with their art. From Uluru to the MacDonnell Ranges, the Blue Mountains to our amazing coastline. The outback ochres and the ocean turquoise will make an amazing mix of colour and light in this exhibition. Tricia, Jo-Ann, Ron and myself all have an impressionistic style of realism that merge to make a cohesive exhibition.  While the work will include a mixture of oils, watercolours, and pastels it will make for a great variety of mediums, styles and techniques used.
The Exhibition runs for two weeks. Opening on the 18th of April and closes on the 30th of April at the Bribie Community Art Centre, Matthew Flinders Art Gallery. 191 Sunderland Drive Banksia Beach. The Gallery is open 9am -4pm daily – closed Mondays. 
Please join us at the official opening, 2pm 22nd April 2023 with light refreshments and nibbles. The exhibition will also be officially opened by Deborah Eddy, who is also a local Moreton Bay artist and current Doctor of Visual Art Candidate, Queensland College of Art.   
 
Ron Bryant My passion is mainly painting Landscapes and Seascapes and I love being surrounded by nature.  I am truly blessed to live in a beautiful part of Queensland which is both rural and located by the sea, so my backyard is always full of opportunities to paint.
 
The Australian landscape has always excited me with its outstanding beauty on one hand, and its wild and everchanging patterns on the other…..both enrich my soul.
 
In my paintings I endeavour to capture the light, energy, and atmosphere that I am seeing and feeling and hopefully this emotion is shared when viewing my art.
 
Nowadays I rarely paint from a reference photograph as I like to experience the connection with nature by note taking and observations, then taking my thoughts and sketches back to the studio to paint  
 
Karen King This collection of my art reflects the diversity of subject and style in which I paint and teach. My paintings depict my love of light and colour whilst working in a semi-impressionistic style. I love to travel both here in Australia and overseas and a recent trip to the Red Centre set my creativity on fire. The ochres, reds, oranges, and yellows coupled with the sage green of the flora was truly breathtaking. I find beauty in sometimes the simplest of scenes.
Light and colour has sent me down the rabbit hole of creativity only to emerge more joyful and creative and ready to take on more artistic journeys.
I was once asked “what do you like to paint?” My answer was simply “the light and colour”.
Light both intrigues and fascinates me, it can be subtle, or it can be brilliant. Light gives energy to my painting subjects no matter how simple that subject may be and draws us out from the darkness into its caress. It guides us, comforts us, and bedazzles our senses.
Light gives the universe form, texture, and life, and without light there is no colour.
It can be a simple light shaft falling on a doorway, the light caressing a child's face or the dappled sunshine descending through the trees in a forest, for me paintings without light and colour has no stimulation of the senses.
The light in Australia has a unique quality about it and capturing it at its best can sometimes be challenging. Early mornings and late afternoons are optimum as the light becomes saturated in the middle of the day and washes out a lot of subtle colours.
 
“Colour is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.” Claude Monet
 
Art makes my heart sing…..
Karen
Tricia Taylor.  This exhibition is full of memories from my travels throughout Australia. I find painting en plein air (meaning in the outdoors) both challenging and rewarding. There is something special about painting from life in the light of day. You see colour more richly and tones more deeply.
My purpose it to shine a light into the community through art. It brings clarity, hope, and unveils our path. The moment between night and day as light fills the sky with colour, this Kairos moment, brings me deep joy. I aim to share the light of God that lives in me and is revealed in creation into the lives of others to bring just a little more joy into their hearts.

I am very lucky to have a garage that is VERY dry and almost dust free which is essential for keeping your art in pristine condition. However, Each and every piece of artwork is still wrapped individually and stored upright to protect both glass and frame. The shelving system I use was purchased from the local hardware store - Bunnings and was cost effective. It has easily adjustable shelf heights, has a chrome finish which is easily wiped clean. The only down side is that the metal shelf is not solid so I therefore place a sheet of thick cardboard on the top of the shelf to give my paintings a little extra protection.
The paintings are placed vertically with their name and number which was allocated to them on my Excel database showing for easy location. When an exhibition opportunity comes around I can see at a glance what I have and can pick out my selection readily.
This is also how I stack my car when transporting my paintings - vertically.
Each painting is wrapped individually in bubble wrap which has been cut to oversize for extra protection. I do not used sticky tape or other tapes to adhere or hold in place instead I use dressmakers elastic. This can be purchased on line from Amazon for under $20.00 for 100 Yards or 91.44 meters in either black or white.
I cut to length 4 pieces of elastic and tie in a knot to make a giant rubber band to hold the wrapping in place. This then wraps around the painting 4 times in 2 different directions to hold the bubble wrap in place. This system ensures a quick unwrap, protects the bubble wrap from tearing (giving longer use) and a quick pack up when the show has finalized.
When unpacking I ensure the appropriate elastic pieces are kept with the appropriate bubble wrap. I fold the elastic inside each piece of bubble wrap leaving one piece out to hold them all together in a bundle. I also ensure that when the bubble wrap is folded the name of the piece can be seen easily allowing for a quick pack up when finished.

So now you have categorized, listed, priced and framed your work let's take it up another notch.
On the back of each painting I enclose my Artist Profile and a Certificate of Authenticity which is unique to EVERY painting I create.
My Artist Profile gives a small insight to my clients to who I am as an artist, what inspires me and a little about myself. I print my Artist Profile 4 to an A4 page of 4 self adhesive labels so I can peel and stick to the reverse of the painting

My Certificate of Authenticity contains the following information

• Title "Certificate of Authenticity"
• Statement "This is a one of a kind, authentic, original painting. All copyright and reproduction rights are reserved by the artist Karen King"
• Title of the Artwork
• Price
• Artist Name "Karen King"
• Artwork Dimensions including frame
• Medium used
• Date Painted
• Signed :my signature"
• Artwork Details - This is a story about the painting. Where was it painted, any interesting story or information about the subject. What was my inspiration.
• Contact Details

This is printed 2 per A4 page on self adhesive labels so it can be peeled and stuck to the reverse of the painting.

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Exhibiting in a gallery no matter how small the gallery maybe is very exciting especially when it is your first time.
No matter if you have never hung your work in a gallery before or you are an old hand you need to be organized and present your work in a professional timely manner. Below I have put together my hints and tips that I find useful which I am about to share with you.

• Be prepared well in advance of the event. Gallery bookings are sometimes made months if not a year or more before the actual event. Whilst you can be painting up your collection leading up to the event date plan on having at least a 2 month window where your paintings are all completed before the opening of the exhibition.
• Have some good portrait / head photos taken of yourself for use in promotional material. Most galleries will ask you for this 2-3 months in advance so they can prepare the artwork for flyers and banners and other promotional material. Alternatively you may have to do this yourself depending on the gallery's terms and conditions.
• Make sure you also have 2-3 photos of your "draw-card" artwork to be included in the above promotional material.
• An Artist Statement will also be required. Talk about your collection, inspirations and anything you feel will draw in potential clients and would be of interest to them.
• Plan an "Opening" for the exhibition. This may mean champagne, nibbles or just tea and coffee depending on the venue and numbers you are expecting and of course the theme you are trying to portray.
• I recently found that I had quite a number of paintings, some framed, some partially finished, some needing rescuing and other which were framed. I spent a number of WEEKS sorting thru this jumble, finishing off work, adjusting work, and framing others. Boy oh boy I ended up so far with 154 so far...phew
• To keep track of these I have taken the time to categorize them all in a Excel spreadsheet. Each line contains the following information
  
  
  1. a unique number for that painting
  2. a thumbnail photo of the piece
  3. the link / location of where to find that photo on my computer
  4. the artists name - I include this as I can always use the Excel database to create labels if I need to at any stage
  5. name of the painting.
  6. medium
  7. price (I want to talk more on pricing your work in another blog) For the moment keep the pricing consistent.
  8. width (including the frame)
  9. height (including the frame)
  10. name of the exhibition entered (you may have more than one)
  11. date of the exhibition
  12. genre'
  13. notes

• Each painting has "D" hooks attached at the back of the painting 1/3 the way down, please do check with the gallery's requirements as this requisition may alter.
• I use Venetian blind cord for hanging. This I purchase by the roll from "Bunnings" our local hardware store.
• After tying the cord to the "D" hooks I wrap the ends with white electric tape which I also purchase from the hardware store. The electric tape seems to stretch and stick to itself very well and so far this has been the best option I have found.
  

More to come in my next blog.......

EXHIBITIONS  - I have a number of exhibitions coming up in the 1st half of the year
Currently I have 3 pieces in the Bribie Island Community Arts Centre "FUR FEATHERS AND FINS". This exhibition ends 15th January 2023 so make sure you stop by for a look.

The 2nd Exhibition I am partaking is being held at the Yandina Historic House called "Sunshine Coast Summer on the Beach" This exhibition runs 21st January 2023 until 26th February 2023. Opening day 21st January. I have 10 Sunshine Coast p;paintings entered. Well worth a visit.

The 3rd Exhibition is being held in February when I am Artist of the Month at the Bribie Island Community Arts Centre. Commencing 1st February 2023 until 28th February 2023. The centre is open all days except Mondays and there is a cafe for coffee or lunch on the premises.
Friday 10th February @ 10.30 there will be an impromptu "Meet the Artist". So pop this in your diary and come along and enjoy the show.

Exhibition in April - I am very excited about our upcoming exhibition " Colours of Australia" being held at the Matthew Flinders Gallery 191 Sunderland Drive Banksia Beach, Bribie Island. This exhibition will showcase many of my works along with Tricia Taylor, Ron Bryant and Jo-Ann Middlebrough.
Dates to remember are 17th April 2023 until 30th April 2023. This one is sure to be VERY special.