Art Gallery of St Albert, A good fit!

I delivered these three paintings last weekend to the St Albert Art Gallery and am pleased the beautiful waxwing painting sold right away, thank you.

I had a friend relay that my paintings look better in real life than what a computer can display. It is true something of the spirit, texture and impact of color are lost having to delete pixels for fast uploads, regardless it is a good tool to display what I accomplish. 

 Bohemian Waxwing "SOLD"

Raven Speak

Acrylic on canvas, 8x8, $269-

Savannah Sparrow

Acrylic on canvas 12x12, $379-

To purchase paintings contact the Art Gallery of St Albert 780-460-4310

On June 2nd I will be a profiled Art Walk artist in the Art Gallery of St Albert's satellite studio which is located a few doors down from the main public gallery in St Albert. Eight paintings will be displayed; two are fresh off the easel and have not been posted on the web yet. It will be a fun event as I will be working on a painting during the evening and get to meet wonderful art admirers and share my inspiration and joy of life around me. 

May you have a wonderful huggable weekend!

Hugs are warm and worth sharing.

New Gallery

We delivered a few paintings to the Art Gallery of St Albert on the weekend and I was invited to be a participating artist in their satellite studio gallery for art walk June 2nd. Of course I readily agreed as its good publicity and will be a fun venture I am sure. I get to paint on location for 3 hrs and have 3 to 5 paintings on display for people to view. Still trying to decide which ones to take as they will then display them for a month in the satellite studio window, something colorful for sure, thats a given.
Today I have been busy working up a couple of bright Raven paintings. Kinda got stuck for a tad bit so I photographed them and put the images in photoshop elements to play around with ideas. I quite like using the computer as a designing tool now that I have learned how to use it to my benefit.

We finally have trees loaded full of blossoms, they are so stunning in bloom.

Its time to get back to the easel so big hugs till later.

Rainy day parade

 We went to visit aunty and uncle yesterday and a parade happened by their house. 

An antique black an white.

 Bare-foot in the rain.

 Rainy day parade.

 Aunty wanted me to get a picture of this turbaned constable and he obliged.

 Yes we are Canadian.

 Prayer chants or recitation of texts?

It sounded pretty.

Unsheathed  blades. Spiritual symbol of faith.

Rainbow color amid the drizzle.

 I like what this states.

 Language is inherent to culture. Sadly too many of our native languages and writings have been lost and destroyed throughout Canada; newcomers are vocal about keeping theirs alive within the Canadian system.

 "Riding shotgun"

Words of wisdom "we feign goodness through talk by actions we are worse"

 These ladies stopped and posed though it is this shot as they went on down the street and the young one looked back over Mom's shoulder thats my favourite of the day.

 All smiles, the rain has stopped and the sun peaks through. 

 The outside of the Sikh temple is decorated with these scalloping arches.

After the parade of people went past we walked over to the temple with aunty and became separated so Gerald and I took a peek into the temple and were invited to take off our shoes and enter. A kind elder took his time to explain to us that by siting on the floor all are equal, but as I cannot get up and down without help and the men sit to the right and the women to the left we did not enter the temple itself but stayed in the foyer. There were some musicians at the far end playing instruments and chanting, I believe they were reciting their holy texts or prayers. Also at the far end was an elder sitting below a decorative canopy, he held a long whisk that was flicked back and forth I believe above their texts? I did have a bit of trouble hearing some of what was told us. He informed that within his religion women are revered.

I did not want to impose to ask to take photos inside the temple as within many cultures some holy things are not to be photographed.

These men were busy making sugared candy floss and handing it out to everyone whom wished some. Along the streets tents were set out in front of homes where food, pop and sugared treats were offered.

Saturday's country excursion

Saturday beheld delights of Creation, a day filled with inspiration and a camera card filled with 1400 images, here I go again, so much fun. Gerald drove me out to Donalda to deliver paintings for the Art Society summer season. I love the Donalda Gallery, its neat to show in a heritage building. Presently they were hanging a quilt show and a few of my butterfly paintings will be hung amidst the quilts. I have been asked to bring my bird exhibition there for September as a compliment to a taxidermy show.  Oh so much fun!

Yes my 50 D camera is back in my hands and happily I've not missed spring migration. The manager and staff that played with my camera previously when they were supposed to send it to Canon though didn't as they figured I was the problem, were wrong! I was not the problem! The camera was faulty; the shutter, mirror and something else had to be replaced. The day we retrieved the camera the manager was absent, go figure.

 I'm happy my camera is finally back (after 2 months) and fixed yet sad that my experience at Vistek has lost me as a future client. When I find a business I like, I go all the way with it, I have been a customer since 2002, but piss me off, treat me like a brainless boob and well, you've just lost my business, which by the way has lost them more than one client as another family member recently purchased a lot of camera equipment; they shopped elsewhere.  Presently I am in the market for a good sturdy tripod, hello Don's Photo.

O.K. on with migration!

 Beautiful Pin-tail male, the female is on the shore to the left.

 Horned Grebes. Brilliant red eyes glow. I find it interesting that many birds have bright red eyes.

On another pond a bit further north this Pied-billed Grebe surfaced close to the road. The pond was cut in two by a busy farm road that saw a lot of equipment hauling to and from the fields yet it was abundant with birds. Tiny and precious this little Grebe is our smallest and although not brightly colored as the other Grebes its subtle charm is captivating. 

Eared Grebes in evenings golden sunlight.

I've not had the experience of seeing so may Eared Grebes in one location before, or so close. This small pond was a delightful spectacle filled with grebes and a few ducks, a nice way to end the evenings shoot as the sun receded beyond the horizon. the clumps of brush in the water to the right were harbouring many Grebes. Maybe they were searching out a safe haven for the night.

Earlier in the day we encountered many American Coots, they are one crazy bird during mating season.

Cliff Swallows are busy re-building under bridges. Didn't see any barn swallows yet which usually nest in a farm yard further north along the road.

 I was busy watching this Killdeer when Gerald says "look at the moose" and as many times he will call birds "moose" just to be silly I ignored him. Then he again says "look at the moose crossing the field" I respond "yes dear I see the Killdeer" "No! Look at the Moose! To funny, here a real moose was jauntily crossing the field. Gave us a good laugh. I must say my fella keeps me on my toes, I never know what to expect aside from a lot of laughter. ah, its all fun!

 Moose on the loose.

 My first spotting of a horned lark ever, even though people state they are common here.

Marbled Godwit, the closest I've been to one, this fella came within 15 feet of the car and its mate was hunkered down in the tall grass about 40 feet away. I used the vehicle as a blind as the winds were ripping along at a good clip making it difficult to hold the camera steady, even so in spite of the wind I got good shots; oh its so nice to have a camera work as it should.

After leaving Donalda we visited a dear friend out in Heisler. This female Merlin was about. She is quite small, smaller than the Merlin we see in our neighbourhood. I thought it was a Kestral when it first flew by due its tiny size.

Well my gesso should be dry so its time to go coat a few more canvas for some special paintings I have planned for the exhibition in Red Deer.

Big Hugs and enjoy.

Mothers Day Delights

On Sunday I got up early to spend time with my beautiful grand before we had to get the wheels rolling. When he was told Gramma had to leave he made a sad sound and crawled quickly across the floor to me, aww, I sure didn't want to leave then.

The rainy road home.

We decided to adventure on the way home and take in the Medicine River Wildlife Recovery Centre. Due my notes of approach from the south I got us a wee bit lost, not the first time and hopefully not the last as we tend to see things we never would if we stayed on the right track. Thanks to my most excellent sweetie he figured out my notes and got us there; its nice having a partner in life who "gets me".

At the centre Carol put on a ten min video about the rehabilitative and fostering work they accomplish, I had seen the video previous on-line though it was good to see it again as Gerald had not. We then chatted with Carol, asked a few questions and got to photograph these beautiful babies.

 These two baby Great Horned owls were removed from their nest at a busy airport for safety and are being fostered by unreleasable resident adults that can be seen in the background. Fostering is something that the Centre advocates so that animals can be released back to nature with wild senses intact. There were three owlets, one was happily placed in an active nest. These owlets were produced earlier than many active nests presently on the go making it difficult for staff to find age appropriate nests to place them.

 Looking up and enjoying the rain that is filtering down. This young lady put on quite the show for us.

 Don't you just love the baggy MC Hammer pantaloons.

 Quite a bit of color difference between the two youngsters, so beautiful.

 I feel privileged watching these two owlets flexing and strutting under the rain drops while the foster parents stayed under shelter.

Tired out after all that exercise.  Cuddle time! 

Even owlets need hugs from time to time.

 This is Otis, he is a well traveled mascot who goes into schools and teaches youth about caring for and about wildlife.

 Female Grackle with injured wing.

We were informed that  Porcupine like to cuddle as well, ouch.

Male Pintail duck.

"High 5 turtle"

Two hours later upon leaving the centre we made tomato sandwich in the car as it was still raining. then got the wheels rolling and at the cross road, I squealed, poor Gerald's ears putting up with an excitable adventurer. 

Moose on the loose.

Hope you all have a wonderful day, big Hugs!

we all need them!

P.S. more paintings are posted on teresa stieben art, click on link in the right panel to view them out.

Wonderful exhibition opening

This was the best opening ever. Christopher Barran came and sang for me and to me; he is the type of singer who sings directly to everyone in the audience imparting everyone to feel special and loved. Thank you my dear sweet friend, you made my day and everyone else's. 

As the show was being hung friday morning people were coming in off the street wanting to meet the artist and were ecstatic about the work. Wow! Fantastic! It thrilled me to the core.
On saturday the place was busy, many people coming and going. We arrived a little after one and people were already coming through to view the paintings so I was busy from then till almost 6 pm. I loved it. In the past I have been wiped out after openings but this was so different and so refreshing I was tired and hungry yet still strong after. The most wonderful and amazing is that people of all ages were enjoying the artwork, commenting that they were full of life and movement. I feel so confirmed and pleased that what I was working towards is being achieved. All those hundreds of hours on the road in pursuit of birds, watching, studying and photographing them is paying off. Wow!

 Wonderful fantastic musician Christopher Barran who sings with heart and soul. 

He's my Muse!

The painting behind him to the left is three by four feet. The largest I have ever painted and now I'm working on ideas for doing another large painting. I hope to have at least one more this size for the exhibition at Kerry Wood Nature Center which goes up June 24th.

Wonderful fantastic art supporters and friends.

 Sharon is drawing Christopher while he sings, she is amazing and fast, she completed two portraits of him while he sang. 

Dear friends whom I don't get to see often enough. If I could smile any larger I would have swallowed my head, I am so happy with how the whole event turned out. Thank you all who came and supported my art and Christopher's song. I love you all.