Diary of Artist Shayla Perreault Newcomb

New Blog

2013-06-12T15:30:00.002-03:00

For anyone who'd like to reconnect, I've moved my blog to here: Shayla Paints If you're on Tumblr, please leave your link. I'm looking for inspiration old and new. I'm also on Instagram and love it like a mad thing, even posting photos to empty space. Also registered under Shayla Paints.

Tell All

2013-02-02T15:52:00.002-04:00

"What is the one thing that you know now that you would have liked to have known when you first started to create art?” Good question! Seth, of the Altered Page is taking 'the pulse' online and on Feb 10 is publishing part of his series "Tell All". I'm one of the participating artists, and I told all ;)

Below is my own altered page. Part of my diary. I made most of the page before coming to Vancouver and find it funny to see the Asian Garden in the background. It reminds me of work. And yes, I've become a dancing pig ;) One of my favorite places to dance in the city is on the 7th floor roof/balcony of the Scotia Bank Dance Center with my class, Ecstatic Dance. I was also at the center last week to see the performance Haptic and Holistic Strata by Japanese artist Hiroaki Umeda. Unforgettable!

Goodbye to 2012

2012-12-29T15:29:00.000-04:00

Last year "magic" was one of my words for the year and I never guessed how much it would change my life and what a magical year this would be. It's fitting December's going out in a bang of glitter and lights.

Flickr photo credit http://www.flickr.com/photos/eych/6558028829/

At the Garden we organized an epic Winter Solstice Festival, with communities coming together to dance and drum, drink tea, listen to music, make art and of course watch the lighting of the lanterns (real candles! the Garden was full of them).

Shortly after the festival there was a power outage further complicated by the Holidays and I've been on call with alarms, security and electrical issues since, with Christmas being a welcome break. Today is the first day I breathe out in about a week and I'm enjoying the 'cosyness' and sharing some of the glitter. I hope your 2012 is filled abundantly with memories and that 2013 brings you light and love.

Skittles on Davie Street

2012-12-15T17:08:00.002-04:00


Skittles on Davie Street © Shayla Perreault (Atc, mixed media on paper).

My neighborhood is dynamic with hot pink bus stops, rainbow flags, sequins and stilettos at night, the occasional dance beat thumping out an open club door, and a riot of wondrously, tacky Christmas lights. It smells like savory donair meat and pizza, yeast, cinnamon and melted brown sugar. It's recognizing the faces at my favorite cafe (Melriche's), the health food store and the West Valley Market after work when getting ingredients for a curry. It's a lazy Saturday morning watching all the dog walkers in the rain from my balcony with a cup of mango tea.

"Enter"

2012-12-06T20:32:00.000-04:00

"Enter" © Shayla Perreault

Started at lunch break as a line drawing, finished at home with pencil crayons and watercolor crayons.

Belated posting for Art Every Day Month

2012-12-01T20:20:00.001-04:00

"Hands Down" sketch

The only camera I have right now, is J's iphone and when he's home it's dark. Not the best for taking pictures. I'm scheduling a couple of things I did over Art Every Day Month. Yesterday was a great studio day. I got an Atc finished called "Skittles on Davie Street" that I'm really excited about. I did battle with a painting I've had on the go for a year, and I think I came off victorious- won't know for sure until I get some better lighting. It's been pretty gray and dark since. Lastly, and this was euphoric, I took a new 36x48" prepped canvas and put paint to it with such energy and release that it was done in ONE HOUR! Contrast: 1 year vs 1 hour. Same size. Same series. It was a pretty spectacular way to finish the month.

Behind the Scenes Tuesday- Studio Color

2012-11-13T16:00:00.000-04:00

AEDM- Day 10, House on Fire

2012-11-10T18:00:00.000-04:00

When moving from New Brunswick I left much of my equipment behind. Now to photograph my work, I have either a phone or the camera in the mac. Took the photo after dark, looked crappy so added a filter.

Mercury Retrograde is bombarding me in the most maddening way this month. The post won't publish or safe, so I'll try scheduling it.

AEDM- Day 7

2012-11-07T16:00:00.000-04:00

Getting over my shyness of asking people to pose for me. Felt good. I want to do more of this.

AEDM- stands for Art Every Day Month and the challenge is hosted at Creative Every Day.

Help for victims of hurricane Sandy

2012-11-05T11:42:00.001-04:00

New York artist, Seth Apter's auction is high caliber, for collectors, and the funds go to a great cause. It's worth getting in on this. He talks about it below:

"As I traveled around promoting the book, I obtained as many signatures as I could from all the contributing artists I met along the way, as I knew that one day there were be a special reason to do this. And today is that day. I have decided to auction off a copy of the book (signed by 30 of you) along with a piece of my art to benefit the victims of Sandy. The charity I have chosen is The Mayors Fund to Advance New York City. I will be donating 100% of the proceeds and this fund uses 100% of the monies received for direct aid. I have no idea if anybody will bid but I felt like I needed to do something to help my hometown recover."

If you check out the link you'll see it's not only the book, but an art collection with original artworks from many of the contributing artists and the caliber is outstanding.

To contribute directly to the mayors fund, go here.

Art Every Day Month

2012-11-04T22:35:00.000-04:00

Meditating

I'm going to be tweeting my Art every day posts (a challenge hosted by Creative Everyday). I may not post everything here, but I will put up some highlights.

My twitter address: https://twitter.com/Shaylapaints

2012-10-29T02:01:00.000-03:00


© Shayla Perreault. Made from "Oilbar"- the creamiest, most tactile, and thrilling crayon for grown ups.

While I needed a break to settle in at work and get used to the stimulation of the city, I've missed my art life. Not the making part, since I still do that- but the artist community. Time to say 'hello'.

Blue Skies

Me on the shore

Art Quote- Excerpt from my summer reading

2012-08-23T11:20:00.000-03:00

The Way to Paradise- by Mario Vargas Llosa, Nobel Prize Winner is fiction with a setting in the life of artist Paul Gauguin.

"The order of reality was counterbalanced by the painting's upper half: there the floating flowers were sparks, gleams, featherlight phosphorescent meteors aloft in a bluish mauve sky in which the colored brushstrokes suggested a cascade of pointed leaves."

about the painting "Manao tupapau"

Interview on "Detoxing My Art Practice"

2012-08-08T11:04:00.000-03:00

I've written about some of my experiences on being an artist with multiple chemical sensitivity. In " Surrender to Healing, a Personal Detox Story", on the blog, Detoxing My Art Practice, I get a lot more personal and open than I've ever been. Leslie, also the writer of the art blog Textures, Shapes, and Color, is an artist coach so she's an expert with questions and with her recent sensitivity to chemicals (right before a big show!) many of her readers have been asking about making their studios safer.

You can read part one here.

Art Quote- Writer Robert Anton Wilson

2012-08-01T11:34:00.001-03:00

When speaking about art as a way of trying to communicate what we perceive so that other people will perceive it more or less the same way, Robert Anton Wilson said,

"Art is a form of seduction. There are rapists in the intellectual world. They become politicians. The seducers become artists. We try to seduce people into our reality instead of leading them there with a gun."

Life Drawing

2012-07-28T18:30:00.004-03:00

I want to do more of this in September. A figurative series is stirring in my imagination...

Drawing Strangers, Meetup and Raw Canvas

2012-07-13T17:06:00.001-03:00

Amy from Meetup:

Tadaa! I'm letting strangers see me draw them. In fact, it turns out most people like getting their portrait drawn. I met Amy at a combined meetup of my Crafting/Geek culture group, the 20 somethings, the 20-30 somethings, and the 'shy' group at the English Bay Beach. Combining the groups ended up being a good idea since you can be sure there will be good attendance. The conversation and the vibes were fun!

A bunch of us at work also make art together at the "Art Romp" organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery for industry staff. Raw Canvas coordinated the art making with all the supplies. They often do corporate team building exercises with art. Fab idea! It felt heavenly to paint after work and reminded me how relaxing it is. Plus * mega announcement * I used their acrylics without any negative results. Kroma Acrylics are made right on Granville Island. There you will find outdoor markets, art everywhere, Emily Carr University- Canada's top fine arts school imo, a Culinary Institute- so yummy food abounds (oh- you've GOT to try dehydrated okra), my yoga class overlooking the ocean, and plenty of summer magic.

The thing about being chemically sensitive is that it can come and go in severity and I'm in a good place right now. I may get a couple tubes eventually, but I want to keep my regular art practice as clean as possible and won't be going back to acrylics as a staple. Perhaps occasional use. What's cool to know is that if you're sensitive to some paints, healing is possible.

Vancouver Art Gallery/Vancouver Public Library Book Club

2012-06-27T15:12:00.001-03:00

Matisse-"Large Reclining Nude" 1935 oil on canvas, The Baltimore Museum of Art: The Cone Collection
image from ArtMapTV

The painting above is the size of a wall. The colors are flat so right away you focus on line and what a magician he is with line! The head is small, and I interpreted it as being all about the flesh...

Being in the body as opposed to being in the mind.. Her larger than life, perfect curves. He controls the speed of the eye movement through the painting to such an extent that I had a tactile experience. It felt like my hand was caressing the sensual lines.

The gallery was crowded and noisy. I'll have to go back again. At one point I was communing with a VanGogh when a bald head butted in front. I've discovered I'm fussy about my viewing experience. *Sigh* art snob written all over that...but the privacy of the experience is meditative for me. Viewing art is said to have the same effect as being in nature.

The art gallery's book club has 20 regular attenders, and in June we met to talk about "Missing Matisse" by Jan Rehner. The group has literary preferences, is well read and had many interesting comments. The Vancouver Art Gallery's librarian was on hand and gave a historian's viewpoint, which was a treat. At one point a heated conversation broke out about the selfish lifestyle of artists.

There was a lot of anger directed to the idea that an artist may have some fame based on their charisma or performance instead of just their technical skill. Anger again whenever money or sex was mentioned.

The art historian agreed that artists are sometimes selfish, neglecting to update their cv's and provide accurate documentation. I can see how if your passion is the history of art that this would be a source of agitation. I used to work in a museum and the most exciting objects had stories to go with them that told us more about the owners so I did appreciate the reminder to document and date my work.

While I don't agree that it's selfish to have the focus it takes to make art, nor do I agree that charisma shouldn't be part of a successful art career (isn't charisma an art in itself and important in most careers?), I had great fun listening to the roller coaster of opinions and got a 'fly on the wall' view of some frustrations/misconceptions the public may have about artists.

Right now I'm reading The Way to Paradise about the life of Gauguin (fiction) and it's much more scandalous than Matisse's life. Our meeting in July should be an interesting night!

Art Quote Monday- Proust

2012-06-18T13:00:00.000-03:00

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes."

Marcel Proust (1871-1922)

meeting Mr. Charisma,'Captain Highliner', and 'Miss Pettigrew'.

2012-06-16T17:23:00.002-03:00

The city has crept into my art. Chance encounters and special connections with strangers have me captivated right now. People I'll never see again, yet somehow meeting them is significant.

The sketch above was done at my favorite cafe. The Art Gallery restaurant opens up to an umbrella covered roof top garden where they play jazz or classical music and the little birds come and steal leftovers before the plates are cleared.

As soon as I walked out onto the roof top, I felt Mr. Charisma. He owned the roof top, and nobody minded. He filled the space with a pleasant confidence. I was so excited by the energy coming from him, that my hand moved overly quick and pretty much scribbled his face. He's the blob at the back with the mop head and the black is his sunglasses.

This sketching people in public is new, I'm still nervous about it, and was trying to be discreet. There was also an interesting man with a cap and that looked like captain Highliner with a brown suede jacked and a woman with her hair piled high that seemed a little sad to be eating alone. Maybe a 'Miss Pettigrew' type?

I drew the above scene in one minute then hid my book, but it wasn't enough. I had to capture more of Mr. Charisma. Between bites of quinoa salad I snuck in another sketch careful to not be seen.

Even though I was 15 feet away, and was being discreet, eventually he sensed it and turned his body towards me. He felt open, friendly and curious, pleased with himself, calm. He was inviting the interaction. And I panicked, overwhelmed with shyness and left. When he and his companion got up to leave shortly after, I hid in the gift shop.

I know, that's not the way it should end. I should have boldly interacted with the stranger. Eventually I want to, but I'm not ready yet. Vancouver isn't like a lot of big cities. People aren't as wary of you being crazy. They're more open to strangers. J and I went out to eat at the best Greek restaurant in town and I sketched more people there last night.

I messed up recently by taking my blog roll off when reorganizing. I thought I'd be able to put it back again, but all the links were lost so I'll be putting those back together in the next few weeks.

Art Quote Monday- Creative Power and/or Talent?

2012-06-11T04:30:00.000-03:00

"It would be a mistake to ascribe this creative power to an inborn talent. In art, the genuine creator is not just a gifted being, but a man who has succeeded in arranging for their appointed end, a complex of activities of which the work is the outcome. The artist begins with a vision- a creative operation requiring an effort. Creativity takes courage."

Matisse

It's Still Life

2012-06-10T18:46:00.001-03:00

Seth Apter of The Altered Page features "The Pulse" every Sunday. It's a great connector where you can meet new artists and participate in challenges. Today he hosted, "It's Still Life". There's plenty of inspiration for practicing your drawing skills with this series. I may go back and do the wine glasses.

Below is my still life. Why the contents of my medicine cabinet? I think you can tell a lot about someone by their medicine cabinet. For people who write, it's one way to imagine up a new character by doing a still life of purse or cabinet contents. There's Tom's of Maine deodorant, homeopathic toothpaste, and cycle beads. Can you imagine a character to go with the box? I also enjoyed taking objects I'd normally find ugly and placing them in a composition that guides the eye through the space. Like the red bead being in the golden mean, the placement of colors and shapes.

Art Quote Monday- Being an artist

2012-06-05T05:00:00.000-03:00

"Forgive me. I wax a little poetic now and then. It's an occupational hazard."

Singer/Songwriter Bob Snider

Behind the Scenes

2012-05-31T21:47:00.003-03:00

The graffiti above is on the tester papers for pens and writing instruments at the local indie shop, Opus Art Supplies.It's a good place to top up on supplies and check out the scene

My new studio (our balcony on a sunny day) has been put to use and I'm back to work on one of my 36x48" pieces. The exuberance and wonder I felt with the city is still present and at the same time I'm a little wobbly, overstimulated. I've found that making art, even a sketch, is essential. It feels much like a sigh of relief in my body when I start making art again and I feel more centered.

I'm starting Leonie Dawson's funtabulous business course tomorrow to support a dream I've had in the works for a couple years now and am excited about meeting others looking to bring their dreams into being too.

"Missing Matisse" is the book chosen by my reading club with the Vancouver Art Gallery. Jan Rehner's research was bang on and as an artist and art lover, her historical accuracy and loving details made the book for me. The way she described Matisse's paintings was so heartfelt it made me itch to paint or head out to the museum to see them right away. I wrote a longer review on amazon if you want the whole scoop.

Art Quote Monday- Peter H. Hassrick on Georgia O'Keeffe

2012-05-29T10:00:00.000-03:00

"Her mastery of scale is a function of her contemplative art, which involves transcendence and timelessness and whose function is not to decorate or entertain but to induce contemplation in the way that the placement of stones in Zen gardens does."
Georgia O'Keeffe-The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum p106. by Peter H. Hassrick, Director Emeritus, Petrie Institute of Western American Art, Denver Art Museum