Valley Visual Artists May Show

Copyright: Heidi I. Koehler

It's that time of year again...the Valley Visual Artists of Merritt, B.C. are having their Spring Show...here are some my drawings on display.

Art Journal Review

Art Journal

I bought a new sketch book- it's actually a Strathmore Visual Journal marketed at creative types who like to use heavier mediums in their art like collage materials. It takes water color washes quite well as it's 140 lb300gm2 paper. Since this is kind of an art materials review I have to say that the book isn't really aimed at artists but serves as a good place to try out new techniques because the paper is heavy, very white and is bound together with a strong coil and has a very hard back.

Alcohol based markers

It takes ink and water colour washes pretty nicely...I imagine collage and texturing would work really well plastered onto this heavy paper. Obviously pencil media looks nice on the bright white paper- I used Prisma Colors on this example. Tip: it's easier to colour with pencils if you slip a hard plastic sheet behind the paper- I often forget this when I first start out a project. The sheet serves to give a smoother and harder surface for the pencils to put weight on rather than the soft paper which I find to be a bit of a hindrance when keeping drawings in any kind of bound book.

I purchased the book at Michaels in Kamloops.

Pencil Crayon drawing (unfinished)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Butterfly Effect

I created a wallpaper some time ago under the name of 12monthsOFwinter and posted it on DeviantArt. Despite the watermark it has been downloaded almost 200, 000 times since it first went online some 4 years ago.
It consistently shows up on the first page of a search for 'butterfly wallpaper' in search engines (partially because it has been uploaded to various sites- usually without permission). Since I can't go back in time or stem the tide I am uploading a new version at DA and new versions for various devices- but with my real name on it rather than an avatar watermark.
These are all at 100 pixels per inch at various dimensions for Blackberry, Android, Symbian, Windows, Apple etc. I'm sure there's an image that will work for most phones.

December, Merritt

 Country Christmas has come and gone in Merritt. We had a huge parade this year- I think it was 45 minutes or so which was tough in the cold. While it was enjoyable I won't be photographing a parade again for 'fun' in that kind of cold again- unless someone pays me!

My hands were shaking by the time Coopers 'float' came by!

 I did meet a fellow photographer out there who I have seen before at rodeos- now that we have Facebook it's easy to see and appreciate what other photographers are doing.

Saw a bit of the concert at the Civic Center afterwards and then checked out all the crafters exhibits. 

The band master gave this ornately carved staff to Othmar to hold- he should have kept it!

Of course I had seen most of it the day before while setting up with the Valley Visual Artists but there are simply SO many nice things to see- and shop for!

My husband got some nice garlic mustard and seasoning from Mountainside Garlic .

Delicious goodies!

 Art wasn't a big seller at the fair but it's kind of an odd venue...still I enjoyed it.

The Valley Visual Artists hanging their show and sale

On day two we all just started drawing...this is what I came up with.

My husband and I were at an art reception for Cass Dolen and Meriel Barber at the Courthouse Gallery on Saturday. This show is set up through the Nicola Valley Community Art's Council and it was REALLY nice. Meriel is the new gallery curator and this is her first show there. Cass has shown before but she has a lot of new work. The pieces are of a fairly large size and it's wonderful to see art on that scale...especially for someone who likes to work on smaller scale (I paint the odd miniature). 

Cass Dolens work- Meriels at the far end.

One of Meriel's paintings- this one sold at the reception.

And finally, last night we had dinner at the annual Christmas get-together of the Valley Visual Artists. Shirley S. hosted and it was a really nice evening.

Art and Photography

by Heidi Koehler

I had some drawings up at the last art show in Merritt - mostly bird portraits that I was very pleased with. I was on a real roll with drawing and I will include fine art along with photography when I promote myself. Drawing was a big part of my life for many years and it's a good time to promote that as well as my photography Services.

I had 6 marker drawings, 1 of which was painted with dyes, and one black and white portrait at the Courthouse show last month.

Speaking of which I attended the first art in the garden at Baillie House this year - the first year it was decided to have art in the garden once a month (approximately). There is a strong focus on garden wares for sale; glass garden ornaments (whimsies) and hand crafted outdoor art.

My first set up at Art in the garden at Baillie House in Merritt.

Next door is the farmers market where you can buy for the most part organic produce, home baked goods etc. This month art in the garden at Baillie House will be July 20th and I plan to be there.

My husband keeping an eye on the tables at Art In The Garden at Baillie House in Merritt, B.C.

Pen, Ink And Photography

I've been doing a fair bit of pen and ink this year as well as photography. I participated in the Nicola Valley Community Arts Council's "Night Of the Arts" with some black and white work and really wish there was more time in the day for art. Alas. :)

These went to the show at the Merritt Civic Center

 I will simply post some of my latest works:

Banff- digitally coloured

Corvin wants a cracker- still have to clean up the digital paint spill :)

Xiangjiang Tree in progress

The Vuture

Test

Ignore this test

Knightmare

I had a 'knight'mare. I dreamt that I was on the grounds of a castle estate. I had a knife in my hand to defend myself against an evil force that was haunting the walls. Several times I thrust the knife into thin air but the evil thing eluded me. At the last it came out of a tree that grew very close to the castle wall and again I thrust my knife and the spirit flew forward and came right at me. That's when I awoke- screaming.

Later on when recounting this dream to my husband (who shook my shoulder that night and calmed me down) I told him what I had been researching- an old abby called Kloster Lehnin in Brandenburg that had a legend associated with it where the hero fell asleep in an oak grove and was threatened by an aggressive stag. The hero could not use his spear to defend himself until he prayed for help...something like that.

In other words, my not-so-original nightmare was the same as the hero's but there was no time to pray. I've obviously spent way too much time researching a project and it might be getting time to give it up. Namely, building a family tree that connects names from the 1700’s to the 1800’s. I’m missing family names that would connect those generations…don’t really know anymore where to take it as I’ve even checked the armorial archives for the relevant area. Oh well, maybe one day I will get to see Oberwart one day and ask what family is left if they know more.

That last picture is a photo taken by either my mother or father of my sister, brother and me when we were in our early teens. It's one of my favorite pictures and I'm feeling sentimental tonight. :)

Shana - a Film in Lower Nicola.

From the set of 'Shana - The Wolf's Music'. This movie was filmed for the most part in Lower Nicola and features a lot of local talent. I originally went to the set with my husband to show support for local events/doings and saw a lot of people I knew. Now looking at the photos I recognize other people who have since appeared in the talent show that went on in Merritt this past summer.

We had great weather fortunately and filming lasted into the evening. There had been a call for people to come out to be extras and I was surprised at how few people could find the time to do so but it has to be said people were busy getting the most out of their summer and the production people were trying to be low key about the whole thing. When we arrived they were asking people to call up friends to come down to the set...my husband and I actually became extras kind of out of empathy.

I would rather have taken more photos but we had to hide our cameras and water bottles when the cameras were rolling because the director didn't want it to look touristy I guess. In any case, it was still fascinating to see the workings behind a film production in this way. I know a little about the plot but won't say much because that's for the producers distribution team to take care of!

It's nice that our area is becoming more known in the filming world for locations and talent...I'm looking forward to seeing the film when it's eventually released.

NOTE: The copyright watermark is extremely visible to show that no rights are given to repost these images. If you want prints or other uses contact me via email.

Water Festival

Yesterday my husband and I stopped by Rotary Park to check out the Water Festival. This is kind of like 'Rivers Day' and was hosted by an organization called the Nicola Watershed Community Roundtable. The weather was really nice although a bit cool towards the evening. The first person we talked to was a man from Oceans and Fisheries Canada who showed us the display that was set up and then discussed fish farming and such topics. There was a tank of coho fry and a cute little display of the life cycle from the roe to fry stage. We had a hot dog after that and checked out the art on display which was themed on the subject of water naturally. The musicians were setting up as we wandered around the mostly educational displays and then I saw all the wooden fish laying on boxes on the ground. "Come and paint a fish!" they said so I picked up a fish and found a brush and went at it. There were lots of plywood cutouts of fish and birds and the idea was to paint both sides and then place them along either the Nicola or Coldwater Rivers in Merritt. I think these cutout will eventually be attached to the fence of one of the schools afterwards. I was really getting into it actually- after doing one I did two more! Othmar meanwhile had decided that the salmon dinner at the concession looked really tasty so got us some tickets and so with paint still on my fingers we chowed down on an absolutely delicious salmon dinner. Brambles Bakery ran that one and of course the little pastries for dessert were fantastic too. It was a good stop for Friday...we had to do grocery shopping afterwards and it's always better to do that on a full stomach!