Why Paint? Habit or Calling?

Fine art prints available for on-line sale at teresayoungartist.ca

Blue wave fish by Teresa Young, acrylic on wood.

Catch the Wave, Acrylic - 7"x4", 2015

Catch the Wave, Acrylic - 7"x4", 2015

I haven't written a blog on this site for quite some time. 

The 3 Faces of Eve, Acrylic-18"x18", 2016

Recently, I've been thinking I'd give this another try...
A lot has happened since my last post. I tried an auction site and found that it didn't really work out. (Maybe I'll try it again at a later date!) 

I also joined a co-operative artists gallery in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada), 

And I closed down my old website and set up a new site on artstorefronts.com.

Art from 2015 by Teresa Young

Organic Wind, acrylic-11"x14", 2015

Kneeling Woman Surreal, acrylic-11"x14", 2015

On the Move, acrylic-7"x5", acrylic, 2015

Queen of Hearts, acrylic-4"x8", 2015

Draco Dreams, acrylic-7"x4",2015

What Lies Underneath, acrylic-7"x4", 2015

Art Bomb - A Canadian On-Line Auction Site



Undercurrents by Teresa Young

  Recently, I have been picked to become one of the artists whose work is available through ArtBomb, a Canadian online auction site for Canadian art.


 ArtBomb is a carefully curated, subscriber-based daily online auction featuring artwork by Canadian art stars. Launched in December, 2011, ArtBombDaily.com is a brand new, successful way for artists to market and sell their work to thousands of potential buyers.

ArtBomb is a service that delivers one email featuring one to three artworks into subscribers’ inboxes every morning - seven days a week. Bidding opens with a starting bid at 6 a.m. and closes at 11 p.m. at which point the highest bid wins the piece. All works are delivered ready to hang. 

ArtBomb is coast to coast across Canada with outstanding curators in each region working hard to find the stars of the local scene. Through their experienced eyes, ArtBomb highlights an incredible array of exciting new pieces everyday: paintings, prints, photography, sculpture, drawing and mixed media. It's ArtBomb’s goal to make it easy to access incredible Canadian art. We're working hard to keep ArtBomb fresh and relevant.



More Experimentation with Different Subjects

 More Experimentation with Different Subjects has led me to finally try my hand at cat portraits, seascapes, and other 3D sculptures created by Jerry Walsh and painted by me.
If you paint for years, eventually, you can become hemmed in by your own style from time to time and need a break.  I guess it's a matter of dipping your toes in the water outside your own comfort zone. A matter of figuring out if the direction you want to move in.
For years, I've moved into abstract areas, with predominance in abstraction, maybe thirty percent surrealism, and then every once in a blue moon, something that is more realistic, but is still based in fantasy. 

On the side, I've played around with artisan crafts in the form of painting assorted wooden boxes, candlesticks and painting on glass. The fish and cats with Jerry Walsh are a natural extension to this trend.


Last summer, during the studio tour on the Peggy's Cove Festival of the Arts, I was at Mariposa in Tantallon all weekend.
I wandered over to Super Store for lunch one day and saw a wooden table (unfinished) on sale, picked it up and painted and finished it while I was manning my display! It's a nice table, and I use it for many things because it folds up.

Painted Table by Teresa Young

Experimenting in 3D Fish Galore!

Haida Fish by Teresa Young

 I haven't written a post here for over a year, and I thought I'd catch up. Lately, I've been experimenting around with my art, stretching my boundaries, trying to figure out what works for me at this stage in my evolution.

It started with the Haida Fish I painted for the Peggy's Cove Festival of the Arts 'Go Fish' competition last year. I really enjoyed that and thought I'd pursue that road for a bit. I met Jerry Walsh, the artisan who does the fish sculptures and we decided to collaborate.
Which was really great! Jerry is a wonderful and versatile artist who has great ideas.

More Art in 2014

African Dreams by Teresa Young
11x14 in, acrylic on canvas.




Bubble Floats by Teresa Young11x14 in, acrylic on canvas.



Primary Calls by Teresa Young60 x 80 cm, acrylic on canvas.



Darkness Rolls by Teresa Young16x20in, acrylic on canvas.



Divine Dance by Teresa Young16x20in, acrylic on canvas.



Freedom of Imagination by Teresa Young16x20in, acrylic on canvas.



Lavender Skies by Teresa Young16x20in, acrylic on canvas.



Liberty in Shadows by Teresa Young16x20in, acrylic on canvas.



Retrieving My Roots by Teresa Young16x20in, acrylic on canvas.




Painting in 2014

http://teresayoung.artistwebsites.com/

I've been trying new things this year, such as teaching a class on the basics of acrylic painting in February... For that, I had to figure out something everyone could relate to as a painting subject, and I settled on birds.  You can see on the left, it's in a style I thought I left behind years ago,  realism....

And following that, I started trying out other paintings in a more realistic fashion... I guess after you stay away from it for really long, it's all new again!
I figure, why limit myself?  I'm versatile, so I might as well move in any direction I please.
I'm posting here a cross section of where I've gone this year as a painter. As you can see, I'm not sticking to one area!

What We Do To Our Cats!

I saw the funniest thing last night and it reminded me of one of the reasons why I have cats as pets.  Of course, I have cats because I love them, they are affectionate, interesting and fun to pet...
Also, I found after my eighteen year old cat died a couple of years ago, I just couldn't sleep well at night without that feeling of a cat in the room. Weird!  The room felt less comfortable, odd to say.

Anyway, back to what reminded me about why I have cats at all... And the answer is, comic relief!
Sometimes, they do things that are just downright hilarious... 
So, basically, you are sitting there, minding your own business, and the animal that always lands on it's feet, doesn't.

Or, the epitome of grace that walks among us, walks, and is definitively not graceful...
And when they go off the rails, they are so totally shocked and appalled by what is happening, that it only adds to how funny the situation is!

Have you ever seen a cat fall backwards off a coffee table?  Their expression is priceless!  That's what I witnessed yesterday, and boy, I didn't stop laughing for ten minutes!
The other thing that's pretty entertaining what we do to them... They are so stiff with dignity, I don't think pet owners can really resist it!
I have a yearly tradition of putting these antlers I bought at a pet store years ago on whatever cats don't move fast enough to avoid me... (Yes, I tend to do this every year!)
But nowadays, you don't even have to do this type of thing yourself! 
The Internet is full of YouTube videos of cats in embarrassing situations, and they are funny, some incredibly so.
I feel sorry for the cats, but on some level, I know they deserve it;-)