We couldn’t have asked for better weather than we had for the 2015 edition of the 263 Art Studio Tour!   Thanks to Donna, we also had a fantastic venue in their family garage which even had freshly painted walls!

Donna Cessna is an acrylic and mixed media painter, Jeannette Lussier paints her originals in oil and then uses a colour sublimation process to create tiles from digital copies of the originals.  My works are watercolours done using a batik-like process on Ginwashi paper.  Three artists – three individual styles!  Here we are, ready to start making connections with our visitors.

And connect we did.  As I said in my last post, as artists we create the works but it is not until others view it that it is complete.  Everyone who came by seemed genuinely excited to be on the tour and interacting with the wide variety of art.  We enjoyed talking about our inspirations and processes.

We had the opportunity to share our art with people who call Saskatchewan home and others visiting the area from Alberta, New York and Belgium. We heard stories about work they had already seen at other studios on the tour and talked about what they were going to see next.  This is Saskatchewan and the seven degrees of separation between people seems smaller here so many of our conversations led to the people or places we knew in common.

©Paige Mortensen Blooming Briefly Watercolour 16×16″ $525

Beyond the connections with our visitors there were a few highlights for me:
~ I had time to get to know two wonderful artists!  I enjoyed the weekend with both of you!
~ Sharing the experience with family who drove 2 hours just to stop in and see our ‘gallery’!
~ After I got home a friend sent me a note saying: “A friend of mine was one of the visitors and just raved about your work, recommended that I look at it!”  Funny that the visitor and I hadn’t found our link – but thanks to her for sharing her enthusiasm!

And, an added bonus was that we were at the lake and I could spend some quiet time sitting by the water!

Thanks to everyone who participated in this year’s 263 Art Studio Tour!