Painter Doris Charest would like to share some views with you. That's 'views' with a capital 'V'.
Views is the name of her new solo exhibit coming to the Visual Arts Studio Association Gallery. The title refers to her perspectives on the Alberta landscape, a subject that she clearly revels in.
"It's all landscapes! It's my main topic. This one is a topic that I touch all the time," she said, noting that she has a different series still on at the PAVA Gallery.
"I'm obsessed with landscape," she admitted, with a good-natured laugh.
Like any such-afflicted artist, she knows that the only cure is to give in to the obsession. Here, she has a series of 30-plus small paintings mostly from Alberta but some painted after a trip to Mexico a few years ago.
Some are blends of the two, she said, noting that some Alberta scenes were painted with a palette based on the colours of Mexico. There's a wintry mountain scene, for example, that looks as if the sky is made of the azure blue of the waters of the Caribbean.
"Some of the landscape that I saw was not too different from around here. I was surprised about that, like the farming fields … I guess I just started using their colours for a while rather than the traditional Alberta blues and browns and golds. These have more of a hot yellow and bright colours."
She added that it does take on a bit of a Fauvist bent.
At the same time as this exhibit takes place, she is also working on putting painting courses online at www.udemy.com. She already has a mixed media collage course available. It will become available on her website (www.dorischarest.com) by mid-month.
Views runs until May 1. An opening reception will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sat., April 11. The artist will be in attendance.
VASA is located at 25 Sir Winston Churchill Ave. Call 780-460-5990 or visit www.vasa-art.com for more information.
Blanchet spills water in bookstore
She calls her new show an invitation but what does that mean? Is she being a punster by inviting people to something called Invitation?
"I'd like us to consider more carefully how we are treating the planet," Karen Blanchet stated. "I'm calling for more respect and more consideration, and a better balance in our world."
It's mostly a series of figures in landscapes based on themes of invitations to forgive, to risk, to ponder. They are mainly from the Jasper area and Tofino on Vancouver Island.
She recently ran a series of art at the mezzanine gallery at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital. That featured 11 paintings from her Connections (Célébrons les liens) series.
Blanchet is set to return to the Glenrose with a watercolour exhibit in its Blue Curve Gallery in the fall, while the full Connections series of 21 works is scheduled for the Visual Arts Studio Association Gallery before the end of the year. She indicated that she would also be one of a larger group of contributors for an upcoming show at VASA in June.
Invitation runs until May 4. An opening reception will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sat., April 11. The artist will be in attendance.
The Bookstore on Perron is located at 7 Perron Street. Call 780-458-3155 or visit the store's Facebook page for more information.
