Artist talk at RLAA

I have been a member of the Rideau Lakes Artists Association for a couple of years; though I rarely am able to make it to their monthly meetings. Whenever I do, however, I'm always impressed with the enthusiasm and vitality of this group of artists.  There is a whole gamut of experience from seasoned artists with years of experience as well as new artists who are equally welcomed and encouraged in the group.  They hold many workshops for their membership and exhibitions around the Rideau Lakes vicinity. There's always something going on; once a month they hold their membership meetings and after business is finished and refreshments have been served, there is usually a speaker or a demonstration to enjoy for the second part of the meeting.  I was invited to be that speaker at the RLAA yesterday. 

As it's a vibrant group of artists I wanted to talk about something that every artist can relate to, which is the evolution of an artists style and their career.  For me the best way to express  the living/changing nature of art was to present a slide show of how my own art has morphed through the years.  

Great Grandfather was chief restoration/repair
artist for the vast collection at Burghley House

I also included a little ancestral background of artists within my family, which I felt also related to how my art has developed.

Burghley House, near
Stamford, Lincolnshire, UK

It's funny, in my life as a student the thing I hated most was standing in front of a group and having to do a speech or a talk.  It struck terror into me... but there was none of that yesterday. 

 The RLAA has a super system for presenting power-point slide shows, and after a few technical difficulties initially setting it up, David Gilmore got it running smoothly for me.  I was very grateful to him for that because having it to spur along my discussion points made it way easier and quite natural for me.  I was delighted, many folks asked me questions afterwards (a good sign they found it interesting; bored people don't ask, they just want it to be over! ha ha!)  It was a really good experience!

Next month, Michelle LaRose is scheduled to speak.  I think I will try and make it to that meeting as I'd be interested to hear about her process of creating her contemporary abstracts.