Toronto Summer Weekend Happenings.

So happy to be living in the heart of this great city. There is an energy and excitement to downtown living and it fills me with creative inspiration. This past weekend there was so much going on in Toronto it was hard to choose which events to attend.

After dinner E and I decided to take a walk to David Pecaut Square to check out Luminato Festival 2013.

One Thousand Speculations, Canadian artist Michael De Broin's installation was very cool. It's the largest mirror ball in the world.

That's one amazingly large disco ball.

We then strolled up to Queen Street West to check out the set-up for the MMVA's. Much Music Video Awards. The corner of Queen and John Streets close down annually for this huge music event.

Tons of scaffolding and lights make up the stage.

 This was the smaller stage on John Street.

That's me enjoying the lights and fog machine.

Serena Ryder doing a sound check. It was a great night. So much to see and do and just a short walk from our front door too.

Buried Treasure.

Today is Buried Treasure on the Altered Page. Seth Apter has asked participating artists to re-post their best blog posts. Not an easy thing to do and I'm not even up to 500 posts yet. I've chosen three posts that were very special moments for me.

Cityline March 2010. Kimberley Seldon discussing 'toille' with Tracy Moore. Kimberley included one of my small paintings in the design segment (and even pronounced my name correctly!) You can read the entire post here.

Sign Sign Everywhere a Sign is my second choice. I have a serious love of Vegas, Old Vegas, and neon. You can read the entire post here.

My third best blog post is Eclectic Elegance. I was thrilled to see one of my paintings included in the 2012 Benjamin Moore Color Trends brochure. A second painting was used in a home tour with Sharon Grech on a Cityline episode. The entire post is here.

So now head on over to the Altered Page where you can see all the participating artists. Happy reading!

Toronto Restaurant Signs.

I've had a nostalgic fondness for signs as far back as I can remember. When I was eight my father worked as a sign painter for a small chain of stores. At times he let me be in the studio while he worked. I loved to watch him mix the paints. He used special brushes made from real hair that I wasn't allowed to touch. I remember how smoothly his hand would flow over the paper as he did the hand lettering. This combined with our many road trips down to Florida and my fondness for signs grew stronger. I saw many hotel and restaurant signs while sitting for hours in the car on these trips and my love for neon was born. 

I started with small paintings of Toronto restaurant signs and went on to do larger ones. These are available at Art Interiors.

 Fred's Not Here 6x6 acrylic on canvas

$150.

 Good Food 6x6 acrylic on canvas

$150.

 Swan 6x6 acrylic on canvas

SOLD

 Skyline 6x6 acrylic on canvas

$150.

Kit Kat 6x6 acrylic on canvas

$150.

 Gusto 30x30 acrylic on canvas

$1500.

Swan Restaurant 30x30 acrylic on canvas

$1500.

In Progress.

In progress. There are so many paintings and projects in progress at the moment. Three large canvases are started, the backgrounds almost complete. Four larger brand new canvases sit all bright and white awaiting their turn in the spare room. Finished paintings have been taken to get photographed. I've purchased paints for another DIY and I've been selecting pieces for my art wall in the making.

I have a special collaboration in the works but its much too soon for any real details yet. This is going to be BIG and I'm over the moon when I think about it. It's something that has been on my mind for a few years now, and a few months ago I decided to get off the fence and just go for it. Special things do happen when you step out of your comfort zone. So grateful for all the new and exciting opportunities lately.

It's Treasure Time over on Seth Apter's blog the Altered Page next week and I've signed on to participate.  I agree with Seth in that "there are so many blogs and so little time". So next Wednesday, June 12th, artists will re post one or more of their best blog posts and Seth will have links to each artist on his blog. You can get full details on Buried Treasure here.