I thought I would show in photo format how I actually create one of my paintings.

1.  Take a photo of the desired subject.

2.  Sketch a rough outline – I am not a big fan of composition, so I do it very roughly just to give me an idea of where I will put down the colour.

3.  Put down the colour and blend blend blend (with my fingers)

4.  Once the colour is down, I finish the entire piece with black over the colour.

5.  Cracks are added

“Interpreting the Landscape”  was a beautiful show with four talented artists, including Norm Vipond, Sharalee Regehr, Warren Goodman and yours very truly, ME! put on by the Ferry Building Gallery in West Vancouver.

The objective of the show was to display how four different artists interpret the landscape -in our very different and unique styles.  The show is long over, but you can see from the photos above how wildly successful it was.

For the month of July and August (2010 – just in case we skip ahead a year and I haven’t blogged) I will have my little teeny tiny paintings displayed at the Leighdon Studio Gallery – located at 190 West 3rd Avenue in Vancouver.

Jane Richardson, the owner of Leighdon Studio Gallery also puts out the wildly successful book “BC Artists” – The first edition has done very well, and guess who – yes, you guessed it,  yours truly, Gigi Hoeller, will be in the second edition.

I know I’m not the best blogger if you check this blog on a regular basis…  I don’t keep up to date with the latest happenings.  I have a life outside of the computer, I have a fabulous partner, four dogs that I love with a passion,  a big flower and vegetable garden, and of course I paint all the time.  So how much time do I have to spend on the computer? I also have a gallery attached to my house, which adds to my busy schedule.  So finding the time to sit down, think of things to write about and then take the time to compose what I want to write makes my head want to explode.  The question is, do you want to hear about my artwork, my shows? or my personal daily life painting, being in the garden and the crazy stories I have of my dogs…

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I recently started a new series of paintings, or perhaps they are not new…  I started this series twenty years ago, stopped and then suddenly decided it was time to start painting this particular subject matter again.  Why and how did this happen, you ask?  Believe it or not, when I asked a friend what I should write about on the blog, she said, “Why don’t you write about how the 2010 Olympics has inspired you.”  At the time, I thought this was complete nonsense, the Olympics hadn’t inspired me at all, in fact, they pissed me off.  Come on, there are better things to do with ALL THAT MONEY in Vancouver than have the Olympics.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I love the Olympics, I thought I’d be in the Olympics for swimming when I was a teenager, but my swimming career didn’t head in that particular direction…  And besides, Im much happier being an artist.

So when I tried to connect how the Olympics inspired me, I simply couldn’t…  But then, even though I was a nay sayer, I decided to watch the Opening Ceremonies…  The tribute to the First Nations people of Canada was truly inspiring, and brough tears to my eyes, and a new series of paintinge evolved.

The images seen here are all from totems located throughout British Columbia.

Well…  I didn’t have to wait too long – I guess nagging sometimes pays off…  (unless you’re married)

The gents from Capilano Highways came knocking on my door to see where I wanted the sign placed – on either side of Leaning Tree Road on the highway…  They mentioned that the sub sign was still on order, the sub-sign would state that I was a painter – originally I was asked if I wanted to be labelled a painter, sculptor or a  glass blower; I didn’t realize I had an option…  Brian, my fabulous husband piped up and said, “Painter?  We don’t want it to say Painter…  How about “Gigi Hoeller Gallery”"  The two Capliano Highways gents shrugged their shoulders and said they could easily change the order…  Within three hours, I received a phone call to tell me that “Gigi Hoeller Gallery” was ordered and should be ready within a few weeks.  yay!

Artisan sign on the highway

But…  I still have a few tricks up my sleeve…  Stay tuned.

The most exciting thing to happen in Halfmoon Bay on the Sunshine Coast, about ten minutes after Sechelt, just off the Sunshine Coast Highway, on North Leaning Tree Road at 8000 Birch Way is the new art gallery called The Gigi Butterfly Art Gallery, filled with bright and happy paintings.

I hand painted the sign you see on the side of the highway, I did this in desperation when a professional sign painter told me it would take three weeks paint a sign for me.  I was aghast, and reluctantly and with great hesitation painted my own sign.

After having the sign on the highway for three weeks, I received a phone call from the highways department, who received a phone call from the Ministry of Transportation who received a phone call from the Sunshine Coast Regional District. (wow, that was a mouthful) They told me that if I didn’t remove my illegal sign, they would remove it for me.  Gasp!  All that work for nothing?

I am in the process of trying to get an “A” Artisan sign which the highways department will put up on my behalf.  It’s a long and slow process; hopefully the sign will go up on the highway some time this summer…

I still put my illegal sign on the highway  on the weekends because I know the highways department isn’t working and they won’t take it away.  tsk tsk.  I know, I’m bad, but  a girls gotta do, what a girls gotta do!

The gallery is filled with paintings of my bright and colourful flowers on one side and framed paintings of my mixed media landscapes, garden scapes, home portraits and architecture on the other side.  I also have some new exciting pieces which are not on my website yet, (you might be able to see if you look really closely at the photos).  If you come to the gallery, you can even see some of my old old artwork:  Evolution.

The paintings are forever changing, I’m constantly doing art shows and putting paintings up in other locations around Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast.  So you’ll just have to come by and see what’s going on here.

Please note:  If you’re following the “Purple Banner Tour” the map is slightly wrong, and I’m located on the other side of the highway on the Purple Banner Map.  (The North side, the side with the mountains not the ocean)

If you come in a bad mood, you will hopefully leave in a good mood.  It’s not easy being cranky around this much happy colour!