Studio stuff.

A view of a part of Linda Heslops' studio showing a work in progress (with the masking tape), a recently finished watercolor and a framed oil/acrylic hung on the wall. All are Vancouver Island westcoast scenes.

Flowerstones and more.

Yet another one of Linda Heslops' remarkable watercolor paintings of stones. Once more this image includes poryphyr (fairly common on the beaches of Vancouver Island) and a particularly nice piece in the center of the painting shows well developed 'flowers'.

Some Stones

A Linda Heslop watercolor painting of pebbles and rocks including granite and porphyry (flowerstone) collected locally on Vancouver Island.

Stones and barnacles.

A watercolor depicting stones and barnacles trapped in a small tide pool. This image is called 'Castaways' and is available in several print formats, a better view of the print can be seen here http://www.fullcirclestudio.ca/linda/lindaheslopprints.html.

Show time!

 

Linda Heslop is having a show at Full Circle Studio starting  December 11th and these are some of the new original works that will be on display there. Only the bottom  seascape is an oil painting on canvas, the stones/pebbles and the starfish images being watercolor paintings done on  canvas. She's been extremely busy preparing new originals for the show and there are many more fresh works to be displayed there.

Starfish Trooper

Material for Linda Heslops' watercolors of sea stars come from photographs such as these. Abundant in rocky crevices at low tide, they await the seas return. These pictures were taken on the shoreline of Hornby Island (off Vancouver Islands' eastcoast).

Sea Stacks

Sea stacks, small and rugged islands like these are abundant off the westcoast of Vancouver Island. Both of these watercolor paintings were done from photographs taken on our 'off the beaten path' adventures to the wild westcoast. The following photograph shows a cluster of small sea stacks, with bonsai trees, at San Josef Bay near the northern tip of Vancouver Island. It's a wonderful place, easily accessed from the end of the logging road and well worth the 2.5km stroll through the forest to get there. Two vehicle campsites are near the trailhead, one is a Forest Service site but our preferred one is San Josef Heritage Park where considerably more daylight gets in.

Knowledge cast in stone.

 

This image of a Japanese concrete casting is called 'Knowledge', the exact meaning of the inscription apparently does not translate well into English but roughly says something along the line of We already have everything. If anyone can shed better light on the translation please make a comment.

Linda Heslop painted this in acrylic on canvas several years ago, a similar watercolor but with the casting set on a background of stones and pebbles had been painted prior to this. The casting resides in our garden.

Arrival of the wettest.

Linda Heslop painted this large triptych seascape in acrylic and oil on 3 canvas boards, it is called 'Arrival'. The original image has a sale pending but is also available as a giclee print available from Full Circle Studio Arts. A typical view of the westcoast of Vancouver Island from the Long Beach area.

Rockin' new watercolors.

Linda spent Saturday and Sunday signing prints of these two new watercolors (here shown on the one sheet of paper they were done on) at the Victoria Home Show. They're so fresh that the giclee art prints were  picked up from the printers on Saturday morning! A limited edition print series of 200 each has been run off.
The work on the right half of the sheet has already been sold to a couple from Calgary, I believe the one of the rocks on the left is still available as an original.

Just a few stones!

This watercolor by artist Linda Heslop is called 'Abundance'. Easy to see why eh? There's pebbles, stones and small rocks all depicted in photo-realistic fashion. Count 'em if you can ;-)

Seeing Sea Stars.

A watercolor of sea stars and anemones awaiting the tides return. Pieces of broken shell litter the anemones bodies, and closed up like that, they have an 'alien eye' kind of appearance.

And another of sea stars, Purple Sea Stars again, though they come in a variety of colors. This time they're around a shallow pool nestled in with some pebbles.

Very common to our beaches on Vancouver Island, sea stars and anemones are easily spotted clinging to rocks and in rock pools at low tide. Linda used photographs from our camping trips for reference for her paintings.

Shells 'n Stones.

Shells and stones, still life watercolors from photographs taken at various beaches are another of Lindas' favorite subjects.

Moss Street Paint In.

Saturday, July 19th, 2008 was the date for the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria's 21st Annual Moss Street Paint In. This free event attracts more than 30k visitors over the course of the 6 or so hours it lasts, that's a lot of exposure! Linda had not planned to attend and thus her participation was unofficial. Usually, for July weekends we hope to be going camping but circumstances prevented this, so when Val (her agent) suggested setting up on a friends lawn she decided to go for it. (Most residences have unofficial attendees using their yards, driveways etc).

The street is closed to traffic at 9am for artists to be able to get set up, so we got there far too early and put the display up. I left shortly afterwards and returned with our daughter at about 11am just as the first visitors were arriving. Still fairly quiet as the pics show. Sarah and I toured about a half of the event and on returning to Lindas' site we noticed 2 sold stickers already attached to pieces. Hmmm, not a bad start. I took Sarah home and got on with replacing our front porch deck for a few hours awaiting a phone call to help dismantle everything for Linda.

So around 4pm I went back. Still a lot of people on the street, making it awkward to drive to the site. I can't tell you just how surprised I was to find there was practically no product left to take away. They'd run out of everything twice and had to get more product from Vals' gallery along with more credit card slips!! People had queued to purchase, anything from art cards to posters and limited editions to giclees, then queued again to have them signed personally. Not that Linda's unknown around here but the quality of work by other artists is extremely high, so she felt very honoured by the public response to her work.

Some advice for anyone attending in the future..... get there early. The event becomes very busy by midday and so it's more difficult to take everything in with the crowds milling around the displays. You can also park somewhat closer by and you'll be thankful for that when the long slow plod up and down Moss St is finished.

Island Time

Three watercolors of some of Vancouver Islands many offshore islands followed by a few photos of the places we go where inspiration develops.

Art for Arts' Sake, Money for Godsake!!

Not my work!! This blog will mostly be about my talented and creative wifes' artwork, mostly done in watercolor. So.....

Linda Heslop.

Linda Heslop was born into a creative environment and spent her early years encouraged and tutored by her artist/architect father.

Working as a freelance illustrator, for many years she designed logos and illustrated numerous magazines and books internationally, including her own book "The Art of Caving". Linda is an outdoor enthusiast having spent decades in cave exploration and surveying in remote areas in Canada and the U.S.

Her true love is Vancouver Island, where she lives, and it is this island, it's shores in particular, which inspire almost all of her work. An interest in geology and its shaping by time is expressed in her many intricate depictions of beach stones. A passion for biology is reflected in her intertidal paintings. It is "the utter joy of being there" that she aims to capture and in doing so hopes to instill the need for preservation of this unique and beautiful place.

She works in watercolor, oil, acrylic, pencil and ink and is represented by Canadian Art Connections who produce and distribute reproductions of her works on both paper and canvas.

And as for the title, well, she ain't in it for the money, artists do it for the love of it. (But lucrative offers will be gratefully accepted!!)