Final Days in the Window Dragonfly Arts on Broadway in Orangeville

It's a sunny warm day at last in southern Ontario.  The snow may finally give way.  This is very late notice, but if you're up for a country drive this weekend, maybe a curvy turn along the Credit Valley and on to Orangeville's scenic little downtown, you could take in my solo storefront window exhibition at Dragonfly Arts on Broadway,  where I'm one of many Canadian artists represented. 

Grey Pony Pair in Harness, oil on panel, 12" x 12" ©Shannon Reynolds

My show comes down Tuesday morning, so don't delay.  Some paintings will stay with the gallery, but most others will have flown. If you arrive outside of business hours, but see something you'd like, please contact me, or the gallery directly.

The McMichael Volunteer Committee presents the Autumn Art Sale

Once again I am delighted to be participating in the Autumn Art Sale Fundraiser presented by the Volunteer Committee of the beautiful McMichael Collection in Kleinburg Ontario.

 From the volunteer committee:

With accomplished artists from across Canada applying for 50 coveted positions, the Autumn Art Sale is recognized as one of the most prestigious events displaying original works of art from some of Canada's most talented painters and sculptors. This sale is a major fundraiser for the iconic McMichael Collection. There is no better venue than the gallery's stunning Grand Hall to showcase these top artists. This is your opportunity to invest in a beautiful piece of original Canadian art that will provide a lifetime of enjoyment and exceptional investment.

If you're in the area, I'd like to invite you to come for the sale.  Admission is free with your $5 parking.   Stay for the gala on Friday night, or visit the beautiful gallery and walk the gorgeous property of the McMichael Collection on Saturday or Sunday.

Thanks to your support last year, I was one of the top 10 participating artists of last year's event. I hope to see some of you again this year. I will have over 40 new paintings available at the sale.  I'll post some of them here in the next few days. Or visit my facebook or instagram pages @shannonreynoldsart .

Portraitist Goes to the Birds

Globe Studios Art Show and Sale Friday November 25th and Saturday November 26th

Well, not entirely.  But I admit I've been painting many birds lately.  I've always been a birder, albeit a non-competitive, opportunistic one.  Birds are a living example of a prehistoric past, astonishing in their variety, and possessors of the perpetually amazing ability to fly.  Given their ubiquity and my recent acquisition of a super zoom camera, I've been turning to them as models more often.

Bird On a Wire, Northern Mockinbird, oil on panel, 12" x 12"

Birds of many a feather I've painted will be on display and for sale at the Globe Studios Art Show and Open House today and tomorrow, from fancy pigeons, to urban gulls, and birds of prey.  Some fish and fauna and even a landscape are also part of my little wall space.  I hope to see some of you there.

Osprey (left side), oil on panel, 12" x 12"

Osprey (right side), oil on panel, 12" x 12"

For more details of the Globe Studios Open House: http://globestudios.org/

McMichael Volunteer Committee Autumn Art Sale Fundraiser Opens Tomorrow night

 
At the McMichael Gallery in Kleinburg Ontario
 
Opening Night Gala Friday October 21 from 6 to 10 pm Complimentary Hors d'Oeuvres, Free Parking and Admission, Cash Bar
Sale continues Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 5pm, $5 parking includes free admission to the fundraiser. Regular admission rates apply to the McMichael Art Collection and exhibitions.

From the McMichael volunteer committee:
"The annual Autumn Art Sale is recognized as one of the most prestigious events to see and purchase original works from some of Canada’s most talented artists. There is no better setting than the gallery’s stunning Grand Hall, surrounded by 100 acres of beautiful conservation land, to showcase unique one-of-a-kind works.  Over the course of three days, art will be on view and available for purchase from 50 juried artists who will be in attendance. The quality and variety of works on sale will please the taste and budget of seasoned art buyers as well as those beginning to build a collection.  This is your opportunity to invest in a beautiful piece of original Canadian art that will provide a lifetime of enjoyment."

I am delighted to be one of the 50 artists selected to exhibit at this year's sale.  I will have over 30 paintings available at the show, many of them new, and I would love to see you there.

Angry Birds Through the Front Window

...of the Red Brick Cafe in Guelph, where they can be seen daily for the next few weeks, while my exhibition is hanging.

Angry Birds (detail), oil on birch panel, 30" x 40"

Angry Birds seen through the front window

My show at the Red Brick in Guelph is in its second week.  It runs through December 13th, so you still have plenty of time to stop in for a look.  Get in touch if something catches your eye.

Solo Exhibition of Paintings at the Red Brick in Guelph

Shannon Reynolds
at the Red Brick Café
8 Douglas St. Guelph, Ontario, Monday- Saturday 8am-11pm, Sunday 11am-5pm
October 26 through December 13

My paintings will be hanging at the Red Brick Café in downtown Guelph until December 13th. The exhibition features a few large paintings and many smaller landscapes and animal studies as well as some oldies but goodies from earlier series, notably my dj hands.  There's something for everyone.  The historic cafe/gallery space is high-ceilinged and light-filled with several comfortable rooms.   If you are in Guelph over the next few weeks, I hope you stop in for a cappuccino or a craft beer and let me know what you think of the show.

Globe Studios Art Show and Open House

Once again it's time for the Globe Studios open house and once again I'll be among the juried guest artists exhibiting in the halls.  It promises to be a great show and a perfect opportunity to reduce your Christmas shopping list.

Amongst the paintings I'll be showing are these two small swan portraits:

Head of a Mute Swan, oil on panel, 6" x 6"

Head of a Mute Swan, oil on panel, 6" x 6"

Globe Studios is located at 141 Whitney Place, Kitchener in the former Bonnie Stuart Shoe Factory.  The show runs Friday, November 28th from 4-9pm, and Saturday, November 29th from 11-4.   I hope to see you there.

Art In Support of FLAP Canada

Some of my recent gull paintings are going to be at the juried show at Gallery 1313 in Toronto in support of FLAP Canada whose bold mission is safeguarding migratory birds through our urban environment.  

Great Black backed Gull on Rocks (detail), oil on panel

The opening reception for the exhibition titled Flights of Fancy is Thursday, November 13, from 6:00 pm, with general admission starting at 8:00.   Gallery 1313 is located at 1313 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON.  
If you'd like your name on the guest list for the preview, please let me know to avoid disappointment. 

framing the gulls

Thank you Globe Show attendees

Thanks to everyone who came out to see the Globe Studios Art Show and Open House this Friday and Saturday.  It was an intense ten-hour-over-two-days event featuring over 30 artists and hundreds of attendees.
 

What a great opportunity to talk at length to the public and fellow artists.

Globe Studios Art Show and Open House this weekend

I spent part of this beautiful day hanging my paintings at Globe Studios in Kitchener.  Twice yearly Globe studios opens its doors to the public for a tour of the studios and an exhibition of works by resident and local artists.  I am pleased to be one of the guest artists included in the juried exhibition that will line the halls of the studios. All of the participating artists will be present for the duration of the show. If you're in town this weekend, I hope you'll come by and say hello.

My thanks to Michelle Purchase, whose studio my work is hanging just outside.  Michelle has an exhibition of 40 or so of her beautiful prints hanging at the Red Brick Cafe in Guelph until this Sunday and as a result of having so few pieces left to show, Michelle generously donated her wall space to me, giving me a little extra real estate and allowing me to hang fifteen paintings.

Splish Splash

Splash #1 Common Grackle, oil on panel 8" x 8"

Sleek handsome and suave one moment, outrageous posturing goofballs the next: the grackles have returned.  I've missed their strutting, sky pointing, and puffing up to the point of exploding before releasing discordant squawks.  We have a peanut mix in the bird feeder right now and when a grackle picks one out, it parades around with its prize, dropping it and picking it up, washing it in the birdbath, in a sustained effort to break it into smaller pieces.

Splash #1 Common Grackle, oil on panel 8" x 8"

I'll be showing these two paintings among others at the Globe Studio's Spring Open House and Art show this Friday and Saturday where I'll be one of several guest artists exhibiting work alongside the resident studio artists. Click here for more information about the show.

Globe Studios Art Show and Open House

Spring Hunter: American Robin (detail), oil on panel

 The ultimate harbinger of spring.  Lethal foe of grubs and earthworms.

Spring Hunter: American Robin, oil on panel, 9" x 12"

I'll be showing this painting among others at the Globe Studios Art Show and Open House where I'll be participating as a guest artist this May 9th and 10th. Please visit the studio facebook page here for more information.

Max and the Chocolate Chips

During a recent portrait sitting I discovered the usefulness of chocolate chips as a bribe for encouraging an active, two year old boy to sit for a pose, but I hadn’t considered the mess.  Here’s Max, nearly two, with his adorable chocolate chip smeared face, and mischief in his eyes: 

Max with chocolate chip smeared face, oil on panel, 9" x 12"

 And here’s Max, beautifully framed by Dimensions Custom Framing and Gallery:   

 

Max, framed

The framers and gallerists, Wendy and Ellen, liked my work enough to take a few of my pieces for their Toronto gallery space.  I’ll have six small paintings in their Small Works Holiday Show & Sale opening December 12^th.   The gallery is at 732 Queen St East (just east of Broadview on the North side) in Toronto.  Hope some of you can make it.

Portraiture Exhibition Opens Saturday

I have a couple of pieces in a new group portrait exhibition opening this Saturday at the Harbinger gallery in Waterloo. Both are from my ongoing series At the Feet of the Master(ed). One, What's Mine is Yours, is featured on the invitation, above. Three of the four artists in the show--Allan Harding MacKay, Isabella Stefanescu, and I--were featured in the first season of Star Portraits. Karen Fletcher, a figurative sculptor, adds another dimension to the show.

My new painting, If you remind me of my dog... I'm publishing here for the first time.

If you remind me of my dog... oil on panel, 30" x 40", 2010

As I was composing the painting, I kept humming the refrain from Jane Siberry's song, Everything reminds me of my dog: "If you remind me of my dog, we'll probably git along, little doggie, git along git along little doggie..." Do you know it? Anyway, I couldn't shake it, so I wrote to Jane Siberry requesting permission to use her lyrics in the painting, and, gracious woman that she is, she wrote back within the hour granting permission. I worked with Jane's ethereal voice in my head for the duration of the painting. Jane Siberry is on a salon world tour performing intimate concerts in the homes of her fans. How lovely it would be to share a small space with Jane's bright, funny, whimsical personality and uniquely haunting voice. To read more about her tour, visit her website: janesiberry.com

For more information about the exhibition, please visit the Harbinger Gallery website.

Face Time: the Portrait Under Investigation

Suspect Profile #5 (detail), oil on birch panel, 24" x 36"

I'm pleased to announce that several paintings from my Suspect Profiles series will be included in a new exhibition entitled Face Time: The Portrait Under Investigation--a selection of contemporary portraiture by Sadko Hadzihasanovic, Timothy Laurin, Louise Noguchi, and Shannon Reynolds.

The exhibition coincides with the opening of another fascinating exhibition called Arresting Images: Mugshots from the OPP Museum. This show features mugshots photographs from the late 19th and early 20th centuries was organized in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the OPP. The two exhibitions should resonate very well together.

Both shows open this Sunday, May 31, 2009 at the Art Gallery of Peel, in the Peel Heritage Complex in Brampton's historic downtown. Opening reception 1-4 pm. The invitation recommends people RSVP by May 22, so I guess I've made my announcement slightly late, but you could still try. Please contact me if you'd like more information.

Points of Departure

Opens tomorrow. The opening reception is Sunday, March 1 from 2-4. All are welcome. Click the invitation for a larger/more legible image. Or follow this link for more details.