Valerie Ashton

Working on donations

2012-02-22T12:43:00.000-05:00

As an artist I am always being asked to donate to various organizations. I am currently working on one for the Varley Gallery in Markham & one for the Jennifer Ashley foundation. Considering that the Varley one is due next week, I think I need to get moving. I will post them when they are done, hopefully soon.

Back to work

2012-02-14T12:51:00.000-05:00

Okay, I haven't been updating the blog, I am really good at procrastinating, but I am getting back now. I have been working on several new paintings, as well as proposals for shows I am hoping to get into. Here are a few of the pieces I have been working on. They are small collage pieces.

new assignment

2011-12-07T15:29:00.000-05:00

In my Tuesday class, we tried something new, at least new for me. We each brought in a painting that was not working for us, then exchanged it with someone else in the group. We had to then take home the new painting & work on it. For me this is a really tough assignment, to work on someone else's piece, to put in my own mark without eliminating the other person's.

Here is the image I was given. The problem is I like this just the way it is, how do I work on it without changing what the artist intended? This may take awhile.

Continuing the painting

2011-11-23T16:49:00.000-05:00

I took my unfinished piece to my Tuesday critique class. This is a group of artist's whose work I admire & opinions I respect. We decided the work looks better sideways, it also needed a bit more dark in the right top corner. I also added some dark in the bottom left corner. I then felt it still needed something so added more paper at the top.

I think I need to live with it for a while to see if it is finished.

Finally doing a blog

2011-11-21T15:09:00.000-05:00

My husband says I need to blog to get my work out more, so here I am. We'll see how well I manage to keep this going. I thought today I would show a work in progress, to show how I work. This first image is the very first step. I have painted the canvas in a very random way with only one colour.

I then used black spray paint. I really like graffitti art. I like to incorporate random bits of it into my work.

I then began glueing on a variety of papers, Japanese, my own burnt papers, whatever I find that I like. Adding some stencil letters again adds that graffitti feel. I know this isn't done but it feels like its on its way, I'm just not sure where to.
Give me a few days then we'll see where it ends up.