Hello,

Last night the Aeolian Hall hosted the Spring Art Show & Sale opening reception. Exhibiting new works by 9 local London artists; Cheryl O., Betty Bartlett, Gwen Card, Marion Drysdale, Jim Koudounis, Sandi McCabe, Lynne Pinchin, Helen Simpson and Judy Stirling. The opening in the spacious 2nd floor hall featured a great collection of diverse and beautiful pieces and was well attended.

The paintings will be on display and for sale at the Hall, 795 Dundas St. E., until June 2, 2012. Regular show visiting hours are Monday to Friday 10:00 am to 6:00pm in hall on second level. Please ask staff in the Dundas level office for access to the show, or call them at 519.672.7950 to set up a viewing.

I enjoyed it very much and definitely recommend visiting the show.

-Anita

Mercury Painting by Nic de Groot - Part 2

Hi, Nic again,

So, this is Part 2 of my Mercury Painting project. I found a good image for my 'Mercury' figure online and worked it down to just a black and white 2-tone graphic. I added a head band and wing, and he was ready for painting.

I transferred the figure onto the canvas with my handy Artograph Tracer and collaged a sheet of Chinese gold leafed paper I have been hoarding for nearly a decade onto his heart (this is where I intend to write the periodic table info for the element mercury). I also added torn paper image transfers into the shadows areas. I covered an area with Golden Matte Gel Medium, then burnished a photocopied image face down into the wet medium, waited approx. 1 minute and pulled. This created a random shredded image fragments and paper residue patches to enliven my base wash. I used photocopies of Japanese tourist info about NY city and black & white environment concept drawings from an old Anime. 

Once the collage layer had fully dried I began painting the figure in a mix of Pthalo Blue and Turquoise Golden Fluid Acrylics mixed with Mantegna Gloss Medium and PearlEx Micro Pearl. I wasn't too careful, deliberately spattering and smearing the paint to create movement, variety of texture and tone.

Now that the primary graphic elements had been established I sought to develop the remaining spaces with symbolic representations of Mercury. More internet research.

Mercury Painting by Nic de Groot - Part 1

Hi everybody, it's Nic.

I have been working on a large painting for the store and thought I'd post about the process so far. I am working on a Winsor & Newton Deep Edge Artists' Canvas (which we have on sale). I primed it with Certified Artist Gesso (also on sale) and cover one end with ripped strips of Acid-Free Masking Tape. I applied several chaotic splattery washes over the tape with Golden Fluid Acrylic Paints thinned with Mantagna Acrylic Gloss Medium (liquid) and water, using mainly dioxazine purple, pthalo blue GS and a touch of cobalt teal. Oh, and I used a dash of PearlEx Macro Pearl pigment so it would shimmer a bit. I then sealed the wash layers with Mantegna Acrylic Matte Gel Medium.

 So, that was the first phase of my project. With the under-painting well established I began looking for a image of my 'Mercury' figure. I will post more on the project soon. Stay tuned :)

Our first post. Welcome.

We decided that what Mercury Art and Craft Supershop needs is a blog. So, here it is. A place to let you know what we are doing. Keeping people up to date with our sales, new products and staff projects. Also, since the staff here are such an arty bunch, we though it would be great to post up some of our creative work too.

It is still just a baby blog but we hope to post some demos and tutorials in the future. Plus we'll be able to link to shows, classes and other art events in the community ... so, let us know if you are putting together an art event you think we should be adding to our blog.

We are London, Ontario's oldest dedicated art supply store serving artists, crafts people, engineers and designers since 1947. Our big art and craft store is located at 332 Wellington Rd. located in the plaza just north of Baseline Rd. Please, come down and discover why artists have been relying on our service and selection for 65 years.

If you have any questions please call us at 519.434.1636

Check us out on-line @ http://mercuryartsupplies.com/

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