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August 31, 2010 5:39 pm

The Joel Plaskett Emergency

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by Sharon    in art,chance harbor,color,colour,commentary,festival,fog,guitar,joel plaskett,light,live painting,music,new brunswick,outdoor painting,sharon hodgson,sunseekers

“The Joel Plaskett Emergency” – acrylic on 30×36″ canvas in 1.5 hr on stage next to Joel Plaskett while they performed their set at the Sunseekers Ball Music and Art Festival in Chance Harbor, NB.

The last band I live painted at Sunseekers this year Joel Plaskett, a Halifamous Atlantic Canadian staple. It was an honour to paint someone who has entertained audiences in Halifax and beyond with so many concerts over the years. Here is a sample for those of you unfamiliar:

There was an abundance of guitars on stage which were switched off frequently. The audience was so excited they pounded on the stage.

…

The other paintings I did at this festival are here and here.

This festival runs for five full days next Summer — longer than it ran this year!

My many thanks to the promoters for mixing art and music in a festival format, and inviting me to be a part of it. Well worth the trip to New Brunswick!

http://www.sunseekerfestival.ca

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4:14 pm

The Sunseekers Ball Music & Arts Festival

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by Sharon    in art,commentary,divine heist,festival,live painting,music,new brunswick,outdoor painting,panel painting,sharon hodgson,sunseekers

“The Sunseekers Ball Music & Arts Festival” - painted from the field looking at the stage, in Chance Harbor, NB. This painting is done on two panels, each 20×20″, and painted with acrylic.

Sunseekers ran for four days. [Next year it will go for five, so don't miss it!!] I was there for three days of the festival. The second day I was there, I went out into the field and did a painting of the stage and the Sunseeker cutout letters one one panel and the bands playing on stage on the other. This was done a day after painting on stage next to the Meters Experience.

Divine Heist was on the stage.

People laid or sat on the grass in the hot sun enjoying the music and the festival atmosphere. People sat beside me while I painted to watch the work unfold. A juggler in stripes went into view for a couple minutes to juggle some pins.

(There were more entertainers than just musicians at this well-organized festival.)

I was honoured to be there to catalog this event with a few paintings.

I want to travel more to paint more bands elsewhere. Email me if you are interested in having a live painter paint you while you play. I can paint you in as little as an hour.

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3:50 pm

The Meters Experience at The Sunseekers Festival

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by Sharon    in Leo Nocentelli,art,ball,chance harbor,commentary,festival,live painting,music,new brunswick,outdoor painting,sunseekers,the meters experience

“The Meters Experience” – live painting on stage with The Meters Experience during their two hour set. 24×36″ stretched canvas with acrylic paint.

This work was done at The Sunseekers Ball Music & Arts Festival in Chance Harbor, NB. There were probably around a thousand people in attendance.

I was on stage next to The Meters Experience from New Orleans. Some of the members from that band were original to The Meters back in the 60s and 70s laying down and creating funk music for countless musicians to follow and be inspired by later. I found them to have an awesome stage presence and I was honoured to paint them live as they worked their magic. Seriously. I don’t know if I sound like I’m making stuff up just because I was there on stage but you can even tell from the composition. The stage itself feels smaller and more intimate in the painting because of the warmth I felt from the band. I bowed slightly to them on stage and received a bow back in kind.

It’s been two years since I went to New Brunswick to live paint a show — I was long overdue!

It was a Friday night in Chance Harbor out in the woods next to a lake. Mist was rising up in a beautiful mood-setting fashion that makes the usual fast-drying characteristics of acrylic paint unlikely. But you know me… I love a challenge… and after live painting the Halifax Jazz Festival earlier this Summer I felt like I was up for live painting in fog without batting an eye lid about how I knew it would be wet the entire time. I just change my live painting strategy while rendering the piece to compensate…

Dry ice and coloured light shows created swirls of smoke around the band which seemed to fit the mood of the festival, and it worked it’s smoky way into the piece.

The painting was done in the duration of their two hour set (though the paint stayed wet on the canvas for hours afterwards!)

What a serious honour. Thank you, Meters Experience!! New Orleans is lucky to have you!

Here’s a sample of their magic:

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3:14 pm

Dogs on Balcony

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by Sharon    in art,color,colour,commissions,dog,pet portrait

“Dogs on Balcony” – acrylic on 24×36″ stretched canvas. 2010

This was a commission for someone with two dogs of very different type and size. I used bright colours to go with the interior in their home — their balcony is not bright like this. The positioning of the dogs along the directional lines of the balcony railings leads the eyes along between the two dogs to contrast their sizes.

My last dog painting commission is here if you are curious.

I do these every so often as needed. I work from photograph, though I do like to “meet” the pets if possible so I get an idea what they are like before I paint, and what colours to choose for the work. (But again, I can work with colours requested if you can show me the colours of a room via photographs.)

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9:09 am

Halifax International Busker Festival

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by Sharon    in art,buskers,canada,commentary,downtown,festival,halifax,harbour,live painting,new paintings,nova scotia,sharon hodgson

buskers_halifax_sharonhodgson

“Halifax International Busker Festival” – acrylic on 70x90cm canvas, painted in two hours. 2010.

This is actually a composite painting of two busking acts at the Halifax International Busker Festival this summer – Strings on Fire and Throw 2 Catch.

One thing I’ve been trying to do as an artist is to visually catalog various elements of the life and culture around me… as it happens. I do so with my bright illustrative paintings, and blog the works for the world to see. The more I do this, the more it expands my mind in the sense of considering what I will paint next.

In speaking of juggling, what a fun thing to paint – jugglers!! And there were in fact jugglers at the buskers this year. I set up my easel and canvas and did a composite piece of two different acts on two different canvases.

I didn’t want to upstage the performers. They are the buskers – they have a schtick prepared and they do it well. I just wanted to catalog it, right? I mean honestly… I’m worried when I read about stuff in the Metro News stating that the Buskers Festival – now 24 years running – may not return to Halifax next year. What would have to be done to save such a fantastic festival? Would it do any good if a bunch of Haligonians polished their schtick and the festival had more of a local flavor last year? Would that save it?

There’s one more painting from the Buskers week to be posted next… I’m a couple weeks behind in posting because it’s been a busy summer. I’m still trying to juggle several creative projects at once so bear with me.

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August 13, 2010 12:08 am

The Search for Whales

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by Sharon    in art,boat,boat painting,commentary,funny,halifax,harbour,lines,live painting,motion,movement,nova scotia,outdoor painting,seagulls,sharon hodgson,tall ship,whale watching,whales


“The Search for Whales” – 2×3′ canvas in 2 hrs on Whale Watching Tour in Halifax Harbor.
Boat tour through Murphy’s on the Water. 2010

If you read the last few entries and you saw that I did three live paintings in a day, you’re probably thinking I’m some sort of a nutter. But I love it. I love the challenge that different events and painting situations bring to my life. I love the distraction of piece creation – it keeps me sane, or at least sane enough. After this next one however, maybe you’ll wonder about me! If you don’t already!

A group of film students invited me to join them on a whale watching tour in Halifax Harbor through Murphy’s on the Water. The tour featured a tour guide at the front who went into Halifax history in relation to the harbor.

I figured I had a handle on painting on boats now, somehow. Silly me! The waves were so big.

I kept going up and down, sideways, and into my canvas, nearly falling over. I was a paint dribbled animated caricature of myself.

I have no idea how or why the lines are as straight as they are in this piece.

Sheer force of will against being tossed around by the elements. Hodgson women are stubborn.

…Old Lady and the Sea…

I felt seasick for hours after we got back to land, for all the focus and concentration I threw into the art.

The experience of painting on the whale watching boat was very different in contrast to painting on the tall ship. I think the difference was in the relative size of the boat, the speed of the craft, and how far it went out in the harbor. It made the waves that much rockier on the whale tour.

Did I mention we didn’t see any whales? Ah well… it was more of a seagull tour on that day. There were a lot of sea gulls following after the boat throughout much of the trip. It was like an ice cream truck being chased by a large group of neighborhood kids on a hot day. The birds knew they’d get bread crumbs if they followed the boat…

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August 12, 2010 11:09 pm

Wedding Reception in Wolfville

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by Sharon    in art,canada,commentary,fog,lack of room to paint,live painting,low light,music,nova scotia,painting in the dark,reception,sharon hodgson,wedding,wolfville


“Wedding Reception in Wolfville” – Live painting in 3 hours on a 3×4′ canvas. 2010

Now this was an adventure. Not only was it the third live painting of the day…

Somewhere in between Halifax and Wolfville I managed to get myself lost. I panicked a moment, then got back in that car and found my way to the party.

I set up a giant 3×4′ canvas with no real genuine room to paint, but I made do. (I always do – if the Powers That Be for any given space will let me in…)

It was at a private home under a tent in the yard. There was a fireworks show outside the tent while I was setting up, so I painted those in early in the piece creation. There was a live band moments after that. People were just starting to dance! Soon there was wild happy dancing in front of me. The day had a thirties gangster theme, so everyone was dressed in fedoras and vintage attire. Fun.

The floor was bouncing up and down from people’s dance steps, and the mist of the night threatening to spoil my live painting fun (like it tried to do at the Halifax Jazz Festival.) It’s moments like that where the experience of painting in different settings and locations throws unexpected challenges into the process of creating the art… and it makes me feel just a little nuts for doing it. But I think secretly (or not so secretly) I cherish those moments.

I tried to capture the dance party that happened on one side of the tent vs the quiet of the wedding tables and settings left from earlier on. I think that the guests were overwhelmingly having a grand time. I hope that the wedding couple enjoy the resulting artwork.

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10:51 pm

Wedding Reception at St Mary’s Boat Club

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by Sharon    in art,canada,commentary,halifax,harbour,live painting,nova scotia,painting,reception,sharon hodgson,st mary's boat club,wedding


“Wedding Reception at St Mary’s Boat Club” – live painting in 2.5 hrs on a 1×4′ canvas at the boat club in Halifax.

This is the painting I did right after doing the last one on the Tall Ship Silva. I rushed from one location to the next, taking down and setting up as quickly as I could.

The wedding head table is pictured along with a lot of the people gathered at dining tables around the room. This went to the same wedding party as the one on the Tall Ship Silva. They simply asked that I’d follow them to this spot to capture the reception as well.

I had one more painting to do that day…

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10:40 pm

Wedding on the Tall Ship Silva

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by Sharon    in art,boat,boat painting,canada,canadian,commentary,halifax,harbour,live painting,nova scotia,painting,sharon hodgson,tall ship,wedding


“Wedding on the Tall Ship Silva” – 2×3′ canvas in 2.3 hrs. July 31, 2010.

Painted on the tall ship Silva in Halifax Harbor.

This was an amazing experience… I have to say. I think it will be hard to top this experience.

This was the first time I’ve ever painted on a boat. I was up on the platform next to the ship’s captain. I set up my easel on top of the life jacket box. I had a great view of the entire ship, the harbor, and Halifax and Dartmouth beyond us. The weather was perfect.

There were two harp players to the left setting the mood. One of them I had met at a prior gig a few years back. All the guests sat or stood on either side. The couple got married right below where I was painting.

The ship sailed around the harbor while people began to dine and mingle.

I hope the happy couple enjoy this painting and that it marks their special day.

It was the first one of three paintings I did that day…

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10:17 pm

Pride Week at the CoHo

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by Sharon    in art,artist feature,available for sale,canada,canadian,company house,halifax,halifax pride,live painting,low light,north end,nova scotia,painting in the dark,people mingling,sharon hodgson,the company house


“CoHo” - live painting in 3 hrs on two 20×20″ panels. July, 2010

This is a live painting I did at the Company House a few weeks ago during Pride Week. I actually snuck myself into the back of the bar in my “usual” spot and did this two panel piece on 20×20″ canvases, trying to capture the vibe of the CoHo. I would very much like to sell this work in support of a Pride-related group, and am currently finding out if the trans group that was there would like the work for that purpose. If you are someone I should talk to in regards to this… please contact me!

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