Red wine and chocolate, lattes and pianos, Wagensveld and Hojjati...

Unlikely, but rather brilliant pairings in my humble opinion.  Such pairings make life just a little more exciting and this September we're excited to present a pair of artists whose styles are dramatic and brilliant.  Pat Wagensveld and Saeed Hojjati are our two feature artists and we think they go together like... well like chocolate and red wine!  

Pat is originally from Northern Rural England and paints with bold strokes and even bolder colours.  She'll be showing pieces from her Significant Line series.  These abstracted landscapes are richly textured with a surface that expresses her energy, they are full of emotion and meaning.  Inspired by her trips to Emma Lake in Saskatchewan Pat shares her passion for this "tender exposed place".

Saeed came to Canada from Iran to build a new life.  Like Pat he paints with a passion for places.  His vibrant oil paintings capture "experiences and memories" and express his love for life.  His inviting style of realism is full of light and colour and the viewer can sense his "spiritual passion".  

What Saeed and Pat share is a love for their work, a passion for painting and a profound respect for their gift.  They are both very active in the Arts and are admired for both their work and their contribution to the community.  Like chocolate and red wine, Pat and Saeed exemplify the finer things in life and we are thrilled to have them as part of the Daffodil's community of artists.

We hope you'll make it down to their show - it runs from September 3rd to 30th and we'll have a reception on Thursday, September 8th from 5 to 8pm for them.  They'll also be at the Gallery on Saturday, September 10th from 1 to 4pm to answer any questions.  

Hope to see you there,

Happy Wednesday!
Karen

Today is my birthday.  My first birthday as Gallery owner and businesswoman.  All quite exciting really.

One of the best things about my birthday is I get to celebrate during Edmonton's Fringe Festival.  My favourite time of the year just becomes even better with the addition of a Fringe play or 2 (or 10). I only wish there was some way possible to see every play!  

Last night my kids bought me tickets for Puppet Pilots - a fun play about puppets doing things puppets shouldn't do on stage starring Bridget Ryan and fantastic Art from Jason Carter - those 2 are waaaay too talented!  You can see more of Jason's artwork at the Bearclaw Gallery across the street from The Daffodil. I have promised myself that once my bank account is functional again (owning a small business can be tough on your pennies!)  I will pick out a piece of Jason's for my home - a rabbit sculpture maybe...

Birthday's are also an opportune time to celebrate the people in our lives.  I am so blessed to have so many caring and supportive friends, family and neighbours.  I'm not sure I would have realised my dream without such support and I thank every one of you for your advice, encouragement and at times your shoulders.  I especially want to thank my best friend, Evan "the Hat" Thomas - you are amazing Evan.

Let's wrap this up before I get too misty eyed!  This is the last weekend of the Fringe, so (after you've stopped by the Galleries, the dress stores and Henry's, had some lunch at d'Lish or the Dish and the Runaway Spoon!)  head down to Whyte Avenue and take in a play or two - I promise you won't be disappointed, just don't take your kids to Puppet Pilots!


Happy Saturday!
Karen

Below is a picture of my good friend and very talented musician Evan Thomas (aka Evan the Hat).  Come to the Gallery and chances are fairly high you'll see him hanging out with me, drinking lattes and talking about music and art.  It's a grand life :)

Evan has played for a few of our events and will be here on Saturday to help us celebrate at our Garden Party. Moving his keyboard back and forth for each event is a bit of a chore, and I have always wanted to bring my piano in so last night with help from another couple of "piano men" we rolled up our sleeves and gave it a shot.  Evan couldn't resist a little play while my friends Curtis and Ivan strapped it to the bed of Ivan's truck.  

I was fairly useless, but had lots of words of encouragement and in the end, despite my fears (pianos are very heavy after all)  the piano made it into the Gallery in one piece and all 4 of us were unscathed.

It will be tuned tomorrow and then all are welcome to come and play - and I'm guessing we'll see (and hear) Evan hear a little more often!

Happy Thursday

Karen

Isn't that a song?  

An appropriate opening line courtesy of the Jacob Hoggard and the band Hedley for a rather self-reflective blog post.

The Daffodil has been open for just over 3 months and for 3 months before that Rick and I spent many hours renovating and visioning.  For about 10 months before that we spent even more hours developing our business plan, visiting other galleries, talking about how this would work and all the things we needed to do in order to live out this dream.

It's hard to put into words what this journey has been like for me.  At times the highs have been off the charts - think back to opening night and 400 people coming out to offer their support.  At other times I have struggled with the added additional responsibility of running a business.  It's not that I didn't know what it would mean, and it's not that I don't love it, but it can be hard to find the balance between being a mum, an artist, a friend, a business owner and sometimes just Karen.  It will come, but my nature is not to be patient so I wish it would hurry up!