Hello hello helloooooo, I hope your day is going just ducky so far! It’s been quite the whirlwind of activity here at Peacock & Fig HQ (aka my tiny home studio 😂), but it’s been so much fun.
I just finished up being the featured artist for Ocean Week Victoria, a ten-day festival of events all over the region from beach cleanups, paddleboarding among the kelp forests, lectures about Antarctic research voyages, and of course lots of neat art events. I did a live painting at the Gorge Nature House, and at the end of the event my painting of an intertidal scene was raffled off to a lucky winner.
A week later I did another live painting, this time at the gorgeous Parkside Hotel in their atrium filled with tropical trees, waterfalls, and koi fish swimming in ponds that go inside and outside the hotel. That painting (Sacred Headwaters, showing pink salmon heading upstream to spawn) is up for auction right now, and the proceeds will go to the Raincoast Conservation Foundation. Bids close June 20, so if you’re interested get your bids in before then. 😊 I was interviewed by one of the local shops that stocks my cards (The Papery, they’re aweeesooome) during this live painting session, you can see those interviews here and here on Instagram (and also on my Facebook page).
I also got to go out with Prince of Whales for a whale watching trip, and I did some sketching of some orca and humpback ID photos and talked to the guests about how different species are identified. All of course while in the middle of a superpod of about thirty orca which was insane, everywhere you looked there were orca, and we got to see a humpback bubble net feeding as well. And obviously because it’s Victoria, all while in view of several naval vessels and a South Korean submarine doing a joint exercise together, the guests were slightly bewildered to look out and see a submarine go past… 😂 Ocean Week was so much fun, I’m so grateful I got to participate in so many ways, and the people who I worked alongside with during the week were just awesome too. ❤️
Some other big news is that my painting Velvet Opulence just got accepted into the annual Artists for Conservation Festival exhibition!! This is a massive deal — I only got juried into the AFC mid-February, and I only started wildlife painting exactly a year ago. So to be one of 84 (out of 486 submissions) selected for the live exhibition, it’s quite overwhelming. Many of the artists have been painting wildlife for decades (and paint huge grand pieces), so to be included in that exhibition is really an honour. And there’s a chance that my painting will tour around to a few US galleries once the exhibition in Vancouver finishes, I’ll let people know if that’s the case. ❤️
And if you’re local to Victoria or the island (or will be here before early September), next week is the opening of the Summer Small Works Show at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. I have three paintings in that exhibition, and work does tend to sell fast so if you’re wanting to add to your collection (or buy a gift for someone), it’s best to either attend the opening in person or contact the gallery directly. Below are the paintings I am exhibiting there, from top left clockwise they are Oracle of Petals, Breaking Dawn, and Stillness at First Light (featuring two Great-tailed Grackles and a Carolina Chickadee).
What an insane couple of weeks, but thanks so much to all of you who commented on my social media posts and such during such a crazy time, I really appreciate your support and you cheering me on. You can see more of my adventures over the past few weeks on my social media (Facebook and Instagram), like some videos of the orca superpod and humpback feeding. What a magical experience. 😊
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