Artists Open Studtio Weekend Pt Clair to Patonga

This weekend there was an artists open studio weekend in my area so i took myself off to visit some of the local artists studios participating in the event. I had been working myself up to this for a few weeks now i was really excited about it.
I visited about 6 of the artists studios (i just couldn't make it to all of them) and 2 exhibitions which had a mixture of artists all of varying styles and expertise. It was fantastic to see the range and how artists presented themselves and just the different types of works that were being on display,

It was also enjoyable to have the chance to meet and talk with some of the artists, others it was just too hard with too many people to get in edge wise (and i am not pushy :) but one of the big things for me was how great it was to see their studios and see how they worked. I thought for this post i would talk about the 3 artists that stood out for me the most.

The first artist I visited was Greg Coates, i had seen Greg's "Seasonal Change" work at a local nursery a while ago, the photo on this website really doesn't do it justice i just love this piece (i mentioned in other posts that i have been loving monotone type works lately this is part of that :) I saw for the first time and also loved the two pieces "Snapshot" and "Tideline" which you can see here . I saw these at his studio and at one of the group exhibitions and i got to talk to Greg a fair bit about all sorts of things he has a fantastic space. I also love all of his other works and the colours which he features i enjoyed this alot.

I also visited Anna Collins's studio, i had the pleasure of attending one of Anna's life drawing workshops last year (i plan on going to another one just as soon as i can fit it in with the kids etc hopefully next month :). Anna does alot of life drawing and nudes as well as alot of pieces, to me alot of Anna's work "says something" i was listening to her talk to another lady and many of her pieces have a real story or meaning behind them. I had the pleasure of also looking through some of Anna's sketch books which are just fabulous and reminded myself that i really need to discipline myself to do this to progress my skill but as much as that its such a lovely thing to have. See some of Anna's work here.

Another artist which i enjoyed visiting was Graeme Balchin, Graeme does alot of pencil tree work which is right up my alley :). He has an exhibition at the moment in Gosford which is running for a couple more weeks which i really must get to (visit his website if your in the area for details). Graeme's oils and other works were also so fantastic to see i really enjoyed his figures and the way he paints is just fantastic. See Graeme's work here.

All in all it was a fantastic weekend of art, it was so inspiring and great to get out and talk to people. I got a bit of information about various life drawing classes etc on in the area hopefully i can make it there soon.