Kristin Krimmel, Artist

Winter will soon be gone. Here's my winter portrait (photo by Hans-Christian Behm) before it's too late to use it. In these past few days of very cold weather, this blue jacket and the red Pashima around my neck kept me warm. My fingers, though, they freeze easily. Where would you go to buy good gloves - ones with lambswool linings, not that Woodwards, Eatons, The Bay and Sears are all gone?

This is a marvelous story. I met Amy Jenkins through my work with the Federal Government as a property manager. I had the privilege of renegotiating the Art Bank collection for Library Square which is one of the best contemporary collections in Vancouver. On one of my work trips to Ottawa, I managed to get a tour of the Art Bank collection, let by this lovely lady, Amy Jenkins. Congratulations, Amy! She is now the head of the Art Bank. If I had known,in my youth, that such a career was possible, I would have loved to work in both the places she did, The National Gallery and the Canada Council Art Bank. #CanadaCouncilArtBank #AmyJenkins

A touching Christmas story....

#OpusArtTourWeek5 Over the past few years, I have been painting the heritage barns in the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows area. I'm fascinated by the way light and weather conditions will dramatically change the appearance of a barn. I'm also attracted to them because these buildings, isolated in the fields of our valley landscape, speak to me of peaceful isolation and of nature and man living in harmony. It is only too evident that we need to support our local farmers for our local food supply. I support #OpusArtTourWeek5 because Opus Framing and art supplies has listened to artists needs and brings in a great range of products at reasonable prices for those of addicted to creation of imagery. In addition, I love the way Opus fosters creativity through educating its clientele.

Julie Fowler has been an inspiration to so many people through the monumental work that she has done over the last 17 years at Island Mountain Arts. She has brought together musicians, performance artists, visual artist and many others to bring excellence in these endeavours to the North of British Columbia. With all that Julie needed to do, it was much like one of those artists who has ten plates twirling in the air, to keep things going without dropping anything. Congratulations on your award, Julie. You are wonderful.

In a time like this, those of who can will want to be aware of arts organizations in difficulty. The Dundarave print studio on Granville Island has fostered many a printmaker for years. If you can't donate, at least take a look at the prints that have been offered for this fund raiser - there are many treats amongst them.

This is worth a read. If we haven't had it or known someone who has, we have no idea of what might befall us if we are not careful.

A remarkable woman.

It’s an awesome show.

I don't know what happened to my post about the Vancouver Art Gallery's Modern in the Making show . So here it is again. I was the honoured guest of the designer and exhibitor, Hans-Christian Behm, to the opening on July 17th. He has two unique pieces in the show, a sofa chair and a coffee table. The exhibition has been superbly designed to display over 300 pieces of creative decorative and useful items created in the period from 1945 to 1970. There are approximately 120 exh...ibitors. To view the exhibition you need to make an appointment with the Vancouver Art Gallery as they are required to control how many people are in the gallery at any one time. The advantage for the viewer is that it is so much easier to see and contemplate the work. The attached photos are of Hans-Christian Behm and his two items in the show. See more

Backyard Plein Air Summer, the Mission Arts Council, has posted the results of the last event, on July 25 and 26th. Here's the link to see all the works: http://www.missionartscouncil.ca/summerpleinair.html You will probably be able to link onto the Backyard Plein Air Spring event results also.

Hans -Christian Behm and I spent Saturday and Sunday creating images out in the garden for the Mission Arts Council (MAC) event Backyard Plein Air. One was free to find a spot anywhere in the garden and I chose to paint the entrance to my house in the front yard. Hans-Christian drew a Bonfire Begonia (a new hybrid, a lovely trailing kind, great for hanging baskets). I had in my mind that we had until Monday midnight (July 27th) to submit the works as they are going to be s...hown virtually on the MAC's website. I didn't go back and check only to find out today that it was July 26th midnight. I ended up sending them my work anyway - of only to tell them that it felt fabulous to be out in the fresh air, painting, and I hoped they would do it again. It was fun to work to a deadline and it was so good to be painting - something I'm finding hard to find time for. I have no expectations to be included. My bad, n'est pas? But I still want to share the painting I made. It feels so sunny and alive. So here it is - and Hans-Christian's too, though he chose to do a drawing of the begonia and then translate it into a emboss print. I I I

So true! I try to be patient with people who think one's work should be valued on the number of hours one has taken to produce the piece. My best way of giving an answer to a question like "How long did it take you to paint that?" is " 50 years and 3 weeks".