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Monday, March 17, 2008

One More Saturday Night

Ooh-la! We had ourselves a time at the Two Waters Spring Fling, down in Vaughn Saturday night! I’ve watched this event grow every year and number six really drew a crowd. Here’s to the artists, the organizers, the volunteers and all the wonderful folks who came out to support Two Waters Arts Alliance.

As we came in the side door, my eyes immediately focused on a family portrait across the room. Not only was it a stunning charcoal creation, the people featured are also very dear to me. You see, I had the honour of officiating the wedding ceremony of Chuck West (a District 16 Fire Chief) and his beautiful wife, Sharon.

Artist Chris Bronstad http://www.chrisbronstad.com/ has given us the graceful lines and subtle shading of life in progress. Anyone planning a family portrait would do well to consider this elegantly understated medium. I made it a point to find him, after we finished playing, and shake his talented hand. He allowed me to show you this photograph of his work, a charming, humble man.

Here is “Chuck, Sharon and Lilly” by Chris Bronstad. I was sorry they were unable to attend and send them a kiss.



Tweed Myer’s work is often painted kinetic colour, which I adore. If you’ve been down to The Swiss, you’ve seen Tweed’s work on the walls; she often paints bands as they perform. This year the piece that really spoke to me was her pen-and-ink drawing called “Shaman Sunflower,” with visible speed in the strokes, catching the elusive spirit of the plant. Again, with such simple lines, space defines the form…and space allows a conversation with the creation. http://www.tweedmeyer.com/

I turned the corner and fell in love once more, this time in vibrant, tropical colour. Bev Pederson had painted two sea turtles, swimming across turquoise silk. Oh, if I had such a thing as “disposable income,” it would’ve disappeared faster than the time available to art-gaze between set-up and the cue to start the music!

On my way back to the stage, I had to stop just one more minute at Dale Goodvin’s close-up photo of a blood-red begonia. The edges blurred into a crimson mood, but the golden centre sharpened focus, to draw you into a possible world within the blossom.

Check out http://www.twowaters.org/ for wonderful Key Peninsula artists. Jazz Musette would like to thank them for the opportunity to “play when we work and work when we play,” as Frank Garratt so sweetly said in his introduction. We would also like to thank our faithful, fabulous audience. I’d like to give a special shout out to a wonderful man who gave me such a thrill when he told me that he reads our “In Your Neighbourhood” Blog. I believe he told me his name was Tim…though I can barely remember my own name at the end of a performance, so I might have to apologize for my Teflon-coated brain cells! Let me know in a comment.

10 comments:

Kim Thompson said...

Oh, what a night for you, Lorraine. How cool!

I am absolutely INTRIGUED by Tweed Meyers. BEAUTIFUL!!!! I am going to check it out....

I will ensure that I mark it on my calendar for next year and will be there for sure. Too much fun!

Jaynie Jones said...

Lorraine, I'm glad you wrote about the wonderful event over the weekend. I was with you in spirit and only wish that I could have been there in person. I've had it on my calendar for the past couple of months. Thank you for sharing your muse with the world at large. What a gift!

JosephMcG said...

Thanks for sharing your wonderful words that so eloquently describe the world of painting... Joseph

Tim K. said...

Lorraine - Thanks for the great music saturday night and for writing a great review of the event. I look forward to its continued success.

Lorraine Hart said...

Hey Tim!!

I'm sooooo glad I remembered correctly...and thank you again. Our quick chat was the perfect punctuation to end the evening.

Kim...I thought of you with Bev's sea turtles...and I know you would really love Tweed's work. I'm going to see if I can talk her into coming to Jazzbones, June 8, to paint the band.

Jaynie, sorry you couldn't make it but I certainly understand...there will be other times.

Thank you Joseph...I did take a pic of the crowd from the stage...but there wasn't enough light.

finfanpj said...

Lorraine: Glad you enjoyed spending the evening with us at Two Waters. It was, indeed, a fun event.

Thanks for the plug about the Two Waters website. The site was just redone within the last few weeks, so I'm glad we were "all dressed up" before you included us in your blog.

As always, we welcome any comments or feedback.

Stephanie Frieze said...

Thank you for letting me see this event through your eyes. The picture is as beautiful as your words.

Mizu Sugimura said...

Lorraine -

Thank you for sharing this event with us. I feel like I was there. I feel like I didn't miss a thing!

Lorraine Hart said...

PJ, I loved the new website for Two Waters...great job to whoever did it! Thanks for popping-in. I wish I could've written about, and taken pictures of everything.

I would've taken more pics of the work...but my sweet hubby (who is no longer allowed to play with the camera) used-up the battery taking pics...mostly of the ground and people's bums...'cos he dips the whole camera when he pushes the button. I could call him Henry the VIII for the number of times he's chopped me bloody 'ead off!!

Lorraine Hart said...

I found out that PJ is the very talented web-goddess who made the Two Waters site. Beautiful work PJ...well done!!!