Justine Fernie's Paintings

How and Why to Buy Art

2011-11-13T18:33:00.000-08:00

Wow--it's been a really long time since I've updated my blog. I hate to risk overexposing myself and as such, I've cut back on posting on Facebook and sending out email blasts. I've decided to only send out one mass email a year to let people know of my now annual 'Tis the Season sale. 10 days into my third year of this and I've sold 7 pieces. I'm overwhelmed by the response, to say the least. It's a great way to clear out my studio to make room for new work.

Multi

30" x 36"

acrylic on canvas

sold

I'm super excited to start working on some big new pieces come January 2012. I have become extremely infatuated by strange doll art and have come across some amazing sculptural work. Last winter I purchased my first "doll" by London artist Sarah Legault. I've named her Annette and she's a permanent fixture in our living room. Some kids/adults are a little freaked out by her but I'm certainly not. She makes me so happy every time I see her, which is why I thought of posting about why one should buy art.

Ode to Missoni

24" x 24" x 3"

acrylic on canvas

sold

A friend suggested to me that I read Gwyneth Paltrow's latest GOOP entry about purchasing and displaying contemporary art. I've taken the liberty of reposting a section of this article below. I think it's a great exposition about why one should start buying art.

B&W&S

36" x 24"

acrylic on canvas

sold

Some people like to match art to their decor (most serious art patrons will say that you NEVER match art to your room, but I say if that makes you happy...why not??). Most people are intimidated about buying their first piece. People wonder why pieces are priced as they are--too expensive?? It all depends on the degree of an artist's success in the art world. Most paintings are actually priced per square inch!

Drippy

20" x 40"

acrylic on canvas

sold

Anyhow, enough of my thoughts...read this over and see what you think!

GOOP - Decorating with Contemporary Art

xx Justine

Happy New Year and My New Love

2011-01-18T14:41:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Wow-it's 2011 and I'm forty years old. Crazy how time flies. I was kind of nervous about turning 40 to be completely honest. I was trying to go with the fact that yes, I am very fortunate to even have lived for the past 40 years--I'm blessed with a great family, amazing husband and two great kids. Life is great...only the sound of "40" was scary.

You know what? It's no different than life at 39, or 35 for that matter. The thing is, it seems to be getting better. The kids are lots of fun and waaaay easier now. I think my 40's will be a great decade. I hope so at least. I try to be grateful for everything I have. Sometimes it's easy to lose perspective.

Anyhow, I had another great pre-Christmas season with my paintings. I have been working on steady commissions for as long as I can remember, really. I am very grateful to my extremely loyal clientele. I have "collector's" now--there are several families out there who have purchased several of my pieces. Who would have thought?

One of my very favourite pre-Christmas paintings last year was my very first dog portrait. Lauren Gesualdi trusted me to paint her loyal and incredibly special black Lab Jersey as a Christmas gift for her boyfriend. I only had to look at one photo of Jersey to get an understanding of her warmth and spirit. Her big liquid "doggie" slanted eyes said it all.

Jersey

2010

acrylic on canvas

20" x 20"

commissioned by Lauren Gesuldi

The portrait was so much fun to work on. I fell in love with Jersey during the process although I haven't even met her! My kids now want me to paint a portrait of our dog Murphy. My sister-in-law Nicole suggested that I paint portraits of our very beloved family dogs Megan and Josh (deceased many years ago now). We still talk about Meg and Josh all the time--what perfect subject matter!

Sean and I also had an amazing bulldog for 5 years named Owen. Walking with Owen (when he would allow you to take him for a walk) was like walking with a celebrity. We would get stopped left and right for people to meet Owie. He was an awesome dog--with the exception of the flatulence, flank alopecia (he went bald on his sides every summmer-cute), cherry eye, head twitch, shedding and of course, drooling. He was the epitome of bulldog--65 lbs of pure bravado. He was our first baby and we spoiled him rotten. Owie wasn't happy when Tristan arrived on the scene. He actually went into a total depression. It was terrible. Shortly before Carter was born, we made the very difficult decision to move Owen to Ottawa to live with another Sean and a pug named Otis. We used to get pictures of Owen on his bed at Christmas, surrounded by new dog toys. The new Sean spoiled him rotten too. We stopped corresponding with his new owner after several years because we preferred to think that Owen would live forever. He'd be 13 on Feb. 13, 2011. Carter sometimes still misses him, although she never actually met him.

Our current dog Murphy, is a 3 year old Havanese. The kids love him to death and that love is really mutual. He is extremely affectionate and an overall great dog. In the morning, he goes crazy with excitement when the kids get up. He even waits at the bottom of Tristan's loft bed ladder for him to come down.

There is nothing like the unconditional love of a pet. I think that's why I found Jersey so easy to paint. I really, really want to take off with pet portraiture. If anyone knows of anyone who is considering a pet portrait, please send them in my direction. I would be honoured to take on that job.

xx
Justine

Blythe and Me

2010-11-25T12:48:00.000-08:00

I am happy to say that finally, my first series of Blythe doll paintings is completed. It has been a labour of love that I started in July 2010. Funnily enough, I chose to paint the series to commemorate my 40th birthday (which is coming up on December 25) because the original Blythe dolls were born the same year. Upon doing more research about the dolls, I found out that they were "born" in 1972, not 1970. Whoops. Oh well, my friend Trish has told me that because it is within the same decade, it's still okay:)

Ilonwi Blythe

2010

acrylic on canvas

30"w x 24"h

Aside: If I hear Jessica Simpson singing another Christmas carol on tv, I may just freak out. She's terrible!! I listen to tv while I'm painting and because she is just releasing a new Christmas album, she's been on every single talk show for the past week. At least at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade she's not singing live.

Anyway, if I had to pick a true favourite in the series, I'd have to go with Ilonwi Blythe. Part of the fun for me in doing the series was naming the dolls! When I was younger I used to want to name my daughter Ilonwi. What? I don't even remember where I heard that name (it was some random princess) but my roommate at university, Lisa, and I used to laugh ourselves to death about that name. I actually find it quite fitting for the doll in this painting. Working from photographs (like usual) I chose to paint Ilonwi with tattooed skin and ethereal white hair. She's so gentle and peaceful. Her eyelashes turned out so "feathery"--they worked!!

Tabitha Blythe

2010

acrylic on canvas

20"w x 24"h

I named Tabitha her name purely because she looked like a Tabitha to me. I think her eyes worked the very best out of the whole series. They are very liquid and yet plastic looking at the same time. She's a good blend of sweet and spooky--two of my favourite things. I wanted to incorporate many of my "styles" into the paintings, so I created Tabitha's background with layer upon layer of green and yellow orbs. She's kinda got my hairstyle too, but mine is longer now.

Lizzie Blythe

2010

acrylic on canvas

24" w x 48"h

Lizzie is the largest of the five paintings. I had actually painted her face with a multitude of colours at first. Then I had a dream that she had a pink face, so I had to redo her with a fluorescent pink face. Now she's a little bashful and reserved--appropriate with her frilly, girly clothes. Lizzie kind of reminds me of my daughter Carter for some reason, not that Carter is bashful or shy. I really love the background for Lizzie too. The pink/white/gold squares is one of my signatures these days.

Fairest Blythe

2010

acrylic on canvas

20"w x 24"h

Who's the fairest of them all? Fairest of course!! There has been a lot of interest in Fairest. People seem to like her little hand in front of her mouth. She's such a polite little doll and would never say the wrong thing. I love the strange proportion of the Blythe dolls. GIGANTIC head and eyes and tiny little hands and feet. They are a little bobble-headish. I chose to paint Fairest on a simple black background. There is so much going on with the golds, whites and blues in her hair and her CRAZY eyes that there didn't need to be anything competing in her background.

Middleton Blythe

2010

acrylic on canvas

24" x 24" x 3"

Last but not least, we have little Middleton Blythe. What a fabulous name that is, isn't it? I want another daughter just to name her Middleton. When I had a friend over to see the series before I was quite finished, she suggested that I pick a "current" name for this one. I always felt that Middleton looked quite British with her little yellow slicker. Since Prince William and Kate Middleton had just announced their engagement, I thought that Middleton would be the perfect name for this little girl. Middleton actually looks the most like a true Blythe doll. I used the blue halo effect that I have used previously in several family portraits and on Oh Bama.

For some reason, I chose to work on the whole series at the same time. I'm not sure if I would do that again. It seemed like it took forever to make any progress with any one painting. I normally do work on several pieces at once, but they are usually all completely different from one another. Working on 10 little eyes, 5 little mouths, 5 different backgrounds etc. seemed to be a bit tedious. I am ALL about instant gratification and in this case, it was a bit of delayed gratification. Live and learn.

I currently have all the dolls at my house, waiting to hear what I'll be doing next with them. Drop by if you are in the neighbourhood to meet them in person. In this case, the photos really do not do them justice--they are much more colourful and full of personality in "real life"

I'm actually extremely attached to the girls and I'm going to have some trouble with letting any of them go. Perhaps I'll do another series of them at some point. Several years ago my friend Laura suggested that I paint a Blythe doll. Maybe I'll see if Laura has anymore suggestions for me!! Actually, once I finish all the Christmas commissions I think I'll take my dad up on his idea and do a series in the style of "The Garden". We'll see. I'm just about to start my first dog portrait which I am so excited about!

Justine

heARTS for Pakistan October 18, 2010

2010-10-14T14:38:00.000-07:00

eARTS for Pakistan is a silent art auction and fundraiser for survivors of the Pakistan floods. The event will take place on October 18, 2010 at the fabulous Gladstone Hotel in Toronto and 100% of the proceeds will go to the Humanitarian Coalition’s flood relief efforts in Pakistan.

The young and independent volunteer organizing committee along with event sponsors, OCAD University and Gladstone Hotel, and well known & emerging Canadian artists, bring you a fabulous evening of art and jazz for a worthy cause! I have donated my painting, "Little Squares" which is a small 16" x 16" piece made up of a multitude of multicoloured squares.

Tickets Available Online: www.hearts4pakistan.com

Hope to see you there!

Take pART Fundraising Benefit & Some New Portraits

2010-09-27T14:55:00.000-07:00

I have really been a bad blogger lately. It's been crazy getting back into the routine of daily life with kids and all their 6000 activies. I myself have embarked on a ridiculous new fitness regime which has almost killed me so far. Whatever ever doesn't kill you...

There are a couple of things I thought I'd write about today. On Thursday, September 30, 2010 I will be taking part in a large fundraiser put on by the alumnae of Branksome Hall entitled, "Take pART". The show will be held at Arta Gallery in the Distillery District of Toronto from 6-9pm. It's a pretty cool premise. A whole bunch of different artists were asked to create a 10" square gallery canvas in any style/subject they desired. The paintings were delivered unsigned (signed on the back only) and will hang for the one night in the gallery and will be sold for $100 each. All proceeds go towards sending kids to Branksome that would not normally be able to afford it. I am looking forward to the event. Anyone who knows my work will be able to spot my piece effortlessly.

I have had the privilege of working with an incredible gallerist, Alison Goodwin of The Village Gallery and Art Beyond Walls for the past 1 1/2 years. Alison has been instrumental in getting lots of media exposure for my paintings (Fashion Television commerical; segment on Breakfast Television; spot on Rogers Daytime TV to name a few). Ali had the summer of her life this year, getting married to her true love David in Italy over the summer. I had the amazing opportunity to paint a portrait of the two of them that Ali gave to David for a wedding gift. Here is that portrait:

Alison & David, July 22, 2010

acrylic on canvas

36" x 30"

commissioned by Alison Goodwin

2010

Not only did Ali and David go to Italy with all of their best friends and family, but they brought their beautiful 3 month old (at the time) Hudson Sophia Hedon with them! I painted a small portrait of little Hudson for Alison for her birthday this year.

Hudson Sophia Hudson

acrylic on canvas

16" square

2010

gift from artist

I'm starting to feel like I have lots more to say again...if I didn't have the personality of a potato today due to my cold. Back again soon. Thanks for reading.

Justine

10th Annual Upstream People Gallery Online Gallery Show - 3 "Special Recognitions"

2010-08-24T16:56:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. Wow, I haven't blogged in a very long time! Summer has been fantastically busy and relaxing at the same time. I can't believe it is coming to an end but I'm feeling the need to embrace our usual routines and get back into the swing of things again.

I haven't painted a ton this summer which has been kind of a welcome break from the frenzy of the past year. I will be taking part as a guest artist in the charity event at Arta Gallery (in the distillery district) entitled "Take pART" on September 30, 2010. I can't tell you which piece is mine...but my local art enthustiasts will no doubt recognize it. More details to come.

Whilst on the beach in Cape Cod in the beginning of August, I received notification that I received three "special recognitions" in the 10th Annual Summer All Media Juried Online International Art Exhibition put on by the US gallery Upstream People Gallery. Laurence Bradshaw, Curator and Professor of Art at the University of Omaha and Juror of the show, stated:

"JUSTINE ELIZABETH FERNIE of Toronto, Ontario, Canada deals with portraiture in a delightful and fascinating manner. As a Canadian it is interesting to see such a work as “My Sarah (Palin)” which shows the awesome use of mixed patterns and the colorful face treatment. “Oh Bama” and “Pixels” are also wonderful depictions."

I've got a whole bunch of goals for myself over next four months as my big 40th birthday is at the end of December 2010. One of my goals is to paint a brand new series of portraits of the iconic Blythe girl dolls. Blythe girls were launched in 1970, the year I was born...and they didn't sell at all. The brand was reborn in 2000 and since then they have become ridiculous collectors items. I am obsessed with their gigantic eyes. I'll be sure to post them all when they are done...6 in all.

I hope everyone's summer has been amazing. I'll return to normalcy, whatever that is, next month.

Canadian HOUSE & HOME July 2010 - The Carter Farm

2010-05-31T17:40:00.000-07:00

Now this is something that I've really, really been waiting for. For the past 1 1/2 years I've been harassing poor Catherine MacIntosh at Canadian House and Home to try to grant me the prestigious posting of "Artist's File" within the magazine. It is a feature that is not run every month, so you can well imagine that the competition for it is furious.

Late last spring when my parents were in the final stages of building their brand new farmhouse in Hockley Valley (one hour north of Toronto) I started thinking that CDN House and Home just HAD to use this place as one of their featured homes. The magazine agreed with my idea and the farm was shot by Michael Graydon on September 1, 2009. The issue hits newstands on June 7, 2010 but if you have a subscription, you may have seen it already. We had the opportunity to have the article written by a very gifted writer, Trish Snyder. Trish interviewed my parents and myself in order to get a feel for the home and the art within it. I can't imagine a task as daunting as Trish's writing that article--sooo much information thrown at you all at once. Her take on the farm was absolutely perfect and we couldn't be happier with her "story".

The farm is truly a magical place. I really can't describe how tranquil and surreal it is. After 20 years of fighting traffic en route to Muskoka, most of our family was ready for a big change. Mum and Dad purchased a 100 acre parcel of property just north of Caledon and went to town. The existing fly-ridden 125 year old farmhouse was gutted and redone and is now used to accommodate all the "kids" and 7 grandkids. Mum and Dad have built a beautiful ranch-style farmhouse for themselves which overlooks...Tuscany? How is that possible in Ontario? I don't get it either...but you'd have to see the view to really believe it. Here is the article:

Meg Crossley, the senior editor who attended the photo shoot along with photographer Michael Graydon, mentioned during the shoot that an even better way to gain exposure within the magazine is to be shown on the actual walls of a featured home. Bing, bang, boom--whatever...this is my big shot! Thankfully my parents are very enamored of my art and have commissioned several large pieces from me for their farm. The work stands out so well against the starkness of the glistening white everywhere--I am very fortunate to be able to "show" my own work within their masterpiece. Here are the paintings that Mum and Dad have at the farm:

The Garden

2008

acrylic on canvas

60"w x 48"h

Black and White Squares (#1)

acrylic on canvas

2008

60"w x 48"h

Bedtime Squares

acrylic on canvas

60"w x 36"h

2008

When You Are Old

2009

acrylic on canvas

24"w x 48"h

I can't wait to spend a ton of time at the "farm" this summer. Wish you were there...

Justine

June Show at Gallery Hittite in Yorkville

2010-05-31T11:07:00.000-07:00

As you can see by my postings this week, there has been a heck of a lot going on with me and my own tiny art world over the past several months. Thank you to all my amazing clients for keeping me so, so busy. I have worked non-stop on commissions since October, not that I am complaining in any way shape or form.

I was invited by Gallery Hittite in Yorkville to take part in a small group show with them for the month of June 2010. The opening night gala is on Thursday, June 3 from 7-10 and the show runs until June 26.

Gallery Hittite

107 Scollard St., Toronto, Ontario, M5R 1G4

T: 416.924.4450

Hours: WED-SAT 12-6 p.m.

I will be showing two pieces at the gallery. They are:

Pixels

2010

acrylic on canvas

36" w x 48" h

After Winter Must Come Spring

2010

acrylic on canvas

48" square

Hope to see you there!

A Bunch of Reviews

2010-05-10T08:38:00.000-07:00

I have been fortunate enough to have received several good reviews from different online publications over the past several years. My little brother Ash submitted my work to the international art and design website Mocoloco.com early in 2007, unbeknownst to me (he didn't want me to be upset if they didn't chose to review my work). Thankfully, Mocoloco did chose to review my work and they really liked it! Here's the link to the review...mocoloco review .

When googling my name one day (I often do this...do you????), I came across a random review of my work on New Jersery based website Sweet Station. Here's that review...sweet station review .

In January 2009 I received a "special honour" in the Upstream People Gallery's online art contest. They submitted a press release to their local media....and here it is:

IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE

JUSTINE FERNIE RECEIVES SPECIAL INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION

Artist JUSTINE FERNIE of TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA has received THREE Special Recognition Merit Awards for her artwork in the "6th Annual Color Juried Online International Art Exhibition” hosted by Upstream People Gallery.

This international exhibition received approximately 400 entries from around the world and 74 artists were selected by the juror Larry Bradshaw, Professor of Art at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, U. S. A.

Professor Bradshaw states this about this specially recognized work:

"'JUSTINE FERNIE of Toronto, Ontario, Canada has a acrylic painting that is quite engaging in that it is very colorful and full of wonderful patterning, entitled “Bedtime Squares”. In a rather unusual treatment of colorfully patterned trees along a walkway to an elaborate cottage she presents “Carter Cottage”. And again she has a very strong and colorful work called “The Garden” in which the varied shapes and movement are delightful indeed."'

The exhibition will be featured online through February 28, 2009 at www.upstreampeoplegallery.com and continue for 12 months, closing January 31, 2010.

Further information about the artist's work in her own words:

'"My piece "Bedtime Squares" is a large scale work created out of my love for colour. The idea for my use of squares came from a small area created on a recent landscape painting. I started wondering what it would be like to create entire canvases made up entirely of varying squares of all different colours. I have created several pieces with this in mind--some full of colour, some monochromatic and one even made up of all shades of black and white and whatever lies in between.

"Carter Cottage" is an architectural portrait of my parent's cottage on Lake Joseph, Muskoka, Ontario. I painted the cottage first in colours closely matching the existing colours of the structure. When it came time for the background and foreground I was not interested in recreating the natural vegetation of the actual landscape. Instead, I created and doodled my way through a fantastic, vibrant and expressionistic landscape which served to ground the cottage. My parents have since sold the cottage but the painting will serve to spark many memories of the actual experience.

Lastly, "The Garden" is a large scale acrylic on canvas work I created this past summer. Going with a combination of the abstracted squares style of previous pieces and the foreground of the "Carter Cottage" piece, I used all of my very favourite colours at once. The resulting organic shapes and textures within the painting are completely random. I have been fascinated by hearing people's opinions of the work--flowers, butterflies, segments of human anatomy are a few of the comments it has received. The piece actually brought a woman to tears at a recent show I brought it to. As an artist, I attempt to illicit a response from the viewer, be it negative or positive. Truly, the positive response that I have received from all three of these pieces has served to spur me on to push myself and to keep on creating. I have always been fascinated by my own ability to emote through vibrant, revelatory colour. It is not something that is predetermined by me when I sit down to paint--it literally just happens."'

Bedtime Squares

36" x 60"

acrylic on canvas

On September 22, 2009, I took part in the first ever "Art Beyond Walls"--an urban one night only event hosted by my gallery The Village Gallery. The event took place at The Berkeley Field House and featured the work of Alison Hodson, Andrew King and myself. It was a really, really amazing event! There were over 250 people in attendance and the vibe was really exciting. There was lots of media covering the event. Fashion Television (FT) came with a cameraman and interviewed us. Although they didn't actually run the footage, they did use the image of "Her Madgesty" in their commercial. Also, industry publication BizBash came to ABW to interview Alison and here is the review...biz bash review of Art Beyond Walls .

Alison Hodson, Justine Fernie, Alison Goodwin and Andrew King

Art Beyond Walls - September 22, 2009

Alison and Megan of The Village Gallery

Website the remotestylist.com also came to Art Beyond Walls and offered the following review...the remote stylist review of Art Beyond Walls.

In January 2010, The Village Gallery took a couple of my paintings with them to take part of their booth at IDS (the Interior Design Show) in Toronto. Alison Goodwin (the director/owner of The Village Gallery) said that sooooo many people recognized my painting "Her Madgesty" (of Madonna) in the booth, but weren't sure why they knew the piece. I think probably the fact that the painting is FLASHED on a new commercial for Fashion Television touting me as "one of today's innovator's in art" (THANK YOU) is probably how the image has been seen by many people.

Alison Goodwin of The Village Gallery took "Her Madgesty" and "Oh Bama" with her to a television taping of "Breakfast Television" in October 2009. Amazing exposure again...

Alison Goodwin and Dina on BT

I guess all of this amazing exposure Alison has given me over the past year has really started to pay off!!! Internet magazine Alternavox.net came to IDS to review it and paid particular attention to my work. Here's the review...alternavox review .

Alison and Megan of The Village Gallery at IDS 2010

On Saturday, March 27, the Village Gallery hosted a very, very special day for me entitled, "LIVE with Justine Fernie". I spent the afternoon at the gallery surrounded by all the amazing staff and interns there and painted my little face off. The event was covered by SNAP Mississauga and had many members of the community passing through to see how I create my work. It was a really amazing experience for me. The link to the SNAP Mississauga piece is...SNAP Mississauga article .

This blog kind of acts as a live resume for my work. An artist is always expected to list their reviews and shows at a moment's notice which is why I've chosen to list everything here on my blog. I really don't have a swelled head about my accomplishments over the past couple of years. Marketing myself as an artist is truly another full time job but I truly believe the best way to really sell myself, is by myself. Of course I've had some great help along the way by my clients and believers too.

Enough about me, what do you think about me? (best line ever). Sometimes I bore myself.

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T15:53:00.000-07:00

In honour of Mother's Day today (and my mother's birthday too), I thought I'd post a couple of paintings of a few more great kids that I have painted.

The first two are of Ben and Erin Laco--beautiful kids.

Ben Laco

acrylic on canvas

16" square

2008

Erin Laco

acrylic on canvas

16" square

2008

I chose to paint Ben's little face with a brush and Erin with the palatte knife--not for any reason in particular. Ben's eyes are painted in the icy blue that they are in reality. I don't often chose to paint "realistic" eye colour, but in Ben's case the blue of his eyes is uncanny. Come to think of it, that's also why I painted Erin's eyes the chocolate brown that they are too. Instead of chosing a feature to exaggerate, sometimes I chose to focus in on a feature that truly stands out in a person and kind of defines who they are (not necessarily what they look like).

The next piece is a commission done for a dear friend of mine, Helen Charbonneau. Helen has always been a huge supporter and fan of my artwork. Helen asked to have me paint a portrait of her two beautiful boys, Tristan and Justin.

On the first day of Tristan's year in Junior Kindergarten (2004), the first little boy Tristan met was his alter-ego--Tristan Charbonneau. Just when you think you are being original with your choice of names...! Tristan and Tristan are still great friends 6 years later, so I have always felt a special bond with "the other Tristan". Justin, Helen's younger son, is currently in a grade 1/2 split class with my daughter Carter. Justin and Carter have also grown to be great friends--it still shocks me that they met when they weren't even 2 years old!

Tristan and Justin Charbonneau

acrylic on canvas

36" square

2010

I was dying to hear the boys' reaction to the piece--as well as that of their father Erik's opinion too, as Helen had the piece commissioned as a surprise for all three of her boys. Their reactions were truly priceless. Justin ran up to me in the playground and yelled, "I LOVE THE PAINTING JUSTINE", and proceeded to give me a huge hug. Not to be outdone by his brother, Tristan told me how me he too loved the portrait...especially his hair. I knew that if either boy didn't really like the piece that they really couldn't hide that fact from me.

Thankfully, ALL of Helen's boys (including Helen herself!) were thrilled with the project.

SNAP covers LIVE with Justine Fernie at The Village Gallery

2010-05-06T05:16:00.000-07:00

This is an article written about my live show at The Village Gallery that took place on March 27, 2010. Some of the fact are a little off (I've shown in Toronto, Los Angeles, Mississauga and soon to be Montreal too) but overall it's more great exposure, courtesy of Alison Goodwin at The Village Gallery (http://www.thevgallery.com).

Here's the piece:

SNAP South Mississauga - LIVE- with Justine Fernie

J

The "Merge"

2010-05-04T18:12:00.000-07:00

My husband Sean should be credited for art directing one of my latest paintings. Sean suggested that I merge my love of portraiture with my abstracted "squares" style in one single painting. I liked the idea but going into it, I was a little confused as to how I would actually execute the concept.

I had already drawn a previous portrait of Barack Obama on a 3' x 4' canvas last year, but decided to go with a larger 4' x 5' canvas for the Oh Bama portrait. I started this new portrait with the background first, which is usually where I start a figurative portrait. The background of this piece is a series of squares of varying sizes using pinks and golds. It was a good start.

Next I tackled his hair. The background squares were mostly black--matte and shiny. The overlapping squares were completely multi-coloured. Still happy with it.

Creating the webwork of squares and patterning for Obama's face was kind of daunting. I started drawing the outlines of sort of feather shapes all over his forehead in a multitude of colours. I created the background squares of his mouth in shades of red and pink with multi-coloured squares over top. Filling in the top layer of squares over his entire face was painstaking and very time consuming. It's really difficult for me to judge the end result of "drawing with squares" while I am painting--I'm just too close to the physical canvas.

When I had finished the final layers of colour, I moved the painting and put it on the mantel and stood back. Nope, it wasn't right. The mouth, hair and background were too separate--it didn't read as one large piece but that of a piece made up of pieces. Are you following me?

I realized that I had to do another layer of squares blending all the separate parts together. Yes, that was it. Now, while viewing the piece up close it just looks like another abstract piece. The beauty of that piece is seeing it from a distance. From a distance you can tell that it is a large face. What kills me is that everyone who has seen it recognizes it as Obama. Wow. Pretty cool.

Pixels

3'w x 4'h

acrylic on canvas

2010

I decided not to name the piece anything that would lead the viewer to think (or know) it was a portrait of Barack Obama. Since the piece is made up of thousands of tiny pieces that make the portrait look "pixelated", I went with the name Pixels.

This piece and After Winter Must Come Spring will both be included in a group show to be held at Gallery Hittite on Scollard St. in Toronto for the month of June. More on that later.

Thanks Sean...it was a great idea. Personally, I think it's my best work to date.

My Inspiration

2010-04-24T12:51:00.000-07:00

Whoops--fell off the world of blogging for a month. During that time we had a totally amazing family holiday at Walt Disney World. For pretty much my entire life I have been obsessed with WDW and this vacation did not disappoint. None of us wanted to go home. It's amazing the way the parade at the Magic Kingdom "Celebrate" STILL brings me to tears. I believe...

Anyhow, I thought I would post some paintings of my true inspiration...my two children.

Tristan Jack Fernie was born on October 21, 2000, weighing only 5 lbs 13 oz and coming into the world at only 36 weeks (a month early). I was not a good pregnant person. I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia when I was 28 weeks pregnant with Tristan. By the time I was 34 weeks, I was put on bed-rest with washroom only privileges. On Oct. 20, 2000, I was admitted to the hospital because my blood pressure was dangerously high-165/135-and the very next morning, my body couldn't take the pregnancy anymore, my water broke and our beautiful baby boy was born.

Tristan Jack Fernie, 8 months

2001

acrylic on canvas

18" x 24"

Tristan, age 3

2006

acrylic on canvas

24" x 18"

Tristan

2008

acrylic on canvas

36" x 30"

This last portrait of Tristan is one of my favourites. It has been used in several online gallery shows and currently hangs in our hallway.

On October 5, 2002, our baby girl Carter Elizabeth Fernie was born. Sean and I always wanted to use my maiden name, Carter, for one of our children's first names. When Tristan was born we contemplated using the name then, but really wanted it for a little girl (we finally agreed on a boys name while watching "Legends of the Fall" together--Brad Pitt kept coming over the mountain on horseback with his brothers shouting "Tristan!!!"). My pregnancy with Carter was not much better than with Tristan, in fact it was worse. If pre-eclampsia effects 5% of first time pregnancies, then I was the lucky one to have it happen again during my second pregnancy--5% of the original 5%. I was diagnosed at about the same time as with Tristan's pregnancy, but this time I was put on bed-rest at 30 weeks--with a less than 2 year old!! My mum and sister would look after Tristan for me during the day and would hand off to Sean when he got home after work. I lay on the couch, day after day, hot, swollen and gaining 5lbs of water a week. It was scary and terrible. I was induced with Carter at 37 weeks and she weighed a very impressive 7lbs 10 oz!!

Carter, pig-tailed

2006

acrylic on canvas

18" x 24"

Carter, 18 months

2008

acrylic on canvas

30" x 36"

This is my favourite portrait of Carter--it hangs with Tristan's portrait in our hallway. I've got to paint them again soon.

The Fernie Family

2008

acrylic on canvas

36" x 48"

Well--this is our little family. After those two pregnancies, we were not going to go into that territory again. Although both pregnancies were pretty terrifying by the end, I wouldn't change anything about the delivery of either of my children. They were the single best moments in my life to date. We're a happy bunch.

More Great Kids!

2010-03-23T12:06:00.000-07:00

I have had the privilege of painting quite a few children's portraits over the past several years. I wanted to share a few more here...

Max

2009

acrylic on canvas

16" square

commissioned by Nydia Gagliardi

Simon

2009

acrylic on canvas

16" square

commissioned by Nydia Gagliardi

The two portraits above are of two gorgeous brothers, Simon and Max. Nini (Nydia) commissioned these portraits as a gift for her husband John for his birthday this past fall. Honestly--their eyes really do look like this!!!

The Lowry Children

2008

acrylic on canvas

24" x 36"

commissioned by Jully Lowry

Some people choose to have their children painted all together. This is a portrait commissioned from a junior school girlfriend (!!!) for her husband Brad's birthday a couple of years ago. I painted the children in different styles to try to capture their completely unique personalities. Just because they are siblings doesn't make them all the same.

Ben Dreger

2008

acrylic on canvas

16" square

commissioned by Julie Davies

Lulu Dreger

2008

acrylic on canvas

16" square

commissioned by Julie Davies

These two portraits are of another brother and sister duo. Little Lulu is going in for surgery on April 1, 2010 to repair a hole in her heart. The entire family is very anxious to put this all behind them, obviously. Lulu is a tough tiny little sprite and will be better than ever in no time...I'm sure of it. I'll be thinking of them all over the next couple of weeks and sending all my best to them.

Manhattan Beach, CA

2010-03-18T18:34:00.000-07:00

In the fall of 2009, I was approached by the Vukets family (client's of my father's architectural firm) to create two custom pieces for their insane home in Manhattan Beach, California. There were two specific walls that they wanted pieces for, so the size and shape of each piece was dictated quite easily.

Fall

2009

acrylic on canvas

48"w x 60"h

This piece was created for the large two storey foyer leading into the main section of the house. The Vukets were very specific about the colour palette they wanted to use--warm earth tones encompassing golds, copper and emerald green. Their eldest daughter Christy, was soon to graduate from interior design school in Toronto, so she kind of led the way directionally. Once we discussed the colours they loved, I created a small canvas showing the colours I anticipated using on the project. Once that palette was agreed upon, I set to work on creating the first piece, Fall.

Petal Storm

2009

acrylic on canvas

60"w x 36"h

The second piece was to be created for above the king sized master bed in the master bedroom. We used the same colour palette again, this time going with a series of circular swirls of varying sizes on a gradated background. I have had many people comment that the piece looks like it is something astronomical in scope. The circular shapes were great to work with and something new and challenging for me at the same time.

While neither piece uses my traditional colour palette, it was an amazing exercise in working with art "as design". The Vukets were very happy with the results and once completed, my friends at Navis Pack and Ship crated the pieces and shipped them off to Manhattan Beach. Overall, it was a thrilling project to work on. Hopefully I'll be working with the Vukets again soon on some custom pieces for their new boathouse project in Muskoka, Ontario.

Goodbye Nana...

2010-03-03T13:30:00.000-08:00

Vera Elizabeth Infuso

Rockin' My New Prada Glasses

Tapestry, January 2010

The following paragraphs are from a eulogy I wrote for my Nana, who passed away suddenly on Monday, March 1, 2010. I wrote it about an hour after receiving the phone call from my mum that Nana was gone. I will not actually be saying the eulogy at the funeral, but my sister Mel suggested that I add it to my blog. No painting this week, needless to say...

"I was sitting on the couch, shortly after hearing the news that Nana had passed. Why is this such a shock? Even though I know this is the natural progression of life, it doesn't make it one ounce easier at this point.

I was fortunate to have had my nana for all of my 39 years--not many people can lay claim to that fact. Nana was always an incredibly strong matriarch for our family. The years upon years of memories are crashing upon me right now, so I'm going to do my best to chose some of my favourite stories of our lives together.

While my mum has always been the penultimate woman in my life, I can very honestly say that I have always been so influenced by my nana's words and actions. Let's just start with food. We spent almost every Sunday night growing up at Nana and Bampa's for dinner. 95% of the time, we walked in the side door at 34 Courtsfield to the smell of Nana's macaroni. YAY!!!! 5% of the time it was a different smell--ROAST BEEF!!! Needless to say, Ade, Mel, Ash and I lived for the macaroni night and thankfully, those nights were plentiful. I think I was in university when I asked Nana to teach me how to make "Nana's spaghetti". I listened to her every word (she wasn't big on actual measurements, which made replicating it kind of tough in the early years, but we figured it out) and wrote it down. You couldn't sell that recipe for millions of dollars. Now, all her grandchildren can make it. Of course, it never really measures up to Nana's but I have to give mum kudos for making a mean "Nana meatball" now. Ade actually spent the afternoon last Sunday making "Nana sauce". Just one small legacy she left us with.

I remember, sort of fondly, the afternoon Nana tried to teach me how to make gnoochi. It didn't go so well. I know, she loved me so much, but she was ITCHING to call me STUPID because I couldn't roll the dough off the folk properly, like she did. She kept ripping the fork from my hand, saying, "NO, THIS way..." Let's just say I learned "patience" from Nana.

What was Nana without Bampa though? Every Saturday morning the four of us would wait in earnest for the door at 7 Avonhurst for Nana and Bampa to arrive. Bampa would greet us with a pocket full of change and dole it out to all of us to buy a "coffee". Nana would make her way in to have mum do her hair--FINAL NET!!! I'd make hot dogs in the microwave for everyone and thus, the Carter family Saturday afternoon legacy was born.

Nana always loved telling me lessons and stories from her life. I remember when she told me that she and Bampa never bought a house with a mortgage and she sugested I do the same. While times had changed most definitely, Nana did sell Sean and I our first house at 1095 Royal York Road. The history that house had for our family!!!! Bampa's mother bought it for Nana and Bampa when they got married! While we did have a mortgage:) on the house, it allowed us to start the home ownership journey in the neighbourhood we love and so wanted to be a part of.

Bampa died 12 years ago on March 25. The last 12 years have not been easy for Nana, nor for Michael and mum. Nana didn't think she could live for 5 minutes without Bampa, but in time, she did her best to make the best of life without her one true love. Michael and mum have been tireless in their quest to make Nana's life happy since Bampa has been gone. Just last week when Nana was back at Tapestry after "kicking" pneumonia AGAIN, she told me that the best doctors she ever had were Michael and Carol. I saw first hand how this was true. Every morning, mum would go to Tapestry to 'set Nana up'. She'd make her bed, clean her apartment, get her dressed and do her makeup and get her ready to start the day. They'd make her weigh herself and record her weight to make sure they had the dose of her medicine that controlled her congestive heart failure properly. Michael would go to Nana's in the evening to make sure she had all of her proper pills and was ready for bed. They shared the burden of her care and made sure she had the best chance of making her remaining days the best they could be.

The past 7 months were so much better for her. As my friends say, Nana most definitely was a cat with 9 (or more) lives. She managed to defeat illness time and time again. She created amazing new friendships while living at Chartwell and Tapestry over the past 16 months that only served to provide her with new unexpected happiness at this point in her life. Only 2 weeks ago she was the proud GOLD award winner at Tapestry! I know her "new" friends will miss her has dearly as those who had known her throughout her life will too.

My kids were so sad to hear that Nana had passed. Even though they don't really understand, Carter put it into her own perspective. She said to me, "Mummy, I know why you are so sad. It would be the same as if I didn't have Goonie and Peepa (her grandparents)." She's so right.

Nana was so well loved by all of her siblings and friends. Nana and her "little" sister auntie Annie must have talked 20 or more times a day for the past 80 odd years. They were kindred spirits and I know Auntie Annie will miss her deperately. Auntie Lucy is someone I will always need in our lives to get us through the tough times. It seems as though she actually just knows what to say and how to comfort all of us. The strength of Nana's own family was amazing. I am sure Auntie Josie is up there with Nana right now, giving her huge hugs and wearing the most insane pair of cream, well pressed pants.

Our lives were so enriched by having Nana in them. She created two amazing souls in Michael and Carol. I can remember every gift and book Michael has ever given me and my mum, well, there are no words really. I can't thank Nana enough for how much she gave to all of us through her mere presence. She lived a great 87.5 years and now, I know, she is with Bampa. May they be looking down on us and know that we are eternarally greatful for making us all who we are.

Nana, I love you. You will be a part of me forever."

The Celebrity Series

2010-02-25T06:51:00.000-08:00

Those who know me well know of my ridiculous obsession with being on the "pulse" of hollywood--I'm just a little bit curious about pop culture icons and the world of celebrity gossip. Last winter, I embarked on a series of large scale portraits of well known celebrity and political icons by combining my love of portraiture with a combination of my style of abstracted squares and skin "tattooing".

My Sarah (Palin)

acrylic on canvas

48"w x 60" h

2009

The first in this series is a portrait of Sarah Palin. No, I am in no way interested in the political views or controversy surrounding Ms. Palin. One day I came across a full page image of Sarah in People magazine that struck me as an image that I just HAD to paint. I do think she is a beautiful woman and at the time, it was difficult to go more than 20 minutes in a day without hearing her name on the news. My first thought was to attempt to create a fully "realistic" portrait of her. Once I started painting, I changed my mind and chose to just paint her eyes realistically, while trying out her hair in "squares". I was exhilarated by the result.

It is a huge painting (4' wide x 5' high) and basically attacks the viewer from every angle. I painted the little bit of background with matte black, almost giving it a "black velvet" effect.

My peers suggested that I figure out how to show Sarah Palin the image. Turns out, that part wasn't so difficult. I googled, "How do I reach Sarah Palin"? At the time she was still governor of Alaska, so I was directed to a form letter from her office. I sent off my letter and waited. Well, I waited exactly 10 hours and got a letter back! Her office thanked me for the letter and they did go to my website and Sarah herself did see the painting. Wow. Cool.

Oh Bama.

acrylic on canvas

48" w x 60" h

2009

The second portrait is of the man himself--Mr. President Barack Obama. He is the same size as My Sarah, also with a matte black background to maintain some cohesiveness with the Sarah portrait. I went to town will the "illustrated man" sort of skin--swirls and shapes of all my favourite colours. I painted his mouth realistically this time.

I shipped both paintings off to Infusion Gallery in Los Angeles, CA to take part in a group show there for the month of June 2009. There were over 350 people in attendance at the opening gala! While neither piece actually sold at the show, they increased my viewing audience and reached people I could never reach while showing here in Toronto. In fact, due to the show, I was contacted by a gallerist out of Italy, who invited me to show in a castle in Tuscany in October 2009. I wasn't able to take part then, but have been contacted by the gallery again and it may be something I consider in the future.

I had the two pieces shipped back to Toronto (it was quite an undertaking to ship the pieces to LA and back!! I hope they thoroughly enjoyed their holiday there) to take part in the first ever "Art Beyond Walls" pop-up gallery show held on September 22, 2009 in Toronto. Art Beyond Walls is an urban "pop-up" gallery hosted by The Village Gallery and gallerist extraordinaire, Alison Goodwin. The show was very well attended by over 200 people and featured the work of myself, Alison Hodson and Andrew King. The Village Gallery currently has 8 of my pieces on display in Mississauga, Ontario. More about The Village Gallery in a moment...

Her Madgesty

2009

acrylic on canvas

48" x 48"

The third piece in my celebrity series is of my favourite musical artist, Madonna. My history with Madonna goes waaaaaaay back. I remember listening to "Holiday" in grade 9 at the Etobicoke School of the Arts and wanted so badly to replicate her image even then (man, I loved those rubber bracelets). In the fourth year of my degree in Visual Arts at UWO, I chose to do my thesis on Madonna, entitled, "Madonna: The Quintessential Icon of our Time". That was in 1993.

This portrait was a labour of love. It seems as though I spent months painting Madge's hair alone. This combination of all my different styles of painting is ridiculously time consuming. Each of these three portraits took me over 100 hours each to complete.

Getting back to Art Beyond Walls, Alison had her PR firm Lucid Technologies really go to town in promoting the event. Fashion Television came and interviewed all of us prior to the show starting. That was one of the penultimate moments of my life, I might add. I have read every issue of Vogue cover to cover since March 1983--yes, my love of fashion runs as deep as my love of art and celebrity gossip!!! While FT did not actually choose to run the piece, they did select my painting of Madonna to run in an ad promoting Fashion Television. The ad states that FT features todays innovators in art, then shows a full screen shot of Her Madgesty. I almost fell on the floor the first time I saw it!

Alison and her crew from The Village Gallery brought Her Madgesty and one of my abstract pieces to her booth at the Interior Design Show (IDS) in January 2010. Alison said that so many people approached the booth, recognizing the Madonna painting. They recognized it either from the FT commercial or when Alison took Her Madgesty and Oh Bama. to a segment she did with Breakfast Television in late October 2009. Alison works tirelessly to promote her artists and I am forever indebted to her.

The online magazine Alternavox.net attended IDS and wrote a review of the artwork there on the site. The link is http://alternavox.net/2010/01/. An excerpt from the piece by Alison Brown (seriously, just how many Alison's are there in my life right now????):

Meandering through the myriad of booths and displays at this show my first stop was The Village Gallery. I was interested to find out about their pop up art program “Art Beyond Walls,” that I had heard about happening across the city. When I found their booth I was immediately attracted to the art of “Justine Fernie” whose vibrant work stands out among the more traditional art pieces in this show.

I met up with Alison Goodwin, owner of the Village Gallery and Art Beyond Walls, who told me all about their exciting new project. The Village Gallery has their permanent location in Mississauga where they have been for the past seven years. Art Beyond Walls is their urban pop up gallery. The concept of it is to take the gallery on the road and have unique events in unique places. Exceptionally talented artists from across North America are brought to Toronto and featured in an exciting venue. Each event will integrate music and performing art for an alternative art buying experience, with proceeds going toward an art related cause. Some of these art happenings are small events like a private dinner party with an artist. They recently did a unique event at a church on Berkeley with 3 artists and 300 guests and donated some work to an art related charity.

This innovative idea gives people the chance to look at art and talk about art in different types of spaces getting away from the traditional gallery space.

Art Beyond Walls started with a small group of artists. And now is expanding with new emerging artists, people who aren’t represented yet by large galleries, giving these artists a chance to expose their work to varied audiences in an unconventional way. The Interior Design Show gives The Village gallery the opportunity to meet with designers who will purchase art for commercial properties.

The next in line in the series is a giant portrait of Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish. It is currently drawn on canvas but I haven't had the time to start painting it, due to other painting commissions I have been working on since the fall. Once I get to it, I've got some big, fabulous ideas for it. LOTS of gold...

The Non-Traditional Family Portrait

2010-02-20T15:15:00.000-08:00

More and more so, it appears as though the family portrait is making a comeback in today's home design and decorating. Not the stodgy old portraits of days of yesteryear so much (that said, it would be nice to have an original Rembrandt or Vermeer portrait in my own home!) but something new and current. Photography is one route to go in to capture a moment in time. Of course, my specialty is capturing that moment (or several moments in one image) on canvas.

The Fernie Family

2007

acrylic on canvas

48"w x 36"h

The above portrait is of my family--Sean, me, Tristan and Carter. I painted this particular portrait a couple of years ago now and I am sort of ready to do a new one (especially now that I myself have hair again!). Carter and Sean share a true familial resemblance, so I painted them both using only a palette knife and no brush. I find that Tristan and I look more like each other, so we are painted with a brush. This portrait has been moved to several locations within our house and never fails to engage the viewer.

The Malobabic Family

2008

acrylic on canvas

36" w x 24" h

This portrait was commissioned by Carter's former junior kindergarten teacher, Danjela Malobabic. Danjela has her own certain sort of style and gave me complete and utter artistic freedom with her portrait--she commissioned the portrait for her father for his birthday. I LOVED painting this piece. With absolutely no restrictions, I kind of went to town. The resemblance between Danjela & her mother was amazing, so I chose to paint them both with more controlled brush strokes in a similar style. Danjela's sister and father also shared a resemblance, but I chose to paint them in a more abstracted way--no realistic tendencies at all here. I think Danjela's sister actually looks like a crazy Marie Antoinette sort of character. Her mother's head is not anchored to a body (a floating ghost? not scary though...) and Danjela's father's image is both in front of and behind Danjela. Craziness--but it went over very well with the family. I knew my lack of limitations and went with them!

Frank, Janine, Max & Maya

2007

acrylic on canvas

48" w x 36" h

This portrait was commissioned by our friends Frank & Janine. Frank is a builder by trade and they live in the most fabulous, traditional home. They chose to commission this piece for their dining room and have told us time and time again that it has instigated conversations too numerous to count in the dining room over dinner! Maya was just a newborn at the time the piece was done, so it is kind of cool that she is represented that way. Little Max with this mane of golden hair just had to be captured that way--halo and all. I experimented a little with using sepia paint on Max's face. It kind of gave a bit of an old school photographical element to the piece.

Ingrid & Natalie

2007

acrylic on canvas

24" w x 18" h

This is truly one of my favourite family portraits. In the words of Dr. Seuss (and more recently by my old friend Sara Lanthier), "A family is a family no matter how small". That says it all.

Shannon, Derek, Jordan and Callum

2006

acrylic on canvas

48" w x 36"h

This family portrait was commissioned fairly early on in my "family portrait" career. Shannon approached me to paint this piece with one caveat--use no black. That's just what I did. Once again, Callum was a baby at the time this piece was done, so he is captured that way.

Alison and Her Family

2009

acrylic on canvas

36"w x 30"h

The portrait above was my most recent foray into family portraiture. Alison was very free in her approach to the piece and just didn't want it "scary". I painted her husband almost as an illustrated man--his skin looks tattooed. Oh his glasses--I LOVE painting glasses in a portrait. For some reason they sort of anchor the whole painting. I blended the two boys right into their parents skin--from hence they came, right? Alison actually does resemble a "Barbie" a little in person, so I chose to play that element up and keep her all glowing in gold, yellow & pink. Note: The little gold section at Alison's husband's chin just above her son's head was removed from the final painting--I just didn't re-photograph it after I painted over that section. The gold just wasn't working for me.

Ahhhh, time for a night out. Happy Saturday!

Landscapes

2010-02-15T11:18:00.000-08:00

I have to admit that I have not ever been overly inspired to paint landscapes. It's not that I don't find the great outdoors inspiring, it's just it never really appealed to me to try to capture any aspect of it.

In December 2008 I was approached by Sandy and André Lovell, after they attended a show of my work hosted by Leslie and Joe Battle. André had an amazing photograph of a hammock that famously hangs between two huge old trees at their weekend home. The interesting thing about the photograph to me was that it was taken in the dead of winter--not typical "hammock" swinging time. I felt up to the challenge of painting my first true landscape piece.

The piece turned out to be a lot of fun. Even though I used a lot of red in the painting, I do feel as though the viewer can tell that this painting depicts a blustery cold day in the dead of winter. I chose to paint the trees in black as silhouettes against the background. In the shadow area beneath the hammock, I painted several tiny areas made up of colourful squares. This small area inspired ALL of my new abstract pieces--but I'll get to that story another day.

The Hammock

2008

acrylic on canvas

48" w x 36" h

commissioned by André and Sandy Lovell

I was absolutely thrilled with the result of this piece. I actually entered it into an art competition with a group called the East Village Art Coalition in Des Moines, Iowa. The piece made it into the finals!! http://www.evacdsm.org

In November of 2009, I was contacted by Jill Johnson to create very special custom piece for her husband Mike for Christmas. Jill had the idea of creating an abstract landscape piece based on her first date with Mike. Jill gave me a bunch of photos to work from, each depicting the view of the breathtaking mountains in Vancouver that Jill and Mike stared at together on their first date. In the bottom of the painting I've attempted to sort of blend in the back of Mike & Jill's heads, sitting on the wicker couch enjoying both the company and the view.

Clearly it was a first date that worked as Mike and Jill tied the knot in July 2009. Jill surprised Mike with the portrait on Christmas Day 2009 and it was successfully shipped off to their home in Vancouver, BC in the beginning of 2010.

First Date

2009

acrylic on canvas

36" x 36"

commissioned by Jill Johnson

Children's Portraits

2010-02-08T08:01:00.000-08:00

My most favourite projects are most definitely portraits. I love trying to capture a moment of time of a specific person and most especially, children. I have had the privilege of working on many, many portraits of children over the past several years.

Lucas & Zachary Carbonaro

2007

acrylic on canvas

48"w x 36"h

commissioned by Anna & David Carbonaro

The portrait above is of my friend Anna's two gorgeous boys, Lucas & Zachary. Anna provided me with several pictures of both kids but the interesting thing about this portrait is that the photos were not current photos of the boys. Anna chose her favourite pictures of her boys, from special times in their lives that were of particular significance to her. Zachary's "Bob the Builder" shirt left an indellible image in Anna's head (can he fix it?) as did Lucas' day of eating LOTS of watermelon. When picturing Zachary, the first thing that comes to my mind is his lucious, all encompassing smile which I tried to capture using sunny bright colours. Lucas is slightly more reserved than Zachary, so I chose to paint him with a lot of my favourite blue, Phalo blue. Anna has told me that the work is a great conversation piece. She said that at first people do not necessarily recognize the portrait to be of her children--the longer people stare at it, the more the image and who it is of, becomes apparent. It is my interpretation of what her children look like.

The Brady Children

2008

acrylic on canvas

4 x 16" squares

commissioned by Mark Brady

Another of my favourite children's portraits was for a local family made up of one big brother (Kieran) and the triplets (Neave, Seamus & Eamon), commissioned by Mark Brady for his wife Alison. I had lots of photographs to work from and four amazingly bright personalities to try to show on canvas. While I don't typically paint "natural" hair colour on my portraits unless I am asked to by a client, I couldn't help but paint the three boys with shades of brown and Neave with a crazy, fiery red. Being the only girl in a sea of boys, she most certainly had to stand out (and from what I've heard, I don't think it's too hard for her to stand out!). I haven't seen too much of Kieran lately but do see the triplets (and hear them) around the neighbourhood. You cannot help but smile at the pure sight of them.

Kieran Brady

2008

16" square

Neave Brady

2008

16" square

Seamus Brady

2008

16" square

Eamonn Brady

2008

16" square

I have lots more children's portraits to share with you another time.

RIP Rebecca Montgomery

2010-02-01T08:29:00.000-08:00

I just got home from work at lunchtime in the beginning of December 2007 when I noticed my sister-in-law Danielle had repeatedly been calling my home number. I called her back and was told the horrible news. Sean's 18 year old cousin had taken her own life. It was beyond devastating for the whole family.

Rebecca was the loving sister to her 4 other siblings-Matt, Melissa, Luke and Mark- and to her parents Leslie and John, as well as scores of other family and friends. I hope to never attend a funeral again of someone so young. The raw emotion was too much to bear. What could I do to help? Nothing, obviously. Maybe I could paint a portrait of Rebecca for her family? I didn't know if it was really an appropriate thing to do but I went ahead and did it anyway.

Painting that particular portrait was something that I thought would have been such a traumatic thing to do. In fact it was just the opposite. I'm not an overly spiritual or religious person but while I painted that portrait, I had a full on dialogue with Rebecca. Of course I asked her why, to which I did not get any answers. I most honestly did feel her presence while painting her and it wasn't sad--she encouraged me to finish the portrait. The painting was not a struggle for me at all--I think Rebecca may have even art directed me. When I was in university and full of drama over every potential "relationship" that didn't work, I'd cry and cry. I painted a piece of my doll Lucy (more on her another day) sitting in a sea of tears. Not until I painted the portrait of Rebecca did I realize the cathartic power of art. It was a way of honouring Rebecca's life while getting some of my sad, sad feelings out on canvas.

It was difficult giving the portrait to Les and John just after Christmas that year. I think it was difficult for them to accept it at the time as well. Since then, both Les and John have told me that they have hung the portrait up and that it has given them some comfort. As I said before, I felt powerless to help but I also felt so strongly about painting her.

Rebecca is thought about and missed by her family everyday. While I didn't know Rebecca that well, she most definitely made an impression on me. She will most definitely not be forgotten. RIP Rebecca.

RIP Rebecca Montgomery

2007

acrylic on canvas

16" square

My Nieces

2010-01-29T15:06:00.000-08:00

Scarlett Vaughan

2007

acrylic on canvas

16" square

commissioned by Melanie Vaughan

In the summer of 2007, my sister Mel commissioned me to paint portraits of my two nieces, Savannah and Scarlett Vaughan, for my brother-in-law Zach's 30th birthday.

Now, when working with such precious subject matter I have to say the inspiration for me is right at the surface. I love my nieces (all of my nieces and nephews for that matter) so much. I spend a lot of time with them and we have a true bond. All my nieces & nephews are like my "other kids"--the ones that I didn't have to give birth to but get to reap the benefits of.

I decided to paint the portrait of Scarlett, who wasn't even one at the time, using a palette knife and tons of pink because that's just her. When I finished the portrait something just wasn't right about her. The giant brown eyes were spot on but what was the problem? Her mouth. Right. I used the palette knife to literally cut the two sides of her mouth clean off (not to sound Nip/Tuckish or graphic) and that was it. Her perfect little rosebud mouth was reborn in my portrait of her.

Savannah Vaughan

2007

acrylic on canvas

16" square

commissioned by Melanie Vaughan

Next was the portrait of Savannah. Savannah is the essence of "princess". At almost 3 years old, the child was ALWAYS wearing her princess crown. Even to sleep in. It was so cute and also, so her. How at 3 years old does someone already have such a strong character? It was amazing to me, made more so by the fact that my own daughter, Carter, was never into princesses. I chose to paint Savannah (Peenee is her nickname--however the hell you are supposed to spell that) using small brush strokes and using a lot of purple in her skin and in the background. Savannah's amazing bedroom is one of those shades of purple. Sometimes I do not go a realistic colour route when painting eyes, skin and hair. For some reason I did chose to paint the Vaughan girls with their big, brown eyes. Sometimes the "real" thing is a necessity, sometimes it's not.

Remember too, I'm painting my interpretation of a person. I'm not a realist. I'd love to be but just don't have the patience. While I can paint and draw completely realistically, but it's just not my "thing". Ya dig?

The Cottage

2010-01-28T17:48:00.000-08:00

When I was little we used to go (not terribly often) to my grandparents cottage on the Trent River in Trenton. Man, how we loved that place. The fishing was amazing...the swimming was a little scary (EELS & SNAKES) but somehow I became hooked on the whole cottage thing from a young age. Of course, as a child I had no idea about just how much work cottaging actually is for the parents involved, but I distinctly remember begging my parents for a cottage and their distinct response was a loud "NO".

When I was in first year university, I almost fell off my bed when my mum called to tell me they had just bought property on Lake Muskoka and were about to build the first of our 3 family cottages. WOW. The Lake Muskoka cottage was awesome--I was 19, Ade was 17, Mel was 13 and little Ash was only 9. We were perfect ages to truly begin cottaging. We loved that place and had a great 7 years there.

My family being who they are, were ready to move on to "bigger and better" after the first 7 years on Muskoka. Mum and Dad (from hereonin known as R & C) purchased a beautiful piece of property on the north end of Lake Rosseau where they built a gorgeous second cottage. We were on a small bay known as "Snug Harbour" and were actually right beside Martin Short & family (lots of great stories there, but I'll save them for another time). We stayed at that cottage for another 7 years at which point the family was expanding again. I was married to Sean, we had Tristan and Carter-Ade & Shiv had tied the knot too and so had Mel and Zach and Ash and Nickle were soon to follow. We loved the main cottage and the bunky but truly, there were too many of us. On a whim, R & C tried to sell the cottage, did and within seconds bought a yet unfinished cottage on Lake Joseph (we did all 3 big lakes in Muskoka).

The cottage on Lake Joe was enormous - 8-10,000 sq. ft. or something. If you left your socks in your room it was a physical ordeal to run around to get them. We had lots of fun, fun times there too and added Savannah and Fionnlagh to the family while there. I think baby Scarlett even hung out at Joe. R & C commissioned a painting of that cottage from me...which is shown here (if it actually posts where I want it to).

Carter Cottage

2007

acrylic on canvas

60" w x 48" h

commissioned by Ron & Carol Carter

In September 2007, Sean and I spent our anniversary at St. Anne's Inn and Spa. It was truly an unbelievable location. I remember distinctly sitting around the pool with Sean saying, "Mum & Dad should do something like this...a gorgeous farm in the middle of nowhere." You see, at this point, we were all thoroughly fed up with the drive north on the 400. The cottage on Muskoka was 1.5 hours away, but Rosseau and Joe were more like 2.5 hours MINIMUM. We came home from our weekend at St. Anne's and told R & C about our idea. They laughed and then called us the next morning looking for more details.

I'm not joking when I say 5 weeks to the day of that conversation, the cottage was sold and the new "farm" property was purchased. They are seriously impulsive people. Little did we know that the sale of our cottage property was one of the last "big" deals in Muskoka before the market bottomed out.

R & C purchased an incredible property of 100 acres of farmland in Hockley Valley (just north of Caledon) and built the "farm". But that, my friends, is another story (and I haven't painted it yet).

Ethan, Gavin & Tatum and The Battle Family Portraits

2010-01-28T09:52:00.001-08:00

Ethan, Gavin and Tatum
2006
acrylic on canvas
36" w x 30"h
commissioned by Joe & Kim Delonghi

When my son Tristan started Junior Kindergarten in 2003, I was introduced to a whole new group of friends--something that was completely unexpected for me. This new group of friends are incredibly supportive, smart, influential and a whole other list of adjectives that I could go on and on with (at the risk of sounding like I am kissing ass). In 2003, I had several of my older paintings hanging around our house which people definitely commented on.

One day, my friend Kim Delonghi asked me to paint a commission for her--actually, she kind of insisted on it. She had a great idea--she named her children after Ethan Hawke, Gavin Rossdale and Tatum O'Neal. Kim asked me to create a portrait of her children's namesakes. I was intimidated by the idea but eventually accepted the commission...and here we are 4 years later. Above is the completed portrait, "Ethan, Gavin and Tatum". The Delonghi's were very happy with it and it hangs proudly in their home. I guess I'd have to credit with kickstarting my entire painting career. Thank you Kim.

The Battle Family

2006

acrylic on canvas

48" w x 36" h

commissioned by Leslie Battle

My business has been generated completely by word of mouth advertising. I absolutely LOVE creating family portraits, in a very non-traditional way, of course. Shortly after creating the Delonghi's portrait, I was commissioned by my friend Leslie Battle to create a family portrait for her. Leslie gave me complete and utter artistic license--not everyone does, but to each his own.

I create my paintings from working with photographs. In the case of a family portrait, I do not a need a family "photograph" but rather separate photos of all the individuals to be used. From there, I draw the family members separately then create a composition of my own on the canvas. Then I paint. The Battle's portrait is shown above. I chose to paint little Coco Battle with her missing tooth space. Poor little Coco actually cried when she saw the painting initially because she thought she looked too scary. Cut to a couple of years later, I saw Coco in the playground, proudly showing her friends postcards with her family portrait's image on them. I think she got over her perceived "scariness". I wanted to show the missing tooth to capture a short moment in time, very indicative of her age at the time of the portrait. Coco is actually stunningly beautiful, as is her sister Maddie...

Enough about me...what do you think about me? This blogging thing is kind of weird but I think it will help to show those who are interested in my work just what my process is.

Later,

My First Post and How I Ended Up Here

2010-01-28T09:12:00.000-08:00

Time to blog, I guess. I seem to post enough stuff to Facebook under both my personal profile and "Friends of Justine Fernie's Paintings" that I thought that I should probably start a blog. Who will read this? I'm not too sure. Blogs do seem sort of self indulgent to me but so does posting everything about my art career to Facebook. I've tried Twittering, but I just don't get the appeal...so here it goes.

My name is Justine Fernie and I guess I can really classify myself as an artist now. I say that because while I was working on my degree in Visual Arts at the University of Western Ontario in the early ninety's and up until a couple of years ago, I would never classify myself as an "artist" per se. I felt that that term was reserved for "real" artists--people who were famous because of their art. I have always been an "artist" I guess, but just not famous.

I pretty much am a lover of all arts. I danced (primarily ballet but also modern and jazz too) from when I was 6 right through university. Knowing I never had a "dancers body", I never chose to pursue it as a career, but I certainly loved it nevertheless. I used to play piano and the flute (yes, I did go to band camp!) and did some drama many years ago (I still am pretty dramatic) but my true love is painting.

Growing up, when my best friend Liz Sass came over to play, we'd draw. Liz specialized in figurative "books" while I focused on human bodies with animal heads--a sign of what was to come? My dad is an amazing artist and I wondered why he used to get annoyed with me when I'd ask him to "just draw" something for me. Now I understand. When my daughter sits down beside me as asks me to "just draw" something for her, I say, "No Carter, the only way you learn is by drawing things yourself." That's what dad would say to me too.

In high school, I auditioned for the Etobicoke School of the Arts for both dance and visual arts and while accepted into both programs, I chose to major in dance and minor in art (hello Mr. Dancy!). After 2 years at ESA, I transfered to ECI because I wanted a more "normal" high school experience...not too many straight boys at ESA at the time.

Perspectives

2007

acrylic on canvas

36" h x 48"w

I decided to pursue a degree in Visual Arts at UWO. I had several professors along the way who greatly influenced me, one in particular named Dave Magee. Dave was a hyper-realist painter. It would take him a year to complete a single piece. I could not ever imagine the patience to work that way but Dave was a magical artist. He shared so much of himself with me and Trish, my best friend at UWO and well beyond. Dave taught us to see the magic in people and things that were not "normal". We looked at disfigured bodies in the medical lab at UWO and talked about his wife's ectopic pregnancy. He taught us about degrees of verisimilitude (very similar) and Joel Peter Witkin. He was incredible. Dave died several years ago due to health complications caused by a motorcycle accident. I hope he somehow knows just how much he influenced my artistic life. At the time I was so young and did not really understand just how his teachings affected me. Now I know.

After graduation, I knew that I couldn't make a living from being an "artist" for practical reasons ($$), so after a year living in the south of France and coming home and working for my dad's architectural firm, I started to work in the packaged goods design industry. My first big job was working for Cott Corporation out of The Watt Design Group (Cott owned at the time). I was learning there how to become an evenutal production manager--how labels could and would be printed. Not overly creative but it gave me a great understanding for colour and how it is created (CMYK/film/litho/flexo etc...).

Once I got married to Sean Fernie in 1999, I left the packaged goods industry and went to work again for my dad's company, RH Carter Architects Inc. I have been working for RH for 11 years now. It has been a truly amazing gig--I have worked primarily at home and share the position with my sister Mel and my sister-in-law Siobhan. It has allowed us all to raise our children as almost stay at home mum's, while at the same time earning a salary and having a stake in a true family business. I am completely indebted to my parents, Ron and Carol, for allowing us to do this.

Okay, I think I'm off to a good start. Enough for now.

xx
J