Home is Where the Art (Making) is

Dad doing a watercolour at Victoria Beach.

One of the joys of summer time spent together as a family is all the art making we collectively do; both separately and together. From sketching with dad, to creating art works at events like Paint The Town and submitting artwork for art competitions like the Annapolis County Exhibition, to making a short-film that a few members of my family helped work on, the best part of all is that we are together. Here are some photos of some family and our summer art--and film--making.

A watercolour of toadstools I made while participating in the Paint The Town ARCAC benefit
event in Annapolis Royal August 20th and 21st. 

Everyone sketched while we waited for the food to arrive at a local Annapolis Royal restaurant. 

                                                      Dad holding up the portrait I did of him.

Dad sketching Goat Island from Clementsvale side. Gorgeous sunny day, and the seagulls, 

which reside on this side of the island were "talking" so loudly at points dad and I

 couldn't hear each other speak.

                  Max and his local birds color marker drawing which won a second prize ribbon 

                                  at The Annapolis County Exhibition art show.  

Max and his pastel Loon drawing that won a third prize in the children's art category of the art competition at The Annapolis County Exhibition. 

Marie drawing at the First Annual Peace Party in Young's Cove on August 14th.

Liz makes an Origami frog (with me) at the Theme Park. Liz's is the one with the fly on its tongue!

I won a couple of ribbons for a watercolour self-portrait of mine at the Annapolis County Exhibition; a second prize plus a prize for the best watercolour in the show! 

One morning all three of us were making art in our porch studio at the same time. Kerry made some coffee dipped monochromatic pieces, Max was working on a drawing and I was finishing a piece for the Paint The Town show.

Curphey Forrestall is at the moment beginning a large block long mural that he won a big commission for in competition with several other muralists and artists! It will involve scenes of Nova Scotia 

and this project will take him most of the month of  September.  

Frank Forrestall is in post-production on a dark version of a  short film "Jack & Jill" he directed this summer that he describes as a "haunting fable about Love, Death and Spiritual Despair." Curphey Forrestall acted as Art Director while our amazing niece 

Millie Webb did all the hair and make-up. 

http://www.indiegogo.com/Jack-Jill-Short-Film

Renee was one of 8 artists chosen chosen to take part in CBC Radio's Sharing The View calendar 2012. Here is some of the information off the CBC website plus a link

 below to a podcast interview of Renee speaking about her work. 

"Announcing the Final Eight!

Wow, what a challenge, to choose eight painters from among the 137 imaginative submissions! Thanks to our Marquee Artists for the time and care they dedicated to the selection process.
The eight artists chosen to take part in Information Mornings 2012 Sharing the View Calendar are:
Virgina McCoy, painting the Inverness racetrack.
Wayne Boucher painting an Annapolis Royal sunrise.
Al Chaddock painting Mahone Bay
Renee Forrestall painting Peggy's Cove.
Sarah Jane Conklin painting a fall landscape.
Alan Bateman painting the fields of the Annapolis Valley.
Carol Pye painting the church at Grand Pre.
Darren Bennett painting the Commercial Cable Office in Canso."

http://www.cbc.ca/informationmorningns/features/sharingtheview/

A fam sketch trip resulted in dad's beautiful watercolour (top left), Renee's wonderful oil painting (top right),
my unfinished watercolour (bottom left) and Max's landscape watercolour (bottom right).

My finally finished watercolour of Queen's Anne's Lace in front of a lobster boat for sale at Victoria Beach.

Renee sketching at Victoria Beach in August.

Max stands next to his watercolour of a Tree Swallow on the French Basin trail at the Silent auction
of The Paint The Town benefit event in Annapolis Royal in August.

I'm standing with some of the watercolours I made for Paint The Town art benefit in August,
which I did  with Max this year. The watercolour closest to my head is of Max bird watching.

And I'm currently writing and illustrating a fun children's chapter booklet 

as a project for a restaurant chain. It will be distributed in 120 restaurants all over the United States. Exciting!

--Monica Forrestall

Renee Forrestall's contemporary portrait of Queen Elizabeth II is in a show of royals portraiture at The Beaverbrook Gallery in Fredericton, New Brunswick

A special exhibition in celebration of the recent marriage of Prince William and Miss Catherine (Kate) Middleton and their royal visit to Canada headlines the Beaverbrook Art Gallery’s summer program. On view are portraits from the Beaverbrook’s permanent collection that depict British kings and queens, such as Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Margaret, Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, Queen Elizabeth I, King Edward VIII, and others, as well as various associated members of British nobility. Among the artists represented are Edward Irvine Halliday, Luciano Guarnieri, Walter Sickert, Graham Sutherland, George Romney, and Nicholas Hilliard.

Also included are contemporary portraits of the British monarchy by Canadian artists Joe Fafard, Christopher Pratt, Yvon Gallant, and Renée Forrestall, along with a humourous recent portrait of Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, by contemporary Canadian icon Charles Pachter.

Altar Piece for St. Benedict's church in Halifax by Renee Forrestall

                   Renee Forrestall's altar piece at St. Ben's church in Halifax.

            

My sister Renee took on a major commission in early 2010, to do the altar piece for a new church in Clayton Park, Halifax, Nova Scotia. She has done several icon, and smaller church altar pieces in the past, but this project was her most ambitious to date. She took this on, as a collaborative project with her husband, Nick Webb who is a professor at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design. Nick designed the piece, and constructed the frames then installed the piece. As Renee said, "He did all of the work, and got none of the glory." Renee chose Parousia as the theme of the multi-paneled piece, "Communion of the living and the dead." Parousia is a Greek word meaning "coming or arrival" and is often used in the New Testament to indicate the second coming of the Son of Man. In her work Renee created a six-panel work showing a communion of people both living and dead, welcoming the Son of Man. 

 Renee conceived the drawing, and did that as well as the painting. In her piece, she included many, many members of the family and friends as models for the figures. Our dear mother, Natalie LeBlanc Forrestall is in there, with her favorite pet rabbit (left) dressed in a Franciscan robe. A friend of her daughter's, Miranda is there, in a baseball hat. Her nephew Max is there. The pope, Mother Theresa and others.

"Miranda posing (below)- I drew it all in palm ashes, and charcoal I made from the Palm Sunday Palm Stalks sent from Israel. Then I sealed it in, then covered it with different iron oxide powders, erased & rubbed  with bread, sealed them in, then used pigment from all over the world - including Blues from Afghanistan," said Renee. It was done on Baltic Russian-ply. 

Renee sent me some images of the altar piece in progress, from the drawing with charcoal to the painting in, to standing the enormous panels outside in her backyard on a sunny day to see them all together. 

        Drawing that includes our mother's favorite saint, Mother Theresa.

                                               Detail of same drawing. 

  One of the right panels, Renee painted our mother in on the far left in a Franciscan robe, holding her pet rabbit. 

                                        Renee's altar piece set up in her backyard in Halifax. 
Even before this piece was finished she was commissioned to do a second piece, an Icon for the same church. 

--Monica Forrestall

Updates on Fam art activities

My sister Renee Forrestall has a new role as art teacher at the Grammar School in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is thrilled with the job and the supplies and rooms that she has to work in, not to mention her enthusiastic and happy students. Renee followed up her commission of a major altar piece for a new Halifax church by doing two additional commissioned Icon pieces for the same church.

Frank Forrestall is wrapping up his work on the Moby Dick film he has been working on for months and is getting ready for his big trip with our dad.

Tom Forrestall is also gearing up for his 6-week trip to Israel, where he will travel all over the country and paint. My brother Frank Forrestall will accompany him and will work on a documentary film chronicling their travels and art making.

Kerry Schuss' current exhibition at his gallery KS Art on the figurative work of Jocelyn Hobbie had a great listing in the Tribeca Trib with a large image, and will have a review in Art in America. Two pieces from the show sold to very important NYC collectors. The show has been extremely well received. http://www.ksartonline.com/

I worked on two poster designs for Max's school events and for our local park, Washington Market Park. 

--Monica Forrestall

Natalie Forrestall Memorial Children Art Prize at The EX

     Every year I organize a prize in our mother's name: The Natalie Forrestall Memorial Children's Art Prize. We sponsor this prize at The Annapolis County Exhibition's art competition. The Ex, as all the locals call it, is the BIG county fair and something my mother and grandmother loved going to, and taking us all to every August. Going to the Ex was (and is) one of the highlights of fun for kids summers in Western Nova Scotia.
     Our dad sponsors two of the prizes as memorial prizes for our grandmother Esther Forrestall and mom, Natalie Forrestall; the best watercolour and the best watercolor in show. And as a group, my brother Frank, my sister, Renee and I get together and buy some good quality art supplies to give as a prize for the best piece of children's art in the under age 8 category. This year the prize (which will be judged and decided on today) will include canvases, acrylic paint, craypas, watercolor pad, sketch books, watercolor pencils, brushes etc...In this area of the province, it's very difficult to find good quality art supplies, so this is our way of putting a nice and varied supply into the hands of a child who loves to make art.

It is also a small way of ours of acknowledging our wonderful mother, who was an art teacher for many years in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and helped support the family as my father painted. Our mother was a very talented painter and the woman who encouraged all of us to paint, draw and celebrate life by looking at and making art every day. To you mom!

A couple of entries in the drawing category August 2009.

And the 2010 winner of the Natalie Forrestall Memorial Art Basket is Jacob 

with his winning drawing of a birdhouse (below).

---Monica Forrestall

Nova Scotia fam time

One of my favorite family photos, that I set up in 1987. The whole family is here. From left; Renee (seated), Curphey, me (Monica), Jack, William and wife Anne, Tom Forrestall, (seated front) Natalie Forrestall (mom) and Frank.

Happy Father's Day to our dad and grand dad, Tom Forrestall

Dearest Dad,

We love you dad.  You are the inspiration and love of all of our lives, dad!
Your love and loyalty define who you are. Your talent and hard work inspires all of us every day!

We start and end with the family! (Anthony Brandt)

(from left): Monica, Renee, Jack, proud dad, our loving mother Natalie, Curphey (in mom's arms) Bobby (the bob-tailed cat) and William circa 1968.

xxxooo

Families are the compass that guide us. They are the inspiration to reach great heights, and our comfort when we occasionally falter. Brad Henry


Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible -- the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family.

Virginia Satir 


Your family and your love must be cultivated like a garden. Time, effort, and imagination must be summoned constantly to keep any relationship flourishing and growing.

Jim Rohn

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.
Desmond Tutu

No matter what you've done for yourself or for humanity, if you can't look back on having given love and attention to your own family, what have you really accomplished?

Elbert Hubbard



---Monica Forrestall

Day of sketching: Renee and Tom Forrestall and dear old friend Don Baker

After Renee's gala unveiling of the commissioned altar piece Renee designed for a new church, she and dad and dad's dear old friend Don Baker went on a sketching trip recently. Here are the two small paintings Renee made and the double watercolor dad created that lovely, sunny, joy filled afternoon.

Renee's painting of dad (right) and Don Baker (left) sketching a seaside scene.

Renee's smaller (warm up) sketch of scene. She pointed out a porcupine, far right, who entered and sauntered through the scene unexpectedly.

Tom Forrestall's watercolors that afternoon. He plans on these two being exhibited as one piece, 

framed together. Two views of one scene.

Renee says, "This is a journal sketch, in oil- I just sit & paint whatever comes

by, so a guy came along & took off his pants & jumped into the frigid ocean, some hikers walked by, others climbed the huge rocks in the distance, then a giant porcupine came along and looked at everyone, turned around and went back."

--Monica Forrestall

Two Canadian Families in Art: Forrestall & Ross exhibition opens in Saint John, New Brunswick

An wonderful exhibition honoring two well known Maritime families of artists opened on May 1st at the Buckland Gallery in Saint John, New Brunswick and included the work of my dad, Tom Forrestall, my brother Will and my sister Renee as well as New Brunswick artists Fred Ross and his daughter Cathy.

My father's painting is the center, horizontal portrait, my sister's work is on the lower left and my brother's is on the lower right of this announcement card.

Here is a link to the gallery website:  http://www.peterbucklandgallery.ca/exhibitions.html

A lovely write up by art writer Mike Landry on the show ran in the local newspaper, the Telegraph Journal.

http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/salon/article/1035240

Some photos kindly provided from Buckland Gallery below:

from left: Tom, Peter Buckland (back), Cathy Ross, William and Fred Ross (seated).

Peter Buckland gallery opening night. 

Tom Forrestall talking with gallery visitors at the opening.

---Monica Forrestall

Tom Forrestall's birthday March 11th, 2010

Happy Birthday to dad!

From Left: Nick Webb, Marie Webb, Renee Forrestall, Jessica Forrestall, Tom Forrestall, Gwen Forrestall, Millie Webb, Frank Forrestall

My sister Renee and her husband Nick Webb hosted a wonderful family birthday party for our dear dad at their lovely home in Halifax. My sister-in-law Diana Forrestall (married to Frank Forrestall) initiated the planning, organizing and made a lot of the food. My sister Renee emailed me in Switzerland to let me know how the party went! In her words, "We had Dad come here for dinner last night- Frank & Dianna came with their girls (Gwen and Jessica). We did a Japanese, Chinese buffet. Gwen & Dianna made a great mountain strawberry chocolate cake. Nick served warmed Saki, and made a huge tray of Sushi for a starter. Dianna & I had several Chinese dishes. Millie had strange Chinese jellies, we had fortune cookies too. Dad, Frank, Jessica, Marie & I took turns modeling- for the - Parousia Altar Piece. Millie cut Franks hair. Dianna talked about her doggie daycare plans. Nick took dad up to Charlotts and showed him the panels for the altar piece. He enjoyed himself and we all had a happy time."  

Dad's cake and dipped strawberry extravaganza.

Chips Webb and dad.

Marie Webb and her cousin Gwen Forrestall.

(above) Tom & Curphey Forrestall 

Millie Webb makes like a stylist and gives her Uncle Frank an impromptu hair trim. 

And I sent dad a catalog from a show at the Metropolitan Museum that I know he would have loved to have seen, "American Stories; Paintings of Everyday Life 1765-1915" (Metropolitan Museum of Art Publications). The book is filled with lovely captured moments of family life and everyday activities. 

---Monica Forrestall